DavidB

I stayed at Lighthouse Point last year for Halloweekends and at Sandcastle Suites for Halloweekends like 4 seasons ago. Even being pretty far back in Lighthouse Point or at Sandcastle, it wasn't that bad of a walk. Yeah, it's not right at the entrance, but you're going to be walking a ton no matter what so the extra 5 minutes hardly made any difference to me. I thoroughly enjoyed staying at both places, but I'd probably stay in a cardboard box on the peninsula as long as it came with early entry...

I'll agree with Bill and ALT2870 on this one. I am not friends with coaster enthusiasts. I've never been to an enthusiast event or ERT or anything of the like. When I suggest going 3 hours or more to any regular ass people that aren't enthusiasts just to ride roller coasters, they would just rather drive the 30 minutes to SFSTL. The people at Six Flags are locals for the most part, just like any other park. Holiday World has started advertising here quite a bit, and yeah, I know new customers from here do go. I seriously doubt any new coaster at any of these parks would have much impact on the bottom line at SFSTL. Most of the people that were going to go to Six Flags are going to go regardless of the additions these other parks make.

14 of 62, all North America. I haven't frequently visited parks for quite a while and am somewhat getting back into the swing of things, and am hoping to add to this count over the summer!

^^^^ What a truly classy individual. It doesn't really sound to me like you overreacted to me. It's hard to say I would have spoken up because I'm not a very confrontational person, but I have a feeling if the guy had no qualms saying that stuff aloud, he would have ended up saying something to me because at the very least I would have looked at him like the douchebag he is. As for the waiter, I get that it may be easier just to go along, but that wasn't very professional.

I can't speak to the new rooms at Breakers, as it's been a long time since I stayed there with my family. But the last 2 times I went to CP were within the last 5 years; I stayed in a cottage at Lighthouse Point last year, and at Sandcastle Suites in Oct 2013. Personally, if it's at all possible, I think I'll stay on the peninsula for future trips to CP. It is so convenient to be able to just walk back to your room/cabin whenever you want to take a break or grab a bite to eat. Throw in the early entry, and it's not a question for me. Love staying at the locations on the peninsula.

I will guess a large wooden coaster to fill the gap left by Mean Streak? ^A log flume would be awesome too.

I'd be absolutely shocked if this hasn't been discussed, but I've always thought the concept of a "transportation" coaster would be interesting; build a coaster that has multiple stations. For example, you have a station at the front of the park, and one at the back of the park. Board in front, get off in back. If you want to ride the second half, it has it's own line. The 2 portions could be made in contrasting styles. Riding from the front of a park to the back of a park on a hyper sounds so much more appealing than walking or taking a train. I know there would be some logistical issues with load times and station synchronization, things of that nature.

I made the amateurish mistake of going to Cedar Point Columbus day weekend of 2013 I think it was. Warm temps, ridiculous crowd levels. My girlfriend and I rode some stuff in the morning, then the lines got longer and longer and longer. They sold out of Fastlane passes. She didn't want to wait in 2 hour plus lines, so I told her I wanted to ride MF, and I didn't care how long the line was, then we could leave. We waited for 3 hours and 45 minutes, then as we were near the bottom of the straight ramp the ride broke down for the night. We rode CCMR and left for the night to head to Cleveland to visit my grandmother. We were parked in the back lot as we had stayed at Sandcastle Suites. The park was so crowded that they decided to entirely empty the main lot before letting any cars out of the back of the park. We sat in that traffic for another 3 and a half hours...it was awful.

I'll get over there and take a couple. As an aside, sadly it seems as though they have reprofiled and neutered the double down on The Boss. Appears to be fresh track from before the double down to the base of the second hill. Anyone else feel that way?

Firstly, just reading over the wording and style of the posts, it sounds very much like Tony is managing this New Mean Streak twitter account. That said, with all the clamoring on here for a launch of some sort, and taking into account the back to back posts about the MCBR and the wood taller than the structure of the second turn, along with the layout, here is my theory: The MCBR will still be there for blocking purposes, and will incorporate the launch, into the higher, yet to be constructed turn, ABOVE the second turn. Seem plausible to anyone else? Edit: Looking closer at the images, it almost looks like they could do this, and time the launch with a train coming in the first part of the ride, with the second turn being the outward banked turn, and the turn after the MCBL being more of a traditionally banked or even over banked to "180 degrees" from the second turn, and have the trains travelling through at the same time, so directly above you would be the other train, both times through that area. I don't know if the structure could handle the stress of 2 trains loading outwardly through turns at the same time, but it would be a cool effect if the structure could handle it...

I remember reading at the time that they used the PTC trains because the trains that were actually for the ride were too light and they were having trouble getting them to complete the circuit. The heavier PTC trains had the momentum to make it around and provided a sort of "smoothing effect" as they are heavier and (I'm guessing here) don't transmit the imperfections of the construction/track as readily as the lighter trains. I believe I remember seeing that it was giving smooth rides overall with the PTCs. I'm just curious as to your experience with the PTC trains on media day. As for the ride itself, I too hope they leave it as is. It's a little rough but I greatly enjoy the intensity of it, just as long as they keep it running in decent shape.

I'd rather read about different experiences people had on a particular roller coaster (or posts from storms for that matter) than alot of the drivel that trickles through this thread...

Of the coasters I've been on Millenium Force has to be the winner. At my home park, I am a big fan of the first drop on The Boss in the back; it has the flat section to get the train moving a little then doesn't play around with gradually dropping, it has that aggressive, straight into the drop kind of profile followed by the turn to the right with the double down inside the structure of the ride, especially fun at night. Nostalgically fond of the third drop and the drop after the last curve on Screamin' Eagle.

Double

If we are telling Magnum virginity loss stories... My grandparents lived a little east of Cleveland and we always went there for vacation. I enjoyed roller coasters and remember being upset because the son of a family friend got to go on Jet Scream at Six Flags over Mid America with my dad because I wasn't tall enough and he was. Well my grandparents told us about Magnum and Cedar Point and we went that summer when we went to visit. Not that it matters, but I believe it was 1989, because we went 2 years in a row, then skipped a year and went the second year Mean Streak was open. Why did we go 2 years in a row? I was always the short kid, until about 9th grade. Well we went and I wasn't tall enough, no matter how tall I stood up...It's only one of two times that I remember waiting in a line and not making the cut (King Cobra was the other). So my parents promised we would come back the following summer. I did not grow much during the offseason. But we packed my shoes with toilet paper and I stood up tall and just barely made the cut. Then as we were standing in the station, waiting, watching trains disappear over the first and second hills, I realized what I had gotten myself into. 7 or 8 year old me was scared out of his mind. I remember my heart beating so hard it could have jumped out of my chest, but after all the effort my parents had put in, there was no way I could not ride. Honestly, I don't remember too much about that particular ride. I've experienced it bunches of times and don't remember specifically the drop that first time, or the turn around or anything before the startling airtime after the turn around. That I remember... I don't remember what changes the lap bars have gone through over the years. But at that point I was such a skinny, technically not tall enough to ride little kid that there was more than enough room between me and the bar to frighten me. As that damn thing came roaring back home with that ridiculous ejector air I pulled up on the bar as hard as I could to try and keep myself down in the seat. It had these giant, round, thick foam pads on the bars at that point; they were not actually fixed and could rotate around the bar, making it all the more difficult for me not to die! I did not die. I can't even honestly say I enjoyed it at that point; it scared the hell out of me. It's one of my favorites now, but damn was it intimidating before, during, and after, for little me. I concur with the previous story about the energy in the queue early in Magnum's life though...it was an event for most people in line and there was a feeling in that line that I haven't felt anywhere else. Anyone else remember that padding I'm talking about? Surely it was there to keep the femur snapping to a minimum...

I'm all for the refurbishment and upkeep of the park. I agree with the sentiments here that SFSTL has a good coaster collection. Batman is probably my favorite invert and I'm a big fan of good wooden coasters. Ninja does need to move along to a new home, and Boomerang should probably be sold for scrap. Would I be happy to get a big, new steel coaster? Of course, but not having one doesn't make me not want to visit the park. I am glad to see the incremental investments being made, and don't have a problem with the addition of a Larson Loop. But I REALLY wish it hadn't come at the expense of Rush Street Flyer. I wish they would have refurbished it and kept it here. I think it is a vastly superior ride to Fireball, not to mention pretty unique. I can't be the only one who feels this way...

Actually, once the pictures showing the new angle of the hill started coming out, it seemed like a real possibility to me that there may well be a pre-drop section something like Lightning Rod. With the new angle, it looks like they could add some height and have space to do a Lightning Rod-esque element to give the drop some real pop. This is just what came to my mind weeks ago when the pics started cropping up...

Absolutely! I don't get alot of the hatred for it. It's not the world's smoothest, but it's FAR from the roughest. Good Layout, good drops, great speed...

I like all of the woodies at SFSTL quite a bit and am really glad to live so close to a park with such a good collection of them. I generally prefer wood coasters, and none of these disappoint. I like coasters with tall drops, high speeds, and wild rides...hence The Boss is one of my favorites in my limited experience. Is this because of deterioration of off season track work over the course of the operating season? Or is there something else at play? On Sunday night I rode in the back seat on the yellow train(I think) for back to back rides to finish the night. Without even getting out of the seat, I got 2 different rides on the second half of the ride; the midcourse slowed the train considerably more on the second circuit for whatever reason. Either way, it's my favorite because it kinda gets away from the rest of the park a little bit and hauls ass.

Six Flags St. Louis: The Boss American Thunder Screamin' Eagle Batman Mr. Freeze Pandemonium River King Mine Train Ninja Boomerang

Went to Six Flags STL last night and got on what may well be the last 2 rides of the season on The Boss. Back seat on second to last train, as they were down to loading one train at that point, and then stayed on for the last train of the night. One of my favorite rides!

My newest coaster in my count is Boomerang at Six Flags STL as of last night...were it a boomerang that I had been on at it's previous location, I would have passed... A few weeks ago I went on Valravn and Rougarou for the first time, though I had been on Rougarou as Mantis. I know alot of people aren't big fans of the "forceless" elements on Valravn, but I enjoyed them quite a bit, as a change of pace. If you want forceful elements, Raptor is a 2 minute walk away. The elements on Valravn, especially the first 2 felt like they were perfectly paced to give almost a weightless sensation.

Since I asked for advice relating to the wind at Cedar Point this past weekend, I thought I'd share my experience with a very mini TR. We arrived fairly late on Friday for a couple of reasons, got checked in at Lighthouse Point, and went to our cottage. The wind was ROARING off the lake. We went into the park and got rides on Gatekeeper and Valravn. These seemed to be the only 2 coasters operating due to the wind. Walking up to Valravn for the first time, at night, with that ominous music playing, through the courtyard under the ride, with the timing to be right at the lowest point of the drop as a train came through...moderately intimidating...even for someone who has been on many larger coasters and drop coasters before. Saturday was still quite windy, and Skyride and Windseeker never moved the whole weekend. Magnum and a couple others took a while for the wind to die down before they opened, but most things were open from the start, and eventually everything but Skyride and Windseeker opened, closing only occasionally. So overall, the wind didn't play much of a factor for us, which was awesome. We did get Fastlane Plus around 12:30 on Saturday as it did get fairly busy, and it was definitely worth it. Sunday we were pretty tired, and after Saturday were spoiled by the Fastlane, so we left around halfway through the day. Rides: Millenium Force 3x Maverick 2x Magnum 3x Rougarou 3x Gatekeeper 2x Valravn 2x TTD 2x Gemini 1x Corkscrew 1x Blue Streak 2x Wicked Twister 1x Raptor 1x CCMR 1x Iron Dragon 1x Power Tower 2x(one each) Skyhawk 4x Maxair 2x Wave Swinger 1x (scariest ride in the park...) Also, enjoy a few of the limited pictures I took. I bet these are new and exciting angles that nobody has ever seen before...

Thanks, yes I know about the limited ride selection on Fridays. I have been to Halloweekends before but it's been a few years and wasn't nearly as prepared for it as I am this time. I'm quite excited, as I've had a real lapse in my "enthusiasm" and only recently went to a park(SFSTL) for the first time since the last trip I took to Cedar Point in 2013. I was considering going for front row of TTD as the first ride to really try and blow my buddy's mind...

Thanks for the info Bill! All of this is very helpful. I have a feeling I'll just have to watch for TTD to start testing and head that direction if it seems like it may open. The forecast on weather underground does show the wind dying down some after dark both Friday and Saturday, so hopefully things are open for night rides. I'd like to get on all the coasters, if for no other reason than for my friend who has never been to CP to get on them. But after making sure to get a couple rides on Valravn and Rougarou since I haven't been on them, my biggest interests are Maverick, Millenium, Magnum, and TTD.