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Yep, exactly. The greater the inequality, the greater the crime. Now, whether you want to go about fixing that through poverty relief programs that raise people to a living wage, require business to pay a living wage directly, or just tax the hell out of the rich so the top tier comes down closer to the rest of us, all are ok by me. It's all relative. Reduce inequality, reduce crime!

Kings Dominion is a very good park with some great rides but KD and BGW are headed in very opposite directions right now. Those things can both be true.

Together we have the power to not do this again.

Hey... boats Webcams

I had the opportunity to ride the “new” Big Apple Coaster this afternoon. I lucked out and got front row. My previous ride was in December 2018 (and I thought it was terrible). I am happy to say that the new trains have VASTLY improved the coaster. I was actually able to enjoy the coaster and take in the views. The two inversions are still the roughest parts, but they really aren’t that bad anymore. The comfort collars were not an issue, to my surprise, since I found them quite annoying on West Coast Racers and other Premier coasters. Any shuffling on the ride was just my shoulders hitting the sides of the seat rather than my neck on the comfort collars. I forgot they were there. The improvements to the coaster won’t make it top anyone’s list of favorites, but it went from “flaming pile of garbage” to “actually decent and enjoyable for what it is.” It also looks very nice with it’s fresh paint job. Props to the NYNY Hotel and Premier for a job well done on actually making the coaster enjoyable now!

This is how Great Adventure staff decides each morning where they should make people go to pick up their skip the line passes each day. We've had DE passes for a year now, in that time they've sent us - To the left side of the Flash pass Building - In the front door of the Flash pass building - To the right side of the Flash Pass building - To the stand next to Sky Screamer - To the stand where the mirror maze is - To a pop-up stand next to Santa's House - To a giant building in the grove nowhere near anything behind the theater that they never use The last two times they've sent us to the Flash pass building which means it's due for a change. I think the abandoned photo booth near Bizarro would be a fun way to spice things up next.

Really just one thing: Get the all day locker rental. You have to have a locker for El Toro and Kingda Ka (they have people standing in front of the queue turning away anyone with anything in their pockets). You didn't come all this way not to ride two badass Intamins, so do yourself a favour and just go for the all day option. When I went it was $8 (no idea if that's changed) and you can transfer between like a dozen different locker locations throughout the park. And they're big. Big enough to put my stuff and Coasterbill's and his girlfriend's stuff all in the same one. Oh, and you can totally have your phone with you if you've got a zipper pocket on everything but KK and Toro.

For what it's worth, I visited the park this past Wednesday with my daughter. After our inaugural visit back in 2019, where she just missed being tall enough to even ride the Shredder, we made the decision to not return until she hit at least 48" so she could ride way more stuff. Well, she finally hit her mark back in April, so we ended up picking up the low-price mid-week tickets that gave us free reign of the park from 12 PM to 7 PM. We didn't end up actually getting there until 2:00 PM (had to wait for her virtual school to end before we left), but once we did, it was a pretty painless process. We picked up our wristbands at the counter after they scanned the QR code from our online purchase. Unlike in the past where they were embedded with RFID chips and they would be scanned at every ride entrance, these are now just your average paper wristbands that we showed upon entry to the park and then never got checked again the rest of the day. Crowd levels were pretty light, as to be expected mid-week. In the span of the five hours that we were there, we rode everything we wanted to ride multiple times. None of the rides had more than a station wait, with the exception of Jimmy Neutron, which was closed earlier in the day but opened back up around 4 PM. For whatever reason they were only loading about four or five cars at a time on that ride, so it took us about three cycles to get on. The first coaster she wanted to ride was her nemesis from last time, The Shredder. This is without a doubt my favorite spinning coaster I've ridden so far (might change whenever I make it out to SDC, but for now, this slaps). The sheer length of it gives a lot of bang for your buck, and with only the two of us in the car, we got some absolutely insane spinning. Both times we rode it, they allowed us to stay on for re-rides thanks to no one else being in the station, so we ended up getting a total of four rides. It's just a great smiles-on-faces ride, and easily a big favorite here. Shellraiser was up next, and it was also a walk-on for us. Sadly, this one ended up being a one-and-done. Although the layout is great, I remembered half of the rides with my son being super rattly back in 2019, and unfortunately, it's only gotten worse since then. I don't know what they can do to fix this ride, but it's shaky to the point of the car feeling like it's going to tear itself apart mid-ride. We noticed at many points throughout our time there they were just sending empty cars throughout the course. Here's hoping they find something to do with this ride that makes it more enjoyable for everyone, because as it stands, this record-breaker is definitely the biggest flop in the park. Slime Streak was listed on the website as being down for maintenance from the 4th through the 20th, but for whatever reason, it was open that Wednesday! I was a bit apprehensive about riding as I had heard it was not particularly friendly towards larger body types and I'm still trying to shed those extra lockdown pounds, but I'm happy to say that although the trains were on the small side, the restraints were not overly restrictive. We did this one twice throughout the day. It's your average family coaster, nothing too special or thrilling but gives a nice view of the park. Timmy's Half-Pipe Havoc was open for the first time for us, originally being closed back during our 2019 visit. This was my second Intamin halfpipe coaster and my daughter's first experience. More ridiculous fun, with the back and forth launches and the rapid-fire spinning. We only did it once but wouldn't mind riding it again. Sandy's Blasting Bronco was also operating, but due to the height requirement being 52" and my daughter being short by 4 inches, we skipped it. It looks hecka fun, though, and hopefully the next time we go back and my son is along for the ride, we'll get a chance to give it a spin! Other rides of note: Kraang's Pandemonium is an absolutely bonkers mini-pendulum that picks up speed super fast, and the interaction with the ceiling (and ceiling fans!) is sure to thrill. Skyline Scream was operating as well, and this S&S tower runs a combo program; it shoots you up to the top and then bounces several times before pulling you the rest of the way up for a beautiful panorama of NYC and New Jersey. You are greeted up at the top by Spongebob and Patrick figures before you plummet back down. While it apparently can rotate, it wasn't rotating during any of our three rides on Wednesday, but it was still a lot of fun. Last but not least, while the Reptar carousel is cool to look at, it's a total pain to ride. Not sure whose idea it was to have the spikes on the tail poking your butt if you slide even slightly backwards. There were a number of new Zamperla kiddie rides scattered throughout the park, including a Crazy Bus themed to the Loud House, a Happy Swing themed to Dora The Explorer's monkey Boots, some cupcake looking teacups themed to Butterbean (whatever that is), and a mini-whip themed to Paw Patrol, but the only one that was currently operational was a Bubble Guppies themed spinning balloon tower. Here's some photos of the ones currently under construction: Foodwise, they're still only operating a single food stand located near the Half-Pipe coaster, with primarily pre-packaged sandwiches, hot dogs, popcorn, snacks, and the like. However, we noticed they were bringing more structures into the building as we were leaving Slime Streak for the second time, one of which said "Burger Bar" on it. Hopefully there'll be a little bit more options for food in the near future, especially considering that they aren't offering re-entry to the park currently. If you want to check out any of the other food options in the mall, you'll forfeit the remainder of your ticket. I'm definitely happy we visited on a slow day with the cheaper tickets and smaller crowds. I wouldn't want to visit on a weekend, where you're limited to timed entry and exit periods and the crowds are heavier, as I feel like you simply wouldn't be able to get through everything here (and it's not even as if there's a whole lot for that matter). Last but not least, the parking fee. It's free under two hours, and $2 for any length of time over 2 hours. This is ridiculous... and by ridiculous, I mean ridiculous to complain about. Literally go anywhere else in New York City and try to find parking anywhere near as cheap as that. Or for that matter, any other amusement park that isn't named Knoebels. Hell, the Queens Center Mall charges $3 for an hour of parking and all they have is a damn Target and Red Lobster. I get that people are looking for something to whine about, but this ain't it, chief.

This is what I’m assuming. It’s probably a convenient budget cut while they build a free spin. ... man I’m down on this park lately. Lol

The majority of parks charge at least $20 to park. I have to spend $3 to park at my local target. I don't think this is worth complaining about.

So FYI - Kristen and her friends went Saturday at 3pm over to Universal. They somehow had a great time! Crowds were not bad for a weekend and it was our last decent weather day here in Orlando till October. At one point they went by Velocicoaster and it was a 75min posted wait. Since they are 14, and wanted bragging rights, they went for it! 75min later after a less than 10min breakdown they were on it. They all loved it! Kristen even had a single rider next to her as yes, they opened the single rider line. She was telling us such great things about Universal that we went down around 7pm with a 9pm closing just to get some steps in. Well, with single rider lines open on Hulk and Velocicoaster, we rode both!!! It was great. Back to the Intamin debate. I've always said I prefer most awesome Intamin rides even if they only operate 70% of the time to almost all B&M's that operate 98% of the time! Intamin really does push a lot of limits and I think a lot of their issues are fair. This coaster has been running since November so they had a lot of test and adjust time and it's great seeing them get to open a done and tested ride (unlike Hagrid's!)

The text I quoted was directly from CW's website; stating that Canada's Wonderland Platinum Passes would be valid at all Cedar Fair parks through "Labour" Day 2022.

Rumor has it that Dolly Parton will make an appearance at the park on Wednesday after her interview from the DreamMore Resort in the morning on GMA. Not sure what time her interview will air, but it is tomorrow.

The Dippin Dots guy told me that skip the line passes will be handed out at Switlik Mansion this weekend. Hope that helps.

Not really. Delirium is excellent though. It's basically identical to Maxair. Also, the flume will soak you to the bone for no reason despite being tiny. Check out the patio behind the Brewhouse. It's a fantastic spot to hang out and have a drink. It's also right on the splashdown pool for Diamondback.

That's kind of what I was saying. Busch seems full steam ahead trying food fests, 2 rounds of a ticketed event many days, going year round in some form, etc. CF dragging their feet yet again here opening late, shutting down a coaster when it could prob run, waiting an extra year to build a bottom tier coaster, etc. Suppose it's more just disappointment in CF's approach to things the last year.

Cedar Fair has gifted this park I305, Twisted Timbers, Dominator and Delirium. That is more then WOF, MIA, VF and Dorney combined.

Not sure how KD seems pitiful and "not a ton of stuff there" when, even with Avalanche potentially being SBNO this season, it has 11 coasters to Busch's 9. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

You're thinking of another park. KI's site says masks are required indoors and outdoors "when social distancing isn't possible." Given the CDC's ever-changing guidance as to what counts as "social distancing," I'd say the people in the photos are good.

- Like any other big SF park, if you're going on a weekend or really nice day that would make it busy, allow enough time to enter the park. Fortunately the new touchless security process is a massive improvement over the previous lines. - If you see Kingda Ka operating and want to ride it, make it a priority and head straight there, as it can (and will) break down and may not reopen when it does. - The Golden Kingdom is tricky to find for first-time visitors: the entrance is to the right of Twister (the top spin) - Kingda Ka's queue entrance can also be tricky, it's to the right and behind of its locker area. - When planning out your day, your best/signature attractions are on opposite ends of the park (Kingda Ka/Zumanjaro/El Toro/Bizarro to the north, Nitro/Batman/WW/soon Jersey Devil to the south). While I don't mind the walk, some might find it exhausting; if open, the Skyway is your best friend to get from one side to the other as well as for photo ops. - Do be sure to stop by the lagoon near the log flume to take in that famous view of El Toro with Kingda Ka towering above it. It is truly one of the best photo vantage points one will find at any amusement park.

I have a Diamond Elite membership and this is my home park. I've never once bothered. Many times the line for it is so long that I wouldn't want to park there even if I could. Even if that's not the case, it's so unnecessary.

Depends what time you get there. If you're there right around opening, you'll be able to park close enough that it's not worth it. If you're coming at 3-4 in the afternoon, yeah you'd want it.

What time do you typically arrive? If it's early before others, no.

Here is a photo I took in September 2020. The second train was largely stripped and just sitting there. It was a slow line, so we only caught it at the end of the day.

With the park now closing at 8, it makes me even more grateful to attend the event for the night rides it will offer!

I get to help film its commercial tomorrow! It was running for passholder preview last weekend and looks absolutely fantastic.

That's great to hear. I actually skipped it last year because the line was so slow. Already had the credit and they were sending the 1 train every 5-10 min it seemed. Got 5 or 6 more rides on Phantom in the time I would have waited on Sky Rocket.

Heres a photo put out of the construction fence that was recently put up. It now extends all the way down and around Firemans Landing and extending behind part of the smoking area in front of the old Waterboggan Tower. Let the speculation begin. lol

In case anyone was wondering... from a population stance St. Louis is not a great bet. Above is STL metro population. It appears to be growing for the most part, but let’s compare to KCMO across the state: Notice how the population growth remains positive? Now let’s compare to NW Arkansas: In an economic sense, STL is not very investable right now. There are areas with much more potential nearby.

I mean I know you aren't looking for the argument, but the second link kinda gets to the heart of it. Crime tends to go up the poorer an area is. It isn't a coincidence the least safe zip codes are also the poorest zip codes. Which of course creates a feedback loop (why would a business take the risk of opening in a higher crime area?).

Going back to the 50th Anniversary stuff, I kinda miss the horrific Birthday Cake Castle. The gold bunting is nice and all, but it'll hardly be as memorable.

I feel like it's a combination of both. I can't think of an Intamin with a lift hill and 2-3 trains that's overly unreliable. People love to compare them to manufacturers that primarily build those types of rides (like B&M) and they're comparing apples to oranges. Hagrid's wasn't ready to open when it did and I'm not acting like they totally nailed that one, but when people are like "Intamin sucks, this coaster with 12 trains (I know they don't run them all but they run a ton), 2 drop tracks, 3 switch tracks, a crazy station block system and 7 launches isn't nearly as reliable as the Incredible Hulk" I feel like that's kind of a stupid statement. Rides like Dragster and Kingda Ka are obviously dumpster fires, but to Intamin's credit I don't see any other manufacturer building rides that reliably launch people 400 feet into the air at over 100mph. Maybe they could do it better if given the opportunity to try, but we don't really know. Velocicoaster seems like a pretty simple ride by Intamin's standards. One station. Two launches. Four trains. I'm not that shocked to see that when they design something that's not insane it's (so far) just as reliable as a similar ride from a competing manufacturer would be. And again.. I know it's early.

I'm sure they were trying their hardest to avoid another situation like Hagrid's. They say the best way to learn is through your mistakes, right?

So for all the hate that Intamin gets when it is okay to talk about the fact that they soft opened a 70 MPH multi-launcher for the first time Friday afternoon and since then it's operated every day with zero breakdowns. Zero... I also understand that any downtime it does have may not be due to a breakdown since it's just in soft openings and it could be weather related also but it's not having any downtime whatsoever. None. In that time it's actually been the most reliable adult coaster on property. Three days is a very small sample size, but the fact that it's a BRAND NEW Intamin multi-launch makes this pretty surprising. Maybe it's time to stop giving Intamin so much shit?

Next stop was Kennywood. home to a couple of fun rides and attractions. old school and airtime machines.. fun times. best way to start the day Racing woodie fun times another fun ride plenty of airtime here (loved the walkback) and then there was this crazy ride don't forget about this one either. it was an airtime filled day One more day left from this trip, 2 parks to go.

Surprised no one has mentioned the very obvious, that removing Grizzly Run is an obvious indicator for an "rMc RaPtOr 2 b InStalLeD!!1!!!" It's an obvious clue. I guess the enthusiast community is being lazy now... Personally, I just hope any cost savings this brings can allow the park to acquire second trains for the coasters they do have.. but that's a crack pipe dream too.

If they went through the trouble of removing it from the map, it's 100% closed forever. I know that the Six Flags website is loaded with inconsistencies and errors but if they go through the trouble of proactively changing maps or updating brand new verbiage they didn't do that just to mess with people.

Corporate doesn't care about our park. That's a simple fact. Corporate neglected the park with simple maintenance for years and it turned people away, and since then people would rather go to holiday world, or six flags great America. Which is unfortunate for those of us who really care about the park.

Don't give @coasterbill any ideas.

^It would appear that way. Looking at a few operating days at random from the past couple weeks (I'm looking here), it has had the occasional brief period of downtime but nothing too substantial. Also, expect the next 2 or 3 comments here to be something along the lines of "well that means it'll probably spontaneously combust next week"

Made it to the park yesterday with my husband for the first time in many years. I don't recall when it last was, but my best guess is 2014 because Boomerang was in but not Fireball or Spinsanity. That said, I used to frequent this park and had a season pass in the 2007-2010 timeframe. The main reason for visiting was to activate our season passes for 2021, which we got for $50 with parking included. We arrived at the park around 2:30 pm. The new sign is not impressive. That is all. The new front entrance was very nice, but the season pass processing was even nicer. How long have you not had to go to member services to activate your pass? I was very impressed that our pictures were taken at the gate and we were handed our season passes immediately as we walked in. It didn't take long to realize it was dead at the park. Since we already had our passes, we figured we would ride a few rides. A nice cool day with rain potentially in the forecast kept crowds low. We immediately walked right onto Batman. The new queue cut-through is smaller than I thought, but it will still be nice. Batman has so much reserve queue available it needed a shortcut. The dividers in Batman's queue were the only ones with plexiglass, all of the others were still little caves. This is new to me, but it had a line and we were not about lines today. My husband used to work in this pizza place before we knew each other. Now it is another boarded up building in the Screamin' Eagle area. Along with this (Superman is in the background here). And all of this. And all of this. Hopefully Catwoman revamps this area. Eagle was a walk-on though and it still holds its place! There might be people here. I see you former double helix! Boss was open, as was pretty much everything (including Excalibur and Thunder River). I have to say, I love Boss and always have, but it has gotten BRUTAL. I LOVE THE BOSS. The layout is the best of the best, as are the elements. The airtime and laterals are still strong, but the jackhammering is just too much. The MCBR doesn't kill the speed as much as I thought it would, but the ride is just too rough. Something has got to give. Even the new helix was terrible. Supergirl was fun and has a great lighting package. Some new wood in the Boss queue. Boss had the cave theme going on too. Headache ensued after this picture. The former Catwoman area. Anyone know what they are doing with the go karts now? We went to Mr. Freeze after this, then American Thunder. Both were fantastic. I think American Thunder might be my favorite GCI I have ridden still to this day. Great airtime today. And the only ride of the day with a significant line goes to DC blaster masters or whatever it is these days. I didn't ride Scooby Doo for years because the line was always long, I guess this one will be the same. Dark rides aren't my thing anyways. Overall we spent about 2 hours at the park and got to ride everything we wanted and more. Off to new parks we haven't been to we go!

They are in the BUSINESS of entertainment. They still are a business with a P&L sheet and responsibly to investors. Their reason for existing is NOT to entertain, it is to run a successful and profitable entertainment business.

I can't wait to see how many cars they run on a spinning coaster.

Cedar Point has proven quite adept over the years at finding space where no one thought it was possible.

This makes a lot of sense. They are committing to a Halloween Event and if things get better between now and then, they can just over deliver! Right now, this is a very 'safe' event and that's fine. They can always just sell more tickets, extend hours, add more entertainment if by some miracle everything is fine by August-October!

Hulk has the single rider line open and trains are being filled within rows to 100% capacity. You love to see it...

Man, I really didn't wanna climb back in here but... The population of the United States is 328 million people. 7% of that is 23 million, give or take. Not to put words in your mouth, but it sure sounds a lot like you're advocating for 23 million Americans to die a horrible death to an extremely contagious virus for which there is currently no cure, just so our nation can avoid an economic crash. Please correct me if my math is wrong on this. The economy can rebuild. It has in the past and will again. One day in the future, there will be a vaccine, there will be treatments available, businesses will reopen, and we'll all be out there riding coasters again. But you can't bring back the dead. You won't be able to bring back those millions of Americans that will perish to this virus. To me, it's a no brainer. It sounds as if your priorities lie elsewhere. I honestly wish nothing but the best of luck to you and your family.

With you there, Bert. It's most important to stay safe. Smart, skilled people are working on this.

So in other words, valuing money more than human life. As apparently do you. Got it.