UrbanLegend

I had posted this earlier, but I guess it never showed up. At SF Great America on Saturday, a girl behind me was convinced that American Eagle still rode backwards. Even when the ride was done, all completely forward, she kept saying to her friends, "Ok, now it's gonna go backwards now, I'm telling you!" ..How? One of her friends was smart enough to tell her she was wrong, and even asked me if it went backwards. The girl still didn't believe me, though. Jeez, some people.

Those look an awful lot like Skyrush's lapbars... let's hope they don't hurt like them

I just had my first visit to Great America this Saturday, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I think the longest line we waited in was to get our Flash Pass . There's a pretty cool collection of coasters, and I found the park to be really clean, and with friendly staff. I found myself doing a lot of comparisons to my native Great Adventure. I thought the S:UF here is somehow more exciting that the one at Great Adventure, but I'm not sure in what respect. Batman The Ride, although a year older, is way better than the one in NJ. This one is a lot better maintained and doesn't feel forgotten about, so you can focus on how crazy intense and awesome it is. Raging Bull was super neat-o as well, with tons of air in the back on the first drop. I also liked how the last half is more of a twister coaster; I wish B&M made more like that. But still, that trim is just horrendous, so I have to give the edge to Nitro in the hyper coaster department. Of course, X-Flight was awesome, but due to lines and time constraints, I was only able to ride it once. Because of that, at the end of the day, I found myself wishing I had gotten the Platinum Pass, which isn't the best thought to have once you leave the park. American Eagle got stuck at the very bottom of the lift hill, and Viper was closed for a while because some guy wandered into a restricted area, but hey, stuff happens. Overall, I really loved the park, and can't wait to find a way to get out there again!

As much as I would love to go to Waldameer, it's pretty out of the way. We're coming from a Philly suburb (Malvern to be more specific); Dutch Wonderland would actually be a lot more along the way

This. Everything about this post is correct. Also I forgot to mention, but Wild Mouse broke down around 3:30. They fixed it pretty quickly, but we were impatient and decided to go to Wildcat instead.

Your hypothesis is very, very interesting...I can't quite figure out what it means! That awkward moment when you space out in the middle of writing a sentence Fixed! Also, I don't want to seem like I was complaining, just pointing out that it kinda hurt at the tops of hills (and only at the tops of hills; the rest was fine). I'll just have to ride it some more to soften up the restrain'ts!

Hello all, my girlfriend and I will be heading to Kennywood this Thursday, and Six Flags Great America this Saturday. Both of these parks will be firsts for me. Does anyone have any tips and strategies for us, places to eat, ride orders to hit up, for either park? I'd like to get every coaster in both parks if at all possible, and we'll be arriving pretty close to opening for both parks. Thanks from the future for any tips people might have!

After going yesterday, I figured I would add my two cents about Skyrush, and the rest of the park. We got there about 20 minutes after opening, and went straight to Skyrush, by way of the new path (which has magnificent views, by the way). The line was already completely full, and even despite pretty terrible operations, we got to the last row in about 45 minutes. I got the right wing seat in the last row; the ride op didn't staple at all, which pleased me. The ride blew my mind; the lift hill is scary fast - even faster on-ride than off-ride - the drop in the back has ridiculous air, as do all the airtime hills. The high-speed turns are fast and intense, the Stengel-ish dive throws you around in a really fun way, and everything is really smooth. I felt no pain during any moments of airtime, and I didn't realize that I was stapled until the reduction brakes, and then I had plenty of time on the brake run to wish I had circulation back in my legs. It really is a magnificent ride. There isn't too much to add about the rest of the park. I don't remember the old SDL trains, but the new ones are comfy and roomy and make for a great ride, and the new magnetic brakes stop you really quickly without being uncomfortable like the old ones. Great improvement, even if only one train was running. What's not so great is the new fastpass/ single rider/ whatever the hell they are doing policy on all the rides. A row or two of the middle of each train on every coaster is blocked off, but I didn't see any fastpass holders get in. People would just slip into the chained-off rows when the airgates would open, and then ops would call out for groups of 2 or 4 to fill the rows. It's a pretty bad policy, whatever it may be, and I hope they improve it. The sky opened up for 20 minutes around 4, which cleared up crowds even more; we passed the time with some Cold Stone; it was pretty strange seeing blue sky with thunder and lightning at your back. Our last ride of the day was Skyrush, and this time I tried the left inside seat in the last row. There was an employee at the station trying to assign seats, but we were so vocal about the last row that she just let us go there . This time the ride was... different. The airtime on the first drop had more of an "Oh god I'm gonna die" element. And this time, I felt the pain on the hills. It was still a great ride, but less so than the first one. My girlfriend pointed out to me that ride 1 was on Train 2, and ride 2 was on Train 1. Many more tests will need to be conducted, but my current hypothesis is that the left side is more painful than the right side. All in all, it was a great day!

^Interesting. I have never spent less than 45 minutes in the Fahrenheit line. I'll let you know how it is in two days.

That non-inverting loop definitely looks crazier now that it's elongated like that! Can't wait to get out to NorCal again.

So I'll be heading back to Hershey on Sunday, and I'll be going with my girlfriend and two friends. I figured that despite the new hotness, it's still best to hit up Fahrenheit first thing in the morning, then head over to Skyrush. Still a good strategy? Also, for my GP friends' benefit, what's the best way to ride Skyrush defensively? Or should we just go with the flow and worry about your legs on the brake run?

Autocorrect? I would love to see a Canada-themed Intamin Prefab! If it means that another one gets built in North America (or just another one gets built, period).

The entire layout looks like the sideswipe alley section of Lightning Racer, which is my favorite part of that whole ride. I'd love to get down there and ride it sometime!

How does ride funding work within Cedar Fair? Does each park have a separate 'account', or is there just a big pile of money (or a swimming pool full of gold coins) and CF just doles out projects to the different parks? I'm sure whatever goes on at Cedar Point is affected by other parks in the chain (unlike SFMM )

This picture is really, really cool. It's like a LEGO instruction book, just really huge! Let's hope SFDK isn't like me and just throws away the book to build whatever.

It's interesting that the ride is open with so much left to do. I have no idea when I'll make it down to San Diego, but when I do I'd love to ride this!

I know this is going way back, but that Lava Monster looks remarkably like the monster from Alien Encounter. Sure brings back the nostalgia!

Hershey on the 1st, Kennywood on the 7th, and SF Great America on the 9th. The last two are firsts for me!

I'm also heading to the park on the 3rd. I'm praying that the weather will be good and that the enthusiasts will all have been out on Opening Weekend... oh who am I kidding, the place is gonna be absolutely mobbed. Sunshine, please!

Cleveland is about an hour away; you could always check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After all,

As someone said, El Toro's drops reaches its maximum angle much quicker, which I think will make it better. But, as someone also said, Skyrush's drop will still be magnificent. Also, how many more variations of "the lift looks slower than I thought but the ride will still be fun!" can we make?

That old-school CP Cyclone actually looks like a lot of fun! But, I also haven't been to Cedar Point in 8 years, so I would like to get on DT before it's gone (I already missed my chance with Wildcat :[ )

I don't really have anything to add to this discussion, because pretty much every logical complaint or viewpoint has already been made. So, is SDL expected to open back up by Memorial Day weekend? I'll be going the week after that, and it'd be fun to have all three coasters open in The Hollow.

At Hersheypark yesterday I heard lots of coasters referred to by color; Skyrush was "the yellow one" and Storm Runner was "the red one." My favorite was this group of girls who, literally right in front of the Fahrenheit sign, pointed to Fahrenheit and said excitedly, "I wanna go on the orange one!"