Zand

Potentially looking at visiting for the first time on Jan 18th or 19th. I'll be in Vegas that week and, if I decide to go, will be renting a car and driving down. Couple questions... 1. Does SFMM have a ride rehab schedule or is it a more Six Flags approach of "f*ck it, if it breaks we'll fix it"? I tried searching but haven't found anything. I know to expect a couple things to be closed, just hoping to know before I pull the trigger. 2. How are crowds typically on a mid January weekday? If necessary I'll buy a Flashpass as I want to do the whole park in 1 day. Pretty excited to potentially be finally knocking this park off the bucket list!

I will say...if that list is accurate then having the Scrambler being one of the rides open is a BIZARRE choice. It's way out of the way and nothing else would be open within 1000 feet of it. Anyway...brief Sunday report. Park was pretty busy, but hit the two essentials plus a few extras and are dinner in the 4 hours I was there. Arrived around 3 and hit DC first thing. Rode Skyflyer for the first time which was fun albeit a brief cycle. Queue building was only 1/3 full but this was still a 4 cycle wait as there are only 24 seats (and 4 of them were roped off). Missed the upside down view of Superman that Nightwing used to give in the same spot although obviously this is a much more comfortable ride than the old George Forman Grill Flying Machine. Hit Superman with a quick 5 minute wait and rode in row 3. Running great as usual. Still weird how forceless it feels now compared to most modern coasters. Almost like a Morgan hyper but really really good. Got in line for Cyborg next which I still had never ridden. Indoor section was almost full which was about 4 cycles. These new Trabants are fun, what more is there to say? Headed to the South End and the crowds really started picking up at this point. Harley Quinn, Riddler, and Batman were all near or over an hour so hit Crime Wave (a walk on) before a 15 minute line for Joker which was a great ride. Tried JBs for dinner but the line was out the door (Patriots AND Brady were playing so...yeah) so ended up getting a Cheesesteak and beer across from Flashback. Not too bad for park fare. Nice to not wait an hour for food like that clusterf*ck that was Kings Island...in fact I'm pretty sure I didn't see any closed restaurants or food stands today. Nice job SFNE. While the lines in the North End were also pretty long there was one I was willing to wait in. Wicked Cyclone had a line almost to the entrance, but despite the front rows of each train being closed for some reason and plenty of stacking, 45 minutes later I was in the backseat on the train to crazytown. Most of my rides on this have been early morning on hot days when it drags through the whole course. Tonight it was a little cooler and it was visibly running faster than I've ever seen it. And yeah...some of those quick pops of air were hitting so hard that it was borderline painful. When this thing is running full speed the layout is basically the 2nd half of Steel Vengeance...batshit crazy. Headed out after that, happy to have gotten on what I wanted to despite it being on the busy side. Seems weird to have only been there on opening day and closing day this year, but both visits I thought they were in good shape. I was surprised to see they've done next to nothing with Fireball since it got smooshed by a severe storm in June. The train is gone but there's still a bunch of debris lying around and the entry gates are still all bent. Looks weird without a grove of trees behind the ride. No signs of the crane by Goliath, nor did I see any signs of deconstruction. However, I did notice these wires under one of the lift spikes. Not sure what these used to be hooked in to. WTF is Carnevil and what did it do to Area 51?!? That was always my favorite theme of Frightfest. Speaking of which, I didn't do any houses but they seemed to have decorated the main midways more than usual this year. Lots of...uhh...cut up bodies and stuff on Main St. Goodnight SFNE!

They could close all the rides at SFNE to better staff Great Adventure for all I care lol. I'll be at SFNE Sunday for closing day. Haven't been since opening day. Seems like light years ago with the Covid restrictions lol.

What Skyway towers? Would you happen to mean the 50 foot tall Christmas Tree poles?

They could always call Dorney...I'm sure Stinger is in pieces somewhere. If they include Demon Drop in the deal, I think it would be a positive deal for SFNE!

So what goes in that spot? An inverted boomerang? A frisbee? A trabant? A mouse coaster? Gotta keep the lineup fresh you know...

You definitely lucked out with Beast. When I got to it at 9:30ish last Saturday, the FL line was all the way back onto the exit ramp before the split. The line crawled too (probably due to a bit more priority being put into moving the ~3 hr standby line) and took 35 minutes or so. But then again, I got walk ons for Banshee, Windseeker, and Mystic Timbers right before and after that so guess you just have to hit it right (and hope the grouper is moving the FL line along if you don't). I'm glad dealing with the mask BS is over in the parks (except in California maybe? lol) and was happy to have mine put away the whole trip to Ohio minus the airport/flight. I keep one in my pocket as I usually put it on out of respect if someone wants to speak to me and they have one on, but didn't have to worry about that in Ohio like I occasionally do here in MA. I did get pissed off at one security guy at Hershey last year. Was sitting on a bench by myself with a drink next to me and he went out of his way to come yell at me because I wasn't putting it up between sips. Meanwhile hordes of people were walking by with theirs down. Definitely don't miss the 2020 hysteria.

I feel like we had identical experiences one week apart but you touched on a few things I meant to but didn't remember to while writing my report. It can't be stated enough how much of a difference it is between a wheel seat and middle seat. The total difference in tone for these two reports is spot on. This was the biggest eye opener for me. I expected lines to be 2+ hours and FP+ to have some lines built up, but I truly could not believe just how many people in general were walking around at any given time. I'm a fast walker (which annoys the shit out of my 5'0" wife lol) and it drove me nuts how many groups have to walk 10 wide down a path, but it almost became moot when there were so many people that it was just one big mass of people on any given midway. The worst spots were the stretch from Hank's pretty much all the way down to the Diner (especially when they had a giant maze line set up right in the middle of the midway where the games are) and then that hanging pumpkin section between Troika and Beast. I hate to say it and it's too late now obviously, but maybe the parks shouldn't have given up on reservations this year. Not for Covid reasons, but just for guest experience reasons. When you have all these food places closed (as well as drink stations closed, and the few that were open had mile long lines) it creates a really negative experience for people. I kind of expected it going in, but I feel like a lot of people would never go back because they think they'll have to wait over an hour for food and 30 minutes just to get a drink on a hot day. I know many of these people were just hired recently and are probably doing their best with how little I'm sure they were trained, but it was pretty ridiculous a few times. I actually asked for the back row on Orion on one of my rides, but the grouper insisted I join a group of 3 in row 5. When it became clear that she was never going to get the last two rows filled before the gates opened, I tried walking back there and she actually came over and told me to go sit in row 5 to keep the train as full as possible. I figured maybe there were exit passes going to the back two rows, but nope they went empty. I don't understand why some groupers are so against letting people request rows, especially the front/back on coasters that have giant extra spaces to accommodate longer lines for those rows. Since the groupers suck so bad at actually filling a train, just let people pick their rows and when all the rows fill up, stop letting people in. If a row is empty, call two people forward that want to ride the next train. It's such a simple concept. The worst is the grouper that had a Cedar Fair Supervisor jacket on that was working Diamondback...I asked to wait for the front and she was like "Do you really need to go to the front that bad?" I had to try really hard to not just say f*ck off, but was just like "I mean...I would prefer to, yes.". There were literally two pairs of people in a line with the space to hold 15 pairs of people. Ehh...I kind of disagree with that. They kind of level off at 7:00 but so many people are flooding into the park at that time that they don't really get any shorter either. Orion, Diamondback, Beast, and Flight of Fear were all full for FL+ at 9:30 last Saturday (and all had 2-3+ hr standby lines). Maybe by 10:30-11:00 you'll start catching some short lines but it takes a while. Whether for walks of shame of general slowness, the stacking got kind of insane. Orion, Mystic Timbers, and Banshee shouldn't be running 3 trains anyway, but there wasn't a single time where the third train didn't sit for almost a minute, just to pull forward and sit again for 3 more minutes. Even Diamondback with its longer ride time was stacking quite a bit. If the Nitro ops at Great Adventure ever let the third train stack that much, they'd be relegated to Bugs Bunny Land. I will say the Beast crew was hauling ass each time I rode it, usually they were waiting for the train to clear the lift to send the next one. The same grouper was there both nights I was there (tall, younger, and quite the booming voice) and did an excellent job both honoring requests and getting every train out full.

You'll have to let me know how crowds are tomorrow. If it's anything like last Saturday, you should see if your FL+ comes with a fullback to help you get from ride to ride. This is from 8:45 last Saturday...

I noticed this at KI this weekend as well. Couldn't sit down at a table or bench or anything outside without 20 yellow jackets sitting down with you. All over the outside soda fountains as well, although not quite as bad as Lake Compounce used to get during the free soda days. Thankfully no issues with bees on brake runs. That reminds me of one time probably 15 years ago at the Big E in MA, they had a drop tower called (I believe) Drop of Fear which had a big top section on top of the tower. One year apparently a bunch of bees set up shop right where the car stopped when it got to the top, underneath the big top section. The ride op had the ability to estop the ride right at the top for dramatic effect and we were screaming for him to let us drop because we were getting SWARMED while we were sitting there. Definitely the worst bee/wasp experience I've ever had on a ride lol.

Damn...could've done some spring skiing in October!

KI also had Charlie Brown closed even though it was 85 degrees all weekend. Guess I just got used to SFNE having a rapids ride open every year from opening day through the end of fright fest, 35 degree temps and snow on the ground included.

No presents from being stuck on Mystic Timbers...was kinda hoping for a one use Fastlane but no dice. Guess 15 minutes wasn't quite enough lol. Two of my Beast rides were middle rows (8 and 14 I think) and they were great rides, no discomfort at all. Then I ended up in row 15 (last row available for that load...guess I should've held out for the front) on the last ride and every turn felt like it was going to jar my bones apart. The first half was so bad that I was dreading being alive the whole drop into the helix but that section ended up not being so bad lol. The general public still loves the ride and it still draws big lines so who knows if it will get any work. But a nice retracking would be great and really make it rerideable in any row. The one missing piece for Kings Island is for RMC to show up and build Grandson of Beast

They have 4 of them there. Of course I totally forgot about them Saturday night when searching for food. Instead I walked by Miami River Brewhouse which had a line past Mystic Timbers, then by Hanks which had a line across the midway, then tried Panda Express but there was a line AROUND the outside of Festhaus to get in, and finally settled on Chicken Shack which also had a big line but I was done soul searching lol. Anyway, Sunday report which ended up being the day of the woodies. No, I didnt fly out to Dennis Hof's mansion, but I did take the side trip out to Strickers Grove which was really cool and I recommend to anyone who is in thr area on a day they are open. I didn't experience any wild ejector on Tornado, but its still a solid smaller wooden coaster that looks great. Teddy Bear was adorable and ran really well. I would've loved to have reridden Tornado a few times but Strickers drew a huge crowd sunday, with most rides having lines of 20-30 minutes! I didn't end up checking out any flats but they have a pretty solid lineup of old school flats. But $15 for rides, mini golf, free soda, cotton candy, popcorn, and slushies was really awesome. The grill food was great and inexpensive as well. Like I said, check it out if you're ever at KI and they're open. It's only 30 minutes away and worth the admission just for the 2 classic coasters alone. Anyway, we had such a great time at Strickers that it was almost 5 by the time we got back to KI. The park was busy again Sunday, and my main goal was to close the day out on Beast and just hit whatever I came to before that. After grabbing a beer at the Festhaus and watching a couple shows, we got in line for Mystic Timbers. Only 35 minutes, but wouldve been shorter if it werent for the lousy grouper who was very slow loading rows and routinely sending 2-3 rows out empty. Encountered a few of these this weekend and I know a lot of these people are new, but damn. Anyway, the ride was great until the ride broke down while we were stuck in the shed. Lights came on and the ride ops came around to "keep everyone company". It was quite hot in there and it was nice when we finally pulled out. After the shed experience we grabbed a couple beers at the Brewhouse and sat on the deck in the Adirondack chairs, such an awesome spot! By then it was pushing 6:30 so I went to check out the Diamondback line which was over an hour. Checked the app and saw Orion had just reopened from a breakdown so went over there to check that out. Only 6 switchbacks were full so I got in even though I didnt have long before I had to head to Beast. After 20 minutes we had made it through 2 switchbacks. I was thinking to myself that if we were at Great Adventure that line would never stop moving, but here they were stacking the 3rd train like it was going out of style. At 7:30 I finally gave up and headed for Beast. Turned out to be a great idea as even though the app said an hour wait, it ended up being 15 minutes and I got 2 rides! The 2nd was in a wheel seat near the back and damn was that brutal. Night and day compared to the middle seats. But still an awesome way to wrap up the weekend. Unfortunately the trip was over as for some reason KI closed at 8 the day before a holiday (GADV was open till midnight and even Cedar Point, who couldn't even stay open earlier in the summer, was open till 10). Despite the crowds it was a terrific weekend and looking forward to returning hopefully next year. Here's a few Saturday crowd pics.

The absolute best spot in the world to be 5 minutes before park close.

Fastlane saved the night tonight for sure. I couldn't believe how crowded the park got...most midways were so full of people you couldn't move. After dinner I hit Banshee which had a pretty full line but walked right up fastlane and right to the front row. I love this thing...my favorite invert and the night ride was even more insane. Feeling the temp changes was really neat. Around 8:30 I started a loop around the park as most major coasters were showing 2-3 hr standby lines. First up was Orion, which had both the fastlane and standby lines full to the entrance. Fastlane took 30 minutes, greeter was telling people 3:15 for standby. Ended up in row 2. Real fun at night. Love that speed hill and the 2nd to last airtime hill. Just wish it was longer, no brake run should be 100 feet high. Headed back to Windseeker which had a standby line stretching back almost to Troika but not a soul in the fastlane line. Awesome view and I feel like this one spins faster than others at the top. Next up was Beast which had a line spilling out the entrance and posted at 2:45. Even the fastlane was beyond the split with the exit line. Took over 30 minutes but still saved a lot of time. Rode in front and got my first night Beast ride in 14 years. Absolutely love it. The first half is like Blair Witch Project: The Ride. Then that damn helix is unreal at night when you can't see it and can't anticipate when you're going to slam into it. Headed over to the best standup coaster in the world...Mystic Timbers. Got two rides in 10 minutes as there was 0 line for the fastlane despite 1:30 for the standby line. The airtime on this thing is mental and some of the sharp turns catch you off guard at night. To have these two woodies in the same park as 3 top tier B&Ms should be illegal. Too much greatness in one park. Finished up with Diamondback and a front seat ride. Almost as good as Nightro, but nothing beats 20 degree rides on Nitro in January. This definitely has the better ejector air of the two, especially in front. The camelbacks just launch you into outer space. Was time to head out by then, but scored a Boo Blasters ride on the way by just before closing. This park is already pretty special as it is, but when the sun goes down it's just the best. Some parks have a designated night ride that you always need to finish the day on. This place has 6. And now that Boulder Dash sucks, the Beast can reclaim its crown as the best night coaster on earth. Only thing I didn't get to that I wanted to was Bat. Theres no fastlane access for it. I actually went to get in line for it as Queue Times said 45 minutes, but I knew it would be longer when I only had to walk 45 seconds to find the back of the line. Heading to Strickers Grove tomorrow at 1 then coming back for a few hours. Only open till 8 so will only have time for one fully dark ride to wrap up the trip. There's only one candidate for which ride that will be.

This place is officially bullshit busy. Worst part is trying to get something to eat without standing in an hour line. Ended up breaking down and getting in the Chicken Shack line which is about 40 minutes. Wristbands have definitely helped, although even those haven't been without lines. Diamondback was 35 minutes with fastlane at 3:30 (standby was 2 hours). Mystic Timbers and Beast were a little quicker. Orion was down for a while but I caught the first train when it came back up. Grabbed rides on Racer, Adv Express, and Drop Tower as well. Nightfall is here so will spend the next 4 hours riding as much as I can!

Queue times said Beast opened around 11:20 and immediately pulled a 30 minute line. Glad there's nothing catastrophically wrong with it. Arrived at the crack of 11 to a mobbed but slowly emptying park. Have wristbands for tomorrow so figured I'd pop in tonight and ride a couple coasters. Hit Mystic Timbers with a 45 minute wait, then hit Diamondback with about a 5 minute wait on the way out. It was my first time at a non Six Flags park (or Lake Compounce) for a Halloween event and...yeah what a difference. Great atmosphere in the park. Pumped for tomorrow.

Just arrived a few mins ago, but have noticed on Queue Times that Beast has been down the whole night. Hoping it's nothing big and it's open tomorrow. Anyone have any intel?

I feel like the automatic answer is Denver.

Thanks for the Strickers Grove recommendation, definitely considering popping in there! Haven't really heard much about their coaster but random ejector hill sounds good to me! Not really planning on hitting any Haunt stuff at KI, primarily there for the night rides on...well...almost everything. So haunts would cut into the night time riding. If I happen upon a short line for a haunt, sure, but otherwise I'm okay not hitting any of it.

Booked a KI trip for Columbus Day weekend. Flying from Hartford to (ironically) Columbus Friday night via Breeze Airlines for the first time. Not sure who in their right mind decided scheduling flights between Hartford and Columbus was a good idea but they're cheap and I'm not complaining. Should be at the park in time for a couple night rides before the midnight closing. Have all day Sat and Sun. Will splurge for a FL+ on Saturday. $125 but I think I'm gonna need it (UNLESS...if anyone here can confidently tell me that the lines might die down after sunset due to people all heading for the haunted mazes). Sunday will be more leisurely, will probably watch football at the bars and hit short lines as I come to them. Then flying back on Monday. Feels weird to spend this much time and money to go to one park, especially one that I've already been to this year, but after the spring trip I've been dying to get back for night rides and I've heard their Haunt is one of the better ones. Feels even weirder going to Ohio and not going to Cedar Point, but honestly I don't even care. Thought about maybe running down to Kentucky Kingdom on Sunday but unfortunately they close this weekend.

As much as I probably shouldn't be sad about the removal of a bad Arrow Corkscrew that I haven't bothered riding in probably 20 years, nostalgia wise it is kind of sad. I feel like for a lot of New Englanders that grew up riding coasters before 2000, this was their first looper (myself included) as it was pretty much just this and Black Widow at Riverside. I remember the line for this thing extending out to the midway back in the 90s. Now it's obsolete, even by Canobie standards. Waterpark expansion is the right thing for the park to do. Also...i haven't been to Canobie since the year Untamed opened, so not sure if i just dont remember Corkscrew being blue or if they hadnt painted it yet, but that blue is atrocious lol. The yellow and black always looked nice.

Manhattan Express/Big Apple Coaster/That Pile of Togo Sh*t at New York New York. The new trains were better (although the comfort collars are useless just like on the other Premier trains that have them). There's a little less shuffling than the old trains. But some of the transitions are so god awful on that thing that you still get jarred a few times.

The only Zero-G roll that ever truly gave me butterflies was Viper at SFGAdv. As much as that thing was a steaming pile of Togo sh*t, I miss that element.