A.J.

Anyone know if the extension applies to new season passes? This is making me consider buying one.

Keep in mind that the above update is only for Orange / Osceola counties I believe... the governor has yet to commit to a date for everything to start re-opening, though at the same time Florida has not yet extended the stay-at-home order set to expire at the end of the month. I can also confirm seeing hours for Busch Gardens starting in mid-May... Hillsborough county is apparently one of the country's best-performing counties, so they may start to open things up before other counties in the state. Whether the governor says, "counties have the power" or "the state has the power" is to be determined. I would speculate that parks would be required to submit numbers for theoretical and actual capacity and the "restricted" capacity would be based on those. It's called out as a "mandate" as opposed to a "guideline" so the parks will probably have to track it.

We're now getting some new guidelines from Orange County here in Florida, seen here in this meeting, that are subject to change. For theme parks: 6-feet tape markings in queues Regularly wiping down surfaces at random Employees wear face masks Automatic hand santiizer dispensers at ticketing / turnstiles, ride entrances, and ride exits Temperature checks for all employees, those above 100.4 deg F stay home Employees with flu-like symptoms stay home 50% capacity during "Phase 1" as defined by the U.S. government, 75% during "Phase 2" Really typical stuff, there is also guidance for Orange County's other industries like hotels, restaurants and the like. Remember that a region is defined as able to go into "Phase 1" once they have demonstrated a decrease in COVID-19 cases over the course of two weeks, then Phase 2 after another two weeks of decrease. Mayor Demings commented that it is more realistic to see openings in June or later rather than May. For what it's worth, the U.S. projection model was also revised today and says that "relaxed social distancing" won't be possible in Florida until June 21st (a week later than previous).

Oh dear, I wish that more people here in the U.S. were willing to take the time and read / follow instructions. This quote from Everland's guide is particularly poignant - A lot of people draw the line there, and it's unfortunate.

Every time we hear news of a new model predicting when restrictions can be lifted, there's a huge amount of speculation about what date(s) we'll start seeing parks reopen again. For example, a current model is predicting a June 14th date for relaxed distancing requirements here in Florida. However, that same model pegged it as June 11th yesterday, and June 1st a week ago. And, much like we're seeing at China parks right now, there will be at least several weeks before the parks actually open, that will be used for adequate re-training. I don't anticipate any re-opening dates being made public until each park is confident that they can have the situation under control. A park could (in worst case) be in this testing / training phase for months, too.

Meh, the difference is often only a few minutes.

Now hopefully it will be safe to open Carowinds late this summer, and I can have my autumn colors trip back!

The governors of Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina have announced (not jointly, but concurrently) that certain businesses will be allowed to reopen in the weeks ahead. For Georgia, that's stuff like hair salons, gyms, and cinemas, and Governor Kemp is not allowing individual municipalities to keep current restrictions or impose new ones. https://apnews.com/cbf7decd1893f9d9afa3ed66b0f516d3 Meanwhile, Tennessee won't be extending its stay at home order past the end of the month, though large metro areas can still continue to have their restrictions for now. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/20/tennessee-gov-wont-extend-coronavirus-home-order/5166816002/

Obviously any coaster that is now defunct would be great for a video. But I'll also agree with Andy in that I'd love some Nautic Jet video.

Hooray for Barry! You did great! Fenix is excellent. Even having never been to Toverland before, I could tell how well their transformation was going. Dwervelwind kicks butt as well.

This is apparently an image from Friday, but also apparently right as the beaches opened, some are reporting that things have calmed down a bit since then.

I tend to agree with you - the summer season is up in the air but I can see seasonal parks being open for their Halloween and Christmas events.

Kraken is great. The cobra roll is snappy and the zero-G is really fun in the back.

While I do agree that the parks will reopen later rather than sooner, there's also the possibility that they will open earlier and are not expecting enough attendance to justify the additional staffing for Fast Lane.

The foam was changed to something a little softer, and the lap restraint now pops up a little bit once you're stopped on the final brakes.

For what it's worth, Switchback placed at #39 wooden coaster on the TPR Coaster Poll this year, so Dorney Park's new coaster should be great indeed.

Orange County here in Florida is also expecting that restrictions won't be eased until early June.

I don't even think it will be a money thing - it will be a paranoia thing. When the parks re-open around here you'll get three groups of people going - A) the people who are desperate for their vacation and will experience it by any means necessary; B) the enthusiasts and passholders like us who also want to go back but understand the risks involved; and C) the silly "the virus doesn't affect me" people who still physically go to church every week or defy stay-at-home orders in other ways. All the "normal" people, though? I bet that they're going to be thinking twice about putting themselves or their families at risk by going to any large gathering - including amusement parks, theaters, cinemas, concerts, city parks, conventions - until there is an effective treatment or vaccine. We still don't know if people can contract it again after having previously recovered.

B&M really just makes too many consistently good coasters. It certainly isn't a bad reflection on Mako. For what it's worth, Monster and Mako are only separated by half a percentage point in terms of comparison wins. In fact, the top 53 coasters, all the way down to Leviathan, achieved win percentages of 90 percent or more. That means that each of those coasters won 90 or more percent of the head-to-head comparisons they were placed in on people's ballots.

Let's go by manufacturers first, shall we? Top 10 from each coming up! 2019 Top 10 B&M Coasters 1. Fury 325 - Carowinds 2. Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan 3. Shambhala - PortAventura Park 4. Nemesis - Alton Towers 5. Pyrenees - Parque Espana Shima Spain Village 6. Katun - Mirabilandia 7. Nitro - Six Flags Great Adventure 8. Montu - Busch Gardens Tampa 9. Kumba - Busch Gardens Tampa 10. Monster - Walygator Parc 2019 Top 10 Gerstlauer Coasters 1. Schwur des Kärnan - Hansa Park 2. Fury - Bobbejaanland 3. Monster - Adventureland (Iowa) 4. Gold Rush - Attractiepark Slagharen 5. Fluch von Novgorod - Hansa Park 6. Smiler - Alton Towers 7. HangTime - Knott's Berry Farm 8. Takabisha - Fuji-Q Highland 9. Karacho - Erlebnispark Tripsdrill 10. Madagascar Mad Pursuit - Motiongate 2019 Top 10 Intamin Coasters 1. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park 2. Maverick - Cedar Point 3. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure 4. Skyrush - Hersheypark 5. Taron - Phantasialand 6. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion 7. Millennium Force - Cedar Point 8. Mega Lite Coasters - various parks 9. T Express - Everland 10. Goliath - Walibi Holland 2019 Top 10 Mack Coasters 1. DC Rivals Hypercoaster - Warner Bros. Movie World 2. Helix - Liseberg 3. Icon - Blackpool Pleasure Beach 4. Lost Gravity - Walibi Holland 5. Alpina Blitz - Nigloland 6. Time Traveler - Silver Dollar City 7. Copperhead Strike - Carowinds 8. Star Trek Operation Enterprise - Movie Park Germany 9. Blue Fire coasters - various parks 10. Space Fantasy The Ride - Universal Studios Japan 2019 Top 5 Vekoma Coasters 1. Lech Coaster - Legendia 2. Space Warp coasters - various parks 3. Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars - Hong Kong Disneyland 4. Tron Lightcycle Power Run - Shanghai Disneyland 5. Expedition Everest - Disney's Animal Kingdom And, for giggles, of these five manufacturers, the numbers of steel coasters in the top 100: B&M - 35 Intamin - 23 (plus 4 wooden coasters) Mack - 8 Gerstlauer - 6 Vekoma - 4

You got it! 2019 Top 15 Wooden Coasters running PTC trains 1. Phoenix - Knoebels Amusement Park & Resort 2. Voyage - Holiday World & Splashin' Safari 3. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce 4. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer Water World 5. Wooden Coaster Fireball - Happy Valley Shanghai 6. Shivering Timbers - Michigan's Adventure 7. Tremors - Silverwood Theme Park 8. Comet - Great Escape 9. Rampage - Alabama Splash Adventure 10. Beast - Kings Island 11. Raven - Holiday World & Splashin' Safari 12. Legend - Holiday World & Splashin' Safari 13. Boardwalk Bullet - Kemah Boardwalk 14. Twister - Knoebels Amusement Park & Resort 15. Timber Terror - Silverwood Theme Park

You are not the first person to report this problem, we're looking into it.

Okay, as requested by Andy (and with some creative license by myself), here are the top 25 steel and top 25 wooden coasters organized by ridership. They're in order, but I won't give the exact numbers; I'll round down. 300 riders or more Millennium Force 200-299 riders El Toro (Six Flags Great Adventure), Maverick 150-199 riders Fury 325, GhostRider, Intimidator 305, Phoenix (Knoebels), Skyrush, Steel Vengeance, Twisted Colossus, Voyage 100-149 riders Goliath (Six Flags Great America), Lightning Rod, Mystic Timbers, Superman the Ride, Wicked Cyclone 90-99 riders Boulder Dash, New Texas Giant, Outlaw Run, Storm Chaser, Twisted Timbers 80-89 riders Intamin Mega Lite coasters (combined), Ravine Flyer II, Taron 70-79 riders Wodan Timbur Coaster 60-69 riders Balder, Expedition GeForce, Gold Striker, Goliath (Walibi Holland), Helix, Mine Blower, Prowler, Shivering Timbers 50-59 riders Renegade, Troy, Twisted Cyclone 30-39 riders Flying Dinosaur, Wildfire (Kolmarden) 20-29 riders Coaster (Playland), RailBlazer, Tremors, Untamed (Walibi Holland), Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster 12-19 riders (12 is minimum for ranking) Cu Chulainn, Colossos Kampf der Giganten, DC Rivals Hypercoaster, Lech Coaster, Medusa Steel Coaster, T Express, Wooden Coaster Fireball

We'll look into it. We had over 50 riders for Wildcat, so there's definitely a consensus. A roller coaster could be low-ranked for various reasons outside of outright roughness - for example, it could just be boring for most riders. I haven't ridden it myself so I don't know.

Thanks for the compliments, but this was a team effort - with Robb leading the charge and Chase doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff to make the poll work the way it does. Noted! We'll look into it, it might be analyzing the top 50 in order of ridership or something. We can't say with certainty where they would rank unless they have the ridership. Based on our current projections, Zadra would have placed in the top 25, and Maxx Force in the top 100 for sure. I'd file it under being "just a new coaster" as opposed to "the coaster everyone's been waiting for" that is Steel Vengeance. I anticipate it and Steel Curtain will get rankings on the 2021 poll at the latest. We can't do that, because of the low ridership, it's tough to get an estimate / projection apart from "top XX". We'd rather cut them off completely than include something that might come across as inaccurate. It's unfortunate because a lot of those coasters, especially some of the newer rides in China, have been extremely well-received. In some cases, Wooden Coaster A would be ranked above Wooden Coaster B in the wooden poll, but it would be the other way around on the combined poll, if that makes sense. We didn't want any ambiguity there. We included the "hyper space warp" variant found at several Fantawild parks with the launched one this year. Right now, anyway, we believe that the difference between the "normal" and "hyper" variants is not really more significant than, say, Mind Eraser vs Blue Tornado (with the bonus helix). Those are both SLCs, these are both space warps.