Leaderboard

Steel Vengeance is insane. RMC pulled out so many stops for that thing. It really is New Texas Giant but on unnecessarily copious amounts of crack. Got a once-in-a-lifetime front row Millennium Force ride on Saturday night. Some idiot kids kept on delaying the ride by messing with the gate, so a normal dusk ride became a pitch black, post-park-closing ride. Lake Erie transforms into the abyss. During the first overbank, we saw lightning in the distance, so me and my buddy ended up getting the last front row ride of the night. On a regular ride, Millennium Force has mystical healing properties for the heart and soul. During a night ride like that, it transcends that and brings you to another plane of existence where worries don’t exist. Just euphoria, ecstasy, and Lake Erie air blasting you in the face at 100mph in the dark. I haven’t had the energy to update my dumb coaster enthusiast bs ranking spreadsheet since then but there is absolutely no way that any other ride could provide that experience. MF #1, GOATed. What else can I say? I love going fast.

Even if I didn't had that special experience, Millennium Force is and will ever be the one coaster I'll be always thinking of if I try to rank, compare or define any coaster I am riding. It is just pure pleasure to me. We had four nights at Cedar Point in July 2017 and ended every day with binge riding Millennium Force. It's just such a wholesome feeling the darker it gets. I haven't had a comparable coaster experience yet. I rode better coasters. I rode more intense coasters. I rode faster coasters. I rode higher coasters. I rode steeper coasters. But no one gave me this complete, heart soothing enduring experience you have from entering the station to leaving it after a couple of laps while using the magic gate.

God, this is me in a nutshell.

One of my favorites. And don't forget the Farmhouse Restaurant a little farther back. A lot of the same items, but different menu and feel. https://www.applewoodfarmhouserestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2021-AWF-ALL.pdf vs https://www.applewoodfarmhouserestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2021-AWG-ALL.pdf

With my weather luck I knew I needed to get some value out of my FL just in case, and of course I get stuck on the brake run right as the rain picks up, haha. Such a fun day with you, Kim, and Joel! For your first visit I think you got to see and do and taste just about everything. I owe you a drink next time I see ya! I have to imagine the flume was extra soaking due to the added rain but I don't know, that was hilarious! Very happy about how well Racer is running and the refurbished effects on Adventure Express. Looking forward to the finale!

Don't forget: - Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride (PF) - One of the silliest, cheesiest dark rides you will ever come across. Grossly overpriced, but that's Pigeon Forge for you! - Earthquake The Ride (Gatlinburg) - If you thought Jurassic Jungle was bad, wait till you ride this. It makes no sense whatsoever and has several things that will make you shake your head and say "what the f... was that?" Absolutely loved it though! - Hillbilly Golf (Gatlinburg) - a cute mini golf course where you ride an incline railway to the top and then work your way down. There are 2 courses and each is very "old school". Still a good time. - Mysterious Mansion (Gatlinburg) - A scary and well-maintained walk through Haunted House located just behind the Parkway in Gatlinburg. The staff is friendly, the few actors working there do a great job popping up in unexpected places, and there's even a neat beginning where you have to figure out how to proceed. Might be too intense for kids. There's also a new "Soarin"-style attraction that just opened at The Island complex in Pigeon Forge. It looks outstanding and will definitely be on our list when we return to the area. Also, as others have mentioned, the Old Mill Restaurant (and also the Old Mill Pottery House Cafe) are fantastic. The desserts alone are worth making a stop. But the lines are crazy all times of day. Two other large restaurants we liked were Local Goat in PF (a sports bar restaurant with tremendous food across from the Titanic museum), and Applewood Farm Grill, which I believe is actually in Sevierville. When you are seated, you are given a basket of deep-fried "apple fritters" and a "apple julep". Both are simply delicious. Much of the food is allegedly scratch made too and their fried chicken is probably the best in the area. OK, I'm done ranting. Just enjoy your trip. You'll love it whatever you end up doing!

SeaWorld Orlando has announced the next haunted house for their first Howl-O-Scream, Beneath The Ice. https://seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/haunted-houses/beneath-the-ice/ Beneath the Ice In the icy wilderness above the Arctic Circle, a research facility was lost…buried under snow and cut off from the outside world. Something compelled you to join the rescue party, but doubt is creeping in. Was that laughter, or the wind? That shiver you feel isn’t just from the cold. These chambers aren’t just frozen tombs. They’re pulsing with unspeakable horrors, and you’ll have to stay frosty and alert to survive. Two new themed bars have been announced for the event as well! https://seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/attractions/ Frozen Terror You might think you’re a safe distance from the snow-entombed research facility, but you’re not free from the frozen horrors. This inhospitable Arctic wasteland is swarming with icy, subhuman walkers. They may have pickaxes and shovels, but they’re not here to help dig for survivors. They’re here to turn you into one of them. Tormented This is one place where a cold frosty one is a good thing. Take refuge from the wintry terrors of the Arctic hellscape outside and do a little refueling here. If you’re feeling mischievous, you can even join in and frighten your fellow expeditioners while they’re braving the horrors beneath the ice. How’s that for refreshing? And the first show coming to Howl-O-Scream Orlando has been announced, Monster Stomp! https://seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/shows/monster-stomp/ Monster Stomp In the misty corners of Victorian-era London, a fiend known only as Jack the Ripper walks the streets. Watch him take the stage in a way you’ve never seen before in this modern rock and rhythm spectacular. Hold onto your seat as electrifying percussion, dancing, and singing combine for a show that’s as darkly entertaining as it is exhilarating.

They also still advertise Full Throttle as the tallest and fastest looping coaster in the world, which is a record it never had in the first place. It's even more hilarious because Viper is *right* there (and there are others too, some that even predate Full Throttle). At this point parks can claim pretty much anything for their coasters and nobody cares except super enthusiasts. The media will probably get it wrong anyway. If it draws in people and helps boost the park's attendance, more power to them.

I'm 100% sure management was not like "hmmm...let's not open Legend today. Or the next day." There is no way it was due to staffing, they would have taken the people from the ice cream stand at that point and train them. Rides need maintenance. Earlier this year Thunderbird was down for a few weeks, but you know what? At midnight and into the early mornings they were tirelessly getting it back open as soon as humanly possible. They were doing MAJOR structural work and digging up all around the ride. I don't know what the issue with Legend is, but I can assure you it's not like they want the ride to be closed. Things happen, unfortunately it just happened while you were there. It may be going downhill over the years in your eyes, but major rides being down on purpose is not something Holiday World would allow to happen. I can see them maybe staggering rides if there was a staffing issue, or closing some smaller attractions or ones that require a LOT of staff to run, but cheetah chase is a brand new ride and there's no way they wouldn't just not open it due to staffing. (Unless you're Darien Lake). Sorry you had an unfortunate visit.

Yo, that crack in Maryland is strong af.

We’ve reached peak enthusiast when there’s a page of discussion on arguing semantics about revolutions loop. In other news: track is here for “insert super hero name here” coaster

I immediately thought of Wild Arctic because they show a monster inside some of those caves that's in the walk through, I realize that the haunt itself probably won't be inside of that area but one can dream right? I hadn't thought about the Antarctica ride path until you mentioned it, and the fact that SeaWorld used the old Darkastle ride path has me intrigued by that idea. I'm not super familiar with they layout of that area anymore but I'm sure there's a way to bypass the animal exhibit if they wanted to. I'm pretty excited for this event honestly, something new so it should be fun!

Have been to the park this Saturday, it had been a while since I've visited the park (Somewhere early in the zero's) so for me it was almost a new park. Obviously The Ride to Happiness was the main reason to go for me and I have to say it didn't disappoint me. What does baffle me is why this ride is in Plopsaland, like the whole park is filled with family friendly or kid friendly rides and then there is this machine. Like I understand a need to add a thrill ride to give a all round offer of rides but usually you see something less intense like Anubis or Nachtwacht. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining it's just a head-scratcher for me. What I do know Belgium has been given two wonderful coasters this year and I'm already for a annual visit to either Plopsa or Walibi. Both have a very good excuse if you ask me.

I actually think Beneath the Ice is more likely to be in Wild Arctic in the queue leading up to where the ride loads. I’m still curious to see if they find a use for the Antarctica ride path, but I think they have to be a little more careful since that space has unique temperature conditions and it dumps out into an open-air animal area.

Everything? How many weeks you going to be there? Seriously, there's a lot between Sevierville south to the National Park. I've been there for a week at a time more than a dozen trips and still haven't seen/done everything I want to. And there's new stuff coming all the time. I've only hiked a few trails in GSMNP. A few river floats, but still haven't done any whitewater there. A few zip lines but more on the list. Haven't done any mountain biking yet. I haven't been skiing or tubing at Ober Gatlinburg. Lots of attractions and shows I haven't seen yet. Never mind all the tourist trap shopping stuff.

Second Colonial Williamsburg it is really cool and if you go don't cheap out, buy the ticket that let's you go in to all the places, lots of cool stuff. IF you are REALLY a history buff the Jamestown site/museum, Yorktown battlefield and Museum of the American Revolution at Yorktown are all very cool........course I was a history teacher so that may just be me, lol.

I have not (tho almost - it was on my list when we went to Niagara Falls back in May 2018. . . but if recalling, they were not open on the day we arrived, or on the day we left - we flew in and out of Buffalo airport and rented a car to stay on the Canadian City of Niagara Falls). if we ever make it back to that area (which I doubt, since NF is really a once in a lifetime and cross off the list type of place), I'll certainly pop in tho. I really want to go to the one that near Cedar Point (possibly the same museum)??? - Laura went to that one when I was with TPR, but I was nursing a quad injury at that time and couldn't really walk. if that's the same one, then it IS a possibility, as I expect I'll make it back to CP at some point again Edit: not the same museum: https://www.merrygoroundmuseum.org/

Man its so jarring to see Cinnamon Bread at a park that isn't SDC or previously held the name of SDC. lol

I'm with ya! All the way. Those curves.... mmmmm! The drops aren't half bad either. And that beautiful curved station and curved brakes with skids(!!!). Workmanship! Phoenix is a top 10 for me as well, but this bad boy is higher.

I'm going with my kids this Saturday, the second time for most of us (after HWN), and I can't wait to experience it with my youngest for his first time ever! Whatever's open, will be open, and I'm sure it'll be a great time there for the whole family regardless!

Just a quick mini-TR; didn't have time to take a lot of pictures or anything since I was running around with a group and trying not to hold them up. Just got back from the park; ended up being a pretty great day. I went in with low expectations knowing what parks are like in general this summer, but SFNE is really doing an impressive job handling everything, and, really, hiding the worst of it. Weather kept the crowds to a minimum at the beginning of the day, but they slowly built up to what I'd say is probably nearly normal for a sunday on another summer. The park seemed nearly fully staffed; most of the rides had full crews, all food stands and stores were open. Operations were decent for the most part, which is to say better than usual for a Six Flags park. Virtually everything was open; Houdini and Tomahawk opened a bit late, but did open. Fireball was still down; I don't think it's reopened since the storm damage, and I realize now I never checked Kontiki, but I don't remember anything else (besides Goliath) down after early afternoon. Lines were mostly pretty tolerable; we didn't bother with Fastpass this time and had no problem getting on every major ride, multiple times when we wanted, without rushing at all. The only real slowdowns or issues at all we ran into was Cyborg; with it being an indoor ride, the park still seems to be using COVID protocols, loading half the seats and wiping stopping to disinfect frequently. Probably wise since there's no real airflow or sunlight in there. Wicked Cylone gave the best rides I've ever had on it with the track wet; felt like someone strapped a rocket to the back of it. Superman is running reasonably well; a little shuffle but not so bad; similar with batman. Riddler is a mixed bag; it's definitely rough as hell, but I don't really find it to be too unpleasant with the new restraints, and it's absolutely hauling despite the bouncing around. Thunderbolt...could use a bit of track work. Supergirl isn't quite a replacement for an Enterprise if you ask me, but pretty great on its own. Harley Quinn is still the best flat out there, if you ask me. The new mexican stand that replaced Aztec Nachos, down by Batman, is pretty solid. I tried the jalapeno ranch nachos and they were definitely at the upper end of what I expect at a Six Flags park; not spicy at all despite the HOT label, but quite good. Run by an outside company, though, so not on the meal plan or eligible for any discounts, so some tradeoff compared to the old place. Just in general, the park seems to be doing a pretty good job of hiding the issues the industry is dealing with; I really would have had a hard time seeing it as anything but an ordinary July weekend there today. I'm impressed.

Y'all go ahead and impress the SFMM management with the width and breadth of your vast knowledge. I'm sure they'll be shocked and amazed and get on changing that sign that they've had for about 45 years now right away.

^ such a great coaster. . . LOL. . and I was just watching some folks lose their minds over a "Bill of Lading" shipment from B&M to SFFT that got leaked. only to have Jeffrey Siebert pop into the thread and say: Sorry folks, it's needed replacement parts to have on hand for Superman, NOT the new 2022 ride.

Never heard of Cedar Valley, but a jumping log flume sounds great to me!

I know it's an unpopular opinion in these parts, but I actually like Twister more than Phoenix. Phoenix has amazing airtime, but it just doesn't have the speed and laterals that Twister has.

Speaking of unique rides, when I made my first visit out to this wonderful park last week, my daughter and I rode the Looper, and that sure was a blast! Hopefully they can keep it in good working order, since it sounds like it's one of the last operating flats of its type left! Since I haven't done an actual TR from my brief trip (that ended up being two brief trips) to the park, I thought I'd mention a few of my thoughts in highlight fashion. First of all, much to the chagrin of many of you I'm sure, the nature of my trip was such that I didn't have a full day on either end of it to do Knoebels for a full day, and as such, we had to pick and choose what we did, and focused primarily on coasters for this particular "tasting" of the park. I definitely plan on returning with my kids to the park for a full day, full "Knoebels Experience" in the future, tentatively next year for PPP. So rest assured, just because we didn't do something this trip (such as the Haunted Mansion), doesn't mean that your suggestions went unheeded, but rather it was just the particular dynamics of our visit, and the time we had allotted that kept it out, and it is still on our radar for the future! So, on our way out to New Jersey to spend some time on the shore with my relatives, we stopped at Knoebels around 4, Wednesday the 14th, for the Sundown admission, and got our wristbands unlimited riding. We had an amazing time at this small, family friendly, and very warm and welcoming park, and look forward to returning again in the future! One of the positive thing to come out of the last year plus, and the pandemic altering plans, has been my kids and I have been going to a bunch of smaller parks like IB, Adventureland, Holiday World, and now Knoebels. We've enjoyed our small park experiences so much, it's kind of spoiled us to the point where going to the bigger parks (like Cedar Point) seems much less attractive now. We had an opportunity to pop back into Knoebels on the way back for about an hour, while we were in the area, and took advantage of it, getting a couple more rides in, and getting some merch we were unable to get the first visit through. So, technically, I left home before my trip never having been to Knoebels, and now I've been twice! Great park, and definitely a place we'll be going to for a much longer period of time to get the full experience in the future! Thoughts: Phoenix lived up to expectations, mostly, and ends up as my favorite coaster at the park, barely! My first ride on it in the back seat didn't give as much air as I expected, but I was riding with my 7 year old, and was cognizant of not fully letting myself go, so as not to freak him out. So that could be why. My second ride, in the front row, was much better, and my third ride, which I've already forgotten where it was (sorry, do I lose my enthusiast card now?) was absolutely awesome, as I was flying out of my seat left and ride, and practically standing on the way back to the station. That final ride cemented the coaster's place as the best in the park, narrowly edging my biggest surprise of the trip. Twister just doesn't get the attention it deserves I feel, due to the tremendous hype over Phoenix. I do see people mention it as underrated more and more, and I can understand why, as it was REALLY a great coaster! It seemed SO fast, and brought some exciting laterals to the experience, much like The Legend at HW. I don't hesitate to say that I prefer Twister over The Legend, however, and myself, and all my kids were big fans as well. I think my 7 year old may have ended up preferring it even more than Phoenix. It's a very unique coaster, and in addition to the speed and twister elements, it had some great moments of airtime as well, making it a complete, and exciting coaster experience! Impulse was my 4th of that type of coaster (vertical lift and drop, single car - not talking about manufacturer or specific ride type), and while I really enjoyed it, it's no Monster or Fahrenheit, and I'm not sure if I prefer it or Hydrus more. It's still a great addition to the park, and a fun coaster! One of the fun tidbits from the trip was that my 7 year old was not ready to ride coasters that go upside down when we went to the park last week, and waited off the ride while I rode it with my other three kids. But after a week of being an increasingly brave "coaster kid" (what he calls himself, nothing to do with any group or organization), which included him making Hydrus his first upside down coaster, he wanted to ride Impulse, so we made sure to do so when we returned to the park, and he enjoyed it as well! Black Diamond was closed the first visit we were there last week, and we never made it over there the brief time we stopped in on Tuesday this past week. Flying Turns was also down both visits, obviously. The rest of the rides we made it on were great, such as the Flyers, which lived up to expectations, and gave my best ride on that type by far! We also rode Stratosfear, and of course the iconic Bumper Cars, which were super fun, and caused much mayhem! We didn't eat a lot, but we did seek out and eat from the stand made famous by CoasterBill's photo, getting the fantastic pierogies, as well as the roast beef, plus some birch beer, and chicken fingers. All of the food was excellent, and definitely lived up to the hype! I look forward to trying a number of the other other highly touted food places when we visit next time! That's probably enough for now. The bottom line is that myself, and my kids, and more satisfied Knoebels fans now, and we are very grateful to have finally made it out to this wonderful park! Thanks again to all of the many of you who have contributed recommendations over the years regarding this place, as I definitely thought about them as we were there!

as others have said, this is happening all over the Country, due to a Pandemic that has interrupted supply chain and the ability to hire/keep employees you should have expected this - and not for the idiotic reason you state "the slow degradation in the quality of service and value" - but rather because there has been a goddamn pandemic. Kudos to Holiday World for opening up what they could. . it's a shame that folks have lost a sense of decency and empathy. From San Francisco area. . but absolutely applies here: https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/SF-Bay-Area-restaurants-customers-rude-Yelp-review-16333535.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

Just to clear things up, we offer three 4-hour tours per day with a maximum of eight Guests per tour, and Guests may not ride the same ride back-to-back without waiting at least 15 minutes. We also offer one EarlyBird Tour per day. We don't believe premium or skip-the-line products should interfere with everyone else's experience.

Yeah, not so much "slow degradation" as "immediate response to a crisis." But I do agree that it's not the same experience as 10 years ago. It's the same experience as 1 year ago. When you figure out why, maybe you'll cut them some slack. These are good people, and I guarantee they want even more badly than you do for service to be back up to their usual standards. Edit: Haha, and while I was typing this out, they're already on it.

Hi Hoosier Dude, I believe we've seen your updated review on Google. I apologize that we didn't update our response until just a few minutes ago (Google doesn't put those in our "new reviews" section). I just want to express that our team puts our hearts and souls into what we do. When a ride goes down, we will spend what it takes to get it back up and operating safely as quickly as possible. Right now, we're at the mercy of a mess of a global supply chain--both with food and ride parts, but our team is going above and beyond in so many invisible ways to get rides back and food in restaurants this year. I'm proud to be a part of that team. That said, the days of your visit were particularly unlucky days for our maintenance team. We'd like to find a way to make your experience better, but we need to be able to converse with you in an appropriate forum--would you mind sending us an email at comments@holidayworld.com?

I mean... you do realize every park in the industry is dealing with these issues at the moment?

I was at the park yesterday for a few hours. They opened the security lines at 9:45 a.m. and didn't test the coasters until around 9:50. I got the first Cheetah Hunt train of the day and with 1 station open, that line builds up fast. By the time I rode Cobra's Curse and Montu and walked back past Cheetah Hunt, the line had a posted hour wait with the line almost to the entrance. Later in the day the posted wait time was 2 1/2 hours. I didn't realize that a lot of the rides don't open until 11 a.m. Scorpion, Sand Serpent, Kumba, Congo River Rapids, log flume and I think the bumper cars were all closed. In a park with so few rides that seems to be a problem on crowded days. Montu was running 1 train that I thought might be because it was early but seeing the ride having a 60 minute wait for some of the day today and longer waits compared to usual over the last few days, it might be an all day thing. Tigris was also closed all day yesterday and today. All passholders got $10 in Busch Bucks this month that could be printed from a kiosk (how to actually get the Busch Bucks was not mentioned in the e-mail they sent out). Combined with the 50% off Platinum Pass discount, it was nice to be able to get around $21 worth of merchandise for just over $1.

I think Black Widow has opened back up.

Jack Rabbit kicks asssss! And so does Exterminator! I never expected to have that much fun on one of those spinning coasters.

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?

Only a total coaster nerd could appreciate this, and I certainly did. Great TR.

I'm not sure if they've ever actually run the VR on Sky Rocket since they announced it in 2017, LOL. Thanks for the report! I liked the wide angle photos and hearing a first timer's perspective.

Glad to see you had a nice day at the park. I visited this past week and did have a nice time. The four missing flats left a pretty decent gap in the day for me. The Kangaroo and Bayern Kurve were my two favorite flats in the park. Dip Cone is the way to go, for sure!

if you're a history buff, or love "re-enactments".. we LOVED Colonial Williamsburg. we bought a combo ticket from Colonial Williamsburg online which got us multiple days at both there and at BGW (we ended up spending day and 1/2 at Colonial Williamsburg, and 2 1/2 days at BGW before moving on to King's Dominion & Washington DC to hit the Smithsonians. it was worth it to us, but not everyone's cup of tea, as it's mainly outside, and very "authentic" to the times in terms of food and atmosphere. https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/ here's the specific ticket we got: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/tickets/summer-bounce-ticket/ it's a steal at $148 a ticket, that includes parking at BGW & Water Country (that we didn't do, but it's included as well)

Looks like you guys managed quite well for a busy Saturday! Glad it all worked out.

great report, and glad you had fun. was Turtle running the speaker effects? we last went in 2016, and even tho 5 years later. . we still occasionally will look at each other across the room and yell out: "TURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLE" (it makes it hella fun while watching nature shows in our house) . . .

We did a quick trip to fun spot and old Town. I got the new credit. Ironically next we went to wild adventures. Its an easy drive from where we stay in Orlando. Unfortunately it was our first visit today and we only had 4 hours since a bad thunderstorm rolled in. Park was way nicer then I anticipated. Twisted Typhoon was my 150! I have a 2 and 4 year old and there were so many things for them to do. I can see why coaster enthusiasts don't like the park but for a young family it really works well. Great kids activities, animals and rides. Typhoon and Boomerang were fun. Swamp thing gave good views of the mister twister and my 2 year old got her first credit on swamp water snake Snapchat-1234236893.mp4