RollerManic

90% of the responses you’re going to get will be more made up than this statistic. Except Bill’s.

^They turned it on when they removed the helix because the ride’s brake run is short and the helix killed a lot of speed. It used to never bite and the train would go flying. Great report! I’ve been anxiously waiting most for this part of your TR for some time now! Always funny to me the compliments our park gets about looking good ... to me it ... well ermm ... has a nice setting? I’ve never found Freeze’s or American Thunder’s queues so long, but it’s a straight shot to the station so I guess I just don't notice it. But Batman and the Boss ... good lord. Eagle wasn’t always so bad in the back. Only a couple years ago, it was spectacular in the back. I hope you got a night ride on it at some point. American Thunder is also our pride and joy at the park. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

It's funny we are having this discussion. My father and I have lived in Memphis, St. Louis, and Kansas City - so if there's one thing we know, it's good barbeque. One of my father's first remarks entering Cedar Point and driving around Perimeter Road was "oh hey - they have a Famous Dave's here". He's been around me than me (obviously) and said it's alright barbeque, nothing special, but we both agreed that the location on the marina was pretty neat. I thought about maybe eating there just for the location, but we only ended up eating twice in the park. We're pretty good at not eating in parks, but for our first meal of our stay we hadn't quite gotten our bearings together yet, so we grabbed Chick-a-Fila. We're big Chick-a-Filla fans (strictly nonpolitical about it; I'm a health conscious person and it makes my short list of decent fast food. I love their grilled chicken clubs on multigrain buns) and because it's pretty sentimental to us as we ate there a lot on our first trip ten years ago. The prices there are also very respectful - everything was less than a dollar more than at any other Chick-a-Fila. When it rained on us later in the day, we left the peninsula and went to Kroger to buy picnic food that we ate for the rest of our meals. Plus, whether you like Chick-a-Fila or not, you have to admit it's the best Chick-a-Fila in the world if there is one because it's 10 feet from the exit of one of the world's best rides. They only other place we ate at was Chickie and Pete's, and strictly for the crab fries. As a midwesterner who's only ever been as far north as New Jersey once, Ohio is pretty much "the East" (if it's in EST, it's the east) to me, and so I was very excited for another Chickie and Pete's. I'll break my diet and for a thing of crab fries once every five years (yes, that is exactly how long it'd been). The view of Raptor inside is really nice, but are the crab fries really $10 anywhere else or is that just an amusement park thing?

I’m sorry, but when your name is “SFSTLInsider” and your account was aptly created on July 9, 2019, right around when we started this discussion, your credibility is questionable. It’s not that I dislike what you’re saying, because I know it’s the safe bet you can say every year. Long ago, I gave up hoping for a new coaster. In fact, the thought that we will be getting a new addition in 2020 didn’t even cross my mind at all until this week, probably because you can’t get too imaginative with this park, and the fact that I’m still just waiting for current rides to reopen. We haven’t had any signs of future editions this season, and the park’s playing catchup right now it appears anyway. Yes, I did however have I moment a couple pages ago where I thought “you know, maybe this could actually be it” because there’s to me nothing to say we may not get one of the two off-the-shelf coasters this year. If Six Flags is going to add more FreeSpins, our turn is about up. The Raptor is a lot more speculative. But if either doesn’t happen, I’m not going to care. All the other ideas thrown around here have been great - especially the Discovery - another one we’re on the short list for if any more are coming. If it weren’t that I’m at school 45 mins down the road now, I would not have renewed my pass for this year. And depending on the circumstances with our newly founded coaster club at my school, I may or may not renew this fall. I was already about at my end with SFSTL last season. This year has treated me well, though: USH and Knotts in Jan (both surprises), CP in June, Carowinds last week, WoF still to come later this summer. SDC might be in the works for August, too. I realized after last year’s KK/KI spree that I’d much rather travel a bit to nicer park than waste my time at SFSTL every year. I still haven’t even made it to HW yet, so I could finally hit that and bounce over to KI next year for the new giga coaster. So yeah, you don’t have to tell me to be disappointed, because I’m going to be pretty happy next year regardless of what Six Flags does.

^I think the removal of Axis Arcade and the games near Ninja and an expansion back to the train tracks is more likely than a new section of the park across the tracks. The land out there is sort of removed from the rest of the park is currently occupied by the paintball course. Plus, I highly doubt any sort of infrastructure is back there, which is different to when SFOT expanded their Gotham section and had infrastructure already in place. Me personally, I don't know why they didn't just theme Tsunami Soaker to the Penguin like they did at SFDK and name Spinsanity "Harley Quinn's Spinsanity" like they've done over the chain. Not sure why we had to get just “Spinsanity" and have that whole area clash so much.

Sunrise is just early sunset in the east In case staying at Breakers wasn't already good enough.

I don't think any park in the United States will get an S&S launch. I just don't get the impression when Maxx Force is one of the few coasters Six Flags has done in years that breaks their pattern. The only park I see getting one down the road is maybe SFM to be "Latin America's fastest accelerating coaster".

Interesting. I agree with you that on most wooden coasters I can't tolerate is knocking my knees on the restraints. Freeze has even gotten really bad about this, but I'm 6'2 with long legs. My biggest problem with The Boss has actually always been this with it's terrible trains, but I didn't have that issue for once this year - it was more jackhammering this time, which is what you just described. Those U-bar restraints have been a real bitch to me in the years past though. When we first got on Hurler, I was worried about this because my legs we pushed to the side by the restraint, but to my suprise my knees never knocked it hard once.

Came here to say this ^. They're going to check you. But, we stayed at Breakers and parked in the lot and it was like having preferred parking because ... it pretty much is. If I were you, I would just get a room at Breakers. The amenities and perks are so worth it. We did the math and at least a few weeks ago, the price to stay at Breakers vs. a decent hotel on the mainland was about the same - staying on the mainland actually would cost more in the end after you factor paying parking for two days vs. free [premium!] parking. Cedar Point is huge, and having access to the back of the park was such a life-saver. You don't want to hit the front of the park early, anyway. We are not passholders and we NEVER (I repeat, NEVER) buy Fastpass at any park we go to and with early entry, we were able to get more than our help of rides of Maverick Steel Vengeance. Both also had short lines at the end of the day but that was more just our luck. We were more than able within two days to do everything we wanted; just follow the general advice given anywhere for Cedar Point - do the back first, come back to the front after lunch, and know the rides that never get a line (Magnum). We only stayed one night at Breakers, but even on the second day after checkout they let us keep our car in the lot and we just walked out of the park and pinic'ed out the trunk whenever we got hungry. My father is to the age now where he never stays in parks for a full day anymore. He's all about going in the morning, taking a nap midday, and returning in the evening which was the greatest amenity Breakers offered us - the ability to do that in an actual bed, and be back in the park in five minutes. We also got rained on, and so having the hotel right there was a super convenient way to stay dry (FYI - rides at the Point just aren't worth it in any amount of precipitation - it's going to hurt and there's nothing you can do about it - we tried). And at the end of the day, you could relax your muscles in the hot tub or on the beach. Be prepared for a lot of walking when at Cedar Point - we walked eleven miles each day. Also, waking up in Cedar Point, proper, on property, before most guests are even allowed on the peninsula and seeing sunrise over the world's best coasters is something every enthusiast needs to do in their life at least once. It's also so relieving to know that all you have to do is get up and walk into the park in the morning - no headaches getting there and having to park.

I just rode Carowind's Hurler last week and it's really not that bad of a coaster. It's extremely mediocre, but not painful, unlike what a lot of people try to say. My ride was smooth expect for a few bumps in the later two turns. For me, I don't think the wooden coasters have ridden their best since 2014. For some reason that season, I was able to do The Boss five times for ERT and immediately move to Screamin' Eagle for six laps in the back without issue. I admit that this year has been the best they've been since then, but they are nowhere near the point where they were that season (and frankly for me, The Boss isn't as good of a ride anymore without the 540 helix - I miss trimless drops off the MCBR). I'm sure if CranZanity could fit into that hillside where the old monorail station was, a Giant Discovery could fit in Tidal Wave's plot, albeit maybe with some land grading as SFMM did. They actually already did this at SFDK. We are not the last park without one. Discounting last year's new acquisitions: SFOG, SFA, TGE, La Ronde, and SFMM all don't have FreeSpins yet (but SFMM is an obvious technicality) I actually think we could get an RMC Raptor ... possibly. If we don't see another one this year in the chain, then I don't think Six Flags plans to make them the next FreeSpin. We haven't had a new coaster in six years, and not one ground up in more than a decade. I could see us getting a Raptor if we don't get a FreeSpin - the Raptors are really cheap and Six Flags hasn't put a ton of capital into us in a while. I'm not ready to throw the possibility out yet, but if the precedent isn't set by August this year with at least another small park getting one this year I'm giving up. The other part of me tells me to hope we at least would get a FreeSpin and Green Lantern isn't relocated here.

I was on the fence wether I wanted to go this year, but now I just want to go for the food.

From what I’ve ridden: California: Ghostrider (out of USH, Knotts, and SFMM - this ride is f**king bonkers if you didn’t know) Illinois: Goliath Missouri: Outlaw Run Ohio: Maverick (yes, over SV) Pennsylvania: Storm Runner (only been to Hershey, pre-Skyrush) Maryland: Superman Kentucky: Storm Chaser Georgia: Goliath (haven’t been on TC) Florida: Mako Virginia: toughest call yet - I haven’t been on TT and I feel like i305 deserves another chance, so for now I’m going to default to Griffon, which I really do love New Jersey: El f**king Toro Texas: NTaG Tennessee: Thunderhead (no LR yet for me )

Yes, that’s the former Lion Country area. No idea who owns the part in yellow. Wasn’t Intimidator’s/X-Sector’s plot part of the safari too?

Personally, JB’s is the only place I eat at if I absolutely am forced to eat in the park. They have pretty decent BBQ for Six Flags standards and a very nice atmosphere. If fried chicken is your thing (it’s not mine), check out Fowl Ball near the mine train. Speaking of that, don’t miss our mine train. It’s truly one of my favorites and is very, very smooth. First Cone is ALWAYS packed. I have never once seen that place empty in my life, not even on slow days. Walking past, it smells like Mainstreet USA at Disney so I really don’t blame anyone for how packed it gets. If you haven’t already figured by my dislike of fried chicken and not eating in parks, I’m a health snob so I personally don’t eat it but I do like to sometimes linger in that corner of the entrance just for the sights and smells of First Cone. If you're after credits or just feeling the mood, try our Boomerang. It runs pretty well - they did a lot of work on it after bringing it from Texas to here. In fact, I just rode Carowind’s boomerang yesterday with the new Vekoma trains and that’s supposed to be one of the better ones and to tell you the honest truth, I think ours is better. That’s all I got that hasn’t already been said. Enjoy the park.

^ Any comparison to Maverick, by chance?

The area around Magic Mountain is hugely saturated with hotels, so by that same logic I think Great Adventure is the most logical choice. I think they’ll do some hocus-pocus and try to make Great Adventure into a “Resort” given on-site lodging, the safari, the waterpark, and the park itselfof course. $250 if it includes some amenities and park benefits is a good deal I think. We payed $350 for our one night at Breakers last week, but it was worth every last penny. It’s such a massive convenience being right there in the park (though I wish we’d gone early in June when it was only $150/night. )

I just don’t really see what they’re wanting to get out of this for a small, regional, seasonal park like SFSTL and that already has hotels nearby available for it’s (nominal) non-local crowd. For a park like SFMM or SFGAm/SFGAd, I can see this happening. They all have more tourists, enough to do to warrant more than a day’s stay, and Magic Mountain operates year-round. For SFGAdv especially, this could be an extremely wise move as the nearest decent hotels are in Allentown, NJ, like the Hampton I stayed at during my visit, a 20 min drive from the park. The park is truly in the middle of nowhere, NJ, off a state highway, and there’s hardly any businesses yet alone hotels near it (those who’ve been there will know what I’m talking about).

Are there any particularly good discounts to Carowinds available? We were planning on going there next week but after getting back from Cedar Point a few days ago we’ve been thinking about possibly skipping Carowinds entirely. The main reason is more about a disagreement on how to spend our family vacation, given my mother’s despise of amusement parks, but I've also have been thinking that after two days of Cedar Point the park might underwhelm me. I would still like to go just because I personally don’t want to travel back to Charlotte anytime soon and I’m tempted enough by the big four here to give the park a shot (I’m also not convinced there enough for a family to do in Charlotte to fill a whole week, so when we initially took it out our plans looked very empty). I will be going to WoF later this summer if that helps, but we elected to get the Wildcard deal for Cedar Point over Platinum Passes so there’s that.

Black Intamin track has shown up on site for the Jurassic Park coaster, and it’s gloriously double-spined — which means it’s either going to be tall (thicker track sections reduce the number of supports needed) or forceful or a combination of the two.

Out of those I’ve be to; also included last visit: Cedar Point (two days ago, lol) Knotts Berry Farm (2019) Kings Island (2018) Kings Dominion (2015) Worlds of Fun (2019) But honestly, I’d still take WoF over 90% of Six Flags parks somedays just because of how well kept it is. I don’t get around to Cedar Fair parks much, and they’re much more expensive for me to visit, but I always have a better time than I do at any Six Flags parks. This year has been an abnormally, with the first visit to CP in 10 years and also the first visit to WoF in 10 years despite living in Missouri and having family in KC, and Knotts Berry Farm being completely off a whim I when I just happened to be passing the park on an impromptu trip to California a couple hours before closing (and it still tops my list with only a limited amount of time in the park). But basically, before this year the only CF parks I’d been to in the past 10 years was KD and KI and King’s Island was just last year.

Blue train was great as ever, but something about the front of one of the other two trains was just awful. It really sucks that my brother who we brought to the Point for the first time this trip left with a tainted experience of Millennium Force; he only rode it that first time with us.

^Hmm, I was there yesterday and everything I waited for was exactly half the posted wait time on the app. Also, that “legendary” Millennium force re-entry gate was open Thursday, but we had just gotten off our first rode in 10 years, and it was awful. We sat up front in IIRC Red train (I know for a fact it wasn’t Blue) and the whole ride jackhammered throughout the course. My father and I were extremely disappointed that one of our previous all-time favorites appeared to had aged well. We vowed it another attempt because we felt that it of all rides was it worth a chance at redemption, but because it was lightly raining we passed on the re-entry gate. Last night, we took our second ride on Millennium to end off our trip just like we did 10 years ago and prayed to go it would be better. Sure enough, sitting in row 2 of Blue train, we had every bit of as good of a ride as we remembered long ago. We both came to the conclusion that something was f**ked about the exact row of the train we rode in the first day. I always think about writing trip reports while I visit parks and what all I would write, but I’ve never actually have gotten to it. However, this trip went so incredibly well that I think for once I’m actually going to complete a wordy, multiple-part photo TR for this in a couple days, so look forward to it.

I’m headed to the park today. We drove all they way from central Missouri knowing the forecast today is going to be rough, but we are holding out hope that it will make for an experience like ^ yours. Tomorrow is going to be f*cked, though. 72 and clear skies. Absolutely perfect weather, and it comes on a Friday right after the rain that will scare some people off today.

Perfect, that’s what I was hoping. They are saying that theses storms are going to continue into the evening (there goes my hanging out on the beach during my one night at Breakers plan) but I’m keeping my fingers crossed they’re short.

I will be there this week, Thursday and Friday. Forecasts show some pretty awful weather coming Thursday, and I’m thinking that odds are Thursday could be a flop and Friday might be extra packed. Should I tough it out or reschedule?