Solid Gold

Question: When is the least crowded time to visit HHN? I'm gonna be in Orlando for this year's event and would loooooove to see this. In september can you do all eight houses without buying line-skips?

The drop-track section looks much improved from previous designs. Faster and Quicker. I love it.

Also, this post is much more reasonable than anything anyone else has said. As a bonus, it's not completely rude. [/ Done Bitching sirs]

This doesn't necessarily make my regular experience worse. The only way it affects me IF my expectations are "a safe ride on a plane and some food" is the extra 5 minutes of wait time to board the plane, which on top of the 3 hours at the airport is assuaged into nothing. For many reasons it's unreasonable for the whole plane to be comfortable anyway. If the prices of Coach tickets were raised across the board, the number of seats lessened, and air travel made more unaffordable, Wouldn't I have the right to argue for the old system? This doesn't make my driving experience worse. In any way that I can think of. Are you Jealous? I see this, but it doesn't eliminate all my choices to any degree like the Fastlane. The difference here is paying parking and driving five minutes. Fastlane is an ambitious step closer to a system of "Buy this upgrade or your day will always be crappy at an Amusement park." And if it matters at this point: I loved using the line skip system at Heide Park, I buy a Qbot at Dollywood if the crowds warrant one, and would absolutely do the same if I was at CP, KI, KD in July where the regular lines are already intolerable. I am hoping that I shouldn't have to buy a Fastlane for any given operating day simply because of the system imbalances it presents (or if I ever want to ride in the front seat again). TPR was ABSOLUTELY right to get one for Opening day at least, and I'm glad the park had a wait-skip system for you to purchase, where the normal crowds presented intolerable waits anyway. But I also hold hope that the system didn't turn hour long waits into 1:45 long waits. That would be overall quite crappy. Get it?

I hate to argue with all the smart people here... But the Fastlane does have the POTENTIAL to make things worse. The line is an economy. The FL divides resources. It does, unquestionably, make the regular line longer. That is a certainty. A system of unlimited use would have to be limited to less total users to maintain line lengths as the QBOT system would have to. Simply trusting Cedar Fair to know exactly how many people the system can handle to maintain customer satisfaction levels does not make them infallible. They might screw it up for this whole year. Who knows. If that happens, likely 90% of their customers will be angered by it this summer. I don't read their finances and I don't know if they are a business where the Fastlane Customers are basically all of their profits, but my guess is that FL customers are not and many non-FL groups could get screwed by any flaws in the system. This system is much more ambitious and cheaper than the line skips we've seen before. Balance is not guaranteed. Just because you use Fastpass does NOT let you speak for the other 90 percent of people at the park that day. AT ALL. Yes it makes total sense for Coaster Enthusiasts. Does it necessarily make sense for the family from Toledo who got there once the park was already sold out of the passes? (though as an enthusiast, if it lengthens the lines significantly on a typical May Tuesday at anypark anywhere and forces me to buy a pass, then the whole thing would be kind of NONsensical for me, right?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What I would want to know from those who are experiencing fastpass recently are... What priority to board does the FL have over the regular line for any given ride? For something like Top Thrill, it seems that due to its popularity and reridability and short train, a constant FL wait of about 40 people (probably unrealistic) would cause the regular line to never board the ride if FL was given 100 percent priority and a wait of 20 FL people would easily double the length of the regular line. The line merging at the station does not eradicate these concerns. Does the front seat always get taken by Fastlane for any ride where Fastlane is allowed into the station or directly to the ride first? This seems somewhat possible due to the popularity of the front seat. FL on Afterburn at Carowinds merges directly onto the ride, and the First Seat is generally always taken by Fastlane users. This whole thing is all about numbers really. Line lengths, number of complaints, number of users, people in park, price points, etc. It's quite interesting and geeky. I'd take a long look at CF's numbers if they were widely available.

^lolololol I assume they will auction off some of the ride at various enthusiast events...anyone think they would save one of the cars or possibly the front hood of one of the cars for future auction?

Since this was probably one of the ghettoest-looking parks anyway, it's gonna look really ghetto with a bunch of random pathways, closed buildings, and Rampage's wooden corpse. They should keep the Log Flume and maybe the Rapids ride (does it even operate?) for sure. They're physically the closest rides to the Waterpark, they are water rides, and they would help the park towards maintaining a decent level of attractions this year. Just install a path from the lazy river and you've got two more rides. Buzzsaw is right there next to the main entrance as well. Just put those random water mazes and things on the former games area and it all makes sense. I hope they think of this.

Unfortunately, this is what a ride op suggested to me at Carowinds today at Vortex, that as long as there are Fastlane guests waiting they will board first, regardless of anyone waiting in line. For us, that meant we were "next" 3 times before actually getting to ride. At other rides later in the day they were at least running it 1 Fastlane train, 1 normal train. Still, it's not equal. Fastlane get their pick of seats on Intimidator and Carolina Cobra as they are let in first. Everyone else is assigned what's left in the middle. Lines ARE longer since by the time FL guests board a train from the entrance in the front of the station the second train has already stacked. Then we get the air gates opening for the 1 remaining row to be filled. Beyond that, they are not spread out throughout the ride- they have choice of seats- in other words, the line you see for the front is half of what you'll wait. I don't mind these systems when there is control, but what I saw today was sorely lacking. It is the utmost stupidity to build staircases to load platforms and then hold up boarding anyway. There is no limit on riding, and users can get on every other train. After seeing the majority of rows fill with FL regularly, it's hard to believe there's a limit on the number sold. I hope that Cedar Point does a better job of implementing it, cause what I saw today was horrible for operations... Can everyone blustering their caption obvious business sense and otherwise misguided logic please read this? I went to Carowinds as well yesterday and I could not have come away more disappointed with the FL system.If you look at the first picture on this page you will see the columns in front of Boo Blasters where I spent the last 30 minutes of my 1.5 hour wait for the ride. Once inside I saw the 15 person FL wait that had somewhere between 85-100% priority to board the ride at any given time, which made the normal line hilariously long. On Intimidator I watched the same group of 12 kids pass the regular line 6 times while we were in line for the one ride we could get. When we passed under the brake run and I could look at the operations, it was clear that anyone waiting at FL got 100% priority into the station, with the general outcome being .75 Fastlane users, 1.25 Regular line for any two trains. I don't know what time length a full regular queue for Intimidator usually amounts to, but I'm pretty sure a near doubling of the line doesn't help matters. Also watched the Front Row of Afterburn get taken 4 times consecutively by Fastlane (who have choice of any seat). I'm sure the tier 1 customers were happy about that and want to come spend their money at Carowinds again. Adding to that point, I heard complaints from other non-FL guests a few times directed towards employees. I have no problem with Fastpass systems if they don't inconvenience matters (and I've used them before). I've never seen them inconvenience matters before yesterday. I do know for a fact that Carowinds' system is broken to hell. Notice that SFOG'S Gold pass costs DOUBLE the price of the Carowinds system. Notice that you can't find many more examples of unlimited front of the line access at theme parks. If Cedar Fair ups the prices or falls in line with something like what other parks have settled with then it's all good but there are going to be plenty of horror stories until they do. Under the current system, when summer hits they have effectively doubled their prices to actually ride the rides.

Why does it need to be an "improvement?" When there are so few rides of this caliber to begin with, isn't just having another one sufficient? Talk to anyone who's been on a Mega-Lite, and ask them if they wouldn't mind if it became the next "Batman", getting cloned all over the world, and I'm sure they'll say they wouldn't mind at all. I would MUCH rather ride a B&M Batman clone that ANY of the B&Ms that have been built since 2004. If a Mega-Lite were built in the USA, and many of you finally got to experience one, I think it would be on the top of most people's best coaster lists. So going back to the original statement, even if SkyRush turned out to be not quite as good as i305, SROS, or even a Mega-Lite, I still think that means it could end up being one of the top 10 coasters in the world, and I don't see anything else being built this year making that claim. --Robb This won't be on topic, but... I did get the opportunity to ride Kawasemi on a warm summer day back in August, and I kind of thought it was a let down. Yes, it does have THE MOST powerful and awesome airtime of any ride I've ever been on (easily), but besides that: It's a pretty short ride, it's not that fast and not that tall (I really do value these two aspects highly), and (minor criticism) the last curve is out-of-place in it's lameness. And because of my ride standards, I didn't think it was in my top ten. It does airtime but nothing else. The ultra-awesome launch on Dragster and the incredible view from the top make me happier than that airtime. The total ride package on Walibi Goliath does it even better. I think a Mega-lite would be a much better clone than a lot of other rides, but it also doesn't feature any "ests" for the park to advertise and it is also quite expensive. So I don't see there being a lot of them in the US, maybe none...as we've seen.

Two choices for me: 1. Leviathan. I mean, this is the ride most on the hot seat, and it sure is getting all the hype. It has to be exceptional or it's overhyped by nature. 2. Skyrush: As we all should know ,this is frontrunner for best coaster built in 2012 and most likely to land in top ten lists. I'm sure it will be loved by anyone who loves Intamins and it will probably rank really high. The problem: It doesn't look like an improvement from SROS, Ex. G Force, T-Express, or El Toro. I305 set new intensity limits and deserves its ranking, but is this ride going to be any better than rides built 10 years ago? Probably not, so as someone who will always wish for the coaster industry to reach new heights I think it will be overrated next August.

I think I will spend more time searching out dark ride nostalgia in the future. I think a Wild Bill's/Quassy/Compounce/SFNE/NYC trip has quickly been bumped into the top three most likely future trips anywhere for me. I think this was a VERY good TR to share. Reason #1 why TPR is the only coaster forum I pay attention to.

I LOVE TO DEATH any station with a side/messed up crowd flow entrance. It means that one of the best seats (Front or Back) has the shortest line of any row. It's awesome! LOVE riding: -Legend in the Front Row -El Toro in the Back -Magnum in 1-3 Again, assigned seating is the worst. Remember that it's the ride that matters, not the effing station. The ride is 99/100 times better at the ends of the train.

Pick any station where you are not allowed to choose your seat. That is the worst station.

^TPR trip prices only ever include airfare once the trip has started (between parks, if needed, like in Australia or China). Getting to the departure point is always your own cost and responsibility.

Wait for it... Wait for it....... DO A BARREL ROLL!

Not exactly my reasoning for why this move makes...little sense...but close. The park would not have done this without Behemoth's great success. I really am lost on the park management here. They have a theme park with a buffet of mediocre rollercoasters, but a good park in most every other facet. Regardless, the park is extremely popular with this setup. They decide adding the park's signature major rollercoaster attraction is a good move, and surprise, the park becomes even more popular now that they have given it a flagship ride. Who didn't see that one coming? So they immediately make the decision to spend the same amount again for the EXACT same ride type, but bigger and faster (and shorter), and fully undermine the role of the coaster they have just added as their signature ride? Really? That's where they went with this? Could have broken the world record for most inversions (can you imagine how much better that would go over in marketing efforts?)...could have changed the ride style more than "ooh look a speedy low ground hill" to differentiate the rides for the consumer...could have had the foresight to plan Behemoth to be higher/longer in the first place, but they went with this choice. I don't buy for a moment that the GP won't be confused by the two similar rides. And I know how uninformed the GP can be. This ride better do something that the POV doesn't show or they will definitely wonder why neither ride has loops and why they feel exactly the same. The impact a 300 foot monster coaster SHOULD have will just not be felt. Disclaimer: This ride is a top twenty coaster. That is clear. It will be a fantastic ride. But it is not different from Behemoth at all.

I could post several witty/funny comments about this ride, its qualities or impact or what not... But my truest thought is that this addition is the biggest waste of a 28 million giga coaster I can think of.

I feel like this situation has some direct effect on the increasing US national debt...

Good god people b*tch so much. Holiday World definitely may have faulted a bit in the PR of this announcement. Releasing the pricetag of 9 million seems to only have raised the hopes of most people that it would indeed be a small, generic, highly unsatisfying (by the bar HW has set) Eurofighter rather than the world's biggest, highest capacity, and best waterslide. I think they would have been a LOT better off releasing a month ago that the addition was for the water park. People are clearly getting very antsy about adding the steel coaster, the past two days have assured me of that. Again: Because I know you're listening Holiday World, please do go for innovative and high-ranking as your steel coaster criteria, not something we can find at any Six Flags.

Halloween event! Best part of the announcement!

Lots of different Intamin signatures being tossed into this ride. 1. New I-305 lifthill 2. Mega-lite/305 style drop and turn 3. Superman Australia-type launched coaster layout. 4. Expedition G-Force Finale 5. Wingrider trains My prediction is that this lands just behind MillForce in the Mitch Hawker top ten, then falls down to just above Blue Fire around 12-16th spot in further years.

OMG the internet is being interesting tonight. First i find out that Coney Island was bringing in 35 MILLION people some summers during the depression, and then this video pops up. Way way cool. And I really hope Disney keeps their fashionably European loose article policy.

There are plenty of good Vekomas out there...but absolutely no "Superior" ones.

Didn't really think to take pictures of the food court, my mistake. But they have sandwiches, hotdogs, burgers, pizza, pasta, icecream, popcorn, cake, and hot & cold drinks. The drinks you take yourself, while the food and icecream is all you can eat, and made to order. That's a concept I'd absolutely love to see tried on a major scale in the U.S.(full sized amusement/water park). All inclusive options are all over the travel and leisure industry, I wonder why no one has attempted this route or if it could be done... Anyone know of any other parks that have tried this (beyond the HW/Lake Compounce drink options)?

How does the included food work? Do you get a voucher, or is a buffet, or what? That sounds like a pretty awesome deal. Love the selection at this park. Looks better than most places anywhere!