Arthur_Seaton

The Beast, for me, hovered above evaluation; its history and general legacy kind of exempted it. I loved it, even though it was rough and a bit meandering. Night rides were excellent, but I also got to ride it in an insanely torrential rainstorm just before KI shut the whole park down. It was a stupid move, but everyone on the train was cheering their heads off while trying to wipe sheets of rain from their eyes. It was worth the drenching.

Yeah, I was thinking that there may have been a bidding war or something going on, but there's little point in keeping it open in the state its in. I've no idea, but even when running smooth, it's always been an aggressive ride. It hammers its way through the course and has some pretty powerful laterals on it. I've always assumed that the ride has been actively tearing itself up from the get-go because of the design, but that something happened in the last couple of years where SFMM just could no keep up with the required maintenance anymore — hence the swift decline. I never found Psyclone to be that rough overall — it was more sluggish than anything. But yeah, Apocalypse is way worse that Psyclone ever was now. Which is a shame as it's got one of the best first drops in the park.

Yeah, I was surprised by how blah it was too. It looks like it'd be amazing, but I found it to be one of the more meandering inversion-catalog style B&M's I've ridden. I'd heard that the drop was more impressive than most inverts, but even that did nothing for me. And yeah, I got some serious rattle in the back as well.

I always loved Flashback at SFMM. It was a bit of a head banger, and the front of the car obscured vision, but it was such a unique and fun ride. I'd also throw in the Blackpool Wild Mouse, but I don't think coaster fans hate that one per se.

I wouldn't say I really disliked it, but it's definitely not a favorite of mine. However, there are several rides that get a lot of praise around these parts that I'm not overly enamored with. I sort of expected not to like Maverick that much for similar reasons as ultra-aggressive and whip-like isn't my thing, but I actually loved it. For me, a great ride requires careful pacing and immersion as well as the right balance between fun and intensity. Maverick struck a better balance than I expected it to.

Exactly. The same thing happened with Twisted Colossus' construction in which the camera angle made the double down look very different to what it actually is. This looks like it'll be a fun hill with a snakey double-down s-dive on the other side. Also, count me in as one of the few who wouldn't mind seeing RMC do a slightly more traditional-style mega-twister with larger elements that are perhaps a bit less snappy. While I wouldn't say that their usual elements are gimmicky (although they're idiosyncratic), I'm not a huge fan of their outward bank turns or their more thigh-bruising forward-jolting bunny hops. Having said that, bizarre and extreme is kind of RMC's thing and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what else this one has to offer.

Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking. I think that image that's circulating is distorted by the angle and it'll be a kind of s-shape drop.

That is one strange-looking element. I wonder how much of it is due to the angle of the camera? I recall when Twisted Colossus was being built, an image of the double-down popped up online that look really bizarre and intense until it was seen from different angles. I can't imagine how an outward-banked drop would even work, so my guess it that it'll follow the smaller dip of the original, only with a curve left and right. Then again, it's RMC so it could very well be as insane as it looks in that shot.

I just left Dallas today after a couple of day's worth of business. I seriously considered delaying my trip home by a day to swing by SFOT for at least a few hours, but I have a feeling the place is going to be a zoo. Have fun, everyone who ends up going!

Fully agree. There were a lot of surprisingly busy days last year — largely due to what the park has done with annual passes — but the place is generally pretty solid now compared to a few other parks as well as what it was in the past. Visiting during the SoCal version of off-season — especially if you're traveling from outside of the area — isn't the best plan. It does, but it's not very good. Often, it seems that the times entered are totally arbitrary, and it usually shows the same time for every ride — no matter what the queue is like. I believe it came up in different thread, but someone pointed out that wait times are updated by an assigned ride ops and therefore they run into some of the same budget / staffing problems that limit train operation. It's an imperfect system that could certainly stand to be improved — especially at SFMM given the crowds they pull. A few strategic webcams might help too. While it's certainly not true of all rides at the park, it can be very hard to gauge just how long a line will be. You can usually get a sense of how many trains are running just by watching for a few minutes, but with rides like Goliath, X2, and Apocalypse, you never know what kind of wait you're dealing with until you're already in the queue.

I don't have a problem with VR as a concept as long as parks keep it away from major rides — especially coasters. They could stick it on that new ride SFMM is building for all I care as you're basically staring at a video game for much of it anyway (at least that's what the SFOT one seemed like to me). The other option, if parks are so adamant to take sponsorship money from cell-phone companies, is to have a little space carved out in the park where people strap phones to their heads and walk around, bumping into each other or something. Or maybe consider implementing it as part of non-ride experiences like in cafeterias, restrooms, or the parking lot?

Just to (redundantly) chime in on a couple of recent comments about MF: While I wasn't especially enamored with the ride either (although I'd say that I still liked it very much) I was just glad to be able to finally see it in person and ride it more than anything. Whereas such iconic coasters tend to blow ride expectations through the roof, I found my heightened expectations somewhat attenuated by the overall thrill of having finally made it to Cedar Point. I had a similar experience with The Beast in that if it didn't have the legacy, I wouldn't have appreciated it nearly as much. But to me, The Beast sits outside of my own personal evaluation scale — it exists in some sacred category beyond ordinary ranking. I think MF is bordering on that as well.

GoFundMe to help buy them out of the contract! My theory is that Flash Pass is the new park entry. By making season passes (with free parking) so insanely cheap — in addition to a few other tricks to maximize attendance (BAFF days; limited days in off-season) — they've dramatically ramped up regular attendance. In the past, you could somewhat gauge how busy the park would be at certain times of the year, but that doesn't seem to be true anymore. The park has been much busier than normal on days where it has been historically quiet, and so it's almost as if you need a Flash Pass to enjoy a regular day at the park. Can't blame them, and it's still great for locals who can just go for a few hours with no need to hit every ride. I could be wrong, but I suspect limited ops is connected to staffing, which is then connected to budgets and projections. If my above hypothesis is right, there's a good chance the park is consistently underestimating attendance (they've had several capacity days as of late I believe). But this could also be that they simply don't have the amount of staff and have a hard time securing them. When we were at the Halloween event last year, it was really apparent that they were short staffed in terms of rides and the haunt. There were scare zones with no scare actors and mazes with barely anyone in them. I'm guessing that SFMM pays very poorly and there are probably far better jobs out there for young people, so I'd imagine that a number of factors such as staffing issues contribute to single-train ops.

Is Ollivander's that room with the magic wands? We went in that the last time were there. That's some shrewd marketing! They picked one kid out of the room and gave her a wand which, of course, made all the other kids in the room green with envy. There was a like a 5-minute show where the wand "made stuff happen" — just long enough to send envy levels of the wand-less through the (beautifully themed) roof. Then the show dumps you straight out into a wand shop. If you're a parent, use caution with this attraction or it could get very expensive!

What's odd is that it held up pretty well for several years and then went to crap surprisingly fast. First drop in the back seat is one of the best drops in the park.

AND it does need considerable work again. The recent partial re-tracking held up for all of a month or so. I hate to suggest it as I love the ride and the layout, but it's as if the ride is too aggressive for the structure / trains. It's a very tight and twisty track that stays fairly low to the ground with the trains hammering against the tracks for much of the course. I think the wheels are steel on this one, aren't they?

I've been riding it more and more on my last few visits because it's the one ride you can pretty much always guarantee will be a walk-on. The first drop is really fantastic, especially in the back. The rest of the ride, not so much although the main suckage starts after the MCBR.

Fantastic pics and report and good to hear it was a successful visit! I'm a huge fan of Full Thröttle as well but don't ride it much these days because of the lines. Like others, I was disappointed when I first saw the layout, but it's probably my favorite ride in the park now due to the elements that it does have.

No eye closing from me, but I find the ride position to be generally unpleasant. The combination of forces pushing you into the restraints and the constant neck craning required to see where you're going takes away much of the thrill for me, putting these models more into the endurance-test category that minimizes fun. While I've ridden a few flyers, Tatsu is the most notorious example of this. For me, the lift hill is by far the best and most thrilling part of the ride. Much of the rest is just a blur of trees / sky / restraint pressure. The pretzel is pretty great, but it's a spine-rattler.

Probably somewhere between 20 mins and a week. Probably closer to 20 mins though. You'd probably get a more accurate answer from someone who works at the park though.

Yeah, it's not a good spot to be at when it's ever a fraction of that size of a crowd. While they're usually quite efficient at running the rides, it can be very draining spending so much time in lines. A four-hour line for Potter must have stretched way, way out of the building. The longest line I've ever experienced on that ride started just past the lockers, and I think that was about 90 mins or so.

Fantastic pics and commentary so far! Mexico has such a rich cultural history and the art / architecture there looks incredible.

Perfect! Thanks! I'll be there on the 24th so chances are I'll miss out, but I'll keep trying to get in touch with the park to double check. Just noticed today that they posted their calendar. Opening day is Saturday, February 25th. I saw that! Thanks for remembering! I've already booked a flight out of DFW on Friday 24th and it doesn't seem worthwhile to delay my trip by a day just to revisit the park. I had a great time there last year, though.

^^^^ I remember riding that thing at Knott's and remember it looking really cool but not being too thrilling of a ride. Granted, many years have passed since I rode it, but I just remember it as feeling like you were accelerating and braking over and over.

Wow! I know the week following Christmas is the week to steer clear of theme parks around here, but I figured it'd be over now. Some schools start back up again next week, so maybe people are trying to get their visits in? I went to Universal twice last year and both times it was absolutely packed (once was for Halloween Horror though), but they still managed to run everything well and keep the crowds moving. Still, it's a pretty small space and can feel claustrophobic very easy. I would hate to be there on a sold-out day.