anonymouscactus

Why not something like xcelerator at Knott's, or one of the launched rides at Hershey? (Stormrunner?)

Facebook page officially stated in a comment that the track across the street will never be constructed at Darien Lake (shocking!) and they sort of teased about lights on the giant wheel possibly coming, mentioning new lights on scrambler and the new ride and "maybe they will finally get around to that giant wheel everyone is taking about"

Toro did in fact valley yesterday during test runs... not a full train of test dummy's... -- had to have picked the worst day to go of the season. I didn't get to ride nitro during the small window it was open either. Unfortunately it is an 8 hour drive for me each way... Oh well. I did get to ride Houdini, though

Anybody know the operating temperatures for any of the rides? Any workers of the past? Starting to get worried making the 9 hour trek for Saturday. With high 40s low 50s I'm afraid things won't be operating. Any insight? I'm having flashbacks to the valley of bizarro at SFNE during a test ride...

I think my favorite part of the new map is the bridge to nowhere from hooks lagoon to the new forest....

How is the park for opening weekend, generally? Not so much about crowds and slow operations. I have not been to the park since toro first opened but planning on going opening weekend. Should I expect all rides to be open? Seems like it's still winter and with less then two weeks to go until opening is the park going to be ready?

https://www.sixflags.com/greatadventure/plan-your-visit/season-pass-perks

Does anyone know the deal about the possibility of Batman running backwards this season? I found a screenshot of a press release back when Six Flags announced some things, but now I can't find reference to it anywhere currently. It's not my home park so I don't follow it very much but I will be visiting this season. Anybody know anything? Is this a fake screenshot or did things change?

3 fast lane questions: 1) If I buy FastLane passes online (let's say: Quantity: 5) does each FastLane ticket come on a seperate printed sheet and barcode to distribute them to all 5 people seperately or do all 5 have to be claimed at once with one barcode at the park? 2) If I buy FastLane at the park, do you get a 10% merchandise discount with a platinum pass? 3) For diamondback beast and banshee, approximately how long is the wait from the fast lane merge point? (Assuming there is not a backup of fast lane users) I can't seem to find these answers anywhere online and I'm sure there are some Kings Island experts here. Thanks!

Well, to the media's credit, the riders WERE stuck there for two hours high up in the air... -- usually evacuations are done when riders are "stuck" for X amount of minutes... (usually 15-20 minutes maximum) so it's not a TOTAL non-story...

Here is some video I took at SeaWorld a couple days ago showing off some of the animals and the coasters: Here is some (very shakey!) video footage I took at Discovery Cove two weeks ago showing the otters playing around, along with being surrounded by stingrays and fish in the grand reef: I realized the other day I've been to both of these places so many times and never took any video, so I finally got around to it!

The official announcement from the park is finally up at http://www.godarienlake.com

http://godarienlake.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/32412_Entertainment_Ambassador_Auditions.pdf

It surely matches the ride names / images I posted a few months back... (well, it looks like they tweaked the name of the "treehouse") here: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1127816#p1127816

There are single-time-use lockers at all of the rides that require them. They are $.50 each (quarters; there are change machines at each location), however, there is no time limit. Once you insert your key, you will need to pay again to lock it. -- At SeaWorld there are larger/family-sized single-use-lockers for either $.75 or $1.00, I forget which. Both parks also offer all-day use lockers at the front of the park (at the very least), but I do not know their cost. It always made more sense to just use the single-use lockers and keep your stuff in there as long as you needed and just pay each time. As long as it's not a giant hiking backpack the small ones should be just fine. Remember at SeaWorld that Kraken and Journey to Atlantis are pretty much right next to each other, so don't take your stuff out right after one or the other! Even Manta isn't that far of a walk... then again... it's only $.50...

yes please

hmmm.... really? I always feel the opposite every time I give "cold" a second... third... fourth... chance. Frozen all the way! EDIT: Sorry... forgot to say thanks for all the photos! Great TR and much appreciated.

They were not tubes or mats, they were long inflatable boat/rafts, with a bottom. I *think* they may have held up to 3 people, but maybe it was only two. They looked similar to this: http://www.lakewinnie.com/asapcms/media/graphics/ride_pipeline_plunge.png

Viper also had the black and white printout photos, like Predator, pre-six flags / before 1999. Instead of monitors to view them, essentially they were sort of like poloroid photos that they printed out for the entire train and attached to a clipboard, if you purchased it, you kept the photo they already printed out, if you didn't purchase it, they just threw it in the trash. Pipeline Plunge (the yellow enclosed raft slides with the "rainbow" insides), Riptide Run (the blue "wavy" raft slide), and ????? [the individual yellow sled ride which "skipped" across the water at the bottom] (Hydro Force was the OLD name when it was built over the lake, but I'm almost positive it later changed names when it was relocated to Barracuda Bay (though I can't seem to find any reference to a name change with a quick search) EDIT: Hydro Force was renamed "Torpedo Rapids" when it moved. The Wikipedia / history page is incorrect in listing these as two different slides (also the drop is not 90 degrees )

Predator had on-ride photos [ah, the 'ol black and white printouts on a clipboard!], as did Mind Eraser (right before the final two inversions). Both no longer exist.

Groups of people who go in the single rider line expecting to sit together... -- Forbidden Journey today, 1 group hopped over from the single line to the regular line at the last minute, got caught, and got schooled by an op. She was mean and nasty about it (and rightfully so hopefully they don't think of ever doing it again) -- Another group yelled (no, SCREAMED) and complained for 5 minutes that they waited 30 minutes and should get to sit together (mind you, the regular line waited 60 minutes). Meanwhile the ops are trying to load the benches quickly and efficiently, and you have these idiots complaining that they can't sit together, blocking the queue, etc. because they won't listen. -- I felt sorry for the ride op, but I'm REALLY glad they didn't budge and the only options given were go back in line or ride separate. This was only in a span of 5 minutes, I can only imagine how many times this happens throughout the day. Edit: Pet peeve to go along with this -- single rider lines that end up being longer than the regular queue.... I have seen this happen a couple times on HRRR and The Mummy. (I always make mental note of who walks in the regular queue / what they are wearing / etc. and am trying to get good estimations of how long the single ride queue will take based on where it starts, now that I'm a Universal regular) Edit 2: Another one involving wait times -- grossly inaccurate posted wait times... (jaws: 70 minutes = 20 minutes, manta: 50 minutes = 5 minutes, etc.)

Pretty much what I was thinking

How would this make the wait time any longer? (unless it screws up trying to match yourself up with another row and now you would need to let someone in front of you...) This would not make the wait time any longer, either. I actually find this one funny because people always get pissed off the second there is any gap. I never understood this. How will taking 4 steps forward make the line go any faster? There are still the same number of people in line... Just sayin'

Last night many people waited at the entrance until they were about to close the gate, let people ahead of them once already in line, etc. I just wanted to get on "one of the last" rides, not necessarily the last. I, like you, didn't want to wait 70 minutes in line even if it was the last time I could ever ride. When I showed up at 5pm I said "screw it, it won't be worth it". Last night was horrible line-wise (30 min in single rider line at Mummy) and I ended up just taking photos all night. I ended up having a change of heart at the end of the night and trekked over to Jaws just before close. I went on what I thought was going to be my "last ride" a few weeks ago. It was an OK ride, but I felt afterwards that I didn't really mind that it was going. After my ride last night, however, I feel like I am going to really miss it. I had a fantastic skipper (Kayla!) with an amazing performance, and a great group on the boat. I'd imagine it was similar to the "TPR" rides you folks are talking about in that it was a memorable JAWS ride you will never forget. I think people wanted to get in that "last ride" at the end of the night to have a similar experience with other hardcore fans of the ride. It truly was unlike any other JAWS ride I had been on previously, and at the end it was emotional and celebratory for everyone on board. It had a whole different feeling to it. I suspect that's why many wanted to be on the last boat, much like many go to the midnight showings of movies, etc to be with other hardcore fans -- I am not a "hardcore fan", but I have now seen the light! It's been noted that a lot of this ride will vary in how "good" it is based on the Skipper, as well as the people on board. Kayla started crying and told us "Honestly you guys, this was the best tour I've ever had" -- I really didn't "get" the ride until my ride last night. And as others have mentioned, it's a shame that another "human" ride is closing. I think that is a huge step back for the industry. Rides like Rhino Rally, Jungle Cruise, etc. can be seen as "lame" but if you get that really awesome tour guide, it can really be an amazing experience. I've had 3 rides on Rhino Rally, two were extremely poor, and one just blew me away as the guide was just amazing and hilarious, and was really into it. * Also of note: The 70 min wait time was actually around 34 minutes. BTW here is a video I found posted this morning on youtube of the area boarded up: > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05ougZR6I_E So, in conclusion, I think people are missing this ride due to the "human element". Not many rides out there have this, and you can't really replace that. The same reason so many people are sad about Paddlewheel at CP.