ytterbiumanalyst

I've really enjoyed these reports of a lot of awesome places I probably won't get to visit. That Sky Fly looks cool, and though I normally don't do spinning/flipping rides, I'm actually looking forward to getting to ride Ninja Turtles at Mall of America in about 3 weeks. Your video has gotten me excited for it. Thanks for doing this; I know trip reports are a lot of work, and I really appreciate the effort put into documenting your travels.

If y'all really don't want it, we'll take Flight of Fear at Worlds of Fun. Your loss. Enjoy that wing coaster....

Gotta love the comments on that one:

No, no coaster in existence does that. Do you mean riding a coaster in the fog?

I like that all four are different. Gives a little more reason to go back and try the others too.

This is mostly correct but you may be giving them a little too much credit in a few instances. There is no justification for putting this on Goliath at La Ronde or on Raging Bull. It's being tested on Nitro too and that's also a terrible idea. Otherwise I agree with you for the most part, but in those cases they put VR on some of the most popular rides in the park that were already drawing people in. I would love to know the thought process behind those. Yeah, good point. Perhaps that thought process completely stopped after the first round. Basically now it's "VR is wildly successful! What else can we do with it?" Remember, Six Flags doesn't actually care if you enjoyed your day. It's all about the numbers. The more people they get in the park, the more advertising money they get. The more people ride a certain ride, the more money from the adverts in/on/around that ride. They're a lot like a broadcasting company in that sense. A network doesn't care if anyone watching likes the show; they just care how many people are watching. They only start to care when people decide not to tune in next week. So, when considering whether a venture is successful, Six Flags is only going to look at how many people it brought in, not how those people felt about that venture. It's a pretty sound business model, really: Continually add new stuff, sell passes for dirt cheap, and plaster the park with adverts. That's how they make their money. Cedar Fair is going to do it differently because they have a different business model. They have very little advertising and higher prices on season passes. For that business model to work, people have to feel like their experience is good enough to justify the cost. I would say it's totally worth the extra money--and this is really important--I have to feel that way for their business model to work. If I feel like they've done a lousy job, I'm not going to come back next year, and they lose out on that revenue. I think enthusiasts often feel like "Cedar Fair cares" and "Six Flags sucks" but the important thing to remember is that they're both pretty good at achieving what they want--they just want different things.

You're all missing the thread that ties these together. You're stuck in the categories of looping, family, etc. And that's not how Six Flags sees things at all. There are two categories of coasters they've put VR on: Coasters themed to Superman get the Superman VR Coasters that are underperforming get the New Revolution VR The logic behind the Superman VR is all about maximizing the potential of the IP. They don't care what the coaster is or what it does; they're just tapping the brand. By underperforming, I mean in the business sense, as in an asset that has the potential for a certain amount of revenue but is actually bringing in less than desired. BTW, that's the same logic that Cedar Fair used when they identified their growth markets. It doesn't mean markets where they'll rapidly expand; it means markets where the revenue potential is much higher than the actual revenue. There's your business lesson for the day. Now back to your regularly scheduled argument, already in progress.

Welcome to the Ozarks! The best way to do SDC, assuming you want to do all the big rides, is this order: 1. Powder Keg 2. Outlaw Run 3. Giant Barn Swing 4. Lost River of the Ozarks 5. American Plunge 6. Wildfire 7. Firefall 8. Thunderation And make sure you go on the train and Flooded Mine at some point. Doesn't matter when. Flooded Mine only ever has a line right after the train lets out (FM'S entrance is next to the train's exit). Also doesn't matter when you go on Fire in the Hole; the queue will be basically the same length all day. You don't need lockers, but you can rent them cheap if you want. They're floating, so you pay once ($3 last time I rented one, but it might have gone up since then), and you can sign in and out as you wish. There are stations near all the major rides. And if you read nothing else, read these words: EAT THE CINNAMON BREAD. TAKE THE CAVE TOUR. Have fun!

You forgot to name drop the park's GM's name. That's very pertinent in making it look like you have insider information Alright, lay off of the dude. The joke is getting stale No, he knows what he's talking about. He's an expert in making it look like he has insider information.

If your friend can't find it, Guest Services can replace it.

You're crazy! lol It may very well be the "best" SLC, but it's FAR from being smooth, and my son and I both had a very painful, and crappy ride, just last year on it. Granted, in the front row, leaning forward, it was tolerable. But that's basically the best case scenario for any SLC I've been on... Just not a great coaster design, period... But at least we have the "best" here in Michigan! Oh, let's make this clear. I didn't say it was smooth; I said it was smoother than the others. Relative to T3, which is probably the single worst coaster I've ever ridden, it's a dream. But only when comparing it to others of the same model is it smooth. I can handle a bit of roughness as long as it doesn't cause me pain. Gauntlet was mildly painful, T3 was definitely painful. Thunderhawk was not. I know coasters like this hit people differently, but I rode it once in the front and once in the back, and I enjoyed it.

^ Yes. I don't know how they've managed it when no one else has, but Thunderhawk is not painful in the least. And since you're not getting beat up, you can actually enjoy the ride.

Glad you had a good time! Shivering Timbers is incredible; one of the best coasters I've ever ridden, and really the only thing that makes this side trip worth it at all. I'm glad you liked Thunderhawk; I was dubious when people said it was good, as my previous 2 Vekoma SLC's were horrible, to put it nicely. It's a good ride! But yeah, Shivering Timbers is why you're here, and it totally delivers.

What? They killed Kenny?! Bastards.

If I'm not mistaken it launches at 4.5g, same as KK. Someone could calculate the length of the launch track and the speed you get in X amount of time, but that person is not me Cool, thanks! Well, I'm that case, it's probably Boomerang. That's the only one I've been on that I know gets over 5G.

Aesthetic beauty. This can be natural or artificial, themed, architectural, or whimsical. It probably is the result of having always lived in the Ozarks, but forested hills are the pinnacle of natural beauty to me, and parks in that setting always rank just a little higher because of it. For places that lack that setting, architecture and layout that create a sense of place are more enjoyable. Grant's Farm in St. Louis is like this. Just being there is fun in itself. Of course, places with both qualities, such as Silver Dollar City and Holiday World, are the very best places of all.

How many G's is Top Thrill Dragster's launch? That was very intense.

Silver Dollar City hasn't removed any flat rides for a coaster ever. They did remove a coaster for a Splash Battle once.

Speaking as an unlicensed armchair patent lawyer who has never even attended a law class of any kind, I can say with certainty that since this is a US patent, it doesn't apply on the moon. Anyone can build an I-box coaster on the moon.

I 100% approve of mangled track on a family coaster. These look pretty cool. I would like to see one closer to home. Am I correct that they're all in Europe?

I'm not sure if the deal was for Platinum too. I got a gold last September when the deal was going on, then upgraded to Platinum opening weekend this year.

There are turnstiles in both directions so they know if it's hit capacity. On really busy days, there will be a queue to enter, and as people leave, they'll let an equal number in. I'm not sure exactly what the capacity is, but it's well past the level of "too many damn people in this waterpark." If you see a queue, just turn around. Not worth it.

Yeah, some enthusiasts took their wishes out of their butts and plopped them on the Internet. There was never a shred of evidence to substantiate that at all. The problem with wanting SDC to get these super-tall rides is that the park is so immersive in its theming that something that huge, visible from all over the park, would actually detract from the experience unless it were similarly very well themed. They've proven with Giant Barn Swing that they can do that, but they spent a lot to do it, and that was pre-recession too. In general, all parks are spending less right now because the economy is only just beginning to recover and a return on gigantic, super-expensive things just isn't likely to happen for a lot of places. The crazy thing is, the park is actually doing quite well attendance wise - so much so that they are having to address problems they should have a long time ago. The biggest being crowd flow. They have been forced to redesign areas for better traffic in the park. The main issue (which they are rumored to fix this off season) is the entry area. Rumor is that Spirit may land at BKG soon. Cheap airfare for this new ride is very possible. Attendance could really boom so infrastructure would of upmost importance to fix. Not a rumor. Yeah, it's a rumour. Nothing is official yet. BKG has been courting them ever since Southwest canceled the service they inherited as a part of the AirTran deal. I really miss AirTran's $50 flights to MDW and ATL. It'll be busy, but you'll have a good time. BKG is the IATA code for Branson Airport.

They'll work immediately. If he's coming from another state, he'll probably want all the credits even if he only rides once. Vortex really isn't that bad if you turn your head into the turns. Are you sure? Because I read on another site discussing last year's sale that they were running a deal that you could go once in 2015 with the purchase of a new 2016 Platinum Pass. This was a site discussing KI but I thought Platinum Passes always worked the same. Last year's deal was if you bought a '16 gold season pass, you got 1 free visit in '15. All that was included in that '15 visit was admission. Parking and the other Gold perks like Dinos Alive admission were not included. You had to wait until '16 to get those.