joelwee

Firehawk was a fun ride, and pretty smooth for an old Vekoma, but I'm sure that whatever replaces it will be worth the trade. If it didn't have the longest wait in the park, I would've gladly ridden it more than once, but decided it wasn't worth another 40-minute wait when Diamondback and Mystic Timbers had 20-minute waits.

Photo credit: WildGravity Travels (Facebook)

WildGravity Travels shared some more Firehawk demo pics on their Facebook page. They're gotten most of it knocked out at this point, with just the vertical loop still standing.

O'Rourke Wrecking Company posted a video of Firehawk's lift hill being demo'd, on their Facebook page today. They've finished demo on everything to the right of the lift hill, as well as some of the straight sections of track on the left. It's odd to see the loop sitting, untouched, amidst the track fragments that still remain.

I've ridden 3 Boomerangs (Knott's, SFDK, and Kings Island). They were all a little rough, but still enjoyable.

Granted, but responses are only posted to this thread every 2 years because most people can't think of creative responses. I wish S&S would build more controlled-spin 4D coasters in the U.S. (like X2 and Eejanaika).

Great list. Even though the offseason isn't a thing where I live, I look forward to this list every year. 1. Name 3 of your favorite roller coasters, but not your top 3. Twisted Colossus, Diamondback, Phantom's Revenge 2. About how many different parks did you visit in 2018? Including my home park, 7. 3. Which 2018 park visit was your favorite? Visiting Cedar Point for the first time, for Coastermania. 4. Your favorite 2018 park addition (ride, food, show, etc)? CraZanity at SFMM. Yes, I rode Steel Vengeance and it is a kickass ride, but I have to go with CraZanity because: (1) It is also a kickass ride. (2) It makes SFMM's flat ride collection suck way less. (3) It draws some of the crowds away from the coasters and the beer garden. 5. What ride exceeded your expectations the most in 2018? Jackrabbit at Kennywood. I definitely wasn't expecting the insane amount of airtime the back seat delivers on that double down. And it runs great for its age! 6. Best meal/food at a park in 2018? Boardwalk BBQ at Knott's Berry Farm, hands down. 7. What was your favorite new coaster of 2018 NOT made by RMC or Larson? Hangtime at Knott's Berry Farm. That little ride packs a punch and is a great fit for that park. 8. Name one park you will definitely visit in 2019. California's Great America... I missed out on it during my 2018 NorCal trip, so I'll definitely hit it this year. 9. Best ride themed to a bird? Raptor at Cedar Point. Yeah, it has no theming, but it's the closest thing I've ridden to a themed bird ride. 10. Lamest ride/coaster you rode in 2018? Worst log flume ever. 11. What roller coaster currently sits at the top of your bucketlist? (degree of difficulty: NOT a new-for-2019 ride) Intimidator 305 12. What new-for-2019 ride or coaster are you most looking forward to? West Coast Racers at SFMM, simply because it's at my home park and I probably won't do much traveling this year. 13. Name the first totally middle-of-the-road (not bad/not great) park that comes to mind. Kennywood 14. You're in Orlando and magically have a 1-hour ERT session on 1 coaster of your choice at any park in the city. You choose... Mako at SeaWorld 15. Holiday In The Park vs. Winterfest. Who reigns supreme? Never been to a WinterFest event, but if Knott's Merry Farm counts, then Knott's Merry Farm it is. 16. Mystic Timbers mystery shed or Wicker Man fire infusion? I've never ridden Wicker Man, so... Mystic Timbers, by default. 17. Which Six Flags have you been to most recently? Magic Mountain 18. Intamin or Schwarzkopf? You may only choose one. Intamin, hands down. 19. Battle of Kings Coasters: Island or Dominion? Pick one. I have yet to visit Dominion, so... Island, by default. 20. What was the longest you waited for a ride/coaster in 2018? 2 hours for Dragster, since it broke down for over an hour just as I was about to board. 21. What roller coaster have you ridden more than any other? Viper at Magic Mountain. I honestly can't get enough of that ride. 22. Best drop tower under 150 feet? Sky Diver at Castles 'N' Coasters. 23. Maverick or Millennium Force? (If you haven't been to CP, pick what you want to ride more) Maverick. Millennium Force didn't blow me away like I expected it to, but Maverick did. 24. Log flumes or sky rides? You can only choose one. Tough choice, but I'd go with log flumes. 25. What are 3 things you enjoying doing at your home park other than riding rides? Eat food, drink beer, and use the restroom? ...I dunno, there's not much else to do at Magic Mountain besides ride rides. 26. What is your second favorite Cedar Fair park and why? Knott's Berry Farm. It has my favorite atmosphere out of any park and a decent ride collection, and I have a lot of good memories of this park from when I was a kid. It's second only to Cedar Point because Cedar Point has a much better ride collection and nicer view. 27. What is your home park and give us two good reasons why we should pay it a visit. Six Flags Magic Mountain. It has the best coaster collection at any park that is not named Cedar Point, and you can visit it in the middle of winter. 28. Launch or Lift? Lift 29. Did you buy fast pass at all in 2018? The closest thing I've bought was those $5 fast pass games at Knott's and Kings Island, where you spin a wheel and get a fast pass for whatever ride it lands on. I was given all kinds of jealous looks as I strutted to the front of the queues for Jaguar, Pony Express, and Adventure Express. 30. What is your least favorite wooden coaster? Thunderbolt at Kennywood. It wasn't a bad ride, it just didn't do much for me. 31. Disney fanboys: cool or cult? Cult. 32. Best Batman themed ride? SFMM's Batman the Ride, of course. 33. Name something that tend to take home from parks that you didn't bring with you. Gum on my shoes. 34. Best wooden coaster over 110 feet tall? (rcdb will help you) Ghostrider at Knott's Berry Farm 35. Have you ever been hit with something (loose change/a tree/vomit/etc) while riding something? I got hit with a shower of bugs on most of my night rides at Cedar Point last summer. 36. Skywarps: credits or no? State your case. No. They're just glorified Super Loops. 37. Turkey legs: nah or yaaaaassssss? YAAAAAASSSSSSSS!! 38. What is the most recent B&M that you rode? Scream at SFMM 39. You can eat nothing but corn dogs, churros or funnel cake for the next 48 hours, which do you choose? Churros! 40. Post a great on-ride shot of you from 2018. (DO IT!) Where's the camera??

You're crazy. Running the ride LESS will not wear out an electrical motor faster. And how would someone taking their phone out in any way affect the machinery? As is the case with any motor, shorter cycles would cause more wear and tear due to more frequent heating and cooling, as well as various components being placed under a heavier load when the motor is accelerating and decelerating/braking the pendulum - as opposed to running at a constant speed. The ride ops stop the ride when they see someone take their phone out - thus causing more acceleration/deceleration wear and tear than there otherwise would have been if the ride was able to keep going. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I stayed at Comfort Inn River’s Edge in Huron last summer and was pleased with it. The rooms were comfortable and clean, WiFi worked, and hot breakfast was included. It was a little cheaper than the Comfort Inn in Sandusky, and was about a 20-minute drive from the park. It overlooks the Huron River, so prepare for the stench of dead fish as soon as you get out of the car, LOL. But you don’t smell it inside the hotel, and it provides a nice view. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

SFMM usually doesn't shut down unless it's a significant amount of rain. It's been dumping rain here all morning and it's supposed to continue until about 7:00 PM. Also, Santa Clarita schools just started back up today, so crowds would've been light anyway. Shutting down the park today was a no-brainer.

They're converting Steel Vengeance back to Mean Streak.

Yes, all rides besides X2 have a place to put your stuff - and by that, I mean they let you put your stuff on the floor somewhere in the station. Some rides (TC, Viper, Tatsu, Revolution, Superman, Full Throttle) have bins, and TC has zipper pouches on the trains where you can put your phone.

At this rate, I should be able to buy Corkscrew for around $1000 when they eventually retire it.

^What Canobie Coaster said. I once waited in a 3-hour line for X2 during one-train ops. (I was with some friends who wanted to ride.) It was a miserable wait, but worth it once we finally got to ride. I haven't ridden X2 since before Fright Fest, so I don't know if the 2nd train is back up and running yet. Original X was designed to run 3 trains, but since there were so many issues with the trains, they typically only ran 1 or 2, so the separate load and unload stations didn't help. When it became X2, the park bought 3 trains, but designed the ride to only run 2 at a time while the 3rd one undergoes maintenance. Right now, the third train's chassis is sitting on the ground next to Viper's lift hill.

^If I was you, I’d go for X2 first. It’s line builds up quickly and it stays long all day due to painfully slow operations, so get there at rope drop and head straight for X2. Twisted Colossus has the best ride ops in the park, so even if the line is spilling out the front of the queue, you won’t wait for more than an hour. Also, 2 days is definitely enough to ride everything. You can do it in one day with Flash Pass, but trying to fit everything in one day during the summer without Flash Pass would be tough to do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In that case, it sounds like the computer adjusts the MCBR based on how fast the train is going. How were the crowds that day? The park was relatively packed on Sunday, so Viper was running full trains - which is a rarity. If you were there on a slow day, the trains would've been mostly empty and thus wouldn't be traveling as quickly when they reach the MCBR. Either way, I'm glad you got a good ride. Goliath's computer does whatever it wants. I've ridden it on summer days with full trains, where the MCBR just trimmed it... but in the middle of winter, it completely stops the train. I don't get it.

FWIW, on the day before Coastermania (a Thursday) I was able to hit everything (minus Steel Vengeance, which was closed) WITHOUT Fastlane Plus. Of course, I wasn’t able to do many rerides and spent a lot of time waiting in lines, but I figured that since I had ERT coming up the next day, I’d save a few bucks by not buying FLP. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^ They do, but the most awkward hangtime is in the batwing. It takes so long to get through the inversions, it gave me flashbacks of the Super Loop at SFDK. I like this kind of hangtime on lapbar-only loopers, but for the most part, I prefer quick, snappy inversions. Fortunately, Batman and Scream have that covered, and the first half of Viper is still pretty quick and forceful.

I rode Viper today for the first time since it's refurb, and noticed it's received the Goliath treatment. The lift chain now slows to a crawl at the very top, and the MCBR now completely stops the train instead of just trimming it. The ride still plows through the first three loops, but the back car no longer gives that catapult/whiplash effect when cresting the lift hill. I'm puzzled as to why they're completely stopping it on the MCBR, though, as the train already crawled through the heavily-trimmed second half, and now moves even more slowly.

Yep, crowds will probably be non-existent that day. However, the park will probably be running one train and skeleton crews on all of the coasters (two trains on Twisted Colossus). Also, since the park closes at 6:00, many of the restaurants will close around 5:00 (except Plaza Cafe in the front of the park). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Posted on the park’s Twitter today: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^ Honestly, weekends in January aren't that crowded. If I was you, I'd just go on a weekend.

Batman at SFMM, with its winter wheels.

Holiday in the park ends December 30th To add to that, once HITP ends, the park closes at 6:00 PM every night, including weekends - which means most of the restaurants will close early (4:00-5:00) and the rides will be running skeleton crews and one train each. But the park will be a ghost town, so that won't matter that much.

^ Scream is still up and running. I really doubt that the park is closing their star attraction just to save a few bucks - given that the B&M floorless coaster next door is waaaay less popular and requires the same number of people to staff it, and would make much more sense to close in this case. Somebody posted a month or so ago that there was a crane parked next to TC and some guys appeared to be doing track work. I think this is a maintenance-related closure.