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Haven't been to Mexico, but I agree with you that Fiesta Texas and Great Adventure are both awesome and for completely different reasons. Just like Texas and New Jersey are both shitshows, but for very different reasons.

Fiesta Texas is weird. It's a much, much higher quality of park than any other American Six Flags park and I have no clue why. They paint things, they theme things and they maintain things. It's wild. The only other Six Flags park that's on their level is Six Flags Mexico. I'm not really sure what I'd call the best in the chain. For me, it's probably either Fiesta or Great Adventure for entirely different reasons. One looks great and has a very good coaster lineup. One has a world-class coaster lineup that includes El Toro but also looks like a crack den.

Thanks! It looks awesome and we are lucky to have a world class RMC so close to Orlando FINALLY! Add VelociCoaster to the mix and Central Florida now has 2 amazing rides! AND they're open year round! Almost makes it worth living here!!

SFFT... best park in the chain?

Yup, these are the new standard for B&M dive coasters, unfortunately. I don't like the vests on any coaster, but they have the most negative effect on dive coasters, IMO. The vertical drops aren't nearly as intense when you're being held snuggly against the seat by a big rubber vest.

Never noticed the wood, but same...

^ Valravn at most other parks would be the pride of that park. That's just true and can be accepted as such by people who don't want to buy Cedar Point's trash.

Friday will have lower crowds than Saturday, depending on the weather. Really you'll be fine on either day in July. Haunt is a different story, but you didn't ask about that haha. FL+ will be SUPER effective on either day. On every coaster that it's offered on (which is all of them except for Bat and Woodstock Express), there is only one where it doesn't dump you right into the station (Flight of Fear). No Cedar Point-esque "30 minute wait after the merge" nonsense here. It's also valid on pretty much every non-kiddie flat ride in the park. Its even valid on some slides in the water park! You really can't go wrong with FL+ at Kings Island. Waits themselves with FL+ should be one or two trains at most, except for Orion and Beast...plan on maybe 15 minutes at each of those, but possibly just a station wait. Mystic Timbers' FL line might get backed up too, but only if the grouper sucks. Oh, and Beast, once it gets dark will probably be closer to 30-45 minutes with FL for a non-front row ride.

It's really just a matter of being close to one of the "hubs," like Denver, Cleveland, Trenton, etc. for Frontier.

Ice cream and crushed Oreos, actually Incredible amount of food, one of the very few times I haven't been able to finish my meal at a park (not because it tasted bad, but because it was huge)

At GAdv we ACTUALLY saw someone smoking crack (or possibly heroin based on their reaction to it) while sitting with their family including small children just outside the King Da Ka entrance about 5 and half years ago. True story. Just last summer they had huge signs as you entered warning people that "marijuana possession would not be tolerated" even though from the skunky smell of the park that was clearly totally ignored. As far as SFFT I think their park president has a lot to do with it. He is just clearly so customer satisfaction and quality oriented and even though it sounds trite that sort of thing does trickle down to the employees and the quality of their work. We've been there once and as guests had a quality conversation with him, my son works at SFSTL and has never even met the park president there. Plus being able to design coasters to dive off of cliffs is just too cool.

^I haven't been following the UAE stuff as much recently, but I can tell you from past visits that I wouldn't just race through the parks. IMG really blew us all away as they had some really fun rides and attractions as well as amazing food. Motiongate and Bollywood can probably be done in a day, but again, there are such bizarre attractions in Bollywood that you won't find anywhere else that it's worth taking some time. I mean, there's a ride where you're playing Cricket!!!?? The woodie has been testing for months, but this is also the country that has a giant coaster that's been sitting around for years so who knows. Please let us know how your trip goes!

It really depends on the weather. I have seen Thunder River open on opening weekend but only once. Most years they wait until spring break week.

top 3 for sure . . tho "best" is arguable. (tho I'd put it in the #1 or 2 spot)

I don't want to make my final verdict just yet as I've only ever ridden Steel Vengeance on hot summer days/nights and I've only ridden Iron Gwazi on a cold Florida morning, but as of today SV is the better ride. Neither ride is in my top three RMC's. That being said, they're both incredible and better than 98% of the coasters on the planet!

Pretty sure those vests are part of the restraints as they look the same as the Valravn restraints.

If I were on that flight I'd be pissed too, and it's funny but in reality I've never in my life understood the complaints about Frontier. I break it down into two categories (aside from crazy circumstances like this): 1) People with unrealistic expectations. These are the people who go to Applebees and complain that their $8 burger is medium and not medium well. I grade them on a curve because they're Frontier. If I flew from New York to Orlando for less than it costs me to take a train into New York City from my house an hour away am I really supposed to get mad when my plane lands 40 minutes late or when the seat isn't very comfortable on my very-short flight (but is still better than United)? Am I really going to get mad when they want to charge me $2 for chips on a $25 flight and say that I would have free chips if I would have just flown on the $120 flight instead? Also, if they are 45 minutes late they'll give you a voucher that usually makes the flight basically free. 2) People who don't read, even when the text is huge and in giant red boxes and then show up at the airport claiming that there are hidden fees even though they agreed to them 3 times during the booking process. If you need checked bags and a huge carry-on, this airline isn't for you but you knew the size limits when you bought your ticket, I check that on every airline. The only fees that are really tough to find are the fee to print a paper boarding pass and to make a reservation over the phone and not on the website but honestly, what year is it? You should not book a connection a budget airline ever, but that should be common sense. I also prefer to fly from airports with multiple flights per day so I have options rather than a very small one with like 2 flights per week, but that's just me. The only gripe with them that I feel is legitimate is that they always change flight times a few weeks / months out. I absolutely hate that. One positive is that their customer service is excellent. If you call American, they call you back in 9 hours. If you call Frontier you'll be talking to a human within 5-15 minutes every time. Frontier isn't for everyone but even all things being equal, I don't think they're the worst airline that I've flown. JetBlue makes Frontier look punctual. I love their in-flight experience once you actually manage to get on the plane but they always screw us. American is a train wreck. Their website sucks, their customer service sucks and can't even use their crappy website properly and their hold times are often 8-9 hours. They also put us on a plane at Newark once and then told us that the pilot was stuck in traffic on the George Washington Bridge and would be there in an hour. Even Frontier would laugh at that... Also, the most unruly passenger I've ever seen (once on the plane) was also on American Airlines. lol

Iron Gwazi is AWESOME!!! Take a front seat and back seat ride on this amazing new roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa! VIDEO:

^ Thanks! I imagine one on the German fair circuit would have a wilder program.

I had no idea this was even a controversy, but I can think of many other parks where Valravn would be a crowd favorite. Hell, think about Worlds of Fun. At this point they would gladly take Corkscrew, let alone Valravn.

Water park opens May 28. They don't have water rides outside of that.

I want to be optimistic, and there are obvious pros to this but I’m definitely worried about a lack of competition driving prices way up. If all they need to do is be cheaper than larger carriers, they could double their prices and still pull that off.

^ shhhh. don't TELL everyone!

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. Sometimes things just go wrong. Yes, negligence had a hand in this but the ride op made a mistake as they were going through the motions. Some people act like the ride op actively tried to ensure the child was thrown.

Youre not understanding the burden of proof necessary and what they have to prove. Basically what theyre saying is that while mistakes happened, they didnt rise to the level of a crime occurring. Which is reasonable. It was a tragic accident. If the ride op tugged on the belt, it was already latched and it wouldve been tight because she was sitting on it, so other than not noticing the strap wasnt over her lap, there would be no indication that it wasnt properly secured.

Looks like half of the ride is complete! lol lol

yup. . and the Governor has been on TV all day today (and most of yesterday) telling folks that if the GRID fails, and it WON'T. .he says. . . it's not his fault. because he's done NOTHING to prevent the same failures they had last year. . . other than block bills to fix issues at the plants. no really. he actually said "if you lose power, it might not be the grid..it might be a tree fell on a power line" really.

^ This is the sort of winter storm that causes Texans to go to Cancun, right?

That’s going to need a lot of work to look better than what was there. I’m overall disappointed with some of the choices DW is making these days. I feel a lot of what made it unique (staffing, atmosphere, quality of shows) is slipping into a corporate “growth” strategy.

^^ Mmmmm dirt, cement, and rebar!

So we are cool with Mom jokes then?

So the question on everyone's mind: Iron Gwazi or Steel Vengeance? I know you've ridden both, and while they're both extreme RMC creations, they look vastly different in the ways they were built. Aesthetically, I am leaning toward MF since it's a tangle of wood AND it sits on the lake. But what are your thoughts? Thanks!