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Posts
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Thank you for the advice everyone. Since we are staying at hard rock do you recommend we still eat at citywalk or are the restaurants good there too? Also, do the parks have PAPER park maps? Oh, any other advice on fluffy-friendly rides and what seats to try to squeeze my fat butt into? (I know this is non universal) Any other advice at these or any other non disney orlando parks? We are not hitting the disney parks this trip, but we will probally go over to springs. we are only in town a few days. -
By Doppel Looping · Posted
I think wildebeast got some refurbushing over the winter. I rode it on passholder preview day and it was almost rideable. minebuster was not open that day but has supposedly had some new work on the out and back section. I hope they are making efforts to improve them both but we are not in the same universe as kings island. They made time warp, the old tomb raider coaster much smoother to the point it is completely flat with no track whatsoever. (Ie completely removed it). It looked strange to see the station building as all that remains with nothing in front. the track for alpenfury looked really good in person compared to the artists renditions on the internet. It looks like it will be a lot of fun. I did not see anywhere for transfer tracks but maybe they are hidden inside the mountain. -
By Sportsdude360 · Posted
With those colors I think we should call it the Reeses Death Dive!🤣 I will be following the construction of this massive new coaster in its entirety! Stay tuned! -
By Blue Turbo · Posted
Great TR Adam! Phantasialand was such an amazing park! I loved how dense many of the sections felt, especially with how much interactions there are between the big coasters and the paths. FLY was a huge surprise for me. It rides really differently to other flying coasters, even without the launches. While it doesn't have the ridiculous intensity of B&M pretzel loops, it was so much more forceful throughout its layout in general and had several good pops of air (especially the top of the second launch in the front). I really hope we see some more of these pop up around the place. Hotel Charles Lindburgh was really great to stay at as well. And yes, the rooms were small, but I never felt that cramped in them (and we barely spent any time awake in there anyways), and being surrounded by FLY was totally worth it. I think about the goat cheese and fig pasta I had on the first night constantly because it was so good. And relaxing at the bar in the evenings was great. Overall, this was another amazing TPR trip! It was so nice to be able travel to new parks and places with an amazing group of people. As always, a huge thank you to Robb and Elissa for all the work that they do in putting together a trip like this. Also, thanks to you, Adam, for being a great roommate, it was wonderful getting to know you over the trip along with everyone else. -
New ME train photo. Predator with 230 ft of new track. -
By prozach626 · Posted
Interesting color scheme. Thanks for sharing the pictures. -
By CaptainUnknown · Posted
With the 2025 season now underway, just wanted to give a couple thoughts on the state of the park and what could happen in the future. I visited on Passholder preview on Saturday 5/10. Park president at enthusiast events has stated that a new coaster is a "when," not an "if." Park needs infrastructure improvements before that happens. While he hasn't elaborated, I'm guessing this includes in part: the entry experience (parking tolls/parking lot/park entrance), dealing partly with the Flood Plain, upgrading certain facilities such as restrooms, and food service upgrades. I didn't see that much noticeable work on any of these during my visit. And it's worth noting how many closed--as in, shuttered, food service locations there are around the park. Ride signs for select attractions could be updated. Renegade's sign is extremely faded. Wild Thing could use new sign to go with its paint job. The starflyer and Disk'O only have the ride safety sign and could use a logo sign. Per maintenance: No titan track planned for Renegade. Wild Thing MCBR unlikely to ever turn off/down--final brake run too short. Park pres wants more limited time events a la Grand Carnivale, though none are currently scheduled. I remember getting a survey on this a couple years ago. Park pres is excited for the park's 50th anniversary. While the park opened in 1976, it didn't open at all in 2020. Either 2026 or 2027 could be used to celebrate. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a 2 year celebration. The Skycoaster has been removed from the park. The footings for the arch have been removed. The back spike footer still seems to be there. The op booth is still up. The concrete path has been torn up. I picked up a Worlds of Fun Mamba hat in a gift shop. It was tucked in among Wild Thing hats. -
By thepoint4life23 · Posted
They started testing the tilt track over the weekend what the means for a timeline no idea. -
Went to Valleyfair this past weekend for Opening Day. Park looked clean as always. Ride operations were slow with new staff, but that is to be expected. There was a group of kids from Owatonna that kept getting away with using the Fast Pass lane and didn't have Fast Passes, which was kind of annoying, but whatever. Small issues... Retracking of High Roller did wonders on the second hill drop! So smooth.. While riding High Roller on the turn around, I did notice there was some trees removed and have red X's spray painted on the stumps in the old Antique Autos/Dinos Alive area. I would usually start to get my hopes up, but I've been a season pass holder for over 20 years, so not going down the roller coaster hope road ever again until there is an actual announcement... There are some areas of the park where a new ride just seem obvious: 1) slide complex at old Looping Starship 2) roller coaster at old Dinos spot 3) games midway always just feels empty and a waste Other Notes & Rambles: Power Tower is looking rough. 25 years old now that I think of it. Wild thing paint job looks great! Looks like they turnaround up to the brake run. Hope the lift hill/return hills/station area to complete it this next offseason! Renegade kicks ass as always! Could envision Steel Venom exiting the park's line up in 5-10 years with a coaster replacement in that corner of the parking lot too. It is pretty rare to see that ride batting 1.000 on the day, but I know they just put some money into it with the holding brake repair, so probably safe for awhile. Looking forward to another good year at the park with the family! -
By Mustangman55 · Posted
Any hope for Sirens Curse to actually make coastermania or atleast June 15? I have seen some people say of course and some say it’s very unlikely. Of course we as the public don’t know how much work is left. But it’s stressing me. What do you all think? -
You should've taken video so you can show this to the groupers at Carowinds when they send trains out with 4 empty rows because they can't keep up for some reason. -
By Sportsdude360 · Posted
One thing I've found out about the new Giga-Dive coming in. We can tell from the pics that the track has 10 bolts going across. This is indicative of the 8 to 10 across seating. The track for 7 across and lower "Mini" Dives typically has 6 bolts going across. Wrath Of Rakshasa track has the 6 bolts. -
I stopped by SFA Yesterday from around 1 PM through the 7 PM closing to catch the two credits I was missing from this park, get some final rides, and take some pictures to document the park's existence. Gotta say this is probably the first time I've ever encountered other enthusiasts (identified by wearing shirts from non-local parks and their dialogue) at this place. The park generally looked in much better shape than I've ever seen it, but it's still SFA at the end of the day. Rides ridden: -Ragin' Cajun: One of the missing credits. 32 minute wait, including a breakdown. Whatever, it's a spinning mouse. 3/10 -Wild One: 15 minutes for row 2. Wasn't terrible; definitely a lot smoother than I remember. 7/10 -Great Chase: The other of the missing credits. Whatever, it's a kiddie coaster. 3 laps. -Skywinder (aka Mind Eraser): 23 minutes for row 4, only running one train. Better with the new trains, but still awful. 2/10 -High Seas (their swinging ship): One cycle wait (at the request of a friend). -Joker's Jinx: 45 minutes for front row, including a breakdown, only running one train with no other trains in sight. This is clearly superior to the FoF clones....smoother ride, and so much faster through the second half due to no MCBR. I know it'll be parted out to support the remaining 3 of these in the chain, but they really should just plop the whole ride as is inside Flight of Fear's box at Kings Dominion. 7/10 -Superman: 30 minutes for row 2. New trains are nice; they are still the same restraint style (but now have ankle/calf-bars). Only one was fully assembled and running. These will serve Darien Lake well. 8/10 -Batwing: 1 hour and 15 minutes for back row, including two breakdowns and them only running one train (with no other trains in sight). Remembered why I preferred these to the B&M flyers: The loop is so intense. Also remembered why I prefer the B&Ms: The inline twist at the end is truly awful. RIP, Vekoma Flying Dutchman. 6/10 -Superman: 30 minutes for front row. Still not an exciting layout, but the pops of air are nice, and it's easily the star of this park. 8/10. The most entertaining moment of the day came when the panel operator at Joker's Jinx (during the breakdown), asked the crowd in the station if anyone was sad the park was closing at the end of the year, and no one made a sound. I had to laugh about that. Fun Fact: This is the only park I've ever been to where the crowd self-regulates in the station of coasters - without the presence of a grouper, they still line up with only enough people for the next train per row, on their own! I was shocked. Photos/videos to come later maybe. -
By MKvillalba · Posted
And it's gotten even better in the last few years, with improved ops, great food, new shows, and amazing seasonal festivals. Siren's Curse Harley Quinn was going to be the cherry on top, sadly it didn't materialize but I've been told there are huge investments coming in the next couple of years, so I'd say SFM is safe for now. -
It is still undergoing retracking by Gravity Group. The track that I could see from the path along Splashworks from when I visited Friday looks great. I can't wait to ride it again once it reopens!
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