xVicesAndVirtues

Holy f*ck, two more coasters, one of which is going to be an Intamin LSM launched. I know the info is super early and all that, but it would be so cool if it was a "Blitz Coaster" a la Maverick and many other incredible rides from them.

We all know they're keeping the wood and splinters somewhere so RMC can re-build it into Twisted Thunder! Probably for 2019, they're just late announcing

Oh sh*t, I was actually thinking about finally making it to Mt. Olympus next year...

Thank God I don't go to enthusiast events.

Nice end of season report! I need to get back to Lake Compounce, the last time I went was like 4-5 years ago before Boulder Dash got a partial (or maybe even full) retracking and was running pretty rough. I've had smooth rides on it though, so I know it's potential! Wicked Cyclone was running great when I went in June but I remember Superman seeming a little sluggish at the time. But sluggish Superman is still better than anything B&M has ever built, and honestly that park has one of the best two-best of their lineup than most parks do in the US. Six Flags New England isn't immune to some of the "Six Flags"iness of the chain and there've been a number of times where I've had crappy service there at a ride or food location, but I don't think I've ever had a "bad" experience in terms of the ones I've had at other parks in the chain. I've always thought it was one of the better Six Flags parks as a whole. But the "temporarily closed"/"extensive rehab" signs thing is hilarious. Like...how hard is it to just communicate with a simple sign what the ride's actual status is?

Let me tell you what, I would rather ride Georgia Scorcher ten times in a row than Great American Scream Machine once. That's the one reridable B&M stand-up. It's also the last one they built so maybe they learned bigger isn't better with them. And Riddler's Revenge! When Kings Dominion still had their Togo Stand-Up umpteen years ago I never found it rough, just shaky and terrifying. The standing airtime on that thing was so awesome. One time, I thought I was secured properly and wasn't properly in the lapbar or something, and I've never came so close to thinking I was actually going to die on a coaster.

I think it depends on which vehicle you get and maybe even where you sit. The first time I rode it, it was my first Eurofighter and I cursed Eurofighters as head-banging death traps after riding. The second time I rode it, I grudgingly did so with a friend and was surprised by a 100% smooth ride. Earlier this year, in the same day, I got one hellishly head-banging experience and one smooth one.

Wait but are we sure they'll have enough power..? But in all seriousness, I love the idea of an RMC and El Toro having an orgy under El Toro's airtime hill that's better than most orgasms, but since this has been talked about since (what year did Rolling Thunder get removed?), I'll file this under "believe it when I see it"

^Oh yeah, good eye, I didn't even notice when I was uploading the photos, but yeah they did

^Yeah, they only had two going and the other was on the transfer track. They were definitely hustling to get the trains filled, but with the short ride one train would be about back as the other left, even on a quick load. And the final part! People were smart enough to avoid the rapids ride this weekend. It was only in the 60s, so I don't blame them. Yet, SFFT still kept the ride going because they're awesome! Some nice waterfalls and the train tunnel flank the cool look of the quarry wall around the park They also have a medium-sized version of one of the Sky Screamers Six Flags has been installing everywhere over the past several seasons They also have the first, and slightly more insane, of the S&S 4D Free Fly coasters. I only ever average about 1-2 flips on the Joker versions at other Six Flags. Both rides I took yeilded about 3-4 flips each. It's not difficult to get two-train photos of Supeman and Wonder Woman, as they both consistently ran multiple trains. Superman's chain lift motor, for those of you who are into that sort of thing. The "coffin challenge" was a bust, so Six Flags came up with this new idea where they run the wave swinger without seats and you have to hold onto the chains. Last one still alive gets wins a grand prize of $20. Well, everyone ended up dying and nobody won the $20. So instead, they came up with this new challenge where you have to survive an attack by a giant f*cking wasp while on the free spin! Ahhhhhh! The park also has a 3-tower S&S complex with a cool color scheme Superman Krypton Coaster doing it's dive off the quarry wall thing. Usually when I think about B&M Floorless coasters, I yawn, but there's a handful of them that have good forces, and Superman is one of the best, if not the best. It has some of the usual elements in the usual order (loop, zero g roll, cobra roll, flat spins), but it has some cool breaks in between them and some interesting turns here and there, making it more unique. Coming out of the gigantic cobra roll inversion. There's also Outdoor Limits: Flight of Fear I always forget this coaster exists and I'm always sort of surprised when I come across it. And it's actually a fun ride with a forceful launch. What's one thing that Fiesta Texas' Boardwalk has that Great Adventure's doesn't? Boards. Oh I went there. Yeah, but what's one thing that Great Adventure's Boardwalk has that Fiesta Texas' doesn't? Good coasters. I legit was calling Outdoor Limits "Joker" in my head until I came across this photo. It's called Poltergeist. I f*cking love this boat and flume ride...in July. It goes all around the Germany-themed (or whatever it's supposed to be) area of the park, has some tunnels and some aqueduct things. But it was only about 60 degrees and wasn't happening on this visit. Still, Fiesta Texas kept it running because they're awesome. Just a reminder that you can be anything you want to be. Six Flags Fiesta Texas wants to be Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and I've got it's back. You can't see in the photo, but there is actually a person behind/inside that splash. I felt the chill with them when I took the picture. The Batman clone that's called Goliath is tucked away in a random spot in the front of the park. The first time I went to SFFT a few years ago, we honestly couldn't find it at first. Goliath actually got to do one thing that nearly all other B&Ms have not, and that is travel the world. This elder statesman started it's life all the way back in 1995 in China as Gambit at Thrill Valley. It then traveled all the way to New Orleans, where it was actually (appropriately) called Batman the Ride, but then you already know what happened there. It then traveled over to San Antonio, where it has now been for 10 years. F*ck Boomerangs Starbucks at SAT airport was all decked-out for Halloween. That means that my last 2018 adventure has come to a close. Thank you all so much for reading and leaving comments, I really appreciate it!

^Did the LIM motors at least enjoy the fins ramming into them..?

Oh wow, I never paid attention to how much they keep open for HITP, I always just assumed it was a lot more scaled back compared to that. I've contemplated going as I'll be up in NY around Christmas for a couple of days, but I'd rather just read Bill's TR talking about riding Nitro in the 20 degree weather and then go ride Mako 10 minutes away. If they ran El Toro, I'd maybe think about subjecting myself to riding it in the arctic blast that I don't understand how you guys put up with every year. But that clearly will never happen.

I used to work for a park and a concern was raised of putting a strain on the local grid when adding a few new water attractions due to having to run several new pumps and other filtration equipment. The park ended up adding their own sub-station and that was that. Costly, but was all done and everything converted within about 3-4 months in the off season. If that's even a problem at SFOG. Considering their size, they probably already have one, and if it had strain on it, they could just expand it next year when they add their Free Spin and do the launch coaster the following year. Or Screamscape is just at it with the pipe dreams. Billy.

So, this was in the Orlando Sentinel a few hours ago: Orlando-Based SeaWorld could be sold to Six Flags, report says Source: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-seaworld-sale-20181107-story.html

I like how the kids in the promo materials are in the back of a Pontiac Aztec

^Lol @ "this ride will reopen later today/tomorrow"

The next day would be a half day at the park, as I had an 8PM flight home to Orlando. I really lucked out this day, as the forecast had called for a total wash-out originally with flash flood watches in the area. In the end, it did not rain once all day. The morning started out super dead, but eventually people started to notice the lack of rain too, as around 3PM, the park started to get pretty busy. Whoops, I hit Submit at the bottom by mistake, more pictures will be added! I was happy to see quite a lot of these stickers and support for Beto O'Rourke in and around San Antonio. I'm going to get a little political for a second. Currently, Texas has a Republican US Senator by the name of Ted Cruz. He went to Washington in 2012 and ruffled a lot of feathers in his own party, doing things such as accepting help, endorsements, and money from the other Texas senator John Cornyn, then when it came time for Cornyn's re-election, totally snubbed him. Loathed by Democrats and Republicans alike, he ran for President in 2016 in the Republican primary. Trump and him traded quite a few jabs, with Trump labeling him with the nickname "Lyin' Ted". Cruz is anti-LGBT, anti-women's rights, anti-immigrant, and just about as nasty as a human being can possibly get. Fast forward to this past year and suddenly the two are chummy for the political expedience of the midterm elections. Trump now campaigns for Cruz and they appear publicly together. Well, Texas has a sudden insurgent campaign in the form of Beto O'Rourke. He's a smart, forward-thinking progressive and he's become somewhat of a nationwide celebrity. He's down in the polls due to it being deep-red Texas, and it's absolutely going to be an uphill climb. However, I really hope that the people of Texas re-think this one. Speaking of, are you aware that we're just over a week out from the midterm elections? Next Tuesday, we have the opportunity to restore some sanity to American politics. You don't have to be a super-liberal person to see that the incompetence, insanity and xenophobia needs to stop. Republicans in congress have proven over the past two years that they have zero desire to do their constitutional duty to be a check and balance on the executive branch. Ted Cruz and the rest of them have all been spineless enablers to the a$$hole-in-chief, rolling over to his will and barely speaking out, let alone taking zero action, when he does things that they know are wrong. The only way to balance out this government is to elect Democrats and Independents who will fulfill this duty. November 6th is when you have that chance. As RuPaul would say, "don't f*ck it up" How about a ton of iRat porn? I must've gotten 25+ rides on Iron Rattler this visit. What an incredible RMC. It kind of reminds me of an Intamin hyper, which I think is the reason why I like it so much. A crazy good first drop with several instances of strong, sustained airtime. The Gerstlauer trains are comfortable and open-sided, and I wish all RMCs had them. The big, 170-foot first drop is made better by the sudden kick to the left halfway down. It's one of the best first drops on any coaster in my opinion, up there with Expedition GeForce or El Toro. The "cliff dive" drop near the end of the ride follows a powerful airtime moment going into it The part of the ride up on top of the quarry wall is pretty cool too, featuring the coaster's only inversion and some cool, RMC outward-banked awkward stuff. What an amazing coaster, I really can ride this all day. It might not be as balls-to-the-wall insane as some of the newer RMCs, but it's unique in it's own way. The tunnel at the end is a cool effect, then you hit the brakes still going super fast, with enough momentum that could last you another 2,000 feet of track.

Yeah, I think it's a great ride, just not a very good match for the park's volume of visitors. I only rode once with a 35-minute wait, it was a station wait and the line extended to the bottom of the stairs, then out just a little bit. Upon returning another 3 or 4 times throughout that night and the next day, they filled the queue house of switchbacks and I shudder to think how long that would take, I wasn't doing it. Buying a QBot only gets you one ride on it and there was no reason for buying a QBot those days, as iRat's line never got past it's QBot merge point and the longest line Superman ever had was to the bottom of it's stairs. Wonder Woman on a busy day has to take hours.

I hate it when I unfortunately have to write a negative TR, because the whole point of this hobby is doing something that we love, and at the end of the day, I'd rather have Six Flags bullsh!t over nothing at all. Anyway, luckily, this post won't be that way, because this time I was visiting, Six Flags Fiesta Texas This park is so awesome. I've been here 3 times in as many years and it's always been a great experience. It's like there's something in the water in San Antonio that keeps this park's staff running it awesome. It has great natural scenery and better theming that puts it above most of the other Six Flags parks. It doesn't have the insane 20-coaster lineup of Magic Mountain nor does it have Kingda Ka, but it does have a good coaster/ride collection as a whole. It's probably my favorite Six Flags. This actually could end up being my last TR of 2018. It was probably my last out-of-town theme park trip of the year, and while I do a few random hours at Epcot or Magic Kingdom, I usually don't take too many photos. Maybe I'll just keep the topic going anyway rather than starting a new one, who knows. In addition to being Six Flags Fiesta Texas, it was also time for Six Flags Fright Fest. The nice look of this park begins right at the entrance. The picture is slightly blurry, but the entrance leads you into another nice-looking area. This is one of those times where I could say something to the effect of "this is a Six Flags park?!" San Antonio is one city where you'll find two Batman clones, neither of which are called Batman. Yet, there is a coaster called Batman the Ride at Fiesta Texas. But it isn't a Batman the Ride. Get it? At the end of the main entrance walkway, you come to a big, circular area in front of a Boomerang. They had Fright Fest props up here with scareactors hiding behind them. It looked better than some of this years scare zones at HHN, honestly. You know it wouldn't be a Fiesta Texas TR without some iRat Zero wait for iRat, which was awesome. They were running two trains, dispatching consistently, and allowing re-rides The sun was setting and iRat was running very well. I love this RMC, and nobody ever seems to talk about it. According to Wikipedia, Rattlesnakes are part of the Pit Viper family. Their venom is hemotoxic, There are thousands of bites every year on humans, and on average, 5 people die of said bites. Rattlesnakes can voluntarily choose the amount of, or lack thereof, venom in each bite. In layman's terms, don't f*ck around with a rattler. They were doing some cool projections and lighting effects on the quarry walls. And this is a Six Flags park?! Batman the Ride, in this park's case, is an S&S 4D Free Fly coaster. Superman next to Wonder Woman at night. Just like in photos, Wonder Woman doesn't look real in person either. It also zips through the course like you're watching a computer animation in RCT. Oh, you want to hear me talk about it? Well, it's totally crazy. It's super fast and has amplified forces. Strong airtime, super sharp, snappy turns, and zippy, quick inversions. It's really an amazing ride and more parks should have these. One complaint, though. The shoulder restraints are brutal. RMC should team up with Intamin for a lesson in doing shoulder straps like on i305, Maverick, Storm Runner, etc. Wonder Woman's restraints are soft-ish on the inside but covered in a hard plastic that really rubbed hard on my collar bone and shoulders. Thankfully, it's a short ride, but the fast inversions irritate this a bit. This coaster is super low capacity. Too low, even, for Fiesta Texas on a slow night. I think a coaster like this only belongs at a park like Great Escape or Michigan's Adventure. The trains only seat 8 and it can only run 2 trains at a time. They had a system where they lined up guests into 4 rows of 8, then they called each row at a time, in order to organize passengers. They had a continuous moving station and they cranked out the trains like crazy, but it still took about 35 minutes to move what would have been a 3-train wait on a B&M This is what you're about to ride on top of. They had so many fog machines going that it looked like the park was on f*cking fire. This was the best picture I could get of the projection they were doing onto the quarry wall. In person, it was a pretty cool effect. Day two coming soon!

I know at one point last year we rode Beast in the front row of the back car and it was pretty brutal there, too, but not nearly as bad as when my friend talked me into "trying" the very last row with him. GASM at over Georgia was great when it had 3-bench and you could sit in the middle to avoid the violent beating. But they had to ruin it, because, you know, f*cking Six Flags man.

Nice report! I've gotten a bowl at the Satu'li Canteen and they're pretty good, but I much prefer Yak & Yeti if I'm at AK. Since the addition of Pandora, the park is probably my favorite in the resort from a theming/rides standpoint. You're drunk, Everest is the best coaster in the resort!

Dangggggg this park keeps getting better and better. Interesting that this time around, they're building a wooden structure but going with IBox track instead of Topper Track. Definitely a win regardless, but I do kind of prefer the slightly crazier feeling you get with Topper Track. Was going to try and plan a trip here for next spring, but I might just hold off for 2020 for this. Then again, at the rate this park is adding awesome new stuff...

^In addition to the fact that a whopping 4 coasters in their line-up are kiddie coasters that only the most credit whoring of enthusiasts will ever ride (Canyon Blaster, Magic Flyer, Rode Runner Express, and Speedy Gonzales), there was a part of our trip when combined with 5 big coasters being down, the "19 coaster park" was effectively a "10 coaster park"

We did something that really lays out contrast in a striking way between the two regional theme park giants in the US, Cedar Fair and Six Flags. We immediately followed our trip to Cedar Point and Kings Island with a visit to, Six Flags Magic Mountain A flagship park to Cedar Fair and a "flagship" to Six Flags are two very, very different things. Maybe it's the fact that Cedar Fair has greatly improved chain-wide the past few seasons and it's highlighting the differences. I don't mean to non-stop rip on them, but I'm perfectly comfortable with calling 2018 the worst season I've seen at Six Flags parks as a whole. Sadly, this visit to the Mountain continued this trend instead of bucking it. Maybe it was because our days there were both weekdays (Thursday and Friday) in September. For the entirety of our visit, the park with 19 coasters had Apocalypse, Green Lantern, and Viper down. Not "broken and working on them", just closed. When we arrived at the park well past noon on Friday, X2 and Full Throttle were...not ready yet, despite the park opening at 10:30 AM. Jesus f*cking christ. Maybe instead of symbolically opening a "20th coaster", they should just focus on running what they have consistently. Arriving at the park on a Friday afternoon well past opening and having 5 major coasters down is really just unacceptable. Luckily, it was completely dead, so we didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes with the one-train operations they had everywhere. When we were hungry, we kept finding places to eat on the app that we thought sounded pretty good, and it was almost funny when we'd arrive to find them "closed for the day" and move on to another. This was my first visit to this park since 2011 and I honestly have about zero desire to go back for at least as long. And it really is too bad, because the park is in a really scenic area of California that looks a million times better than the power lines and smog sprawl south of LA. They have a mobius-loop RMC for f*ck's sake, a B&M flyer with a terrifyingly large pretzel loop, the best B&M stand-up, a GCI, Batman clone, and the list goes on. Maybe someday Six Flags will give a sh*t, but for now I see the chances of that happening at just about null. First, let's hop a ride on the super intense i405 See what i did there? As you arrive at the Mountain, you first get a look at X2. One time I saw something on TV about a guy who survived going over Niagara Falls in a trash can. And I was like...yeah, but have you ever been on X2 tho? Hmm, looks pretty busy Ok I'm going to say something nice now. Twisted Colossus is really, really awesome. It's kind of an erratic RMC, similar but totally different from all the others. Sometimes you duel, usually you don't, because, well, f*cking Six Flags. It has great airtime. It has cool hanging and quick, awkward outward-banking moments. It's pacing is completely interrupted by the second lift, but it's okay, because it's kind of like the park has two RMCs and you only have to wait in line for one. Cedar Point has a shiny boring B&M that looks majestic, flanked by huge screens and gleaming modern architecture, welcoming you to their flagship park. Six Flags has these rusty steel bars over decades-old ticket booths with peeling paint and sun-faded windows. But you still have a membership because Six Flags owns you. Same. This spot looks pretty damn cool, though. As you can see, it was a zoo that day. Live it. Be it. Ride it. Ugh, shut up Katy Perry Ignore the piece of paper "theming" and the cheap station, these newer Premier coasters really pack a punch. Oh, but I also mean literally. At the end, Full Throttle slams on the brakes HARD while you're still at a vertical angle. It packs a punch right to your stomach. Hope you didn't eat beforehand! There's something very Six Flags about this game Riddler's Revenge is a slightly different color than it was back in 2011, but still a great ride. It's kind of the "Kumba of Stand Up Coasters" They were running one train. On a B&M stand-up that no one in the universe knows how to climb into. There was a station wait here, and at one point I just wanted to see how long it took from gates open until the time the same train was loaded, went out, and came back. 9 minutes went by. Our 1/4-full station wait took about 35 minutes. But hey...it got us out of the harsh California sun? We rode the Ninja. I was looking forward to riding Apocalypse again since I enjoyed it in 2011. No such luck. It's just closed. I guess it, Green Lantern, and Viper all had to be closed for the new coaster construction they weren't working on that day. We flew at the speed of fear. Tatsu is really fun and at times, really terrifying. Being in the flying position that high in the air is very intimidating. That enormous pretzel loop really is great, too. "Welcome to Six Flags, have a look at the other train we aren't using!" So like we probably (or definitely) wouldn't have ridden this thing even if it was open...but still At Six Flags, some random racks of overstock superhero capes they bulk bought in 2003, strewn about a random stretch of blacktop, counts as a store. At least...it was organized by style? Six Flags cares about you. They don't want you to force yourself to throw up your food when you see how in shape everyone is in LA, so they set the rides so they do it for you. See, that's nice of them! Goliath has these big, cool letters. This Goliath was the gateway Goliath that set Six Flags up to call everything from a B&M hyper in Georgia to a non-functioning GIB in Massachusetts the same thing. And that's why you don't do drugs. They were actually running two trains at Goliath. Wow! "Oh, don't worry, I'll be back to burn your necks to a crisp tomorrow, b*tches!" --The Sun At our hotel nearby, somebody had illegally parked their prop plane, and there was a note duct taped to the window, probably saying "you have 24 hours before we tow your sh*t!" It's kind of like you knew I was going to bring up the "parking lot coaster", and no trip report to SFMM is complete without it. ...at least they saved money because eventually the sun makes the parking spot lines fade away? Next to the prison yard chainlink fence that guides you to/from scream is a remaining concrete footer of what was probably either the ride's camera (the photo booth looked long shuttered) or an old parking lot light pole. Either way, it's left on full display because f*cking Six Flags, man. But are you really surprised about that? Sorry kids, Batman has more important things to do than go to the f*cking car wash. Totaled 90s taxis we bought for $20 from the junkyard count as "spooky fright fest theming"...right? Okay, or does a totaled Saturn Vue count? Don't worry, we put a tarp over the shattered-out window so you can't see the real blood stains. The nicest part of this park by a longshot. Oh, you know, they just have an Intamin 4D ride that's about 1,000x better than the S&S 4D Free Fly coasters that they keep installing everywhere as brand new coasters. So naturally, it sits closed for a long, long time. "We didn't just throw trash here...it's theming!" Uh huh The local Honda dealership-sponsored incline railway is a great way to get up-down the mountain at the Mountain. I'm actually going to say something nice again. The park operates a full-service restaurant and the food there was actually awesome. We also had a really cool server who was pretty entertaining, although I can admit that we mutually entertained one another with jokes about how sad and pathetic the park operations are. One last loop for the road. Thanks for making sure that for my next visit, I'll have absolutely zero expectations, Six Flags!

Key to riding any woodie with 3-bench PTC trains: ride in the middle row