ice1972

Its definitely because Great Escape doesn't have a FP system......has to be: So our home park is SFNE and we went with the DE membership this year - well we upgraded shortly after the season started.....during some sale....anyway - usually we get our STL passes at the FP office and they actually scan your membership card and then the system prints the two passes which you declare your ride and they write it on the pass and initial it...... However, twice this year we went when the weather was junk - cloudy and off and on rain - so the crowd was very low.....they closed the FP office and put a sign on the door that said to go to member services to get your STL passes.....so when we went up there they gave us what you're talking about.....a pass for any ride for up to 4 people that expires at the end of the 2018 season....the difference was that member services isn't set up to do flash pass stuff so they just handed out these cards.....it was good inside knowledge into how the STL passes and FP are tied together.....I took advantage of this to drive the 20 min up to the park during rainy periods and secured several more of those passes.....its like gold....didn't stay - just left to save for another day

Quick TR.....we did water first today arriving around 12:30....temp was struggling to get 80 and pretty dry so the crowd was pleasantly light....spent 4.5 hrs riding whatever we wanted....refreshing.... Then left water and changed and headed for some rides....Superman is still running red train only....such a bummer....crowd was noticeably increased since when we entered....but my sweet ass passes I secured earlier trips combined with my diamond elite skip the line passes served us well to get on supe.....they were turning fools away at the locker room but we showed our passes and they let us by....waited 4 cycles and boarded car 5 front row....easily the best ride I’ve had this season on Supe....floater was tremendous and the ejector on hill 3 was amazing as usual....running great Headed over to WC as my 8-yr old decided this was his man up trip.....he’s been eligible for WC since last year but today he finally was ready....used sweet skip the line passes to skip the 1 hour line and boarded in 15 min....not gonna lie - even with the seat belt and the restraint all the way down I still felt like it wasn’t enough....we departed the station and headed up the hill....he was nervous but as we rolled over the hill and gently fell into the drop and first overbank he was already screaming “Ahhhhhh I love this ride!!!!!”.....luckily the slow mo barrel rolls didn’t deposit him on the ground below lol.....he came off loving it Then we left and found Goliath stuck like A truck in the muck.....lol

Sorry not sure why it’s double posted......

^Interesting.....it was so perfectly lined up with the platform and stairs I wonder if it was the whole catch and lower thing.....any number of reasons why computer might do that I’m sure.....when I watched a couple Cycles today Goliath definitely seemed slow on the boomerang section coming back....like really slow....

^Interesting.....it was so perfectly lined up with the platform and stairs I wonder if it was the whole catch and lower thing.....any number of reasons why computer might do that I’m sure.....when I watched a couple Cycles today Goliath definitely seemed slow on the boomerang section coming back....like really slow....

Well Goliath was running today.....was.....they’re currently evacuating it....it’s stuck right below the second tower....unsure why but appears at least the ride stopped at a place they designed it to do this - right over platform with stair access....not sure if it was on its way up or coming down Poor Goliath...

^Yikes.....if I got there and wait times were that long I’d turn around.....no way....I also live 25 min away so....feel bad for the folks who plan for a one day visit and have to put up with that....stinks....are they running the Labor Day sale yet? We found a few years ago when we first bought our passes that during the sale tons of people show up to activate....like that whole area between the bridge and security and then the gate is a nightmare of humanity

Patty Cakes!!!! Lol......

If you’re locked in to your days I’d suggest getting there early obviously......if you’re a Diamond member reserve your spot in the Diamond lot now....you won’t be able to after like midnight the previous day.....then once you’re in head to the DC section pronto....get in a couple rides on Supe then after head over to the north section so you can ride the epic RMC Wicked Cyclone.....do it a couple times then head over to Gotham City to get in Riddler, Joner, and Batman....don’t forget Sky Screamer over by Wicked Cyclone before you head to Gotham City....if you’re into sky screamers.....I’m not.....if you can get these rides in before noon you’re having a great day...enjoy

This is a shot in the dark but I’m wondering who here - maybe Robb himself - remembers the evolution of SFDK as a random interesting animal park in Redwood City CA......before it shut down and moved to Vallejo....even before that Vallejo park was Six Flags....I remember many trips to Redwood City to see this park and then they added the water slides....that was great...Robb? Would be great if they brought back the hot water skiing chicks that were a staple of the old Redwood City Park.....so great

On RR I especially like the first half and the part where you are flying by the station on your side before heading into that loop......then theres that leg chopper as the train does that clockwise roll.....its really good with those new restraints for sure....I always feel like theres nothing holding me in and theres nothing to grab on to lol

Good callout. Yeah, it's a 2019 addition. I just mentioned it as a rebuttal to those saying the climate prevented it. If Wonderland right across the lake can do it, Darien Lake can too. The real question was about the coasters - doesn't Wonderland run a holiday event but without the coasters? For me if SFNE wasn't running the coasters the event would have been a one and done sort of thing.....but we went four times....anybody can throw up decorations and hold a holiday event

FYI.....riding Batman at SFNE in Low 20’s without getting off was transcendent.....hahaahahaha....what a contrast to the drippy ride in mid August.....

FYI.....riding Batman at SFNE in Low 20’s without getting off was transcendent.....hahaahahaha....what a contrast to the drippy ride in mid August.....

My understanding is that with a wheel change and heated stations the coasters can run fine.....they don’t run as fast as they do in the warm weather but can still run........ Last December at SFNE they were running Batman, RR (Mind Eraser), Joker, and Thunderbolt.....they were warming Thunderbolt from belownin the station and pretty sure they were doing same for Batman.....they all ran fine....we went several times in mid 20’s to low 20’s temps....it snowed a few times in December too....they had a really nice HITP at SFNE....a real hit from what I’ve seen.....Batman even trimmed itself at the bottom of the second loop....and the lift hill on Thunderbolt failed a few times but restarted fine....they said that was due to the colder temps but once it got to the top it was fine.... What is worriesome at DL again is the proximity to source cold air out of Canada....SFNE cut HITP short due to temps in the single digits.....that’s not normal in Agawam ever but it’s more normal at DL if still slightly unusual....if SF is seeing good performance out of the new memberships and monthly cash flow is performing then they may just say F it....let’s do it

According to Weather-US & Best Places, average annual snowfall in Buffalo is 93.4 inches, while Springfield is 42 inches. Both are above the US average of 26 inches a year, but Buffalo is not casually comparable to Springfield just because both are in the Northeast and get snow. Six Flags can try a holiday event if it wants, but I wouldn't drive out to the park during the winter unless the weather is unusually mild, and I wouldn't count on it. Yup......there is a vast spread of winter weather in the northeast.....something I did not know until I moved here

I didn't say that Springfield MA was a tropical paradise - I did say the December climates are different and the record shows it....DL is closer to the source region for cold air - Canada......and its proximity to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario make it bullseye for any lake effect snow accompanying those cold air blasts...... Springfield MA or Agawam really is right on the CT River and is south and east of DL......cold air intrusion from Canada is easily mitigated over that distance and the river valley acts as a sort of insulator....average snow in Dec in Springfield is just 7.4" compared to 27.4" in Buffalo..... I mean DL can do whatever it wants and SF may try to do HITP there but if it was me I wouldn't do it - maybe do TITP instead lol........

lol.....poor Batman.....I actually do like it

They won't do it this year, but it's not at all out of the realm of possibity in the future. They did HITP at SFNE last year and are starting it at GAm this year. Not sure about that....the climates are very different - different enough where SFNE can get away with HITP I think but DL no so much.....SFNE is our home park and we loved HITP this year but it was cut short by like a week due to an extreme cold snap in late December.....thats unusual down here as we can see XMAS temps easily into the 50's and even 60's.....I would think what we saw at SFNE last December is more typical of that area where DL is......

This all day and all night......regarding available space for the future does the park own any land currently that is not yet developed? Would they ever expand part of the existing parking lot? I know they need those spaces when it’s busy but maybe build a parking structure.....

Ya they need to start using the mobile app in a better way with or without a rewards program....its assinine that I have to stop in at Flash Pass center to get those dumb paper STL passes and its equally assinine how you have to declare your ride and that it expires after the day.....I've always said they need to just link up that feature on the app and then have scanners at every ride.....once you use the STL pass its deactivated on the app and you can't use it again....implementing this would make it easy to tie in the rewards all into the same system......but they would need an upgrade in equipment and software for that - honestly not sure how they can offer this program without system upgrades They need the wait times on the app to be more accurate too and available away from the park.....anybody notice how when your not there the wait times don't show up? lol.....they want you to go to the park before they'll let you see the wait times

Ya figured as much. I saw that rewards program announcement too in that email.....looks like they're rolling it out as a test now and then will go live with it next season......I don't really care much about discounts cuz we don't buy stuff really at the park - we already have the dining passes so our visits are essentially free - but offering skip the line passes as a reward would be good.....

Ya I got an email today that SFNE is announcing on 8/30.....they play it up line it’s amazing but I don’t expect anything as big as HQ:S from last year.....they did dismantle Crime Wave but the footprint isn’t huge for anything epic IMO.....and I’ve been told Crime Wave is coming back.....who knows really

^The evolution of the restraints on Superman are probably subject to local regulation more than anything else due to the 2004 incident.....it’s a bummer....IDK they can’t use a restraint like wicked cyclone....those are very comfortable

Last few rides on Superman were on red train - we all know that blue train is idle - generally in car 4 or 5....I like to be close to the train center of gravity so I’m not getting held back toward the front or yanked over in the back....question is what’s making the train rattle and chatter so much in the spaghetti bowl? Is the fron or back better for that?.....lots of lateral back and forth shimmy especially as you transition out of the first helix into the second one as you go between track towers and under some track.....very distracting