ytterbiumanalyst

Acid. It produced some of the best rock 'n' roll the world has ever seen, whereas Bleach just gave us grunge. Left field or right field?

Cool, thanks. I don't keep track of the Arkansas schools.

I'm off tomorrow, so I'm starting Irish Christmas tonight with a Guinness Irish Wheat. Really interesting beer, kind of a shandy but with a bit of banana. I like it.

Prowler Morey's Piers

This week is spring break for Springfield Public Schools, which is the largest school district in Missouri. Weather this weekend is sunny and in the 60s. Expect huge crowds. Next week is Spring Break for Joplin, the area's second largest school district. Crowds should be slightly lower than this week, with emphasis on the slightly. As usual, weekdays are better than weekends. It should be noted that the entertainment options usually available are very limited during Spring Ride Days, so the prevailing wisdom that the park can be crowded and still not have lines doesn't apply at this time. Still, Silver Dollar City does a great job keeping lines moving, and I've rarely seen lines for any ride longer than an hour, even at busy times.

I had that exact question, so I spent some time yesterday counting the rides and how many tickets are required for each, and I came up with 85 tickets with no rerides. I was counting the coasters plus rides like It, Atmosfear, and Zoom Phlume. They sell a wristband for $59, so if you're wanting to ride a lot at all three piers, I'd go that route.

Yeah, at Texas it's on a good coaster. St. Louis has it on the coaster that has been the worst for years. The only good thing about VR Ninja is that it means people spend more time in its line and are not queueing for good rides.

My personal favourites that I've been on: 1. Outlaw Run's 2nd drop, coming out of the twist to the right into a sharply banked left turn. 2. Millennium Force's 300 foot drop. 3. Top Thrill Dragster's spiral drop 4. Monster's beyond-vertical first drop 5. Outlaw Run's nearly vertical first drop.

I'm seriously happy about that wall being gone. Now they just need to move the whole sign back to the creek and let traffic flow through the entrance plaza. That narrow archway is just a pain.

I've been on a Sky Rocket III if that counts.... But I love those Intamin Impulse coasters. It's such a rush to fly to over 70 mph and then shoot straight for the sky. Wicked Twister is the best of the bunch, and it's only overlooked because of how much other awesomeness there is at Cedar Point.

Buzz Saw Falls. After a flume section that was just a couple of switchbacks like the boat was queueing for the ride, you dropped into a 3/4 helix and then hit a lift hill. It was the worst idea Silver Dollar City ever had. Fortunately, they realized their mistake and 5 years later, turned it into something awesome. For those who haven't been on it, watch this video from 1:26 to 2:07. That's the entire coaster portion of Buzz Saw Falls. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

I'm loving all of these Magnum stories. Thanks for sharing! I'm one of those kids who doesn't remember a world without hypercoasters (Magnum opened when I was five), so it's cool to hear the stories and imagine just how jaw dropping it was. I mean, it was a jaw dropping experience for me when I first rode it last year, and that was after riding Millennium Force, Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster, and Raptor that same day. But when that was the tallest and fastest not only in the park but anywhere, ever--that must have really been something.

Guys, be careful. You'll let out the secret that Sky Ride is a time machine. Oops.

Rain

I've been watching the website, and not much has been done to it since the season ended. The Flash Pass screen still doesn't say whether Justice League is on it and says Joker is new for 2016, and still lists dummy prices for each tier. I think the website hasn't been a real priority to them over the offseason.

Wakko

I profoundly disagree with this statement. Distraction is not a human need. The constant dopamine drip that comes from being bombarded constantly with stimuli is causing an epidemic of short attention spans. Attentiveness is a rarity these days, precisely because we've engineered everything to be so safe that you can fail to pay attention and still survive to tell the tale. That's a remarkable achievement in engineering, but with calamitous side effects. I'm all for self-driving cars, and I will buy one as soon as they're legal and affordable. People simply aren't good at driving. Some are better than others, but driving requires a level of attentiveness that is simply impossible. Even someone fully paying attention with no unnecessary distractions is still going to encounter plenty of natural distractions--a louder than average engine, debris in the road, accidents, traffic jams. It's impossible to drive well when our brain is hard wired to automatically engage with any stimuli that seem to be predators, food, or a mate. So in this world that pushes multitasking at us something fierce, a great escape from that world is to engage in something that fully demands your singular attention. That's what roller coasters do for me. The experience is so intense that all the primitive instincts are engaged with the higher order functions. Your entire being is doing only one thing, and it's supremely relaxing. It's the exact opposite of everyday life. It's the best escape from the modern world.

P-sychiatrist

Yes, I take pictures of all the parks I go to. Not videos, though, and certainly nothing on-ride. Are you excited about Iron Fist this weekend?

EBITDA is pretty important. I'd hardly call focusing on it "going overboard."

Nothing anyone says here will prepare you for what Skyrush is going to do to your body, but if you dig a beating from Magnum (like I do) you're halfway there. I like the sound of this.

Millennium Force. It's just utterly perfect to me--the view from the top, the drop that goes on forever, the overbanked turns, and my god the speed. I could ride that all day long if there weren't several other awesome coasters enticing me away.

One of these days I'll get to Vancouver. I've wanted to go for some time, for reasons other than Playland. But you've talked it up enough that I think I must ride Coaster at some point. That was always my go to seat on Magnum and I dealt with the charlie horses. Skyrush is a different level of pressure on the thighs. But so worth it. Wow, even more than Magnum?

^ Nah, just Magnum. Mean Streak was the only other one that made a difference, really, and it won't be open when you guys visit. If you want an insane ride, you ride 3rd row of 1st car. If you want a gentler ride, you ride middle row of any car. For Maverick, it's not where you sit but how you ride that makes a difference. Throw yourself at the turns. Don't lean; throw yourself in that direction. It makes all the difference in the world.

I'm not sure what system some of the Six Flags parks are using, but I know they've had an Accesso wristband system for quite a few years now. Six Flags St. Louis discontinued it, but when they had Flash Pass in the waterpark, it was Accesso's Qband. I can only speak to that one, as I haven't used it at any other Six Flags waterpark.