SFOG1991

I don't see how they sold they land if they still own the foam factory building. American Adventures is pretty heavily land locked between that building, the park's parking lot, and the water park itself. Many of the American Adventure ride pads were very close to the path entering White Water as well and I can't imagine Six Flags giving up land pushing right up on the pedestrian entry to the water park. I'm fairly certain they still own the land and simply ceased operations of American Adventures because it wasn't profitable and they were trying to cut expenses at the time. The rides were all removed last year or earlier. I am not sure where they ended up or if they were all scrapped.

The park has expressed plans to expand Hurricane Harbor and I am honestly surprised it hasn't already happened. They have plenty of space if they don't mind making everyone walk up a hill. They own almost 100 acres behind HH and much of the space directly behind HH is open space with their dumping ground and unused baseball field. Doesn't White Water own the land that American Adventure is on? I know Six Flags owned American Adventure when it operated, and they still use the facilities of the old Foam Factory for Guest Relations. I don't see why they couldn't expand onto the old American Adventures space. I could see a B&M wing coaster coming to SFOG, but it wouldn't be my first guess in what they would get.

They are fun, very tall, and visually stunning. Honestly, if there was only one in existence I think enthusiasts would eat it up and wish there were more but since it has become commonplace in the chain, enthusiasts have lost interest. Just my interpretation of it. Same thing seems to be happening to the Justice League rides and S&S Free Spins in the Six Flags chain.

Great TR! I too love seeing reports from my home park. In response to your comments about a larger wooden coaster, I am a big fan of both woodies in the park, but I do think a GCI (although that isn't bigger) would fit in the park nicely. Great American Scream Machine opened as the tallest coaster in the world and I would still call that a large wooden coaster even by today's standards. Glad y'all had a great time and no complaints! SFOG definitely is one of the nicest parks in the chain and has a solid line up (no bad coasters really) but the operations leave so much to be desired from my experience.

Yes. Tragic day for us when they moved it to Georgia Is it known why they decided to move it from the third park they built to the second park they built? If I had to guess, Six Flags probably realized there was a greater possible ROI at SFOG than at SFStL. It wouldn't surprise me if SFOG made more money yearly than SFStL. If I remember correctly from back then, the plans had been around for a couple of years and the station would have gone over where American thunder is and gone over the entrance road. To answer the question though, it was in part due to missed goals. In fairness if you have ever ridden it at SFOG, you should be thankful we didn't get it. In other news, rumor has it were capped for awhile at 8 million attractions. Why would anyone be thankful their park didn't get a B&M hyper? All B&M hypers are good and Goliath stands out in terms of intensity and airtime. Hopefully one day SFStL gets a hyper too because I feel like a sprawling hyper coaster would be awesome at this park, especially if they used the terrain a bit (although it would most likely traverse the parking lot I would think).

^I've heard about the double load and unload but have yet to see it myself. I've been many times but haven't been in the last month or two so it must be new for summer. I'm very happy to see them trying though.

The 6 seat cars were new when DDD was built and as far as I know are still the only lap bar only option. The ride experience is amazing with the 6 seat lap bar cars compared to the 8 seat with OTSRs. The difference in capacity is minimal and the current trains are great. Before VR it would still get a two hour line most days and the hourly capacity is a joke for such a large busy park, but the ops were always surprisingly fast compared to ops in the rest of the park. VR needs to go. Hopefully they will drop it after this season. It'll be old news next year anyways. What DDD really needs is a station with an unloading dock and a loading dock separate. The trains always stack and you are stuck in them until you reach the front of the stack. If they got rid of VR and made it so you could unload while the car in front is loading, and then the empty car would move forward for the next load, it would really benefit capacity. The ride has a block before the lift, mid course (though stopping there isn't practical), in the brake run, and two blocks in the station, so it can run 4 cars but even without VR there is never more than one car moving on the course. It always stacks so any capacity efficiencies really would need to happen in the station with the loading/unloading process.

Thanks for the great trip report! I have visited this park many times in the last 10 years so it holds a special place in my heart as well. My first visit a little over 10 years ago actually helped solidify my status as a coaster enthusiast. Who would've thought a bunch of standard Vekomas would do that! The park is off the beaten path and rarely visited by people here so I should probably follow suit and do a report as well sometime. The slide was originally named Insecto-slide I believe (back when everything in the kids area was bug themed). The park has improved so much since the new ownership! It's much prettier now and much more well rounded. I miss the old bug theme on some rides, and think some of the new names are less inspired, but overall the additions have really rounded out the park nicely and the trees and attention to detail have transformed the park. I do agree the only thing I wish they would do is add a lower budget custom thrilling coaster. Maybe something like Lightning Run. Really any full size steel coaster that doesn't cost too much, custom or not, would fill out the park perfectly. I understand that's still a hefty investment though and other than that the park is pretty much perfect for its market. Anyways, glad you had a great time, loved reading your opinions, and even though I'm not a huge Andy fan I'm slightly jealous of your experience on Cheetah! Too cool.

I agree completely. No impressive stats but it will likely produce a wild ride. Hopefully that translates to the KI audience. I've been on most GCIs in the U.S. and if this rides anything like Gold Striker it will be incredibly out of control, full of airtime, and rather intense.

Basically, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa. Not really a small geographical location IMO, I mean there's what... 70-90 Coasters in those states but no GCI. Indiana technically has, what, 15% of a GCI on Legend at Holiday World now?

I guess we can at least call it unique to the vast majority of the Kings Island market. I'm surprised they didn't go with a coaster that holds an impressive stat for marketing purposes (since people eat that stuff up) but I think the ride experience will impress most visitors. GCIs put on a wild yet comfortable ride.

Why does GCI get such a bad rap for having "average" wooden coasters. I feel like enthusiasts let quantity of a coaster type diminish quality even though they don't correlate. If Gold Striker was the only GCI in existence, people would say "OMG it's one of the best wooden roller coasters ever GCI should build more of these!!!!" but since we already have many GCIs, they seem to have lost their flavor in the enthusiast world for not being innovative and one of a kind. After riding more recent GCIs like Gold Striker, American Thunder, and White Lightning.. I think it's safe to say this coaster will pack a punch even if it doesn't have an impressive stat, and it will most certainly fill a void at Kings Island. What's not to love about fast pace, low to the ground, quick directional changes, and ample airtime, all while snaking through the woods?

Why does Vekoma get called out as if they have heavily dated products? Sure their existing catalog has many 80s and 90s era rides (that I will point out were mostly all innovative at the time) but it seems that most of what they have build since 2000 has been very new age, especially their products from the last 10 years. Anyways, this coaster looks amazing and I want one near me soon please!

I had a great visit to Lakemont Park last time I was in the area. I would say it compares to Conneaut Lake Park except Conneaut Lake Park is much prettier and I actually LOVE it there and have had some of the most memorable experiences there of all the parks I have been to (plus Blue Streak is ridiculously awesome and they have some rare flats). Both of those parks operate under unique situations and I am glad there are people who care enough to keep them around. I hope both parks are around indefinitely. DelGrosso's was great as well and I hope they will build a small wooden coaster one day. I was surprised by the overall look of the park inside and really enjoyed a few rides and their wonderful pasta and pizza sauces! I'm glad at least one of the parks went well for you!

^Hopefully they can add to that area for next year. Those are some of the best slides in the park (after the obvious bests) but even on busy days there were no lines for them. Meanwhile, the rest of the water park was packed.

^That's crazy we were there the same day. Lakemont wasn't busy even being free but Delgrosso's was quite busy! We waited 45 minutes for the spinning mouse credit. The park was beautiful though! I really would love to see them get a small Gravity Group woodie in the future. I am a big fan of their pasta sauces too actually. I can even find them down here in Georgia which is nice. Good value too.

Hey everyone! I'll be making my first visit to Silver Dollar City the weekend of Saturday August 6th. I know people do this all the time, but I'm looking for any tips/suggestions. Feel free to be as detailed as you want. The more the merrier!

That's right, that's when I went too. It was two years ago I believe. We didn't realize it was free until we got to the entrance so it was a nice surprise. DelGrosso's was a great surprise too (and much busier even though it wasn't free).

I thought this was a fun ride too. My wife hated that you could feel the car "jumping and landing" and she said it didn't feel safe. The jumping and landing made it the most intense coaster with a largest drop of less than 10 feet (by far)! Such a great experience honestly. I actually enjoyed the park a lot. I mean it is run on a very small budget obviously, and has rough areas to it, but I appreciate all the classic rides that are hard to find now. I thought Toboggan was really exciting and a bit scary (and rare now of course) and Skyliner might've been very bland but it's still a decent classic coaster. I also went on community day where the entire park (other than Leap The Dips) was completely free so that helped.

Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park I didn't really know if the oldest operating coaster would be that noteworthy other than it being the oldest, but I will tell you that thing runs so weird and awesome! It is so sensitive to weather and the small drops feel big just because the car basically falls out from under you and is all over the place. It was tons of fun!

Front Row... Outlaw Run... After Dark. It will change your life!! Agreed. Also, since you'll be there until midnight, get a night ride on Powder Keg as well. The pyro effect after dark is amazing. Thank you both for the suggestions! My plan is to try everything in the dark if possible, but those are the top two probably.

I don't see how anyone can disagree with this statement. While I do agree with that statement, the ride is build with a dual station and three trains so this issue should've been addressed nearly a decade ago now honestly. It has slowly gotten worse and worse since then with no noticeable effort to fix it, even though the ride usually has a two hour line on busy days even with two trains, and everyone waiting is stuck standing directly in the sun). I get that it is the Six Flags way, but it would be nice for them to take care of things before they are barely functioning with one train. I actually prefer Six Flags to Cedar Fair (excluding the great ops of Cedar Point) but Cedar Fair does a MUCH better job in that particular department. If something you invested in breaks, fix it. Don't try to drag it out for years until the entire ride is barely functioning.

This post combined with your avatar is making my head explode. Also, FRONT SEAT, LEAN FORWARD, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THIS? And yes, Grizzly is very solid but we always use that trick which makes it butter smooth. Hurler and Rebel Yell do nothing for me. Both are amazingly mediocre. I knew someone would see my avatar and say something like that. I know it is a very unpopular opinion, but I found Shockwave to be a very solid ride. I'm on the short side, so perhaps that's why it was so nice to me. The track shaping had to be the worst I've ever seen in my life though. Chinese water torture would be more enjoyable than Shockwave was. Rode Delirium for the first time yesterday and immediately forgot about the TOGO death trap. The stand up airtime was awesome though. I am in the minority that liked Shockwave, but I will admit entering the helix was painful.

^That's interesting. I have a season pass and go a few times a year usually for two to four days straight each visit, and I've always seen full train ops and I haven't see the second load platform in use in at least a year if not longer. I was there over 4th of July weekend and it was a mess but luckily the operations are still relatively fast and there was never a huge line. Plus I got 5 rides on Lightning Rod mostly with exit passes so I have nothing to complain about. Anyways, it must just be a coincidence. I definitely would enjoy it more when it operates how you have described.