Skysthelimit

Do you have any sense of how the management contract between Six Flags and EPR properties (the owner) works? I’m just wondering if it’s pure profit for SF to manage or if they have any skin in the game from a risk management perspective.

They really can’t be used interchangeably with MF…. The seating configuration is different on both S:ROS and ROS’s trains than Millennium Force. The seats on the first row of each car on the Superman/ROS trains (both the original and new Superman) are closer together than the second row. Millennium Force’s first row is just as wide as its second row if you compare photos. This inherently changes where the hydraulic cylinder components are located for the lap bars. The more prevalent difference is that Millennium’s trains are built to accommodate the catch car assembly (I believe under car 4) whereas the hyper coasters have several chain dogs. It would be cool if Darien Lake got both SFA trains for 2026 and then used the current blue train for parts, given it’s already approaching ten years old (so weird how time flies). We were having fatigue issues with the original Darien Lake trains back in 2009 (10 years old back then) that required some expensive part replacements. It would definitely get the park ahead of the game for once. When SFA adds the red train to the track, I’m curious to see how it does. The brake run is so short that any extra train weight on a hot day and the trains just might gently love tap or cause a fault.

^ Yeah I believe the new ROS train’s inaugural season was 2016 and that both the original red and blue trains retired after the 2015 season. When I worked at the park from 09-11, I recall that stress fractures found during NDT were often the reason why one train wasn’t ready to go at the start of the season. I’m sharing that because I think you are spot on that the SFA trains are at the end of their service life. Also, Darien Lake’s have the Dragster style T-bar and not the ankle shackles, so it’s not like they’d keep an original SFA train and ship Darien’s down as a second train. They’re different models.

^ I agree 100% and given the portfolio of parks, even if it did fit and the track was in decent enough shape, I don’t think this would be the park of choice. Dare to dream I also have intentionally moved to areas around better parks so I don’t care that much tbh at this stage, but do wish the park my best.

Given the legacy CF leadership team seems to have the upper hand at SF now, I could see Green Lantern potentially getting converted to a floorless and moved to SFDL. I don’t think it’s incredibly likely and I don’t know the dimensions off the top of my head without going to google maps to see if it would fit. But, I could see them placing this at about a 45 degree angle in place of the go-carts, between Viper and Skyscreamer. The lift hill could easily go over the campground, which is oversized to begin with. They really need a higher capacity ride to rebuild their somewhat tainted reputation from surrounding areas the past 2 decades. I was a rides supervisor/manager from 2009-2012 so I’ve always had a tendency to discuss “what-ifs” to turn the park around, and as this thread seems to continually illustrate, the improvements come in small, gradual doses. On a separate and personal note, the removal of Grizz, Giant Wheel and Thunder Rapids was inevitable but quite a blow to the lineup, especially with the 1-train ops since my departure years ago.

As a child of the 90s, this releases so much serotonin. My visit to BGW in ‘97 kicked off my enthusiast journey between riding Big Bad Wolf, Alpengiest, Drachen Fire, and of course Nessie. Should round out the collection really well too, as their family coaster line up hasn’t been quite as strong as BGT in recent years.

Hey all, hoping for some advice from the west coast locals on here. We recently moved from Orlando to Colorado for a change of pace and would love to take advantage of the short flights from Denver to LA for a quick getaway to Knott’s. I have only visited once and that was back in 2015 while Ghostrider was under its major refurb and will be my hubbys first time. Are crowds typically pretty light on weekdays in October assuming you avoid Scary Farm? I recall it being dead last time we were there in November but it was almost a decade ago. We’d love to ride Xcellerator while we still can and while all signs look good there for the time being, I noticed Silver Bullet is closed with no reopening date. Any intel on what’s going on there?

Surely the 5% surcharge has generated enough cash to keep Scorpion running.

Thanks so much, Bert!

Hey all, my husband and I are visiting SFOT tomorrow Saturday 8/17. We already bought our tickets and Flash Pass but was curious if anyone has any recent tips on the park. We visited once about 4 years ago and enjoyed it, but we’re definitely more familiar with the east coast parks. It looks like everything should be open, but there website is a little unclear on the loose article policies. Does anyone recall if lockers are mandatory and if so which rides? Also, is Mr. Freeze still running one train forward and one backward? Appreciate any recommendations for the day, especially if there are any operational “quirks” we should be aware of!

^ We’ve always errored on the side of caution and have purchased QQ even on weekdays at BGW and have never considered it a waste. Apologies if this is common knowledge, but did want to share two things about QQ at this park. If you do have a higher tier annual pass, you can get as much as 50% off daily QQ for you and your party. We live in Orlando and do this at BGT several times per year. The issue though is that the website doesn’t consistently apply the discount, and at BGW specifically we had to go to Guest Services to purchase with a discount. Second, most if not all of the QQ lines route you through the exit rather than via a merge point right at the station. I suppose if’s fundamentally better than Millennium Force’s merge point which is a half mile away, but there’s still that 20-seconds of awkwardness while you budge in front of those in the standby line. It’s nowhere near as pleasant of an experience as say FL+ at KI and I also don’t recall them accepting row requests either. For what makes us happy for a day at the park, it’s still 100% worth it though - especially if you don’t like to be in close proximity to sweaty people lol.

I went for previews yesterday as well and got 3 rides. One in the front, one in the middle and one towards the back. It’s a little obvious that they had to get creative when shoe-horning the ride into a building that wasn’t meant for this attraction, but I thought SW did an A+ job with what they had to work. The ride fills a void in the park’s lineup and we agreed that the dark ride section into the first launch was the highlight. That said, I can’t get over how rattly this thing is. Sitting in the front seat, you see B&M track in front of you but it feels like you are on a family coaster from the mid-90s given the level of jank it has. Further back in the train it isn’t quite as noticeable, but it’s still pronounced. If I was a SW exec riding this for the first time, I probably would have been pretty pissed with B&M. I’m not sure what they or Clermont Steel have been doing lately, but their work has been less than stellar. On a brighter note, Mako in the front seat still smooth and gracefas can be.

We visited Parc Asterix during our honeymoon last fall. Honestly, it was our least favorite park of the trip (I found the aesthetics a bit.. off..for my taste and the people rude) but their operations were just wild. Three trains were just flying around the layout of Oziris where we were basically forced into our seats the moment the gates opened, old school Raptor style circa 1998 (minus the DJ booth). There also wasn’t any lollygagging or foolishness with the visual scans or waltzing around the platform with a confused look despite possessing an associates degree in IROC training.

We stayed overnight in Tampa after going to the Madonna concert last night. I worked a half day from the hotel and we decided to visit the park for a few hours given we were down the road. We arrived around 1 and started with Serengeti Flyer, Kumba, Sheikra. Iron Gwazi and wrapped things up with back left on Montu. Operations were surprisingly good. Montu and Kumba were both running two trains with little to no stacking and Sheikra was running 3 trains. Iron Gwazi just seems to keep getting better with age. Outside of the Texan RMCs, I think this one has the best lap bars. The ops don’t staple and the lap bars don’t tighten at all during the ride - good stuff. The Skyride was closed for no apparent reason but otherwise a good day. Friday must be the sweet spot for operations lately. Lastly, I swear that Sheikra is the least-rattlyest B&M coaster out there. Restraints aside, it rides like a dream compared to Valravn and Dr D. that have a noticeable up and down shake to them.

I can confirm that the third train for viper (yellow train) has been scrapped for parts since at least 2009. When I worked there, there were no remnants of even the fiberglass bodies anywhere on property.

^I’m sure the Six Flags social media team has the intel ready and available on both of those topics.

I grew up in Syracuse and have been visiting the park since I was 5. I also worked there as a Rides Supervisor from 2009-2011 while in college. The leadership team at Darien Lake was and remains incredibly tenured and talented. That said, the “hopefully this year xyz will be better!” comments I’ve seen floating around the internet/coaster forums & message boards for 20 years now. It continues to be essentially the same conversations which has been interesting to watch over the years. I have a sentimental attachment to the park and care for its success, but to think something as major as a 2nd train coming to the park for Ride of Steel is frankly a pipe dream. Could be wrong, but I don’t believe that Six Flags approves capex, it’s the property owners (previously CNL, not sure who it is now) which means their hands are tied to an extent. John Hildebrandt mentioned in his book on Cedar Point (Always Cedar Point) that Gemini had a hard time competing against The Beast back in the late 70s because you can’t really “sell” a coaster to the public by using hourly throughput as a value proposition. I can see why the threat of Boomerang’s closure took precedent over increased ROS capacity. During my time, if and when we did have 2 trains available for ROS, we ran them 7 days a week regardless of crowds. We knew it was important and was always a pet peeve of mine when managing my area of the park. It just tended to take a while to have an available second train (e.g. in 2009 we don’t get it until early August). Intamin has always been notorious in the industry for not being the best about keeping parts in stock, or over charging if it’s not a white glove client of there’s. Vekoma was much easier to work with from what I recall.

Sorry, you beat me to the punch. I’m pretty sure there are only 3 bays, because I thought to myself they have no where to put the train that was running at the end of the night. When I worked Raptor eons ago, we’d never leave a train on the track in the evening and I think that’s common practice on most B&Ms to take weight off of the road wheels. You could be right on the 4 bays I just don’t recall that in all my visits. I’m giving this topic too much energy than needed but as a nerd who enjoys the history of the Busch parks, I found it interesting.

They still very much have 4. They were running 1 train running last time I visited in February and all 3 transfer bays were filled with fully built trains. Back in the day, the 4th was used to allow for continuous year round operations which is why I was surprised to see with my own two eyes 4 trains otherwise I would have never mentioned it. The lead car also says “4” on the bumper for one of the trains.

^ three trains at once? As of a month ago, all 4 trains were assembled so curious if 3 were on the track. It doesn’t happen often. I know Montu is down to 2 operational with a 3rd rotated out, whereas Kumba still has the full 4.

If one of the parks closes at 6 pm, it’s typically because there is an event buy out. If they take the average projected attendance for the evening and determine a buy out is more profitable than what they’d earn those last couple hours, they take the business. It’s very common this time of year with heavy convention volume in town. Larger companies will do their after hours events, sometimes 2 at a time. I worked for Mears and we’d have separate buses going to pick up one convention group from their event at Marvel and another from their event in Hogsmeade the same evening.

^ it has been running 2 comfort collar-less trains for at least 6 months now. I think they retrofitted the 2nd train around Memorial Day last year. That said, they’ve been running single trains on their coasters much more frequently than they used to the past couple months - except Kraken, Kraken always seems to run two trains, even on weekdays. Not sure why.

We did the behind the scenes coaster tour a couple weeks ago on a Saturday. 2 trains were running and they said the 3rd, which looked mostly intact, was in one of the bags and will be stripped down for rehab. I’m not sure what the issue is, but there should be two trains available once they fix it. As a Florida local, Montu does seem to have more downtime in recent years. We went to ride again later in the day and they had to evac off the transfer brakes when we tried to ride, but when we left it was back open. Still running great though, no rattle and trims are very light.

We were able to make an expected visit when we had an additional day in Belgium about 2 weeks ago and had similar thoughts. Great first half, I was indifferent towards the non-inverting cobra roll other than it’s not very punchy, but the return run did feel very awkward. I much preferred the return run on Goliath up at Walibi Holland. Still fantastic, very smooth, great theming without being over the top, but the last section of bunny hops and turns just didn’t flow right for me.

We arrived back in Orlando yesterday from our Missouri trip with first time visits to WOF and SDC. Just some first timer opinions on the park from when we visited on Thurs 6/29. - It’s been said before, but this park is gorgeous. - The temperature exceeded 100 degrees on Thursday. The shade helped quite a bit and we purchased a cabana ahead of time because we need knew that the heat would be brutal. We alternated between the lazy river and dry park throughout the day. - WOF has a TON of drink refill stations, so the wristband system worked perfect and a great deal. - We figured there’s be some sort of foolishness going on with Zambezi Zinger so we came armed Fast Lane plus which we had purchased prior to our visit to minimize any frustration. Sure enough, it didn’t opened until probably 3p or so and was on one train. We saw maintenance walk away with a guide wheel, so it was clearly out of their control. I would have guessed that the standby line was at least 2 hours and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many guests seated while in a queue for a ride that was technically functional. Anyways, the ride itself exceeded our expectations. Incredibly smooth and experiencing the titan track track has a really cool feel to it. The S-hill after the first turnaround seems to be about 15 feet too tall, but the pacing on the rest of the ride is near perfect. The tunnel has some great headchoppers, the layout is whippy, and there’s surprisingly strong positives. Definitely a great fit for the park once they can get it running on all cylinders! - Mamba was so so good. I recall some lackluster rides on Steel Force back in 2009 that made me swear off Morgan hypers for years but this was a home run. Incredibly smooth and running trimless, which gave total magnum vibes minus the thigh pressure on the routine route. - I’m probably in the minority who prefers Prowler to Mystic Timbers. The latter has a better experience but I thought Prowler had a bit more bite, similar to what I enjoy about Thunderhead. - We had an awesome back left seat ride on Patriot and didn’t get the criticism, but rode twice more and were like “yeah, that’s just.. average”. Presentation is A+ though. - The only bummer of the trip was Viking Voyage (or whatever the log flume is called). The water in this and their river rapids was just foul. I felt like I was being bathed in Smartwater on Mystic River Falls the next day compared to the sewage water here. Yuck. - The clientele and staff were all very pleasant. I’d take this over a larger SF park even if the ride selection isn’t as extensive. - We really enjoy re-rides when we visit new parks and one ride never feels enough. We were impressed the coasters (minus Zinger) were running multiple trains despite being a dead Thursday. We had a zen ride on Prowler to end our day. Overall, we had an awesome day at the park despite the heat and not ideal circumstances for Zinger. We rode it twice but didn’t want to be “those people” that marathoned it while people sat in stand by. We spent the next two days at SDC which doesn’t require much of an explanation other than it’s one of if not the best theme parks in the country. I surprisingly preferred it to Dollywood, including the coasters, which were collectively more intense than the mix of family rides at DW. Time Traveler and Outlaw Run were both reliable and had the wow factor that WOF was understandably lacking. I do get frustrated with HFE’s disdain for running multiple trains unless they absolutely have to. The Cedar Fair parks are a more comfortable experience in that regard but the novelty of visiting SDC for the overall experience was more than worth it.