VF15

I'm planning on going to Mall of America sometime next week to visit Nickelodeon Universe and get my offseason coaster fix.

1) Millennium Force 2) Maverick 3) Top Thrill Dragster 4) Magnum XL-200 5) Raptor 6) Blue Streak 7) Rougarou 8) Gatekeeper 9) Gemini 10) Wicked Twister 11) Corkscrew 12) Cedar Creek Mine Ride 13) Mean Streak 14) Iron Dragon I don't "hate" any of Cedar Point's coasters, but 11-14 are nothing particularly special.

I like most of the park skylines that I've seen in person, but the Cedar Point skyline from the causeway is without a doubt the best.

...you see a cell phone tower and wish it were a drop tower.

I also made a trip to Kings Island and Cedar Point trip this past summer that was very successful. Other than Top Thrill Dragster frequently breaking down, the trip was wonderful. I had a blast at both parks, and my coaster count received a substantial boost.

I would also prefer an RMC over an invert, however, I've heard that RMC will be raising their prices substantially after this year. I'm not sure what most of the RMCs cost, but a price increase might unfortunately price out Valleyfair.

Saw this Screamscape rumor of a new coaster at WOF in 2018. A Sky Rocket II would be perfect for Worlds of Fun in my opinion since the park does not have a launched coaster, but as he said, it's still a vague rumor and a long way off.

-Flight of Fear at Kings Island. While I did like this ride's indoor setting, the launch and most of the layout did nothing for me. -American Eagle at SFGAm. I thought a coaster of this size would offer some good thrills, but I found it to be mostly rough and uninteresting. -Wild Thing at Valleyfair after the mid-course brake run. The first half of the ride is decent, but the return run is a big snoozefest. -Mean Streak is also very boring aside from one okay pop of air in the second half.

I'm not getting my hopes up, this is Valleyfair we're talking about. Wouldn't be surprised if the person who started this rumor is just trying to stir the pot.

Arrow - Thunderation GCI - Ozark Wildcat or Gwazi Mack - Sand Serpent B&M - Dragon Challenge (Red) Intamin - Avatar Airbender Gerstlauer - Rock Bottom Plunge Morgan - Wild Thing Vekoma - Space Mountain (Disneyland) Premier - Revenge of the Mummy (Hollywood) RMC - Goliath Dinn - Mean Streak CCI - Outlaw (Adventureland)

1) Banshee 2) Dragon Challenge (Blue) 3) Dragon Challenge (Red) 4) Raptor 5) Batman: The Ride (SFGAm) While Batman is definitely the most intense out of these five, I prefer the other inverts over it because of their layouts and their overall experience.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was excellent. It maintained a good balance between content reminiscent of the original trilogy and plenty of good new content. Most of new characters they introduced were likeable and played by good actors. As with any Star Wars film, it had stunning visuals and great special effects. I can understand the complaints about some of the plot points being similar to A New Hope, but I didn't mind it since it was all well-executed. Anyway, The Force Awakens was a great show that J.J. Abrams and Disney did a great job with. Definitely check it out sometime soon. 9/10

X-Flight at Six Flags Great America.

This has been an unusually warm winter so far, at least by Minnesota standards. Temperatures were in the 40s last week that melted all of the snow. We are supposed to get a few inches tonight though.

The trim brakes on The Beast at KI really take away a lot of that coaster's potential. The Beast is already a great ride, but it could be absolutely nuts if it was untamed. Flight of Fear is also pretty bad. The mid-course brake practically brings the train to a complete halt.

Hard to pick an absolute favorite, but some of favorite first drops include Goliath (SFGAm), Millennium Force, Maverick, Renegade, and Raging Bull.

^ I received the survey and filled it out. I probably will renew my season pass for 2016, but after next year, I likely won't renew unless we get something halfway decent.

Granted, but there will still be winter weather, therefore the parks are forced to remain closed. I wish for Finals Week to go by fast.

This doesn't always happen directly in the parks, but I've always found it annoying when young kids brag about going on a ride at their age. No one cares if you rode Top Thrill Dragster when you were 9.

While I think the Cedar Fair parks are better overall, I agree that Six Flags has been winning the innovation battle in recent years. When it comes to large investments, Six Flags tends to spread the love among most of its parks, while Cedar Fair seems to play favorites with 4 or 5 parks.

I've been on two B&M floorless coasters, Kraken and Rougarou, and I think Kraken is the better ride of two. Both coasters are on the same level in terms of intensity and forcefulness, however, Rougarou has a few moments of headbanging here and there, while Kraken is a very smooth ride from start to finish.

Dragon Challenge (Red side) at Islands of Adventure.

Concrete pouring has begun for the Flyers. From VF's Facebook.

Renegade was running fairly rough in 2013, but they've retracked parts of it over the past two offseasons that made it much better. I think a GCI woodie would be a great fit for Dorney, but they would need to maintain it well to prevent it from becoming rough after a few seasons.