DoubleDown

It's really amazing but absurd how busy the park has become in recent years. Honestly they could charge $200 a day for Disneyland or Park Hopper admission, and it would probably not stop the amount of crowds. I remember back somewhere around 2011/2012 where I heard there'd be a price hike for passes (It was currently at $500 for the year), and me and my girlfriend were like screw it, $35 a month for a Premium Pass, no blockout dates with free parking? Let's do it. And it ended up being an amazing year because CA Adventure just happened to have its massive facelift going on. But it's gotten to a point where I'm glad I had it a couple years ago because it was just about the time this influx of people constantly started over populating the park, and it really made it tough to go and have a fun time. I don't know what they're going to do. The park is only so big and only so many people can go. But I haven't visited since 2012 because I just don't want to deal with the crowds. I'm glad for Disney, but it's gonna be tough for them to expand a resort that's semi-land-locked in the heart of Anaheim.

Worst. Invention. Ever.

Nice to see update videos for Valverononenomen or whatever it's called. I agree that while this is a tremendous coaster, I think its hype would be much more significant if installed at a different park. For Cedar Point, it's just kind of expected. However like Gatekeeper, this is not going to get me out to visit the park. In fact I don't think ANY B&M will get me to any park any more. Tatsu might have been the last of their greats. Enough with the sleeper generic B&M's! Cedar Point, I want some actual airtime and amazingness! Intamin or RMC if you please! However I think once RMC is done with Six Flags Cedar Point is going to have a killer RMC probably replacing Meanstreak. Uhhhh...Challengers are bitchin! Manual transmission on that puppy is out of control.

I will never support stopping smaller companies from creating attractions and growing an area. This is an awesome concept that would only bring MORE business to the area, just how it works anywhere else in the world. Sadly, I have a gut feeling with Universals strength, they may win. Not a fan of Universals moves on this at all.

Great concept! Buy WHY did they have to slow down the video in literally every one of those up spinning close up shots? I want to see the thing in action in real time! Stop with the constant video slow down and see how the thing actually moves!

Being Magic Mountain, if those light up wheels do come to fruition, I have a feeling they won't be along the entire train. Just a hunch.

30 years old, definitely not too old to ride anything, but I have realized that I simply cannot sprint from ride to ride all day long and have multiple rides over and over anymore. Something screwed with my equilibrium the past couple years, and now I just can't do it. I start to get motion sickness, I get exhausted earlier in the day, and also I've done so much riding through my life that I just don't NEED to do it all anymore.

Well i hope with the modifications done so far, and the new trains, that perhaps they modify that first drop to accommodate the propable shorter cars so that in that very back seat we get the same kind of air throughout the ride that a lot of us came to know during the first 10 years of the rides life. Not worried at all. Glad they're getting new trains, glad they're redoing the track. If the old Ghostrider of the past is a memory, I can live with it. God willing I will be there opening day to get on this puppy. Ghostrider really REALLY was the best wooden coaster I've ever been on. Riding with the high school girlfriend may have helped but HOLY HELL a night ride at 10pm as the park was closing simply was an experience in and of its own. That drop after the MCBR and what followed through the rest of the course was something I loved but dreaded all at the same time. It was terrifying, enjoyable, but INTENSE. So intense but also controlled, not so backbreaking as it was a couple months ago. Hell if it takes another 10 years for them to refurb it yet again, more power to Knott's and Cedar Fair. But I think Ghostrider should be a staple coaster at Knott's as long as they can make it last.

Wow. I would venture to say 11/11 is a great day to go. There might be a holiday or some private event after 6pm which is why they decided to open the park just to make some kind of profit besides the private event. I don't think any rides are actually closed for rehab, but you might have a few just randomly closed due to lack of employees at the park for that day, really think it's a hit or miss based on whats going on with mechanics and stuff that day. If possible get there at opening and ride whatever you can, as the day rolls on you should be able to get on everything without too much of a crowd. If I didn't work I'd totally just make a day of it at the park and do what you can. I'm guessing crowds will be minimal, or at the least manageable if you give yourself a good 6 hours. X2, Twisted and Tatsu are IMO the ones you want to get on. Everything else is bonus and not usually a huge line.

As long as the Orca's aren't gone for good I'm fine with it. I don't need to see them put on a show. What I am most concerned about and what I feel is most important, is the fact that people can see them in person, to appreciate what they are, how beautiful they can be, and that Sea World continues to take the money they get from sales to put it towards good causes like saving them from extinction, learning more about them, and growing the valuable aquatic ecosystems which allow all types of life to continue to exist. I have never had an issue with Sea World. I think the liberal asshats like making the frontpages with absurd accusations. And yes, being in captivity affects any animal with an instinct to roam the planet as they please. However, like any park that has animals for us to observe, I feel like nobody truly understands or appreciates animals or nature until they are right there facing it, and Sea World provides a way for people to see sea life at an affordable price which allows people the chance to come up close and personal with them. We can all watch videos or look at pictures on our smartphones or computers all day, but I don't think anybody really appreciates things until they see them in person. Not everyone can afford a 3 day whale watching tour, so going to Sea World for a day and spending a little money to see real animals up close is important. Not to mention, as far as being an aquatic animal, being at Sea World is like the filet mignon. I'll always support the park and think it's important for people to be able to watch and observe animals up close so they grow not only an appreciation of animals, but wildlife in general. And I think Sea World does an amazing job at that.

most all the promo images are from that last batch of rides from the first day after the paid actors were finished. so pretty much if you were on either train, you're going to be on every image. here's a link to the full resolution image. mms.businesswire.com/media/20150520006487/en/468927/5/Twisted-Colossus---Drop.jpg?download=1 That's me!!!! Holy hell what luck. This made my year. HANDS UP!

I can't tell exactly because the quality isn't the best, but based on the shirt i was wearing that day and the silhouette of the body type, and where im sitting, I'm pretty sure I'm in the blue train in that mural! Lol how awesome. I'll be up there for years!

I'm not one to complain about roughness on roller coasters at all (for example Viper and X2 are par for the course with roughness as far as I'm concerned as the ride experiences are based on age or the complex maneuvers they're accomplishing) but Ghostrider was hands down unbearable before it closed this past Summer. No joke, I sat in the very back seat, and as soon as we got to the bottom of the first drop I immediately was thinking to myself "My god what have I gotten myself into?" It was the first time in a long time where I really wished there was a stop button so I could just get off as soon as possible. Worst is the up/down shuffling and jerking from the track moving and the space between the track and up stops. The ride was Psyclone-esque. Colossus actually had a little bit of this on the double up before the second turnaround for a couple years before it closed down. Lots of violent jerking side to side, lots of up down shuffling which does wonders for spines. I'm glad they're retracking it, but I REALLY wish they would have hired RMC to I-beam retrack the ride to the exact same specifications of the original layout, and I think it would once again have catapulted it into one of the very top coasters out here on the West. Not complaining, glad they're atleast doing SOMETHING, but I too worry about the longevity of this re-track work, and how long it will last. Also crossing my fingers for new trains. Those original ones are super heavy and clunky. A nice light train will really help take some wear and tear off the structure and track. Oh, and thanks for all the photo updates, very much appreciated!

I love how a majority of people in the splashdown photos are raising their feet as if the water would actually hit them if they kept them hanging how they are. Kinda how if you ride Goliath at Magic Mountain people lower their hands in the tunnel because they think their hands are gonna get chopped off. Lots of things CP coulda done to make Verkopengloff stand out, but like Gatekeeper, it's going to be another dive machine that breaks records and is long but is not going to be the be all to the ones added to other parks in the future. Too bad because they have plenty of land as well as an opportunity to really have the best dive coaster in the world!

I dunno guys, IMO Viper is probably one of the better designed, better taken care of, Arrow Looping Installations of the 90's. SFMM ride maintenance has done a great job taking care of the ride, and to be honest I think it rides better today than it did maybe 5, 10 years ago. The ride has its typical Arrow track design flaws, but it hauls ass up to the brake run after it gets off that lift hill. I love the first drop in the back seat, and that turn around after the first loop, and the speed through the others. The second half is a little bit slower, but I honestly can't see them removing it for at least another 10 years. The double corkscrews really give you a sense of being inverted at a good speed. Let's be honest, the ride was made with being upside down the main attraction. That's not so much a thing anymore, but Viper is a classic and I hope it stays around. Unless there's an i305 being put in its place, I'd balk at any B&M hyper or giga that would take it's place.

Was this thread created to be a joke?

It is nice to hear CP is joining the dive coaster crowd, and I'll never prefer NOT installing a coaster over getting it put in, but couldn't they have done something to make this ride a little more "unique" to the park? I agree the length is nice, I like that they went for records, but besides those records, what makes this ride stand out from other dive coasters at other parks? I feel like with Gatekeeper and Valveronenomen (whatever) they have kinda sorta bought in to the cookie cutter concept of these rides, and I would have been more excited for this ride (and GateKeeper) if it would have had ride elements exclusive to the park (not necessarily a tunnel or water element). For example, why the immediate lead to a brake run so soon after the first drop? Flirt around with that speed a little bit! Have some high speed turns close to the ground, an airtime hill, or some quick "through the rocks" elements like Maverick to separate this ride from others B&M has made. How about digging into the ground a bit and making the coaster go below the natural grade so you see a little bit of land zooming by? There's little things they can do to really increase the differentiation in these rides, and I don't think those little things are done. It really feels like the park is winging it when it comes to the last 2 B&M installations, it feels like there's no icing on the cake. Kinda more feels like taking a prebuilt coaster in RCT and plopping it on flat land. Again, it's nice to hear about this installation, but the typical B&M cookie cutter plop down just isn't going to get me to want to visit sooner than later.

I would pay over $100 just to ride Xcelerator at that speed one time. Only problem is I can't decide which would be a better ride experience? The front? Or the back?

Your understanding makes no sense considering both loops are on separate independent structures.

I think it's great if they're using the original chassis, just taking off the OTSR's and using another companies restraints. Keeps the ride original as possible while giving us exactly what we want. The old ride, with new updated restraints. As long as my heads not banging against those stupid things, it becomes an old classic again, and gives something the younger crowd who haven't been on the bigger rides before something to start off with. Revolution was my first looping coaster, and I remember being so terrified, but it was so amazing once it was all said and done. Seriously! Or just have more effing trash cans. Or find a MORE efficient way to keep them empty, as well as clean. I was an employee for a year at Magic Mountain, and the issue with this company is NOT that it's something very easy to fix, it's that NOBODY THINKS IT'S THEIR JOB TO FIX IT!!! So they don't do it! Talk about a lack of pride in the company you work for...and the hardest thing to break that culture is the people that have been there the longest are the people that are in charge encouraging this type of lackadaisical mentality. I worked there because I loved the place, but all anyone ever tried to do was discourage me to go above and beyond and it got old so I moved on to bigger and better things. It's a big part of why IMO the park is still has the half assed money grab appearance to this day. Ironically, I like the coasters and so do my friends, so I bit yesterday and paid for the membership (5.99/month) after doing the $20 down payment just because about 2-3 times a year friends want to go and the pass provides free parking and cheap days for us to go and ride. Perhaps I was mistaken about the meal plan though, as I thought it was $12.99 per month to ADD the meal plan, not get your membership at a total of $12.99 per month including the plan. Did I miss something? I saw $6 per month X 12 months = $72 for a membership, PLUS $13 per month X 12 months = $160 for a meal plan for a total of $232 per year which I was not going to pay. Not only have my dining experiences at the park been mediocre, I'd rather leave and take a break spending more money at a nice local sit down restaurant, then return and have the night sesh with a couple beers in me.

You have no idea how lucky you are to live near Knotts and Disney! I do

The deals SF is offering to locals and frequent visitors is great marketing, but to be honest, I'm starting to wonder what's going on behind the smoke and mirrors to influence these types of advantageous price cuts? 1. More people in the park for cheaper = more guest money spent in the park on absurdly overpriced items. We all know this. 2. More people in the park for cheaper = longer lines = Flashpass sales increase at their ridiculous prices, which if you step back and take a look, costs the park virtually nothing, and is something the park only benefits from IF THEY HAVE LONGER LINES!!! Longer lines because they let people pay $10 a month to get in for FREE anytime they want during the year. 3. GA first time visitors pay VIP prices on Flash Pass to beat lines because they're only going to be there one time even after they've paid full price for admission AND parking. More people in the park for a cheap pass influences this kind of behavior from 1st or 1 time visitors. Of course, there's always the VIP Tour option that 4. You can purchase for $1,316, which covers 4 people, to basically allow you to cut in line and do whatever you want (huge cash grab for SF). 5. Soda refills cost about 3 cents a fill up on a souvenir cup = the company wants your cash now, and promises to provide services in the future. Buy a $20 cup now, free refills all year, let's see...visit 10 times a year and get 5 refills a visit. HOLY CRAP YOU SPENT $20 for a $1.50 worth of soda and a generic cup that cost them less than a buck, what a DEAL! Let's be honest, new trains on Revolution is pennies in the bucket for the park. Don't get me wrong I'm SO GLAD it's getting done, but Six Flags is an absolute MONSTER and KING when it comes to nickel and diming their customers, as well as failing to deliver on said services once that customer pays for something they were promised. There is absolutely no way I can complain about Revolution getting new trains without the OTSR's. But lets be honest, Six Flags knows what they're doing.

I think the best answer to this is that they definitely don't help. Wooden roller coaster technology has advanced SO MUCH since Ghostrider opened in 1998, and as I mentioned before while the ride was amazing for the first half a decade, being the type of "construction" guy I am with some moderate understanding of wooden structures, I had a little birdy in my head wondering how the hell the ride would be able to maintain such an amazing experience on wood track, with such heavy and clunky trains. The best way to describe the ride when it opened is unrivaled wood coaster speed and quick unexpected elements, with some of the only legit airtime in Southern California. Yeah, they had a MCBR, but they did NOT slow the train down for that thing, and the following drop had insane ejector air and headchoppers, followed by intense course manuevering and air time bunny hops. Ghostrider was amazing in its prime years, probably the best wooden coaster I've been on, because it combined insane elements with modern technology. While they provided an intense ride, the heavy trains and these kind of features beat the crap out of the track, and at this point in time, the trains are worn and rehab can only do so much. No matter what they do the ride won't be what it was back when it opened, but I feel like a legitimate retracking with new trains would be the best thing they could do for the ride. There really was nothing like a nightime Ghostrider experience in the very back seat during the early 2000's.

Wow! What a coincidence to hear so many people visiting Knott's on Sunday! I actually went with my brother on Sunday because it was his birthday and we like going to parks together. Not a planned trip at all, Saturday night he said he wanted to go, so his price of admission was my birthday gift to him, as well as the beers, steak fries, Icees, and sodas. We planned to stay for only a couple hours but were having fun so we stayed until 4, and basically went on everything. I was very surprised how dead it was and especially how little we waited for a lot of the rides. We showed up at 9:58 and the park was already open. Went to Ghostrider, line was at the top of the stairs, probably 20-30 mins. We know how parks work, the ride at the front is the busiest, so we skipped it to head to other rides, got on Silver Bullet 2nd train wait, Xcelerator 1 train wait, Log Ride about 10 minutes. 20 minutes for Voyage (which we both enjoyed), Boomerang (I made him go on it) and the newer flyer fair ride on the Boardwalk which to my surprise, was actually a lot of fun. I found myself going backwards at one point after learning how the wing worked. Did the Coastrider too, walk on, but that first drop was IMO the best part of the ride. To make it short we also rode Supreme Scream, the Swings, Jaguar, Montezoomas, Mine Ride, Pony, Ghostrider, and Bigfoot Rapids for our last ride of the day which was probably an hour. Now, I have to talk about Ghostrider, which we rode in the back seat. I'll be honest I consider myself a veteran roller coaster rider, I've been on coasters all over the world throughout Europe and the United States, but I must say, I found the coaster completely unridable. After the first drop and the left turn into the second hill, I knew I was in for another 1-2 minutes of extreme jolting, shifting, pulling, spine splitting, and bracing. At this point, I am surprised the ride is even able to open to the public. There was a rider sitting in the middle of the train that was literally holding his neck by the time we got to the mid course break run. IMO the only way to save this ride is with new trains and a plug and play or RMC style makeover. I am no little pu**y when it comes to getting on a ride, but I can honestly say I would not get on this coaster more than 1 time a trip ever again unless there are some serious modifications to the track, and hopefully the trains. It is as bad as Psyclone was, is worse than Mean Streak from what I remember, and while a lot of very good elements of the ride are still there, the amount of jolting and bracing take away from the kind of enjoyment I used to have from the very extreme elements of the ride. I am glad to hear they are doing a makeover, but I really think the ride needs a serious look and financial investment from the park if they expect it to be rideable and enjoyable for the next decade. Again, I cannot believe the coaster is actually able to open to the public based on the ride experience I had and the condition it is in at this point. I am very much hoping Knott's and most of all Cedar Fair is willing to do a long term rehab to this ride so that it not only makes the ride experience better, but also allows the ride to continue that experience for many years to come. Prices are way steep once you're inside the park though. Why is Knott's charging $4.75 for a churro when you can get them at Disneyland for a buck less? The nickel and diming inside the park is horrendous. $13 for a burger combo? C'mon! $5 for an Icee refill? Really? $8 hot dog! YES! $8 HOT DOG!!! I would love to bring up these prices to executives who set these prices and just look at their faces when you put things in perspective. They wouldn't be able to NOT crack a smile. In conclusion, our trip was awesome. Don't eat or drink there though. Go to Tokyo Teriyaki by the Chase bank and get some bomb ass teriyaki chicken and beef platters for about $8. SO FREAKIN' GOOD!! Tell 'em TPR sent you! Or if you're in the mood for a burger, spend the same amount you would in the park at Fatburger. Gives you a little break from the park, and a second wind once you head back in.

Another B&M out and back snoozer. Manta got me to make a trip out to the park, this ride does not. For shame SWO, you used to be so cool.