IanKgtr

Visited the park this past Saturday for the first time in four years. A few observations: On Steel Vengeance (first rides, 2x in back seat, 1x in front seat): This is the best coaster in the world, hands down, bar none. I will die on this hill. The secondary locker system is absolutely crazy – given the ride's insanity, I think they need it, and I think they do a good job – but I've faced far more lax security getting on an airplane! The ride barfed up error codes twice while I was in the station – once, when I was on the train – and transferring off the train also set off an error. When the maintenance guy showed up, all he had to do was smack the transfer track with a wrench, and the error vanished. Amazing. A few great members of that ride crew (big props to the girl in the green hair who honored my seat request every time!), and a few who really felt like holding up the whole train so they could take a power trip to show a former ride op how a restraint was "properly closed". Well done! In general: Magnum got painful. The 'magic seat' should be renamed, 'the spine compression seat'. I am not one to complain about pain on a coaster; look at my avatar for godssakes. GateKeeper was surprisingly forceful and fun. The crew e-stopped Blue Streak halfway up its lift to identify someone who had their phone out. The op then walked all the way up the lift, talked to the person, and had a security guard waiting at the exit to escort them out of the park. I never thought I'd see that. CP doesn't f*ck around. Overall, such a great day. Love that park, and got to enjoy it with a huge group of close friends.

Hi folks, I am thinking of making a day trip to the park while on vacation in Wisconsin. Will probably just be me, maybe one other person. Not interested in the water park, just in those cool rides with tracks and wheels that we all seem to like around here. Any advice? Order of operations, good places to eat, etc? Will be my first time. Will the dry side of the park be über crowded in the middle of next week? If I have two opportunities to visit – one next week, the other next year in late June / early July – which would you pick?

Good catch! I had no idea at all that was a thing. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention. Do you recall if you went in early or late May? I grew up in the area and remember my HS field trips were in late May, hence why I was thinking I could get away with an early May trip. Hate to be leaning no, but that’s kinda where I am at the moment.

Howdy everyone! I can't believe I'm asking for advice on the park I grew up going to and worked at, but... I'm making a quick trip home for Mother's Day, and I haven't been to the park in at least 3 (!!!) years. Only day I can visit is Friday, May 7th. Seems like a sweet spot (ha) between the Springtime in the Park insanity, and the school trips that pick up in late may and June and CRUSH the park with people. Even though I have a good memory of how people flow through the park and what to hit when (start with Bear then the older Intamins, work backwards, hit Rush and Candy in the afternoon) Should I bother? If average queues exceed 30 minutes, (obviously except for Rush, which always seems to be a station, stairs, or one-switchback wait)... I'm out.

Would you say May is the best time to go in general? Trying to hit the park on a day trip from Nashville, and by then I should be fully immunized against Uncle Covid. Need to ride Lightning Rod before it's retracked as an Aquatrax.

Good thread. Cedar Point visits: at least 5. TTD lap count: 0 Also never ridden GateKeeper (only time I visited while it was built, it was closed for wind), though I won't fuss over that one.

Saw that on the POV – bummer if they were all upright before, and bit the dust vis a vis the retrack. Speaking of the POV, it's just the FPS of the video, people. Makes it look slower. Speaking of the slowed down launch. Please direct your att'n to my avatar. I operated that ride for 3 years (and rode it before and after *thunder crashes* the slow-down)... and it just didn't impact anything but the first drop. Simply no impact. If you want drop airtime, ride in the back just like the old days, and be thankful the ride has been tweaked to run reliable and save you hundreds of American Dollars in re-visits to get the credit.

Just saw the Mystery Mine retrack... Could be maintenance, could be the GP. Could be the drop, could be the turn. We'll probably never find out. All I know is, however choppy and strange the first half already was... it just got worse.

Surprised and very pleased (obviously, I worked there) to see Hershey on so many lists! In terms of quality per coaster, variety of offerings, and coasters from some of our favorite manufacturers' golden years (ex: three 2004-2012 Intamins, two eras of B&M's, classic Schwarzkopf, etc.), Hershey is right up there with Cedar Point and Kings Island, IMO. BGT, BGW, Carowinds, SFGADV, SFMM, SFGA, SFFT, and a few others are close, but don't quite have the volume of outstanding coasters to match the top tier.

I've lived less than 3 hours from Lightning Rod, The Voyage, and Kentucky Kingdom's RMC (soon to be RMC's?) – for seven years – and have never ridden any of them. Time for that to change. Anything else in a day's drive of Nashville I'm leaving out?

That speed coming through the zero-g roll ... and the speed in general ... can't wait to ride it in 2078 when Sea World Entertainment finally gets a handle on their 2+ billion in debt!

Thunderbolt at Kennywood requires smaller riders to sit on the right side of the train, because of the ridiculous lateral G's on those right turns. A lot of these rides, Thunderbolt included, sound awful to ride with strangers... but it wasn't the worst thing in the world riding Enterprise on a date

This is so cool. Do we have any other data like this, from other rides? Would be awesome to see if anything else in the coaster universe goes from +4 g's to -1 g's so aggressively.

Excellent reports and photo compositions, Condor. Really enjoyed reading these. You have a way with words. I used to op Skyrush so I am incredibly partial to it myself [see avatar]. Sad to hear about the closure of that path. It was awe-inspiring to watch that thing fly across the water and absolutely truck over the airtime hills, and to observe the unique distribution of thrill/terror/pain on every train.

Uncanny memory – but I recall Villain at Geauga Lake being an absolute nightmare. Also, OG Hurler at KD. Ouch.