McSalsa

Uhh- quick question. I have never visited Soak City (or any previous version of the waterpark) and have yet to do any haunts, can I just leave those blank or what? Thanks in advance...

MUST...RESIST...PUN...(FAILS)... Hulk Smash? More like Hulk in Trash! D'oh I failed... In all seriousness though, I am wondering what the heck is going to happen to Hulk- it'll have new trains and obviously new track as well next year, and could possibly even seem like a brand-new ride if enough is changed. I'd also bet money there will be a re-theme of some kind too.

UPDATE!!! For me at least- Hoosier Hurricane is now BY FAR no longer my most ridden coaster, as I have still yet to revisit Indiana Beach since 1999, so it's 3 rides have been topped. The new #1 as of 2015 is The Beast at Kings Island, which I have been on 12 times. The main reason for this- outside the fact it's my favorite coaster- is probably due to the fact I feel the need to usually ride Beast twice in one trip. Once in the daylight, again at night- as it seems like a very different ride at each time. 2nd place is currently held by Vortex at 8 rides- mainly because I do enjoy that coaster as well, and the line is almost never more than a half hour for it.

Something interesting I thought of- let's say you're at Cedar Point and are about to enter the park. I realized something- if it's a huge roller coaster you're going for, the main front gate with Gatekeeper over it? Horrible choice for beating others to the lines, except maybe for Raptor (and the Valravn gate people might still beat you there). The other gates, however, would give you quick access to... Valravn Gate: Valravn (duh), Blue Streak, Raptor, Millennium Force, Rougarou, Iron Dragon Beach Gate: Gatekeeper (since the ride entrance is near the beach- the front gate arches are actually pretty far away from it), Wicked Twister, WindSeeker Magnum Gate: Magnum XL-200 (again duh), Top Thrill Dragster, Gemini, Corkscrew So, in an ironic twist, that epic front gate with the giant Wing Coaster flying over it, welcoming you to the "Coaster Capital of the World"? Don't use it when you first enter and go for one of the other less epic gates instead. You'll get to a major coaster/ride of your choice faster. Unless for some reason you wanted to ride The Carousel or Ocean Motion first on the trip... EDIT: Looked at Google Maps really quick, below poster has a point. For stuff in the very back of the park (Maverick, Mean Streak, etc.) the Magnum Gate would likely be the best option.

WOW...I don't think I have ever seen a POV VIDEO where you control the ride like your playing No Limits and stuff...awesome. Also, on the decreased train size, I'm not sure but I think they might have done that so the train could safely go through the course faster and with more forcefulness- Thunderbird, a Wing Coaster, has way shorter-than-usual trains but is also reportedly much more forceful than most other B&M Wing Coasters based on the reviews I have seen. They could be doing the same here, thus meaning this MIGHT be the most forceful dive machine yet. Or Cedar Point cheaped out and bought smaller trains to save money. That would be my only other theory. I honestly hope its the former that is correct... Update: Or...see below. That makes sense too...WAIT THIS HAS THE VESTS!?!? I didn't even notice that...

Huh, so the coaster enthusiasts and leaks were correct. And while the ride itself looks decent (though a bit short and smaller than I was expecting) what I really liked here was that in the videos, the surrounding areas around the new coaster looked awesome, as was the case with nearly everything else that has been built at Cedar Fair parks since Ouimet took over in 2012. This ride will be fun to watch, that's for sure, with all those footpaths around it providing viewing areas. Also now you will be surrounded by 3 roller coasters (Blue Streak, Raptor, & now Valravn) when you enter "Blue Streak Plaza". Thus that view, IMO, should be EPIC in 2016... Should be a solid addition for Cedar Point- they now will have FIVE 200'+ roller coasters. Considering there are a few parks that don't even have a hypercoaster yet, and Kings Island had AT MOST 2 (in '09 before Son of Beast kicked the bucket and while Diamondback had just opened) that is pretty darn crazy for a park. They also didn't finish counting down their coasters- Pipe Scream and Rougarou never got their Facebook posts. Update: Read a bit more and realized Valravn is actually going to be the LONGEST dive coaster in the world. So I guess Dive Coasters in general are just fairly short rides. Update: Their Facebook page is still counting down coasters and did Pipe Scream, so that apparently will finish, but be late.

^ ...Holiday World? I always thought they had pretty good marketing. LOL Just Kidding, I think I know what park you're talking about- Kentucky Kingdom I assume. And I don't think Indiana Beach is going to be marketed the same way as that park- there is no fair board to pay a huge lease to, and no taxpayer dollars are going into IB to keep it open. By that virtue alone, IB could be more profitable in the long run, and thus have a bigger and better marketing budget as well.

Hmm, well, I guess I'll share my thoughts on this stuff. Joker (RMC Roar): Yet another excellent-looking coaster from RMC. I'm honestly glad in recent years they realized you can use colors other than red for the track on these (via this and Twisted Colossos as examples) as IMO Red looks horrible next to brown wood. Revolution Overhaul: YES. My favorite of all the announcements, I am hopeful this overhaul of the 1976 looping classic makes this ride great again. Superman Returns @ SFNE: Bizarro has been defeated! This one was the most surprising to me...guess the Bizarro theme wasn't working for them. Justice League Dark Ride @ SFGam: While we have seen this before, it is a welcome addition to SFGam. Total Mayhem & Holiday in the Parks @ SFGadv: When I heard "massive land clearing" and stuff, I was expecting a B&M Wing Coaster or something else huge. But it was just another S&S Free Fly...I also am curious how this winter event will go for them. I don't see this challening El Toro, Kingda Ka, or Nitro for the park's top coaster at all but it is the park's 1st truly brand new coaster since Dark Knight in 2008. Flat Rides: Wow, there are a LOT of these coming next year, and many of them look cool. A lot of Six Flags parks did need flat ride upgrades. However... Larson Loopers: Is Six Flags not going to rest until one of these resides in every single one of their parks!?!? And they are going to call them all roller coasters too... Backwards Vampire: Another year, another backwards Batman clone. I wonder how many are left to not get this now, and what'll happen after the last one closes for its season...will it go back to the first park again and start over? And that's about all I can think of for now (or at least care to talk about). No huge all-new coasters this year but some decent flat ride additions and another solid-looking RMC. Again, IMO, Revolution getting some much-needed love is the highlight though...shows Six Flags does care at least a little about its historic attractions. Hopefully they realize this for their woodies and don't choose what's left of their historically significant ones for RMC conversions in the future...(more modern ones that just aren't running well and never really had a chance in the first place might be a different story though...)

Well, the RV Company is out- I'm hopeful that under Al Webber's leadership, Indiana Beach can get back on track and be a great park again. Especially since, after all, this was the first park I ever went to way back in 1999 and is home to my first large roller coaster, the Hoosier Hurricane. Really not much more I can think of. Hopefully the park gets back on track, and if it does, I'll probably be coming back to it soon hopefully since this is also one of the closest parks to me.

^ This is one of the HUGE advantages of a wooden roller coaster in general. So long as it remains popular enough to justify it (doesn't seem like Beast will have said problem anytime soon), you can just keep replacing the parts as they break without worrying about manufacturers, etc. Some woodies have lasted 100+ years now, such as Leap the Dips @ Lakemont Park. Ironically, if you use that and the still going strong 1920's woodies around today as a base, Beast's 36 year old age is actually still pretty young in comparison. The ride could have 70+ more years to go, should the park be able to stay open and avoid catastrophes like a huge fire or something. (And TBH if a fire did destroy a part of Beast, the ride is currently famous and popular enough I would not be shocked if the destroyed parts were rebuilt ASAP)

^ To be honest though, what would in turn hurt Beast's theoretical max capacity is the next block section after the 1st lift is...the 2nd lift. The brake shed was supposed to be able to function as such, and the coaster designed to run 4 of those 4-bench trains and the ride would have been well over 2,000pph. However, it turned out to be impossible to load and unload the trains quickly enough, hence why only 3 trains were used and that was back before the seat belts and everything slowed down loading/unloading to boot. When the brakes were switched in 2002, the brake shed lost its block section ability completely. (At least this is what I have been told) The sheer length of the ride, thus, works against it as dispatching trains quicker than 2 minutes or so seems difficult to do on the ride. Though thankfully, 36 riders per train does speed things up and 1,000 riders per hour (1200 on a great day) is still possible to do on Beast which is still pretty darn decent considering from what I have seen, most coasters (outside of B&M's and stuff of course) are around 800-1000pph. Though if for whatever reason Beast is running 1 train (due to rain or some factor)...prepare to wait 90 minutes for what should have been 20.

Most of what I was thinking has pretty much already been said- Beast is fine as-is, as doesn't really need RMC to do anything to it. Yes you could in theory reduce the brake speed with topper track, but that would also include the need to re-bank a few of the turns (the lateral forces could potentially become too high for guests to enjoy), and that would make that a expensive revamp as that means rebuilding a few of the turns completely. Simply re-tracking the ride works wonders, as I experienced firsthand last season (haven't made it to KI this year...yet). Also, I was looking around on rec.roller-coaster, a VERY old forum thing that was around in the 1990's, and found some people talking about Beast BEFORE the skid-to-fin brakes change of 2002. What were they saying about this ride BEFORE the braking change, when in theory it was still running at 1979 speeds? "It's braked too much" "THERE IS NO AIRTIME!" "It's too rough" Aka- the same stuff people criticize Beast for today. I'd even bet some of those complaints were being thrown out in the 80's, when the ride was brand-new and supposedly at its very best. So it seems not much has changed for Beast as far as its reviews have gone. (Granted all the safety stuff and the fact you could get better rides when wet before 2002 have probably given the ride a slight hit in quality...)

I rode one of these once. So far, in all my rides taken since 2009, it was the only ride to ever make me feel sick. And I rode Holiday World's Round-Up, which on paper I THOUGHT would do the same since it also spins with high G-Forces...but that didn't make me sick at all somehow (and I enjoyed that ride). So it has to be something about these UFO-type rides specifically that caused the nausea.

What da...HOW DID I NOT KNOW WHAT THIS PARK EVEN WAS!?!? (I knew what Cannibal was but didn't bother checking out the rest of the park) TEN roller coasters (a mix of old & new- and nearly all look awesome to me based on the POV's I looked up), a great flat ride lineup, a huge kids area, they don't cut down trees, and you can even bring your own food!?!? Ugh. Why must it be in Utah, hundreds of miles away. I can only hope to some day be able to visit this awesome looking park... and hopefully no one ruins it before I can show up.

^ Hmm. Didn't think about that...it is possible to move a park's entrance, that's true. Then again, moving the gates for any of these 3 parks that have the fountain-style entrances means no fountains right at the new entrance, and just seems like a unneeded extra hassle. For Kings Island, I'm not sure where you could even put a new entrance and still have the park layout make sense, other than moving the front gate back or something... Also nice pun.

Wow- it may not have seemed like it at first looking at the leaked blueprints, but 3 kids water play areas, a huge new wave pool, and a multi-slide complex...along with tons of new amenities and stuff...and a new entrance...this is one heck of a waterpark expansion, and I see room in that picture for even more new slides for Carolina Harbor in the future to boot. Adding Cirque Imagine is another huge bonus for this park, and I have to wonder what that Plants vs. Zombies ride/thing will be. Add all this to everything Carowinds got in 2015, and this looks like a very solid $50,000,000 spent for an upgrade- these new attractions will be sure to bring in guests for years to come. And they might not have even spent the whole $50 million yet- though I'd think they are at least close, as Banshee and KI's 2012 waterpark upgrades cost $34 million combined and that was a much smaller sized coaster and didn't include new waterslides. I'd have to wonder if there is a couple million in there to possibly build a GCI or something for 2017, as with Thunder Road gone (that's the one big negative I can see about this whole plan), Carowinds could really use a new wooden roller coaster and that would be yet another awesome addition if they really want to keep pushing Carowinds to destination park status. It will be very interesting to see how Carowinds looks by 2020...

To be honest, IMO Invertigo is already Kings Island's front gate coaster as it is located right next to the ticket booths, and towers over the pre-entrance hub area. It just doesn't go overhead or to the other side like Fury 325 and Gatekeeper do. And to build such as coaster at Kings Island you would likely need to remove Invertigo, Congo Falls, Timberwolf Amphitheater, the front gate building, and possibly even the Kings Island Theater depending on the size of said ride. Since the entrance is fine as-is, it's just not worth it to remove so many things for 1 coaster. Canada's Wonderland, at least from what I have seen via Google Maps street views of it, also has a very nice entrance already and thus I also don't see them or even Kings Dominion getting one of these front-gate coasters either. At those parks, Leviathan and Dominator- 2 large, fairly new to the parks and popular B&M rides- are in the way. So I don't see them getting one of these either.

Wow- Skyhawk looks like a even crazier version of Flight Commander. And I can't believe Canada's Wonderland- a park that was already known for its great flat ride lineup- didn't already have a set of Flying Scooters. Well, consider that fixed. So an already-strong flat ride lineup gets even stronger in 2016...also I agree with Troy that a Skyhawk-like ride would work great in X-Base (along with said bathroom). I have liked the Cedar Fair announcements for 2016 so far. No huge coasters or anything yet (save whatever Cedar Point has planned- really looking like a Dive Machine there), but parks do need their waterslides and flat rides as well and those are what CF seems to be dishing out for the most part this year.

Pretty cool- the waterpark hasn't gotten any actual new waterslides since 2004, so this complex is much needed and welcome. The new toll booths will also be a welcome addition. And I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief as Racer will be with us at least one more year. Hopefully many more than just 1...

Oh dear. This is worrisome if The Racer rumors are true. Coney Mall will never be the same if it is. As much as I'd not like to see a RMC conversion, I'd still take that over a total demolition. At least then The Racer wouldn't be completely gone. (The RMC conversion actually sounds a bit more plausible to me than demolition, since they would likely have announced ahead of time if this was demolition similar to Thunder Road) But why even give Racer Thunder Road's old trains if it too is kicking the bucket the very same year (aka basically they should ALL go to KD for Rebel Yell then)? RMC Racer would also require completely different trains... Then again, this could be mere teasing and the 2 "1972" things are completely different, like shop buildings or something, to make way for some new flat rides or something. Or the park entrance is being revamped. I really hope it is one of these things over Racer. I also wouldn't want to see the Eiffel Tower, Monster, or anything like that kick the bucket either... Hopefully they really are just using this to throw us off, so we may be breathing a huge sigh of relief come tomorrow should Racer actually be staying. Followed by possible excitement over whatever new ride(s)/attractions are coming in 2016.

Hmm, well after seeing this same thing happen with Skyrider (formerly at Canada's Wonderland), I'm not too surprised to see Shock Wave for sale. It will probably go overseas to Europe or Asia though, or best case scenario for us in the USA, a small park in North America. At least someone will still be able to enjoy it for a few more years though. Oh, and for those who are wondering "I wonder where Skyrider is now"...according to RCDB, it's at a park called Cavallino Matto in Italy now. They didn't have any pictures of it in its new home, but I googled it and found this... Looks like the old coaster is getting a decent crowd in its new home at least.

Most of my night rides were taken in September 20th 2014, as that was a Halloween Haunt trip. But, based on my rides that day, in order I rode them: Diamondback Very similar to the daytime version, save it is harder to see where you are going due to the darkness of night. Doesn't use the woods nearly enough. A great ride, but if you have already ridden during the day, there are better night ride choices if you are pressed for time. Still worth it IMO if you can squeeze it in. WindSeeker To be honest, I have yet to ride this one in the daylight. However it boasts an AWESOME lighting package and amazing views of the entire park. And it does get kinda spiffy when it really gets spinning around at the top. Banshee The que is amazing at night, with the Banshee logo, lit-up tombstones, fog, the SOB Memorial, and all that stuff lit up beautifully. The ride itself remains an awesome, intense steel coaster but outside of a few cool strobe lights and some light fog, not as much of a change as the park originally seemed to promise ("It'll be your new favorite night ride"). Well, not quite. Though still excellent. Drop Tower Very similar to daytime Drop Tower, but prettier views since everything is all lit up and stuff. That's about the only difference here. Vortex Vortex is about on-par with Diamondback, as both have about the same level of changes due to the ride being at night- the ride seems about the same, but with the track darkened up a bit. Vortex looks more ominous at night though IMO with the near-black loops and such sticking out against the sky. Since it does inversions, Vortex feels a bit closer to Flight of Fear at night though. Backlot Stunt Coaster With its remaining special effects, BLSC actually gets quite a boost at night. The police chase scene, helicopter and fire scene, and dark tunnel are all amplified at night and stick out more. And since those are big parts of BLSC, it gets a noticeable boost from riding at night IMO. The Beast Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said. Beast is great in the daylight, but due to the huge "in the woods" factor it has (that rides like Diamondback lack) at night Beast becomes that much more awesome. The woods become pitch black, the fact you can't see the entire park at all for most of the ride is amplified, the view from the 2nd lift becomes even more incredible somehow, and the tunnels (especially the final helix ones) become black terror. If you only have time for ONE night ride, I'd go with this one. (If Beast is down for some reason, then I'd say Banshee though...) I haven't ridden The Bat, Adventure Express, or Racer at night but the first 2 seem to also have the "In-the-woods" factor Beast does a bit, and Racer goes past most of the beautiful Coney Mall flats (on the Red side, at least). So I may have to try those in the future if I can get the chance. As for your best shot at getting the most night rides in? Go on a Haunt Friday, early in the season, and skip ALL the haunted houses to do rides instead. That's how I got all these rides in, and it was on Toyota night so there was a bit of a crowd anyway. Hope this helps someone.

^ Edited that post to add a BUNCH of decimal places. Good point there Terp, my bad.

^ Electric Fences could be an even worse option- possible lawsuits there. Even if someone just bumped a fence on accident, which sometimes does happen if it gets crowded in the area...zap. Cue lawsuit. Very tall fences would likely be the safest option, but even those would have problems (as I did mention). UPDATE: My local news has their version of the story. http://www.wthr.com/story/29783683/cedar-point-guest-struck-killed-by-roller-coaster Apparently a cell phone was what this guy was going to get. I might have guessed that...people, for whatever reason, are crazy about their phones these days...

^^ Agreed on barbed wire not looking good- hence why I said I hope it doesn't have to come to something like that. Though even with that, I'd still see a few very bold people trying to jump the fence anyway- IE, they would not care that their hands would get cut up as well trying to get their stuff back. What parks have now may be the only realistic option- standard fences with warning signs will keep 99.999999% of guests out of restricted areas. It's that 0.000001% who don't think rationally that this is a issue with. Even super-tall view blocking fences (which are bad for rule-following guests as they bock views) wouldn't deter some of them, who would try to climb the fence anyway and might even get over it somehow. The trade-off for parks may not be worth it. Edit: Terp had a point, so I added a bunch of decimals as far less than 1% of guests do this anyway. May still be an exaggeration though.