super7

Given Six Flags reputation as probably some of the poorest managed, dirtiest, most run down chain parks in the USA, not sure why anyone would pay them to license their name.

Thanks for the amazing photos. Parks like this keep reminding us how low quality most American corporate parks really are (Cedar Fair & Six Flags expecially.)

To me this looks like a typical thing that Six Flags would do. Putting a gimmick on a ride to market it, but in the meantime reducing capacity and actually taking away from the overall guest experience with slow moving lines (added to the fact they have line cutting options). They did the same type of thing with American Eagle last year with the double rides on the one side. It was a gimmick for their anniversary. In reality, what it did was increase wait times on a coaster that usually has minimal waits. What happened was the full train was not riding twice, so seats were being sent out empty. Reducing capacity. This doesn't even look appealing. One thing I personally don't care about at Universal is that too many of their experiences are video-based. These kind of experiences can be obtained in arcades.

I hope they are really retaining all of the trees in this video. It will make the ride even better.

Just go thru South gate and never cross the state line! It's sad, but our government is bought and paid for by corporations these days. They don't work for the people. The best way to get action is to hit the corporations in the pocket. Only then will anyone with actual influence put pressure on these corporate puppets in government. A tourist destination like Carowinds could have some influence.

Unfortunately, Carowinds has been removed from our planned trips this year due to the Pro-Discrimination legislation that was just passed in NC. Half of the park is in NC. Not a $ will be spend in NC this year by us.

Thanks for the pictures. Based on your food quality comment, I am guessing that Cedar Fair has moved into China?

The ride itself will be fine. Cedar Fair usually misses the mark in total experience though and usually just goes for the claim of biggest. Biggest isn't always best though. The added elements to one of these type coasters seem to be more as important in the ride experience as the height. Sheikra is absolute top quality for one of these rides with its tunnel, and splashdown and station layout.

Yes - As noted Europa park is now quote, unquote - "The Best Amusement Park in the World" according to Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket awards... Cedar Point "lost" after winning the category for like 14 years in a row. They were using that line in all their promotions and now have gone back to "Roller Coaster Capital of the World". The rankings seem to biased towards those who spend the most advertising with them - I'll leave it at that. As you can tell by my need to photograph and share these pictures that Cedar Point is number 1 with me - granted I've got a lot more parks to visit... So it by all means, it was a joke http://goldenticketawards.com/2014-park-ride-winners/ Europa Park is definitely an overall better park than Cedar Point when all factors are considered. Ride quantity and quality, theming (which Cedar Fair lacks almost entirely), ride variety (coasters, dark rides, flat rides, transportation rides) and live entertainment. Cedar Point also lacks in food quality and general cleanliness (they can't help it but there is bird crap everywhere!). Cedar Point is great for coaster quantity and tends to get awards just for that. Rating every aspect together, Europa can compete with the Disney parks in a contest that rates all aspects of the park. Europa wins in the thrill and live entertainment categories. Europa may be slightly behind in Disney on the theming level, but the theming at Europa is excellent.

When you see something with this kind of theming, it makes you realize how truly C-class most of the parks in the US are (Cedar Fair, Six Flags, ect).

What an amazing detailed park. It's a shame that most of our parks in the US are such carnivals with coasters these days. That is what a theme park should look like.

This park is mediocre at best. They have a few good coasters and just as many bad ones. Few flat rides, hardly anything for non-thrill riding people to do. It's become like Cedar Point as far as theming goes. Just a hodge-podge of everything mixed together.

They layout looks great with pacing between inversions, which Wild Eagle does not have. It's sort of a shame they went with a launch gimmick on this coaster at the cost of capacity (shorter trains).

Isn't it nice that Busch practically installed a brand-new flume ride this year, instead of just removing a great ride like they did at Carowinds?

Thanks for the nice trip report. Doesn't surprise me that your burger was cold. King's Island has some of the worst food quality in the industry, only topped by Cedar Point.

The ride experience itself looks like it will be decent. Launch with forward & backwards action. It's definitely an improvement on the Mauer Sohne skyloop, as it doesn't have that awful part where you hang upside down coming off the lift. It is shoehorned in and cut trees out of a part of the park that doesn't have a lot of them. That whole area was sort of a congestion point anyhow with only one way out and in and it will be worse now. But the only main issue is capacity. Is it correct they were considering a transfer table and went the cheaper route? A Mr. Freeze type transfer table with 3 car trains would have made the capacity bearable. No major park should have 1 train coasters these days with the technology that is available. Even shuttles!

DisneySeas Europapark & PortAventure. These 2 parks look amazing. They are true THEME parks, unlike the mediocre Six Flags & Cedar Fair parks this country is filled with.

It is such a shame that Busch neglected this coaster to this point. It should have been an amazing, unique dueling experience and a much needed high capacity ride. GCI coasters are normally interesting and ride well. Racing/deuling coasters are always more exciting because you get the extra feel of speed of the opposing train. This coaster is 100% the result of neglect and budget cutting (at the cost of the guest experience). First one side was closed, ruining the whole concept of the ride. Last time I was there they were only running 1 train out of 4. The loading operations were the most horrible of anywhere. When they did run 2 trains, they couldn't run two trains without looooooooong stacking so it was really no different than running 1. The ride could be salvaged and made one of the best wooden rides out there (with newer style track), but it doesn't seem like Busch is interested in investing much in better guest experiences these days. The new coaster at Williamsburg is a small investment and it is not going to provide a great experience given its low capacity.

I rode twister in 2012 and then this year Labor Day Friday. I found more jack hammering in 2014. Enough that I only ride it a few times. They did diver tracking. I think it's the other parts that were rough.

Knoebels is a lot of fun and has great atmosphere. The best things there are the flying scooters, bumper cars and Phoenix. I found that Twister was getting too rough to enjoy more than a couple of rides on this year. That's a shame. The only negative things I can say about Knoebels is that the bathtroooms are pretty disgusting and the one train operation even on busy days. Old fashioned charm is one thing, but they really need to spend a few $ getting the facilities up to standard. Their quick loading times make up some for the one train operation, but there is really no reason to run one train on busy days.

The airtime coming off the first hill on Skyrush in a wing seat is one of the most scary things to experience on a coaster. It's pretty wild feeling yourself being tossed from the coaster with no floor below you. The restraints are tolerable now, especially since they release them when you are waiting in the break run. I find the part you have to watch for is the quick transition turns on the coaster, but if you know they are coming they are fine. Its a great coaster, intense but re-rideable. The coasters that deserve the most love at Hershey IMO are Lightning Racer and sooperdooperLooper. Lightning Racer is probably the most perfect racing coaster in existance as far at the racing aspect goes. the trains interact they entire ride and almost always have a close finish. Everytime I ride sooperdooperLooper, I cannot believe Schwarzkopf went out of business. 36 years old and still rides as smooth as glass. Granted it has new trains, but it was smooth with the old Schwarzkopf trains. You also have to admire all of the love that Hershey has given this classic ride. New trains and new paint on the station. Speaking of paint, i find Hershey one of the better maintained parks. Everything is maintained, painted and landscaped and has a clean, new feeling. It's funny you posted Great America pics on this same thread, because that park it the exact opposite of that. It is one of the most run-down neglected parks I have been to recently. They really need to stop the "cleanest theme park in the world" propoganda at Great America. It definitely is not that at all. It's only saving grace is the great coaster and flat ride collection. You just have to have blinders on when you ride the rides there and ignore the digusting setting that they are in.

Outlaw Run and Goliath probably didn't place higher in this poll because of their short length, and rightfully so. Especially Goliath. It was a "record setter" built on a budget. If Goliath had been built with a longer layout like Balder, it would probably rate higher.

These are just the kind of special touches the former Taft parks need to bring them back to their glory days! Well, except Carowinds, which has been stripped of so much of what was special it can never return. All KD needs is the return of Lake Charles, the steam train and trees around the Grizzly and it would be in full glory!

King's Dominion is an ok park now, but back from when it was built until '91, it was an amazing park. It's a shame that they ripped out so many things that made it special. Especially the Lake, the railroad, the monorail, the skyway, removal of all the trees around Old Virginia, and the dark rides of the Lost World. This park has so much potential if they go in the right direction with more family rides and bringong back the amazing trees and lake, but constantly adding thrill rides like has been done since the Paramount era will only bring the same results. Disney is the highest attended park in the world for a reason. There is something for everyone. Which most of these regional parks like KD lack now.

Disney with no question! Every attraction at Disney is a total experience, even waiting in line. It is a total escape from the reality. Plus Disney treats all guest the same with Fast Pass versus Cedar Fair gouging more $ out of you for Fast Lane. Disney is the master of crowd control to give you a great experience even when the parks are packed between Fast Pass and massive ride capacity. Cedar Point is just miserable when it is packed. All you do is stand in boring line queues for hours. Big rollercoasters are great but i will take the full experience of Expedition Everest over any huge coaster any time. Cedar point is simply this, lots of big coasters, nice lake setting, little theming, long lines, few total family rides (things EVERYONE can do together), plus low quality food. Disney is the total package. The best theming, nice coasters, great management of lines, something for EVERYONE to do all the time, plus high quality food.