thrillseeker4552

Thanks for the photos! Wow, it's like my childhood visits all over again! That was right around the time I started getting big enough to ride things and my family would take me quite often. The park has changed so much over the years, mostly for the better, unless you count their bad operations or them destroying Monte!

Even if it does end up with seatbelts, hopefully they click to the outside like a standard OTSR rather than a lap belt underneath. Those outside seatbelts are hardly disruptive to operations compared to the lap belts underneath the restraint. The trains look great. As long as they don't ride like a shopping cart on asphalt (like Zamperla's Thunderbolt model does...) then I am all in. And those have got to be the largest road wheel diameter for any coaster that I've seen. Even bigger than the B&M Gigas.

For what it's worth, I visited on a Friday in mid-January 2021 and everything was open (even the Chaos, which I'm very happy I got a ride on). No maintenance closures that day from what I noticed. This was also during the height of COVID. I think the park closes some weekdays during this time so make sure you check their hours - but if the park is open I think it's safe to assume the two main coasters will be open, barring any unique circumstances.

Post-COVID might be a different story (others please chime in if so). But I went in mid-December 2019 and every coaster was open. Weather sat in the 50s most of the day and dipped down to the low 40s at night and everything remained open. It was actually a wonderful time, and my first time at the park. HITP is such a great event (or at least it was great that year... Six Flags has changed a lot recently so take it with a grain of salt). Although I suppose Aquaman may be closed. For weather, or "maintenance" or both, or no reason.... so maybe don't hold out hope for that one. I went back in July this year and Aquaman was incredibly unreliable and on-off all day.

This will be a wonderful addition to the park and, like you said, very long overdue. This was by far the most surprising and unexpected 2024 announcement for me. Even with the Bobsled closing... I still wasn't expecting this. lol

What a great (and unexpected) addition! I love to see B&M expanding more into the family coaster market with this and Penguin Trek. Living between the two parks, I am very interested and excited to see how these turn out next year!

Xcelerator being closed is frustrating but at least we know there is progress and some things are out of their control. The REAL question mark right now in my opinion is Montezooma. They never really officially announced what they're doing to the ride in detail, never released any concept animation outside of new station theming and a glance at the trains. Nothing has visibly changed in a year and the park has hardly acknowledged the project aside from saying it wouldn't open this summer. I have to wonder who they hired for that project, and I'm even more baffled why it wasn't Gerstlauer given their history with refurbishing Schwarzkopfs and a presumed relationship with the park after adding HangTime. It's a good thing the park has GhostRider, HangTime, and Silver Bullet operating reliably. Two of the parks' Top 5 coasters have been down for almost 2 years with no end in sight.

Yeah ever since it started cresting the top at a lift hill's pace, the launch really doesn't seem to be as "necessary" other than the excitement of launching up the hill and the gimmick. As someone who visited Dollywood for the first time this year and found LRod closed all day and not a soul in sight, I am 100% for this change. I also love Dollywood's transparency about this. Can't wait to visit again next year!

I know this wasn't intentional but I like that the zero g roll up into the spike is a little happy-accident nod to Batman & Robin the Chiller before they had their rolls removed. I call this a win. Finally some new age Vekoma in the states. I really hope this along with the family boomerangs coming, and rides like Big Bear, really propels Vekoma's presence here outside Disney.

Similar to SeaWorld/Busch, which are also outrageous. I don't think you can get a meal and drink for under $20 there.

^I understand what you're saying. I almost feel like Zambezi Zinger would've been a better fit at this park, and Iron Menace would've been better at Worlds of Fun. Just interesting to think about and not a complaint either way. It's very refreshing to see Cedar Fair throw their small park a bone - and a B&M at that! Between this ride, Wildcat's Revenge, and whatever is coming to SFGAdv, I definitely need to hit up this area of the country again next summer!

This ride would definitely fill a few voids in the lineup (launched, spinning, water) and I'm happy to see Six Flags potentially work with Intamin again. Let's just hope they can keep this ride open and somewhat reliable. Intamin + Six Flags isn't exactly a winning combo for operational consistency.

Glad to hear. It is interesting that Cedar Fair is repairing and restoring one of their hydraulic launches, and converting/reimagining the other (obviously different situations with different histories but still). Makes me wonder if when Xcelerator inevitably has another major repair/closure in the next 2-5 years if that will be their final straw and they will Zamperla-ify it - assuming TT2 goes well - or just straight up remove the ride, or continue to repair it.

What a great addition, I definitely didn't see this one coming. The more modern Vekomas we can get in the US the better! Even if they're family boomerangs! Lots of Cedar Fair parks have quite outdated children/family coasters in their Snoopy areas. I would love this to become a trend in the chain.

There have been some testing videos shared on social media over the last couple weeks, and some progress on the station and entrance walkway to the ride. I would be very surprised if it opens this season. Given it's already late July, I think 2024 is more likely. They begun work on this ride in early 2019 (maybe even fall 2018). People gave Disney a lot of crap for Tron taking so long but this isn't too far behind lol. I guess they're really spreading out the investment.