Airtime&Gravity

Apparently, some patrons have staged a sit-in after a KFC refused to take anymore coupons: http://gothamist.com/2009/05/06/kfcs_denial_of_grilled_chicken_give.php

The dates are: Any weekday through June 26 August 24-28 September 12, 13, or 19 and those are all the bring a friend for free days, but there are also a lot of 1/2 price days

Great update Shane, and it is nice to see stuff from my home park. I love having Great America as my home park, but the park looked great back then even though it was smaller. It is still a great park today, but so many classic rides have been removed. Too bad some of the classic rides were removed after accidents, because if they didn't happen, they might still be operating today. The only exception would be The Edge, but that might have even lasted until Six Flags removed all of the first generation free fall rides.

RatTums

No, I believe the NBA team name comes from the old stockyards, while the coaster has to do with the area of the park it is in. From RCDB: RCDB Link

Never Take Us Alive - Madina Lake

^I wish that were the case, but I highly doubt it. I'm sticking with the water park expansion for 2010, and maybe a new coaster in 2011 for the chains 50th anniversary. Although, I don't know where there is room for a B&M, and no matter what happens, I don't think Six Flags will be in good enough financial shape. A X-car or Eurofighter coaster could provide the same thrill for a fraction of the cost of a B&M.

For the lawsuit to come now, I have to wonder if the city is in some sort of financial problem. Maybe there is a deficit, and the city council figured a relatively easy money would be to collect from Six Flags. Of course, whoever decided to sue is confused if they think that Six Flags just decided to not operate the park for no reason. As you know, the park is destroyed, and if the city council thinks the park can successfully reopen, they are mistaken.

^Even though the parks are open year round, the new rides (coasters at least) don't open until December.

Know Your Enemy - Green Day

Nice pov, and nice little trip report too. The Buccaneer Battle photos were nice, and it should be a nice ride when it opens. Demon has been running well since the red train (the only one running) came out of rehab, so I'm surprised that the corkscrews were so rough. They are still a little rough, but nothing terrible. I know crowds were extremely light yesterday, but ride operations were the complete opposite of how they were the week before. Some rides like Batman: the Ride, American Eagle, and Dark Knight were running at the same capacity, and had short waits again, but the other rides were running at a lower capacity. Even though it was another dead day, it was still more crowded than the previous week, wait times were what you'd see in the summer due to one train operation. Granted, the line wasn't as long as in the summer, but the wait time was. Viper's line went up to the 30 minute mark, but because of one train operation, the wait time was an hour. Maybe I'm just spoiled since Great America usually does run the coasters at or near full capacity, and it was just a surprise to see something that I haven't had to deal with since my trips to Kentucky Kingdom. (the only time I remember experiencing one train operation on a wide scale) End Rant

“When you have 10 kids who are each 40 lbs overweight, what did you expect?” lol Forums/posts on news sites are great places to get a laugh as it seems only stupid people post on them. The posts posted as a response to the article prove it, and it is no surprise that amusement rides have the reputation that they do with people like this thinking they know how the amusement industry works. Also, I'd guess that the ride was made in America, not China. The whole thing of relating carnivals to amusement parks is also scary if people really do think that amusement parks are just as safe as carnivals. I guess the good thing is that all of the injured will recover, but this is just another bad incident for the whole amusement industry. The industry needs to work hard to bring guests in, and incidents like this, with those posters talking about the incident, only hurt it.

Nice trip report and photos, and the park looks really nice. It looks pretty small, but the theming and landscaping look better than a lot of American parks. The only problem I see with the park is that some areas look to have a severe lack of shade, but even with that, this still appears to be one of if not the nicest park in the Middle East.

^,^^well then they shouldn't have chosen to live/develop next to a major theme park. A wooden coaster would be nice it it ever had the chance to get built, but at the same time, I don't think it would fit the park. It would be just like Holiday World adding a major steel coaster.

Shut-Up and Smile : Bowling for Soup

The ride opens on Friday, May 15, so I'd guess media day is the 13. I'm really impressed with how the ride is coming, and it looks like my expectations for it have been exceeded. It should be great for the park, but I fear that you will have to pay to use the water cannons on the shore. If I go back to the park before the ride opens, I'll be sure to get plenty of pictures. Construction should move quickly since there is only a month to go, and there still appears to be a lot to get done.

Right Where We Left Off - New Found Glory

I went to Six Flags St. Louis on the Fourth of July last year, and the park was surprisingly empty. I've also gone to Six Flags Great America on Memorial Day and Labor Day, but the park was pretty crowded both times.

All the Same - Sick Puppies

Titánide

The last coaster I rode was Demon, earlier today. Since it was the red train, just out of an extensive rehab, it was actually a very smooth ride.

Still Waiting - Sum 41

^I'm pretty sure trims have nothing to do with the weather and a ride's performance except in rare instances. In all my rides on Raging Bull last year, probably at least 30, the trims only had a noticeable effect a few times. Even then, I think there might have been only one time when the trims were on hard. So I'd expect it to run well for most of the season unless the park decides to go back to the way the ride used to be. There are at least 20-25 trashcans, that seems to be more than a CF park.

^I only bought a Flash Pass once last year, regular during Fright Fest, but the prices seem higher now than at the start of last season. This year's prices seem to be around the prices of Fright Fest last year, and I figured that prices were raised for Fright Fest because of supply and demand. Maybe prices increased some time in the middle of the season last year, and I just didn't notice. I'm just sure that prices rose between opening day 2008 and opening day 2009. Since Viper is now on the Flash Pass system, I'm more willing to hand over $64 for a Gold Pass. Oh well, nice to see crowds are light, and hopefully I can find the time to go to the park before crowds pick up. There have been zero commercials for the park, so I doubt most of the public knows that the park opened a month early. V2 was down since the train is being rebuilt, and some parts didn't come in until a few days ago.

Nice trip report and photos. It is nice to see so many little improvements since the park was beginning to look a little rough around the edges. Buccaneer Battle looks like it might look a lot nicer than I thought which is good, but the old Splash Water Falls site is still a black eye for that area of the park. It is great to hear Raging Bull is running great again this year, and hopefully it stays that way. I don't know which I'm excited for more, Buccaneer Battle or Vienna Beef hot dogs. The new Cyber Cafe looks nice too. The only bad things I saw were the Flash Pass prices, look probably $10+ more for Gold than last year, and the overkill on the trashcans.