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Most vertical lifts on a single coaster?

They aren’t going to get shut down unless the state and county will also be shutting down every other large venue again in the event things get out of control for another big wave. You can watch fans not wearing their masks all night long in the dugout club on every Dodger broadcast. Or anywhere else you go. 100% compliance is not feasible while these businesses are limited on what profit they make. I bash SFMM as much as anybody, but it’s very clear they added more security to do the best they can. Anyone who visits a theme park knows the risks. You are knowingly going to a place where you know there will be thousands of people. Posting on Tik Tok to get some clout for still complaining about covid stuff is dumb and in no way a reflection of reality. You want to see blatant ignoring of safety measures? Try visiting a six flags park in a Republican run state. SFoG will make you very much appreciate SFMM.

Oh this thread should be fun. Can we just rename it to "Crackpot Predictions" already and get it over with?

You guys can have it back

You must be new around here if you think I’m a “boot licker” for SFMM. I’m just someone who realizes covid enforcement is a joke everywhere now and understands that if you chose to go somewhere you know will be a gathering place for thousands of strangers, you assume the risks that go with it. But some would rather aim for tik tok clout than just say “I don’t feel comfortable here. I’m out.” There is no entry level job in America that pays enough for anyone to care about enforcing things for all but the worst of the worst violators of covid precautions. Nor is there a business capped at 25% that can sustain throwing a crap ton of extra labor at something and be expected to make any money. You accept this reality when you visit any theme park right now. Should it be that way? In a perfect world, no, of course not. But in the real world...that’s how every park, stadium, large store, airport, and so on is actually operating.

"Select attractions" probably means "Whatever we can staff" and they might not even know until last minute.

^^Hmm--I think your assumption is correct. @Mike240SX I'm certainly not expecting "full operations" before Memorial Day Weekend, which isn't unusual (for example, they usually don' t start operating the water rides before then). But the park hasn't announced anything officially yet, so who really knows? They also have to bring staffing up to speed. That being said, who's up for the . . . Food & Wine Festival Report The park was bustling last Sunday, even with reduced attendance in effect, but this wasn't the busiest I've seen it this year. That was a few weeks ago when all the spring break madness was going on during the first weekend of the Food and Wine Festival. They were really slammed then--especially with two food booths, Brazil and Mexico, closed (on a Saturday). It was smoother sailing last Sunday, despite the large crowd, thanks to all the booths being open. But the food lines got pretty long as the afternoon wore on. Festival operations were a mixed bag. I visited four booths: South Korea, Brazil, Virginia, and Mexico. The first three acquitted themselves pretty well; for example, Brazil had a fairly long line, but it moved quickly. Mexico, however . . . ugh! More on that later. On the upside, the food was very good at each booth, and there was no waiting at the Brauhaus (Grogan's in Ireland had a longer line). Waits for rides were a mixed bag. I waited about 15 minutes for Apollo's Chariot and Griffon. The wait for Verbolten was posted at over an hour. Based on three-train ops and a full queue, I'd say that's about right (at least they were using all the rows). InvadR looked pretty slammed, so I didn't bother, and Finnigan's Flyer was posted at 45 minutes. They had a few more flats open in Festa Italia. They also put up a temporary wall just before the Roman Rapids and the pizza-and-pasta buffet, which hasn't been open all year. (Word is that they want to renovate that restaurant.) The only full-size restaurant open is the Festhaus (and that's with socially distanced seating). So, get ready for plenty of food pictures, although not quite as many you'll see in a typical Adam TR. They've been doing some work around Pantheon, too, which I'm taking as a good sign. Hmm--a few more people than usual milling around England today. Almighty Zeus, Father of the Gods! We humble mortals of Busch Gardens beseech you! Send us a sign! Zeus be praised! I think those metal railings on the ramp and stairs were added recently, too. The lightning-hurling Zeus has blessed us with two signs! But are we worthy? (I think this is the main queue entrance as seen from the train.) Well, being as I'm already in Festa Italia and just got off Apollo’s Chariot, I may as well hit the South Korea booth. There was no wait, so Zeus be praised, again! The pork rib was pretty good. I even like the Korean coleslaw. What’s this? The Brazil booth at a “Dutch angle”? Is it the lair of a 1960s Batman villain? I ordered one Churasco (skirt steak with chimichurri sauce), but they gave me two. Not a complaint, just a yummy observation. The wait for Griffon was a between 15 and 20 minutes. Acceptable. The wait for a shrimp taco, however . . . At least it’s “crisply.” “Crisply-ness” confirmed. It was quite good, but I doubt I’d wait in this line again--especially if there’s another fussy kid in the group behind me. The kid was harnessed in what appeared to be a tricycle combination baby stroller (never seen a rig like that one before); that is, the kid could ride it like a trike, or an adult could push it like a stroller. It was some Radio Flyer hybrid toy. Spring . . . achoo! achoo! . . . time in Virginia. Shore is purty. No wait in the Brauhaus! Star Hill “The Love" wheat been for the win! Hmm--the Virginia booth in Scotland isn’t too busy. May as well score some of these tasty, artery-clogging bacon-and-cheddar hush puppies with honey butter. If you have $49.99 burning a hole in your pocket, you may as well buy one of these new models. With any luck, we’ll see all three of these coasters operating this summer. Get your vaccine, and thanks for reading.

We could rename it to “I have a hunch it’s conveniently going to *insert park closest in proximity to me* ... The Thread!

That thumbnail, though.....

How to say a lot ... without saying much at all. I love publicity.

^^Thanks for the TR. I really think at this point most of us visiting parks have to assume that there will be very little Covid compliance and we have to make our own choices. We're fully vaccinated, wear our masks, and distance as best we can from others. I'll be pretty comfortable visiting parks this summer but I totally understand people who aren't.

People are generally over it and even parks that did a great job with covid protocols last summer are struggling now. The data coming out now is highlighting just how insanely rare outdoor transmission is with even incredibly left-leaning publications calling for an end to outdoor mask mandates (and I'm someone who is generally very pro-mask but data is data) but if that doesn't put you at-ease then I would not recommend that you visit a park right now. Most parks don't have enough staff to enforce this and compliance is going to get worse every day from here-on-out.

So in the past year I kind of made a rule for myself...no new parks during COVID. I broke that rule on Sunday and immediately wished I didn't. First off...for COVID protocols the park kinda talks a big game but doesn't enforce anything at all. In most of the lines they had an employee (usually a younger one) walking around with a sign that said something like "Please Social Distance, Masks Required in Line" but there was 0 personal space at all nevermind social distancing. Id say a good 25% of the people in the lines were just wearing the masks on their chin and some didn't have one at all. Occasionally the employees would say something, but then keep walking and the person would just laugh after they walked away. I'm not much of a worry wart about COVID. I've traveled numerous times in the past year on planes, trains, and buses. Been to quite a few parks, ski resorts, casinos, sports games etc. I've felt slightly uncomfortable a couple times (previous top 2 times were the boardwalk in Wildwood on a Sunday and a couple lines at Hershey), but Sunday at Lagoon blew all those away. My wife was trying to get me to leave after an hour or two because she was even more uncomfortable. I know it's Utah and I should've kind of expected it to be not great, especially on a 65 degree day in full sun, but damn. If you're nervous about social distancing and that kind of stuff, I'd say don't bother with Lagoon until this is over unless it's a dead rainy day or something. Anyway, onto the park review... At arrival I wanted to get the most anticipated ride out of the way first and headed right for Cannibal. The line stretched past the Ferris Wheel, but then I remembered that this park doesn't actually have queue lines for its rides for some reason. So the crazy looking line was only about 20 minutes and I scored the front row. I think I overanticipated this ride as it wasn't quite as great as I was expecting but it's still a really good coaster. It's extremely smooth and flowy, but not the most forceful coaster. The elevator lift and first drop were terrific. I wanted to ride Samurai as I've never ridden a a Top Scan before, but I walked by it as the line was very packed in and overflowing (this is one of the few rides that actually has a dedicated line). We walked past a few more rides and coasters and eventually came to the Log Flume. Not sure why, but they didn't allow single riders so I got put with another group. Layout reminded me of the old flume at SFNE with some low to the ground turns and one drop. Not a great flume but there's no such thing as a bad flume. After visiting the village and checking out a few barns and museums in the quiet back of the park, we headed back towards the madhouse front of the park, past a closed Wicked (which I was looking forward to but knew it was unlikely to be open) and got in line for Colossus. Running two trains and they run Knoebels style dispatches, so it wasn't even 10 minutes from the entrance to sitting down. Good classic Schwarzkopf with pretty forceful loops and good helixes. Wish there were more of these coasters around. Continued on to Spider which had a line out the entrance path and unfortunately this line crawled. Pretty good ride though with a long layout and decent amount of spinning. Very tight and uncomfortable legroom, and I'm only 5'8". Passed up the long line for the standard Wild Mouse, but couldn't pass up a ride on Rock-o-Plane. This thing was a mashup between a Skydiver and a Zipper and thankfully allowed single riders (although it was a tight squeeze for me) as my wife wouldn't go near the thing. I almost made myself hurl before it even started because it's super easy to get flipping and it can flip very fast. If i were still 15 I could've ridden this over and over but after 1 ride I was seeing stars. Loved it though, Knoebels should get one of these. Headed for Roller Coaster next which was running two trains and also had a very fast crew. Thought I scored by ending up with the back seat but they mandate two riders in the back so I had to switch with a pair in the middle of the train. This place is bizarre. Anyway, for a 100 year old coaster it is super smooth. Not a ton of airtime but a perfectly acceptable family classic. We stopped at the Biergarten for lunch which was very good, although it had me longing for BGW. Definitely one of the better park lunches I've ever had. Headed back in Cannibal's direction, past a broken down Samurai but got distracted when it started testing, so I got out of line to go wait by the entrance. Unfortunately after 15 minutes or so an op came down to tell the growing line that it wouldn't be opening. Big bummer that I missed this and Wicked as they were among the top things I was looking forward to. Finished up the day with the spinning car Ferris Wheel, which was unique for sure and had some great views. The line was over 20 minutes but they were only loading 8 cars out of 40+ which was kinda lousy. Had to pass up on the Jet Star as my wife didn't want to wait in any more lines and they don't allow single riders. Ended up passing up the family coasters as well and eventually just made our way out of the park. With the park doing 0 enforcement of their policies, we just didn't want to be there any more. Definitely mad at myself for breaking my own rule and putting a bad taste in my mouth at a park I've never been to before. But a little more enforcement on their behalf would go a long way. Looking forward to going back some day and getting a better experience.

Snowy day in Cincinnati today

Sorry in advance for the double post but... STUNT PILOT OPENS MAY 29!!!! WHOO YEAH!!!! So hopefully with no delays will all be riding it by then! I am really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, I can't be there for opening day but I can't wait to ride it later this summer! Let's see if SeaWorld/Busch Gardens and Six Flags Great Adventure were taking notes... Sorry for the bad image, I screenshotted it from the new commercial they debuted during today's episode of the Silverwood Show. Here's the full episode where they talk about their flower wall and do the "Riptide Racer Trick Shot Challenge", in addition to showing off Stunt Pilot's commercial and opening date:

Rules like this are why people are sick of all of these covid restrictions. Someone from Yuma who is fully vaccinated and got their second shot in February can go to SeaWorld because they have some whales and ride coasters or they can go to the San Diego Zoo and ride the Skyway but they can't go to Magic Mountain because they're more of a risk than someone who's not vaccinated who just flew to LA from Sacramento to go to the park and never got tested? ...k

He didn't go into detail. He said RMC and Intamin proposed a single rail and Chance had a GTX. But Vekoma ended up winning out

Deno’s does not offer wristbands. There is a two hour reservation window to enter the park, but it is still pay-per-ride. We were back this past weekend at Luna Park. Granted we were with a kid’s birthday party, so it was slow moving, but with the sanitizing stoppages, the 2 hours goes by fast! I’m not sure you would be able to do everything. The kids waited about 15-20 minutes for the Circus Coaster and the line for The Tickler seemed quite long. Also several rides were having pretty persistent mechanical issues. Hopefully that will improve after they warm up for the season. I didn’t make it down to the Scream Zone. Do they let you pay per ride at those rides as they do for the thunderbolt and cyclone?

The only major rework of Eagle that I am aware of was slightly more banking on the turns in the ride to make them a bit smoother, and there was a tiny bunny hill that made a double up before the final turn, but that happened I believe in 1990.

I could be wrong but I believe it was modified many years ago. In the early 90s when it was changed over to ratcheting lap bars and seat dividers. At the time the park advertised this as new trains that made the ride faster. If remember correctly they claimed 70 mph, which seems unlikely in reality. But I believe there were modifications made including the removal of a hill towards the end of the course and banking of the turn around off the lift hill.

^ I just hope they sell them in Canada, as well as the U.S. When special Pride Bottles of name brand alcohols (particularly vodka) came out, not all of them came up here to our beer/wine/liquor stores. So, here's hoping glittered hearts cereal makes it up thisaways!

They modified Eagle? That's illegal in my book. That coaster is a landmark, and shouldn't have been modified.

I am so buying that. And they're donating $3 for every box sold, so at $3.99 a pop, that's 3/4 of the MSRP donated! That's great! And I hope the taste is Froot Loops. I love Froot Loops.

At this point it's kinda a "wait and see" if they'll offer daily Fast Lane. Last year, KI didn't offer it until halfway through and CP didn't offer it at all. This year, CP has announced that it'll be available, and general presumption is KI will do the same. Remember, this year at KD is basically last year at other parks.

^ Very nice. How big is your POP! collection? I have about 30 or so of my own. Unopened of course, LOL!

^ Yep. Cats happen. Came back a couple of hours ago, from getting my first vaccine shot. And so far ..... no growing scales or fur, losing hair, eyesight's fine ..... doo dah.

If I ran a theme park I would not open a major new ride right now. Either you cap capacity and reduce potential returns or you have a huge crowd and when pictures of that crowd go viral you have a huge PR problem. It sucks, but I get it.

Ok I just secured tickets, reservations, etc for Mon May 17, taking an extended weekend trip for the boy's 18th birthday. We are going to go to SFOG on Saturday and then take the scenic drive through Smoky Mt park to Gatlinburg and hit DW on Monday. IF the stars align and we don't get lost looking for preferred parking in the DW lot, it may workout to make LR his 250th coaster, which would be a nice birthday present. Let's hope 3rd time is a charm for him in his attempts to get on it.

I'm sorry but I just had to give an exasperated laugh. Why would they not use clear dividers, good grief can you even imagine the immediate and constant frustration of being a ride op in that situation

I've been on both Harley Quinn and Tidal Twister at Sea World. Harley was a tad better than I expected, but it still definitely wasn't great (I did have an end seat). Once was more than enough, and I certainly agree with all the criticisms of the ride. Wouldn't miss it a bit if it were gone. Tidal Twister, to me, was moderately enjoyable. Depending on where you sit, there's actually a small pop of air. It reminded me a bit of a Bayern Kurve, which I enjoy. But it was slow and clunky, the train jogs a lot, and the load process took forever.

Got to the park today, and have to say, the two new attractions are pretty great. The new ending of Jurassic World is very impressive. The cove is still somewhat of a lag, but better than before. But the big hit is Secret Life of Pets. While it's no "E" ticket major attraction, it's got to be one of the better "C" ticket dark rides built in a while. Way better than Disney's Pooh or Monsters, Inc. And the queue is super immersive. They did a great job with that one!

Keep in mind that the $133 3-park ticket does NOT include parking, which is now up to $30/day. If you are parking all 3 days I think its actually cheaper to get the 4 day ticket which DOES include parking. OR, you know, go to Discovery Cove and get the ultimate package, which gives you Discovery Cove and up to 14 days (?) admission to all the FL SeaWorld parks. If you want the "tickets at work" discount on the 3 day ticket.... Go here: https://www.ticketsatwork.com/affiliates/lifecare/packages.php?sub=packages&action=view&id=78 They also have the unlimited 14 day one including parking for $181.99 after taxes/fees (always go to checkout on tickets at work they add fees later)

Well folks...RMC must have given Silverwood a package deal!! Tremors is getting more Topper Track! The park posted this photo on social media, and it looks like they are doing the rest of the warped helix. They said it will be ready for opening day. I think this is great! The helix in general, but particularly the last 1/3 (the part in the foreground and to the right just out of sight), always seemed to be the roughest part of the ride for me and even when the park retracked it, it never seemed to really help. The Topper Track parts of Tremors were always the smoothest parts, so I'm really happy that the park had a change of heart and choose to add more Topper to the ride. It's too far away in the picture so I can't tell if its like a "next generation" Topper Track or not, but either way should be a huge improvement! Anyone want to start the rumor that the Topper Track was recycled from Lightning Rod? Oh...and Stunt Pilot's dive loop (I refuse to call it a "Raven Turn"!!!!) has been completed, along with the pull out from the first drop. Photo again is from their socials. They also got approval on their permits for the barn flythrough on Stunt Pilot, so that should be starting to shape up real soon! So with more Topper Track on Tremors, Stunt Pilot, a new concession stand, and the case of the missing Garfield, 2021 is shaping up to be a season of changes for Silverwood!!!! Here's to hoping that they are all for the better! Oh, and only 18 DAYS TILL OPENING DAY!!!! Who else is getting really excited?!?!?

The new IRex is impressive, but why is the whole indoor area so bright?! The original version with the orange flashing lights, the huge ominous waterfall, and the verbal countdown was just such a classic. I can’t believe they ruined the most epic ride finale just to show off an IRex animatronic while removing all the beautiful animatronics at the beginning of the ride. Hollywood went from having the world’s best to world’s worst Jurassic Park ride.