silver2005

Made it back to the 513 alright.

Now we're creating threads about things all new rides go through? It ran perfectly the day I went, though I heard there was an evac on the tilt the day after, but I'm sure they got it back up and running. It's not like its closing for long periods of time when it does evac. Heck, MF and Raptor were down longer than Siren the day I went and no one batted and eye at that. It just looks worse from an optical on Siren because it's been on a section of track that ends.

CP TR Went for an open to close day. It was surprisingly busy for a Monday, probably due to the cooler temps (mid 70s, low humidity, good breeze off the lake) compared to previous days (didn't go the day after due to knee soreness, but I saw Tuesday was also busy). I made beelines to Siren and TT2 out of worry on their downtime issues (they ran fine all day actually, Raptor and MF were actually the downtime culprits but only for train removal/adding). I rode all the coasters sans Mouse and for non-coasters I did CPLERR, Skyhawk, MaXair, and Power Tower upward launch. The initial plan at night was to do SteVe and Magnum, but I sort of underestimated the FL line use and managed only SteVe with a glorious MF post-sunset ride prior. I usually grey out on MF between the bottom of the first drop until the first camelback hill but the cooler temps meant I didn't this time around. Also, every ride crew (and I mean every) was cranking out cycles. Its both a good and bad thing to me in that while I appreciate the capacity focus, I think it's not a very good approach from a humanistic standpoint (looking at you Valravn, Magnum and SteVe). While I like CP over SFGAm, I think SFGAm gets the combination of throughput and letting people be people better with their ride crews. I'm okay sacrificing faster dispatches if it means people board more comfortably. Not that this is specifically for CP, but I also don't get the thing where they tell you to let the ride ops lower the restraints. Lap bar use isn't rocket science. Siren's Cures- Got one ride in the back. The tilt section is very funky, probably more so than, say, the drop track on Verbolten. Its kind of a flat ride/coaster hybrid type of element. It's a gimmick, but it's a fun gimmick. The rest is pretty standard modern coaster elements, similar transitions to modern RMC's and Intamins albeit smoother and less snappy, butter smooth. I didn't expect the 2 high speed rolls to be so comfy. I'm impressed with the transition Vekoma has made to improve given their reputation with SLC and Boomerang headbanging. I'm interested to see where they go in the future. Top Thrill 2- While the original TTD was a one trick pony, I still really liked it. It sold the build up with the Republica station music and racing X-mas lights and the launch was incredible. Obviously they had to improve it with the maintenance costs and the accident it had, and while it had a bumpy intro year, I like what resulted. Obviously, the launches aren't as powerful as they're LSM's vs hydraulic, but it is a more comfortable experience (still a rattle when it gets up to 100 mph, but tolerable). Going backwards at 100 mph was freaky and the back spike is on par with how I like impulse coasters except on steroids, and the full 120 mph launch was great. I liked you get to spend more time at those speeds with the swing launch and I think the current version is better than the original. The downward spiral is especially better with the more comfy trains.

I may have to use my last day on the trip as a rest day instead of a 2nd day in CP or Cleveland. My knee has gotten really sore, I'm even using a knee brace at night, which helped little bits, but CP exacerbated it with all the stairs for ride stations. The most I may do tomorrow is hit up a beach in Lorain close to my hotel. I'm ecstatic how this trip turned out so I'm not at all bummed out about it that much.

Disregard post.

Night rides of choice tonight- SteVe and Magnum.

@IndyGuy4KI any complaints if I bring this back to KI and put it in the Skyflyer plot?

The one IP that I'm amazed Paramount never really utilized was Star Trek. Now that I think about it, Delirium could have done a Mission Impossible theme...

Question- there's a sign as you depart on CCMR with ride references (including Adventure Express and Yukon Striker). What is Quicksilver a reference to?

Dear Cedar Point, never add rides between Millennium Force and Thunder Canyon. Keep that part peaceful. Kthx.

To give an idea on the crowds, the average standby line is 30-50 minutes and FL are between 5 and 15 (20 for Maverick). Gemini is running red only and only 4 cars on one of the trains, it might be the 4th longest queue behind the usual culprits.

Millennium Force and Raptor are running sooooo good. Magnum is a bit jittery but still good. Rougarou is surprisingly intense in a good way.

Wait, doesn't MIA already close on Labor Day regardless?

I love that Raptor and Rougarou still have that classic B&M roar. *Chef's kiss. It is quite busy for a Monday. Rode Curse, TT2, Magnum, SteVe, and Rougarou and they all had a modest wait for FL.

Siren's Curse is pretty neat. Back seats help with the tilt sensation. Very smooth. Decent elements. TT2 is great. The back spike is fun and the trains feel more comfy than the originals.

^I will say that is the one area SFGAm could do better in is with the kid's area. Its only one small Vekoma coaster (same model as KK's) and a very small assortment of rides. Little Dipper is there, too but it's by itself next to Batman. Whizzer is a very good family/step-up coaster though (and very, very popular).

Currently turning in after a relaxing day in Cleveland. Had an inspiring tour of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, made visits to the Arcade, all the stadiums and the beach with the Cleveland sign facing downtown, and had a Polish boy for lunch. Definitely needed after the craziness of Chicago, feels good to be back in Ohio. Cleveland did feel like a Cincinnati-esque city on the lake with a lot of visual differences. I particularly like the vertical-ness of the west area with the bridges. Cool looking city. Ready to top it all off with 2 days in Sandusky.

I prefer Bull over Orion, but I like DB over Bull.

SFGAm TR This was the most relaxing of my 2 days in Chicago. Shorter drive with less hectic drivers. Downtown Chicago is pretty stressful. I got to Gurnee just before park opening (they open at 10:30), from there, I acquired Flash Pass Unlimited and did my first journey around the park clockwise starting from Superman. The idea was to make Whizzer #175, but a combination of Triple Loop being down at IB and Maxx Force being down at SFGAm made me be one short of that, so that'll now occur at Cedar Point (likely Siren's Curse). Little Dipper was 165 and Wrath of Rakshasa wound up being 170 for me. I walked in with kind of medium expectations. I give SIX parks a handicap with some of their reputations at some other parks, but I always hear good things about Great America where I had a bit of a medium bar. It completely surpassed that. It's a great park altogether. Very clean, the theming of the different sections came out pretty strong and were well separated, staff was great (except a very lackluster Demon crew taking forever to dispatch during single train ops). Caught a little bit of the tracked parade they do which was pretty nice. Ate at the walking taco stand by Raging Bull, which, the meat was a bit heavy, but it was alright. Food didn't have any standouts, but it all looked, at the very minimum, adequate. SFGAm also has a thing for long queues, especially among the older rides. Raging Bull, American Eagle, Viper, and to lesser extents Batman and Superman, have very long queues. I wound up doing a mini Viper marathon, which, was kind of a bad idea given it feels like the better portion of a Flight Deck queue in length. Bull is even longer and American Eagle the longest. Luckily most of the newer rides were much better in that department (X-Flight is a bit sus). I also think the park overall could use more shade, only a few bits by Demon, Whizzer and the entrance were any bit shaded. However, even given that, I actually like Great America more than Kings Island. Kings Island may have a better ride selection, but I feel SFGAm does a lot of the other stuff well. The theming was great through the park, even if it was just subtle bits like a few snake hunting props at Viper, and then you have the decked out queues like Batman, X-Flight and Dark Knight. I also like the color pallet of the rides and buildings a bit better. Very colorful park without overdoing it. I will say Bull and Eagle could use paint though. Ride Reviews Non Coasters- Scenic Railway- Only did half the route from the entrance back to Goliath. It sounded electric or gas, but it moves quite slow. The coaches look pretty good though. Giant Drop- 2nd Gen Intamin Towers are freaky to me as there isn't a good way to anticipate the drop and they really haul you up there. Aquaman- It kind of cheats you getting wet by having upward nozzles shoot water on you at the bottom of the drop, but fun. Pretty tall for a flume, too. Sky Striker- This thing is really tall, a bit longer of a ride cycle than Delirum as well Coasters- American Eagle- Ran both sides. Pretty comfy all things considered. The red side has a few more hills while the blue side has a big of a speed section as it crosses over. The helix at the far end has really good speed and laterals, the air was ok but nothing special, and the last helix is very meh as its braked to death. Wish they could fix it up to race (I know why it can't). I don't quite get the padding to the sides, though. Batman: The Ride- The OG inverted coaster. For whatever reason, this one felt special compared to the SFGAdv version. First off, they really went all out for the queue. Pumps the 1989 soundtrack in the queue and station (Danny Elfman and Prince are always welcome). It has a sick lighting package in the queue, they really sell this sucker. I'm always impressed with the early B&M's for being ahead of their time and this was no exception. I felt it runs a bit more intense than the SFGAdv version and it has some nice close flybys of the queue. Dark Knight- Its a mouse in a box themed to the Bale trilogy. The audio isn't very coherent on the ride. Ran with no brakes on before the station, I think GAdv's is braked a bit more. Demon- So, the first drop, the loops, the drop off the MCBR and pull up to the brakes was alright. I really liked the low clearance tunnel, too. But boy it has a death head bang in that transition to the corkscrews. Flash Vertical Velocity- Pretty standard impulse, though it felt more compact than Wicked Twister and Possessed. I wish I could ride one with the holding brake still in tact. Goliath- My 2nd favorite coaster in the park. Really smooth, has that RMC forcefulness without overdoing it. Probably about my 2nd or 3rd favorite RMC. The head choppers and the stall were really nice. Joker- Completely insane. Relentless flipping as soon as it left the chain. Little Dipper- pretty standard jr wooden coaster. Fun for what it is. Raging Bull- My favorite coaster in the park. The compact course is a nice change from most of the B&M hypers I've ridden being out and back, though, the out and backs' more focus on air makes them a bit better. Has insane air in the back, especially off the first drop and off the MCBR. The 2nd half is a nice fast paced figure 8. Superman: Ultimate Flight- Could be recency bias, but it felt more compact and faster paced than the SFGAdv version. I prefer Vekoma restraints on flyers, but B&M's use of pretzel loops is always nice, even with a bit of weightlessness at the apexes. Viper- Probably the best new wooden credit I get this summer. Also, my first clone of the Coney Island Cyclone. Really good twister course, great head-choppers, decent air (especially the back on the double-down), decent laterals. Definitely upper mid-tier to lower good tier for me. Whizzer- the biggest surprise of the trip. Very comfortable and smooth, the spiral lift goes faster than I thought in a good way (probably me playing RCT2 too much where its a slow lift there), did find it weird that the anti-roll backs sound like PTC's. I rather like the more gradual first drop, has great speedy turns at the bottom, all very close to the ground for a good sense of speed. I can see the love it gets, especially for the way they saved it. Wrath of Rakshasa- Surprisingly fast paced for a dive coaster, and despite an awkward kind of shimmy, it might turn out my favorite dive coaster. X-Flight- The first bits are good, though its a bit slow paced, but then it gets a bad rattle as it curves around for the key-hole inversion that lasts until the end of the ride. My least favorite wing coaster out of it, T-Bird, Wild Eagle and GateKeeper.

I am a little sore, especially my left knee. I had to nurse it on the trip to Cleveland a bit. Going to take it easy tomorrow before 2 days at Point of Cedar. Doing the R&RHOF, stadiums, the Arcade, and grabbing a Polish Boy.

Finally in Lorain, OH, about 45 minutes from CP and 40 minutes from Cleveland. About to get me some walleye and chill on a beach for a bit.

So I may be doing a Viper marathon. It' gets better with rerides.

I'll post a full TR on SFGAM when I get to Cleveland as I need my phone for Flash Pass and my wifi at the Chicago hotel sucks.

Six Flags Great America early ride views - Goliath- favorite coaster in the park Whizzer- very fun, my biggest surprise Batman- really, really good Bull- solid but only slightly above average air sans the pop off the MCBR with a rattle Viper and Eagle- solid for what they are but still high mid tier for me Demon- ouch, especially the corkscrews X Flight- good until a rattle at the 2nd half Wrath- my favorite dive coaster despite the shakiness, good pacing Also- So. Many. Long. Queues.

Here's a wrap up of Chicago. I left a little before 11 in order to avoid as much morning rush hour as possible. I'm a tad over an hour from downtown so it worked out pretty well (construction didn't help things). I do need to do better parking research as the garage I picked was $51, albeit it was convenient by the big fountain between downtown and the lake, but Chicago is an easy city to navigate. I might even try to find cheap parking by an L-train stop and ride in. Oh, well. I wanted to do Willis Tower first, but the low cloud cover made it pointless. It did appear clearer later, so I got a timed ticket for 6 pm (Willis is pricy, too). I then circled north to Riverwalk. That bit has restaurants and boat rides all along the length, also a very active place other than the lake front. Navy Pier was after that, just walked up and down the length of the pier, got some good pics of the city. Then made my way south back to Millennium Park for Cloud Gate (aka, the bean), and the Buckingham Fountain before a late lunch. The place I went to (posted above) was right by Willis Tower so I chilled there for a few hours (Chicago deep dish pizza also takes a while to cook). I only stayed up Willis for 20 minutes, being at those heights while not on board a coaster is a bit weird for me, but the view was great. The last bit was walking from there to check out Soldier Field (which was by far the biggest walk of the day) and finished taking the L-train up to Wrigley (the Cubs did play a day game vs Boston, but by the time I figured my itinerary, the game sold out because the Cubs are good and the Red Sox are a big draw). Just glad I did what I wanted to do. SFGAm in the morning. Then on Saturday, I'm getting up uber-early for the trek to Cleveland.