thrillseeker4552

What a nice surprise. I am be interested to see if this is the new family hybrid coaster model RMC recently announced. But even a Raptor clone would be great here. Yay for new coasters in 2022! With this and the random new Gerstlauer, maybe next year won't be a dud after all and some parks are still willing to invest.

I agree about the lineup "plunging off a cliff" after the top 4. Copperhead Strike was a wonderful addition since it somewhat filled the "middle ground" gap but, yeah, still very unequal. Honestly, their lineup would drastically improve if they *removed* both Nighthawk and Vortex, then maybe RMC Hurler and add a GCI at some point. But now I'm dreaming. Thanks for the report!

That really does suck for those who already planned vacations. I would be furious, honestly. And it's not like they cancelled some dates that are several months out. It's a matter of a few weeks away - well within the "we already have everything booked and ready to go" for vacationers. I hope the park accommodates these visitors. The park is probably expecting lots of angry phone calls and emails. Glad to see they raised the wage to $20/hr though. That is probably very enticing for a lot of people, especially those from far away who would need to stay in housing and want a bigger wage to make the move worth it.

Completely off-topic question, but how are crowds usually on Labor Day weekend? Was Labor Day last year when the park completely hit capacity or something? I've been itching to get back to the park (haven't been since 2017) and with things looking much closer to "normal" this year, I'm thinking of staying at Breakers (for the first time, wow it's expensive) over Labor Day weekend and spending 3 days at the park. I would probably splurge on FL+ anyway, but I'm curious what the operations/staffing is like around that time.

I've been going to the park regularly since 2010 and have never seen it. I had to sit and observe the coaster for 20 minutes to ensure it was three trains since I couldn't believe it. Crazy stuff. But like I said, constant double stacking.

Had a “fine” visit to the park yesterday. My first time in 14 months. I say “fine” because most of my enthusiasm was a result of me simply being excited to be back in the park riding coasters. But it definitely wasn’t a smooth visit. Full Throttle was closed all day, and Twisted Colossus was closed until about 2pm. The first half of the day was quite nice. Lines were short and I rode 7 coasters in just a couple hours. After lunch, the crowds significantly increased and coasters were posting massive lines. We used our Diamond Elite skips on Tatsu (just before it sold out) and Viper, since other rides were unavailable or closed. Operations were pretty bad, letting in WAY too many Flash Pass people rather than pulling from the regular line (plus random groups of 10+ that show up at the exit and fill up a train - what is up with that?). This was prevalent at Twisted Colossus, and was made worse by 2-train operations. Luckily they were filling most rows. The B&Ms had pretty normal operations. They were blocking off every other row, but if a party had more than 4 people, they could fill up consecutive rows. Kinda confusing, but overall those lines moved fine. X2 was operating 100% normally and had a very tolerable line (we waited 45 minutes). The train is naturally socially distanced in pairs of two, so it operated at full capacity, consistently, and with no issues. That was the pleasant surprise of the day. And my god, that coaster is just wild. I can’t tell if I love it or hate it. It’s just so… “WTF just happened.” The only major rides we didn’t ride were Goliath, which surprisingly had THREE train operations. Although they were double stacking, so it didn’t help at all. But still kinda strange to see. It had a massive line that almost reached the entrance, so we never bothered. Also didn’t ride Ninja (crazy line), Gold Rusher (don’t care), or Full Throttle (closed all day). It was nice to be back in the park and ride lots of rides, but the operations were frustrating. Hopefully they improve in the coming months. I’m sure they had to re-hire a ton of people in a very quick time frame so I have no problem cutting them some slack. It was overcast and cloudy all day, so I don’t have any good photos to post. Despite some setbacks, I do suggest visiting if you’re a resident and are itching to ride rides! Superman is running all the way up to the top, mobile ordering is FANTASTIC, and the coasters were running multiple trains despite the bad operations. Just don’t go in with high expectations, as always with Six Flags.

Like Elissa said, I think the fact that Velocicoaster has been consistently testing since November helps its reliability now. That is over 5 months of working out bugs. And the block system is much less complicated than Hagrid's it seems. I do think crapping on Intamin's reliability is outdated. Their newer rides (that are simple and proven concepts, not crazy prototypes) seem equally reliable as new Mack launch coasters, new RMCs, or even new B&Ms. I am happy to hear it is running consistently. Velocicoaster and Iron Gwazi were both at the top of my list for "awesome new rides that I NEED to ride when I move to FL this summer." At least one of those coasters is open to rave reviews and consistent operation. The other is a beautiful statue that should be located in a museum.

Any of the rides at Six Flags New England. I am from Southern California, and we visited a bunch of parks in the Northeast/New England area in 2016. According to Google Maps, it is about 2900 miles from home. One day I will travel overseas but for now, this is it!

I finally returned to Knott’s yesterday after 433 days (yes, I asked Siri how long ago was March 7, 2020). It felt so nice to be back at the park. I have never gone this long without visiting Knott’s since I was a toddler. I will NEVER take parks for granted again! It was a wonderful visit. Oddly enough, the slowest moving line was Silver Bullet and the fastest was GhostRider. Quite the contrary on a normal operating day. The upper and lower floors of GhostRider’s building were extremely socially-distant, only utilizing a few switchbacks, and they were keeping an empty row between parties on the train. It moved very quickly. The line started outside the building and I waited approximately 30 minutes both times. Still a wonderful coaster that will forever be one of my favorites. I cannot believe the re-tracking was 5 years ago now. It still runs like the day it reopened! Silver Bullet was a bit more frustrating. The line still moved quite well, but I don’t understand why are they are loading every other row on this coaster. It just doesn’t make sense when people are much closer together (and for a longer period of time) in the queue line. But at this point, I didn’t really care. I was just so excited to be back at the park. Hopefully they start loading all rows again soon and this coaster goes back to being the capacity monster of the park. Even at half capacity, it keeps the line moving “enough” to not be unbearable. Xcelerator and HangTime were both running very well, and their respective queues were quite manageable. Xcelerator was never too far down the ramp. They are also running two trains, which is nice to see, but really does not help capacity too much for anyone familiar with this ride’s block system setup and operation. They were loading one party per car, which is actually quite similar to pre-COVID days. A few empty seats per train but it felt like pretty normal operations. Same goes for HangTime. This coaster hardly ever filled every seat pre-COVID. There was always an empty seat or two per row, so this coaster’s operations felt normal as well. They just weren’t grouping pairs of two or singles. The line was never more than 20 minutes. Managed to get a front row ride. This is still a wonderful addition to the park, and I will never get over how much of an improvement it is to Boomerang. One of the best additions the park has made in the last decade. And the lighting package, of course, is fantastic. It really livens up the Boardwalk. I didn’t wanna brave the line for Bear-y Tales. The new facade and theming seems very nice and much improved over Voyage to the Iron Reef. But I’m just not a big dark ride person, and the line was not worth it to me yesterday. I know how slow-moving it is from my experience with Iron Reef. I will ride it eventually. I am moving to Florida next month, but I plan on returning to California around the Holidays for a bit. Hopefully the park is open to out-of-state visitors by then. But Bear-y Tales does seem like a great upgrade. I am excited to ride it eventually! Overall this was one of the best visits to the park I’ve had in a while. Part of me actually enjoys the socially-distanced lines and how quickly they move. Even pre-COVID, the cattle pen queue lines were never enjoyable. I’ll attach a few photos from yesterday. If you are a SoCal resident and a pass-holder, I HIGHLY recommend visiting before it opens to everybody on the 21st. Crowds are very reasonable, all rides are open and running at decent capacity, and food facilities hardly had lines. The 10pm closing was also great for night rides! Knott’s is BACK!

The original raptors ran about this pace in their first test runs. Trust me... this thing will speed up and start hauling. But perhaps the 10-car trains and redesigned/reshaped elements will make a difference in the pacing. I'm happy for all of you Pacific Northwest people. This will be a great addition to the park that is long overdue!

I had the opportunity to ride the “new” Big Apple Coaster this afternoon. I lucked out and got front row. My previous ride was in December 2018 (and I thought it was terrible). I am happy to say that the new trains have VASTLY improved the coaster. I was actually able to enjoy the coaster and take in the views. The two inversions are still the roughest parts, but they really aren’t that bad anymore. The comfort collars were not an issue, to my surprise, since I found them quite annoying on West Coast Racers and other Premier coasters. Any shuffling on the ride was just my shoulders hitting the sides of the seat rather than my neck on the comfort collars. I forgot they were there. The improvements to the coaster won’t make it top anyone’s list of favorites, but it went from “flaming pile of garbage” to “actually decent and enjoyable for what it is.” It also looks very nice with it’s fresh paint job. Props to the NYNY Hotel and Premier for a job well done on actually making the coaster enjoyable now!

I'm a little bummed I won't be able to visit the park (for the first time) this summer as planned. I told myself I would make the drive up there from Utah as soon as they add an RMC, and of course the year they add it I got a great job offer out in Florida that I took. Obviously my enthusiast-self has zero complaints about moving near all the Florida parks, but dang. I did wanna give Silverwood a shot before leaving the West. Maybe someday. I am mostly drawn to Aftershock since I really enjoyed Deja Vu at SFMM and rode it again as Goliath at SFNE where it is utter garbage now. Of course Stunt Pilot looks fantastic as well.

Considering that Batman has now been painted twice since Tatsu opened, I wouldn't count on it... sigh. I imagine Tatsu is a very challenging ride to repaint though. Batman is small and tucked away in a corner near access roads. It was probably a cakewalk, hence why they completed it so quickly. I have a personal wager about whether Tatsu or Xcelerator will get repainted first. One day...

It definitely is, but given the 10-car trains it will still throw you into another dimension in the back row. There are actually a number of design changes on this model which I assume are to accommodate the longer trains. I'm sure the coaster will still be insane though and with the added capacity, it all sounds good to me.

The two-sided locker system seems fantastic. What a great compromise to allow guests their phones in line without risking carrying it on the ride. I suppose the only thing you need to carry with you on the ride is your season pass/ticket, correct? To open your locker afterwards?

@coasterbillWe do like to take our time and not be rushed when visiting parks. I just asked about strategy since we probably will not be buying Quick Queue if we have two full days at the park, unless it is shockingly cheap one of those days. This is mostly for my family, trying to ride everything and see everything. I will be living in Florida and this will be my new home park, so I plan on coming back often. We have ample time at the Orlando parks both before and after BGT, so we're just going to spend both days here and have some fun. It has been a huge bucket list park for me and my dad (who is almost as coaster nerdy as me), so we figured two full days into our schedule - just to account for any ride closures due to storms, absolutely insane crowds (we are expecting it to be very busy), etc. Thanks for the tips!

Alright, I am going to be *that* person who asks for advice on how to hit the rides and navigate the park for the first time. We are going on Wednesday and Thursday, June 9th and 10th. It is our first time at the park. I am familiar with the coaster collection, but not necessarily the park layout and where crowds head first. Is it best to go straight to Cheetah Hunt and Cobra's Curse at opening, since I assume those have pretty low capacity? Or do those lines die down later in the day and we should start in the back? Any advice is appreciated. I guess whether Iron Gwazi is open might affect things too, but honestly, I don't expect it to be open by then. Also, since the 10th is Velocicoaster's opening day, I am hoping everybody and their mom is at Universal that day to alleviate crowds at other parks. Or maybe that won't even make a difference since we're out in Tampa? We plan on staying open-to-close both days (10am-10pm). We definitely wanna hit all the coasters and major rides, but are there any shows/exhibits that are *must see*? Same goes for food. We plan on getting the all-day dining plan both days. Thanks in advance!

Glad to see the coaster get rave reviews even after being hyped up for so long. I can't wait to ride next month!

I remember reading somewhere that the reason Kingda Ka is so much rougher than Top Thrill Dragster is because the center of gravity of the train is much higher due to the OTSRs and hydraulic cylinders being located behind the seat back rather than on the floor. Soft straps would eliminate the neck banging but the train would still probably shuffle like crazy at the high speeds. Although I'm skeptical if Six Flags would even spend the money on that.

I wonder what makes this one "not suck." It runs the standard SLC train, right? The new paint looks great! SLCs may be terrible rides but they are quite photogenic.

Some photos of Batman's re-paint would be great! Back to gray or just a fresh coat of blue?

^Very interesting. I may have to buy that book just to check out that information! lol It makes sense though. Hopefully one day CGA will get their new B&M Hyper - even if it's a "mini" model that's 200 feet or less. Or Knott's. Or literally anywhere out West...

I went to SWSD in March 2020, just days before the shutdown, and I completely forgot Tidal Twister existed. It was closed of course. And Harley Quinn was closed during my July 2018 and 2019 visits to SFDK. These Skyline "coasters" are really cool in concept, but man, it seems they have been executed quite poorly - both reliability and comfort (from what I've heard). They've got some other cool concept layouts from IAAPA that look interesting but I wonder if parks are eyeballing SFDK and SWSD and saying "yeah... no."

Hahaha, sorry @Nrthwnd. To be honest, I don't know where the "A" came from. I guess if it came from abbreviating Texas, it would technically be NTXG. I just remember people using NTAG around the time it was new and it just became habit. I should've clarified! But yeah, unless some small random park totally splurged, I think there is a high chance this is a Cedar Fair park. I suppose Kings Dominion is also a possibility, although Volcano's plot wouldn't be the first "challenging location" that comes to mind since it is quite large and open.

Not that I know of, at least major coasters. I do know that Gerstlauer has said (somewhere, I think at IAAPA one year) that their Infinity Coaster trains can go up to 8 rows long, but the maximum length for a vertical lift is 4 rows. So a 32-passenger train is possible if the coaster doesn’t have a vertical lift.