Ed Farmer

I don't think those breakdowns last too long. Towards the end of ERT at Coastermania, we were near the bathroom by Skyhawk when we saw one happen. It couldn't have been more than 15 minutes later that we were seated on the train awaiting our ride.

I'm heading out to KD late July/early August. I know there is plenty to do here, but Volcano is a coaster I've been particularly excited for. Hope they figure it out.

Went to see King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard last night at the Riviera in Chicago.

It's coming up on Electric Forest time, and I can't go this year, so I went to the first night of Spring Awakening in Chicago. I don't go out of my way to listen to EDM, but it was a nice little fest, and a good time.

412 ft tall dive machine named Ziz stolen from Canada's Wonderland.

^ I like Wildcat as is, but I'd be fine, just fine with that.

Enjoying the report- sorry to hear about this, and hope things get right, quick.

I'm a Giordano's guy, so I left that one out.

If you can drive during the night, do it (and even that isn't a guarantee during summer). I've lived in the Chicagoland area all my life, and just thinking about travel conditions during a typical summer day is enough to give me a panic attack. As for eats, I know there is a Portillo's, as well as a Giordano's in Gurnee. IMO, eating at this park is something to be avoided. Take a break from what is sure to be a crowded day (Saturday) at GAm. Magic Seat = Last Row on Raging Bull. One of the best first drops in all of the land.

Steel Vengeance at Coastermania. Lordy.

Use your sundial for greatest accuracy.

My soul will be ready for this in 2019. Are there trains on site? I know we got renderings, but curious as to how the final design turns out.

Going to Coastermania next week (apart from some ERT on S:UF at Great America when I was a kid, this is my first real enthusiast event) with someone who enjoys a roller coaster here and there, but leaves it at that. They've been warned already, but I'm still worried about what kind of f*ckery we might encounter. Good to hear Coaster Campout worked out for you, though.

It's been two years since I last rode Boss- it's still one of my favorite wooden coasters. I probably won't get back down to the park until a legitimate new coaster goes in, but I'm curious to see how it rides nowadays.

We met a kid at Electric Forest last summer that rode a dirt bike (somehow managed to load a sizable tent + camping gear onto it) all the way around the lake from Sheboygan (WI) to the Muskegon area. He was pretty flabbergasted/pissed at how that ride went, so he went with the ferry for the return trip.

Ha! Although, weren't Jack's intentions good? Can't imagine anything but a whole lot of nefarious intent going into Golden Horse' designs.

Portillo's is the truth.

Though it appears that your decision has been made, I'll join in on the Dragon Mountain love. Marineland is a large, weird place- but it has that going for it.

Third lap would've had B&M Rattle anyway...

It's really nice to read about how the park is stepping up when things are going less than swimmingly.

Not a big fan of Top Spin type rides, but something looks awesomely off about that thing.

Hm. Never realized that. Although, even if you placed them next to each other, I suspect the number of people that would catch on to this (or if they did- give it a second thought) would be low. Glimpsing at the webcams, I see trains cycling regularly on Maverick, Gatekeeper, Raptor, Rougarou, and Millennium Force (can't see Dragster, Magnum, Steel Vengeance...). Valravn is the only one visible on the webcams that appears to be closed. Edit: Looks like they're sending empty trains out on Valravn as well, so I'd expect that to open shortly.

What started as a relatively quiet 2018 forecast for me, initially- SF Great America, Cedar Point, Busch Tampa, SeaWorld Orlando- has burgeoned to include SF America, SF New England, Busch Williamsburg, and King's Dominion. Wild times if this goes according to plan.

Grateful Dead - Cornell 5/8/77. Nice new vinyl box set that showed up on my doorstep today.

Opening Day/Weekend is going on.