WOFanatic

I remember paying $108 for Fast Lane at Cedar Point and being completely satisfied with the purchase... and that was on a rainy day! But I just couldn’t justify $499 for an all-season Fast Lane, unless CP was offering it and I lived like 5 min. away. Canada’s Wonderland just doesn’t have the lineup to justify a purchase that big. Their flat rides are nice, and Laviathan is cool and all, but not $500 cool. Really the only parks that can get away with that price, in my opinion, are Cedar Point and Six Flags Magic Mountian, and those two are still pushing it.

Gatekeeper, in my experience, was a tad bit bouncy. But that being said, the ride is still awesome, and the tiny bit of bounciness you get on the ride is hardly noticeable. Still a very smooth ride. I’m one of the few people that love Gatekeeper. It’s one of my favorite rides at CP, and after all the bashing I saw about it from enthusiast forums, it was a very nice surprise. Hell, I even rate it higher than Millennium Force.

Missouri- Outlaw Run Texas- Shock Wave (Over Texas) Ohio- Maverick Minnesota- Orange Streak Colorado- Half Pipe Small list. That's okay. Size doesn't matter, it's how you use it that counts.

Rougarou. I don't know why it gets so much hate but that ride kicks a$$ in my opinion. Favorite B&M and 2nd best steel coaster I've ridden.

Maverick. Hands down. No contest. Extremely fast, extremely smooth, extremely intense, extremely comfortable. Awesome drop, awesome airtime, awesome inversions, awesome launch, awesome scenery, awesome restraints. How can you get much better than that?

1. Millennieum Force (6,595 ft.) 2. Mamba (5,600 ft.) 3. Magnum XL-200 (5,106 ft.) 4. Maverick (4,450 ft.) 5. Timber Wolf (4,230 ft.) 6. Gatekeeper (4,164 ft.) 7. Gemini (3,935 ft.) 8. Rougarou (3,900 ft.) 9. Screamin' Eagle (3,872 ft.) 10. Raptor (CP) (3,790 ft.) Same here!

Invert/overall: Patriot (WOF) Wing: Gatekeeper (CP) Dive: Valravn (CP) Floorless: Rougarou (CP) Sit-down: Wildfire (SDC) I really need to get on more B&M's.

Steel: Top Thrill Dragster (420 ft.) Wood: Screamin' Eagle (110 ft.) or Outlaw Run (168 ft.) I put two for wood, because technically Outlaw Run is only 107 ft. tall. The drop is 168 ft. tall though, so it comes down to which part of the ride you're counting.

Patriot from Worlds of Fun's new entrance. (Not technically a sunset, but close enough )

Guys, seriously. This isn't too hard. Just do the math. This is all according to RMC's concept video at IAAPA: Raptor holds eight people per train. EIGHT PEOPLE. Not only does it have a low capacity in terms of trains, but it also only has two trains on the track, due to it's lack of a mid-course break run. This means that the ride will have a lower capacity than a Gerstlauer spinning coaster, which features 6 trains and 3 mid-course break-runs. Spinning Dragons at WOF, a ride I have a fairly good knowledge of, has an agonizingly slow line. And it's D-ticket attraction at best! At most parks, an RMC will be a top tier attraction due to it's intensity and smooth ride experience. I don't think there's any way in hell that this ride gets built at a park with an attendance above 800,000 or so. The only parks I believe could make a ride like this work would be Michigan's Adventure, Great Escape (if their guests can learn to sit in a seat properly), or something of similar or smaller size.

Could the ride be a Mack Extreme Spinning Coaster themed to Spinning out on a highway? It's far fetched, but that's the only thing that comes to mind.

They're mid-tier. Tier 1: Cedar Point, Kings Island Tier 2: Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland Tier 3: Kings Dominion, Knott's Berry Farm, California's Great America Tier 4: Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair Tier 5: Michigan's Adventure I'd argue WOF has moved up to tier 3, Knott's is Tier 1, and Dorney is damn near Tier 5. Not in terms of attention from Cedar Fair. WOF has been ignored as much as Dorney and Knott's is getting their first major new coaster in 14 years. In 2017, WOF is spending $5 mil+ on WinterFest, $2 mil on flats, and $3 mil on the new entrance. They also spent $10 mil in 2013, $8 mil in 2011, and $8 mil in 2009. They've also received a major coaster more recently than any park in tiers 4 and 5, and have the most children's rides of any kid's area in the U.S. I think I have an argument.

They're mid-tier. Tier 1: Cedar Point, Kings Island Tier 2: Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland Tier 3: Kings Dominion, Knott's Berry Farm, California's Great America Tier 4: Dorney Park, Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair Tier 5: Michigan's Adventure I'd argue WOF has moved up to tier 3, Knott's is Tier 1, and Dorney is damn near Tier 5.

Every park in the country (with the exception of the ones with magical talking mice) are dead on Thursdays at 8. But that's not an excuse to put in a low capacity attraction. Parks should build rides that cater to their worst crowds, not their best ones. "Yeah, it's a great ride, as long as you ride in on a weekday!"

As much as it hurts to say it, it's wrong to take close-up footage of private property without permission, as beautiful as it may be. Geez, I never thought something so wrong could feel so right...

The coolest thing about Cedar Point is that the rides stay open 8 minutes after the park closes. This is to assure you that you can get the last ride of the night on the ride of your choice. Worked for me like a charm for one last beautiful ride on Maverick in May. The park is supposed to close the ride when the line is finished. I'm not saying this from a moral perspective. That's literally Cedar Fair's policy. This is what I was told at Guest Relations. They were as angry as I was. I was a screamster at WOF's HAUNT event last year, and they made us not only stay in the park until every guest was gone, but also stay in character that entire time (which is no problem, because I love that job). There were some nights that we'd wait a while for Patriot to be closed due to the long lines that night. Pretty much, if the park closed at midnight, expect to leave at about 1 or 1:30.

The girl fell from Sky Ride. There is a video circulating on Facebook of the incident.

Had a terrible experience while at Prowler Thursday night, and I'd thought I'd share it here because I feel it was very anti-consumer and disrespectful to park guests. Late Thursday night, they decided to close the ride early. That's fine by me, if you have a good reason to be doing so. If the ride is having maintenance problems, that's understandable. But they had no good reason. The reason was so that they could start on their nightly maintenance routine early. And this didn't just mean closing off the entrance. It meant telling the 30 or so people still in line to leave. This happened at about 9:57, leaving the guests that have been waiting in line no other option but to just leave the park pissed off. Maybe I'm overexaggerating, but I found this to be a pretty big "FU" to the customer. In the 15 years I've been going to amusement parks, I've never seen a park say to it's patrons "Last train of the night guys. Sorry if you didn't get to ride, but the maintenance team wants to go home early tonight, so don't let the door hit ya on the way out!" And for those who will ask "Are you sure the ride wasn't having maintenance problems?" Yes, I'm sure. Not only did the maintenance team show up and talk to the team before the final train was dispatched, but I also spoke to two of the employees in the station, who assured me that nothing was wrong with the ride. They just told me maintenance wanted a head start that night, and that they asked to shut down the ride early. This was also the first time I have ever complained to Guest Relations. I do have to say that they handled the situation perfectly. They were very calm, kind, and understanding. They took my season pass to collect my info, filled out the report, and gave us exit passes to skip the Prowler line without an expiration date. They also assured us that the ride was not scheduled for an early closure, and that they had no reports of maintenance problems. I hope that the report is looked into and that this never happens again. Especially with the status that the park has now of being slow and mismanaged. If you have any info on why the ride may have closed early, let me know. I know I'm being a little hyperbolic, but I feel it puts a bad taste in the customer's mouth when you turn them away for no good reason while they watch their friends ahead of them getting to ride.

How does GG woodie track design compare to others? It looks more traditional than RMC topper track does. How are they able to do the inversions while GCI can't. The track design looks almost the same, than say topper track does. GCI's can, they just haven't yet.

I really don't see Valleyfair getting much of anything next year. But if I had to guess, I'd assume a Planet Snoopy expansion is lined up for next year.

Also, it gives you the opportunity to see Worlds of Fun's outstanding HAUNT event. Seriously, it's near-Knott's level.

1. Worlds of Fun (22 miles, 30 min.) 2. Silver Dollar City (198 miles, 3.25 hours) 3. Adventureland (218 miles, 3.3 hours) I'm gonna throw Six Flags St. Louis as an honorable mention, as its only 20 miles further than Adventureland, and I've been to the park on multiple occasions. Not a bad Six Flags park, either. Also, if we're counting major water parks, Schlitterbahn KC is technically # 2 at about 35 miles away.

Fun Fact: "816" is actually the area code for Worlds of Fun. Not that it means anything. I just found it interesting.

I hate to sound like a dismissive jerk towards the guy, and I also have to admit, regrettably, that my oldest son spends way too much time watching Coaster Studios' videos, but who the @#%$ really cares about what some kid on the internet says!?!?!? I mean, from the park's perspective... Outside of the very small group of people known as coaster enthusiasts, nobody is really even aware of CS' existence, and I doubt the parks can hardly be bothered by what he's saying. There's so much opinionated dreck on Youtube, that if reputable companies bothered themselves worrying about what every hack on there said, they'd go crazy! So yeah, while I see what you're saying, I guess my point is that in the grand scheme of things, this whole "problem" that was manufactured about the slower launch, was only an issue among a very miniscule portion of people, and nobody here, honestly, should ever take anything CS says with more than a grain of salt. The YouTube channel/Facebook page doesn't really bother me, but what really blows my mind is the fact that Taylor is a contributor to the Huffington Post. I mean, after they claimed Hillary had a 98% chance of winning the election, I don't think anyone really takes them seriously anymore. But the fact that a major news outlet signed on a kid that repeatedly reports false information and rumors as fact still baffles my mind.

It's okay to be wrong. We won't judge you for how terrible your opinion is. I found MaxAir and SkyHawk to be quite a bore, if I'm being honest. I prefer SkyHawk, but even so, I had more fun on Cedar Downs. I also really liked Power Tower (drop side), and I didn't get a chance to ride their Windseeker due to high winds (though I've ridden one before). But nothing compares to Cedar Downs in my opinion.