Arthur_Seaton

I missed out on Cornball and Lost Coaster credits when I visited (both were down the whole time), and the operations were so bad on Hoosier (single-train, only partially-filled due to busted restraints), that I was only able to get one ride in despite the park being fairly quiet (it opened late for a tiny window of time, and the line was close to an hour). I ended up leaving after just a couple of hours because the place simply wasn't conducive to riding rides (several rides were broken, and morning ride maintenance didn't even begin until after the park had opened). Having said that, the setting is charming, and I could easily imagine spending a relaxing weekend there, but only if the park was functioning properly. The haunted house was amazing, and Steel Hawg was really fun (despite its astonishingly-tame first drop). Hopefully the current management won't bankrupt the place in the time it takes them to get their act together.

Less of a ranking, and more of an attempt to cobble together some favorites: 1. ANY and ALL Schwarzkopf 2. Phoenix 3. The Beast 4. Füll Throttle 5. Grand National 6. Speed: The Ride (RIP) 7. Wild Mouse (Blackpool version) 8. Ninja (SFMM) 9. Goliath (SFMM) 10. Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz or San Diego)

Congrats on Cornell! It's a great campus, and Ithaca is a very nice town. If you're into classic rides and parks, there are some amazing spots in the general vicinity. The old pretzel ride at Sylvan Beach is amazing, and Seabreeze is a great little spot as well with a must-try log flume and a killer old bobsled coaster.

When I was in high school in the UK, a town nearby would host an annual carnival — very small, usually just three rides. They'd always have a waltzer, a speedway, and, less frequently, an orbiter, round-up, or a Rock-O-Plane. In the UK, the Rock-O-Plane was often called the "American Egg" — mainly because it had a stars-and-stripes design. Anyhow, we used to ride it drunk and stoned out of our minds as well. I rode the one at Sandy Lake last year for the first time since I was a kid and it was still as freaky as ever. They feel incredibly unstable.

I loved the layout of Rougarou, but man, that ride bashed my ears in pretty hard (second half, primarily). As the result, I only rode it once on my visit, but I suspect that knowing the layout would help mitigate some of that. I can ride Viper at SFMM without getting bashed too hard now as I know exactly what parts of the track are the roughest. Rougarou's head banging started right after the tilted loop, which is basically a replica of Riddler's Revenge's track, and that ride bashes you at that particular spot as well. MF, for me, was an odd one. I wasn't totally enamored with the ride itself but still appreciated it very much. I actually enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed riding it for some reason. There's something to be said for such iconic rides that serve as flashpoints in coaster history. Much of my CP trip felt like a pilgrimage (I never thought I'd make it there), and MF was the manifestation of that.

I haven't ridden the SFMM version yet, but I did ride the SFOT version and those two Knott's and DCA rides are exactly what it reminded me of. It was basically a series of video game screens that the car trundled past. There were a few moving props and mannequins scattered around, and the lighting/fog/music made it all seem quite immersive, but it was pretty much the same concept. I'd say that JL is more impressive in terms of production though; Toy Story has more humor whereas Iron Reef seems far more basic/makeshift and JL is much more manic, ADHD-style — like a hyperkinetic sensory bombardment (a bit like Transformers at Universal, but not as visually or technologically impressive). It sounds like this one's quite different from the SFOT one, though, and I assume that having a working knowledge of the various characters would help boost the experience. Young kids are going to go nuts when they see Batman or Spiderman or whatever talking to them.

As mentioned above, when it first opened, that was an option. You'd walk up the exit ramp and go straight to the single-rider entry. There was rarely a wait for a non-VR ride as the single-rider line was always fairly short, and they were running trains half empty a lot back then. SFMM pulled the plug on that, presumably because more and more people were opting out (the VR itself is pretty bad on this one). So, I'd plan for the worst (45-60 min waits), and hopefully you'll get lucky and the VR will shut down. It does seem to break a lot (they can't use the phones in the rain or in extreme heat), and when VR goes down, good old Revolution returns. It's a great ride — one of the best in the park (Schwarzkopf rules) — which makes the VR thing all the more heinous.

Man, those wooden coasters at HW must be incredibly temperamental. When I visited last year, Raven was by far the smoothest of the three and Voyage was borderline unrideable (although I still rode it multiple times just to make sure). Legend was a mix of jackhammering and ridiculous laterals, but Voyage was in horrific shape from the turnaround through the entire return journey. Maybe Raven had been freshly retracked, but it was definitely one of the better woodies out of the seven or so parks I visited on that trip (including KK). I dug Thunderbird, but mainly the launch and the first inversion which seemed to dangle you over the walkway beneath. And yeah, the surrounding landscape is really nice. After leaving the park, I drove to Bloomington (about 3 hours north), much of which was on country roads with zero lights and no other cars. It was kind of terrifying. The weather was absolutely disgusting when I was there, too. Insane humidity and intense heat. Gross.

I think Lightning Racer was the standout coaster for me at HP, followed closely by Fahrenheit. I liked Great Bear just fine, even though I'm not a huge invert fan, but it was the second half (not the first) that I found more puzzling. It was as if the designer hit "autocomplete" just to get the track to reach the station again. Cool pics, Jarmor!

Looks great so far! This thing should be a huge hit with the GP. I'll probably sit out until the crowds die down as it's not my cup of blood (even though I love dark rides), but it'll be good to see that area buzzing with people again.

I thought the same thing!

I've done a few of these long-haul trips myself as well and really enjoyed them. Last year, I went to Indiana Beach, rode everything I could, left at 2pm and drove all the way over to Cedar Point for some night rides (the park was open until 12pm that night). The drive itself was super easy and relaxing. Knoebels, I found, wasn't quite for me, but I'm still glad I got to check it out as I love old-school rides. I loved Phoenix (who wouldn't?) as well as the classic dark rides, but I didn't really connect with the place beyond that. Anyhow, great reports so far, and really great to hear that the trip to Flow House went well!

Not at all — it's really just a slow twist into a steady curve. There's no experience of dropping that you might get from other coasters. It's a pretty fun ride — especially at night — but one of the tamest at the park. It's more of a visual spectacle than anything.

The park itself is really great, and I agree with what others have said: you have to try it for yourself. I've also ridden Storm Chaser and didn't really enjoy that ride either, and there are some parallels between them. Whereas I found Storm Chaser's second half to be mainly just a sequence of unpleasant jolts into the restraints, Skyrush is really just two intense extended ejection moments with a violent ejection hill toward the end. The rest of it is mainly speed and twists. I personally didn't find that the first drop had much impact as the curve is so pronounced, and most of the drop is taken curving in or out of it. It was also rattly and turbulent when I rode it (May-ish a couple of years ago), but I found that you can mitigate much of the shaking by sitting in the middle seats. For as rough as it is, I did find it to be fairly re-rideable without it producing nausea (although it bruised me up pretty bad). The park was dead when I visited, so I actually rode it about 15 times as the station was empty for most of the day. But, as noted, the park itself is absolutely worth a visit though, and Fahrenheit and Lightning Racer were the park's two standouts for me. Comet's also great if you're into classic coaster designs. I personally didn't like Storm Runner that much (spoiled by having Xcelerator here in SoCal), but it's another popular choice.

SFMM is a bit unpredictable these days in terms of crowds (it's been much busier the last two years due to the huge pass discounts), so you never can tell. But as a local who has a general sense of when to visit and when not to, I'd say that the place will be consistently packed from now until mid-late August. The temperatures get intense up there at this time, so that might keep a few people away, but otherwise I'd say your best bet is a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. If this is a rare visit for you, it'd probably be wise to invest in whatever flash pass-like deals they have going.

I hit both of those rides on the same trip a couple of years back (rode both multiple times) and left a bit disappointed by both. Like a couple of the previous posters, I didn't think Skyrush was very good at all — not because of restraint-gate, but because I just didn't find it to be an enjoyable layout. I found El Toro to be much better overall, but I was surprised how much more I enjoyed Nitro than El Toro (a ride I expected to kind of suck). With that said, the ride systems on Skyrush and El Toro seem quite different to me, and the airtime on El Toro seemed more sustained than on Skyrush. While both highlight severe ejector air, Skyrush was more of the ridiculously aggressive, thigh smashing-type air whereas at least El Toro's felt more sustained and the ride itself seemed more thoughtfully sequenced. Both are up there in terms of over-the-top aggression and intensity, but this rider requires a little more than that.

I even vacillate on TC being at the top of my own list of favorites there. I like the ride very much, but I find that TC, Goliath, and FT (my other favorite there) all play different roles. While TC is a very smooth ride, it still flings you around a great deal—and that's one of RMC's less-appealing characteristics for this particular rider (NTAG is my favorite out of the three RMCs I've ridden as it's more traditional in style)—whereas Goliath and FT are pure enjoyment/fun. If I were to rank them, I'd place FT first and TC and Goliath in joint second place. Ninja and pre-2013 Apocalypse would be fourth and fifth I think. Different strokes!

Oh, I love Goliath—in spite of the flaws you mention (although I find that the floater hill has pretty sustained air—at least it did a couple of days ago). To me, it's a more fun/enjoyable—even relaxing ride (although I doubt that's what the manufacturer intended!)—so I'll happily marathon it if I can. I'd be hesitant to wait more than 10 mins for it too—but that's true of most of the rides at SFMM for me, and I really only ever go on the days where the crowds will be light. I didn't grab station pics of Goliath from Tuesday, but there was nobody in there. When I first walked in, a train was rolling back into the station with one solitary rider on it!

Agree, but the problem at SFMM is that, for several rides, it's hard to tell what kind of state the line is in until you're well into it. Goliath and Apocalypse are good examples, but also Batman, Superman, and Riddler to a certain degree.

The app was pretty great when it first arrived, and the times were often spot-on and updated regularly. That didn't last long, though. From what I understand, wait times are updated by employees, but SFMM doesn't exactly excel in staffing the park or paying its workers. Often, the wait times posted at the entrance to the rides are way, way off as well, so clearly they just don't have the manpower. For a park of this size, investing in a more sustainable approach with some computerized signs would be helpful. Perhaps they could sell off Revolution's cell phones to pay for it

Yeah, the in-park app time thing doesn't work. At best, the numbers are arbitrary, but more often than not, they're just not updated at all. Sadly, the only way to enjoy Revolution now is if the VR breaks and they temporarily shut it down. It's one of my favorite rides in the park, but the 10-minute dispatches have basically made it unridable. When it first opened, they were allowing single riders to fill up all the empty seats without VR, but I'm guessing the non-VR proved to be as popular as VR so they pulled the plug on it. You can still opt out of the VR (it's really bad VR!), but you're stuck waiting with everyone else now. I rode it a couple of days ago as the VR was down, but that's first time I've been able to get on it in recent trips. Viper rarely has a line, but on crazy busy days (which I usually avoid), it can get backed up. The same is true for Ninja as families tend to flock to that one. It really all depends on what day you're going. I was there a couple of days ago and there were no lines for anything at all except for Revolution, and that only had a line because of the VR problems.

I haven’t visited the park much this year due to intense work projects, but I took a drive up today figuring it would be fairly quiet—and it certainly was. It was about a million degrees, so I assume that’s a big part of the reason why. I pulled in around 4:30pm and found most every ride to be a walk-on all evening. Revolution’s VR gimmick was broken when I got there, so the line was short and the ops were dispatching trains like crazy. It’s the first time since the coaster first re-opened that I’ve been able to ride without having to wait 60+ min for them to dispatch six trains or so (something I simply won’t do). Sadly, they fixed the VR soon after so the fun was over. Anyhow, I first rode the revamped ride back when they were still offering front-row opt-outs of VR and it’s certainly broken in a bit since then. I recall thinking it was running slowly when it first reopened, barely making over the hill before the final helix. That was not the case today, and it’s running just like it used to years ago. Because the park was so dead and the stations were all empty, I was able to get multiple repeat rides on TC and Goliath. Goliath, I have to say, is still a big favorite of mine. Even though the drop is seriously meandering in the front, the sense of speed and the great floater hill make it a must-ride for me. TC is running as great as ever, although the ops weren’t as on their game as they usually are. The GP, however, were holding up dispatches as per usual. Out of the three rides, we got four duels although the syncing seemed a little off throughout the course. I was looking forward to checking out the re-tracked Apocalypse, but the park was struggling to get it running in the time I was there. Drop of Doom was also down despite attempts to fix it, and Füll Throttle went down before I had a chance to ride. Riddler’s was also closed because someone dumped a bunch of dirt and garbage in front of the entrance Neither Viper nor X2’s magic seats spared me a beating on this trip, and X2 was especially aggressive today—full-on ragdoll mode. I also rode Batman in the front and the back and was surprised by just how different a ride these positions gave. The front was glass-smooth (although the negative g’s were a bit much), but the back was all head-banging from start to finish. Speaking of negative g’s, I grey out fairly easily, and Goliath usually triggers it (Superman’s curve up onto the tower can do it too). On Goliath, I usually lean into the helix and it helps, but I rode four times on this trip and couldn’t stop it from happening. I never lose consciousness, but I am aware that my vision’s going wonky. I don’t think it was running any faster than normal as the mid-course brakes were as aggressive as ever, though. Having said that, I'm impressed by how smooth SFMM has managed to keep the ride given its age. The SFOT version isn't faring quite as well, with some serious rattle going on the last time I rode it. Anyhow, a few pics: Viper's station. Even though I find Viper to be a little too rough to be enjoyable, I still ride it because there's rarely a wait—even on busy days. Tatsu's swamp pen. I'm not the biggest fan of Tatsu and usually skip it unless there's no line—which was the case today. I still think the lift hill is the best part of the ride. TC's Station. For as much as I do enjoy the RMCs I've ridden, I must be the only person on this site who really doesn't like the aggressive, bucking-bronco style bunny hops or the outward-banked hills. Meanstreak 2.0 looks great, but that massive outward bank turn is making me nervous. Scream was running medium-rough today, even in the front-middle—which is usually one of the safer spots. Revolution, after they reinstated VR and murdered the capacity. At least the guy in the 3rd row knows how it's supposed to be ridden. Ninja's still a personal favorite at the park, although The Bat at KI puts it to shame in terms of intensity. The new dark ride. There's a lot of work to be done still as the area's a mess. I rode JL at SFOT as wasn't impressed in the slightest by it, but it's going to draw insane crowds here. It's just what the park needs, even though it's something I'm more than happy to skip. This is about as high as Superman was getting—which is, I think, about average. They were also running both sides, launching them within seconds of one another but never fully synced. For all its ear-bashing and arrow coat hanger-style track design, it's a fairly iconic ride.

I've done it. Also, because of time zones, you gain an hour when driving from KK to HW. Although you'll probably feel rushed and will miss out some detail, you can still get a lot done. I did both parks on a Monday in August and was able to get in about 5 rides on each of the major coasters at both parks.

I knew about the drop platform already, so it didn't freak me out. I did, however, get stuck in the "room of doors" as I didn't know what to expect and was genuinely confused. It was very dark in there and I ended up having to use the flashlight on my phone to figure out what was going on.

I was in the Indiana area last week for work and was tempted to head up to Indiana Beach as, on my last visit (last August), they were having serious operations issues too and I didn't get to ride Cornball or Lost Coaster. The park has a ton of character and I can see why it's so popular with enthusiasts, so, hopefully, they can get it running optimally in the near future. The haunted castle was indeed great (I assume you're talking about the drop platform?), and I fully agree with the description of Steel Hawg's drop; it looks totally gut-wrenching but is surprisingly tame.