AmyUD06

So, my SFEC Gold Pass+App was renewed through KD, and was the year before too. I just got an e-mail containing a survey that was all about a "winter event" at Kings Dominion. Here are what the questions were: 1. Have you ever attended WinterFest at Kings Dominion? 2. In what years did you attend (options of "2024," "2023 or earlier," or "never have") 3. Free-Text fields asking what you did and did not like about the previous WinterFest events. 4. An "A-or-B" choice between "Immersive holiday-themed event with limited ride operation" or "Closer to normal park operations with limited shows/decorations" 5. 1-to-5 scale questions for "How Likely are you to visit a winter event at Kings Dominion" and "How likely are you to buy a season pass to visit a winter event at Kings Dominion." 6. A free-text field asking what you think the "must haves" are for a winter event at Kings Dominion. It would seem that they're actually listening to all of the push-back they got for cancelling last year's event and are considering reinstating it.

Agreed 100%. Between making Gold Passes into Regional Passes and this, they seriously cannot figure out what they want to do with their season passes. Definitely a more Legacy-Six than Legacy-Cedar type of move. Like....make all the changes you want, but announce it for the following year before passes went on sale.

Not really sure you're gonna get a response from an AI bot haha.

As for parks actually considered "in LA," there's Knott's Berry Farm, obviously. Universal Hollywood. There's a small FEC (John's Incredible Pizza) that has a credit in the form of a SBF Visa figure 8. And Santa Monica pier if you want the smallest Morgan credit ever built. Castle Park, about an hour drive from the LAX airport, has a Vekoma Junior coaster. Everything else will be farther. May I highly recommend flying through Burbank Airport (BUR) instead of LAX? It is a much smaller scale and thus less crowds and nonsense.

This reads extremely AI generated. And yeah, none of that is going to happen. The most likely solution is throwing a layer of dirt over the parking lot and laying down sod. And that isn't going to happen either.

Diving Machine G5 at Janfusun Fancyworld in Taiwan doesn't, but it also has no inversions period and literally is just the main drop, a turn, another tiny drop, then brakes. Oblivion at Alton Towers also does not, but also has no inversions. Otherwise, yes, all of the B&M dives have an immelmann as their first element (unless you count tunnels or splash downs as elements, since some of them have those).

Pretty much haha.

Honestly kills the view for anyone staying in that side of the hotel, and will undoubtedly make the amount of crashes on that stretch of I-495 (the major beltway used to bypass driving through Washington, DC itself) go from "absurdly frequent" to "near perpetual." But I'm excited to have something like that so close to me.

Seriously, I do not see anything changing for the worse at any of these parks if they are sold to another operator. Status quo? Maybe. But they will certainly not get less investment than SFEC was going to put in to them. Also, seriously, the first time SFStL has real news in how long, and we've got nothing from @prozach626 ? I'm disappointed haha.

Will it be an actual Universal venture, or something the Saudi developers build and slap the Universal name on (like the Six Flags park)? Though it wouldn't surprise me that Universal would be willing to go the extra steps (admittedly there are several) from platforming JKR to supporting that market. The almighty dollar has spoken, after all. Also, the SF park has been open to the public one day. A bit early to call it a "success," no? Also also, does a park that isn't even beyond the earliest planning stages really need its own discussion thread? Here's your paywall'd article for free: https://archive.is/20251220015545/https://www.wsj.com/business/media/universal-studios-plans-theme-park-in-saudi-arabia-1ecdcf06 No one should support the WSJ with subscriber revenue.

Thank you for demonstrating that having an actual discussion with you is impossible.

Based on you calling it "Swiss Twist" I have to guess that your last trip there was pre-1993, when the ride was renamed. You know that Log Jammer has been gone for almost 15 years now (removed in 2011), and they still have another log flume, right? Spinout and and Sierra (nee Swiss) Twist have been gone since 2008. I agree that Rotors and Bayern Kurves are fun rides, but all things wear out eventually. The Spillikin Corner area of the park is still there, it's just called something else. Like did you seriously not expect the park to change in literally over 30 years? Yeah, legacy SF parks aren't the best, but these are all something to complain about, especially this long after the fact.

Since when has FoF had a "pre-show"? Do you mean the TVs in the queue?

I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of this. There really is no better place than TPR for Trip Reports (I've got about two years worth to write LOL), and I always enjoy yours, so thank you.

Honestly, I see category 3 being the most likely, but 2 is possible as well. SFStL didn't get a new attraction survey, right?

Having read through the transcript of the call, and reviewed the slides, it sounds like there's more than just "good" and "bad" parks in their eyes The "core," high-performing parks that have been seeing investment and will continue to do so. The "core," low-performing parks that they're going to try investing in, and if it doesn't make it into a high-performing park, the category will change. The "non-core," low-performing parks that may be salvageable into profitable parks. The "non-core", low-performing parks that are on the immediate chopping block if they can't get their act together. The "non-core" parks that are already officially slated for closure (SFA, CGA). Based on what Zimmerman and the other guy said, it sounds like there's a bit of fluidity and movement possible between types 2, 3, and 4.

I was there from opening to around 5:50, having gotten off Wild One as my final ride at the park around 5:20 after a 2-hour-and-18-minue (!) wait for front row. After grabbing a few photos and videos, I went over to catch the curtain call for the final stunt show. I'll reserve my comments about this park in general out of respect to the locals, but it was sad, especially seeing the show staff pour their hearts into the final performances (which I saw and recorded for the Steam Heist stunt show and the Half-Dead High dance show) and the speeches they gave at the end. My only rides of the day were Roar (8 minute wait for front row, right at opening, and it wasn't terrible), the Capital Railways train, Pirate's Flight (hoping this rare flat makes its way back to KD), and Wild One. I thought about going back to Superman after the Wild One ride, but seeing what happened I'm glad I didn't. I honestly didn't set foot on the far side of Wild One even once today. I did to go the park back in May when the closure was announced and got rides on Wild One, Superman, Joker's Jinx, the SLC formerly known as Mind Eraser, Ragin' Cajun and the kiddie coaster (the last two were my only missing credits here), so I was satisfied with my visit tonight. I was even able to score what might have been the last piece of SFA-branded merch in the place at the end of the night (a picture frame with a broken desk stand)! Full report coming eventually.

I'm getting ready to leave for SFA. I'll be wearing a medium blue "Women Love Coasters" zip-up hoodie, grey jeans and white sneakers with rainbow laces. If you see me come say hi!

So I'm thinking of heading down to Six Flags America either Saturday or Sunday for their closing weekend, leaning more towards Sunday, if anyone else was going and wants to meet up.

I still find it a little odd that they didn't go with the 10-wide trains on this "worlds largest dive coaster." But thanks for the update!

Yes, Field of Screams is absolutely incredible. Still working on my report from Hersheypark's event, but "legit" is not a word I would use. Yes, the mazes were well designed and built, but the number and quality of actors was kinda lacking. The scare zones were very disappointing (Midway Mayhem had a grand total of 2 decorations), and the only "show" was a slider demonstration. That said, ride lines will be non-existent.

ProTip: If going to Hersheypark on the night of a sold-out show at the Stadium, which is likely to let out right at Park closing, leave earlier. I've moved maybe one car length in the last half hour. Ugh LOL. Update: It took me just over an hour to get out of the lot.

Please no spoilers, but do you think someone who hasn't seen a single part of the series will enjoy it?

The contract had a 5-year extension clause that they chose to utilize. This contract was initially agreed upon in 2017, so "still just" an 8 year deal. Nobody said anything about them "re-evaluating the license" then because it's a stupid idea driven by click-bait and division-inducing philosophy. Don't encourage it. You can dream all you want, but there is no rational reason to believe that SFEC is actively considering not continuing to have Peanuts-themed kids areas at Legacy CF parks at any point in the future.

Seriously. What's worse is how much some other forums will just take these 1-in-a-million unsubstantiated rumors and run wild with them. Example: There is a thread with 24 posts on another forum focused on a singular Legacy CF park, in the subforum "Coming Attractions" (which is described as "Discuss what's coming to [park name redacted] in 2024 and beyond!" to discuss actual announced projects) entitled "Looney Tunes Planet Snoopy Retheme Concept". The original post contains custom made graphics, a photoshop of the Looney Tunes mascots from a SF park in front of this park's most recognizable landmark, and suggested re-namings for every single ride and theater in this park's Peanuts section. It assumes that the contract was not being renewed as a fact. Though most of the responses were not on board with this idea, one person actually created their own crude photoshop instead turning Planet Snoopy into a DC-themed area. This is why I love TPR. Wild, ridiculous speculation is frowned upon here, like it should be.