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Parks don't add big, record breaking rides because they "deserve" it. They add rides they see fit for the park that will bring in the most money. If Cedar Fair doesn't see Valleyfair as a good investment in 2016, then they won't get a coaster.There are other parks that are heavily rumored to get major investments next year- Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, Kings Dominion, even Michigan's Adventure.

I really don't get why this had to be done. I understand trimming around the "danger zones" very close to the track, but this just seems like overkill.

This looks stupid! Is it too late to #SaveColossus?

That's an interesting order for the rides you're most looking forward to... you've probably already got your plans set, but judging by your signature you'd be better off at Kings Island a few hours down the road. If you're set on Cedar Point, you probably won't have much issue with lines at Blue Streak, Mean Streak, Magnum, or Corkscrew. Just avoid the big name rides during peak hours (mid-afternoon) and ride Gatekeeper in the afternoon. If you have early entry, I'd say Maverick and Millennium Force/Rougarou would be good starting points. Don't set your hopes too high for Mean Streak and Corkscrew. I don't know that I've seen someone more excited for those than MF and Maverick, but it's your trip. Just letting you know.

The 1998 opening update is a work in progress, hopefully I can release it sometime this weekend. I'm very excited to reveal this year's additions; 1998 will be the largest expansion since initial park construction, with a total investment of over $15 million. Stay tuned!

Well, maybe I am the problem. I'm not saying I dislike Magnum by any means, in fact I went back for re-rides. What I am saying is that even with all these re-rides, I just didn't "get" Magnum. For me, there was no airtime to speak on the first curving airtime hill, and the long hill before the turnaround was slightly better, but just light and floaty, not extreme by any stretch of the imagination. The return bunny hops just didn't deliver to me. I much prefer the bunny hops on B&M hypers. Maybe I caught in on a bad day- the day I got re-rides was rainy, overcast and about 70 degrees. There was only one train running, but I ride on what I was told is the "magic seat," 1-3. Nothing about the ride felt "extreme" to me (Maverick's two airtime hills are what I would call more extreme), and none of the hills were any more than floater airtime. Not saying Magnum's a bad ride at all, and if it's your favorite ride at the park (or even your favorite coaster), that's great, I'm glad you really enjoy it. That means is shorter lines for you while I'm riding Millennium Force and Maverick.

^What makes you think this? This is a legitimate, full scale flat ride. Everybody complains the park is desperate for thrilling/inverting flat rides. We get two in a row, and all this thread is is complaining. If you don't want to ride it, don't. Have you ever realized this park doesn't revolve around enthusiasts? It's a business that needs to attract a target audience to survive, and in this case, it's families.

Edit: My general opinion is that I don't personally have a problem with them as long as they are distributed properly. It becomes a problem too many are sold as that diminishes the experience further for those that didn't buy it, as well as for those that did. Buying a Fast Pass/Flash Pass should decrease your wait time, not severely increase that of others. I bought a Fast Lane at Cedar Point once and found it very helpful to handle the long waits with only one day at the park, but I would never buy one for my home park. If you want to pay more to have a more enjoyable day, that's great. However, it shouldn't be a necessity to buy one to have an enjoyable day, which can happen at some of the larger parks (Great Adventure, SF Great America, Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, etc).

75% of the time at Six Flags America, those that buy at Flash pass wait longer than those that don't. I've only waited beyond a station wait with one train on one single occasion, and that was a Fright Fest Saturday night at Batwing with (drum roll....) one train. Other than this, I find it humorous when I see people pay money to take an alternate entrance and scan their FP wristband to start at the station, which at SFA is the back of the line. I see it often at Superman and I have to wonder why anyone buys a FP at this park.

Why must everybody be so negative about this addition? 1) It's a park model, it's not temporary 2) This is a legitimate, park model flat ride of decent scale. Almost as tall as RT was. 3) How can you POSSIBLY expect a multi million dollar addition every single year? Do you want SF to file for bankruptcy again? They're finally doing well and are profitable. Give them a break. Also, I'm tired of people giving them so much crap about ride openings. Yes, Zumanjaro was a nightmare. Yes, they should've started earlier and gotten permits. No, the July 4th opening wasn't entirely SF's fault. Six Flags has stated that they try to open new rides around Memorial Day for marketing reasons. Can you try to respect their decision? It'll be built after footers (yes, real footers) are poured sometime in the next month or two. Now chill and enjoy their world class coaster collection that put the company in miserable debt that resulted in major restructuring. It's all for you.

^^Anytime! If you're curious, I would say these are must rides, especially for a 2.5 day trip... -Millennium Force -Maverick -Raptor -Top Thrill Dragster -Gatekeeper -Rougarou -Magnum These are good rides, but not must-do's... -Wicked Twister (if you haven't ridden an Impulse, this might be the best one) -Blue Streak -Iron Dragon -Gemini -Flat rides-- Maxair, Windseeker, Skyhawk, Power Tower, Shoot the Rapids (if it's hot) These are skippable, but if they're walk on's you might want a ride... -Mean Streak (not very rough, just boring, and its time is limited) -Corkscrew -Mine Ride -Misc flat rides Again, just my opinion, feel free to ask anything else! And this is Magnum you're talking about? Yes, actually it is. Maybe I caught it on three straight bad days, but I found it sluggish on the hills before the turnaround, and the return bunny hops just weren't sustained at all. To be perfectly honest I found MF to be the better airtime coaster.

Opinions on Magnum vary from 1-3 to towards the back. Personally I don't get the hype for this ride. I appreciate its history, but I found the ride to be nothing special. Not bad at all, but outdated and severaly lacking airtime (that was sitting 1-3 in the rain in August). As for Gemini, I don't know, but let me give you my advice... You're going to Cedar Point, and I presume you won't be back very soon or very often. With that in mind, unless counting credits matters to you (which I find somewhat stupid), don't go out of your way to ride anything other than what you truly want to wait in line for. Why waste two hours getting credits when you could get re-rides on Maverick and Millennium Force? That's the way I see it, but do what you like. At night, you may have a good amount of time for night rides, depending on closing time. All I can say is get in a line as close to closing as possible and wait it out. I do this every single time with Millennium Force, which is the best night ride experience I've ever had. During the day, Millennium Force is my number three (maybe four) coaster. At midnight in row 18, it's the best coaster experience I've had. Period. I would also recommend Maverick, maybe Dragster if you have time. Millennium Force is a priority if you ask me, though. Early entry, get to the marina gate by 8:50. Ask if you don't know where this is (go left by perimeter road towards Blue Streak, follow people). From there, head towards either MF or Maverick, and you could grab one to two rides in ten minutes. Head towards the other once you're finished, and hop in the short line. Before opening, get in line for Dragster (around 9:45), shouldn't be more than about 15 minute wait. From this point, the park has just opened to the public and you have already ridden the big three. Enjoy your ride(s).

Cedar Point has updated their Fast Lane ride listings/prices. In 2015, regular Fast Lane does NOT include 1) GateKeeper, 2) Top Thrill Dragster, 3) Maverick, and, notably, 4) Rougarou Regular FL starts at $55 while FL+ starts at $75 To me, this is a bit of a disappointment. I've done a trip to CP each of the last two summers. In 2013 I got FL regular on July weekend for $65, which excluded Gatekeeper and Dragster. It was a fairly good value, I got some re-rides in which I otherwise couldn't. GateKeeper's line was manageable without FL+. Last year, in 2014, I did not purchase either FL because I had a 2.5 day trip. I think the prices were a little higher, but still reasonable, but also regular FL excluded Maverick. In 2015, I don't know the specifics for the price range, but now there are four rides only on FL+. Doesn't that seem a bit much? I know, I know, supply and demand, people are willing to pay, etc. But, with Gatekeeper's incredible capacity, couldn't that be spared from FL+? Maverick and Dragster I understand- very popular, lower capacity. Rougarou as well, being the new hotness. In my short amount of time at the park the last two summers, I haven't witnessed Gatekeeper's FL+ line being excessively long at all- nowhere near that of Maverick or Dragster. I believe CP is the only park in the chain with four coaster on FL+ exclusively. Anyone have any insight/shared understanding? On summer days, it's hard for me to justify paying the $95-$110 for a FL+, which, compared to regular FL (whose only headliners are MF and Raptor), seems like a no-brainer. Why are all but two of the headliners on FL+, when, in other parks, it's only the newest coaster and generally a headliner/low capacity coaster? I don't mean to rant of complain too much at all, I'm honestly looking for insight. It seems like they're making regular FL a very poor deal, almost requiring you purchase FL+ to really skip the long lines.

But suggesting that we are responsible for its improvement I do not agree with. ... I don't think he was thinking we actually fix it ourselves either, its the idea and attitude that I don't agree with . Either way, it's sarcasm. People need to stop complaining.

This man speaks the truth.

If you can avoid the last couple rows of Kingda Ka, for me at least, there is no roughness to complain about. Towards the back there is some shuffling and vibrating, but only towards the last couple hundred feet of the launch track and less than halfway up the tower... which is less than two seconds. Near the front of the train, Kingda Ka is really an incredible experience that shouldn't be missed. I have a difficult time calling most of the seats "rough" at all. If you could handle a ride like the defunct GASM or Rolling Thunder not on its best days, you would have reason to complain about Kingda Ka. Sit in pretty much the first four rows, and really there's no roughness at all.

^I've had experiences at Great Adventure where an entire train was dedicated to about nine flash pass users... there weren't even enough people spread throughout the train that the last two rows were completely empty. Keep in mind... Bizarro at Gadv had particularly poor operations in 2014 in the first place. With three trains running, I sat on the brakes upwards of four minutes.

I don't mean to change the topic, but I was curious. I'm not the finance type, but going back to the winter adventure write up, how could the park have possibly survived if 2010 was the first ever year the park turned a profit? Wouldn't they be forced to declare bankruptcy rather quickly? Obviously this happened after the Premier days, but how did this last before then? Very interesting to me.

Personally I've never had a problem with Kingda Ka, and I've never actually waited for the front row (I was about to one visit in 2014, but they shut it down when I was first in line for the day for the threat of rain). I usually ride once per visit every time I make to the park, and I've ridden all throughout the train. With that said, I've never had a problem with the roughness. No, it's not glass smooth, and there are noticeable vibrations further back in the train, but to me it doesn't make it "pointless" to ride. It's an amazing experience no matter where you sit, but even better towards the front. Comparing to Dragtser, which I have about as many rides on throughout the train, I would agree Dragster is the better ride and is slightly smoother. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Six Flags defender by any means. However, I would argue the roughness has more to do with the train design than maintenance, or lack of. Dragster's trains sit closer to the track and vibrate much less, combined with lap bars only that don't press down into your thighs. They also look really sleek, while Ka's are fairly ugly, IMO. You can't blame everything on Six Flags, or would you rather them have just not built Kingda Ka at all? Or Scream, for that matter. I'd rather have a seven inversion, high capacity B&M floorless on a parking lot than, well, a parking lot. Ka isn't the smoothest launch I've ever ridden, but it's far from the roughest coaster out there, and I wouldn't call it brutal at all.

You know you're arguing with something who spent 3 years operating Mean Streak right? Just because it's not in the top 10 doesn't mean it doesn't put up solid numbers. I kinda figured there was a personal bias in the argument. We have very different definitions of 'solid'. RIde_On_17 -- what an amazing post! My point wasn't that he was biased, it's that he knows what he's talking about... but take that as you will I guess. I don't want to be involved in this, but you're arguing different points. Mossed is arguing it doesn't put up solid numbers, evidenced by not being in the top 10 throughput in the park, not that he is biased because he operates the ride. Either way, doesn't really matter. Mean Streak is obviously not of the most popular coasters in the park, but it is capable of holding a decent line on busier days. Nothing much to be argued here.

If I remember correctly he did say they'd be removed. I thought it was the other way around... Cadillac staying, Turnpike leaving?

Considering Fury is $30 million, I don't think such a basic hyper coaster with mostly two and three spine track would even approach $30 - $36 million. I'd guess more in the $18 - $20 million range, if a coaster with such an outdated layout were even built. But that's besides the point. Small coasters can be affordable for parks the size of DL. Not that coasters are what this park needs most- from what I've read, it seems infrastructure/guest experience could use and overhaul beforehand. After that, there are PLENTY of coasters well under the $10 million range. Unfortunately for DL, it isn't in a large chain that can install some relocated rides that are in working condition. Six Flags America is an example of that- their ride/coaster lineup has improved greatly since 2011 on a very, very tight budget.

Imagine chaser lights that actually "chase" the train as it descends the drop. That would be really cool, IMO.

I just got a hell of a lot more excited for this coaster, and the prospect that I just might get the chance to ride it! I think it's great that B&M has entered into the giga coaster market; I'm intrigued to see how their design evolves, as I'm sure there are more parks that could benefit from one of these massive coasters.

The ROI on the last 2 beamers was so poor that there closing the park down and moving the remains to DL So THATS where all this DL nonsense came from on that thread! It all makes sense now!