Zand

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.

Today is a good example of why it's good to go to a park on a rainy day. Upon arrival, a heavy shower was approaching so we scooted to the back to get in line for Darkoaster. Was over an hour wait, but perfectly timed as the heavy rain was starting to let up when we walked off. The heavier rain was about 45 mins away so booked it over to lap a deserted Pantheon until the rains came back just in time to grab some beers at the Festhaus and wait it out. Rain should be mostly done around 3 and hoping to have free reign of the B&Ms and Premiers for the rest of the day after that. Recapping the day... Darkoaster was pretty decent but yeah that throughput is brutal. I was okay standing in line for an hour because it was pouring out at the time, but that line absolutely crawls. We were fortunate that there were barely any people using Quick Queue today which kind of helped. Pantheon...what else is there to say that hasn't been said already? Rode it twice in front and four times in back. Fun opening sequence, the launch is a lot of fun with the massive airtime on the little hill (almost painful going backwards as it just hits so unexpectedly hard), fun drop off the top hat, the outer banked wave turn is decent, and the stall has some great hangtime. Not sure it's top 20 worthy...definitely a good coaster but missing a good standout moment like the Mosasaurus Roll on VelociCoaster. And that setting is just so ridiculously bland. I can't believe a coaster in a Busch Gardens park was just plopped into a field with absolutely no theming. That whole part of the park was a ghost town when I was there. Rode Apollo 4 times in a row without getting up. Still good fun with some decent airtime moments and I always love the drop into the helix. B&M has definitely surpassed this over time but I still prefer it to rides like Candymonium and Mako. Rode Tempesto in front and back. I forgot how insane the forces are on this thing. Crazy ejector at the top and the positives are nuts at the bottom. Rode Verboten twice as it was pretty much a walk on which is rare. Love this thing and the indoor section is actually quite thrilling. I want to love Alpie but that second half just kills it for me. If B&M took the first half of this and then the second half was Montu from the Batwing out, they would have a perfect coaster. But instead Banshee and Raptor are more complete rides and meanwhile this thing knocks your socks off at first and then meanders down the bunny slope at the end. Griffon and Invadr still good as ever. 1 train ops on Invadr which was a bit painful with only 16 riders per train. Only line I waited in outside of Darkoaster. The ops were overall better than my BGT trips last year but you can definitely tell they've gone downhill the last 5 years. Just feels like a good day at a really nice looking Six Flags. Doesn't have that high quality Busch Gardens feel to it. On the way out, my wife who isn't really a coaster person says "I always thought this was my favorite park, but honestly Kings Dominion is a much better park right now" and she's absolutely correct. Hopefully will make an appearance down here again sooner than 4 years from now. Always an enjoyable couple days when I'm here.

Earlier in the summer I was supposed to take a Missouri trip which I ended up having to cancel due to conflicts that came up at work. I ended up with this week off and wouldn't have had time to do the Missouri jaunt, so I decided to hit up the VA parks for the first time in 4 years. Main reason is obviously Pantheon but Kings Dominion also exists and I really wanted to get back to one of my favorite Intamins. After finally arriving in the Richmond area at about 3am due to a late departure and 95 still managing to have a few messes at midnight, I slept late this morning and headed over to the park around 12:30. Parked nice and close as the park was pretty empty despite what most Virginians would consider a comfortable day this time of year in the upper 80s with low humidity. My first order of business was Twisted Timbers. Like I said, I was here 4 years ago and somehow barely remember my Twisted Timbers rides. Usually that means the ride was very mediocre and unremarkable. But after my rides today, I have no idea why I'm not remembering my rides in 2019. This is truly an elite level RMC. The first drop in back is an amazing zero-G sensation, the camelbacks are El Toro level good, and the rest of the ride is totally relentless with airtime galore and a few other fun moments. I actually think this is better than Iron Gwazi and it rivals Arie Force One. The station wait that it had all day made things even better. I got the Tumbili credit but what a waste of time. I didn't get a single flip. The line crawls because it has half the capacity of the Six Flags free spins and I just can't believe what I consider a mid-upper tier Cedar Fair park would put one of these in, especially a half sized model. Also wanted to touch upon Grizzly. I rode it back in 08 and thought it was a pile of sh*t and in 2019 I couldn't find the entrance and didn't bother asking because I remembered it being so bad. I was eager to get back on it today with the new retrack, and damn did they do a nice job with it! First drop is great, then that weird turnaround is still insanely slow but the rest of the layout is full of airtime and some good laterals. Even the second half that they didn't retrack...it definitely has some texture to it but I'd hardly consider it rough. This is a very good wooden coaster right now and definitely my 3rd favorite in the park. Would love to ride it at night. My former 3rd favorite in the park, Dominator, is starting to get a little brutal in a couple spots. The transition from the first drop into the loop provided a nice clock to the head as did a few spots in the second half. It's still by far my favorite floorless as I love the layout with the amazing first drop, fast pace, drop off the mid course, etc. But floorlesses in general just haven't been aging well IMO. Most of them have become skipable to me. This one is worth riding for sure but its glory days are definitely behind it. I-305 still kicks all kinds of ass. I understand that in the long run as far as return on investment for the park, the coaster was a major mistake but I'm just so glad it got built before they figured all that out lol. Also hit Apple Zapple, Racer, FOF, Reptilian, Woodstock, the Flume, and Windseeker during the course of the day. Major closures that I saw were Drop Tower, the Eiffel Tower, and the Flyers. I think everything else was running. I forgot how much I love this park overall. One of the best one two punches in the country but aside from those it still has a great supporting cast and it's just a really beautiful park. I need to start getting down here more often. Pantheon tomorrow. Oh and Apollos, Alpie, Griffon, etc too. You locals have it rough with these two parks I tell ya haha.

Accident on the spinning mouse in Kissimmee. Sounds like a kid fell off somehow. Edit: I guess saying he fell off is total speculation as the article doesn't directly state it. Or maybe it does? Idfk...talk about vague.

The park posted on Twitter (at 5:15am apparently) that Alpine Bobsleds will close for good on September 4th. Glad I was able to be there on one of the miracle days that it was actually running.

Was in the area this afternoon, so decided to stop in... Where is everybody? These waits are definitely premium. For the record, 90% of the people actually in the trains are reriders.

Finally getting a chance to take a trip out to this bucket list park the week of July 10th. I found it kind of odd that the park still closes at 7pm during this time period and extends to 10pm the week of July 17th. A real bummer as I was looking forward to the many tremendous night rides this park has. Any reason why they close so early at that point? I'd understand if it were mid June, but I've never seen a park that doesn't expand to full summer hours of operation by July 4th week. Even on Friday night they close at 7 and I fly out on Saturday. It makes no sense to me.

Was planning on going to Coney Island and Great Adventure today, but traffic was already bad before even getting to Hartford and after checking the traffic near NYC I decided to head back north, until... Worst part is, according to queue times Great Adventure is dead. Ended up driving right past the park and went shopping and out to eat instead. Not sure if queue times is broken or if I should've just kept driving and dealt with the traffic. Not sure why the vast difference between the two parks but damn. Really wanted to ride some coasters today...oh well.

As long as they took care of the two or three jackhammering sharp banked turns, then things should be better. The rest of it wasn't too bad otherwise.

Review of an early summer Sunday from a first timer... Arrived right around the 11am opening and kept the RMC party going with a quick wait for the back row of Twisted Cyclone. This one seems to receive a little more bitching than most RMCs, but despite its length I actually really liked it. Good first drop, fun rolls early, the wave turn is phenomenal, and then some real killer airtime hills which I really felt because I think I have slightly bruised shins from lapping AF1 last night lol. I got a second ride on it in the afternoon and it was hauling even more in the hot sun. I liked this better than Wicked Cyclone as the pacing is great and it has a lot of standout moments. Walked up the hill towards the Mine Train and realized most of the back of the park was slow to come alive, but finally came to an open Monster Mansion. This might be the 2nd most WTF ride after the Garfield ride at Kennywood, but at the same time was way too cool to be in a Six Flags park. Made our way over to Dare Devil Dive which was about a 30 minute wait from just beyond the Flash Pass merge. Only running two cars but they were moving things along pretty quickly. Honestly was underwhelmed by this ride as it just seemed drawn out and pointless for the most part other than a couple forceful turns. A ride with this poor capacity doesn't belong in a major Six Flags park...it just doesn't make sense that they built this here. Decided to stop by Georgia Scorcher before going back around the loop of the now fully open park. I liked it...smooth enough and forceful. Obviously on the short side but not a bad ride at all. Headed back up for Goliath and had our first encounter with bad ops which became a bit of a blight on the park IMO. For one thing... one train ops on a Sunday? Not that there was much of a line, but they were pushing 3 minutes on dispatches which is inexcusable for a B&M Hyper. Maybe I'm jaded by Nitro's constantly world class ops, but it would've been nice to lap this today and it just wasn't possible with the slow moving 20 minute line that would've been 3 minutes if this was Great Adventure. Anyway, another thing I found lame was not being able to choose seats and being denied waiting for the front (even though it has a longer lineup built for it...why bother). Its clearly a permanent thing they do with this ride as there's a sign saying "no preferred seating on this ride." Why? It has a huge station and almost every other coaster here you could either choose or had no grouper at all. Anyway, boarded row 2 left seat and was told I couldnt hold my sunglasses. I tried handing them to the checker since I was on the left side, but she handed them back to me and told me I had to climb over the 3 people to my right and put them over there myself. Really premium customer service going on here. Anyway, onto the coaster. This may have supplanted Diamondback as my favorite B&M hyper. This thing is like the Skyrush of B&M hypers, tons of ejector air on almost every hill especially in the 2nd half as well as some good positive g's both in the insane helix and on the way towards the brake run. It almost caught me off guard. I'd heard it's more forceful than most B&M hypers, but this blows away any of them. Diamondback has a better first drop and more complete layout, but the forces on this thing might just put it over the top. Headed down into Gotham and rode Mindbender after a 20 minute wait. This was a great ride, other than that diving turn after the first loop is was glass smooth with good forces in the loops. Schwarzkopf would never do anyone wrong and this may be the best one. Moved along to Batman which had some breakdown issues but ended up boarding the front row after 20 minutes or so. Encountered another premium op here too. The train before mine had like 7 people either wearing sunglasses or holding them. They locked everyone in, then unlocked the restraints and the checker on the right side stood next to row 3 and screamed at the top of her lungs "If you have loose articles you need to get up and put them on the left side RIGHT NOW!!!". Anyway, somehow this was only my second BTR and this one was a bit rougher than Great Adventure's but somehow even faster and more intense. These things are just so fun and a total blur. Continued towards the back of the park in search of more credits, finally coming up to Blue Hawk which was a walk on. I actually liked this, mainly because of the best restraints allowing the ride to be enjoyable. The layout is like a bizarro world SLC layout but it really cranks through the elements. Next door, GASM was also a walk on for the back row. I was apprehensive because of the complaints of roughness, but this ride was a ton of fun with not much roughness at all. The floater airtime was plentiful all the way through the layout. Wish I could've made it back for more rides but it's really buried in the back of the park. Getting the Superman credit was the bane of my existence today. The line was only back to the final straightaway before the split, but with one train ops (and atrocioisly slow ones at that) the wait somehow ended up being an hour. If it wasn't a new credit I never would've bothered as despite being nicer looking than the others, its just a clone. After finally escaping that hellhole of a line, I was denied the Jokers Funhouse credit as it was closed for the day before coming up on my final credit in the Mine Train. It was mostly fun, a couple brutal moments but really long with the three lifts and fun terrain elements. Other than rerides on Cyclone and Goliath, my final to-dos were Acrophobia and the Flume. Acrophobia was interesting for sure...definitely a bit uncomfortable but the feeling of tilting at the top while not really sitting on anything was definitely a thrill. Very unique ride and fun enough to be worth dealing with the..uhh...uncomfortable bicycle seat thing. The flume was small but fun and had a nice splash without being too much. Overall a good enough day although the operations definitely left something to be desired at some points. Not necessarily a place I'd come running back to, but when they get something new (well, besides the kiddie coaster) I will definitely be back. Goliath and Twisted Cyclone are awesome and combined with Arie Force One across town really make for a worthwhile weekend trip to Atlanta! It's a gorgeous park for sure and with better ops I would rank it in the top tier of Six Flags parks, but it comes up a bit short of the top tier with the way today went.

This is gonna be a fun Saturday night! Saturday report for my brief stop at Fun Spot... Flew into Atlanta this afternoon and after it took nearly an hour to get my rental car I felt like I was kind of running on borrowed time as I finally arrived at the park around 7:30. Turns out 2.5 hours was more than enough time to ride AF1 a ton as well as lap the park for some of the other offerings and get a bite to eat. I was expecting it to be busier, and maybe by Fun Spot standards it was a good crowd, but at the same time I felt like I had free reign of the place. First off, Arie Force 1 is the real deal folks, and it just feels so bizarre having a coaster like that in a park like that. Rode it 8 times today, with 2 in front, 4 in back, and 2 in the middle of the train. Good first drop, and then the Raven Truss Dive has good air in front and is a great visual from all seats. The stall is great, especially in the middle where you get the most hang time. The outerbanked turn is typical RMC wonkiness, but then the highlight of the ride is the 2nd half of the double up into the low barrel roll. The airtime on the drop off the double up is massive and the barrel roll might be my second favorite ever because nothing will ever touch VelociCoaster in that regard. But the speed at which is goes through that roll and the next one feels illegal but its all so smooth. Then that last stretch of bunny hops...not quite as brutal as the ones on Steel Vengeance but this thing is still absolutely hauling through them. And then the brakes...yeah they hit suddenly and quickly but Nitro does the same damn thing so quitcherbitchen. This thing is definitely the most intense I-Box RMC I've ridden and probably slots in behind Steel Vengeance and Lightning Rod but ahead of Iron Gwazi for my favorite RMCs. The amount of speed this coaster carries through the 2nd half of the ride is insane. Get down here and ride it, the hype is real. Elsewhere in the park, the mid sized Miler was a hoot. It doesn't have the roughness of the Old Town coaster since it lacks low to the ground curves, but a couple hills produce insane ejector and then that last turn before the brakes it just absolutely SLAMS into so hard that I was cackling with laughter when we hit the brakes. These stupid things are so fun, I'm not sure why there's not more of them. They can't cost much to build since theyre about as janky as a backyard coaster. I don't usually whore up kiddie coasters, but I did today because I apparently needed more Miler in my life. I also hit the infamous Paratrooper which is as advertised and actually started making me nauseous which takes a lot to do. The weird restaurant/arcade/indoor bumper car building was a total clusterf*ck but fits the charm of the park so well. The whole place feels like a backwoods carnival that just happens to travel with a massive new RMC. And so, to the 3 people actually reading this, I leave you with this: book some sure to be super cheap airfare to Atlanta and come ride one of the best coasters in America. You won't regret travelling for this one. First ever visit to SFOG tomorrow, which means more RMC goodness plus B&M Hyper goodness and a few other things I'm really looking forward to checking out!

I was off by an hour. Heavier rain is starting to move in now, but looks like all the important stuff has been open with no lines so I'm sure the 3.5 hours you had with lighter rain was more than enough! Sometimes it is worthwhile to visit when the weather isn't so...clement.

If you do go, the rain looks pretty light so everything should be open. With that forecast you'll absolutely be able to lap the entire park in about 2 hours and then have time for some rerides before the park inevitably closes by 3:00.

Visiting SFOG for the first time 3 weeks from today (Sunday after Memorial Day). Admittedly the primary reason for this trip is to ride the other RMC down the way, but obviously I have to finally check this place out as well and a park with a B&M Hyper and its own RMC should be plenty fun. Has the park veen running near 100% or have there been rides closed that might not be open by the time I go? Also, should I budget for Flash Pass? I have a full day but I have no idea how crowded this park gets so not sure what to expect. Preferably I'd like to lap the whole park and then get some rerides on Goliath and Cyclone.