Leaderboard

oh look. . I got a survey from Kennywood asking me what type of "events" I'd prefer they do to get me coming to the park most often. luckily, there's a space on the last page to give some feedback on what other new special events I'd like to see at Kennywood:

There was a time in my life when I would have cared what Lightning Rod was made of. So refreshing to give precisely zero effs. I just want to go to Dollywood and not worry about it being open!

There's only one logical answer to this question...

Oh, I know about this, I just think it's crap so I didn't feel the need to post! I am seriously taking a stand against those stupid Comfort Collars!!!!! They are not a safety device. They are uncomfortable, and further peoples own stupidity instead of educating the consumer/insurance/media whatever! A company that was once at the forefront of REMOVING OTSR's is now proudly putting unnecessary ones back on. Also completely appropriate for a terrible coaster!

^Give this new park time and if they see 10 years down the road that they're doing well maybe we'll see a family woodie or something go in! Also, Soarin over Mexico will never beat the Jules Verne ride with the DVD logo burned into the screen!

Montaña Rusa was a terrible roller coaster. It was rough, uninteresting, and for the amount of space it took up, did nothing really exciting at all. I get that it has some "historical value" but I am also of the mindset that not everything that is "historical" equals amazing. I personally will not miss the ride at all. That being said, here's a clip from the ride that we never released from our 2015 trip. Both sides of the coaster....

Looks like the Schwarzkopf shuttle loop is going, too. Hopefully it finds a new home, as well! But do I see dueling family shuttle coasters in the top right of the concept art? Not sure if those red and yellow lines are coaster tracks or decorative pieces...

^

Yeahhhhhhh those were all rumors because they advertised the drifitng car concept so the crazies ran with it.

^And some would argue that that's exactly why they're doing so well. Not saying I agree or disagree, they're just clearly really being strict there. It's working for their numbers but I do feel for the parks.

They really aren't playing around. I was just thinking "that's weird, I hadn't heard about Hong Kong having a surge" so I Googled it and apparently a city of 7.5 million people is shutting down for 2 weeks because they're at 88 cases and 0 deaths on a seven day rolling average.

I get where you're coming from on this Boldy, but at the same time, I gotta disagree with you. My family and I did the drive-thru last night, and we had a wonderful time -- so much so that we actually ended up doing it twice in a row. I'm sure on a POV it doesn't look that impressive but for us, this was our first time back in the park since January 1st. The novelty of driving our own car through it is a big part of what makes it a unique experience. Add to that the streamable soundtrack they provided on the website (which of course includes that straight fire banger, the "Holiday In The Park" theme song), cups of hot chocolate, and numerous photo ops throughout the half-hour long drive-thru. Are the lights perfect? Are they better than what they are at any other point during the HITP season? No. But there's still some great moments of magic, such as the forest between Batman and Main Street, the peppermint swirls by Houdini, the carousel, the tunnel of lights, and Snowglobe Santa. The performers that we saw on both loops through the park ended up switching up as well so there were different folks to wave and scream at. Is this worth $14.99 per person? Nah, probably not. But as a free add-on for the season passholders and members, for those with young children, and especially for those of us who have been staying away from the park during the pandemic, it was a nice little treat and way to escape for about an hour. And compared to another drive thru that we did last week over at Sesame Place, it was a way better value for money; that one literally took us straight down the middle of the park from one end to the other and was over in five minutes. (And that wasn't even included on our season passes, either!) Here's a few photos my wife took on our drive(s) through the park: Not much of a line at all, even though people had been reporting that most time slots were sold out for passholders/members. You could go to the left to just get scanned through, or go to the right to pick up some treats and souvenirs. They're saying "prepaid bundles" but I didn't see them anywhere on their website. They were more than happy to sell them to you at the gate however. We ended up getting some of the teddy bear packages for the kids. This stilt-walker greets you as you pull in through the pavilions and make your first turn towards the Hall of Justice. The big HITP ornaments are on display in Gotham near the shops... ...while the Batmobile has been replaced with a large traditional Christmas tree and appearances by the "Evergreen Queen". (The kids were sure it was actually Merida from "Brave".) Leaving Gotham put you into the forest with trees wrapped in multi-colored lights at the front, and... ...after passing by Santa's house... You ended up in the blue trees with the falling snow lights. This led directly to the main fountain area with the gigantic HITP tree. It was mostly cycling through colors, no animated shows like you would typically see during normal operations. This candy cane area is usually one of our favorites during normal operation. The carousel is gorgeous as always. Would be nice if they had actually turned the lights on for the Big Wheel, but this is nothing new... I don't think those have been on in at least half a decade. The "Poinsettia Princess" was missing in action, so an elf was standing in for her tonight. "Ho ho ho" or "HA HA HA!!"? The tunnel of lights is short but enchanting to drive through, especially with the moonroof open! Even Twister gets its turn in the spotlight! Well, kinda, it's still upstaged by the oversized ornament and trees. No driving through Frosty, but this elf is eager to entertain with a little bit of juggling! These present light sculptures are beautiful! Only fitting to have the man himself out in front of Superman IMO. Even though he's safely enclosed in his snow globe bubble, they gave him a microphone so he could talk with the kids and wish everyone a merry Christmas! Non-operational this evening, but always photogenic.

Is this the first time they've talked about what type of ride the Mario Kart ride is? I did not expect this to be a "shooting" ride, and if I'm being honest the AR thing makes me a bit nervous. But these gaming franchises are part of my childhood nostalgia, so I look forward to seeing how all this turns out.

Thanks! For Phoenix I actually stood on the edge of the antique car track for a shot at one point. Part of me wonders if I might actually have preferred Wild One to Mine Blower! Thank you! That stretch of International Drive used to allow for some amazing photos across the Kraken (and now Mako) lake before the trees grew in. Thanks Bert. Our SFFT segment is coming up soon! It's funny how I'm anticipating returning to TDS more now after I've gone back to Animal Kingdom than I was prior. Even without Journey it has so much to offer.

^ The great thing about Elliot's announcement, was that it was treated really lightly on the general media, and like it was a 'no-big-deal' kind of reporting. Which I liked happening, at this time. No - big - deal. Or deal with it, lol! P.S. (EDIT) Welllll.... not exactly light on publicity, lately. But pretty much all of it is very positive about Elliot's announcement, etc. Still great for him and the trans community.

Noelle Stevenson recently did too (although she did not change her name, and said that any/all pronouns will continue to be acceptable to her). if you're not familiar, Noelle does the amazing "Lumberjanes" comic book, as well as the "She-Ra" animated show. her announcement of top surgery on twitter was hysterical. . .

This was just announced in the news. The artist, formerly known as Ellen Page, is now known as... https://ca.yahoo.com/news/elliot-page-transgender-174401611.html I was quite surprised by this. I have always enjoyed him in his previous movies. We've also enjoyed him in the recent Netflix series, "The Umbrella Academy." Great stuff. All the same, good for him to 'come out' in his own way and time, and feel very happy about it.

Nice report! Most Six Flags parks do a great job with the lights so I'm glad they could show them off in some capacity this year.

^ Don't tell them that. I genuinely think they're that passionate about it they would waste the parks time sending emails to them with their signed petition. And if this thread has taught me anything else (apart from people really care about the ratio of wood:steel) during 2020 is that Dollywood already has an overflowing inbox.

... and as long as the ride actually operates for a change

Please, for the love of all things good and holy, learn how to multi-quote.

That's a great prediction and all, but it was made five hours after Indiana Beach announced the new coaster on Tuesday.

Define the word "us." I like B&M hypers and I like B&M gigas. I find Diamondback, Goliath, Mako, and Raging Bull especially all ride different from one another. If you've ridden one classic wooden out-and-back coaster, have you ridden them all? I'd be able to relate to your idea much more if we were talking about wild mouse coasters and boomerangs. Hypers just don't seem to be 'your' flavor.

Holy hell, not only in operations but clothing as well.

For the same reason Togo was bad for offering similar rides, but B&M is good for offering similar rides.

I never really have an issue watching a POV, having an expectation and the ride meeting said expectation. As in, it is rare a ride is vastly different than I expect from watching the POV. For example, Steel Vengeance was actually a bit "worse" than I expected, while a ride like Silverstar was better than expected. Was it Drastic? Absolutely not. They met the expectation plus or minus some small fun points. Being on enough rides, you kind of just know what B&M's, GCI's, RMC's and so on will feel like. It's rare that a ride does something totally unexpected from what I think a specific element or transition will 'feel' like. This is also the reason it's very rare for me to be 'blown away' by rides anymore, because of the great POV's and animations taking away any unknowns like in the past before the YouTube era. An exception for me as of late was Taron at Phantasialand. I knew it would be an epic ride, but in person with the theming, amazing trains, etc... It just made that 'experience' better. These days, the things that will catch me off guard will be theming and small details that make up the experience, not so much the ride itself per say. If that makes sense.

Why is B&M bad for offering similar rides, but RMC good for offering similar rides???

I actually agree with many of you talking about how the RMC's are all very similar. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with building a ton of very similar kick ass rides when most people who ride one will never even know of the other ones. I've been comparing them to the B&M inverts of the 90's. They're all awesome, intense rides, but they all have the same elements just in slightly different orders. I would also love to see some more unique elements in the future from them, but for now I'm quite content with their offerings.

Steel Vengeance is better than Iron Gwazi according to youtubers who haven't ridden either of the two.

It's been that way since the beginning, they are pretty consistent on their 'style'. Surely, they love their barrel rolls and outward banks. For that reason, it's hard for me to get excited for RMC's honestly. Once you been on a few, they all are pretty much similar in the elements utilized (much like people claim with B&M's for example) and the pacing/forces. Not much changes ride to ride in that regard. All fun rides though, don't get me wrong. I am also surprised for as 'extreme' as they are, they have not pushed into some more unique elements aside from 500 ways to enter or exit a barrel roll. I love the dive loop on SFGAm's Goliath for example, wish they did more larger element stuff. Or longer, sustained airtime moments like that first bunny hill on Storm Chaser (compared to the abrupt ejector hills). I personally think Iron Gwazi looks to be one of the stronger ones layout wise, as the elements are a bit more drawn out and not rapid-fire succession one after another. Steel Vengeance has such a strong first half, but the second half just ruins it for me. This doesn't look like it will have that issue, the ending sequence looks really solid.

I keep hearing “Super Loops” thrown around and I’d love to hear the justification for why Six Flags would want to remove a reasonably popular flat ride that they just bought a million of that basically never break down and don’t require much staffing. I’d imagine the justification is “I don’t like them because they called them coasters”.

I don't even know how to say this because I just can't even believe it... It is with heavy heart to say that Josh (HWFan) passed away today after a lengthy battle. This young man was such an amazing person, not just in the amusement industry... for anyone who had ever met him, he was so incredibly smart, kind, warm, and enthusiastic. Please keep Josh's family in your prayers.