loop-de-loop

Guests were quite good actually. I think the chaperone policy helps. I was just at Canada’s Wonderland before this trip and the amount of kids/teens line jumping is frustrating. Wonderland needs that policy too. Employees were good for the most part. Not a whole lot of effort put into filling trains (sending superman out with only 2 people in a row when you’re down to 1 train and an hour wait is hard to watch), but they all seemed to have a good hustle, especially for how hot it was.

I visited Six Flags Great America for the first time this week. I haven’t posted here in a long time but my flight home is currently delayed so I decided to write up a trip report. My home park is CW and I don’t have a lot of parks under my belt, but SFGAm has been close to the top of my bucket list with a strong line up of coasters. Overall, I was very impressed by the park. I was surprised that the park didn’t have a bigger footprint, as they cram a lot of rides into this park. This park has such a strong lineup of quality roller coasters. Unfortunately, Maxx Force was closed while I was there (rumor is it’s closed for the rest of the season?) however I was able to ride everything else. It was extremely hot while I was there and I don’t know if that kept crowds down a bit but it wasn’t crazy busy. Wrath of Rakshasa - This is a phenomenal dive coaster. I only have Yukon Striker & Valravn to compare it to, but it reminds me of a mini Yukon Striker. My biggest complaint about Valravn is how it hits the MCBR so early. Wrath hauls through its entire layout, and really whips you through the entire ride. Maybe a little shaking in the outside seats, but minor in my opinion. This is a slam dunk and I love how the queue and midway interact with the entire ride. The unique theming incorporated with this ride is a very nice touch too. Demon - A fun, classic Arrow looper. I love the vertical loops of an Arrow looper. I wish the lights in the tunnel were working. It’s a minor complaint, but I always think it makes a park seem cheap when there is an obvious feature of a ride that doesn’t work. Whizzer - My first time riding this type of roller coaster, and it was great! It’s obviously a great family roller coaster and has a nice setting as well. Superman - This was my first B&M flyer. I loved the pretzel roll, but besides that it doesn’t do a whole lot. They were only running 1 train and weren’t honouring Flash Pass on it (I paid for Ultimate so this rubbed me the wrong way with Maxx Force already closed as well). I can’t wait to try Manta & Tatsu after riding this. The Dark Knight - A fun wild mouse indoors. I wasn’t sure exactly what the layout was going in so it was fun to experience it in the dark. Families seemed to love this ride. Joker - This was a lot of fun, and spun more than I thought based on some reviews I had read. A short ride but fun when there’s not a line. Batman - My first of the Batman clones, and this lives up to the hype. One train operation which wasn’t great when it had a bit of a line. The inside queue before the station was a million degrees. Mix in the red lights and fake smoke, and it felt like you were being cooked. Even the station was warm enough, at least they had fans for the employees working in there. V2 - This was down for a lot of the day but I got lucky and it opened up as I was walking by. This was my first impulse and I really enjoyed it. The accelerating backwards is a lot of fun, which makes me want to get back to CP to try TT2. Aqua man - It was crazy hot while I was here. I jumped on to cool down and it was a fun ride and got myself more soaked than I was expecting which felt good when it was so hot out. For a park that seems to be lacking space, these water rides do seem to take up a lot of valuable real estate. I wouldn’t be shocked if this gets tore down someday for a new coaster, especially when they make people pay a separate admission to enter Hurricane Harbor. Goliath - An awesome RMC! I had pretty high expectations for this ride, and it delivered. Such a short ride it seems when you’re hauling through the course, but the airtime is great and the hang time is even better. American Eagle - A fun classic coaster, I got some night rides which were a lot of fun. I love that you have to walk a mile in the queue to get back to it. They were running both sides but not racing them unfortunately. (Side note while I’m talking about this area, the kids section back here was extremely depressing looking. It looks like they just threw some rides in an old theatre, and it looks like a haunted house is just left there permanently? This back section of the park could use a re-vamp if they were going to fix an area of the park up.) Sky Striker - My home park is CW, and this blows Psyclone away as this thing was running such a long cycle with so many full swings back and forth. The light package on it is amazing as well. It held a good line and was clearly one of the most popular rides in the park. X-Flight - A solid wing coaster, felt like a smaller Gatekeeper. It doesn’t really fit the County Fair theme (does any ride in this area?) but the flight theme for X-Flight itself was executed well for Six Flags with near-misses and landscaping. Justice League - This was a better interactive ride than I was expecting. The end scenes where you are racing through the city actually feel like you’re moving if you only focus on the screen. The air conditioning felt so good too on a hot day. Raging Bull - This thing is awesome. The airtime you get in the back was way better than I was expecting. The queue and overall theming of this entire area is very well done. Viper - I was very surprised at how good this was. I was expecting a rough old wooden coaster, but it delivered a great ride. Again, the ride’s little bit of theming in this area is great too. (While I’m talking about this area, the six flags app is not great. For some reason it was calling my home park “Six Flags Over Texas” and when you get close to Hurricane Harbor it kicks you out of Great America and shows you Hurricane Harbor instead). Overall, besides the one-train operations on Batman and Superman (and Maxx Force being closed) I was very impressed by this park. I see a lot of potential that the merger could bring (landscaping, consistent theming and ride ops could be slightly better compared to my home park of CW) but this is a park with several quality roller coasters that I’m glad to have had the chance to visit. (I attached a few quick pics I snapped as well).

^Makes you wonder how accurate the TEA attendance report is every year. Their 2017 report lists Knott's at a hair over 4 million. If Hangtime brought in an additional 2 million people that is one hell of an investment. http://www.teaconnect.org/images/files/TEA_268_653730_180517.pdf

I love the view of the park you get right before the drop. Only missing Behemoth from the skyline.

Does anyone know why Shockwave gets left in this position for the winter? I would have just assumed it would be left in the loading position during the off season.

^I get that. Even with the Voyage’s aggressive second half, everytime the train would pull into the station I’d want to ride again. Raven was the only coaster I had no desire to re-ride.

Why wouldn't the bat stay? They just painted the entire thing and gave it a brand new name and logo a few seasons ago. There's no indication whatsoever that the Bat is going anywhere. That Bat is awesome, and (contrary to your experience), I've never seen the thing without a line. You’re right, there has been no indication that it is going anywhere. I was just joining the speculation of the future of the Bat and Vortex. I really do hope it stays, as it’s a great ride and one of the best suspended coasters left. Also glad to hear it’s still popular with the GP. If it’s still getting a line way down there it must be a favourite with a lot of the public.

Nice TR, I just went for the first time last weekend and your reviews sound pretty much bang on compared to mine. The Raven: How does this ride get so much love? This thing was way too rough to enjoy. The Legend: The only review I'll disagree with. It was rough but tolerable and I really enjoyed the twisty layout. The Voyage: Stellar roller coaster up until the MCBR, then uncomfortable from there. Can't imagine how painful the ending would be if it were to just fly through the MCBR. Thunderbird: Great ride, nice to ride something actually smooth in the park. I had some bad luck while I was at the park; at one point The Voyage, Raven, and Thunderbird were all down at the same time and Legend was only using one train so of course everyone flooded that ride. The Voyage only opened up with an hour before close and with only 1 train so waits were painful but those night rides were fantastic.

If The Bat is going to stay, their next coaster should go right beside it with the entrance as close to The Bat's entrance as possible to increase its ridership. Even with Banshee close by, when I was there last weekend I rode it on two separate occasions and never saw a train more than half full. I think most of the public likes The Bat, but don't like the long hike back there to ride it.

Wasn't me but the person a row ahead of me. I was in line for the last row on The Racer at KI at night when a man (probably around 50) got in line for the row in front of me. He wasn't looking too well, almost looked drunk as he grabbed the gates in the station. Anyway, we get on, and during the last drop before the turnaround I felt something wet hit my face, like a raindrop. The sky was clear so I had a pretty bad feeling I knew what it was, and sure enough as we pulled into the station he had thrown up all over himself. I felt really bad for him as when we came back into the station as a bunch of 13-14 year olds started yelling and pointing at him, making a scene. He grabbed his stuff quickly and got out of the station; the dispatching ride op actually had to lean over the booth and tell him to find first aid to wash his clothes while he was walking down the exit ramp as he didn't want to stick around and talk to any ride-ops. I'm just glad I didn't get hit with more than I did behind him, and I hope he was feeling better for the rest of the night.

Mystic Timbers. The night rides on that thing are just as good as The Beast’s in my opinion.

Sheesh thunder run gets worked on every year I just rode it last weekend and was expecting it to be a lot rougher than it was. The only part that I think needs a lot of work is the last turn before the station. T3 was down all day so I guess that roughness makes up for missing the hang’n’bang.

Flight Deck, Behemoth, Stunt Coaster, The Fly, Leviathan, and maybe Guardian and Skyhawk. They take your picture to show your scores on those rides though I'm not sure if you can buy them. Flight Deck got rid of on-ride photos a couple of years ago. Backlot Stunt Coaster had finally gotten rid of the on-ride photos last year and the on-ride photo building was removed during the 2015/2016 off-season. Behemoth, Ghoster Coaster, Leviathan, The Fly, and Taxi Jam have on-ride photos available for purchase. Wonder Mountain's Guardian and Skyhawk do have on-ride photos, although they are not available for purchase as they're only momentarily featured on a TV at the exit. Thanks for correcting me, shows how much I pay attention to those photos.

Flight Deck, Behemoth, Stunt Coaster, The Fly, Leviathan, and maybe Guardian and Skyhawk. They take your picture to show your scores on those rides though I'm not sure if you can buy them.

I agree, I'm loving everything about this coaster.

A B&M Stand-Up.

Cedar Fair should have sent Thunder Road to Valleyfair.

^Well I am actually excited for CW's new flat rides. I'm not sure what about Skyhawk makes you think "meh," because being able to do multiple inversions in the air at 135 feet sounds sick to me. CW will get their new coaster soon enough. Both Raptor and Valravn are going to look great beside each other, and both will be amazing rides too.

That's pretty awful. That makes that crew the worst out of the four newer RMC's. 20 cycles is a low hour at Goliath and Medusa, and I assume TC as well. What are they possibly doing that they're moving so much slower than their counterparts? Are you sure you heard 20? And not 25 or 30? It was definitely 20. I would get off, walk down the exit ramp, back to the entrance, down the flash pass line, walk up the stairs to the station (which is all a long hike) and the train I got off would still be waiting to dispatch. There were a lot of people coming up the exit with some ticket to ride and they would get on the platform but their seat would be filled by the op controlling the line and then they would be bothering the ops wondering what to do and everyone would be confused.

I was at the park on Saturday for the first time and had a great time. The park has some great rides and has a beautiful setting; the views on Bizzaro''s lift and especially on Sky Screamer are amazing! My only minor problem was with the Q-bot. As soon as I got it I reserved Goliath, and before I rode I reserved Wicked Cyclone. After Goliath, I was on my way to Wicked Cyclone and almost at the entrance when it vibrated and said "Not Rented, Please Return." So I walked back to the Flash Pass center and they fixed it. I really wanted to ride Wicked Cyclone so I reserved it and started walking back again and when I was at the stairs in front of Sky Screamer it vibrated again and said "Not Rented, Please Return." So I turned around and walked all the way back again and this time they gave me a new one which worked the rest of the day. It was frustrating as I spent a half-hour walking back and forth from WC to the front gate but the new one worked fine the rest of the day. As far as ride ops, they were ok. Not terrible, but not great either. While at Wicked Cyclone, the op on the mic announced that this was their 20th cycle in an hour and was sincerely congratulating the rest of the ops. IMO, 3 minute dispatches isn't that impressive. Though to be fair, there were a lot of people coming up the exit with ride passes that forced the ops to leave certain rows empty when letting people in from the line. This was happening a lot which I found odd. Why are people going up the exit and not the flash pass line if they have a line pass? Anyway, onto the rides: Wicked Cyclone (x8): This lived up to the hype. It was my first RMC and there were times it literally felt like the ride was trying to eject me from the seat. What I love about this ride is how it keeps a high speed the entire time. The speed it takes some of the elements on the ride is just insane. It's the best ride in the park IMO. Bizzaro (x6): This also lived up to the hype as well. The long, sustained ejector air over the main airtime hills really separate it from Wicked Cyclone. My only issue was the trains/restraints. I'm 6'2, which isn't abnormally tall, but the lap bar sat only half way down my thighs and not near my waist which felt a little awkward. I definitely understand why there is a max. height requirement too. On my last run I was slouching a bit in the seat and the ride op stapled me in and my restraint actually went into my gut, though my knees were now pushed right out into the box in front of the seat. That entire ride my knees were slamming into that box so bad, I actually had to put my hands over my knees to absorb the impact. New trains or better restraints would also really help make this ride more comfortable, though it's not that bad as it is. (Bizzaro was also down a lot. I was stuck on the break run for 15 minutes with a train stuck only 50 feet up the lift. I saw this happen another time, and my Q-bot kept going off saying it was closed multiple times.) Batman (x5): I think this ride is under-rated. It was a really fun, smooth ride with great inversions. Goliath (x2): My first ride was in the front and was amazing! I loved it. At night I decided to ride again, though the flash pass attendant put me in the last line since there were only 3 in line there. I was nervous because I had read on here that the front is the only good row. Well, that information is 100% true. I felt like I was riding a paint shaker. It blows my mind how there can be such a ride difference between the front and the back. It's too bad because without the shaking it would be such a great ride. Flashback (x1): Wasn't as good as my first ride on Goliath, but way better than my second. Pandemonium (x1): Fun family ride. I rode with 2 kids and their dad and the kids' reactions were hilarious. Thunderbolt (x1): Another fun family ride. Mind Eraser (x1): A Maverick or Ispeed style coaster would be a much better use of space, and that's all I'm gonna say about that. Scream (x2): I love drop/launch towers, this one didn't disappoint. Sky Screamer (x1): Great views, the high winds were causing the swings to sway a lot too which was fun. Overall I had a great time. SFNE has a real winner on their hands with Wicked Cyclone, and although I doubt it, it would be nice if they gave Bizzaro new trains with this re-theme. And now for 2 crappy vertical Iphone pics. What a beautiful pole. 2 trains, 1 photo. That's as artsy as I get.

It blows my mind how people will wait over an hour for these rides though. At least there is hope that Minebuster will get re-tracked like Wild Beast, but the other 2 are lost causes. And a quick note about Marineland, it's a park with major potential. It has tons of room to expand, it's in a major tourist area and its close to the 5+ million people in the Toronto area. If it got in the right hands it could be an amazing park but unfortunately I don't think the current owners have plans to (or can afford to) turn it into the amazing park it could be.

I'd be surprised if Wonderland got a hotel. I feel like they wrote that idea off when they sold off that massive plot of land north of the park. That would've been the perfect spot for one. Plus Wonderland isn't a destination/resort kind of park, and it doesn't need to be. The park has an enormous market within 2 hours driving time.

^I never said there were more, I said there were some, referring to the old ones. The post is one page back. Sorry for the confusion. I'm glad to hear that the park is busy, after the attendance slip last year hopefully this year will see an increase again.

There are orange markers. They are only visible from the blocked off path unless they've been removed since it was blocked off. I never said they were new, I'm just trying to help people keep up with what's going on. Also, the dollar was almost as crappy in 2006-2007 when Behemoth was being planned. It was around $.85 compared to $.80 today, and cedar fair had just taken on the debt load of 6 parks. None of us are economists so I think it's difficult to make accurate predictions on what Cedar Fair is planning to do based on the economy.