TBpony414

LOL two completely different reviews. Generally I have low expectations for SFA so I guess I'll have to stop in and try them myself. Crush thanks very much, his name is Freddy!

^ Nice little TR! Question for you and others about the flyers at SFA. How are they? Can you snap them? We know the ones at Carowinds and Knoebels are great but for whatever reason Kings Dominion's flyers are absolutely terrible. We'll be next to SFA on Sunday and while I have a pass, SO does not but if they're decent he'd get one so we could go in the park for a few hours since we'll be in that area quite a bit the next few months.

Zach we were there Friday and Saturday so I can confirm the closing schedule is back to normal. Friday they closed at 11pm due to Charlotte's curfew which meant ride lines closed promptly at 10:30pm and by 11 the place was an absolute ghost down. Saturday they were back to their normal midnight closing. They had an extraordinary amount of security roaming the park inside and out both days which was nice. Saw some k9 handlers with gorgeous shepherds (whoever is supplying the k9 teams with dogs down there is doing an excellent job) and I appreciated that they searched people significantly more thoroughly while entering. Saturday night when we went back for Scarowinds they had me dump out my water in a bucket as I was allowed to take the bottle inside but suddenly no liquids were allowed. Fine by me. The park was empty Friday PM however that was the curfew night. Saturday daytime it was packed with people but lines were no longer than 35 minutes for anything during the day and that wait was for the flyers. Ride lines were outrageous for Saturday Scarowinds and we got Fast Lane Plus which was a lifesaver. Lines for Fury were 2-3 hours all night long and we waltzed right on that over and over again as well as bypassed I-232's 90-120 min line. Turns out I-232 is a really good time in the front row!! The mine train is hilarious and we rode that several times as well. Have a great time and report back!

I voted that I don't have or use twitter. Reasons: I don't spend a lot of time online to begin with and don't have a fancy cell phone. I check Facebook briefly maybe 2x/wk and I have no desire to check so many other websites. Lump me in with the group of us here who just don't get it and don't want to get it but I don't see the point in having multiple social media platforms. I check TPR's page almost every single day thanks to the simple and easy to navigate pages and even my not-so-smart phone can view the site easily! I love it! Not so much for the social media places or practically any other website. If the TPR forums didn't exist I'd unfortunately never stay up to date with TPR or anything else coaster related.

This happened to me on Maverick in June. I made sure I had my mouth closed and that f**ker still got in there so I spent the next 15 solid minutes hacking and throwing up like a crazy person. I swear I could feel fragments of its wings in my throat the rest of the night.

Expect a lot of people observing Yom Kippur at the park being absolutely oblivious their wildly out of control children running amok among mild to moderate crowds for the majority of the day, and then it suddenly clearing out about 7 PM. In other words, periods of pure chaos followed by uninterrupted laps on El Toro in the evening. I'll be there that day too. Ole!

Christmas themed Laff Trakk? Big win!

I've had horrible kidney stone issues throughout my life and 3 years ago needed emergency removal surgery. They were able to remove the embedded stones in my ureter but some of the smaller ones hung around in other areas. 10 days later I went to Kings Dominion and after a few rides on I305 I can confirm the remaining stones exited. We've joked for years that coasters are cures for kidney stones and this is pretty funny. I've got a pain tolerance off the charts but kidney stones are a whole 'nother ballgame.

The park was completely dead tonight but they beefed up security. Lots of extra guards roaming around and police out front with two detection dogs. One was a young shepherd in training who was very distracted but was doing a better job of crowd control than the friendlu older lab out front haha. Big thumbs up to Fury's crew who were hauling as usual. Due to Charlotte's midnight curfew and the park closing at 11pm, the ride lines were shut off promptly at 10:30pm. We were on the 2nd to last Fury train of the night and by 10:45 when we exited the park was an absolute ghost town. I have spent too much time with Six Flags passes and even though I read and reread CF's pass page, I did not read between the lines or check out the fine print. I was under the incorrect understanding that buying 2017 platinum passes enabled us entry for the rest of 2016. WRONG! Dropping $200+ pp does almost nothing, it turns out. If you are a new passholder nothing starts until 2017, including parking. You do get 1 ticket for entry either daytime or during Scarowinds but they are 2 separate events and anything other than that you better pony up. Major thanks to Mary and Charlotte at the season pass center for their extreme patience with helping me get it worked out! They were really great. Hopefully tomorrow has low lines as well. It'll be a hot one!

I was expecting the park hours to change with the curfew in place and thankfully it's not too much of a change. Tomorrow it appears they're still open until midnight, at least for the time being. Thankful to have this thread to check for updates instead of dealing with wading thru social media. Texascoasterdude - thats a heck of a long drive! Safe travels to you guys.

Gotcha on the curfew, thanks for mentioning it Bill. Hitting the road here shortly!

Bill and others - thanks for posting about the State of Emergency in Charlotte. I haven't kept up with things but we did change our hotel to the Comfort Inn right next to Carowinds so we don't have to be anywhere near the city. I'll check here and their Facebook page in the morning before we leave to see if anything's changed.

The one at KD is in great shape and they ask you to test your guns before every lap. Plants vs. Zombies is an absolute waste of time and money. It doesn't even really make sense to me. Here, quickly shoot some stuff and then randomly you get scored but it's sort of vague. Too bad because I think it could be really fun with some tweaking. And by that I mean putting Days of Thunder back in LOL. Loved the Paramount days for the cool things they had in, Scooby Doo included!

You're fast! I just edited my post slightly but you answered all my questions so no need to re-read. Thanks very much for the info. I'll ask them about the dining pass when we get there. Even if we got one daytime dining and purchased one evening dining it would still be cheaper than eating at the park normally or going to a restaurant. Is Boo Blasters still busted? I really like that ride at KD and was shocked at what poor condition it was in at Carowinds. None of the guns worked, half the targets weren't on, lighting wasn't synched... it was sad.

I can't believe all the rides you got in over the weekend! That's nuts. I hope we have the same luck this weekend. Some questions since you're very knowledgable and helpful 1. We'll be getting Platinum Passes for the first time since the math makes sense with our CF park visits over the next year. I've only been to Carowinds once. If we park in that lot by Fury and walk in there, where is the season pass processing center? How much time shall we bank on needing to get it processed? Six Flags passes take about 5 minutes, and 4 minutes of that is walking to the center itself haha. 2. Are there any negatives to getting our passes at Carowinds vs. one of the other CF parks? We're getting them at Carowinds one way or another but I've never had Platinum before and it's been many years since we had CF passes in general. Since Six Flags passes are valid at any SF park I want to make sure I understand everything for CF beforehand. 3. If we have passes can we still buy the online day-of dining pass? We did that a few months ago and split multiple meals during the day every 90 minutes or whatever it was. It was a huge savings. The food there was excellent compared to KD's offerings and the cranked AC place by I232 was awesome. Does the day-of dining pass expire once Scarowinds begins in the evening? We'll only need it Saturday as we'll just pop in for a couple hours once we arrive in Charlotte Friday night.

Haha no problem, I'll let you know next week about the SRL. I-232 is OK. It reminds me of a boring version of Nitro or Apollo's Chariot if you've ridden either of those. Relaxing but not a whole lot going on. I don't care for the staggered seating arrangement but it doesn't take away from the ride itself. A lot of the GP still flock to it as Fury325 either scares them or is too fast for their tastes. I talked to quite a few people while in line for both rides and tried to explain that Fury is a sweet little kitten compared to I305 or Skyrush, which are significantly more aggressive yet still awesome in their own ways.

That's a great picture of you guys!! When I'm at HersheyPark with my mom, who is in her 60s and still a coaster freak, she'll sometimes strike up conversations with ride ops at attractions she used to work. A couple weeks ago she just about made the guy at Coal Cracker (log flume) fall into a boat when she casually mentioned as we got in that she worked it in the 1970s, along with the Carousel and some others and my dad ran the Comet. He was an middle aged guy and couldn't believe she worked it that long ago! Pretty cool. Anyway, thanks for doing a great job - everyone pulls their weight and it makes the experience fantastic for both the employees and guests!

There were no single rider lines when I was there in July but I'm going this weekend so will report back if things have changed. Even if Fury's queue looks filled they haul trains out like crazy. It's worth the wait in any case! Also, I think you mean I-232 because I305 is at Kings Dominion in Virginia

Sorry to hear you weren't able to make the trip with your son but with the strides you mentioned he's been making, it's still a goal that will no doubt happen in the next couple years. Great TR and I'm exhausted after just reading it! You really packed a heck of a lot into just a few days. Thanks for taking us along on your California adventure!

Thanks for sharing about your WCB days! Very nicely written report. I was able to attend ECB at Kings Dominion and HersheyPark several years ago and it was an absolute blast. Sometime maybe I'll be able to get to WCB! Mazes and scary things are not my cup of tea either - seeing the daytime walk thru pics of your tour was more than enough for me haha.

I had a few hours at Kennywood last summer and had a fantastic time. I don't recall seeing that S&S Screaming Swing, though! Either that's new or I really missed it because that's my favorite flat ride. Did you get on Black Widow? It's hands down the most intense of the Giant Discovery rides. MaxAir, Delirium, and the others can't hold a candle to it. Phantom's Revenge is incredible and we were lucky enough to ride it after a downpour. I've seriously never been that close to feeling like I was about to fly out of a coaster before!

^^ That picture's hilarious!

Good story! The only way to make that unfortunate situation seem better is that he'll be one less person in LR's queue line.

What was the supposed hint or what words were used? Can't view the video on my non-smart phone.

That's a hell of a line!!