Leaderboard

I'm merely cognizant of my speech paradigm apropos in a delicatessen milieu, Roz.

Mini TR - Had a great couple of days at the park yesterday and today with fairly light crowds. Everything was open, for the most part, even Barnstormer. The only staffing closures I noticed were some food places and kids rides. I'm convinced Dollywood really might be in a non-rain bubble. Over 70% chance of storms all day, both days, and it rained maybe once for 5 minutes, although those 5 minutes just happened to be an absolute monsoon while riding Thunderhead. I've never even came off a water ride that soaked, but kudos to Dollywood for their rain operations. Lightning Rod ran great both days, never went down, and even ran 2 trains parts of both days. I did have a bit of a weird experience on Wild Eagle. Almost at the top of the lift hill, and the train starts shaking violently, and I mean very violent. Throwing us up and down. I'm normally one to be pretty confident in these rides' safety features, but that definitely freaked me out. The ride itself was fine, but they evacuated us on the brake run and shut down the ride for the rest of the day after that. A little later on they also closed some pathways for a bit to bring in a large crane. Not sure what's going on, but it didn't seem good. Still an awesome couple days at the park, and can't wait to see how they continue to make this great park even better.

Another thing I haven't seen mentioned but maybe missed it...does it have a single rider line? Feel like they'd want to make sure the train is full every ride when theres only 12 seats, but I haven't heard anyone mention it.

A few friends of mine have said, they will let you sit where you want if you ask.

When I flew to denver a few years back and checked out the park both Halfpipe and Sidewidner were closed sadly. I also checked out lakeside and they had a bunch closed there as well

UGH. I guess I could have stayed around hoping they would open those two coasters. But it was hot and there was no sign of life at either coasters. Oh well...two credits I will never get. Their loss!

After three long years we finally returned to this park (Our favorite SF park easily!) The weather helped keep the crowds down both days (Saturday it was raining until after lunchtime and Sunday just plain hot and humid). I was eager to try out the three attractions added since our last visit: Pirates, DDD, and Joker. The Pirates of the Deep Sea was heavily themed, entertaining, and a welcome break from the outside heat. I found Dare Devil Dive Flying Machines to be surprisingly fun for what it was but not something I would want to ride again and again. The theming was really cool though. There was a costumed 'character' greeting riders in the queue - I think he was supposed to be 'the inventor'. Curiously, this ride did not elevate to the top on every cycle but stayed low to the ground. I only observed the planes up in the air once. Lastly, The Joker Carnival of Chaos was as fun as I expected. I really like these pendulum rides. I did notice there was a sign near the queue entrance advertising the world record specifications of this ride, still referring to it with the discarded name "Wild Card". Poltergeist was down but we already had the credits from prior visits. Still missed riding it though. I really liked Hustler's new paint job. The bonus of the day was the Rock The Night Grand Finale fireworks and laser show. I remember seeing a similar show three years ago and this one did not disappoint. The Diamond / DE seating area was nice too. Ride ops and food service were excellent. We will be back! Great addition to the park! Awesome theming but lacks the re-rideability of many other rides here. This view never gets old! Signs like this were all over the park. Possibly a haunt overlay to Poltergeist queue? Another great finale! We will be back

I was passing by the park today, so I took a ride on Jersey Devil during member previews. It was down for a bit, but once running they were loading trains quite quickly. There was no line to begin with, but had there been, I think it would have been tolerable. I only rode once, in seat eleven, and it was great! I'm looking forward to taking a few more laps in a couple of weeks. I think it will be a hit with most. I've only ridden one other RMC, Wicked Cyclone, which is high on my list of favorites. I wouldn't rate Jersey Devil as high based on today's ride, but it's a lot of fun and at moments quite forceful. It's a nice compliment to the lineup.

It's like that for pretty much anything though: news, restaurants, movies, political commentators etc. Is it obviously just trying to get clicks by having an extreme reaction? Move on. I always just find a couple of users or reviewers whose posts I generally agree with and see what they have to say.

Empenadas are my favorite food. Appreciate it!

Well, just got back from Denver. Highlight: graduated from University of Denver with my MA in Creative Writing. I did the entire degree online and ended up with a 4.0! Lowlight: Elitch Gardens. I had visited the original park in 1980 and loved the Wildcat and Mister Twister. I had read horror stories about this park, but I wanted to get the credits. Upon arrival, I was greeted by a sign which listed two rides as being closed. Once I was in the park, turned out the majority of the rides were closed. Half of the coasters were closed (Half Pipe, Sidewinder, and the kiddie coaster) and most of the flats as well. I did ride Mind Eraser (Vekoma SLC...painful) Boomerang (Vekoma boomerang..also painful) and Twister II. It was ok but nothing like the original. Went on the park's website, and none of those rides (other than Half Pipe) are listed as closed. Pissed. I emailed the park and am hoping for a full refund but I doubt it. Advice: avoid this park unless you like being disappointed.

This is a good point too. Usually we are asked by people who are already planning trips and have the money for the fastpass but want to know if it will be worth purchasing. That's where the thread title comes in. Whether you should ONLY go to a park if you can purchase a fastpass is an entirely different question, and in many cases the answer is no, parks can still be worthwhile even without a fastpass. Where I would say don't go right now, wait until Covid and post-Covid cabin fever subside is in that once-in-a-lifetime trip to a park on another continent. But a park in the next state over that you could easy come back to again? Sure, go. Same with a park you've previously visited. Right now, it comes down to: Without a fastpass, you're not going to get on everything. If that's ok with you, then go for it. If you can't bear the idea of only riding half their rides, then you're better off waiting. And we're all going to be waiting to go to Japanese parks, no matter what.

Guess SF is truly serious in making sure they are doing the exact opposite of Cedar Fair this year. Still unbelievable how the tables have turned (well, for now at least)

@boldikus

Maybe if you both actually took the time to read and comprehend the post you'd understand it had nothing to do with differing opinions. I have no opinion of the ride as I haven't ridden it. It was a dig at people with unreasonable expectations who are negatively critiquing each every aspect of the ride after only a handful of laps when the thing literally just opened. But yeah let's make it about me being intolerant.

That wall is directly in front of Ramses. Sad to see that ride go because it's one of the best shooters I've been on (delightfully weird with robo-mummies) but this new ride is most likely a new dark ride, not a coaster.

I think with Galaxy's Edge the intent all along was to have it open with both attractions, but things might have happened during construction and delayed that a bit. Rise of the Resistance was already built when SGE opened so it was only a matter of how long until it opens. The Avengers ride is most likely years away at this point, not months so it feels like a little bit of a different scenario. Similar, but different. I would guess an E-Ticket Avengers ride opens in Paris or Hong Kong before it does in California.

Great job, David! I'm hoping to see this for myself in November (I understand it was crazy busy on opening day). The food does look great, and the Web Slingers is a nice "upgrade" from Midway Mania.

Just booked my second vaccine appointment, to happen in less than a couple of weeks. Woo hoo!