coasterbill

You guys are killing me with this. I have no idea how a thread called "Which Coaster Gives The Best AIRTIME???" became the Skull Mountain appreciation thread when the same damn park has a ride that delivers such ridiculous airtime that it does this during what appears to be morning ERT on an empty train... But I'm not going to complain, I'm beyond entertained right now. lol

Back row, left side of the train, you're welcome. PS: Drugs are bad. Yes... Yes it can. Magnum and Steel Force kind of look the same and they're both red but that's where the similarities end. Steel Force is a ridiculously forceless but smooth and enjoyable ride that doesn't do anything at all. It's fun but the ride just kind of meanders around until it hits the brakes. Magnum tries for 2 minutes to launch everyone on the train into Lake Erie. It's not comfortable at all but it's a relentless airtime machine that feels like it's actively trying to kill you and I love it for that. Magnum is the polar opposite of Steel Force. I like both rides but Magnum makes Steel Force look like a kiddy coaster.

The first time I ever rode Skull Mountain I was with a larger friend, and I'm very small myself. I had a solid 4 to 6 inches of clearance between me and the lap bar. That was incredible, got back into the station and my buddy turns to me and goes "I thought for sure you got thrown out on the first drop" The Skull Mountain army is growing, lol. This ride is the worlds first "Cult Classic" coaster.

I wouldn't say it's the lamest first drop out there but for its impressive size, Steel Force's drop is incredibly lame.

Out of curiosity what family rides? They removed one of their 3 car rides which still leaves them with one more car ride than 95% of major parks, a redundant observation tower and Paddle wheel excursions. In that same time they added Lake Erie Eagles, Pipe Scream and Dinosaurs Alive so in my mind it's kind of a wash. Even if you don't count Dinosaurs Alive it still doesn't seem like a huge deal.

Being from America this kind of personal accountability is almost impossible to fathom but it's a breath of fresh air. While the investigation did find them 100% at fault it's nice to see them being so open and honest about this.

Jumping into empty seats at Great Adventure at the end of the night it when it's slow isn't just allowed, it's generally encouraged. Robb is totally right of course, some people are idiots and jump into seats where people are going to store their souvenir cups so don't do that... but the good news is since that's the only thing you're allowed to store on the platforms at Great Adventure most people do just sit down without having to worry about loose articles.

Even with Fastlane you wait quite a bit for certain rides at Cedar Point due to the high demand (cough Maverick). It's worth it because the alternative is much worse but I think this price increase is probably necessary to keep wait times manageable for the people that buy it and prevent Maverick's Fastlane line from pushing an hour which would be extremely likely on October Saturdays.

I guess maybe it's just me but I'm thrilled with how Six Flags has treated Great Adventure lately. We got a ton of great family and flat rides which we desperately needed like Sky Screamer, Fender Bender and Deja Vu, we got SORA which is a complete game-changer and has been an overwhelming success, we got the tallest drop tower in the world, we have a holiday event now that will allow us to ride Nitro and Batman into January and we're getting a coaster in 2016. Remind me again what the problem is... I have no idea what you people are taking about.

First of all... did you say Wolf Tour? Where do I sign up?? (That's a figure of speech before you all send me links to "Let me Google that For You"... don't get any ideas, lol) But anyway the total was $260 for 2 people (including taxes fees and whatever so $130 each). That's the price if you have a season pass, if you don't it's a little more but includes park admission. For us that's a pretty significant chunk of change but for a gift or something it's really nice, and we absolutely recommend doing it once if you're an animal lover. You won't be disappointed.

I would honestly love to see it get sold. If it doesn't get sold, then it will end up like it's sister Shockwave and Demon Drop are sisters? That's weird they look nothing alike

Anyway, I have a mini trip report from yesterday! So months ago I surprised my girlfriend with a Safari VIP tour for her birthday. This was our first time doing anything like this and it turned about to be absolutely awesome. Our tour was at 11am and we immediately were greeted at Guest Relations by our tour guide who did a great job. We hopped in our own private truck and were taken on a tour through the safari which included unique perks like a trip through the now closed baboon area, stopping to feed the elephants and giraffes, interaction with a few of the reptiles (that we basically got to pick and choose) and the ability to get right up to the fence with the wardens for the lions and tigers. At one point we were also taken behind the scenes to see some baby giraffes and pet one of the rhinos. The tour was a ton of fun and as stated our tour guide was outstanding. At the end of the tour we were even given a hollowed out Rhea egg to take home. I highly recommend anyone who really enjoys the safari do this at least once. You really learn a ton about the animals and get up close and personal with them and their awesome trainers. The people who work in the safari really know their stuff and they all do a tremendous job. ============================================== After our safari tour we headed into the theme park and prepared to brave the Saturday fright fest crowds. I won't get into anything but I'll highlight a few key things I noticed. First the Cons, then the pros... - I felt like the ride staff yesterday was doing a great job but I felt like the park in many cases put them in awful situations by under staffing everything. The crowd yesterday was unbearable, a ton of self entitled people who thought they had the right to treat park staff like dirt every time something happened that they didn't like. Yesterday we saw someone go through the air gates on Batman to yell at the ride ops that "these people have been waiting" and pointed out that the line "wasn't moving fast enough and that was bullsh*t". Ironically the fact that he wouldn't get behind the gate was holding up the line even more. The Batman crew had one train (with only 7 rows), one person on each side of the platform and they were literally almost running to check and dispatch trains as fast as possible. When the train was out on the course I expressed my sympathy to one of the ops and they just replied with something along the lines of "Thank god you realize this isn't our fault. I can't wait until we're forwards again and we have 2 trains". The op then told us that earlier that day someone was screaming at them because they didn't believe there wasn't another train and was demanding that they put it on. The op just pointed at the transfer track looking exhausted and said that they were REALLY trying and didn't know what they were supposed to do. You can tell these people really want to provide the best guest experience possible but they're given nothing to work with. Then over at Kingda Ka we were in line and shockingly (I know... I couldn't believe it either) the ride broke down. It turned out that that it took about an hour but we waited it out because it kept looking promising. They launched a few trains and the brake fins kept moving around, trains kept rolling out so it was obvious the issue would be resolved. As soon as the ride broke a few security guys who I'm convinced have the worst job in the world because they have to deal with these people all day every day came over and explained that the ride was down, they didn't know how long it would be down for and of course informed everyone that they were welcome to wait in line but they didn't know how long it would last... you know the drill. People started b*tching because the idea that a mechanical masterpiece such as Kingda Ka could have a temporary breakdown was apparently too much to bear. About 30 minutes into the wait one of the ride ops came down the ramp and again explained very nicely that she was sorry, the ride was "frustrating" and she knew a few trains launched and they keep re-cycling the brakes but it didn't fix the issue yet so it would be a little longer. I honestly thought that was really nice and they went above and beyond but apparently I was alone in that sentiment. Immediately some entitled girl began explaining that "she understood" the ops perspective but she needed to be "putting herself in her position". She explained that she felt that the park "should really do something for her" because "she had been standing there for an hour and could have been riding other rides" and then went on to complain some more to the point that a security guard came over (who was very nice) to try to make her happy too and they both continued smiling through an insufferable conversation with this entitled idiot and by some miracle finally got their opportunity to leave when a train rolled out and cleared the tower and the ride re-opened. - At the Cantina they had a line of about 30 people and one bartender. The policy put in place is asinine. Despite the 30 minute beer line there was a one drink limit per person (which is kind of good because this crowd was unbearable enough already), everyone tried to get 2 because of the line. Then people were holding tables but everyone needed to come up one at a time and get a wristband saying they were over 21 and EVERYONE needed to show ID even if they were in their 60's or 70's (as we saw) which delayed things as they had to go searching since a few people laughed that they hadn't been carded in decades. Finally some other guy came out with the bartender apron on and proceeded to stand behind the bar doing absolutely nothing for 30 minutes while he watched the other guy drown. They had another register and while Six Flags may have thought having one bartender on a Fright Fest Saturday was saving them money it cost them a ton more because everyone just gave up and got courtesy cups of water from someone else. People siting at the bar couldn't be served so they had to get up and wait another 30 minutes if they wanted another beer. I felt awful for that bartender. I know I've complained a bit so far and that's not my intention. We had a great time yesterday! I'm just trying to express my sympathy for the people that worked at the park yesterday because I was blown away by how great the staff was yesterday despite having to deal with this crap and I figured pointing out some of these things might be a good way to do so. I know nobody who works at the park is going to come on here and agree or talk down about the guests but I really sympathized with them. The Pros (besides the Safari which was amazing): - Namtab was fun! I prefer it forwards and can't wait for the forwards trains to come back but going backwards was really cool. Super smooth, super intense... holy crap! It was much better than expected. - The Bizarro crew was killing it yesterday. They're normally abysmal but they were barely stacking at all despite being hideously understaffed and only having one seat checker per side. - Nitro was flying last night. We got a back seat ride and it was super smooth and produced some really solid airtime. We had one of the best rides we'd had in a long time on Nitro. - El Toro! We rode it once in the afternoon and then ended the night with 3 consecutive rides without getting off (including the last train of the night) and of course the ride was running insane as it always does. We're so lucky to have this ride just 2 hours from our house. So overall we had a great time, the Safari was amazing, the staff was great and we managed to get on all of our favorites, only skipping Zumanjaro, Sky Screamer and Superman. The park was slammed but the longest we waited for anything was 90 minutes (for Batman and Kingda Ka in the front row) which isn't so bad. By the end of the night lines were non existent. Nitro and El Toro were both walk ons. We had a great day! El Toro 4x Skyway 2x Namtab 1x Kingda Ka 1x Skull Mountain (back row represent lol) 1x Bizarro 1x Nitro 1x And a few Safari photos that I pulled from my girlfriend's Facebook because I'm lazy...

All 3 were right next to each other by the Lakefront and all 3 are gone now. Also, did Six Flags refer to that live and local stage as an arena? If so LOL!!!

So can we safely assume based on the complete lack of rumors / teasing / land clearing that we're not getting crap next year? If so, no major loss but it's odd that we haven't heard anything yet.

The arena was on the other side of the park and it's basically gone already. Bizarro is closed because everything is closed beyond the boardwalk as has already been stated.

From what I can tell, it seems like the first group to close in wind is Raptor, Gatekeeper and Dragster (well no, the first group is Windseeker and Sky Ride but out of the coasters it's these three). They generally always close together. I've heard that if the wind isn't blowing from the bay it's not as big of an issue because Raptor's problem is heading into the mid course and Dragster's problem is obviously clearing the top hat, both of which face the bay but the wind always seems to be coming off the bay so I don't know if this is true). After that the weather would have to be horrendous to close anything else but of course as you said it happens. At least with the wind policy it's semi-consistent but I do wonder if it's a little overly cautious. There are plenty of times where Gatekeeper completely hauls through the dive loop turnaround and keyholes and then shuts down due to wind. Raptor is tougher because it always goes pretty slow into the mid course... with Dragster I don't get why they keep launching until it rolls back but I'm sure there's a reason for it. The rain policy on the other hand is ridiculously inconsistent and ridiculous. The only consistency there is that Dragster won't run. Millennium Force, Corkscrew and Maverick usually run but not always, everything else is a crap shoot... the rain policy is a complete mess.

Edit: Delete. I misread the post.

For the record I do follow the directions when I ride Green Lantern and I do love intense, snappy forceful B&M coasters but I still think Green Lantern absolutely sucks. The fact that someone (IE most people) think the ride sucks doesn't mean they just think it sucks because they're not "riding it properly". The only way to properly ride Green Lantern is to go ride El Toro instead. To each his own but please don't assume I'm doing something wrong because I don't like the ride. I ride it properly and I still think it's an uncomfortable, crappy and (by the way) ugly pile of crap.

I absolutely hate this idea.

This is spot on... ride one row from the back on El Toro. Lines for the back rows are always shorter and it's the best seat. I'd suggest taking a ride on Ka, then El Toro, Bizarro because it's right there and won't have a line (back row is the best and it won't have a longer wait than the other rows), then take the Skyway to Nitro (the Skyway probably won't have a line yet... if it does just walk since you're in a time crunch but if it's a short wait it's faster). Ride the Runaway Train before getting on the Skyway if you care. Then hit Skull Mountain quick, it won't have a line and it's right there... then go to Nitro. After that if you have time you can pick between Superman which is mediocre and has a line that never moves, Green Lantern which is a terrible ride, Batman the Dark Knight which is worth it if the line isn't long and Batman which is a great coaster. Beware though, it should be running forwards by then but make sure it's running 2 trains before getting in line. It's very likely that it won't be. If it's going backwards it will definitely have 1 train ops. Of course after Nitro depending on how much of a credit whore you are the best option might be to just go back to El Toro and marathon it, though I would suggest riding Batman if it's running 2 trains and you haven't ridden a Batman clone previously (as a side not I firmly believe that Batman is the best steel coaster in the park but as I'm in the minority I'm not letting my opinion get in the way here because if I did I'd tell you to ride that before Nitro... Batman is criminally underrated though, most likely because it's a clone). PS: Also use common sense with Ka. Keep in mind that it's a great ride but above all else it's an unreliable POS. If you don't see it testing at any point while you're parking the car, walking to the gate or walking through the boardwalk just go to El Toro first. Also, consult a map because the layout of the Golden Kingdom and Plaza De Carnival area is asinine if you're not familiar with it.

I like Intamin but I know another company that could have probably built something that followed the same track layout for the second half, didn't rattle and was way better. ...Arrow ...Murrica. For the record I like Verbolten and don't think it rattles at all but I'm just a little bit bitter.

The empty train vallying to begin with wasn't. Oh for god's sake Leviathan and Rougarou both valleyed this year in Cedar Fair parks, both are B&M's. Valleying isn't a big deal, virtually any coaster can valley with the right combination of factors (either with the ride itself, loose articles or weather / wind). Honestly this nailed it. Cedar Fair is in love with B&M right now and the only other American parks that would be in the market for a major 15 - 20+ million dollar coaster are the Six Flags parks which haven't been buying B&M's or Intamin's because they're not spending money on big coasters lately, Universal parks who rarely build coasters but I believe they DID use Intamin track on Gringots, Disney that has no need to buy an Intamin because they build family rides, Silver Dollar City and Dollywood who are on an RMC kick right now, Hershey who does seem to work with Intamin a lot and Sea World / BG who have always been in love with B&M anyway. Sure there might be one or two other parks that could suprise us (I don't think anyone thought Holiday World would buy a coaster like Thunderbird), but the market in the U.S. is limited when you take Six Flags and Cedar Fair out of it.

Don't worry about crowds. You'll get a ton of rides in. Yes there are lines but Phoenix and Twister also unload, load and dispatch trains in about 30 seconds. I wouldn't expect to wait more than 15 minutes for anything except Impulse, Flying Turns and Gasoline Alley at night. Even when Phoenix's line spills out the entrance it's 15 minute wait.