Arthur_Seaton

Was at the park today and planned on leaving around 4pm. Decided to make The Beast my last ride (I did the night ride thing on it last night). Rain started sprinkling while walking over to it; started coming down hard while waiting in the queue (everyone got pretty wet at that point); and by the time we were on the train, it was pouring hard. Not the brightest of ideas but a once-in-a-lifetime chance: riding The Beast in a full-on torrential rain storm. It was hilarious, painful, blinding, but everyone on the train had an absolute blast. It was basically the equivalent of a drenching water ride and I'm currently in my hotel trying to dry out my clothes with a hairdryer. Good times!

I rode Mean Streak for the first time last night and prepared myself for the worst woodie in the US but I really didn't think it was that bad. I rode it again today just to be sure, and yes, the layout's a bit uninspired in parts (it does have some good bits here and there), and yes it's rough (although it's not nearly as rough as some other woodies I've ridden recently), but there's a lot of material and space to work with for whoever might do a refurb. The structure itself is beautiful.

Ha! Just walked past the TPR crowd on my way out of the park. Going to head to Kings Island to see if I can get a night ride or two on The Beast. Great CP trip and will post thoughts soon, but I think I liked Valravn the most out of everything I rode. Plus, fast pass plus was awesome for that ride.

I was there tonight (drove 5 hours, arrived around 7pm, and had planned for a full day tomorrow with early entry). It wasn't until about 10pm tonight that word spread that the place was shutting down, and even then, nobody knew what was really happening. Fingers crossed they're able to open tomorrow as I've been wanting to visit CP for ages and I doubt I'll be back in this area again in the future.

Isn't City Museum supposed to be amazing? I've never been, but it's on my bucket list.

They'd probably need to do some work on it first as it's pretty damn rough these days.

I don't know, they do still invest in non-coaster stuff. I've never been to see it but didn't they create a new show in that theatre close to Twisted Colossus? I kind of view rides like JL along the same lines to be honest (sit down in an air conditioned room and watch a "show" of sorts). I rode the version of JL in Texas and it really just reminded me of that one video game ride at Knotts. Aside from some fog and a couple of moving props, there weren't that many effects in it — it's mainly video game screens. I think it would be very popular with families and people who want to escape the heat. Would I ride it? Probably not, but I could see why they'd get one.

Yikes! This makes it sound like the FL+ isn't that sweet of a deal after all! The only other time I've ever bought a super-pricey FL+ equivalent kind of thing at a park was at SFoT and there were a couple of rides where the wait was still fairly significant even with the pass, but that was largely due to poor queue design and lots of new staff who had no idea what was going on. Both Pandemonium and Justice League shared a line for both FP and single rider to the point where both lines were spilling way out beyond the designated queue area and nobody knew which was which (staff included). Hopefully things are a little more organized at CP!

Thanks for clarification! It does seem like experiences with passes can vary, so both your perspectives are especially helpful! Are there any rides that I should be aware of that having a fast lane plus pass won't help with at all? When I visited SFoT, Runaway Mountain was one example — it was a 90 minute wait no matter what. It sounds like Iron Dragon is the anomaly here although I can't imagine lines ever get too crazy for that.

That's very helpful! Thanks for the tip!

Thanks! Waiting to gauge crowds seems like a smart move, but I think I'm just going to suck it up and splurge on a pass so that I can ride everything like a million times. Maverick to MF sequence duly noted!

Sorry to be the noob guy but I'll be visiting CP for the first time a week from Sunday and will take advantage of pass holder early entry and wanted to solicit a bit of advice. I plan to buy a Fast Lane Plus pass to ensure that I'm able to get on everything as much as I want, but I'm curious as to wether I should use that first hour to jump on some rides (MF, Maverick, Valravn) or go straight to the Fast Lane booth (wherever that is). Although I can't imagine the park will be hella-packed on the day I'm there, I don't want to risk not grabbing a FL pass before they sell out. Any tips? I'm thinking buy pass > MF > Maverick?

Magic Mountain is a decent distance from downtown, and traffic both in and out of LA is a pain, so be sure to account for that (get on the road early and stay there late). With that said, a $25 uber doesn't sound like a bad deal but I'm surprised you can't rent a basic car for less. As far as platinum pass goes, I've never bought one at Magic Mountain because I'm a local, but for big out of town parks that I probably won't return to anytime soon, they're the way to go for me.

Not that I noticed. I rode it soon after it debuted so things may have changed. Although you could certainly refuse one of the headsets when you got to the station, there were no special privileges for opting out or anything. It was running as VR the whole day I was there, but they also had some ticketing system going on that I couldn't quite grasp (because I skipped it). From what I could gather, they didn't have enough queue space for the ride, so people were taking tickets and then returning at a designated time where they could then queue for however long the queue would take (2+ hours on that day). It was a strange set up — almost like two separate queue pens before you got to what would be the regular queue up the station ramps (which is where you started queueing if you had Platinum). The day was an anomaly though. Traffic to get into the parking lot was backed all the way up to the freeway.

I can see a future for VR attractions in parks, but not so much on major rollercoasters unless they radically improve the tech. Even then, strapping a phone onto your face seems somewhat antithetical to riding a rollercoaster — to me, at least. With the rise of the whole pokemon thing, I wouldn't be surprised if such practices collide in some way at amusement parks. Perhaps the creation of a fenced space / warehouse where people can feel free to strap on a headset and chase pokemen or whatnot? A little bit like a designated smoking section, except one where people can play with their phones without interruption?

It didn't when I visited, but even with platinum, the line was too slow-moving for re-rides I found. I think I rode it twice with VR and twice without? I can't quite recall, but the non-VR ride was much better than the VR version for me.

Since there's a good chance I'll be visiting three Cedar Fair parks in the next few weeks, I splurged on a platinum pass and headed down to Knotts to process it. The only time I ever really go to Knotts is at Halloween where we usually only get a single ride in on something then spend the rest of the night in the mazes. Today seemed busy to me (30-60 minute waits for most stuff) and the walkways were fairly packed. Jumped on Silver Bullet as soon as I walked in -- a ride I've always liked despite the criticism it seems to draw. But my main reason for going -- aside from processing the pass -- was to check out my old friend Ghostrider's new look. The line for Ghostrider began outside the station building, right at the point where the post-station drop curves to the right. The app listed the wait at 70 minutes, but it was closer to 60. At 6pm, the switchebacks on the lower floor of the station were miserable; a sweat box with only one of the two fans working. Upstairs, only half of the switchbacks were being used and seating choices were a free-for-all. As the back-back had a longer line, I opted for the third seat from back to try and catch some air on the drops. I don't know if the new trains affect the ride beyond the obvious smoothness, but the ride did feel tamer to me. Similar to Six Flags' Revolution overhaul, I'm not sure if the new trains have somehow affected the feel of the ride (aside from the smoothness), or if I'm experiencing some nostalgia for the way it used to be (potentially in my mind). Obviously there's a fine line when it comes to brutal roughness and a ride feeling out of control, but I found the new version had almost none of the out-of-control feeling at all, which is really what made the ride so intense to begin with. Even more surprising was that the hidden drop did nothing for me or my stomach; there was more air on the first camel back, I found. The laterals are still there, but mainly in the final helix. Overall, it maintained much of what made it fun in the past, but I wouldn't call intense anymore -- which it definitely was, even when it ran smooth in its opening years. Don't get me wrong, it's great — a classic-style woodie with modern elements — but I see it leaning more toward a solid family ride now (a good thing for the park, really). Although I hope it does regain a little of its old rough edge, if it's at the expense of keeping it operational, I'd much rather have the attenuated version. Fun, but not quite the monster that it was when it was at its best. Although I was only there for a few hours, Pony Express, Jaguar, and Montezooma were all down (although I got a ride in on Montezooma right before they closed it down). Xcelerator was only running one train and the line was nuts. Supreme Scream -- perhaps the tamest drop tower ever -- caught me off guard. I find that I can have different experiences on drop towers depending on how many other rides I've already been on, and SS was pretty thrilling this time. The last one I rode like this was the launch/drop ride at SFoT -- which I loved, but found mild in terms of thrills. SS felt a little more intense to me this time for some reason. Everything else had too long a line for my liking, so I figured now that I have the pass, I'll go back when schools are in session and take advantage of it.

Thanks for posting! I'll be in that area in a few weeks and was thinking about visiting, but the only ride that I'm interested in is SRoS so it's probably pointless.

You can opt out and even skip the line by going to the fast pass entrance. If you're riding with people who want to wear the helmet, you'll have to wait in line though. The only other VR coaster I've ridden allowed you to opt out, but did not have a "skip the line" option when I rode it.

I visited on one of the busiest days of the year but splurged on a platinum pass. With the pass, the line started on the final ramp to the station and that took about 30 mins (which I'm guessing would have ordinarily taken about 5-10 minutes). Because of the problems with the headsets (at least a couple would break per train), dispatches were between 5-8 minutes. From what I was told, the line without any kind of fast pass was around 3 hours. It was incredibly busy on the day I was there, but I would suggest that if you want to ride Shockwave at all, get over to it as fast as you can. Most of the rides were between 1.5 and 2.5 hours when I was there, but Shockwave and Runaway Mountain seemed to be the worst all day long whereas the others would lighten up now and again.

Buggers! It looks like the fair is right next door, too. I think I may need to change my travel plans!

Wow! That's critical info! Thanks! Only problem now is that KK hasn't decided on their operating hours for that week (they wing it, apparently), whereas HW opens at 10am.

Perfect, thanks, guys! As much as I'd prefer not to be rushed between the two (I'd rather have a leisurely 3/4 day at both), I'm leaning more toward cramming both in as I don't see a full day at either being that necessary if I'm really just looking at the bigger rides. Only thing is that it may need to be a Saturday as opening days are limited and HW is hosting some religious event on the Sunday and I'd probably want to steer clear of that /hisses at cross/

I have to agree with a couple of the recent posts questioning X2's line becoming shorter as the day progresses. Although I've certainly seen the line drop down to almost nothing on fairly busy days, I haven't been able to detect any discernible pattern / logic. What I'll sometimes do is jump on Viper and gauge X2's line from Viper's lift hill. The only downside to that is that it means that you have to ride Viper and, potentially, X2. Goliath is similar; I never really see a clear pattern of change in the line. On days when the park's moderately busy, Goliath always seems to have a longer wait than most rides for much of the day. If anything, Goliath seems more busy toward the end of the day with people trying to get last rides in. It's only on days when the park is clearly dead that you stand a good chance of not having to wait at all. Goliath has glacial operations, so even when the line appears to be short, it can feel like it's not moving at all. The only rides that seem somewhat consistent in terms of a guaranteed wait are Füll Thröttle and Tatsu — both of which are usually packed all day long on days when the park is decently filled. Revolution is the same now that they've killed the capacity with the silly VR-masks (ride single rider — it's much better that way), but everything else there seems to vary in terms of wait times. As others noted, the park's other B&Ms rarely garner long waits, although even that's unpredictable as the last time I was there, there was a line for Scream — which I don't think I've ever seen before. Unfortunately, the wait times app on the phone doesn't work for crap, so I wouldn't rely too heavily on that.

If one were especially diligent (and traveling solo), is it remotely possible to do both KK and Holiday World in the same day? I'll be visiting the area next month, and because parks have limited hours in the time I'll be visiting, the only feasible way I can see of hitting KK and HW is if I cram them together. Crazy plan or somewhat plausible for someone only planning on riding the coasters at each park? A full day at both seems a bit much, but also cramming two together in one day seems a bit crazy. Thoughts?