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Farup Sommerland has announced Fønix, a brand-new Vekoma looping coaster, for the 2022 season! When it opens, it will be the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster in Denmark. https://www.faarupsommerland.dk/en/foenix/ A massive new roller coaster will rise from the forest floor and the ashes of corona by April 2022. Fønix (Phoenix) will rise 40 metres into the air – and extend majestically into the forest – in Denmark’s longest loop ride. Fønix will be the undisputed fastest bird in any Danish forest with a top speed of 95 kilometres an hour. Fønix will be the first roller coaster in the world to feature a “stall loop” - a spectacular world first element combining the all-time favorite classic looping with the inverted stall into one new unique element. In this new element the train is forced into an overhead position by half a loop followed by an inverted camelback where the riders experience a period of 2.5 seconds of weightlessness before entering the second half of the loop combined with a twist. Fønix will be the first roller coaster in Scandinavia to offer the most so-called airtime, which is the sensation of weightlessness you get when the body is exposed to zero gravity. With a total of 14 different elements, such as drops, loops and twists, you will get the sensation of weightlessness for a full 9.2 seconds on Fønix.

^Are you kidding this is hot breaking Six Flags America action! https://patch.com/maryland/bowie/six-flags-ride-shuts-down-video-shows-structure-shaking-report Park PR confirmed the ride is closed for inspection. I am an engineer myself, and I can’t tell you how close this was to reaching a critical stress point because I don’t have any specific information about the ride. I don’t work for Zamperla! I can tell you that is not a normal amount of deflection expected in a typical ride cycle though, and if it were this ride wouldn’t last very long. Within a factor of safety? Sure. Comparing it to regular operating track sway on Xcelerator?.... No.

Avoiding sitting on urine covered hot toilet stalls and fighting mud butt all day is just another reason to stay at Breakers. A brief sunrise jog around the peninsula, a double shot Starbucks Americano, do your dirty work, and a nice warm shower will help jump start your day, at a leisurely pace. We top it off with a light breakfast of over-easy eggs and fruit to complete the endorphin release, evacuation, cleanse, and fuel up process cycle. It's another part of our Cedar Point experience. It makes the late afternoon/evening beer drinking and garbage eating much more tolerable. I went all in on the unpleasant facts. People poop. No shame. Courtesy flushes are mandatory in small hotel rooms.

About 3 weeks ago. . .

Had a great visit to the park on Friday June 11. It was my first time back since 2016 and my kids' first ever visit to the park. Got to the park at about 8:20am and the parking lot opened at 8:30am, so we got a nice up front spot. They started letting people into the park around 8:50am, so we grabbed our FL+ wristbands and headed to MF, where we got on the 2nd train of the day. My kids absolutely loved the ride and said it was their favorite coaster ever, but that comment would be short lived. We hustled back to Maverick and got two rides in during the early entry. My plan was to hit SV next, but a train was parked on the lift hill and the app said it was down. So we started hitting the other coasters (Corkscrew, Gemini, Magnum, Rougarou), which were all complete walk-ons with FL+. We were getting a little hungry, so we headed to Frontier Village for the food festival. The booths weren't quite open yet, so we did Skyhawk twice (my favorite giant swing) and the CCMR (15 min wait since no FL). By that time is was noon and the food festival booths were open (the hours said 2-8pm, but the booths all opened at noon). We absolutely loved the Frontier Festival and it's a shame they aren't doing it all summer. We had bought two tasting cards ahead of time ($50 with season pass discount) and it fed all five of us, with tickets left over for desserts. There were no lines at any of the booths and all of the food we got was very tasty. I especially liked the brisket and sausage sliders, which were only 1 ticket each and pretty filling. After lunch, we headed to the front of the park to knock out Windseeker, Wicked Twister, Gatekeeper, Raptor, and Valravn. The kids loved Gatekeeper, so we ended up riding that twice. My two daughters wouldn't do TTD despite riding Xcelerator many times before, so my son and I did it twice and it was only about a 15 min wait with FL+. They were running 6 trains on it and the ops were hauling, as they were all day long. It seems like CP has their operations running smoothly now, at least as far as the rides are concerned. By this time it was about 4pm and the kids were hungry again, so we split some strombolis from Hugo's Kitchen and headed to the back of the park for Steel Vengeance. The app said it was a 60 min wait and we waited about 15-20 minutes per ride with FL+. We ended up riding it four times because it was just that good. I had very high expectations going into the ride but it managed to exceed them all! The airtime is just crazy, there's a ton of sideways airtime (who knew that was a thing), the pacing was incredible (no dull moments), and it was butter smooth. I was worried that my kids might find it too intense (they were done with Maverick after two rides) but they all declared it as their new #1 coaster and demanded we ride it over and over. We finished the day off with 2 great rides on MF and some souvenir shopping. My son has decided to start collecting Nanocoasters from the parks we visit, so he got a MF nanocoaster for his first one. Overall it was just a perfect visit and my kids are now fully converted to CP, so we will probably be making annual trips going forward.

2021 is the first year that Palace Entertainment started offering a Platinum Pass good at all their American parks. It is supposed to offer free admission and free parking at all their US properties. Since I live so close to several of them and not too much more expensive than my Lake Compounce season pass, it made a lot of sense for me to purchase one. While the entry process with season passes for other chains like SeaWorld, Cedar Fair, and Six Flags is straightforward, there has been zero consistency with how you enter a Palace Park. I wanted to make this forum to figure out how Platinum Pass holders go about entering their non-home Palace Park. Thus far, I have seen how Lake Compounce, Kennywood, Dutch Wonderland, and Idlewild handle it, but I would love to hear how the other parks are handling it. Dutch Wonderland- Parking is not included. Passholders can proceed directly to the turnstiles. Idlewild- Now you can go straight to the parking booth. Your home park used to have to call Idlewild to be added to a guest list. Lake Compounce was surprised Idlewild had this policy and is investigating how it can be streamlined in the future. If you're unfamiliar with Idlewild, the park is set up that you must purchase admission at the parking booth, which is why you can't just go to guest relations like the other parks. Kennywood- Go to guest relations. Passholders will receive a paper ticket that can be used to enter the park at the turnstiles. Lake Compounce- Proceed directly to the turnstiles. Noah's Ark- Go to guest relations. The pass does not scan at the standard turnstiles. The pass got me preferred parking for free.

I went to Kennywood for the first time on Sunday, and I had a blast! Due to a weather delay on the first leg of my trip and weather concerns for Monday, I decided to take a chance and fit Kennywood in for the second half of the day after riding Leap the Dips at Lakemont. I realized that I probably wouldn't get much in at Kennywood and decided to just take it easy and enjoy what I could. Because of the change of plans, my original coaster riding companion couldn’t join me, so it was just me and my coaster-phobic friend. Kennywood wasn’t as busy as I expected for a Sunday at 3:00pm. I walked straight to Steel Curtain to check out the line. It was posted at 45 minutes. Not bad compared to the reports of 2 hour waits, so I got on line. It seemed like all was well until they began cycling empty trains. After the 3rd or 4th empty train, I left and went to Phantom's Revenge, which was my most anticipated coaster. They were only running one train at that time, but the 25-30 minute wait was worth it! This ride lives up to the hype. It was hauling, and I loved the air and view coming over the second hill. After Phantom’s Revenge (or is it Antom's Evenge?), I went on my most anticipated woody, Jackrabbit. They were running two trains and the line wasn’t very long, so there wasn’t much of a wait. The line cut off right before me, so I got the front seat!! Such a fun ride! I love the classic woodies that don’t break my back (like Leap the Dips did!), and the double down is, like many have said before, a high point. My coaster-phobic friend snapped this on-ride photo of me! Next I rode Racer, which also had a short wait. It was my first racing coaster, and I had fun on it. I was in the blue train, and we tied with the green train! After Racer, I rode the Whip, which has always been a favorite flat of mine. My coaster phobic friend also turned out to be whip phobic, so I rode it alone and my cart was extra bouncy. Surprisingly, my friend suggested the Pittsburg Plunge because there was no line and we wanted to cool down. We walked right on, got seated in the back, and of course came off soaked. I haven’t been on a Shoot the Chute since the 90s, so it was a fun way to cool down. We also took a spin on the carousel, which is quite nice! I snapped a photo of Phantom's Revenge and the Whip while waiting for the ride to begin. Because my friend had fun on the Pittsburg Plunge, I tried to get him on the Jackrabbit. I wanted a second ride, and I hoped I could work him up to riding Thunderbolt, but he didn’t trust my description of the Jackrabbit as mild ( I did however get him to ride Leap the Dips earlier while at Lakemont, and he had more fun on it than I did!). I didn’t want to waste time looking for a solo rider for Thunderbolt, so I skipped it. It does look like a lot of fun, and I will make it a priority on my next visit, whenever that might be. Finally, I went back to Steel Curtain where the trains were no longer empty. They were running two, but loading seemed quite slow. Overall I think I waited about 30 minutes because I got to skip the line when they needed a single rider. Not bad for a Sunday!! Going into the visit, Steel Curtain wasn’t one of my most anticipated coasters, but wow! It was smooth, forceful, and fast! I loved the dive drop, and there are some strong positive gs when they snap the photo! It was a quick trip, but it all worked out and I had an excellent time! The park was nicer than I expected based on descriptions I’ve read from those who lament the passing of the good old days. I would agree that it doesn’t match up to the old-timey charm of Knoebel’s or Waldameer, but the stellar lineup makes up for the somewhat sterile feel.

Scream Weaver was running Saturday.

Dippin' Dots lady told me it was going to be an inverted coaster but no loops. will break record for longest invert.

Outlaw Run! We we’re the only two on the train! Such a fun, and memorable experience.

I’m very excited for this. We’ll absolutely be down to check out the new Magic Kingdom show at some point probably next year, and it also got me to buy tickets today for September to see Happily Ever After one last time if it doesn’t return. I’m sure the new show will be amazing and probably much better, but I love that show and want to see it again. God dammit I’m becoming a Disney Person™ and I hate myself for it.

Lake Compounce was stunned that was Idlewild's policy, so I'm hoping they can raise the issue to streamline it going forwards. But Boulder Dash and Phantom's Revenge...

Seems way more complicated then it should be

Holy shit Velocicoaster is AMAZING!!! I love these new Intamin trains!

It is definitely not a fake video. The guy who took it typically posts completely unrelated videos that haven’t previously gotten a lot of views (not to say his videos aren’t good). This one blew up and currently has 3.1 M views on TikTok. Regardless, he posted a version without sound where you can hear “We’re gonna get someone do not worry we are going to get you off” coming from the ride operator. I downloaded it and it is here for those who don’t have TT. The user who posted is big216teezy. Regardless, sounds like it should be an isolated issue. Still, doesn’t look great... IMG_1291.MP4

The Drop Tower was actually open Saturday for a very short period of time, it was kind strange. Park closed at 7 pm (which is insane but that's another topic), and drop tower started testing at like around 4:30 or 5, riders were on it shortly after, but by around 6:30 or so it was closed again. Not sure what's going on with that thing but it did open briefly.

I mean... these are the people that they're dealing with

Thanks for the feedback... it has been passed along to the crew! We're working extra hard to provide the best guest experience we can this year, and having a blast doing it! This is my 13th year at the park for at least a part of each season, and this year's group has just blown my mind with how motivated and full of energy they are!

Oh good lord people this is a mountain out of a mole hill. Look at Xcelerator's top hat after a train launches. This ride was probably improperly run (off-balance most likely) for a cycle and the structure needs to calm itself down between cycles.

Married to an engineer. Turns out it’s not even close to catastrophic failure.