Rivertown Rider

I would definitely be in favor of a Camp Snoopy overhaul. Doing the more rustic overlay would be a nice transition from IS to Rivertown.

Merry Christmas Don and everyone. Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Action Zone is the answer for me. It has the bones of a very good area (Banshee, Bat, Delirium, and Drop Tower) but going with a Transylvania / Spooky theme would add so much. It needs more family flats because once you get past Congo Falls and The Bat, there is nothing for families to do in that area.

So if it is a chain there are probably three logical choices: Cedar Fair: While selfishly it would be great to have another Cedar Fair park two hours from my house, at best it would be Michigan's Adventure where they weren't investing in it much or at worst it would be Geauga Lake. Six Flags: Obviously SIX left them high and dry last time. During an ACE event I attended back in 2018 the workers were talking about Six Flags destroying the coaster operating systems which KK had to add new when Ed Hart and company bought it. SIX is not the same group it was at that time but I'd be surprised if they went that route and resold it to SIX. Herschend: They are probably the most intriguing because they could turn it into a great park and give KI the most competition which would be good for the growth of KI as well. I could see Ed Hart and company cashing out now with so much uncertainty in the world.

This is a big win for the park and a really smart move. It wouldn't surprise me if long term we see expanded ERT because of this (similar to CP's 1 hour ERT compared to our current half hour).

WhiteWater West took over the old Hopkins company. Something like Daredevil Falls at Dollywood would be a nice way of bringing back KCKC but still be well themed. The thing I would say is that people seem to not like getting soaked as much as they did 20-30 years ago. Obviously getting their technology (be it phones, watches, etc.) wet is the big difference. I do think a bigger flume in Rivertown could be successful though.

^ If we were to get another B&M, a flyer would be near the bottom of my preferences. I've ridden Superman at Great America, Great Adventure, and Georgia and I'm pretty sure each of them were down for at least part of the day I was there. I actually preferred Firehawk to it. Superman was better than Nighthawk though. My preference of B&M models we don't have: 1. Floorless 2. Wing 3. Sit-down 4. Dive 5. Flyer 6. Stand-up

I think it will be several seasons before we get a new coaster because of COVID and also because of the chain in general. Since we just got a coaster this year, one would think that the other parks will get another coaster before we will. I could see Cedar Point and Carowinds both getting a new coaster in 2022 or 2023, KD is highly rumored to be putting in in their S&S Wing which if it is successful I could see them putting it at some of the smaller parks in the chain like MA and VF. I think over the next 4-5 years the park can focus on improving the Oktoberfest and Action Zone areas with more thrilling flats and more family flats and then eventually adding a big coaster to either The Vortex plot or somewhere in the Action Zone area.

KI is the only one I went to when it was a Paramount park. Under CF I've been to all of them except CGA. 1. KI- The best overall collection of coasters, themeing, and rides. Even though it was the Paramount flagship, I feel the park has improved even more under CF. 2. KD- I have seen KD described as KI with different toys in the toy box. The similarities are crazy. Their IS is a little shorter but feels very similar. Obviously there are the clones (FOF, BLSC), the similar coasters (Racer 75 and Anaconda). Avalanche and Dominator are both really fun coasters and Twisted Timbers is great. I am not as big of an I305 fan as others but it is worth going there for. I like how the park has done a good job maintaining shade throughout the park. 2. Wonderland- There is a lot of charm to CW. Certainly it is one of the most improved parks of the last 10 years. I love Leviathan and Behemoth is great too. Their flats selection is probably the best in the CF chain. Sledgehammer is probably my favorite flat. The drawback is their coaster collection after the top 3 tails off quickly and their operations on the non B&M coasters could be better. There is nice shade and landscaping throughout the park. 4. Carowinds- Fury is my #1 Steel. Afterburn is my #2 B&M invert. I like Intimidator and Copperhead was a great addition to the park. Our old set of Flyers is the best flat in the park. You can tell KECO didn't design the park because it doesn't feel like KI, KD, and Wonderland. It really feels more like Cedar Point South with little shade and plenty of concrete. After the top four coasters the quality falls off quickly. Another greatly improved park over the last 10 years. Depending on the day, I could easily switch the order of 2-4 but all are great parks.

I agree with all of the ones that I have been to that have been mentioned so far. Ones not mentioned so far that I'll add: Carowinds: I love Fury and it is my steel number one. While the park does have a lot of less desirable coasters, they have a pretty solid top four. I would rank them 1. Fury, 2. Afterburn (probably my number 2 invert), 3. Copperhead Strike, and 4. Intimidator. It is also a park that depending on where you are coming/going from that you could combine trips with (KD/BGW on one end, SFOG on another, or Dollywood). Six Flags Great Adventure: My favorite of the Six Flags parks I have been to. It really gave me a feeling of a cross between CP and KI. While I would rank both of those parks over it, it has a great diverse lineup. El Toro is a bucket list coaster for a lot of people. Bizarro is my favorite floorless and Nitro may be my favorite of the non-Giga B&M hypers. It can easily be combined with a Pennsylvania trip. Just save up money for tolls. Some general advice that I would have is try to hit smaller parks when they are somewhat on the way to your destination. For example, a park like Waldameer gets overlooked but Ravine Flyer II is worth the stop.

Hopefully this means the ride can finally stop having so much downtime and that it can run both trains. I'm a Dollywood passholder and in my trips down there, I don't think we have had a visit where it hasn't gone down for part of the trip or been down the entire trip. The park has even seemingly been making less merchandise for the ride the past few years which is strange for their headliner.

I enjoy the Batman inverts. I would also give some love to The Bat (Top Gun version) and Vortex at Wonderland. They do a great job of providing a different experience with The Bat being more secluded and Vortex making good use of the mountain.

I've said it before but Cedar Fair should take a serious look at purchasing Kennywood. I realize we are in a pandemic but Parques doesn't seem to know what to do with the park. From an operational standpoint, CF would improve things drastically. In a lot of ways Kennywood is essentially the Dorney of Western PA. Leveraging Phantom's Revenge, maintaining the woodies and flats, and improving guest and food service would be priorities. With KI, CP, DP, and KD not being horrible drives away from it, it could improve Platinum Pass sales in that region.

It would be great to see Cedar Fair pick up some of these even though they are rare.

As I walked around Action Zone yesterday it just reconfirmed for me the help that area needs. Obviously yesterday was a cold windy day so a lot of the rides were down. But once Banshee went down only The Bat and Delirium were running. I did end up with one of the best rides that I have ever had on The Bat though. As far as the theme of the area I continue to think a haunt/spooky theme is the answer. Playing around with names I like Enchanted Forest for the name. It is a nostalgic callback to one of the most popular defunct attractions. Also I think Enchanted is a little softer sounding than Haunted. From a quick fix standpoint if they relocated Skyflyer elsewhere in the park, they could easily put a couple family flats in that space.

Yes, when they did their flats addition a few years back they got a Zephyr, a Top Scan, a Musik Express, and a Troika. Either a Top Scan or Musik Express would fit nicely in that Killmart spot. If money were no object, I'd probably put a Top Scan down by Shake, Rattle, and Roll and put the Musik Express where Killmart is.

^ Who knows if that even means anything but that would be a great spot for a flat. That spot is tailor made for a Musik Express.

I've always wondered how much of the comparitive popularity of WWC and RFYLCB is due to the proximity to Soak City. I agree that Congo Falls would be much more popular if it were in Rivertown. Ideally KI would call up Whitewater West and put in something like Dollywood's Daredevil Falls which is a better themed KCKC.

An Action Zone revamp is at the top of my list. Putting some more family flats in that area along with another flagship coaster in that area. I can't see Invertigo and Congo surviving another 10 years. I would also give Planet Snoopy the Camp Snoopy overlay and move the Flyers over by Backlot where the original Flyers were.

I agree that they need to take a page out of Canada's Wonderland Frontier Canada section and take a few years and gradually build up that area. When I look at the whole area the only rides in the current Action Zone that I feel are not in danger of getting removed are Banshee, Delirium, and probably Drop Tower. I hope they are able to keep The Bat but from a chain standpoint if it comes to saving Vortex at Wonderland or saving The Bat (they are clones), they are going to save Vortex at CW because it is probably the fourth most popular ride there. I do think The Bat's ridership would improve if they found a way to shorten the queue. Long range if they got rid of Timberwolf they could do a more direct route to the ride. The park of course did something similar when they rerouted White Water Canyon's queue line to prepare for Mystic. Like others have said I would say Invertigo and Congo are probably both in danger. The interesting thing would be if the park kept Congo but just removed Invertigo. If they put some family flats in there like a Tilt-a-Whirl and Musik Express it might actually help Congo's ridership. I still think Congo goes at some point though. I do like either going with a Black Forest theme or just combining it with Oktoberfest. As far as the next coaster, I actually like something like Copperhead Strike in that area. Since it only has a 48" height requirement it would be something that more people could do. If they did reroute The Bat entrance with a Timberwolf removal, they could build the entrance to the new coaster on part of the Timberwolf plot and then go down in part of the old Bat path over to some of the empty SOB area.

I agree that it is probably Racer retracking. It would make sense to finish the retracking and then go back to Racer's original paint scheme for the 50th.

I was impressed by how quickly the Dark Knight coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Great America seemed to roll thru the line. I would be happy with something like that in the TRTR spot.

I would say Dollywood/Pigeon Forge and Silver Dollar City/Branson.

At first glance I thought the PR team was in SWAT gear.

^ Yeah I know it was a prototype. I think the problems that Dollywood has had with Lightning Rod and some other parks have had with other RMCs may make chains think that they aren't worth the headaches even as great as their coasters are.