DoubleDown

That footer absolutely mesmerizes me every time I look at it. I mean not only is it huge, and it is AMAZING how many bolts they have coming out of the concrete, but how they get every single one of those bolts to fit perfectly on the formally manufactured base of the tower just blows my mind. What if they got just 1 or 2 wrong?! Doh! I agree and I do enjoy Knott's Chicken but come on, lol, it never looks like this!

I would also say the DL Resort is fine with having the place as packed as possible. While that may not be the most desirable experience for us folks visitiing, *cha-ching, cha-ching* go the cash registers.

Woah-ho-ho, pump the brakes there turbo! Better watch what you say out loud with all the SJW's out in public these days! Are you saying POOR people don't deserve to go to Disneyland? Are you saying you DON'T CARE about the less fortunate? So essentially what you mean is Disneyland HATES poor people! (By the way I completely agree with the original intent of your post.)

It's the Disneyland Resort ON THE WEEKEND IN DECEMBER. I would expect both parks to be busy, however, Disneyland is always going to be worse due to not being designed for the crowds that it regularly sees these days. The best plan is to accept it and make the most of the time you have there. Seeing as you're there for 3 days you should be able to get a lot done. For a decent dinner at Disneyland I would suggest the Carnation Cafe out on the patio, or the Plaza Inn for an amazing fried chicken dinner that you and the lady can share. The fried chicken is better than Knott's in my opinion.

Definitely. If you get there at opening I think you could get on Ghostrider, Montezuma's, Xcelerator, Boomerang and Silver Bullet before noon. I would also propose riding them in that order. If you can stay a bit longer, I'd say you could also get on Supreme Scream, Log Ride, and a couple others before 2pm.

Wow! Awesome screen grabs! Thanks for getting a hold of those and sharing. Top notch work. That lift hill does NOT look like it has any intention on giving up soon. AND THERE'S A BOAT! Perhaps one of my favorite TPR ongoing stupid jokes ever. With Cedar Point not even leaking a word about this it must possibly be a 2018 installation that is going to have an enormous amount of promotion and build up during the 2017 season (although the pre-lift could have been better imo LOL). I think Cedar Point is going to go about this at a safe pace, build up momentum, and knock any other park in the world out with what they're doing in 2018. Go Cedar Point!

For the record I didn't mean to intend an "aggressive demand" in my post, I think that's just my frustration coming through as I've been a visitor to this park for over 2 decades and I constantly see the same dumb issues happen continually. It's like nobody who makes decisions at the park has ever visited a theme park on their own to prepare and provide such simple solutions to such illogical circumstances. This is one of my main gripes about Magic Mountain. The employees have a tendency to not be on the same page as to what the rules are. One person tells you one thing, another person tells you another. From what it sounds like the person who told you that you had to wait in line was using their "authority" to tell you no. And that's stupid. They throw logical reasoning (the train is literally 30% empty for every cycle, fill up those seats with people who don't want VR) out the window to flex their power trip muscles. Absurd. I'm a paying customer, instead of getting off on telling me no, you should be willing to make my experience at the park as pleasant as possible. My getting on the ride without VR, filling up empty seats, is not hurting the people who wait in line for the VR at all! What detriment is it to them to allow people to get on quickly who don't want to ride the VR? Which brings up another issue. If the park would simply create a VR line and a Non-VR line, which the queue at the ride is more than capable of doing, and make it explicitly clear to guests that they have both options, then this wouldn't be an issue at all. So frustrating. I guess it sounds like the policy changes day to day, or from employee to employee. Par for the course, Magic Mountain, way to go.

What are you supposed to do? Some B&M's have a rattle. It doesn't take away from the mediocre ride experiences though, that's for sure.

First off, I totally agree about Pony Express not looking like it belongs. And then they made it so dumbfoundingly short, the ride looks like an afterthought. I think my biggest gripe about Silver Bullet is that upon installation the park could have done SO MUCH more to keep some of the older nostalgic areas of the park, to incorporate them with the big bulky B&M invert. Instead they kinda just tore everything out and started from scratch, which made the entire area seem out of place. You know in Roller Coaster Tycoon when you just buy a pre-made coaster, and then plop it in a random place over paths and other rides and it doesn't look to fit quite right? That's what Silver Bullet feels like to me when I walk around the area. I mean they took a lake and made it a pond, that really, doesn't even need to be there anymore. I think if they would have incorporated the boat ride in the lake, the train around the lake, and installed the ride while leaving most of the area alone, I would have enjoyed the installation better. Even the station is so freakin' high it looms over the entire area and seems out of place. And then the color choices of the track, oy vey. Also I think the first drop was sacrificed in the name of the carousel being right under the first drop. But I think with a real B&M invert drop like on the Batmans, the ride might be rated a bit higher than it is. That being said what's done is done. I do dig the cobra roll that you can walk through near the entrance though.

If they are literally denying people access to skip the line to go on the ride without the dumb VR, to sit in the front car or the back seats that are cycling empty anyway (which is the stupidest thing I've ever seen, a "new" ride that only seats 14 of the 20 available for capacity) then something needs to be done to complain. That is completely asinine. Not only is capacity KILLED with these dumb headsets, they're adding insult to injury by NOT seating rows 1,2 and 10! If people want to wait 1-2 hours for the VR, that's fine. But why should a person who doesn't want VR have to sit in a 1-2 hour line while the train is constantly cycling with those non-VR seats completely empty? They have plenty of room for an alternate FlashPass/Non VR line with the original queue layout. Or they could use the alternate route that goes under the brake run, and under the lift, where they can just walk straight into the station. I'm going next week and I hope this isn't true. I don't care about the VR and I'm sick of not being able to ride Revolution because of it and it's ridiculous 1-2 hour line. It takes no effort to allow non VR riders into the seats they are cycling empty. Get your head out of your ass SFMM!

Woah. That was a close one. Now this is funny. I agree with the cargo shorts to keep your stuff safe, or a jacket with a zipper on one of the pockets. Any clothing with a zipper is handy at an amusement park. Also when I'm walking around sweating my balls off at a theme park, I could care less about fashion. It's not like I'm going out on the town to have a couple drinks and pick up chicks, I'm going to walk around for 6-12 hours in the sun and I want to be comfortable. That's why I bring my New Balance's as well. I've lost my phone on a ride before, and it freaking sucks, so I'd much rather be safe than sorry, and if it means wearing a pair of cargo shorts, so be it. Style these days sucks anyway. I would never want to look like the trendy hipsters with the high water pants and glasses without prescription lenses in them. So dumb.

Oh my gawd this made me laugh so hard.

Californians say "the" before freeway names. Big whoop. That being said, the Old Road is great if you're going on a high capacity day and Magic Mountain Parkway is backed up on the 5 north. First off I would pretty much avoid these days. BUT, you can get off at Lyons, McBean, or Valencia, turn left over the freeway, then take the typically trafficless Old Road up to Magic Mountain parkway and make a left once you get there to beat the dum dums sitting in traffic on the freeway for that stupid left arrow. Friday at 12:30? In that location? Oh man. There's really no quick way. 105 East, 405 North to the 5 North, and that's pretty much it. Unless you want to try side streets for a bit---and I wouldn't. Get an ice cold beverage, have some tunes or a podcast ready, get on the road, and hope for the best. The 405 in that area is known to be terrible, and on a Friday around that time people like to get off work early so traffic is worse than usual. I would expect the drive to be anywhere from 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes.

Does Cedar Point have trailer/transportable flats? It seems like they move or rearrange them every couple years that it would make sense. However if you're in the park it seems like they're pretty permanently installed. Don't get me wrong, I guess it makes sense if Knott's does that, I just think for whatever reason it's kind of trashy to have a trailer mounted ride in a park where you spend $20+ Million on roller coasters and want to be known as a world class theme park. I mean imagine just buying a bunch of cheap ass trailer portable rides, plopping them in random places, then calling yourself a theme park. That's more "carnival-esque" if you ask me. Of course I'm jumping ahead, I'll hold my judgement after the ride is installed and running. BUT THERE BETTER BE SHADE!!!! lol

Most small boats are pulled out of the lake in the winter. Unless someone on this site owns a container ship I don't think this is viable. Also this... Personally I think if someone, who takes as much time as Tony to interact with enthusiasts and work with groups for special events, makes it clear pictures for now are not ok then maybe the response shouldn't be how to try and circumvent their wizhes Did you just respond to a post with a quote of a previous response to said post in the same quote as the original post? My brain hurts just thinking about that. Anyway, I know it's getting close to mid-November, but are boats already pulled out of the lake? My grandfather used to have a boat on lake St. Clair, and that would freeze over come December/January, but it seems to me it hasn't been quite cold enough for the lake to get close to freezing, which makes me believe there may still be some boats that haven't been stored yet. Or maybe lake Erie is just too big and doesn't usually freeze over? I could be completely wrong though.

Your video was very good and thank you for sharing your experience. You had a ton of awesome footage!

I fail to see how this will not open for 2017. They're being hush hush. Progress is moving forward immensely. They're upset at people getting photos and blowing it up. With the minimal amount of RMC projects announced for 2017 I am guessing Cedar Point is going to go full blown with RMC and most of their workers will be at this location, and this thing will be announced shortly, and this project will be done in an insane amount of time. I am happy to hear there may be a couple whoopdee dips for the pre-lift however *ducks*

I used to live 5 minutes from Knott's and if you leave for Magic Mountain after 11am you're not in too bad a shape, the key is staying off the 5 as long as possible. For example I would take the 91 W to the 710 N, pass the 5 and then take the 10 W to the 5 instead. This is where you're going to see most of your traffic because there's like 3 different freeways merging together and then splitting apart within about a mile. Another place that tends to have traffic is on the 5 going North after the 210 when you start to go up the hill. For whatever reason even after they've made huge improvements by building bridges and widening that freeway, that hill still causes traffic. I'd say going my route on average, if there's no accidents or major setback, I could get there anywhere from 1 Hr 15 Mins to 1 Hr 30 Mins. Now coming home is a whole 'nother ballgame. If the park closes at 9 or 10 and I get on the freeway, I can usually make it home in 45 minutes. 5 South, 10 East, 710 South, 91 East. However I usually am passing people and I know the route home so well because I've done it so much. Also these freeways are much bigger than the 5 and the quality of the ride tends to be better because it's not as beat up as the 5. The 5 can be such a small dumpy freeway in so many parts until you get into Orange County. So yes, while I understand, traffic in downtown LA is terrible almost all the time (the 110 or 101) however the 5 doesn't go through the heart of the city, it kinda stays on the outskirts so the drive up to Magic Mountain from Orange County isn't as terrible as some of you are making it out to be. That being said if you're going to be going to Magic Mountain for 2 days I would drive up initially the morning of your first day, stay 1 night at a hotel, then drive back the night of your 2nd day to avoid kinda tiring yourself out from driving back and forth. On Expedia I'm looking in May and I see rooms for 1 night at around $100 at the aforementioned Best Western, a Motel for $68 so not bad. Plus one of my favorite things to do is bring along some alcoholic beverages and chill in the pool or jacuzzi during the evening, after a day of walking around there really is nothing better!

Lol I think humans will be gone from the face of the planet before that footer EVER goes away. It will probably be there FOREVER! That thing is so massive, I think I remember it being poured they had a video stream up and it took them HOURS to fill it with concrete. However it is a shame that they couldn't put some other type of sky swing like the ones Six Flags has. I suppose this will have to do. I also hope there's shade! I loved Hammerhead, but I was devastated when they removed Tampico Tumbler. RIP I loved Tampico Tumbler too, it gave just the right amount of butterflies in your stomach. Also, didn't it go backwards as well? A very fun ride indeed.

^Yah, I'm surprised the original guy didn't understand it, but obviously the original "cost analysis" post was a joke. Who can't value up the cost for a trip on their own these days? Probably takes 20 minutes but come on. And furthermore, who puts cents on an estimated cost LOL!

I recall waiting about 3 hours. Was there with the girlfriend and the parents. This was before the cell phone epidemic, and honestly spending that much time together wasn't that bad, and after we got off the ride it was definitely worth it.

I'm sorry, I just have to vent for a second. This has got to be one of the most idiotic statements I have ever heard about bigger parks, most especially Cedar Point. Have YOU actually walked around Cedar Point? Do you have any idea what you're talking about? There is so much space EVERYWHERE!!! The peninsula at Cedar Point is HUGE. It's gotta be the biggest amount of land of any park in the world, maybe minus Epcot. I'm a pretty fit guy and it is EXHAUSTING to walk around the park if you want to get from one end of the park to the other. My home park is Magic Mountain, and that can be tiring, but Cedar Point beats it hands down. If Cedar Point wants to they could probably build another 4-6 major coasters without taking any other major roller coaster out. Look at the google maps. Then look at a park like Grona Lund and see how they've put coaster on top of coaster, and then try to convince me Cedar Point has little space. Your post has no validation whatsoever.

Valravn. After feeling exactly how I thought a B&M dive coaster would, I would have rather had another lap on Maverick, Millennium Force, or TTD (in that particular order).

Warning: My coaster nerd is going to show here. But OMG, this photo, with that support for the cobra roll on the right which swings OVER the track, is a perfect representation of a supported cobra roll that has haunted me aesthetically ever since this ride was installed. WHY OH WHY COULDN'T THEY MAKE IT LIKE THE ONE ON THE LEFT?!?! It's like the exact same support! It would be SO symmetrical and beautiful. I know the one on the left has a kicker angle a little bit different than the one on the right but come on. I'm sure nobody's ever noticed it before but to me it's always driven me nuts and been so weird looking. I think part of it had to do with not wanting to disturb the Wild West Stunt show but I wish they could have done something to avoid that over the track support. By the way thanks everyone for the great photos!

^Can it happen? Never say never. Will it? Extremely unlikely to happen ever EVER again. This is the old "struck by lightning" question. Here's the thing, this ride has been operating for 30 years without incident. Millions of people have gone on this ride, without a problem. This incident is no doubt tragic---but it's a freak accident. To blow it out of proportion with 8 pages of articles, acting like these types of lifts are dangerous, or rapids rides are dangerous, after millions of people have ridden them, is just plain dumb. I think the main thing that stands out between this rapid ride and others, is the lift hill conveyor. Here is Dreamworlds: Here is Knott's: Here is one at a Six Flags park: I think the biggest difference is Dreamworld's had "space" between the planks on the conveyor system, in fact it looks like if they wanted to, they could have put an extra 2 planks between the ones that are there now, like Knott's did with Big Foot Rapids. Why they weren't there in the first place is odd. I think after the boat in front of it was stuck, the back side of the boat's rubber raft got caught in between the planks while the lift was still moving, and caused it to flip, just like the image at the top of this threads page. Six Flags' and Knott's belt system would make something like this happening virtually impossible. Instead of getting caught and flipping the rafts, they would just keep moving and the lift conveyor would just slide under the boat. But as far as I know the turntable and lift conveyor are in sync, if the turntable stops, so does the lift. The boat got caught, the turntable didn't stop, and neither did the lift. It feels like an e-stop should have been pushed but wasn't, due to such a freak circumstance.