Zand

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.

Ok, so mega nerd moment... I can see VelociCoaster's top hat from my room. I decided to time the dispatches, and as you can see below they're really damn good! Meanwhile, I can also see Iron Gwazi and 3 trains have been dispatched during this time.

Thanks to Frontier getting us down here for $60 round trip, decided to come spend a couple days at Universal and get away from the gross constant rain and mist in New England that never seems to end this time of year. Universal has almost become my home park over the past year and I think I'm up to like 12 days in the past year on my pass (I don't think I've even been to SFNE 12 times in the last 10 years). With that said, just a few notes to pass along from the past couple days... After becoming big Aventura fans during our last few trips, we decided to try Cabana Bay this time. This place is like being at Disney and I don't mean that in a good way. If you have kids then this is great for them, but it's enormous, loud, and has none of the efficiency and relaxation factor that Aventura has. We couldn't even get any bowling reservations for any of the 3 nights we've been here. Just the word reservation gives me the Disney shivers. Definitely going back with Aventura next time. Park crowds were pretty typical. Feels busy when you're walking but most rides have been walk ons other than the usuals. I completed 100% of Studios in like 4 hours today, even doubled up on my Rip Ride Brake Runs because no one was coming up when my train pulled back in. And when I say 100%, I mean everything except Fast & Furious obviously. Got a bit pissed at the single line situations today. Rode VelociCoaster from standby at 6:00 or so and noticed that the single line was totally deserted (usually almost full and slow moving). Moved up to Hagrids and went into the single line. A guy in an ugly 90s-era Steelers t-shirt went into the standby line at the same time. We both got to the final switchback room at nearly the same time and I saw him get on the ride about 20 minutes before I did. So standby was 45 mins and singles was 1:05. After this I went back to VelociCoaster which now had the single line closed off even though it was deserted an hour earlier. So I guess they'll let you wait longer on some rides while closing the ones that will actually save you time? I don't get it. But I was pretty pissed on my Hagrids ride lol. Rode the two Toon Lagoon water rides for the first time yesterday. Now I don't mind getting wet from the ankles up, just leave my feet alone. But Ripsaw Falls (aside from having the most awkward/uncomfortable logs on earth) has like 5 sections where the water comes over the side of the log and dumps right in your shoes. So unnecessary. After that, figured what the hell and hopped on Popeyes knowing damn well what was coming. I hit both soaking waterfalls dead center, but I knew what to expect with that one. That thing is a hoot. Bid my farewell to Poseidon. It's a fun attraction, bummed to see it go but hopefully they do something good with that building. VelociCoaster is still pumping out 50 second dispatches despite reports that they've slowed down. The line definitely moves slower with the introduction of Fast Pass, but it's not the fault of the crew which still hustles. I'm also not sure why on earth it runs 4 trains. It's impossible to not stack 2 of them on any given ride. Still such a damn good ride. Not sure what my plans are this summer but I feel like whatever I do needs to include Atlanta. The #1 reason is obvious, but I've also never been to SFOG so I'm overdue on that anyway.

Stopped in for a couple hours this afternoon. Weather seemed iffy on the way in with temps in the 40s and showers, but once there the sun came out and temps went up into the 50s so a nice afternoon and low crowds today. Obviously kind of a low staffing time of year, so Crackaxle Canyon was closed, as were Flashback, Blizzard River, and GCG. I believe everything else was open from what I could tell. Batman, Riddler, and Wicked Cyclone all running two trains, Superman running 1 which was fine with it being a station wait. Speaking of Superman, running a bit slow due to the cold wind but they must've done some wheel work because it was running incredibly smooth, like...smoother than any B&M hyper. Lots of food places closed, but had lunch at JB's which I hadn't been to in a while and has gone downhill a bit. The plates are smaller and they don't have different types of sauce on the tables like they used to. Glad I still have the meal plan as I couldn't believe two plates of chicken and 2 drinks rang up to $52. Was in the park for a little over two hours and rode Superman, Joker, Batman, Riddler, Harley Quinn, and Cyclone and ate, so a nice uncrowded day. Overall, the park seems to be in good shape and once we get towards summer they should be good to go. Most waterfalls run into a pond, but a PREMIUM waterfall just spills out all over the pathway. This view looks a little nicer with an open plot of grass than a POS Vekoma. Hopefully Selim will get us something really nice for this spot. Not sure when they traded in that ugly bus for a legit trolley car, but this was pretty cool! They were running this plus TWO trams so I'll give them credit where it is due... and also remember this when they're inevitably running one tram on Saturdays in July.

Not sure if the email they just sent is the first theyve spoken of it or if I just live under a rock, so forgive me if this is common knowledge, but apparently Boulder Dash got some titan track during the offseason. Will have to go check it out. If it's not a lot and the ride still sucks, at least Wooden Warrior isn't far away.

It looks like the NWS is surveying a path that started in Bordentown and pretty much went right down 195 to the shore. Looks like the park may have been spared from major damage but I haven't seen any pics to confirm that. But sounds like a big mess along the highway.

The weather for opening day isn't looking very premium tomorrow. Wonder how many hours they'll actually be open.

I'm sure. But it's just another thing that we all roasted Cedar Fair for two years ago that, meanwhile, Six Flags managed pretty well at the time. Now? Selim'd again.

Per the latest ElToroRyan video, El Toro won't open with the park (expected) but apparently neither will Medusa, Mine Train, or Skyride. I presume Log Flume would be thrown in with those closures as well. Basically HITP plus Kingda Ka/Zum. Not opening an entire end of the park until Memorial Weekend is hella premium.

The previous few posts had me thinking they were going to have to pull an SFNE and tear it down and send it off to Mexico. Glad that they seem to have things figured out.

Was anyone able to make sense of this? I see words such as pretzel, slides, scream, pizza, sunglasses, and store. I also see urn, zombie, die, and sin so I mean they just could be doing Goliath word association. Guessing traction and paved are just coincidences? Moral of the story...I don't see "B&M Dive Coaster" or "Launch Coaster" in there anywhere!

95% of me thinks the rumor is complete BS...Nitro is pretty iconic in the coaster world and in the public. Seems pointless to change it to something generic. The other 5% of me remembers saying the same thing about Superman at SFNE in 2008.

I mean...if it's getting SFNE Goliath's signs, that must mean it's getting Premier trains too right?

SFNE just posted on Facebook there are 3 months till opening day. April 7th is Good Friday, so that makes sense. This would be the earliest opening I can remember.

Wish I could've taken a couple Nitro laps or grabbed a beer with you guys but I had just gotten to the park when I first ran into you and I was spooked by how crowded it was and only had like 3 hours left at that point. When I was marathoning Nitro I almost went up front for a ride but had prime real estate locked down in the back row for like 4 consecutive rides and didn't want to get up lol. The fireworks ride to finish the day was sick. I was surprised they were lighting them off from an open area of the park!

The atmosphere was totally different than 2 years ago for sure. Last time it felt like a warehouse with a couple random stores plus a park and a ski hill. This time it legitimately felt like being in a real mall. It's kind of surreal watching my wife spend millions of dollars at Bed Bath and Beyond and thinking in 3 minutes I'll be spending an equally absurd amount to ride roller coasters. It's great that it finally no longer feels like a place that might shut down next week.