batmanfan80

I was referring to eagle blue forwards. I doubt I'll ever ride it backwards as I'm just not into backwards stuff at all. I should also clarify that batman row 8 in the middle two weeks ago was not anywhere near as violent as my row 8, right outside seat ride Saturday night.

Due to the landlord from hell and the move from hell I haven't been able to go at all between the end of backwards Batman and 2 weeks ago. I'll do a couple trip reports. Both were 5 hour days I think. It's tough to get a good ride on Roaring Rapids. It starts and stops a lot. And I hate facing backwards for much of the ride. There wasn't any real line for it a couple weeks ago. Rode Yankee Clipper for the first time. It feels longer and smoother than Log Jam-which I rode today a little before 6 after waiting almost an hour. The park closed off a lot of rides around 4:30 when thunder started sounding. Accuweather said everything would be clear til ten. Log Jam definitely has a more intense drop. But I got soaked more on YC. Both times I went we didn't get on rides til after 5. Demon was stuck on the lift today around 5 and never reopened. I don't really think it's any rougher than the other coasters. None of em is really all that physically comfortable for me to ride. Except Batman maybe. Rode that today in row 7 middle, immediately followed by row 8. The seatbelts are easier for my wife in row 8. She didn't fit when it was namtab, but fits now. The buckle looks different in row 8. I swear row 8 was about 50% more intense than 7. Maybe different train. First time I've had Batman smack my ear on the OTR when it was going forward. It was a pretty violent, but smooth ride. Sat on the right outside seat. There was some adjustment for me a couple weeks ago. I think the ride is better if you've built some resistance to the forces. I also noticed the seats in row 8 are higher up than 7. On RB today the trims barely kicked in. The train didn't stop anywhere near as much as earlier this year or last. I like the ride more and more. I'd take it over Eagle red or Viper. Eagle red was real good. Gets some pretty extreme speed and can be a bit shaky, but no real bad spots. Blue sucked the last time I was on it. No line for Eagle. RB took maybe 20 min because they had some tech issues. X Flight right side row 4 was good as usual. Line was maybe ten min. Viper feels almost forceless after riding ER and RB. It also feels smoother than it did before the backwards stint. East River Crawler is one I like more and more. I don't have any prior riding experience to compare it to. Whizzer is always consistent and a lot more forceful than people probably think. Demon still is a bit bumpy a jerky, but it's not smacking the back of my head on the headrest during the loops anymore. It's not as smooth as Canyon Blaster but I don't feel it stands out for roughness. Goliath sounds like it should be pretty awesome, I have passes and stuff to hit Silver Dollar City when I reschedule my Branson trip. I hope the lap bars feel ok. I still hate how my torso can get slammed around on those lap bar rides. It would be cool if they had backpack straps to put on if you wished. The biggest hit I took was at the end of Roaring Rapids right before the lift. It hit the wall and if I didn't have a seatbelt I would've been launched out of the tube. Maybe all my complaining about lack of bins got someone at Six Flags to listen as they now have Cedar Pointish bins on Eagle, Whizzer, and Viper. I've also noticed that they added a locker system more like CP's as well.

Went there today from 5:30-close. The drive is actually only about a half hour using 88 and 294 coming from 355 and ogden. Never really timed it before. Crowds were not bad at all. Started with Whizzer. Waited maybe 15-20 minutes. Some of it was due to a couple guys coming in from the exit row with a white sheet that had a bunch of black type on it. The ride op nicely asked if they could have our seats and if we could take the next train. This happened again with our seats when we went on Demon right after, but with a family of 4. The ride ops would be marking things on the paper they were handed. Both times we were in the very back rows. No one looked disabled, so, I'm not thinking it was the disability pass thing I read about on SFGAW. Whizzer gives me a lot of floater air for some reason. It's a good feeling. The ride doesn't feel any different than last year. It's always a little jerky but otherwise smooth. Next up was Demon and it was about the same as last time. Tried putting my head back and still got the whiplash type of feeling at the end of the inversions-without any physical contact with the headrest. I wouldn't describe Demon as particularly rough and bumpy, but it definitely jerks you around a lot. Line had a couple of the rows in the queue filled, maybe 15 min wait. Next up on X Flight I felt like I pulled the harness down too far and the ride op pushed it in even more. Man did that suck. First time I ever really felt a lot of discomfort with a harness. It was digging into my collar bone and just overall really constricting me. Rode row 4, right side again. Was an awesome ride but I was glad to get out of the harness. Wait time was about 20 min. After a maybe 10 min wait, rode Eagle Blue and felt it was far inferior to Eagle Red. Much more bumpy and rough, less hills at the end. Some wasps were buzzing around the wood to the left of the train on the outside of the structure when we were waiting to head back into the station. Luckily they didn't have any interest in us riders. That was the last of the coasters for us. The coca-cola dance thing wasn't all that interesting. The following flat rides were all about 20 people deep as far as a line, so we waited one cycle before boarding. Whirleygig was good as always, but they made the descent take a couple minutes longer than any other time. Namtab had a really long line. Queue was slightly spilling out. I feel sorry for the people who hadn't been on it who waited all that time. I still don't like riding backward on the Big Easy Balloons. East River Crawler was great. I'd never been on it before. It's like the scrambler/hometown fun machine, triple play, tilt a whirl, and tornado had their best elements all thrown in one ride. Sure I wish it went higher a bit longer, but with such variety, it's hardly worth complaining about. There's still a few rides I haven't been on. Orbit, Fiddler's Fling, V2, Richochet, the one spinner in County Fair, and I think that was it. We tried to hit Ultimate Pretzel at around 9:15 but the line was probably 200 people long and we left for the funnel cake place. A buddy of mine went Friday and told me around 9:30 that he had been in line for Pretzelman for 90 minutes. He got sick of waiting and went on Condor. It looked like only one train was running. Usually that ride is almost a walk up that late at night. The line for the funnel cake place was 5 people long. However, it was absolutely swamped around 9:40ish when we walked by on our way out. We only spotted 5 or so buses all day. Skipping Ignite makes it real easy to leave the parking lot. Do any of you guys know of seats with longer seatbelts on V2 or Batman? I read on a Cedar Point forum that on some coasters you'll have different seatbelt lengths on different seats within the same row.

Can anyone tell me how this place usually is on the 4th?

I'll have to ride it with an empty train and see what happens. I always found all this trim and mid brake stuff kinda weird. It's not impossible to build a ride that runs correctly without all those brakes. I've read that every B&M hyper has trims, although I don't know how accurate it is nowadays.

Raging Trimbrake is a compromised ride IMO. It starts out as an awesome and fast coaster. Then it becomes more about taking you through turns at a slower pace with high g-forces and some slower airtime hills. It's a potential 10/10 ride watered down to a 7/10. The brakes also ruin the pacing, makes it feel less consistent. The elements don't feel as cohesive as they should. It feels more like you get hit with a random hill followed by a random turn, etc, etc. At least someone decided to run it more efficiently. 3 trains. The flash pass person kept the line at bay so we weren't all crowded onto the stairs and the ride ops were attempting to group everyone so there was no empty seats. I saw them do that with giant drop too. Instead of turning Batman backwards, I wish they would've just redone the queue house. You end up with so many empty seats because it overflows and people are stuck on the stairs when some customer walks down and informs the other customers they can fit two more. I guess they could also try to limit the amount of people on the stairs, but that would take some extra staff coordination. It's like they purposely designed it for maximum inefficiency. I don't believe they use brakes for the GP. If they really believed the GP wanted tamer rides, they wouldn't run namtab and designers wouldn't be clamoring to build bigger and bigger coasters. I would argue that the GP craves thrills and big heights a lot more than I do.

Went there yesterday 5-close. Lines were maybe 30 min max for everything. We started with Condor, Balloons, and Whirley gig. Then I think we went to Demon, X Flight, Eagle red, Bull, Viper, and Namtab. We're stuck with row 4 on X Flight due to the seatbelts being so short on the others, but it was an awesome ride on the right side. I think I built up a real coaster tolerance last year because this ride was definitely Batman-esque in its forces. Last year after riding it a bunch, row 4 started to feel pretty tame. The wife leaned into the corkscrews on Demon and no headbanging this time. It's riding about the same as last year. Still havta keep my head away from the headrest or it'll snap back and hit at the end of the loops. I still end up smacking back against the seat on Eagle and Viper. It feels like a very mild whiplash. Viper breaked kind of hard at the end, so the lap bar smashes into my gut and my head smacks the back of the seat lightly. These wooden coasters would be so much better for me if I had a way to brace my torso. Lap bars just kinda leave me flayling at times. Bull is definitely smoother than the woodies but I still think it'd be a much better ride without the trims and mid-course brakes. They really kill the momentum. It ends up feeling too twisty turny instead of fast. The forces aren't too comfortable for me when it does all those slower turns. I think I've read other people say the forces would be more comfortable if the ride went faster. I'd definitely like the ride better if they just removed all those helixy parts altogether if they're going to keep the brakes. I still don't like Namtab. It definitely feels like it pushes the G force to the max almost the whole ride while also causing constant ear banging. My ears were red afterwards. Normally I'd reride Batman 3-4x if I could. I had no such urge with it backwards(it was a walk-up after 9). I'm hoping they don't screw anything up when it goes back to normal. Saw some of Ignite. The singing, like the show earlier near the Iron Wolf queue, sounded slightly out of tune. The stage setup definitely pales in comparison to Cedar Point's big finale. I have never heard such loud, thunderous fireworks before. Probably really makes the neighbors angry. It was fun to watch some of it from Namtab's lift.

I tried to stop there quick around 4:30 today on my way to Milwaukee. Bad idea. Must've been about 20 buses. The GSA had the security lines far longer and slower than the TSA. There were maybe 4 lanes open and I had a way easier time clearing airport security and customs the last few trips I've taken. Way easier than this mess. They keep letting people cut too. One family member or friend will be in line and then their whole extended family of 10 more people just bowls through everyone to get where they are. It wasn't bad the last time I was there. And I went at a more peak time of day. The second lot wasn't that full. Think we were parked around Robin 54. The line was moving so slow that we just left. Seemed like they were at a pace of about one person per minute. I wonder if we really need all this bag searching along with the tiny seatbelts some coasters have. If they're so worried about gangbangers and whatnot bringing weapons, there's gotta be other ways to dissuade them from going. Six Flags should consider a longer season. A lot of the weather we've had so far hasn't been all that much different than a lot of days during the offseason. Seems like people will still go if it's cold and/or raining. I've heard there's been a lot of cheap tickets sold this year so maybe that has something to do with the crowd size. That might have a bigger impact than weather.

Went there both Sunday and Monday. Something felt off. I think the air pressure with the colder weather changes stuff. First time I noticed pressure changes on Sky Trek Tower. For some reason I didn't find the rides all that fun. This was the first time I felt dizzy after riding Pretzelman. Everything felt more intense than I remember and I was in row 3. Not sure if it was the cold weather or me having had bronchitis a few weeks ago, but it was difficult to breathe on the turns. Viper was running really good, less bumpy than last year. Airtime machine, although I don't find ejector air to be the most pleasant sensation. Was about 5 rows from the very back. Still got that catapult effect on the first drop. Whizzer gave me a lot of lift airtime. More than I recall. Since my wife decided she didn't want to go to the park due to not fitting on backwards Batman, I got to ride Demon by myself back in the middle. I never thought it was scramblin my brains when riding it before but it felt this way. The restraint dug into my right shoulder. Feels like I pulled it down further than ever even though I'm 8 pounds heavier than last fall. I wouldn't describe Demon as being rough. Intense for sure. Everything feels way more intense than when I was last at Fright Fest. Maybe I went so much last year that I built up a tolerance. Looked like X-Flight was running one train with a line that would be 25 minutes with two trains going, so I skipped it Monday. Whizzer was maybe a ten min line Monday and Sunday. Demon was a walk-up. Pretzelman was a walk up Sunday around 8. I rode Batman backwards once and wasn't really all that enthused. The stuff that I like about the ride is missing and just about every part felt like it was pushing the G force to the max of what I can stand. Will probably try it a couple more times. I'm going to try and head back soon.

Got to ride Canyon Blaster in Vegas a couple times. Rows were the first in the last and 2nd to last cars. It doesn't pause on the lift hill like Demon. It starts going at top speed when you get to the top just like when I sit in the back of Demon. The drop is almost identical. Lifted my knees up once the airtime hit. I think it's close to ejector air sitting in the very back. Loops are a bit smoother than Demon. The quick banked turn after is crazy, ejects you pretty good before you hit the corkscrews. Ride is still smooth although some particle flew into my eye on the turn. The stuff inside the canyon after the corkscrews is kinda useless. Overall, the ride felt faster and smoother than Demon. You get a little bit of the Batman dizzy feeling after the ride is over due to the bombardment of elements. It is definitely a Batman type feel on an Arrow model. I prefer it to coasters that have space between everything. I wanted to ride Desert Storm in Phoenix since it's got some pretty tall loops and uses lap bars. Wasn't enough time to do that, so it may happen in a few months. They really need a good theme park there. Too bad all we got here for the GA offseason is Safari Land and Mt Olympus.

I was told by a guy in guest relations that the crowd today is "huge" and "that's the only way you're gonna get on rides" when I asked if we'd need a flash pass. It kind of makes me wonder what the whole point of it all is. Just comes off like they're trying to cram as many people as possible into the place with no thought as to how it should be handled. I'm sure that's been obvious enough to everyone here for a while. Looks like they know they're overstuffing the place as well. Unfortunately I can't come up with much of a solution. These type of days are probably a no-win situation for most everyone unless you want to load up everyone in your party with Plat Passes.

Don't go today. Got in around noon and both the Super Pretzel and Batman lines were just overflowing. A little bit later and everything is insane. Demon was even overflowing past its entrance. X Flight was down to Buccaneer Battle. Viper was down but came back up once we got to the tollway. Whizzer hadn't overflowed by 2:30ish. Eagle I think was almost at the point of overflowing. Raging Bull was overflowing til it was parallel with the tea cups. Probably by a couple hundred people. Tons of people were still streaming in. A million buses again. I suspect the lines are going to be horrible all day. Never seen such a long flash pass line. Must've been 100 people waiting for it. I might go back tomorrow after finding some funds for a couple platinum passes and a new season pass(that SP line was probably over 200 people as well). There was still a lot of spaces in the back of the lot when we left. We got a pretty close space when we got there. Looks can be deceiving, I suppose.

One would think 5-10k would be more than enough people. When I called Sunday I was also told there were a ton of pace buses Saturday. If only we had a good indoor place somewhere in the area to split the crowds some and give a theme park option for the 7 months or so GA is closed.

I was there last weekend and last night very briefly. Batman is definitely more intense with an empty train. We went back to row 7. Got another good, empty yellow train ride on Demon. No problems for anyone there. However, we've never rode the yellow train full. The knee lift, arms up method I used on Viper worked well on Eagle too. Everything last night after we arrived at ten PM was a walk up except Pretzelman. We got there today around 7 and were greeted by a "park crowded, please come back another day" message on their electronic sign that's visible from the tollway. They weren't joking. Six Flags pkwy might've had more traffic than Grand Ave. It was insane with tons of people leaving and entering. Lots of people walking too. There were probably upwards of 30 buses. I thought ten buses in August was bad, but there were so many so deep in the lot that I couldn't count them all. Unfortunately, I couldn't see how the actual lot looked. I was really caught offguard by the amount of people there. Last weekend a flash pass wasn't even necessary for the few hours we were there. I would definitely recommend calling ahead of time if you plan on going. I don't live down the street or anything either, so it's sometimes random when we decide to drop by.

So we made it out from 3-6 on Monday. Crowd was about the same as last weekend. No Flash Pass needed since we avoided Super Pretzel. Eagle, and RB. Started with the balloons. We'd never been on it and I thought it was pretty good. Then to the Whirlygig. Batman was next. Line was full to the end of the inner queue about where the squad car is. Ended up riding row 2 again since that was the shortest line for some reason. Right outside seat. This felt like riding row 8, sort of. Pretty different from when we rode it during that season pass holder hour where the train was just us about 4 people in the front. It didn't have a launch feel with the full train. X-Flight in back row left side felt same as usual. Line wasn't too far past the tower so probably an under 30 min wait. We got to Demon with a less than 5 min line and rode a full train this time, the red one. No whiplash smacking the back of my skull into the headrest on the 2nd loop. The yanking feeling entering the first corkscrew was back. Wife got headbanging a little. We sat in the exact same seats as last time when we had the mostly empty train and yellow. On Viper this time I tried to figure out what I could do to make the ride more comfortable. I'm not usually the type that puts his hands up, but I did it here because I felt it might be worth a shot. It ended up balancing my body so it kinda stayed in one place once I tucked my feet under the seat and lifted my knees. We were the 5th to the back row. We finished with Whizzer. This time I tried the second to last seat. Great speed back there. Even some airtime.

Went yesterday at 3 PM. No Flash Pass necessary. There wasn't really much time to see a lot of the FF specific stuff after LAFF and Susan Rosen shows. I liked LAFF better last year. It felt like it had a stronger narrative. This one felt more like a standard music show style. They had two of the Kick It Up people as the leads. The hypnosis show was really good. I still find it hard to believe it's possible to do. We rode the following: Whizzer: Very back seat for me. Much better speed than in the middle or front. Batman: Row 8 daytime. Think I sat on the left outside seat. We did the season pass holder thing for it at 9. This time I rode row 8 Left outside seat. Then row 2 outside left and row 4 right middle. I would've gladly gone on some more but the wife had enough. The L outside seats are more intense. Puts more forces on your feet and legs. Row 4 in the middle was kinda neutral. Row 2 was interesting. Totally different than anything from row 3 backwards. You don't get to be part of the pre-drop kick as you're already waiting down the track. What you do get is a feeling sorta like Maverick when it launches you out of the tunnel...for the whole ride. You're just quickly shot over the inversions. Positive G forces are quite a bit stronger in this row as far as I can tell. There's no hang-time on the loops like in the back rows. Maybe positive Gs are stronger in the front and negative in the back? That probably goes for all coasters. What I notice after riding this one more and more is that it's the only coaster there that I really like each part of. It never loses momentum, never feels uncomfortable, a lot of variety in the directions it goes in, and it's so graceful in its intensity and forcefulness. Riding on the R outside makes me feel like it's a more complete experience compared to the other seats. Eagle: Blue row, second car. Might've been row 5 or 6. Lot of shaking and vibrating but overall a pretty good ride. Didn't feel like Mean Streak in the helix's end again. X-Flight: Very back row, L outside seat. I haven't been in the outside seat in a while. Plenty of foot choppers. The ride is a little disorienting due to the lack of light. Other than that nothing really changed much from my previous ride experiences. Demon: Sat in the second to last row. No headbanging for the wife like there was in the front and middle. The train is already running full speed by the time you reach the top of the lift. Coming down off the second loop the ride whiplashes the back of my skull into the headrest, but not with any real force. It's nothing painful. It feels smoother back here despite what I've read about it being rougher. The theming is awesome for FF. The best atmosphere of any of the coasters. We re-rode this one. Raging Bull: Row 6 this time. Didn't really change much from being further up. There are parts of this ride I really like and parts that I don't. I think it would have a much more consistent flow if they took out the trims and the mid-course brakes. Trims on that hill just feel awkward. RB seems to be at its best when it's in the parts that run at full speed. Viper: Went to the very back of the middle trains, sat on the outside row for the first time in a while. No yanking ejector air on the drops in this row. I feel like I need a crash helmet or some pads riding this. It's constantly slamming me back into the seat and headrest, especially if I sit back against it like the ride instructs. That was sort of an issue on other rides, but more a consistent problem on this one. It's not an especially violent slamming, but it is irritating. That said, this ride never really has a dull moment. I would take it over Eagle. I like the outer seat better too. Super Pretzel: Back to row 4 this time. L side outer seat for me. I'm not sure if that makes much a difference. This is probably my least favorite of the coasters I went on. The pretzel loop is fun and all, but the ride seriously sucks after that. Feels like you're just kinda going in circle shapes til the corkscrew. I'm not a huge fan of the flying position either. I would never spend time waiting for this unless someone I'm with insists on going. We went on Triple Play for the first time. That's a pretty good ride. It's decently long too.

On X Flight I fall into the top of the harness, especially on the last inversion after the keyhole. I was never quite sure if we'd still be secure if there was no harness. I did hear about some coaster where people stayed in when the harnesses failed due to cen force, just not sure if that would apply when you're hanging upside down so long. The crowds at GA are far different than those at CP. Don't know about other SF parks, but I'd take the CP crowd over GA in a second. Much tamer. Don't know how much that has to do with the setup of the parks. At GA it feels like you're bombarded by midway games at every turn.

Seems like there isn't a real one size fits all solution. X Flight doesn't give me any problems. I've got a slimmish 5'11 build. The way it hangs you upside down, I feel like I'd fall out if it didn't have OTS restraints. Seems like it's long enough to where it's defying centrifugal force.

Got back from Cedar Point. While I'm not interested in turning this into a CP discussion, I see how going to different parks can be useful in learning about the overall general theme park experience. They had some promotion my wife signed up for. Buy one ticket and get another free. Something like that. Guess Sat was the legit ticket and sunday was the free one. Might've been an evening ticket. Someone there told us Sat afternoon that we could swap the days since we'd be arriving late. That we could go to the park when we arrived Sat night. The hotel worker said she couldn't give us whatever to go to the park for the last hour Sat unless we paid extra, but that we could at least go all day Sunday. Given how late it was and how far their equivalent of GA's guest services is from Breakers, I didn't see a point in arguing as we'd get maybe 5-10 min at the park at best. Haven't had any real trouble with GA's guest services. Most of what we rode were trains full of empty seats as everything was a walk up aside from Maverick. I think I'm going to havta try Whizzer in the very back. Iron Dragon is sort of like CP's equivalent, and it was kinda dull in the middle. In the last car that thing was running way faster, enough to give some legit roughness in a couple spots. If we hadn't done the second ride, I'd have a very different opinion of the ride. I'm so glad we have Batman instead of Raptor. The first drop on both gives some mild floater air in row 8. We did row 7 for the first ride and it was kinda dull in comparison to 8. Batman's first loop is much more intense. Raptor just soars over it with no real intensity. Once it gets to the cobra roll, it kinda loses its momentum whereas Batman hits you with another intense loop. For some reason it seemed like the mid-course brakes didn't slow Raptor much the first time, but it did the second. It would really suck if Batman had those. I'd havta ride Raptor more to give a more valid opinion on the corkscrews vs Batman. They felt more spaced out, which I didn't like. Toward the end of Raptor those spirals get very intense. Got that same grey out type feeling that I got in Batman row 8 on the 1st loop. So far in my riding history, these inverted coasters seem to push the G-forces the most of everything I've gone on. Having more experience on coasters since I first went to CP has really helped to accurately notice the rides. I never rode Iron Wolf and I'm not sure if GA will ever get another standup coaster, but I don't know that it's a completely obsolete type of ride just yet. I'm still figuring out a lot on these things. First thing I noticed is that on my 2nd Mantis ride I was able to still adjust the restraint. I pulled the harness closer when on the lift hill(and this happens a lot on GA rides too) and the ride allowed me to stand up some more before the thing behind me locked. I thought the thing was supposed to lock altogether before the lift so you couldn't stand up more or slouch down. I liked row 3 better than 7 on this. 7 was more intense but on this ride it gives some light ear-banging and more force pushing my legs into the floor. 7 had that pre-drop B&M kick that 3 did not. That's one thing I really like about the B&M inverts. If there were trims on the first drop, I couldn't hear them or notice any deceleration. I need to ride Green Lantern and Riddler's Revenge. I wonder if Iron Wolf got fixed up in its new home. I've heard over and over about how much of a headbanger it turned into. If GA puts a new coaster in the place of IW, something like Maverick may not be a bad choice. Wish they'd put these type of restraints on all the rides with some kind of lap bar. It's like a combo of lap bar and OTS but better than both. I just wish the handles were on the OTS and not on the lap portion. It's a rush type of ride like Batman. I think there's a good amount of room for improvement too and an improved version is something I wouldn't mind seeing here. First time on this I rode row 2. Held the handles. Got some neck-banging. It wasn't too enjoyable. That was puzzling bc I liked it in July. Something happened that they had to manually unload everyone at the end of the ride and we all had to give our names. Overheard something about a leg injury. Anyone I directly asked just said "mechanical issues". It was up and running later and we went on again. This time row 4. Much, much better for me. I held the OTS where handles would be on a B&M. No neckbanging. Hard to say whether I'd take Maverick row 4 over Batman row 8. If GA could get something that was longer with more inversions and air which also never lost momentum, they'd really have something. Brings me to another thing. I hate ejector air in the back of Viper on some of the drops bc of the lap bar. Just lets my torso smack around too much and allows too much force to yank my body downward. Maverick has ejector air but the OTS seems to prevent the discomfort I get on lap bar coasters. Blue Streak at CP is sorta like Viper in some ways. Not the ejector air but the constant up and down which just does a number on me. Lifting me out of the seat, crashing back down. Smacking my torse back and forth on the seat behind me. I'm thinking an OTS harness would prevent this. Only rode BS once in the back this time. Last time I didn't feel beat up by it so it may be like Viper in that I need a tamer ride in the front. Gatekeeper looks like a monster of a coaster that should trounce X-Flight. I'm not sure that it will, but it's 2:40 and has more height and near misses. I forget how many inversions. We'll see if it generates a buzz. I don't think the general public gets as excited about new coasters nowadays. Not like what I remember in the heyday of Shockwave, Iron Wolf, and Batman. How I wish they'd kept GA raceway. This time we rode the raceway type ride that's near Maverick after our 2nd ride on it. That was a lot of fun. It's great to have a tame flat ride to go on after a high speed coaster. Unfortunately, GA seems to have done away with anything remotely tame unless it's in the kid's section. CP's Roaring Rapids type ride was closed, so I couldn't ride that. Looks like GA already drained RR here too. Rode Corkscrew in the back. This time I noticed the supports on the inversions. Makes it look like Shockwave Jr. Those supports might make Demon a better ride. Corkscrew has these seats that have extra padding or something in the middle sticking out. I didn't like that. My wife claims Corkscrew doesn't have the roughness that Demon does. I found Corkscrew to be a tad bumpy where we were. My head clears the OTS for the most part so there's little chance of me experiencing headbanging on these Arrow coasters, although I've heard a few other complaints about Demon doing that. I've also read that people thought Shockwave would've been better with lap bars. I've never ridden an upside down coasters with lap bars, but it doesn't sound fun. Maybe I'll try that one at Castle's and Coasters next time I go to Arizona. Corkscrew also got stuck on the lift a bit later on. A ride op walked out and then a few min later the ride started back. Onto more about lap bars. Magnum XL. It's like Raging Bull meets a brutal wood coaster. First 2 drops felt a lot like the first drop on RB. I think MXL only goes 48 mph though. I didn't feel like it was slower. That part was good. Toward the end it becomes unbearably brutal. Lots of thigh-smashing for me and abdominal-smashing for the wife. Looks like it even bruised the back of my right thigh. The guy from Incredible coasters was saying how that part was so fun you won't care what it does to your thighs. I think we rode this one toward the front. 3rd row maybe. I can't say for sure what would happen if it'd be better with an OTS harness. Shoulder-smashing? I'm thinking it wouldn't be too bad. We went on the mine train this time. I remember reading the incredible coasters dude comparing Pretzelman to a mine train and there did seem to be some similarities. My wife was saying the blue power tower wasn't as forceful as Giant Drop. Guess the red one shoots you up fast and drops you slow. I don't know that I care to go on Giant Drop again since it's such a freefall but the variety of Power Tower might lead me to try that one at some point. I'd still take GA over CP despite CP being better in some ways. Hopefully I can make it to Fright Fest 2-3 times or more.

Didn't go Sat or Sun since rain was forecast, but looks like I should have. Made it out there yesterday for a little bit. Long lines to get in. The GSA was checking every bag. Also got some paper on the rules from the parking attendant. Front lot full sign was up but we got a decently closed space. There were others open even further up. Looked like a good amount of people there but the lines weren't very long. Longest on the chart was Pretzelman with 45 minutes. Mainly went back to get another Roaring Rapids ride in and try Buccaneer Battle. RR's line was basically back to the end before it would spill out. Took maybe 15-20 min. Another good ride. Wish it was a tad longer. The last couple cannons didn't go off. Not that I'm complaining. Next we tried Batman row 8. Line was back to the inner queue. Moved pretty well. Maybe 20-25 minutes. Row 8 was awesome. My favorite so far. My enthusiasm was back. Maybe the heat makes these things run faster. You definitely feel the pre-drop kick and the drop with more force than row 7. I'm not sure if I greyed out on the first loop. It felt like I sorta drifted off, but it could have just been the blinding sun in my face pushing me to close my eyes too. These inversions are noticeably more intense in the 8th row. BB was fun but comes short of being good. The cannons require a lot of effort like I read elsewhere. They aren't capable of shooting far enough to get a lot of the targets too. We wanted to go on X Flight again but had to be at Allstate Arena. I didn't feel any brain freeze type headache so I felt game for all the coasters. Demon was a walk-up from what we saw on the train. X Flight's line went back underneath the tower, so probably a half hour wait. Whizzer had one of the bigger lines there. We didn't check Southwest territory. Figured out a good solution to the security issue. Got a waist pack from K-Mart for $9 last week and used this waterproof pouch we bought from the Gurnee Walmart last year. Water never really got into the waist pack, even on BB. We just used a smart carte for the Blue bottle while I kept the pack on the last few times. Those smart cartes have messed up on us 3x so far this year. That probably amounts to 15-20% of the time it won't open or eats the money.

if anyone is thinking about going today, I just talked to someone in guest relations after waiting about 15 min. She said they're staying open til 9 regardless of weather(read that we can expect T-storms til 5 or 6 in Gurnee). She also told me that they closed at 6 last Sunday because it was the last week with weekday operations, something like that. Didn't make a lot of sense.

Was there most all Sat and Sun. Should've ridden Roaring Rapids earliest but don't like to be soaked afterwards. Always ends up being the ride we miss due to weather or other issues. Saturday we used a regular flash pass. Even with that, we sometimes were doin other stuff well past the time we were allowed to ride something. Still, we rode just about everything we wanted. In riding and re-riding coasters, I find that my opinion shifts a lot. X-Flight in the very back left was definitely my favorite out of everything Sat. Rode it again Sunday, 4th row right and very back left and felt like it wasn't as exciting as Sat. Seemed slower with more upside down hangtime. The ending helix felt rougher Sunday. Rode Batman twice on Sat and 3x Sunday. Row 6 once, 7 3x, and 4 once. Definitely like 7 the best. 4 was a re-ride after 7. Our ears ended up forcibly touching the restraint some in that row. Doesn't give as much whip on the inversions. We're goin for row 8 next time. G-forces seem different further up. I'm thinking it's the forces that push you into your seat that are stronger. Pretty sure that's the positive Gs. This was definitely the case in riding Demon in the very front(the only time I've ridden anything in the very front). The forces pushing us into the seat were way stronger on me in the front row. The floater air on the first drop occurred later and was less than when I've ridden Demon further back. I tried counting down Giant Drop but that didn't work. Cool ride but I don't think I'll go on it much more. They were dropping it as soon as it got to the top Sunday. Superman was down for testing a little bit Sunday, but not much. Think we did row 4 Sat and 7 Sunday. The pretzel loop and overall ride felt more intense in 7. 6 seemed like a good middle ground. I still find Raging Bull to be a bit too bumpy for my tastes. Something at GA gives me a slight brain-freeze style headache everytime I go and RB just aggravates it. Eagle was only running two trains on red Sunday. Overall a good ride but that end part of the helix seems to have even stronger Mean Streak style roughness than the blue side. We only rode Viper Sat. Row 7, I think. It's definitely the most fun in the back, but also the most physically aggravating too. I might just take ibuprofen and go to the back again next time. Batman was very consistent, didn't feel different in the rain. The more I ride it, the less urge I have to re-ride. When I first started riding coasters again last month, I really wished I could re-ride everything right away. Sunday had lines that only went as far back as the flash pass entrance on Batman, x Flight, and Superman. Those lines turned into a walk up shortly thereafter. The other stuff was basically a walk up all day til 5:30 when we left. It was maybe between 1 and 2 that they announced the early closing due to low attendance or whatever. I forget where I heard the low attendance part. Condor was open a bit and they closed it maybe around 2. We did hear another season pass holder say she just showed up at 4. I'm just glad this wasn't Cedar Fair. If we were at Cedar Point I bet they'd have closed everything. Last time we were there they closed almost everything because of strong wind. MF was open. Corkscrew ended up with a huge line and all these fast lane people kept popping up. Probably turned our 10-15 minute wait into a 45 min wait. Iron Dragon ran. Maverick was open with a 2 hour line, I think. Mantis too, if I recall. I've heard their rain policy is more strict than their wind one. Yankee Clipper was closed both days, if I remember. Roaring Rapids ran Sunday. Log Jam might've. Don't recall Whizzer being open. We were very surprised at Sat having weekday-like attendance. We'll probably be going next weekend and then every weekend of Fright Fest. We have another Cedar Point trip the last regular weekend of GA. Hopefully we'll get to some of the other Six Flags parks next year.

Hello everyone First off, thanks for all the great info. It's been helpful on my visits to the park this year. Went a couple times last year after not going for about 18 years. Got over my fear of heights enough to ride the coasters. The only other parks I've ridden coasters at are Cedar Point and the Indoor Mt Olympus. Batman is still my fav coaster by far with Maverick coming in second. The wife and I bought season passes along with dining and parking. Our first visit was early last month and we've gone about 6 or 7 times total. Lines seemed to get worse and worse the closer to August it got. Last time there was 8/5, if I recall. We are most likely going today and next Sunday. Then most weekends til the park closes for the season. Even with the Gold Pass, Superman had an over 40 minute wait. Batman broke down and some people said they had been waiting 2 hours. First time I've seen them open the very back part of the queue for that one. Eagle's wait was over an hour so we said forget it. X Flight's queue looked like it was overflowing. Even the Scrambler was a good half hour wait. I prefer GA to Cedar in terms of atmosphere and ride consistency. I'm kind of surprised at all the hype about Cedar and the lack of hype about GA. The only thing I really like better about Cedar is their locking ride bins and their locker system. The prices are better and you just type in a 4 digit code. The smart carte papers are a pain. When it's been more low key I didn't have a problem getting a ride op to hold the paper for me in their pocket on Roaring Rapids. When it's busy all I seem to get is this rigid "we can't be responsible" attitude. Still found one dude on Log Jam that held it for me after I explained how silly it is for them to give paper print outs and not have locking bins. I forget if the non-ride lockers have paper or not. They are a lot more expensive than Cedar's. When I have left stuff in a GA bin, it's been safe aside from one stolen Blue sports bottle on Batman. Maybe someone grabbed it by mistake. Once again I got that whole "we're not responsible" attitude from most everyone. First thing out of their mouths and I wasn't asking them to give me another one or anything. The attitudes of the employees get noticeably worse when it's extremely crowded. On weekdays we've gone where there isn't an overflowing crowd, they're pretty cool about things. Didn't care about me bringing a small bag on Whizzer aside from the last time. I believe most of the rides had an hour plus wait on the 5th if you weren't using a flash pass. Plenty of people were re-riding with Plat Passes then too. First time I saw that. Usually we get Gold passes if there's crazy lines. Seems like the only solution to the belongings problem is to find a waterproof container that the ride ops don't care about me bringing on. As for the rides: Demon: Felt smooth and easygoing last October. This time it felt much more intense in the corkscrews. Wife got pretty beat up by it. I'm tall enough that I can't have my head banged on the restraints. Avoided the back per comments I've read. We were probably in the 4th or 5th row. May or may not ride it again this year. Eagle: Ride quality varies. Early last month it felt relaxing and smooth on both sides when we rode after 9. Almost always between rows 3-6, I think. The more recent rides have felt rougher and faster. Very brief parts of it toward the end of the helix on the blue felt like Mean Streak. I never felt like my chest was going to explode like it did on Mean Streak, but it would've felt like that had Eagle maintained the roughness for more than the brief second or two. Think we rode it around 8ish the last couple times. Someone I know rode it last week and said it was very bumpy too. Roaring Rapids: Sucked the first time we rode it maybe 3 weeks ago. Seemed to be moving slow, kept hitting walls, and never got any momentum. Last time was awesome on the 5th. Good speed, good momentum the whole time. Wish they'd take out the water cannons as they don't feel necessary. Log Jam: Rode it once on the 5th. Smells like Brookfield Zoo. Fun ride but banged my shin and ankle on the drop like I suspected I would. Viper: Rode it in the back a couple times as most everyone said it's best there. Felt like I was about to be catapulted out of my seat on the first drop. That gives me a slight headache. Definitely a great and underrated ride. The last time we rode in row 4. Felt like the train got stuck at the top and then finally went over the first drop. Felt kind of dull in comparison to the back, but I had also just ridden Raging Bull in row 4. Raging Bull: Didn't ride this til after going to Cedar as I don't really like heights. RB looks small in comparison to stuff there. I'm not a huge fan of these type of coasters, so, when they didn't let my wife ride MF, I didn't bother to go on it alone. I really prefer looping coasters. This is a pretty fun ride. When riding in row 3 I felt that it was pretty smooth. Then I rode row 4 and felt like all the float and fall was a bit rougher. Maybe the trains feel different? I wonder what this would be like without the trim and mid-course brakes. Batman: My fav, by far. Early last month it felt like it was running slower. Didn't feel the amount of force I felt last Fright Fest. Rode in the middle. Thankfully it feels forceful again. We always ride row 6 or 7. I love that the ride never lets up. Even the helixes are exciting. Sometimes I wish it had a couple more inversions, but I never feel like the ride lacks. Raptor seems to lose its momentum some. It also looks to be somewhat rusty. Batman never feels lacking when the ride's over. I'm looking forward to one day trying Montu, Alpengeist, etc, but I'm pretty sure I'll still prefer Batman. Superman: The pretzel loop has about the most intense g-force I've felt on a ride, but it's pretty dull after that. Totally don't understand the lines this thing generates. Seems more intense the further back we ride. X Flight: Rode it maybe 4 times. Middle right, middle left, and last in the very back left. Fun ride with some good forces, but it doesn't seem to get better the more I ride it. The first drop is really crazy and the rest is really good, but I usually leave feeling like "that's it". Was much more exhilarating the first two times I went on it. Looks like the flash pass only leads to the right side. Whizzer: Almost always the first thing we go on. Kind of bored with it at this point. Maybe I need to try it at night. Giant Drop: Probably the scariest thing at the park. Blind guy next to me counted it down perfectly. Will probably go on it again but it's the only ride I feel hesitant about beforehand. We rode Dark Knight at FF and didn't think much of it. My wife liked V2 but they wouldn't let her ride it this time although they let her on last FF. I'm not dyin to go on it either way. After riding the mouse coaster at Mt Olympus, we haven't gone on Ragin Cajin. It's not like the mouse coaster sucked that bad, but my wife doesn't like all the spinning and I'd rather ride the other stuff. I'm hoping that the parks gets something like Maverick some day. There's all these cutting edge coasters I read about or see on TV and it feels like it's all passed GA by. I remember when GA was the cutting edge place. X flight is good, but I could see how it'll be passed up by better wing coasters eventually. Superman and Raging Bull both seem to be more popular. We're going back to Cedar soon. I'm most looking forward to Iron Dragon. Maverick is great but it's so forceful that somehow my left hand fingertips were numb after. I never rode Iron Wolf but I heard how bad it was at the end. The wife says Mantis is how IW used to feel. To me Mantis wasn't that good. Lot of force pushing down on my legs. I'll try other stand ups but I am not that big on the idea. Inverteds are probably my favorite type of seating. We haven't tried to re-ride anything, although I see how it could be done. The ride ops rarely try to fill empty seats. They really should considering how horrible the lines are. Luckily people often let us go in front of them bc they want to keep their group together. One time on Batman a non-employee walked down the stairs to let everyone know that the non-front rows had no line. Guess the front row line was overflowing. I've never ridden anything front row. I think I prefer the back due to the difference in forces, aside from RB and Viper where I want less force. A ride op on Sky Trek tower told us people throw up on that ride more often than you would think. We've seen all the basic shows. Good stuff. Love at first fright is probably the best. Screams and Dreams 2 was cool. Vibe of the park seemed more magical back then. The glow in the park parade is really good. Seems like the overall theming has gotten weaker over time. Other then that, not much else to say. Thanks again for the info and I look forward to more discussion.