VF15

Sorry to go off topic, but were you there the last Saturday when these two girls forced a guy to ride? Nope, my last weekend working at VF was in early October.

Tower is getting taller.

Don't have any out-of-state park trips planned yet, though I would like to make a trip to some of the Pennsylvania parks (Kennywood, Knoebels, Hersheypark) if possible.

They have removed some rides without an announcement in the past (Hydroblaster, Antique Autos 1.0, etc.), but yeah, I'm not 100% sure about that rumor. Anyway, looks like the construction cam has been moved to Wild Thing's MCBR.

Mamba at Worlds of Fun.

I actually heard a rumor from another employee that Looping Starship might not be back next season due to maintenance issues, but that is just a rumor so don't quote me on that. Regardless, if Looping Starship was removed, I don't think many tears would be shed.

^ I should've specified that I was mainly talking about roller coasters, my bad. I completely understand why most flat rides need to hold the gates (since many of them are run by only one operator).

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20161028/NEWS/161029816/cedar-fair-promotes-richard-a-zimmerman-to-president

Ride ops that wait until everyone leaves the exit platform before opening the gates. Unless there's a policy that requires them to do this, it does nothing but waste time.

I've seen the same animation on FunTV at Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun, probably doesn't mean anything.

SkyRider (relocated to Italy) still has a trick track, but I do believe there is no wooden trick track left.

Visited Worlds of Fun for the first time last week from the 14th through the 16th and had a great time. I though it was definitely the most well-themed and well-landscaped Cedar Fair park I've been to so far (haven't visited Knott's yet). Of course, it wasn't amazing theming but it made most of the park pleasant to look at. They have a fairly good lineup of roller coasters and thrill rides for a park of this size. Friday night crowds were manageable with 15-20 minute waits for most rides, but Saturday crowds might just be the most I've seen in a park that isn't in Florida or California (mostly full queues with a few lines spilling onto the midway). Operations were mostly average; except for Mamba, all the coasters would consistently stack the second train, but they got the job done. Not really a Haunt guy, so I'm not the best person to ask, but they put on a great event for sure. Walked through a few scare zones to get to rides faster and particularly liked all of the fog usage. Scare actors were definitely succeeding at scaring everyone. Overall it's a fun park that I'm glad I got to visit. I don't feel the need to go back until they add another major thrill ride or coaster, but I'd visit if I was in the area again. My thoughts on the coasters... -Prowler was by far the best ride in the park. It's full of fantastic laterals, strong pops of air, fairly aggressive forces, and it doesn't let up at all until the brakes. My new favorite GCI and a top five woodie for sure. 8.5/10 -Mamba was a pretty good Morgan hyper. Overall it felt very similar to Wild Thing, but I'd give Mamba the slight edge for a more forceful helix and more sustained airtime in the return run. 8/10 -Patriot is the least intense invert I've ridden but I still had a lot of fun on it. The zero-G roll is excellent and the helix near end pulls some decent forces. 7/10 -Boomerang was actually, dare I say, a fairly smooth ride. Nothing too amazing, but the loop in reverse does have some nice intensity. 6.5/10 -Timber Wolf had a nice first first drop and good pops of air throughout, though a few rough/rattly sections that haven't been retracked yet brought it down a bit. Once GCI finishes with the refurb it should be much better as a whole. Pretty slow operations though, they were taking a good three-and-a-half minutes to dispatch the train. 6/10 -Spinning Dragons: Kinda hard to get excited about it when I have the exact same ride at one of my home parks, but still fun for what it is. 6/10 Onto the photos... This was my view for most of the drive to WOF. Nice view from my hotel room. Nothing like visiting a new park for the first time. Glad that WOF is getting a new front gate next year. This one definitely seems a bit undersized for this park. Heading in... Nice entrance plaza. The area around Patriot is very photogenic. First ride of the trip. Dominator is much better than the Power Towers at VF and CP. Sunsets make all coaster photos better. Such a great ride. Prowler's line due to one-train operation (they put the second train on later). Timber Wolf in the dark. Fun ride but slow dispatch times. Not bad for a Vekoma. Wow, they moved my favorite coaster to Worlds o... Oh, wait. Timber Wolf and Mamba. Weird that Mamba's ride ops have to manually release lap bars with the foot pedals every time. When I worked Wild Thing, the lap bars popped up automatically once the train parked. Airtime! Mamba had a full queue most of Saturday night. Thank goodness I had Fast Lane. Heading out...

Updated: 1) Banshee 2) Afterburn 3) Dragon Challenge (Blue) 4) Dragon Challenge (Red) 5) Raptor ------------- 6) Patriot 7) Batman: The Ride (SFGAm)

Outdoor coaster season has come to an end for me . Fortunately, I did buy an annual pass to Nick Universe for the first time since they lowered the price, which should make this winter much more tolerable than in the past. Even with the NU pass, college and some of my other hobbies will be taking precedence over roller coasters. Will be spending a lot of time studying the weather, going to the movies a few times a month, and watching lots of hockey.

More NorthStar parts at the park. From VF's Twitter.

1) Fury 325 2) Lightning Rod 3) Millennium Force 4) Maverick 5) Top Thrill Dragster 6) Goliath (SFGAm) 7) Banshee 8) Diamondback 9) Prowler 10) Dragon Challenge (Blue)

Just left the park about an hour ago and holy crap, that might be the most crowded amusement park I've ever seen. They were parking cars in the grass field near Patriot, and many of the rides/mazes had full queue lines (some of them spilled out on the midway). They certainly do a good job of bringing everyone in. Anyway, I had a great time and I plan on posting a trip report in this thread soon.

Originally I was thinking 2018, but now that we have photos of some track and support beams at the park, I'm starting to lean toward 2017. I admittedly know nothing about coaster construction, but I can't see why you'd need to have track on-site 19 months before opening.

Patriot at Worlds of Fun.

Prowler at Worlds of Fun. Amazing ride!

Heading to the park tonight, looking forward to it . I'm planning on hitting Spinning Dragons and Boomerang first due to low capacity. After that, in what order should I hit everything else?

Granted, but it's at the most isolated park in the world. I wish there was a movie playing at the theater that I'm interested in seeing.

Visiting Worlds of Fun for the first time on Friday night and Saturday.

Wild Thing yesterday morning for the pre-opening test ride.

From my ride operator perspective, when grown adults ask me "Am I tall enough?" or duck next to the height stick. Gets annoying fast.