johnjniehaus

It's a horrible idea that makes sense... I'm definitely against it but I could definitely see it happen. The Bat might look cool with a navy blue, yellow, and grey Batman color scheme but that's about all I'd enjoy - the fact that The Bat is still around

I wonder if they will let me use my Six Flags Gold Membership (the old one where you pay $6.59 a month) at Kings Island now? Do you think they are finally going to cut off the old memberships or will they still be grandfathered in?

Yeah I don't know what the profit margins are on SFMM/Knott's but I think if they are selling parks that Dorney is getting sold pretty quickly. Hopefully they get a great buyer because I really love Dorney and their great history!

I think the small parks will suffer the most. The parks listed above will get most of the investments. The smaller parks like frontier city and Dorney Park will probably never see a new coaster again (unless it's a cheap clone). This also brings up the question of will another company such as Merlin or Sea World try to buy certain parks that the new Cedar Flags company decides they want to cut from their roster?

Which you know is going to happen. The last thing they want is for a bunch of factions within the board. "Oh I'm a CF guy" and "Well I'm a SF gal" etc. From a standpoint of wanting to move forward successfully I think everyone will do their best to get along and compromise.

This is like a dream but also like a nightmare. Historically competition has been good for both chains to build bigger and better thrills. I personally hope we see more of Cedar Fair leadership in control of the new combined company because frankly CF has better parks and builds better rides. Six Flags has been cost cutting like crazy and the new coasters/rides they build are frankly just not exciting. When was the last time Six Flags built anything by B&M? I hope this merger will pull six flags up but I'm afraid that it'll drag Cedar Fair down. Another thought - it seems as if Six Flags is the one taking the lead here. Correct me if I'm wrong but Cedar Fair is essentially becoming part of six flags? So does that mean that the parks are going to get renamed? How about rides? I really liked the direction CF was going at parks like KI and KD with the new themed lands which have unique stories unlike six flags that just themes everything for a DC character and slaps the same labels on everything at every park. Of course another concern for me personally is the older rides and rollercoasters... Six Flags has been removing old rides and rollercoasters at an aggressive rate! Most of their Woodies are rough and don't receive the love that the ones at Kings Island need. What is the future of Cedar Fair's collection of Arrow coasters under the new merger plan? Sure maybe there is a bigger resource for scrap parts/trains but I fear for arrow loopers and suspended coasters. If the new business motto is six flags policy I think we'll see a lot of older rides removed in the next ten years and they will be replaced with dumb clones that pale in comparison. One final thought, what happens to parks that exist in the same city or geographic area? For example Magic Mountain/Knott's? Some of the other parks are rather close together as well... I personally think we'll see more parks close and land sold if there is a demand for it. (See California Great America) Oh side note: the two Great America parks will finally be reunited under the same ownership for the final years because CGA closes! Ironically kinda cool from a historical standpoint.

Now's the chance!

I personally am not a fan of the B&M vest restraints on any of the models. Winged coasters probably bother me the least but there's absolutely no reason that dive coasters need vest restraints. Those things ruin all the airtime which in my opinion is the reason to ride a dive coaster. Vest restraints in general I feel are very restrictive and often do not allow for good airtime or in the case of Banshee, they crush your thighs. I understand that older B&M inverts get rougher with age and the old hard OTS restraints are going to leave you with a headache after riding. However, there is more to the issue than just the restraint I think. For example, Arrow Loopers have OTS restraints but some of the well maintained ones rarely bang your head at all (take loch ness monster at BGW for example). Montu at BGT has OTS restraints and is the smoothest B&M invert I've ever ridden. No headbanging and no vibration/rattle issues there. I prefer an occasional bob on the ears from the OTS restraints on Raptor than two minutes of thigh crushing on Banshee. Now provided I do enjoy both rides and neither is so uncomfortable that I refuse to ride it.

While it'll probably never happen, I want to see the Backwards Blue Racer make a return. Even if it's only for one season or something. Of course traditional trains with OTS restraints on Banshee would be great I would like to see FoF get some maintenance. It's been running really rough the past few seasons and the one at KD is soooo much smoother! FoF running smooth is easily my #3 in the park however it falls to about 6 or 7 the way it's running currently

I have never been to Worlds of Fun however, I was very happy with my visit to Dorney this summer. While none of the coasters are top 10 material I think they are all fun and make for a well rounded park experience. Dorney was exactly what I look for in a small/mid size park - one with some historical charm and just good, fun rides.

Well I spent roughly 4 hours at Holiday World today seeing as it was going to be my last chance to get it in before they close for the year. Unfortunately I was pretty sick over the weekend and was just starting to improve so I knew that I would probably start feeling bad at the park eventually. My final ride count was as follows - Raven 1x, Legend 3x, Voyage 4x, Thunderbird 1x, Gobbler Gateway 1x. I made sure to walk through all the themed sections even if I didn't stop to ride any rides there (Christmas and 4th of July). Overall I was very pleased with the park and the free soft drinks were AMAZING! I started off with The Legend which I would say is a smaller version of The Boss at SFSL. That covered helix mid ride is really really forceful and the rest of the decently long layout provided good airtime and laterals. The slight twist on the first drop was pretty sweet too. I thought it was running pretty smoothly and the ops were amazing on this one. Next I made my way to the Voyage. This ride is definitely best in the park. I'm questioning if it's a true wooden coaster seeing as all the support structures are metal (I think it still counts as wooden?) Anyway it was probably the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden. Only had two jolts that were noticeable and was a really long ride. I think it might have topped The Beast for me making it my new #1 wooden coaster however The Beast is going to have a second chance on Fri when I go to Halloween Haunt so we'll see if The Voyage can retain that #1 spot or whether an old favorite will triumph in the end... After Voyage, I rode Thunderbird which is probably the shortest/weakest winged coaster I've ever ridden. Don't get me wrong it serves it's purpose in the holiday world lineup perfectly but to me, GateKeeper and wild eagle are far superior. This is where I started feeling bad. I don't think any of the coasters thus far had been rough or uncomfortable but I think it was me just starting to feel bad from whatever fever sickness I had over the weekend. I started with a headache and got sick to my stomach which is not normal for me at an amusement park so I know the rides were not to blame. My equilibrium had been off over the weekend and I think maybe the rides threw it off and made me feel nauseous. However, if I went to Holiday World perfectly healthy I'm sure I would have been fine and not felt sick or had a headache. So to take a break, I rode Gobbler Getaway. I definitely think that is better than boo blasters for a Sally dark ride. The guns actually worked and I got a great score. Finally, I decided I would have to get in The Raven before I called it quits and drove home. The ops were horrible on this one so it took much longer than expected to actually get on. While the raven is a good coaster, it's definitely not the best woodie by any means. The huge turn over the lake and the "5th drop" were both great but the coaster felt very short. Also, it felt rough to me. Maybe this was because physically I was kind of done/ready to leave/not feeling 100% or perhaps it's actually rougher than the other two wooden coasters at HW. Anyway, to sum up I enjoyed my visit to the park and while the Voyage and the Legend are both in my top 10 wooden coasters list, I don't know if I'll be back next year... 3 hours is a long drive for two really good coasters whenever you have Kings Island in your home town and Cedar Point is only 4 hours away. However, I will say that Holiday World is definitely better than KY Kingdom so anyone down by Louisville should make the hour trip over there if they haven't already.

A euro fighter would fit KY Kingdom lineup very nicely!

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know the typical life expectancy of the Omni-mover ride system that is inside the dark ride building? Seeing as PT opened in 1992, the ride system is over 30 years old now. I'm just curious as to how much service life expectancy it still has. I know there's been a few ideas such as an rmc vehicle ride (like new fire in the hole) replacing the Omni-mover as the Phantom Theater ride vehicle. It wouldn't be the first time they put a different ride system into that building seeing as the Omni-mover replaced the arrow boat ride known as the Enchanted Voyage/Smurfs Enchanted Voyage. Also, if the Omni-mover is going to last a long while yet, does anyone know or have an educated guess on whether the park kept the other half of the ride vehicles it used to run while operating as Phantom Theater? I know there's a few that are sometimes out as decorations at haunt and there were some at the PTE show but I'm wondering what ever became of the other vehicles.....

I agree I thought Invertigo was running better this year than last year. I've actually enjoyed my three rides on it this summer compared to my usual one and done painful experience I have other years

My cousin had a meal plan this season and we got our money's worth out of it. Seeing as he doesn't go all the time he barely broke even but we definitely didn't take a loss. I personally seldom eat at an amusement park so meal/drink plans have never held any appeal to me. I'm that guy who after breakfast went to magic mountain and survived the entire day on a soft pretzel and free water. If I go to Kings Island directly after work I can skip dinner and not have second thoughts about it. Tell you what though, that crepe cake at Grain and Grill is my new favorite Kings Island food item. My dad got a slice last time he went with me and I've been very tempted every time I walk past grain and grill now.

Price increases are a difficult thing. I can safely say that if they made haunt any sort of upcharge/not included in the gold pass than I would never pay extra to go. Same thing for winterfest. I actually think they make the money on those events by pass holders bringing their friends and family up there who don't usually go for the normal season. For example, winterfest attracts more grandparents than the regular season (just based on the park demographic that I observe) I don't think all those grandparents are season pass holders. They just bought a one time winterfest ticket to go with some kids and grandkids who have passes. I assume haunt is a similar deal. At what point though is a season pass too much money? I'd be curious how much people would be willing to pay before the park would make less money by increasing prices due to less people buying passes. Guess they could ask six flags seeing as that's the motto they adopted. Pay more and get less. Hey if it actually works I'd do it too but I just don't understand how marketing yourself to less people is profitable. Maybe this is why I'm not a business owner or financial manager of any sort. As long as my checkbook balances at the end of the month I'm happy!

Hey thanks for running one of my favorite flats! I totally get that the Monster is not an efficient loader and never has been. It wasn't designed for efficiency at all. However, the 2ops in my opinion is a terrible plan. I was there on some Fridays and Saturdays this year and it still only had two ops. I remember just a few years back they would have all 6 arms loaded on Saturdays. I'm not telling you anything you don't know first hand but I definitely think the monster deserves 3ops.

Congratulations! You've taken your first steps into a larger world. My sister was always scared of new coasters and cried every time she was in line all up until highschool years and then suddenly just figured out that there's really nothing different about most coasters. Anyway, glasses up to 2024 and hopefully you can get out to some more parks and get on some more great coasters!

The ride hours and staffing cuts mid season were very disappointing to me personally. The Monster ops are painfully slow, the Train running with reduced capacity is sad, and no racing on The Racer during the week was just not one of my favorite decisions. I do feel like as pointed out already that most of the improvements were late. That being said the theming and new rides in adventure Port I thought were solid. Zamperla isn't bad (of course the classic Intamin drunken barrels and Huss Enterprise rides were probably better) but those rides fit well thematically and aesthetically. I personally also enjoyed the PTE (seeing as I somehow didn't see it last year) and the Adventure Awaits Fireworks show was a good follow up to the 50th anniversary.

Very true. I guess BGT can afford B&M too as much as they charge to get in down there.

We have a closing date of Oct 31 for Loch Ness Monster. The Website says it will be open for final rides Nov 4-5 for members only. The plan is to have it refurbished and operational again at some point in 2024. I'm curious as to how long the project will take and at what point next year it will reopen...

Is it just me or does it seem like sea world installs coasters that are very similar to what they already have at a given park? By that I mean building family coasters at parks they already have family coasters at and building thrill coasters where they need a good family coaster... While I think this new addition for BGT will be a good ride, it makes me wonder why they didn't go with someone other than B&M seeing as half their coasters at BGT are B&M and they already have a thrill coaster invert...

My vote is for a new Vekoma though a mack extreme spinner would be pretty awesome as well. I have said for years the plot screams dive coaster however, Cedar Point has one already so isn't it about time we get something they don't already have? I wouldn't be crying about an RMC but I feel like if they wanted an RMC they should have built one instead of Mystic Timbers (feel free to disagree). Whatever they decide to build, I would like to see it have a 48" height requirement seeing as it's replacing Vortex which did. I also think it's kinda sad that kids have to wait until they are 52" to ride a looping coaster at KI now. That's probably 2 more years for any kids like me who grows 2 inches a year (I don't think I've grown since 2018 though so if any coaster ever have a height requirement of 69" I will never get to ride)

I choose a different question to be obsessed with for each each night of the week. (joking of course). The history book and photo books have been tremendous in answering some of my "keep you up at night" questions especially concerning recent additions or removals.

I'm not going to tar and feather you but yes the monster is definitely a bad capacity, bad efficiency ride but it's a classic and I would hate to see it go. I'll wait in the line and deal with the slow ops to be able to get that good stomach drop and the crazy spinning if the balance is off.