AndrewA86

Love it.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Right. I want to relax in traffic. I wonder how much it would be to rent a helicopter??? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

LA Traffic is worse during the week days rush hour traffic. It may take 90-120 minutes to go from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica, which should take like 15 minutes top. On the weekends, you get some stop and go traffic, but you can generally get around. It may take like 60 minutes to go 30 miles. Traffic is generally worse as the day goes on during the weekend. The Rose Bowl will be a challenge to get in and out of. The traffic & Parking will be a challenge. You also have the rose bowl parade which is a huge deal as well. You have option to get in and out of the Knott's area. Six Flags Magic Mountain is easy to get in and out of. On the last night I would stay as close to LAX as possible. A lot of construction is happening at LAX and if it is busy it could take 30 minutes just to get dropped off. Your other problem as people have discuss is how busy the parks will be. Knott's is always busy, but during the holidays it just increases. Six Flags Magic Mountain hit capacity last year on the 30th. That means like 2.5-3 hour wait for X2. You go during a non-peak time and X2 is a walk on. I don't think this year will be any different and if West Coast Racers opens in November it will just add to it. Plan to buy Fast Lane and Fast Passes as you will need these. Ok based on what you said maybe I’ll just fly out of Bob Hope. I know it will be busy at the parks but I just want somewhere to go during my Christmas break from school, and I’m planning on going to Florida for spring. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes I definitely am getting those. I do it for every new park I visit. I’ll be there on weekdays so I hope the parks aren’t near capacity... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actually I do, because if there’s a reason that trumps why I don’t want to I’d like to hear it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow, interesting. I just don’t want to actually drive in the traffic. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I know it will be expensive, if that’s what you’re getting at.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey all, I’m planning a trip to So. Cal for New Years. The plan is to spend 2 days at Knott’s and SFMM each, and go to the rose bowl. I think I have a solid game plan but if I’m overlooking something I’d like to know. I’m planning on flying into John Wayne on the 29th and spending the 30th and 31st at Knott’s , rose bowl on the 1st, and then Magic mountain on the 2nd and 3rd. Fly back on the 4th from LAX. I’m planning on using Uber to get around. I’ve heard of LA traffic my whole life and have no desire to rent a car and drive in it. But if you can think of a reason why I should I’d like to hear it. And I’d also like any recommendations on places to stay if you have any. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My opinion changes all the time and by the time I'm done with this it will probably change a again, but what the hell.. 1. Steel Vengeance- by a huge margin. In a class all by itself. 2. Maverick 3. Millennium Force 4. Top Thrill Dragster 5. Raptor 6. Valraven 7. Gatekeeper 8. Rougarou 9. Gemini (Mean Streak) 10. Wicked Twister 11. Blue Streak (Disaster Transport) (Wildcat) 12. Magnum XL 200 13. Cedar Creek Mine Ride 14. Iron Dragon 15. Corkscrew (Mantis)

Are we sure Paddlewheel Excursions is coming back? All I read was that it will be a new river ride. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m really looking forward to Orion! I’d much rather have a shorter ride that is relentless from start to finish than a ride that gets noticeably slower at the end. And it looks like this is exactly what Orion is! I love Fury, but I think it would be better without the helix. Looks like there are some really good airtime moments too and the turnaround looks like it could be a very forceful element. So yeah I’m psyched for this! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Actually any day where the park is only open till 8 those last 2 weeks of August are some of the lightest days of the season for in terms of crowds. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A 4D free spin could definitely fit. But I highly doubt CP would add a coaster that’s highly cloned. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you read my initial comments you would see that my expectations were quite low. Of course I did not expect I305 (haven't been on Skyrush) or Maverick. But I expected better than Cheetah Hunt, or Rougarou, or Sky Rocket at Kennywood. I couldn't care less about the majority of theme park guests. Personally I will always judge parks, rides, manufacturers, etc.. based on the same criteria. I wasn't bitter, or disappointed that I made the trip or anything. Just think CS missed the bullseye, or the whole target for that matter...

That's not exactly how they were promoting it. https://www.carowinds.com/media-center/083018-carowinds-makes-bold-strike-with-biggest-investment-to-date From the article... "Copperhead Strike simulates the harrowing chase of getaway cars racing through rolling farmland, sending riders on two launches through a relentless winding ride over half a mile of steel." "in this innovative ride, the coaster dynamics are carefully crafted to offer a thrilling and intense low-to-the-ground experience." "They then go into a lightning fast launch to a 360° loop, the second of five inversions, moving into a series of near-miss twists, turns and flips. Without slowing down, the ride launches a second time to accelerate into a memorable hang time loop, leaving passengers breathless and wondering which way is up." They use the words: relentless, thrilling, intense, lightning fast, and breathless. So it sounds like they were trying to sell us on a thrill/intense ride to me

Yeah CS is definitely #4 in the park because of the huge drop off. And when I go back I'll ride it as long as the line isn't longer than 15 min. I'm just really curious as to what the park was trying to accomplish with CS. Was it intended to be a high thrill coaster or a mild coaster? Seems to me it was the former. If true IMO it's not a good addition.

No lines. At it's busiest it was a station wait. The longest I waited all day was 20 min for Afterburn. Intimidator was walk on and Fury was about 10 min up until the last couple hours where it was walk on.

Cheetah hunt is pretty mild but seemed to be a lot faster than CS. I’m not exactly sure how fast either is but CH seemed a lot faster. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think Cheetah Hunt sh!ts on Copperhead. I prefer Sky Rocket at Kennywood over it as well..

Was at Carowinds today. It wasn’t my first time at the park so I won’t give a big park review. Overall I love the park. Fury is unbelievable and was running better than my last visit which was a colder April day last year. Still love Intimidator and Afterburn. But the new hotness known as Copperhead Strike was pretty disappointing. I went in with really low expectations based on some people saying it was slow and some others even calling it a family coaster. Without the inversions it pretty much is a family coaster. Yes it had some nice hang time because you of how slow you went through some of the inversions but overall I thought it felt a lot slower than 50mph. The launches are not all that great and the second one really isn’t noticeable at all. This coaster was pretty expensive, right? I feel like the park could have got the same kind of forceless slow boring ride for a lot less. One thing I did really like was the restraints. I wish other manufacturers could follow suit in that regard. I guess this filled a need in Carowinds’ lineup with a launch coaster. Now I would argue that the park needs a good launch coaster... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fury 325 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was there 2 days and since there were no lines (except Maxx Force) the first day was all coasters and I was planning on doing the flats and water rides the next day. Well the next day the park basically ended up being closed for weather all day. I was next in line twice for the log flume, or boat flume, the yankee something, and it closed for weather. But yeah I’ll definitely be back. This is a park I’ll hit every other year if not every year. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah operations were absolutely fantastic at every ride except Viper. It was kind of strange, it didn't seem like a light day, the parking lot was almost full, but the lines were very short and in some cases non existant. The only ride I really waited for on the whole trip was Maxx Force, and the wasn't even half an hour... I was there for 2 days and I rope dropped Superman on the 2nd day so I didn't really experience how the operations were on that one.

I’m not sure how accurate the app is. I certainly don’t remember air time like that while riding. I had 2 rides and I thought that was the better reading from the app. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This week I finally made my way to Six Flags Great America. Ever since I was in grade school this has been a huge bucket list park for me because I had a roller coaster book that featured American Eagle (as the fastest wooden roller coaster in the world back then... early 90's) and back then I vouched that I would ride every coaster featured in that book. For the record I have done 6 of them: Magnum XL 200, Mean Streak, The Beast, American Eagle, Loch Ness Monster, and Steel Phantom (with the inversions). I have 4 I still need to do: Screamin Eagle, Phoenix, Coney Island Cyclone, and Texas Giant. Obviously Texas Giant has been RMC'd, but when I eventually get on that I'm counting it anyway... When planning this trip I originally wanted to hit Indiana Beach on the way because it's kind of on the way from Detroit. Not really, but it's in the same general direction. So I figured I could go there for a few hours, then drive up to Great America, check in to the hotel, and have maybe 2 hours and then the full day the next day. Unfortunately rain was in the forecast for Indiana Beach yesterday so I went straight to Great America and that ended up being a good thing. This wasn't my first time in Chicagoland but it was my first time driving in Chicagoland and knowing that traffic is horrible I asked what would be a better route up to the park, the tri state tollroad or taking 90 right through Chicago. Nobody said 90, so the toll road it was. If that's faster with less traffic than 90 then 90 is a freaking parking lot because the toll road was jammed for about an hour. It started well south of the Airport and didn't breakup until just after the Airport. So anyway, when I first got on the tollway it was obvious that the last lane was moving much faster than the first 4. So I am able to maneuver into that last lane (which was not an easy task) and I'm feeling pretty damn good about myself. Then I see a sign that says "pay toll 2 miles ahead, cash exit to the right"... WTF!!! All that work I did to get in a lane that is actually moving and now I have to maneuver myself to where I was.. And of course I couldn't get back in the fast lane because every few miles or so I had to exit to to pay the toll. I ended up getting to the park with a ton of time to spare so no harm no foul. My first impressions of the park were that it was a lot nicer than I was expecting. I love how the double decker carousel and the pond greets people as they walk in. First ride was Whizzer. It was my first time on one of these Jumbo Jet style coasters and I really liked it for what it was. I love how you sit down and stretch your legs out. It's like sitting at home with your feet up but on a coaster! It was more forceful than I thought it would be, and I like how it made it's way through the trees. You couldn't really see which element was coming up and that made it a very good ride. Next ride was Raging Bull and I was going into this with pretty low expectations because it seems like this is everyones least favorite B&M hyper. I would agree with that but the ride was a lot better than I was expecting. In the back I thought the air time was good, especially on the drop, and overall it was a reasonably intense and smooth ride. X Flight was next and again my expectations were pretty low, but I really enjoyed this ride. The wing over drop is great, and the near miss elements are great too. Definitely my 4th favorite wing coaster after Thunderbird, Gatekeeper, and Wild Eagle, but still a good, fun ride. Next was Goliath and again following the trend, even though this is an RMC, a lot of people consider this to be one of, if not the weakest RMC, so my expectations were on the lower side. HOLY F------- SH!T!!!!! This ride is unreal! The first drop is wonderful, you're definitely out of your seat on it. All the turns and inversions are taken at a relentless pace. Something you would expect from RMC. But it was this element that stole the show! This zero-G stall is absolutely amazing! It obviously gives great hang time, but then when it flips you right side up your still out of your seat and with the track going under some of the structure it creates a great hand chopper moment too! An absolutely amazing element and personally my favorite element on any coaster. When I hit this brake run I had a new #1 wooden coaster!!! I think this is better than Lightning Rod. It also has a single rider line so I had plenty of rides on it! So my next coaster will always be a special coaster for me, because it is my 100th coaster! And I couldn't think of a better coaster to take that on than the new Maxx Force! The launch wasn't as powerful as I was expecting, but still an incredible experience. The rest of the ride is absolutely relentless and exceeded my expectations. So there was a trade off. The launch didn't quite live up to my expectations, but the rest definitely exceeded them. Overall a great coaster that will rank pretty high for me! American Eagle was next and even though it was featured in that book that I had my expectations were not that high for this. I was expecting an old wood coaster with a lot of bumps, but it was quite smooth and overall a very enjoyable ride. There are some trims that really kill the pacing of the ride, but overall it really exceeded my expectations! Next I made my way over to v2 Vertical Velocity and I prefer Wicked Twister to this but this is still an incredible experience. Joker really stole the show! Obviously it's a different experience every time because of how many times you are and are not able to flip. I loved this coaster because of how disorienting it is. And the single rider line made it easy to ride over and over again! Batman was next and I had already been on the one at Great Adventure and was not impressed with that one. But this one was extremely impressive. So much so that it took the #1 invert spot away from Raptor! This ride was so fast and forceful and had no line all day. Complete walk on. Didn't get any pics of Viper, but this was really another ride that exceeded my expectations. It was surprisingly smooth and really fun. Demon is my 3rd favorite Arrow looper. It was smooth, and I really enjoyed the inversion that starts under the rock structure. The next day I got on Superman and I am not a fan of flying coasters and my worst nightmare became a reality. I was on the first train of the day and we were stuck on the brake run for 10-15 minutes because the ride went down. Flying coasters are just too uncomfortable for me to enjoy. I also did the Dark Knight and there's not much to say, I've been on it before at Great Adventure. Overall this park was amazing! So many rides exceeded my expectations, and the park itself exceeded my expectations.