PAL

Scream was running one train on Sunday. Not so magic... Actually, typically Magic. X-2 didn't open in time for yesterday's advertised passholder ERT. The park subbed in Green Lantern (fair, but no thanks). Credit to management for handing the sparse passholder crowd X-2 exit passes for use later in the day.

Really looking forward to this one. It'll be great for a little extra evening entertainment. The major parks close so early.

I'll take vacation and fly cross country to hit a Bash at a park with new hotness or the best of the best. The day of the week doesn't matter for me, but my 16 year old riding partner (my kid) can obviously only make a weekday during summer or school holidays.

The assertion that FP+ and plain old vanilla FP is an either / or proposition comes from Disney's MyMagic terms of service. No, I'm not going to paste in the reference, as I don't care. Who parses every line of an endless TOS screed anyway, other than info-hungry (by that I mean obsessive) Disney fanatics? The current boilerplate shouldn't be taken so seriously - the program is in test and adjust. I wish I hadn't picked up that worthless tidbit, but I was just recently in the parks and looked at a couple of DISney sites for info to maximize my singular day between four parks.

^Yuck! Little is as enragingly disgusting as cleaning up gum. As a guest, I've never witnessed this nasty vandalism. I'd report it in a second. I don't expect an answer but have to wonder. Does Disney policy allow the ejection of these unruly guests? Once in a while when some knucklehead "needs" to float a penny (I'm guessing it is common), they are sometimes caught and admonished but allowed to walk away. Too bad the cameras aren't more of a deterrent.

Super update Chad. SDC is on the top of my 2013 must visit list largely thanks to your coverage.

^Thanks Jordan! Your ballot tool is amazing for spreadsheet lamers such as myself.

Thunderhead delivered amazing rides for me this year. RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE THIS LINE AS IS Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,2 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,3 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,4 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,5 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,6 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <--Please leave this El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,y,1 My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,y,2 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,y,3 The Voyage Holiday World IN,y,n,4 Phoenix Knoebel's PA,y,y,5 American Thunder Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,6 Prowler Worlds of Fun MO,y,n,7 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,y,8 The Legend Holiday World IN,y,n,9 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA,y,y,10 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,y,11 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,y,12 Apocalypse S. F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,13 Raven Holiday World IN,y,n,14 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,y,15 Wild One SF America MD,y,n,16 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,y,17 Viper SFGAm IL,y,n,18 American Eagle SFGAm IL,y,n,19 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,20 Comet Hersheypark PA,y,y,21 Roller Coaster Lagoon UT,y,n,22 The Beast Kings Island OH,y,n,23 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA,y,n,24 Twister Knoebel's PA,y,y,25 Racer Kings Island OH,y,n,26 Thunderbolt SF New England MA,y,y,27 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,28 Cannonball Lake Winnepesaukah GA,y,y,29 The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,30 Screamin' Eagle Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,31 Thunder Road Carowinds NC,y,y,32 Racer Kennywood PA,y,n,33 Rebel Yell Kings Dominion VA,y,y,34 Jack Rabbit Kennywood PA,y,n,35 Judge Roy Scream SFoT TX,y,n,36 Roar SF America MD,y,n,37 M.Can.Mine Buster Canada's Wonderland ON,y,y,38 Giant Dipper Belmont Park CA,y,y,39 The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA,y,n,40 Wooden Warrior Quassy CT,y,y,41 Timber Wolf Worlds of Fun MO,y,n,42 Little Dipper SFGAm IL,y,n,43 Rolling Thunder SFGAd NJ,y,n,44 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA,y,n,45 The Grizzly Great America CA,y,y,46 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,47 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,48 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,n,49 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,50 Hell Cat Clementon Lake NJ,y,n,51 Cyclone SF New England MA,y,y,52 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,n,53 Wild Beast Canada's Wonderland ON,y,y,54 Hurler Kings Dominion VA,y,n,55 Rattler Fiesta Texas TX,y,n,56

Too much shaky cam. Should have hired Robb for the POV.

^Hell yes! You can't have too many inversions. Thus Yolocoaster's mondo loop. We rulez! /sarcasm/ I grew up with this park. I want to not only like it, I want to love it. The infrastructure improvements around Full Throttle should be celebrated. This is the most ragged and run down large Six Flags property by a wide margin. Deferred maintenance? Must be a huge number. I wonder how it's affecting the budgets for new attractions. Or does management feel they have more than enough capacity? Maybe we'd get the same stuff regardless.

Come on! Any of you MM airtime defenders travelled east? The Mt has no ejector air, just mild pops. Nothing like El Toro, nothing like Skyrush, nothing like freaking Phoenix, not even a Nitro. No notable air, just way too many inversions.

Knott's is making a shrewd move to corner the kiddie coaster market: That's a lot of low thrill coasters in the park, and seems to be a return to the earlier days. Until the park proves otherwise by adding a 'big' ride, it reads as a repudiation of Cedar Fair's strategy upon acquisition. If my kids were still six and eight I'd love the move.

This addition will bring much needed life to the listless back corner of the park. I think it is a sound choice, although it won't bring my teen son and I back to Knott's more than once. That would take a true scream machine. These days we're in and out of the park in two hours, which is plenty of time for a quick loop through Zuma, Bullet, and Xcellerator.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the sheer stupefying blaring volume of Dinosaur's audio track. The audience is deaf. My family otherwise enjoys the attraction. It's most egregious crime is simply that it isn't Indy or something better that resides in Japan.

I enjoyed the pork chop on a stick. Fresh, well seasoned and delicious and only a couple of bucks - maybe three. The frozen sweet tea was another winner. There's a lot of tasty stuff at the park.

On our recent visit, the park opened the entry plaza about a half hour early. Fast Lane tickets were on sale right inside the gate.

For those wondering about tall rider comfort and comparing the trains to Skyrocket... Discovery Kingdom's Superman Ultimate Flight uses similar trains. When I visited with my 6-5 son, all rows were available. None were blocked off or not recommended for tall riders. Every row was a little uncomfortable for him. After 3 to 4 laps the restraints left him with red indentations on his lower legs. They faded quickly and wouldn't keep him from riding again in the future. Just speculating... Premiere seems to have solved the tall rider Skyrocket problem. Perhaps the coupler is longer?

I'm sold on iRAT. Come on TPR, let's Bash it up in San Antonio and / or SDC.

^^^Me too. 2013 will be the year of the Rocky Mt Rendezvous and a good excuse to check out the Galveston Pier.

Our long regional airtime deficiency endures... WTF. MM continues its inversion infatuation. Hooray, two more to add to the coveted crown (cue sarcastic smirk). Yes, I see the top hat. Nice. Just like Xcelerator down I-5 - but loopier. One signature element does not an El Toro, Skyrush, Phoenix, NTAG, or Apollo's Chariot make. Congratulations Sea World - with modest little Manta you have a firm grip on the west coast airtime crown. I was hoping for a longer, more aggressive Sky Rocket, something closer to Maverick. Premier coasters are solid. I'm confident FT will deliver a fun experience. It simply isn't the one I crave. I'll save my pennies for Outlaw Run and iRAT, the likely cream of the 2013 coaster crop.

Just curious... Other than the slightly different ride experience from the seating position (inward vs outward facing) what are the price or operational differences between this Maurer Sohne model and the competing product from Gerstlauer (the Six Flags Pandemoniums)? The Maurer seems more commonly found at smaller parks. Less costly?

My favorite is Chad's original taco adventure from Indiana Beach, including the bonus valley adventure. Oh man, I didn't know Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel is a park fan. He really let himself go during the off-season. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/02/02/sports/HAIR2/HAIR2-popup.jpg

^I hope Behemoth is back up for you Ed. I'd like to hear more about what we missed. Leviathan alone is worth the trip. What til you get a load of the crazy flats. You should have a great time either way.

^Wild Beast - ow! But saying Ghostrider is better than that pile of kindling isn't saying much. Sure, a punch in the gut might not hurt as bad as a kick in the nuts - they're both awful. The shame is GR used to be world class.

Behemoth was still closed today, Friday. I was very sorry to miss it. Between B&M's towering monument to monsters and the amazing variety of not-commonly-found-in-the-US flats, we still found the visit rewarding. My son proclaimed it his favorite of the former Paramount parks. Fewer cloned rides. It is a beautiful park. Thanks to Fast Lane and Passholder Early Entry, we managed about 15 laps on Leviathan. Love it! Given the praise heaped on Behemoth, if it's so much better than the hot new flavor, it's a flat out kicking ride. As for Leviathan, the forces it dished out weren't the most intense, but the air was among the longest in duration I've experienced. I was out of the seat the entire first drop - it goes on and on. Then there's that low airtime hill - the train twists right while your butt is still out of the seat. The top of the third hill delivers an arched flight into the heavens and back to earth. The trim on the final big hill was firing (oh well), but the train still shoots for the sky. Like virtually everyone else, we wondered at the length and elevation of the extended brake run. Guess the engineers couldn't or didn't want to fit one last up and down. It is a minor flaw in an otherwise fine ride, one I enjoyed far more than Millenium Force and even (gasp!) i305 (the drop underwhelms, then there's all those positive gees we're already bored with on the west coast). Don't get me wrong; Leviathan is no Skyrush, my no doubt new steel favorite. One more note - this park gets packed early. Minus Fast Lane, we would have had trouble hitting all the credits. Rerides would have been scarce. It was worth every Canadian cent of the $60 or so each (with tax) we paid.