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Luckily any day now Lightning Rod is probably due to launch a wheel into a mountain or spontaneously combust or something so we can stop talking about covid...

So is COVID gone from Tennessee now? I have had both shots yet I will continue to wear my mask to protect others. I know we are all "over it" but until we reach herd immunity through vaccines or antibodies, people are still dying.

Wow, you completely misunderstood. This isn't at all about park rules, it's about what YOU said. You're boasting about not wearing a mask, and speaking positively about a low mask usage rate in this park. You are thereby tacitly encouraging others to do the same, when we have a 27.5% vaccination rate nationally, and in a state ranked #43 in vaccines administered,[1] and in which only 23.6% of the state's adults have been vaccinated.[2] And sure, we can stay away from the park, but viruses don't stay in a park, and the people who don't wear masks in a park also don't wear them in riskier locations. When the virus is transmitted and then mutates in its new host, and that mutation shows up in my local grocery store, and I get sick despite wearing a mask and despite having a vaccine, that's very often because people like YOU said on the Internet how nice it is to see people refusing to do even the bare minimum effort possible to protect their neighbours against the worst infectious disease we've seen since HIV. Do you understand now why we might object to your glowing review of this park's guests not wearing masks? No, you don't care, or you'd never have written what you did before, but like I said earlier, I'm writing this for others. Keep on masking until we get to herd immunity! [1]https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/states-ranked-by-percentage-of-covid-19-vaccines-administered.html [2]https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/covid-19-vaccine-information.html

I did and it was awesome! The park was clean and empty. One strange thing was literally everything I went on except superman, pirates, and joker broke down while I was was there. Some more than once. Most were quick fixes and it actually took more time to go through the line then the line itself on ask the rides so it wasn't a big deal, just strange. The rides are incredible! Maybe I'm just getting older, but they were all so intense! I could only handle batman once. WW lived up to all the hype, but at 6'3" I ride in the front once and that's all i could handle because of the restraints. I think I liked the back more anyway, but that ride was fantastic in any seat! Superman front right and back left are both insane, but a little less rough in the back. As a mine train fan, this one was a blast(get it). It was really quick for a mine train! Poltergeist impressed the hell outta me. I never would have guessed it to be so long and actually feel like it got faster throughout the ride! But the real star, and my new favorite coaster was IR. There's not a bad seat, and the fronts fun, but back left was my favorite. So much ejector air! It's been a long time since I've been on any coaster, much less good ones, so this was much needed! Great park and great night! I'm writing this in my Uber back to the hotel, so please excuse any typos... 20210423_194954.mp4

I disagree, I think there still very much is a point to rebutting idiocy. It's not to convince the idiot, we all know that'll never happen. You're really talking to a third party who is reading and not speaking, who knows the science and needs encouragement to keep going.

Tells someone to keep politics out of it. Procedes to add politics. Typical As for SFMM, they're going to follow what is required by the state... At least on paper. So your shove it comment is misplaced.

^ except it brings the thread off topic. (same reason I just ignore the stupid comments like that on the TPR facebook group)

there's no point, John just ignore, and we'll keep doing what we need to do to protect others (even if we don't know them personally).

Ooh, I want to play! My guess is Silver Dollar City. (I'm unlikely to be right--but if I am, I'll look like a genius!)

I have no clue what kind of mental gymnastics people are doing to make a perfectly flat huge park with tons of space a "challenging location". They just really want this coaster at Cedar Point so they can get off it and immediately film a hype vlog where they declare it the 7th best coaster in the park.

Steel Eel has some airtime for sure. Most every hill you end up slamming back into the seat at the bottom. I thought it was great.

Effin Red Pandas!!!! Great report! I miss this park, that gondola safari is so amazing.

The ride operators at Mine Train had to work hard to keep everyone in check, as there is no blocking of the unused rows and the mask policy seems to be of no concern to the GP. I swear, besides Pandemonium, Mine Train had the most yelling at the GP's to put thier masks on. Speaking of Pandemonium, the ride ops were giving out mask strikes to the GP's that kept refusing to pull thier masks up. One group got 2 strikes and the ripe op was getting ready to call security before they finally decided to listen to the operator.

I hate to be that person, but, yeah, you missed out and messed up! Steel Eel in the back car is AMAZING!!!!!

It's not on their instagram anymore, but that does look like the first helix-type area of Tremors, right after where they originally had topper track. On Twitter they have a photo installing what appears to be an I-box piece when you zoom in (I hadn't noticed originally, it's a bit distant so it a first glance it looks like topper), and this track certainly looks like I-box. That Twitter picture is the one where they say they're installing topper, but it actually seems to be I-box onwards from where the original topper was, and not certain yet for how long. Weird how Titan Track was in some ways GCI's response to Topper Track, but if RMC can really just retrofit I-Box onto parts of wood coasters in the same way, then it could be their follow-up answer.

Sorry again for the double post...but the interesting developments keep coming in! This photo has been circulating on a couple sites, with people claiming it's from Silverwood's Instagram story. I couldn't find on their Instagram page (although I currently hold an F- in "How to use Instagram") but it looks real and consistent with what some of the parks previous posts have been. It appears to show that Tremors was retrofitted with RMC I-Box rather than Topper Track. Unfortunately, the angle isn't that great so it's hard tot tell if it's actually I-Box or if it's some sort of Topper Track 2.0. To me it looks like it could be either, but it's interesting that the park said it was Topper, but it could actually be I-Box. Kinda weird. I guess that this puts my hopes of and all I-Box Tremors with electric blue track and zero G roles over the midway to rest...oh well another coaster enthusiast pipe dream. The best part though? In theory we have only ONE MORE WEEK before we get to ride it, and see if it did anything!

Sorry I missed it. My turkey leg was extremely dry. You could really tell it has say out all day and there weren't guests to eat and force them to refresh. As fast as delicious brisket goes, we went to The Smoke Shack for lunch yesterday and it was delicious! *Chef's kiss*

When we were there a couple weeks ago we both thought Stingray was by far the best coaster in the park and I thought Wavebreaker was a lot of fun too! I was a little underwhelmed by Steel Eel, liked Mamba at WOF much better. But to be fair I only ended up riding it once in the front row. Glad to hear they had multi train ops, maybe they will have better ops than we experienced going into summer.

Found my answer...

Quick trip report from 4/23/16: Not much changed from last Friday, crowds were light and the weather stayed decent. It was an awesome night to spend riding roller coasters as every ride was a walk on with a lot of coasters allowing instant rerides if a spot was open. Quick changes, they opened Xclaibur and Shazam for people to ride, Spinsanity was down a few times. Mr. Freeze never opened and The Boss was running a sandbag train so operations at Boss was slower than usual. No Kids area rides were opened this time, and River King Mine Train was only operating every other row unlike the rest of the park filling every spot. Oh and it seems like they adding more LED color lights around the park. ALSO the park extended the Power Nights into May! The new nights are: -April 30th -May 7th (American Thunder and Justice League will be closed for a private event the 7th!) -May 14th -May 21st -May 28th

If you disagree with park rules it's easy to stay away from the park. There is no rule you cannot wear a mask nor has that been suggested here.

glad you had such a great visit. yeah. . things break down a lot because despite it being Fiesta Texas (a spectacular park)? at the end of the day it's a Six Flags. (but because it's Fiesta, they get the rides back up fast fast fast). and Poltergeist DOES get faster as it goes, because the two Six Flags versions (at Fiesta & at Six Flags America) don't have the Mid Course Brake Run that the Kings Island/Kings Dominion versions have on Flight of Fear. if you get a chance to go back tomorrow. . the best food in the park is at Kickin Chicken (across from Roadrunner Express) and Macho Nacho (across from Superman). tho they did just add some german dishes to the Sangerfest Halle foodcourt that I've been told are really good (haven't tried them yet).

Have fun!

Hope you got to go ! Seeing reports from friends who went to the park and they said after the rains, everything opened back up and there were almost no lines. so really hope you got out today!

Some notes from today's visit: It's nice facemasks are nearly gone. Only time I wore one was when on a ride, restrooms and walking through the gift shop. Dollywood's food festival seems rather small, food wise. It's fairly uninspired, portions are small, and prices aren't great. We tried a few that were good, but nothing I'd get again any time soon. And the lines are long. And the average age of folks working the stands is up there so speed and/or urgency is not something you'll see. Blazing Fury is running very well now. Drops at the ends were really smooth tonight. First time on Lightning Rod since opening day. Great ride but it's def a 2.0 version. The quad down just isn't the same. Still tons of fun, but not exactly the same beast it was. New drop on Mystery Mine gives a tiny pop of air. Didn't hate it but the rest of the ride is still as rough as ever.

I got my 1st vaccine shot, a week ago! And they gave me a sticker! ...... "So exciting!" *** *** As our Prime Minister (sort of) said, when him & wife got theirs.

You should be fine with flash pass on a weekday. Kids are back in school, so crowds should be fine.

google maps has updated the images, you can see that the coaster has arrived and is in the parking lot.

Yes, your member perks should work at all SF parks. Although I did run into a weird thing where I could not make two preferred parking reservations even though they were for two different parks a day apart. Every ride that you cannot carry your drink cup on has the holders at the stations.

Well, SDC would certainly fit the "challenging location."

Kings Island always has Been a #1 family park. Look At all those golden tickets It is the best Kids area in a theme park in the world

Alright, we've done animals, we've done kiddie coasters... ...we're all here for Wildfire. A beautiful ride sign for a beautiful coaster. You want some facts about Wildfire? We've got facts about Wildfire. I'm going to start with a few wide-angle shots from the last trip, just because I didn't get much of that in 2019. Here's a nice view from behind the lift. (photo from 2016) Looking up at Wildfire's imposing structure from the marine area. As coasters go, this one looks good. (photo from 2016) Heading down on that impressive first drop. (photo from 2016) The rocks are not far below. (photo from 2016) Ah, the zero-g stall. So much fun to ride, but so hard to photograph. Maybe I'll get some better shots later... (photo from 2016) This is kind of a moody pic from early in the day in the 2016 visit, but I love the colors of the wood with the darker skies behind. (photo from 2016) In 2016, we got to do one really interesting thing ... a visit to the lodge. (photo from 2016) The lodge is a little building nestled under the Wildfire structure. To be honest, I don't recall seeing it at all in 2019. Does the lodge even still exist? We met Parks and Resorts owner (and TPR forum member) Mattias Banker at The Lodge, for some fun info on Wildfire and a refreshing lunch. (photo from 2016) This picture, which hung in the lodge, is absolutely amazing. That's Mattias riding at front left, and, I believe, Fred Grubb of RMC at the back left. (photo from 2016) From the lodge, you also got some great views of how Wildfire was built right into the rocky terrain of Kolmården. (photo from 2016) Some interesting "behind the scenes" views of Wildfire as well. (photo from 2016) That's it from 2016 -- everything from here on out is new (well, newer) and previously unseen (unless you're on Twitter) so enjoy! We'll start from the station -- where any good coaster begins. And then, after a little turn around the top of the lift, the drop. The hair goes flying. You're out of your seat at this point. Great lighting on a beautiful day, so let's test out the zoom lens on the first drop. Kid in front-right is a little too calm. Because the people behind him are having a good one! Wildfire proved to be quite spectacular for rider reactions. Oh, the screams, and the lack of anything to actually hold on to. Having fun at the top of a 184-foot tall coaster. I'm enjoying the dad who's chillin' a bit too much in the front seat. Chillin' dad shows some excitement! Now that's a range of emotions. The marine area (and the Wildfire overflow queue) offer some nice views of the quick drops later in Wildfire's circuit. You will get some airtime. In other words, there will be some uplift. Hair just gets flying everywhere. Chillin' dad is still chillin'. How does he do it? Oh, and we've also got three inversions. Here's one of them, visible from the public area of the park. It's quite the twist. It's tricky to time out shots like this through a quick inversion -- you've gotta hit the shutter at the exact right moment. With light crowds, Wildfire was only running one train, but that kept the trains full, too. A photographic trade-off. There's a quick banked turn past the station, probably about 2/3 of the way through the ride. Just have to say -- Wildfire and Balder were responsible for virtually all of the near-wardrobe-malfunctions I accidentally photographed on the entire trip. A quick curve -- with a guest appearance by Chris and John in the back row! Hold on tight! Wildfire through the trees. I think I took this one from the Tiger habitat area. Finally, the turn into the brake run. Exhilarated riders. Excited riders! Exhausted riders. That's a lot of Wildfire. But wait ... there's more! All of the above pictures from 2019 were taken from the public areas of Kolmården. But we're not done yet. We got a trip backstage for some extra views of Wildfire -- and some new camera angles yet to be seen. We'll start with the first drop again -- this time, viewed above the trees from the west. That's a 161-foot drop. Great in any seat, but amazing in the back. Wildfire's structure is mostly wood, but there are some steel supports at the drop. A drop and a tree. This one was fun to compose in real time. A big curve somewhere in Wildfire's back half -- not even sure I remember exactly where. Up and around it goes. Supports below, trees above. An overbanked turn that passes near the Safari ride station. Here's another one of Wildfire's inversions -- from zoomed in very close. Wildfire's second and third inversions are both corkscrew-kinda things, though I'm not sure if that's the technical term for it. Flipped sideways. Restoring order right-side up. There is, however, one more inversion to go. Ah, here it is -- the zero-g stall. In my mind, even more so than the first drop, this is Wildfire's signature element. It's virtually impossible to photograph from the public areas of the park, but there are some interesting angles back here. Wildfire's zero-g stall is not just my favorite element on Wildfire, it's one of my favorite elements on any coaster. It's taken at just the right speed to make you feel truly weightless, while you're flipped totally upside down. If you tilt your neck up, you can watch the supports (and the ground) pass by below you ... but it feels like they're above you. It's almost surreal. So, I wanted to show a wide view of where I was set up for the next few shots -- along the ride's perimeter fence with a view up to the exit of the zero-g roll. Hello, bent 103B! The zero-g sequence begins. You lock into this straight, un-twisting position for a solid few seconds. Then, the twist on the way out. Right on into the next element. This is a zero-g stall the way they were meant to be taken! Alright, one more -- and maybe my favorite of the whole batch. Another shot that was tough to time out, and maybe the focus isn't perfect, but it's so wild to see the entire train flipped upside down through the stall. Well, that brings us to evening ERT and filming. I don't have much to share, because I was too busy riding, but the YouTube video tells the whole story. It was an amazing hour of coaster riding -- one of TPR's best ever. Also, no axes on the ride, please. If this is your view, you're in for a good time. I'm going to end this with a tweet from the TPR account -- a still image from the filming session. That was my view for our dozen-or-more consecutive rides on Wildfire. Seriously, does coaster riding get any better than that? That's all from Kolmården, and one of the most scenic coasters on the planet. We'll cruise on into Stockholm for the next installment at Gröna Lund.

Well, that escalated quickly. All caps, huh? That's...a choice.

Showing off some new clothing (it's a big deal for me 'cause I tend to wear my favorites until they are so worn out that I'd be cited for indecency if I went out in public in them...) First up is one of my new shirts as well as a new mask (which I've gotta get one of those behind-the-head hook things for because it's too big on me) And from yesterday, another new shirt (same design as the mask, different background color chosen), as well as my new Grogu Loungefly purse, new capri leggings with pockets, and a hat that I got from my grandma who passed away last month.

So I've been terrible terrible at doing TRs in the last year and around one year ago (January of 2020) I got to join FYE Coasters on a special tour of the Gravity Group factory in Cincinnati and I never got around to making a TR of it until now. Downside is I have a TERRIBLE memory so I'm really not going to remember much of anything they said or any details, but I'll still share the photos I took with you all! Front entrance! It was kinda hard to find the place. Picture displayed in the lobby. This is the dude who gave us the tour. I can't remember his name ATM but the wooden thing is a cross-section example of their wooden coasters. This was a front car they had designed to show at IAPPA in 2019. My friend, Adam, is an editor at FYE Coasters and the little guy is his son. The pirate car was really detailed! They also had a really cool dragon car but I didn't take any photos of it because I wasn't sure if they wanted us to. Adam and I testing out the car. I broke it!! (JK, it had velcro on the bottom and detached). Cost-a-sur was their side company that they had recently opened to sell coaster parts. They were also modeling the Cincinnati Brake. IAPPA 2019 crate I don't remember what these were called but IIRC they were to show how the wheels and upstop wheels worked. Anti-rollbacks and lift pieces. They explained how the chain dogs worked. Ahhh the familiar click-clack sound we all love! Close up Superrr close up! This was my profile pic for a while Me with our two tour guides and the (Timberliner?) wheel they gave us Here's the whole group who took the tour! We were all super thankful for the hospitality that the Gravity Group guys showed us! It was a really fun tour to take and of course we loved the swag! My post cards are displayed on the wall next to my HHN poster right now! I've been on three of these coasters.

I'm somewhat of a traditionalist. Glazed Round White Icing A shit load of sprinkles It seems like the basic bitch combination by today's standards, but as a kid born in 1985 it was pretty cutting edge in the 90's.