thrillseeker4552

What surprised me about Mind Bender is how remarkably smooth it is after 40+ years. I've been on rougher B&Ms built in the last 10 years!

A Zamperla Giant Discovery called Harley Quinn Spinsanity. I will be very shocked if it's anything else!

Great photos! I first visited Carowinds in 2017 and liked the park (because of Fury mostly). After visiting again this summer, I think it is my second favorite Cedar Fair park behind Cedar Point. Copperhead Strike did a lot for their line-up in my opinion, and their current top 4 is very solid. Throw in a GCI and RMC Hurler down the road and this park will dominate. I'm so glad Cedar Fair recognized the potential it has.

Looks awesome. That first big “wave turn” looks like a ton of fun, and the two back to back airtime hills looks great. Also love the color scheme and name (I have always preferred Orion to Polaris). Way to go Kings Island!

^^Wild Eagle? Firechaser Express? In 2012 and 2014, respectively. Don't leave out major coaster additions to exaggerate your point! This announcement is exactly what I expected. Valleyfair's time will come. Weren't they named by Cedar Fair as one of their "growth parks" with lots of potential? Like Carowinds and CGA?

^It is not entirely Premier's fault, if at all. That area needed a LOT of work before any supports or track were installed. Apparently there was lots of underground work that needed to be done (electrical, water) and lots of outdated infrastructure had to be replaced and upgraded. This, combined with Six Flags being year round and not needed to open their new ride in the summer, plus the complicated support structure of this ride being crammed into the area it is, is the reason for its "delay" (compared to other SF parks opening their rides). It's not like Six Flags was just sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for Premier to send ride pieces. They had a LOT of work to do in the area on their end that didn't even have anything to do with the coaster itself. The whole area is receiving a (much needed) transformation. I don't think anybody is to blame for this coaster not being open yet other than the perfect storm of an extremely outdated area needing lots of work, the usual "Six Flags slowness," Premier having to perfect the design of the complicated support structure, and the lack of a rush to open this ride in the summer when the park gets just as crowded (if not even more crowded) in the fall and winter time. I am sure Six Flags will work with Premier again. Hardly any of this had to do with Premier Rides themselves being difficult to work with, I assume.

“Complex duality” definitely screams dueling/racing coaster to me. The double C’s also seem to represent dueling coasters. I could see a Twisted Colossus / West Coast Racers style dueling RMC Raptors.

^This is probably my best guess as well. I also just want to mention that I had an awesome front row ride on Riddler last Sunday. It still runs remarkably well and is one of my favorite B&M loopers out there, if not my favorite.

I am betting on either an S&S Free Spin or a Zamperla Giant Discovery. Both would be wonderful additions for the park.

I expect this coaster to be a pretty even split between Leviathan and Fury. I think it will be longer and have a few more elements than Leviathan but not quite as long or crazy as Fury. With that being said, you can only tell so much from an overhead view of the layout. I can't wait for the announcement tomorrow. It's not very often we have a new Giga to look forward to!

I would also like to add that riding in the front row and going through the stengel dive (the element after the second vertical loop) is probably in my top 3 strongest airtime moments I've ever experienced.

Lagoon! I'm going to try and pop in on National Roller Coaster Day this Friday and ride Cannibal, but if not, I will likely be back on Saturday the 31st.

Ya'll are crazy. Copperhead Strike is totally awesome and fits in Carowinds' lineup absolutely perfectly. It's smooth, it has some surprisingly strong airtime, great hang time, comfortable restraints, a very well-themed ride area and queue line, and great operations (when I was there in late June). I cannot imagine how somebody can complain about this ride and how it fits in at Carowinds.

I went yesterday too and had a great time. Aside from Scream and Twisted Colossus running on reduced capacity, everything else was running multiple trains and had minimal waits. Probably the best Sunday I've ever had at the park. I rode every major coaster in the park plus Lex Luthor and CraZanity (before it closed later in the day). I won't be back until November at the earliest, so I'm hoping my next ride there will be West Coast Racers. Speaking of which, aside from the dueling zero-g rolls and a small section after that, the track is basically complete.

Keep in mind that just because there are no survey markers doesn't mean it still can't happen. Six Flags builds stuff late, especially these Free Spin installations that they have done many times now. Batman at SFDK went up in a matter of a couple weeks. Also, speaking of Batman, that ride was announced out of nowhere. There were no hints whatsoever a Free Spin was coming to that park and come announcement day, boom. It definitely surprised me. I actually think that would be a great location for a Free Spin. Most of them so far are out in the open and clearly visible. One tucked in the tree line a bit and close to foliage would be something different and cool.

I know we all make fun of Dorney for never having crowds on the dry side, but it's nice to see the park busy.

I will admit that I enjoy Boomerangs more now than I did when I first rode the one at Knott's 10+ years ago. You have to be the perfect height for those Arrow restraints to be not-painful (I don't want to say comfortable lol). If you're too short, you bang your head like crazy. Too tall and they uncomfortably press on your shoulders. Flying Cobras at Carowinds is (by far) my favorite Boomerang. The one at Hershey was pretty good too. After that, all the ones I've ridden feel identical.

Dang, this looks awesome. I can't wait to see testing footage and/or a POV.

The two coasters at Gilroy Gardens are the last "new credits" I got. Quicksilver Express is actually a ton of fun and is the perfect family coaster.

South Bay Shores looks great. This was desperately needed. Boomerang Bay was not in good shape at all. I can't wait for the day this park gets their B&M Hyper. It will be such a welcome addition to California and the West Coast.

Also, for what it's worth, I would disagree and say Xcelerator has the worst line in the park. Both lines move slowly, but GhostRider's actually seems to be getting a bit better. The last few times I've visited this summer they have had a grouper and fill up almost every single seat on the train each dispatch. They also have seem to cut down on the disability skip-the-lines (I really think it was being abused) and they often dispatch before the other train stacks, or very shortly after. Almost the entire queue is indoors as well and out of the sun. I have waited in the line countless times and would say an entirely full building (both levels) with two train operation is about 70-90 minutes. And if you visit on a weekend or fairly busy day, the single rider line is usually open. Xcelerator on the other hand is all outside, inches along very slowly since they dispatch roughly every 5 minutes. Several empty seats also go empty every dispatch since the loading gates are per car, not per row. And the front row line is miserable if it's any longer than outside the station. Since the front row has it's own line, that also means only a maximum of 16 people can load per dispatch, but we all know this isn't true. They also have one of the seats in the back car closed off for whatever reason (this could totally change by September though). To summarize: GhostRider's capacity is still below average, but the line is shaded and moves at a steady pace. Xcelerator's just flat out sucks. I still recommend doing GhostRider first though, that way you can get short lines on both coasters.

I also recommend a full day at Lagoon. There are several great (classic) flat rides, Pioneer Village, a couple water rides such as Log Flume and Rattlesnake Rapids, and more in addition to the coasters. Remember that Lagoon has a couple single rider policies (I don't know if you'll be alone or not). You cannot ride in the front or back row of any of the coasters, outside of Cannibal and Wicked since they seat 4 across. You also cannot ride Jet Star 2 without a partner. Sometimes you can pair up with another single in line or an employee may ride with you, but just keep that in mind. It's a wonderful park with lots of charm that separates it from corporate parks. If you end up visiting on Sunday the 8th I may drive down and meet up if you're willing. I have a couple friends that will likely want to go as well.

Weekdays in September are a great time to visit since it is after school starts again but before Haunt. Weekends during this time are OK too, but of course the weekdays will always be less crowded. Operations should be fine. GhostRider, HangTime, and Silver Bullet all have a third train that gets cycled through maintenance, so they almost always run two trains - even on the most dead days in the middle of February. Even Sierra Sidewinder and Pony Express are quite rarely on single train operations. In September you should be just fine. Xcelerator on the other hand is a whole different story. It has been running one train for almost a year now I believe and the other is still in pieces next to the brake run. There is a chance the second train could be reassembled by then, but I would expect one train operations on Xcelerator. The difference between one and two trains on that ride is quite minimal anyway in terms of capacity. Just make it your second ride (after GhostRider) and there won't be a line. It takes a couple hours for crowds to spread back to the Boardwalk.

Never say never. Six Flags does work with S&S quite frequently on their Free Spins, so I wouldn't put it past them to purchase another product from S&S. They also just bought Maxx Force this year. Not saying it will happen here or at any other park, but Six Flags definitely works with S&S.