JT325

^It's all a bit confusing for me; they are not looking into 2019 passes at this point. You're right, best bet is to contact the park. We'll probably just walk up to season pass sales at Knott's and do that in person.

I've got a question for the know-everything, die-hard CP/CF fan! (I was one years ago) I'm going out to California with a few of my family. We are going to Knott's for a day. (I'm the only one with a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass.) My aunt, her husband and 3 teenage boys are moving to Toledo in a few weeks, but may not make it to Cedar Point until 2018. Is there any deal they can get by getting a Cedar Fair pass while we are at Knott's... even if they don't go to Cedar Point this year? Perhaps I'm not wording that the best. Can they get a 2018 CF pass at Knott's in July? Would that benefit them to do that if they plan to go to Cedar Point next year? Would me having a Cedar Fair platinum pass give them any benefits to buying a one-day Knott's ticket, if they end up doing that? I haven't been able to find the correct answers between the sites. For some reason, I think I got my 2017 Cedar Fair pass at CP last August. It was good in 2016 for one free day, and then 1/2 price for my other visits (I went for a total of 3 days).

"Maybe a Great day is just what you need this year!" Was their commercial jingle for the early years. Now if I could find one of those commercials... So sorry you didn't get to ride Little Dipper. It's beautiful! I will pray for you indeed! Beware the stupid "curbs" placed throughout the park. That can hurt. The biggest travesty about Mt. Olympus (for me, personally) are the changes made to Cyclops about ... 3 years ago. I haven't been back. But that was the one reason I would go up there, on non-crowded days. They have re-profiled THE DROP, as well as added ratcheting lap bars that have infamously "runinnned!" the buzz bar experience on many older and formerly classic woodies. As dramatic as it sounds, if you get to ride something that awesome and are used to it, and the train gear is changed like that... well, it nearly ruins the experience for me. Are you going to Little Amerricka? I would TOTALLY skip Mt. Olympus in favor of that. I know I know... many of us coaster nerds want to the get the most talked about credits, but if you have any appreciation or like of classic-style stuff, I would so do LAmerricka. They have the "other" clone of Little Dipper (that was also originally built at a park here in Chicagoland). They've rebuilt it and called it METEOR. The operation of the ride has been kept classic: very fast loading and dispatch, a manual hand brake and they give you like... 3 or 4 rides in a row (depending on the crowd). They also have a classic Hershell Mad Mouse, which looks and runs like brand new. It's rough and tumble, and not a single restraint, the way it should be. When I go there with friends, they usually camp out at Mad Mouse and I'm doing time on Mad Mouse! All the super-old rides they have look old... because they are old technology, but they run better than new. LAmerricka has their own metal machine shop! A Roll-O-Plane (which would hit Meteor if a railing on Meteor hadn't been removed - this is awesome!) and a bunch of other older rides. A VERY LONG train ride out to no where, which is somehow very cool and charming all in one. They also have future plans to rebuild the Lincoln Park Comet, and do so in a very classic way. Are you going to Bay Beach!? Again, if you like a classic mom & pop, relaxed feel - don't miss it. Zippin is a near top 10 ride in my book. They have (now rare) giant racing slide (KI and CP had these years ago). I have a permanent scar on the inside of my arm from that ride. My fault, I tried to lock arms with my friend next to me to go faster and my arm hit the slide. But look! I didn't sue the park! It was my fault. The cool thing is the scar looks like a Bat Signal. You would get MUCH more mileage out of going to those 2 parks, but if you really need the bigger "credits," I understand.

I might go with early evening for X2 - as my FIRST catch will absolutely be Revolution. Big Anton fan. Long story behind Revolution, but I've waited a long time to ride it with out shoulder bars (yes, I'm aware of the trims). Haven't been to the park since 1999. Thank you for the input! It sounds like I could benefit on Tatsu for re-rides, however I can't see myself wanting to ride it more than 3 or 4 times. I would benefit on FT, TC and Revo - but only one ride each. I'll have to wait until that day and see how it goes. Good thing I have a taste for the oldies at the park (minus the Revo situation). I might be going alone, or with my 13 year old cousin. The whole family is visiting Carlsbad, and we've already decided our "family Theme Park day" should be spent at Knott's. Much more family friendly! But the little guy loves coasters and hanging out with his much older cousin. Either way, I/we will make it a good time.

^My understanding is that Six Flags is done with double rides and platinum? Thanks for all the input guys

If you've never ridden Tatsu, why don't you have any interest in riding it? When we visited a few years ago (prior to YOLOcoaster and Twisted Colossus) I was absolutely blown away by it and considered it to be (easily) the best coaster in the park. You really need to make Tatsu a priority. Absolutely, I want to ride Tatsu. I should have said "Batman, Riddler and Scream" instead of "B&Ms." I rode Batman and Riddler years ago, and don't care about the Scream "credit." I think I will like Tatsu a lot! But I have a feeling Revo will still be my favorite in the park. I'm one of those Schwarzkopf fanboys. The designs really resonate with me. On a crowded July day? Also, did that 5 minutes include the time you entered the queue, walked to the flash pass employee and waited inside the station? Nit picky questions for sure, but I've seen SF operations for years... and all over the place. Also, I'm not keen on waiting in the line to get the pass itself. I usually leave SF parks after a couple hours, so I have to prepare myself mentally.

I'll be at the park next Sunday night through Tuesday (July 16-18). I thought about getting a platinum flash pass... but it seems all the hot commodity rides are one ride only, and I do NOT get a ride on X2 with that, is that correct? My main interest is Revolution during this visit; non-VR Revolution. Perhaps I should skip a flash pass all together, and just hope for empty single seats to jump in. On this trip, I could care less about the B&Ms and the GCI. With a Platinum FP, I suppose I could get plenty of rides on Ninja, Viper, Goldrusher and Jet Stream!? I do like those. A lot! And I've NEVER been on the drop or Tatsu (which I've heard it really good). The last time I purchased a flash pass at a SF park was at Great Adventure and it was a train wreck. Long line to get the pass.. rides going down... clueless employees. It wasted more time than saved. For example, if I take my Platinum Flash Pass up to Tatsu, how long before I get on the ride? I'm trying to figure out if I could get multiple rides in a row, and if it would be worth it. The flash pass lines I notice at my home park (SFGAmerica) always seem clogged and slow... like it might be a waste of time. Just trying to plan my days, any input is cool!

Have a great time! In case you didn't get the run-down for best seats and stuff: Demon- 2nd to back. Better view than very back, more leg room, but you still get the awesome *snap* of the first drop. Will be a walk-on after 8. Eagle- RED! Seat #3 is heaven. Try very front and 3rd from back ("row 13") if you have time Viper- exact same as Eagle. Heavenly floater air time in #3. Whizzer - very low intensity, VERY high uniqueness, ride-ability, comfort and general awesomeness. Very back seat! Heck, any seat is coaster perfection. Raging Bull- Very back seat. If you don't fall into the very boring and knee-jerk complaint of the 3rd hill trim, you can really enjoy this ride. The layout is one of kind. The uniqueness of the layout wins me over every time. I much prefer this to the camel-back repetition of most hyper B&Ms across the country. Fiddler's Fling is the fastest ride every built. Ok, maybe not, but holy cow don't miss it. Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper are 2 of the few remaining classic log flumes at corporate parks. Pure joyrides! That's the important stuff anyway! Hope you have a blast.

^Or two in the station, 2 on the course, 1 on the lift and one in the (what we used to call) "no man's land"... if they are going to run 6 trains with double loading station(s), of course. You know... for the world's longest coaster As for dueling - anyone who was there in the early Mean Streak days might remember the trains whooshing past eachother by the first drop. One would rush down the drop as the other would pass it on the way to the final brake run. I think it ran like that for a few years? Mean Streak's wilder and meaner older sibling at the time, Texas Giant, did that as well. With an additional pass-over occurring on the lift/oval helix. Man, now that was a ride, in the early 90s. Holy cow.

^One train is running 4 cars and the one racing it is running 5 cars. And in the 2nd postcard, it's vice-versa. No biggie, but kinda cool. I knew I saw this years ago, but could not find the source. Digging through all my old coaster/park stuff (which is going up for auction soon; time to say goodbye to the majority of my collection), and found these postcards. Related, but much more strange: years ago I saw a picture of Loch Ness Monster with the trains interlocking in the loop (and here's the strange and related part) - one train had six cars and the other had 7. Doesn't make a lot of sense from a control systems point of view, unless it was being run on manual; this was a picture I saw in the 80s.

^But remember... we still have (what I think to be) the best park in the chain. In terms of variety, operations (could you believe!?) and general set-up. Every time I go to another SF park, I usually leave early (unless at an event or with friends) because the situation is so pathetic. But I have to admit, I've been spoiled in a sense. Years of going to Holiday World and their events, and all those other parks that - however still a business - let you know they care. Good thing about Great America for me, I'm only 45 mins away. I can go when no one is there, get my rides in and go home. Wish me luck doing that at Magic Mountain next week. Doh!

^I'll be there the 16th (late), 17th and 18th. My main concern is getting the most amount of non-VR rides on Revolution. Haven't been in years. Every man, woman and mutant for themselves.

Sing it sister! Ain't that the truth! In the early 80s (my first visit to Great America was 1980), everyone LOVED Great America. In 1984 (or 85?) when Six Flags purchased the park, things immediately headed to the can. Like other major SF parks (Magic Mountain is the first to come to mind), a large percentage of locals and people who "grew up there" will have nothing to do with it now. Sad. Nothing will change with $70 season passes. Six Flags could be comparable operations-wise to Cedar Point, CF, but that would require a huge, long-term shake up. Their profits could have been so high! They could have untold thousands that were loyal the park (Hi Knoebels, Kennywood, KI, Cedar Point, Holiday World, etc. etc. etc) Seems they prefer the quick-money YOLO (for a lack of a better term) route. I would gladly pay $200 for decent operations. Hence my Cedar Fair Platinum pass. I still LOVE my home park (and think it is still the best overall in the chain), but man... the place is intermittently run like a dump. Every single employee (including managers and higher ups) consistintely give different answers for simple questions. It's a train wreck. When I go to the park, I have to put on my "every man, woman and mutant for themselves" hat, which isn't a great way to enjoy an amusement park. And makes it that much harder to leave places like Knoebels, Holiday World and Seabreeze.

Anyone notice something interesting/odd about these old postcard pics of Rebel Yell? I mean, besides the ride being beautiful red/white/blue and the lack of headrests and ratchet bars.

^Hangtime Does anyone know the best place to post eBay listings of park memorabilia for sale? There seems to be a hundred facebook pages and groups for CP and other parks. I have a bunch of Cedar Point stuff from the 80s/90s, including some cool but very geeky odds & ends from my time there as an employee (91-93) that someone might appreciate. I'm going to list it on eBay in the next couple weeks - where is the best place to share those eBay links? I also have gobs of stuff from Kings Island, and my home park SF Great America... and then smaller collections/pieces from about 50 other parks. Most stuff is from the the 80s/90s. I'm doing a massive clearing out/de-cluttering, and I figured I could get a few bucks for some of this, rather than giving it all away (already gave plenty away!). Plus, I would like it to land in good hands/someone who appreciates it. It would be so cool to see it all scanned it and posted on some of the park fan sites, but I don't have the time to do all that myself.

6 trains. And that parallel double station. And the record for longest coaster. Dreaming is free! Work time.

Funny with all this talk of Ga Cyclone... I was just going through my pictures over the years, and always gasp when I see my shots of a brand-new 1990 Ga Cyclone. The tracks weren't even all painted. It was (after many many coasters since) one of the top 3 coasters I ever rode. When I went back in 1994, it had already had numerous "re-profiles" to remove airtime, etc., brakes were on hard, etc. When I rode it in 2007, it was a hunk of junk. So slow and bumpy, the train rode the inside rail on the curves. On visits since, it's much better with the topper/hybrid track on the first 2 drops... but man, I consider myself lucky to have rode that thing new. I'm sure the new RMC Cyclone will be fun. I will almost surely be spending the majority of my time on Mind Bender.

^First sky ride with lap bars, seat belt AND shoulder bars.

^In that case, I hope they heat is way up when I visit next month. I want to get as many Revo rides as I can!

I'm envious! Thanks for keeping the conversation cool, Bill. It's nice to come on here and talk, with out being berated or called names for having a different opinion.

^Do you think that Six Flags.. somehow tends to cater to a crowd that "acts-out" a little more than those who go to a Cedar Fair park? I also think it's easier to get away with stuff at a SF park than it would be at a CF park. That is not the case here, but a part of the big picture in my opinion. Just my opinion, no one has to agree. What were people calling it on here years ago... the YOLO crowd? (Not familiar with the new term, if there is one.)

Yes, I agree with you. But why is it at a Six Flags park so frequently? I can sound harsh too, but I care. Otherwise, why spend time hanging out on an internet forum trying to have a respectful conversation.

^Bill, do you think Six Flags caters to a generally well-behaved crowd that tend to follow rules? It's not their direct fault, but they do play a *small* part in the big picture.

^They have a chemistry like no one! They have created something really fun there! I look forward to that show every 2 weeks; usually listen in my car. I've subscribed to other coaster and park podcasts in the past, but they never have the staying power. Or are overly annoying and acting-outy.

Definitely not cool to break rules. But did you see that footage!? It was beautiful. Looking straight at the first drop, head-on and straight down. And an excellent geometry lesson looking at the structure, especially in that complete vertical orientation. It almost look like pro-shot B-footage the park would pay to have done. Maybe they did.