xVicesAndVirtues

Have any of the nay-sayers been to Fun Spot America since it opened? None of these supposed themes fit the atmosphere or appearance of that park. During the visits that I've made, the guest base is a mix of everyone like you'd expect from any other Orlando park and the atmosphere has always been very safe and family-friendly. I wish some Six Flags parks had as great of an atmosphere as this park has. I've seen more line-cutting, littering, and general ridiculousness at the major chains across the country than at either Fun Spot Park. I know that the commercials are kind of cheesy sometimes but it's obvious that they do what they can with the budget that they have. It's actually pretty impressive that this family-run company can survive and grow in the already saturated Orlando market with tons of after-hours stuff to do. The fact that they just expanded this park and built a GCI wooden coaster shows that they're serious about doing as much as they can with their budget.

I'd have to think that there's a lot of evidence to show that waterpark investments have a much higher return. And it makes sense...when I think about money that I've spent at a park, I always end up spending more on the waterpark side. I end up realizing that I need a locker, then use the people-dryer or end up purchasing a towel, I've had friends come in sneakers and buy flip-flops in the waterpark, etc. Also, I feel like in the dry park I'm a lot more likely to get a hand stamp and then go off-site for food. In the waterpark, it's so much more convenient to just stay in your board shorts, grab a quick burger, then head back to the lazy river.

While I was hoping that a Mega-Lite would be possible, as I'm hoping to do a combined Cedar Point-Kings Island-Kentucky Kingdom trip next year, honestly I'll look forward to visiting the park for the first time, regardless of what coaster they install. It's really impressive that Ed Hart and his team have been able to do so much on such a short notice, especially considering the fact that the park was sitting there abandoned for so long. I'm sure that the way opening funds were appropriated for their grand re-opening was based on some very careful research, and I feel that credit is due for the fact that he made the park so successful prior to Six Flags buying it from him. Not to mention the fact that he made that seemingly-impossible fair board change it's mind! To be honest, I also never even knew that Chang was purchased pre-Six Flags! I always just assumed that the park had been owned by Premier Parks prior to being "flagged". The fact that this guy knows his business so well leaves no doubt in my mind on his ability to ensure that the park is successful. I'll be happy just to go there and contribute my money and look forward to their future.

So...just curious, as I may visit this park next year but the answer doesn't seem too clear. Does the $7 million price tag necessarily rule out a mega-lite coaster from Intamin?

Not sure if it's been mentioned previously in this thread, but Fun Spot America would be a perfect contender for one of these on their newly-purchased plot of land. I know that they read this forum, so maybe they know what a Mega-Lite is already But yeah, I don't see the marketing issue unless a small park is in the same market as a larger park advertising some new crazy B&M launched wing rider with 60,000 inversions. Otherwise, as mentioned above, a new coaster is a new coaster.

I'm also totally curious about the Screamin' Swing, as someone mentioned a few pages back. It's not on the map, but I could have sworn there were pieces of one on-site before they broke ground. I think the Screamin' Swing will really add to the park, if installed. Personally, they're one of my favorite flat rides.

This park gets more and more awesome every time I drive past it or look at this thread. Adding the classic rides like Himalaya, Enterprise, and hopefully Scrambler and Tilt-A-Whirl is really going to give it a classic feel. I also really love the fact that they're making permanent installations for these rides as opposed to the more trailer-mounted style of the Kissimmee park. I think this expansion is going to be wildly successful, and I love living a mile away from it all! Now, to whoever says we'll never see an Intamin Mega-Lite installed in the US, this park would be the best contender for one! (We know you guys are reading this!)

SheiKra is a great coaster and has absolutely kick-a$$ theming. But Griffon is a far superior coaster from the rides I've had, and I've had probably 5x more rides on SheiKra. I found Griffon to be way more forceful all the times I've been on it.

Yeah, except for those pesky "No Trespassing" signs everywhere. A bit late, but I totally missed those signs in the dark! Sorry FunSpot! Sorry Jesus! So awesome to see White Lightning rising. And serious kudos to Fun Spot America for packing SO much awesome into such a small space.

On my way home today, I snagged a couple of night photos of the completed Skycoaster with it's awesome new lighting package! Sorry for the quality of a few of these, I shot them all with my iPhone 5, and darkness is certainly the weakness to otherwise stellar pictures iPhones are capable of taking. I will say, while I really like the lighting package and the Skycoaster is visible from Millenia Blvd, Vineland Road's turnpike bridge, and is RIGHT in your face from Kirkman Road's bridge over I-4, I think a ground-up package might have looked a little cleaner. Also, it's kind of odd that they don't have lighting on the back tower...hopefully this will be added in the future! The view looking through the Vekoma, plus some White Lightning bents! The view from a little past White Lightning The view from the now-paved parking lot. You can literally drive right into it among all the bents and parts! And last, the overview of the current park progress from just a bit up the road behind one of the strip malls. I can't wait for this park to be complete!

I think I'm most stoked to find out whether Skyrush or Intimidator305 rank higher. It seems like every other ballot has either one right before the other, with a few exceptions. I'm personally in the Skyrush-is-slightly-better camp, but they're so close for me that I'd be pleased to see either as #1. As for the previous commentary about Millennium Force, here's my opinion. Millennium Force is an absolutely phenomenal ride that can, as Robb said, cater to anyone. I remember a 95' coaster looking like 1,000 feet tall when I was 4 feet tall. It's fast, smooth, has a great drop, and is far from "Millennium Forceless". Most of the back seat rides I've had on it have resulted in seeing some serious grey spots, including one insane ride in the rain with 93mph raindrops. I also can really appreciate the fact that, as the first, Millennium Force really defines the giga coaster and sets it apart from the megas. Since the Heide-Park airtime monster never got built, gigas seem to be defined as height and on-the-ground speed machines as opposed to airtime machines. Intimidator305 seems like a build on what Millennium Force already started, and while I'd rank it higher personally due to the higher thrill factor, if I had to spend 24 hours on one coaster, I'd probably pick Millennium Force. If I had to spend 24 hours straight (or even an hour, for that matter), on Skyrush or i305, I'd probably be dead.

Figured I'd throw into this topic the news that was reported to Screamscape. Don McCoy, Park President of The Great Escape, has been named to replace Dale Kaetzel (who is moving to SFoG), as Park President of SFDK. I can personally attest to his great leadership from my time in the Loss Prevention department at The Great Escape. Don is the kind of guy who gives his full attention and respect to any employee or park guest, regardless of whether the employee is brand new at the bottom of the food chain or a member of management. He's a warm, friendly, fantastic guy who really has a passion for people and the industry. Congratulations to him on the promotion!

Wow, I didn't procrastinate this year! RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE THIS LINE AS IS Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,5 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,4 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,2 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,6 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,3 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <--Please leave this My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,y,1 El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,n,2 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,y,3 Comet Great Escape NY,y,y,4 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA,y,n,5 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,n,6 Apocalypse S. F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,7 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,n,8 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,y,9 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,y,9 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,y,10 Twister Knoebel's PA,y,y,11 Wild One SF America MD,y,y,12 Phoenix Knoebel's PA,y,y,13 Comet Hersheypark PA,y,y,14 Hurler Kings Dominion VA,y,n,15 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,n,16 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,y,16 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,16 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,16 Cyclone SF New England MA,y,y,16 Hurler Carowinds NC,y,n,16 The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA,y,n,16 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,16 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,y,17 Wildcat Lake Compounce CT,y,n,17 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,n,17 Thunderbolt SF New England MA,y,y,17 Roar SF America MD,y,y,17 Thunder Road Carowinds NC,y,n,17 Predator Darien Lake NY,y,n,17 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,17 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA,y,n,17 Comet Waldameer PA,y,n,17 Rebel Yell Kings Dominion VA,y,n,17 The Grizzly Great America CA,y,n,18 Le Monstre La Ronde QU,y,n,19 Rolling Thunder SFGAd NJ,y,n,20

I heard that they're going to build a 399' B&M giga that's going to cross the river and down into Connecticut to take the only-park-crossing-state-lines title away from Carowinds! But, in all seriousness, this is definitely exciting. I'd love to see another coaster or something added for 2013. It seems like anything at all could be added at this point, so its hard to really speculate. Maybe SFNE saw such an increase in either attendance or profits from adding Goliath this year that Six Flags corporate is ready to put some serious investment into the park for the first time since 10 years ago.

I'm not going to post my own report since I'm sure everyone in the whole world will post theirs, but I could not agree more. Me and my friends just got to our hotel after a VERY busy day at Hersheypark today, and Skyrush does indeed live up to everything we crossed our fingers for. I absolutely agree on every point you made about it. It's like El Toro's over-Rolling-Thunder hill on steroids on EVERY single hill. Scratch hill, every single time you go up and then come back down, no matter how, you get that INSANE airtime. The drop, too, was incredible. Sitting in the back row, you really get ripped over the edge. Awesome report!

If this could help, as Screamscape suggested, the problem with foreign or tourist drivers not knowing how to drive a f*cking car in this city, then I hope it gets built as soon as possible.

Love it! They're really squeezing it in even more than I thought they were going to. The fact that they have the GCI, Skycoaster, and Star Flyer all positioned on the back end near Grand National will make a very impressive sight from I-4, only a few hundred yards away. I'm also curious about that other wooded plot of land. It'd definitely be cool to see them expand over in that direction after a few years go by. Maybe do a bridge over the road Kentucky King...err Bluegrass Boardwalk style!

I think the only thing I'd wait 5 hours for would be El Toro if they suddenly decided to demolish it for a relocated B&M or something. If I went to a park and there were 5 hour waits, I'd just leave and find another park within a 5 hour drive. I do remember a couple of years back at Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest, me and my friends were too young/moneyless to afford QBots, and we seriously waited 2 hours for Nitro (full queue house), 2.5 for El Toro (full queue, out the entrance, under the structure, back past the other side, and onto the bridge that leads to Bizarro), 2 hours for Bizarro (full queue), 3 hours for Superman, and 45 minutes for Kingda Ka. I really have to wonder what that park's capacity is.

^^I strongly agree about the whole Harry Potter land and FJ "story". I am someone who has read all the Harry Potter books and seen the movies, but I've thought about an outside perspective when riding Journey, and it's a total "WTF" experience. For example, if I was a non-Potter fan, I'd be like "Wtf...we just were in some forest with hugeass spiders...now we're about to get smacked by a huge tree, and now OMG that ghosty thing just came up in my face! What the hell is going on?" The queue tells some backstory, but not enough to support the entire ride so that it's understood by the guest. I've never been into many of the comics, etc, but I can still understand what's happening through the story sequence on Spiderman. Same thing with Mummy. When I first rode it in like 04/05, I hadn't seen any of the movies, but the queue story explains the ride enough, and even explains why the one guy was upset that he didn't get his cup of coffee. I also hate what's been done to Dueling Dragons. From what I've heard, J.K. Rowling wasn't sure what to do with the coaster because it was "in the way" of Potterland, so they just pretty much stripped the castle bare and put some candles on the ceiling and left it at that. I could see if this was some lame Cedar Fair walk-through-the-castle-before-the-ride, but this is Universal we're talking about. It's just sad to remember how much character Islands of Adventure USED to have.

This seriously makes me miss living in upstate NY Seriously amazing pictures and coverage, thanks so much for posting! I've never had the opportunity to get to the Bobsled/Skeleton runs, but Whiteface is an awesome resort right in the town of Lake Placid. Another great place to visit up there is Ausable Chasm, right on the border of Clinton and Essex counties, if you're into sightseeing. Pretty much every winter for the past 5 years (except this one), some friends and I have made a bit of a trip of Lake Placid/Ausable Chasm/Montreal. All accessible in a day trip! Can't wait to see the pictures from Okemo!

This thing seriously looks more and more badass every time I look at a new photo update. For all those complaining about the 3600' length...have you went and looked at Expedition GeForce's length? It's 4000'.

Just doing mine...funny how you can be on a bunch of coasters (154 for me), and yet have so few be wooden! It was hard to rank some of the in-betweens, and I usually use grouping for steel, but my top ten and bottom five feel pretty solid. Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,5 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,4 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,2 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,6 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,3 El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,y,1 My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,y,2 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA,y,n,3 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,n,4 Comet Great Escape NY,y,y,5 Wild One SF America MD,y,n,6 Comet Hersheypark PA,y,n,7 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,n,8 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,n,9 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,n,10 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,n,10 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,y,11 Hurler Kings Dominion VA,y,y,12 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,13 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,y,13 Roar SF America MD,y,n,14 Cyclone SF New England MA,y,y,15 The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA,y,y,16 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,17 Rebel Yell Kings Dominion VA,y,y,18 Thunder Road Carowinds NC,y,y,19 Hurler Carowinds NC,y,y,20 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA,y,n,21 Wildcat Lake Compounce CT,y,n,22 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,y,23 Thunderbolt SF New England MA,y,y,24 Comet Waldameer PA,y,n,25 Predator Darien Lake NY,y,n,26 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,27 The Grizzly Great America CA,y,n,28 Le Monstre La Ronde QU,y,n,29 Rolling Thunder SFGAd NJ,y,n,30

I remember when we saw the first piece of track installed and thinking how tight that turn would be, but I never realized that was the turn IMMEDIATELY after that 200 foot drop. This thing is going to be seriously insane! I'm planning a trip around this for the summer, and can't wait! It's so great that Hersheypark has stuck with Intamin for their last two new coasters, and are continuing with this. Thanks for the update!

Awesome! I wonder what sort of layout we'll expect to see then. Just looking up the price tags on other GCI coasters of late, Prowler cost $8m, Apocalypse $10m, and Renegade $6.5m. Hopefully this doesn't mean too short of a layout. I also have to wonder if the "less than 100' " means 95 or 99 feet, or anywhere between 50-100 feet. ^btw, all Fun Spot attractions are pay-as-you-go.

While I'm also not really jumping for joy at the color scheme, nor am I jumping for joy that this will be the first summer I won't be able to visit SFNE 10+ times since I moved to Florida, I have something to say about the location of the ride. I know that the location of the coaster does sit on Crackaxle Canyon land, but will the entrance to Goliath actually face the midway like Shipwreck's did? If so, then it could sort of be argued that Goliath isn't in Crackaxle Canyon, since you then wouldn't have to walk under the Crackaxle Canyon sign to enter the queue. I really think that the park's decision was one in keeping a huge neon coaster as a midway monster and thrilling attraction for the north end of the park, as opposed to part of the western area. I'd think that if this was up on the hill somewhere (I know it'd never fit, just saying hypothetically), then it'd have some darker color scheme to coincide. But, the location is right off the midway across from New England Skyway, so I really think that had a lot to do with it. Why else would the park buy the paint just to re-paint it the same color?