Zand

Lol. I guess I better enjoy the crap out of Nitro on New Year's Day this year because if this is what Cedar Fair is bringing to the Six Flags parks, then it will probably be the final time we can do that. SFNE might as well just shut down in mid October.

It's crazy. The last couple times I've been to JB's at SFNE, my wife and I ordered two meals and two drinks and they rang up to a total in the neighborhood of $70 before they scanned for the meal plans. Just insane. I also noticed last week at Great Adventure that general parking is up to $45. I'll milk these $16 per month platinum passes with dining plans as long as I can because I know change is on the horizon with the merger.

Spent 1:30-6:30 in the park today and rode nonstop. Walk ons everywhere. Even Justice League was a walk on. Felt a bit holiday in the park-ish with both Frontier Adventures and the Boardwalk closed. 60% of the B&Ms were unavailable today but the two best ones were open and they made up for it by making sure 100% of the Intamins ran pretty much flawlessly all day. Temps in the mid 30s at closing but Ka and Toro didn't care. And that's still too warm for Nitro and Batman, they need it to be colder. I don't care if you think I'm on crack, Great Adventure in the late fall/early winter is one of the most gorgeous parks in the country and you won't convince me otherwise. How much did your Intamins run today, Hershey? Sunset laps on Nitro are just the best.

Hey Cedar Fair...you know what Great Adventure needs that you have a few of and would fit in the park perfectly? One of those sports bar style Chickie's and Pete's. Make it happen.

Tonight I fell victim to forgetting to check to make sure Six Flags didn't decide to change their hours at the last minute. Stopped at the park on the way to NJ, arriving around 3:30 and expecting to have till 7 but apparently this week they cut it back to 6. My fault as it should almost be expected at this point that the hours are likely to get f*cked with any given day. Figuring I had plenty of time, I started with a tour of Gotham which took a bit longer than expected as there were actually people at the park despite temps in the 30s. Everything in the park was open (unlike a certain park in NJ that I'll be at tomorrow) except Crackaxle, but running one train on everything and a lot of the coasters had 5+ cycle waits which I didn't expect. I then took my time eating at JBs and headed for Cyclone around 5:45, figuring I'd have time to hit that and then Superman a few times. Well, joke was on me when I was in the Cyclone station to hear "the next train will be the last of the night." Fun cold wheel ride which ran fast with good airtime, but unfortunately that was the end of the night. Guess Superman will have to wait another 5 months. I'll make up for it by riding another good Intamin tomorrow. To be fair the park did post the new hours on Facebook back on Wednesday. And kudos to them for having the whole park open except the 3 Crackaxle rides. Staffing was obviously thin but they made what they could out of it. I'm sure the Cedar Fair influence will kill off the November closings and revert back to Halloween, so this may have been the end of Veterans Day rides. Hope not. See you in April SFNE (or mid May if we start getting Cedar Fair schedules).

But how many Cedar Fair parks have gotten something as extensive as a multi-year Carousel project?

I'm sure Valleyfair and Michigan's Adventure (and Dorney before this year) wish they could've had a couple penny pinched Six Flags coasters sent their way in the past 15. I understand that what Cedar Fair gives to its good parks far outweighs what Six Flags has been giving to its big parks the past 10 years. But the have-nots on their end seem to be way bigger "nots" than the Six Flags have-nots (other than SFA of course). Six Flags parks may have been 4-D'd to death but at least it's something. As great as it would be to get some gigas into places like Magic Mountain and Great Adventure, I think the bigger thing that may come of out of this is maybe the new combined chain will remember the smaller parks exist, regardless of who they choose to work with. But we'll see, could just be status quo also.

This.

Get ready for short operating seasons. RIP HITP when the Cedar Fair influence gets its way. Hope this upcoming New Year's Day at Great Adventure isn't the last one. When do they start painting Millennium Force red with blue supports?

Quick Oktoberfest/Frightfest report from Saturday: Arrived around 2:00 to a comfortable crowd...lively but not crazy. Goals today were to ride Wicked Cyclone and Superman, have lunch, and check out the Oktoberfest offerings. Anything else would be a bonus. Pretty classic October weather with gray skies and temps in the low 50s. Didn't take too long to achieve my goals. Ate at JBs on arrival with absolutely no wait and the food was ready before we even got to our seats. Wicked Cyclone had a quick 10-15 minute wait for a fun backseat ride. Skyscreamer was a short line when I was up there so I hopped on that too. Wasn't windy enough to spin the seats around, but for some reason they slow the spinning down to almost a stop when the gondola gets to the top. It's almost an unnerving feeling because it makes it feel like it's about to go all Windseeker on you and break down in mid air, but then it speeds back up and starts to descend. Weird, but still fun and it's always bizarre spinning in reverse. Made our way down to Superman passing a long Thunderbolt line and Scream running one tower (it's only a Frightfest Saturday but ok...) and found a line inside the final canopy. In 10 quick minutes we were in the station with a two train wait for the back. Surprised to see the heat lamps in use but it allowed the ride to run pretty quick and still very smooth. Superman at SFA kind of beats you up on a few of the transitions but this thing is running as smooth as it was 23 years ago. Headed up to check out the Oktoberfest scene which was pretty busy but grabbed a pretzel and some beers and listened to the band that was playing for a while. It was a fun atmosphere and pretty well done by Six Flags standards. Also watched abysmal dispatch times at Joker, Riddler, and Batman and decided I was happy to skip those today. Around 6:00 we checked out a couple of the smaller Frightfest setups but the bigger crowds were streaming in and we hit the road around 6:30. Fun afternoon! Thundercow? This maze is a much better use of Goliath's plot than Goliath was. I always thought these banners are both a cool nod to the history of the park as well as a really awkward place to mark where the trash bins are in JB's. Either that or the park thinks their best restaurant is trash. Idk. I spy 6 coasters in this shot! Heatlamp the Ride I'm not sure if this bar is new or if I've been very non-observant the past few visits, but pretty cool little spot right under Superman. Will have to check it out next time I'm there! Prost! Guess I'll need to hop a flight to LA because there's no "Riddler's Revenge" in this park lol. Goodnight SFNE Premium one tram ops on a Saturday night.

Fair point! To be honest the Miler in Kissimmee made me kind of feel the way the Atlanta one made you feel. Biggest difference is those mouse style hairpin turns taken way too fast are about 50 feet higher in the air lol. And then that high speed low to the ground turn that is very poorly designed and seems to exert way too many forces on those janky Miler wheel assemblies.

Haven't noticed this at Great Adventure yet (although based on the stories I've heard from FightFest in the past years I'm not surprised they're doing it this time of year) but when I was at SFA in August their security were all wearing vests AND they consistently had 3 county cops parked outside the front gate. Never seen a park openly go all out on security like they do.

I mean...someone mentioned the Turkey Hill store above. That might be more entertaining than Sheetz. I've gone back to Team Wawa in the past year so looking at cornfields is firmly back ahead of Sheetz on my list. My other favorite pastime of that area is staying at the Super 8 in Danville, and around 11pm getting a knock on the door saying they have to move us to a different room because it was pouring and our room was probably about to flood. This was about two weeks after the infamous 2018 flood you see marked on the covered bridge at Knoebels. A good portion of the park was still underwater when I was there but it was still open because Knoebels.

I'm sad to see everyone hating on Hurricane at FSA. I was laughing my ass off by the end because of how janky is was. The last two airtime hills have more severe ejector than anything in AF1 and then that sudden 90 degree angle turn before the brakes was so bad that it was good. I understand that kind of jankiness isn't everyone's cup of tea but I loved the damn thing haha.

1. Visit Centralia 2. Look at Cornfields 3. Hang out at Sheetz 4. Yuengling brewery is somewhat close As said above, the park is in the middle of nowhere with nothing really of interest in the area (other than hiking...plenty of that) but it is definitely worth visiting the middle of nowhere in this case.

They could replace Steamin Demon with a Pinfari looper and Canyon Blaster with a colonoscopy tent and it would be a drastic improvement.

This is awesome for Great Escape! Love these small Gravity Groups, can't wait to check it out.

When is that Condor getting built?

I was there two weeks ago and ended up biting the bullet on the rides/waterpark combo even though I had no intention of using the waterpark half. The before 7 rides pass totally blows when the two good piers don't open until 5. I definitely got my money's worth out of the $110 wristband in comparison to single ticket prices, but still ridiculous. That said, it was mobbed so why would they charge less when suckers (including me) are paying for it? It was good to be in the Ghost Ship again even if it was only partially open. I rode Sea Serpent a ton early when just Mariners was open since there's nothing else good over there and that is the best Boomerang in all the land. And I love a good boomerang...going backwards through the loop is one of my favorite coaster sensations. And then naturally bracing for the head bashing heading into the cobra roll and then remembering you don't have to worry about it on Sea Serpent is always funny. Atmosfear is still my favorite drop tower outside of Demon Drop. I rode Zumanjaro a couple days later and even that experience is ruined by a good Larson tower although the view is worth it. Enjoyed many rides on all the usuals on Surfside and Adventure piers. Also stopped in Ocean City for a couple hours for my annual Gale Force ride plus Manco & Manco >>>>>>>Mack's.

Start with Superman as that is the slowest line in the park. Probably won't be bad on a Tuesday anyway but might as well get it out of the way. If you see Kingda Ka running, go ride it. You never know when it will decide to remember it's an Intamin and close for the rest of the day. Sometimes it runs pretty reliably, but best to hit it early just in case. Probably mostly walk ons otherwise.

Last report of the week: battling Mother Nature and Intamin to have a decent Saturday afternoon. Drove through some heavy rain and lightning on the turnpike for an arrival around 2:30. Started raining hard as I walked into the park, but no lightning in this area so everything stayed running. Headed over to Kingda Ka which, literally 5 seconds after I stepped into line, played Intamin's favorite announcement: "Kingda Ka is currently experiencing a minor delay in operation blah blah blah" and when I got to the Flash Pass attendant he directed me out of line. Figured I'd head over to Zumanjaro as it was a walk on and I could see if Ka might reopen or not. Fun ride...feels like it goes on forever although again the freefall sensation has been spoiled by Atmosfear. On the way down the mile long exit I heard Ka send a test train. I waited at the entrance with a large group building behind me. After 2 more tests they reopened the line. When I got to the station they sent the first train with riders and meanwhile I hopped into the front row line as it only had a 4 train wait, which I'll probably never see again. Naturally, the very next train had issues and "everyone take two steps back blah blah blah". Not sure what it was because they locked the train down, then unlocked it and reopened the ride without even testing. The next 10 minutes went without a hitch and I got my front seat ride which was terrific as always. This ride sucks in any other row but good enough in front. But RIP Dragster, you were always better. Anyway, came around to the block before the station and sat for a minute while they dumped the train in front of us back into the line before they manually advanced us in to disembark. I didn't see it run again for the next 3 hours...I felt like I hit the lottery (which unfortunately I did not actually do a couple days ago). From one problematic Intamin to another, headed over to El Toro which had maybe a 10 minute wait. Got in line for the 2nd to last row, was next to board but the train ahead of us had a problem with the verify in car 2. So they manually advanced it out of the station, advanced the train on the brakes in to unload, and then backed it back out to the brakes. Maintenance took a can of what I believe was WD-40, sprayed something under the train, backed it in, and left. Without saying a word, the gates opened and everyone just kind of stood there. The op gets on the mic and says "Well what are you all waiting for...get in your seats!" I love this park so much...the level of giving a f*ck is just so low and sometimes to the point where it's hilarious. Any other park would've tested the ride like 5 times but here you just hop right in like nothing happened. Anyway, one train later we were on our way to crazy town. Missed this thing for the past 12 months, good to be back. Figured a more reliable B&M would be a good next step and headed over to Medusa for my first ride since the re-retheme. My last ride I gave a poor review and I owe it an apology. After getting beat up a bit by Dominator the other day, this ride was glass smooth in the back with not a single head bang and lots of intensity throughout. Sorry I talked shit Medusa, you're still pretty good. Completed my "won't be able to ride this in January" tour with Mine Train. I usually end up just taking an empty row in the back car, but today the station was clogged back there so I ended up in row 2. I forgot how f*cking insane this thing is in the front car. The laterals in the middle threw me around a couple times and then that last hill has the best ejector this side of Magnum. That hill just absolutely launches you into the stratosphere. El Toro should be jealous. After grabbing dinner at a for some reason deserted Chop Six, headed back into Intamin goodness at Skull Mountain. No maintenance issues at this one, just a total dud of a ride with no music, no lights, no props, not much of anything besides a really hot 10 minute wait in the stifling tunnel. What the hell has happened to this ride since last summer? Nitro was next which had an obnoxious 25 minute line with lots of people cutting and then clogging the entrance of the station to the point that one of the ops started screaming at a group of people. They were only running 2 trains for some reason. I mean...25 minutes definitely isn't terrible but shouldn't we be running 3 trains on a Saturday in August or are we just saving the 3rd train for some other shindig? Anyway, ride was great. Definitely runs a lot faster with more airtime than I'm used to during HITP and was reminded how great this ride is with some of that speed. JDC had a very quick 5 minute wait and a back row ride was good fun as always. Only running 3 trains...not sure if that's normal at this point. Didn't seem to be much of a difference between 3 and 4, just that the train kind of cruises through the final brakes and catches right up to the station instead of meandering through the brake run. Finished up with 2 more back row tangles with the mighty Bull. At 7pm on a Saturday, this was a total walk on. The park was pretty busy, but for whatever reason the lines were very short the whole time I was there. I did see from the parking lot that Superman was running one train and had most of the line full, so god bless you if you bothered waiting in that line.

I thought about getting the credit as I walked by the other day but ended up passing. Maybe next time lol.

SFA is so premium they are now offering ZERO TRAIN OPS! Figured a couple Superman laps would be a good way to get out of DC traffic for an hour or two. Not much to report on as I only stopped in for 2 hours and honestly that's enough for this place. 1 train ops on everything and they're not exactly quick about it. Thankfully Superman had almost no one at it so got two back row rides. The air on that 3rd hill blows my mind every time and then the landing nearly blows my back out...sure comes down hard from that airtime. Attempted to ride Wonder Woman and was seated and checked before they dumped the ride for technical difficulties and the ride went down as long as I was in the park. Joker was deserted so hit that real quick. Enjoyed this a lot more than Flight of Fear...seemed smoother but more intense at the same time. It's more fun being able to see these twisted layouts as you go through them. Hit Voodoo Drop for a quick walk on. Fun enough although I spoiled myself earlier this week by marathoning Atmosfear at Moreys which is probably the best drop tower I've ever been on. Last ride was Wild One which had about a 20 minute station wait due to one train ops (and that one train cycling about once every 6 minutes). I loved this in 2020 but for some reason today it jackhammered a lot and I got stapled which made it even worse. Still lots of airtime for sure, but definitely disappointing after I gloated over this a few years ago. Missed out on the Rajun Cajun credit again, it has been closed the last 2 times I've been. Also missed out on the Two Face credit the first time I ever went to this park because it was closed that day. This spot is cursed I think. Batwing was also closed while I was there. Skipped the lame GCI and the world's worst B&M so at that point I headed out.

49 miles from the airport to BGW and 31 miles to KD. I feel like round tripping the parks with Uber would be more expensive than renting a car (although who knows how much a car will cost on Labor Day Weekend...so maybe not). I'm staying in Glen Allen...it's closer to KD but I mainly chose it because there's a million restaurants in the area. Also because there are both a Wawa and a Sheetz within a mile of the hotel

Pantheon It ain't VelociCoaster, but it's a good one.