skrapdiggy

Fury is worth at least an 8 hour drive. I was blown away by that coaster. The drop on the turnaround is just amazing air.

Prayerfully it's the Georgia Cyclone. I understand woodies being rough by nature and all but aside from the first two retracked drops there was nothing enjoyable about that ride when I was at the park last week. Hell, if it's going to ride like crap at least paint it and make it look decent.

Worked for my sister. She and my brother in law were coaster junkies. At Six Flags and Busch Gardens about every weekend. Boom...two daughters.

I hear the organ displacement argument occasionally which I guess ties in the "stomach in your throat" argument. Someone used to tell me that they didn't ride coasters because they knocked your organs out of their original place due to the floaty feeling (negative Gs) or from knocking you around (lats or pos Gs). Then they took it a step further comparing it to retired football player syndrome and how they are usually in bad shape after their career from repeated knocks and such.

I wouldn't expect an opening splash in HH until around Memorial Day weekend.

Quality is a matter of opinion. I do think that some are of the opinion, present company included, that SFoG is missing a coaster of length. I'm a coaster lover but not nearly the junkie that some on this board are; I can't rattle off the length in feet of all my favorite coasters but in comparison to the coasters out of town that I enjoy riding it seems that the coasters at SFoG are much shorter than others locally that get more pub and press. Is this a case of perceived grass being greener? Perhaps...I'll admit that.

THIS. I've been wondering as long as Mindbender has been open where that third loop is hidden. Ridden it hundreds of times and I still haven't found it.

My guess, now that Six Flags has played this Hurricane Harbor card, is that they plan to now rid themselves of White Water in Marietta, especially since this is going to be a multi-year growth project. If that news weren't 8-12 months out from now I'd be surprised. There's really no sense in them having two parks under the same banner unless they were planning to go maniacal and buy all the water parks. There's a little something for everyone now with Lake Lanier for the extreme north metro, Stone Mountain out east, Cobb County with the two water parks now, and even down south with Clayton International Park and the little water attractions they have there.

Quite honestly, you're right, you don't need a ton of space for a decent coaster. I only question the redundancy of having two Six Flags water parks. That said, I understand how it could positively affect SF's bottom line even if my small opinion is that it's a less than stellar idea. I can only hope that within the next few years the park will get another decent coaster as coasters are what move the meter for most park fans.

All "several" of you? Consolidating thoughts and opinions from this site and those on SFoG's FAcebook page, yes, all "Several" of me. Look, I get that there are proponents of the water park and again, this isn't to say that Hurricane Harbor is a bad idea. What I am saying is that the opening of the space could have been the impetus to build a substantial thrill ride in a thrill park. You say tomato, I say tom-ah-to.

Apparently you haven't been on Mind Bender or Dare Devil Dive. I've been on both...repeatedly. Perhaps I should have made my point more clear. Six Flags needs more coasters or substantial length much like the coasters at the sister parks in other big market cities . (Chicago, NY/NJ, L.A.) With their failure to do so with the space they now had at the park the park has missed an opportunity to create one. Mindbender opened in '78. Daredevil Dive is 45 seconds long, which kinda speaks to the problem.

This is less about Atlanta's support (or non) of two water parks and more about the constant underachievement of the SFoG property. There was hope amongst several park goers in this area that with the opening of that much space there would be a coaster of note built not unlike what Great America got, or what Magic Mountain gets, or what Great Adventure gets. There was a possibility that the property would think to build a coaster that would at least be long enough for a MCBR (which no SFoG coaster has). Build a record breaker or something close to a record breaker that would give local riders reason to be excited and distant riders reason to visit more often. I'm certain that the Hurricane Harbor will do well what with Georgia summers being what they are but it does nothing to help the thrill quotient locally. Worse still is that this capital investment is likely so large that there won't be another coaster at SFoG for at least another 4-5 years. So, no, this isn't about support, this is about the local thrill park missing an opportunity to be more thrilling...at least for coaster lovers like me.

SFoG could never go all Millenium Force or Intimidator and build 300+ tall but they could get close in that area of the park since Southern Star sits in the low lying areas near the banks of the river. There is a negative here in that the river floods the park once every two - three years or so but if the floods haven't managed to do serious damage to the Scream Machine, a woodie that's been sitting there since the 70s, then I'm thinking that a steel could manage well there over time....IF this announcement is a coaster. Everybody cross your fingers and hope real hard for a big time coaster. With this much land opening up the possibility exists for a serious build. Please, please, pleeeease!

Something along the lines of Formula Rossa would be awesome. I know it's way out of the scope of what is considered normal for SFoG but, hey, a man can dream, right?

I'm thinking that Six Flags as a company wouldn't do something as asinine as place two significantly sized water parks within ten miles of one another under the same company banner, but SF has done stupid things before. Unless there are plans to get rid of the property off I-75 and just build one park to make SFoG a 2-in-1 park I can't see this being a significantly sized water park. At least that's my hope. That said...I can't see this being a significantly sized coaster/attraction either, at least not for 2014; with demolition of Southern Star, site prep, regrading of land, etc etc it seems way too much to do in one off season. I'm just hoping for something significant. Something that moves SFoG beyond regional park status, tired of midsized coasters not even long enough for a midcourse brake run, tired of my home park being an also ran. For heaven's sake, do something of note..

Just have to echo the sentiments of everyone in regards to the topper track on Georgia Cyclone. The first two hills are ultra smooth like brand new but after the second turnaround it goes back to being it's evil alter ego. Hopefully there will be a second half to that project. The Scream Machine is smooth throughout the circuit, best ride I've had there in a while. Something else really cool from my visit last week was that on Mindbender, the final trim brakes before the final loop in the ravine have been removed so instead of hitting that slowdown as I was expecting, you're just full speed flying down that hill now which adds a little extra to the final few seconds of the ride. Great trip overall.