ACE Spring Conference + SFA

[johnjniehaus]

My partner and I flew into DC and decided to spend a few hours at SFA before heading down to the ACE Spring Conference in Virginia. Six Flags America was a park I had only visited once previously and I personally never felt the need to go back except that my partner had never ridden a Vekoma flying Dutchman so he needed that credit before it becomes extinct. So takeaways from the experience is that the ops were much more friendly and active. The food and beverage service was still pretty abysmal. The rides still had a fair amount of downtime. We were able to get all the coaster credits except Superman which was down the entire day. Overall it was a better experience than the previous visit but still just an alright park. 

BGW spring con was such a wonderful time. We arrived at Busch a little after 6pm and rode a few rides before the evening ERT event on Pantheon, Apollo, Tempesto, Turkish Delight, and Trade Winds. My friends and I lapped Apollos Chariot and got one ride on all the others. The next morning we had ERT on Darkoaster, the wave Swinger, dogem, and Big Bad Wolf: The Revenge. After waiting nearly an hour for BBW, we finally got to ride. Overall it was a nice homage to the original although I'd take an arrow suspended coaster over a B&M family invert any day. The theming around the ride was fun and the Bavarian village section was what really got me excited. This ride will look much better once the trees have grown in around it. Overall not the most thrilling coaster but still fun. During the day we got the remaining coasters and also did escape from pompii. We ride the Rhine River Cruise and then headed over to Kings Dominion that afternoon. My partner and I returned to Busch on Monday to reride some coasters and hit up the remaining flats. 

We arrived at Kings Dominion and focused on riding the rides in Old Virginia before the evening ERT. We got rides on the flying eagles, the antique Cars, the log Flume, and grizzly. Grizzly was running FANTASTIC. The evening ERT was in jungle expedition on Tumbili, Rapterra, Reptilian, Arachanidia, and Backlot Stunt Coaster. We got 4 laps on Rapterra. I thought while it did have a slight bounce/rattle, it has a wonderful layout and is arguably the second best coaster in the park. 

Morning ERT was on Twisted Timbers, Apple Zapple, Carousel, troika, and Delirium. We also had lunch at the picnic pavilions and I won a vintage KD park map and a park map from SFOG from the ACE auction. We took a group photo at the Eiffel Tower and also were excited to go up in it after it has been down for a few seasons now. 

I think that KD has some great 50th anniversary merch but the overall decoration was definitely less than Kings Island. BGW looked fantastic as usual and the ACE event included a food and wine tasting card which we thoroughly enjoyed. 

Of course pantherian, verboten, and le scoot were closed during the trip. Pantherian looked like there was no activity going on so I have no clue what they are doing or when they plan to open it. Le scoot was testing over the weekend and is probably gearing up for a memorial Day weekend opening. The representative from BGW told us that they plan to have verboten up sometime in June. Hopefully both parks get those rides back up before the main season really kicks in.