coasterferg

^I roll my eyes at a Sky Rocket II. I don't hate them and agree they are great rides. BUT, to me a Sky Rocket II feels like a "filler coaster". Something that is added in between big additions. By next summer, Worlds of Fun will not have added a coaster in ELEVEN years. After 11 years (or God-forbid, even LONGER ) I feel a Skyrocket II would be a disappointment. Skyrocket II's are good rides, but that's something that WoF should add after 5-7 years after a major coaster, but not after 11+ years. I'm hoping the park already considers that they have a shuttle coaster (the Boomer) and go with something more substantial. Hoping, but not holding my breath, haha.

Unfortunately the news media knows that people respond to "supposed" mistreatment of animals, especially from corporations like Seaworld. The general public all think they know what is best for these animals, that they know more than the countless Seaworld employees who literally studied these animals, spent years of their lives in college to earn marine biology degrees, have rescued 100s of animals, etc. It's the news equivalent of clickbait, and unfortunately it works. My sister and her husband both worked at Seaworld as animal care specialists for years. Let me tell you, it is not an easy job. Animals don't take holidays off. Animals also don't care what time of the day it is when they need care. So you have to give up 1/2 of your holidays and can be called in to work at 2:00am. Also, the pay is not great...at all. I was shocked when I glimpsed my sister's paycheck. These people work with these animals because they LOVE them, not for the money. So it's absurd to think that the animals are mistreated.

Looks like a fun addition. My only complaint with rides like these is why the face-to-face seating??? Perhaps it's the introvert in me, but I don't want to be staring right at strangers when I go on rides, lol.

I hope Firehawk doesn't get scrapped. I thought it and Batwing were good rides. Good, not great. Definitely unique and I love that flying loop. Nighthawk on the other hand...oof. You can tell it's the prototype...ouch. It would be interesting if they could somehow save the ride and reconfigure it. We all know maintenance and capacity were two big factors in it being removed. If somehow those wacky trains could be improved I think it would be a good coaster for Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair or Michigan's adventure. Maybe get rid of the dual loading station and change the trains to have simple pull-down vest type OTSR's like the B&M flyers and they could fly again somewhere else. Wishful thinking I'm sure...

I love it! It's unique. It's creative. It's record-breaking. It's massive. If you ask me there is not much to complain about, maybe the silly name I'm excited for the new innovations that have come out in the last couple of years. For a while it seemed like all the new, creative rides were being sent Asia and Dubai, so it's awesome to see more American parks take some chances on some new concepts. Is it a bit of risk? Of course! But so was RMC taking over the Texas Giant and look how that worked out! This is the creativity I hope to see more of from other parks and manufacturers! Does anyone know what the trains look like? Based on the layout, when I originally watched the video, I was envisioning short trains like S&S is known for. It also has sort of a Takabisha type feel to it so I didn't think it would or could have too long of trains... Anyway, awesome job, Kennywood!!!!!

How about Iron Rattler and Wonder Woman at SF Fiesta Texas? Hard to beat TWO RMC's!

Haha, yes I am. My grandfather loves to tinker with carpentry so he was happy to make me it. I think it has enough space for a shot glass from all the USA parks. Once I start going international I will ask him to make another shelf!

About a decade ago I started collecting shot glasses from the parks I visit. My grandfather built me this awesome shelf to display them.

So as a roller coaster and amusement park ride lover, I grew up building them out of k'nex as a kid of the 90's. My favorite creation had to be the Octopus. I was so proud of myself for coming up with this working model which, and while I'm obviously biased , I think this is the most accurate k'nex Octopus I've seen. A few years ago my parents brough me ALL my old k'nex toys, including the base for the Octopus which was still intact. So I just has to rebuild the arms and the tubs and viola! I thought I'd share, hopefully some of you get a kick out of it.

A little early Spring Viper action.

Questions for you DL experts... I recently bought a "value-day" ticket with idea of going to Disneyland on next Monday the 16th. However, I just found out the Matterhorn is closing on the 16th for a week of refurbishment. Thus, I'm considering changing my ticket to Sunday the 15th so I can get my rides on this historic coaster. How bad would the crowds be on a Sunday? My thoughts were to go to the park on Sunday afternoon and stay til closing at midnight, with the hope that park weekend crowds would die down drastically on Sunday evening, especially late into the night. Thoughts? THANKS!

I'll be there a week from today! Holding out light hope for a soft open but obviously not going to get my hopes up. Either way should be a fun 4 days, my first trip to the LA parks!

Sweet report! Just this past weekend I did a very similar trip. We called it our NebrIowaSota trip. We left Lincoln, NE on Saturday afternoon, hit up Arnolds Park on Saturday night, then Valleyfair and MOA on Sunday and Adventureland on Monday and got home late Monday afternoon. We were planning on hitting up the Iowa State fair and Fun Plex in Omaha too but we decided it was better to end our trip with Monster than a Zyklon or a standard Wild Mouse so we skipped those. Plus I already had the Fun Plex credit. Ended up riding 17 coasters in total. I feel you on the driving too, the flat parts of Iowa are pretty brutal to drive through. I am a bad coaster enthusiast, I have never even heard of Como Town or that they had a coaster! Otherwise we totally would've hit it up to get a new credit as well. Monster at Adventureland was awesome. That first drop...oh my! And if you sat in the back left seat, you got thrown all over the place. Loved it, it was my favorite coaster of the trip. Tornado was a bit rougher than I remember, maybe I'm just getting old. Outlaw is still a great coaster that packs a lot of punch in an undersized ride. Again, nice report!

I love Lakeside, I much prefer it over Elitch's. It does definitely have an "agedness" to it I find it to be part of the charm. Unless its changed the park is open til Midnight on the weekends so you can get a good 3-4 hours of quality dark time on the weekends and the park is beautiful. Here are a few night photos I took a few years ago.

AHHHH Santorini, those pictures brought back amazing memories. I was lucky enough to visit that island about 10 years ago, it's still one of my top 2 places on earth that I've been. Looks like you had a great time.

Wow those look great. Those Giant Discovery's are awesome, IMHO the best pendulum ride there is. I loved Black Widow at Kennywood.

Fixed that for you True, but I wouldn't consider "more intense than..." to be any sort of nit pick

This is so exciting. SDC is really making name for itself for being one of, if not the best park in the middle America. Whatever it is, I hope it is a longer ride, a hyper would be awesome. If there was one, nit-picky complaint that could be made about SDC's coasters it's that they tend to be a bit short.

Glad you had a good time. I went to KD and BGW for the first time a couple of years ago. Surprised you didn't like I305. Did you get any grey-out on the turnaround? That's what my buddy and I really loved. I too went to these two parks when they were dead and we rode I305 11 times I believe. I'm also surprised you thought Avalanche was rough. I actually really liked it because I loved the leaning-back padded train cars. I thought it was like riding a coaster while sitting in a recliner . Oh well to each their own. BGW is awesome. Busch parks are known for quality over quantity and BGW is no exception. I too thought Alpengeist was one of the most intense coasters I have ever been on. After I rode it may have been the only time in my life where I wasn't sure if I would be able to ride it over and over not because it was bad or painful, just INTENSE. I felt like I needed a rest after each ride! Griffon was amazing too. I love the extra wide trains. If you are lucky enough to get the front row, one of the outside seats, if feels and looks like you are going to plow ride into the ground because the track is so far away. Ahh...I miss BGW, it makes me wax poetic...

look great! I especially like how all the food seems to be very reasonably priced as well!

I have a couple of ideas for some good flat rides but I don't want to post it because I don't want someone to steal it . I'll just say I'm holding out for a job at a flat ride manufacturer.

I hope they figure out the opening day soon. Since I live somewhat close I may actually geek out, brave the crowds and attend an major coaster opening day. Living in no-mans land I don't get that chance very often so I would like to take it.

I'm hoping the recent additions at Adventureland and Silver Dollar City (as well next year's rumor for SDC) will spur WOF to finally add a coaster. Fingers crossed

I too am confused by this. Sizzlers and Scramblers are very popular at fairs in my area and I have probably been on 25+ different ones in my lifetime. Unless the entire outer wall of seat gave way I have no idea how you could fly out. There is no up and down motion, the only force you experience is directed at the outer wall. It's the type of ride where you don't even need to hang on as long as you're sitting normally. Sad that this happened.

If the rumors are true about Silver Dollar City let's hope it will spur WOF to get off their haunches and start making some bigger investments. If WOF wasn't already, it may be set to become the 3rd best park in Missouri after SDC and SFSL...