SLCHeadache

Six Flags America, from what I heard, had an atrocious reputation ten years ago, one that it doesn't deserve any more judging from my visits. Still not a full-day park - the StarFlyer is a step in the right direction, but the back of the park is still in need of at least a restroom and another ride.

1. What is the best park visit you had in 2017? Early May, Great Adventure was deserted, rides even up to Kingda Ka were walk-ons. 2. Have you ever traveled to a park with a specific ride in mind only for it to be closed all day? My first day at Magic Mountain was the day before Riddler's Revenge reopened. Volcano went down and never recovered for the night. Excalibur at Valleyfair was a close call. 3. GCI or Gravity Group? Pick one. Have yet to ride a Gravity Group woodie. GCI gets my vote. 4. How many different parks did you visit in 2017? 13 5. How many times did you visit your home park in 2017? I guess maybe 5 or 6 times. 6. What was the first RMC you rode? Twisted Colossus 7. Best view from the top of a lift? Tatsu. Fury 325 is a close second. 8. What new-for-2018 roller coaster are you most anticipating? Pick one. Steel Vengeance 9. RMC or Intamin? You can only choose one. Intamin 10. What was your favorite new-to-you ride of 2017? Intimidator 305 (2017 was my first time riding anything bigger than KD's woodies) 11. Money is no object. You can travel to any park in the world right now by snapping your fingers. Where are you going? Six Flags Magic Mountain. You didn't say the calendar would be magically rolled forward to the park's opening day. 12. Have you ever made out with someone in a queue line? Not going to be a problem any time soon. 13. What is the last coaster that changed your top 10? Fury 325 14. Disney or Universal? My 2019 Florida plans all hinge on whether the new Harry Potter coaster is good enough. 15. When is the last time you witnessed someone puke at a park? Me: beer -> Verbolten -> 2 rides on Apollo's -> a trash can in the queue for Loch Ness Monster. Someone else: In line for Superman: Escape from Krypton. I've also seen Apollo's Chariot and Steel Force running empty trains to dry out after washing puke off. 16. How many new credits did you pick up in 2017? If you don't count, take your best guess... 121 (artificially inflated, since it was my first time visiting non-home parks, and I have every major Mid-Atlantic park except Kennywood and the boardwalks) 17. You're at Magic Mountain. You have a one hour ERT session on ONE coaster of your choice. You choose... Ninja. Can't get anything like it back home. Well, there's nothing like X2 on the East Coast either, but an hour of riding X2 might leave me the worse for wear, and even hanging on the brake run on Tatsu would take its toll after an hour of rides. 18. Name a coaster or ride that you passionately dislike. Verbolten. Not the worst, but my absolute least favorite. Awkward intensity and pacing (especially for a launch coaster), and terrible show building. Overall, the ride doesn't even measure up to Backlot, and is a huge downgrade from the Big Bad Wolf, if fellow suspended Ninja was even half as good and something to go by. 19. What is the most amount of money you've spent on a Fast Pass? $200-300, can't remember, for a round of FL+s for me and my siblings at Carowinds. 20. Skyscreamers or Windseekers? SkyScreamers. That's one thing Six Flags America has over Kings Dominion. 21. What is your most recent B&M credit? Fury 325 22. Best adult beverage at a theme park? (under 21: whats your favorite beverage you can only get at a park?) I guess the boysenberry lager at Knott's. 23. Most irritating coaster nickname/abbreviation? WiCy. Makes me think of Icy Hot. 24. Butterbeer or Dole Whip? Never had either, but Butterbeer sounds better to me. 25. Favorite steel coaster *under* 100 feet? Mind Bender (SFoG) 26. What's the best bathroom at your home park? I don't really pay attention... 27. Nighttime ERT on Lightning Rod or all-you-can-eat Cinnamon Bread? You can only choose one. Lightning Rod ERT. I'm trying to watch my weight. 28. If it were in your power, what coaster would you relocate to Knoebels? The late Wild Mouse from Blackpool, rebuilding what is necessary (taking a Phoenix-like project and turning it into a Flying Turns-like project). Failing that, return an old Schwarzkopf to the Mid-Atlantic - BGW's former Glissade, KD's former King Kobra, or Dorney's former Laser. 29. What is the last thing you remember eating in a theme park? Cinnabon 30. Your favorite coaster got equipped with on board audio x Spotify. What's your hype track? (I decline) 31. Name the most disappointing ride you took in 2017. Steel Force fell short of Wild Thing. I will say Steel Force has a better view than Wild Thing. 32. Airtime hill or Zero G Roll? Airtime hill - unless that zero-G delivers some hangtime. 33. What is your favorite coaster/ride built before 1970? Phoenix. If not counting relocations, then Timber Mountain Log Ride. 34. What's worse - splashed by malaria lake flume water or dripped on by chain lift grease? Chain lift grease 35. Name an Intamin coaster on your bucketlist! Millennium Force 36. You just won a 3 day trip with hotel and airfare included. The catch is you have to choose between Disneyworld or Cedar Point. Which do you choose and why? Cedar Point. Disney demands at least five days since I have never visited. 37. Floater or Ejector? Ejector, hands down. (Hands up?) 38. What was your worst park experience of 2017? The aforementioned vomiting from question 15 (except for the rides on Apollo's). 39. Name your favorite coaster under 41 feet tall. I guess Black Diamond at Knoebels. 40. End your post with an aerial shot of one of your top 5 coasters. (I decline)

Blah on the name changes, except Racer 75. A nod to, while staying distinct, from Kings Island's Racer. And they're distinguishing their mouse coaster from Carowinds's mouse coaster which is not even the same model (KD's is the large park layout while Carowinds's is the compact layout)

Gemini at CP might surprise you.. I liked it a LOT (way more than I was expecting, and we re-rode it multiple times). It makes my top 20 (at 20, but it's there) Seeing as Rebel Yell and Excalibur are sitting in the 60s on my list (out of 110), I'm doubtful Gemini will make it anywhere above the 40s. Batman is one of my yardstick coasters, and that sits around 35. I'm hoping that the rumblings of a B&M for 2019 means Canada's Wonderland will have an off year as US enthusiasts will be waiting for that. I could have sworn I saw pictures of an empty Millennium Force station from last year as enthusiasts were holding out for Steel Vengeance to be ready instead of hitting Cedar Point during an off year.

Seeing the competition lose rides for smaller children, maybe KD weren't fools to go with three kiddie flats and the Pre-K Pass for 2017. Pretty sure Battle for Eire VR is optional, though. We quite enjoyed our time at BGW last summer. One day soon, SDC will get rid of Fire in the Hole or Flooded Mine, will anyone claim it's because HFE is floundering. DarKastle's was one and enough for us,. However, Verbolten, Invadr, and Tempesto were the longest lines in the park. All from the failing folks running the place. Pretty dmn solid adds to me. Those three rides all have lower capacity than the B&Ms and Nessie. Tempesto in particular has awful capacity, only worsened by the clunky restraints.

Tentative plans. Memorial Day: Canada's Wonderland Major summer trip: Cedar Point / Kings Island Might as well cross this over with the coaster poll thread. Here's where I expect new credits to place in my list (very high or very low): Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Millennium Force, Twisted Timbers: Top 10 Leviathan, Vortex (CW), Behemoth, Magnum XL-200, Mystic Timbers: Top 20 Corkscrew, Dragon Fire, Flight Deck, Time Warp, Bat (CW): Bottom 10

Fine, I admit dead last is a bit of an overstatement of my feelings for Verbolten, but I still think it's BGW's weakest coaster, and Tempesto is already pretty far down my list. It's godawful for $50 million, and I rank it only barely above the mice. It seems I rank gimmick coasters as a whole pretty poorly. This puts Mind Eraser (SFA) into my bottom five. I've actually had an enjoyable ride once or twice on Mind Eraser, which is more than I can say about Hurler and Green Lantern SFMM. I've corrected my ballot.

Sad to see DarKastle go. I found it to be on par with Six Flags's Justice League dark rides and better than Knott's Voyage to the Iron Reef.

My top 20 after a satisfactory first draft of the list: Intimidator 305 Fury 325 El Toro Phoenix Tatsu GhostRider Storm Runner Twisted Colossus Afterburn Apollo's Chariot Bizarro X2 Silver Bullet Renegade Fahrenheit Nitro Skyrush Alpengeist Mind Bender Flying Turns And my bottom 5: Corkscrew (VF) Flying Cobras Hurler Green Lantern (SFMM) Verbolten Omissions spotted: If we're counting mice, why aren't we counting the Arrow mice (CGA, MiA, and VF)?

Wouldn’t it be too similar to Possessed? Though you could have asked that about Stinger in the first place. Hey, La Ronde has two full-circuit inverted coasters and Six Flags New England has two boomerangs literally next to each other. Anything is possible lol La Ronde's SLC and SFNE's giant boomerang were relocations like Stinger, weren't they? I'd think they'd be less likely to buy a new ride too much like an existing one.

Wouldn’t it be too similar to Possessed? Though you could have asked that about Stinger in the first place.

I would actually rather not list kiddie coasters as to not encourage enthusiasts behavior to go ride them. Seriously, what is even the point of listing such coasters at Cedar Point on a ballot other than giving self-entitled bragging rights that anyone outside of the coaster geekdom world would care about? This isn't a "coaster credits" list, it's a poll to determine the best coasters in the world, which two kiddies at Cedar Point are not going to be part of. absolutely a fair point. although the Junior coasters, such as the Woodstock Express at KD was actually among our favorite at that park (way better than Grizzly and Hurler, and we even liked it better than Rebel Yell for a woodie).. so I picked a bad example using CP's two Kiddies but for me, I would rank KD's Woodstock in my list, if it were an option. as noted tho, you absolutely have a fair point to not include the kiddie coasters. Seconding this. Pepsi Orange Streak is one of my favorite Minnesota coasters, and Jaguar at Knott's isn't too bad. Both may be junior coasters, but they're custom layout junior coasters. Joker Funhouse at SFOG is a custom kiddie and I would absolutely include it in a ranking. Off-the-shelf kiddies, however, I won't bother ranking.

Among parks I've visited: Six Flags: Over Georgia wins on atmosphere. Magic Mountain wins on coasters. Great Adventure wins on flats and operations. Cedar Fair: Knott's wins on atmosphere. Kings Dominion wins on coasters and operations. Valleyfair just edges out Dorney on flats. SeaWorld: Only visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Can't do a comparison. Independent: Knoebels wins hands down. Not that Hersheypark isn't close, though.

Updating...Now with a vibrant new color scheme and plans for the next five years. Ridden in 2017 2018 plans 2019 plans 2020 plans 2021 plans 2022 plans US: Ninja (SFMM) Viper (SFMM) New Revolution X2 Fury 325 Tennessee Tornado Lightning Rod Coney Island Cyclone Superman (SFNE) Boulder Dash Phantom's Revenge Twisted Timbers (Project Madrid BGW if it's a coaster?) Mindbender (SFoG) Kumba SheiKra Mako Manta (Harry Potter and the Replacement for the Dragon Challenge?) Steel Vengeance Magnum XL-200 Millennium Force The Bat Vortex (KI) The Voyage Goliath (SFGAm) Whizzer Mr. Freeze Reverse Blast Outlaw Run Wildfire Time Traveler Mamba Prowler New Texas Giant Shockwave Superman Krypton Coaster Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster HangTime International: Leviathan Vortex (CW) Mindbender (Galaxyland) Superman El Ultimo Escape Smiler Th13teen Nemesis Vampire Colossus (Thorpe) Icon The Big One Dragon Khan Taron Steel Dragon 2000 Do-Dodonpa

Nobody? Looks like Six Flags America has joined the other parks affected by the cold, and made Saturday the 30th the last day of operation for the season.

Didn't know I'd open a can of worms here with the water brake...I only questioned Diamondback without water brakes, because I heard Griffon was only briefly open for BGW Christmas Town and thought the water brakes (or unusability of) were the reason.

To all those wanting to see Diamondback open in Winterfest: How would it even run? Doesn't it rely on splash brakes, unlike any other US B&M hyper?

Between El Toro being lovingly cared for and the B&Ms running in such sheer cold, I can forgive Great Adventure maintenance for Kingda Ka's vibration.

Might as well join in with my top non-coasters: Zumanjaro Timber Mountain Log Ride Escape from Pompeii Lex Luthor Mall of America's log flume The skyrides at Knoebels, Gadv, and BGW Calico Mine Ride Stratosfear

I'm in that category. This year was my first time riding coasters outside of my home park, so just take my current sig and swap Renegade and Flying Turns with Afterburn and Apollo's Chariot. Re: DoinItForTheFame, curious that Verbolten made your top list. It takes a close second to Green Lantern (SFMM) on my worst list. Cheesy and terrible show building, and made me vomit once. Not even the good kind of cheesy (Skull Mountain).

I'm surprised Cedar Point doesn't add Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (like Carowinds, Canada's Wonderland, King's Island and King's Dominion has) I believe Boo Blasters was a Paramount era addition to those parks. Cedar Fair only debranded it, it was originally Scooby-Doo IIRC.

Competition was a factor for sure. For years, there was a stable stand-off between BGW and KD, it was fairly well established that KD had more coasters but BGW was a nicer park. But then they reached a point that BGW had 3 B&Ms that were arguably better than anything at KD and KD had no B&Ms, and many were saying BGW was the better coaster park as well (some still do). If this had been allowed to stand, KD would be going the way of SFA by now. Even after adding Dominator in 2008 (at the expense of Hypersonic), there were times I expected to see tumbleweeds blowing across the empty asphalt in 2009. So they added I305 which was a huge step. I think that was part of a 5 year plan of improvements but went in the first year of it, so it's taking a while (including the loss of 2 coasters, although I'd argue that Hurler was lost in 2010 with the trim brake) to add another coaster even with a budget solution. I would argue that the loss of the Big Bad Wolf was another factor in KD catching up to BGW, and that KD had a stronger lineup from 2010-2016 between KD losing only dead weight and BGW adding subpar coasters. InvadR was a worthy addition, and caught KD completely off guard. Twisted Timbers will give KD the edge again and Project Madrid will have to be a coaster to compete.

Intimidator 305 - flung into an almost endless freefall that contrasts nicely with the rest of the ride focusing on powerful positive G's. Fahrenheit - bigger than many of the other beyond-vertical drops in the US, so the beyond-vertical moment really hits home. HangTime and the New Jersey Nickelodeon Takabisha Clone will be worthy challengers. Renegade - Can't argue with an S-curve drop. Honorable mention to InvadR for catching me completely off guard.

Re: GCI fix, Roar at SFA satisfies my GCI fix pretty well, I thought it was slightly smoother than Lightning Racer. Neither were objectionably rough. Not really "a ton of competition" so much as "one serious competitor". I don't think Hershey is close enough to steal away many Virginia residents. Maybe DC/Maryland like you said. KD was always far behind BGW until the 2008 season. Dominator caught them up, and the one-two punch of BGW losing the Big Bad Wolf and KD getting Intimidator 305 made KD the leader, though InvadR was a big gain for BGW. It all comes down to Project Madrid in 2019. About the only thing SFA has on either park is the included water park in the summer and the coaster lineup in the winter.

Re: market, I'd argue that KD captures some of the DC area market, if only because SFA doesn't step it up. Traffic on the Beltway is also enough to keep Northern Virginia residents going to KD over SFA. Re: vs. KI, the only thing the Cincinnati market has over the Richmond market is Beast, Bat, and Mystic Timbers. (Including BGW in the "Richmond market" to cover what KD is missing). In fact, I’d put KD+BGW up against CP and the only things CP would have over the two parks would be Top Thrill Dragster, Maverick, and Steel Vengeance.