xVicesAndVirtues

After not really paying a whole lot of attention to this for a few weeks and being slightly alarmed by the Screamscape post made today, I have a few questions that I scrolled through the topic for several pages and didn't really find answers to. The first, has anyone been over there in the past few days to say just how much track has been removed? Judging by the tweeted picture that Screamscape provided, it looks like there is barely anything left! Also, since I know we haven't seen any track sightings posted at the Ohio plant and it seems at least half-safe to assume that they aren't going to be providing the track, could there be any way that the Ohio plant is just over-booked with orders and they can go to *insert steel fabrication company here* and say "hey, here's the specs of the track, please make it for us"? And my last question, since I know I've read a few things here and there that Universal obtained construction permits from the city and listed a new launch system, does this necessarily mean that they couldn't change the layout? And where do you draw the line with layout changes...does digging new footers trigger necessity for construction permission but not "in the air" changes built on existing ones? Kind of like how you could add a solid-roof awning to your house without a permit, but putting walls down to the ground from said awning would make it a "room" and therefore require approval.

This is really awesome! It seems like a park would have to be long enough to have a straight strip of land to do something like this on. I wonder what the limits of the tech are, like if they could go faster than the stated 62mph or not. I wonder how difficult it would be to have bi-directional magnetic brakes, too, since I remember Kingda Ka having a major problem the time that it sent a train the wrong way through the magnetic reverse-launch-track brakes as the result of an error. Count me in on also wanting filtered, chlorinated water in the pit for the ride. Also, I wonder if it would be possible to design the boats so to push away some of the water and not drench the crap out of passengers at these high speeds. Being "butt wet" the rest of the day at a park is annoying.

I'm not trying to be insensitive to the ride hosts by any means. I'm totally aware that a bag or two could get through, my main concern was the fact that another ride host that I encountered at a different ride didn't even know whether or not there was a policy to begin with, which seems to be a training issue. I'm not saying that it's the ride host's fault if they aren't being trained. It's also very inconvenient that you have to pay $2 for two hours with no ability to move your fluffy bunny elsewhere. If you want to make a few rounds around the park, you have to plan it so that you either leave your crap in one place and come back to it in time or you basically end up paying $2 for 15 minutes while you ride then move on. If you want to go around the park 3 or 4 times in a day, you end up spending $12-16 just on fluffy bunnies. Again, I know that this park is by no means the only park with a fluffy bunny policy, but at Universal parks they are free while you ride and at Six Flags parks you can move them around as you wish and the time extends every time you renew.

^I don't understand which part of my quoted post you're referring to, as you quoted a large paragraph with quite a lot of content. My best guess is that you do not understand what "fluffy bunnies" refers to. Please use the search function, then sentence context. If it's not that, then maybe you have certain feelings toward the park or disagree with the fact that I found their policies inconsistent. If that is the case, I'm not trashing the park, I'm just reporting on what happened and my direct observations that I made while I was there.

I was at the park on Sunday and they're definitely doing a lot of work to get ready for Haunt with little teasers everywhere. Whatever they do with Son of Beast's station looked like it would be pretty cool. On another note, what's with the weird, inconsistent policies at this park? Fluffy bunnies were mandatory on Banshee and Firehawk but nowhere else, not even Diamondback. Worse, they don't even allow you to migrate one fluffy bunny from one attraction to another like the SF parks do and they have a minimum $2 charge. Worse still, the Banshee front entrance employee immediately informed us of the policy, then the Firehawk front entrance employee told me my small cinch-bag had to go into one, while another guest with a huge rucksack that looked like he was moving was allowed through, then allowed to leave it on the side of the station! The fluffy bunny station was also right beside Flight of Fear and I asked their front entrance employee before riding and he shrugged and said, "you can get a l*cker if you want to...or just hold on to it". I totally understand when parks have a blanket policy like most SF parks do now, but to have this random, inconsistent policy that even the employees didn't seem to have a consistent understanding of, was completely unacceptable. Another thing that was strange was the Diamondback policy for wearing flip-flops. I've been allowed to go barefoot on every other B&M hyper in the Cedar Fair chain but was told by the station employee at Diamondback that I had to wear them, despite having a few inches of floor clearance below my feet that could potentially allow them to get blown-off. Finally, the park shut all major coasters and flats down from 5PM-7PM for weather. There was a bit of time from 5-5:30 where there were looming storm clouds, then it blew over. They randomly opened Vortex and kept everything else down from about 5:30-6:00. Then they kept everything closed for another hour despite it being sunny again and the only clouds being very distant, the Weather Channel radar map on their app showing a small storm cell well south of Cincinnati with nothing behind it. Even more strange, it then rained on and off from 7PM-8PM and they didn't close anything down. Normally I'm one to make the best of situations and I completely understand when parks close everything for rain or thunderstorms, but this was really weird. Other than that, I really liked this park a lot. They have a really solid coaster collection and Banshee was awesome. The Bat was also a cool novelty, as the Arrow suspended coasters become increasingly rare.

Cool! Hopefully this will give me a reason to go back after going there for my first visit on Friday. The place was completely dead when we were there from about 2PM-5PM. We walked onto everything. Probably not going to do a PTR due to my iPhone 6 having weird problems with the camera not focusing and taking blurry pictures, but the park could definitely use re-painting almost everywhere and random attractions and eateries were closed. In addition to that, both Cornball and Hurricane could use re-tracking work in a number of places. That being said, everyone that we encountered there was extremely friendly. We also experienced a "never-at-Six-Flags" thing when we went to redeem our online tickets for wristbands. The guy in the Guest Relations office noticed that we paid full-price and a half-price special was starting that day. We didn't even notice, but he informed us and told us that he'd put half of our ticket values onto one of their "Cool Cards" to use anywhere in the park. Then, when we went to get lunch at one of the in-park eateries, we found out that the machine that takes the cool cards was down and they sent us back to GR. Instead of the expected "well they're good for the rest of the year" or whatever you usually expect to hear, the guy at GR actually gave us cash for them! Cornball Express was definitely the stand-out coaster for me, but as it stands, it was too rough to be "rank-worthy", we even rode in the front seat. I really hope that this deal provides this great little park with the financing they need to get everything back up to par and I hope that I have to wait in line next time I'm there, because they really do deserve business.

Hey guys, I have a few questions for those of you who are locals/frequent Indiana Beach. A friend and I are going to be in the general area and we're looking to make a stop at the park this weekend, most likely Friday. I know the midwestern-area schools are back in session, so does this alleviate crowds quite a bit? Another thing that I've read about in this thread, on Screamscape, and in trip reports lately are dismal operations at the park. Are coaster openings staggered or are they pretty good at getting everything open at the same time? I also know that there have been reports about Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain being closed recently, if not the whole 2015 season. Can anyone confirm that it is still closed? Last, are there any *don't miss* rides, attractions, shows, restaurants, etc inside this park? I checked the weather and, knock on wood, it looks like it's going to be a really nice, warm weekend. We're looking to spend a half day, maybe more at the park, as we're probably going to stay in Indianapolis and go out in the city that night, so we'll probably want to be out of the park by 5 or 6 PM. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

That drop off the tower on Cannibal looks nuts. Awesome report to a park that I'd really love to get to someday. Are the crowds as insane as the line for Cannibal or was it just bringing that kind of a line due to it being new? After all, it is the only major park in that entire area. Hope the ankle heals up soon! I broke mine the "foot-pointing-up" way once by smashing my foot against a tree on a sled when I was 13 or 14. The sound of the ER doctor having to crack it back down into its proper position will haunt my nightmares for life.

Took a trip last Tuesday to SFNE and was shocked to find that the place was completely dead. I visited the website prior to my visit to decide whether to do my Lake Compounce/Quassy day first and SFNE second or vice versa. On the website, they listed Wednesday as some kind of discounted ticket day (forgot what it was specifically), so we chose Tuesday. The longest line all day was for Batman, as they were running just a single train, and we waited about 20 minutes. Bizarro and Wicked Cyclone were 2-3 train maximum waits all day long. Wicked Cyclone was my first RMC and my friend and I were intrigued by how it "tickles" while riding, as theres a constant light vibration when gliding over the track. Really fantastic coaster with a lot of funky bits and great airtime/hangtime. I think there was one time a while back when Robb had responded to someone's question of whether WC or Bizarro was better and he said that the park really just had two star attractions on their hands. Couldn't agree with the assessment more, as I tried to pick a "better" and came up short. Wicked Cyclone was slower and more methodical than I expected, but it had great consistent pace, airtime, and a really good mix of everything. Bizarro was running better than I've seen in years (it was also really hot that day) and felt fast and full of airtime, especially in front. I almost felt like I was riding Superman again. We also went down into Connecticut a couple of times. We left and had lunch in Enfield, as I'm not a fan of Six Flags food and Enfield is only about 10 minutes from the park and full of restaurants, chain and non-chain. We went to LC and Quassy the next day and we stayed the night in Southbury and even went out to dinner in nearby Waterbury as well. While I definitely was not sober for the entirety of the visit, I'm at least 99% confident that we were not mugged, stabbed, robbed, or killed during our stay there. But I could be wrong. As I was staying the week with family in New York, we also drove all the way up Route 8 after Lake Compounce to catch I-90 back at the Lee, MA exit. The route up from Bristol was mountainous and very scenic, very much like (and close to) the neighboring Catskill mountains in New York.

I didn't read through every page to see if this was already said...but how the SFKK drop tower incident happened on EVERY drop tower in the world. "Yeah some girl got her legs cut off on the one at Universal" "Didn't someone get their foot cut off on the tower at Six Flags St. Louis?"

Superman: Ride of Steel was an AWESOME coaster back in the day. The accident in 2004 brought about some pretty brutal restraint modifications in the form of shin-shackles (ala Six Flags America and Darien Lake). These were bad but bearable, then the Bizarro re-do brought about new trains that just don't seem to be correct for the coaster's track. I could be wrong but I believe it's because they're much more lightweight, resulting in significant loss of speed as you move further through the course. The drop, first hill, and turnaround aren't harmed too much by the new trains, but the hills following are really neutered. You used to get extreme airtime in the s-bend between the two helices, now there's nothing. It's hard to believe when riding it as Bizarro, but the difference was night and day. Sometimes it's still possible to get a ride that scratches the surface of Superman's old awesomeness at the very end of the hottest days in the summer.

Boulder Dash was awesome, but back in 2009 when I rode it, it kind of hurt my brain stem. Not sure if it's been re-tracked or anything since, but that inhibited it's enjoyability a bit for me.

Dude, this was such an awesome TR to read! You totally just made my night. I'm a Saratoga Springs native and your downtown pictures really made me homesick. My friends and I also spent tons of time up in Lake George and you went at exactly the right time, as it's a total ghost town until a week or two before Memorial Day. One spot where I'll absolutely give credit where credit is due is to Six Flags for retaining the charm yet pushing Great Escape from being a small hometown park to the cusp of being a world-class theme park. While many will bash Six Flags for making it "corporate" and removing a few old classics like the old Tornado in Ghost Town or the circus show where Wiggles World (or whatever it's called now) is, just twenty years ago when I made my first visit as a kid, the walk to the Comet was just a hike through the woods for lack of Splashwater Kingdom and you parked on a huge sand pit across the street, dodging traffic on Route 9 to get over. The Comet is a classic and, having worked in loss prevention for two seasons at the park, I know that Six Flags maintains a very healthy budget for that coaster to run so strong and smoothly. They re-track sections that get rough nearly every year and they really keep it running in tip-top shape. In my opinion, and I swear not for the fact that it's my home park classic woodie, I prefer The Comet to Phoenix at Knoebel's, and the two ride very similarly. Other staples of the park, including Alpine Bobsled, the Ghost Town cave, Condor, and countless other classic rides and attractions really make Great Escape one of the most unique parks out there. Thank you so much for such a well-documented report, keep them coming!

Screamin Swing install?

One of my favorite things to see happen in this industry is when smaller-scale, seemingly unknown-except-to-locals parks goes out on a limb and makes a huge investment like this. This coaster looks fantastic, especially with some of the terrain plunges and low-to-ground inversions. Scandinavia has really become a major theme park destination region. Now I just need to get myself there. Can't wait for the upcoming POV!

Ugh...after a friend of mine posted this article on Facebook the other day, I shared it on mine and also blew up some conservative website's blast of Six Flags for being anti-veteran and all of the idiots on there being all "CANCELING MY FAMILY'S TRIP RIGHT NOW!" and "SHAME SIX FLAGS" and "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS USA<3333 DOWN WITH SIX FLAGS!!11". Here's the analogy that I used: I'm allergic to peanuts. When I go to a restaurant, most menus state "please inform your sever or a member of management if you have a food allergy". Many people would just assume "meh, I ordered the chicken parm, how could a peanut end up in that?". Well, the food prep area is usually shared for multiple things, so there's absolutely a reasonable chance that a peanut or trace of peanuts could hypothetically share the same space where my chicken parm got thrown together. I know that the restaurant can't possibly have a mile of endless space in which every single entree gets prepared entirely separately from the next, so I inform them. I know that I'm part of a small portion of the population that has this allergy, so I'd be naive to just assume that the restaurant would know to account for this. The same thing goes for this situation at a theme park. This guy knew that he was part of a small portion of the population visiting the park, so why wouldn't he ensure that he review every policy and call guest relations with any questions that he might have prior to visiting? Even the most naive of the general public know that some rides at parks include your legs hanging or going upside-down. As has been stated previously, this is just a no-win press situation for the park. If they let him ride the coaster and he fell out, we'd be reading a headline like "More Flags, More Negligence? Decorated War Vet Killed on "Safe" Six Flags Ride".

I've been to every Six Flags except for St. Louis, Great America, the Texas parks, and Mexico. Overall, in terms of being able to have the best day as a whole, I'd say New England slightly over Great Adventure, but a few years ago, I would've said New England without a doubt. But, in recent years, they've really been becoming less and less "well-rounded". Just in the past couple of years, they've done away with way too many flat rides, including Nightwing (George Foreman Grill), Rodeo (Huss Breakdance), Time Warp, SWAT, etc. The sh*t your pants star flyer they're adding this year was definitely a great move, though. Their waterpark is honestly one of the best waterparks I've been to, and the fact that it's free makes it even better. The park as a whole also has a refreshingly unique collection of coasters, including BTDK, Cyclone, Bizarro, and Goliath. However, they really need to do something about Bizarro. I know it's been said a million times, but the trains just drag through the course. I don't know what kind of modifications are structurally feasible since I'm not an engineer, but if they could add an elevator lift to increase speed going into the course, or if Intamin can just build another set of original megacoaster trains, that would be great. Great Adventure is really awesome, too, but they could really benefit from some kind of modern flat ride additions. Maybe a Screamin' Swing, giant pendulum ride, just something to give more options. Their coaster collection speaks for itself, though. Since everyone's also mentioning the worst Six Flags parks, my pick would probably be the typical Six Flags America. The park is just really thrown together and the last time that I went, operations were just awful. Most coasters were taking minutes to dispatch and the employees seemed more interested in joking around with each other than entertaining guests or maximizing operations. All that said, Superman Ride of Steel is an awesome coaster that nobody ever seems to talk about. The airtime is crazy and it's developed an "Intamin rattle" in the best possible way, making it feel crazy fast, even in the straightaways. I'd probably rather ride it than Bizarro right now.

I'd hate to see these on either i305 or Maverick, but some of the more tame Intamin coasters such as Cheetah Hunt could benefit. Kingda Ka would be a great contender, too. I think that i305's restraints are perfect for that caliber of coaster, even if the straps can be a bit heavy on your collar bones at times. You need that support when you're making those insane transitions, and I wish that Skyrush had the straps for a few of it's neck-chopping spots. I can't imagine having just a lapbar going 90mph.

Thats not a neuter though. That's just the ride running on a cold day. That happens to just about every coaster. I agree that this ride is a shadow of it's former self but I can't pinpoint a reason why which is why I didn't mention it. I used to have this as my #1 coaster but it's down around #15 now. It's slower, it rattles and the lapbars are really uncomfortable but there's no one thing that diminished the ride experience. It's still fun but nothing like it was. Just everything about the trains ruin the ride.. They don't track well (sluggish and heavy) and the lap bars and headrests ruin every sense of freedom. I prefer superman at sfa.. You're absolutely right about the trains. I should clarify- the only way to get the "real" experience of this ride is at the end of the day on a hot summer's day. I'm not talking about just typical coaster cold-day experiences. This coaster used to be absolutely amazing no matter when you rode it, but with the new trains, even on an average summer day, the experience just isn't what it used to be. I really hope that the rumors are true and SFNE is going to revive it and replace the bad trains. This coaster would probably instantly become my #1 again if it ran like it did from 2000-2008.

I hate to admit this...and I'm surprised that nobody has said it yet, but Bizarro at Six Flags New England. If you want the correct experience, go on the hottest possible summer day and ride it later in the day, then it'll feel like the old Superman days. Go on an October day during Fright Fest when it's cool out, and unfortunately you'll have a very "neutered" experience. There's been a rumor or two flying around that SFNE was trying to restore it to it's glory, and I really hope that this is true.

2013 was a weird year for me. I didn't get to do my customary visits to Great Adventure or KD, but I still got to do some new parks and re-visit BGW and Dorney, which I hadn't done in a while. I'd have to say: 3. Talon. This is my favorite invert, over Raptor, Montu, and the other typical favorites. I've made four visits to the park in the past 5 or 6 years and Talon is definitely a back-row-ride. I know that there are some seats in the middle rows that aren't always as forceful, but I have no idea what people are saying when they call it forceless. The drop, trenches, random airtime drop in the middle, then awesome, disorienting turns at the end really make this ride. 2. Phantom's Revenge. This year marked my first visit to Kennywood and this coaster was a huge surprise. The two big drops were a bit underwhelming, but the speed it picks up after the second drop felt dangerously fast. The airtime hills at the end were killer and I came within an inch of slamming my face onto the front of the car. I rode in back first then in front after and it's just as good in both spots. 1. Skyrush. Awesome. Scary. Hard to re-ride. I can't decide if I like Skyrush more than El Toro or not. I can ride the bull a million times in a row with my hands up, but Skyrush makes you hold on for dear life. Not to mention that the thigh-crushing is still really bad. They got better this year with the modifications, but it's still pretty un-bearable, and I'm usually not one to complain about that stuff. All that aside, this coaster is so awesome. Perfect drop, scary strong airtime, hold-on-for-dear-life turns and transitions. The perfect cure for those who have stopped being scared by coasters and want to bring the fear back. I guess all three of mine are in PA. Special shout outs to Apollo's Chariot for still being awesome and White Lightning for being the best intermediate woodie I've been on!

I love stand-ups. Even the crazy TOGO ones that people say are so terrible, which I've never understood. Shockwave at KD is terrifyingly fun and I even once accidentally managed to slip my arm through the front of the restraint one time and had that OMG-imminent-death moment. I know that it has that sudden smack in the side of the face into the helix, but if you're ready for it, even that isn't a big deal. Plus, that has nothing to do with the fact that it's a stand-up and just the fact that it's a bad spot in the ride that would still be there if it was a sit-down. The same thing with B&M stand-ups. Vortex at CGA sucks because it sucks, not because it's a stand-up. Riddler's Revenge was like a stand-up Kumba, Mantis was great, and Green Lantern was fun with just a few head-banging turns, which again would still be felt if it was a "florceless" or sit-down. I just wish that more parks spent more time instructing people on how to ride them. I remember once at SFoG seeing more people sitting down with the seat lowered all the way on Scorcher than people riding properly. I even once saw a girl suspended off her feet on one. When I visited CP back in 09, the Mantis ops had a really efficient way of getting people to assume the position by saying "feet behind the black line on the floor, seat as high as you can go still standing!". If the forces are getting too strong for my feet, I just try to sit down a little more. Defensive riding is inconvenient, but doing so on stand-ups is still way easier than defensive riding around an Arrow coat-hanger turn.

The drop tower was closed on my last (actually, only) visit there back in 2011, but one thing that was a huge problem was bees in the queue for Afterburn! There must have been a nest somewhere near the corner of the station building because I remember the line keep having to pause and wait for a bee-clear moment to walk from the path to the side of the building. Carowinds was a cool park but after my visit I was kind of like "ehh, maybe I'll come back someday if they add something new". I'll definitely be back now and I'm glad to see them making these new investments. I just really hope that the giga coaster is either something new/cool or Intamin. Charlotte is a really good "halfway-ish" point for me when taking the mountain route back to Orlando from seeing family in New York.

Awesome detail in your report! I totally have one random question, as I think I missed the news on this one...what exactly is "Hollywood Dream Backdrop"? Is this just a backwards train or something? I'm just confused as to why they'd need an extra entrance for that....

Figured I'd resurrect this thread and ask this question...has anyone heard anything from Fun Spot regarding Phase 2 or 2014/2015 plans, or as all been silent? Their concept art for Phase 2 including the waterpark looked awesome! Hopefully they'll get it off the ground in the near future!