boldikus

That coaster looks like

Sorry but you haven't truly lived until you've ridden Nitro in 19 degrees temps.

^ Or just a drone shot from right above the spike with the train rising up. Again, I bring up the "poor mans VelociCoaster" vibes this thing has. I'm excited to ride it, but lolol

She is entirely too happy about those comfort collars.

You're in NJ, have you not once been to HITP? Riding rides in the winter is just like any other winter outdoor activity (skiiing/sledding/snowboarding/barhopping/etc), you just bundle up to stay warm. And drink alcohol... also to "stay warm".

Here is the part anyone actually gives a shit about: As long as I can keep paying my $3.99 a month to get into any SF park w/ free parking I'm good.

I hoped so, but you're not the first person I've seen post this in the last few days...

Wait... people honestly think that that one article hipped SF to the fact that they were bleeding money from memberships/dining plans?

Great footage! Such a great ride. Stoked for the new purple paint (because the world needs more purple coasters) and can't wait to ride this again!

Bro, Skull Mountain doesn't need heat because Skull Mountain IS heat.

Yeah not mad about that paint job, fits the ride better, and agreed shame Griffon is not a darker blue and grey.

And they're still at it.

Yep, and as usual Universal is coming with the heat

Sometimes rides are good because they're just fun, not because they're loaded with the most insane forces ever? I stan for Verbolten hard, love the themeing, the trains, the indoor/drop track, the overabundance of auf wiedersehen. Hagrids is everything I love about Verbolten but cranked up to 13 because its an Intamin built with Universal money. Lots and lots and lots of Universal money.

It's a bummer because between the opening hiccups and the fact that its classified as a family coaster, I feel like it doesn't get the respect its due. After riding it @coasterbill asked me "what did you think?" and the first thing I could muster was "it's a f*cking Intamin!" It's not the most intense coaster by any means but its got some whip and bite for a family coaster. I think its absolutely phenomenal.

The hype is real. I watched the POV a bunch before riding and thought I had a good idea of what to expect but not only did the first half take me completely by surprise (especially after watching that section off ride and thinking it seemed like the train was going "slow" lol) but the second half is just balls to the wall insane. I knew it was one of my favorites after my first front row/day time ride but once we did it later in the rear of the train @ night? I knew it was the best ride I've ever ridden. There is so much to love about it - the smoothness, the forces, the themeing, the ridiculous elements, the trains, the restraints, the amazing operations/throughput... I'm even obsessed with the station music (if you could even call it that, its more of just a dull creepy hum, but its perfect just like everything else about the ride!) Get hype, its the best!

Bill is right. I say this as someone who has visited SWO 5+ times over the last 4 years and just finally visited Universal - both parks - just last month. Plan to spend time at Universal. You don't need to dedicate a day to SWO. Its a great park, I am a huge fan, but we always kind of run out of stuff to do there because while the B&Ms & Journey and Infinity Falls are great, that's really kind of it. If you want to hit coasters and don't care so much about animals, you can probably do SWO in like 2-3 hours if you get there at park opening. Do yourself a favor and plan to spend more time at Universal, particularly IOA. It might be my favorite park ever, and I did not expect to have that opinion ahead of visiting in December, after years of just not really caring about Universal at all (no notable coasters that piqued my interest and whole lot of bitching from people about screen-based rides, etc). After spending one day 9am-7pm at both Uni parks, I only wish we had booked 2-3 days there. Seriously. While I'm kinda of ho-hum on the Studios park (I personally hated Rip Ride Rocket), Gringotts is amazing. So is Mummy but that's closed now. So if you want to ride Gringotts and try RRR for yourself then do the park hopper. But the real stars of the show are VelociCoaster and Hagrids. I was blown away by both. VelociCoaster is the greatest coaster on earth. Granted I'm a full blown Intamin fanboi and hadn't ridden any new ones in a few years so maybe it was just getting to ride those two back to back that made me blow my top, but I'm obsessed. And beyond that Universal -particularly IOA - is just awesome. Incredibly themed, clean, great ops, great staff, all the Potter rides are awesome (don't skip Forbidden Journey - amazing). We really loved everything about IOA. I cannot wait to go back and while we had an amazing trip all around (that also included SWO, Discovery Cove, Animal Kingdom and Funspot Orlando) my big regret was not booking 2+ days at Universal. Did I mention VC is the best ever? Plan to spend as much time as you can there. And for the love of god don't skip Hagrids. I know some people will think I'm insane but its a top 10'er for me. I said what i said.

That moment when you show the class you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. MR is a fly-wheel launch, not catapult (aka "weight drop launch"). FFS, you can't even spell Schwarzkopf correctly.

You know there is an edit button so you don't have to make new posts in the same thread every five minutes.

They might as well rename the park to "Six Flags 'Quite A Few Effects Not Working Now' Adventure" with the way all four of the dark rides were operating these last two months.

I fully expect the ride to be great - I love the new and old Premier launchers and this looks unique and likely loaded with air and good forces. I want to be clear I'm not saying I personally think its not going to be as good as VC (even though it totally won't be as good). My point above is not to say it should be as good as VC, but how I expect its generally going to be received, opening less than a year after the universally loved monster just up the street. Its easy to assume how some will see them as very similar rides, and its also hard not to see that everything Ice Breaker does, VelociCoaster also does, and just does better. The stats, the lapbars, the theming, the operations/throughput (sorry but there's no way a Premier with a switch track is going to pump people through the way VC does), you name it. I'm excited for this ride because I love this park and I'm stoked there will be something else awesome to do but I also just feel like it was entirely pointless to build this at all when VC exists.

There is new orange and green paint on the coaster that is visible from the Giant Wheel, Sky Screamer, etc. I think its weird that you think its weird that they haven't announced the retheme yet. Parks add new rides etc to bring in more money. If they announced a coaster is getting painted and rethemed now what would be the point be if the park is closed for another two and half months? Do you think anyone but coaster nerds will actually make it a point to visit in three months just to ride a coaster thats been there for 22 years and is simply being repainted? I'm willing to bet that 1. this won't even be ready by opening day and 2. they won't even announce it until the park is open for the season.

What an incredibly satisfying ending! I never thought I'd be thrilled to watch a roller coaster burn but here we are.