[Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's World Adventures]

^ Thanks!  I imagine one on the German fair circuit would have a wilder program.

[Canobie Lake Park Discussion Thread]

There are photos floating around (not sure if I can share them here) of the Corkscrew being dismantled.

[Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's World Adventures]

Sarkanniemi

Sarkanniemi has an amazing setting.  This park is in the city of Tampere situated on the water.  The one downside with this location is that parking is a hot commodity.  I made sure to arrive over an hour before opening to secure a spot.  And it turned out the park was open for a private event, so I was able to ascend the Nasinneula observation tower (Finland's tallest structure at 551 ft) to get some unique aerial shots of the park.

Most of the coasters at this park are clones.  But they're cloned models I enjoy.

Hype is one of the best Sky Rocket II's because of the lack of comfort collars and view.  The rest of the ride has the usually strong bursts of airtime and great hangtime on the barrel roll.

Motogee is a fun Zamperla motorbike coaster.  I think these rides have underrated launches and the compact layout has some fun turns.

Trombi is the Zamperla Volare.  I know most people hate these rides, but I genuinely like them.  I've never found them uncomfortable, so I can enjoy the forceful turns and freaky barrel rolls.

I did have to skip the Vauhtimato kiddie coaster though.  That ride's queue line was spilling way out into the midway and I didn't think it was worth it.

The lone unique coaster and undeniable star is Tornado.  This is a rare Intamin invert and I really liked this coaster.  It rode much differently than a B&M invert, but it was still smooth and enjoyable.  The highlights are the two barrel rolls.  Both had oodles of hangtime and the first one has one of the best near-misses of any coaster as it goes through an underground tunnel above the load platform (on-ride photo was taken with an approved Go Pro).

The park had a pretty unique flat ride lineup.  They had a well-run Zamperla Power Surge in High Voltage and a really weird Huss flat ride called TakeOff, but unfortunately this one wasn't run all that fast.

I had to skip the rapids due to its line, but I waited 45 minutes for the flume.  It was scenic, but the drops were shallow and not all that thrilling.

Because of crowds, I ultimately decided to forego the second half of the day at Sarkanniemi to return to Linnanmaki.  This proved to be a wise decision.  Linnanmaki was dead due to a rainstorm.  I was able to ride Taiga 7 times in an hour.

I did like Sarkanniemi.  The coaster lineup may not have many unique ones, but Tornado is a really nice coaster and the park has a great atmosphere.  And it also has this adorable piggy train.

[California Great America (CGA) Discussion Thread]

^ Wait, they did what on 4th of July?  

[Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread]

So didn't Twister.  Maybe it's just the area.  

[Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread]

I had no doubt El Toro would reopen.  It was just a matter of when, especially with the state of New Jersey.  I'm going to wait until it reopens before driving down.

[Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's World Adventures]

PowerLand

This was a park north of the major cities in Finland and I knew very little about it prior to my visit.  The park didn't have the atmosphere of the two city parks south of it, but PowerLand was clean and well-run.

The main reason for my visit was the duo of Infinity Coasters.  One was Junker and the other was junk.

Junker was excellent.  It's one of the most underrated coasters I have ridden.  The launch has some real power to it.  The rest of the ride has some strong airtime and awesome hangtime.  And you usually get great laterals as you're coming out of your seat as well.  I got nearly a dozen rides on this coaster after a marathon at the start and end of the day.  The best comparison I can give for a coaster stateside is Adventureland's Monster with the launch of TMNT Shellraiser.

One of the most puzzling coaster additions of all-time is Junker.  This is a Gerstlauer infinity coaster plopped right next to Junker with the exact same colors and exact same theme.  While Pitts Special has some good ejector airtime on the first drop and speed hill, the rest of the ride is sort of awkward.  The elements are too large and/or drawn out.

Thunderbird is the coaster that was cloned for American Thunder at Six Flags St. Louis.  Those who rode American Thunder in 2020 said the ride was running slower than usual.  That is how Thunderbird ran.  It was smooth, but it only had a few mild pops of airtime.

Cobra is one of the best boomerangs.  It's one of the newer ones, so it tracks very smoothly.  It also has a blast of fog as you careen through the station and a unique set of trains.

Joyride and Neo's Twister are the park's two family coasters.  Neither were standouts, but they were fine for what they were.

And I of course rode the kiddie coaster.  It was a royal pain to find since it was tucked in the far corner of the park only accessible by a narrow, hidden pathway, but I got the credit!

Beyond the coasters, there were a few other rides of note.  Pegasus was a crazy flat ride from Technical Park.  The ride program was throttled, but when it ran at its highest speed, I had no clue where I was going between all the flips and rocking.  It was a delightful blend of hangtime and positive Gs at its highest speed as the seats would randomly flip.

Kwai River was a bizarre log flume.  After the first drop, you don't hit a splashdown.  Instead, you continue speeding down this track and round an unbanked turn, getting some nasty laterals.  You then go down another drop.  The final plunge is pretty big for a flume and even gives a pop of airtime.

Dragon Tower is a great drop tower.  This is another Moser model, but the spinning seats grant a great view for everyone on the ascent.  And the drop had me floating out of my seat the entire way down.  One cool thing they do is that they alternate running it as a drop tower and an observation tower.  There are two separate lines, so you can pick the program you prefer.

Devil's Mine Hotel was a creeky dark ride, but the ride worked well enough and I really liked the western theming around the attraction.  The one weird thing with this ride is that you had "ammo" so you only had a limited number of shots you could take.  I've never seen a shooter limit this before.

 There were also some weird kiddie rides.  There was a line of mechanical bulls that was chucking children left and right.  And then there was this ball pit mounted on a rotating platform.  I don't think we'll ever see either of these in America.

PowerLand was a park I really enjoyed.  Crowds were manageable and the ride lineup was pretty unique.  But the reason to come here is for Junker.  That ride is fantastic.

[2021 TPR Coaster Poll Results!]

51 minutes ago, coasterbill said:

Do we know how many people rode both Ride to Happiness and Velocicoaster? I'm assuming with travel restrictions, the answer is "Probably @Canobie Coaster and like 1 other person. lol"

I'd be interested to see what happens when there are more mutual riders between the two.

I had Ride to Happiness ahead of Velocicoaster (and all but 4 rides), but both were very high in my ranks.  I know three others who rode both (not sure if they voted).  Two preferred Ride to Happiness slightly and one preferred Velocicoaster.

Darn, Coaster Express was just one spot away from its rightful place at the bottom of the list.  Maybe next year it can claim that title (although with the retracking this may have been its best shot).  

[Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's World Adventures]

^ It is.  I hope more people can get out to Finland to ride it.

[Parque Warner]

I'm both surprised and impressed they'd theme a slide to Black Manta.

[Photo TR: Canobie Coaster's World Adventures]

Linnanmaki

This was the park I was most excited for in Finland and it did not disappoint.  The park is located in the heart of Helsinki atop a hill.  So you have a mix of the city's energy and stunning views.  The park is small in terms of land, but it's very dense and many rides are stacked on top of each other.  My first day there was quite busy, but I returned for a few hours after Sarkanniemi on a rainy day and the park was a complete ghost town so I could marathon Taiga.

Taiga is easily the star.  This Intamin multi-launch coaster feels like Velocicoaster crossed with Helix.  You have some of the best inversions of any coaster, several nice moments of airtime, and impeccable pacing.  And the ride's placement on the hill allows the ride to offer great views and suddenly increase its speed throughout the ride.  This is definitely the best coaster in Finland.

Taiga was much needed since the park's other coasters, while unique models, were decent at best.

Kirnu is a ZacSpin run correctly...unlike the former Green Lantern that is now being scrapped.  This one actually rotates and the final flip is downright wild.

Ukko is a fun Maurer SkyLoop.  It offers great hangtime at the top and good positive Gs going through the station.  The restraints are less than ideal though since they sit on your stomach rather than your lap.

Salama is a Maurer spinner.  The layout circles above the rapids ride.  This one had a decent drop at the start, but it didn't spin as much as some others.

Linnunrata eXtra is a weird Zierer coaster built inside a former water tower.  There's a little space theming and if you ride in the back, there's one or two drops that will whip you down since the trains are so long.

Vuoristorata is a classic scenic railway.  This one still operates with brakemen, but this one is run super conservatively.  The operator had to push the train with his foot on some of the turns.  As a result, there were only 1-2 spots of airtime, but it was still cool to ride a piece of history.

Pikajuna is a Mack powered coaster that offers some nice views of the park's other coasters.

Tulireki is an abomination.  It's the only Mack E-Motion coaster remaining and I can see why there aren't more.  The vehicles are able to rock both side-to-side and forwards-and-backwards.  This makes the ride feel like a shopping cart riding down a cobblestone road.  Even if it tracked smoothly, the ride would be awful since it's trimmed extensively.

The park had some nice flat rides.  The best was Kingi, the massive Moser drop tower.  The view was incredible and I floated the whole way down.

Magia was another cool one.  This is a Technical Park Moondance.  I rode one of these at Playland's Castaway Cove a few years ago and was blown away by the centripetal force and sustained positive Gs.  This one started off similarly intense, but the final 2/3 were much more mundane.

There were a few dark rides too.  There was a classic haunted house, a walk-through, and Taikasirkus.  Taikasirkus should be avoided if you have a phobia of clowns.  You pass what seems like a hundred clowns while hearing the same song on repeat.  And there's even one scene where the clowns are scooping up elephant turds.

Hurjakuru is a fun rapids ride.  It has a themed tunnel at the start, some themed sprayers, and a massive waterfall.

[Nickelodeon Universe / American Dream Discussion Thread]

And now instead of giving a reopening date for Sandy's that keeps getting pushed out, the website now lists it closed for "Annual Maintenance" so who knows when it'll reopen.

[La Ronde Discussion Thread]

I forgot about the Ferris Wheel that never happened.

[La Ronde Discussion Thread]

I was actually looking forward to this IF they could allow it to run like the ones in Europe.

[Six Flags New England (SFNE) Discussion Thread]

While the ride wasn't the greatest, I will miss how it looked on the park's skyline.

[Nickelodeon Universe / American Dream Discussion Thread]

I haven't been there in almost a year, but Sandy's had a really weird programming quirk where the ride faulted if it wasn't constantly cycling.  And considering how dead this place gets some weakdays, maintenance must hate this ride.

[Nickelodeon Universe / American Dream Discussion Thread]

It's time for the monthly update on Sandy's delayed reopening.  It is now closed through 2/28/22.

[Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread]

While I always got lucky getting boarding groups for Remy and Rise, it was a stressful experience.  I'd much rather have the option to just wait in a long line than be completely shutout from riding something because of a technological glitch or losing a game of fastest finger.

[Waldameer Discussion Thread]

Waldameer takes really good care of this coaster.  If I remember correctly, they did a ton of trackwork this past offseason.

[2021 TPR Coaster Poll!]

When I was adding my coasters, I noticed Eurosat wasn't in the pool of coasters.  I don't think it will place particularly high, but I was wondering if that coaster was omitted by mistake since rides of comparable size are featured in the poll.

Great job putting this together as always and I'm excited to see the results.

[Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread]

Superman and Jersey Devil are the only two rides I could see getting lengthy waits if they're still running at reduced capacity.

Jersey Devil only had one train yesterday, so the line reached 2 hours midday.  I found out after the fact it was recently added to the membership skip-the-line passes, but even when I redeemed those, the line still took 20ish minutes from that point.  It sounds like it had been running with 2-3 trains most other days for Holiday in the Park.  The ride did open at least an hour late, so maybe they were having some trouble.

Superman was doing this weird thing where it was only loading the first four rows.  Combined with one train, that line crawled.

All the other coasters were walk-ons.

20211226_145800.heic

[Nickelodeon Universe / American Dream Discussion Thread]

Hasn't Sandy's been moderately reliable?

The one issue I've seen in my visits is that the ride faults if it waits too long in between launches.  This was a side effect on going on super quiet days.  Maintenace could easily reset it in 5-10 minutes each time.

[Austin is getting a Rollercoaster!]

I actually like the name Palindrome and that stall over the roadway looks incredible.

[Fun Spot America Atlanta Discussion Thread]

This coaster looks fantastic.  It looks like the lovechild of Zadra and Untamed.  I just can't believe it's going to Fun Spot Atlanta.  The park is going to look a whole lot different next year.

Quote

Another interesting fact about this new RMC: it's the first RMC not designed by Alan Schilke. Seems to be headed up by Joe Draves.

Didn't it come out that Joe Draves designed a large chunk of Zadra under Alan Schilke's guidance?

[Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread]

^ Queue-Times shows Jersey Devil opened around 8:25 and I know someone there who saw it going in the final hour.  I'm surprised they got it open that late, but it sounds like a nice bonus for those there.