savetheclocktower

I agree that it's upsetting not having the free lockers and I'm shocked they didn't plan on them in the first place (or so they say), but here's how I look at it in the meantime: If you must ride Top Thrill 2, pay for the lockers once just to try out the ride, then you can realize for the next time that you can ride Steel Vengeance instead, numerous times in a row while everybody else is falling for the "new hotness". Of course, this won't work if you plan on being there opening day since the whole park will be a mess, or if Steel Vengeance is being stubborn like usual! I get it that typical park-goers and coaster-lovers alike need to ride this thing and don't always have the chance of going again, but I feel that I've been on enough similar coasters (Maverick for the first launch, Superman Magic Mountain Backwards for the second launch, Top Thrill 1 for the third launch) that I can resist the temptation and enjoy a less stressful time on the park's many other masterpieces! With that being said, I definitely look forward to riding Top Thrill 2 eventually and I am thrilled that it exists. Have fun and don't stress out too much!

There can be things to do anywhere if you make there be things to do. If your list of interests is short, the list of things to do will also be short. The Columbia Montour County Visitors Bureau website seems to have a lot of good suggestions. Something in particular that looks interesting to me is the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine.

This is part of the reason I stopped putting my arms up on coasters. In that same spot years ago, I just slightly nicked my fingertips, but it sure stung. The other reason is that I realized it's just unnecessary work to hold your arms up during the ride. It also causes unnecessary drag and slows the ride down (Just kidding! While it definitely does create drag it's likely negligible). I have nothing against arms up, though. If that's how people like to ride they have every right do it.

That's a pretty neat coincidence! Too bad Blount County isn't called Dollywood County, it would fit even more then!

The rides where you are potentially facing random people up close can be awkward. Rides such as Invertigo, the Larson loopers, or the Meteor type rides.

I actually did work fall weekends for two years, 100 percent for the heck of it. Obviously getting paid was nice, but that wasn't even the reason I worked there. I live about 1.5 hours away and they house you for free (I'm not sure what the housing situation is now though). It was an absolute honor to be a part of one of the finest rides teams in the world and I knew they needed the help, but after the second year I just couldn't take it. Those long hours all weekend then working my regular job during the week just beat the crap out of me.

I would not recommend you ride any B&Ms built before 2006, if Banshee makes your feet numb, ones with forces might kill you. Nice to know we have a comedian in our midst! Again, if you want to deny science and reality, that's on you, no skin off my back! Thanks for the compliment, but I dropped out of the stand up scene after bookings dried up. At least those thousands of dollars of training at second city can come in handy here. For realz though, I can't find how many G's the ride actually pulls anywhere (likely because it's not marketable when it's like 2 tops). If it's that forceful to you that's great, I just like to *feel* something when I'm on a coaster, and this ride just doesn't do it for me. It's not bad, it's just unmemorable. I agree with you, Dil. Banshee is a very solid and overall forceful coaster. What I love about it is that each inversion is the size of the first inversion of a coaster due to the terrain drop. It's like have seven "first loops" in a row! (Well, I guess the zero-g doesn't necessarily count, but whatever)

I'm not positive about the beach and marina, but I most definitely saw a ticket booth at the resort gate this year. I know for sure the beach and marina gates had ticket booths at one point, but I haven't payed attention to them this year (Though I don't see why there wouldn't be. I would think they want to have every opportunity to take people's money money money!).

Please tell me that the unzipping is your luggage bags, getting ready ahead of time for your August trip!

Even if Yukon Striker goes through the inversions slowly, who cares? That would be pulling g's of -1! That's only .3 g's more than El Toro's "minimum" (according to that El Toro graph from the ride force app)!

Wow, I had no idea it cost that much to run the site for us schmucks to read free of charge! Your content is top notch and I like that you have such great videos of rides most other people never get to ride, let alone hear about their existence! This site is the most credible source in my opinion, and I don't even consider looking at any other forums for amusement news. Everything I need to know is right here. Thank you so much!

I happen to be going Friday as well. That will help with the "TPR Takeover" lol.

Wow, I was actually there in 2003 on the same day as you, the day of that blackout. I had just finished riding Top Thrill Dragster for the first time and was looking forward to riding the other rides for the rest of the day, but suddenly all the coasters got stuck. What a bummer! Oh well, that's in the past now. I'm glad you got to return to Cedar Point and thanks for sharing your experience!

I'm not saying I am expecting it to happen, but how awesome would it be to have an "RMC Beast"? Yeah, yeah, I know, "It's too much of a classic legend to change!", "They better not change such a historic coaster", etc., but considering what a new legend it would become I think it would be hard to miss the "original Beast", especially when it would then be without constant straightaways and trims. Something that I think would be awesome for the giant helix after the second lift is to bank the whole thing at a steeper angle, making the first high point be outward-banked, and the second high point basically be a high-speed and forceful inclined loop. Even if that never happens, it's just as fun to imagine it!

Wow, those wooden Camp Snoopy ride entrance signs are gorgeous! What beautiful detail and craftsmanship!

I highly recommend weather.gov, the official National Weather Service website. I have found that their predictions are pretty accurate for the near dates. It is a slightly different format than most sites, but I like knowing that the info is from the official source, and it has worked well for me. There are also a lot of cool maps and other useless data if you're into that. Instead of an app, I just have a link for my hometown pasted on my home screen. If you all prefer other weather methods however, that's okay with me.

Oops, I forgot that Challenge Park was in the spot of the proposed new lot.

However, the parking area adjacent to Magnum will be preferred parking, according to the plans in the link quoted below.

Wow, that Ann Arbor event (listed in the "other pinball events" photo) is only about an hour away from me! I have never thought much about pinball, but I am very intrigued. It seems like it would be a fun way to spend a few hours!

Your shots are really well done. I always enjoy and appreciate the effort that users put into taking and posting photos on this site, but it especially nice to see photos posted by someone who has a "photographer's eye".

Montréal is by far my most favorite city that I have been to. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go there three times with my college band. We went over Columbus Day weekend to perform at the Alouettes (Canadian football team) game. We would usually only arrive Saturday evening, do the game Sunday, then leave, so Saturday was the only free time we had. Despite such a short amount of free time, it was still amazing and there is always something different to do because the city has so much to offer. I usually took the Metro to get around which seemed to do a good job. I did go to the "La Ronde" island and look at the park, but didn't go in. One of the funniest memories I have is that there was some sort of water fountain show near in a plaza near UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). There was some guy riding his bike around while looking at the fountains and a policeman kept trying to get his attention because he was riding around right over some fountains that happened to be off at the time. The policeman got him to move just before he got soaked or possibly even rocketed into the air on his bike (soaked is more likely)! It was unfortunate that he moved out of the way, because I really wanted to see what would happen, and it was so close!

I have worked too many fun rides to choose a favorite, but here are two "top runners": 1. Monorail at Geauga Lake (I think it was called Bellaire Express at the time). This ride was nice because when you're at the driver seat, you just push the "go" button and sit there through the entire ride (while ensuring safety of riders, of course!). Everything else is automatic. The ride was about ten minutes long, so it was plenty of time to rest your feet. Toward the end, there was some track that was re-profiled by Six Flags to accommodate the wave pool that they built. They seriously just made the track have sharp "kinks" on that section, rather than a smooth curve, so the ride slowed down to a crawl on that part due to potential for derailing if operating at full speed. 2. X-Flight at Geauga Lake. It was cool to operate a flying coaster because it is a unique style with slightly different procedures than a traditional coaster. Sitting at the control booth was fun because each station had a separate panel, so it was like operating two coasters at the same time, including announcing the arrival and departure spiels (this was shortly before Cedar Fair started using wireless mics for announcements). It was very difficult to multitask at first, but once you got the hang of it, it was a fun skill to perform!

Wonderful photos and great trip report. This is a beautiful-looking park that focuses highly on attention to detail. In the first photo, you said: Does this mean that you were the last one to the car and they all forced you to go on your own since there was no room? "Sorry Garet, no more seats, you'll have to take the Everline! See you there!" The first drop? The whole thing from start to finish looks so incredibly bad-a$$!

I agree with this statement. I worked rides during Halloweekends a few times, and would spend Friday nights riding. Riding Dragster those nights was such a fun time. There was often little to no wait, the closer it was to midnight. At first I would only plan on riding once or twice, but after that launch, I'm always thinking, "the heck with it, that was awesome! I'm totally riding it again!" In my experience, Dragster seems to run with the least amount of downtime on cool, clear nights. With how temperamental that machine is, I was probably just lucky, but that's what I have observed.

If not for this thread, I would have never even thought of 2017 as a "coaster drought". The only time I go to a park for a new coaster is if it's at Cedar Point or Kings Island, but only because I go every year anyway! I'm quite satisfied with being close to (and spoiled by) those two fantastic coaster collections and only occasionally do I venture to out-of-state parks. I did go to Hershey (those Intamins! ), Knoebel's (sorry Bill, didn't know about the pierogis yet ), and Great Adventure (rode Boldikus Mountain, but wasn't brainwashed by the cult yet ) last year and it was a great change of pace, but as far as traveling to parks for new coasters, I don't go out of my way to do so. P.S. You East Coast people are also spoiled by fantastic lineups! I will definitely be back someday!