coasterbill

I actually think Dorney has a better haunt than any of the other nearby parks. It's not even on the same level as many standalone haunts or the larger budget haunts in Florida but it's fun for what it is and crowds are manageable. That being said the best haunt I've seen in the northeast at a park is actually Lake Compounce. They do a heck of a job (though still not comparable to the Florida parks of course).

The only rides that ever have hour waits outside of Fright Fest are Kingda Ka and Safari Off Road Adventure. 30 to 45 minute waits are always a possibility though. Listen to boldikus but if I had to bet on it I would always expect this park to have solid crowds.

I know my usual role on this board is to be a sarcastic pain in the a** and/or your resident walking / talking Knoebels commercial but I feel like I need to say something here. I know I'm kind of preaching to the choir and I know I may lose some cool points but seeing animals in distress breaks my heart. People? Whatever... when some worldwide disaster hits you're lucky to get a $10 Red Cross text from me but animals are a different story. This whole thing is just such a shame. I think it's great that these Blackfish people are so interested in helping animals but they need to direct their passion in the right place. Sea World does more to help these animals than anyone and most of it flies under the radar. Right now there's a serious problem on the west coast with Sea Lions washing ashore. Sea World has rescued and rehabilitated over 200 of these animals just in the last 2 months. When these animals get stranded these localities don't call Peta, they don't call the fake activists from Blackfish, they call Sea World and they do that because they're the best in the business. Ever since our first visit to SeaWorld we fell and love with the place... my girlfriend especially. Now she's even started talking to some of the trainers and is trying to convince me to get married at Sea World. She drinks the Sea World Kool Aid more than I drink the Knoebels Kool Aid (and I'm about to drown on Knoebels Kool Aid). Like seriously... that dumb Turtle Trek movie has caused her to become a complete tree hugger. She drives a Prius BECAUSE of Sea World (yeah, she's one of THOSE people), she freaks out about recycling, she donates to animal charities even though we take the standard deduction and there's no tax benefit, she's a complete fan girl... it's kind of ridiculous, lol. Anyway her conversations with the trainers just paint pictures of people crying, trainers clocking out after work and going right back to the tank to spend time with Tilikum and just an outpouring of love for this whale. These people are amazing people. They love Tilikum like he's one of their own children. This entire thing is heartbreaking but it's just affirming the fact that this is a wonderful organization with amazing people that deserves our support. The tears in that video are real tears. By the sounds of things many of these people are almost inconsolable. Sea World and Busch Gardens have a conservation fund that accepts donations to help them continue to do the amazing work that they do. Until recently they did it with very little PR and are just now starting to inform the masses of it with shows like Wildlife Docs as a necessary response to all of the bad press they've been getting. Even though they're now making this more public it doesn't even scratch the surface of the great work they do. I think it would be great to see some support from the community in honor of Tilikum. There's not much anyone can do to help, but at least it's a small way to help them continue their amazing work and hopefully one day find a cure for these types of infections that impact both wild and captive whales. I know I just lost cool points but I feel awful for these people and for Tilikum. This is an amazing organization.

Superman honestly needs it more than anything in the park. It's location is ridiculously prominent and it's really looking rough. It may have been that way for awhile but I've noticed more lately since Holiday in the Park sort of gave us a new found appreciation for that ride and we rode it a ton. As far as Batman, the blue at Magic Mountain looks sick. I'd love that but that's kind of a pipe dream. If they paint something it'll probably be near the new ride.

I'm sure it's some B.S. like Tango. lol

At a time of great loss such as this, I always find it appropriate to post comforting messages like "Rest in Peace" or "Bye Felicia".

Sadly it's almost a given that this will be the case. Every news story that's come out today is more than happy to immediately mention Blackfish. People suck.

I was about to post that too. They really don't sound too optimistic about this. This is really sad to hear and I'm glad to know he has such a great team working with him. Truly heartbreaking news.

Does Scorpion ever run 2 trains or is it more likely that they're about to switch one off for maintenance and continue to run 1 train just with the other train?

Too soon, bro. Too soon. Too soon for what? I was making a joke about their Haunt maze.

I wouldn't want them to start any construction near Gwazi. You never know the things that could be unearthed. ... I'll show myself out.

Yup

Tony knows what's up... All about the Sky Ride.

That's exactly the opposite of what they said last night when asked by someone to clarify, but I'm glad to see it seems like they're reconsidering.

So if you have a platinum Flash Pass do you get 4 rides?

Yes, but only for the first 2 months of the season.

We need them to have some common sense like Cedar Fair does. If you add something optional it shouldn't have a significant negative impact on the people that choose not to use it (ie assigned seating on coasters that have never had assigned seating) I don't understand how that's a difficult concept to grasp. I don't mind small concessions like slightly longer dispatch times but I do mind major ones when they can easily be avoided with a little common sense. So I was complimenting them on their desire to innovate but questioning some of their methods.

Excellent job by Six Flags across the board here.

I'll be honest they deserve some credit for making this free and trying to improve guest experience. I won't knock it without trying it but my concern is just about preferred seating. I don't think this is worth giving that up. Besides that though I do applaud Six Flags for trying to innovate and improve guest experience.

When this is the general sentiment towards your new announcement, you know it's a winner.

Agree. If Great Adventure gets this I would think it would end up on Nitro but I hate that idea too because I like to choose my seat. To be honest the common sense application for this is Skull Mountain during Holiday in the Park but that makes far too much sense for them to actually consider (that being said though I still want to be able to choose a seat... aka the back one). Honestly I don't think this makes sense for Great Adventure at all during the regular season. They need to worry about rolling trains as fast as they can (they're better at it than just about every park in the chain). With the crowds they get, anything that slows that down is probably a bad idea.

I'm so excited for this. I'm a huge Sea World fan, I love the laid back atmosphere of that park compared to other Orlando parks and I love their attention to detail in their new areas. I can't wait to see how the new shark realm turns out.

How has Wildcat held up since it was retracked? I know when we rode it a few years ago it was better than it had been in years.

I think it would be better to have three or four consecutive rows be Virtual Reality Rows, while the rest are normal. Y'all do know they are optional, right? Nothing is ever wrong with choice. You're not understanding. Yes... the headsets are optional, but along with them nobody has their choice of seat. Many parks are getting this on their best coaster so let's say for the sake of argument we get this on El Toro. The issue isn't that some people are wearing headsets, it's that if I don't want to wear one somebody is going to tell me to go ride in row 3 and I can no longer choose to sit in the back car which is much better. That's the issue, loss of preferred seating. I don't care about the VR. I care that it's causing us to lose preferred seating on coasters that have always had it which is a big deal for anyone who doesn't want to use the VR. What Cedar Fair did was dedicate middle rows which nobody wants anyway to VR which is a great idea since with VR it doesn't really matter where you sit. the back and front rows however were not VR and you had choice of seat as those are the rows people who aren't using VR want to sit in. That is the sensible way to do things.

I think it would be better to have three or four consecutive rows be Virtual Reality Rows, while the rest are normal. Of course it would have, that's what cedar Fair did. But... Six Flags.