thisdougsforu

Your replacement flat may well be a Zamperla Endeavor. In which case, your in for a treat. If this is what they plug in as a replacement for it, it would be nice to have something in the name that throws back to the Fling. I'd expect them to use something already trademarked, though.

That's great! It's a shame that the death and removal of the Fling was quick and sudden versus getting an announcement and a "one last ride" kinda thing. I suppose sometimes when they go, they just go. RIP and I hope the replacement flat lives at least half as long a life!

Even with the park closing early and presumably having a dreadful end of HITP, hopefully the insanely good weather that held for most of it helped them beat last year's numbers. I mean, the Saturday night that I visited a few weeks back when it was 60 out was probably as crowded as I've seen the park. I know I had friends visit at other times that said the same thing back when we were having unseasonably warm temps.

So did the park operate as scheduled yesterday in the bitter cold? With the exception of a day or two, the forecast looks pretty brutal through the rest of HITP from a temp standpoint. Even if they run some of the rides in those conditions, I can't imagine there will be much attendance.

Assuming Highland Fling is leaving, the logical thing to take it's place would be another flat of some kind. You may well receive an ABC Tourbillion ride, or possibly a Zamperla Endeavor like the Catwoman Whip at SFOT. The Texas park is, so far, the only park in the SF chain to have received one. SFSTL could be the next. I'm pretty sure Highland Fling has already been removed, hasn't it? Yeah, I think 2019 is going to be the replacement for it as that only makes sense to fill in that spot. The Endeavor would be an obvious choice, but, if it can fit, I'd like to see the Tourbillion. I'm really interested to see how the Raptor performs this year. If it proves to be a success I see all the parks in the chain getting them eventually.

Ha, we can only hope.

I really enjoy the lights, decorations and amenities, but the actual activities (the shows, carolers, etc) are what I don't really care about. I'd much rather have the back hill open versus that if I had to choose. I really don't even care about the Boss, just the hill with Eagle and all that would be awesome. Again though, the event is great as is so if they decided they'd rather just keep packing the decorations into the smaller area, I get and understand that. I think there was a nice jump in quality from year 1 to 2 and it can only get better. For as much as six flags takes crap for various things, it's nice to see HITP is such a hit everywhere. Also, just saw the photos that the Fling has been totally removed. Dang, that was quick! I'm surprised they didn't do any kind of announcement on that. I would expect our next main park attraction will be some kind of replacement for that.

Saturday night was insanely busy. We pulled up at dusk and had to park in the very back and figured, uh oh. The waits were crazy, but it was a good time. I didn't get to sample the booze though as the lines were too long. Hopefully the park raked in the $$$. I dug the improved decorations this year. The park has a really good thing going here. Hopefully it proves to be financially viable enough to open more rides up next year. Hey, I agree the small park feel is nice and all that, but I'd rather more rides be open than not! Especially given that the back hill stuff all offers the best views of the lights! It was nuts to be in the park, in December, above 60 degrees!

This announcement will finally get us to make the several hour drive and visit next year for the first time as we have 3 kids ranging from 2-7 that love water parks but most never have enough for them to do. This is brilliant and while it may not seem special to many enthusiasts, those of us with little ones will really appreciate it. Can't wait to visit next year!

That cocktail deal actually sounds really good. If I attend this weekend I'll probably nab that pass, and I'm a person that rarely drinks at a park.

Let's hope that when we get our RMC Raptor, they decide to have it open for HITP

Haha, yes this was the story last year when I rode it in the low 30's right before it closed one night. It took fooooorever. That coaster is fun during the cold though, I'm glad they let her run. I'm looking forward to taking a literal spin on Spinsanity in the cold this year. Hopefully the weather cooperates for much of HITP this year!

That was a really good interview with Alan!

edit - nevermind , totally misread something!

I guess the marketing department jumped the gun there?

That's really good news on the Eagle as those views in the back at night will be awesome, especially with the Jellystone attraction up the hill, down the highway completely lit up. The view of it from Ninja looked really cool, but the Eagle will be much better. Let's hope the old girl runs well in the cold! Hopefully with Eagle in operation that means that the Boomerang will be on-line. It will be interesting to see what they add as far as lights go, as in the section of the park around American Thunder it's basically completely black. Thunder was a lot of fun in the cold last year, so hopefully it sees a little yuletide love. I'm also really hoping they run Mine Train full time for HITP as that's the coaster two of my girls love to ride. I know they opened it sporadically last year when crowds got really heavy. Last year was good, so here's to hoping year two is even better.

Boss won't be because it can't run below a certain temperature (although I can't remember what that temperature is), but the whole Illinois section of the park was closed off last season because of Boomerang and with it being re-opened now all the rides back there should operate, we should get a info dump about HITP with all the rides soon after FF is over If memory servers correct its 50 degrees. I highly doubt they will install heaters like SDC does for Outlaw run (I think). 50 degrees is what I've always heard as well. In regards to the cold affecting the woodies, I rode American Thunder on a freezing night at last year's holiday in the park and it was awesome. It didn't feel noticeably slower, but I know that coaster is a much different animal than Eagle and Boss. Also, a big plus for those coming to HITP is Batman will get the afterburners added by way of the winter wheels. That WAS noticeably faster. Makes a great ride even better.

I've always enjoyed Frightfest more for the park decorations and Halloween ambiance as yeah, it can't compete with standalone attractions like the Darkness or Creepyworld. Creepyworld is so spread out that it's sort of "eh" to me on the whole, but I LOVE the Darkness as the visual effects and set decoration are fun to look at.

Thank you , any info is greatly appreciated. You know how they play the old footage on tv in the giftshop at the park gate? I was hoping somewhere in those archives it would pop up. One of my best friends worked at the park in the 80's and fondly remembers the pulls and derbies from back in that area. I worked for Bigfoot, the monster truck, for several years and they have high quality footage of car crushes from that arena (recorded on BetaMax!) in their archives that were really cool to watch. They had fireworks synced to the car crushes.

Yes, the private event is Edward Jones renting out the park for their annual employee day. Looking forward to that as it's fun getting to walk on anything and renew gold season passes for 29.99

I went with a friend and one of my daughters on Friday night and the fantastic weather plus no crowd made for a great evening. Couple notes/observations: - Has Spinsanity been cranked up a notch? I rode it during opening weekend and the ride felt, well, pretty lame compared to what I thought it would be. On Friday night it felt faster and I had a blast. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks? - My 6 year old rode Screamin' Eagle for the first time at dusk and loved it. Flying through the chilly woods was awesome! - I saw my first ever skunk on Friday night while walking around Xcaliber. It was about 8:30 and night had completely fallen so it scared the crap out of us. He looked extremely well fed, haha. Luckily he scurried away into the bushes and no one got skunked. - I finally got to take my first ride on Boomerang. Due to a string of bad luck, the ride has been closed down each time I've visited over the last few years. This was also my first ride on ANY Boomerang. My buddy and I had a freakin' blast on it. It was really cool seeing the park lit up from that vantage point, particularly the neighboring Fireball. For all the crap the Super Loops get, there is no arguing that they have spectacular lighting. They make that whole area of the park seem more vibrant because of that. - Batman was running very fast. That ride never disappoints. Anyways, no pics as it was dark the majority of our visit but yeah, great way to spend a Friday night.

The Screamin' Eagle's station- junk on the roof, slasher flick lighting, musty wood and all - is part of the appeal to me. It makes me instantly nostalgic. I really wish it could operate during Holiday in the Park as the turnaround on the lift hill would be a great view with the park lit up.

The backseat has good airtime except for at the drop out of the large turn. The airtime there is insane. All the other seats are just ok. Sitting in the back of the Eagle on a cool evening at dusk is the best ride in the park, I won't be told any different!

Meh. Even as awesome as Twisted Cyclone looks, I'm a sucker for the Boss for its lengthy, impressive layout and it's use of terrain. I would still rather keep it in its current state than see it butchered. Same with Georgia Cyclone. Twisted Cyclone will be a better ride, granted, but I'll sure be missing it's older self. I would have much rather seen GASM get the conversion if they aren't using a ton of Georgia Cyclone's structure. Eh, the Boss really doesn't have anything particularly standout save for the helix at the end, which RMC could "preserve" and do something really cool with. I do enjoy the large layout and footprint, but knowing that there is zero chance the ride could be redone at current length thanks to the budget, I'd trust RMC would make the most of the length they were given. It's all sort of a pipe dream anyways though. Given the choice, I'd say leave Boss as is and just get a Raptor eventually. That seems extremely plausible as well.

The waterpark was in real need of some kind of upgrade and this looks to do that. I'd imagine that is a fair amount cheaper than a water coaster and accomplishes the same goal. Hopefully that tides that section of the park over for a few years. In re: to Boss discussion, watching the video of Georgia's new RMC Cyclone, go ahead and chop half the length of the Boss if that's what is needed to get a ride like that and stay within budget!