SFOGdude25

Holiday World's first steel coaster looks like it'll be a great one! First B&M launched wing coaster. Awesome!!

If this is a B&M, I really hope they have designed new seats with a lower height restriction. Since Holiday World is a true family park, I feel like they would want the height requirement to be lower than 54 or 52 inches. Nothing quite like seeing kids get on their first big steel coaster that goes upside down!

I'm still waiting for it to be something that none of us have guessed...

^8:30pm central time. Live webcast starts at 8:15.

I'll be ready to laugh if this turns out to not be a B&M. Don't get me wrong, if it is a B&M, I'll still be excited. Whatever Holiday World is building will be fantastic as they won't settle for anything less. Still, it really could be anything. My gut still says a Mack launcher akin to Helix and Manta, though.

I visited the park for the first time on Thursday and Friday. I really enjoyed it. This Six Flags has some nicely themed areas (especially Southwest Territory and Mardi Gras), and the ride collection here is one of the best I've seen. Lots of great roller coasters and flats. Other than Cedar Point, I don't think I've seen another park with this many large coasters. V2- Your typical Intamin Impulse coaster, but tons of fun. The back spike in the back seat has some nice air. Raging Bull- Pretty decent B&M with one of the best first drops I've ever been on. The rest of the ride was just ok. Batman the Ride- It was sort of surreal to ride the first ever inverted coaster (especially after riding Banshee just days prior). Rode just like my home Batman in Georgia, which means it was a blast. Still one of the best compact coasters ever made. American Eagle- BEAUTIFUL classic woodie. Better than any other classic racer I've ridden. Seriously, this thing was super fun. The ride ops were actually racing the trains which made my rides all the better. The ride rode surprisingly smooth. The I-beam track on the outbound run felt like sitting in a massage chair lol. Dark Knight- I actually liked this ride a lot. For just being an indoor Wild Mouse, it was pretty smooth, and all the effects were really cool. Superman- Nothing special here. It was fun, but Georgia's is better. Whizzer- I'm a sucker for classic Schwarzkopfs, and this one was tons of fun. I loved the setting for this ride, and I LOVED the super old-school trains. Great family coaster. Little Dipper- Pretty nice kiddie coaster. Super smooth. Rode it to get the credit, nothing else. Viper- Loved this one. Georgia Cyclone would be better if it was as smooth as Viper was, but Viper wins because there's no trims anywhere on the course so this thing flys, and there's airtime on every hill. X-Flight- Pretty fun wing coaster. It's not much better than GateKeeper and Wild Eagle. I do like wing coasters, but I don't love them. Demon- I couldn't help but laugh at the cheesy 1980s charm that was all over this ride. The ride itself was pretty fun, and not nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I'm used to Vortex at Kings Island, so this was pretty enjoyable in comparison. Finally, the star of the show... Goliath- My first RMC. Holy crap, everything about this thing was amazing. The first drop, the overbanks, the airtime hill, the dive loop, and especially the zero-g stall! It's a quick ride for sure, but it blew every other coaster there away. Overall park rating for me: 7/10.

It's called YOLOcoaster, not Fool Throttle. I think it's a bit of a game here on the forums to see how many different ways we can beat the word filters.

^^Haha! That was actually my first thought of what Holiday World's first steel coaster would be! Not sure if it would be the best choice, but if they do decide to build an Intamin MegaCoaster then I won't complain!

Wow!! Looks like RMC might possibly do some magic on Colossus! Can't wait to see what's in store! Let's take this opportunity to go back to 1978 to check out Colossus in it's prime form. I found this video of a bunch of news reel footage of when Colossus first opened. Notice the wicked airtime hill coming out of the second drop. If RMC is indeed coming to renovate, I know they'll take Colossus and do something incredible with it.

Wow, Six Flags. Wow... Yes, that new line system is incredibly annoying, but as far as I'm concerned, New Texas Giant is still New Texas Giant. I would still wait for it if I were there. I wouldn't like it one bit, but it's New Texas Giant for crying out loud! It's one of the best roller coasters in the US AND has proven to be a safe ride. Having an annoying queue system would not deter me from riding it. Of course, I've never ridden it at all, so I would not really care about how I waited for the coaster once I'm on it.

Total speculation here, but based on that quote, my intuition tells me that back when Will Koch gave the go to build Voyage, he may have had a special vision of two coasters interweaved with each other. The first one being Voyage, and the second one possibly being announced on Monday. Again, no idea if that is what is going to happen, but whatever this new attraction is, it's going to be BIG. Can't wait!

^Being there yesterday I can answer that fairly well. It was overcast and raining on and off throughout the afternoon, but pretty much all the rides were open during that time, then a REALLY dark cloud system headed our way, followed by some really heavy rain. That is when everything closed. From my perspective, it seems that they keep rides open in standard rain conditions, but if there's anything that looks like a potential storm up in the sky, then they will start closing rides. One other thing. After riding Banshee again several times yesterday, I can conclude that the inside seats were a lot smoother than the outside seats.

Count me in the Banshee fan club! Just rode it for the first time today. Man, it's intense! I knew it would be good, but I didn't think it would be this good. It was pretty cold today, so it was crawling through the course during morning testing, but once it warmed up a bit, it was giving some great rides! I can't wait to see how it performs when the temperatures get warmer! Yes, the rattle is definitely there. The only place it really bothered me at all was the back row, everywhere else was tolerable. The speed and massive loops more than make up for the vibration. Despite the roughness in the back row, My two favorite moments on the ride are in the back. First, back row far right on the first drop, you get some really cool airtime followed by a super quick twist in the drop. My other favorite moment is the drop following the zero-g roll. Again same seat, you get pulled out, and then floored by the powerful g's as the drop bottoms out. I think Montu might still be my favorite invert, but Banshee comes in a VERY close second. Seriously a great ride. Also, there was barely anyone here today, so I probably rode around 20 times. I just couldn't stay away!

It is pretty efficient as you said. Depending on how long the line outside the building is, the whole process can take as low as 5 to 10 minutes to as long as 20 to 30. The good news is that since opening day has passed (which is probably the worst time to process), the wait to get in the building should be significantly shorter. In my experience, even if the line is about 70 to 100 feet from the door, the line moves very fast as they have like 10 stations inside where they take your picture, print your card, and have you out of there in no time with your shiny new pass.

^That actually sounds pretty amazing. It won't happen, but it sounds amazing. This coming from someone who is a fan of The Beast as it is.

^From my experience, it typically rides the worst late in the season when it starts getting colder.

I'm back home now. Here's my quick trip report from opening day. The park was in great shape as always. The staff was friendly, the walkways were clean, and all the rides were open except for Liberty Launch (No sign of it opening at all. No ride ops, no maintenance staff, nada). This morning was cloudy on the chilly side, but the sun came out a few hours later and warmed up to the 70s. Crowds were very light all day. All the rides were walk-ons except for the new Mayflower swinging ship ride, which consistently had 1 to 2 cycle waits. Speaking of which, Mayflower is great! It's a smaller model, but that thing goes pretty high! Also, while riding Voyage, I did notice some land clearing going on, but it wasn't much. It looked like about a 40 to 50 foot diameter patch of trees was leveled, but that's all I saw. Those of you going to Holiwood Nights this year will probably get a much better view of what's going on back there. How were the woodies holding up, you ask? Raven and Legend were both a little on the rough side. Legend in particular had some pretty nasty jolts that gave my neck a bit of a workout. Both coasters were suffering from some high-frequency jackhammering (or high-level butt massage, if you will). That being said, both these coasters are still better than a LOT of the other wooden coasters in the US. Now onto Voyage. So yes, there was some heavy trackwork done throughout the ride this past off-season. The biggest areas that got worked on were the first two 90-degree turns and the last big airtime hill that goes over the brake run. The two 90s had the standard top two layer replacement treatment. This section used to have really bad shuffling and jerking, and I'm happy to say that pretty much all of that is gone. The train glides through that section fairly nicely now. Even in the back car where it's normally really bad, the shuffle factor was pretty minimal. The track in the final big hill that sails over the brake run was completely rebuilt. This section used to be arguably the worst spot on the ride in terms of roughness. Now, the new track feels rock solid and rides fairly smoothly up front. You still get knocked around a bit in the back, but not quite as bad as it was last year. Quickly breaking down the whole ride: The "out" portion overall was great. The valleys were pretty smooth (except for maybe going into the first tunnel), and those giant hills still deliver some great airtime, especially in the front seat! The spaghetti bowl is riding almost perfectly now. I absolutely love the way that section just flows through each element effortlessly. Finally, the "back" portion overall is still pretty rough, but it's mostly "hip-and-leg-bruising" rough as opposed to "neck-strain-and-headache" rough if that makes sense, and if I was going to pick one of those, it would be the former. To sum things up, it's certainly better than last year, but it's still rough around the edges. It's still my favorite wooden coaster as of now, but that might change once I take a spin on Goliath at SFGAm later this summer. Holiday World could really benefit from having a good-sized steel coaster that everyone can ride; one that is smooth and very re-ridable to contrast the three woodies that have a tendency to beat people up, so it would be pretty cool if these steel coaster rumors hold out. ONE OTHER THING: I took a selfie in front of Voyage that made it on to the Holiblog! It's the last picture on the page. Here are some pictures. Some of the freshly laid track. Here's something new. They've added a new viewing area that gets fairly close to the station turn. So you can get cool photo ops like this now (although the screening doesn't exactly help things). Another shot of the fresh track from the station. I should also point out that the entire brake run was also completely rebuilt. The brakes looked brand new, too. All that's left of Giraffica/Pilgrim's Plunge is the station building and one giant pad of concrete. Hey look! Shiny new ride!! Is it just me, or does the mast of the boat look unfinished? Here's a good look at the emblem up top. Pretty nifty, don't ya think? The Mayflower also has a pond! The whole ride area looks really nice and fits in well with the Thanksgiving section. Here's about how high it goes maxed out.

^I'm there right now. Voyage is running very well! Raven and Legend are running a bit rougher in comparison, but not terribly rough. I'll post a more detailed report later.

This may be wishful thinking, but I see Holiday World building an Intamin MegaCoaster similar to Goliath at Walibi more than a B&M wing coaster. Then again, I'm not sure the park would want to build what would essentially be a steel Voyage right next to the real Voyage haha. Still, it would be pretty cool to see a coaster that uses Giraffica's station, crosses over Voyage, and goes back behind Splashin' Safari. A man can dream.

I'll be there Saturday. Great to hear about The Voyage riding well! Hopefully it holds up through the whole season. Last year when I was at Holiwood Nights it was running pretty well, then I went again in October, and my last ride shook me up enough that I had to call it quits for the day. I am incredibly thankful that The Voyage (and the other woodies as well) are under the care of the coaster cats. They always go above and beyond what most maintenance teams do with their coasters.

Seat belts really don't bother me, so I'm not complaining, but I am still curious as to why Kings Island decided to do this. Sure it's extra safety, but B&M's lap bar design is basically foolproof.

In the US: Boulder Dash Bizarro (SFNE) El Toro The RMCs (I get to ride Goliath this year, and I am beyond stoked!!) Coney Island Cyclone I305 Gold Striker Rampage (Might ride this one this year if it opens) Outside the US: Too many to count haha, but the most notable ones are: Expedition GeForce A Megalite Big Thunder Mountain (Disneyland Paris) Nemesis Helix Balder Colossos Dragon Kahn Shambhala Everything at Europa Fireball (Happy Valley) Wood Coaster (the mega GCI) Fjord Flying Dragon (Happy Valley)

I mean this with all the respect, but can you explain why you love it so much? I love plenty of rides that most find terrible so I am not trying to say I am right/wrong in any regard, but the Beast really is one ride that baffles me with its popularity... It is practically long straight away after straightaway with slight turns inbetween and trim brakes. So what do people find interesting about the ride (aside from the only decent part of the ride, the helix)? To consider that ride one of the best in the US just blows my mind I like it because it takes a radically different approach to what we think of as a good formula for a coaster. The ride has next to no airtime and focuses almost entirely on raw speed and making it feel like the train is going to rip off the track. The isolation within the forest is another factor. All you can see from the park is the lift and final brakes. This gives The Beast a very mysterious quality that no other coaster in my mind can match. A first time rider (assuming he/she hasn't seen a POV video) would have absolutely no idea what is coming up next because of the trees and terrain. This fear of the unknown, along with the raw speed factor, make for a super unique ride experience that no other coaster has ever really tried to attempt except for maybe The Ultimate at Lightwater. It may not be my absolute favorite woodie, but it is definitely one of the best coasters from the classic era for being such radical design of the time.

Given that Kentucky Kingdom is fairly close to Holiday World, I don't know if a Chance HyperLite would be the best choice. I'm with GayCoasterGuy on this one. If Holiday World could get Gerstlauer to build a classic Schwarzkopf-style looper like Mind Bender or Shockwave, I might just explode with happiness.

I'm pretty sure that shot of Diamondback's huge line is from opening day 2009. I still find it funny that Action Zone has only suspended coasters of different types. Might as well call it "the land of hanging coasters." EDIT: ^You beat me to it!