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Man I am loving what Herschend is doing here!

I 100% hope so and strongly voiced my opinion on that when I had the chance to talk to the higher ups; not that my voice necessarily means anything to them. However, we were told that there will be some kind of celebration, we kicked around some ideas we had, and it was promised to keep ACE in the loop for whatever comes to fruition. Now how elaborate that ends up being? No one knows at this point.

Not to worry, I seriously doubt SFSTL would replace Mr Freeze. Over Texas, on the other hand, has long been rumored to be removing Freeze. Even so, it won't happen for at least 5 years. Right now, Tormenta and the new completely redone Spain section, which includes a new Spanish themed restaurant, is the parks main focus. That plus visual and theming enhancements. For example, the Southern Palace Theater is getting renovated with all new Theater style seating. These are the main things going on at SFOT right now.

I don't think our park needs to replace it's most state of the art roller coaster. A compact raptor would fit in the Boomerang and tidal wave location. Anything can fit in the area around Ninja.

Kentucky Kingdom has announced Flying Fox, a new Vekoma Suspended Family Coaster for 2026! https://www.kentuckykingdom.com/media-room/new-family-roller-coaster-flying-fox/ Kentucky Kingdom is taking family fun to new heights with the debut of its first new roller coaster since 2019, adding to the continued investment in the park. Today, the park officially announced Flying Fox, an all-new family-friendly coaster opening for the 2026 season. This custom coaster will be the park’s 6th rollercoaster, the most in Kentucky. Join the daring adventures of local legend and crop-dusting pilot, Jeb Fox, as Flying Fox sends riders soaring over a vibrant Kentucky farmland setting. Every detail of the attraction has been carefully designed by Herschend’s in-house creative team, known for bringing stories to life in ways that feel both authentic and whimsical. From the red barn-inspired queue to hand painted murals and playful audio featuring Jeb himself, the theming celebrates Kentucky’s agricultural heritage while adding a lighthearted twist aimed for families to enjoy. “At Kentucky Kingdom, our mission is to create memories worth repeating, and the addition of Flying Fox is the next exciting chapter in that journey,” said Sarah Worrell, General Manager of Kentucky Kingdom. “With the debut of Discovery Meadow in 2025, we set a new standard for immersive, family- friendly experiences, and Flying Fox builds on that momentum. This new coaster represents not only our continued investment in the park, but also our commitment to transforming Kentucky Kingdom into a place where families can return year after year and always find something new to discover.”

Helios really feels like you're just paying for location. Walked in to check it out on our day at Epic and was shocked at how small the lobby area is. The only place for food that isn't a sit down fancy restaurant is a Starbucks with some grab n go items as opposed to say Dockside or even Stella and Terra which have more traditional food courts. Very underwhelmed.

^That is correct. It is priced above the other upper-tier properties that do include Express (Portofino and Hard Rock) but it doesn’t include Express in its offerings.

Question for the group... is it true that staying at Helios does NOT come with complementary Express Pass like the other Signature level hotels? That seems crazy. Am I missing something? Helios is $300 more expensive per night than the other Signature hotels on the week I'm looking at, but it comes with fewer perks?

Tough to say with Superman considering its size and it's only 1 year younger than Jokers Jinx. Agreed that it would be a great add for Michigan's Adventure if that were to happen. Not sure if that land behind the lake is buildable but if it is then they have more than enough room. If they don't move it, the question becomes where do the new trains go? SFDL also just got new trains. If the state would pull it's head out of its ass with the T-Bar situation, I would like to see them addressed to 1623 Main St, Agawam MA 01001. I know LIM launchers are kind of being phased out slowly but I would love to see Jokers Jinx live on somewhere. My home park of SFNE could use it as we've always needed a launcher (and when Quantum Accelerator finally opens technically we'll have one but just a family coaster). It still runs great, but with LIMs becoming less common they may just use it for parts for the FOFs and Mr Freezes. The track on the SLC is beat to shit. The new trains will end up somewhere I'm sure, there must be an SLC somewhere in the chain that needs them. But I don't see them relocating the ride itself. Sadly I agree the woodies are done. Roar is whatever, but very sad about Wild One. Batwing is another sad one to lose with the Flying Dutchmans officially becoming extinct, but that death has already happened. Also while it has some historical significance, good riddance to Firebird. Ragin Cajun may move (again). Someone may be able to use a spinning mouse. Didn't seem to have anything particularly wrong with it so I'm sure it would be no issue moving if needed. Same with the kiddie coaster. The Intamin 2nd Gen drop tower will be gone I'm sure, maybe some parts will get sent to Gurnee. Starflyer and Endeavor may find a new home, they're pretty new. Otherwise not sure what else would be relocated for flats. The NebulaZ is new, I'm sure someone will see that pop up in April. Everything else is pretty generic and also rather aged flat-wise.

They better give Screamin' a whole bunch of Love for its 50th. Paint Job, Retrack, Lights ... the works.

Thanks for sharing. B&M Dive Coasters have always been middle-of-the-road for me, but this is the first one that is really exciting to follow. 300-foot coasters aren't built too often. I was planning for 2026 to be my "off" year for any major travel, but I may have to squeeze in a long weekend in Texas to ride this thing. Also, really hoping B&M can get their crap together and this ride will run smoothly. My tolerance is pretty high for shaky rides, so I was hoping all the complaining about recent B&Ms was exaggerated. After riding Wrath of Rakshasa this year and then Yukon Striker a couple days later... it is VERY obvious something has changed. Fingers crossed!

Nice report. Thank you for sharing. I have only visited this park twice, in 2016 and 2019. Neither visit was particularly memorable, but I did manage to ride all the coasters. Ever since they announced this park's closure I have been thinking about which coasters (if any) would be relocated. I thought I remember hearing a rumbling that Superman might make its way over to Michigan's Adventure, which would be very cool for them, but that's about all I could see get relocated in addition to some random flats. I can't imagine that rides like Joker's Jinx, Firebird, or the SLC have much life in them left to warrant a relocation. I would be shocked if either of the woodies stick around.

So, we never made it out to FF this year. We were sorta thinking about going last Sat but it got rained out. I'm usually happy to spend an evening soaking up the atmosphere and having a quick run through of the houses, even though I know they haven't been on par with a lot of parks since the virus that shall not be named. However, having gotten back from Universal on the 5th I admit I wasn't super motivated to face it after the quality of Epic and HHN, lol. I think I will just call it for this year and spend the winter hoping they get the chariots finished for the carousel (that should be a given), they finally get the parts and open the funhouse portion of the queue for Joker (less sure about this one because that reason sounded a little sus from the start), next year's entertainment really is enhanced especially for FF (keeping fingers crossed that the manager that told me that was NOT just blowing smoke up my rear), and that there will be an announcement for a super new something in time for CoasterCon in June 2027 (the least likely of the bunch but an old gal can hope)

3 more operating days left, has anyone made their way down for their last trips? I stopped in this evening for a few hours. I was surprised to see that other than Batwing (which we knew about), all major rides were operating. A few smaller flats closed, and I'd say food was operating somewhere around 30-50%. Decent crowd but the lines weren't bad and I had season Flashpass to get by some of the slower lines. Every coaster was running 1 train except Skywinder which was running 2 for some reason. Merch stores were mobbed as all items are now 85% off (we contributed quite a bit ourselves). I actually started the afternoon with Rajin Cajun which has always been an elusive credit for me. In my 3 previous visits, Two Face was closed the first time and this was closed the two most recent trips. I wish I sat on the right instead of the left as it felt that I was actually counter acting the spinning and got a mundane ride, but I saw some other folks spin like crazy. The coaster I'm most torn up about with this closure is Wild One. It first opened in MA 108 years ago and while I know almost none of the original coaster survived the relocation, it's still a really cool piece of history and it's also just a really fun coaster. Good airtime, fast turns, and reasonably smooth. Rode once in front and once in back, both were very fun. Big crowd at this ride all afternoon. Voodoo Drop was fun. But I rode Demon Drop yesterday so also kind of overshadowed in the past 24 hours for me. Jokers Jinx running great as always. The 2nd half of this kicks so much ass without having a midcourse. Intense whippy turns and good positives. Wish I got a second ride on it but when I only had time for one more I decided on Wild One instead. Superman was a bit of a painful wait, with 1 train ops and rather slow dispatches a 4 train wait (thanks to Flashpass) was 30 minutes and I'm guessing the regular line had to be an hour. I felt bad for the folks in the front row like, almost every other train got filled with exit pass people. Anyway, I rode in row 2 and it was my first ride with the new trains. They shuffled quite a bit and seemed to run noticably slower in the 2nd half, but still a fun ride. I never noticed how well you can see DC from the top. Wonder Woman ran a very long, almost dizzying cycle. It spins very fast during the second half of the ride. Rode Firebird for my second time ever. My first ride in 2020 was awful in the front row, I think I had my worst coaster headache ever after that ride. I rode in back this time. The shuffling is still noticable and definitely a couple jarring transitions but not nearly as bad as last time I route. But this thing is definitely a turd. Sorry B&M I know it's your first but it's time for this thing to be put out of its misery. Rode Roar in back, it's definitely borderline violent but I think the layout is actually pretty fun with a few air pops and some intense laterals. It's an overhated ride IMO. Lastly, Skywinder in back with the new trains still shuffled a lot but I actually enjoyed my ride on it. Amazing how different an SLC is when you're not getting your head pounded in. Definitely a sad vibe in the park. It's certainly a neglected park and has always been a dump, but it has always had this weird gritty charm to it for me and I always enjoyed half the coaster lineup. It's too bad it never got properly taken care of. Glad to have gotten there once more before it closes forever next weekend.

Well, "Stranger Things" is going to be running it's final - 5th - Season in late November (on U.S. Thanksgiving?) with a few episodes. Then a few more episodes on Christmas Day, and THEN the final episode (which apparently is so long - two hours plus - they're going to also run it in movies theaters, too. Looking forward to it all.

Tormenta making progress! Brake run nearly completed!

Great evening at Dorney's haunt tonight. Only had about 3 hours in the park but got a lot done. Hit 6 out of 7 mazes plus plenty of must rides. I've always heard great things about Dorney's haunt and I have to say they do a very impressive job for a small regional park. Favorite haunts were Ghost in the Machine, Stop & Chop, and Blood on the Bayou. Tourist Trap is the only one I missed. The haunts were very well staffed and most of them sent folks through in very small groups since the lines weren't all that long. I actually preferred a night like tonight to the night I spent at HHN last year. The sets that Universal does are crazy good, but the conga lines in all the houses completely ruins the "scare factor" in any of them. Outside of the haunts, the coaster lines were a bit long around 8:30 (and by long I mean ~30 minutes, which is an eternity at Dorney lol) so I didn't hit everything, but hit the essentials. Row 3 ride on Steel Force was excellent. After my shit-tastic rides on Wild Thing this summer this thing felt even better. Demon Drop is the star of the park and fun as always. Hydra in front and Talon in back their usual fun selves. Iron Menace line was too long for me tonight, decided to hop out due to time constraints. I will absolutely return for Haunt here next year and hopefully arrive early enough to ride more rides. We had a great time tonight, I know everyone loves to shit on this park but I don't think it deserves to be shit on at all. Decent coaster lineup, terrific flat package, never crowded, and an awesome Haunt experience. It's a much better park than people give it credit for.

I miss "Game of Thrones". All 8 (?) seasons of it. "Stranger Things" final season made me remember GoT.

^ It's died down to 1-2 hour lines now. It was just mostly people who blog/video/instagram wanting to be first. It's become a bit of an issue with Everland even now banning live streaming in the park to protect guests portrait rights: A recording of the new limited run of K-Pop Demon Hunter fireworks: I'll hopefully get out to the park to see it with my son since he likes the movie and record it myself before it ends but it's currently Halloween and school field trip season. Even on weekdays, T-Express has been 220 minutes wait and flat rides 100-120 minutes and I just don't want my son to be miserable in those crowds.

Made a rare day-time stop at Legoland with some in-laws who wanted to visit the park two weeks ago: The new Ninjago roller-coaster was one train operations and was still a ghost town. Dragon was one train operation with a 20 minute wait. I really wish they'd gone for something more unique to Korea, the Seoul-Jeju route is the world's busiest air route and Jeju Islands only existing roller-coaster is also a Mack Spinner. We've mostly visited the park this year in the afternoons and evenings when the park is open until 9 P.M. This day the rain had passed through in the morning and the fireworks were cancelled so we had the park to ourselves for 4 hours. He stayed on the Wave Racers for 30 minutes straight only needing to disembark when the employee changed shift. The park does put on an impressive firework display on Saturday's though and the crowds get a bit busier. You don't see many mortar fireworks in Asian park displays. IMG_2558.MOV A video I took of the Children's Day/Legoland's Birthday fireworks. Will probably visit the park for the final time tomorrow when we visit friends in the area. I tend to avoid Halloween when the Korean parks are packed but it's the last fireworks and last 9pm of the season before the park switches to winter operations and our season passes will expire.

I didn't get to the park this year but am happy to hear that they are taking care of general punch list maintenance. Going all the way back to when SF originally owned the park, those general maintenance items were not really being done. It would be nice to have a new coaster or even flat ride but there is also something to be said about a park where all rides are operational 90% of the time

So much of the general maintenance stuff has been needed for a long time. I hope new attractions come, but there was so much that needed repaired there.

They are definitely doing more of the punch list type things that had long been ignored. Lift hill lights on Predator being the most recent.

I mean if it's replaced with something on-par with AlpenFury I'm sure SFOT would take that trade.

That would be a tragedy. Freeze is an icon. You can hear the roar throughout half of the park.