coneyislandchris

Quick question for those that might be in the know... Are any of the park's water rides open for the season yet? Thunder Creek Mountain, White Water Landing, whatever their river rapids ride is?

They must jet back and forth a lot, because they're always filming Gotham here in NYC. Have walked past production trailers and no-parking signs for location shoots several times, and one scene was filmed in the same location my wife and I had our wedding photography shoot. That being said, maybe if Morena Baccarin and Ben McKenzie were sitting next to us, I could actually talk my wife into getting on a coaster for once in her life.

Give it another ten minutes.

Agreed 100%. It's easy enough to hit Sky Rocket right at rope drop since it's next to the main entrance, and yet somehow usually gets overlooked at opening. If you do one quick lap on it and then book it over to Exterminator you should be set for the rest of the day.

Kosmo's Kurves -- my 2 year old daughter's second coaster.

Quick answer. Yes.

^ & ^^^ So you're talking big, that means you're doing the skycoaster next time, right Boldy?

And yet all I can think of is this.

This is absolute truth. That stretch of highway never fails to give me full-blown road rage and make me wish for flying car or transporter technology. A few weekends back, I was driving from BGW back home to NYC, and left the park at 2 PM with the anticipation of being home before 9 PM. I arrived closer to 11, and the majority of that extra time was spent in traffic jams on that stretch. If you're expecting a 3 hour drive from BGW to SFA, plan for 4, and don't be surprised if it turns into 5.

Guess it depends on whether or not the cars get stuck on their Media Day, right? :/ Here's hoping everything goes smoothly, because... DANG, that's the sort of experience I was hoping for from the one in New Jersey. Flipperdoodles for days! \o/

Doesn't Sky Rocket (and all its derivatives) have a 54" height requirement? That wouldn't really be all that kid-friendly at all. :/

^^^ Before Memorial Day is your best bet; you can then at least mitigate a bit of the sticker shock by investing in one of their 4-hour wristbands. It's good on most of their rides excluding Cyclone & Thunderbolt, and the usual upcharge style attractions like Slingshot etc. Last season they had an "extreme" wristband which for a slightly higher price gave you 5 rides in any combination on the big coasters + upcharges; this has been removed from all signage at the park and scrubbed from their website for this season, unfortunately.

Jcoaster, Genx24, really awesome meeting both you guys today! I still find it a little weird getting recognized out and about but thanks for striking up a convo. Always good to be able to put faces to screen names I've been on a brief working-from-home stint while my kiddo is switching schools until they get the school bus situation sorted out, and one of the nice things about being able to do that is that I'm only a few exits away down the Belt. So I ducked out for a slightly extended "lunch break" today, got to Surf Ave around 11:45, found parking on the street literally right in front of the main Luna Park gates, and hoofed it down a few blocks to grab some Nathan's for lunch. Yeah, it's a guilty pleasure. Two corn dogs and a regular fry later, I'm watching some test cycles of Thunderbolt run, and then the first few riders start taking that drop. Almost every train is being sent out with one or two passengers, so I walk over, pick up a ticket, and hop in the non-existent line. Sure enough, I end up with a train all to myself, front row, dead center. I agree with the rest of the comments above that this ride gets a lot of undue hate. The only thing I'm not really a fan of are the shoulder "seatbelt strap" restraints, they're unnecessary and end up slapping my shoulders on all the airtime moments. But other than that? Fantastic ride with a ton of fun elements. I only wish it was on an unlimited wristband so I could ride it over and over again. Hit the boardwalk after and passed by the Endeavor. It called to me. I've really enjoyed this model as a fun counterpart to the classic Enterprise, and took another quick solo ride, arms splayed to the sides. If you haven't tried this yet I definitely recommend doing so. After this I made my way to the Scream Zone to check out what was running over there. Oh noooo, Soarin Eagle was down for maintenance. Whatever shall I do? Steeplechase appeared to be up and running, so I hopped onto a mostly-full train with an opening in the second-to-last row that was ready to go. Restraints locked and checked. Aaaaand... fizzle. Restraints unlocked. Re-locked. Re-checked. Aaand... re-fizzle. At this point, half the train gets off and leaves impatiently. The folks in the last row move up to the front row. I hop back one row. They try a third time, now with only three people on the train... and again a fizzle. The ride ops call it in at this point and the three of us are offered refunds, and amazingly they're processed promptly right there at the ride's entrance. Nice one. I cut my way through Deno's (where the old scrambler has since been replaced with some Triotech simulator themed around zombies) and hit the main section of Luna Park for a few more quick flat rides that toss me upside down; Air Race and Luna 360 both deliver in the disorienting hang time department. 360 and these other mini discovery rides are so underrated. But a quick glance at the time on my phone, rapidly approaching 1, shows that it's time to revisit the legend for my first ride of the season (and hopefully not the last -- definitely want to make a habit of getting over here more frequently this year). I cut through the side streets and run through the queue to get to the Cyclone train still idling in the station... and wake up the ticket-taker from a poorly timed daydream! Tapped him on the shoulder as he was gazing off into the distance. "OH! You scared me!" "Good, guess I'm doing my job then!" It is still running in great shape this season, and the recent paint job has held up really well over the off-season. Just wish I could've taken last row instead of being pushed up towards the front. I seriously doubt me being in the last row would've caused it to valley. Oh well. Next time! As I was heading towards the exits, the guy in front of me turns around and says... "Hey... Theme Park Review?!" I'm pretty sure I'm not getting mistaken for Robb >_> but sure enough it's Jcoaster and Genx24 who recognized me off of some of the pics I've posted on here over the years. We chat pleasantly for a few minutes on the sidewalk before I realize that my street parking is about to expire; then it's across the street to grab the car and drive east along the Belt once more. An all-too-brief diversion, but on such a beautiful day as today, one that was totally welcome and needed.

I literally LOLed out loud. Or LLOLOL. (Damn you, Boldikus.)

Funny -- that's basically what I did with your Superman up at SFDK the last time I was there. Having the whole train to yourself on a dead day at the park, and just basically signaling to the ride ops "let's go again" and having them comply? Amazing stuff. I may have to try this the next time I'm at SFMM though!

Great to hear! Can't wait to get the first rides of the season in. My wife's plans for tomorrow may possibly be falling through. If that ends up being the case I'm lobbying hardcore to move up the GA run to tomorrow since we'll be "free". Fingers crossed.

No. And I wish I learned that lesson instead of being doomed to repeat my mistakes every time I visit a new park.

Are there still discounts for platinum passholders to Hotel Breakers? Never stayed there yet, but contemplating it for this year's end-of-summer road trip.

When I was there during the second weekend of September, they were running two car operations, but weren't doing the single rider line.

Saturday is the move. Forecast calls for morning rain and then overcast all day, meanwhile Sunday looks gorgeous, will likely be more crowded I'm thinking. Thinking any casual visitors thinking of going Saturday will postpone til Sunday? Hopefully. LOL Was hoping I'd be in on this on Saturday, unfortunately looks like my wife had arranged some other plans for that day. Currently trying to get me and the kiddo back down there on Sunday instead, but getting some pushback on that as well. He needs more Toro laps, and he's been trying to steel himself up for finally getting on Joker. Somehow my wife thinks laundry is more important than that.

So, yeah. When I wrote this report, I was doing it on my work computer during my lunch break, and I hadn't synced up all my photos yet. I finally bit the bullet and installed Google Photos so I can have them synced to the cloud and free up some space on my phone, and now they're ready to go. I haven't been taking as many lately, mainly because I want to spend as much time riding as I possibly can (especially at parks like this where I don't know the next time I'll be back). That being said, here's some of what I got during that day. Greeted with this skyline waiting for the main gate to the parking lot to open. Seeing these massive coasters tower over the highway on the drive down is completely awe-inspiring. OMG, that lift hill. OMG OMG, that DROP! Whose bright idea was it to put the smoking section directly next to this highly flammable pile of matchsticks and kindling? Disposable cup plan + freestyle machine with lemon-lime seltzer + 2 minute walk from Fury's exit = one happy and hydrated Chris. What can I say? I'm a sucker for Arrow corkscrews, especially when they interact with the midway like this. Obligatory vintage car shot. <3 Obligatory vintage rusty tractor shot. Flying Cobras may be the only coaster I've ever seen where you get to gaze lovingly at a picture of a doggo throughout your ride. The fact that the state border runs directly through the middle of the park is pretty awesome IMO, though it raises some questions. Are they licensed in both states or do they only pay taxes in one? Seems like a logistics nightmare. Oh yeah I forgot to talk about the family invert. I tried this one at Kings Island and quite enjoyed it. The line moved slow as molasses, though, especially when they were sending out many trains with empty seats or even rows. This used to be Top Gun, right? Between this jet fighter and the "TG" letters still on the outside of the building, they haven't really made much of an attempt to disguise it. Looks are about the only thing this coaster has going for it. b ( ͡ಸ ‿ ಸ ) More coasters need awesome lighting packages like this! Even looks great from far away, with the lift hill, ride sign, and station house. Really impressive! My phone is not fast enough to capture the train mid-motion at the end of the night; all I got was this blur. Poor Intimidator in the background looking dwarfed by the turnaround.

Was at the park this past Saturday for my first ever visit. I have to say, I really enjoyed my entire day there! A very well kept park that's easy to get around. First, Fury. Jesus. What can I say here that hasn't been said already? Absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. I did six laps on it as soon as it opened, then spent the next several hours getting everything else in before coming back around 6 PM and just doing lap after lap. Ended up with 20 rides, and although there isn't a bad seat on the train, I have to say the front row experience is like nothing else for me. Towards the end of the evening the grouper was having a hard time keeping up with the pace they were sending trains out, and I noticed many trains going out literally half-full. Then a rotation happened and they got right back up to speed. This became my new #1 favorite coaster in very short order. As much as I still love 305, after several laps that one begins to hurt -- this is just eminently rerideable. I felt like I could have spent the entire day on it. With regards to Intimidator, I was worried about it being a lesser experience since I'm used to 305, but you know what? Since I apparently got lucky with the lack of trims, this ride became an unbelievable airtime monster. I frequently found myself counting "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand" every time I ended up out of my seat. This was a ridiculously fun B&M hyper for me. I hope it manages to stay like this for the rest of the season for all of you, because in it's current state, I'd gladly trade Nitro for this one back home. Other quick thoughts and first impressions... Carolina Cyclone was fun, I love the old Arrows, but man, those restraints need some love given to them. Filthy and falling apart. Carolina Goldrusher had a really unique layout for a mine train -- there ended up being way more mine portion than I expected. Pretty fun! I went in with the expectation of hating Hurler due to the one at KD being one of my least favorites, but for some reason, this one didn't beat me up like KD's has in the past. It actually ended up being quite enjoyable. (Not enough to ride more than once, though.) Riding Nighthawk has cemented my opinion that Vekoma flyers are literal torture machines. Afterburn was pretty great for an invert, very forceful, but it ended up being my second favorite on the trip since I followed up with a visit to Busch Gardens the day after, and Alpengeist is unbeatable IMO. Flying Cobras went down as soon as I boarded due to a passenger getting stuck in the restraints. They managed to get it taken care of within 10 minutes and by this point most of the people that were on the train had already left, and the line had thinned out considerably. Glad to see the vest style restraints making their way to more boomerangs, definitely prefer these over the usual headbashing variety. Their drop tower was pretty forgettable. *shrug* Windseeker operations were mega slow. But hey, at least it was running. Scream Weaver was interesting -- I hadn't been on this variety of Enterprise before. Some definite dizziness out of this, probably due to the smaller overall radius and shorter cars. Vortex... ouch. It was down for a good portion of the day, and I was waiting for it to open up to get the credit. Once it opened, and I got it, I immediately regretted it. There's got to be a better way for standup coasters. After riding this one, Green Lantern at SFGAdv, and Riddler's Revenge at SFMM, I think the design of them is just inherently flawed. I can't enjoy them in the slightest, and this one was probably the worst of the batch. Food options; Chickie's & Pete's was awesome. Papa Luigi's was disgusting. I made liberal use of the Coke Freestyle machines near Fury with the disposable cup plan since they were pretty much the only place in the park to stock lemon-lime seltzer. Met a lot of people throughout the day as I frequently got grouped with others as a single rider, and the Carowinds crowds were some of the friendliest folks I've ever met in my park travels. I wish some of that southern politeness would make its way up north more frequently. I don't know when I'll get a chance to come back here, it ended up being a hell of a drive to and from NYC spread across three days, but I definitely hope to be back someday, probably when the big kid gets up to 54" so he can experience Fury for himself. But I definitely hope to be back!

I'm less surprised at what isn't running and more surprised at the fact that they will be running Thunderbolt. Doesn't that typically require a ton of off-season work?

Unfortunately I don't have the time to put in a full trip report, but let me just say quickly that I forgot how utterly charming BGW is as a park. Spent about five hours there on Sunday, wish I could have stayed the entire day but had to make a long 8 hour drive back up to NYC. That being said, after showing my wife several photos of the architecture, landscaping, and theming taken all throughout the park, she's now asking for Williamsburg to be our summer vacation this year. I have no choice but to oblige. Also, Alpengeist is amazing, especially in the front. Instajump to the top of my favorite inverts!