Manic Monte

Whew! I'm glad you gave the park another chance, minus the hype mentality. Advanced hype really does in part, kill part of the experience imo. Holiday World is best taken as a small, charm of a park with 3 top tier woodies and a killer water park. After being underwhelmed by Superman at SFNE, while the rest of the online coaster community claimed it as the second coming, I've learned not to buy into hype, and just show up with the intention of having fun. Just because a bunch of people proclaim something to be #1, doesn't mean it's going to work out that way for me. Holiday World isn't my favorite park (that honor is shared by Europa Park and IOA), but it's a VERY relaxing, comfortable place to visit, and the water park is fantastic! Plus, being able to ride Voyage and Raven in the same place is my idea of coaster heaven!

The important thing to remember is what Metrock mentions. Shapiro is actually allowing parks to work on long standing problems. Paint Jobs, new trains, infrastructure upgrades and the return of Metro. Over the next three years, tons of work is going into fixing long standing issues with the park. Unfortunately, don't expect any new rides for awhile.

Painting Superman is very much a Mark Shapiro thing. He actually wants to do a painting rotation thing where every year, a coaster gets a paint job. That way, once the paint fades, it's actually due to be painted again. I personally think it's a GREAT thing. Superman as it stands now looks like a giant garbage can. I think new colors will help.

Well it was only a matter of time before the backlash... Holiday World was MUCH more fun before everyone started talking about it and making a big deal out of it. It was a small, down home, out of the way park with 2 awesome wooden coasters, and cheap prices. Unfortunately now (although good for them), the cat's out of the bag, and everyone is planning trips there and expecting the park equivalent of God, and I have to admit it takes some of the fun and discovery out of it. As the park grows in both status and attractions, so will the differing opinions. Say what you want though, this park takes care of us (enthusiasts) every time we set foot in the place. And I don't care what anyone says, The Voyage is simply a masterpiece. There are no stand out moments, because the entire ride is ONE LONG stand out moment!

Yeah well, when most of us think theming, we think Disney, Universal, Busch. With Six Flags, it's about what's in their VERY tight budget. Although I have to admit, what they've done out at Great Adventure has completely transformed that parks. In just a few years, they've given that park very beautiful theming, cool upgrades, and a TON of good old fashion AIRTIME to boot.

* Wiggles World and Thomas Town won't be coming to Magic Mountain in 2008." Is that a misprint, or does Shapiro have something else in store for families in 2008? Edit: Never mind, I just listened to the call...

I thought MM had terrific theming, much better than either of the Mummy rides, and thank God for that because the "coaster" portion was a bit of a let down. I had heard great things about euro-fighters, but these rides do nothing for me. I did like the presentation of the ride though, VERY good job there. Overall I think Dollywood will have a hit with this ride. I agree about Thunderhead. I'm not a big fan of the early GCI rides, but with this one, KY Rumbler and Ozark Wildcat, they really hit their stride. Not all coasters have to be about extreme airtime, and these latest GCIs are surprisingly wonderful, twisty masterpieces with fabulous floaty air to boot.

I did not like "Kinda Krap" very much at all. It's almost a parody of what a roller coaster should be. Big and tall and fast and excessive, but almost entirely forgettable, especially compared with Nitro and El Toro. It stands as a symbol of an era I'm happy is finished. I did like the view from the top, but other than that the ride does nothing for me. It's not even scary.

Well there is more than one rough spot on Voyage imo. The entire turnaround at the ride's furthest point was on the rough side for me. Also, I made the mistake of riding it with my hands up, which is a serious risk on this ride because of the sudden turns the ride makes. There is "good" rough (Tremors, Rampage, Boulder Dash), and then there is "bad" rough (SOB, Texas Giant, Ghostrider). Voyage clearly falls into the first category, but it's also stretched out over 6,000ft of track. So it's just not going to be a ride everyone can take over and over. For me, I could ride Voyage and Toro all day long, as both offer at different ends of the spectrum, what I like in a coaster.

No doubt. I just have a special affinity for Holiday World and their hospitality, combined with great operations and three of my favorite woodies anywhere. But yeah, Nitro is also one of my favorites, and Chiller is great (although in 3 visits I have yet to catch it actually open ). I haven't ridden it since 2001.

If you asked me which coaster I'd return to ride first, it would be Voyage hands down. Of course part of that could be the fact that I'd also get to ride Legend and Raven. While El Toro is just a fabulous coaster, you do have to go through the hassle of inconsistent operations to get to it. Having said that, I'd take either of these on the west coast somewhere. Instead, California is littered with the same inversions over and over.

I can also now say I have ridden both! Voyage last summer, and El Toro a few weeks ago. I honestly have trouble picking between the two, they both offer the two most extreme changes in direction I've ever felt. If you like extreme (and I mean *EXTREME*) air, El Toro is by far the best of the two. If you like laterals and sheer "kick your ass" intensity that seems like it's never going to end, Voyage gets the edge. Here's the simplest way I can put it: El Toro is SFNE's S:Ros on speed. Voyage is like a taller, faster, longer Ghostrider in it's opening few years. Trust me, your not going to be disappointed with either, they are MINDBLOWING, and worth every penny it costs to get to them.

Wow, I'm impressed they got 16 people to ride! Only because it's spring break...hehehe. Every year at this time, the ride attracts a pretty good crowd. Otherwise, yeah it's always dead.

^ Nice to hear from you Matt! It's Johnny

I so agree with you. The name change itself gets a big, old-fashioned *YAWN* from me, and I just don't get why it would bother anyone. I could care less about the name. If it works out for them, great! I personally only care whether they can fix some of the problems with the park that Paramount did to it. For one thing, give me one stand out reason to ever care about visiting there again. Paramount couldn't do it, so if nothing else, a name change at least gives me hope that they are trying to move as far away from that previous ownership as possible.

Are we sure that name is going to be used for anything other than to link the two websites? I've seen no other evidence or a press release confirming anything other than "Great America". Can we wait until it's official before getting are panties all bend out of shape?

I wouldn't expect any sort of roller coaster for SFMM for at least 3 to 5 years. When it does happen, I would expect it to replace a current one. I'm pretty sure we won't see more than 14 or 15 coasters at one time in this park, ever again.

Don't worry, kids are MUCH louder.

^ LOL... Sounds VERY much like X!

Eh, I have a little more faith than that. Hell, they're removing Psyclone and Flashback and Freefall and Thrillshot are both going to be operating. Nothing in the last 10 years has come close to these moves. Things are getting better.

No more of an eyesore than it already is. In fact, I'd welcome a paint job on Superman. Right now it looks like a 415ft tall garbage can.

Well certainly not anymore, but trust me, several years ago I couldn't contain myself when this ride was announced. It's always funny to me when people bash the ride today, because it's become such an "easy target".

That cleared out area is obviously for the El Toro clone coming in 08' DUH!

HA! Elissa had this one pegged 6 months ago...

If Great Adventure is considered the saving grave, the company is in more trouble than even I thought. It's got a lot of the same problems SFMM has, and far too many closed rides. As for SFMM, I keep hearing how much work the park would need, and although I agree, I disagree that the park is that far gone. It just needs a company that has the disposable cash to run all the attractions and clean the park up. It may not be up to enthusiasts standards even then, but we don't count that much.