coasterbill

El Toro has the best airtime of any coaster I've ever ridden and it's not even close. There are some other rides that have violent ejector air but because of the restraints you can't enjoy it in the same way as you can with El Toro (Maverick, Bizarro, Skyrush, I305, Magnum XL 200 and Thunderhawk in the front seat come to mind). That doesn't mean the airtime on those coasters isn't enjoyable (Maverick is just an amazing ride in every way, as is I305 and Bizarro but not AS awesome as El Toro) for a pure "put your hands up and fly" kind of ride, El Toro wins by a mile for me. Honorable mention does go to Phoenix though as it's return run of rapid-fire floater hills is one of the most fun parts of any coaster I've ridden. As far as Steel Coasters go I actually really enjoy Apollo's Chariot's first drop in the back seat thanks to that weird pre-drop and Diamondback in the back seat has great airtime as well. Unfortunately if you move up a few seats on both rides it's not nearly as pronounced and it's still nothing like El Toro. ... and yes. I said Thunderhawk. It's a pretty brutal ride but there are 2 points on that ride that deliver insane airtime when you don't expect it at all if you ride up front. Sadly it's not very enjoyable.

When I rode it, it was terribly rough, one of my least favorite coasters in the park I would agree with this... I usually like Arrow's (even Anaconda that's hated by pretty much everyone) but Vortex is terrible and that wild-mouse style turn into the mid course shouldn't be allowed to exist.

I would suggest uninstalling both expansion packs. With the exception of the Double Decker Carousel the objects are all pretty awful... your parkmaking would improve greatly by uninstalling them and working with the other objects, plus more people would be able to view your parks. I do like the bright colors everywhere though, it gives off a very fun atmosphere.

I give the slight edge to Knoebels but I'd put this at #2. I'm a little jealous of eastern Pennsylvania since they probably have the 2 best drop rides in the country within 2 hours of eachother (with Demon Drop and StratosFEAR).

I'm slowly warming up to Dorney but after a day at Knoebels I'm not surprised to hear you were underwhelmed by it. They have a ton of flats but Knoebels has more and they all run better / longer programs at Knoebels except for the Swinging Ship for the simple fact that Dorney has a SeaDragon model which actually provides floater airtime which most swinging ships don't come close to doing. Dorney could benefit greatly from a few unique rides that set them apart from everyone else. Besides Thunder Creek Mountain (because it's a terrain log flume), Demon Drop and Hydra just because of the JoJo roll... they don't really have that. Also, in regards to Talon I think it's a solid ride but it's probably overhyped because it's at Dorney and most people consider it to be much better than all of the other coasters in the park just because there isn't much competition for that title.

I was looking at my top 20 coasters from last year and was kind of surprised as for some reason or another very few mega coasters even made the list. The only ones that did were 1) Millennium Force 8) Intimidator 305 20) Apollo's Chariot Diamondback, Nitro, Bizarro (SFNE) and Superman (SFA) barely miss out.

1) Raptor 2) Montu 3) Alpengeist 4) Afterburn 5) Banshee I've also ridden Great Bear, Chinese Fireball, Hungarian Horntail, Talon, Batman (Great Adventure), Batman (Magic Mountain) and Silver Bullet. I love all of them... every B&M invert is awesome. I was also really close to putting Batman ahead of Banshee for #5 because of it's awesome intensity (something that Banshee is sort of lacking in... though it's more intense than a lot of recent B&M rides) but Banshee has a much longer and more unique layout with some cool elements so I gave it the edge. By the way, I'm shocked to see all of this love for Raptor. I always thought I was in the minority listing it as my favorite invert.

How'd you ride it though? It's one of the smoother slc's. I disagree, I think Mind Eraser is absolutely brutal. Even for an SLC that ride is terrible.

They've stated that they will keep the new one. Going back to the old one makes FAR too much sense.

I agree but very few people will, lol. It throws you around but not in a painful way. Raptor's last turn and cobra roll are awesome.

I've always believed that B&M inverts maintain their smoothness over time better than any other coaster type (besides Schwarzkopf coasters and well maintained wood coasters since their entire track can be replaced as part of routine maintenance). I've never experienced a rattle on any of them except Banshee but it has a different train than the rest of them. The only standard B&M invert I've ever ridden that's not perfectly smooth is Raptor but in my opinion the snappy transitions aren't painful at all and actually give the ride some personality. For this reason it's my favorite invert. Batman the Ride (I've only ridden the ones at Great Adventure and Magic Mountain) is a perfect example of my theory that these rides stay ridiculously smooth for a really long time. While both parks have a ton of smooth rides, I think Batman is probably the smoothest ride in each park (though Goliath is worthy of mention at SFMM) and in each park it's also one of the older coasters in the lineup. It has insane transitions and fast paced, snappy elements but despite this both rides are ridiculously smooth. This is the case with every old-school invert I've ridden. They're just as smooth now as they were the day the opened. All B&M's are smooth but the inverts are on another level.

How can Blue Streak be better than Gatekeeper!?! Just sit back and enjoy the hate parade for Gatekeeper... shorter lines for us.

I don't see the problem with Scream either other than the fact that it's built on a parking lot. I enjoyed the ride quite a bit.

I have an issue with the fact that the stage is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. It looks really bad, way worse than the huge screen ever did.

67% of people are smoking the good stuff. This might be the smoothest coaster I've ever ridden.

That's potentially huge news... the removal of that building frees up an expansion area about the size of Mantis if you assume they'll either build over or remove the Turnpike cars (very likely since they have 2 other car rides) and you factor in (maybe) Wildcat's now mostly empty pad. All of these things are right next to each other.

This ride looks amazing but I can't get over how ugly it is. I mean holy crap what the hell were they thinking? It still doesn't make me want to ride it any less because it looks great but every time I see a picture of it that's the first thing that comes to mind.

I agree with this... especially at Dorney. Even if you're planning on rushing through it one morning and then leaving for Knoebels there's still no need for it because every ride will merge after the merge point anyway. Every ride will be a walk on (at least in the morning) except for maybe the mouse which I suggest riding first (or right after Talon since it's at the front of the park). Don't worry about the standard "go to the back and work your way forward" approach at Dorney. Everything will be a walk on anyway, though if you want to ride Stinger first so you can get the credit before it's usual catastrophic failure that sends people to the hospital / strands them for hours and causes it to be closed all day / season that might be a good idea. My only other tips for this park are to ride Thunder Creek Mountain and Demon Drop. Even if you're going to Knoebels in the same day those 2 rides are worth riding. On the subject of Fastlane it might be a good idea at Kings Dominion too because of Volcano and Flight of Fear. You may not need it but it guarantees a lot more rides on those coasters that ALWAYS have a line. I agree with this but Lakemont is really out of the way. Lakemont is a hilarious dump of a park but Leap the Dips is great and Skyliner is pretty good too. Del Grossos is also right off the highway just a few miles away and is worth whoring out. It's a much nicer park than Lakemont. And as for the Centralia suggestion... absolutely go there if you have time. It's awesome.

I can't wait to ride this next year. I've been looking for an excuse to go back to Carowinds and this is more than I ever could have expected from them. PS: I'm addicted to these live video cams, I hope they're permanent and will be re-positioned once the construction ends. I love the ones Cedar Point has and hope everyone follows their lead.

If you get another chance to ride it please do... I'm almost 100% positive you were riding in Train C and I believe that was a wheel issue that's since been fixed. That train jackhammered through the entire course especially near the back of the train.

I don't think any of these rattle (and we rode them all in multiple seats just this year). Nitro only rattles in Train C and I think that's fixed. That's not really a "B&M Rattle" though, just Six Flags maintenance. The B&M rattle doesn't bother me much. Even on the coasters with an insane amount of rattling (Diamondback and Hydra for example) they're still pretty smooth rides compared to most of what's out there. Plus, very few B&M's rattle in the front so if it does bother you then there's an easy solution in most cases. Hydra is probably the only one I can think of that rattles in every car but it's really not a big deal. Anyway I'm going to sit back and patiently wait for someone to complain about Kumba or Raptor being rough now so I can laugh at them.

That's great news. I've always hated this ride with a passion but whenever I go to Lake Compounce (I've only been there 3 times in the last 15 years) I always take it for a spin. When we went there in October we waited for the very front and were treated to a great ride. If they put a train on Wildcat that helps preserve some of the re-tracking work they did I'll be thrilled because it's running really well.

Millennium Force. They really play up the idea that this is the best ride in the world with a huge sign out front and the enthusiastic and fast ride ops. The ride has mass appeal as it's smooth, fast and just the right amount of intensity that basically everyone loves it (it's not I305 which is too intense for a lot of people but it's miles ahead of a snooze fest B&M hyper like Intimidator at Carowinds). Whether it's true or not people get off that ride believing that they just rode the best coaster in the world and they're always excited about it. It also almost never stacks for too long which helps a lot because nothing can ruin the applause a ride gets like stacking.

None of the animals were harmed. If they were then you'd have a point. And there's no need to get worked up about hypotheticals anyway. The offseason just started, usually we don't start getting that desperate for things to talk about until at least January.

Since Action Park is going back to their old branding to try to drum up some business I would be very disappointed if they didn't buy one of these. It would be a brilliant plan especially if they had one before anyone else in the area.