http://content.sixflags.com/newfor2013

All new SF additions.

Full Throttle looks like a fun ride but to me having it at SFMM seems a little off. It seems like another filler coaster a year after they got a filler coaster. I think this ride really could have stood out more at SFNE or even SFGAm than at the mountain. I just can't see this pulling huge crowds still two or three years down the line. Iron Rattler looks like it could be incredible and the new safari adventure at SFGAdv looks like it could be a great addition/remodel.

Holy crap! Six Flags is going all out next year. The safari ride at Great Adventure looks really fun. Cedar Fair, keep up with the competition!

Iron Rattler looks like an amazing ride, it almost depresses me that KI couldnt have done something with Son of Beast like that. Full Throttle looks.....interesting, but nothing huge to me. Sky Screamer looks like the ride I would want to try the most being terrified of heights.

The backwards launch midway through Full Throttle caught me off guard and definitely impressed me - I'd love to see more unique and unusual elements like that on more roller coasters.

Great Adventure's "Safari Off Road Adventure", although oddly named, also sounds exciting - the description sounds very similar to Disney's "Kilimanjaro Safari" attraction, and it'll definitely make a great "new" family attraction at the park.

The FULL Zero G Roll (In your face Outlaw Run) surprised me on Rattler.

I feel like Cedar Fair will be the secluded chain that continues to lose customers to Six Flags. I know someone who likes corn has done just that.

Six Flags' additions look pretty well rounded. It's like a bell curve in the fact that many are good but there are some that are a little better / worse (and then theirs the outliers). Iron Rattler looks amazing (appears much better than Outlaw Run IMO), and Full Throttle looks interesting. Another reason why I need to get out West / South.

I hope Cedar Fair impresses us in the coming years.

I feel like Cedar Fair will be the secluded chain that continues to lose customers to Six Flags. I know someone who likes corn has done just that.

In most markets, regional parks don't directly compete with each other - so Cedar Fair can't "lose" many customers to Six Flags. Losing customers to other forms of entertainment and to vacations further from home is probably a bigger worry. Very few people in any of Cedar Fair's markets care what a Six Flags park in Texas is adding.

Things can get interesting, though, when markets do overlap. Note that Cedar Point and SF Great America are, essentially, getting versions of each other's 2012 additions for 2013. I can't imagine that Cedar Fair's trademark lawyers are amused about "IgNIGHT" competing with "Luminosity: Ignite the Night".

SFOG 2012: iLuminate?

Terp, who likes to ask questions.

SF seems to be doing some cool things.

Iron Rattler looks awesome! I like the hybridization of these older, rough wooden coasters. Seems to me that SF was very happy with the New Texas Giant to do a second project.

Full Throttle is interesting, the backwards launch seems weird to me as it isn't for a major section of the ride, yet I bet it will be cool riding on it.

igNIGHT seems like SF's Luminosity, I have to wonder if it will top it or even come close.

I also like the attention placed on waterparks, and Black Hole of Doom 4D, if done right, could be a great slide.

The reverse launch, to me, is pointless and kills the pacing of the ride.

The reverse launch looks amazing, and I think they are trying to throw off the pace just because they can. And the top hat element blew my mind.

So far, based on what I've seen and my own opinions:

Outlaw Run > Iron Rattler > Full Throttle > Gatekeeper > Gold Striker

The 2 elements in one loop on Full Throttle is what got me. Love it. The backwards launch reminds me of The Mummy at Universal.

YOLO.

Wow, Six Flags, keep it up...many of these rides & attractions look awesome...

IRON RATTLER @ SF Fiesta Texas

Iron Rattler looks epic, and while it only has 1 inversion to Outlaw Run's 3, it's also longer and I see great use of terrain with that coaster. Sad that Kings Island could have done something like this with Son of Beast, but decided not to (perhaps because of the price tag- I recall Kinzel saying at Coastermania 2011 at Cedar Point that they looked into it for Son of Beast and while RMC would do it, they would need $20 million dollars to do so). My pick for best new ride 2013!

FULL THROTTLE @ SF Magic Mountain

People here seem "dissapointed" at this one...I think it looks fun, although not the best coaster overall next year. The massive loop and numerous launches look cool, and while the backwards launch throws off the pace a bit, it isn't a bad feature whatsoever...and it's from Premier Rides, the company who built Flight of Fear here at KI (which is a ride I enjoy), so it should be good.

SAFARI OFF ROAD ADVENTURE @ SF Great Adventure

Kings Island used to have something like this, only it had a monorail instead of trucks, and the trucks seem like a "step up" from the monorail. Regardless, Paramount came in and ripped that attraction out, and later put Son of Beast there...how did that go again? Hmm...perhaps, if Cedar Fair is willing to change its policy and have animal areas in its parks, the Wild Animal Safari at Kings Island could make a triumphant comeback...anyhow, this one looks awesome.

BOOMERANG @ SF St. Louis

THEY STILL BUILD THESE!?!? I'm a bit confused by this one...why not an Invertigo? Well, at least the newer boomerangs, I'm told, have better trains and are far more "ride-able" than the older ones. But this will probably not be 2013's best new coaster, unless something horrible goes wrong with ALL the others...not a bad ride for the park, but not the epic steel coaster that isn't a clone that compliments their excellent-looking wood coaster lineup...

THE SKY-SCREAMERS @ Various Six Flags

WindSeekers vs. Sky Screamers...there is indeed a war in the sky over Cedar Fair and Six Flags parks. Wonder if/when Busch Gardens, Disney, Universal, Various Smaller Parks, etc etc. decides to build a swing ride what they might do...

And those are the ones that stood out to me...

SFStL is a boomerang all right, moved from Texas, not new. It's a flashback.

http://rcdb.com/10947.htm

Ohh...so it's just a re-location...ok, my bad...I hope Six Flags AT LEAST gives it the new boomerang trains, which I am told are so much better than the old ones. It supposedly worked well for Carolina Cobra (re-location of Head Spin from Geauga Lake).

Indications are the ride is being moved. And painted.

Iron Rattler looks like the coaster of the year so far. Six Flags got my business this year over Cedar Fair and as of now looks like that will be the case again.

Hmm...well, if they don't give it the new trains, then I seriously must question Six Flags re-location strategy...I mean, come on, Cedar Fair gave their Boomerang (Carolina Cobra/Head Spin) new trains when it got moved...why can't Six Flags? Then again, we don't know for sure...

Um. Okay.

I learn the darnest things here.

^

I do too. I knew very, very little about roller coasters before joining KIC. And I have learned quite a bit since, a lot of it from other users...like the best seat on Vortex, for example...

The coaster or attraction for me is Six flags full throttle that backwards launch, the over the top loop is something!

Wow Six Flags knows how to make an announcement. They really blew Cedar Point's fumbling around in the rain announcement of Gate Keeper. I like John Hildebrandt but he should never be in front of a camera making an announcement unless there has been a terrible accident.

From the twitter account of Rebecca Baker, Cedar Point's marketing coordinator.

"Industry is buzzing with @SixFlags announcements. I'm a little bias, but I think the #Gatekeeper launch across platforms was better executed"

Better executed? Was she not informed Gatekeeper was leaked the day before? I don't understand how some one could think Gatekeepers announcement was better than what Six Flags did.

For God's sake, one of the higher ups called Gatekeeper WindSeeker during the announcement.

^I was wondering if anybody else caught that WindSeeker slip

If you knew where to look/cared enough to find out then all of six flags projects where known beforehand too. We may not have had screenshots or exact layouts but there wasn't anything announced yesterday that was a surprise.

From the twitter account of Rebecca Baker, Cedar Point's marketing coordinator.

"Industry is buzzing with @SixFlags announcements. I'm a little bias, but I think the #Gatekeeper launch across platforms was better executed"

Better executed? Was she not informed Gatekeeper was leaked the day before? I don't understand how some one could think Gatekeepers announcement was better than what Six Flags did.

For God's sake, one of the higher ups called Gatekeeper WindSeeker during the announcement.

Someone's pride a little wounded?

A. Silence would have been a better FUN response.

B. I thought SIX and FUN didn't compete for the same customers and spheres of influence.

Well?

An interesting article that includes some discussion about SIX cap ex philosophy:

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/14854630-421/ignight-will-ignite-six-flags-nights-in-13.html

I always thought 9-10% was going back into the parks back when things was Paramount. I would guess the ride cost have gone up way faster than revenue in the last 10 years.

Paramount and CBS had cut back on cap ex in the last years. So much so that at one IAAPA Jeff Seibert was unironically referring to new additions as "cheap and cheerful."