CedarFlags

Holy moly! Those buildings are wild, I definitely don't have the patience for stuff like that.

I wish they'd at least do a shade cover The weather in San Diego is nice, but when visiting a park for a day it's really nice to have shade in the queues and stations since you're standing stationary in the sun.

Okay, so I've been complaining about this for a while, but I am genuinely curious to see if anyone knows the reasons for this. American parks seem to have an issue with buying from Vekoma nowadays and I don't understand it. Back when the SLCs and Arrow looper knockoffs were trash, American parks couldn't buy them fast enough. But now that Vekoma has been producing really top-tier loopers in Europe and China for 5 years now, it's crickets in America. Other than WDW, the only other American Vekoma coasters of the last decade have been family suspended coasters... and there are only 3. Is the company difficult to deal with? Do they have a bad reputation for service? Considering they have 30 year old Boomerangs still running all over the world, I feel like the answer to that is no. Are they more expensive now than they were? Or are sit-down loopers just too retro in America and not marketable enough without a record and/or gimmick?

I might be taking a trip to Chicago this spring. The calendar on the website is totally blank right now, anyone know when the park tends to announce opening day?

Well... as far as stuff like quarantines for employees with symptoms or exposures. Masks are obviously a lost cause in TX

Also, re: staffing.... Texas absolutely annihilated its previous COVID case records this month. In January of 2021, there were about 600,000 new cases in Texas. January of 2022 has had over 1.5 million. Fully 5% of the state got Covid just this month. I'm sure that's having a massive effect on a company like Six Flags with a huge workforce and intentionally cautious safety policies.

Xcel has been bouncing back and forth between open & closed. I wonder if they're working on it during the week and opening it for the weekends? They used to do that with Ghostrider.

I was about to head to Magic Mountain this weekend and then I noticed that half of my favorite rides are closed... surprising. Fair warning for Knott's, it's very common for Ghost Rider to close for maintenance in the weeks right after a major season (summer, halloween, xmas). Sometimes they'll work on it mid-week and have it open for weekends, but just prepare yourself for the possibility of it being down.

I think it's very funny how all the youtubers are posting videos with titles like "Knott's Giga CONFIRMED". Like... bless your optimistic hearts but it most certainly is not. I was a nay-sayer at first, but if this plan is what ends up happening, I would say I'm actually in favor of it. It keeps Ghost Town intact, it adds a much needed parking structure, it appears to be a high capacity ride (FINALLY), and it would be a thrill experience that no one else on the West Coast is offering.

I'm also super intrigued by the Jason Bourne stunt show at Universal Orlando. I've heard nothing but praise for it.

You're right that it is a MASSIVE investment and if it all happens, I don't see this opening until 2023 or possibly 2024. It's essentially 3 entire projects rolled into one... the expansion inside the park, the coaster, and the parking lot re-do. It might already be a hyper... I think it would be more likely to get something in the 250 range that can be marketed as the tallest coaster in the West. Would save some money and be essentially the same marketing angle as if it was 300 ft. As far as noise... the Ghostrider tunnel was actually added because of noise complaints from Hotel guests. And this plan shows a new parking structure going in place between the Hotel and the ride, so I think that would probably help deflect some noise. Plus they would probably opt for the filled-track like on Silver Bullet which eliminates the roaring noise. Also, the first drop appears to be a reasonable distance from the property line, so that should help with neighbors.

This is why I'm absolutely losing my mind over this being very possibly real. The joke of a KBF Giga was like a secret handshake for online enthusiasts.

@Zand That trip **might** be hypothetically possible, if everything went exactly according to plan. But I think it would also be stressful af and you'd spend more energy watching the clock and than enjoying yourself. Also... it has absolutely zero margin for error / delays.

Wow, I guess I stand corrected. I truly did not see this coming at all. Interesting though... the two pages have totally different footprints. I wonder if there is a range of options to get approvals for?

So obviously most of us here visit theme parks primarily for the rides... coasters, flat rides, dark rides, etc. But theme parks also have some hidden gems with non-ride attractions / experiences. As much as I love coasters, I'm a huge proponent of parks having a wide variety of experiences to create a well rounded visit and capitalize on the unique environment of a theme park. I'm a pretty big fan of shows, particular special effects kind of shows. Mystery Lodge at Knott's Berry Farm, Poseidon's Fury at Universal IOA, and WaterWorld at USH immediately come to mind. Noah's Ark at Kennywood is also iconic and unique, and I was totally blown away by Houdini's Great Escape at SFGAdv (kind of a ride, but kind of not). What are some of your faves?

Xcel is back open as of last night. But it looks like the park just caught a tough break with the Home For the Holidays show. There was an announcement that it's closed early due to "staffing and technical issues". Shame, it was a pretty big Christmas extravaganza show and it went down right before the big busy couple of weeks. Got to see the ice show a couple days ago and it was lovely as usual. Ghostrider is still doing well. Some ops were SLOOOW when I was there a few days ago, seems like the rides dept is hurting for staff as well. Lots of operators having to do multiple positions (seat check, fast lane, handicap passes). Also, Bullet was doing assigned rows which was pretty unusual. I've never seen it run like that. And the grouper who was assigning rows just disappeared as soon as my train got back to the station... everyone was just picking their own rows again.

Also... adding my 2 cents to the new coaster speculation: If you believe that Knott's is spending $20-30 million on a parking lot giga coaster, you haven't been paying attention to this park for the better part of a decade. The park has been putting nearly all its focus into the Seasons of Fun mentality of providing various seasonal activities & entertainment to drive repeat attendance. Literally as I'm typing right now, an ad popped up for Merry Farm that features the big tree plus a photo of the Saloon with Christmas lights on and snow. Not a single ride visible. The 100th Anniversary celebration that happened in 2021 was almost entirely entertainment driven, except for a family dark ride that leaned in to the park's history, nostalgia, and unique quirkiness. The coasters are still important, but they don't run the show anymore. Knott's stopped being part of the coaster wars quite a while ago. I think the park (correctly) realized that it's strength was not in trying to compete with Six Flags, but to offer something different. There are definitely some thrills to be had, but Knott's is about more than rides... there are experiences, shows, themed areas, history, and special food (which has exploded in the last couple years). This isn't the Dick Kinzel era anymore, and I would go so far as to say that Knott's *doesn't want* a massive hyper/giga. Hangtime is a fun addition to the park that gives thrill seekers something new, but it's also neatly placed into a footprint. Plus, they found a way to make it pull double duty with the light & music shows they program on it for Scary/Merry Farm.

If we're being honest at the gig.... I love the fresh coral-red on Xcelerator but this grey, yellow, orange situation is not doing it for me.

Breaking news folks…. welcome back, Hangtime!

I really like Pony's new paint job. Less cartoony with the color contrast. This photo makes it look kind of plain brown, but it's more of a copper color in person.

So I had my first ever visit to the park on Monday 10/11 and it was a doozie.... I'd like to tell a story about Runaway Mountain. And I think my experience with this one ride really encapsulates the entire visit. It's a lot. So... like a huge number of the rides in the park, Runaway Mountain was closed for most of the day. And I get it that parks can't always control these things, but the amount of closures was STAGGERING, especially for the first half of the day. It was hard to tell when it re-opened, because the app actually never updated to say it was closed. For about 3-4 hours, it just kept saying 10 minute wait. But it did reopen and I snagged a Flash Pass wait time for it because the line very quickly got super long. With so many rides being down, the ones that were open definitely had to absorb more people. I decided to walk the queue just to look. The scenery in the queue was gorgeous. I was pleasantly surprised over and over again how lush the park is with all the trees and streams and stuff. The park was so much prettier than I was expecting. I read that the waterfall effect was recently restored and I thought it was cool that they dyed it red for Fright Fest season. So, my Flash Pass time comes up and I walk down the pathway with the sign to find this clump of people standing around. Some are waiting for their reservation time to actually get there, some have made it to their time, and some are guests trying to exit the ride. The ones exiting have to re-enter the station to get their stuff from the bins, while the new passengers are also trying to enter the station to leave their stuff. And it's just total grid lock and the girl at the door is doing the best she can to manage these separate groups of people but it's awkward as hell. So I do get into the station and I'm one cycle behind my turn. And the RO at the dispatch panel *very* aggressively announces that the gates will be open for only 3 seconds before they close and will not open again. Each of the cars (4 riders) has a gate, so that's less than 1 second per rider. And true to her word, she shuts the gates after 3 seconds, leaving one pair of riders stuck on the wrong side and sending the train with an empty row. With a 45+ minute queue. Which then totally screws the grouping for the next cycle and the girl at the door (who is grouping, managing flash passes, managing the entrance queue, and managing the exiting riders who are going back for stuff) has to fully re-group. So I finally get on the ride and it's actually kind of great. Way more exciting than I was expecting, and the turning drop off of the midcourse faked me out into thinking there was going to be an inversion. Super fun. And even though there's no theming in the building, I noticed a spooky little ghost projection on the ceiling as we climbed the lift. Such a nice touch. And then we turned around and I noticed the projector on the other side of the ceiling was showing a blue Windows startup display. So we finish the ride and I get off and tell the Ride Op on the unload platform about the projector... thinking she'll be like "cool, thanks for letting me know about it, I'll call someone." She just kind of smiles and says "okay", and that's it. So... that was pretty much how the day went. Other highlights... NTG is incredible and I think it might be my new #1 steel coaster. But the dispatch times were atrocious all day long. Just about every cycle stacked (running 2 trains), so we were looking at about 3 minute dispatches as the norm. I saw lots of people walked out of the line because they were so frustrated with how slowly it was moving. The 3-second gate rule was also in effect here, but obviously didn't make much of a difference. The Love At First Fright show was so cheese, but the performers were all very talented and I was impressed by the overall production quality. For some reason, the employees checking Flash Pass at each ride weren't actual employees. They were all wearing shirts that were from some Booster Club, and about 1/3 of them weren't even checking or scanning before letting people through. Seemed weird that the park would outsource something like that.

First ever trip coming up next week. I'm so hyped! Based on the price of Flash Pass for the day, I'm assuming that the Columbus Day holiday is pretty busy? Any absolute Dos & Don'ts for a first timer?

You're also going on a Saturday. These events always have variable pricing and there are cheaper options available if you don't want to spend $200. And like... if parks had to give discounts whenever a ride went down, it would be chaos. Go there for the event and the experience as a whole.

Oof... first King's Island over Memorial weekend, and now this. Six Flags America Closes Early After Large Fights

Quick trip the other day. Nothing spectacular to report on. I love the return of the forward launch on Superman, but I think that the backward side is the best overall experience. So glad to see Tatsu back up and running, and it's still a blast. Apocalypse rides a little bumpy but it's not uncomfortable... feels like one of those vibrating massage chairs but just a lot more aggressive. Batman still slaps. TC still not racing.