TopThrill182

Is the park crowded today? Thinking of heading up for the evening.

Wow! Looking sharp. Those are some of the coolest looking trains I've seen. Has it been confirmed how many trains TC will have? I, too, am curious to see what the "Screampunk" district brings. Hopefully they'll repaint Scream, and maybe they'll even replace the asphalt underneath with some kind of drought tolerant landscaping?!

Back when SFWoA was a thing, there were plenty of reports, even from park employees, of rides being closed as a cost cutting measure. I don't think it's any secret that "cheapness" is an important part of SF culture.

Just saw a photo update of the park, including some shots of Jet Stream. Am I the only one who thinks this ride looks in bad shape? The flume appears to be in disrepair. I wonder how much more life it has, honestly. If only this could have been removed instead of Log Jammer, though I suppose the front of park location was in higher demand.

Can someone explain what steampunk is and why it's so significant? I don't quite get it...

As skeptical as I was for this announcement, I like the theme surrounding this attraction a lot. The backstory is clear and compelling, and I like how the ride fits so well into the Boardwalk area (and the amusement park in general). I, too, was hoping for something not so dependent on "screens," but the press release makes it sound like there will be physical 3D sets in-between the digital scenes, which would be nice. I'm still dubious, however, that Triotech has the skills to pull off a truly great attraction. Again, I haven't been on Guardian, but it seems well below the quality of dark rides found at Disney / Universal. Of course, I suppose that's to be expected when, as the LA Times article points out, Knott's is trying to compete in a product category dominated by much heavier spenders. I remain curious as to what Knott's overall strategy is. Are they trying to position themselves as a more affordable Disneyland / USH? They seem to be going after the same segments as their competitors, with one right down the street, while spending considerably less in doing so.

Was anyone so enthralled by Wonder Mountain's Guardian that we should be looking forward to this announcement? ha I haven't been on Guardian, so please interject if you feel differently, but I'm pretty unimpressed by the attraction based on the reviews I've read and POV's I've seen. (I understand the attraction is hard to capture via POV, but still, it looks like a subpar video game.) A dark ride would be great for Knott's, but I don't get the sense that CF / Triotech know what they're doing on this front yet...

I had an absolute blast at the Farm last night (Halloween). When I first visited Knott's Scary Farm in 2010, I was disappointed with the event, largely because I felt it valued quantity over quality. This year, however, I felt the event was of a much higher caliber, even if a bit smaller, which made it far more enjoyable. Some notes: Mazes - Tooth Fairy and Forevermore were fantastic. They had incredible sets (I particularly loved the "Deer (sic) Tooth Fairy" notes surrounded by bloody coins in Tooth Fairy and the strobe-lit, tar & feathered dining room scene in Forevermore), and I enjoyed how they were supported by clear and compelling stories. - Gunslinger doesn't seem to be well liked by many, but it was one of my favorites of the night. I thought the Western theme was unique and a lot of fun (the various large-scale horse props, dead and alive, were novel), the set was beautiful, and the air gun effects were unexpected. - Dominion's set wasn't anything to write home about, sure, but I thought it was a very competent implementation of an inoffensive vampire theme. And what Dominion lacked in novelty, it made up in scares. This maze had some of the best scareactors I've seen. They were very competent at resetting between scares, and I found it difficult to discern live actors from inanimate props (I was particularly startled by a bust on a mantelpiece that suddenly opened its eyes and came towards me). - Voodoo was visually stunning, though not at all the traditional actors-jumping-out-at-you maze I was expecting. As others have said, I think Voodoo can best be described as a less disciplined immersion into a highly themed environment, combining the freedom of a scare zone with the themed specificity of a maze into an interesting hybrid. My biggest issue with Voodoo was how short the experience was. But make no mistake, this was by far the most visually impressive and realistic Halloween attraction I've ever seen. I truly felt like I was walking through a New Orleans swamp. - Black Magic had a number of compelling elements (the tilting knife-throw walls were cool), but I experienced this one after midnight when the actors seemed to be both thinning and tiring out. It didn't help that my party was the first to enter the maze after a break in the crowds (for some odd reason, this was the only attraction to have no line at this point in the evening; perhaps it's due to the obscure location?), and we seemed to catch many of the few remaining actors off-guard. - Trick-Or-Treat was as fun as I remember it being 3 years ago (not many scares here, but a number of high-quality, holiday-relevant themeing elements--especially the flying witch and the end--make this an enjoyable experience). Pinocchio Unstrung didn't make much of an impression on me, largely due--in my opinion--to an incoherent storyline. Scare Zones - The Ghost Town scare zone was your typical monsters-in-the-fog experience, but I thought it was executed wonderfully. The fog was thick and the pathway was just narrow and dark enough to make this feel more intimate, and, dare I say, claustrophobic, than other iterations of the same. (At the end of the night, a heavy rain caused many, myself included, to head for the exit. While walking through Ghost Town, I was completely surprised by the fact that the fog was still going strong and the actors were still doing their thing. The pathway was so crowded with guests headed out of the park, it was nearly impossible to differentiate monsters from the general public, which led to quite a few unexpected scares and screams. It was a very cool, albeit wet, experience.) - In CarnEVIL and Fiesta de Los Muertos, I loved how the actors would often group together and either gang up on a small group of guests or put on a mini-show amongst themselves (for example, there seemed to be a simulated brawl in Fiesta at one point involving all of the actors in a big circle). Whereas most scare zones I've experienced seem intent to create pell mell by diffusing actors over the entire area, I thought these moments of organization actually proved quite enjoyable and gave their respective areas a lot of energy. Special Experiences - I opted not to pay for Trapped, and my group didn't make it over to Special Ops in time to get a return ticket. While the latter attraction seems to have an interesting concept, its lack of capacity seems to be a big hindrance, and I would be opposed to the park wasting too many resources on attractions that only a small percentage of park guests are able to enjoy each night. - The Witch's Keep is the one attraction that failed miserably this year, in my opinion. The witch theme clashed with the Old West theme in such a way as to make the whole attraction seem a jumbled, chintzy mess. The bizarre incongruities (realistic looking mining figures across the way from cheap plastic skeletons and Party City-esque green flood lights) were too self-reflexive and prevented me from focusing on anything else. While the idea of a sit down Halloween-themed attraction remains interesting, especially in the absence of a holiday-themed Timber Mountain Log Ride, and while I do concede that Calico Mine Ride provides a canvas with many possibilities, the park seems to have too much invested in this newly rejuvenated attraction to commit to properly transforming it for Halloween. General - In 2010, I remember the maze "ushers" (I'm not sure what the non-actor employees inside the mazes are actually called) wearing bright yellow jackets and having their flashlights turned on at all times. While I understand the need for safety and security, the employees' garishness distracted me from the attractions themselves. I was pleased to see the employees wearing dark blue jackets and only turning their flashlights on when necessary this year, which allowed for greater immersion in the mazes. - I purchased a discounted Passholder ticket online but was surprised when I was allowed to enter without anyone ever checking to see if I had a Pass. - I was interested to see that Knott's seems to allow a continuous flow of people through their mazes (with the exception of Trick-Or-Treat, where time is occasionally taken to close the front door and ring the door bell). I feel like most parks send guests into mazes in small groups, allowing areas to clear and reset before the next group comes in. I like how the continuous flow of people allowed the lines to move much faster (I was able to experience all of the mazes in one night, despite heavy crowds, which simply isn't possible at most parks without front-of-the-line pass), and I actually felt like having more people in the mazes created a sensory overload of sorts that allowed me to be more surprised by actors and props. This event was a ton of fun, despite the rain, and I felt the $33 ticket price for Passholders made it a tremendous value. I love the fact that the park seems to be focusing more on quality now rather than quantity, and I'm curious to see how the park's various experimental experiences evolve over the coming seasons. I can't wait to attend next year!

^ They've already started repainting it?! They could probably have this thing open before the end of the season, if they wanted to. ha

^ Remember, though, that Europa was only one percentage point behind CP in last year's awards. It seemed to have been on a surge for a while.

Haha I love how Gary Slade had to hold up the card to prove Europa-Park won!

Just purchased a Membership. After realizing I paid $130 for my Gold Season Pass last year, I figured the $70, as part of the current offer, was a pretty great price. I'm hoping the Membership will allow me to lock in that annual price (which translates to $5.85 a month) for a few years to come. Granted, the Membership Agreement gives Six Flags the power to change / cancel just about anything without notice, but I'm hoping the park lives up to its word and allows the Membership to be kept at the current terms for as long as I want! Not that I'm complaining, but how can the park afford to sell these so cheaply?

Agreed about the Labor Day Season Pass sale. Is anyone opting for the membership, though? Other than the monthly payment part, is a benefit of the membership that you can lock in pricing and benefits for years to come?

This looks fun! I, too, was expecting something on a larger scale given all the hype surrounding the announcement, but oh well. I actually really enjoy Green Lantern, so I think this--being that it's supposedly more comfortable and all--should be a blast, too. I'm a little sad to see Rockville reduced, though. On my one and only visit to the park a few years ago, I thought that whole area seemed really cool. Hopefully at least some of Rockville can remain.

I've only been to Great Adventure once in my life, but I find this addition incredibly bizarre. As others have said, I can understand SFA getting one of these, but this seems like an awfully tacky investment for a park of GAdv's caliber. Are these Larson rides permanent installations, or do they still have that modular, carnival look? Marketing this as a coaster is a bit ridiculous, but hey, if it brings more people into the park, that's good for everyone involved. And when you judge this as a flat ride, which it is, i guess it isn't so bad... haha

Regarding the length, it seems about half of the ride is being axed in this transformation. Whereas the original version's second turnaround was to the right--leading to more hills, a third turnaround, and even more hills before the brake run--Twisted Colossus's second turnaround is to the left, leading immediately to the second lift / the brake run. So quite a bit of track is being lost here. This explains how two 4,300 foot tracks have been combined to equal less than 5,000 feet. I'm so incredibly stoked for this ride, regardless, though. While I'm not sure this is my favorite RMC layout I've seen (it seems to retain a more traditional out-and-back style that is, ironically, less "twisty" than some of the company's other creations), the dueling aspect of this coaster is incredible, and I think the idea of combining the two sides into one is brilliant. I also love the green and blue track against the white supports, and the "Top Gun" stall should be an awesome moment. And it looks like a double-down drop will finally return to Colossus? The pre-lift bunny hills look very cool, too, but are we sure we can take those seriously? haha I feel like the videographer is playing with us there... I think the ability of this coaster to duel on an ongoing basis will depend on how many trains the park purchases for the ride. As others have said, there need to be at least three trains operating at any given time in order for dueling to occur. But let's not forget about how long the park seems to take when doing train rehab. If only three trains are purchased, won't one usually be out of service? And as much as I'd like to believe in the park purchasing four trains, I'll believe it when I see it. (Full Throttle, anyone?) Otherwise, though, I have no doubt the synchronization can be worked out through conscientious ops or variable lift motors. The "Back Alley" renovation is actually really exciting to me, too! That area is in desperate need of a refresh. I assume the parking lot underneath Scream! will be replaced with grass, and the ride given a repaint? ha In all seriousness, that ride has become a major eyesore, what with the faded paint, crumbling parking lot foundation, abandoned photo booth, et. al. Hopefully something is done to spruce it up a bit. Off to buy my 2015 Season Pass!

Ride Ninja today and wow--I had no idea they removed so many trees following the incident. I wonder if a problem was discovered with the soil (or something), or if the park is just being extra cautious.

So is Colossus open all day today for passholders? How crowded is the park? Maybe I'll head up later. I agree this seems very weird considering how yesterday was so strongly promoted as the final day.

Sorry if I've missed this, but is the rumored Sunday passholder event of thing? I'd like to get one last ride in, but I'm not sure I want to battle the long lines there seem to be today (TPR's Twitter is claiming over 2 hours!). Ha ha

Although I haven't done too much research on Guardian Mountain, I was less than impressed after watching a(n admittedly crappy) POV of the ride online. And hasn't the thing received only so-so reviews? I'd love to be proven wrong, but I think CF's dark ride needs a bit more development before it's ready for prime time.

Maybe RMC could also plant some grass under Scream while they're working on Iron Colossus? But wow, this is potentially very exciting news! Iron Colossus has been rumored for so long, it's weird to finally witness a concrete step in that direction. While I agree that the announcement of Colossus's closure seems similar to other pre-RMC transformation announcements, I'm not going to get too excited until I see an official announcement. Couldn't the park simply tear Colossus down and build something completely unrelated in its place (like how they did with Log Jammer)? Or, even if the park retains the Colossus structure, there's no guarantee RMC will use all of it in a transformation. While a racing coaster or a single-track wonder with the title of "longest coaster in the world" would certainly be awesome, it would be incredibly expensive, too--and SFMM has proven rather stingy as of late (cough cough not purchasing a third train for FT cough cough). Perhaps, if this comes to pass, RMC will only use a portion of the structure and build something a bit less spectacular. With the ride closing before the end of the busy summer season, I agree that the park seems intent to do something with Colossus's site. But what that something is, and how jaw-dropping that something will be, I suppose only time will tell. And regardless, I'll be a bit sad to see a relatively enjoyable classic coaster bite the dust.

Thanks for sharing! Not a huge fan of the black chain-link fences that seem to have popped up all over the place, but otherwise, the park looks pretty good. I'm interested by the notion of the water park being more integrated with the rest of the park this year. Did it create more of a mix of people in bathing suits / street clothes, or were people still pretty separated? And I wonder what's up with Deluge! I loved that ride. I hope it opens soon.

^ is it really, though? I thought the fountains on Riptide haven't gotten riders wet for years. I do wish the park would reinstate that feature during the summer.

^ They always tweet "we're now closed" at the end of each operating day, and I'm guessing they tweeted one of their "we're open today from..." tweets instead. Probably nothing of note. What's the deal with Riptide? It was closed today and during my last visit in March. Is it having some big issue? Why isn't it on the "rides closed" list?

^ Superman yes, but not sure about Tatsu. Tatsu's line spilled way out onto the path by Roaring Rapids. In line for Colussus (or sussuloC) now: has the left side been decommissioned or is it still used ever? Can't remember the last time I didn't ride the right side...