amy_mel

It's pretty bad up this way. We get a couple hours with no rain then Mother Nature just lets loose with like 2 inches in an hour. The park just can't catch enough of a break to let the water recede. And as usual the people on their social are a-holes about it.

How was your visit???

I've shared the pictures a couple of times and have watched people respond with "well how was I supposed to know". How about checking a weather app???

Meanwhile people on all social platforms are complaining. Like Hershey has any say in the bad weather.

I wouldn't want to risk my phone in a cargo pocket. It is forceful enough to crack it in the pocket. I've never seen a coaster where the norm is no hands up. I regularly watch entire trains go around with not one single rider with their hands up. It's literally the only coaster that I've ridden that I had to sit down when I got off the first time.

Sorry for the double post! Stupid phones. Lol

On the hat note, there are bag drops at every ride that would one (coasters, the towers, swings, etc). However in The Hollow and at Reese's Extreme they require you to get a locker. The good news is it's free for 2 hours. The bad news is, if the attendants at SDL and Comet are enforcing it, you might have to work the system a little in order to not have to pay. Just watch your time oin that area. While on the topic of lockers, when you hit up Skyrush do not take anything at all on that ride that you value in any way. Phone, hat, wallet, necklace, spare change. It will get ripped out of pockets and out grin under your rear. There was a teen girl on Monday when I rode. She managed to slip her phone past the ops somehow. When we got off she hopped out of the seat, looked down, and lost her mind when she realized that the phone was gone. Even if they staple you in the seat, you will lose anything that isn't physically attached to you.

Hey Zach. I'm a season pass holder. I was there all day this past Monday and was able to ride every coaster (except the water coaster because we skipped that 150 minute wait) between 10 and 3. Here is my plan if you want to give it a try. A Thursday or Friday shouldn't be too much different than a Monday. Get there by 9:30 if you're not using sweet start. They start checking bags at 9:45 and the gates open at 10 promptly. Head straight back and hit Fahrenheit (should be no more than 5 to 10 minute wait). From there go back to LT (usually 15 to 20 minutes). Then go all the way to LR. It's almost always a one train wait, 2 max. After that we work our way back toward the front, riding flat rides that we really like and skipping others. When you get back to Fahrenheit go left and head to Sidewinder and SR. Then down the hill to Trailblazer. Hit the towers (almost always a 5 minute wait), GB. Your last stop will be The Hollow for SDL, Skyrush, and Comet. On Monday SR was no more than 10 minutes all day. GB got up to 45 minutes but held pretty steady at 15-20 minutes. Skyrush will die off in the afternoon so resist the urge to go there first. If you can take advantage of the preview the night before do it. You can get several rides in on whichever coaster you like except Fahrenheit and LT. If you are using sweet start do what you can but watch the time. Be at the rope drop by Reese's Extreme and go straight to Fahrenheit.

The whole "love of chocolate and peanut butter" part made me think the same thing. On the other hand, the last 5 major coasters came in 1996, 1998 (2 years later), 2000 (2 years later), 2012 (2 years later), 2015 (3 years later), so, if history is any indications (which it isn't necessarily), they are certainly "due" for a new coaster soon. Actually SR was 2004, Fahrenheit 2008, Skyrush 2012, Laff Trakk 2015. They are overdue for a major coaster addition already (would have been this year based on the 3 Intamins). I would imagine something big for this expansion and my guess would be probably not Intamin but I would love to see another one in the park.

I was told it was undergoing refurbishment and maintenance.

After my first ride on the water coaster, I can see how some people would instinctually take their hands off the handles. It continuously sprays water in your face the entire ride. They also make children ride behind the parent. My 8 year old was extremely nervous about it. I stressed to her no matter what to not let go but it was nerve wracking with her being where I couldn't see her without turning around. In the end she kept her eyes closed and I yelled back to her what was coming next. She held on but she said she wanted to let go to wipe her face. I'll probably ride again (minus the 120 minute wait some days) but she says she won't.

I agree that operations are often terrible, however SR actually does run 2 trains most of the time. There have been occasions that there was only one running and I believe there was a safety concern last year that caused them to only run one for a chunk of the summer season.

Schools are still in session so Friday might not terrible but Saturday will probably be crazy.

They were open and will be open today as well. It might be slightly warmer here. Maybe 50-60.

This is exactly what my daughter and I do. We will ask the people grouped with us if they mind. 9 times out of 10 they don't and if one of them does mind I will ride the wing.

I'm a complete wimp where pain is concerned. Now, I'm only 5'2" so that may make a huge difference in where the restraint rests on my thighs. I haven't experienced pain as much as cutting off circulation in my legs. Once the restraints pop on the brake run I'm good. I also don't normally go for being stapled into a seat but on this one I will tell the ops to go ahead and push in another click or two. I also don't normally have physical reactions to coasters but after my first ride, I literally had to sit down because the adrenaline was out of control.

If you follow the Twitter feed linked here they give the Kansas statute. It does look like based on the wording of that statute that they could charge 2nd degree murder. Being as his name is all over the design from start to finish, charging him with the higher offense makes sense. Then charge manslaughter to Miles as he allegedly covered the injuries up and doctored reports but didn't have part in building this ride. On another note, I read an article that quoted a former lifeguard as saying that part of the pre-opening routine was to have people ride the slide 3 times. He stated that no one wanted to volunteer. Ever. That people were kind of drafted to do this. The one time he did, the raft hit the concrete wall at the end of the runout pool and he was injured. He didn't return to employment that next summer. If this is true there are likely more former employees to corroborate that and it doesn't look good for the defendants.

I believe the allegation in the indictment says that Jeff Henry designed and oversaw the the building of the ride with no evidence of any dynamic engineering ever having been done (by an engineer, a mathematician, or anyone with any kind of professional experience). I totally understand the whole build and go through trial and error then correct and try again scenario but it seems that they even ignored that as they knew the rafts were going airborne. They either didn't understand, didn't care to understand, or blatantly ignored the engineer who did the accelerometer testing and reported that even at 550 lbs the rafts would likely become airborne. There appears to be solid evidence of substandard maintenance. This all points to terrifying gross negligence and disregard for patron safety. My question before visiting any of their properties would be is the problem systemic to the whole company or isolated to this one park in the chain.

I feel that the bottom line is that the person who defined this slide had zero education in the dynamic engineering aspect of the ride. There were no calculations done at that stage. None. Had there been an experienced, educated engineer doing those calculations this slide in this iteration would never have come to fruition. Then they brought in inexperienced people and willfully disregarded those who were experienced and educated in their field (the engineer who did the accelerometer testing for example). They knew the flight path of these rafts and decided to put solid metal bars directly in the flight path. They ignored recommended age requirements and changed them to suit their wants (not even their needs). There was no operations or maintenance manual and no care to properly maintain this ride. I'm not an attorney but it feels like this all started at the very top and far more than one person should be named as defendants here. I don't understand any defending Jeff Henry in this situation. He was more than happy to take credit for this when at the beginning. Let him stand and take responsibility for his actions now.

Hi there!

I think you're right. Though Fahrenheit can't be the top of the steps because once you're at the top you're dumped into rows. There's absolutely no lines or switchback in that station.

Most of the schools in our area will be out at that point. My kids are done on the 1st (I think, I'm slacking in the scheduling department at the moment). I know it's very early this year as compared to previous years for the last day of school.

I had a full knee reconstruction in October 2007- transplanted ACL, cleaned up a torn meniscus, bolts, staples, the whole nine. I was good to go for the regular season in 2008 as far as riding. Actually lasting all day walking around that much was another issue. It was probably 2010 before I could tolerate a full day of walking around a park.

Actually I have a medical condition that makes me more sensitive to the cold than the average person. You guys can have my place in line from October through April. Even with a snowboard jacket, gloves, hat, abbr scarf I wouldn't be able to do it.

Skyrush in sub 30 degree temps????? Even I would pass on that one. My hands would be too numb to hold on!