larrygator

Ignorance. People don't understand that SF can not add $10 million dollar coaster with frequency and remain fiscally responsible. Selfishness. People only think about what is best for them, not the majority of the customer base. SFGAdv hasn't added a new $10 million dollar coaster in almost ten years. If another one were added next year, that could not in any universe be described as "frequent". And if you're talking about Six Flags as an entire chain, just look at what Cedar Fair has been adding the past decade then describe to me how that statement makes any sense. Also, how is wanting a ride more exciting than a free spin wanting what's best for me and not the majority of the customer base? I think it's a fair assumption that the majority of the costumer base likes roller coasters. SFGAdv is a dirty, poorly-run park with virtually no charm or atmosphere, with theming that is built and then largely left to rot. The only thing it's ever had over other amusement parks in this part of the country is awesome roller coasters. It's not unreasonable to want them to continue delivering in the one and only aspect in which they've ever excelled. My comment regards SF adding a $10 million dollar coasters, not SFGAdv. Please list the $10 million installations for Cedar Fair and Six Flags for the past decade and I will explain why it makes sense. Cedar Fair is more fiscally responsible when you look at their income and revenue based on season pass prices. Since CF has more income they can spend more on capital improvements. I have ridden a Free Spin and it is an exciting coaster. The people waiting in line with me at SFFT agreed. Many were re-riding it or riding it based on recommendations from friends. It might not be the biggest and longest coaster but it is exciting and for 99% of SFGadv guests it will be a new experience. I never said the SFGAdv customer base doesn't like roller coasters. When I see consistently longer lines for S:UF, Green Lantern and Kingda Ka versus El Toro I don't see the thoughts of the general public synced with an enthusiast who prefers El Toro.

Thanks Martin, I get this into the Park Index shortly And no matter how bad the selfies came out you really should show the ones of you eating the penis shaped cake.

I might as well knock out one more update while I have the time. After Wonderland I made the two hour drive to Joyland with the intent of enjoying the 7-10PM discount admission. By the way, at Joyland I scoped out to perfect placement for America's first Intamin Mega-Lite. For the day, I was ahead of schedule and headed straight for brisket before the park. I had been warned ahead of time that Wiley's was in a rough neighborhood and it was. I decided that this might be a good place to do takeout. However, now I needed to find a good place to eat my brisket. This is Wiley's BBQ I was happy they had a drive-up window because their building was one of the better looking ones in the neighborhood. After speeding out of the parking lot I needed to find a good place to eat my brisket. Hmm this looks like a good spot. Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza looked peaceful and it's not everyday you get to eat lunch with Buddy Holly. Oh boy, this sandwich was awesome. I prefer my brisket lean (I know sacrilege) but this was fatty in a good way. And wonderful sauce. Right across the street is the Buddy Holly Center and since I didn't have a selfie stick I took a picture of someone else in front of giant Buddy Holly glasses. Selfie stick, that'll be the day that I die. I could rave on about Buddy Holly but you all would rather see Joyland The park is pretty much a long straightaway. Plenty of traditional flats and a few coasters. However, there is this huge strip of open land (top of the map) that could hold the first American mega-lite. It would be perfect for this park. Then again, this might have been the proposed located for the Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop they sent to Cliff's. Unfortunately the park may be installing a water structure in the future. Seriously, who needs that in west Texas. I think this is the water play structure that Joyland got in exchange for trading Greezed Lightning to Cliff's. I grew accustomed to taking a picture like this on my trip. Herschell Mad Mouse, just as scary as a Miler Mad Mouse A pretty good drop tower. Old school flat New School, if it was along the Jersey Shore it would be named Moby Dick. Plenty of room for a mega-lite I love these rides. Besides the Spider the park has a Tilt-a-Whirl, Scrambler, Trabant and Music Express for classic ride fans. Life after people I was close to riding Big Splash but people were coming off the ride with drenched sneakers The Dipsy Doodle was really hauling ass in the hot humid weather.

And I heard you could use the exercise, I should have let you know.

I was initially very concerned about this day between the driving and the heat. I had to get up early for the drive from Tulsa to Amarillo to Lubbock and then continue driving to Clovis, New Mexico for the night. it helped that the Comfort Inn I stayed in in Tulsa had a superb breakfast spread. I was extremely tired in the AM but luckily planned a "culture" stop to break up the drive a little and refresh myself. Just before passing through Oklahoma City I detoured off the road to POPS a pilgrimage for soda lovers, before visiting Wonderland in Amarillo and Joyland in Lubbock. Of course, I had brisket in Amarillo and Lubbock. I stopped at POPS for some pop. Over 600 types of soda, here are a few. These are my selections for the drive to Amarillo I made great time on the drive so I made my Amarillo brisket stop prior to Wonderland. This is Tyler's BBQ. A welcoming decor Texas toast, yeah. Meat was juicy and tender, I didn't even try their BBQ sauce. However, the beans were watery. I wouldn't be a trip to Wonderland without photos of the Hopkins' loops. Loops, mean plural I still approach these Miler mouse coasters with trepidation. I have ridden too many of these Galaxi coasters this month. Texas Intimidator was the one unique flat at the park Drop of Fear was down for the day. Sky Rider is NOT a coaster Hornet - a unique Vekoma in its third home I mentioned earlier that Drop of Fear was down. Fiesta Swing is really down. The park is pretty much one long straightaway with rides on each side. Very difficult to get lost. Wonderful dark ride Two levels Most people obeyed Porky, the park was very clean. Next up will be Joyland and Lubbock, but i leave you with this artsy shot.

Ignorance. People don't understand that SF can not add $10 million dollar coaster with frequency and remain fiscally responsible. Selfishness. People only think about what is best for them, not the majority of the customer base.

Agreed, that's why I attempted to get all the brisket on this trip with sauce on the side.

You are really going out on a limb with that prediction!

Any new attraction (in any park) that has a constant line and flow of riders is a good addition for the park. A 4D coaster will satisfy the park needs and drags people away from the other coasters. Will you be able to marathon it? No. But that is a feature that keep customers returning to the park.

I felt bad for Cheryl (not just because has to deal with you) following the lost luggage saga on Facebook months ago.

Next up was Silver Dollar City, a park I last visited prior to Outrun Law being built. My goals for the day were to ride Outlaw Run multiple times do the Marvel Cave tour and get some cinnamon bread. To ensure the former, I purchased the Trailblazer and was willing to use all eight passes on Outlaw Run. I was pleasantly surprised that the line for Outlaw Run rarely ran more than 10 minutes and many times it was quicker to walk through the regular line. In the end, I accomplished all three goals and had a great time at SDC. Also, my wallet was getting a little worn down, so I saved myself a trip to the mall and purchased one at the park in a stress free environment. I rode Outlaw Run at least a dozen times and really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that the ride fizzles out after the two inversions. Head to the light Caroline! I love Powder Keg. I used the Trailblazer here a few times since it was the longest line (20 minutes) in the park. Although I didn't need it I was glad I had it for piece of mind. I do love the content of the signs around SDC, especially after learning that bat guano was a main ingredient in gun powder during the Marvel Cave tour. The details that go into the themeing are wonderful, such as the use of old fire hoses within the Fire in the Hole queue. I know that I lot of people love the skillets, but I'm not a fan. Besides the cinnamon bread I got this. Potato Chips with bacon and ranch. and some jerky, but I don't remember the flavor of jerky I bought. I wasn't planning on riding this or Firefall, but since I had the Trailblazer and it wasn't saving times on the coasters I used it for some flats. Does anybody know where I can find Buzzsaw Falls? I love the ride operators uniforms at SDC, especially the Flooded Mine. Although on both my visits I had trouble finding the ride. I got 3 or 4 laps in on Wildfire, thanks to the lack of a queue. and the educational aspects of the visit continued thanks to reading all the signs, The longest line of the day was for the bus back to my parking lot, Trailblazer Pass was not accepted. Next up will be my longest day of the trip and includes Joyland and Wonderland and more brisket.

After leaving Frontier City I went to two BBQ places in Oklahoma City, then drove to Tulsa for two more BBQ places. When I planned the trip and a stopover in Tulsa, it was solely to break up the driving between parks. I need not realize a coaster had opened in Tulsa in 2015, so of course I had to stop since it was not out of the way. Unfortunately, I missed dining at Burn Co. in Tulsa because the closed at 2:30. This is the front of JT BBQ and while the BBQ sandwich looks bland it was awesome and I understand why it was highly recommended This is George's Happy Hog (also in OKC) A lot of options but I stuck with the brisket. They insisted that I take a side (it was included with the sandwich) so I asked them to hold the bread. The mac n cheese was very good moist, unfortunately the brisket was not moist. Since I was not hungry when I arrived in Tulsa I went to Tulsa's Incredible Pizza Company. You can bypass the purchase of a pizza buffet if you put $10 on a game/ride card. The coaster is $6 so I played some games, then added more money for more games. These Spinning Coasters are showing up in quite a few places, I have now ridden three in the past month. The place also had trampolines Laser Tag GoKarts a few kiddie rides and mini golf Time for more brisket at Elmers I did like Elmer's decor. Since sliced brisket was $1.50 more then chopped, I had chopped here. The brisket was tender but not as flavorful as other places, but their BBQ sauce was exceptional. Last stop of the day was Leon's Smoke Shack, the smoke shack is on the left. The signage confused me. Four sins said Open, two said closed. So I tried to open the door. It was 5 minutes til close so I got my order to go. The lunch counter Yea, it was real good!

Impulse

August 13th, 2015 - Frontier City I arrived in Oklahoma City on the night of the 12th, after stopping at some giant casino (Winstar, maybe) just over the Oklahoma border the night prior. Thanks for mentioning this place Chad you cost me $300 I arrived at Frontier City at opening and spent almost 3 hours there. I loved the consistent western theme throughout the park including a cast member putting on a skit with three random kids before the rope drop in which one kid was ordained mayor for the day. I knew it would be a big brisket day and I needed to stay on schedule. This is the giant casino that took my money. The front gate at Frontier City These three kids are competing to be mayor for a day and main street establish the frontier theme Even though the park is not part of Six Flags any more they got one of these. Themeing in the games area Themed show area Tumbleweed, a well themed rotor I know this is a tribute to someone local but all I thought of was Jamal Mashburn I dog Schwarzkopf coasters a lot, but I liked this one and rode it multiple times. 3....2...1 waiting for Dorney Park people to start bitching Taken from the waterplay area, I was really hoping that I would have something nice to say about this coaster. At least I have nothing bad to say about it. Oh wait something good, I love these signs in the queue. It's nice when parks recognize great coaster not in their chain. I was very close to riding Renegade Rapids, knowing that I'd be leaving the park soon but skipped it. It was breezy enough that my Winged Warrior was turned 90 degrees most of my flight, but it was unsnappable. Amusing tombstone in the Boot Hill Cemetery I really enjoy cheesy dark rides and this one delivered. Even the photographers carry the theme, I took this as I was leaving the park without riding Diamondback. No big loss since I rode it over 30 years ago as Lightning Loops. As soon as I sat down in my car, I saw it running so I went back to ride it for the sake of nostalgia. I should have stayed in my car. In my next update I'll reveal the name and location of this phenomenal BBQ joint, along with two other BBQ joints and a bonus credit.

The second part of the day was to be a quick trip to Sandy Lake (I got rained out of Sandy Lake on my last trip) and then a few stops to get brisket at Mike Anderson and Pecan Lodge. Sandy Lake is a very nice little park. It has a well kept Pretzel dark rides and some old school flats along with two kiddie coaster. Sandy Lake is the type of park that people complain about after it closes, so make sure you go support your local park. We have lost to many little parks due to lack of support in recent years. On this day I learned my first two BBQ joint lessons. 1) Check the store hours. 2) Open for lunch means the place is only open for lunch. In most of the US if a restaurant says it is open for lunch, that means it does not only serve dinner. In BBQ country "open for lunch" means the place is only open for lunch. I ended up arriving at both Mike Anderson (which closed at 2:30) and Pecan Lodge (which closed at 3PM) right after each closed, although I would make it back to Mike Anderson the last day of my trip. Step one : buy tickets Step two: Head to The Pretzel Since I'm a dark ride fan I took a few pictures The Pretzel company got its name from the track configuration. However they then used a huge pretzel symbol on the front of the car to balance it and prevent the cars from flipping backwards. Step three: ride the kiddie coaster. Step four: Take more pictures. Didn't have time to ride the Rock O Plane Another fun flat ride A collage of rides Another shot of The Little Dipper Even though I could not get brisket on this day, I fell back on something that years ago was quite popular in New York City and at soda shops around the country with a Chocolate Egg Cream from the Highland Park Pharmacy. I finally did make it to Mike Anderson's BBQ for brisket 6 days later for my return flight. I passed on the side and just got a brisket sandwich with sauce on the side An excellent sandwich. Juicy, tender, flavorful and the best roll of any of the places I visited. Next up will be Frontier City.

For years I remember no props at all inside of Skull Mountain, then the pumpkin, skeleton and random strobe lights appeared during Fright Fest one year. When the park opened the next season they were still inside Skull Mountain, like someone forget about them. Now 6-7 years later they are still there.

Stop the insanity, I try to ride Skull Mountain on every trip it is not AWESOME. At least in my opinion. It has one really fun drop that can only be fully experienced in the last car. It provide 0.5 seconds of fun, that doesn't make the coaster awesome. Locals are stating to sound like enthusiasts from other parks, we are better than this.

I considered this a colossal waste of time and not art until I read this. In addition to art there are a few rides, completely impossible fair games, interactive artworks, random live performances and unexpected spectacles happening throughout the day. The entire exhibition is staffed by morose Dismaland employees who seem completely uninterested in being helpful or informative. Getting in requires an uncomfortably awkward NSA-esque screening, and even trying to find the exit required a near herculean effort.

Ignore the fact errors in the article and embrace the move forward. New pier and $20-$40 Million to upgrade. Casino Pier has approval to rebuild a pier. It is not clear if they will move all the remaining rides to the new pier or if the remaining rides will remain where they are with a longer pier directly north of the currently standing pier. Park owner traded their $1.5 million carousel (which sits on the boardwalk, not on a pier) to the city of Seaside Heights in exchange for the land. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/17/us-usa-new-jersey-coaster-idUSKCN0QM20C20150817 New Jersey OKs permit to rebuild storm-hit amusement park By Daniel Bases Owners of an historic amusement park on the New Jersey shore badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 have been given a permit to rebuild, state authorities said on Monday. Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, first opened in 1932, was wrecked by the storm that hammered northeastern U.S. coastal areas and caused billions of dollars in damage. One of the more memorable images of the devastation was of the park's Skyride roller coaster partly submerged in the Atlantic Ocean. The permit issued on July 15 by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection allows the roller coaster to be rebuilt and the pier to be partly relocated, a department spokesman said. Plans for reconstruction include swapping public land for a piece of property north of the new building area now owned by the Storino family who own the park, Borough of Seaside Heights Mayor Anthony Vaz said. While the borough can begin installing new pilings for the pier now, final approval of the land swap is not likely before the end of the year, an attorney for the borough said. "We are at a standstill until the land swap agreement is finalized with the state and the town," said Maria Mastoris, marketing manager for Casino Pier. Mastoris declined to comment on the rebuilding budget. Casino Pier was purchased by the Storinos in 2002, according to the company's website. "It is an estimate, but they (Casino Pier) are going to spend anywhere between $20 million and $40 million to rebuild. That includes construction and land," Vaz said. As part of the deal, Casino Pier would transfer to Seaside Heights ownership of a 105-year-old carousel featuring hand-carved horses that is worth from $1.5 to $2.0 million, Vaz said.

That is the one I get, by far my favorite. I enjoy a few of them, but as I said, I just don't get the across the board love for EVERY Schwarzkopf.

Yes, 1989 Graduate. I'm going to lock this thread and move your first post to that other thread I directed you to.

On my visits I used my limited French but I also made it clear I was American and not Canadian. I had heard the resentment from many in Quebec is towards English speaking Canadians.

Probably not and I'm sure they working on the concept long before July 15th of this year

Welcome to TPR If you want to read what other train rides those on TPR like check out this thread.

I have done extensive research and come to the conclusion that less than 0.01% to readers care about pictures of airports and planes and pre-trip breakfasts so I'll jump right into SFoT. August 12th - SFoT This was my second trip to the park missing only La Vibora due to rain back in 2009. My plan for the day was to only be at the park a few hours (mostly for New Texas Giant, LaVibora, new Justice League ride and possibly one ride on each major coaster), then hit Sandy Lake, then grab some BBQ and being out of town before 4PM based on rush hour traffic. Chadster met up with me at the NTaG after I had already gotten my 3rd ride on NTaG and I rode 3-4 more times. I really enjoyed the later rides when the train was more full. This was only my second RMC, and I preferred Wicked Cyclone. Chad's familiarity with the park allowed me to quickly get to Vibora, Shockwave, Titan and Justice League. Mr.Freeze's line was close to an hour so we skipped. Vibora: It was easily the roughest bobsled coaster I've been on but the only one I encountered air on. Shockwave: I'm not a big fan of Schwarzkopf coasters, but I keep riding them, hoping to "Get Them" some day. This was not the day. Titan: Always a fun ride and the helices feel more intense as I age Justice League: Rode it 3 or 4 times through the single rider line and didn't encounter any technical issues. However, I wasn't really sure who I should be shooting at, but Chad pointed out all those guys in orange jumpsuits that I completely missed during my first ride. At the time I was leaving the park I was expecting to return again the morning of August 18th before my departure flight, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. I love the park entrance However, once I got to the fountain I forgot which way to go to get to New Texas Giant I liked NTG a lot, but never took a picture, so a picture of the disassembled scrambler will have to do. Although La Vibora has the best paint job of any bobsled, it is also the most painful. Sorry, I still don't get the across the board Schwarzkopf love. I had a good caption in my head when I took this photo, but I don't remember it and since I took so few photos you have to deal with it. I really liked the ride and look forward to it coming to SFGAdv someday, especially with a single rider line. Aquaman gets no respect on this sign. And quite frankly I have no problem with that because his powers are only effective on 75% of the earth. The 75% that is not populated by any villains. But Aquaman can celebrate that he does have a ride at SFoT. I think I took this picture of the sidewalk because the faded writing was supposed to tell me to go somewhere, but I couldn't read it. Next up I'll be posting pictures from Sandy Lake.