Nitro1118

People have been complaining for years about line cutting at GAdv. It has always been one of the biggest gripes I've heard from people. Even if it was dead I am glad they are still making an effort to deter line cutters. During my last visit that ticket helped prevent one kid from cutting about 10 people through El Toro's switchbacks. It was also a walkon that day, but the point is it did its job.

Does it look like to anyone else that there are OTSR on these trains? Only disappounting part of this announcement if true. Otherwise the ride looks stellar. Amazing addition to what looks like an already great park.

It does give me hope, although it does concern me there has been no visible signs of any land clearing, markers or attraction closures yet. I still think it will be a HH or flat ride yer as of now.

That's too bad about both rides. WC is an interesting case. It appears to be extremely tempermental in terms of ride experience. On both my trips it was neck-and-neck with El Toro as my favorite coaster out of 148. A lot of people have it ranked among the best RMC's, and others have it ranked among the worst. I've heard similar things with Storm Chaser. Apparently ever since they switched wheels from last year it has been running far better in the 2nd half of its course.

Notes and pics from today's trip: -Got on El Toro 2x, KK, Zumanjaro and the Big Wheel. All rides had 15min waits with most being walkons. -I took a peek at different areas and didn't see any visible signs of construction/land clearing/markings for the 2018 attraction. -Batman now has on-ride video that appears to currently be operational. A pic of the open stand can be seen below. -El Toro was strangely running smoother in the magic seat on the Kia train compared to the 2nd row of the regular train. Amazing ride as always. -Took my first ride on KK this year, 2nd row, and it was shuffling like crazy. This used to be strictly a problem with the back of the train but it appears every row is like this now. They really need to put some TLC into this ride or put $ into getting new trains. On the plus side it was running 3 train ops with quick dispatches. -SF is playing no games with this loose article policy. The El Toro entrance attendent was having people do quick pat downs of themselves to check for phones or keys. GL and S:UF from the parking lot. This is the line just to get in the line for El Toro due to the loose article policy. It was actually a walkon past this point. Walking out of the PDC. Nice view of Frontier Adventures from the lake. Perfect timing on this pic. Ka. Sad to see: Tiger Exhibit, a souvenier shop and food stand are all closed. The GK was once one of the best areas of any SF park. Now it's very bare and run down. Shot from the Big Wheel. Another one. ...and one more... Batman's new video stand.

Six Flags doesn't "save up", that's not how their capital investments plan is structured. The cap exp has been hinted as decreasing as % of North American revenue. Also, 2017 is not looking good after Q1 and Q2. Unless Q3 and Q4 blow the roof off look for NA revenue to be down for the year and thus less for rides in the following fiscal year. I know they don't necessarily save up, but each park is not given the same portion of the budget every year. What I was really getting at is if 2018 is more of a JL-level as opposed to El Diabo-level year, than I really hope it isn't a coaster unless it's an RMC.

If it isn't an RMC then I really hope it isn't a coaster. The S&S Skyloop is literally almost a combination of our last 2 thrill rides, El Diablo and Joker. Anything else would probably be a half-scale coaster like Joker. I'd much rather them put money into HH or a world's first flat ride and then save up for an RMC later on. I highly doubt we will see a Raptor here. I think that will be a prototype for somewhere else and we will see a T-Rex down the road.

"Shits all over WC"...yet you have them right next to each other in your top 5 in your sig lol. Both coasters are amazing but I feel WC is the more intense, faster paced ride with a bit more variety in elements and far more comfortable trains. Superman was my #1 before Toro was built so I'm definitely not knocking it, just prefer WC.

Actually, if I read the counts right, GAdv and GAm both have the same amount of non-coaster/water rides (35). MM has only 21. Having GAdv as my homepark, and having visited GAm back in 2006, I'd say both parks are pretty even. GAm is a much more cohesive, prettier park with an exceptional lineup. The thing is that the big 3 of GAdv is incredibly hard to beat, along with having something as unique as SORA. Either way, GAm is an awesome park that I'm sure is much better now with an RMC.

Thanks guys! That Joker pic is one of my favorite pics I've ever taken. Had the perfect timing on that one.

Very quick TR from tonight. Some notes and then pics: -My girlfriend, step.son and I got to the park at 7:30pm. Obviously it was a hot and VERY humid day, which left the park relatively empty upon arrival. After we rode Justice League, which had only a 10-15min wait, we walked over to El Toro. My step son, who is about 52 inches tall, lost his Toro virginity last year so I was very excited to get him back on. Unfortunately, the ride was closed to an incoming storm. Less than 5min later one of the nastiest looking black clouds fell over the park, closing everything that wasn't indoors. We high-tailed it to Skull Mountain, which was a walkon. After getting off it started pouring, so we opted for another JL ride. JL had a 10min breakdown, which made it a 20min wait. After getting off the ride it was 9:15pm, and I heard a roar in the distance. Nitro and Batman had just reopened! Got a walk-on last row lap on Nitro before running over to Toro, which was closed for the night. Noticing Joker was open on the run over to Toro, we got in line with just 5min left until park closing. -HUGE props to GAdv for reopening these coasters with only 40min left until closing. The forecast had 60% precipitation and a severe thunderstorm warning until 10pm but they still got these coasters running with the park COMPLETELY dead at that point. Nitro was even still running 3 trains despite being down for nearly 2 hours and having a max of 10 people in the station. -Speaking of Nitro, it was running amazing tonight. Each hill gave sustauned floater that kept my butt out of the seat for 4-5 seconds at a time. I guess the hot weather and slick track made the difference but it was one of the best rides I've ever had on it. Nitro at night time is also always a great experience. -I really like the blue paintjob on the Studio 28 arcade and the Gotham City retheme of the souvenier shop. Didn't pay attention to either on my last visit but they are solid little upgrades. -Got the top score for my vehicle on my 1st JL ride! Once again a really fun ride. Unfortunately people have started vandalizing the queue, ripping off paint and other elements. -Joker looks great at night! It was my first time seeing it with the neon floodlights and it looks really cool at the end of Main Street on the lake. The ride itself wasn't as intense as SFNE's a couple weeks ago but there was one moments where we were upside down a good 3-4 seconds. Even though it is short and a clone I do feel.it adds to our lineup. Overall, for 2.5 hours and a thunderstorm we ended up having a really good time! Once again a big thank you to the park's tremendous weather policies! Some pics... New arcade paintjob. Nitro at sunset. Also didn't notice the theater facelift. Looks really good! High score! No idea how people are getting 400k+ scores on this thing but getting first place gave my ego enough of a boost lol. Batman...through the trees. Golden Kingdom. This was when the storm was approaching. Love this pic. Joker lit up with the storm cloud over it. Random Buccaneer shot. Girlfriend and step son at the fountain. If only GL rode as nicely as it looks....

Lol I've had a few magnumcreep experiences at GAdv. The worst was on the brakerun of a stacked Nitro train. Being held down by a restraint without any way of escaping a coaster fanatic insistent on interupting a conversation with your girlfriend to talk about X-Flight at SFGAm was not the greatest experience.

I highly doubt that this is anything other than an RMC conversion. I don't think they would tell everyone the ride is closing if they were just re-tracking it. I honestly have no doubt in my mind that we're looking at an RMC here. PS: I'm like 90% sure this is chammonds96 / eugene / whatever given the writing style and sign up date but in the event that I'm wrong I'll bite. TPR just had a Facebook live video that got them a ton of exposure so you never know. Those rides both opened about a decade ago. We really shouldn't lose sight of that fact. Heide The Ride opened this year and cost 7M Euros, which is about 8.5M USD. I didn't lose sight of when those rides were built but RCDB doesn't have cost information for most of the recent GCI's.

Per their corporate Q4 conference call, Six Flags wants to reduce their Capex spending even more. I would say this is highly unlikely given their recent strategy. If the ~10M pricetag for the JL rides is true, a mid-size GCI is certainly a realistic possibility. Mystic Timbers at KI coast 15M. A good GCI is not really cheap. American Thunder cost less than $10M. Apocalypse cost $10M. A small-midsize GCI can definitely be had for the price SF was spending on JL rides.

Per their corporate Q4 conference call, Six Flags wants to reduce their Capex spending even more. I would say this is highly unlikely given their recent strategy. If the ~10M pricetag for the JL rides is true, a mid-size GCI is certainly a realistic possibility.

This is false. Wicked Cyclone closed around this time and was ready for the next season.

Glad you loved Voyage. I got 3 rides on it back in 2006. The first ride was in the front row and I was completely blown away. One of the 3-4 best single coaster rides I have ever had. The second ride was a few rows back, presumably in a wheel seat, and the ride was borderline unridable. My last ride was the last train of the night. I was waiting for front but we were told to fill out the train since the park was closed. I got a middle row, non-wheel seat, and once again was blown away. As another poster said it is a very tempermental ride dependant on a bunch of factors, and I'm sure that is more true now, 11 years later. Suprised to hear about Raven. The ride was almost glass smooth on each of my rides back in 2006. Then again, I also remember Boulder Dash being very smooth years ago, but last week it beat the crap out of me. CCI's need premium care in order to run well, and it appears HW has skipped out on that with the $$ they pit into Thunderbird and the Legend retracking. It's a shame because I loved Raven.

I doubt almost anyone would be up in arms about an incident that occured over 30 years ago 500 miles away. As an enthusiast for the past 18 years even I have never heard of that incident until now. That is not to say they will go with the name Railblazer, but I don't think that accident will be a factor.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Not quite sunset but close enough. From my recent trip to SFNE...

I'm kind of glad to hear I'm not the only one who thinks Boulder Dash is running kind of poorly. Two days ago the back was very jarring with some bad jackhammering on some valleys. The front half of the train was riding much better but still a step down from my last rides 13 years ago. I hear that they are running 1 train to prevent more accelerated wear and tear, which is really sad since the ride is already getting in rough shape. I hate to even suggest it but with the ride's speed, size and LC's budget, it may be wise to invest in RMC treatment.

Thanks for the replies! Day 2: Instead of writing a long-winded TR detailing every movement I made today, I am just going to do a ride count and random notes and observations from the day... Wicked Cyclone: 5x Superman: 2x Joker: 1x NESS: 1x Thunderbolt: 1x Batman: 1x Pandemonium: 1x Goliath: 1x Blizzard River: 1x Typhoon: 2x Tornado: 1x Bonzai: 1x -Mind Eraser was closed both days on this trip. In one of the photos below I snapped a crane next to one of the trains on the transfer track with a couple of employees working on it. -Superman was up and down throughout the day. One of the times it was down a crew was mounting a camera on the front of the train for what I assume is for on-ride footage. I got a back of the train ride while the camera was mounted. We were told we were being filmed for a TV spot, which I believe will be for a commercial as all of the crew were SF employees. The ride broke down around 6pm and never reopened during the rest of my stay (left around 7). -Lines were mostly moderate. We did opt for a standard flash pass for the 2nd half of the day, which definitely helped with some of the lower capacity credits (Thunderbolt and Pandemonium specifically) and WC rerides. -Once again we got purple side of Joker and did not fully flip. And once again it was a great ride with a 3/4 flip, which is the best sensation I have gotten on either model I have experienced. -WC and Superman were hauling ass just like last night. -GAdv's HH could really use a water coaster like Typhoon. That ride is an absolute blast and I can safely say I prefer it to many regular coasters out there. SFNE's HH in general is a very solid waterpark. -JB's was fantastic! I really enjoy the sports bar feel of the inside and the food was really solid. GAdv would really benefit with a similar restaurant. -We left 2 hours early to see Spiderman at Rave Cinemas in West Springfield, which was a last second decision. I am so happy we made that call as the movie was awesome. Lots of humor and a very entertaining movie overall. Definitely a perfect cap to a great mini-vacation! Pics below. Thanks for reading!

What's up everyone? So about 2 weeks ago, a few days after financing a new car, I made the decision to take my new Civic and my girlfriend on a road trip. I had 3 options to make a short trip out of; the first option was a KD/SFA trip, the former I hadn't been to in 12 years, and the latter I had to skip after getting into a car accident after a trip to BGW. This trip was enticing because of the opportunity to get a fair share of new credits, including I305. The second trip idea was Hershey, which I had just been to last season. The last idea was a SFNE trip, which I had been to last in 2015. Ultimately, the pull of Wicked Cyclone and the freshly rebranded Superman was too strong for me to decline the trip, and I figured I would hit up Lake Compounce as well for good measure. Day 1: After a relatively frustrating post-July 4th ride up the NJ parkway, and an equally frustrating drive thru the never-ending construction of NY and Connecticut highways, we got to Lake Compounce around 1:00pm. Now, I hadn't been to LC since 2004, so I was very excited to get back on my 3rd ranked wooden coaster in Boulder Dash. I was also very excited to get on Phobia as I had never been on one of these Premier models before. Upon arrival I noticed many school buses and a fair amount of cars in the lot, which was a fear of mine considering the holiday the day before. I only had 1 goal, which was to get as many rides on Boulder Dash and Phobia as I could in roughly a 3 hour window. Rides: Boulder Dash - 2x - As I mentioned earlier, going into this trip Boulder Dash was my 3rd ranked wooden coaster. After my rides on it today, it definitely dipped a bit in my rankings. Firstly, the 1-train operation turned what should have been a 5min wait into a 25min wait. Overall not too big of a deal, but definitely annoying. Secondly, the first ride I had on it in the back row was quite rough and almost felt sluggish on the "out" portion of the layout. Not anything too violent, but some uncomfortable jackhammering at certain valleys and transitions, which actually made my back ache the rest of the day. My second ride, which was a few row from the front was a much better experience. The jackhammering was less noticable, the pacing felt quicker and it had stronger pops of airtime throughout the layout. The return trip was especially awesome. Overall, Boulder Dash is still an amazing ride 13 years later, but the back rows will definitely be a pass for me in the future. Phobia -2x - This coaster packed a more intense punch than I expected after seeing POV's. The ride was essentially a walkon both times we got on. The launch went as expected, but the hangtime on the backwards portion was really fun, the inline twist gave great hangtime, and the swooping drops provided really good airtime in the back row. This was a really great addition to the park, giving it an exciting steel coaster to compliment Boulder Dash. After 2 hours, we decided to leave early to give us extra time to relax at our hotel in West Springfield before hitting up SFNE for a couple of hours. Overall, LC is still a really solid family park with fantastic employees and a world class coaster. I do wish I had more time to soak everything in but I wanted to get rides in on WC and Superman tonight so my day at SFNE tomorrow can be somewhat relaxed. After the hour drive to my hotel and some relax time, we made the 15min drive to SFNE around 6pm. The parking lot seemed kinda full upon arrival, but lines proved to be mostly non-existant for the coasters. SFNE is a park I have always found to be very underrated. It is a very pretty park with some charm, solid theming, a great location and 2 absolutely incredible coasters. After a quick tram ride we entered the park and immediately went to Superman, which is something I am so happy to be saying for the first time since 2004. Back in 2015 the ride was looking very dull with the faded and chipped purple paint, and the on-ride audio was pretty terrible. Anyway... Superman: The Ride - 3x - Still a top 3 coaster for me 13 years later. We got 2 rides in the 2nd row and the 3rd to last ride of the night in the front row, all station waits. The new red paint looks stunning, the train redesign is very sleek and those stupid speakers getting thrown in the trash greatly improved the 2nd row experience. As always, great flo-jector or ejector over every single camelback and some strong positive G's on the helices. Our front row night ride was one of the very best I have had on it, including when it was S:RoS back in 2004. It was my first time experiencing the LED shields which surprisingly a really cool effect. I cannot wait to get on it a bunch more tomorrow! Wicked Cyclone - 3x - My #1 steel.coaster and arguably my #1 overall, over El Toro. In 2015 this thing blew me away and tonight was even better. Back in 2015 the ride would slow down significantly after the bunny hop after the first zero g roll. Today it absolutely ripped through those turns, that weird hill with crazy laterals, it hit the second zero g with speed, and the last outward banked hill and small bunny hop both provided true ejector. The biggest difference from 2015 is they now allow you to choose your own row, so we opted for the back each time. Perfectly smooth and some of the most forceful elements I've ever experienced. The ride was essentially a walkon and I am kicking myself for not doing a mini-marathon, but after such a long day my girlfriend couldn't handle so many re-rides. Oh well, we have 11 hours tomorrow to run the count up. The Joker - 1x - Being that we have a clone at my homepark, I got on this mostly to get the credit. The queue/station is mostly the same, although I find GAdv's color scheme and location much more appealing. However, maybe it was a fluke, but the ride experience felt more intense than any of my rides on Joker at GAdv. We got purple, which from what I've read offers less full flips than green. We ended up.getting zero full flips, but the thing felt more out of control than my 3-4 flip rides. We got two 3/4 flips, where we were past inverted and then quickly snapped back up right, and a couple of more half flips. I am not sure what it was but it definitely was more intense than GAdv's. I will take another lap on it tomorrow to see if that experience can be matched. Below are some pics I took today. I am writing this half-asleep so I am sorry for the half-assed writing portion of the TR. I got another day at SFNE tomorrow and will likely be getting FP. I will update with a report from that day on Friday.

Wow it looks great! I really hope we see this or a T-Rex pop up somewhere in 2018.

Great start! Gets me pumped for my trip next week. Wicked Cyclone and Superman <3