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Thanks for the answer. You know, I'm usually pretty patient and understanding when it comes to delayed openings, especially massive coasters or prototypes, etc. but this is nearly the exact opposite. A glorified kiddie coaster. Six Flags has been doing pretty well lately in my book, but this is PATHETIC. An opening near July. For a WILD MOUSE. And people were unhappy with late May openings. End rant.

Has anyone heard anything about RC's opening day/media day (if there is one)/passholder preview? I'll be heading to the park this Saturday, and I've nearly given up on this thing opening anytime this year. Is it testing yet? I can't imagine more than a few days would be required to test this thing to regulations. It's a 10 year old spinning mouse. It might open after Goliath at SFGam, at this rate.

Another thing I want to mention about Joker's Jinx- many of you have said that despite the slower launch, the lack of MCBR makes up for it and is better than the FoF coasters. At the same visit I described earlier with the *potential* unchecked restraint, the further in the day we got, the slower the ride went. I rode a few times before noon and once around 4. However, looking at the ride, especially on Superman's lift, I am saying this with complete sincerity, the train nearly valley end in the section that hops over the rings from the non-MCBR multiple times. I got up close to it, and it slowed to well below 5 mph a few times. I know that JJ appears much slower than it is from off the ride, but I have seen the ride run the course many times in the past and that day. I am not exaggerating when I say I thought an evacuation was going to occur at some point because it nearly valleyed. I understand not using all the LIM's to save power, but this was ridiculously slow. Also, it was a warm day (80 degrees) with very little to no breeze.

Six Flags Magic Mountain is officially the "Arguable self-proclamation park of the World" "The king of wooden coasters" "The Thrill Capital of the World" The list goes on

Source? Screamscape doesn't count, if that is where you got it.

I wasn't originally going to post this, but I'm going to after hearing about the supposed fire at FoF at KI. So, anyone who's ridden Joker's Jinx knows that sometimes the ops will try to scare you right before the launch by counting down and launching you early, etc. On my second ride of the day just over a a week ago, the attendant near the op (at the far end of the station) started screaming to the op during the countdown, "Wait! Don't launch it! Check car 4! Stop!" The op didn't hear her in time, and launched us while the attendant was still yelling over sound of the launch. I know, this sounds like it may have been on purpose to scare the riders, but I know it was not. The attendant was very sincere and started running over to the op to be heard, and also, attendants wouldn't do that for two reasons: 1) the riders may be too nervous and very angry after the ride, after the NTaG incident, they shouldn't do that, and 2) the op has no way to know if they are kidding, unless they planned it, which they would not be doing while operating a launched roller coaster. What do you guys think of this? Were any riders in danger, or was this nothing to worry about? I was holding on a bit tighter that ride, I will admit.

If you've ridden Ka or Dragster before, I'd say you could skip it, but of course it's up to you. I went to Gadv opening day and nearly forgot about Ka with El Toro and Nitro dominating the park otherwise. If you never have ridden it and are dying to (which you probably aren't if you're considering skipping it), then staying one more day can't hurt. Of course, we can't count out the possibility of Ka running daily IF Zumanjaro has opened by then. At this point, there's no saying for sure , but it's still possible.

Wow, what a surprise! This could be interesting though, with Colossus (almost guaranteed) getting the Iron Horse in 2015 (unless it's delayed to 2016...) and Cyclone at SFNE in a similar situation (but not yet confirmed), what does this mean for the other SF parks? Does anyone know the cost of an RMC Iron Horse redo as compared to a complete RMC start to finish coaster? What I'm getting at is whether or not another coaster will be built start to finish at a SF park. The last two or three years it has been one Iron Horse and one new coaster. In 2015 we will likely see two Iron Horse projects.

Racer- KI

Sorry if I sound stupid here, but where did the name "fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo" come from? I know it's a locker, but what on earth is that name?

Not to poo-poo on this too much, but IMHO the *last* thing KD needs is another launched or wooden coaster. They already have Flight of Fear AND Volcano AND Backlot Stunt Coaster (not to mention they used to have XLC), and then for woodies Grizzly AND Hurler AND Rebel Yell. Is there any other park with 4 launched or 4 wooden coasters? Kings Dominion needs another A-list attraction to go with i305, but I think there are many other directions they could go first. Which one makes the most sense, I don't know, but I'd rather see them do something else first. I agree completely. Don't forget that wooden family coaster (can't remember the name at the moment) which would make 4 already. An extreme wooden coaster replacing Hurler/Grizzly/both would be smarter, IMO. SFGam has a bunch of wooden coasters- including the family one, I believe they have 4 now as well.

I give Six Flags a ton of credit for realize the opportunity with RMC and investing so heavily in their projects. I truly hope a Six Flags park near me gets a custom RMC wooden coaster next year. SFGadv 2015? I can only hope.

I think that's ridiculous. I'm not saying they should use all the four as that apparently slows down the queue once it splits but they could use one side of the station with both the loading and unloading platform working. Given the trains only carry 18 it would be significantly better. Also, why did they go with only one row for the last car in the first place? I know the trains are made so that a last row can be added but why haven't they done that? someone wrote on the SFGAdv thread that only using one loading/unloading area and only running 3 trains gives them the best capacity. i dodnt buy it, and still think its a money issue. TTD uses 5 trains and has 2 loading areas and the separate unloading areas. I work at GADV and I know for a fact the ride gets better numbers now then it did when it used all 4 load stations. Last year was the first time the ride gave over one million riders in a season. The switch track would slow down cycles because you had to wait for it transfer which wasn't the quickest process. Plus the switch track would have problems a lot and cause the ride to go down. Idk why the park doesn't switch in the last row of seats in on Ka but that's up to management. 1 loading platform is used in place of four for better capacity and to save on expenses. Not using the switch track makes sense, but why not use the second station behind the one in use for unloading? I just don't mathematically see how it would be more efficient to not have a separate, connected unloading station like MF utilizes. To answer your question, the park staffs 4 people to check the 18 passenger trains on Kingda Ka rather than use an unload platform. This way, trains can checked and dispatched faster to make up for the lack of an unload station. Plus the ride runs 2 trains a lot so having an unload station really only works well if you have 3 trains. Thanks for the answer. It makes sense, but seems a little cheap to not want to hire two more attendants to improve capacity on the park's main draw for out of town guests. His brings up another question, though. Why do they have four attendants on Ka, checking four to five seats each, and two on El Toro and Nitro, checking 18 seats each? It would make sense to be just the opposite, IMO. Thanks Ryan.

I think that's ridiculous. I'm not saying they should use all the four as that apparently slows down the queue once it splits but they could use one side of the station with both the loading and unloading platform working. Given the trains only carry 18 it would be significantly better. Also, why did they go with only one row for the last car in the first place? I know the trains are made so that a last row can be added but why haven't they done that? someone wrote on the SFGAdv thread that only using one loading/unloading area and only running 3 trains gives them the best capacity. i dodnt buy it, and still think its a money issue. TTD uses 5 trains and has 2 loading areas and the separate unloading areas. I work at GADV and I know for a fact the ride gets better numbers now then it did when it used all 4 load stations. Last year was the first time the ride gave over one million riders in a season. The switch track would slow down cycles because you had to wait for it transfer which wasn't the quickest process. Plus the switch track would have problems a lot and cause the ride to go down. Idk why the park doesn't switch in the last row of seats in on Ka but that's up to management. 1 loading platform is used in place of four for better capacity and to save on expenses. Not using the switch track makes sense, but why not use the second station behind the one in use for unloading? I just don't mathematically see how it would be more efficient to not have a separate, connected unloading station like MF utilizes.

I agree. I think a Skyscreamer is most likely for 2015, and it would make sense to finally have something taller than Superman, maybe the same height as Gadv's- around 240 ft. After that, a waterpark addition is a good bet in 2016. As for Wild One, I don't see a huge project on that- maybe a little retracking and paint. Roar would be an interesting layout for RMC to work with, I think, but they did some retracking in the offseason on the first half. The second half is still very jarring. Outside of this, SFA is still lacking in B&M's. Another relocation before 2018 probably isn't out of the question. I would much rather have a new coaster, especially from RMC, but I don't personally think Six Flags is ready to invest so heavily in the dry park. To my knowledge, the theme park still has very low attendance, but I don't know any exact figures.

Double stations aren't always faster. It depends greatly on dispatch intervals, which are very slow with flying coasters. I believe SFGam got the 8 car trains to make up the lost capacity, if I'm not mistaken. Not *Everything* Six Flags does is being cheap or lazy.

This is disappointing, but at the same time I understand completely why the park is doing it. If they continually sell out of passes, it is a good idea for them to raise the price until demand just starts to slip. If it means short lines, I have no problem paying more for Fast Lane as I rarely get a chance to visit the park and have limited time there. For example, I'll be going this year and only have a day and a half. When I last visited (2008), I only had one day. As I have no idea how long it will be before I visit again, the investment makes perfect sense. The one qualifier on this, however, is that there needs to be enough benefit to Fast Lane to justify the cost. IMO, at the prices they charge, the pass better be limited enough so that lines are 15-20 minutes max. I wouldn't be very happy to spend $100 on a Fast Lane and still wait 45 minutes per ride. If I spend 3 times the average visitor and can't do at least 3 times the number of attractions, it is just a rip-off. Your point is exactly what I was getting at. I had regular Fast Lane for one day last summer, and by the afternoon the Maverick FL queue was completely full, which was probably at least 45 minutes, if not more. Because if this, I understand why they moved Maverick over to FL+. However, they kept GateKeeper on FL+, which lowers the value of regular FL by being three rides less instead of two not offered. The price increase over 2013 lowers the value (meaning whether it's worth the cost) even more.

They haven't gone up during this year, but the prices were increased from 2013 prices.

For those that don't already now (unless this is news to everyone), GateKeeper has been removed from Fast Lane and added back to Fast Lane Plus. So, that means Maverick is back on regular old Fast Lane? Nope. FL+ is now three additional rides over FL. Prices have also been hiked on both tickets since 2013, and no new rides have been added to the system this year. I'm not too happy with this decision. For those that can only visit once in the summer, like myself, prices are even higher than advertised, and are hiked to over $100 for FL+. Flash Pass, anyone?

Winter didn't seem to slow down Banshee . . . . or just about any major ride at Cedar Point. It's called advanced planning. If you start construction sufficiently in advance, you can handle even worst case weather scenarios. just goes to show how much better run cedar point and kings island are. Construction timelines have nothing to do with how well run a park is. I'm not saying the harsh winter/spring is a completely valid excuse for opening this ride well after Memorial Day, but it says next to nothing about in-park operations.

Trackwork is complete, cars are on the track, and I'm not completely sure if testing has begun. Other than that, which I found out myself just by looking at it for two seconds my last visit, there unfortunately isn't much news. I am just as clueless as anybody as to how on earth this relocated wild mouse isn't ready. It isn't a huge deal, but it is pretty pathetic. Doesn't bode well for the outlook of the company. It may even open AFTER Goliath, a coaster that should take 50x more work.

This is a picture i captured off of the Kings Island webcam a while back with a good fog around Banshee! That picture is simply amazing. The first half is slightly visible and intimidating, but then it drops off the zero-g into nothing. Round of applause to B&M for impressive use of the terrain and impressive execution of this entire project.

That's strange; I was there from open until around 4 on Sunday, and they ran one train in one station the entire time I was there. Unless they opened the other station (which I had thought was never to be used again) later on Sunday, I only saw one train operation.

I absolutely agree, but I was there opening day, ad this was miles better. I have a season pass, so I'll be there plenty. I'm curious to see what Six Flags does to keep improving the park. It is still a ways from being mentioned with parks like SFgadv or even KD, but it is certainly on the right track.

I would just like to mention that after my visit to SFA this past Sunday, I have very high hopes for this park. I had by far my best visit I can remember. The park was completely dead (longest wait was Barwing as usual, but only 15 mins. All others were essentially walk ons). Even then, every coaster but Batwing and Mind Eraser ran two (yes, TWO) trains, which was a very pleasant surprise. Operations were the best I've seen, Superman was occasionally dispatched before the other train reaches the brakes. The usual suspects had poor operations (Batwing and Mind Eraser). Roar has obviously had some retracking in the first half of the ride and delivered a great first half. Ragin Cajun wasn't open, which was a dissapointment, but certainly didn't ruin my visit. The park looked beautiful, I must say. The staff were friendly and I rode some rides I normally wouldn't bother due to the minimal crowds, like Shipwreck Falls, which was a pleasant surprise. The reason I bother to compliment SFA so much is for the first time in about 15 years, it doesn't look like the SFA we all know and hate. It doesn't look like the scum park at the bottom of the chain barely turning a profit before being sold. I can confidently say that Six Flags cares about this park and sees potential. I've never seen the park in such great shape. After removing the height restriction a few years ago, I am very interested to see what Six Flags can do here. A Skyscreamer would work well in the near future, the coaster collection is actually quite well rounded. I actually had a tolerable ride on Mind Eraser for the first time in, well, ever. I'm not saying that I expect to see $15 million annual investments like Six Flags does mistakenly for other parks (MM/Gadv/Gam recently). However, the park has turned a corner in the past couple years. Some smart decisions could make this a relatively competitive park in five years. It just needs some time and attention.