coasterbill

But that would be a c... you know what... never mind.

It's not a joke, it's true... ... see. That's just from this page. I only bring it up because people keep asking if the park will be crowded. I don't see how that's a problem. People are asking questions and I'm answering those questions.

Been there, done that. I'd rather jump in the wave pool with all of my clothes on than ride Thunder Canyon ever again. lol

^

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with Comet. It's a really solid coaster... the other 2 are just credit coasters. Also ride Coal Cracker this time... all the cool kids ride Coal Cracker. Nothing better than a log flume with airtime.

A lot of parks have awful operations but Great Escape out-sucks them all. Except on Comet where they're actually mediocre.

I love Magnum now thanks to the seatbelt trick but it's no Fury. Speaking of seatbelts, I did feel like a complete idiot on Sunday on Fury when I immediately sat on it and pulled the bar down. Rookie mistake I know but I guess I'm just so used to riding Nitro I forgot they decided Fury needed seatbelts for some reason.

Nope... same story at Dorney. No crowds on Friday, Saturday or Sunday or Monday or any other day ending in a y.

Everyone should be watching the fireworks from the path by the water and El Toro anyway. Low crowds and a great view... oh crap, forget I said that.

Anyone that doesn't think Rougarou is lightyears better than Mantis is just whining for the sake of whining. Personally I think Rougarou is smoother than most floorless coasters (and they're all smooth) and it turned a piece of crap into a really solid ride. Basically if you're one of those people that considers Raptor and Alpengeist rough then Rougarou is probably too rough for you. For the rest of us it's a very enjoyable ride.

There won't be any.

I'm glad to hear that because I was about to ask about the flume. There's no reason for a log flume to close in October like the other water rides. You still get plenty of hot days and while you may not want to get soaked, a standard log flume is perfect.

Well this weekend was interesting to say the least. We were preparing for a relaxed weekend at home (and even thought of going to Darien Lake as some people may remember since I posted in that thread asking for advice) but my girlfriend from NC had a last minute family thing up where we needed to head down from work on Friday and come back yesterday (about 12 hours each way). Everything worked out fine luckily but long-story-short we ended up with a last minute and ridiculously brief trip to Charlotte over the weekend. So yesterday morning after we said goodbye to everyone and during our 12 hour trek home we were driving along 485 and got a glimpse of that 325 foot beauty over at Carowinds and after checking to see if we even had the passes on us we had the idea to swing by. We obviously only had about an hour / hour and a half and storm clouds were rolling in but we got there right around 10:15 and had a quick plan to do one really quick circle around the park for Intimidator, Fury, Carolina Cobra (she needed the credit), Afterburn, Fury again and then head right out. There were no lines at all (possibly due to the weather) so we had no problem doing all of that in an hour and a half. So on to the rides... Intimidator: Fun ride as always. We got a front seat ride and while it's nothing amazing it's a great "throw your hands up and have a good time" ride. Carolina Cobra: We actually really liked this. The new restraints make this a very enjoyable ride with no headbanging to speak of. Afterburn: When we got there it started raining a little and we were worried it was a storm cloud but we managed to get our ride in in just a light drizzle and it was amazing as always. Front seat, insane forces all while butter smooth. This is one of the best inverts out there and since Fury is bringing so many enthusiasts into the park it's nice to see it getting the recognition it deserves. Fury: We rode it on it's opening day and were blown away and we were interested to see if the hype played into it at all and what we thought of the ride now that it's broken in a little. We got a middle row and while it was a lot of fun, I have to agree with a lot of the critics that it's not the most forceful ride in the world and while we really enjoyed our rides on it there wasn't much in the way of airtime or forces and we did leave a little underwhelmed. Okay okay seriously, I'll stop screwing around now. I had you going though, right? right? Anyway I won't even review this beast of a ride in a play-by-play sort of fashion. The whole thing from start to finish is completely ridiculous and awesome and I still can't believe it's a modern B&M. Awesome airtime, awesome transitions, that great turnaround and run out to the turnaround. Wow! Wow! Wow! Fury is just pure, interrupted greatness from start to finish. You want a great drop? Boom. Great airtime? Boom. Unique elements... look no further than Fury. As I said, I rank a few (and I mean very few) coasters above it (barely) but this is the most complete ride I've ever ridden. It has absolutely everything. For our second ride it was absolutely pouring rain so it wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first as we were being pelted by rain (wait... did I say rain? Sorry. It can't rain on Fury 325. Liquid sunshine was pouring down all over the greatness that is Fury 325. Yeah... that sounds better). So anyway we were being pelted with boatloads of liquid sunshine and it was a cool experience but I'm glad we got a normal ride earlier because it couldn't have possibly been pouring down any harder. After our train they closed it for about 5 minutes until it lightened up and I don't blame them one bit. Anyway though... in summary. Fury is ridiculous and anyone that hasn't ridden it yet needs to get out there and ride it. That thing is all kinds of awesome and nothing I say in this report can prepare you for it. You just have to experience it.

It's a shame they couldn't find another spot for Enterprise.

What?

It is not a coaster, so by definition, it is not. I fail to see how an amazing flat ride isn't a massive upgrade from a terrible coaster. If given the choice between Maxair and a piece of crap standup I'd pick Maxair in a heartbeat, this will absolutely be a better ride than many of the coasters at KD.

That's actually a little disappointing about Giant Wheel (they can't keep a Ferris Wheel working, wtf?) but otherwise no biggie. Thanks again!

Thanks for the tips. Yeah we have no interest in the waterpark but of course I'll be riding the log flume I'm assuming all the coasters are running now right? If there's anything going through any type of prolonged downtime I'll hold off until it's fixed as this will probably be our only trip up there for years.

The problem is if something ridiculous becomes commonplace then eventually it's just accepted as not being ridiculous and then people work on ways to make it even more ridiculous. Fences around inverted coasters shouldn't have to have signs saying that hopping the fence is dangerous because people should be expected to exercise at least a minimal amount of common sense. When they first put those types of signs up people probably laughed at how stupid they were because they were stating the obvious. Now though we've accepted that the signs are necessary and have now reached the point where "DO NOT ENTER" is not a clear enough statement to put on the sign because it still leaves it up to interpretation whether or not someone should enter. People suck and lawyers that pursue these frivolous lawsuits suck and we're all doing this to ourselves because at this point we live in a culture where something always has to be someone elses fault.

I think we're finally headed up to Darien Lake for the first time this weekend. Any insider tips? We probably won't get there at opening (probably early afternoon) but we'll stay until close. How long are the lines on Saturdays generally? Do they have any type of Skip the Line program?

The Flash Pass line was doing double duty as the single rider line the last time I was there. Wait... so are people still confused as to why the policies seem to change on a daily / hourly basis at SFNE, most likely depending on how much of a power trip the staff is on or just due to a complete lack of management? Just chalk it up as... "Because it's Six Flags New England" and move on. Then if you want to play more "Six Flags New England Roulette" go see if you can wait for the front seat on Batman that day if you stand in the yellow lines that goes all the way down the stairs for front seat riders with signs clearly stating that it's a front seat rider line. Bonus points if the ride op tells you that they've "never had" a front seat rider line. More bonus points if they're literally leaning on the sign when they say it.

There we go

Apparently Maxair is 25 feet taller... I'm sure the difference won't be noticeable at all.

Woohoooo!!!! What a massive upgrade from Shockwave! This is exactly what I was hoping for.

These look like great additions!