DILinator

I think you mean Madden curse. That kind of dates you! (And by extension, coasterbill and I!) Before there was a Madden Curse, there was the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse!

Anaconda? Viper? Rolling down hill in a shopping cart and getting hit by an Escalade? Yeah, that's pretty much the Vortex experience in a nutshell, right there!

I wanted to respond to this, too, and say that while my experience is limited to Friday nights at KI Haunt, I've now gone 4 years running during this time, and I have experienced pretty manageable crowds every time I've gone. However, I've tried to go earlier, rather than later, and others have recommended that to me as well, saying it gets busier the closer you get to Halloween. So, I'd recommend getting out there the first Friday in October, if you're able to. Hopefully that helps!

^Wow! That kind of came out of nowhere! Interesting... Definitely opens up a HUGE plot of land for future expansion! I feel like they must have wanted to wait on its removal until they had another large coaster on the way in to "soften the blow" to those who may be frustrated at Vortex's removal. That certainly isn't me! I feel like it's been my prime target for removal for years, even more than Firehawk, so I'm not sad, per se, to see it go. However, it IS a classic coaster, and it was beautiful to look at, so in some respects, even an avowed "hater" of the ride like me will miss it somewhat. Let the speculation begin on what will replace it, even though we have a brand new Giga that's not even built yet!

Yeah, so that's a heck no for me then! I'll just stick to Friday nights!

I've been going during that time pretty much exclusively for over 15 years, and honestly, I've never found the staffing, or lack of food and drink stands to be an issue. Not saying they don't have more staff other times, or more stands open, just that what's open during this particular time, is more than sufficient to have a great day at the park, buoyed by short to non-existent waits on almost everything. On the other hand, something that I'm not as familiar with is Halloweekend Sundays at CP. In spite of what I said earlier about avoiding this time like the plague, my folks expressed an interest in getting Gold Passes and going this year (surprise, surprise), so there's a chance I will end up doing so. However, I refuse to go on Saturdays, and I know there are limited operations Fridays. So, what are crowds like typically on Sundays during the Halloween season? Not talking about Haunts, as that's not something we go for. Thanks!

Sooo... Haunt Saturdays, and KI all day Saturdays during October... It's probably crazy busy, right? I've only ever gone on Friday nights for Haunt, and haven't found the crowds too bad. But I imagine Saturdays are a whole different beast! What should I expect? (not doing Fast Lane+)

I just wanted to bring these questions up again, as I think they may have gotten lost in the rest of my lengthy post, especially since the weather discussion gained the most traction. Thanks again in advance! Also, the invite to join us there on either Saturday or Sunday, and get in free if you don't have a SF Pass or Membership already, is still open!

^Did you find that the park was not very crowded due to the rain? Or was it still pretty busy? I know the year X-Flight was new, I went on an overcast day, that did have a downpour of rain, and in spite of being the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, it wasn't very crowded.

^Yes, I noticed that hotels were definitely cheap in Branson! I actually already booked one for next year (with free cancellation and reserve now, pay later), just in case I decide to make the trip down. I do love Dollywood, and SDC has been a bucket list park for a while now! I just have a LOT of parks I'm trying to hit next year, and not all of them will make the cut when the final accounting has been made, and the budget has been set. But SDC definitely has a good shot!

Locally here in Mid-Michigan, people will definitely make the 3 hour trip to CP for a new, hyped attraction, and if MIA ever DID add another big attraction, you'd better believe they'd flock there en-masse! (Even all the GP I've ever talked with in the area are annoyed with the lack of additions at the park, so anybody saying otherwise is feeding you a company line.) Dive Coasters in particular draw immense interest from non-enthusiasts, and that first year of Valravn was huge as far as attracting local interest. Honestly, I think SV looking a lot like a wooden coaster probably hurt its hype in the GP's eyes, and could explain why it didn't draw as well as we may have expected. Nobody I talked to about it had any context for knowing what an "RMC" was, and the response I got from people (again, all non-enthusiasts, because I don't have many local enthusiast friends) was noticeably more subdued than when I was showing them Valravn a couple of years before. (Heck, all this year I had random people sharing pictures and POVs of Yukon Striker on my Facebook because they know I love coasters, and that one got their attention!) So that's how I've found the non-enthusiast locals to be about Cedar Point. But ask about Six Flags Great America, or Kings Island, and the number of people in this area who have been to (or even heard of) either park, is WAY lower. It's always surprising to me, just how few people have made the trip to either park, and they're only an hour, to an hour and a half farther away. So, I have to agree with the others who have suggested that GP, and non-enthusiasts aren't likely to travel more than a few hours for an amusement park, and will likely only visit a non local park if there happens to be one nearby to where they are vacationing for some other reason.

I've always compared The Voyage, especially on the return run, to riding a bull! SV has those intense hills at the end, but I still don't think they're as intense as that section of The Voyage! If you're wanting short waits, and even wouldn't mind saving some money, and not getting FL+, I recommend coming to CP in May, mid-week, and the park is a whole different animal than the crowded one so many people describe. I've been going then almost exclusively for well over a decade now, and it's the only time to go to CP if you can go then! Gold Passes or not, most people will still not come while school is in session, so it should still be a great time to go next year! If you do come up during that time, you'll have to let me know, and we'll have to see about coordinating times at the park!

So, I planned our (my kids and I) big trip to SFGAm to activate our SF Memberships for this weekend, based on the fantastic weather forecast a week ago, and boy, did that ever change! It's now looking like wall to wall rain and thunderstorms Friday night when we'd be going, and the more rain in the evening Saturday with more potential thunderstorms, as well as more rain Sunday. So basically, all three days we're planning on being there, it's supposed to be pretty wet. Hopefully the weather changes before the actual weekend arrives, but if not, at least this should keep crowds a little lower than they normally are! Gotta' look for the silver lining, right? Assuming the weather cooperates, and we're able to get some good time at the park, I'm definitely looking forward to our time there, as it's been a few years for me and my oldest, and my younger two kids have never been! One thing I was wondering, as I prepare for the trip, is how forgiving are the various coasters' restraints for guests with a little extra weight to them? I know I couldn't get on Wicked Twister last year, and I've gotten bigger since then, so I'm sure Vertical Velocity is out. But are there any other coasters I should be aware of being tight fits? Maxx Force, for instance? Another question I had was regarding the Skip the Line Passes that we are getting with our Memberships since we got them during the Flash Sale. How do they work, and where do you pick them up? Do you actually skip the entire line, or do you just go through the Flash Pass queue? Are there certain coasters that you're not allowed to use them on? Thanks for any info on this, as it's something I'm curious about, and hoping we can use to skip a long line on either Maxx Force (if they allow it), or Goliath! One last thing... I know most of the people reading this probably have SF Passes or Memberships, but if anybody from here would be interested in going to SFGAm free of charge, we will have 4 Golden Tickets for FREE entry, thanks again to signing up during the Flash Sale, and I was not able to find anybody to use them from my social circle. So if you don't have a Pass already, and would be interested in meeting up with us at the beginning of the day Saturday (or Sunday), and getting in Free, just post below, or PM me, and we can work out the details! I'd hate to have these go to waste, but I don't envision coming to GAm again this year, after this weekend. Plus, it's always fun for us to meet up with other fellow enthusiasts, or just people who enjoy riding coasters!

I'm planning to most likely go to Missouri again next year, to take my kids to St. Louis, and do stuff like the Arch, City Museum, and Six Flags. I'm not sold on going to either WoF or SDC, due to large amount of extra miles and time that entails, but my kids have never been to either, and I haven't been to WoF since Orient Express was still there. So it's been a while! I know that SDC is a "better park" than WoF, but as CF Passholders, the expense is obviously a lot greater. I definitely want to go to SDC at some point before long, and if not next year, 2021 should be the latest!

I think they're all uncomfortable. I actually hate Legend. Like hate. Raven jack hammered the shit out of me on my last two visits. I haven't ridden Legend since it got re-tracked, but I sure did dislike it before. Not sure if I'd go to the point of hate, but not far off. I also thought Raven was overrated, and a bit rougher than I expected. However, I absolutely love The Voyage, and consider it my favorite Wooden coaster at the moment! I know it's not "smooth", but at least on all of my rides on it (admittedly taken earlier in the season), I've found the roughness to be very tolerable, and the ride delivered to be wild, crazy, and intense in all the right ways!

^That's good to hear! I'm really looking forward to going next year, and I haven't told my kids all about it, so I can't wait to see their response when they see what the place is like!

Just discovered this thread, and am hoping that 8 months later, things haven't been changed too much here at this very fun sounding, and unique attraction! Any reports from people who've been this year since the ownership change? Is it much different? I'm finally making it out to St. Louis and Missouri with my kids next year, and was excited to take them here! Hopefully it hasn't lost too much of what made it great before!

Awesome TR, RAWKIN! Definitely brings back good memories of... Well, the last three years of being there with you! It certainly seems like KI has really upped the ante this year as far as scares, and atmosphere, and considering it was already impressive, I can only imagine how much more impressive it must be in person! I'm still not sure if I'll be stretching my streak of attending my favorite Haunt to 5 years in a row this year, but I'd definitely love to make it work somehow! If I do, hopefully I'll see you there again! Thanks for the hard work of putting this together and sharing it with us! I know how much of an effort they can be! (As I still stall and delay in finishing my CW TR after two weeks... )

All of the recent reports in this thread only reaffirm to me why, in spite of CP being my favorite park in the world, and only a few hours away, it's officially dead to me during the Halloween season! I haven't been since 2015, and that was Friday. I made the mistake many years before that of going on a Saturday, and I swore off ever doing that tragic blunder again. And that was before the days of Gold Passes! I can't even imagine how ungodly the crowds are now, nor do I want to. Shiver I'm completely with you on this! I too feel like SV is the epitome of an aggressive, but graceful ride experience, and I can actually ride it over and over! Sure, I'll have some thigh bruises from the last bunny hops, but they'll be well worth it! I don't "get" the talk of it being rough, or feeling out of control, but hey, to each their own.

I scanned my Platinum Pass voucher at the Parking Booth at Canada's Wonderland, and it was good for letting me in free. I'm pretty sure CP is the same way.

I posted this in the "Last New Coaster You've Ridden" thread, and will probably post it again as part of the photos in Part 2 of my CW TR, but I thought it was fitting for here! I really like this one, as it's currently my phone wallpaper, and FB Profile Picture! Yukon Striker at sunset, two Sundays ago! Also from that trip (the night before, actually), this one isn't nearly as pretty, yet there is just something I find cool about the way the light is reflecting off of the hills of Leviathan, while the sun sets off camera, casting its glow into the overcast sky!

What is SFGAm's rain and thunderstorm policy like? I am thinking of going this weekend, but there are "strong thunderstorms" in the forecast for Saturday late afternoon and evening. I know coasters won't run in thunderstorms if there's lightning present, but how are they about shutting things down in the rain? Also, do they ever just close the park early due to weather? Thanks again for any input!

Thanks to all for the info and advice about when the best times to visit SFGAm this Fall are, and what to expect in terms of crowds! One thing I haven't seen anybody mention yet are the Member Appreciation Days, and what to expect from them, if you've been to one. Or are they something new, only in the Fall? I'm just curious, because I'm now leaning towards going to SFGAm the 1st and 2nd of November, in hopes crowds are better. Of course, that IS the last weekend of Fright Fest, and the actual Halloween weekend, so maybe that's a bad idea! At any rate, that Sunday the 3rd is a Member Appreciation Day, and if the ERT is Maxx Force, like it is during the upcoming September Member Appreciation, it would certainly help in making that weekend worth going. At any rate, anybody with insight into any of this, thank for the input!

It will likely be Six Flags Great America in early October. But there's a chance that I postpone that trip until early November, and there's also a chance I make a run to East Pennsylvania in mid-October. If that ends up happening, my next park will likely be Dorney, with Knoebels following behind it!

It's funny, I actually think Magnum is generally overrated in enthusiast circles, and the GP have a lot more appropriate (in my opinion) evaluation of it: ie. most I've been to CP with can take it or leave it, at least compared to many of the other coasters CP has to offer. I appreciate Magnum's significance in the coaster world, and lived through its anticipation and arrival. Heck, I had dreams about it before it even opened, dreams that ended up being eerily accurate, in spite of having no actual knowledge of what the station, trains, or lift hill looked like at the time! But I do not think time has been been as kind to is as some apparently do, and in spite of any "tricks", or specific rows, it's still hit or miss as to whether I enjoy it when I ride it these days. Sometimes I do, sometimes I get off and wonder why I just went through that. It's a strangely inconsistent coaster. I do agree that Wicked Twister is often underrated, and overlooked! I wish I could ride it currently, but hopefully by next year I'll be slimmed down enough to get on it again! Having said all that, here's my rankings currently. 1. Steel Vengeance 2. Maverick 3. Millennium Force 4. GateKeeper 5. Valravn 6. Wicked Twister 7. Blue Streak 8. Raptor 9. Top Thrill Dragster 10. Magnum XL-200 11. Gemini 12. Rougarou 13. Iron Dragon 14. Cedar Creek Mine Ride 15. Woodstock's Express 16. Corkscrew 17. Wilderness Run FWIW, if we're counting Pipe Scream as a coaster, like CP does, I'd place it 13th, in-between Rougarou and Iron Dragon.