coasterbill

This is absolutely a coaster.

Last year we were waiting for Maverick to open one morning (on Labor Day weekend) because it was down due to weather. The line was all the way back to Chick Fil A and we only felt a drop of rain every few minutes. A lot of people in line had their hands out trying to see if it was even raining but they still didn't open the ride for almost an hour. When they did open the ride it was still drizzling a little just like it had been the whole time it was closed. Other than Canobie, I've never seen a park with a more ridiculous rain policy.

Out of curiosity what is King Island's rain policy? Is it as ridiculous as Cedar Point's? We're planning on going next weekend and while it's way too early to expect an accurate forecast I thought it would be good information to know before booking a hotel.

I was going to ask this question too. When we were there it was at night in February where it was in the low 50's (the employees explained to us that Floridian's refer to that as "cold" but since we had just run away from over a foot of snow we weren't concerned). I assumed that the lack of attendance was due to the weather. That being said in every trip report I see from this park it seems like it's just as empty as when we went. Hopefully this is just a coincidence. I hope so because we loved Fun Spot! PS: This isn't the case with the Kissimmee location at all, they seem to draw great crowds.

Shhhh, be careful not to talk like that when you get closer to the park. Iron Dragon's rain policy is to close the ride immediately if anyone in the state of Ohio mentions the word "rain". The same goes for Dragster. (In all serious though Cedar Point does have the worst rain policy of any park I've ever been to... but the good news is the rides do re-open quickly once the rain stops and it's a good excuse to go for a walk down frontier trail, check out the great arcade on the main midway or eat crab fries).

Not really, El Toro is running significantly rougher this year than normal. Hopefully they do some more re-tracking in the offseason. The bottom of the hill before the turnaround needs some work. The secret to a smooth ride on El Toro is the same as getting a smooth ride on most wood coasters. Just ride it in the middle row of any car (not on a wheel seat) and it will deliver a perfectly smooth ride. The best seat on the train (in my opinion) is the second to last row... so the middle row of the last car. By the way, I wanted to echo what you said... even a rough ride on El Toro isn't that rough. It's still awesome, but the ride is getting a little rougher.

The first few hours of any operating day are pretty slow, so you should be able to get plenty of rides in. After that the lines will get much longer though.

If I had to be perfectly honest the Boomerang actually does have a pretty cool, forceful layout. I'd love to ride one with these types of trains as the ride would probably be very enjoyable with no head banging and less restrictive restraints.

I don't know much about Universal as I've only been there once (earlier this year) but isn't it more likely that they'd just put something else in the same theater since it can probably be converted to show anything they want it to? I don't think they'd have any reason to remove the building.

^ woolandmammoth is actually probably correct as Lex Luthor operates the same way. The cars raise in unison. That being said I don't see why that's a problem. I actually think this ride will have very good capacity for a drop tower. It won't quite be an Intamin gyro drop but it's definitely not too shabby. I'm starting to get really excited for this ride.

Since opening day they've had a promotional truck blocking the entrance of Drop Tower which hasn't been open once. Today it looks like there's some activity in the ride area and the truck has been moved. Hopefully this is a good sign.

Well I'm sure the person on the phone was at least slightly flustered that the blind person wanted to know where to see the fireworks show. Not to be insensitive, but really? They could have told her just about anywhere in the park, and it wouldn't make a difference. And I highly doubt the person on the phone was trying to imply that the best place for a person with a disability watch from outside the park, only that they might find less crowds there. You're probably right. My first thought was that they probably suspected a prank call. Like you I don't mean to be insensitive but why would a blind person want to watch fireworks?

That looks awesome!

I see the picture and the live webcam and what I'm saying is that it looks exactly the same to me as it did yesterday. That's why I was asking what I was missing. I'm not saying you're wrong but looking at the pictures I'm still wondering what I'm supposed to be looking for that was there yesterday but isn't today. Also, did you really just copy and paste the same over-the-top post on 2 websites?

I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say I hope you're right.

It looks like they're all still there...

Any idea what train was going this? Nitro at Great Adventure is having the same issue this year with train C. The other 2 trains are smooth as glass and that train is unimaginably bumpy and uncomfortable. I'm only asking so I can avoid that train when I'm at the park.

By the way I just looked at the webcam and it looks exactly the same as it did yesterday... what am I missing here? It doesn't look like they removed anything.

^Well that's a pretty ultra-specific timeframe and sequence of events considering you just pulled all of that out of nowhere. And besides the wild speculation, don't you think you're overreacting just a tad?

This thing looks like a real winner, and it's nice to see such fast transitions and abrupt airtime hills coming from Morgan.

At least this one's not Intamin's fault. No big surprise here honestly, this winter was horrible.

Here's some great footage of the new ride. I can't wait to check this out.

Great report, especially the video.

I normally agree with this sentiment when people post things about safety or structural integrity of a ride but I don't think there's anything wrong with coming to the reasonable conclusion that a record breaking permanent coaster can't go from the state it's in now (the lift hill isn't done, most of the first drop isn't there and the signature barrel roll element isn't there) to being open with riders in 2 weeks. It's sister coaster (Outlaw Run) started testing around February 9th and didn't open until March 15th. This ride isn't even at that point yet because it doesn't have a lift hill, first drop or barrel roll. Is it possible that Outlaw Run was just built quickly and they had a lot of extra time to test it? Of course. Was Outlaw run more of a prototype than Goliath? Yes. Can they shorten the testing phase? I'm no expert on that, but my gut says probably.. but even if they cut it in half it still wouldn't be open on time, and that's even if all of the track work was done today and it's not.

I think my opinion differs from a lot of people's but I prefer staying off point at a cheaper hotel. Regarding your post, I guess it depends on your definition of a budget motel. Generally if I'm staying at a cheap hotel (which I do frequently) I only stay at a chain as I feel like they have some standards they need to meet (albeit minimal) to be able to remain part of the franchise. I also read reviews on multiple websites before booking a hotel as 2 hotels with the same name can differ greatly. Generally my thought about hotels is that if I'm not going to be spending any time there, then I don't care about anything as long as the hotel is clean, quiet and safe. All I need is a place to sleep because I'm going to leave when I wake up and not get back until I'm ready to take a quick shower and immediately go to sleep. If I were going to the beach or something then I would want a much nicer hotel because I'll be spending a lot of time in the room. I absolutely understand the benefits of staying at Cedar Point but for us it's not worth the cost. We'll be at the park from 9am to about 11pm on a standard day (assuming we get in line for something like Millennium Force right before closing like we always do), so the amenities offered by the Cedar Point hotels don't matter (unless you don't have a platinum pass and want the early entry). We won't be spending any time at the pool, the hot tub or looking at the lake because it's going to be dark. The only benefit is the location but I don't think a 20 minute drive will kill anyone. Hotel rates vary greatly across the country and we found the area around Cedar Point to be ridiculously cheap. You can get a pretty decent hotel room for less than $50 per night. When we were there we stayed at the Super 8 near the Ohio Turnpike (yeah I know, but not all Super 8's are created equal, this one is pretty nice) on Labor Day weekend for 4 nights for less than $200 and it was great. We do pretty well, but we are on a fixed income... and with the money we saved on the hotel we could spend it on Fast Lane Plus instead. I'd consider that a much better use of the money.