TombRaiderFTW

The new Vekoma trains are nice; they're fairly similar to Gatekeeper's restraints, although I don't recall my collarbones hurting with the Vekomas. The thing is, though, that they really don't do much to actually smooth out the ride. They've literally just removed any obstacles for your head to run into, but your head is still going to move around the way the ride would normally make it. I rode Sidewinder at Hersheypark in 2011 with the Vekoma train, and it was very uncomfortable just based on the ride itself. I didn't know the top of a loop could be a painful part of a ride, but there was a nasty snap up there on Sidewinder. In contrast, I rode Boomerang at SFStl this year, and its Arrow train was very comfortable. The ride wasn't perfect, but I'd say it was definitely one of the smoothest (if not the smoothest) shuttle coaster I've ever ridden. Since a lot of complaints with Vortex seem to involve shorter riders' heads being pinballed between the restraints, I'm willing to bet it could be improved, but a lot of Vortex critiques could still be valid. A few transitions on that ride are so snappy that you'll just end up turning your head quickly instead of banging your head on the OTSR. I'm 5'11", so my head's above the "danger zone" of the restraint whether it's an Arrow train or a Vekoma one, and Vortex itself (with respect to VortexBFForever) is just uncomfortable to me in places. But that's just my $0.02!

In previous years, crowds were much bigger on Saturdays than Fridays, and Fridays were usually on par with Sundays. As IndyGuy said, the closer to Halloween you get, the crazier the crowds on each of those days, although Sundays usually stay pretty light. The longer you wait to go, the fewer scareactors there will be in each maze and around the park. I've never been to one of the infamous Halloweekend Saturdays at Cedar Point, but from what I understand, lines at Kings Island aren't quite as bad on Saturdays as they are at CP. It's still nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, but in my experience, it's still possible to hit up at least all the major haunts if you're not trying to ride rides in the meantime. I realize you said you're only going on a Saturday, so I'd highly suggest September 21 or 28. If you're only going for Haunt, I'd recommend the 21st over the 28th. (I say that because the park opens at 7 to the public on Sept. 21.) Otherwise, the 28th is your day. (Sorry if this is kinda scattered--I'm typing this in a hurry.)

Actually, people are using past precedent as a semi-accurate indicator of the future. Drop Zone/Tower doesn't do that much mechanically, by comparison. The gondola rises, the seats spin, and the gondola is released and stopped. Falcon's Fury will rise, then rotate the seats forward, then release. It's only one more action, but it's an action Intamin's never done before. Actually, no one's done it before. So I don't think it's too unreasonable to expect that it's not going to work perfectly all the time. Heaven knows I love El Toro and Storm Runner, but negative stereotypes against Intamin have been known to be right before. And if you want to get all huffy about a "bashing bandwagon," let's have a talk about your B&M-related posts.

Possibly an unpopular opinion: The Boss at Six Flags St. Louis. Voyage and El Toro are tied for a close second. Boss is like Legend and Raven had a longer baby with literally the perfect ratio of laterals to airtime. And then it's got the "built on the side of a hill" aspect of Voyage that keeps the speed high throughout the ride. The double helix is taken somewhat faster than Legend's, and... AHHH. It's seriously perfect. Also, in some weird way, it feels like a much more appropriate layout for a Beast sequel than Son of Beast ever did. But maybe that's just me.

Don't get me wrong, I love roller coasters... But I don't get why you'd ever do anything to endanger your personal standing with the park as a guest by violating park rules and boundaries just for the sake of seeing and/or photographing a piece of track. It's not going to get you on the ride any sooner, it's not going to make you Internet famous, and no one is going to pay for your picture. You're just making a bad name for yourself and for KI Central. One average Joe Schmo using the site to another: the park owes us nothing. If everyone's as excited as they post about things like KIC events, ERT, and being able to peek through a fence to see scarecrows on footers, can we PLEASE not do things to violate the trust the park has in us to do these sorts of things in the first place? I am not calling any users in particular out when I say that we could all stand to take a deep breath, chill out a little over the new ride, and realize that sometimes people say things to get a rise out of people.

I can't decide if they're being mysterious by showing both RMC and TGG products for Lake Monster, or if they really just wanted photos of looping wooden coasters covering the whole thing.

I've been sitting back on this conversation, as I really don't know how much else there is to add (save for sympathies for the victim's family, which I do have.) It's very interesting hearing everyone's thoughts on the matter. Hearing discussion about this on multiple sites has actually been a huge learning experience for me. I do have to lean more in the direction of Shaggy's opinion. If a park can't guarantee a rider's safety, then it should have the right to deny them a ride. Making them liable no matter what they do is like making Honda responsible for every accident any Civic has. Personally, I think I'd expect Millennium Force-esque seatbelts to be added to Texas Giant (if not Iron Rattler and any other rides Six Flags and other chains feel are affected by this incident.) Seatbelts, if nothing else, would be a very clear line between "yes, you can ride" and "no, you can't" that both operators and guests can see and understand. Unfortunately, they wouldn't do much to help people that feel victimized by being told they can't do something when they want to, but that, as irritating as it is to say, is people. In previous jobs, I've had people quite literally throw tantrums and yell at me because they weren't able to use a dollar-off coupon on their $5 sandwiches. (Somehow, I don't miss those days... These days, SolidWorks is a much nicer coworker, although it throws its own tantrums now and again.)

I think you meant now you are only 11% introverted. Terp, careful reader... I think the results actually meant 11% extroverted, as in I'm leaning 11% more towards extroversion than introversion. Being equally extroverted and introverted would come across as 0% extroverted, if that makes sense and if I'm interpreting the quiz correctly.

Magnum, Millennium Force, Blue Streak, and Gemini, in that order. Gatekeeper isn't one of my favorite coasters in any category, but it's the best B&M at Cedar Point by a landslide. As far as wing coasters go, it's just a smidge behind X-Flight and a significant jump ahead of Wild Eagle. (The more wing coasters I ride, the more I realize that Wild Eagle might as well have been a floorless or standard sit-down model. There's really nothing about that ride that makes good use of the trains, except for maybe the zero-G roll.) Mean Streak's trying hard to be one of my favorites at CP. It's not as smooth as it was two years ago, but the trims were off as of last Saturday. The ride was much improved, and the laterals were actually almost strong in the front seat, at least until the MCBR (which was grabbing as unpleasantly strongly as usual.) There almost was airtime. If Rocky Mountain Construction's Topper Track is all it's cracked up to be, I think I've got a new pipe dream where the valleys of the ride receive topper track, but the layout would be unchanged. I think I could really enjoy a smoother back seat ride on MS.

Don previously said at the KIC event that Massacre Manor would be gone this year. I'd say it's safe to assume they'll be using the already assembled walls as part of the new haunt. I see the reasoning in saying that Cut-Throat Cove is probably also gone, but I'd like to imagine they'll do something else in its spot. That was a neat area for a pirate-themed haunt, in my opinion.

Right. Optimist. Imagination. Education. Be taught. Not understanding something I'm interested in drives me insane. Having the knowledge to imagine the possibilities of how it works is almost as fun as finally figuring it out. In the Myers-Briggs thread, I was INFP at the time. Having just taken an online version of the test again with a grain of salt, I'm now ENFP. I find that ironic, as I think I'm more introverted now than I ever used to be--even three years ago. If I remember right, I wasn't strongly introverted according to the results. Now, I'm only 11% extroverted.

I second the "park at a train station and ride to Penn/Grand Central" motion, although I'd hesitantly recommend NJ Transit if you're on a budget crunch. At least last summer, it was significantly cheaper than Amtrak. The only thing is that the schedules at the station make little to no sense. Bring a smartphone to check the NJ Transit website, as that will tell you much more clearly what train you need to be on when. Otherwise, you might find yourself in Hoboken for like an hour asking people how the heck to get back to Red Bank. (Pro tip: you have to go to Secaucus first. Also, apparently it's pronounced See-kwok-kuss. Not that I found any of this out firsthand or anything...)

Cedar Point was the same way yesterday, both for Ride Hopper and real life. Gatekeeper had a 95 minute wait around noon according to Ride Hopper, but I waited 180 for it. Thing is, guys: it's community-driven. Parks submit nothing to that app. Those estimated wait times wouldn't "suck" if you took time to submit what the actual wait was. The only way Ride Hopper knows what to estimate is what it knows from the past. That's why some bigger parks like Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Six Flags Great America have estimated wait times, while smaller parks like Holiday World or Six Flags St. Louis don't even have their operating hours listed. Take some time to update what your waits were, and you'll have more accurate data to use as reference in the future. (Now's one of those times when I miss WhenToRide.com.)

I'm with you, McSalsa. CCI is hands-down my favorite company, though I guess I haven't really ridden any of their rides with rough reputations. I've been on Hoosier Hurricane, Zach's Zoomer, Raven, Shivering Timbers, Boss, Legend, Cornball Express, and Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain, and the only one I genuinely didn't care for was Shivering Timbers. I thought Hoosier Hurricane was a little forceless, but I'd sooner attribute that to the roughness of the ride slowing it down than poor design. The rest were all decent-to-fantastic rides for their target audiences. I, also, would love to meet Larry Bill and Dennis McNulty. I know Larry went on to start and work at The Gravity Group, but what is Dennis doing? I've never heard much of anything about him after Custom Coasters.

By comparison to other rides in 1987, it may have seemed smooth. At one point in the last century or so, a 6 mph coaster in Coney Island, New York was the most thrilling thing ever.

^^ Timberliner or Millennium Flyer? I've seen a similar truck in that area, and it was for (if I remember correctly) Beech Bend.

I know the title's weird, but hey--you're reading, aren't you? Sounded nicer than "SFGAm and STStL TR, 7/4-7/6" to me, anyway. Last Christmas, my ridiculously awesome family got me a gold pass to Six Flags Great America. The stars finally aligned last weekend for me to make use of it, with an additional visit to Six Flags St. Louis shortly afterward. So, here's a trip report about it! NOTE: This post is a work in progress. If you see any posts indicating that certain parts of the TR aren't complete, that's why! For the uninitiated, I do my TR's a little differently than most. I'm not the biggest fan of the "we stayed in Motel 27, and Janice the maid was super nice, and then we ate at Mickey D's before we went to the park but my breakfast burrito was super ewww" format. There's nothing wrong with that; I just have a hard time writing that way. I'd rather just cut straight to the details--ride reviews, theming thoughts, and employee encounters. Typically, they'll end up in chronological order. But enough explanations! Six Flags Great America, July 4th >>ATMOSPHERE In some ways, I totally love the park's theming. In some ways, I feel like the name of the area has next to nothing to do with what's there. Carousel Plaza, Hometown Square, Southwest Territory, Mardi Gras, and (to a somewhat lesser extent) Orleans Place are easily some of my favorite themed park areas in any park. Carousel Plaza feels like a miniaturized International Street with what I felt was a more present "weenie," the iconic double-decker carousel. It's a nice change from what I'm used to at Kings Island, and I have to admit that I liked it slightly better. Hometown Square feels to me like how I imagined the center of Maycomb looked in To Kill a Mockingbird, except with a ginormous white Luminosity esque-stage plopped down in the middle of it (not pictured in photo--the gazebo island is not there now.) Southwest Territory stepped out of a vibrant western and is tied with Great Adventure's Golden Kingdom for the most immersive seasonal theme park area I've ever been to. There are artistically crumbled brick buildings and high Alamo-esque bell towers, complete with a (LOUD) bell that rings in one of the towers at noon. Mardi Gras is covered in a variety of purples, yellows, jesters, and confetti, with ride names to match the theme. (I can't explain why, but I love the fact that their HUSS Top Spin is purple and in this area. It's probably because I'm used to associating Top Spins with dark green jungle themes... Wonder why. ) Orleans Place is an extension of the Mardi Gras theme, but it's slightly distracted by the placement of Superman: Ultimate Flight and The Dark Knight. They're both in this part of the park. Nevertheless, the park still acknowledges the theme with live entertainment; during the afternoon, an a cappella quartet performs on the second story of one of the buildings. If Kings Island were ever to acknowledge the themes of its areas like this, I'd die happy. In contrast, Yankee Harbor, Yukon Territory, and County Fair all hardly acknowledge any theme at all. The best of the group is Yankee Harbor, but even then, there's hardly any theme at all thanks to the placement of V2 and Batman: The Ride. Yukon Territory is the kids' area, and it might as well be themeless. County Fair tried to feel like Coney Mall to me, but I think Coney Mall skewed how well the theme of County Fair stuck out to me. I expected to see classic flats, but instead it felt more like a collection of the latest and greatest family flat rides. I suppose that would technically be the modern definition of a county fair, but it just felt disjointed to me. Toss in the presence of X-Flight in this area, and it felt like someone who hadn't been to an actual county fair was trying to make up for several people before them who hadn't been to an actual county fair, either. Still, all these areas are towards the back of the park, and the whole front of the park more than made up for it for me. (Seriously, I love the Mardi Gras area.) >>RIDES •Raging Bull (8/10) I think I finally found a B&M hyper I genuinely like. Having taken advantage of the park's early-entry-with-a-Coke-can deal, we were quickly in line for Raging Bull. Less than a half hour later, we were sitting in the last row. With all the enthusiast hullaballoo about the trim brakes on this ride, I wasn't expecting much. It's one of the "older" B&M's, which popular opinion says means the ride will be forceful and amazing and throw everything at you but the kitchen sink. Personally, I've been on "older" B&M's, and they rarely did much for me except on a few rare occasions. If nothing else, this was my first B&M hyper with a pre-drop, and the idea of essentially having a double-down for a first drop on a B&M was definitely interesting. •Batman: The Ride Backwards (1/10) "First backward roller coaster since Recar? This'll be awesome!" thought the poor sucker. So if you happen to remember my Great Adventure TR last year, you'll know that I loved Batman: The Ride. •V2: Vertical Velocity (6/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •American Eagle - Red (7/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •Demon (5/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •Whizzer (10/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •Viper Backwards (4/10) Forwards, I think this ride would have easily cracked my top 10. asdfjkl; •The Dark Knight (7/10) In theming: meh. In ride experience: vastly better than SFGAdv. asdfjkl; •Superman: Ultimate Flight (5/10) Inexplicably superior to the New Jersey version. asdfjkl; •Giant Drop (4/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •Ragin' Cajun (5/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; •X-Flight (9/10) asdfjkl; asdfjkl; >>EMPLOYEES Great America has a surprisingly friendly workforce! I still have yet to find the "couldn't care less" attitude enthusiasts seem to find in Six Flags parks. I think just about every employee we encountered was smiling and willing to go out of their ways to make sure they answered any questions fully. Truth be told, it was better than I've ever experienced at just about any park besides possibly Dollywood. When I had trouble finding the Flash Pass entrance to Viper, I asked a sweep, who admitted he wasn't sure but found an employee wearing a Lo-Q polo for me. That employee in turn walked me almost all the way back to the entrance (it's hidden on the path to the waterpark, for the record) and made sure I was able to find the rest of the way there. The foods employees always smiled and asked how they could help us, and the ride ops would high-five people on the way out of the station. As much of a Holiday World fanboy as I am, it's touches like this that actually make an impression on me. At the risk of sounding like an employee handbook, I love it when staff actively engage customers. Holiday World is friendly, but more in a "the employee handbook doesn't say I necessarily have to talk to you, but I'm going to talk anyway" kind of way. SFGAm is friendly in a "I'm expected to be friendly enough, but I'm going to put my own style on it without it seeming forced" kind of way. HW's way is in no way bad, but it's not a parkwide feeling, in my experience. At SFGAm, there's something impressive in the fact that it's a strong constant in just about every department you encounter. Two thumbs up! >>FINAL THOUGHTS I know next to nothing of Great America's history, but for what it is, I liked it a lot. It's more than enough theming to make me nostalgic for my favorite theming-based rides from the past, but it's got a Cedar Point-like concentration on thrills to compliment it. The only thing I can really critique the ride lineup on is the placement of everything since Superman: Ultimate Flight. For heaven's sake, why is The Dark Knight in Orleans Place? Why is X-Flight in County Fair? What do Batman: The Ride and the themeless Vertical Velocity have to do with Yankee Harbor? The place is asking for an Action Zone-like area themed to comics and thrills, but I don't feel like that would blend well with the existing areas. But I'm just being nitpicky; it's Six Flags we're talking about here. They do comic book superheroes and occasionally large rides. It is what it is.

Son of Beast and Hersheypark's Sidewinder both get the prize from me. Honorable mention to Batman: The Ride, when backwards.

The only ride I've ever been on by myself is Zephyr, but I've been to Kings Island by myself a ton of times. It's not nearly as lonely as you'd think. It's the only way I can take a camera with me and feel free to take as many pictures as I'd like, as anyone I go with would much rather ride rides.

^^ NO. Please. I'm still trying to get over Namtab: The Vominator at SFGAm. I'm curious to know how CP would do a dark ride these days. The only IP they currently (license? rent?) is Peanuts, which doesn't really lend itself to any dark ride ideas I can think of. Maybe one of the ride ideas from Sally?

^ What does that even mean? I have to admit I'm impressed that the wave pool is in working order already. That's a lot more progress than I was expecting at this point, though I didn't know with any certainty how bad things had gotten in the park. If Hart actually gets the park running and open by next May, I might have to check things out. Especially Thunder Run!

At least at some point in the past year and a half, you could have Twitter text tweets from any account to any phone, whether smart or otherwise. You could also tweet via texts. I won a WindSeeker cup from the KI Twitter once doing this. Does Twitter not do this anymore?

For strangest/most exotic: Conneaut Lake Park. By far. What clearly used to be an incredibly charming little lakeside amusement park near a charming little lakeside town has turned into one of those closed amusement parks that people break into and take pictures. Only problem is that the employees forgot to stop showing up, so the rides are still running despite collapsed and burned down buildings and light graffiti everywhere. The entrance to their kiddie area scares me more than anything at Halloween Haunt: Source. It's looking into my soul. Okay, I'm being facetious. The place actually is in that bad of shape, but only in certain spots. The park actually has a massive amount of potential. After visiting, I told the friend who went with me that, if I ever had $20 million to spare, I'd somehow invest it into Conneaut. And I mean it. Clean the place up and give Blue Streak love in the form of retracking and paint, and CLP would easily be my favorite park I've ever been to. Easily. I've heard they recently acquired more funds to pay taxes/revitalize the park, so I'm really hoping they can keep their heads above water. For farthest: of Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America, Kings Dominion, and Coney Island (the one in New York), I'm not sure which one is the farthest from home. I'm thinking Coney, but don't quote me on that.

The area between the turnstyles and fountains, the tables alongside the fountains, and the area between the Eiffel Tower and the fountains. I realize sitting at the tables may mean your view of the tower would be blocked in varying amounts by the trees, but the tradeoff is that you'd have a better view of the fountains. I've never been to Wonderland and don't know a lot about it; is their International Street better for watching something like this?

I just got around to watching this video, and wow. That is seriously impressive. If that sort of grandeur could somehow be coherently meshed with our International Street (i.e., something equally impressive involves the Eiffel Tower like CW's involves the mountain), I'd be in heaven. If Ouimet wants to keep people in the park after closing that's one hundred percent the best way of doing so at a park like Kings Island, in my opinion. I like the idea of Luminosity, but it would have been very Kinzel Cedar Fair to bring that anywhere besides Cedar Point. The legacy Taft/KECO parks are perfect for a fountain show like this. I could go on and on. My only qualm: I don't love the idea of our fountains being black. I feel like there might be alternatives to that, though. Why not paint them within a few shades of TARDIS blue? (Apologies to non-Doctor Who fans--I don't know what else to call that color.) It's still a nice color for International Street during the day, but it's not light enough at night to detract from the light effects. Just a suggestion! Oddly enough, that strongly reminded me of Paramount. Especially Tomb Raider. I don't know why. But geez, I'm so not complaining.