Dvo

^I agree. When I first saw the picture I thought of a Woodstock theme. Looks like the right color.

Like what? I'd say American Eagle, Viper, and Vertical Velocity are the only good rides there. Raging Bull is easily the worst hyper I've been on (just under Goliath at SFMM), and if you've been on one Batman clone you've been on them all. It's a good park to see once for the credits, but after that I think it's largely over-priced and over-crowded.

I like it on Maverick a lot... it really is a great experience up front. Although I like all seats on it as well and normally I don't wait for the front. I DO ride the front on all B&M Inverts and Stand-Ups because with the 4-across seating the line is almost never long. I really like it on TTD as well. the wind in your face is just ridiculous, and that drop is wild!

Here's a tip for SFGAm. Don't expect much

Yes, she does. Paula is the director of public relations at HW, and is the moderator of the Holiblog. She's been seen on several coaster forums as well.

I plan on going to Diamondback, but I plan on walking. No need to sprint.

No problem . I stopped just outside the Disney parks to try to get a few pictures, but if you can't tell in the photo album, they keep it really well-hidden from outsiders!

Glad to share them. It was an absolute blast.

Ok let's see... Tom: Both Colossus and S:TE only had one side open that day, and that was more than they needed in terms of staffing, haha. And yeah, that mcbr is killer on goliath. Sorry about the manufacturer error! Terp: I was planning on getting some chicken at Ms. Knott's on Thursday, but I decided to save a few bucks and go elsewhere. At SFMM I went to one of the burger joints. So no, I didn't really divulge into the foods. As far as glasses go, yes they're still using that rule. No glasses on basically everything. It was amazing the difference... At knott's you basically couldn't bring anything on rides. But my first ride on X2, I brought my camera case hoping there would be a loose articles bin, and as I was sitting down I asked the ride op, and he just said "you have to ride with it." I was like WOW! granted I put it in temporary lockers for most of the day, but that was pretty cool. More importantly: PICTURES ARE UP! http://s1016.photobucket.com/albums/af282/dtrain1008/

So this past week, I took a long-awaited vacation to southern California. Growing up in the Midwest, I’ve always promised myself that I would get to Six Flags Magic Mountain sometime in my life. Finally, the time had arrived. And I figured while I was out there, I would hit up Knott’s Berry Farm, as it’s a Cedar Fair park and I’m getting a platinum pass anyway. Since Knott’s is open on weekdays, I started there on Thursday. I didn’t expect much of a crowd, considering it’s a weekday in January, and boy was I right. The park was virtually empty. I had originally planned on staying from open to close, but by 2:30 I was basically bored of the place. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a very nice park. Here’s my ride reviews.. Silver Bullet- This was my first ride of the day (first train), and by far the best ride I got on. I’ve never been on a B&M Invert that was so smooth. The overbanked turn after the loop is fantastic as well. I don’t like the first drop. It seems a little drawn out. But after that, it’s just nonstop fun. I made sure to ride this several times that day : ) Ghost Rider- A lot of people really like this woodie, but I must say, I was a little disappointed. The first two hills are really good, but after that it just seemed really bumpy and not too fun. The hills provided some decent airtime, but I had a hard time enjoying them as I was trying to brace myself from being tossed around. I love the “mine shaft” you go through to enter the queue. Montezooma’s Revenge: Can’t go wrong with a Schwarzkopf loop! Great ride. Jaguar- I was really excited when I saw the entrance to this ride. You have to enter through a giant Aztec-looking temple, and the majority of the queue is themed rather well. The ride, however… boring. Supreme Scream- A standard S&S launch tower. I’m not sure if there are upward launches on this (similar to Power Tower at Cedar Point) or not, as they only had one spike open. I thought it was interesting that they launched you down immediately when you get to the top. No anticipation factor whatsoever. Boomerang- My first classic boomerang coaster, and quite possibly my last. It wasn’t overly fun, and it was certainly jerky. Pony Express- Longest line of the day, dumbest ride of the day. Enough said. Sierra Sidewinder- My first spinning coaster. It’s a good ride for the kids. I went in not expecting too much, so I enjoyed it. Excelerator was closed for refurbishment, so I didn’t get that credit. : ( The overall atmosphere at Knott’s is really nice. I like the “faux” mountains around the park. I rode the Calico Mine Ride, which was pretty neat. The caverns looked pretty good, and I liked the indoor waterfalls for sure. I was really looking forward to La Revolucion, but after I got off I was pretty underwhelmed. Not nearly as good as a giant Frisbee. Finally, I went to the Mystery Lodge. That was a really enjoyable show. I’m still pretty puzzled about it, so they did a very good job. Overall, Knott’s was a nice, clean park with great atmosphere and some fun rides. I spent a few days in San Diego with my uncle, and then on Sunday I made the trek up to Valencia for Magic Mountain. I got to SFMM about a half hour before the park opened, and there was a good-sized crowd waiting to get in. Or so I thought. Obeying the advice of another guest, I jogged to X2 for my first ride, and I got on the first train. Let me say this; ever since X opened, I’ve been dying to get on this thing. And WOW it did not disappoint. X2 is just unbelievable. Right when you depart the station they give you a classic Sinatra-esque love song, and then some electronic feedback like the monster is taking over. Then it fades out and right as you start up the lift, it hits you with some Metallica. When I first heard that, I went from really excited to insanely pumped. I had some serious adrenaline flowing before I even crested the hill. The events after that… wow. The first drop is just incredible. I even knew that I was going to be flipped face-down, but when it happened I couldn’t suppress my scream of delight. It’s phenomenal. Then the rest of the ride was just a blur of flips in ways that I’ve never been flipped. Fire being blasted right in your face. All the while some crazy rock tunes are being pumped into your ears. By the end, I was just awestruck. X2 is utterly fantastic. The kid that rode with me advised me to go to Tatsu next, as he said the line usually gets pretty long for it. So I walked up the hill to Tatsu to find another empty station. I walked right on, and away I went. Tatsu is a great ride in its own respect. If it were on level terrain, it would be fun. But because it towers over the park on the hill, Tatsu is just fantastic. The views are amazing around every single turn. I’m willing to bet this is the only flyer we’ll see with the pretzel loop at the END of the ride. After Tatsu, I decided that I wanted another lap on X2, while I was on this side of the park. I hit Viper on the way there- a very good looper, but a little jerky- and then got in line for X2. I was about 5 minutes from the station, when I noticed that no trains had been dispatched in a while. After about 15 minutes, they announced that it was down mechanical. I figured I would move on and come back later. A good decision, as it was down for a good chunk of the day. I spent the next several hours going all the way around the park in a clockwise manner. The Revolution was very surprising.. I was expecting a pretty tame ride with the sole focus being the loop. However I really enjoyed it. The first few hills are really fun, never knowing where you’re going next. And the loop is very good as well, obviously. Next was Superman: The Escape. Another coaster(?) I’ve been longing to ride for a very long time. I’m sure most of you will expect this.. I was pretty disappointed. The launch is rather boring, and you don’t even come close to the top of the tower. Ninja was closed, so I moved on to Terminator. This was one of the few rides for which I actually had to wait (more on that later). I kept wondering why they had so many line separators, until I got to the building with the pre-ride movie. The movie was pretty cool. For a minute, they almost had me convinced that there actually was a giant robot outside. The ride itself is very fun. It maintains a ton of speed throughout, and some of the quick transitions are just fantastic. Not to mention how smooth it is. Well worth the wait. Déjà vu was closed, but I’m too tall for those anyway… So I grabbed a quick lunch and hit Gold Rusher. That was a pretty tame ride, but some of those head-choppers are terrifying when you’re 6 foot 6! Up next was Riddler’s Revenge. Yet another coaster I’ve been longing to get on for a very long time. Yes, I said it. I wanted to get on a B&M Stand Up for a very long time. You can certainly see the similarities in the layout of RR and some other B&M stand-ups, but Riddler is definitely the best I’ve been on. My legs were a tad bit sore, but it’s well worth it. Moving on, I hit the Batman clone. Always a pretty good ride. However this one had a fresh blue paint job. I loved that! : ) Then I walked down to Scream! And Colossus. I’d never been on a floorless coaster, so the front seat on Scream! Was a very interesting and fun experience. Colossus was a pretty fun out and back woodie. I like the abundance of drops. But I felt like something was missing… wasn’t I supposed to be holding a gun to Jon Candy? I finally made it to Goliath, to find about a 30 minute wait. I got on the back seat, and up, up, up we went. Then after CREEPING over the top, we dove down, got some serious speed. Went through the turnaround, got some good floater air, and then WHAM! In true B&M hyper fashion we hit the MCBR of all MCBR’s. All that momentum just gets killed. And then you go into the high-g helix. Whoopie. The MCBR killed that ride for me. So now that I had basically done the whole park, I headed back over to the X2/Tatsu area. Tatsu was a literal walk-on all day long. There was no one in the park. The only three rides I had to wait for all day were Terminator, X2, and Goliath. Needless to say I got more than enough laps on Tatsu, and I got 4 rides on X2. Can’t say enough about Magic Mountain. The only complaint I really have is the lack of flats. There’s 2 spinny rides by Batman, but other than that it’s just water rides and roller coasters. Nonetheless, the park was exceptionally clean, the crowds were obviously very light, and the coasters are just wonderful. I love how the park is laid out on such uneven terrain. That is something that many Midwest parks lack. They’ve used some creative genius in designing that park, and I hope I’ll be back there sooner before later. One last thing… I thought it was really funny how after 6 pm, the weather dropped to about 60 degrees and most of the Californians were putting on pants and even coats while I was standing comfortably in my tee shirt and shorts! My trip to California was simply wonderful. I’m working on getting pictures up on photobucket.

^really? What are you using your pass for, a saw horse? It's a card. It's just as "sturdy" as any credit/debit card I possess. I don't exactly need a stainless steel one.

The way I see it, Knott's is trying to compete with Six Flags. Magic Mountain isn't exactly far from them, and they charge the same rate for an annual pass. The platinum pass is a corporate-wide price, which basically tells me that Cedar Fair puts the price on that, and lets the individual parks determine their respective park's season pass pricing.

I'm in the western Chicago suburbs, and the roads are pretty clear, but there's probably 3"-4" in the grass.

They're going to take a much safer approach and make you ride roller skates down the track. Read that how you will.

darn. I'm going to Magic Mountain for the first time ever in a few weeks, and I'll most likely get a season pass as it's the same price as a one-day ticket. Which means I'll be getting 5 tickets to Magic Mountain haha. I suppose I'll just give them to my uncle in San Diego or something.

Too soon, man. Too soon. Not to mention how hypocritical that is!

I agree, ahank. This doesn't seem like the sort of thing Disney would do. I don't really have a problem with it, as most of the younger kids won't get it anyway. But I'm just surprised at the source.

Wow that was really funny. A very nice holiday video haha. I like how Tony has the high-pitched voice...

I've been to SF Great America and Kings Dominion. Kings Dominion is pretty fun... A lot of similarities to Kings Island. However I felt like I was in a concrete paradise at KD. The theming isn't as good as KI, in my opinion. The TOGO Stand-up is nice though, if you haven't been on King Cobra. But the roller coasters are very solid. Anaconda is fun, as well as their bobsled coaster. Surprisingly I thought Volcano was relatively boring after the launch(es). But overall it's a pretty fun park. SF Great America is very overrated in my opinion. Raging Bull is a borderline snoozefest. The first drop is the only fun part of that ride. Viper and American Eagle are two good woodies, though. Superman is also a one-trick pony. The pretzel loop is crazy awesome, but after that there's nothing to it. I definitely recommend Vertical Velocity though. And Iron Wolf. A lot of people don't like it, and I'll admit it tosses you around a little bit. But I love that ride. Condor is a must-do flat. I suppose that's all I've got. Good luck with the coaster endeavors haha.

Thanks, that was a good PTR. I'm hoping that since we're in the winter months, lines will be a little shorter. More importantly, I'm hoping that all of the major rides are running at SFMM.

^^^Say what you want about Paramount, they gave us Invertigo, Drop Tower, Flight Deck, and SoB. Three of those are great rides if you ask me.

Big news. Can't say I'm too surprised. The initial shock was there, but I can certainly understand this move. Let's just hope that 10 or 15 years from now, we don't look back at this as the beginning of the end.

I'll be sure to check out Jaguar. Deja Vu will be a problem, however. I went to SFGAm a few years back, and waited about 20 minutes to get on Deja Vu up there only to find out that I'm too tall to ride. Apparently there is a 6'4" height limit due to the restraints on those rides. At 6'6" I'm both abnormal and unsuitable to ride haha. Thanks, Terp.

So here's the deal. I recently got my job back in Chicagoland, but I'm not starting until January 13. So I instantly started looking for vacation opportunities. I've always wanted to go to SFMM, so in about 3 weeks I'm going out there. Anyone been to SFMM or Knott's Berry Farm? I'm trying to figure out if I should expect large crowds or not, and if there are any lesser-known things in these parks that I shouldn't miss. Any input will be appreciated. Thanks

^haha well put. I like the variety on KIC. Specifically being able to discuss off-topic subjects. For instance, someone recently just had a question about computer hardware and was able to get an answer in this community. It's convenient.