VegasBaby

Had a great visit to the park on Friday June 11. It was my first time back since 2016 and my kids' first ever visit to the park. Got to the park at about 8:20am and the parking lot opened at 8:30am, so we got a nice up front spot. They started letting people into the park around 8:50am, so we grabbed our FL+ wristbands and headed to MF, where we got on the 2nd train of the day. My kids absolutely loved the ride and said it was their favorite coaster ever, but that comment would be short lived. We hustled back to Maverick and got two rides in during the early entry. My plan was to hit SV next, but a train was parked on the lift hill and the app said it was down. So we started hitting the other coasters (Corkscrew, Gemini, Magnum, Rougarou), which were all complete walk-ons with FL+. We were getting a little hungry, so we headed to Frontier Village for the food festival. The booths weren't quite open yet, so we did Skyhawk twice (my favorite giant swing) and the CCMR (15 min wait since no FL). By that time is was noon and the food festival booths were open (the hours said 2-8pm, but the booths all opened at noon). We absolutely loved the Frontier Festival and it's a shame they aren't doing it all summer. We had bought two tasting cards ahead of time ($50 with season pass discount) and it fed all five of us, with tickets left over for desserts. There were no lines at any of the booths and all of the food we got was very tasty. I especially liked the brisket and sausage sliders, which were only 1 ticket each and pretty filling. After lunch, we headed to the front of the park to knock out Windseeker, Wicked Twister, Gatekeeper, Raptor, and Valravn. The kids loved Gatekeeper, so we ended up riding that twice. My two daughters wouldn't do TTD despite riding Xcelerator many times before, so my son and I did it twice and it was only about a 15 min wait with FL+. They were running 6 trains on it and the ops were hauling, as they were all day long. It seems like CP has their operations running smoothly now, at least as far as the rides are concerned. By this time it was about 4pm and the kids were hungry again, so we split some strombolis from Hugo's Kitchen and headed to the back of the park for Steel Vengeance. The app said it was a 60 min wait and we waited about 15-20 minutes per ride with FL+. We ended up riding it four times because it was just that good. I had very high expectations going into the ride but it managed to exceed them all! The airtime is just crazy, there's a ton of sideways airtime (who knew that was a thing), the pacing was incredible (no dull moments), and it was butter smooth. I was worried that my kids might find it too intense (they were done with Maverick after two rides) but they all declared it as their new #1 coaster and demanded we ride it over and over. We finished the day off with 2 great rides on MF and some souvenir shopping. My son has decided to start collecting Nanocoasters from the parks we visit, so he got a MF nanocoaster for his first one. Overall it was just a perfect visit and my kids are now fully converted to CP, so we will probably be making annual trips going forward.

Agreed, I loved Orion but it definitely left me wanting more. You come out of that helix at the end into a great airtime hill and then right into the brake run. It would've been great to have 2 or 3 of those final airtime hills before the brake run. As for Mystic Timbers, you could make an argument for it being the best coaster in the park. It has so much airtime and is just relentless from start to finish. It's not often that a coaster surprises me like that, but it easily surpassed any expectations I had.

FL+ at KI is so easy to use and I've never waited more than 10 minutes having it. Really wish CP would get their act together and make it as convenient as it is at KI.

JDC looks incredible and kudos to SF for following through with it during the pandemic. I just hope that the rumors are true that SFMM will be getting one next year. They've already started demo on Tidal Wave, so I'm taking that as a good sign!

Agreed, I would wait and see how the crowds are before making a decision on FL+. I went to KI on a weekday in early June a few years ago and the coasters were mostly walk-ons. It could be different this year due to pent up demand, but I'd still wait to make a decision until you see the lines at the park.

I don't think anyone will miss Tidal Wave, especially since it hasn't operated in years. A West Coast version of the Jersey Devil coaster is just what this park needs and will be a huge hit with the GP, most of whom have probably never ridden a raptor-style coaster.

I would assume most people purchase the free refill drink cup or get it for free with their membership. I haven't paid for soft drinks at a SF in years.

That's great news, hopefully Tatsu is next on the list to be painted!

Sand Serpent was definitely a one and done for us as well. Especially since it broke down and left us baking in the hot August sun for about 15-20 minutes. The park did give us single-use QQ's for the breakdown, which enabled us to get another ride on Cobra's Curse with no waiting (it was still fairly new and had an hour wait).

I honestly think Pantheon could be the best new ride of 2022. We had a trip to BGW planned for last summer that got canceled, so I’m hoping to make it out there this year once it opens. BGW is one of my favorite parks and it’s been too long since my last visit.

Bert nailed it here, you definitely want to take advantage of the preview night. The park tends to empty out later in the evening with all the families, so the lines really die down the last 2 hours or so. The last time I visited, I was able to knock out 3-4 rides each on Skyrush, Storm Runner, and Fahrenheit during the preview period. Laff Track tends to be one of the longer lines in the park due to the lower capacity and its wide appeal, so that's another one you may want to ride during the preview period or first thing in the morning.

I'm really interested to see how the Spiderman ride turns out. People will definitely compare it to the Spiderman ride at IOA, which is still one of the best dark rides in the world, so the stakes are pretty big here. I like the retheming of the area though and it makes a lot more sense with the Guardians ride now. Bug's Life was never a great IP and I don't think anyone will miss it.

I am fairly similar when I visit the parks. When I'm with friends and family, it's more about enjoying the park at a leisurely pace than riding as many rides as I can. I'll still get there before park opening, but I'll let who I'm with dictate how the day goes. But when I visit a park by myself, especially when I've traveled to the park, it's all about quantity and squeezing in as many rides as possible. The most rides I've ever gotten in a single day was 52 at SF Great America about 4-5 years ago when they still allowed double-rides with the Platinum Flash Pass. My CP record is 40 rides with FL Plus back in 2016, and that included 10 rides each on Maverick and TTD.

Yeah, I think Harley Quinn is gone. I never got a chance to ride it myself, but from all accounts it was a VERY underwhelming ride. Plus it had extensive downtime and I heard the noise was pretty much unbearable. I don't think anyone will miss it.

Glad that you enjoyed it and that the food/service was as good as I remembered. I’m hoping to to get out to BGW once Pantheon opens and I’ll definitely be eating there!

Agreed, just ride Comet or Lightning Racer more, they’re much better rides than Wildcat. And don’t forget about Laff Track, the indoor queue is a blast and it’s a super fun ride.

It kills me how many people are always looking for something for free. Six Flags is not at fault here and doesn’t owe these people anything.

Every time I go to Williamsburg, I make an effort to eat at Food for Thought. It’s the #1 rated restaurant on Yelp for a reason. The prices are very reasonable for the quality of the food and the service is fantastic. The pot roast melts in your mouth, the ribs are so tender that the meat falls off the bone, and they have a great take on Pad Thai. I’ve never had anything there that I didn’t absolutely love. If your family are big meat eaters, Old City BBQ is another one of our favorites. Their brisket is some of the best I’ve had outside of Texas.

Fiesta Texas is truly the underrated gem in the Six Flags portfolio. The setting in the quarry is just amazing and I love the interaction with several of the coasters. We did a Holiday in the Park Texas trip in 2019 to hit up both SFOT and SFFT. My youngest had just barely hit 54 inches, so it was fun having her ride all of the big rides for the first time. Her favorite on the whole trip was definitely Superman, I think we rode it 3 or 4 times that day (thanks to Flash Pass). Anyone who hasn't been to SFFT should absolutely put it their list of parks to visit.

Great video on the 100th anniversary of Lagoon's Roller Coaster:

Looks like DW will be open Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat-Sun throughout April, so I would go on a Monday or Wednesday in mid to late April. Spring breaks should be over by then and no schools will be out yet.

I love the Six Flags parks in Texas. We did a trip two years ago and hit up both parks for Holiday in the Park. The original RMCs are still two of my favorites (I-Rat is just outside my top 10) and each park has a lot to offer. Thanks for your report, looking forward to your thoughts on Fiesta Texas.

They opened a new beer garden restaurant last year and it was actually really good. The menu wasn't huge but we liked everything we tried. They had about 20 different beers on tap with heavy emphasis on local brews. A big plus was that it has indoor seating, which was really nice as our visit was in July. The park was still limiting capacity in July and we went on a Tuesday, so there really weren't any lines. The longest lines we waited in all day were for Cannibal and Rattlesnake Rapids, and those were only 15 minute waits. Most of the rides were walk-ons or a 1-2 train wait. I don't think it will be very busy in April but I'm not sure if they are still limiting capacity or not.

I spent 3 days at DW in the summer of 2017 and Lightning Rod ran consistently my entire visit with little downtime. It has pretty much everything you could ask for in a coaster (great drop, airtime, laterals, etc) and the night rides are truly epic. I've hesitated to go back to DW as LR seemed to be running worse the last year or two, so I really hope that the RMC redo solves the dependability issues.

Since that is a holiday weekend with an event going on, I would just buy it ahead of time, especially since it's only $25.