TopThrill182

What a mess! I have a feeling there will be a lot of angry USH customers by the day's end (if not already). I went to CityWalk early this morning to see a movie. At ~10:30am, the digital sign at the Lankershim entrance indicated the park was sold out. The line of people waiting to get into the park stretched back into CityWalk. When I exited the theatre at ~1:30pm, I walked by the park's front gate to hear that the park was at capacity. Except for re-entry guests, no one was being allowed in--including people with pre-purchased tickets. The entrance plaza was full of frustrated would-be guests. Walking down the hill back to Lankershim, mobile digital signs alerted drivers that parking was also at capacity. It appeared cars were being diverted directly to the Cahuenga exit. Still, the line of cars hoping to park filled all three lanes of Universal Hollywood Drive and backed up Lankershim in both directions. And apparently some people didn't get or accept the "at capacity" message now displayed on the Lankershim billboard because a huge flood of people were walking up the hill to the park. It appeared the park had to deployed extra personnel in various locations to communicate and discuss refunds (for both tickets and parking) with guests; however, I thought some of the employees sounded a bit gruff/uncaring talking with guests, and the park seemed completely overwhelmed. It's nice to see the park do good business, but i hate to think of all the families turned away today and potential PR problems for the park moving forward. Hopefully the park can find a way to avoid this situation moving forward--either by working to encourage more people to visit during off-peak times or further increasing the park's capacity. A few photos are below. I'll be curious to hear what the experience was like inside the park! Looking down Universal Hollywood Drive Lankershim billboard Looking up Universal Hollywood Drive Line of cars stretching down Lankershim

Yikes. That was a long time for people to be stuck. I assume some people couldn't wait so long to use a proper bathroom... Could this incident affect the ride's future at Knott's? If I remember correctly, wasn't the Windseeker incident the beginning of the end for that ride in CA?

Didn't the park purchase some kind of business interruption insurance after the last water main break? Too bad this had to happen on a Saturday night, though. I'm sure many will be upset.

Wow. Didn't Riptide just reopen at the end of last year after a months-long rehab?! When did it last operate? I expected the ride's days were numbered but didn't think the ride would be removed so soon. Knott's is a beautiful park, but the recent removals of Perilous Plunge, Windseeker, and now Riptide--without anything very thrilling being added to replace them--are making me feel increasingly less inclined (as someone without young kids) to visit Knott's over SFMM. Of course, given how Knott's supposedly had a record-breaking year last year, I'm becoming increasingly dubious new thrill rides will be part of the park's future.

Just got back from the park following the Friday "After Party" event. Considering the $45 I paid for my ticket (a discounted night further discounted thru my employer) and the light crowds, I enjoyed the evening. I entered the park a little after 7:30pm, and by 1am (park close), I had done all the mazes (including three of them twice) and scare zones, the Terror Tram, Jurassic Park, Transformers, and Minion Mayhem. Crowds seemed pretty light. The waits for Insidious, The Walking Dead, and Halloween occasionally hovered around 35 / 40 minutes, but I never saw a posted wait time longer than 40 minutes. I personally never waited longer than 30 minutes, and most mazes had lines less than 15 minutes long for the majority of the evening. Simpsons had a decent line all night, but most other rides were walk-ons. First, the bad: I thought This Is the End was a disaster. I had no idea what the story was given the hodgepodge of characters and props (granted, it's been a while since I've seen the film), and the entire maze looked like a cheap afterthought to me. Nothing in this maze made a positive impression on me. I like the idea of a lighter, "its more weird than scary" maze, but I felt this missed the mark. I thought all the other mazes were very good. Insidious was probably my favorite due to the combination of visually interesting sets and actors that seemed eager to frighten you in ways other than popping out of a curtain. Crimson Peak featured some intricate costumes. The mirrored room in Halloween with a few actors planted among identically dressed mannequins was cool, too. In my opinion, though, none of the mazes had a signature scene or truly standout moment. (Alien came closest with its final scene featuring the large creature.) In years past, I feel like most mazes offered at least one really memorable moment, something this year's mazes--while highly competent--seemed to lack, making one maze feel a bit too much like the other. I enjoyed all of the scare zones. The actors were universally excellent and seemed to possess tremendous stamina. The Dark Christmas zone was my favorite and felt really unique with some thoughtfully assembled mini sets. Exterminatorz was also a lot of fun, and I felt like the sets in this zone also succeeded in telling a compelling story. The Terror Tram felt a bit messy to me (there's just too much dead space on that route to compose anything compelling). I agree it may be time to rethink that attraction entirely. Transformers provided a cool, surprising realistic experience. Minion Mayhem was somewhat fun, but I felt the attraction fell short of the engaging and lovable (or so I'm told) characters it had to work with. Perhaps due to the ongoing construction, I thought the flow of the event seemed a little weird this year. The Upper Lot felt rather sparse. And while well organized, having to take a tram to two of the mazes was a bit of a hassle, for example. Overall, I thought the event was very good but fell short of excellent. While certainly worth the $45 I spent, I'm not sure I would have felt quite so satisfied had I paid $85 on a peak night to wait in 2+ hour lines. (The amount of queues set up for these attractions was scarier than the some of attractions themselves!) I'd love to see the park increase the quantity of mazes and work to further differentiate them from one another. While I realize the park wants to build the mazes around NBCUniversal franchises (many of which I don't follow, admittedly), I think the scare zones prove the park could find success in building a few mazes around more original content. Thanks for a fun evening, USH HHN!

The extension is interesting to me. I wonder how much demand there'll be the week after Halloween, especially since I would think most will have gotten their visits in by now / already purchased tickets for this weekend and that of the 31st. Tickets look pretty cheap for the two additional nights. I may try to go on one of them and hope for lesser crowds!

Even if the park did own some of the above mentioned perimeter land, It seems like the park already has more space than it can adequately maintain. Cyclone Bay has a ton of dead space presently (e.g. Deja Vu's old spot, the abandoned Cold Stone Creamery building among others, etc.), and much of what's left could be razed without offending anyone (e.g. Apocalypse is in a bad state currently, the log ride looks like a leaky maintenance nightmare, and the deforested Ninja could be nearing the end of its lifespan). When you add in the abandoned stunt show stadium, monorail station, and whatever that circular building was by the entrance to the log ride, I feel like the park has plenty of room to work with.

^ My understanding is that, while the ride's fountains used to soak the entire gondola, they've since been reduced to a decorative, non-soaking feature only due to maintenance problems the water was causing. I remember watching riders get drenched on the ride when I visited in 2006, but I think that hasn't happened for quite some time.

^ When was it last open? I can't even remember.

Have anyone canceled their current Membership and re-purchased it at this weekend's pricing? I purchased a Membership during last year's Flash Sale and am paying $5.85/mo. Given how I'm out of the 12 month contract, though, I'm worried my monthly fee could go up. I'm wondering if I should cancel that membership and purchase it again to (presumably) receive the current $5.99/mo. pricing for at least the next 12 months...

What a pleasant surprise! This should vastly improve the ride experience. I never expected the "renovate Revolution" pipe dream to become a reality. But for all the criticism this park gets, I think this decision deserves a lot of praise. It seems the park listened to its customers and took an opportunity to enhance an existing attraction, which they didn't often do before Twisted Colossus. Two remaining questions: Will Twisted Colossus's 4th train be shipped with the new trains for New Revolution? And after New Revolution, will the park send the painters over to Tatsu?

I'm glad to see Cedar Fair move beyond the Soak City name. I always thought it was such bland branding--especially with multiple parks having the same name.

I feared this would happen... I bought my Membership during last year's Labor Day sale, too, and am currently paying $5.85/mo for Gold level privileges. In reading the fine print of the Membership agreement, I wondered if the park might exercise its right to raise that price at the beginning of my second year, and I guess the email you received confirms that. While I admit $6 is ridiculously cheap and empathize with the park for wanting more from me, the following line from Six Flags' website--taken from the Membership FAQ page--feels misleading in the face of perpetual price increases. "Memberships let you keep receiving special offers or discounts forever. When you buy a Season Pass that includes free parking or a free upgrade to Gold, you only retain that free upgrade for one season. With a Membership, you get to keep the benefits of the free upgrade as long as you keep your Membership. A Membership purchased with free parking will always have free parking." While I concede the literal benefits of my pass (e.g. water park access) will presumably stay the same, doesn't the "special offer" / "discount" change if the park begins charging me more for the same benefits? To me, the above line almost suggests you'll pay the same price for your membership "forever." I understand that's not actually the case when you read the fine print; however, when you sign up for cable, the cable company makes it very clear that the price you're receiving is (typically) a one year promotional price and that normal rates will go into effect after the year is over. If a Six Flags Membership operates much the same way, I feel like the parks need to make its long-term pricing clearer. Will Memberships always be charged the current going rate for the park in question's base pass at the time of their 12 month renewal (including free parking, water park access, and the like where applicable)? Will prices go up only once per year, or could they be raised more frequently? I'll be curious to see if / when I receive an email and how much I'll be asked to pay.

I thought SF never really wanted to sell MM? I seem to remember someone in corporate publicly commenting that MM was listed for sale simply because the chain feared no one would be interested in buying the other smaller parks by themselves. Regardless, despite it's flaws, I really enjoy the park in its current iteration.

Any word on how CP's attendance is doing this year? It seems like they've had quite a bit of rain, and the park usually looks pretty dead whenever I check out the webcams.

I thought the park's fireworks show was excellent! I'm hardly a fireworks connoisseur, so I won't venture to say it was the best show in the history of pyrotechnics, but it was much better than what I would have expected from Magic Mountain. It was a full-length (15 minute) display with a number of finale-esque moments that was just as good as many other amusement park and city fireworks displays I've seen. The lasers were a unique touch. Fireworks aside, the park wasn't too packed on Sunday evening. I arrived a little after 6pm and was able to ride X2 (twice), Viper, Tatsu, Goldrusher, Twisted Colossus, and Scream. A few thoughts: -Have they done work on X2's trains? It's been a while since I've ridden it, but I was pleasantly surprise at how smooth the ride was! Other than some moderate rocking in the final raven turn (which is an upgrade from the violent rocking it has been in the past), I thought the ride was exceptionally smooth and comfortable. Plus, most of the onboard audio seemed to be working perfectly. -I really enjoy Viper and think it's the most underrated coaster in the park. I'll be disappointed if / when that ride gets the ax. -Tatsu's operations were terribly slow. I don't see a good excuse for not running three trains during the peak summer season. -Why does Twisted Colossus still have neither a test seat nor lockers?! Without both of those things being added, I fail to see how this ride will duel at all going forward. Way too much loading time is wasted on riders who can't fit (and I feel bad for people who wait in line all that time only to be turned away). And I have never seen people take so much stuff (i.e. loose articles) onto a loading platform. For a company that has been historically strict with its no loose articles policy, I can't understand why they won't enforce such a policy here where it would actually help. -Does Twisted Colossus feel slightly slower to anyone else? For some reason, my ride didn't feel quite as crazy as I remember from opening day. Granted, I rode at night when it was cooler outside. And regardless, the ride is still incredible.

Just called the park, and they confirmed fireworks will go off at 9:15pm tonight (with the rest of the park closing at 9pm).

Cool to hear the park invested so much in the fireworks show(s) this year. (It's pretty awesome they're doing a show Friday thru Sunday). I may stop by this evening to check it out.

I've never operated a ride myself, but don't coasters go down for erroneous sensor errors all the time? I'd be interested in hearing more from an actual ride mechanic, but I'd guess most control system errors / alarms are the result of problems with the control system itself rather than actual safety hazards. Sadly, I could see how that could create a "cry wolf" culture in which mechanics override ride control systems without first properly vetting each and every computer identified "problem."

Most trains have "bumpers" in the front and / or back correct? I'm guessing those aren't designed to absorb this kind of high speed collision? It looks like the train with passengers deformed upon impact. My thoughts are with those in the front row who sound to be most severely injured. Hopefully their injuries turn out to be less severe than some are speculating. While this incident is no doubt tragic (and scary), the fact that this kind of collision happens so rarely speaks well to the reliability of block systems on most coasters. Hopefully the cause of this incident can be determined quickly to prevent something like this from happening again.

^^ Yes, but it didn't seem overly busy. The only people I saw eating there were members of management. As someone else mentioned a few pages back, the bathroom next to the sandwich place is ridiculously small. Even the men's restroom had a line today (perhaps due to there only being one urinal inside).

Maybe the fourth train is being shipped with the supposed color LED flood flights...

^ Makes sense. Hope the person is OK. And yes, the single rider line was not open today (heard an employee telling someone it won't come online for a while). I rode four separate times today. My shortest wait was 2 hours and 10 minutes. My longest wait was 3 hours and 20 minutes, which I think is the longest I've ever waited for a ride!

Not sure if it's related to the guest incident mentioned above, but the ride is down to two trains. Mechanics working on the third. (Dueling actually seemed more reliable with two trains, though. Ha)

Waited 3 hours and 20 minutes for my second ride (including an hourlong breakdown), but it was worth it. My train dueled in perfect synchrony on both laps! The ride is great without dueling, but the dueling really adds to the experience and takes the ride to another level, IMO. The ride became much more disorienting when you're watching another train fly around you. I was scolded by an employee for leaving my assigned row and waiting for the front instead, but she let me stay. Loved the view from the front but probably preferred the additional airtime in the back.