Dan the Coaster Man

I am hyped for this project! I have been growing impatient for another update...

You will still be able to get the physical band. I would highly recommend using your phone though, unless your phone battery wont last all day. The flash pass line is brutal to wait for the physical band. The park has bottle fillers, but I cant say if they are currently on or off. Normal water fountains are on. Girodano's is the tourist classic for Chicago deep dish. I prefer Lou Malnati's, which is also nearby. I dont know the hours on the top of my head. I like front left seat the best. I only really do the left side. You can ride Whizzer by yourself, and it is insane how much room you have with only the seatbelt! I recommend Terror Twister II in the night for FF. Not a coaster, but its one of my favorite experiences. Other night rides would be Goliath, AE, Whizzer. Not many bad night rides but nothing like Kings Island where they are a must. _________________________________________ I went to the park this past Saturday. Not slammed like most Saturday's during FF! I was able to get on 7 rides, two meals and a snack in 6 hours. Not bad, especially considering I waited in Maxx Force's line only to be told I couldn't ride because of my arm cast. Speaking of food, I thought this was the best FF food service I had ever seen at the park. No line at strutters for lunch, no line for ice cream for snack, and spent ~30 mins at Chop 6 for dinner. Terror Twister II was slightly disappointing, music seemed really low compared to past years. Maybe because I did not ride at night?

Orient Express at Grady's Family Fun Park a little over a month ago.

I don't think this is the case. When I toured the factory it seemed like they had a strong desire to make their own trains and they just didn't have the capability to do so for those first projects.

^ Agreed. Not only that, but is popular and caters to the family audience (where the money is)

Not true! You will pass some Waffle Houses on the way! I was excited to visit for FF but I broke my wrist and no casts allowed on Batman or Mr. Freeze, so bummed about that. I've spent 6 days at SFStL and only have two rides on Freeze to show for it. I am not sure if I can add to that upsetting statistic haha

X2 is my "X" #1 coaster . It was my #1 from 2014 (when I rode it the first time) until a month ago (when I rode it for the second time). I think it still has a spot in my top 25 but it wasn't the greatest experience ever, like the one I had in 2014.

Propaganda - Muse

First time I've been back on this thread since my last post. I was happy to see some people take new initiatives, hope yall are doing well and chipping away still! I would like to hear how its going All of my hard work to lose 100 pounds was awarded immensely this summer. I visited Kennywood (2 days), Waldameer, Kings Island (5 days), Hershey (2 days), and Kentucky Kingdom, all while interning at Cedar Point! I also went to a FEC, SFMM, Belmont Park, DCA, Knott's (2 days), and Carowinds (2 days). 102 credits (68 new), 50 days riding at least one coaster, and 430 cumulative rides! I had the summer of my life and it felt so rewarding after EVERYTHING I have gone through! Unfortunately I did not have access to a kitchen while living at Cedar Point. So I put on some weight. And then, to continue the theme in my life that something must always happen, I broke my scaphoid on my first weekend back from this summer. In the short term, I could not cook for a couple weeks after that. So I still have not exactly gotten back to my healthy eating, and I've been hovering around 240 lbs. To make it worse, I still have at least two more months in a cast. Not only does that mean a lot less coasters, but it means I can not do any exercise beyond walking (because cast cant get wet/sweaty). With that said, I have been walking daily. In fact, despite breaking my wrist and driving/flying to all the parks above, I have exercised at least 45 mins and burned at least 750 active calories for 180 STRAIGHT DAYS and counting. That's right, no off days! Since April 1st! October 1st I am going to hit the reset button, mostly pertaining to my eating. But with my injury, I have to make some adjustments to my goals to work towards. I am still finalizing my revised goals, so I will update on what I decide!

Cool pics! The outdoor Seattle parks look awesome!

Let Me Blow Ya Mind - Eve ft Gwen Stefani

A rant somewhat coaster related... I broke my wrist and doctor said no coasters at my diagnosis. My first follow up I got him to allow me to ride coasters. Went to SFGAm and turns out you can't ride Maxx, Goliath, Raging Bull, Batman, Superman, X-Flight with a cast. Those are just notable ones, there are more. So dumb! I don't see how I cant ride X-Flight if I rode Joker. Both restraints and riding positions are extremely similar, yet out of the two, Joker is the one I would think would be more of the issue due to the fact its trying to eject me into oblivion while X-Flight gracefully goes about.

Any update on Tatsu? Hoping to ride it Aug 13. Also, is the flash pass good at SFMM? I’ll be traveling from Chicago and only have a single day there, and haven’t visited since 2014, so I am sure I will buy one but not sure what to expect.

Gatekeeper is OPEN!

I was at the park Monday and Tuesday. I saw them cycling consistently for a few hours on Monday, and I heard from some people I met that it’s something with the lift.

Do lines close at park close or beforehand? Here for my first ever visit today and looking to maximize rides.

Correct. From my understanding you only get things like bring a friend free or discounted tickets for your "home park". But parking is chain wide and merchandise discounts are chain wide. This is for the season pass though, I don't touch the memberships. I would assume the same applies if not more.

Sit Next to Me Foster The People

Exactly!

Knock You Down Keri Hilson ft. Ne-Yo and Kanye West

Hey guys! Long time no talk. As some of you in this thread may know, for a year and a half I had a goal to lose 100 pounds by SFGAm Opening Day 2021. Yesterday was the big day, and I am happy to report I was at -101.8m pounds! If you would like to hear my story about riding Maxx Force for the first time, look at my post in the SFGAm thread! With that said, I have three goals in mind for SFGAm Opening Day 2022, but I "only" want to hit at least two of them. 1) To weigh less than 200 pounds. This has always been a "far fetched" dream that is not so far fetched anymore! 2) To weigh less than 194 pounds. This is more a stretch, but this is a "healthy" BMI for my height. I feel great right now at 221 don't get me wrong. And some do not believe in BMI. But I would never think I would be considered completely healthy. 3) to dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim. As a basketball fan, this s something I have always wanted to do. And now that I am the most physically fit I have ever been, it's not impossible! I am 6 foot 2 so I will have to do more than just lose weight to get there. It will be a grind, but I am up for it. If I hit two of those I will be extremely happy and will only have to "maintain" from that point forward! How is anyone else doing?

I went for opening day yesterday, it was a mess. No consistency with rows. For example(s), Raging Bull and Whizzer were loading every row, Viper was most but not all rows, and then Maxx Force was less than half the train. Most restaurants were closed. For lunch, Chop Six was still closed at noon. We went to Johnny Rockets and their computer software was not working in the kitchen. So after you placed your order they took your receipt to fill orders. It was a gigantic mess and they fell way behind. They would come by every 5-10 minutes and ask for your order number, and nobody knew theirs because we did not have our receipts anymore!! We ordered two burgers and they ended up throwing away our receipt after we got the first burger. I reminded them three times that I had only received half my order, and overall we were there for 75 minutes. Later in the day I ordered on the app for dinner. I got the notification it was ready half an hour before my window. When I went to pick it up later, the restaurant was flat out closed, shuttered at all. Mind you when I ordered the food they had windows until park close, and this was around 6:30. I tried to get the employees attention and they didn't acknowledge me. The app said the order was completed and it used up my dinner and snack. Luckily I went to Chop Six and told them what happened and they gave me two entrées free of charge. I had an experience I will never forget with Maxx Force. SFGAm is my home park and when Maxx Force was announced I was morbidly obese, so I wanted to get on it but I knew I had work to do to get there. I did not get there for 2019. By 2020 I had lost enough weight to get back on coasters, but you know, COVID. So I was on a mission yesterday: the only thing I wanted to do was ride Maxx Force. Especially visiting the park with my sister, who does not do coasters. I told her I did not care what happened, as long as I got on Maxx Force I would be happy. Let me tell you, Maxx had a rough day and did not make it easy for me. I met up with Zero Credits Remaining and we joined the line, and we did not know what was ahead of us. In short, it broke down 4-5 times and we waited 3 hours. After the first hour, we were "too close" to leave the line, and after waiting 2.5 years for this, I was more than determined and refused to give up. My poor sister out in the park waiting three hours for me, she kept calling me all mad asking how much longer I would be. One breakdown forced them to move to single train operations. Finally we got in the station. We were next to ride, and sure enough, it broke down. Eventually they were able to move the train from the brake run to the station to get the riders off. They ran three cycles and allowed us on. We rode, and it was awesome! #2 in the park, top 25 for me! The only problem, sure enough, was that we got stuck on the brakes! For whatever reason the mechanics had a harder time getting us in the station, we were probably stuck for 20 minutes. My sister was calling me and came up the exit to talk to me and make fun of me, she was happy I got stuck after all the waiting I put her through. Only fitting this is what it took to get on after I couldn't for 2.5 years!! Despite the day going really poorly, my ride on Maxx Force made it a great day, and I am genuinely extremely happy now!!

Takabisha clone at MOA, 122 degrees

Obviously I would prefer this project to go somewhere close to me, but my first thought was that I was glad to hear that this project is going forward for 2022. Maybe it was originally supposed to be 2021 and was pushed back? But either way I'm happy to hear a park is going forward with a significant project.

Not exactly a missed opportunity, but something that slapped me in the face and could have been a disaster... I live about 75 mins from SFGAm and 90 mins from Indiana Beach. I have been to SFGAm ~48 times in my life and Indiana Beach ZERO times. Naturally, when Indiana Beach closed I was kicking myself so hard. I was extremely upset with myself. I'd like to thank Gene Staples for the opportunity to redeem myself.