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Did I call this or what? Anyway, I did better side-by-side comparison for you.

I've been on Taron several times and never found it aggressive or fast. I always found it to be more like a sailing ship bobbing one way then the other way!

Considering Lightning Rod was running at 0 mph for a large amount of its life, I don't care if it's 1-2 mph slower if it means the ride is open more often. That being said, this POV was probably taken in the worst possible conditions (empty train, not warmed up, cold day) and it's still hauling by the end.

It's a "Taronasaurus Rex."

Park downtown and take the trolley for $3 round trip.

so late last year, the Circuit of the Americas F1 racetrack in Austin, out of the blue announced a new addition: COTAland - a kiddie carnival area, with a bunch of kiddie rides and a kiddie coaster: https://www.facebook.com/CircuitofTheAmericas/videos/216323643344037 it made sense, as they have a go-kart track there, and several other more adult things (Concert Venue, with bars, and the COtA tower, you can buy a ticket to go up and overlook the F1 track).. . . but really not much for the kids to do (other than the kiddie track, or a ride along with an adult in the two seater carts on the adult track) but there have been a lot of queries as to if they are going to be getting any "adult" rides. . and the answer is "yes" as several things have been getting teased (on local pages, and by the manager of the COTAland site) - yes, mainly carnival type flats, but that's still SOMETHING permanent in the Austin area. (as opposed to the Carnival that comes with the annual rodeo). well, just about an hour ago, it was revealed that COTAland is getting a ride that is coming from a UK park, and they are going to refurbish it and give it a new name. And after a "word scramble" guessing game, it has been revealed that it will apparently be "Raptor Attack" from Lightwater Valley that they just shut down in 2020. the actual unscramble was: Anton Schwarzkopf Wildcat so yes, it's going to be a traveling carnival coaster, but so what? Austin is getting a Schwarzkopf Wildcat. how cool is that?

Appreciate the effort! And yeah I mean people, don't tell me my eyes don't work, its clearly slower. Now sometimes my brain doesn't work XD I didn't think about oh right its been brutal cold lately, it may have been morning, nor did I consider slight differences in perspective can look very different. Ah dont say that! For making the video: If you ever get to the states I'll pay for your Dollywood ticket!

I have no horse in this, I'm probably never going to get over to ride it, I just thought it was an interesting comparison! I originally tried it with the first POVs with the original front car and it was a massive difference in speed, so that would have been even less fair If you line up the big drops, the old one gains speed faster and hits the brakes before the new one reaches the bottom of the big final turn, so it's going to be fun watching it regain that speed as it warms up!

Frontier City Frontier City was the final Six Flags park for me to visit and I finally accomplished that in 2020 not once, but twice. While the park may have the weakest ride lineup of all the Six Flags parks, it's among the best-themed parks in the chain. While most parks have just a small western area, Frontier City maintains that western theme through the entire park. And it offers a lot of shade for a Six Flags park, which is great considering how hot Oklahoma gets in the summer. My first visit occurred in the summer and it was marred by ride closures. Let's run through the list. Diamond Back. This was the one that stung the most considering how rare Arrow shuttle loops are. Mystery River looked like a neat log flume with an extended indoor section, but the maintenance team was working atop the lift all day. Renegade Rapids was closed as well. That one was closed for the entirety of the 2020 season for some work. Gunslinger was also closed. I also think that one was closed for all of 2020. Power Surges are weird. Half seem to run without a hitch, but the other half are extremely unreliable. Frontier City's is in the latter group. I was stunned Frontier City had a rotor. Those rides are extremely rare and I was stunned a Six Flags park still had one. Turns out the website was outdated and the ride will never run again. It was a mask relaxation zone for 2020 and all of the ride's signage had been removed. The signage had not been removed for the park's former Nightmare Mine, even after 2 decades. The most popular ride in the park is Wildcat, the park's classic wooden roller coaster that was relocated from Kansas City's Fairyland Park. This ride is smoother than you'd expect for an older wood coaster at a Six Flags park and it has a great setting in the woods, but the reprofiling in the late 1990s appears to have really neutered the ride. Now, the ride has no airtime in the back car and only a few meager pops in the front row. But maybe the new RMC trains the ride is getting for the 2021 season will help the ride run faster. 5 out of 10 Silver Bullet is the original Schwarzkopf looping star. It bounced around before finding a long-term home at Frontier City. This Schwarzkopf is still remarkably smooth and it dabbles in a little bit of everything. It has some strong laterals at points, a few spots of strong positive Gs, and even a pop of airtime. 6 out of 10 Steel Lasso is one of the first newer Vekomas. This was when the company began its transition from building coasters that would crush you to rides enthusiasts would have a crush on. Steel Lasso has a rather tame layout, but the ride is glass smooth and great for families. 5 out of 10 The last operating coaster was Frankie's Mine Train, a Zamperla kiddie coaster I had no shame riding. These Zamperla kiddie coasters vary wildly in quality. Some are quite shaky. Others are decently smooth. This one fell into the latter group. I ended up leaving the park early due to all the closed attractions and instead made my way to Wonderland. But flash forward to December 2020. I was driving between Silver Dollar City and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. My route would take me right past Oklahoma City, so I decided to give Frontier City a shot for redemption. I figured the water rides would be closed for Holiday in the Park, but my goal was to ride Diamond Back. But I was admittedly nervous leading up to my visit since temperatures were expected to hover around 40-45 degrees. I wouldn't think twice visiting a park like Great Adventure in temperatures like that, but I was more nervous about a southern Six Flags park. Thankfully, the park opened for their very short hours (5-9). And the park had a nice collection of lights throughout the park. All of the rides closed in my summer visit were again closed except for one, Diamond Back. It was a refreshing sight seeing this Arrow launched loop operating. I had ridden Revolution at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, but that one only had a 4 car train. By all accounts, those who had ridden both Revolution and the remaining US launched loops said the US ones had more power. Backwards ejector airtime is exceedingly rare and Diamond Back delivers it. Riding in the front car delivers one of the most intense moments of any coaster on that backwards drop. The vertical loop also caused me to start greying out going both forwards and backwards. This coaster was short, but it packed a punch. I spent half the day riding this coaster. The ride was down for the other half of the day. If you haven't been able to tell from my summer trip and this visit, Diamond Back is notoriously unreliable. 8 out of 10 Wildcat was the coaster most sensitive to the cold. The park didn't start testing until an hour after the park opened and it was crawling, even more than it was in the summer. It did open for the last two hours and the ride's setting resulted in a pitch black night ride. The ride had even less airtime than it did over the summer though due to the cold. Frontier City is probably the weakest Six Flags park due to the ride lineup, but it is a nice looking park. I don't know when I'll be back since the uptime of the park's best ride is an issue, but if my route takes me past Oklahoma City, I'll be sure to pop in for a few hours.

I haven't ridden it and I completely disagree with your second point here. I made my only trip to Dollywood a few years back and would have very happily ridden it running slower than normal, instead of not riding it at all. These changes are finally making me consider a trip back to the park as long as it helps the reliability. Coasterbill's side-by-side more accurately describes my 2+ days at the park than the other side-by-side. That said, sure the ride is running slower in the new video but this isn't even a remotely fair comparison. Look at any video of any roller coaster running an empty train in the cold next to a full train in warm weather and there's going to be a difference. If you were going to try to compare a POV, at least do it with something comparable like a POV taken before the ride ever opened with topper track. But still, just don't because it's pointless.

Agree. I think it's the temperature. I stopped and resynced in a few spots. It'd stay in sync for a while then the current would get a bit behind. But it seemed to take a bit, not a stead shifts like it was slower overall. Particularly I got them in sync coming out of the turn from the station, before the launch and they seemed to crest the hill together.

^ I'm sorry, but the launch up the lift hill looks EXACTLY the same. it's slower cresting the hill because of an empty train (and the cold). I see no difference in the launch speed.

Hmmm some of yall may have been right about the launch being slowed own farther. Disclaimer: Its one POV and its March so I know it's not perfect, but there is POV out of the redone Lightning Rod. It DOES look really slow over the top, like it seems to barely crest. Also seems real slow in the wave turn. I'm kinda nervous the first half is gunna be neutered. People have already said the 1st half was never quite the same after they slowed the launch originally so OR its an empty train on new track in March so it may be deceptive esp since POVs are never perfect at conveying feel lol And I know some claimed it'll be as fast over most of it/even quicker second half due to the new smoothness. But still.....I know its supposed to be wild from drop to end, if it feels a little underwhelming I'll know its a neutered ride. I'd be doubly bummed since I had everything ready to go last year..... Hope Im wrong and it wont be subdued!

My guess for Mystery Mine's changes are to make the ride more reliable and smooth. Dollywood is being smart taking a break from prioritizing additions over improvements. It's definitely a good strategy to sell more season passes and memberships.

Wow what great photos! This ride is sure to be a hit when it opens!!

I think it is already. Thanks for the photos, Adam. The ride and the rockwork look great.

Hope this plays out well for that park! Anytime a closed Schwarzkopf gets a new lease on life, it's a win in my book.

The guy that's running the park used to be the Ops manager at SFOT.

Amazing photos!! Thanks for sharing!

The first half of this one instantly reminds me of Taron in Phantasialand. But in this one, the rock work is so foreboding and "dangerous" how it juts out here and there, around the track. Wonderful shots of the whole area! Thanks for taking the time to stick with it, and get those test shots, LOL!

Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing! I am pumped for this coaster. No, it won't be "best in the world" (I don't know why we ever set those expectations for any new coaster), but it is going to kick a$$. Crazy hang time and theming in the first half, then a 70mph launch into a top hat, zero-G stall, funky inner and outer banked turns, and a fast heartline roll over water? All with comfortable and minimalist lap bars? Yeah, sign me up. This and Iron Gwazi (and Ice Breaker, I suppose) are all the more reason I am excited to move to Florida in a few months.

Two weekends ago I made my way back to the Universal Orlando Resort to experience the new Mardi Gras offerings, but also to get a chance to see Velocicoaster testing. I'll have photos from Mardi Gras to share soon, but I figured I'd start with the most exciting update first, which is a giant Intamin coaster opening in Orlando! Entering Islands of Adventure, you'll notice something new on the horizon... I thought my timing couldn't have been better... A few seconds later I stood corrected. I finally had the chance to see the Velocicoaster in action and it looks ridiculously fun! Jurassic Park wasn't the only section of the park that was looking great today! Passing through Hogsmeade towards Jurassic Park, you get a view of the bowl section of the second half of the coaster... Making its second loop around before making its way back towards the station. New Velocicoaster signage has been put up in Jurassic Park matching the styling and theming from park signage shown in Jurassic World in the film of the same name. The entrance path features several raptor statues. It is going to be neat to walk this space with trains flying upside-down overhead. There are few spots in Jurassic Park where Velocicoaster can't be seen running at this point. This is a pretty awesome thing in that it adds a new kinetic energy to the land. Definitely cool to see! The walls have come down around the first half of the coaster. I was so excited to see the coaster running up close that I totally forgot to get an overview shot of what the area looks like from behind the themed barriers, but as you'll see in the following photos, they allow you to get some really fantastic, unobstructed views of the ride in motion. The entire first half of the coaster can be seen from this side of Jurassic Park. I absolutely love this angle... So I stayed in this same spot for a few minutes to watch the trains cycle. Velocicoaster weaves in and out of itself in a really neat way. Time to fly into the second launch! It really is a spectator-friendly coaster! The rockwork does a really great job of framing the coaster elements. Dive! Dive! Dive! It looks so great! I also love the design of these trains! The transition into the 2nd launch is really quick. Rockwork appreciation... Zoom... Zoom... Zoom... I feel like this will probably end up being the most photographed section of the Jurassic Park after the coaster opens. More fun angles. I'm ready to ride. How about you? The skyline at Universal Orlando has definitely changed!

Little late to the conversation. But has anyone else noticed that part of the Horseshoe is still there? Also, we have yet to see pictures of the other half of the outside section. There could be work done over there that we cant see. I'm sure we will get a million pictures come Friday. As for the trains, Pete implied that MM will be using the same trains as last year.

People always forget just how far the economic impact of a theme park really goes. It’s not just the people they employ and the guests they bring...all the parks suppliers and vendors account for a massive economic impact too! Im glad Chapek was honest in saying late April. The rides department at DOSH in Southern California isn’t that big...and now they’ll have to inspect literally every ride in so cal! Each inspection is typically 2-4 days since it involves watching technicians perform inspections, watching ride operations open and operate the ride, perform a mock evacuation of the ride, and auditing all the paperwork of both operations and technical services. And that’s just the rides. I’m sure local health departments will be all up in the parks too inspecting covid safety stuff and food venues. It is going to be a massive undertaking for all parks. But at least there is an end in sight. Newsom finally relented.

My reaction... WTF!? I agree with the others it was one of my favorite rides at the park, now it looks like its gonna have a neutered and shorter ride experience.

Looks like my missed opportunities thread could have some new visitors.

Well.... That’s disappointing. Mystery Mine was my favorite coaster in the park. I hate that they went and neutered it.

Really discouraging preferred parking now. When they gave full credit for regular parking (with gold pass) it was great. But only half the value? I paid the extra $10 many times, but doubt I'll pay $20.

You know that Cedar Fair runs this event in Canada and both other major parks in the region run Christmas events with basically their full parks open, right? If their attendance sucked they have nobody to blame but themselves. The weather in Kansas City is fine.

I am actually crying right now, but his isn't about wanting to visit Disney (though I do want to). My husband and I live in Anaheim; he works for the Anaheim parks, but I also sell to the company as a material vendor. Having the parks closed has really impacted us both on multiple fronts, so I am overjoyed to have then start the reopening process!! UGH, I am so excited!!!!!!

That's a really bizarre move - am interested to learn why as that portion of the ride was great.

Which literally ends on March 28th. We are going AFTER March 28th.