pryonisys

I think as stated in the original post that not all parks and coasters will be included. To be completely fair and honest, I don't think coasters from any of those three parks would ever crack a top 30 list. Obviously you could push for Waldameer more than the other two for the quality wood coaster, but when was the last time Ravine Flyer II was even in a top 20 list? I am not sure how the parks are ordered/organized but I'm sure it made sense in the design. The only park that I was missing on this that I actually cared about was Waldameer, (Ravine Flyer is high on my list) but I understand it not being there and overall have no real complaints.

Currently filling out my info. Always happy to participate in these surveys. Thank you for doing this, it's always fun to see what the community thinks of certain coasters. (I always realize when doing these sort of things how many parks I want to go to)

That is the only reasonable assumption that I can think of. I also see no negative impact this could have on the ecosystem, staff, or surrounding Sandusky area.

I305 to Dorney confirmed!

1. Skyrush (new and my current #1) 2. Fury 325 (new) 3. Ravine Flyer II 4. Afterburn (new) 5. Intimidator (new and probably ranked higher than it should be but it was still fun) 6. Storm Runner 7. Great Bear 8. Lightning Racer 9. Laff Trakk (new) 10. Fahrenheit Can you tell I only made it to 3 parks this year?

I had seen the Waldameer pictures, I'm just glad that someone posted them. I didn't want to take anyone else's photos. We got an insane amount of snow on Christmas and the 26th, but as was said previously, the city is pretty much back up and running as of yesterday. I'm not thrilled we got that much snow, but Erie is probably one of the cities that is prepared (as much as you can be at least) to handle snowfall like that.

Now hopefully we can all quit talking about that thing.

Only part I'll mention is the Detroit to Waldameer/Conneaut Lake Park. It is doable, but it is still 4.5 hours of driving to get from Detroit to Erie, which isn't the worst thing in the world. Waldameer is busiest on Saturdays from my experience, but should should be fine as long as you're not doing the water park. Unless it's really warm that day I wouldn't recommend the water park anyway, Erie in late May can still be quite cold. Glad to see that you planned for Conneaut Lake Park on a weekend, they're only open Friday - Sunday last I knew, so if this is your plan it could work for that leg of the trip.

I believe I rode Stinger twice, I regretted it both times as pretty bad headaches followed. I keep hearing that the one at KI is pretty good and I can believe that, but Stinger was pretty rough. I know Dorney doesn't tend to get much love from Cedar Fair but hopefully they can get something decent to replace it.

1. Dominator (haven't ridden it since it was at Geagua Lake, but half of it being over the water was great) 2. Hydra 3. Rougarou

Little bit of a change to my list after this summer 1. Talon 2. Afterburn 3. Alpengeist 4. Great Bear 5. Raptor (could easily be moved up the list but I haven't ridden this one for a long time)

Just found out that I may be able to head to Dollywood for the first time over the week before Easter in 2018. Anyone who is local or closer to the location than I am is the weather then ok for the park? What would be recommended for that time of year overall? Has Lightning Rod run better in 2017 than 2016 (I honestly don't know I haven't been paying as close of attention). Kind of excited to head down as I did not expect to have much of a chance to get to any new parks in 2018.

I'd be all for anyone doing this. I remember loving that park when I was a little kid (first "big" steel roller coaster I ever went on) but then going back when I was in college and being horribly disapointed and just kind of sad. The location is great and the amount of land they have is ridiculous for how few attractions they have. If I was to manage that property I would try to keep a small manageable and not super gross aquarium. Something very small (maybe even with the animals of the great lakes even though all those fish are just kind of boring and brown), but overall that may be a bad idea as it may remind people of the bad management of Marineland. How long has it been since the "Everyone Loves Marineland" days? It feels like forever.

If I owned my own theme park I would try to also incorporate animal exhibits and education. I used to work at a zoo and I appreciate the quiet parts of parks where you can explore and relax when you need a break. In reality though I would need to hire a lot of people who knew what they were doing much better than I do. Source: The not very parks that I've made in planet coaster

I want to believe that Darien Lake executives reviewed this thread to gauge interest in the information of a new coaster and just saw everyone freaking out about the flume so they named it Tantrum in honor of those reactions.

I'll be interested to see the actual design of it when that comes out, but it sounds like this will be fun. I am sad they're taking out the flume though as I really enjoy those. Understandable, but still sad.

Have to pull out my spreadsheet, this will have to be updated again one day. Current Rankings 1. Skyrush 2. Fury 325 3. Talon 4. Millennium Force 5. Loch Ness Monster (Probably a little high but I just love this coaster, reminds me of being a kid) 6. Ravine Flyer II 7. Intimidator 8. Maverick (probably a little low but I need to ride it again, it's been about 10 years) 9. Hydra The Revenge 10. Apollo's Chariot

^ All of the above makes sense. I didn't mean to say who should charge what for season passes. I just find the differences in prices really interesting, not complaining about any of them either. I'm sure there are people who work out the market and what the park's attendees can afford to do. I just find the finances of it all kind of fascinating.

We can charge that price at Waldameer for a variety of reasons, mostly about the type of value offered. A Darien Lake Pass is usually used 3 times throughout the season, and a Waldameer Pass is used 8-9 times on average. Darien Lake, while within an arm's reach of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, has a remote location, but Waldameer is right in the thick of 150,000 people so a quick jaunt to the park for just a couple hours or the evening is very common. Guest spending at Darien Lake is also significantly higher, so the face value of a Season Pass does not indicate the true cost of visiting. I could go on, but the bottom line is there is a different kind of value offered. We keep an eye on what Darien Lake is up to, but the parks are very different in how they attract visitors. I think you may be getting me wrong regarding this, and I may have written it poorly also. I'm not surprised Waldameer charges what they do for season passes, I'm more surprised that Darien Lake charges as little as they do. I haven't been there in over a decade but I would have assumed they were equivalent values or that Darien Lake would have charged a little more. You are absolutely right though, it's a different value and a different area. Different parks business practices to reflect that. Like I said initially though, charge what people are willing to pay.

That makes me really tempted. It's not the closest park to me, but I would probably be able to make it Darien Lake at least twice if I actually tried and then it would pay for itself. Random thought, how can they have season passes for around $60 and Waldameer can charge $100? (I guess charge as much as people will pay)

I can't verify the validity of this but Wikipedia says that Spinning Dragons (for an example of a Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster) was just about $4 million. Steel Dragon at Waldameer is a Maurer spinning coaster and that also cost $4 million. Even if these dollar totals are correct here is a problem with that, both of these roller coasters were made in 2004 so I'm sure prices have changed since then Once again using Wikipedia and this number could be wrong (can you tell I don't really trust Wikipedia) Gravity Group wooden roller coasters are much over $2 million For Example... $6,000,000 Ravine Flyer II $6,500,000 Voyage $6,000,000 Mine Blower

I've only ridden Ravine Flyer II out of the Gravity Group coasters but it currently resides as my top wooden coaster. I'm sure I'm biased as it's one of the wooden coasters I've ridden the most as it's 15 minutes from me.

Fury 325

Fury 325 on 9/16