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It was my favorite coaster when we visited the park, but that was 2013 and with a much younger, fit body more capable of taking a beating.

I rode the Looping Starship at Great Adventure when I was 6 (I'm not even sure if I was really even tall enough for it but I think I wore a hat or something) and after experiencing those horse collars, I refused to ride anything with even a simple OTSR for like 5 years after. I was convinced that any ride that went upside down was guaranteed to be extremely painful. I finally got over my fear of OTSRs when I was 10 or 11, but thank you Looping Starship for disturbing my childhood The horse collars didn't really bother me as an adult because I could kind of hold it off myself, but it was a bit traumatic as a 6 year old hanging upside down basically by my ribs.

Yup. If they were at a crossroads involving a financial decision resulting in guest satisfaction increasing while profits remaining the same, as opposed to guest satisfaction decreasing with overall profits increasing, the choice would be the latter. This is a first hand example of large corporate America.

I haven't ridden it in years, but I remember it being savagely fun with defensive riding and a couple beers. Middle of the train non wheel seat, grab the bar in front of you, and lean forward off the seat. Then, hold on for dear life. It's probably just like bull riding only worse, right?

I wish I could say that's sad, but let's be honest, the restraint systems in those things were horrible. I would LOVE for someone to start making a gravity-driven looping ship again but it seems we're now stuck with the ones that are fully motor-controlled. If they made a new Looping Starship with restraints that didn't push directly into my sternum the entire ride, sign me up.

^ Especially in the back row when you casually roll straight through with no real trim then get launched out of your seat, only for the remainder of the coaster to be an all-out assault on your body in the best way. Harder, daddy. I'm being serious. The Boss is incredible. I'll die on this hill. Yes, you are all wrong.

That's going to be the loudest hotel in Orlando. Nothing but hard surfaces that bounce sound all over the place. Those curves will make for some interesting auditory experiences throughout, though, so there's that.

That's great to hear Gravity Group got the contract. I am looking forward to riding Mighty Canadian Minebuster again this year!

Universal Orlando recently shared these photos of the new Stella Nova Resort, and it looks absolutely AMAZING!!!!

No more Six Flags vs Cedar Fair = ONE company = less competition. That being known it is time for that ONE company to be more profitable than ever and that is the number one goal of any company. Whatever is not profitable enough will eventually be retired no matter what (classic coasters, rides, etc..). As much as we hate it, we can all understand. So it is time to get a ride on your old endangered coaster while it is up and running because there will be more removals in the near future.

The Gravity Group got the contract to retrack 960 feet (from the first drop to turnaround). But it's not only retracking it's also reprofiling with a steeper first drop and extra speed bump I believe. They will also use their new track system (vertical engineered track system)! And Alpen Fury looks awesome!! Can't wait to go this summer!

It is sad to see all those thrill rides leave the park but Drayton Manor have handled the conversion to families while keeping the park interesting and themed much better than places like Lightwater Valley.

Acclaimed director, David Lynch passed away this morning Nominated for several Directing Oscars. Known for Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Twin Peaks, Mulholland Drive... and of course, the original DUNE. A very unique U.S. Director. He will be missed.

Hopefully you'll get your answer quicker than the last poster.

I kind of like the suspense the MCBR adds. It's like another first drop.

I would've liked to have visited Drayton Manor, but I fear if I tried to cram one more amusement park into our honeymoon while in Great Britain (already had BPB, Alton, and Thorpe on the schedule), my wife would've sought to annul our marriage the moment we landed on the tarmac at JFK. Mind you we also already did Efteling and Walibi Holland in the Netherlands during the trip, as well. Looks like you had a great time!

A Gravity Group reprofile might well delete the MCBR - and dramatically reshape that vertical element. Now that they're sticking to two train ops the MCBR is no longer needed for block zone needs. Actually they could shorten most or all three of those hills to some degree to improve the pacing. I could see them adding an outerbank on one of them too* - they've added an odd-banking element on at least one other reprofiling project (Tonnerre 2 Zeus). To compensate for the increased speed a trim would be added to the station flyby - with good programming to ensure it never hits more than it needs to (without it that final turn and airtime pop would likely be painful - and would still be needed if the helix was restored). * I'd put it on either the entry or exit of this turnaround.

I always hated the Mid-Course Brake on the Boss... happens way too soon in the circuit. First and Third Drop are great fun, otherwise it is sorta Meh. The Double Helix removal also disappointing. I rather ride SE or Americal Thunder.

Legoland's new Ninjago spinning roller-coaster (still not officially named) has an opening window of April 2025.

Constructions wall at Phillharmagic seem to confirm that Hong Kong will be finally adding the Coco scene present in all the other parks.

I forgot to share this here, but last week Priestly Demolition shared a video of 1,000 feet of track recently being removed on Mighty Canadian Minebuster. Retracking in recent years has not helped this roller coaster much. I do not know who is performing the retracking on Mighty Canadian Minebuster during this off-season, but I hope the process is successful and makes it more enjoyable!

Day 6: Drayton Manor it was pretty overcast, and a bit chilly, and there was a chance of drizzle in the forecast. But everyone was still excited to continue on the trip and to check out Drayton Manor - even tho we had been told that most of the big thrill rides had been taken out over the years and they had targeted more towards families, with a large Thomas Town section, and lots of family rides. so after eating breakfast and checking out of our 1 night hotel, we climbed onto the bus, and after a shortish drive, we pulled up to the signs for the next park on the itinerary. it really looks like it's in the middle of a nice neighborhood. . . LOL. .you just come upon the sign noting it's there. this is apparently the "new" entrance, which feeds you into the Viking section of the park - which is apparently also fairly new. not super packed prior to opening, but a few dozen folks out and about on this day (I believe it was a weekday, and with the forecast, it surprised me to see as many people there as there were - even tho it wasn't that many) I don't recall us having any kind of early admission or fast passes for this park (not that we'd have needed them), so most of the group followed Robb/Elissa's lead, and headed to the newest coaster in the park - a Vekoma family boomerang, called Accellerator - to get that out of the way as it was probably the lowest capacity coaster in the park. (of course, I had to stop and snap pictures along the way) the theming and LOOK of Accelerator are really well done, even if the ride is really not too exciting. the indoors queue is kinda cool too Noted! happy, and a little chilly, TPR folks mixed in with GP I see Jack and Jackie, and Andrew and April on this train. and further back, Nick, Doug, Hawk, David, John, Chris, and Ryan and here's Andrew, Stacy, me, Nick, Doug, Brad, Jere, and Eric (and his son) I think this pic is thanks to Elissa? Hi Dad, I'm in Jail! this wasn't quite ready to open, so we'd have to come back in a bit. . . it was a walk thru haunt experience, tho I can't recall if there was an actual "ride" or if it was just a guided tour kind of thing. next door, this indoor shooter was open tho. so we took a spin on this. That's Larry & his Niece there. this wasn't open today, tho I do love these kinds of rides. . . . so snapped a couple of pics we missed this one by only a few weeks - this is the park's new for 2024 coaster, that is called Gold Rush. it's an Intamin tire launch family coaster with multiple switch track. they had it mostly ready to go, and a lot of the theming was in place. but it hadn't started testing yet, and they hadn't yet announced the name yet when we were there. so the big walls were still up around it. heading back into the main park.. you can see how non-busy it really was today. tho to be fair, it seemed a lot of the folks who were here, were in Thomas Land . . which is where we were gonna head next. Troublesome Trucks is a Gerstlauer Junior coaster (with a creepy ass face on it) over in Thomas Land. I mean. . LOOK at that face on the front of the train. LOL. . .but it was a fun coaster and actually had some speed and pops of air. what I found most interesting is how the queue for the coaster runs right along side the back of the Thomas the Tank Engine Train ride. so you get a really great view of how the engine detaches from the front of the train when it returns to the station, spins around, then comes back around and attaches to the back of the train, making that the front. so they don't need a big "turn around" track for the whole train. and yes, the Thomas Engine has creepy ass eyes that move around as it chugs along. almost our turn on the coaster tho. I do think this one might have been the longest line of the day for us at this park. but I think most of the TPR folks did ride it. is this something to do with Harry Potter? Hand to G-d, I swear this man introduced himself to me as Mister Top or Bottom. I thought it was hysterical and posted about it. i was corrected by several friends online who told me that his name is Mr. Toppan Hat. but he used to be called something more offensive. and sure enough, when I went to upload this trip report? I actually DO have a picture of a statue of him that says Sir Toppan Hatt. I think "Mister Top or Bottom" is way more amusing of a name tho nothing else in Thomas Land was anything else I was interested in, so I wandered out to check out the remaining areas of the park. we had passed this cute Carousel so did I stop and ride it now? You Betcha! a Map of the park - the entrance we came in is at the top over the lake. you can tell it's not a HUGE park, and a big chunk of it is dedicated to the Zoo and Thomas Land (basically everything on the left). despite the low crowds, they did have a show running, with a few participating Mr Sequins there did try to get me to participate, so I shook my butt for a few moments to make him happy and then we went back to the Haunting. I say again, I REALLY don't remember much about this experience. . I *think* it was mostly acting and set pieces they walked us by. but the theming was well done in the queue area. it was getting ready to rain, and a light drizzle had started - so we headed over to the only other coaster that was open today (the "thrill" coaster, the Wave, hadn't opened yet today). Jormungandr is Zamperla powered coaster. and from it's queue line location, we were able to get some more looks at the new coaster that hadn't opened yet. So that was an extra benefit for riding on this - and we bumped into a bunch of TPR folks while in this queue, so it was a mini-TPR-takeover ohhhh. . a pony express ride next door? yes please! some different views of the new Gold Rush coaster Happy TPR riders! the pony express type ride next to it was called Sleipnir. . and Adults were allowed to ride (yay!) close enough to a Carousel horse that these always excite me and I try to ride them if they allow adults. in the Viking section, the park also has a Nebulaz. I didn't even attempt to ride, as I know the seats are very snug. . and this one seemed to be taking forever to load/unload. it's looks great in this section tho with that design Stacey wanted to ride the Disk-O (a ride type I generally don't care for) so I sat and waited for her - which was a good call, as the chilly rain started during her ride. can you spot her all bundled up and freezing her butt off ? at least she enjoyed herself. meanwhile, I found a nice throne to wait on. I love me a good throne. while waiting for the Disk-O to finish, an announcement came out via the group messenger that the Wave had opened. the Wave was at one point (up till 2023) called "Shockwave" and was the only Intamin Stand up coaster with a zero G roll. in 2024, they swapped out the stand up trains for sit down trains, and renamed the coaster "the Wave" it's still pretty intense, at least to me, and so was a 1 and done. but it's the big thrill ride in the the park. there's a nice flume/chute the chutes ride too, but it was already pretty moist so I didn't go on that. Those that rode it said it was fun tho. it offers a nice photo op. oh, and a backwards big drop. Besides the Thomas train ride, there's also another train here at the park, that brings you around the perimeter. Stacey and I took a ride on that. it really is a lovely park in places. it's odd to have so much unused space in the middle of the park tho. Wonder if they sometimes have paddle boats out here? the big loop on "the wave" there's also a pretty moist Rapids ride here at Drayton Manor and an Air Race. . . for those looking for the more "adult rides" it was getting close to time for the bus (we didn't spend more than 5 hours here, if I recall correctly), so it was time to get some shopping done, and I wanted to check out some of the zoo. but first? another photo op. No idea who this character is. . but he's a Daddy, so needed a pic with him. it's a fairly large zoo, but I didn't want to chance getting stuck way near the back and then having to run to the bus. So I just checked out a few animals towards the front of the Zoo. a few birds and some monkeys and whatever these are. . . otters? merkats? and with that it was time to meet back at the bus. . we still had a bit of a drive ahead of us. we were off to yet another bucketlist park for me. . . a multi day stay (on property!) at Alton Towers. to be continued. . .

Hi, people! I'm making a trip to CDMX in early March for the International Pyrotechnic Fair. Please, see below - Anywho, I'm planning on swinging through Six Flags on the 7th to get a stupid cheap all-park passport ($120ish USD) and ride me some RMC and Morgan standouts. I'm not too worried about tips for the park but I'm curious if anyone has any recommendations for the city itself. I'm staying in Centro Historico and will have two full days to explore. I know about the must-do museums and all of the hits any travel guide will tell you. Any hiddem gems or local knowledge?

Unironically, It's already the premier coaster in the park. The Boss is a goddamned monster of a ride and I love it to death. Top three woodie, no notes, perfect ride. Back seat only, harder daddy.