JimParker85

Lines very busy today. Fastlane was worth it for our 2nd and final trip of the year. Great day so far

We bought them online as saturday fastlane had sold out ahead of time the prior 2 weeks.

Intimidator just isn't in the same class. I love Behemoth but Diamondback is my favorite of those 3. I just wish Shambhala would have been built in the US, the only other one to use the V trains. Behemoth badly needs a new paint job, too.

My wish list for the 50th anniversary: 1. Significant Racer refurbishment and 1 year of backwards Racer available on one side of the coaster. 2. Boo Blasters refurbishment into a new experience, possibly back to a prior theme. 3. Rename Woodstock's Express into Beastie. 4. Anniversary parade as a love letter to the park's history. 5. Midnight closes on summer Saturdays. 6. Refurbishment/retheme of the restaurant above main gate. 7. Fresh paint for Diamondback. 8. Remodel of interior of Festhaus with new dining options.options.

Horrible luck looks to be ruining our trip this coming Saturday, along with possibly Holiwood Nights and Keys to the Kingdom. That Hurricane remnant is predicted to roll through over the weekend. darn. Out $180 in fastlane if so.

I'm critical of Six Flags in a lot of ways, but I must admit to really enjoying the version of Justice League we went on at Magic Mountain. They have a great IP for that and can sustain some larger queues with the multiple pre show rooms. It was a much higher quality than I was expecting.

Wonder Mountain's Guardian is the reason I'm so skeptical of Cedar Fair doing a major dark ride well. I know Knotts just renovated theirs and I didn't mind Voyage to the Iron Reef... But WMG is a disaster. Wonderland is my home park and it's a reasonably popular ride but its a maintenance nightmare. It suffers from regular downtime, multiple guns on each train have been taped off in the last 3 seasons and the screens are already in a state of disrepair. For a major ride like that to be in such bad shape so quickly, and at the busiest seasonal park in North America no less, is telling.

The 6 across dives look interesting. Valkyria has a great looking layout and rides fairly intense according to a couple a couple of reviews I've seen. Cost savings could be a factor as well.

It was not open, no. CP kept the island closed this year. On our visits this month they had a few of the major food stands closed, including Mrs Keats, Roundup and Dragons Inn. We had Backbeat and Chick Fil A twice each, the new Corral and Panda once each. Especially with the loss of a burrito/bowl option at Cedar Point this year, I like Kings Island's dining plan offerings much more than CPs. Hugos was awful last year, and Backbeat is good but offers no indoor seating and less covered seating than Coney BBQ. I really hope they add back a burrito place for 2021, I think they should again use the current Mrs Keats, which has plentiful indoor seating.

Time Traveler is excellent, and Helix looks fantastic with its use of that terrain. Copperhead was very good, but not elite.

After our first trip to SDC and 5 rides on Time Traveler earlier this month, I would love to see a unique layout Mack spinner in The Vortex plot someday. I enjoyed Copperhead last year, but I think the spinning model is much more memorable. I know the cost is high either way, but wow TT really impressed me. The theming and position of the station, which allows for that insane back row drop out of it, are unique - however I think KI could use the terrain available for something that would also be epic.

Zadra being so (relatively) inexpensive kills me. It looks fantastic, that giant stall inversion should be epic. The smaller one on Goliath is outstanding. I'd love to see a North American park have RMC build a ground up I-Box monster. The layout on Zadra looks much more interesting than Iron Gwazi's IMO, although we STILL don't have an Iron Gwazi POV.

Orion is the only coaster that can match Fury dispatch times. Easy restraints and NO bins. Leviathan bins are a nightmare. Everyone at Wonderland, which is my home park, always carries enough for a weekend in the country. The crew tries hard, but with the bins its never super fast. I was very impressed with the Orion ops on my visit, should bode well for eventual crowded day ops, whenever that finally happens again.

No reservations not so sure about that. Business decision to eliminate a barrier but if you get good weather on any of those 10pm close Fridays or Saturdays they might go well above 10k attendance. Risky business right now IMO, especially if mask/distancing compliance is down, as some in that thread are reporting.

For 2020 they've stopped use of the pouches and are again requiring all loose articles be placed in a paid locker or left with a non rider, so for this year they are back to the late 2018 pay to ride process (if you carry a cell phone, that is). It's not ideal, although it's also not unprecedented. I was at Great Adventure last week and the pay to ride rule also exists for El Toro. I was told they also have it for Kingda Ka, but Ka was closed. The only difference was that the locker was $1 for 2 hours at El Toro as opposed to $2 at Steel Vengeance. It's not great, and does come across as a bit cash grabby. I wish they'd use the timed free ones like HersheyPark does for SkyRush.

Same at HersheyPark for us last week. They have just reduced their daily schedule from 10-9 to 11-7. After the waterpark closed at 7 it was a ghost town from 7-9, although admittedly it wasn't really that busy in the dry park at all. We walked on nearly everything, including Candymonium

Twisted Colossus at Magic Mountain also has mandatory pouches. Any major RMC will empty your pockets.

It's crazy to me how "inexpensive" all things considered, that RMCs are. The rumored cost for the Iron Gwazi is around 10 million and, as you said, Zadra, the first ground up I-Box RMC, was in the 16 million range. If Cedar Fair survives but cuts back on capital expenditures for a few seasons, I'd think they should look to RMC once again. Certainly The Vortex spot, from a "best case scenario" perspective, looks like a great place for an RMC.

Worlds of Fun and Dorney down to 4 day weeks and HersheyPark, with it's brand new coaster, is cutting 3 hours from its operating day. We just got back from 3 days in that area with 2 at Hershey and 1 at Great Adventure and it was shockingly slow at Hershey. They had a lot of small attractions closed in addition to Storm Runner which is down for the year. We walked on Candymonium 8 times out of our 10 rides over 2 days. I could see Kings Island dropping days as the other CF parks have. Sad. It's a dangerous time for all of us, but if 2021 goes like 2020 it's going to challenge the very existence of a lot of parks, not just small ones either.

2019 was my favorite year ever with Leviathan. The added weight on the zero car was a huge improvement, it was hauling on all 3 of my visits last year. On our final visit in late august using the fastlane for platinum renewal we rode it 10 times that day, it was phenomenal. Can't wait to get full train Orion rides, hopefully next year.

Entering with our 1030 reservation and walking out at about 1020 after finishing on Mystic while the fireworks were going on, my wife and I did fine on the 4th. I bought 4 cooling neck gaiters off amazon, mission i think is the name. They were great, even with the 90 degree plus heat pretty much all day. We were pleased to see solid mask adhering overall, a couple of non compliant families when we were in the back park of Mystics queue mid-day. It was a great day, wear your mask!!

Goliath's turnaround helix is so good. I wish at least one of the B&M hypers built since had something similar instead of the standard hammerhead turn. Goliath is the best b&m hyper in NA, IMO. Haven't ridden Shambhala but only it looks better to me, with that awesome figure 8 amongst many other things.

Had a great lunch at about 1230 at Brewhouse before the crowds hit, excellent burger. Wife had the sliders. Tots too greasy as always but thats how i always feel about tots, not specific to KI. Added the spinach dip, it was excellent. Restroom was clean and hit the sanitizer on the side door exit. Second meal at Hanks, steak burrito for me and my wife had a Carnitas bowl. They gave us both a ton of guac, great value overall. A solid day. Kings Island has some of my favorite dining plan items, on par or better than CP and Knotts for top 3 in the chain.

Had my first 3 rides on Orion today. First was just after open, back row. Trim crushed us on the big hill, but it was a great start overall. Second ride at 415pm was also back row, much better. Really impressed from start to finish. Final ride at about 830, front row. Fun, very fast. I do prefer Leviathan and certainly Fury's front row ride. I live about 90 minutes from Leviathan so we ride it a lot. Overall I think I rate Orion above Leviathan, but certainly not above Fury. Carowinds is still home to the King of the Gigas, but Orion is no slouch. Can't wait to (hopefully) get full train rides on it next year. The crew today was awesome, by the way. They were flying with dispatches on non-cleaning cycles, it was outstanding. Kudos to Don and the whole team for a great job with the entire ride experience. The theming is great, the coaster looks amazing and rides so well. Fantastic addition to the park IMO.

I wonder if the early close will continue next year for Beast and Orion. We just left the park after a full 1030 to 10 day on the 4th. Since we missed Beast after fireworks to close the night we headed to Mystic. Entered line at about 955, got 2nd last train. It and Diamondback did have their lines open till 10. Not sure of any others.