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DanM64

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Posts posted by DanM64

  1. Great America is going to be TERRIBLE on July 5. It's terrible almost every day of the year, because the operations there are worse now than I can ever remember in my lifetime. It's going to be ultra horrible terrible on July 5.

     

    You can save yourself a LOT of money by skipping Great America entirely. If you must go, you will absolutely need to buy a Flash Pass to be able to get on more than 3 or 4 coasters.

     

    Another money saving tip for Illinois. 294 is a toll road almost the entire way to Great America from I-80. If you have an E-Z Pass, use it! The I-Pass electronic toll system Illinois uses accepts E-Z Pass, and electronic tolls are half the price of cash tolls in all of Illinois. You'll have a few tolls on 294 to get to I-55 when you head to SFStl as well. 55 itself is a freeway, though.

  2. I just returned home from an Orlando/TB trip. The last time I visited USO Mummy was brand new so that shows you how long ago it was.

     

    Comcast really seems to know what they're doing on the theme park side. Both Harry Potter additions are outstanding. The level of detail in Diagon Alley was impressive. I was absolutely blown away!! I was in USO/IOA Tuesday and Wednesday- I had Park-to-Park tickets both days. Both days were fairly busy, but operations were top notch. I flew through the queue lines. I would kill to have a park like this closer to home! I purchased a Universal Express pass for Wednesday and was glad I did.

     

    I was sad to hear every time they announced the closing of a classic ride, but they sure made the right decisions! There were guests from all over the world in the park. The Harry Potter investments really seem to be paying off.

     

    Escape from Gringott's had a much better storyline than Forbidden Journey, but I'm not sure which one I enjoyed more. Spiderman is still top notc, and my 2nd favorite ride in the park. I think Transformers was overall my favorite ride, though. Excellnt special effects, a good story, and a blast to ride.

     

    I need to go to Florida a lot more often!

  3. At my job we pick vacations in November for the next calendar year. I've never been to SFMM, and I'm finally going to go.

     

    Looking to make a trip in January of February. I understand coasters there go down for maintenence, so I'd like to hear some opinions on what would be the best week to go. I should be able to pick anything between the 2nd week of January and the second week of March. Are they even typically open weekdays during that time?

     

    I'm looking to go to Knott's too, so any ideas of a good time I could hit both parks in the same week would be great. Thanks!

  4. While I have yet to do a full TR from my first ever KD visit 2 weeks ago, here are a few cell phone pics I snapped throughout my visit. I didn't bring the DSLR because it was rather hot and I didn't feel like dealing with it.

     

    I will say that I-305 is the best steel coaster I've ever been on. It didn't disappoint whatsoever. I absolutely loved it!!

     

    Here are the pics. Enjoy!

     

     

    20150530_110252.thumb.jpg.c21c01844358304f76a8ebdcd8543d6e.jpg

    My #1 coaster on my US bucket list. And Anaconda.

    20150530_164747.thumb.jpg.5ecce70bfa5f41cbe9c3c4268f5c0887.jpg

    From the top of the tower.

    20150530_204355.thumb.jpg.83ac0c5b22825c3aabf81461705febee.jpg

    Ejector airtime at night.

    20150530_164825.thumb.jpg.d8eb0b77a1c2c33d85a238bc2798f112.jpg

    Eruption!!

  5. I definitely think there's a place in the industry for RMC/Intamin prefab coasters and traditional wood coasters, they really are vastly different. As to the question of if the parks will continue to order traditional wood coasters and spend the money on maintenence? That should be interesting. Your guess is as good has mine. Good discussion!

  6. I'm 5'11 260lbs, 40" waist. I didn't have trouble getting on anything at KD this weekend. For me the tightest restraint was Volcano but I still had room. Shockwave was very uncomfortable in the shoulders. My shoulders pressed into the top of the restraint, and it was a little difficult to even get my arms in at first.

     

    Shockwave is a TERRIBLE ride though. When I say terrible I mean the only one I've ever been on that's worse is Hades 360. Unless you're a credit whore (like me and many others on here) you should avoid it at all costs anyway.

  7. ^^Kings Dominion is my favorite park for Fastlane, with the exception of Volcano every single ride puts you directly in the station and the most you ever wait for anything is 5 minutes regardless of the crowds. The merge points always seem to be right in the station.

    Volcano's Fast Lane puts you directly in the station now as well! Every time I used it on Volcano I was on the next train out of the station. Wonderful! I don't think I'll ever visit the park again without it.

     

    I never had more than a 3 train wait for I-305, either. My favorite seat was the left seat in the last row. I didn't try the front at all. The only time I even bother with the front row is on the Intamin Accelerators.

  8. Has something happened to Impulse? I just dropped in today for a ride on it and the wooden coasters, and it was vibrating all over the place. If I sat forward, my back would be painfully thrown forward, but if I tried to sit back and keep my body upright I couldn't because I would get a headache from the vibrations on the seat back. It's still pretty fun, but it was butter smooth on opening day.

     

    On the bright side, I'm willing to call my previous bad ride on Twister a fluke because it was running very well today.

    I was there Thursday as well. I was the guy with the big brown beard and the bright red shirt.

     

    Noticed the same thing on Impulse. The one train was vibrating like crazy. I still enjoyed the ride and thought it was really good, but the vibration was uncomfortable.

     

    Phoenix was running INSANE though, as was Twister. I had an absolute blast! My last visit to the park was in June 2012, so I was able to collect credits for Black Diamond, Flying Turns, and Impulse this trip.

  9. Robb-

    I do most of my Youtube watching on my phone, but I watch all of the TPR Youtube videos on my big screen tv. The quality is WAY too good to waste it using a phone, and my computer still has a CRT monitor. I have a Sony Blu Ray player and use the Youtube App built in to it to stream the videos on my tv.

     

    I am subscribed to the TPR channel, and frequently share the videos on Facebook which is the only form of social media I really use.

  10. I think it has MUCH more to do with terrible ride ops.

     

    Despite SFGAm being by FAR the closest park to me, I almost never go. I did buy a season pass this year since Goliath looked promising.

     

    Finally got a ride on Goliath yesterday. The queue sign said 2 hours 30 minutes. In reality it took just under 2 hours. I waited only because I had no real desire to ride any other coasters anyway. I enjoyed it. Yes, it felt very short. All the elements were great though, and I'd rather have a short, wild ride than a long but meandering one- here's looking at you, Raging Bull! The zero G stall was awesome, and that airtime hill made me miss El Toro greatly. I don't think Goliath is a top 5 for me- I wish it had a few more ejector hills, but it's still very easily the best ride in the park, and a VERY good coaster.

     

    I have said that the park clientele has been getting more and more ghetto the last several years, and bring a friend for half price night was certainly no exception.

     

    On to the operations. I always felt that Great America was one of the least "Six Flags" when it comes to operations. Man has that changed! The park itself is run down. Peeling paint everywhere. Half of the handrails in the queues are loose and about to fall over. Am I the only one that's noticed the staircase leading you up to Bull's station is noticably crooked and warped? All the boards on the exit ramp are loose, too.

     

    Finally you have the ride ops. Oh boy!! Raging Bull didn't hit interval once the entire time I was in line. How is that possible? That is literally the easiest ride to dispatch ever. Half the time the operator was talking to one of the attendants, and the train sat in the station ready to go but was never dispatched because he wasn't paying attention. The other attendant uad to actually walk ul to the operator's station and tell him to dispatch the train! The other coasters were no better. The X Flight op was too busy coming up with "witty" spiels and refusing to send the train until everyone would scream. I'm all for having fun, but don't kill capacity on a busy day just because your guests won't yell when you ask them to. I'm almost convinced bad capacity is part of the SOP on every ride there now. I've never seen it that bad at Great America, and I've visited the park more times than I can count.

     

    I am interested to see attendance numbers over the last few years. The lines are all much longer than they have ever been, but I think more of that is attributed to their complete lack of efficiency more so than attendance being up.

     

    I found the entire experience to be disappointing, and if Goliath wasn't there I would have no reason to ever return. Even Goliath isn't enough to make me want to go back this year. I would like to think next year will improve, but it seems like it's going to keep getting worse. Six Flags is headed right back to the toilet. I really hope they make big changes- and fast.

  11. I am a locomotive engineer (train driver) for Metra- Chicago's commuter passenger railroad. I've worked for Metra since January, and before that I was a locomotive engineer for 7 years at Union Pacific Railroad driving freight trains between Chicago and Iowa.

     

    Here are a couple of trains I was operating taken by local railfans.

    4072.1408726782.thumb.jpeg.912f5014d7d71399e3f5e42d542c08c2.jpeg

    15057413628_314f1de0c5_o.thumb.jpeg.ffd1a66418ec410ed406090f0d9208d3.jpeg

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