d-lo775

So locals are going to fill up the $35 million+ (3 hotels) that are currently under construction within 5 miles of the park?

I like Manta, but Tatsu is the best flyer of the bunch IMO, I got my first two rides in on it back in October. Leaving me with only two B&M credits to get in North America. Flight Deck at Great America, I was too fat for a regular seat and it has NO "big boy" seats (I've lost 20 lbs. since then, so maybe next time). Then Goliath at LaRonde, which was closed for the day for maintenance on my only visit. Hopefully, I can pick it up next year. The back row on both coasters are very intense going through the pretzel loop. I thought the positive G's were going to pull my sternum out of my body on Manta, but that's nothing compared to the positive G's on Tatsu in the back row. It's seriously the one ride that's too intense for me in the back row. I had to experience it at least once, but I couldn't do it more than once a visit. ,

I'm not saying they aren't different experiences. I'm just pointing out their classified on RCDB as wing coasters and I can't argue that they are wrong. None of them have track above or below you when riding, therefore they're wing coasters with a 4D/free spin element. Intamin also refers to Skyrush at Hersheypark as their wing rider model even though 2 of the 4 seats in each row are over the track. RCDB classifies it as a wing rider/custom. The Beast and Shivering Timbers are completely different experiences, but they're both wood coasters. To get more specific, Ragin' Bull and Diamondback are completely different ride experiences as well, yet they're both B&M hyper coasters.

Rcdb considers X2, Green Lantern: First Flight and 4D free spins clones at Six Flags (Joker/Batman: The Ride) as wing coasters too.

Wouldn't even make the top 25.

I've been on both Wooden Warrior and Roar-o-saurus, both small in height and length (very close to Kentucky Flyer stats), but those "little" coasters were a lot of fun and packed a surprising amount of airtime.

B&M is my preferred coaster manufacture, I've been on everyone in North America except for the ones in California (crosses fingers that changes before 2019) and La Ronde. I've been to La Ronde, but for some reason closing their best coaster down on a Sunday in the middle of August along with 3 other coaster, is acceptable. However, Iron Wolf/Apocalypse is the worst coaster I've ever ridden. Yes, it beats out other dishonorable mentions like SoB, Mean Streak, Vortex (Carowinds), any Togo, SLC or Boomerang. I only rode it once at SFGAm in 2010 and the head banging was so extreme. I hit the side of my face so hard that my jaw hurt for 3 days after that. When it was moved to Six Flags America, I gladly passed on ridding it on my 4 trips I made after the relocation. I'm not much of a water ride person, but all I could think was they removed Skull Mountain in favor of this garbage. I'm not even sure I would re-ride it even as a floorless coaster, getting that first ride nightmare out of my head isn't easy. Maybe a re-ride and a concussion would make me forget about it. I can't imagine Six Flags would spend any sort of large investment on that park, so a floorless conversion makes the most sense to me. Most of the crowd seems to go to the Water Park and I've never experience more than a 10-15 minute wait in any line on the dry side of the park and that's including their less than stellar and mostly 1 train operations. I definitely don't dislike SFA by any means, I've had several enjoyable trips there over the last decade and I think their bad reputation isn't totally deserved. Coaster for Coaster, I'll take SFA over Six Flags St. Louis any day.

Glad to report that my rides on Diamondback last night were not like the one I experienced on Tuesday. Operators were really enforcing the no loose articles with multiple announcements about not having your phone out on the ride between trains entering the station.

Took a ride on Diamondback yesterday about 4, in row 2. The girl in the front row had her phone out and clearly visible in the station. The ride operator and the person on the left side checking restraints said nothing. The person on the right checking her restraint, only said “don’t take any videos or pictures while riding.” Made me feel really safe since she was sitting right in front of me.

Cedar Point and Holiday World had confidence in a water ride from Intamin at one point too. Anyone rode Shoot the Rapids or Pilgrim Plunge lately? I have confidence a broken clock will be right twice a day.

What would keep someone from taking or tearing the “no ride” wristband off? Yeah, I know, you’re likely not going to be able to get something sharp (knife, scissors) in to the park to cut off a normal or even a thick plastic wristbandoff. But what keeps someone from going to their car and doing it. As CoasterRZ said this would be a major pain for ride operators too. Not every ride has a greeter at the entrance of the ride and KI won’t be spending more money for greeters only for some guests to pay less for admission. Even if you switch the situation so only riders wear the wristband. I didn’t spend $180 on a platinum pass to have to stop and get a wristband every time I go to the park. How much time would it take to enter the front gate or stand in line at a booth if it was done this way? I also hate small parks that use the barcode wristbands at the entry of the ride. Yes, I understand it’s something they need to do, but it’s simply not feasible at a large park. They are usually iffy as to how well they scan and can slow dispatches and prevent filling a whole train from what I’ve seen. Plus I’m sure there are several other ways people who didn’t pay full price would try to scam the park.

I did 84 rides in one day at the park by myself (9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.). It was an early June weekday, the year Diamondback opened (2009) and about a week before SoB closed for good. So, before Fast Pass even existed. I managed to ride every adult coaster and flat ride at least twice and several laps on Diamondback that day, as they were allowing re-rides and it wasn't busy at all. It was fun at the time, I had recently moved to Mason and I had always wanted to spend a whole day at the park. Now after living here for over a decade and developing a serious anxiety disorder, I find myself only visiting the park with friends and only spending 90 minutes to 2 hours at the park. I'm more than fine with riding just a few rides. Usually it's just 1 lap on Banshee, Diamondback and Mystic Timbers then it's time to make the short trip home. I also once got a couple of rides on Diamondback with a guy from England who was on a coaster trip of the U.S. He said he had gotten 68 rides on Talon at Dorney before traveling to KI. This was also on a weekday early into the season and before Fast Pass. He said he had already gotten 76 rides on Diamondback that day and was hoping to get another 10-12 rides in before the park closed at 10 p.m. Unfortunately, I don't think he met his goal, as I left the park about 15 minutes later and as soon as I got to my car, there was a massive downpour.

SFA has its cons, but it also has its pros: Pros: (1) The dry side of the park is hardly ever busy, most people seem to go for the water park. (2) Every ride in the park has always been operating when I've been there (I've been at least 5 times), except for the standard Intamin coaster downtime, which I seem to experience at every park I've ever been to that has one. (3) Superman: Ride of Steel's airtime hill out of the first helix is insane and is one of my favorite moments on any coaster, the bunny hills on the trip back to the station are awesome too. I actually prefer this coaster over several other Intamin coasters despite its less extreme layout. (4) Wild One is an above average wood coaster, but as with all woodies it all depends on how recently it's been re-tract or how well it's maintained. (5) Joker's Jinx, of course, is just Flight of Fear without the building, which I actually prefer, I'd rather see where I'm going so I can shift appropriately. Plus there is no mid-course break run, which is a huge plus. (6) Ragin' Cajun's first half is a bit blah, but the second half has an incredible amount of spin that will leave you regathering your equilibrium on the break run. (7) Skull Mountain, before it was removed, was a hidden gem, a flume ride that I really enjoyed, which is rare for me, I couldn't refuse the chance to ride a flume ride with an air time hill. (8) Not sure if still there or not, but they had a cow themed, break dance type ride that was a fun flat ride. (9) Their flat ride collection isn't fantastic, but has greatly improved since my first visit in 2010. (10) I once stopped and watched a show in the park, it was so terribly bad that it was borderline great. How many Western shows are you going to see where some of the actors are dressed more like Pirates than they are Cowboys? I'm talking eye patches, puffy shirts, and swords versus Cowboy hats/ boots, vests, chaps and guns. Plus with the mix of Karate, Kung Fu, MMA and Pro Wrestling moves included in the fight scenes, it was a once in a lifetime experience that Disney or Dollywood will never be able to match. I know this sounds made up, but I swear it happened. Cons: (1) The load times and dispatches are on the slow side, I use to think they were the worst of any amusement park, then I visited La Ronde and I wished I was at SFA. Unfortunately, they also often only run 1 train operations, but it's not that big of a deal since it is rarely busy. (2) I've never rode Apocalypse at SFA, but I did ride it at SFGAm (Iron Wolf) and it was one of the worst coasters I've ever been on, my jaw hurt for 3 days after I rode it, so I refuse to ever get on it again. (3) Mind Bender is likely the worst SLC of the 11 I've been on, not that any of them are great or even good. Thunderhawk at Michigan Adventure is probably the best, but that's not saying much. (4) Roar, I've rode it with both train versions and it has always been shaky and rough. (5) Batwing is not as smooth as Firehawk, but I'm hardly a fan of Vekoma lie to fly coasters, but at least they're not Zamperela Volrare models. (6) The games manager is awful. My friend once won $1,000 worth of Apple products for $50 and he was none to pleased. Our next visit, over a year later he won a 60-70" TV, I don't really remember the size, at ring toss for a small amount of cash. The game manager then forbid him for winning another TV at a completely different game. Basically they changed the park prize rules on the spot to keep him from winning again. Things I can't comment on: (1) The food or food service, I very rarely eat at an amusement parks, if I'm going to travel I'm going to experience the local cuisines (It's Crab cakes when in Maryland) or highly ranked yelp restaurants in the area. Unless we're trying to visit BGW, KD and SFA in the same day, then it's usually fast food we can eat in the car. (2) The water park, unless I'm at Holiday World, I don't go to them. (3) The traffic, I've never had any problems from where I usually stay (Greenbelt, MD), but DC/Baltimore has some of the worst traffic jams I have ever seen. It also helps that they don't open until 11 a.m., so the morning rush is typically over. (4) Unruly guest or line cutters, I can't say I've seen it be any worse at this park as compared to the others I've visited. I sometimes wonder if some of the bad reviews I read are based on the fact that several of the employees and park guest are African Americans. I don't know this for fact or accusing people I don't know of racism, but I have personally have never had a bad experience with any park guest or employees.

I’ve only ridden The Boss once and that was years ago. I found it extremely rough and unenjoyable. I’ve been willing to give it another try a couple of times since, but it’s either been down or I haven’t found the time and opted for other rides. Namely multiple rides on American Thunder or a ride on Justice League. It’s rare that we spend a whole day at one park. After I pick up all coaster credits on a visit to a park, I usually just focus on a few rides that I really enjoy on my next visit to the same park. Safe travels and I hope your family has a great time.