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Jerry- I guess I didn't realize you initially had some problems with the lapbars/seats. Glad it worked out. Had a great time meeting everyone. I wish I could have made it to MoA but as I mentioned I was beat from only about an hour of sleep. We'll see you again sometime! (Brad from Iowa)

I'm almost embarrassed to say that I live less than two hours from Adventureland and I've been there exactly twice since it opened. I've always been a bigger parks person but I'm headed back there sometime this season. Great report. I'm sorry I had to miss Robb and Ellisa there but I did get top meet up with them Sunday at Valleyfair.

If all goes well I plan to be there. Email already sent. Brad

Thanx for posting the great pix. I had to miss Spring Fling for the first time in a few years this time around. It's always a great time and good early start to the coaster season for someone from the Midwest (me!)

The rides times posted were accurate from my experience on Saturday also. I was a single rider most of the time so that may have cut my waits a bit as they were trying to keep all the seats filled. I never had a wait longer than 15 minutes during the ERT time with the 3rd train running.

Just remember that they aren't open Friday night on the first weekend of Fright Fest according to the schedule.

I got mine yesterday and it's awesome! Great work!

Yes it has two vertical spikes, the forward one has a spiral and the back one is straight but uses a holding brake to spice things up a bit.

They do have FastLane but it is an upcharge item. You pay $15 for a card that gives you four rides. It's only good on certain rides that they list. The Fastlane Sales Center is in Hometown Square on the right side of the Grand Music Hall. I guess if the lines get long and you want to gurantee a ride it's an OK deal.

I've visited four Sunday's so far this season and it hasn't been too bad until about 2pm or so and then it wasn't real crowded since it was early in the season . If you get there early (by 9 or so) and wait in the Season Passholder line you'll at least be a little ahead of the game. You might want to decide what you really want to ride first, SUF or Bull and then go to the approriate side of the park to wait at the barrier. I would expect that since we're past Memorial day and lots of schools are out that it will be more crowded than I encountered in my earlier visits. There were quite a few school groups on my last visit a couple weeks ago but they didn't clog things up too much. I would ride the heavier demand stuff such as Bull, Viper, SUF, Batman, etc. as much as you can early. As things get busier you'll find a little less of a wait for American Eagle, Iron Wolf, etc. . No one can ever predict what's going to happen with crowds on a given day except the park usually has some idea based on group pre-sales what's going to happen. Occasionally, I've struck up a conversation with an employee and they'll comment that there XXXX number of pre-sales today.

It's a pity the poor goose had to endure that!

A couple weeks ago the restraints wouldn't release on Revolution at SFGAm after the ride cycle. First they said they would have to cycle the ride again but too many people complained so we were stuck until the mechanics got there. I heard one of them say the ride op hadn't "parked" the ride properly. I thought that was automatic?

Hey Elissa- What's been your experience with life spans of hamsters.? My kids had them for awhile but they never lasted more than 2 or three years. Now they've moved on to rats of all things!

I never thought of SFGAm as being confusing. For the most part it's a big circle except for the path from Hometown Square past Viper. For a couple years they had that path shut off but it's been open again the last couple seasons. I'm not sure how often you visit but I think after a couple visits most people think it's easy to navigate.

Last season on one of the crappy weather days at SFGAm I rode Raging Bull 36 times. The place was deserted so I decided to take one ride in each seat.

The congress in Iowa is talking about making it a year round thing here. I'm not sure how much support there is for the idea though.

In Iowa City, IA prices ran range from $2.08-2.14 for regular unleaded

I've going to have to go with SFGAm on this one. The overall variety of rides and the customer service tilts things in its favor. I don't rate parks just for their coasters- I take the whole experience into consideration. BTW, I do like Donkeys...I've even done the Donkey Basketball thing once.