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.

Say it ain't so!! I thought I saw a new way to get to it (through a building) on the Candymonium POV. Did you happen to see if it's also blocked from the side that goes under Comet, by the Rush entrance? I have a really hard time believing they would just merc a path, let alone one of the best paths in the park, for no reason.

Same here! There are a few 'reaction videos' on YouTube but I figured the thread would be popping off by now. As a displaced PA native and former op there, I'm dying to hear what it's like. There is also a backseat POV out there somewhere... but don't watch it!! If you do, someone will come to your house, retrofit your favorite seat with Skyrush lap bars, staple you, and leave.

1. Alpengeist – Oldschool B&M forces, snappy inversions, massive height & speed. 2. Montu – Cool theming and layout (loop after the MCBR?!). Points docked for a slow 2nd half. 3. Talon – This coaster is a sleeper. Great layout featuring a little bit of everything. Extra points for the color scheme. 4. Great Bear – I've never understood the hate on this coaster - perhaps, in part, because I used to op at Hershey and ran it a few times (but mostly Skyrush). Super forceful, incredible layout given the topography, a visual and sonic icon of Comet Hollow. Unfortunately, that same topography made it kinda short. 5. B:TR – Only ever ridden the original. This thing is a force machine. Riding in a middle seat actually feels like you're in the Batmobile. Honorable mention to Raptor (it's an amazing ride. It's also overrated to justify 2hr waits), Afterburn (the batwing!), and Top-Gun-Rename-O-Rama at Great America.

Thankfully we didn't get another embarrassing NoLimits POV like we did for Skyrush and Fahrenheit Still though, some info on the coaster would be nice, but I'm sure we'll get that in due time (it's in the simulation).

It's HERE!

Wasn't there a rumor floating around in the pre-Skyrush years about a two-coaster contract with B&M? Maybe we'll finally see that fulfilled. Either way that layout sure looks Swiss (though I'm still praying Intamin, of course).

If you stop by the height station on your way to the front gate, an employee can officially measure him and will give him a wristband showing his official height category. This will save your little brother the headache of being measured (sometimes twice) at every ride he comes to. Just some food for thought

I headed over to the park after work yesterday for my first lap of the year, and Skyrush sure didn't disappoint. When riding in the left outside seat of the second row, the slowing of the lift was very noticeable, and unfortunately neutered what is possibly my favorite part of the ride. Then again, the front rows always go over the top slower, so the effect could've been exaggerated. I was hoping to have a second go in the back row, but the line was too long (One-train operation on a fair-weather Saturday). Oh well. I didn't notice much change to the trains themselves-- the restraints felt like they may have been a slightly different material, but it was very hard to say. In addition, the ride was only running one train, so riders never sat on the brake run for long periods of time. As this was when most of the restraint complaints came in, I wasn't surprised at the lack of complaining from the GP. Then again, maybe the restraints were just better. Who knows? Another noteworthy improvement is the widening of the station. The gates have been pushed back about three feet from the track, and the railings and loose article boxes have been rearranged to make the station much, much roomier and hopefully more efficient. That's about all for now, the ride is still running great as always. Happy riding!

^^ While it's a cool and unique concept, the nearby presence of X2 will undoubtedly cause the GP to denounce any type of wing coaster installed in California in the near future as a "lame version of X2". Even though the ride could be great, it would be hard to market to guests who will view it as inferior long before they ride; not to mention the waves of Facebook posts slaying Knotts for "copying" MM. That design could still pop up anywhere else; Knott's just isn't the right place for it.