AmyUD06

Everyone else has commented on coasters, so I'll comment on some other stuff: -The Boo Blasters is identical to the one at Kings Dominion, so even a step below the one at Kings Island. -As for flats, they've got a great Schwarzkopf Enterprise that ran a pretty good cycle when I was there in 2021. They've also got a Sol Spin which is a huge nope machine for me but you may like. They've also got a Yo-Yo and a Wave Swinger. Otherwise its just the standard CF flat ride package. -Coasters not on FL: Ricochet, Kiddy Hawk, Woodstock Express. If you are about any of these try to hit them early. With a FL pass, you should have plenty of time to grab a lap on each of these and then move on to the FL rides.

While I'm sad that I'll never get this pre-WWII credit, from all the reports I'm not missing much. And yeah, an "accidental" fire is much cheaper than an actual demolition crew.

Verbolten isn't even 10 years old yet, and despite any sort of "failure" of theming elements, seems to be a pretty reliable ride for them. I don't see it going anywhere.

Mini-TR: December 30th, 2021 Since I wasn't able to get on any coasters during my first Winterfest trip this year, and since I missed the Tree Lighting Ceremony show that time as well, I decided to hop down I95 for another quick visit. I was at the park from before opening at 5:00 and left a little after 7:30. A couple of notes: -The weather was much warmer (mid-50s), so everything stayed running while I was there...everything that was running, that is. -As far as rides go, the only adult ride I noticed as completely closed was Americana, the Ferris wheel. Dominator also tested with two trains, but they pulled one off right before opening (in front of me, so nerd bonus there), so AFAIK it ran with one train all night. The third train was nowhere to be seen. Notably, the coasters were running with minimal crews (for CF, anyway): Dominator had a greeter, two checkers, and a panel op. Twisted Timbers had a greeter, two metal detector enforcers, two checkers, and a panel op. I don't think I've ever seen them run the rides that short staffed. -Food and shows were a much different story. Every drink refill station: closed. Mac Bowl: closed (major bummer for me). Funnel cake place behind Drop Tower: closed. Food trucks: Nonexistent or closed. Blitzen's Brass Band, Tinker's Toy Factory (another major bummer), Jingle Jazz, and Four Drummers Drumming: "No Shows Today." I was told that apparently the COVIDs have infected a lot of the stage performers staff by one of the attendants at Sounds of the Nativity. -Rides Ridden: I did get on Dominator, before the official opening at 5:00, for the first public train of the day (front row, left wing). I'm now convinced that this is a front-row ride; the back just has too much rattle. I also got two laps on Twisted Timbers, a three train wait for the front and a train-and-a-half wait for the back. I guess I hit them at the right time, since they were posting 60 minute waits in the app when I left. -I also tragically lost my Platinum Pass card from Michigan's Adventure that I got in a fluke in 2017 to the stupid pass-through lockers at Twisted Timbers. Quickly got a new one at Guest Relations (no charge!), but now I have to memorize a new pass number LOL. -With Mac Bowl out of commission, I instead opted for a "Donut Burger" from whatever they're calling the Jukebox Diner during Winterfest; it was quite good - the burger meat itself was dry, as usual for this place, but the whole concoction was delicious and it was absolutely slathered in frosting. -I couldn't see Avalanche painting or the Tiki Twirl construction site, but here's a picture of the supports out in the lot as of this date: -I was highly entertained by the fact that they reprogrammed the Singing Mushrooms to do Christmas songs. This might not be new, but it's the first time I noticed it. -They have repainted all of the lines in the parking lot since my Thanksgiving Weekend visit. Lipstick on a pig, really, since the lot seriously needs repaving. -The programming on the Eiffel Tower tree needs some work...didn't exactly sync properly during the Tree Lighting Ceremony and quite a few bulbs were stuck on one color. I leave you with two videos; one of the tail end of the Singing Mushrooms' performance, and one of the entirety of the Tree Lighting Ceremony show. I totally dug how they grabbed a random family out of the crowd to come up and have the kids throw the switch. VID_20211230_191720708.mp4 VID_20211230_171516625.mp4 I might make it back one more time before my 2021 pass expires. If I do, you know I'll post about it haha. Thanks for reading!

We really need a "shaking my head" reaction button. Can't say I'm surprised, though.

During a malfunction, guests got stuck at the top for the tune of 3+ hours. Lots of bad press after that. All of the Windseekers in the chain shut down while Mondial developed the now-seen emergency exit platforms (prior to that incident, there was no way to get people off if the ride couldn't be lowered).

As far as I know, Knoebel's is in the middle of the wilderness. There's not really anything but there might be some trails. Can I ask why you're flying into JFK instead of Philly Airport when Knoebel's is your first stop?

Right, but you specifically said: Just trying to figure out what you were referring to. Soap Box Racers was also an Arrow, and Windjammer was a Togo, so thus irrelevant to the conversation of "Intamins are problematic."

Um, just out of curiosity, which out of these four would you consider a "big" coaster? Boomerang Corkscrew Wacky Soap Box Racers Windjammer Surf Racers

Yeah...having just done this trip, dedicating one full day for each park but only using 3/4 of each day, I think you'll be running yourself way too ragged, and has others have said, you leave yourself zero time for any delays or issues that pop up. One major crash or other backup on the highway, or a power outage or rain delay (at Knott's anyway) at a park, and you're screwed. SFMM is a huge park and you'll spend 5-15 minutes walking between rides alone. I'd definitely replace FT and/or WCR with Revolution, Riddler, Scream, and/or Ninja on your SFMM list. The latter four are vastly superior rides to the first two, IMHO, and Ninja suffers the same "might be gone in 5 years" fate as Viper and X2. As others have said, if you only have this one day, I'll pick one park and do it fully rather than trying to blitz through a limited selection of both parks. That said, for the coasters you listed, you might in theory have enough time, with skip-the-line passes. It's your money, but dropping over a hundred dollars for them to only spend 2-3 hours in each park seems insanely wasteful.

Given that each schematic shows different rides, gonna say that this is far from confirmed and still in the exploratory phase. But hey, if I'm wrong, awesome.

Definitely. Next time I'm out this way, I hope to have more free time. Indeed it is crazily priced. But I guess "everything is expensive in the SoCal area," right? I did have fun! Thank you, Sir! Yeah, I fully intend to. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of spinning coasters, I'm starting to come around on them. Amusingly, @Nrthwnd's post right above yours captures some of it. The park desperately needs some transportation options, especially with how mountainous it is. Otherwise, I'd say the park needs more family/thrill flats, and a true standout coaster or two. Some might say that Twisted Colossus is that ride, but honestly it was in the bottom tier of RMCs for me (SV, Twisted Timbers, and Twisted Cyclone are better IMHO). X2, while unique, was a torture machine. My favorite rides in the park were a 45 year old Schwarzkopf that's heavily trimmed and Tatsu, but neither were rides that really blew me away. The entire lineup is good (except Apocalypse), but there's really nothing special. Perhaps if I wasn't so time limited, and didn't have a pretty wicked cold, I would've had more fun, but it is what it is. Don't get me wrong, it was a good time, and I did have fun...there was just nothing that really stood out.

Finally got around to posting my report from my trip on December 10th. Read on, right here.

Day 3: Six Flags Magic Mountain Friday morning, I made the drive up to Valencia for my final park of this trip, Six Flags Magic Mountain. I have to say this: Why is there zero radio station reception in between LA and Valencia? It made the car ride quite boring. Anyway, I arrived around 10:00 and was maybe the 20th car in the lot. As with SFoG, you get a nice look at part of the coaster collection from the lot: "Sorry folks, the moose out front shoulda told you." Anyway, I grabbed my Flash Pass and proceeded to X2 at the recommendation of pretty much everyone. Yep, that's one "unit" operating - this would be par for the course today, with almost every coaster only running one train. X2: Listen, I'm proud to say on got on the coaster that put Arrow out of business. Absolutely insane and not in a good way. Rattly, janky, the cars had some free rotation to them which I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to have. Just bleh. How can this be in some people's top 10 lists, I'll never understand. Walk-on for the front row. 2/10 just for the uniqueness. And how typical Six Flags for them to leave one of the parking tracks painted the old colors: Viper wasn't running yet, or I would have grabbed it while I was in the area, so instead I headed back the way I came to... Full Throttle: (Side note, I seriously miss the word filters the old forum used to have). Anyway, this one was a decent ride. Hang time was nice, the launch was weak, and the brakes on the down side of the camelback grab way too hard. But it wasn't terrible? Two train wait for row 2. 5/10. Next up was the wave of the kiddie coasters. I got on Canyon Blaster, Speedy Gonzales' Hot Rod Racers, and Road Runner Express. Magic Flyer was no dice for me, with it's hard height limit of 54 inches - I'm short but not that short LOL. None of them warrant further mentioning or ratings. Next on the agenda of proper adult rides was Goliath, with its comically large sign and weird-ass trains. Goliath: My first Giovanola, a decent ride with some floater air and great positive Gs in the helix. But WHY does the MCBR bring the train to a complete halt when there's only one train on the track? 22 minute, three train wait, for back row (with Flash Pass!). 6/10. At least here's a picture of the helix, buried behind the mess of supports: Onward to Twisted Colossus: A coaster actually running multiple trains, gasp! And amazingly, I got a race for the first half of the course too (most of the time they were missing the mark). It's a decent RMC, but I'd rank it pretty far down the list of ones I've been on, despite its length. Two train wait for back row. 8/10. Right next door was Scream!: At least the exclamation point makes sense here haha. Entertaining enough, not a lot of rattle, but nothing really notable except that no-longer-the-worlds-biggest loop. Half-train wait for the back row. 7/10. Here's a shot of that giant loop at least: Up next was Riddler's Revenge: Probably the 2nd best B&M stand up I've been on (after Mantis), but that's not saying much. I don't mind these as much as most people, because I know how to ride them, but still not my preferred riding position. One train wait for back row. 6/10. I then grabbed a lap on Goldrusher: Your standard Arrow mine train. Notably, it still had the skid brakes, which was cool to actually see (they were long gone from SFGAdv's mine train by the time I was coaster-riding age). I liked how it interacted with the landscape and the rides around it. One train wait for the front row. 5/10. Working my way around the back half of the park to its corner, I then rode Apocolypse: Easily the worst GCI I've been on. No air, insanely rough...just WTF. As bad as Roar at SFA. Burn it down. That said, the station flyby was cool (which I didn't get a picture of because, y'know, one train). I'd say they should add seats to the old audio equipment car at the back of the train, but that would just permit more people to experience this pile of trash. 10 minute wait for row 7. 0/10. Next up was West Coast Racers: The only thing I recorded in my post-ride notes video was "meh." That should say everything. Comfort collars weren't uncomfortable for me, but they serve no purpose. This ride is the definition of mediocrity. 5/10. Making my way up the hill to Ninja, I spotted this: Sweet, I would get to ride Tatsu today! This trip was prior to the announcement that the painting had been put on pause, so this was a great surprise. Ninja: Pretty good, quite long, lots of cool dives down by the water, and a lift hill at the end of the ride is always entertaining. Walk on for back row. 7/10. I totally love how this interacts with the flume: Does anyone know what this building next to the tower was formerly used for? I couldn't figure it out. And this would be as close as I could get to Superman today, which was quite a bummer: Made my way down the other side of the hill next to Tatsu: Easily the best flyer I've ever been on, and I'm not usually a fan of these. Great forces in the pretzel loop, very unique layout. I even rank it higher than Manta at SWO. Three train way for back row (only one train running). 8/10. Second to last here was Viper, with it's old-school Arrow-ness, awesome station, and super-high-in-the-air loop: Viper: This has held up very well for its age. Slightly headache afterwards, of course, but still a good ride. I like this layout a lot more than Great American Scream Machine had at SFGAdv; not going into the MCBR at a 45 degree angle makes all the difference. And it's certainly better than Anaconda. 15 minute, three-train wait for the front row (again, one train). 6/10. Last up on the agenda here was something I knew would be great, the classic Revolution. Note that every other sign I saw except this one still called it "New Revolution" from the failed VR experiment. Revolution: Such an awesome solid Schwarzkopf. Despite the new trains and being a bit too heavy on the trim brakes, this was great. The gentle slope down to the loop is so unassuming...you don't realize you're picking up speed until the entry to the loop, and then BOOM 4+ Gs. Front row, two train wait. 8/10. Here's a bunch of pictures of this classic ride: After that, I made my way out of the park at around 4:00 to get back to my hotel so I could get to bed for my early flight out. As a whole, this park just screams Six Flags...there's a whole bunch of coasters, a bunch of kids rides, and not much else. Note that I did skip out on the funicular, despite how cool I think they are...looking at one was enough for today. I also skipped the flume, as I didn't want a repeat of the wetness I got on the one at KBF, and Superman and Batman were closed. Is having the record for most coasters in one park really anything if most of them aren't great? My Six Flags park rankings now stand as such: 1. over Georgia 2. Great America 3. New England 4. Great Adventure 5. Magic Mountain 6. America And that about wraps up this trip. My flight home the next day was pretty uneventful, but I do have to say holy hell is the Salt Lake City airport (where I had a 2 hour layover) a horrible design: from my gate to the exit for a smoke break was easily a 30 minute walk each way. It was also pouring when we were pulling in to land at Baltimore, resulting in this awesome out-the-window view: VID_20211211_171458574.mp4 Thanks for reading, everyone!

Well, I finally got around to posting my report from December 9th. Check it out right here.

Day 2: Knott's Berry Farm So on the advice of many, I hit the road super-early to avoid any major traffic. It mostly worked, resulting in my arrival at KBF at around 8:30 for a 10:00 opening. Oh well, plenty of time for pictures! My parking spot, with a little something in the background. Cool fountain out in the Marketplace area. Main entrance. Historical plaque. And chickens! Yes, these chickens were just wandering around, going into shops...quite amusing. At opening, I made my way inside (grabbing my Fast Lane band from the ticket checker guy? Odd) and bee-lined it for the whole reason this trip existed: Montezooma's Revenge. I wasn't sure what the weather was going to do later in the day, and I had no idea about its downtime record, so I wanted to get it out of the way. On the way, I passed by a cute and very old Ferris wheel (not operating): Finally, I had arrived: Montezooma's Revenge: What did I think of the last operating Schwarzkopf shuttle loop in the US? Honestly a little underwhelming. The launch wasn't as forceful as I thought it would be, but you do pull some serious Gs through the loop, and how can you not love that classic Schwarzkopf sound? My first ride was in the front row, and later in the day I'd grab a ride in row 11 to close out the day. Both were walk-ons with FL. 7/10. I then made my way over to the longest family coaster I've ever been on, Jaguar!. Which you couldn't tell the name from the building aside from that super-tiny sign: But I guess you could from the exit? Jaguar!: Why is there an exclamation point in this ride's name LOL? Fun little ride...no real airtime even in the back, but decent laterals. Two lift hills, super-long ride. Walk-on. 5/10. Continuing my walk around, I came across a big ol' "nope" machine right here: But I am surprised that more parks don't have these; the only other one I've ever seen was at Carowinds. I then grabbed a ride on Silver Bullet, and took a TON of pictures of it. Here are a few: Silver Bullet: Okay, I get the story. But why is the only part of the coaster that's silver the supports? Wouldn't it make more sense for the train, or track, to be silver? Whatever haha. A solid B&M invert with snappy transitions. Walk-on ride for the back row initially, with a two-train wait for the front row later in the day. Unlike most B&Ms, I actually preferred this in the front. 8/10. Next coaster up was Pony Express, with these wonky seats/restraints: Pony Express: This was my first time on one of these, and it was pretty fun! I expected the seats/restraints to be uncomfortable (as most Zamperlas are), but there was no discomfort at all! Way too short, but something like this would be a great fit for smaller parks like Dorney or Morey's. Walk-on for the front row. 7/10. Next up was Knott's Bear-y Tales: Return to the Fair. KBF: RttF: Note that I have obviously never been on the old version of this. I dug the fact that the whole front of the car slides to act as the restraint. I did not dig the inaccurate gun, odd shooting mechanism (pulling on the thing on the back), or heavily screen-based nature of the ride. That said, it was cute and a fun diversion. I scored 138,000, and noted the best all-time score at the end was over 1 million, so yeah. Two car wait. 6/10. Making my way around the boardwalk area, I then came across HangTime. HangTime: It's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of these Gerstualer coasters. That said, despite some vibration, it was a fun ride. I have to say though, the dive-drop on B&Ms is a lot better than the slanted-hold-drop of these. Walk-on for the back row. 7/10. Sorry, Chance fans, but Wipeout was MIA: I then hopped on Coast Rider: Whatever, it's a mouse. Entertainingly, they actually allow multiple cars out on the track at once - I didn't think Cedar Fair was allowed to do that LOL. Walk-on. 4/10. I then snapped a bunch of pictures of the paint work on Xcelerator, but I guess the recent posts in the KBF thread took care of that, so I'll spare you. After that, I jumped on the Timber Mountain Log Ride: Great long flume with nice scenes, but I did get quite wet, which is never very fun unless it's 80+ degrees out, which it most certainly was not. Walk-on. 7/10. Next up was the Calico Mine Ride. A ride that actually has a true operator! Here's their control station: Calico Mine Ride: This was really, really cool. Nice and long, great animatronics, and the fact that it was a dark ride with an actual driver just blew my mind. About a 10 minute wait (they were only using one train). 9/10. Next up was a lap on the Calico Railroad: This is a full-scale steam train, something you don't see in many parks. Fun fact: When I was a little kid, I was absolutely enamored with steam trains. This was just so cool to me. The actors who interact with the passengers were great too. Only thing that could have made it better was some more scenery/props along the route. 9/10. And some nerd pictures! It was Merry Farm, but you'd generally be hard pressed to tell during the day. Maybe it's just because it wasn't dark, but I didn't notice anywhere near the level of decoration that Kings Dominion does. Some rain had started to come through, which of course closed almost all the major rides. With this downtime, I took a lap on the Grand Sierra Railroad: This is a kiddie-train, smaller in scale, but still a real steam engine, which is always nice. Some cute stationary Snoopy props that told a story, even if the audio came on about 30 seconds after passing the scene it described. 5/10. Once the rain had stopped, I took advantage of my shortness and got a ride on the Timberline Twister: A classic kiddie coaster, but a kiddie coaster none the less. Couple of extremely minor pops of air, but otherwise meh. 15 minute wait for the back row. 4/10. With everything now running again, I made my way over to GhostRider. No pictures, unfortunately (even though it is super-easy to get shots of). WOW! Half-train waits for both front and back row. Insane laterals, smooth ride, nice airtime, tons of speed. I really wasn't expecting this to be as good as it is, but it's a new #4 wooden coaster for me. 11/10. I was still kinda tired, so I grabbed my second rides on Silver Bullet and Montezooma. Here's a video of the entire cycle: VID_20211209_153725592.mp4 To truly close out the day, I grabbed another lap on the Grand Sierra Railroad for the sole purpose of taking some more pictures of Montezooma. Enjoy. Yes, that's the flywheel mechanism behind the fence! So old school cool! And the loop. Something about the way these Schwarzkopf loops look just screams out to me. After that, I headed out and made the drive back to my hotel, took a shower, and then went out for the night in Santa Monica (see above). All in all, Knott's was a very fun park without many standout rides. Aside from GhostRider, nothing really blew me out of the water. The Ghost Town area was cool but not really my scene. None of the typical shows were running (entirely Christmas programming). I am definitely glad I came though, and will be back...I need those credits on Xcelerator and Sierra Sidewinder (which was down for maintenance almost the entire time I was here). Hopefully Montezooma is still around whenever that happens. Now that I've added another CF park to my repertoire, here are my updated rankings (out of the one's I've been to): 1. Kings Island 2. Cedar Point 3. Kings Dominion 4. Carowinds 5. Knott's Berry Farm 6. Dorney Park 7. Michigan's Adventure Next Up: Six Flags Magic Mountain EDIT: Sorry everyone, but I did not try the chicken....it's just not something I regularly eat. I did try the mac & cheese and biscuits from the Chicken-to-Go place, but was rather disappointed in both.

I guess it's about time I posted this report LOL. So here we go, my first time to California, December 8-11, 2021. Day 1: The Flight Out and Santa Monica My flight out was mostly uneventful, but I do have a few notes: -Flying out of BWI (Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport) was quite nice compared to Philadelphia. Might help that I was there super-early in the morning, but I didn't encounter much of any security line and the airport itself is laid out well. Parking was slightly cheaper (but you did have to take a bus to the airport), and plenty of outdoor smoking zones. Unfortunately, for me, there are about $15 dollars in tolls round-trip, so it only makes fiscal sense to fly out of there (compared to PHL) if the trip is 5 days or more. -I had a 45 minute layover in Chicago Midway, which is kinda close to Soldier's Field, for anyone who is really into overhead views of football stadiums: -That 45 minutes was barely enough time to get off the first plane, hit the bathroom, and get in line for the second plane's boarding. I don't know how people make change-plane layovers shorter than that. -Hollywood Burbank Airport was something else. Super-tiny (only one story), and there aren't even any sky-bridges - you have to board/depart the aircraft on an outdoor ramp - and extremely limited food and beverage options. On the plus side, everything in there is "street priced," meaning no typical airport markup. -Hertz left something to be desired. Yeah, I get it, there's a rental car shortage, but that doesn't mean the screen for Gold members has to be down nor that a Gold member should have to wait in a 30-minute line. By the time I was approached by an agent and directed to the cars, I had only one choice: a Ford Fiesta. -The car was nice enough I guess...drove straight and got 35mpg on my trip; a little light on power and the satellite radio wasn't hooked up, though. Anyway, after a quick pit stop at a supermarket for enough Red Bulls to get me through the trip, I began my drive to my hotel. Holy crap is gas expensive out here! I saw everything from $4.25 to $5.25 for regular; back in Delaware it's around $3.30. Good thing I got an economical car, I guess. My hotel was the Sea Shore Motel, around a block and a half off the beach in Santa Monica. Sadly, I neglected to grab any pictures, but the place was decent for what I paid. It reminded me a lot of the beach-town motels from NJ. WiFi was kinda spotty, and the AC unit was super loud, but at least the beds were hard (as I prefer). After getting settled in, I made my way down to the beach. Man, was it pretty. Though it was a bit too cold to actually lay out or go in the water (around 65 degrees), I did of course stick my toes in the Pacific Ocean just to say I did. I continued my walk northbound towards the pier...there it is! Is there where I go up? Apparently not....the only way on to the pier from beach level were the stairs on the south side, about halfway down. I took in the street performers and vendors, and marveled at the amount of homeless people just chilling, and made my way to the official park entrance. I had a good idea of what was here, so I didn't really need to walk around, but here's two pictures of the ride prices, which honestly don't make much sense to me. "I'm not paying that much to go on Scrambler 1!" Anyway, I bought a rides card with $10 of credits, and made my way over to my whole reason for being here: Nerd shots: Seriously though, who makes these trains? They had restraints like Morgans but something about them just felt off. Anyway, what did I think of the smallest, most-boring, Morgan "hyper" layout ever? Surprisingly I had a couple of pops of air in the back row, but yeah, it's a kiddie coaster disguised as an adult ride. Got two laps, at least. Ferris Wheel? Psh, the one in Grand Theft Auto 5 looks better. On that note, I was very much expecting a plethora of shops to line the beach/boardwalk area, as is seen in GTA5's rendition of Santa Monica, and was sorely disappointed. Anyway, I took a walk up to street level to grab a picture of the famous sign... ...and then grabbed some food and made my way back to my hotel via one of those awesome app-rental electric scooters like I had first experienced in Indianapolis. Seriously, every city needs these. Once I got back to my hotel, I pretty much passed right out. I had been awake for something close to 20 hours, and was definitely feeling it. Bonus: 3rd Street Promenade This actually didn't happen until the second night of my trip, but while I'm talking about the city I might as well talk about this here. Thanks to the recommendation of @ryder, I spent some time walking around this open-air shopping plaza. Plenty of street performers here too, including one awesome female vocalist on a guitar that I had to drop $10 into the case for. Surprisingly, a ton of homeless here too - I would've expected the local constabulary to keep the tourist area free of them. Most of the shops were well out of my price range, but it was cool to see. Here's two pictures: I didn't make it up to the West Hollywood area during my trip (sorry @ryderand @Nrthwnd), but did pop in to Rick's Tavern on Main and Circle Bar for some quick adult beverages. Amusingly enough, I didn't have to show my COVax card or wear a mask in any of these places. This really surprised me for the LA-Area of California, especially given that most of my bars in Philly have been requiring vaccination for months now. Do they just assume everyone has gotten the jab? Anyway, that about does it for city exploration. I wish I had more time to explore the area and check things out, but it just wasn't to be on this trip. Next up: Knott's Berry Farm

Gotta say I'm a little nervous about the changes to the big helix, but keeping my fingers crossed.

Typically you want all of the wheels on the track, y'know. But maybe that's just me.

Haha, I largely agree. I have a sore spot for SFGAdv like you wouldn't believe. As soon as I enter the parking lot this wave of desolation just washes over me. So many unpleasant memories of my time working there...not to mention the Six Flags Experiences that I can't help but have every time I go back. El Toro, Nitro, and Ka can't really counteract that.

Yeah, car rentals out there were pretty cheap when I went in mid-December for some reason. It's funny that you mention your reasoning as going as concern that Viper or X2 would be torn down; that was almost exactly my motivation for my LA-area trip, except for me it was Montezooma at Knott's. Anyway, have fun!

Hey now, Great Adventure tries too, running all trains possible on everything except Mine Train (2 out of 3 possible) and Kingda Ka (1 or 2 out of 4 possible) haha.

As of this moment, I only have two major road trips tentatively planned: June: Dollywood, Tail of the Dragon (an awesome driving road near the NC/TN border), Lake Winnepesaukah, Alabama Adventure, a day in Atlanta with a friend (possibly hitting Fun Spot if their RMC is open), and Family Kingdom in Myrtle Beach. These are all new parks to me. July: Camden Park, Kentucky Kingdom, Beech Bend, Holiday World, and a stop at Kings Island just to break up the drive home. Except for KI, these are all new parks to me as well. I'm also planning a few days down in Ocean City, MD, to hit their parks which somehow I've not yet done. I also want to get back to Orlando for Iron Gwazi/Ice Breaker/Velocicoaster at some point, and will of course be doing my normal monthly daytrips to Kings Dominion, Dorney, or Morey's. Likely a few weekend trips to Kings Island or Cedar Point. I'll probably also squeeze in a day trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg...haven't been since 2009 so there's a bunch that's new. Those two big trips might not even happen. I've got some other non-trip things planned that may eat up my budget.

+1. I think if we were seeing similar posts in other SF threads (hint: almost every park has employees on these forums), there might be cause for concern that something is going south at the Corporate level. Also, consider that its quite a regular thing in the corporate world for a new boss to give the boot to all of the old people occupying key positions and bring in their own people. Just because these individuals were fired, it doesn't necessarily mean their positions have been eliminated.

I would not object to CF, SEAS, or even Herschend buying up any of the SF parks. Even St. Louis...Mr. Freeze would fit right in at Michigan's Adventure. To the second quoted point, I would argue that SF has been running circles around CF since around March of 2020.