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I don't really "get" topics like this. It depends on the ride entirely. El Toro is my favorite coaster and it's a faster ride than Maverick (which does 70mph for like .8 seconds) but not because of its speed. El Toro spends a lot of time doing 35mph, but it's the most extreme, intense ejector airtime at 35mph imaginable. I love I-305 for the force/intensity of its elements. I like prefer Maverick to I-305 for doing a lot of the same things, just better and more varied... but it's technically slower. Personally I think speed itself or force itself isn't what makes a coaster great. The speed is dependent on its pacing (how quickly the ride takes its elements) which is a downfall for the massive 80mph B&M hypers, and force is dependent on how the forced vary and what they actually do. That's why some dislike BTR clones--they're all positives. El Toro has a mix of everything which makes the forces so special.

I'm just going to say you're wrong. In 2013, you wouldn't have had to wait outside the station for Mantis, except on the busiest days... let alone a 2 hour wait. When Valravn has an hour wait, that's a ton of people not in line for Maverick, Dragster, Millennium, GateKeeper, or whatever other roller coaster you want to ride. Unless you think the ride has drastically added to the number of people in the park. More options = more dispersed crowd. Yes but this can be explained by the fact that Mantis sucked. And that can be proven because Cedar Point admitted it by redoing it to "increase ridership." Do you see Raptor with station waits in July? Absolutely not. Because Raptor is a good ride and will continue to be popular no matter how many new rides they build. That statistic Bill posted a few pages back about the attendance jump in '13 would also agree with me. Gatekeeper didn't increase the capacity of the park by 5%, but attendance jumped 5%. I know we're beating this to death but it seems nowadays that what you do in this thread, so I'll say this anyways. Valravn is realistically going to do 1000-1200/hour. Say the average coaster at Cedar Point (of the 15 excluding the kiddie coasters) does about 1200/hour (which is probably pretty close), that means that with zero attendance increase that the lines would shorten by about 80 people for every hour long Valravn's queue is. Including other rides, it's probably about 50 people. Which is about two and a half minutes (50/1200 x 60 = 2.5). Yes, 2.5 minutes. That's how much time you'll save by waiting in other queues knowing that Valravn is constantly chewing away at people that would've been waiting ahead of you in your line. What a relief that is.

^I'm a little confused because you just proved my point (Mantis sucked and even after MF and Dragster it still had long waits) but first said you disagree. Unless you meant my point was true... then I digress.

^"Fall dates and Hours of Operation coming soon."

^Oh absolutely. I love the high capacity of B&M's (and actually MF's is ridiculous too, the queue is just larger than Gatekeepers generally). Valravn will be almost as efficient as Gatekeeper and Raptor. I just don't think it'll make any noticeable difference in the queues of the other major rides. If it did, Raptor and Millennium would be station waits all the time considering how many new coasters have opened since '94 and '00.

I'm going to be honest... When was the last time that when someone said the new coaster would "make lines shorter for the other popular coasters" actually been true? It's been awhile since Gatekeeper opened, but Maverick. Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, Raptor, etc still garner two hour queues on busy days. It's just not a very solid argument for the positives of a new coaster for people that don't like it (and don't want to be told to like it/accept it). Im not saying I won't like and/or ride Valravn. I think I'm going to really enjoy and ride it pretty often... but it's not making other lines shorter. That's the whole purpose of it--increase attendance.

Helping a train articulate more isn't always just to accommodate additional banking. Increasing the train's ability to articulate helps reduce the shuffling in the corners (which I'm sure Legend does quite a bit) which helps reduce the friction acting on the wheels. This, in turn, allows the train to hold its momentum for a longer period of time, and, presumably, have a stronger finish.

^Well... I actually think the B&M hate has been on the decline after Banshee and Fury 325 this past year. To be honest I haven't seen 98.95% of the users on this site (which is almost entirely enthusiasts) bash new B&M's before they're ridden in the last year or two. Maybe I'm wrong but I think you're overstating that quite a bit (and I know the number is slightly sarcastic but my point stands). Sure, there are ALWAYS people that won't be all that excited about a new B&M being announced. Especially among those that have really been around and ridden most of them. But from my observations, there's been a steady decline in this hatred you speak of that you're making out to seep into every thread and dominate enthusiasts' opinions on new B&M's... which definitely isn't the case. As for the bunny hop, I bet it'll be almost exactly like those built on the last couple B&M dive machines (Oblivion--The Black Hole and Baron 1898). Floaty and fun, not "boring and pointless."

Looks like they're lifting the top of the Immelmann anyways, no supports needed. Maybe they'll hold it until the next support is built.

Loving this TR. Even though it sucks you didn't... Err, well, you did have a "Six Flags day," it's nice to see the negative side of things now and again so that you can appreciate when other parks get it right. And from the looks of things, most every other park absolutely did, including Great Advenuture (which is good to see it's not all SF parks having these issues from the top). I'm also loving the reports for the sake of trip planning this summer, so I'll absolutely be referring to this when I'm making planning decisions. Keep it up!

^"Hollywood level sound effects"

I think you guys are confusing best coaster under 45 seconds with most fun/second. Dragster would probably win the latter for me, but for what this thread is asking... Intimidator 305. It's the coaster I rank highest that is under 45 seconds. Also of note, El Toro is about 50 seconds. Shame.

Alrighty let's see... 1) El Toro 2) Nitro 3) Kingda Ka (front row only) 4) Batman 5) Bizarro 6) Zumanjaro 7) Skull Mountain 8) Kingda Ka (anywhere else) 9) Saw Mill Log Flume 10) Superman I think if I rode Kingda Ka more often I would probably dislike it more outside of the front row. The front row itself is amazing and worth waiting for (I'd wait an hour for it easily). Boldikus if you liked Dragster just get yourself up front on Ka--it's ridiculous how much better it is.

Are the unlimited refills 2016 drink bottles for every Cedar Fair park or just the one from which its purchased? It isn't specified on the info page.

^Upon construction and further development of the concept for Great Adventure, Warner LeRoy altered the plans due to time constraints and major budget issues into one park with separate "lands." One of those lands is still known today as the Fantasy Forest.

^To be honest while I'm sure Midway Market wasn't that amazing, it was absolutely the best thing ever when I had nearly starved after a good 8 hours straight of riding in the heat. I have no idea what I ate but it was a lot, and you can't get unlimited amounts anywhere else. Speaking of, I don't recall the exact pricepoint for a single meal, but apparently it's an $8 upcharge for all season dining plans? And back on topic, put me in the camp of "I love the food, hate the morals of the owners, but still eat it because not everybody (or almost anybody) that works there has the same opinion" for Chick-fil-a. I'm hoping another chain takes its place because they seem to be more consistent than in-house garbage.

Kings Dominion updated their website to include special events, including a season passholder preview day on Sunday, March 20. Can passholders being non passholder friends, or is it that strict? Didn't get to go last year.

^The only rides you'd have to worry about having long lines are Volcano (which can be done quickly in the after rope drop) and... well, that's pretty much it. Flight of Fear and I-305 can be 30-45 minutes *occasionally* but never during the week when school is in session. One day is really plenty and you should have nothing to worry about. Get there 45 minutes before scheduled opening for Dominator early entry rides because it's not that well documented on the site.

^Weird, I've had completely a different experience than that on pretty much every single visit (about 2x/year for me). Most notably... Kingda Ka--45 just after opening, then 90+ until evening El Toro--walk on until 11:30, 45-60 until evening Bizarro--Usually a walk on, with the random 20 minute queue mid-afternoon Green Lantern and Superman--30 in the morning, 45-60 midday, less in the evening Zumanjaro--I've actually never seen more than 15 minutes for this outside of its first couple months.

Just want to throw out the possibility that this could be another near miss on Thunderbird. I don't believe it will be but it hasn't been mentioned.

If you're pressed for time or don't want to drive so far, Six Flags America is the best option. You can have a full day with the waterpark and re-rides in all coasters in about six hours. Speaking of, their waterpark is probably the best of the three parks. Although SFA doesn't have the newest, biggest or best coasters like I-305 or Skyrush, they do have a few rides that are certainly fun and respectable, no matter what park it's at. Superman, Wild One and Jokers Jinx are all great fun and Batwing is a fun flying coaster if you don't hate that type of ride. Don't count out SFA just yet (although I agree Kings Dominion and Hershey are overall better parks).

Leviathan has the same effect at night. Leviathan is skippable during the day?

^If that comes to be and its launched and painted dark blue and red and pays homage to the Chiller in some way I will love this park forever.

^For a single day visit, absolutely. Especially in July/August. Which makes me wonder...

^^People will complain about anything, anytime, anywhere. It's just the nature of stupid/ignorant people. As roller coaster/park enthusiasts we have the luxury of knowing exactly what to anticipate and why certain things that aren't completely catered to our tastes are the way they are. The downside is that not everybody is such a nerd and people have other things to do. Combine that with stupidity and people looking for everything imaginable to complain about ("WHAT? You have to pay to park? But at Holiday World it was free..."), and you have those yelp reviews. I bet those same people "forgot" to mention all the positive experiences they had at the park that day. Looking back, I can't remember a single day at an amusement park where I had more negative experiences than positive. And you know what? That's pretty damn impressive.