ytterbiumanalyst

Looks like a really great event! I'll join the echo here and say Surfside was without a doubt my favourite pier of the three.

Oh wow, been a couple of years here. Yeah, I live about 5 hours from Magic Springs, and I haven't been back since this trip. Definitely could have; just didn't want to. Arkansas Twister isn't enough to get me back there by itself. It's a park with a lot of potential but no one willing to invest any money in it. It's entirely possible those investments wouldn't pay off, so smart money is put elsewhere.

^ Oh yeah, I read that out loud to Julie a couple of days ago and we had a good laugh about it, but I didn't post anything because I treat this thread like a hornet's nest. But now that everybody's already worked up, now's the time to drop the truth bomb. Back in college, I worked for a year as a PR rep for a campus organization. That was hard enough, and it was a group no one except those associated with the university knew or cared about. I can't imagine trying to do that job for a theme park.

Oh god, you guys. The post had four sentences, which basically were this: Generic thank you. We're aware. We're aware. Generic thank you. That's as close as a PR person will ever get to "shut the f*ck up and leave us alone." Don't read anything into this other than the one message that was actually meant. Quit harrassing these people on Facebook and let them get back to their normal jobs telling normal people (not enthusiasts) about all the fun things to experience at their park.

Busy year for us. New parks with asterisks. Casino Pier* Dollywood* Dorney Park* Hersheypark* Holiday World Knoebels* Lake Winnie* Morey's Piers* Playland's Castaway Cove* Silver Dollar City Six Flags Great Adventure* Six Flags St. Louis

Wow, that looks really fun! Mack's doing a bunch of cool rides these days.

Ah, gotcha. So many rides being trucked all over the country at that time....

Yeah, Kings Island could add about 10 gigas without removing anything. The dinosaurs are pretty cool, and we have to see them every time because my kids are cool and love dinosaurs. It seems, though, with every Cedar Fair park we go to, we're one of only a couple of families who go through that area. They're just not as popular as they were initially.

Glad you had a good time. I always enjoy Six Flags St. Louis, and they've made a lot of little improvements recently. A lot of the coaster enthusiasts are going to look at the announcements each August and think "oh this park is getting nothing exciting" when in fact they've finally gotten around to renovating huge areas of the park that had sorely needed it for a long time. People may not think Tsunami Soaker is all that much, but it brought Hannibarrels' 17-year SBNO marathon to an end, and that was more than worth it. I always say you're going to enjoy yourself unless you're determined not too. You and your groups always have a great time because you always have a great attitude. You're here to have fun, so have fun! Oh, and Superman came from New Orleans.

Great stories, especially Log Jammer and American Eagle. Glad you liked the double-down; the other flume, Yankee Clipper, is a single drop, but it does have cool New England fishing boats rather than logs. American Eagle is way the hell out there, but totally worth the walk when it's racing. I love too, that Six Flags thinks, "We could fix Viper, or we could just market how bad it is" and of course they went with the latter.

Great report! Love the retro court motel. Used to be a lot of places like this, but they're a rarity these days.

No, but if 'it' lasts longer than four hours, he should probably respond to the emergency room.

Yeah, it was Hammond. I ponied up the cash for the Comfort Suites wedged back right off the exit away from everything and honestly I'd stay there again but just driving around looking for fast food before we got to the hotel was a terrifying experience. Yeah our hotel after we left Great America was in Arlington Heights (right next to Elk Grove I believe) and it was really nice. I'd definitely stay there again. Well, I survived the Philly Badlands, so I can't judge. Arlington Heights is fine. Basically all those northwestern suburbs, you're good. GOOD MOVE. All those other places you mentioned, you're asking for trouble. Joliet's okay. Not a ritzy area, but generally safe.

Ooh, south suburbs? Yeah, if you were around Tinley Park, that's cool, but if you stayed in one of the cheap ass places in Homewood, or god help you Hammond, then I'm just glad you survived. Glad you liked Great America! X-Flight really is awesome. All 4 of the wing coasters are fantastic and completely underrated by enthusiasts. Fortunately, those "GP" know how awesome they are because they all get good ridership. Personally, I like them better than flyers. Next time you come to Chicago, because you're going to want to come back because it's an awesome city, the farther north and west you go, the better. Also, the Loop area downtown is good, but I know you'll never pay for that. Under no circumstances should you ever stay in the city west of I-90 or south of the science museum. I have family in Schaumburg, Elk Grove, and Glenview, and all those are nice suburbs.

Six Flags Great Adventure does. They have people standing in front of the queue preventing guests from even getting in the queue if they have anything in their pockets, and they also have security pull people back out of line if they sneak a phone through that checkpoint and have a phone out in the queue. I personally witnessed this happen in the queue for El Toro; the guest was pulled out of line, told to go to the kiosk, put their phone in a locker, and re-enter the queue at the very beginning again. Bonus: The park actually charges guests to use that locker.

Outlaw Run last Sunday.

Great report! It all looks fantastic. Absolutely. Best ride there.

Looks like you guys had a good time. I like your friends already; Slim's NASA shirt is cool, and anyone who dares to go by the name Poop is ok by me.

Sweet! Sounds like a good thing for this park. Miniature trains like this are always popular.

Awesome report, as usual. I'm glad you enjoyed Shivering Timbers--that thing's awesome. Zach's Zoomer is a legitimately good coaster, and though I enjoyed Wolverine Wildcat, it was admittedly before I rode Phoenix, so I totally get your assessment of it. Great Nor'Easter is the absolute best SLC, but Thunderhawk was actually really good, and the only other SLC I actually enjoyed. Michigan's Adventure is definitely not a super great park, but it's a lot better than a lot of people give it credit for. I'm not in a huge hurry to get back to it, but it was a really good time, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to your Chicago adventures!

Well, that's a distraction if ever I've seen one. "What concussions? Look at our shiny new stuff!"

Good to know about Italy. Maybe I'll get there one day. It'd be fun, but we don't have a realistic chance of going outside the U.S. until the kids are grown, and then the UK, Ireland, and Japan are our first targets, though maybe not on the same trip.

Really? *Looks back through the report.* Oh yeah, you said that. Right in the report. I'm good at paying attention.

Nope, 2019 will be an off year. SDC hasn't had big attractions in back to back years in a long time, and there's no reason to expect it. They do have several intentional expansion points, including past Outlaw Run, past Powder Keg, and the employee lot next to Elephant March. There's no rush to expand, but they will use the land when they're ready.