Airtime&Gravity

My season: Already Six Flags Great America - 5 times Indiana Beach Dollywood Holiday World Confirmed Six Flags St. Louis Six Flags Great America - at least two more visits Maybe Mt. Olympus Timber Falls

Friday was a great day, and I just want to thank Robb, Elissa, and Six Flags for putting on such a great event. It's unfortunate the weather didn't work out with the heat, humidity, and rain, but the storm also helped make the event so much fun. It was nice seeing the Chicago Crew as well as all the other members who showed up, and hopefully the event was enough of a success for it to happen again. Thanks day was probably the most fun I've had at Great America(or probably any park), and thanks again for such a great day.

The last coaster I rode was Mystery Mine earlier today, and it easily exceeded my expectations. Great ride at a great park, and it's a definite must ride if you ever visit the park. Photo taken by me

^I knew it would be crowded, but I thought the weather (which was initially overcast and looked like it would rain soon) would keep the crowds down from what they would normally be. The weather cleared up later on, but even then, the crowds seemed closer to something I'd expect to see for Fright Fest or a concert night. Southwest Territory still had some stuff set up from Wednesday's concert(maybe they keep it up for the entire concert series), so I thought I visited on a concert night until I saw the concert dates. That being said, I knew it would still be crowded, but it was far more crowded than I predicted. I don't know how Viper is running since all I did today was American Eagle and Sky Treck Tower due to the lines. When I decided to stay, I initially planned to stay until 5, but with crowds continuing to build, I decided to leave at 3. I usually go on Sundays during the peak season, but since I won't be able to(getting ready for vacation), I had no other option.

July 31, 2010 Update: I initially thought the park wouldn't be that crowded for a Saturday during peak season due to the overcast skies and chance of rain, although, I realized as I arrived, that it would be the complete opposite. In addition to the crowds of families and teenagers that one would expect on a Saturday, there were also a lot of groups visiting that day. I was actually tempted to get a quick coaster ride(although I knew it wouldn't be quick), some photos, and then leave. However, due to not having visited the park since May 30, and not being able to come back tomorrow, I decided to stay longer. New: -All parking is now $20. What was the preferred parking lot has now been split in half between regular and preferred. -Whizzer's now advertising "The Other Guys" -In addition to playing "I like to move it" every hour, they were sometimes playing it half past the hour. The Day -The park is still very clean. -The park was extremely crowded. I don't know it is was unusually crowded due to me avoiding Saturdays in the peak season, but the park was packed. Waits included 2.5 hours for Superman, 1.5 hours for Dark Knight, 1 hour for Little Dipper, Raging Bull in the second queue house, Sky Treck Tower's queue was 1/2 full, Big Easy Balloons had a full queue, and Whizzer's queue spilling in to the midway(improved later in the day). -On a better note, American Eagle was running amazing. The red side was incredibly smooth, and there was a lot of airtime on my rides. -Yankee Clipper was closed -King Chaos was closed -Staff in general seemed were still friendly, and with the exception of the slow operations I saw, seemed to be working hard to deal with the crowds. The only troublesome areas operation wise I saw were Raging Bull apparently running two trains(although one could be out of commission), and Superman appeared to be only running one train. Now, onto the photos: Welcome to the next SFGAM update When I saw RC's queue, I knew I would be waiting a long time for everything. Going up Also, B:TR's queue was all the way in Gotham City Park when I saw it Vertical loop One of the best parts of the ride. Even after 18 years, B:TR is still the park's most intense ride Everyone has this photo I managed to get lunch when no one else was, and immediately after I sat down, a large group came in to eat. Hi Rapids Nerd Little Dipper is a fun little ride, but not worth the hour wait. Luckily I won't have to worry about crowds in 2 weeks. Revolution is a ride I'll never ride again Raging Bull is a fun ride, but I wasn't feeling waiting as long as I'd have to for it. Superman Aerial photo time: Hurricane Harbor B:TR/Overview of park Viper Whizzer S:UF ...and I end this update with a B:TR photo I forgot to place with the others. On the bright side, compared to today, my next visit should be 1000000x better due to it being on a weekday and a TPR day.

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Looks like good news for Valleyfair!: Link

^Dark Knight isn't a bad ride, it was just poorly marketed. My only complaint is that it is a little too fast to see what is going on and the larger drops can hurt sometimes. Although, the speed does make those first switchbacks a lot of fun. Awesome, I can't wait for the event. This event keeps getting better, and it'll be great to take part in a real TPR event. I'm still trying to figure out what a backstage tour of Superman would entail, although I'm sure it will still be a lot of fun. Airtime-should be a busy but very fun day-&Gravity

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Bobbejaanland will add a spinning coaster in 2011. Link

Not much new news other than the mayor of Barcelona is accepting the necessary responsibility. Unfortunately, one of the children injured is still in the hospital(or was as of a few days ago). Link

Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz

No Keeping the breakfast theme, do you prefer McDonald's over Burger King for breakfast?

Breakfast in the Sky opened to the public on Friday, and this article gives a nice description of what goes on. Link $75 doesn't seem like a bad price considering the food and the fact that it's at an amusement park. Hopefully the quality is as good as it sounds though. Hopefully this ends up being a successful venture, and if so, hopefully it will occur again next year.

Alton Towers continues to show how awesome (at least when it comes to creativity) their marketing department is: Link

^I've heard two flume ride rumors. One is replacing Yankee Clipper with one I believe would similar to Shoot the Rapids, and the other is placing a Mack Super Splash on the old Splash Water Falls site. Either one would probably make a good addition to the park, and while I would love to see the park get more flats(a screamin swing or dark ride would be great), the park doesn't really need them. With the exception of Buccaneer Battle, all the water rides have waits, and with the water park reaching capacity daily, Great America should continue to focus on water rides/attractions.

Great news, I haven't ridden S:UF since 2007 due to the lines or me feeling sick when I get off(I think due to the fact it was really hot the previous few times I rode it), so this will provide a nice opportunity for me to ride it again. I liked it a lot before I had some not so enjoyable rides, and hopefully this time will be like those. Also to those considering buying flash passes, I don't think you'll need them. While the park might be crowded, I assume that being a Friday in summer that there will be a lot of camp groups, but I don't think it will be that bad. If it was a Saturday, it would be different, but Robb and Elissa did a great day of scheduling this event.

^According to their website, they have 52 projects in three American countries, with 71% of those projects in the U.S. Although, it appears they do more than just build water slides, so who knows what those stats mean. Link

From what I got the hotel opened a year and a half ago. I saw on the site this "original press release released in ___" for some, but not this one. If this is old, sorry, but I saw nothing indicating it. Edit: Rereading the press release, it appears it did open back in December 2008. Sorry for the not so new news story. Edit 2.0 - Rereading the introduction of the press release again, it appears the article is just mentioned about the resort and how it opened in December 2008. I think it is a new article, it is just covering a somewhat old news story.

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Very nice, the park looks a lot like a Six Flags park. I like all the little touches you've put in the park, especially by Batman: Dark Knight. I don't think I've ever seen someone put the Bat-Signal or Batmobile in a RCT Park. Would it be possible to reroute the queue for the rapids? It looks a little odd going under the ride's lift, and if you can't reroute it, adding some walls along the ride or adding a roof over that section of the queue might help. Other than that very minor thing this park is looking great.

I am confused, how does the layout seem unrealistic? And why is it out of place? The vertical loop for the reasons said above, but then also the area between the vertical loop and the pretzel loop. Also the element before the final over-banked turns. The rest of the layout seems decent, but those sections, which can probably be fixed with over-banked turns, seem out of place. It seems like you are building a realistic park, and the flying coaster in its current form doesn't fit.

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Update: I'm not sure when vertical construction started, but it looks like they still have a lot of work to go. Also, if it hasn't been mentioned, this coaster was purchased used from Loudon Castle. Given that the other coasters in the park are for thrill seekers, this should make a great addition. Hopefully Holiday Park continues and adds a kiddie coaster in the future to further improve their coaster selection for all riders.