Arthur_Seaton

I was on a Viper train at SFMM once where someone was taking selfies going up the lift and an op stopped the train, walked up the lift, told the person to put it away, then started the ride again. The person just took their phone out again once they were close to the top. More often than not, though, I see ops just turning a blind eye to any and all shenanigans — which I sort of understand given how poorly paid they are as well as the potential conflict that can ensue. It's a tricky situation given how pervasive technology / documentation has become.

I've been a pass holder now for five years and have yet to receive a single email from the park about anything, ever. I've even requested they re-add my email to their distribution lists (after missing out on some sweet discount stuff others have mentioned), but still nothing. No surveys, no updates, not a thing. I'm assuming there's was a page prior to the one shown above that states the question was specifically related to naming a new ride?

"West Coast Coaster"? Man, who comes up with this stuff? Might as well throw in Coasty McCoastface.

I'm kind of hoping that the space cleared in the image on the previous page will house just the station of a coaster rather than an entire coaster

That's odd! I visited a couple of years ago solo and I swear I must have ridden several of the rides in the back by myself. The only denial I recall from the park was not being able to ride solo on the log ride.

Oof! That's not a ride I'd want to work at as an op! Spinning rides can make me feel sick fairly easily, but I've always loved Enterprise wheels. Once they're up in the air, the dizziness dissipates for me.

That's the only part of the ride I don't really care for, and it's doubled on Titan! Those helixes are seriously forceful.

I think incessant bashing is just the nature of the thread It's exhausting! I'm just glad that I can enjoy and appreciate Goliath for the fun ride that it is. I've ridden a ton of coasters all over the country, but I still find it to be one of the most all-around enjoyable hypers (although I'd still kill for a great B&M floater like Diamondback in the park!)

Great reports! Waldameer is a bucket-list park for me. I was in the area a couple of years back, but couldn't swing it with my schedule. The coaster looks fantastic, but the dark rides look amazing too.

It's a relatively tame drop given its appearance, but it's still one of my top-5 rides in the park — and the back seat is a must. Goliath still delivers height, speed, and yes, solid floater air on one of the smoothest tracks around. Different strokes, obviously, but I much prefer coasters you can ride reliably without wondering if you'll get off bruised or injured; it's one of just a few rides in the park that I'll gladly marathon if there's nobody in line. Aside from the chain lift issues, it's totally reliable and pure fun. Plus, having ridden the less-smooth Texas counterpart, kudos for SFMM for maintaining this one so well. A trip to the park without a ride on Goliath seems incomplete to me whereas I'll gladly skip more than half of the rest of the park's lineup. The only issue I have is that the helix does make me gray out pretty much every time (which, is true for a number of positive-G rides for me).

Nice report, and it sounds like you guys had a blast. One of the things that stood out to me when I visited was just how great the park looked at night — and I almost missed that. I'd planned on spending a full day there with a FP, leaving mid-afternoon to get to Kings Island in time for Beast night rides. But I ended up arriving at CP early the night before after bailing on Indiana Beach and got to spend a few hours in the park at night. The beaches and firepits caught my eye as well.

Hmm. I've found the opposite to be true. There's not much air on the main drop, but the back seat definitely amplifies the experience of drop #1 and #2 and you still get the floater air over the airtime hill. I rode it yesterday, but I rarely ride the front and much prefer the front seat of the back car. Still one of my favorite rides in the park given how smooth it is (especially in relation to its Texas counterpart).

Ah, bummer! It looked like it had real potential in the render videos. The testing videos do indeed make it seem kind of sluggish. How's the interaction between the trains as they pass by one another?

Wow! Good to hear that there were no major injuries. I didn't ride this when I visited, but I could see why it'd be a popular ride given the size of the splash.

Genuinely curious about this new ride. Although I'm not a fan of the regular looping version, I suspect that the two-train interaction on this one will offer a unique experience. Looking forward to hearing some reports!

I don't agree with this, Flashback just wasn't that good of a ride as it stood. Like I said, even had they replaced the awful trains, and moved it to a spot in the park where it could operate, it wouldn't have changed the fact that the ride was redundant with a complete lack of elements. I've never been on a roller coaster and found myself saying "Gee this ride could use more straight sections." That was what Flashback was, interesting drops and long stretches of straight track. And sure the hairpin drop was cool the first time, after that it just became repetitive. If they had wanted to save Flashback I think the best option would have been to enclose it and add special effects to try and make it more exciting. Even then, I don't really know if it would have been enough to really make it a good ride, and I certainly don't think the park would have seen a meaningful return on the investment had they chosen to go that direction. I do agree with Truthhurts that floorless trains would have worked well on this one (or maybe Infinity coaster-type trains?), at least when running it outdoors. Aside from the lift and station, I only recall two relatively brief straight sections of track, both of which served to increase anticipation of the impending plunges (and, I assume, these would have been capitalized on in a dark ride scenario). Both were block brakes too, I think, and the second was much a bit shorter than the first due to the preceding upward twist element. I think the straight sections fit the ride really well, personally. The rest of the ride was filled with a series of really unusual and varied elements like drops, turns, hills, and that final twisting helix. It's certainly not a ride that reflects popular tastes, and I get why it didn't survive, but it was truly unique and, as others have mentioned, was totally innovative for its time. That the designers managed to keep the entire track inside a tiny rectangular footprint was impressive and certainly reflects the original (apocryphal?) intent of it being a dark ride of some sort. That might even explain why the train design had such limited visibility? Still, it managed to bash my ears on many occasions!

Also just got back from a few hours there. We were hoping that the heat would keep people away, but it was somewhat busy. X2's line looked like it was way out into the switchbacks (viewed from the top of Viper); Tatsu's sweat pen was full; even Ninja's line was up onto the second floor. Fortunately, we got onto Crazanity with just a two-cycle wait (so, about 20 minutes), and Superman, Scream, and Viper were all walk ons. We got a nasty ear-bashing from scream right at the end, coming out of the second corkscrew. TC was down (no trains on the track at all that we could see — supposedly opening again at 4pm), and it looked like Justice League wasn't working when we passed (not that we'd ride it anyway). Watched a group of teens jump the Crazanity fence to join their friends right in front of everyone in line. Some folks called them out, but the teens laughed in their face. We told the op at the gate who also laughed, albeit more nervously. It doesn't seem like they have the manpower to monitor that area, so hopefully they'll increase the size of the railing a bit. But yes, it was satanically hot today.

It's not that big, but there's a lot in it, and it's kind of easy to get disoriented. I was only there a for three or four hours and hit everything I wanted to ride multiple times (Phoenix, Twister, Flying Turns, Haunted Mansion, Black Diamond), but I still skimped on a lot of what others here rave about. One ride that I don't think has been mentioned is Satellite — a rickety dive bomber-style ride. I loved that thing, in part because of how old-school it was.

Nah! Flashback was quirky and decent, albeit a bit head-bangy. Green Lantern is quite possibly the worst roller coaster in the history of roller coasters!

I remember that pre-lift dip. It was way too sharp for the size of the trains. Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't there some warning on the backs of each seat not to touch the train in front of because of the articulations in made through sections like that? If I'm not mistaken, it was designed with enclosure in mind but never actually was enclosed at any park. It really would be a good indoor / space-type coaster (it was even called the "space diver" by Intamin), but not with those restraints. What was surprising about the inversions was that, in the front at least, you got some pretty serious hangtime before the train actually dropped. But what was also fascinating was just how tight the manoeuvres were. And yes, the visibility from the train was terrible. I clearly remember front-seat rides in which you barely see over the train's nose. THe ride was such a cool concept, but not quite what it could / should have been. It's the kind of thing I wish Knoebel's would have saved!

It's basically unrideable without a pass now. It seems to have something to do with the removal of the trim and the 20-30 block brakes the train has to pass through before returning to the station haha! It's the worst, and the line there is utterly miserable.

Exactly. We usually just assume we won't be eating when we visit a park. If we do find something, then it's a bonus! It's not that hard to find surrounding locations that serve decent food. I'm just surprised there's no real push for it at such places, even though fresh / natural food probably wouldn't be sustainable there. That's definitely a great solution if you're traveling by car! Unfortunately, we often fly when we travel or travel light, so it's a bit tricky. Good idea for road trips, though!

I really liked Flashback, but I know I'm in the minority (I also really liked Psyclone — even when it ran super slow). Flashback was bumpy with a lousy train that obscured your view, but the track was so unique and fun. However, it was tucked away in the park and didn't have much draw for the GP or major thrill seekers. There was never a line for it, so it didn't really stand much of a chance to stick around for the long haul. With some restraint modifications and maybe a little train redesign, I think it would have made a fantastic enclosed coaster — which, from what I gather, was the original intent for the design.

Wonderful to see how well they deal with such issues here. I hope to visit one day again as my visit was fairly quick and I don't think got to appreciate it in the same way that so many here do.

I've struggled to find anything edible at a number of parks I've visited (SFOT stands out) — I think unhealthy / bad food just comes with the territory of hedonic spaces? It's odd, though, in that you'd think there'd be a calling for legitimately healthy options at theme parks, given that they can be a workout just to get around. I mean, I understand why deep-fried-bacon-fat-on-a-stick-drizzled-with-sugar-and-fat would exist in a "carnivale"-esque environment (Bakhtin would have a few things to say about this, and Gargantua would definitely get walk-of-shamed), but surely there's also a real calling for food that's not terrible? Perhaps it's not realistic for parks to get fresh-delivered produce over frozen / pre-packaged stuff? Seems like there's possible business model waiting to happen. I wonder how food trucks might work in parks if they were developed in such a way to handle massive crowds?