The49er
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Posts posted by The49er
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Glad to hear you (have?) had a good time here in California! I'll be waiting to hear more about why you recommend Sonoma Train Town, since I'm probably not too far away but haven't heard of it
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Since they've already announced RailBlazer, why wouldn't they wait until next year to close Loggers Run? I doubt they'd be starting a waterpark expansion so early...
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In case anyone was wondering:
[attachment=0]skywarp rmc.jpg[/attachment]
So I guess SFDK and CGA are both getting RMCs this year...
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I believe the name is intended to be storm themed (i.e. Hurricane Force Five) and they are waiting to release the name due to the current situation in Texas.
Whats funny is that if you look at what ride King Chaos replaced (an Intamin looping starship) This is basically going back to that same ride, considering ride experience and ride motion.
That makes sense...do you think Twisted Cyclone would fall under that banner too, though?
EDIT: Apparently the park was teasing the ride with the hashtag #ChaseTheStorm2018. So it sounds like this is a placeholder name after all...
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Just looked back at the renderings and noticed the edges of the pictures seem to conveniently obscure any view of Whitewater Falls. Is there any possible significance to that, or am I just over-thinking things as usual?
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La Vibrator is such a classic and such a great family attraction
That doesn't sound very family-friendly...
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So far...
CGA took out Invertigo before I was tall enough
Knott's: Boomerang, Coast Rider, Sierra Sidewinder
SFDK: My first few visits missed Zonga, then Big Spin by a year or so :/
SFMM: Deja Vu (sigh!), Apocalypse
BGW: Went the year before Tempesto...and then we drove right by KD
USO: Revenge of the Mummy...we decided to go back to the hotel instead! Figures.
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^^Where did that notice come from? I haven't seen it yet anywhere else but here.
I just now saw it on SFMM's Twitter too...it was only posted a few hours ago:
(tried posting a mobile screenshot but it didn't want to play :/ ) -
First of all, I'd like to know how the fast pass system works for the parks and how I can reserve some rides for us.
With FastPass+, FPs can be reserved 2 months in advance by those staying at WDW resort hotels (I thought it was 1 month in advance for non-resort hotel guests, but I can't find that anywhere...) You can choose 3 if you're booking in advance. It is possible to get day-of reservations, but they seem to be pretty limited. Not sure how current this guide is, but Screamscape posted a guide to FP+ a while back that is pretty descriptive: http://screamscape.com/html/walt_disney_world_resort.htm#WDW-Fastpass
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^Likely the cost to lease the land.
Knott's owns every square foot, or actually CF owns it. They lease nothing and are beholden to no one.
He was talking about CGA, not Knott's.
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Anyone heard if the wait time issues have improved any lately?
One of my friends was at Volcano Bay yesterday and said that waits were generally around two hours and the slides had downtime issues, but he still had a good time. Granted, he wasn't the one paying for admission, so I suppose you could take it with a grain of salt...
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Looks like a fun little place! Thank you for the TR.
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^Did you get to see TSM there?
...what is TSM?
Sorry, I'm a nerd. The League of Legends (videogame) team Team SoloMid was there...they're probably the biggest players in eSports (goes to show how much of a thing that is I guess).
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^Did you get to see TSM there?
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So the LA Times is trying to make some more guesses about the 2018 project...
Is Knott’s getting ready for a major new roller coaster?By BRADY MACDONALD
APRIL 5, 2017
It’s been more than a decade since Knott’s Berry Farm added a serious steel roller coaster, but that could be changing soon.
Knott’s officials have declined to comment on speculation about a new coaster, saying only that an announcement will be made this summer about new attractions planned for 2018.
But a series of recent signs point to the likelihood that the Orange County theme park may be starting construction soon on a major new coaster.
In 2016, Knott’s removed a stomach-churning Chance Trabant flat ride known as Wipeout and a head-spinning Huss Top Spin ride called Riptide from the Boardwalk section of the park. In recent weeks, the park announced that the adjacent 1990 Vekoma Boomerang looping shuttle coaster would be closing April 23.
The combined footprints of the three rides form a continuous one-acre swath of land stretching from the Sky Cabin observation tower to Johnny Rockets restaurant. The space would be ideal for a large coaster along the Boardwalk midway. Ground clearance has already begun between the Boomerang coaster and the Boardwalk Ballroom.
Knott’s went through a coaster boom at the beginning of the millennium with Xcelerator (2002), Silver Bullet (2004), Sierra Sidewinder (2007) and Pony Express (2008). Since then, the park has added only the Coast Rider wild mouse family ride in 2013. Over the last decade, Knott’s has steered clear of major new thrill rides, positioning itself as the family-friendly alternative to the coaster-centric Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia.
The Silver Bullet, with seats that hang beneath the track, was the last major coaster added to the park. The Bolliger & Mabillard coaster features six inversions, including a cobra roll, a pair of corkscrews and a 105-foot-tall loop.
Cedar Fair, Knott’s parent company, has a long history with the Switzerland-based ride maker. A new B&M coaster at a Cedar Fair park is a near-annual tradition. It makes sense that the amusement park chain would continue to maintain relationships with ride manufacturers they have worked with in the past. Among the top B&M contenders for Knott’s: a 200-foot-tall hyper coaster similar to Diamondback at Ohio’s Kings Island, a wing coaster with cantilevered seats like Gatekeeper at Ohio’s Cedar Point or a dive coaster with a 90-degree drop like Valravn (also at Cedar Point).
Over the last decade, Cedar Fair has added two coasters from Switzerland-based ride-maker Intamin that could also work at Knott’s: a 300-foot-tall Intimidator 305 giga coaster at Virginia’s Kings Dominion and the Maverick multi-launch blitz coaster at Cedar Point.
Knott’s is also home to a pair of coasters from Germany-based Mack Rides: The Sierra Sidewinder with spinning cars and the Coast Rider. Mack makes a mega coaster with a 60 mph launch and four inversions that would be ideal for Knott’s Boardwalk area.
A wooden coaster would also be a natural fit for the Boardwalk area. Cedar Fair has a long-standing relationship with Pennsylvania-based Great Coasters International, which just completed a rehabilitation project on Knott’s 1998 Ghostrider wooden coaster.
GCI built Renegade at Minnesota’s Valleyfair in 2007, Prowler at Missouri’s Worlds of Fun in 2009, Gold Striker at California’s Great America in Santa Clara in 2013 and Mystic Timbers at Kings Island opening this summer. A twister-style wooden coaster would be a perfect complement to Ghostrider’s out-and-back layout.
A pair of Cedar Fair parks have been dropping hints about upcoming conversion projects involving Rocky Mountain Construction, an Idaho-based ride-maker that converts aging wooden coasters into looping wood-steel hybrids.
It’s possible that Knott’s could tap Rocky Mountain to build a hybrid coaster from the ground up, but less likely after passing up the opportunity to hybridize Ghostrider.
The real question is whether Knott’s will opt for a thrilling coaster with multiple inversions or a family coaster that appeals to a broader audience.
We will find out soon enough as online sleuths begin decoding survey markers and footing supports that typically mark the beginning of the construction process. Speculation has already begun.
Behind the Thrills is predicting a B&M hyper, Theme Park Insider is betting on a Mack mega and Rollercoasters N’ Stuff is arguing for a B&M or Intamin giga. Personally, I’d like to see an Intamin blitz in that spot. But only time will tell.
I feel like they just took notes off of the forum and pasted them into an article...And GCI? RMC? That would be pretty wacky.
But hey, what do I know
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Pandora looks like one of the best things Disney has ever made! Thank you for the pictures and video!
Out of curiosity, how exactly does Flight of Passage work? Is it VR, or more like Soarin' but with 3D glasses in addition to the screen?
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^^I separate load/unload platform would be great on Xcelerator if it ran two trains. But it is not practical since it only runs a single train most of the time. Nowadays, it usually runs two trains only during Haunt and Winter Break. (Peak visitation times).
It was running two trains on Sunday and it was a station wait while I was there.
That figures...they never did manage to run two trains on Boomerang
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I am going to try and get to the park next week, is anything down besides Apocalypse and Riddler? And does anyone have an idea about when they will open back up?
The only rides I saw down beyond those two were the water rides, but by the time you visit those may be open as well. I didn't see any new paint on Riddler or any further work on Apocalypse (though I wasn't paying much attention to detail), so it seems both will be a while before reopening. If the park can open JLBFM by Memorial Day (which I would assume is a desirable target for the park), then I would assume Riddler would re-open alongside it, but as far as I know they've been mum on the subject thus far.
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On the way home from the park now. We got to the gate at 10:30, waited through some intimidating security and entrance lines, and got in at around 11. This was mainly a credit trip, so we started off with Goliath, TC, and Batman, all of which were station waits at that point. After that, I did Goldrusher (station wait) and Superman (1 side running, 45 min) solo. Also worth noting: lines for VR Revolution were consistently an hour-plus, even from when we walked in the gate and everything else posted 5-10 minutes!
Twisted Colossus was definitely the highlight! It kept crazy speed and ridiculous airtime the whole time, to the extent that we all got the "what did I just ride" feeling. Several notches above Goliath, and a new #1 for me!
Batman was great, but it did in my parents. They assigned us the back row and wouldn't let us wait for the front, so we definitely got the most intense experience. I was a little dizzy afterward myself!
My brother had no interest in doing Goldrusher or SEFK, so I was the only one on those. Goldrusher was surprisingly jerky, not rough per se, but there were a few spots where I hit the side of the car and kicked the bar at my feet...so much for coat hanger engineering! Superman's line ended right at the entrance where a 90-minute wait was posted, but it ended up only about 40 or so. It was neat for sure, but not top 10 or worth a ride every visit.
Now that I had checked off all the operating coasters there (minus kiddies), we saw the 90+ waits listed on the app everywhere and decided to head home and get some rest after our long week of college touring and sightseeing in LA. Besides, the park could definitely use some love...the bathrooms in particular were looking pretty rough. There were a few "Six Flags" moments also; the aggressive Flash Pass sales in the packed entrance plaza and paying for a 1ocker on Goliath only to find everyone else leaving their bags in the station come to mind! In spite of everything, we still had a nice few hours there, and hopefully we'll get another chance to use our passes down here this summer!
Moral of the story: Get there early! It's amazing what a few hours' difference makes.
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I will be at the park for a few hours tomorrow! Obviously it's going to be a mob scene and we won't be able to do that many rides but I'm excited
What would be a reasonably early time to get there? We already have our passes and everything, so at least we won't get caught up in the whole Processing thing.
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How do you check lines in the Six Flags app? I have a Gold pass but I couldn't get them to work even in park at SFDK...
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If not Helix, Blue Fire looks in some pictures like it has some hilly terrain because of the rock features. Then again, I'm not sure it qualifies as multiple launches...
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Money's getting a bit tight, so we'll see what ends up happening, but since I'm going to be doing some college visits and our family has some frequent cross-country flights for business, I might get to some out-of-the-way parks for me!
Definite:
-SFMM, spring break
-SFDK
Maybe:
-SFOT? (University of North Texas visit)
Blue sky dreaming, but probably not realistic:
-SFFT??? (friends down in San Antonio)
-Carowinds??? (business trips to Charlotte)
If any of this ends up coming through, I'll have one heck of a year, but I'm still happy to be going back down to SFMM for Twisted Colossus and the other credits I've missed!
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Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is bringing back VR on Kong
I'm still confused about how it's different from VR, maybe because I still haven't used any of the VR coasters. Seems like it should work out better than the VR technology and I hope that is the case.
Judging from the announcement, it sounds like there's going to be an active, video game-type component. Something about shooting aliens or something?
Six Flags Over Texas (SFOT) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Hey TPR! It's been a hot minute since I've been on here but since I might be able to swing a quick trip to SFOT during Holiday in the Park while I'm in town for the Cotton Bowl, I have a few questions:
-Since I'll be staying in downtown Dallas (non-negotiable, let's just say I'm part of a group that has some special gameday duties ), does anyone have any experience using Uber to get to the park or at least know if it's possible? (Is there some sort of drop-off area, or would the driver have to go through the parking line? etc.)
-What should I reasonably expect to be open during HITP? Is everything open, or just a smaller segment like WinterFest at CF parks? (I think most things were open when I went for SFDK, but I don't know how climate-dependent that sort of thing is.)
Thank you guys!