silver2005

Now if only we can get the park to prepare LaRosa's properly and add on their hoagies and calzones, we'd be set. I really hope the food department gets a good overhaul on how it operates this season.

I don't think KI's location works in line to make it more of a resort like Cedar Point. KI is in a much more urbanized area than Cedar Point and there's way more to do within, say, a 20 mile radius of Kings Island than a similar radius around Cedar Point.

^I'm well aware of those incidents as well as the forensics report from the 2006 accident. I did a whole article on SOB as a staff member for another coaster fan site (that's since been deleted), including what you just posted. IIRC, those kinds of incidents didn't really start occurring until about 2-3 years in. I can't site anything because every website I used for information for that article is gone.

You know, there is a real easy way they could have fixed this- get rid of that smaller hill and add some heavy duty magnets at the end. Bam, problem solved.

Also- not colored red, or any kind of shade of red.

As under-engineered as SOB was, it didn't have any glaring safety problems as Verruckt had, like, you know, launching off the slide. SOB's problems were things that had to occur over time.

There's also a whole chain of these parks (4 more in fact). This might have quite the ripple effect. https://www.schlitterbahn.com/

^Well, unlike most parks, Schlitterbahn often makes their slides in-house. No third party designers like Pro-Slide, so they have no one to scapegoat.

Soak City is included with admission. You don't pay separately for the water park. You can use either entrance, at least as long as SC remains open.

Alright, elephant question in the room time concerning admissions. What's my best option for Six Flags Great Adventure? Buy a ticket and parking separate or go with a season pass?

In food, they used to not be able to print receipts unless customers used a credit card during the late Paramount era. And even then, the printers didn't exactly work well. You'd be surprised how people react to that. I imagine it was the case in merch. as well.

So I've been tinkering with an itinerary lately, and I'm starting to piece stuff together. I plan on doing Dorney, Hershey and SFGAdv during the week. I've been told Sundays are the best days to visit Knoebels, so that's what I'm likely to do. Since I'm likely staying a night near Waldameer now (doing it on the way), I'll likely be doing that on a Friday. So it'll boil down to something like this- Friday- leave Cincinnati, get a speed run through Waldameer (I plan on leaving super early) Saturday- travel from NW PA to a hotel likely to be somewhere around Dorney Sunday- Knoebels Monday- Hershey Tuesday- Off Day Wednesday- Dorney Thursday- SFGAdv Note- I would ideally save SFGAdv till last, but it'll be heavily dependent on weather. I may tinker around with my off days since Dorney and Knoebels are smaller parks. Like, I may do Dorney on that Saturday (I don't know how Dorney fares on weekends). Hershey and SFGAdv are parks I'd like to keep on the weekdays. I would like to keep one day as a total R&R day though. This is just an early draft. Going by credit count (will be at 86 before this trip), it'll be likely that #100 will either be at Dorney or SFGAdv.

Backlot at least has some shade for its queue. Firehawk's queue is the worst, IMO.

So, I may have lucked out on lodging...maybe. My parents are visiting a relative in Philly this summer, and depending on the timing, I may score free lodging. I usually do my trips so they don't interfere with UC Community Band concerts, so we'll have to see. My dad gets nifty hotel discounts being a former P&G employee that I can use, too.

I've been to USF twice, actually. The year before we as a family went, my dad took me down to see a space shuttle launch during spring break and we shoehorned in USF. Fun fact, the shuttle launch I went to was Columbia's last successful mission. Lately, I've been meaning to get back to some of those parks and pick up the stuff they've added since as well as adding in other parks. I do like doing other things on these kinds of trips, too. I like a bit of variety and spontaneity. I'm dying to get back to Dollywood.

Islands of Adventure didn't exist when I last went to USF. Also, my sisters and I had the choice between USF and MGM Studios which is why that isn't on the list either.

I've been around to quite a few parks. My family took vacations a lot, and about every other one involved an amusement park visit. All of these sans the bottom 4 are parks my family took me to. Since my family isn't into that much anymore, I'm on my own to expand my repertoire. Here's my list. Kings Island Coney Island (didn't ride anything) Cedar Point Hersheypark Paramount's Kings Dominion (at the time) Six Flags Great Adventure Dollywood Walt Disney World- Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Universal Studios Florida Kentucky Kingdom Holiday World Michigan's Adventure Kennywood

This is a minor suggestion, but I wish the supports on Bat would be solid black instead of the dark gray we actually got.

^I follow a lot of other forums other than this one, including one I used to belong to, with international members, and I consistently read better reports about the reliability of the newer style Mack coasters than I do Intamins.

Just because you haven't been on a coaster doesn't mean you don't have an idea on how it'll perform. If you ride enough coasters, you can get how elements flow at different speeds. I've been hearing a lot of positive stuff about Mack's newer stuff. Mack is in a position to do pretty much anything Intamin can do with much better reliability, that's why we're mentioning them.

Yes, I'm well aware of that. I was referring to what they did before they redesigned the curve.

^And last I checked, I-305 had to have its first curve redesigned and even had trims all the way down its first hill due to black outs. The GOP and even a lot of enthusiasts aren't too keen on sustained positive G's, even if its only 2-3 G's.

How about no low curve after a 300 ft drop after how I-305's turned out.

I know Hershey has fantastic ribs around the base of Storm Runner's top hat. Also, with all the trolling they've done to me with their dessert posts on social media, I'm probably going to indulge in one. Just so y'all know, Hershey is my 2nd favorite park only topped by Dollywood. I'm beyond excited to be able to return this season. Great Bear, Storm Runner, Lightning Racer, and Comet are coasters I'd consider my happy places.

How am I looking in terms of dining in the parks? I know I'm good for Knoebel's and HP, but I'm in the dark about the other 3, especially NJFTP. I hear food isn't exactly SIX's forte.