Rustbucket

It made much more sense for them to put White Lightning at Fun Spot Orlando. Smaller wooden coaster there. AF1 was too ambitious.

One main problem is that Fun Spot Atlanta does not have many things to do besides Arie Force One. I only spend about an hour at the park to ride Arie Force One but nothing else. I have been buying season passes since the coaster opening 3 years ago. This would not have happened without Arie Force One. Also, the park is located in rather remote area. ATL is not far away but the park is not close to other notable attractions in Atlanta area.

Since we moved down to SC from Cincinnati area, we visit SFoG, Dollywood, and Carowinds in rotating basis. We were last here during July 4 weekend. One thing I noticed right away was the number of coaster shirts people were wearing. The obvious reason was that many people were at SFoG after visiting Fun Spot Atlanta for Arie Force One for the last time (probably first as well). I actually thought that there were more enthusiasts here than normal coaster events. I ran into enthusiasts from all over the US including a guy was from Oregon. (More later on this guy.) I met a person, Randy, from Texas. He was wearing a Tormenta shirt, and we started to talk about Tormenta and my planned visit to SFoT in September. He has home park is SFoT and visiting SFoG for the first time. He also visited Fun Spot on Saturday to ride AF1. We decided to ride together since he was not familiar with the park. Twisted Cyclone opens 20 to 30 minutes prior to actual opening of the park. It was delayed somewhat but got to ride this retrofit RMC before the park opened. Many people call this mini Steel Vengeance with very similar elements. This is much short duration and not as tall but has similar elements. Goliath is my favorite here. Only problem is the rattling. The layout is quite different from other B&M "hypers" thus rather unique. We rode this twice. Batman the Ride here is by far the most intense Batman clone. I have no idea why so. SeaWorld SA, SFFT, SFStL, SFMM, SFGAm, and SFGAd do not come close to the intensity of this one. We rode this twice as well. Mine Eraser is a Schwartzkopf coaster that is well maintained and very reliable. (Do not blame me if I just cursed this coaster. 🤣) Monster Mansion is a must ride at SFoG even though this is not a coaster. This reminds me of old Disney Rides. Nice themed and relaxing. Both Dare Devil coaster and Georgia Goldrusher were closed. Too bad about Goldrusher. This is much better cosster than what I expected at first. What is happening with Intamin now? This coaster opening was delayed for a year and still having all these issues after a decent operation last year. With SF having issues with Intamin recently and CF issues with Intamin in the past, we may not see SF doing any future business with them in the near future. Blue Hawk is a revamped Viper coaster with better restraint system. Viper was the biggest head banger in my coaster riding experience. This is much improved but still not very enjoyable. Great American Scream Machine is one of my favorite here even if the ride is getting rough again. I do like this woodie. For obvious reasons, this ride feels like Racer. Superman the Ultimate Flight is a B&M flying coaster. I liked flying Dutchman model better than this one. This one is enjoyable enough. Do not expect Tatsu or Manta experiences. The guy from Oregon, Bao, was a solo rider who rode with us on this. He told me he needs to leave the park by 2:30 pm at the latest to catch his flight at 5 pm. I alway do Justice League at least once. Also, all the effects in this shooter work. 146100 was my score. We rode Dahlonega Mine Train before leaving the park. Randy wanted to stay longer so that he can ride Georgia Scorcher and Dare Devil coaster (if this opens back up. This is our regular route going through this park. This park does not have a good reputation as far as operations go but have improved since CF SF merger. The park is also looking better, too. It has a long ways to go but improving nevertheless. Randy even mentioned that the park operation was better than he expected. We left the park around 2:50. Well, Bao (the Oregon guy) was running toward the parking lot when we were exiting the park. Hopefully, he made to his flight. He was cutting it rather close. 😆

Saturday in July...

Well, I did not get to ride Kumba when I was there in March 2024, July 2024, March 2025, September 2025 and February 2026. It was always closed. I guess no last ride for me for Kumba. This was nice B&M looper although I prefer Wildfire at Silver Dollar City.

I really like FoF. Actually, I like FoF after they removed over the shoulder restraints. Very nice theming as well as funny queue video. I once had a rollback on KI FoF.

I am not sure if SFoG would be an option with Twisted Cyclone there. AF1 is much better coaster but so similar. My guess is that parks with RMC would not consider this. Only difference being AF1 being a ground up RMC so that there is a uniqueness about it. Other retrofit RMCs are very similar to each other.

One place that may have some flat space is Carowinds. Other Funspot parks do not have space, I think. Orlando location does not have space. Maybe Kissimmee location back parking lot could be an option. SeaWorld? I am not sure if BGT can do this.

Arie Force One is located on nearly flat ground. I am not sure if there are any location at KI that can accommodate this coaster except for parking lot.

I believe the rule is lightning strike within 10 miles. They are closed for 30 minutes. The time resets after each lightning strike within 10 miles.

Son of Beast was arguably the most picturesque coaster in history. I miss seeing SoB looking down from Drop Tower.

With KI no longer being my home park when we moved away in 2017, I cannot ride Orion like I did like Drop Tower (10,665), Diamondback (7,500+) and The Beast (2,000+). I am at 250 on Orion now.

This feels so long ago.

This coaster is well on the way. These are pictures from 1/1/2023.

Tracks behind Dragonflier. This coaster foot print is extremely large. Many footings are placed. These pictures are from 10/26/2022.

Thanks for posting this. I hope they will get this fixed. Grizzly was the first wooden coaster I rode as well as my first coaster in the US. I was there on the opening day for that coaster at KD.

I started to see footings for the new coaster. Also, some structures are being built near the entrance of Wildwood Grove. The foot print of this coaster is extremely large. These photos were taken on 9/11/2022.

Nice trip report. We were at Carowinds on Sunday. Even though it rained off and on, the park was really busy. Monday was extremely rainy so we stayed away.

Construction well on the way at Carowinds. These are taken on 9/4/2022.

I really like Mr Freeze. One of those coasters that are unexpectedly good. Knowing SF, they will retheme the Ride.

My son and I visited SFoG on 8/28/2022. This is our "home" SF park and visit here about once a month. Unfortunately, Acrophobia is closed for the day. Twisted Cyclone always opens early before the park officially opens. This RMC is one of the better ones. These smaller RMC retrofit coasters are much more re-ridable than larger ones. Dare Devil dive coaster capacity is very low so that wait time is normally quite long. I always try to ride this early. Mindbender is my favorite Schwarzkopf coaster over Scorpion at BGT, Revolution at SFMM or Sooperdooperlooper at Hershey. This is much smoother since refurbishment in 2021. I love Goliath. This almost hyper B&M coaster has been growing on me. I love the double helix and triple airtime hills at the end. This coaster is getting somewhat rattly. Batman the Ride and Superman Ultimate Flight are clones of the rides at other SF parks. I do find this Batman to be more intense than others for some reason. Great American Scream Machine was retracted this year and much smoother. I wish they kepted 3 row PTC trains for this coaster. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable wooden coaster. This park needs some TLC and in need for a new coaster. Many rides need new paint job. One positive is that it was cleaner than my other visits to this park. This park certainly has potential. There are some unique coasters along with good flat rides. They do need to expand the kiddie section.

Thunderbolt is still a nice little wooden coaster.

I have not been to SFNE in over 10 years. This park has one of my favorite steel coaster (#2 after Fury 325) that was known as Bizarro when I last visited here. I had about 4 hours to spend here. I headed over to Superman the Ride (Bizarro) first. This is quite probably the best Intamin designed coaster. This coaster has everything that I look for on a coaster: extreme airtime, lateral, speed, intensity and re-ridable. Even though this coaster is "only" 221 feet tall, I feel that this coaster is better than any other coaster except Fury 325. Needless to say, this is my favorite hyper coaster. The latest Six Flags cookie cutter coaster is Joker. I rode this at SFGAm last week and at SFNE (#417). I think this one was slightly better than the one at SFGAm. Not much difference between the two. Riddler's Revenge is the new name for old Mind Eraser which is Vekoma Invert. Another cookie cutter design. Batman Dark Knight is a decent floorless coaster. Dominator at KD is a far superior floorless. I enjoy this one more than Kraken at SeaWorld Orlando or Rougarou at CP. Wicked Cyclone (#418) is quite good. As with other RMC retrofit coasters, the restraint system is terrible and thus not comfortable. This feels more like Twisted Cyclone than Steel Vengeance. I actually liked this Six Flags park. The atmosphere felt much better than SFGAm last week. It is entirely possible that shooting at SFGAm night before negatively impacted the park. As I have done a few times, this park is worth visiting just for Superman alone.

I enjoy Whizzer but did not have time to ride it today. I do love the history behind that coaster. Very unique one at that. I really did not like Iron Wolf. For that matter, I am not a fan of stand up coasters. Goliath is a good wooden coaster. I still like Lightning Rod and Outlaw Run better though. This will get the longest wait out of all rides here.

I was planning to come to SFGAm for over a month since I was going to be in Chicago area. I had about 3 hours to spend at the park. With the shooting last night in the parking lot, I really did not know what to expect. I got to the park around 2 pm. There was no parking lit attendant. No one was collecting $35 parking fee or checking parking pass. It may be that they are having staffing issue or something but not expected. There were several Gurnee police cars patrolling the lot though. About 1/4 of the rides were closed including Maxx Force, Viper, and American Eagle. I was looking forward to Maxx Force. Oh well... Only new coaster credit was The Joker (416). Interesting coaster but not something impressive. Goliath is still a wonderful coaster. I enjoy these original RMC wooden coasters much better than retrofit steel RMC coasters. X-Flight, Batman and Raging Bull were just as I remembered them. They are enjoyable B&M coasters yet none of them stand out. Later on, Viper opened back up. This is an underrated wooden coaster. Another one of those Cyclone clones but it this is much better than original. Overall, I was not really impressed with this park. This park used to be one of the better run SF parks but not sure anymore. This is my last trip to this park for 2022. I am hoping that things improve for Six Flags and see new investments in these parks in the near future.