christianscoasters

Gatekeeper and Valravn still have bins. Not true. Valravn's bins are very small and are only for shoes. GateKeeper's are a little larger but only fit shoes and small items. Both rides require bags, stuffed animals, cups, etc to be placed in a locker at the entrance.

Here's a couple [crappy] pics I just took of the second inversion.

^I ended up doing what you did by splitting up flights to save money. I needed to fly from Barcelona to Toronto, but the only available flights were SUPER expensive and usually had 1-2 long layovers. I ended up booking a cheap flight from Barcelona to Paris for about $100 or so on Iberia, then a flight on WOW from Paris to Toronto (with a layover in Iceland) for about $200. Whenever anyone asks me for help with booking airfare, I always tell them to check out multiple airports they wouldn't usually think of. Sometimes the savings is worth it! As for WOW Air, I have yet to fly them, but I will in September. I have several friends who have flown on it and they love it! As long as you know what to expect beforehand (such as baggage fees, only a free personal item, etc) then you won't have issues. They said the seats were comfy, there were USB ports in their seats to power their electronics, and the service was fine. I've noticed that WOW doesn't usually have cheap fares if you do a basic search. However, they're always running promotions if you subscribe to their email newsletter. Like I said, I paid only $200 one-way, Paris > Toronto. I'm not gonna have too many complaints when the fares are that cheap. It's definitely not for everyone, but for those who wanna see the world but don't have the means to do so, the options are getting better!

Going along with cheap airlines.... If you don't mind a crash or two, Spirit gets you to your destination pretty cheaply. I've flown to Orlando 3 times, spending $100, $68, and $75, all roundtrip prices. I travel light, as coasterbill suggested, with just a small carry on. Last year, I took a day trip to Six Flags over Georgia because of Spirit. Flew on Spirit from Cleveland to Atlanta for $75 and arrived at about 9 am. Flew back the next day! If you're looking to go international, you can look into WOW Airlines, a relatively new airline based out of Iceland. I was looking for random fares and found them as cheap as $196 RT to London, and I think it was from Pittsburgh??? It was somewhere in the Northeast, can't remember. Also, if you're fortunate enough to live within a good driving distance of Toronto, fares to Europe are super cheap out of there. I'm going to Germany this September and I'm saving about $500 by flying out of Toronto instead of Cleveland or Detroit. Totally worth the 5.5 hour drive.

Most of the complaints come from entitled enthusiasts who can't bare to wait an extra five minutes to get into a park. Then they cite terrorism and how if someone wants to harm people, they will, completely disregarding that preventative measures could prevent an attack or even just slow it down enough in time to figure something out. Everyone keeps saying metal detectors are there to stop terrorism and won't do anything... But has anyone considered that threats to safety don't always come from potential terrorists, but just stupid drunk idiots who pull a pocket knife after being told a ride is closed? Or those people that feel the need to bring a gun every where they go (LOL) and it accidentally discharges, be it on a ride, in a queue line, wherever? Do people even consider these threats? People bring all sorts of crap to parks that they shouldn't be. There are incidents that happen at parks that don't make the news or social media. So just because no one has committed a terrorist attack at an amusement park doesn't mean there haven't been preventable incidents in the past that you never knew about. I believe that one less asshole with a knife at an amusement park, the better! Leave it at home.

^Surely there's a possibility of it. Think about how Top Thrill Dragster has stalled at the top. It has happened several times. When it comes to launched coasters, it's much easier for a rollback/valley/stall than most traditional chain lift coasters because launch speeds can vary ever so slightly, but just enough to make a difference. If I remember correctly, Kingda Ka has fin brakes on the top of the tower to where if the train is going slow enough, it will just roll back instead of balancing. Can anyone confirm this? I've heard it before but I can't remember from where. Anyway, if it could happen on a top-hat after a launch, it could happen on a vertical loop after a launch as well.

^You'll be fine. It's a great time to visit.

I have my most anticipated trip ever this year! I'm going overseas for the first time. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I live in Sandusky, so I'll be at Cedar Point plenty of times. I'm visiting Universal Orlando and SeaWorld in two weeks. I'll also be visiting: -Canada's Wonderland -Holiday Park -Europa Park -Phantasialand -Efteling -Hansa Park -Tivoli Gardens -Grona Lund -Liseberg -PortAventura/Ferrari World. In addition, I'm considering a Kentucky Kingdom/Dollywood trip.

If anyone is planning on making a visit to CP May 11-25 (Sundays-Thursdays) they're running a promotion for rooms at Express Hotel (formerly Breakers Express) if you're a passholder (using the code PASS). I'm not sure if its valid for all passes or platinum passes, but for fun I looked up a one-night stay and it was $60 instead of the usual $100. So that's 40% off. Not bad at all. The renovations look great!

I'm about to have a heart attack over here. Haha. First Colossus, then El Toro, then T-Express. I'm visiting Liseberg for the first time this year and I'd be devastated if Balder were closed too! Hopefully we find out soon what's really going on with El Toro and T-Express.

^What he said. If you can avoid opening day, do so. The crowds are pretty large anyway.

It's been a few years since the 4Th of July has been obnoxiously busy. Busier? Yeah. But it doesn't compare to Saturday's in July/August and Halloweekends. It sells out every now and then during the summer season, especially after the $30 ticket special CP runs in the middle of summer.

I'm hoping someone could help me out here. I'm flying from Stockholm to Barcelona on Saturday, September 16. We are visiting PortAventura the next day (Sunday). Then, we fly out of Barcelona on Monday. Quick trip, but it's all we could squeeze in. Because our flight is pretty early on Monday morning, we figured it's best to get a hotel in Barcelona for two nights so we can explore the city, and just take a train to and from PortAventura on Sunday, that way we can easily get to the airport so early Monday morning. Does anyone have any experience going to PA from Barcelona via public transportation? It's pretty new to me, honestly. Any suggestions on what station and if there's an easy way to get from the station to the parks? Thanks in advance

I am LOVING the new generation of Vekoma loopers! I hope we see some start popping up in the states. They actually look rather... intense?

I have a weird attitude about Millennium Force. It's not in my top ten, but I DO think it deserved the title of "Best Steel Coaster in the World" for all of the years it held it. While it's not my personal favorite, it encompasses everything a coaster should be, for everyone to enjoy. My number 1, 2, and 3 coasters are Outlaw Run, Cannibal, and Boulder Dash, in that order. Those are vastly different rides than Millennium. But it's very fast, very forceful, and it DOES have airtime (it can be weak in the mornings before it warms up, but it's pretty great after that). It keeps great pacing throughout the entire ride, as evidenced by the great airtime on the bunny hill next to the station. Millennium Force is one of the very few, if not the only ride, where I'm going up the lift hill and actually think, "Wow, this is a really big deal." Think about the station music, the guests waiting to ride, the train returning to the station in cheers, the whoosh of the train next to the station. There's this atmosphere that the ride is a force to be reckoned with, no pun intended. You feel like you're flying the whole ride! The best part is that it's thrilling enough to scare people, but not too intense that you can't keep re-riding it. It's just the perfect mix of speed, force, airtime, length, and overall EXPERIENCE.

In rides, there's no such thing as "picking up a shift." Each ride has an absolute minimum number of hosts that it must have to operate. The schedules are made a week in advance, so they know when they're short. When they're short, they'll pull someone from another ride that has extra hosts to make up for the deficit. There is such a thing as "extra hours" which is usually in other departments, but in rides, you're usually working 60+ hours a week and it would be pretty crazy to try and work more. You don't want to overdo it. Cross-training happens frequently and is pretty easy. You'll probably get asked to work another ride for a bit and if you don't, you can usually ask.

Gotcha. About how far does the train drop down the lift? The original speed, 6.8 mph seems really slow and doesn't seem like it's actually falling far. I can run 6.8 mph if I really try! Lol. 24.6 mph is obviously faster but still seems like a pretty small drop. Regardless, it's still my most anticipated coaster I'm riding later this year. It's a pretty "unknown" coaster here in the states, as most European rides are, but even my "coaster friendly" friends had no idea about it.

I've always been under the impression that it was a freefall backwards down the lift, albeit a short one. Is that the case? Or is it a controlled drop?

^Both will be fairly busy, but 25/26 will be far less busy than 11/12. That's peak vacation time.

El Toro used to be my number one coaster. A day later, I rode Boulder Dash... And then I had a new number one! The POV's don't do it justice. Every hill is filled with airtime, every curve throws you, it's an insane ride. It never, ever lets up and keeps its pacing the entire ride.

Good luck staffing a winter event at CP... Lol.

I hope this works out well for the hotel. There's a lot of potential there. I've always referred to Maui Sands as the "straight to DVD" of Sandusky indoor water parks.

Rougarou and GateKeeper are my favorites to work. B&M's are the best!

^Also take into account the angle of the launch on Lightning Rod. While I haven't ridden it, I've ridden Incredible Hulk at IoA and Wicked at Lagoon, both having upwards launches and it feels much, much stronger than a flat launch.

Personally, I LOVED it! I just wanted to keep riding it over and over. The vest is a little tight so I wouldn't be able to marathon it without taking a break but other than that, an absolutely awesome ride. We rode it multiple times while we were there and even stayed on without getting up a few times. We rode Goliath well over 10 times that day and Blue Hawk was really the only other ride I wanted to keep riding! Not to say other coasters in that park aren't great, but there's just something awesome about Blue Hawk. Haha.