ReedObsessor

Just a heads up regarding some of the B&M clamshell reopenings. From what I am hearing, Mako at SeaWorld has reopened, with signs pointing to Apollo's Chariot reopening this weekend. Keep in mind that neither of these have seatbelts. At the same time, the fact that those parks are majority owned by private equity (Hill Path Capital) makes me wonder if it's a sign of indifference towards riders (PE firms tend to avoid liabilities placed on their companies). Screamscape implied that the fact that other non-Six Flags parks are reopening their clamshells may provide a hint about where the blame lies with SFOG Goliath.

Ok, this doesn't make sense to me anymore. You can ride Candymonium at Hersheypark. You can ride Millennium Force, just days after a near miss all to similar to the TTD incident. But you can't ride Diamondback, Orion, or the CW and Carowinds counterparts, even though those have seatbelts like Candymonium. This just feels strange to me. I honestly see something like Orion or Fury as safer than Millie right now, based on recent news.

Time to let out my hopes and predictions: The hope: Diamondback and Orion are open again before the end of the season (Winterfest doesn't count as part of the season for this). Same for the Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland rides. And yes, Goliath at Magic Mountain as well. Raging Bull and Nitro will remain closed, just like SFOG Goliath. The expectation: Everything remains closed until next year. The overreac--no, I'm not going to give you one. I was also thinking about something else: dropping the Goliath name from all coasters except the SFMM one. Six Flags has no control over the Walibi Holland or La Ronde Goliaths, but I see a repaint and rebrand of SFOG as realistic, and I would prefer a rebrand of the Great America RMC (I doubt it would happen, though) just to limit the overused name. That said, I can imagine Six Flags Under Private Equity would end up largely abandoning preventative maintenance and sticking to reactive maintenance, leading to an even greater safety risk. The PE firm wouldn't be liable, given the ownership structure, and they would still profit regardless. The burden would remain on Six Flags itself, and any other hope of paying off the debt would be destroyed by dividend recapitalization.

As I said, I am using the "seatbelt defense" when it comes to my opinions on reopening the legacy Cedar Fair ones. And I confess: I have plans to go to KI either this weekend or next, likely with my family in the evening. And Diamondback is my favorite coaster there. Anyway, I stumbled onto news that the victim survived a bunch of stuff beforehand, including a car fire just weeks ago. Are you sure Final Destination is pure fiction?

That location matches the one Theme Park Brandon brought up earlier. Yeah, Carowinds is proving to literally be the best fit for AFO. I maintain that KI needs a modern launch coaster with inversions more than it needs AFO. Canada's wonderland has Alpenfury. Kings Dominion has Rapterra. Carowinds has Copperhead Strike. Kings Island has... uh... Given their financial situation, I am not opposed to bringing in that Intamin multi-launch from that cancelled Chinese plan.

I want to lay low so you don't end up hearing me overreacting to stuff. But some things keep me coming back. Giovanola has two hypers that I know of: Goliath at SFMM and Titan at SFOT. Giovanola was also where Bolliger & Mabillard started before forming their own business. Yet Titan remains open, while SFMM Goliath is closed. Way to kill Cinna the Poet, folks (that's a Shakespeare reference). Personally, the more I think of it, I feel like the B&M hypers and gigas of Carowinds, KI, and CW shouldn't be closed either. As far as I know, those six have seatbelts, while the legacy Six Flags ones don't. As much as I like Raging Bull, I'm defending its closure based on current circumstances. I mean, weren't the legacy Cedar Fair ones given seatbelts as a redundant safety mechanism in case the main restraints failed?

Well, this might be the last post I make here for a while. Given my tendency to overreact to things when I hear this kind of news, I better lay low so I don’t make exaggerated statements about my coaster future or the parks’ future. However, I will say one thing that did come to mind: the threat of bankruptcy, or worse, private equity ownership for Six Flags. After X2, this is something Six Flags could ill afford. My immediate thoughts are that this is likely to happen, but the details of the incident must be made clear first. At this point, have they determined it to be a malfunction and not rider error? And if it is confirmed to be a malfunction, will Diamondback, Orion, and all others of this type remain closed until next year? Or maybe just the ones without seatbelts… But as I look to Texas for 2027, I now feel a huge wave of pessimism crashing into me. Should I be worried about those parks being indirectly affected by this? I know that Texas doesn’t have any B&M Hypers or Gigas, but the financial situation could still have an impact.

I was considering a slight variation on that "a Six Flags park" idea, which would apply it to Over Texas and Georgia (Qiddiya City already feels separate from the others, and it is, like Darien Lake and Frontier City, under different ownership). Six Flags Over Texas -- A Six Flags Park Six Flags Over Georgia -- A Six Flags Park I know that creates redundancies, and risks being mocked. But depending on how this branding works, it might be a way to show that they are truly under the same umbrella. Besides, there really isn't any way to change the names of those two parks (to match the rest of the format) without stirring up the same kind of trouble as calling CP and KI Six Flags North Ohio and Over Ohio. It might sound silly, but I think people would get used to it eventually.

Disappointing, but not surprising. And not the first or even second major coaster I missed out on (I live closer to KI than any other park, and still completely missed out on SoB). I really don't intend to go to Magic Mountain or Knotts in the short term, especially considering I have other places I want to check off, including in Texas, the East Pennsylvania/New Jersey area, and the Southeast (Carowinds/Over Georgia) region. I'm somewhat of a coaster enthusiast, and I still have a lot to cover in America, so I plan around what happens to these parks. I'll wait until they get a headliner to replace the head-basher.

Might as well post something supporting the Carowinds location predictions A map shot from Theme Park Brandon: Add in the flight themed area and the ride just fits there better. No offense to KI. Anyway, in my opinion, KI needs two things when it comes to coasters: A launched coaster that isn't from the Paramount days. More inversions. Only Banshee, Flight of Fear, and Invertigo have them now, and the latter is on borrowed time. ArieForce One may be the more fun coaster, but KI would be better off with the Intamin multi-launch and spinner combo. The optimal location would probably be Action Zone, which includes removing Invertigo, Congo Falls, and Timberwolf Amphitheater. I included the spinner because KI has neither that or a wild mouse. I think I should root for that now. I think it does more to fill in gaps at KI. And I also favor retheming Action Zone into a spooky theme while we're at it.

They will probably do what they did with Cedar Point for this year, and announce restroom renovations and perhaps remodel some of their shops.

I wouldn't take it that far, but would suggest that a smaller investment pool means resources are diverted elsewhere. Still, it would be harder to justify the higher pass prices if you don't have anything new to show for it. And my own pessimist nature is in conflict with this year's reality, in which I rode all non-kiddie coasters at Canada's Wonderland and Darien Lake without issue, along with the Frank n Coaster at Clifton Hill and a trio at Seabreeze. Far better than my DC area trip in 2025, which had 4 SBNOs (riding Ride of Steel at Darien Lake gave me closure with the Six Flags America counterpart being one of them). Definitely taking the salt grains when it comes to TP Brandon. And my consideration of the Missouri alternative is pretty dependent on tomorrow's announcement. So don't start being pessimistic just because of me, please.

Theme Park Brandon took an alarmist take on this news. I'm a natural pessimist, and this feeds in to this. It also seems to me like a sign that certain parks, including both Ohio parks, might not get anything for a while, not even flat rides. It's starting to make me rethink my 2027 plans, which were to buy a Prestige Pass and do a Texas park run next summer. But looking looking at the way things are going, I might not even renew Gold, with my summer 2027 focus being the parks of Missouri, especially if St. Louis gets ArieForce One. Hopefully I can get some better answers before the initial pass purchase deadlines. I just want to get the most out of my passes.

https://www.wcpo.com/money/consumer/dont-waste-your-money/kings-islands-next-big-roller-coaster-may-be-hiding-in-atlanta A key statement: The coaster is definitely moveable," wrote Darren Torr, president of Rocky Mountain Construction. "Based on ranking by coaster enthusiasts, it's a top 10 coaster in the world. It has angle iron structure, which means it will require new hardware. It has some topography changes, so a new site will need to be modified or the structure will be need to be reworked to match the site elevation. Ballpark, the cost to move is probably ~$10M less than building new. I have no idea what the future holds for AF1, hopefully, it continues to deliver smiles for guests." This tells me that relocation is in fact feasible for AFO. But while many want it to come to KI (and this could be in The Vortex plot), I wouldn't consider it a certainty that it will happen. There's other parks for consideration, including within Six Flags and from other chains including Herschend, United Parks, and Enchanted Parks. I'm not going to look into detail at all of these, but any park that has the capacity for it (and doesn't already have an RMC like it) could be in the running.

Here is a top down screenshot from Google Earth. Of course, when I discuss this with Gemini, it claims that the natural topography actually drops and that the ride features a total elevation change of 180 feet over its course, while the lift hill is 154 feet tall. It also says that some supports integrate with the structure and foundation of the arcade building, and that the complex structure makes any relocation a logistical nightmare. The footers also had to be custom designed for soil density and load bearing requirements. Since I used an AI as the source, the value of this data is limited. But page 16 of this source demonstrates that AF1 had months of delays and additional costs to meet county zoning requirements. I wonder if relocating this would prove more expensive than it cost to build the coaster in the first place. A tax write off demolition may be the only feasible option.