Ed Farmer

In my experience, Fridays are the ideal day to go. Bonus points if the weather is cooler or there is a threat of rain (or both). If that works out in your favor, no form of quick queue is required.

I wouldn't call Magnum's drop great, either. Arrow-wise, SFGAm's Demon pack a much greater punch and it's roughly 100 ft shorter.

I never got the airtime I expected from Kraken's first drop. Not lame, but it was definitely a case of anticipointment. My winners are probably Led Zeppelin at Hard Rock Park, and Hydra at Dorney- too bad B&M engineered the pre-drop out of their rides. The Cedar Fair Morgan triplets are also pretty underwhelming. Twister II at Elitch Gardens for wood. This would be a great coaster to see Rocky Mountain'd.

You've never wasted an entire day looking for the big blue monorail at Cedar Point?

Suddenly, those cartoonish park maps will be accurate.

Never rode KD's Shockwave, but I did ride two of the others that were at the Paramount parks. There wasn't anything particularly bad about them, but there was nothing especially memorable. The restraints weren't as uncomfortable to me as they were just awkward. The characteristic that most appeals to me about B&M's take on this type- the snappy transitions/directional changes in compressed layout taken at a good clip- just wasn't incorporated into TOGO's design (at least stateside- no idea about overseas).

Nice, like a Maurer Skyloop only with less suck on both sides. Hopefully it doesn't come with dumb short trains like those do.

Keep 'em. I think slapping speakers on a coaster train is dumb enough gimmick- VR Coasters just strikes me as a desperate concept from someone running out of ideas. It's like putting a sunroof on a convertible. I'd love to see this idea go nowhere.

I should clarify that my issue is with the typical enthusiast over-exaggeration about comfort (or lack thereof), not layout. Those are two separate and very different things.

Not directed at you, PW121- I just don't think you need to ride Green Lantern "the right way" to enjoy it any more than you would any other coaster- you'll be fine if you can keep your eyes open and remain somewhat cognizant of the ride's layout as you go. Avoid sitting on the bicycle seat as if you are riding a bicycle if you're a dude- but these things should go without saying. I'm convinced that some people blindfold themselves and let their body go completely limp the moment they board B&M Stand-Up coaster and then go on the internet to whine about how bad they are. These people should consider putting on a brightly colored helmet and safety mittens before leaving the house every day. Getting hit by the train itself couldn't be as bad as how some people make these rides out to be. You can't read 10 posts on the internet about B&M today without running into a forceless complaint- all of the Stand-Ups B&M built were designed before they started mixing vagisil into the ink they print their blueprints with. They're consistently intense rides along the lines of the majority of their inverts and their first-gen sitdown loopers.

I have a good feeling we will see more Intamin @ Hershey. They love them and I love Hershey. Forget an RMC of Wild Cat - tear it down and build a Balder clone right there. I love Hershey too, I think Wild Cat is just fine the way it is. We thought it was the best wooden coaster there on our recent visit. A (long overdue )sequel to El Toro would fit that park like a glove, though.

One of the major chains hasn't really dipped in the Very Expensive Steel Coaster pool since X-Flight in 2012, and has stuck to mainly to Rocky-Mountaining their wooden coasters to kill two birds with one stone (marketable, thrilling new coaster & eliminating expenses required for departed wooden coaster's upkeep). The other appears to be in the midst of an extended B&M kick for whatever reason, though it seems like it could be things along the lines of Shoot the Rapids-type difficulties. I love B&M's work in the 200+ ft field- Fury is a coaster that I will drive to from Chicago to ride, and am bummed to not have gotten to this season- but variety is the spice of life, and if spice like SkyRush, I hope someone starts seasoning their damn food. It doesn't appear to be promising at the moment, though.

No, they haven't announced yet. Vortex getting converted to being Floorless is the big rumor for CGA, but I've never actually heard anything solid regarding that, aside from enthusiast speculation. I've always heard it assumed, and thus, have assumed it myself. But who knows... Maybe they're not getting anything major either... As for Dorney, they haven't announced, and unless you count the enthusiast speculation/trolling about Shockwave going there (which, who knows, could actually happen I guess), I haven't even heard any solid rumors. It'll definitely be interesting to see what they end up getting, if anything... If we're taking recent trends into account (at Dorney), maybe they'll ship Hydra's trains to California in exchange for PGA's Vortex trains. *ducks*

He would also likely close 2 of the 3 gondolas.

Wasn't there a similar story going around about Raging Bull being destined for St. Louis originally (with Freeze going to Gurnee) as well? With Goliath, especially considering how the course follows that narrow strip of land along the road after it hops the park's borders, I would have thought it was designed specifically for Georgia.

I rode Dragon Mountain during a family vacation before I really took an interest in coasters. Today, as a fan of Arrow loopers (sans the cookie-cutter Cork/Loopscrew models), I consider this one (and Drachen Fire for obvious reasons) among my most fortunate "credits". It would inevitably be on my bucket list, otherwise, and I'd eventually have to go far out of my way to get to it.

SFGAm should look into this and consider expanding Goliath to include the second half that they forgot to build.

Old. It's not like you regularly run into headbanging on their rides anyway, and if you do, you're probably doing it wrong. You can get some wiggle room/space with the traditional OTSR, whereas the vests are always snugly against your body the moment you lower the restraint. I hope Valrvn and Banshee are just an exception, and they keep the vests mostly to their Wing Coasters and Flyers going forward.

Echoing some of the previous SFGAm responses- Shockwave for Superman Ultimate Fluff - One of the more intimidating-looking front entrance coasters (and a mega-looper that still hasn't really been replaced at the park) in favor of what has to be the most uninspired design by B&M. An exact clone of Batman would have been a better use of the giant lot that S:UF putzes around in. This was right around the time that Steel Phantom got Rocky-Mountained by Morgan. That would have been a creative and incredible solution to Shockwave's ridership (and mx) issues- too bad it took until Texas Giant in 2011 for them to go that route. It should be noted that from the park's point of view, Superman has lines 10+ years later, Shockwave did not, and the move was probably a winner. Deja Vu for Buccaneer Battle - A pair of Flumes, Rapids Ride, and (on top of that) water park 5 steps away weren't enough? There was also the time that Chang from SFKK began showing up in the park's lots, permits/approvals were granted by the town, and wound up going to New Jersey in favor of more crap for the water park. As a big fan of B&M Standups, this sucked. Then, Iron Wolf was removed a year later and it sucked even more.

I'm curious about how this type will ride with the vest as opposed to the standard OTSR; I don't think my head has ever met the restraints on either of the Busch Dive Machines over the years. I like the placement- glad it isn't right next to Gatekeeper.

^Pepsi has their work cut out for them.

My new favorite ride name ever.

You've stumbled upon their New for 2017 Teaser Campaign. It will be like the puzzle campaigns Six Flags did a few years ago, only in real-time. Point a webcam at Bizarro, and piece by piece (chip by chip), Medusa will reveal herself.

I don't believe the SFGAm model will be much different than the SFOT model, which should mean all the bugs from this year should be fixed for the new installments from the get-go. You'd think, but...

At parks new-to-me this year: Hersheypark- Laff Trakk, Wild Mouse, Trailblazer, Cocoa Cruiser Lakeside- Dragon, Wild Chipmunk, Kiddie Coaster Elitch Gardens- Blazin' Buckaroo