Danrarbc

It is sitting there with no boats on the ride site. No signs of anything else on site right now either. It'll be interesting to watch. If they are refurbing it the work on the pool and structure will be very visible. That's interesting. I asked because here at SFOT they are doing a lot of work on Aquaman Splashdown right now. Apparently dismantling the ride, leading to speculation of it's possible removal. Anyway, we'll know soon enough if these rides are being either refurbed or removed entirely. What are the odds they're being heavily rehabbed in the same year? Ours being 4 years newer. I do know a safety bulletin was issued for a cracking issue that occurs on a part that hold the wheels. Maybe Six Flags has found cracks? Replacing those isn't a year long endeavor but I suppose the park could do some more work. How long has it run with zero water in the top?

It has a reputation for being a maintenance nightmare does it not? I can't see the park wanting to sign on for that. Intamin itself hasn't exactly enjoyed the best reputation in the US recently. Then again Xcalibur didn't have the best reputation in its former home.

It is sitting there with no boats on the ride site. No signs of anything else on site right now either. It'll be interesting to watch. If they are refurbing it the work on the pool and structure will be very visible.

I doubt they'd lie about extended rehab to cover up the size of a future project. Especially after saying the same thing about Xcalibur and it being true.

Was there again today. Zero flag day. Guest relations has moved and membrship sales is being moved. Tidal Wave won't open this season.

I don't think they were reprofiled just retracking.

Skyscreamer and every water ride was closed. The app had been showing Superman was open but I didn't notice a ride cycle running - the app also showed Tsunami Soaker was open, it obviously wasn't it usually opens near Memorial Day. Every coaster was running as was Justice League - I'm not sure how many were on single train ops. They did good IMO.

Mini Opening Day report. Medium images load in forum for speed. Click for full size. Hello there. We meet again. Let's get right to the big question. What does the Highland Fling site look like? The concrete is barely broken up and the hydraulic pump, at least I'm guessing that is what it is, is still somewhat intact. On to ride reports. The park is telling the GP Xcalibur will be open so that's something. No apparent work done at ground level. Yet. The entire fence behind Colossus has been replaced and the handicap entrance gate permanently removed. The VR cabinet has been completely removed from Ninja. General Boss improvements. Yellow top rails at the gates. The bottom of every big drop retracked and it is running well. Only one train has been green lit but the MCBR seems to slow you down less so far. Mine Train is also on one train ops. Major work on Log Flume this year. She'll be around for years to come. Thunder River will flow soon. The Justice League ride building is getting much needed TLC. Batman looking good as always. The stage out front seems to be a slightly different shape than usual. Supergirl is sitting in between Old Glory and The Boss not-helix. Carousel continues to need work but it runs well. Everything except the towers were open in Illinois. Nice to see you Tommy. On to some other stuff I noticed. Some repairs in front of The Palace. Curbs and walls everywhere seem to have been painted this off-season to increase visibility. A new game. Hang from a bar for 90 seconds to win the choice prize. I didn't get a photo of the axe throwing game. It wasn't staffed. On top of the Chop Six makeover Johnny Rockets is also getting work done. IIRC this game was added for HITP and is still here. Primo's seating has been expanded into arcade space. Entirely new Flash Pass units this year. Macho Nacho gets new air doors. And a final park-wide change. Every POS system has been replaced. They are now Raspberry Pi's with a tablet attached for a user-facing price display. No mounts for the tablets yet it appears. Well that's it for the report. The last observation is the concrete at the entrance is looking rough and the brickwork around the fountain. Also the light strands appear to have been taken down on these buildings in 1904 - I didn't think to look for others this visit. Maybe they're being replaced for 2020.

The inversion near stall elements on Goliath probably make cold operations difficult. I agree I'd love to see if it could run.

Yes Six Flags is really good when it comes to cold weather ride ops. Kings Island has three coasters open. Only two are full size. And one of those is indoors. Herschend does a little bit better job down in Silver Dollar City and Dollywood, but they still appear to follow the manufacturer's recommended minimum operating temperatures. Only Six Flags appears to actually completely ignore that and test rides at various temperatures - only they appear to actually strive to figure out what the true minimum temperature is for any given layout. Whatever complaints I may have about individual Parks, or individual park administration staff members, or the corporation itself, cold weather operations isn't a weak spot. I suppose the closest comparison is Disney. They do appear to attempt to operate the outdoor coasters in Paris as long as they possibly can.

What is irrational about wanting 2018 to be better than 2017?

I'm not sure I'm going back to our Park. I'll have to keep the membership for another eight months or so because the contract, but I'm probably only using it to go to over Georgia and Great America. If I'm taking in a holiday event in 2019 it'll probably be winterfest at Kings island. 2018 was such a significant drop for this park. I used to use my season pass 30-40 times every year minimum. I don't even think I used it 15 times this year counting two weekends at Great America. I went to Holiday in the Park 11th times year one, and 8 last year. I don't even want to return for my second visit this year. The longer I sit and think on how bad that HITP opening weekend was the more I'm confident I don't want to support where this place is going. It's a shame because I saw good improvement over the previous 3 seasons.

Mine had a video of a Dive coaster. Which I’d like to see vs a raptor A Dive probably runs anywhere from 2 to 3 times the price of a Raptor. This isn't an either/or thing.

They are $15 and includes the picture. thanks RKO! A bit pricey with three kids, but we will probably do it. Mike You can put a second kid on a camel for either $5 or $10 more. But not all three.

It seems like the surveys going out for every park include a randomized coaster option. A Raptor clone is another one that's been seen. So as noted above this means almost nothing in and of itself (other than the fact that Six Flags is evaluating what people think about these coaster types in general).

What about Joker? That line can get nasty. The park shouldn't make that mistake again.

I don't know how I feel about a Raptor at GAm. Being compact helps matters but the truth is the capacity of the current models with single-wide trains seems like it'd be way too low for a park that gets the attendance numbers that GAm does. If RMC could make a rail and train that slotted in between T-Rex and Raptor that would be a good option.

Multiple rides weren't ready for opening day. One ride had a mid season upgrade planned instead of off-season upgrades. Fright Fest's haunted houses were no better than the previous season if not downgrades. Food service is actually worse including the removal of free dining pass options (and the Fresh Cafe barely opened all year). Holiday in the Park was ready to go on opening weekend last year - it wasn't this year, in fact fewer lights are active than opening weekend for the first HITP. Everything beyond ride operations has been noticeably worse than last season. I'm not expecting Disney World here - I'm expecting SFSL to be at least as good as the previous year. And it isn't.

I'd much rather we kick La Ronde's president to the curb. I'd say demote him to the Macho Nacho counter but I'm not sure he'd handle that.

I have wondered why the park doesn't dress up the Mine Train helixes anymore. I remember Fright Fest props being there - wouldn't take much & some HITP lighting would be nice.

That's an awesome use of the drop tower! Here in SFSL ours is sitting with just a white floodlight shining on it. Jealous.

I don't want to sound like a broken record. But La Ronde has a horrible reputation in the chain for bad park operations. Our new president is from there and there have been glaring issues all year. I don't exactly want to blame him, but this quite a collection to be a coincidence...

SFSL has had certain items that were previously included on the dinning pass as upcharges all season. It's not ideal. Meanwhile they don't do an upcharge that I really enjoyed at Great America ($1 per patty extra on burgers). Here's a highly abbreviated report since I didn't get to the back of the park. In addition to the lighting being incomplete in DC Comics & the Moon-Log Flume area of 1904 World's Fair it was also very incomplete in Studio Backlot - although that train bridge is decorated, but not yet fully lit. All of the Christmas trees are in place but some appear to still need lit and the nativity by Thunder River isn't done. The large gels aren't in place to color the floodlights on the Colossus legs. All of this stuff was done for last year's opening weekend. I don't think I saw the character on stilts last year. Also we checked out the petting zoo and camel rides - not great but hey they're there. $5 to feed the animals. $15 for a camel ride and pic IIRC. They also turned off the Freeze tower floodlights last year - not sure if I prefer it lit or unlit for the event.

Pretty disappointed so far. None of the lighting near Moon cars and American Thunder is active. Entire strands don't work at the entrance. And I've not been anywhere else yet. Neither train bridge on that side of the park is decorated whatsoever.

The entirety of Hurricane Harbor is in the list. Screaming Eagle and The Boss are in the list. Fireball, Boomerang, Skyscreamer, Thunder River, Tidal Wave and Log Flume are in the list. The only ride missing from the list of rides in the app is Xcalibur.