edgeboy

Don't get your hopes up. It wasn't listed as closed the day I went, but it was. The park has verified it on twitter, but oddly hasn't seemed to update their own website or in park closure list.

^I don't think it's done that for a while now.

I went this past Sunday night and also found it pretty dead. We went more for the lights, but most of the coaster lines seemed pretty short or non-existent. For a while, even the funnel cake line was not even outside the building, which is super rare. (It was it's usual length at the end of the night.) I was also mildly surprised by the Kwerkmas show. I've seen a lot of Cirque shows, so I'm pretty hard to impress. After a relatively dull opening, the show did pick up a bit, and was quite enjoyable. It was a bit of a mystery why a holiday version of the show didn't really use a lot of holiday music, but I'm nitpicking. I do still love night rides of Apocalypse... that lift hill cresting into vast darkness is crazy fun... but it is beginning its decent into roughness again. Still surprisingly ridable for now (in the front row at least), but I'd say get on it sooner rather than later, before it starts approaching unridable status again.

This is off topic, but I finally ate at the new Boardwalk BBQ today, and I had no idea that you can get a variety of sauces outside: Boysenberry BBQ, Mild BBQ, Spicy BBQ, and Sweet Heat Mustard. This changes my life. In other news, Sol Spin is indeed still down, and I didn't see it reflected on the park sign. Never made it over to Ghostrider, but it seemed quiet. Park was pretty busy today! Line for Monty was all the way to the bottom of the ramp.

^Well, with the exception of Christmas day, the park is now open daily from the 16th until the end of the year. I believe that's what he means.

I still often mistakenly call it Marriott's.

^I think it this case, it was to distinguish from the other Great America in Chicago.

I work at one of the schools that got evacuated from the Creek fire. We were able to see flames from my classroom window. Our classes are canceled today. Too bad I sill don't have my Disney AP; would have been a perfect day to go, lol. But that selfishly said, I do wish the best for all that are impacted.

Sadly, I wouldn't blame them for running only 2 trains on TC. I'd say most of the time, despite their best efforts (the crew at TC is typically very good), racing doesn't usually happen and that 3rd train just sits outside the station for an extended time. Because park guests are constantly too slow and/or don't put their items to the side, which holds things up too much.

^^Any reason it's down for so long? I care a little bit.

I love how riding it twice, ten years apart, makes your opinion rock solid and irrefutable. I've had good rides on X2 and bad rides. And so-so rides. That said, it's a unique, one of a kind experience that I think most locals take for granted.

I just rode this about two weeks ago. Love the layout, but found it pretty rough. Especially for a new coaster.

I rode Time Warp at Canada's Wonderland, and after hearing how awful these coasters are, I was actually surprised that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe I just got a lucky ride. One credit I do have to give it... it's a pretty genius loading system.I had no idea they were continuous load.

At least they let you ride if you're in line. I had a miserable experience at Carrowinds last year. Park closed at 10pm, got in line for their mouse at about 9:55. Line was short, and we were happy we made it before the cut off. Waited our time, got to the front, was next to ride, then the ride ops said "10pm! Ride's closed!" and didn't let us ride. And there were still people behind us, and more entering the line--and they turned them all away. I always thought that was pretty low. Fortunately, it was more for the credit than the thrill, but still pretty bad. I have never seen a park handle a ride's closing like that before.

Reviving this thread from the dead because I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for an app that counts coasters. I was using CoasterCount, but that won't work once I update to IOS 11. Anyone know of any others that will work? I really like keeping track of them on my phone.

I will give you this: I also have never thought the Hanging was any good (never understood why it has the fans it does), and I also thought Aftermath was pretty decent, and was largely populated by many scareactors all three times I went through it. That said... I couldn't disagree with you more. Knott's Scare zones are basically the best in the world. Fire, while fun, does not a scarezone make. And their mazes are much more unique and varied. I feel like this may be your first visit to Fright Fest. It is relatively impressive for a first time visitor (though I'd still find Knott's better even in that regard), and certainly a good bargain--it's one of the cheapest haunts in a theme park. And for the money you pay, it's not bad. But just wait until next year when you realize all the Fright Fest mazes are exactly the same as the year before. And the year before that. And the year before that...

I was there last night as well. I think Fright Fest is a good deal for the price. Is it on par with Universal or Knotts? Of course not, but relative to what they had before, it's improved. Talent is probably more consistent that Knott's (which is what I feel their weakness now is). The haunts also don't change much (if at all) from year to year, so in my mind, it's really more of an introductory haunt. Something for the first timer. And on that level, it's quite good. If you're a more experienced haunt guest, then you're likely to be disappointed unless your expectations are in check. Even as a more experienced haunt guest, the pricing makes it a good deal to me. It's also easy to forget the haunt experience can really vary with timing. We did Willoughby's 3 times... twice near haunt opening, and once again later in the night. The first two visits were amazing, with 3-4 scareactors in each scene working in conjunction. On the third visit, it was down to 1-2 and some scenes had none. Did we catch them on break or a cast change? Possibly, but if that had been our only visit, we would've been pretty disappointed. But we had been very impressed on our first two visits. My biggest complaint is that there was a lot of "dead space" between haunts. Aside from scare zones and a character meet and greet with Suicide Squad (and one hypnotist show), there's not a single maze between FT, TC, Batman, JL, Jet Stream, and Apocolypse. More or less, the entire east side of the park. Plus, all the mazes near FT (Red's Revenge, Vault 666, and Toys of Terror) all have short pre-show sequences, making their lines really long and slow moving. I admire what they tried to do for Dead End, but just make the line a lot faster moving by cutting out the flashlights altogether and having people go in the dark, with carefully placed minimal lighting inside to guide the way. We did the Nightmare maze at Clifton's Hill, in which it's entirely in the dark, save for a small series of red lights you follow. That'd be a lot easier for them to manage.

I may be in the minority, but I've never found it all that funny. There may be a good joke here and there, but I find most of it quite immature in a bad way. Never been my thing. I also thought pretty much the same for Bill & Ted, but at least that had sexy eye candy, haha. Also, Sol Spin has been on a longer cycle ever since it came back from it's 3 week rehab a month or so ago. Are you saying it's changed again recently?

^Every night at around 5pm, Murdy tweets a code word that can be said to the Specs & Tucker characters before going into the house, and they'll give you their business card. If they have any left, that is. Like I said, last night, they ran out in about 20 minutes. For the last few years, he been doing some sort of password giveaway. Last year is was Krampus postcards, and I believe the year before was an "invitation" to James Franco's party for This is the End.

I was there last night too... it did get pretty mobbed. It didn't help for early entry that they were down to just two working escalators (some sections had three, but two were going up), so that everyone going down had to cram onto one escalator or the stairs, both of which got slammed. That wasn't fun. Plus, they ran out of cards for Insidious about 15-20 minutes of the maze opening, so unless you get there around 4:45, you may not get one. I did hear later that they began selling discounted FoL passes for $50 after 11pm. Not sure if they'll always do that, but something to perhaps ask about. If you're able to stay late, it could be very worth it.

I did go to Out on the Mountain last night, which is a gay night private party. Got there not long after 6pm, and the lines for most rides were quite short. They did open up two mazes, Vault 666 and Toys of Terror (which their own promotional email called "Tower of Terror" by mistake, lol). Lines were very short there as well. They gave participants a wristband to separate them from the GP. The lines for rides did begin to increase around 10pm, but it was nice to be at Magic Mountain and be surround by (mostly) guys in their 30s+, and not a bunch of high schoolers. And I must add, I did get two night rides on Apocalypse, and it was surprisingly the best rides I've ever had on it. Harkened back to its opening days. Granted, both rides were in the front seat, so I don't know if it's worse in the back, I didn't want to risk it, lol. But if this keeps up, it could return to being a hidden gem of a favorite that most have written off (including me, for a while--but if this keeps up, not anymore). Plus, I've never been on it at night, and I must say that the lift hill drops you off into a very desolate, dark landscape... we were able to see stars in the sky as we climbed the lift hill. The crest of the hill faces an underdeveloped area of the park, so it felt incredibly isolated. It was unexpectedly cool. I'd love to get more night rides on that! (Granted, at Fright Fest, with a major outdoor maze right next to it, the effect could be diminished. They weren't running that maze last night, so it was nearly totally dark.)

I'm actually heading to Out on the Mountain tomorrow night. Never gone before... anyone else done it? How crowded will it be? Interestingly, they're opening two of the haunt mazes... any ideas if those will get long lines?

^Express is one time only. RIP is unlimited.

I didn't get the pass during the flash same for this exact reason. That said, I do believe you can upgrade... but I'm not 100% on that.

The tram route is constantly being altered, HHN or not, due to the near constant filming that actually happens. That said, the tram show building hasn't been for a maze in years, and you don't really see much of it from the tram anyway. However, it may be fairly likely a good portion of the city sets may be closed off for HHN. But not all of it. Unless it is being used for filming. Thursday during the day should be pretty dead. Use ushwaittimes.com on your phone for line updates. Keep in mind Simpsons nearly always defaults to 25 minute wait time minimum due to its slow loading. So if it you see it at that time, go for it. It doesn't get shorter. Also take the wait times for Ollivanders and Walking Dead as a guide, and may be off IRL. Those lines can fluctuate faster than the app can keep track. The rest of the times are actually fairly accurate. One final note, during the day in the off season, Walking Dead sometimes has limited hours. Check with the showtimes guide given as you enter the park.