CedarFlags

I think the most impressive part of Iron Reef is the scenery work that was all done in house by Knott's. I wish the rest of the story telling experience of the ride measured up to it. Overall it's fine, but it's definitely an "only if the line is short" kind of ride for me.

I know, but it's still secret because details are being decided. I will say that... based on what I know so far, it seems like a huge waste of money.

Pretty good, I'd say, as long as the weather cooperates. The ride has only been down for 6 or 7 weeks, and they already have all the old track off and are making good progress at rebuilding sections. It's all part of the 75th Anniversary thing, and I'm guessing the park will be shooting for March/April kick off.

People are different, and they react differently to stimuli. Who are you to judge the way someone's body works? I can ride coasters till the cows come home and feel fine, but the more extreme flat rides can make me feel really sick. I'm an airtime guy, not a positive G guy. When you add spinning to sustained positive Gs, it's something that my body can't deal with and punishes me for.

Magnum at CP and Ninja at SFMM.

Crazy crowded at Scary Farm tonight. The line for Trick or Treat was past the entrance of Ghostrider, all the way to the GhostTown sign.

WOW. A doctor's note just for a wait time pass. I have a feeling this won't last long. This honestly sounds like a combination ADA/HIPAA lawsuit waiting to happen. Tbh, I care less about the percentage of people abusing the system than I do about the HORRIFIC guest service of forcing someone with a disability to provide a doctor's note just for equal access.

I can unofficially say that it is officially GCI.

Doubtful. The days are a little busier than they used to be around this time with the addition of Spooky Farm during the day, but Sundays are still pretty calm.

Tonight at Knott's Scary Farm, while passing by GhostRider. "If you sit in the last car, you actually come up off the tracks on the drop because the front cars are pulling you over so fast." The concept of up-stop wheels will always be just beyond the GP's grasp.

Am I the only one who's not a huge fan of how they did the train colors? Purple/Orange, Orange/Purple, Green/Blue, Blue/Green. The fact that the colors are the same, but just flip-flopped. I mean, it's a tiny little detail, but it seems homogenized. I would like to have seen all 4 trains have a unique color pairing. Something along the lines of Purple/Green, Green/Orange, Orange/Blue, Blue/Purple. (or, tbqh, get rid of orange because there is ENTIRELY TOO MUCH ORANGE IN THE COASTER WORLD). But that's another rant for another day.

In related news: I'm still batting Zero (0/4) on racing on the green side of TC. It's such an awesome ride, but ugh... so frustrating to have bad luck.

Late report, buuuut. I went on Friday, and was pleased overall. Some parts were really terrific and very impressive, some parts were meh. Awesome Tier: Red's Revenge - Amazing scenic design, a fun concept, energetic talent. Vault 666 - The scenery wasn't as intricate, but it totally worked with the industrial theme of the maze. The talent was a good mix of actors and monsters, some clever and unique scares. Willoughby's Ressurected - I was really surprised to hear that it was one of the older mazes in the park, because it rocked. The rooms felt large and were fully furnished. The talent was on fire when I went through, even being later in the night. I had no idea there was so much space available up by Ninja. It gave me a very similar vibe to Knott's Lore of the Vampire from way back when (which is a huge compliment, cuz that was one of my very favorites.) Unleashed - Really fun show. Good mix of dancers and specialty performers. Everyone was top notch. A lot of the tricks are the same you can see anywhere else, but they were wonderfully executed. Decent Tier: The Aftermath - Fantastic use of an otherwise dead space. I was really impressed by the scope of the maze (huge set pieces, junked cars, pyro), but the "post apocalyptic" theme is so vague and hard to make me interested in. The talent was not super committed, and also smelled blood in the water in the group behind me and let me walk through pretty much unbothered. With more energetic talent, this could have been an Awesome Tier maze for me. Willoughby's Garden of Darkness - I think I went through during a break, because it seemed a little under staffed. I dug the idea of the haunted garden, and enjoyed a bit of the design, but the hanging vines and walls covered in gilly-suit material got boring by the end of the rather long walk. Plus, I'm really tall, so having to push crap out of my face and slouch the whole time was not so great. Not Good Tier: Chupacabra - The set felt very bare and sparse, the talent wasn't super into it, the metering was absurd (groups of 2-4, spaced 30 seconds to a minute apart. 20 people in line ahead of me and I waited almost 10 minutes). Toyz of Terror 3D - Honestly, it was all just so bad. The talent did not give a CRAP, and this was at 7:30. The set was so bland and messy. The whole thing felt like a bad mashup of Doll Factory and Carnival of Carnivorous Clowns from Knott's. However... it made me weirdly nostalgic for those old, crappy 3D mazes from back in the day at Scary Farm. Literally Satan Tier: I (very stupidly) got in line for Shadows of Evil. The actors in line were just okay (except for the boxer, who was just the worst), and I really thought there was going to be SOMETHING on the ride. But not. It's Apocalypse in the dark. But the real killer was that they were running one train. On a Friday night. ONE. TRAIN. 4 - 4.5 minute cycle times.

Honestly, I find Lex's drop to be just as exciting, especially my first ride. Having Supreme Scream at Knott's as my only real frame of reference for big drop rides, I was used to about 2 seconds of actual freefall before hitting the gradual air pressure slowdown. The extra second-ish of drop time on Lex actually started triggering a bit of a panic response. My brain was like "Wait, why am I still falling? We should have hit the brakes by now. Wtf? Something's wrong."

I seriously doubt it. There is track coming off from all over the ride right now, and the project isn't even a full month underway yet.

I concur. Honestly, every time I look at Goliath, my first thought is "ugh that drop needs to be 10-15 degrees steeper". Such a waste of amazing height.

Maybe he/she meant to say Maverick? If I'm not mistaken, a rollback on the lift if possible and the LSMs actually serve to slow the train's descent. Did I just make that up or is that actually a thing?

The group is split Left / Right based on where you stand in the first room. Also, both tracks join together about 1/2 way thru the maze.

I agree that the Paranormal preshow is a bit long and drawn out, but the reveal is so awesome. I thought Dead of Winter was AWFUL. I've started referring to it as "DUD of Winter". The design was just okay, and the talent was severely lacking. I'll come back in a week or two when they've had some time to learn the maze, and try to give it a 2nd chance. My biggest and most consistent problem this year was LIGHTING. There were so many places where something that we were supposed to notice didn't have any light on it. The water zombies in VooDoo come to mind immediately as well as several places in Clementine. The latter had 2 moving animatronics that weren't lit AT ALL, and it was only because I was squinting and sitting right next to them that I even noticed. Two of them.... were built, and installed, and programmed, and then left in pitch blackness.

It's intentional. When the monsters have too much space, they get diffused and it feels like they aren't even there. By condensing the area of the zones, they feel more active.

2013 Trapped was a massive flop. It's not even a secret. 2014 was decent, but didn't blow me away.

Spot on. Scary Farm has been doing a lot of experimenting for the last few years, because HHN took a lot of business away. Guests spoke with their money and said what they wanted loud and clear. Voodoo was an experiment, as were Mirror Mirror, Trapped, and Infected. Some worked, some didn't. Its a delicate balance... if you stick to what you're good at, people will call you stale and you don't attract new fans. If you change too much, you alienate your long term fans.

I got to crash the stunt rehearsal today and I was amazed by how much is happening in this maze.

Anyone have tips for FrightFest? I've been to Scary Farm and Horror Nights before, but this year will be my first time doing Halloween at Six Flags.

Pictures? Didn't take any, cuz I was in a backstage area and that's a no-no. The supports and stuff were all there, but about half of the actual track was gone in that section. If it weren't for the crane and the guys in orange vests, I may have walked by and not even noticed because the walkway planks that run parallel were still in place too. That whole area will be open during Haunt though, so we'll get a great view of the next 6 weeks of work.