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Everything posted by Zand
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Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread
Zand replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Haha probably not going with the fully ambitious plan. Like I said, if I get to any it'll be Cincy. I'm in Cleveland/CP almost annually so I can go to the Indians (or after this year, the Cleveland Politically Correct Baseball Team) and Football HOF on one of those trips. Went to the Rock Hall a couple years ago which was pretty cool, but not something I really need to go back to. And then Detroit/Comerica Park I honestly don't care as much about. Always heard good things about Great American Ballpark and I don't get to Cincy nearly as often, so that's the priority game of the three. Will try to get to Skyline Chili while I'm in town too. I've done a Knoebels/CP/Kennywood/Hershey trip 4 times now and have always planned it around the Pirates being at home. I've been to PNC more times than Fenway in the last 10 years. Even stopped in Altoona two of those times for a Curve game, which is also a really nice AA park. Now to figure out how to get a 4 day car rental for less than $400... -
Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread
Zand replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Planning an Ohio trip the Sunday-Wednesday surrounding Memorial Day. The bare bones plan is to fly into Detroit Sunday morning (it's way cheaper than Cleveland or Cincy), spend the rest of Sunday and all of Monday at KI, then Tuesday and Wednesday at CP. The absolutely insane plan is to potentially add in a Tigers game Sunday, Reds game Monday, Indians game Tuesday, and Football HOF visit Tuesday or Wednesday. Feel like I won't end up doing most of that, but the final result will hopefully include at least the Reds game. Enough baseball... My biggest question is how insane does KI get on Memorial Day weekend? Should I budget for FP+? I like to reride things to a point, but dont necessarily need 10 laps on everything. I would have the patience to wait about an hour a couple times for things like Orion, DB, MT, and Banshee but if the lines are likely to be much longer then I would want to get FP+. I'll have a half day on Sunday and a good chunk of Monday (minus 5 hours if I leave to go to the Reds game, which is at 1:00) so should have a combined 12 hours for the park. Been trying to sift through the beer and food recommendations from the last few pages and pretty excited to check out all these choices. Can anyone sum up a couple must-haves for food and beer? Sounds like Ohio is pretty much restriction-free now. Are all the rides back to full capacity? SFNE looks to be stuck in the stone ages of July 2020 with 1/2 full trains so the biggest reason for planning this trip is that hopefully no painfully slow lines will be present. Super pumped to hopefully get back to KI. Last time I was there was 14 years ago, when the only things to look forward to were Beast and maybe Flight of Fear and otherwise got to experience meh stuff like Vortex, Son of Beast (wasn't THAT bad post loop), Invertigo, and Firehawk. This place has some so far since I've been there and I've seen multiple people declare it to be a more fun park than CP. -
Moreys Piers Discussion Thread
Zand replied to LcHg5265's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Yeah that's the one. And that might not be a bad idea! -
Moreys Piers Discussion Thread
Zand replied to LcHg5265's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Suppose I could get one of the 4 packs of wristbands for $170. Not sure I'd use them all but buying tickets for one night would probably be almost as expensive. -
Lake Compounce Discussion Thread
Zand replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I love the location because you can ride it and then air dry on the Skyri... Oh. -
Moreys Piers Discussion Thread
Zand replied to LcHg5265's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Am I just blind while checking the site or is Morey's seriously not selling wristbands again this year? -
Looks like the calendar has been updated through September. 7 day ops don't start until June 14th (2 weeks later than usual) and end on August 28th (1 week earlier than normal). Also the park will close at 8 Monday-Thursday during midsummer. Hopefully that's just for this year. Calendar stops short of Fright Fest, although with the state's full reopening date of August 1, I expect Fright Fest to be fairly back to normal and hopefully also HITP.
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The last time I rode WC (a super hot and humid day in July 2019) it was running so slow that the Zero-G Rolls almost felt like JoJo Rolls. I had ridden Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers in the month before that and Wicked Cyclone was visibly running so slow in comparison that it literally looked like watching a YouTube video at 75% speed. It was almost comical. Still super fun to ride but felt so bizarre.
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Lagoon Discussion Thread
Zand replied to Twister II's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I'm vaccinated so I'm not at all worried about myself, just seems like a false sense of security for people who aren't vaccinated to read the FAQ on the website and then have none of it enforced in the park. Idk, maybe I just enjoyed the year of not having people breathing on me lol. Plus I live in the only state in the country that still thinks amusement parks are still unsafe regardless of Covid rules so I might be kind of jaded by the hysteria around here. -
Lagoon Discussion Thread
Zand replied to Twister II's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
So in the past year I kind of made a rule for myself...no new parks during COVID. I broke that rule on Sunday and immediately wished I didn't. First off...for COVID protocols the park kinda talks a big game but doesn't enforce anything at all. In most of the lines they had an employee (usually a younger one) walking around with a sign that said something like "Please Social Distance, Masks Required in Line" but there was 0 personal space at all nevermind social distancing. Id say a good 25% of the people in the lines were just wearing the masks on their chin and some didn't have one at all. Occasionally the employees would say something, but then keep walking and the person would just laugh after they walked away. I'm not much of a worry wart about COVID. I've traveled numerous times in the past year on planes, trains, and buses. Been to quite a few parks, ski resorts, casinos, sports games etc. I've felt slightly uncomfortable a couple times (previous top 2 times were the boardwalk in Wildwood on a Sunday and a couple lines at Hershey), but Sunday at Lagoon blew all those away. My wife was trying to get me to leave after an hour or two because she was even more uncomfortable. I know it's Utah and I should've kind of expected it to be not great, especially on a 65 degree day in full sun, but damn. If you're nervous about social distancing and that kind of stuff, I'd say don't bother with Lagoon until this is over unless it's a dead rainy day or something. Anyway, onto the park review... At arrival I wanted to get the most anticipated ride out of the way first and headed right for Cannibal. The line stretched past the Ferris Wheel, but then I remembered that this park doesn't actually have queue lines for its rides for some reason. So the crazy looking line was only about 20 minutes and I scored the front row. I think I overanticipated this ride as it wasn't quite as great as I was expecting but it's still a really good coaster. It's extremely smooth and flowy, but not the most forceful coaster. The elevator lift and first drop were terrific. I wanted to ride Samurai as I've never ridden a a Top Scan before, but I walked by it as the line was very packed in and overflowing (this is one of the few rides that actually has a dedicated line). We walked past a few more rides and coasters and eventually came to the Log Flume. Not sure why, but they didn't allow single riders so I got put with another group. Layout reminded me of the old flume at SFNE with some low to the ground turns and one drop. Not a great flume but there's no such thing as a bad flume. After visiting the village and checking out a few barns and museums in the quiet back of the park, we headed back towards the madhouse front of the park, past a closed Wicked (which I was looking forward to but knew it was unlikely to be open) and got in line for Colossus. Running two trains and they run Knoebels style dispatches, so it wasn't even 10 minutes from the entrance to sitting down. Good classic Schwarzkopf with pretty forceful loops and good helixes. Wish there were more of these coasters around. Continued on to Spider which had a line out the entrance path and unfortunately this line crawled. Pretty good ride though with a long layout and decent amount of spinning. Very tight and uncomfortable legroom, and I'm only 5'8". Passed up the long line for the standard Wild Mouse, but couldn't pass up a ride on Rock-o-Plane. This thing was a mashup between a Skydiver and a Zipper and thankfully allowed single riders (although it was a tight squeeze for me) as my wife wouldn't go near the thing. I almost made myself hurl before it even started because it's super easy to get flipping and it can flip very fast. If i were still 15 I could've ridden this over and over but after 1 ride I was seeing stars. Loved it though, Knoebels should get one of these. Headed for Roller Coaster next which was running two trains and also had a very fast crew. Thought I scored by ending up with the back seat but they mandate two riders in the back so I had to switch with a pair in the middle of the train. This place is bizarre. Anyway, for a 100 year old coaster it is super smooth. Not a ton of airtime but a perfectly acceptable family classic. We stopped at the Biergarten for lunch which was very good, although it had me longing for BGW. Definitely one of the better park lunches I've ever had. Headed back in Cannibal's direction, past a broken down Samurai but got distracted when it started testing, so I got out of line to go wait by the entrance. Unfortunately after 15 minutes or so an op came down to tell the growing line that it wouldn't be opening. Big bummer that I missed this and Wicked as they were among the top things I was looking forward to. Finished up the day with the spinning car Ferris Wheel, which was unique for sure and had some great views. The line was over 20 minutes but they were only loading 8 cars out of 40+ which was kinda lousy. Had to pass up on the Jet Star as my wife didn't want to wait in any more lines and they don't allow single riders. Ended up passing up the family coasters as well and eventually just made our way out of the park. With the park doing 0 enforcement of their policies, we just didn't want to be there any more. Definitely mad at myself for breaking my own rule and putting a bad taste in my mouth at a park I've never been to before. But a little more enforcement on their behalf would go a long way. Looking forward to going back some day and getting a better experience. -
Lake Compounce Discussion Thread
Zand replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I thought it was very bizarre that they incorporated it into the new logo yet closing it at the same time. Glad it's coming back, hopefully it will smell better. Not really a waterpark person anymore but that was always one of my favorites besides the typically long line and awful smell. -
With the Cali parks announcing their opening days recently, I believe SFNE is the final park yet to announce an opening day. And, naturally, there isn't even a date where their phase of reopening might happen. Thankfully things finally seem to be moving a bit quicker on Beacon Hill so I think late April is possible and almost definitely by Memorial Day.
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Six Flags [FUN] Corporate Discussion Thread
Zand replied to davidmorton's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I think Dorney should buy it, put it right next to Demon Drop, and open some kind of f*cked up living Intamin Tower museum. That would get me to visit Dorney like once a week. -
Lagoon Discussion Thread
Zand replied to Twister II's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Finally getting to this park next month after last April's trip got cancelled. Always kinda been a bucket list park for me and combining that with some of the country's finest skiing will make for an awesome week. Does anyone know yet if any rides will be down for maintenance to start the season or is it too early to tell? I'll be there April 18th so hopefully any early season kinks will be worked out by then. -
Yeah, April 2022. I dont understand how theme parks ever got lumped in with nightclubs in our reopening plan anyway. One of them involves hundreds of people packed into a small indoor space and one of them involves a limitable amount of people fully outdoors. Another way to look at it is ski areas have (thankfully) been fine (and very busy) but essentially the warm weather version of waiting in line, sitting in a chair, and flying around at various speeds is still a no no. I'm hopeful for mid spring also but I was hopeful for July last year and we're 7 months past that now.
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The day I went, Shellraiser had so few customers that it didn't run for the first 20 minutes I was there. Legitimately thought it was closed. When I went up to the station the ride ops were just sitting there waiting for riders. So if you don't see something running from the balcony, don't let it scare you off lol.
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Biggest Park with the Worst Collection of Coasters
Zand replied to DBru's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Guess I didn't look closely enough at the Dinosaurs Alive sign to see Grizzly in the fine print lol. Good to know! Missing it probably allowed me two additional rides on I-305 so I wasn't all that sad. -
Biggest Park with the Worst Collection of Coasters
Zand replied to DBru's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I feel like Kings Island circa 2007 is the poster child for this thread. The best coaster (other than a Beast night ride) was either the Premier Clone or Vekoma Flying Dutchman. Insane how fat they've come in 13 years. My home park is SFNE and I think it kind of belongs on this list, but I think Canada's Wonderland takes the cake for current parks. Also, on the Grizzly topic...when I was at KD two years ago I wanted to ride it but couldn't find the damn entrance. I didn't dedicate more than 30 seconds to looking for it but I legitimately just gave up and went elsewhere. HELP? -
Six Flags America (SFA) Discussion Thread
Zand replied to Mind Eraser's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
If the governor gives up on the insane restrictions in MA, I'd love to see SFNE open in March with 2 feet of snow still on the ground. The place would still be mobbed. Maybe a SFA/BGW trip is in order this March, and I'll wave at Kings Dominion on the way by.