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I don't think Casey and Robb would try that again as they are much older now and would probably die!

This is what I wrote back in our Facebook TPR Group: I think most of us realize we don't REALLY need masks outdoors when we can distance, but the problem boils down to when you give an inch, someone will take a mile! It's easier to just have a blanket MASKS AT ALL TIMES rule, then trying to enforce masks sometimes, but not always, and judge when you can distance or not type thing. This is just going to lead to no masks anywhere. I have a kid who can't get the vaccine yet (hoping her age group is approved soon!!!) and I want to try and at least be somewhat safe with her.

My son and I checked out Coaster Power Hours this past Friday night. I'm not sure why more people aren't talking about this! Yes, it's an upcharge ticket, but if you're already a season passholder or member, it's literally $5 per person for basically five hours worth of non-stop uninterrupted coaster rides. Weather was cooperative this week and it was a beautiful spring evening in the high 60's, so all twelve of their coasters were open at one point or another. Aside from Kingda Ka and Bizarro, both of which had their own issues, we never ended up more than a station wait for a train, and the majority of the time we walked right on with a good chunk of those being front-row rides. Another nice factor was that for the first hour of the event, they were doing automatic re-rides; so if you were already on and you wanted to go again, you didn't even have to get out of your seat. Of course, thanks to the turnout, this basically was in effect all night long if you so desired because very rarely would you end up with a full train anywhere. Other than the coasters, no other rides were open. Only a handful of restaurants and snack booths were open, primarily around the Main Street area (also notably the Skybar next to SkyScreamer). Most of these locations had special items for sale that you can't usually get, like the pulled pork topped hot dog and chicken alfredo pizza. Other than a water refill though we skipped out on food while we were there in order to maximize our rides. They also had some of the carnival games in the Boardwalk section open, but other than that, it was really a barebones crew. In the span of the first four hours of the event, we managed to ride all 12 of the coasters, and that's even with doing two or sometimes three rides in a row. The last hour of the night we just spent backtracking our way to our favorites and getting extra rides in. All told, the final count ended up being: Superman x2 Green Lantern x2 Kingda Ka x1 (due to it dispatching three trains then going down, then coming back up ten minutes later, dispatching another three, and going down again) El Toro x4 (and yes, the locker rule is still in effect even at this low capacity event) Bizarro x1 (due to the one-two punch of someone horking on the front seat before our ride then getting triple stacked after our ride) Runaway Mine Train x1 Joker x1 Harley Quinn x1 Skull Mountain Remix x3 (the "remix" consists of a couple of colored disco lights strategically placed throughout the building to turn it into a rave-in-a-box, plus switching out the usual soundtrack to some electro house and dubstep. Volume was way too low to notice that anywhere but the brake run, though.) The Dark Knight x1 (no preshow) Batman: The Ride x1 Nitro x2 Seriously, I can't remember the last time I was at Great Adventure and got that many coaster rides in on a single day, even with a Flash Pass, short of maybe Holiday in the Park several seasons back before it blew up in popularity. The amount of people that showed up was way below your average Saturday and Sunday crowds. For the most part, the park well and truly felt deserted. It really felt like something special and to be honest I'm not sure how they're making money on this event, but as long as they're going to be offering it, I highly recommend that you try to sneak away to Jackson for a few hours on Thursday or Friday nights to take advantage of this. It was easily the best $10 we have ever spent at the park.

I was very lucky this weekend and I also attended Great America’s opening day. With the park not opening in nearly a year and a half I was expecting utter chaos, and ended up having a great time! We pre-purchased gold flash passes because we knew it would be a busy day. Now my group is kind of crazy, but knowing Maxx Force isn’t on gold flash pass with the park opening at 10:30 we were at the toll booths at 9:15am and when we got in we rope dropped Maxx Force and ended up on the 4th or 5th train of the day. With flash passes getting on every ride in the park we wanted to was a breeze, Justice League was closed but I don’t think that’s a huge blow. We were planning on skipping Little Dipper & Dark Night before we got to the park. (the latter of which was closed also) In terms of ride operations, for a park that didn’t open for a year and a half I think they did a darn pretty good job! There’s were multiple occasions throughout the day where we never stopped on the brake run and rolled right into the station! Maxx Force was the only new ride for me and WOW what a launch! You can absolutely feel how much more powerful the initial thrust is than rides like Dragster or Kingda Ka! This visit ended up being my favorite visit I ever had to this park! Final Tally Maxx Force x1 Whizzer x1 Viper x1 Raging Bull x4 Demon x1 X-Flight x3 American Eagle x2 Goliath x2 V2 x1 Batman x1 Joker x1 Superman x1

Congrats on riding Maxx Force. Based on what they’ve done elsewhere on the chain this seems to be the methodology they use to determine what rides load all rows. - If a state recently let them open they run a lot of rides where they don’t load all rows so that they can pretend that they care for awhile. Sure, other rides in the chain with the same ride vehicles have been loading all rows for half-a-year but they’re assuming that the people running these the states and making these rules are unfathomably stupid. They assume this because the people running these states and making these rules are unfathomably stupid. Rides where riders are clearly really far apart like wing coasters and flying coasters will load all rows but not much else will. B&M hypers didn’t used to be in that category but they might be now. Nitro skipping rows lasted about 8 seconds. They probably realized that they had to load all rows for Holiday in the Park anyway or the train might not come back so they might as well start early. Raging Bull is probably in the same boat. That ride is also abused and will have the same issue so just rip that band-aid off now. PS: No clue if they announced it yet but Holiday in the Park is happening. They’re Six Flags, not Cedar Fair. Fright Fest is happening too but they might give it a stupid name. Note that they will cap capacity at just 99% of the normal Fright Fest crowd levels for safety. - A few weeks / months later they throw up dividers in the stations and declare that any ride that has dividers in the station can safely load all rows now. They usually start with rides where the ride vehicles kind of / sort of seem far apart so it’s not too egregious. They’ll ease people into it. - A few months later they put up dividers on everything and load all rows on every coaster that’s even moderately popular because nobody cares any more.

Fyi:

Ticket sales and reservations will be available April 26th at 10am PST for Knott's. also, per the state of California and nothing to do with the Knott's announcement it looks like the state could fully re-open on June 15th. Hospital ICU capacity is currently over 30% and vaccine appointments are going unfilled around me so things seem a little positive. https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/beyond_memo.aspx "As we reach 20 million vaccines administered and COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations have stabilized, California is looking to move beyond the Blueprint for a Safer Economy to fully reopening our economy. On June 15, all industries across the state can return to usual operations with common-sense risk reduction measures such as masking and vaccinations. We will only progress to this stage if we continue to stay vigilant, keep wearing our masks and getting vaccinated. The state will monitor hospitalization rates, vaccine access, and vaccine efficacy against variants with the option to revisit the June 15 date if needed. What triggers our move Beyond the Blueprint? On June 15, California will fully open its economy if two criteria are met: 1. Equitable vaccine availability: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years or older who wish to be inoculated. [i] AND 2. Consistently low burden of disease: Hospitalizations are stable and low, and specifically, hospitalizations among fully vaccinated individuals are low."

I'll give SFGAm a pass because this was their first weekend open in what, like 18 months!?!? But yeah, I really need all of the parks to get their food operational. They make so much money off of it and it's so overpriced that it at least deserves to be served to you in a timely manner.

Has it finally gone up!?! Can't wait to see it at night!

Yes. The park has confirmed it.

agreed. .whatever the President notes in Statement today, I suspect will be Federal Guidance, and most theme parks will fall in line with those recommendations (most, not all, because some States are going to raise a stink regardless of what the new guidelines may be - even if President Biden were to say today: Masks no longer required ? Some States would complain it's too soon.. . so I'm not pointing my comment that "States will raise a stink regardless" only at States run by a certain party). but ultimately, they will be guidelines, and the Chains will do what they want to do. that said? I"m at Kings Island for Coasterstock in July, and will be wearing my masks the whole time around other people (except when eating with those who have also been vaccinated already). it's the Patriotic thing to do: to care about your fellow Americans regardless if they care about themselves.

Yep, nothing like it anywhere else I'm aware of. BGT, I guess, but that doesn't really compare. I like a good hike. Thanks!

After Indiana Beach it was time for a pretty long drive. But with a surprise stop at Little Amerricka. This park felt like it was in the middle of nowhere and just a bunch of fun things to do gathered in a single place. Like somebody had too much money and just bought a bunch of stuff to keep the kids in the area entertained. At least that's what comes to mind from memories at this time and looking back at the pictures. They had just finished a new coaster at that time, so we got to be the "test dummies" to test it out. It was a nice surprise and awesome way to break up the drive that day. test dummies lining up such a fun little coaster and perfect for filming etc this was the weirdest coaster even.. the view from the lifthill (other way from this picture) was so unique.. i think this was the first time i got on of of these type of rides.. seen plenty since still a fun video and memory from that visit. was amazed they managed to get in that together. Not sure if it would still be possible/allowed these days Next up Mount Olympus (and way too many pictures)

Here are the official guidelines from the website. Link I love all of this. Masks work, but when everyone who wants a vaccine can pretty much get one it makes sense to phase them out in areas (see: outdoors). It should be noted that you still need to wear them where social distancing is not possible. PS: It seems like the president is expected to make a statement on this today anyway and the park will probably just be falling in line with new guidance from the CDC.

Who would have thought they would put so much love into an older ride? Big Kudos. Batman is still one of the best rides in the park.

"Within You" by David Bowie. I'm currently watching Labyrinth.

So what's the drama at Knoebels today!??!

Thought I'd come in and post a couple reviews of movies I saw recently, ranked in descending order according to how much I enjoyed them: Nobody: A great little action movie starring Bob Odenkirk that almost felt like a John Wick parody/knockoff. It was exactly what I wanted from the film--a great time in terms of action and laughs. Godzilla Vs. Kong: Anything involving the film's various Kaiju was some great spectacle and decent cinema. Everything dealing with humans was absolute crap. I kind of expected that going in, but it was still disappointing. I also thought that the final battle was a tad underwhelming. Mortal Kombat (2021): I haven't played any of the games, but I understand some of the mythology. The film doesn't even have the titular tournament in it! Some of the fights were exciting and the fatalities were exciting enough but they relied too heavily on obvious CGI blood. The script also tried to shoehorn in narrated lines from the games and have the characters say them inorganically--heavy handed fan service style. Also, why create a new character for the film as the point of view/audience surrogate character considering how deep the lineup is for the games?

Hey guys! Long time no talk. As some of you in this thread may know, for a year and a half I had a goal to lose 100 pounds by SFGAm Opening Day 2021. Yesterday was the big day, and I am happy to report I was at -101.8m pounds! If you would like to hear my story about riding Maxx Force for the first time, look at my post in the SFGAm thread! With that said, I have three goals in mind for SFGAm Opening Day 2022, but I "only" want to hit at least two of them. 1) To weigh less than 200 pounds. This has always been a "far fetched" dream that is not so far fetched anymore! 2) To weigh less than 194 pounds. This is more a stretch, but this is a "healthy" BMI for my height. I feel great right now at 221 don't get me wrong. And some do not believe in BMI. But I would never think I would be considered completely healthy. 3) to dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim. As a basketball fan, this s something I have always wanted to do. And now that I am the most physically fit I have ever been, it's not impossible! I am 6 foot 2 so I will have to do more than just lose weight to get there. It will be a grind, but I am up for it. If I hit two of those I will be extremely happy and will only have to "maintain" from that point forward! How is anyone else doing?

Eh, he's a Yankee.

Y'all its obviously gunna be Six Flags America.

Parks have been open 10+ months, some with and some without masks rules. No indication of any spread at any of them. I did not boast about anything. I followed their rules and commented on it like folks have done for 10+ months now.

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.

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.

Jet Scream was my first coaster with an inversion. When I was in junior high they used to have "double rides after 5" on Friday nights which was really nice for Jet Scream because that thing was super short, lol.

...or with one of the other inhabitants of the Zoo/Farm... But Samson is the headliner, to be sure. Take your pick - back view or front view! June 2, 2017.

Im getting Icon park vibes lol

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!)

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.

Cedar Point is a great choice. A totally flat park with tons of land is notoriously difficult to build on, plus if they do a coaster like Smiler it can easily break the record for most wind closures in a single season.

Let's get this thread back on track... Like others have said, this is a very odd announcement as you'd think a real park wouldn't want something like this announced ahead of THEIR announcement but it's a weird world nowadays so... My guess is Jersey Shore. Weren't they always rumored to get something crazy, and this company is very Jersey friendly from what I understand.

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.

Gold is still there. You select it after selecting a pass. No idea why they changed the way it's sold and made it more like an add-on.

Hi all! My friend and I made our first ever visit to Hersheypark this Saturday and had a blast. Thanks so much to everyone that gave us advice on how to make the most of our day - we rope dropped Fahrenheit and got in 2 walk-on rides and managed to get the Laff Track credit before the lines got longer than 15 min. The park was definitely very busy, and most of the major rides got up to a 1-2 hour wait during the day per the app, although it seemed like the app was most overestimating wait times. A couple bits of news for folks: - Lightning Racer (Left) was open and ran pretty well for a 20+ y/o GCI! The right side had its train on the track but it was covered in tarp. - Storm Runner didn't open or test at all on Saturday, but trains are on the tracks with water dummies. Super bummed we missed this, but definitely gives us reason to come back!

I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop doing this: so you can make people stand in this twice as long in the name of social distancing. Just load every seat.

Better to get it right than rush it. SFMM opened without numerous flat rides, both water rides closed, and terribly long food lines. I actually think knotts is being smart by doing so much passholder only availability so they don’t take up as many spots when general tickets are available.

Except that you won't get West Coast Racers if you're on the east coast.

Bomb threat apparently. https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/northumberland-county/police-investigating-threat-at-knoebels/523-3ec88b87-2b77-4932-bc33-5b0edee57739 EDIT: Better article here: https://www.pahomepage.com/top-stories/police-investigate-situation-at-knoebels/