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Thanks everyone! I believe it was about a 3.5 hour drive to the 'New England Cottage" I booked through my Chase travel portal. Our group consisted of 4 guys, but Branson seemed to have a lot of cabins/cottages for a good price. If you can book where we stayed - definitely do it! https://bransonsnantucket.com/ The 'cottage' turned out to be a stunning little three bedroom house in this Cape Cod themed gated community on a hill overlooking one of the huge lakes and it was only a 5 minute drive to SDC. The funny thing is that it's mainly a time share - so I guess they have some inventory that if unsold/booked goes out to travel sites. When checking in we "didn't qualify for any of the couples activities" so being a group of 4 guys allowed us to skip any upselling/boat/show tickets, haha. There were 2 awesome restaurant bar restaurants offering crazy good deals for happy hour (I think 2 beers and a quesadilla was $15) and great views of the hills and water. Saturday Night we planned on just going into the park for the atmosphere, hoping that we could get a ride or two in on Time Traveler and Outlaw Run, but that Saturday night was one of the busiest days in park history, we learned the next day. It was so crazy Saturday night that even people we had the Time Savers/Fast Pass were leaving early - and we had some gifted to us for the last 2 hours of the park opening. With 1 train ops both days and lines closing early we were just able to get 1 ride on Time Traveler and one or two on Outlaw Run before the park closed. With a 10pm closing I'd bet the ops didn't get out until after midnight and the frustration was pretty clear on the op's faces. SDC and their clocks... Outlaw Run at night simply must be experienced! Wow. Even thought it's short on length, to me it feels like a complete top tier coaster. ~ Sunday! Surely all of those good ol Branson folks will be in church leaving the park open for ERT in the morning right? Wrong! It was a solid wait to get in to park and we headed straight for cinnamon bread at opening. It's been a while since I was at SDC but I didn't know that they held church services multiple times on Sundays, so there was already a healthy crowd in the park. Cinnamon Bread took about 30-40 minutes to get, the line was just outside of the door. I already ranted about this but the new location has the workers making bread, deserts, cashiering, anddddd nowww making Starbucks drinks. It just takes forever now that the workers have the juggle a number of tasks which leaves the warm cinnamon bread getting cold while you wait to get through the line and pay. Many of the fall featured food items ended up being sold out by the time we had waited in a 15-20 minute line to get said item - you only find out at the window. All around I am not sure any of us had a meal at SDC that stood out, which was a bummer. One train ops run as fast as they could all day but it was still busy and we had pre-purchased time saver to get in as many rides as we wanted to. The lantern tour was truly a highlight, it was very informative, entertaining, fun ghost stories, it was just a long tour. I don't mind tours going over the pre set time, but the lantern tour started at 5:30, ending at 7pm with the 9pm closing. Since the tour went long, we didn't get out of the cave until after 7pm which left us in a bit of a time crunch to get dinner and night rides. It didn't help that again the lines closed so early without warning - Time Traveler closed around 8pm. But it was very obvious the staff was overworked and wanted to go home. There were a few times a certain crew lied to other guests telling them 'this is the last ride of the day' and 'maintenance will be here to put the ride to sleep by the time you're back' but the coaster ran until a few minutes before close. It was great to get back to Silver Dollar City. I know the charm seems to be a bit lacking this year and I understand long time fans are missing some of the old nostalgia that is slowly fading away. A crazy busy year combined with lack of staff that is sure to showcase a park's imperfections and I'm excited to see how they are going to refresh/rebuild some of the current attractions. It was too cold for Mystic River but wow it looked incredible. This is the original Cinnamon Bread location right? Woops, guess they moved! Ah, here you are. They're featured on the Today show now, so everyone knows about it. There's t shirts, coffee cups, all sorts of commercialized stuff to buy. Here it is, just getting cold while I wait for 3 employees to make/serve the bread, cash people out, and make Starbucks drinks. I wish they would separate those just getting bread from those getting coffee and bread. This seems like a great place to have breakfast. This whole area is simply beautiful. It's amazing how huge this attraction is. Holy shit there's actually people on it! So it was about 47* this time in the morning... but the water is 52*! Come on in yall! If you saw my Insta/or others, there's a guy who's only job is to sit at the base of the drop and tell people at water cannons how many people are on the incoming raft. You have a high likelihood of coming off this ride drenched due to splashes or most likely, full pressure water cannons haha. So so pretty day or night. Okay so yeah, definitely too cold for Mystic Rivers, so let's get to the main reason I'm here! Still flying through those barrel rolls into the brakes. There were still plenty of leaves on the trees mid October, the weather was really nice! Outlaw Run front seat just hits different! About to be chucked off a cliff into the Branson hills! Look at how open the front seat is. The views are amazing and I love how you take the inversions in the front. You've gotta come ride this beast! One train ops everywhere, only one arm working on Barn Swing..... Fire in the Hole has some fun drops but this ride is currently in 'ultra creepo' mode since many lights, sounds, and theming are not working. At times it's just....quiet. So you just hear the ride and the smell of that building.... freakYYYY! The wait time for Powder Keg was comically long. With one train, and this is the only crew that had slow ops - but the ops seemed to be pieced from other rides (different costumes). I just felt bad for the regular line - it was probably 2-3 hours. Powder Keg just didn't seem to have the punch I remembered and the rest of the layout is more of a family coaster. IF there's one SDC coaster I wouldn't mind leaving, it would be PK. You certainly are an interesting one! One of the best settings for a coaster, here we are! The park is seriously missing a lot of charm. I really really hope they bounce back in 2022. Seeing the inversions at eye level really lets you appreciate the size of the cobra roll. Awesome first drop, smooth, forceful. "Oh, I've never done American Plunge! It doesn't look too wet! And it's a walk on!" .. .. . . Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Even when splitting our 4 into 2 logs, we all goat absolutely soaked and the initial shock and cold was so intense I think my scream scared all of the bats out of Marvel Cave. That was a baddd decision! Thankfully it was approaching the warmest part of the day and my flannel held shed some water but we were all soaked. Hell no we were not about to double down on Mystic Rivers! Let's go back in time to reverse that bad idea. Looking back, I enjoyed TT better during the day - I think you feel the spinning a bit more. Flooded Mine seems to be in good shape! There's some impressive effects that surprised me! Getting close to dinner time, the Time Saver line dropped down to just a few people, so we took advantage of that with 3 quick rides before our Lantern Tour. I don't think there was a single ride where we didn't have people coming out of the Time Saver line. The entrance is really squished in next to TNT so were people just mixed up or just not paying attention? Every ride is so different - front to back, the different weighted cars, man just so much fun! Bigger in Texas? Pfffttt come to Branson! You know you're in for a good time if you're here! The lights are about to go... Out! Definitely worth the $15 for the lantern cave tour if you're brave enough for it! So much to learn about and explore. So happy everything worked out how it did to make SDC what it is today. You have the historic cave, new tech in Time Traveler, Mystic River, classics like TNT, Fire in the Hole, Wildfire. I wouldn't mind if SDC didn't put up a new attraction for another 5 years and just focused on bringing back the charm, organizing the food & bev better, and paid employees more to ensure for a better attraction experience. No one wants to be stuck listening to the clocks ticking for more than 15 minutes! Thanks for reading! -Zach

thanks for the down low Bert we're lucky to have you. flying seats on skyscreamer?. how did they keep that under wraps?! also can you share the 7 across reasoning on Cliffy?

Whoo Hoo! Offseason maintenance!!! 2022, here we come!!

Well I guess that's one way to clear snow off the tracks.

Someone hold Energylandia's beer, please.

certainly. tho 8 across is the "standard" for the big Dive Coasters, in meeting with B&M - SFFT and B&M realized that they could greatly reduce the cost of the coaster by sticking with the "standard" B&M track size (as opposed to the standard B&M Dive Coaster track, that is larger & wider than the standard B&M track). to stick with the standard track tho, they would have to completely redesign the trains - and B&M was up to the challenge. Not only does the 7-across seating mean that there will be 1 seat that rides dead center on the track (a 1st for a dive coaster), but the 7 across seating also has a little bit of "give" that will allow the row of seats to flex as it hits the forces on the track. I'm sure it won't be enough to really be noticeable (that "flex"), but really cool that SFFT is getting the first of it's kind dive coaster: "standard track width" 1st 7 across seating *and* steepest drop on a Dive Coaster. i'm guessing this is the first of many that will get cloned - because the cheaper cost for a B&M Dive Machine? yeah. .that's gonna be attractive to many other parks, I'd guess.

Some of my latest pizzas the past few weeks! (Sorry for pic overload... But this is a pizza topic, after all!)

Two day fermented sourdough just came out of the oven this morning.

I just got back from seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home. Very mild spoilers: Putting this part first to try and bump the actual review part being displayed in the side bar of the forums. First of all, in these corona times don't wait with the crowd, leave after the first post-credits. The after the credits is Doctor Strange 2's trailer so I'm sure that will hit YouTube in a couple of weeks. There's not even anything spoilery in the trailer for them to hold off for it to be after the credits. About the movie, I think people who love Marvel films because of the 'it's all connected' ideology will really love this. It has a lot of easter eggs and references for a lot of things and unlike previous movies it does feel like they're now starting to incorporate the TV side of things now DIsney+ is around with fun references and Easter Eggs before Dr Strange 2 goes fully in on incorporating the Disney+ plots into the films. One grown man behind me was weeping hard in this movie at some inspirational points (Which annoyingly made him the one person in a packed cinema who pulled off their mask). I mostly check out these movies because they're fun over the connections so I'm not as invested as that but still had a good time. It's definitely a love letter to Spider-Man and feels like an end to his trilogy. Considering each one has been Spidey teaming up with an MCU father figure, it'll be interesting to see what happens next, it does feel like Sony have left the door open for more MCU films but also at a point where it can be just a Spider-Man movie on its own than trying to mold into the MCU movie formula if that makes sense. However, I know a lot has been said about who or won't be in it, and I won't ruin that here, but I kind of think trying to keep all the plot secret worked against the movie a little bit. It pulls you out of the movie a little bit because there's a bit of your brain keep waiting for something that may or may not happen. A lot of the movie does play out how you would expect if you've seen the trailers so people should check their expectations a little. There weren't many gasps or applauses in my screening and it was a first showing so full of big Marvel fans, so it seems the movie was playing out as much as they expected. I had a blast with this movie overall but I think weirdly this is a movie I will enjoy more on a second time when I can just enjoy the story instead of wondering where/if the next reveal will come from. Mild-ish spoilery last comment: There was one moment I would have actually probably gasped in surprise at it being included if Marvel themselves hadn't dropped major hints in recent interviews. However Spider-Man did release here 2 days earlier than the USA and Korea just got Disney+ so I'm a bit backdated on the TV side of things. One of my friends who has watched everything in order said that anyone who is completely up to date with all the TV side will probably expect it when they see the movie on Friday and won't see it as a spoiler like I did.

I emailed the park and they confirmed it: Tatsu's paint job is paused until 2022, and the ride will be running until then. I'm absolutely thrilled about this. While I'm not happy that people are falling ill (I hope it's not COVID), I'm really happy that the ride will be open. I'm going with my family (including my daughters, who hit the 54" mark since the pandemic began and haven't been on a roller coaster since that time). So, my wife and kids will get to find out just how crazy that pretzel loop is.

I agree, but they are doing the best they can without spending over a hundred million dollars in one go. SDC has rebuilt several large sections of the park over the last five years with massive investments into the infrastructure and guest flow through. If the rumors are true, another large section will be redone for the 2023 season with FITH being replaced. Not to mention the area that will be redone soon due to the recent fire. There's also rumors about them rebuilding parts of midtown since those buildings are so old and the area is kind of awkward. So they are working on it, but unlike many parks the geography has always been extremely challenging and the park simply wasn't originally built with the intention of handling so many guests or even being a theme park per se. The parking lot used to be what is now the main square, for example. They still need to rebuild the entrance though, and that will be a massive challenge. Not only is it a huge area with a lot of big existing buildings, but they also have to avoid the cave and the existing cable car system, which pinches down the pathway area. Speaking of the apparent FITH replacement project, when I last visited a week ago, the site was compacted and it looks like most of the underground infrastructure they were burying earlier in the fall is complete? At least from what we can see. I hope that means they are getting closer to vertical construction once the park closes for the offseason in a couple weeks.

to add. . I queried on FB that I didn't know if the "harness seats" are an upcharge, but assume they are going to be. and here is the Park President's response:

Have you ever stopped to consider the idea that maybe the reason that almost nobody (here or anywhere else) agrees with you is that you’re wrong and not that you’re just smarter than the rest of the world? Everything in life carries risk but you have a better chance of hitting the powerball than being killed by a tornado in most years.

Thank god you're running after thunderstorms and not running a massive tourist destination. You're now equating schools with entertainment options. C'mon, man. And finally now you're insulting everyone on this board with your stupid little sign-off quotes. Get bent. You might have some idea of what weather can do since you claim to be a storm chaser, but there are also legitimate meteorologists on this board who would also tell you to take a hike. Climb down off of your high horse and let people make their own decisions. You're not their dad. Edit - Furthermore, as an actual father myself, if my son told me they wanted to go ride coasters with the chance of a storm rolling through I'd tell them to keep an eye on things but to have a blast. Do you have the slightest clue how small of a chance there is of a tornado sucking you into the sky? I would hope you do, seeing as you're a storm chaser, right? Holy crap.

Imagine Orlando every day all summer… “I’m sorry, this isn’t safe… there might be severe weather later. Please go back to your hotel where there also might be the same severe weather later”

and here I thought someone "explaining to me" that a coaster built on part of the SFFT Parking Lot is NOT a Parking Lot coaster would be the most exasperating interaction I've seen today on TPR. Personal responsibility. the 20K+ people who went out to SDC can check the weather, and then it's their decision to go out or not. (or leave as a storm approaches) it's just silliness to say that the Park shouldn't have opened because their customers are too dumb to understand weather risk.

I would love something to break into the Jets game I’m watching right now and put me out of my misery. There’s an F5 shitstorm in the middle of MetLife stadium right now and it’s called the New York Jets. … anyway. I get it, storms are dangerous. If you want to talk about how these businesses like this need to invest in large storm shelters and comprehensive plans then I’m with you. Cedar Point putting up “storm safe” signs everywhere with little tornado icons on them when their plan is literally “I don’t know, everyone run in this bathroom I guess” that’s dumb but it’s entirely impractical to close Disney World 100 days a year and close every large venue in the Midwest any time there’s a chance of a tornado developing at some point that day.

Imagine telling parks and sports teams in the Midwest that they couldn’t open or hold events on days where a tornado watch might be issued. Imagine telling Disney to close when there’s a chance of a severe thunderstorm warning being issued that afternoon with radar indicated rotation in the forecast every single day all summer. Lol, get real.

Holy shit is Ghost Rider insane. New top 5 woodie without question. That is all. TR of my first time at this park coming eventually, I just had to say this LOL.

Despite all that's going on, the park made their annual donation to Children's Village again this year! https://cdapress.com/news/2021/nov/13/it-takes-theme-park/ This year it was $100,000 donated, bringing their total donation over the last decade to over $1 million! Congratulations to the park and the Norton family, and I'm glad that they continue to be a big part of the community. Other thing that I thought was interesting was that they share that the park had a record year, with attendance of 803,000! I don't know by how much this was an increase of (last I heard the record was just shy of 700,000, but that was a couple years ago), but I hope this encourages them to continue making large investments. They also said that Scarywood had record attendance, but they didn't give a figure. They are already selling season passes this year (with a price increase of course), so I don't expect too much new for next year but I guess we'll see, if they make any minor changes.

Day 3: Seabreeze I thought about knocking out SFDL and Seabreeze in the same day. A brief brewery stop in Rochester led to three brewery stops so I decided to spend the night and do Seabreeze the next morning. It was a cool overcast morning and I arrived at the gate as the park was opening. I walked straight to Jack Rabbit, which wasn't running just yet. I decided to wait for it as I really hadn't done any research on this park and wasn't sure what else I was going to ride. I just knew I had to ride this one. The queue pretty much the whole time I was there: Them's the brakes: Since the ride operator was on the opposite side of the track, I took a quick selfie: I loved this coaster! Nice little pops of airtime in the front seat on the hill to the turnaround and the last hill before the helix. The tunnel at the end was great. This coaster is amazingly well maintained. I got 12 or 13 rides all over the train in between rides on Bobsleds and WhirlWind and I think the front was my favorite. Bobsleds was a really cool, funky ride. I have really enjoyed all the park-built rides I've been on the last four years. This was no exception. I rode WhirlWind 3x because it was fun and I hadn't been on that exact model of Maurer Spinning Coaster. There were nice views of the lake from there. Eventually the overcast day turned into a drizzly day. I don't like getting caught in the rain so I headed to the nearest brewery, K2 Brothers for a Piña Colada Milkshake IPA (I know, I know). It was tasty. All in all, Seabreeze was quite the gem of a small park and well worth a stop for Jack Rabbit alone. I drove to Utica before deciding to stop for the night, with visions of riding Alpine Bobsled the next day dancing in my head. That's as close as I got.

DAY 2: Six Flags Darien Lake and Letchworth State Park June 29, 2021 Darien Lake is a park I've heard nothing but negative things about. So I set my expectations low. And was still disappointed. I understand staffing issues and pent-up demand by park goers to get out. But this park just didn't do it for me. I did not arrive at rope drop as planned because my hike at Letchworth State Park went a little long. The first thing I noticed was a lack of shade. And the blacktop. It was a scorching hot day and the heat from the blacktop made it a little worse. I wandered over to ROS and the queue looked a bit long and mostly in the sun, so I decided to come back later. That lead me to Viper, just to ride the coaster that stripped my first big coaster Carolina Cyclone of its inversions title (not really, I'll try any Arrow looper once). The wait was brief and the ride was okay but a bit jarring as expected. This Ferris wheel makes me sad: The boomerang was looking good, but they are not my cup of tea: I was walking by the boomerang looking for a path to Motocoaster. They had what looked to be a temporary exit set up. I asked the person there how to get to Motocoaster. He explained that I could exit there and re-enter the park right by Motocoaster. Strange. Motocoaster was okay, but I wasn't expecting a thrill ride. From Motocoaster I could see that Tantrum had started testing, so I headed over that way. I hadn't done this particular model of Euro Fighter before, and they are fun rides. When I got there the queue was almost back to the covered area. Brutal wait in the sun. Then I thought to myself, at least they are running two cars, even if they are low capacity. For reasons unknown to me, they were only loading the front seats of each car. After the Tantrum ride I figured I'd grab the ROS credit and boogie. Of course ROS was running one train operations and the dispatch times were awful. At least the queue was now in the station so I didn't have to bake in line. The ride itself was great. I left with the idea of possibly doing Seabreeze the same day. Predator and Mind Eraser never ran while I was there. I had no intentions of riding ME, but I would have given Predator a shot. I drove to Rochester and hit a few breweries (Iron Tug, Three Heads, and Nine Maidens, all were good) and decided to save Seabreeze for the next day. No coaster content below this point! The Letchworth park hike was amazing and highly recommended. I did about 9 miles total, but you can drive to most of the overlooks as the trail never got too far from the road.

Christmas 2019 Day 1: Six Flags Over Georgia We couldn't take a full week like we did in Texas last year, so I decided our best bet for a brief trip this Christmas would be SFOG>Carowinds. We set out a bit late Thursday morning and didn't arrive until 3 p.m. So we checked in to our hotel, Rodeway Inn right beside the park. It was clean and nice enough. Would stay again. We redeemed our vouchers for Gold+ passes and made a beeline for Twisted Cyclone. I don't think we ever waited over twenty minutes for a ride. This was my daughter's seventh RMC conversion and we both agreed it is our second favorite so far, behind Iron Rattler. It is a smaller one, but there is so much going on, including the elements before the lift hill. The first drop, wave turn, and last pop of airtime before the station are all incredible, IMO. Twisted Cyclone makes Maggie happy! Next, it was over to Goliath. The lines weren't bad at all so we got in a few rides. What a floater airtime machine! "We all float up here, Georgia". My daughter renounced Titan as her favorite hyper and gave the crown back to Goliath. There is an empty seat beside me in the pic because there was a walk of shame. The person couldn't get one click from the clamshell. The ride op came over and squashed her but it just wasn't enough. Before she got the news that she wouldn't be riding, she asked if they could loosen the restraint a bit. I appreciate the effort by the ride operator, but it was clear to anyone who's ridden a B&M hyper (or worked one) that this was not happening. I can't remember if there is a test seat at Goliath or not. The last ride on Goliath jarred Maggie a bit coming in to the station and she asked for a coaster break. Since we hadn't done Daredevil Dive Coaster on previous visits I figured we may as well spend our downtime in line for it. We queued up and found out why throughput is terrible for this coaster. Half-empty cars were the norm and when the grouper called out for singles or doubles sometimes people weren't able to make it up through the line fast enough. The coaster itself was okay but it weirdly made almost no noise. I think the eerie quietness of it took away from the experience. We had a great ride on BTR. The insanely long walk to the station was cut by more than half by construction fencing. I love Mindbender but it was at almost an hour wait, so we boogied back over for more rides on the star attractions after snapping a couple of pics. We walked around and checked out lights for a while after re-rides on TC and Goliath. The park looked great and festive despite temperatures in the 60s most of the day. A few rides later, we were pooped: The next morning, before getting in more rides on TC and Goliath, we made our way to Beaver Creek Biscuits & BBQ for breakfast. The sausage gravy was legit. I had a Proustian moment at first bite, as this gravy was just like my mom used to make. I put the sauce on the side for the eggs. Highly recommended for breakfast. I can't comment on the bbq (yet). All in all we packed in a full day over the course of two days. We left around 2 to head for Carowinds to try to lessen the blow of Atlanta Friday afternoon traffic. Next up: A rideless night at our home park!

Carowinds October 26-27, 2019 Trying to squeeze a little more out of our platinum passes, the offspring and I elected to go to Carowinds for the last weekend of Scarowinds. Our complimentary FL+ was only good until the 27th, so why not? Saturday was great. We were able to ride as much as we wanted (Fury over and over, Copperhead Strike x1, Intimidator x1) Funpix was down at Fury 325 all weekend. We walked around and people-watched a bit. Then we checked in to the Comfort Inn across the street. There was a photo of Nighthawk on the wall, but we had a peaceful night sleep anyway. We walked back over for Scarowinds. Crossing the street was the scariest thing we did all weekend. We kinda figured we would just be walking around due to the crowds. And that's all we did. Some of the scare actors were really into their jobs, but most were just kinda meh. The explosion noises were way too loud, IMO. Enough so that if I had a small child, I'd have them wearing hearing protection. There was a light, steady rain the entire time we were there. I think all the coasters were running (except maybe Goldrusher, which didn't run during the day either) We ate at Blue Ridge Country Kitchen and they hooked me up on the portions. We left about 8:30, kinda over it. We were going to use our bring-a-friend passes on my daughter's friends on Sunday, but they bailed due to the forecast. I awoke to pouring rain around 6 a.m. and almost bailed myself. But I let my daughter sleep and decided to see if things cleared up. And they did! We made our way back to Fury and it was a walk-on. In fact for the first 45 minutes, it was a stay-on many times, as there was no one in most of the lanes, or sometimes just two. We had some great rides. It seemed to be hauling extra ass yesterday, and the trim brake seemed a bit stronger. I don't know how many times we rode it. It sucks that FunPix wasn't open at Fury. We also got a ride in on Intimidator before bailing. It turned out to be a beautiful day. The photographer said, "Make a goofy face!" So we did. We couldn't resist taking a pic with this Winterfest ornament. There was a lot of Winterfest stuff being prepped. I'm excited to go back for Winterfest, especially since there will be two major coasters running. Also, there was a small covered stage outside Harmony Hall to the left that had some outdoor furniture with cushions. A comfy spot to take a break. It may not be new, but I hadn't noticed it before. Notes: There is a new parking lot near the entry gate in a former grassy area. It was paved and striped, but closed off. The SpringHill Suites looks really close to opening. Is the South Gate ever open? If you are leaving to the north, get gas in SC before you leave. It's about 10-15 cents cheaper per gallon than NC. Also, follow the advice of coasterbill and join Choice Privileges. The points rack up during promotions and there are four Choice properties at this exit.

Kings Dominion August 10, 2019 I took a 4 day weekend and decided to go to BGW, KD, or SFA or a combination of the the three on my way (not really) to Kennywood. KD won a coin toss so I was off early on Saturday to the Old Dominion. I will preface this report by saying that almost two years ago to the day, I rediscovered roller coasters after a 22 year hiatus. On that first day back, I305 was my third coaster. Volcano was a big surprise, as I really didn't know about launch coasters. But I305 was something else. My daughter and I only rode it once as it seemed too forceful and intense. Fast forward two years (and 135 coasters) and I returned eager to look at I305 with a new perspective. I loved my first ride so much, I stayed on and rode again. Then I took a turn in the front row and then last row. The lines were light all day. This coaster has jumped from near the bottom of my list to a definite top 20 for me. Raise hell, praise Dale! I popped back in for re-rides throughout the day. After lapping I305 a few times, I boogied back to Twisted Timbers. I don't know if it had been down and reopened as I walked up, but it was a five minute wait! On a Saturday in August. A second ride required a 25 minute wait. What a great RMC. Cedar Fair, please give Carowinds' Hurler this treatment. The red card/metal detector didn't seem to slow the ops too much, if at all. They were painfully slow last year when we dropped in just for night rides on TT. I also got rides on Avalanche, Windseeker, Anaconda, Grizzly, Racer 75, and Flight of Fear. Backlot was down the entire time I was there. And a 16 oz. Trapezium DIPA for $9.99 at The Parched Pig. Score! It was a nice day at a great park. I almost bought FL+ when I saw the crowd at the entrance, but glad I didn't as I got plenty of rides with reasonable waits. Oh yeah, RIP this beautiful beast: I then did a little sightseeing around Richmond and started getting psyched for the next day at Kennywood.