BotanicalStig

FLORIDA! After living in socal for 10 years, I've had more than enough time to realize that nothing there is worth a vacation. Every CF park beats their socal counterpart... for the rest, SFMM just isn't a good park, they have a lot of coasters, but how many of them are good? Ok, maybe one or two, but how many of them are great? If you can think of one let me know, because I sure can't. Knott's on the other hand... easily the best socal park, still one of my favorites. But is one great park really enough to justify a trip? Absolutely not, not when you can visit all the great CF parks.

^^FastLane did a whole of good for us last night. Though, there were no lines for most attractions until around 4:00, place was PACKED come 7:00. The only things that had a wait in the morning were Volcano, Backlot, Shockwave, Ricochet and some flats. Everything else was a walk on until the Haunt crowd started to show up. Had a great time, what an awesome park! I have a few new favorites (missed hurler, rebel yell, and ricochet... nothing I really cared about, frankly). Will definitely return next season, seriously... I can't wait. The only thing that bummed me out, unless you did the mazes, there were almost no scare actors running about. I was there all night and I might have run into 5.

Wow, a SkyWhirl! Oh the vague childhood memories. Not sure exactly which tilt mechanism you're looking for, but maybe this video will help?

My first boomerang was... Boomerang... at Knott's. I knew it wouldn't be great but I wasn't expecting it to rough me up as it did. Miserable rollecoaster, pretty, but miserable. Next, I rode a GIB (Deja Vu at SFGAm), you could imagine how surprised I was at how great it was. Unfortunately, I only got one ride on it. Last, I've ridden Carolina Cobra. Over hyped. Way over hyped. No, you don't have to worry about smacking your head on the restraints, but that doesn't mean it doesn't thrash you about. I would really like to see Vekoma bring the design back to the drawing board and try again. It really was a novel idea, just poorly executed.

^Like this

Thanks for the mini trip review! I haven't done a haunt even since the 90's. The crowds sounded nuts Glad I preordered my FL passes, can't wait for my trip this weekend!

I'd love to ride any and all Schwarzkopf looping stars... olympia looping being my number 1 must ride. I also need to get on El Toro, Boulder Dash, a Mega-lite and the RMC make overs. Helix may be a must ride for me as well once it's up and running.

NightHawk

I have a soft spot for Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott's... I'd have to tie it with Splash Mountain in FL, I can't decide which I like better.

^Were you there Sunday? Vigil was there Friday but I didn't see any reports from sat/sunday. Hopefully that was bad info...

Maybe it was just a day thing? The site says it's still open... I hope they get it back up. I'll be there next weekend.

^Consider the recent renovation at Knotts... And literally every other expansion that didn't include a "biggest ride in the park" type of deal. Customers will be attracted to shiny new rides either way

Have you ever been to Carowinds and ridden their God-awful offerings? A 50 million investment could have given the park several excellent offerings to improve the park. You need a huge rollercoaster or else you wont get business? Maybe Disney needs to reconsider their model I hope the retrack on hurler makes a big difference, I've ridden it without trims and it becomes a much better ride... it could see a good improvement from fresh topper. The retrack on thunder road was night and day, glad they're going to finish it. The new color scheme on afterburn sounds unnecessary and frankly, unappealing... whatever. The article on the 300ft "wing coaster" sounds like BS. If it is some sort of wing deign, I can't imagine it being b&m.

Ejector all the way. Maverick and magnum (without the trims) are the best examples I've been on. Some of my fondest childhood memories are riding magnum back to back and having bruises on my thighs by the end of the day.

I'm quite disappointed with this development as well. Carowinds has been my home park these past three seasons and a giga just isn't what the park needs. A B&M giga of all things... If this turns out to be true... God.. just don't let it be true. IMO the park is seriously lacking in a lot of aspects, and a lot of the attractions are garbage. For the sake of discussion, here's what I would rather see... A combination of any of the following before a "70ft taller B&M" A launcher... something similar to Maverick please... but as long as it's not a "Top Thrill NASCAR" I'd be happy. A higher intensity woodie. Hurler is terrible. Carowinds needs more An enjoyable, well themed log flume. A big investment but the park IS already full of dinosaur animatronics that serve little use.. just saying. Maybe a nice looper of any sort... again it's just a case of the current options being trash, the only exception being afterburn. An El Loco would be cool Hell I'd rather get a wing rider I could appreciate an Intamin giga, I just have mixed feelings. With that big of an investment I was hoping for a refresh of some of the junk the park is filled with... I guess