RollerManic

This park has an obsession with airtime and I freaking love it. Even their drop tower is the best and its only 130ft tall.

Land clearing is indeed beginning to extend past Racer per this most recent update by Ohio Valley Coasters: Also, something I thought I noticed before but now is clearly apparent in this video are what looks to be new buildings being constructed down the service road form the red maintenance buildings. Could they possibly be relocating the current buildings or are they unrelated? I've never been one to ride the KI Giga train ever (even with the permit filled last year), but now with the permit and this land clearing I'm a believer. Looking at how long and narrow this land clearing is becoming, there's nothing short of a giga reasonable for it.

I doubt a company that just acquired several smaller properties is going to sell off their larger properties, especially so short-term after acquiring those properties. I don’t think the current ownership is foolish enough to make a financial decision like buying several small properties that could have been so risky as such. TLDR: I don’t believe it at all.

First, KNOTTS, KNOTTS, KNOTTS, KNOTTS! It's in your home state and I see you haven't been there; get to it! It happens to be one of my all time favorite parks and my second favorite CF park to CP. Then, in roughly this priority: Cedar Point Kings Island Kentucky Kingdom ($40, awesome rides, half-day commitment at most, and an hour from KI = no brainer) SFGAdv (El Toro ) Dollywood (SDC is a good alternative) Hershey Knoebels BGT BGW Kings Dominion Carowinds SFOG WDW (again)/USO [low on priority because of expense, but if you can afford it these should be at the top of your list] The CP/KI/KK trio and BGW/KD and Hershey/Knoebels dous are particularly legendary, but regardless, putting them together helps also make it more realistic. I tried to make my list very specific because otherwise I could list off every park with an RMC or one or two stellar coasters and that would be half the major parks you see thrown around on this site daily, defeating the purpose. I also excluded an "other considerations" list for the same reason, but by no means think anything wrong of any park I didn't list. I highly encourage you find your way out to the other parks I abstained from this list, but if you had only months to live and wanted to know exactly what parks to visit this is what I'd give you.

I always forget this park has Intimidator . Thanks for the write-up. Making me excited for my first trip this summer. Everyone says Fury is just that good - I interpret from your writing it lived up to all your expectations? What other giga have you ridden?

A friend here at school who interned with the park last summer confirmed to me it’s a water ride but said it’s not an Infinity Falls style ride as we are thinking ... now it has me really thinking about what is coming. Of course, he signed an NDA so that was as much as he could tell me, but he wasn’t able to deny it’s a water ride as parts of the through are already visible.

Please, somebody get I-305’s info! Downloaded. This app is very impressive. Well done!

Fluffy is an animatronic per the video the park released to the media:

I was also thinking about the Dinos Alive plot of land, except I was thinking it was already out until I checked the park map a minute ago and realized it's still there; however, before I scrapped my initial reply, I was thinking the Dinos Alive plot would be a much better fit than the Rapids plot for a new coaster (because again, at the time I was under the misconception the land was already empty). Still, between the prospects of the two plots of land, I'd much rather see something built on the Dinos Alive plot to balance out the park a little bit. Dinos Alive has been going extinct all around the chain and I only expect to see it go very soon from Carowinds. This is possibly already a common observation (again, I haven't been following as much as I used to) but Dino's Alive has run a six year life at all the parks where it has closed (2011-2017 CP, 2012-2018 the rest) and with VF/WoF/Carowinds all having been the last built in 2013 I could see the rest of them closing at the end of this year. I don't want to say it because I feel it's too much speculation, but I think I (maybe?) remember reading something about how Dinos Alive was supposedly only a six-year contract for Cedar Fair, but I really wouldn't know anymore if I had read that somewhere reliable or if I'm just imagining it. Anyone know, just out of curiosity? I'm a little disappointed Carowinds is removing their rapids ride as I'm a big fan of those rides, and initially was imaging there was enough space on that plot to build ride ala-Mystic TImbers over it, but realized this was unlikely after a look on Google Maps. I am at least excited to see what will come. Personally, I hope it's some sort of water attraction to help retain a balance of water rides in the park, especially one that can get so hot. As for if a new wooden coaster comes to Carowinds, I hope it's a GCI. GCI may not make enthusiasts' ideal rides, but I've never gotten off one and not thought it was a lot of fun. Their recent work Cedar Fair has been particularly exceptional, however; if you have not gotten out to ride new Ghostrider or Mystic Timbers you should. They both felt surprisingly out of control and a lot more fast/intense than any other GCI and might even be two of my favorite traditional woodies ever. I hear Gold Striker is very good too, but I have not made it out there yet. This is one of those rare cases where I'd even prefer a GCI to a ground-up RMC as I've always thought what makes Carowinds lineup feel incomplete is it's lack of a decent wooden coaster after Thunder Run left, especially in contrast to the other Cedar Fair parks (Canada's Wonderland is the same way; Cedar Point I make an exception). Considering the smaller parks got GCI's years ago, this bothers me. Carowinds still has that POS Hurler they can RMC in the future.

Oh wow, I spent so much time looking at Racer and thinking “did the track always look so dark?” that I didn’t even notice the land clearing.

I much prefer the reversed version ... not sorry at all. The view down the spike is worth the loss of the forwards-launch (which IMO isn’t even a loss at all given almost every other launch coaster launches forwards) ...

I have to fully agree with you on Toro. I’m glad I’m not alone. No RMC I’ve ridden has matched the absolute insanity of El Toro’s airtime. The only one that has come close was Storm Chaser. Granted, I’ve only been on four total.

Just wanted to add that I haven’t seen Spirit mentioned anywhere here, and I know for a fact they fly into KC (MCI). Just thought I’d say that for whatever it’s worth - they’re a low-cost airline as well. I’ve been seeing Memphis thrown around here too - as someone who lived in Memphis, I would avoiding flying in or out of there. We used to drive to STL to fly because it was usually cheaper. The problem is Memphis Airport is Fedex’s SuperHub and thus gets most the business it needs through them, so prices for passenger flights have always been higher (at least, this is how I always was explained it). They’re currently in the process of changing their passenger service from being a hub airport to a destination airport, so I don't know that has had any effect on prices lately - they started that just after I moved. Also, Memphis is AT LEAST a solid five or six hour drive from anywhere in Missouri except the southeast corner of the state where there aren’t any destination cities anyway. I know this with plenty of experience (matter of fact, I just got back Sunday from a trip down there). Add on a couple hours for anything west Columbia (which for you would be Kansas City). It would probably be a stretch to add it unless you’re flying into or out of there.

That color scheme really looks good and is especially exceptional with Goliath over it. I was wondering if it would clash with Goliath and I’ glad to see it doesn’t. Now that’s a good looking entrance!

St. Louis native here as well (well, sort of; used to be at least), looking forward to our trip to Carowinds in July.

I really like the improvements the park is making this year. Here's also to hope they bring back any more of the Beast's original features while they're at it

Except for me, that is literally half the thrill of this niche-type coaster. If I didn’t care to be scared shitless sliding towards the buckle of my seat hanging over a 200 ft drop, then I’d go ride any drop tower. These dive machines offer one thing specific that in particular makes them extra interesting. The rest of the thrill/fun comes from all the other aspects of the ride, but that insane first half of the thrill as I just mentioned is what makes it particularly noteworthy. Case in point: I wasn’t expecting much of ANYTHING out of Hangtime’s holding brake because of the height, angle, and floored train design. However, I was caught off-guard when my body slid way forward in my seat to where my legs where almost parallel in a standing-like fashion, where the seat back was behind me and at a depressed angle. This put my whole body right over the connection between the trains where there was no floor and my view was of nothing between me and the ground. It was such a good effect as to say I almost actually preferred it to B&M’s. It's in the same token as being stapled on a ride, really. No one is going to automatically call a ride bad if their butt can't leave the seat because they're stapled, but as I've encountered, most enthusiasts are going to prefer if can have some room to float. Matter of a fact, in another token, the ride experience with vest restraints is again comparable to being stapled for those who complain of the vest compressing during the ride. Look, I don't experience this problem myself, and so I hold ZERO bias about it, but I understand that for many this is a real issue just the same as how being stapled in some cases can just simply be no more than an uncomfortable experience above all else. I respect that the ride will be great with or without the vest restraints, and (especially for me as I don't have pain with vest restraints) it wouldn't change my decision to ride it someday should I ever have the chance, but it's not doing anything to catch my eye like the other dive machines without them. That is all - I think it simply has more potential by being the way dive machines have been for years - and I've never had a problem with headbanging on any of those.

I’m not convinced thats any less awkward except in the Romantic-branch languages (eg Spanish) where that kind of wording is conventional.

So yes, pretty much an inside-out banana roll. That sounds like a pretty wicked element! I didn’t think RMC could keep topping themselves.

So, is the 270* roll something like a banana roll, but the exits are 90* to each other instead of parallel? Am I getting that right?

At least it lives. So far I haven't found any RMC to be better than Toro and I would be distraught if something happened to Colossus before I got a chance to try it.

This is one of those rare occasions where for some [whatever] reason, I just really don’t care about this ride. I’m sure it’ll be great fun, but I really just can’t get excited about it. I’m also pretty tired of seeing vest restraints on dive coasters. I’m am enthusiast who actually prefers vest restraints on positive-g focused rides (no complaints about discomfort) but I feel that vest restraints take away from the thrill factor of the first drop - which is the highlight of these coasters, IMO. Thankfully, there is still a whole lot of developments at other parks for me to be excited about this year.

^If anything dampered my ability to enjoy SDC last March, it was the weather/foliage. It was pretty misfortunate as that was my first, much-awaited revisit to the park in eleven years and the whole atmosphere of the park in spring left me underwhelmed. I had to withhold myself from niavely rushing back there over spring break this yeart as I just couldn’t believe a park such as SDC could’ve once fallen below such high expectations. Going again over spring break wasn’t going to repair my tainted perception, I was just overly anxious to change them; I know with reasonable certainty that the park is more enjoyable in the summer/fall.

I for one am not going to be missing Aquaman at all. I always thought it was obnoxiously hideous. It's removal means another DC-ride out of a non-DC area - so good riddance! I always thought the west-side of SFOT was one of the best looking areas of any Six Flags park, while the other half of the park is certainly one of the worst. I would love if whatever replaces Aquaman would restore some contiguity to that area of the park, but because I know that wont happen, I hope whatever DC-themed ride comes is at least not hideous as Aquaman was.

WOW, that video is unreal. Most videos never do a ride justice, but this one perfectly did. The opening shot was jaw-dropping.