Its 294 miles to Chicago, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses- silver2005's Indiana/Chicago/Cleveland TR and Planning

[RollerColt]

34 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Today didn't start good as I hit a closed I-65 north of Indianapolis due to a semi fire and had to take a 40 mile back roads detour. The park feels like a real life RCT park with the layout and weird ride, queue and RR placements.  Great setting by the lake.  Operations leave a lot to be desired.

Early coaster reviews-

Lost Coaster- fun and quirky, especially backwards 

Cyclone- smooth with lots of laterals, no banked turns

Tigrr- probably one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden of that size

Hurricane- very meh, gradual floater air, a bit too much jackhammering

Cornball- perfect small size CCI

Steel Hawg- good layout and elements, hate the restraints

Triple Loop is closed with several cranes and parts of another Schwarzkopf looper behind it including loop pieces 

 

Cornball express is such an underrated ride. Just a fun, snappy little woodie. 
 

Glad you made it safely, enjoy!

[silver2005]

This is going to be my TR now as I left early.  Weather played a factor like at HW, but with less access to a water park (did bring swim wear, but saving it for Lake Erie).  

Before I get to that, I have to get into the driving situation today.  I left Cincy at 6, which, ideally, would have put me in Monticello an hour before IB opened.  Just north of Indianapolis, I hit a closed I-65 with a semi on fire.  I stuck it out as best I could as I needed time to McGyver an alternate route.  I was still 40-50 miles away from Indiana Beach at that point and thus, I got a very intimate tour of the vast cornfields of Indiana.   I didn't get at IB until noon.  THEN, coming to my hotel near I-65 (which is about 20-ish miles from Monticello, yeah, IB is hard to get to), I had to follow an oversized loaded semi for about 10-15 miles of that distance.

@IndyGuy4KI, please fix your state's driving....things.  

Ugh.

Anyways, onto the TR.  Even upon entering the park I was...whelmed.  I thought IB would be slightly bigger and more spread out, but instead its more like a real life RCT park where you have little land to use and have to cram in a bunch of rides in a small area.  Almost every ride interacts with another, mostly thanks to how big Hoosier Hurricane is compared to the rest of the park.  About half the rides are on stilts above the midways including Tigrr, Hurricane and Cornball.  The waterpark is also very intigrated into the infrastructure, though less so as it uses more of the lake, but several flats and Cyclone share some real estate with some slides.  In that way, it has its own charm.  A lof of things like building facades, plants, signage, etc needs touching up.  The park felt, for lack of a better word, tacky.   I will say the rides from a mechanical standpoint, run well.  Staff and ops were another issue.  Food was fine, had Memphis heat on a pulled pork sandwich and mac and cheese (not bad for a park I set a low bar for), but ride ops, even for a slow day, were sus.  They aren't the most ADA friendly park either when it comes to ride accessibility.  I have a feeling a lot of what they do are grandfathered into when they were built so they can avoid modernizing some things, but still not a great look.   It'll be a while before I ever come back.  I think it may be my least favorite park so far.  

Rides

Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain- I really liked this thing.  It felt kind of like Blazing Fury, a wild mouse, and Cornball Express had a baby and this was the result.  The only restraints are seatbelts, and it has insanely tight curvatures on the hills and curves.  If you're facing backwards, there is no way to anticipate anything, in a good way.  It is padded a TON which helps with the sudden turns and CCI-esque design lines on the coaster sections.  Surprisingly smooth too given it's a wooden coaster.  

Cyclone- So this thing has 0 banked curves and the only way it slows down are anti-rollbacks.  It moves pretty quick with good jolts of air and 2 pretty forceful helices.  Not bad for a portable model.

Tigrr- This is one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden.  I expected the pops of air like Cyclone, but Anton almost designed it too smooth.  It does have pretty good floater air and the transitions are all really seemless with some good positive G's.  I only wish I would have ridden Triple Loop.  Looking forward to Whizzer on Friday as its basically Tigrr on steroids.

Steel Hawg- This was my intro to the S&S El Loco model.  Positives- good layout, amazingly efficient in terms of the lift speed and use of brakes, the elements were all pretty cool, especially the dive loop where it straightens to give you some great hangtime.  Negatives- the restraints.  Particularly the shoulder restraints.  Even given how smooth it was, the OTSR's are too close to your head and the handles are too high for my liking in order to brace for things.   Also my 120th steel coaster and my 160th coaster overall. 

Hoosier Hurricane- Had some high hopes, but overall disappointed.  The layout looks promising with a decent out and back layout, but most of the hills are way too drawn out.  Only semi decent floater air.  Did experience some jackhammering, but upon a second ride where I knew where to brace, it was alright.  Very meh and mid-tier for me.

Cornball Express- This, on the other hand, impressed me given its size.  This is more what a CCI should do mixing some great pops of air and good curves for decent laterals.  Its no Legend, but I almost enjoyed its helix a bit more.   With the way the first drop is profiled with the straight section, the back seat is completely insane with air on that drop.  Easily my favorite coaster there (also my 40th wooden coaster).  

 

[silver2005]

Made it to Chicago ok.  Lots of construction, and for a heck of an omen, several police SUVs left the hotel I'm staying as I pulled in.

Peachy. 

 

[RollerColt]

30 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Made it to Chicago ok.  Lots of construction, and for a heck of an omen, several police SUVs left the hotel I'm staying as I pulled in.

Peachy. 

 

You survived one of the most boring drives. Indy to Chicago is just brutal. Flat land and wind turbines as far as the eye can see. 
 

In regards to Indiana Beach, I agree with ya. It’s pretty tacky and outdated. They’ve got some nice rides for sure, but something always kind of felt off when I would visit. Having Kings Island and Holiday World nearby doesn’t help. The standard is just much higher. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

21 hours ago, silver2005 said:

Before I get to that, I have to get into the driving situation today.  I left Cincy at 6, which, ideally, would have put me in Monticello an hour before IB opened.  Just north of Indianapolis, I hit a closed I-65 with a semi on fire.  I stuck it out as best I could as I needed time to McGyver an alternate route.  I was still 40-50 miles away from Indiana Beach at that point and thus, I got a very intimate tour of the vast cornfields of Indiana.   I didn't get at IB until noon.  THEN, coming to my hotel near I-65 (which is about 20-ish miles from Monticello, yeah, IB is hard to get to), I had to follow an oversized loaded semi for about 10-15 miles of that distance.

@IndyGuy4KI, please fix your state's driving....things.  

Ugh.

 

 

I wish I could! 

[silver2005]

15 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

You survived one of the most boring drives. Indy to Chicago is just brutal. Flat land and wind turbines as far as the eye can see. 
 

In regards to Indiana Beach, I agree with ya. It’s pretty tacky and outdated. They’ve got some nice rides for sure, but something always kind of felt off when I would visit. Having Kings Island and Holiday World nearby doesn’t help. The standard is just much higher. 

I'll do one better as I go from Chicago to Cleveland for the next leg and I'm avoiding the IN and OH turnpikes.  I've been on US-30 to Ft Wayne from Cincy on the way up to Muskegon and that's more boring.  

Also- for anyone who's been to Chicago- is it better to park outside of downtown to L-train in or is parking downtown ok?

I can also get to SFGAm in sub-30 minutes without highways.  

[RollerColt]

12 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

I'll do one better as I go from Chicago to Cleveland for the next leg and I'm avoiding the IN and OH turnpikes.  I've been on US-30 to Ft Wayne from Cincy on the way up to Muskegon and that's more boring.  

Also- for anyone who's been to Chicago- is it better to park outside of downtown to L-train in or is parking downtown ok?

I can also get to SFGAm in sub-30 minutes without highways.  

Yikes, that drive is bad. 
 

I have family that lives in Chicago. I usually get up there to visit once every 5 or so years. They’ve always just rode the train into the downtown area. 

[silver2005]

2 minutes ago, RollerColt said:

Yikes, that drive is bad. 
 

I have family that lives in Chicago. I usually get up there to visit once every 5 or so years. They’ve always just rode the train into the downtown area. 

Unfortunately, the L-train stations with parking aren't that convenient in terms of being by I-94.   I'm going to park downtown near everything I plan on visiting. 

Things I intend to visit- Willis Tower, Riverwalk, the bean, Navy Pier, Soldier and Wrigley Fields, a lot of time by Lake Michigan.  I was initially going to try to catch a game at Wrigley since the Cubs are in town vs Boston, but the tickets for that sold out quick because the Cubs are actually good.   I wanted to catch the Reds in Chicago, but they don't go there at all in either June or July.  I'll probably stay downtown until 8 at the latest as I'm further from downtown than Gurnee (especially with construction in Chicago) and I want a good sleep before tackling SFGAm (I will be using Flash Pass Unlimited for that BTW).  

The plan is to get to downtown between 11 and 1.  

Also, as a Skyline employee, I feel obligated to try a Chicago dog, and Chicago style pizza is also a must do for me. 

[RollerColt]

55 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

Unfortunately, the L-train stations with parking aren't that convenient in terms of being by I-94.   I'm going to park downtown near everything I plan on visiting. 

Things I intend to visit- Willis Tower, Riverwalk, the bean, Navy Pier, Soldier and Wrigley Fields, a lot of time by Lake Michigan.  I was initially going to try to catch a game at Wrigley since the Cubs are in town vs Boston, but the tickets for that sold out quick because the Cubs are actually good.   I wanted to catch the Reds in Chicago, but they don't go there at all in either June or July.  I'll probably stay downtown until 8 at the latest as I'm further from downtown than Gurnee (especially with construction in Chicago) and I want a good sleep before tackling SFGAm (I will be using Flash Pass Unlimited for that BTW).  

The plan is to get to downtown between 11 and 1.  

Also, as a Skyline employee, I feel obligated to try a Chicago dog, and Chicago style pizza is also a must do for me. 

Oh yes, definitely try both! I love a good deep dish uno pizza! 

[silver2005]

So my hotel is 10 minutes from a Portillo's (more like 5 but the road my hotel is on is extremely busy so I had to do a bunch of circling, will likely be my MO driving for both Chicago and SFGAm, I can't turn left out of my hotel the road is so busy).

Tried a Chicago dog and a chili dog.  The chili dog is a cheap imitation of Skyline coneys, the chili is meatless with beans, though, the dogs (which are more akin to Italian sausage), onions and cheese (melted on the dog before the chili) were better admittedly.

The Chicago dog was really good.  Its a hot dog, mustard, a smooth relish, onions, celery salt, thin pepperoncinis (they might be something different but the taste is the same) and sliced tomatoes, all of which surprisingly work together on a hot dog.   

[RollerColt]

5 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

So my hotel is 10 minutes from a Portillo's (more like 5 but the road my hotel is on is extremely busy so I had to do a bunch of circling, will likely be my MO driving for both Chicago and SFGAm, I can't turn left out of my hotel the road is so busy).

Tried a Chicago dog and a chili dog.  The chili dog is a cheap imitation of Skyline coneys, the chili is meatless with beans, though, the dogs (which are more akin to Italian sausage), onions and cheese (melted on the dog before the chili) were better admittedly.

The Chicago dog was really good.  Its a hot dog, mustard, a smooth relish, onions, celery salt, thin pepperoncinis (they might be something different but the taste is the same) and sliced tomatoes, all of which surprisingly work together on a hot dog.   

Oh heck yeah, Chicago style dogs are awesome! My first ever was with my uncle at Wrigley. 
 

As far as chili dogs? I agree. Very few come close to a Skyline coney. 

[silver2005]

Went with Giordano for lunch.  Kept it simple with pepperoni pizza.  Its kind of an inverted pizza,- thick crust (close to an inch thick) which kinda acts like a bowl of sorts.  The 'toppings' end up more as bottomings as they go at the bottom, then cheese (a good bit) and sauce on top.  Kind of locks in the cheese and topping flavors.  Kind of if pizza and lasagna had a food baby.  Very good.

Also, now that I've had both types, I can say Chicago style beats NY style.

[silver2005]

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. 

[silver2005]

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.

[silver2005]

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.

[silver2005]

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

[silver2005]

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. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

Sounds like you're having a great trip. 

[silver2005]

1 hour ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

Sounds like you're having a great trip. 

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.

[silver2005]

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.  

 

[RollerColt]

17 hours ago, silver2005 said:

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 have always loved Raging Bull’s layout. I was hoping our Orion project would’ve been sometime more akin to it, but it is what it is! 
 

Glad you’re having a good time! 

[silver2005]

1 hour ago, RollerColt said:

I have always loved Raging Bull’s layout. I was hoping our Orion project would’ve been sometime more akin to it, but it is what it is! 
 

Glad you’re having a good time! 

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

[silver2005]

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.

[Losantiville Mining Co.]

22 hours ago, silver2005 said:

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. 

I've heard Great America's Superman has more foliage/stuff around it than Great Adventure's version has, so I wonder if that could be a part of it. 

This seems like an awesome park! I wonder what fun things we might see next year for their 50th. My guess for their new kids area is that Camp Snoopy will replace their Yukon Territory (where CGA also has their Planet Snoopy, funnily enough) and replace their go karts with a SSBR or SRR clone. I think Mexico is getting a SSBR clone as well. It'd also be a great time to introduce a new logo more in line with Six Flags' new branding strategies, but I don't know if we'll see that happen. 

[silver2005]

^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).  

[silver2005]

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.

[silver2005]

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.

[silver2005]

Millennium Force and Raptor are running sooooo good.

Magnum is a bit jittery but still good.

Rougarou is surprisingly intense in a good way.

[silver2005]

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.

[silver2005]

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