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^It's not fair to punish the ride for his actions but it seems that's where we're heading with everything. The Vessel in NYC has also been closed a bunch and is closed currently due to people jumping off of it. Let's fix mental health in this country before rides and buildings!

Individual topic pages load faster now. The main index page is still slow and only seems to respond after a few seconds.

In case you missed it, the park posted another update on socials today.

Follow up question from yesterday... Is the forum running any better now? Do you notice any difference from today versus before today?

Hello! Like a lot of folks, Erik & Smisty haven't traveled a lot since 2019. So, a few months back, on the theory that as vaccines rolled out, built-up desire for leisure travel would result in booked up airlines and expensive flights, we sort of speculatively bought tickets for an August trip to Denver. Well, my theories didn't quite pan out, but it didn't seem so bad that we should cancel the trip or anything. And we still had fun. But, as the title suggests, there were some let downs. But, actually, not so much because of Covid. Because of climate change. Speaking of disappointment... Elitch Gardens Okay, to be fair, even though we'd never been to this park, Denver, or even the state of Colorado, we knew exactly what to expect from Elitch Gardens. It's reputation suggests that it's one of the worst parks in the country. And...it's not great. But we knew that going in, so with lowered expectations we still had a good time at what was, after all, a new-to-us amusement park. The following attractions will not be operating today. As well as a bunch of other attractions not listed on this sign. Note also that this includes both of the park's water rides during a heatwave in early August. I did enjoy the covered mini main street entrance. I think there's a lot to be said for this design. Actually, that brings up one of the most interesting things about Elitch, as this is a park that completely relocated back in 1995. So, sure, that was 26 years ago--but, still, this place is an answer to the question: What if you were redesigning an existing theme park from scratch? What would you do differently? How would you rearrange the rides that you already had? And viewed through that lens, everything about the layout of this park, good and bad, is absolutely fascinating to me. After the mini main street (or, er, teeny tiny CityWalk?) there's a carousel and the ghost of an observation tower on the right... ...the entrance to the included water park straight ahead (which includes this baffling sign)... ...and a second, uncovered "main street" leading to the park proper. We entered the park midday, and headed for the Ferris wheel, only to have unexpected lightning move into the area while we were in line. So, off we went to the park's only dark ride. This is an interesting set up. It's sort of a covered midway that connects what would otherwise be two dead ends, and contains the entrance to the dark ride, a gift shop, some vending and game machines, and a small food stand. Also there's an SLC in this photo. If you don't know already, model coasters are very much Elitch's thing. The nice thing about Denver is that Covid isn't a thing there. Apparently. I joke, but it's not lost on me that I may be part of the problem. I mean, we are fully vaccinated, but still, should we have done any of this stuff? Traveling right now is weird. Not as weird as this dark ride, though. (How's that for neck-snapping transition?) Well, you can't take pictures inside, but here's the animatronic robot barker and a ride vehicle for Meow Wolf's Kaleidoscape, a Scooby-Doo Ghostblasters dark ride rethemed to...um, interdimensional travel via splitting doughnut eggs or something? It's low-budget psychedelic weirdness and I am here for it. By which I mean, I primarily came to Elitch Gardens for this weird-ass dark ride. and it was almost worth it. Elitch has some nicely themed buildings that reminded me just a bit of Frontier City. The "one big food court" building probably helped with that impression, also. Not one ride in this photo was open this day. Not one ride in this photo was on the closed sign out front. In fact, the observation tower has apparently not been open for multiple years now, which I can find no kinder word for than "offensive." Luckily, I already knew that going in, or I would've been quite upset. (What can I say? I know myself.) The games were all open. When Elitch says something isn't opening today, they are serious. I couldn't think of a good caption for this weird sign, so I googled "wears like a pig's nose" only discover that this was probably a real sign (or at least a copy of a real sign) as Finks really did make overalls and used both of these slogans. Brain Drain did run that day, though it was down for lightning at the time this photo was taken. I can't blame the park for lightning, though. Seems like they handled that about as well as they could've. (And, as someone who's worked in rides at several different parks, including ones in Florida, this is a subject I know a tiny bit about.) I want to say this was the first Half Pipe...? The park doesn't really invest in new rides anymore, though--and I don't think that's going to change any time soon, since the land it sits on has already been sold. Will Elitch Gardens move again, or just close for good this time? And does anyone care? Actually, I think Denverites care. We talked to a few fellow park-goers (there was a lot of lightning) who seemed to really love the place. I guess the most important thing about a theme park is its location. Because this place would be absolutely buried by any kind of competent competition. I can't imagine it surviving long in the same market as, say, a Cedar Fair park. Elitch has one non-model coaster: Twister II. "Built wilder the second time," is its slogan, and while I never got to ride the original Mr. Twister, I can only imagine that's a lie to shake the heavens. Having said that, Twister II wasn't bad. I mean, there was no airtime or anything, but it was fast and fun and not too rough for a 26-year wooden coaster at a park that can't even keep track which rides are temporally closed, which rides are closed for the day, and which rides are completely abandoned. It's quite an attractive ride. Actually, most of the park *looks* pretty good, and is well upkept in terms of paint and such. But yeah, Twister II's lines are very appealing. I'm not saying that I want to have sex with a roller coaster. That's not what I'm saying. And even if I hypothetically did, looks aren't everything, you know. Emotional attachment is important. Shared interests. A better park to have it in, maybe. Besides, Lech Coaster has my heart, currently. This kiddie ride had a nice theme. One thing worth noting is that most of the kids rides didn't have queue, nor did the carousel. Just entrance and exit gates and maybe three pair of foot prints to indicate where you should start lining up. A bit unstructured for my taste, but an interesting choice. I also think that the blue arch in the background is a perfect encapsulation of this park. The front of it says "Kiddy Land," which it is the entrance to. But the back is just blank, even though that's also the exit. It just says nothing. Not goodbye, thanks for visiting, now leaving kiddy land, buy a season pass, nothing. It's like they couldn't immediately decide what it should say, so they just gave up forever. We tried again to get on the Ferris wheel, but again lightning came while we were in line. And again, the park is not unattractive. Not that anyone is suggesting sleeping with it. Geez, would you stop that already? The park's main gift shop is themed to a carousel building. So that's arousing. What? If you look closely, you can see that this awful shirt is actually three different awful shirts. And, what's more, they don't say Busch Gardens on them! The entirety of Elitch's covid response is not allowing returns. I feel so much safer. Is this a good time to mention that Denver was enveloped in smoke from Oregon and California wildfires the entire time we were there? I mean, that's not Denver's fault, but if I sound a little gruff it's only because I was smoking the equivalent of two cigarettes a day and I've never smoked before. Anyway, Elitch Gardens has potential. But it's potential that this version of the park will almost certainly never reach. Still, I'm glad we visited. Stay tuned for more complaining, coming soon-ish-ly!

Keep in mind the age of these rides, their environment, frequency of use, the load forces on parts, etc... It's obviously not a rollercoaster, but I run a canning line at a brewery. You'd be amazed what happens to a simple sealed bolt after a few hundred thousand actuations. Stress fracturing can often not show up until just before the part fails, rust can do some weird things internally, just friction can so some absolutely insane things. (for example, I go through 3 pairs of stainless bolts holding our keg machine ramp, these wear completely through just from vibration of 12k kegs a year) Manufacturing defect? Naw, the level most of these firms operate at isn't that. Park neglect? At best - maybe. Could be a monstrous number of factors as many of these rides have sat still for longer than usual then suddenly put back into operation by teams that may be less experienced than usual. Unless they're completely stripping and rebuilding every single one of those trains every off season, it's really hard to catch some long term wears.

That really surprises me that American Thunder would be so slow. HITP, yes. I've had some near freezing rides where I genuinely thought it would valley. But midsummer? Weird. Batman is still the best coaster at this park, and it's a mirrored version, so definitely worth riding, though I understand your reasons not to. Screamin' Eagle and Boss are both good early season. They do trackwork every offseason on both, but it just doesn't last. By Memorial Day Boss is torn up bad. Screamin' Eagle lasts a bit longer but by this time of year, yeah it's got potholes too. Be glad you didn't have to endure Boss's helix, that thing was demonic. When it was new it was fine, but past about 2005 or so it was just always painful. I agree on the rapids and flume. Not the best but always solid. Definitely needed in the humid Missouri summers. Sorry this park was disappointing, but it was inevitably going to be the low point of your trip. I'm sure this park coming on the heels of SDC factored in too. Oh well. All uphill from here!

If I don't know about the major attractions, I'm not going to want to go to a park. Have too tight a budget to just wing it. Have only sprung for fastpass once in my life (CP) but haven't made any trips this year. Strategies are essential since most distant parks are more crowded than my local ones (frankly the local parks tend to be a better experience, but there's an excitement to something new). First thing is figure out the trip. Parks up to 4.5 hours away I now do as day trips. The one time I didn't, didn't sleep for crap. My next 2 likely parks are a bit of a problem in that regard being a bit too far away. When I did CP, traveled all day and got 4 hours (6-10) in the evening of the first day. My mistake was not planning to stay until close (8) the next day, despite getting FL+. Although it can help with the trip plan, the awkward part about splitting your visit to 2 partial days is fastpass and ticket costs. Most of my trips have been to chains where I have a pass therefore. Then I read/watch trip tips and spend time on Google Maps satellite view.

I'm on my desktop with really good internet and it's slooooowwww for me. I feel like it really started tanking with the new forum software, which I love, but the speed is painful. Edit - It took six seconds to add that text only comment.

^I should have been more clear...if this was a developmentally disabled adult, then he shouldn't have been ALONE ON A RIDE THAT GOES HIGH IN THE AIR. Again, the ride worked fine.

Great TR! I haven't been to Elitch's in years. The only reason I would go back is for the dark ride. I feel like you captured the true spirit of most theme park employees this season with that Plinko guy. Thank you for not having sex with any of the rides in the park.

Did you really sign up just to come on here and trash Intamin or did you just conveniently forget about how an RMC Raptor also had a wheel fly off and towards guests literally weeks ago? Or any number of recent incidents involving a whole slew of manufacturers?

Visited the park Saturday evening (preview) and Sunday (11-7). Overall, had a nice time and managed to get on all the coasters plus a few more rides. Here are my rankings on the coasters and musings on the park: Storm Runner - man, what an intense ride. Just front to back AWESOME. Great Bear - also reasonably intense, especially on the tail end. Unique layout, of course helps. Fahrenheit - reasonably intense moments and a fun layout. Running well! Candymonium - glass smooth and a pretty solid hyper! Lightning Racer - running pretty well. Got a superb race the second lap we took which made the whole thing a bunch of fun. Laff Track - just a blast! Solid addition. Super Dooper Looper - it's a one trick pony. I'm happy it's around, but the trims for the back half really neuter the ride. Comet - just meh. Runs smooth enough, but doesn't do much of anything. Trailblazer - it's honestly a bit of a disappointing mine train but glad it's around! Cocoa Cruiser - fine Wild Mouse - okay Sidewinder - not a fan, as usual. Wildcat - just brutal and not a lot of fun Thoughts on park in general: I recognize I was at a park on the weekend in the tail end of summer, but I think this park is getting a little too crowded for it's own good. Super super congested Saturday evening, especially at intersection to enter the hollow. Feeding off of this, I realize staffing is at a premium, but it seems unacceptable for a park this size to be open 8 hours on the weekend. With as many coasters as they have and the crowds they draw, the park ought to be open 1-2 hours more, at the minimum. Especially for the ticket price. Just my opinion, is all! Fast Track was a real bummer in some cases. Fahrenheit was loading 4 fast track and 6-8 standby (depending on if folks were in even groups, etc.). That means they were pushing through ~200 standby people / hour. Only 1,600 people could ride in a day. I realize the ride is low capacity, but fast track really sucked the fun out of a few of the lines we waited in. I would rather subsidize the $$ they make from fast track and not have it. Just my two cents. Overall, operattions were pretty good. Comet was rough, but that seemed to be the exception not the rule. Loose articles and compact areas in station make this tough. Some rides had gates open quickly, others would take forever. Mobile ordering lunch worked out pretty well Would recommend, though options for it are still limited. Don't rely on the HP app for lines. Waited 10 minutes for Sooper Dooper Looper and it suggested it was 120 minutes. Rarely updated. Candymonium line filled most of the indoor quene and was about 45 minutes. Moved reasonably fast, but was still double-stacking. The Zoo portion is.. okay. New entrance area is functional, albeit a bit bland. I know they tried to throw some character into it (plaques on ground marking history, carousel, etc.) but it's not the most exciting area. It gets the job done.

Yes, I'm sure it is. But that doesn't stop me from reading it wrong! This reminds me of a joke I made up and that is only funny to me: Q: What's the hardest name to spell? A: Eric

THIS! This is exactly what I'm now getting. Clicking on a topic, responding, all so much faster, but when I go back to the index page it seems to take more than ten seconds every time.

Welcome to the forums! Glad that your here! This is a really great place to learn and share your thoughts on parks, and the people on here are amazing so don't hesitate to reach out! I live in a coaster desert...so visiting a park is a big deal for me, and it often takes a bit of planning effort for me to get there, so I approach new parks a little differently. I've researched and made a "bucket list" of sorts of parks I want to visit starting with "A" list parks (Dollywood, Busch Gardens, Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, etc.), "B" list parks (Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Great Adventure, Kentucky Kingdom, etc.), and so on. I rank them not necessarily on how "good" a park is or what rides it's famous for, it's almost entirely based on how badly I want to visit a park. This way, when an opportunity to "escape the coaster desert" arrives I already kinda know where I want to go. I'll then do a bit of research on the park, including what the major rides are, where the best places to eat are, etc. I really like this forum for that purpose, because if someone posts a trip report you can usually learn a lot from that, or you can just ask and more than likely you'll get a lot of great suggestions. This forum really is a wealth of information, so use it! When I actually get to the park (GET THERE EARLY!!!! That's like the number one rule of avoiding lines at parks for me, get there early and stay late if you can), I almost always hit the low capacity rides first. Find out which rides these are (you can usually tell or if not ask, someone on here will know!) and hit them early. For instance, when I went to Dollywood last week I choose to hit Mystery Mine first (SPOILER ALERT: Lightning Rod was closed) because by I knew it had one of the lower capacities in the park. Or at my home park of Silverwood, I'll book it to the back of the park and hit the wooden coasters first thing because I know I can get 2-3 rides on each before the crowds make it back there, and make long lines with the park's "semi-famous" one train ops. This strategy might not work for every park, depending on how the park is set up, but for me it works. Next, I'll work my way around the park in a systemic way riding rides, with the goal to be avoid walking across the park an unnecessary number of times. I generally don't buy skip the line passes, but they are probably a good idea for big parks on weekends or holidays, or if your in a pinch for time or your not in the mood to wait in line. So if I encounter a line for a ride than I'll either suck it up an wait in it, or come back later if I have time. I do rerides then on rides I like or if there's a short line. My rerides tend to be spontaneous, sometimes I'll do it again right away, sometimes I'll come back later. My biggest piece of advice is this: soak in the park. Many parks, but particularly the higher end ones, have thousands of little details and rides sprinkled throughout the park that take a bit to find sometimes. Take some time as your walking around and enjoy all the sights, sounds, and smells of the park. I've found it greatly adds to the park going experience, and it helps you to really appreciate a great park (and note what you don't like about a not so great park). I would strongly discourage a "get the credits and go" visit to a park, I've found it really short changes you in the long run. Hope this helps, and enjoy going out there and riding stuff!

Yes, I've noticed that it's been loading slow. I run a few high traffic sites and I've noticed that it's isolated to this forum and not the others on the site. My best guess without seeing the internal workings is that the the database tables since they're so large might not of been indexed properly and the SQL server/service is having a hard time processing the large amount of data and nested data. Just an educated guess from my past experience with this sort of thing, but I'd look into it. If it's indexed properly it'll also save you a TON on server resources.

That's what I've heard from everyone so far, and seen in other TRs. I don't know what was going on the day I was there. Guess I'll just have to hope it's more like it's usual self next time!

What djb0808 said is entirely true. The Music Express might not look like much but it's the best I can remember...preeeettty much anywhere. They run it flat out and for a long cycle, forwards and backwards.

Unfortunately that CEO is gone. I too loved those videos.

I loved American Thunder on my visit a few years back. I think its my second favorite GCI after Mystic Timbers. It hauled through its course on my rides

Aww Fascination!! Yay!! And yes, I remember my first time seeing that 'lazy' river and dying laughing. Like seriously?! It basically looks like line the ride just in water.

Hey and welcome to the world of rollercoasters. My way to visit a new park is usually to stress everyone out because I am afraid to arrive late, than feeling excited when I see the first rollercoasters from afar and when I arrive at the parking lot I start panicking because I am afraid to end up at the end of a queue. This is also why I can never remember where we parked the car, I am just too excited to focus on such things. Seriously now. I live in Cologne and even Mannheim is an awesome starting point to visit Parks, especially in France and the BeNeLux. My main advice would be. 1. When it comes to major rides I would check in forums or park pages if they are running. It would be a shame to drive for 3 hours when the major coaster is closed due to retracking for example. 2. Be sure to be on time when the park opens, especially now with Covid-Restrictions in Germany for example. 3. I usually visit parks counter clockwise and start with major rides in the back of the parks when the crowds are still queueing for rides near the entrance. This does not work in every park. 4. For parks you visit in the high season (local holidays for example) I would even buy fast lane passes when the journey was longer. If I was to travel to the US during spring break I would do so in order not to miss any coasters. Or I would even plan 2 days for a park. 5. Share your passion. Build a network with people who like your hobby. When I was 18 local forums helped me to plan trips and to get to parks. Of course you should always be careful and when you are under age always ask your parents. 6. Don't be afraid to visit parks alone. I know a lot of people don't like it but I even went to Orlando on my own when I was 24 because no one I knew had the money to go there. If you feel comfortable doing so, do it. I like traveling on my own and there is no shame in doing so. 7. Calm your FOMO. Even if it is hard if you miss a major ride, it is not the end of the world. There are some parks you will visit twice or even more often. 8. Check the plan and the homepage. Some parks have cool dark rides that hide behind inconspicuous entrances. At the same time try to avoid spoilers. Never watch the Kärnan or Mummy POV before riding them. I am still avoiding Gringotts POVs. 9. Travel responsibly. Respect local culture and nature. Try to travel as eco-friendly as possible. I guess the advanced mode is checking which season pass offers you the best possibilities for new parks or parks in your area, I haven't figured this out yet. Before Covid it was always good to check Groupon for good offers for parks like Toverland, Heidepark and others. Have fun and take care.

it's been slow for a while now for me.

Absolutely. I thought it was just me.

I really research a new park. Nearby hotels, attractions and eateries. I like having a plan of attack on what coasters to hit in a certain order. I usually like buying fast lane ect.

not only new paint on the coaster itself tho . . just wait until you see the new Queue/showbuilding. . it looks AMAZING. (and they have enclosed part of the "porch" giving an indoor section) some pics Park President Jeffrey Siebert has posted on his twitter:

I'm a big planner so I'll do a ton of research, buy whatever fast pass tickets they have, and hit up the rides that are most important to me first followed by low capacity rides I'm interested in. I also try to look if they have any signature food item to try.

Can't you at least be a little constructive with your criticism? He clearly put a lot of work into that, and it's obviously okay if you think it's crap but that's a bit harsh no?