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To be honest I've found Apocalypse at SFA to be way more brutal than Green Lantern, but neither of them are good by any stretch of the imagination. I could see arguing either way. At least nobody's saying Gatekeeper is the worst B&M.

A new blog post is up detailing everything new (besides Valravn) announced at Winter Chill Out. https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog-article/online-fun/All-The-New-Things What struck me is how Tony really kinda "inched past" the ride removals, unlike this blog post from November 2014 announcing the Good Time Theater was closing, where it had a post all to itself.

If they agree to put them in the parking lot couldn't they put them there without even removing the ride?

There's a few reasons, and yes it has been addressed. First of all, there are not 66 acres of viable parking lot space for solar panels. I do believe SF has agreed to use the employee lot for panels, but even including the main lot, employee lot and Hurricane Harbor lot, you still come nowhere near enough space (which, yes, I agree, you can't really justify chopping 66 acres of trees for this project). I believe I remember reading that SF has addressed the risk of putting panels over the lot. Aside from expenses (they may also have to repave first which is supposedly $10 million they don't want to spend), it's the northeast, people are stupid and sue for anything. There are some minor inherent dangers with covering a lot with panels (visual obstructions, more things in the way for NJ drivers to run into, etc), but it sounds like a bit of an excuse on SF's part to get out of paying a much higher amount up front, IMO. There are also some buildings than panels could be placed on top of, but this is supposedly (I'm not an expert) more costly than just placing panels in a field, and altogether, even with all the lots included with the buildings, they're still short of 66 acres. Personally I think it's ridiculous how long discussion has been happening and both sides aren't compromising (they were having a heated argument about the definition of native grass a few weeks back). I'd love to see incentives from the county to help cover the parking lot expenses so they can do the three lots there and less than 30 acres of forest, but I don't know how likely it is that would happen.

I've gotta be honest, I've never heard anyone complain about this at a park with a Larson super loop. It seems to be just an enthusiast thing to hate on Six Flags.

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of yours that I didn't stop myself just to admire for a minute. You've also been the creator of more than a few of my screensavers and wallpapers Thanks for the report.

...and even after they expire. Guilty of this right now actually. It's not even a nerdy thing for me, I'm just afraid to lose it at my house

I'm with you 100%. If you're going to do theming and it's not your thing, do it like Banshee was done. Simple yet effective, but nothing obnoxious. If not, this and the GateKeeper plaza are really nice in my mind and just look nicely presented.

This. 100% this. If Cedar Fair did in fact have this mysterious contract with B&M, GateKeeper did not go from nothing to a signed contract in a matter of hours at IAAPA 2011. And how would Valravn be part of said "contract" if they had just decided on the 2013 coaster? Did they decide to sign up for two coasters in the matter of hours? I think, unless somebody actually has evidence that says otherwise, that Valravn had nothing to do with GateKeeper. And Fury 325 had nothing to do with Leviathan, or GateKeeper, or Banshee, as Rob Decker said in an interview from a website not to be named on this site from the Fury 325 media day. They put their wish out there and see what manufacturers come back them with, and in this case, B&M won the contract.

I don't see a polar coaster to be honest. The park already has Dragster which draws just as many people today as it would if Kingda Ka were never built. Building something 100 feet taller, but much slower and with even lower capacity isn't something the park needs. I also don't think they would gamble with any new concepts in terms of new attractions for a little while longer. I do remember seeing Dick Kinzel quoted that his biggest mistake he ever made was Top Thrill Dragster. Ouimet seems to be much more experience over records (all their recent records have been tried and true formulas) oriented than Kinzel was, so that's pretty telling. I jjust don't know that the risk/reward is there. I'm sure a lot of park visitors still think Dragster is the tallest and fastest, so why do something so risky when you can do another tried and true B&M (or even RMC because they're getting to the point of "tried and true," IMO).

^To be honest Joker's Jinx's track paint doesn't really bother me. The supports are way more visible and they were just repainted. Also, let's be real... there are way more important things this park needs before new paint. A new dry park ride that doesn't make half of the riders either end up requiring ear reconstruction surgery or vomiting would be a start (yes I'm exaggerating, but not my much).

^No, it's a work in progress. The last several months I've only been able to do an update every couple of months. I'll update whenever I can but it takes a lot of time that I just don't have to build, take screenshots, post, etc. Thanks for the continuing interest everyone.

I hope that if Ripcord does end up in Shoot the Rapids' spot that it's more of a temporary fix. It might have said earlier but the Fromtier Trail is actually one of the nicer, most cohesive midways if any major amusement park in the same style as Cedar Point. A 100+ foot tall arch smack in the middle that has to remove more than a few trees (and otherwise I wouldn't care about trees in an amusement park, but they're actually really nice here) wouldn't look so "Best Amusemenr Park in the World" to me. Anyways, thanks for the updates and pictures, guys!

As I was saying, Nitro's paint (or lack of paint) doesn't bother me either. It's just an example of something that probably should be fixed. I'll still take new things like HITP or a new coaster (or just keeping El Toro in the park) any day though because that's what I'm really there for.

^I disagree with some of your opinions, but they're opinions and I respect that. But I'm curious, what qualifies Kings Dominion as a small park? Doesn't it have the fifth most coasters of any park anywhere? The layout is a little more compact than say Great Adventure but nothing about that park says "small" to me,

Yeah, I agree to an extent. For myself (and I assume for you as well) I'd rather have El Toro or Millennium Force on a grass field and with faded paint than an overly polished piece of sh*t in a meadow overlooking Niagara Falls that gets repainted every Tuesday. But for most guests, the overall experience of a park (which definitely includes aesthetics) greatly outweighs the minute qualities of a coaster/coaster collection. Nitro (or any particular/specific) coaster itself might not change your experience, but everything altogether (queue bars/appearance, plastered ads, rust encompassing the corrogated steel station box, cracked pavement and a crippling parking lot) certainty has an impact. I don't think I'm alone I saying that this is an area Six Flags could improve on. Cedar Point is repainting two major coasters this offseason (both of which went less than 12 years, one of which is 420 feet tall). I don't see SF doing something this quickly unless it's profitable or marketable, like with the Bizarro rethemes.

Nitro is just an example of how the park/company isn't entirely concerned with investing significant amounts of capital into aesthetics when it's not entirely necessary. By the way, there js a reason to paint Nitro. It's a large regional theme/amusement park and guest experience should be a top priority. Aesthetics are a big part of that. I don't mean to say this should be their first priority but it shouldn't be something they refuse to invest in until it's potentially harmful to the steel itself. And yes I realize this is Six Flags Oh, and please, dear God, fix those 18" tall queue bars when you get to the paint job

I also wouldn't be surprised if this is the case, knowing the park is fairly compact outside of Gotham City and their most popular coasters are in this section. Also, I think everyone should believe it when he says "hint."

I mean it's not like they decided the day of the announcement to retheme it that they finally informed S&S. I'm sure the decision had been made before anything was painted or nearing that process, and they were just waiting for final approval and for the trademarks and everything. They're not repainting any freshly painted track--lets be honest, they won't even pay for new paint after 15 years with Nitro.

^I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. The park slows down the launch on Joker's Jinx to save funds so they wouldn't operate it if they don't have to if its that expensive. They already have another kiddie area up front so no need to open behind Wild One otherwise which is unfortunate. I also wouldn't be surprised if Roar is closed, but I have a feeling it might be for good reason

It's interesting how this was originally a common complaint on the Cedar Point thread when Valravn was announced, but the further along the ride is in the construction progress the less we hear people say how it isn't different enough from the rest of the lineup. I agree about the giga coaster point, but it's a trade off. They are ridiculously expensive. If SF went the Cedar Fair route and did one massive B&M each year and kept the $90 million/year total cap-ex budget, we wouldn't have half the RMC's or two Justice League rides or the nice flat packages going to a few SF parks this year. Every time Cedar Fair has built a new giga coaster it's been the only new coaster that year in the chain (Intimidator was built in 2010 but Cedar Fair built no new coasters the following year, so...).

^That's a really unique way to organize it. How do you come up with "roller coaster rankings"? Is there some sort of algorithm? I think a lot of people (myself included) would argue that Great Adventure's collection is worth more than 65.4% of Magic Mountain's collection, quality and quantity considered. Otherwise that's pretty cool.

Are lines for Tempesto actually consistently that long? I didn't make it out to the park this year but I haven't heard of anyone waiting more than 45 minutes or so on a regular operating day. Anyways, while I don't see any possibility of getting to Lake Compounce anytime soon, this looks like a solid addition (and I like the color scheme, btw).

It took you four weeks to get the joke?

^Nitro turns 15 this April and is screaming for paint under the layers of rust I agree though it looks tacky to have rides look so crappy when not only are they your marquee attractions, but proudly displayed at the entrance plaza. The bright colors probably don't help with the look.