cparkes92

Someone posted a screenshot on Twitter that had traffic solid red all the way back onto US-250 south of Perkins Ave (which is four miles, three turns, and several stoplights from the parking booth)

Eric Church on 10/4 at Van Andel Arena. Good show! He played for almost three hours and played 32 songs. It was a sellout show and a lot of money had to have been made on alcohol sales (as the vast majority of the crowd went to get more beer at least once during the show). Set list: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/eric-church/2019/van-andel-arena-grand-rapids-mi-4b9c57d6.html

Elton John - Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding

It’s absolutely worth it. It sounds like a party right now. Columbus Day weekend is busy? Who knew?! Busy enough to warrant a 10pm Sunday closing instead of its normal 8pm Sunday closings during Halloweekends. What also helped crowds get exponentially bad is Ohio State being on a bye week and Michigan playing a cupcake.

Pierogies are amazing! I had some for the first time last weekend at a Polish festival and I can't wait to have more

Still have only ridden Steel Vengeance among the RMCs despite Goliath being ever so slightly closer to me

I love that you experienced some Swedish culture (including the ABBA museum and Vasa museum)

On my only trip to the Mall of America when I was 8, I went to the theme park inside and it has changed a lot since then. The only two rides I remember riding on my trip were the Pepsi Orange Streak (with a different name at the time) and the log flume (which I still remember how wet it made me).

Might be going to Cedar Point with my sister the weekend of September 21-22

Steel Vengeance

Checked queue-times yesterday around 6pm and there were insane lines such as: 4 hours for Steel Vengeance 2 hours 15 minutes for Valravn 1 hour 45 minutes for Millennium Force 1 hour 30 minutes for Raptor Corkscrew, GateKeeper, and Rougarou all showing one hour waits Gemini (which is almost always a walk-on when I've been there) was showing a 45 minute wait

C.C. Sabathia: The Strikeout Coaster! It's hard to believe he's been a Yankee for 11 years! I remember when he played for the Indians. In all seriousness, I hope Six Flags is able to get this new ride open by mid to late June considering SF's troubles opening most of their 2019 new rides (missing Memorial Day weekend isn't that big of a deal at SFGAdv as K-12 schools are in session through mid/late June in NJ but don't go back until the day after Labor Day; I've checked several NJ school calendars for 2019-20 and most of them finish the school year around June 19 give or take a few days)

As soon as I saw the Be-Bop Blvd. closure announcement, I was thinking new/expanded kiddie area as the existing kiddie rides are in that area of the park already

Still Mako at SeaWorld Orlando (unless refurbed Hulk counts as a new credit, which I rode the day after Mako)

Adventureland and Arnolds both look charming and would get more visitors among enthusiasts if they weren't so far from other parks

I'm probably in the minority here, but I have never ridden a standard Boomerang (or even been to a park with one). However, I have ridden both an Invertigo (Invertigo @ Kings Island) and a GIB (Deja Vu @ SFGAm) and I preferred both to the two Arrow corkscrew-type coasters I've ridden (the off the shelf clone @ Michigan's Adventure and the custom version @ Cedar Point)

WCR opening late is not a surprise because of a few things: 1. SFMM has a track record of delayed openings for new rides (the only major ride I can think of that's opened on schedule [i.e. Memorial Day or earlier] in the last 10-15 years is Twisted Colossus) 2. SFMM has a different peak season than the other Six Flags parks (their peak season is Fright Fest through New Year's) 3. Galaxy's Edge may have had a role to play with it. Side note: According to queue-times.com, Apocalypse hasn't run since July 8, 2018. Is it time for it to be considered SBNO (even though it isn't listed as such on RCDB)?

Yes! It opened back up in mid-July

I hope Six Flags doesn't have as many problems opening their 2020 rides as they have been opening their 2019 rides. I also wouldn't be surprised if SFMM promotes West Coast Racers as their 2020 ride along with something minor, such as a waterpark expansion.

Also, Waldameer to Kennywood is a much shorter drive than Stricker's Grove to Kennywood

Did you end up getting FL+? Queue-times shows that yesterday had some insane lines: Blue Streak (!!) was over an hour wait around noon Corkscrew was showing 90 minutes (!!!!) a lot of the day GateKeeper was up to 105 minutes in the evening Gemini and Iron Dragon showed 30-45 minutes all day Raptor was over two hours in the early afternoon Rougarou was a half hour or longer wait most of the day Steel Vengeance was showing a three hour wait for a brief period

FL+ appears very valuable today as according to queue-times.com, Maverick, Millennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, and Valravn are all pulling 90+ minute waits. Also, several rides that usually don't have much in the way of lines, such as Corkscrew, Gemini, Iron Dragon (which doesn't have Fast Lane), Magnum, and Rougarou, are each pulling around 45 minutes.

Irons Flea Roast (part 1) After my morning riding Cedar Point's Big Three, I drove seven hours (it would've been six, but I hit traffic around Ann Arbor and I also had to pick some things up at my sister's place in Grand Rapids). After a stop for dinner at a gas station Subway in Reed City, I finally pulled into the Irons Flea Roast parking lot around 8pm. For those who don't know, the Irons Flea Roast and Ox Market is part flea market, part beer tent with live bands, and part carnival with rides I have no interest in riding. Friday night was country night, so they had a local country band (I used to work with two of the members of that band) and later that night they had a regional country band. The first band played a mixture of covers and original songs, while the second band played mostly original songs with a couple of covers thrown in. The Whiskey Rebels, the first band of the night. Based out of nearby Ludington, they've played together for several years now. The paratrooper and the sizzler (which appears to be a scrambler under a different name). Hurricane, with spinning space ships. Tornado! (This ride looks exactly like a flat ride in Planet Coaster) The Rock-o-Plane and the Gator (a powered coaster with a 60" maximum height requirement). Redneck wave swinger! Kiddie rides were in the center of the midway. There was a carousel, but it had a maximum height requirement of 60" More kiddie rides! They even squeezed a kiddie ride next to the Ferris wheel (which has a lower capacity than the wheels in RollerCoaster Tycoon) A fun house! Note that one of the L's is dropped in "hillbilly", likely for space purposes. Another fun house, but this one had a maximum height requirement of 54" (the "Hilbilly Village" had no maximum height) Super slide! The second band, Gunnar and the Grizzly Boys, out of Grand Rapids. This festival even has a costumed ox mascot! Beer pyramid (I didn't drink any beer, but A LOT of beer was sold that night)

You can get there from the front lot now that the "boardwalk" has been built, so nah, they won't let you back there if you aren't going to the water park. This seems to have changed back to allowing anyone to use that back lot. I have yet to be stopped or asked on my way back there. I haven't heard of anyone being turned away this season for not being a CPS guest. And I've parked there each time on my 6 visits and have yet to step foot inside the waterpark. On my last Cedar Point trip, I was directed to the back parking lot in the early afternoon. However, that put me in good position to ride Magnum on my way in and on my way out.

Looks like you had a fun time at Cedar Point! It seems like the trims have been off (or lighter than last year) on all of my three rides on Steel Vengeance this season. SV is insane at night! On the last Friday night of CP's 2018 season, I rode Steel Vengeance three times in a half hour with the help of FL+ and all three of those rides were insane.