swfan1988

Hi Everyone! I saw this rumor on reddit the other day, but now it has been confirmed by both Amusement Today and Ride Entertainment so here comes another guessing game! Ride Entertainment and Gerstlauer have announced that a ANOTHER (i.e. not Defiance) new Infinity Coaster is coming to the United States, with a projected opening of LATE 2022. They said that it will be fully announced at IAAPA next month. Here is the article from AT (source link: https://amusementtoday.com/2021/10/gerstlauer-to-build-one-of-a-kind-infinity-roller-coaster-in-the-united-states/) : STEVENSVILLE, Md. — Gerstlauer Amusement Rides, GmbH, a proud partner of Ride Entertainment, has signed an agreement to manufacture a one-of-a-kind, Infinity roller coaster for a soon-to-be-named customer in the United States. The attraction, which is scheduled to open in late 2022, will be formally announced at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando next month. “I am constantly amazed at how the team at Gerstlauer conquers unique challenges thrown their way,” said Ed Hiller, CEO and Founder of Ride Entertainment. “This new Infinity coaster will have guests racing to it in order to be the first to ride as it is being installed at a high-profile location.” Ride Entertainment’s world-renown Installation team will construct the ride for the client. “This project will once again showcase the ingenuity and creativity of Gerstlauer,” added Hiller. “In addition, our outstanding Installation team will be able to show why they are the gold standard of the attractions industry.” Couple thoughts: - I believe that is the same picture of the track being manufactured, that they included with the teaser of Defiance. So, no clues there. - They say "high-profile location", so obviously it's going Cedar Point... -They say "one-of-a-kind", but NOT "record breaking" so I'm guessing that it will have an original layout, but not actually break any records...so maybe not Cedar Point? - LATE 2022...hmmm...who would want to open a new one-of-a-kind coaster in a high-profile location late in a season...Six Flags? - We at least know for sure we won't have to wait too long for it! So let the guessing game begin! Personally, I think this might be going to another independent park (Holiday World, Alabama Adventure, and Silverwood, of course my home park cause why not, come immediately to mind), but with Six Flags okaying a B&M Dive coaster you never know these days what might get built where! 2022 is shaping up to be an interesting year for new coasters, makes me wonder what other announcements might come out of IAAPA!

At least they choose an original name...

The only two that I can think of are Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake and Cheetah at Wild Adventures. Blue Streak might be in a grey area though since it was closed for COVID in 2020 but I think officially went SBNO this year. Can't remember now on Cheetah, did that close this year or did it close after last season and they just got around to demoing it this year?

Hi Everyone! Here it is! The final TR from my big escape from the coaster desert...Dollywood! (plus a bonus theme park history nerd moment) Much like BGW, Dollywood has been on my A-List for a long time. It hasn't fascinated me in the way some of my other A-List parks have, but it's always been one that I've wanted to visit. And...when your flying across country for 6+ hours...what's another 5/6 hours of driving from Williamsburg to add another amazing park (plus the Smoky Mountains as a bonus). And...I have to say of all three parks I visited on my grand escape (Knoebels, BGW, and Dollywood)...I think that Dollywood was the one that surprised me the most. Going in I had a good idea of what to expect, but I wasn't as excited for it as Knoebels or BGW. I'm glad to say thought that I walked away very impressed, and I can see why so many people love this park! So...here we go again! Buckle in cause it's a bit of along one! Ahhh Dollywood....the park I've heard so much about. To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect with this park. I mean, I knew what the park's lineup was, it's layout, it's history, almost everything about it...but still I wasn't sure what I'd think of it. This was a park that I had heard so much about, and after BGW was easily an A-list park. So let's see if it lived up to it's reputation... Upon entering the park I made an executive decision to make a left and head up the hill towards Mystery Mine... ...which turned out to be simultaneously probably the best decision of the day, and a fatal mistake. When I made this decision I knew that it was probably a risky one, since I might be passing up a shot at Lightning Rod, but I subscribe to the strategy of hitting low capacity rides (jokes about LR's capacity aside) first. Little did I know that Dollywood posts the wait times for all of their rides on every wait time sign (Pro tip for anyone planning a visit!). When we reached Mystery Mine, Lightning Rod was already listed as "Closed for the Day"....wah wah wah.... While this was the upside of going to MM first, you'll find out about the mistake later... Anyways, back to Mystery Mine! After a 15 minute maintenance delay, we were off in the back seat! And...um...how do I put this? This ride was like Two-Face. On the one hand it is very well themed (for a regional theme park coaster), all the effects seemed to be all working, it has a solid finale, and it has an AWESOME theme song! Mystery, Mystery, Mineeeee!!! (Seriously, how come people don't talk about that theme song?) On the other hand, it's rough, had uncomfortable restraints, has a queue that floods (What's with that big puddle in the middle of the stairs?), and has an...uuhhh...interesting layout? I didn't notice the new section of track vs. the old, but it seemed like they made one less place for me to bang into the restraint (Whoo Hooo!) The whole ride seemed to shuffle a little (not terrible but noticeable), and the OTS restraints just made it plain uncomfortable. Giving this ride lap bars I think would help, but finale aside I thought the layout was kinda weak and felt like it was meandering around for the sake of meandering around. Perhaps the joke Mystery "Meh" is pretty accurate after all... After bouncing around like...I mean "making memories worth repeating" on Mystery Mine we made our way over to Thunderhead! (I know, I know you are probably screaming at the top of your lungs...) Now having not been to CGA, and passing on InvadR at BGW, this made Thunderhead my very first GCI! And...it was fun! I think that's the best way to describe this ride, fun. I would NOT call it the best wooden coaster in the world, nor would I consider it top 20 or anything (If I'd actually ridden 20 wooden coasters...), but it's a good solid ride..."Great" if you will... I don't think it's layout is perfect, I sensed that GCI was still trying to find their formula, but that they were getting close here. If Gold Striker and Mystic Timbers built on this formula and the lessons learned from Thunderhead, then I am very excited for those rides. The biggest weakness I found was that none of the elements really popped or stood out. No crazy airtime hills, no wicked lateral turns, no surprise elements, every element was just "good". There was a little shuffle in a couple spots, but nothing that I could complain about, which was better than I was expecting. I was especially impressed with the length, but I could tell that it was running out of steam on the last few elements, which was a bit of a disappointment. All in all, solid and fun, but certainly not the best. Now let's talk about those Millennium Flyer trains a sec. I've heard about these things for years now, and I've heard them simultaneously proclaimed as both the best and worst wooden coaster trains out there. So I was really curious to see what I thought. And you know something, I don't know what to say about these. They just didn't impress, nor disappoint, they were just kinda there. Maybe I'm just so used to battling bad wooden coaster trains, that I don't know what good ones look like? I just felt that they didn't have anything special about them. The only true pluses that stood out to me were that the lap bars were slightly more comfortable then PTC's individual bars, and that there were no seat dividers with one shared seat belt (which I like!). Other than that, I don't see why people make them out to be so special. Could someone please help me to understand what makes Millennium Flyers so special? That would be greatly appreciated. Next up was Wild Eagle....(now your really screaming at the top of your lungs...I think I can here your now....) This is where I'm really gonna get in trouble...I think Wild Eagle is the best coater at Dollywood (Remember, Lightning Rod was closed...) Now, now here me out. This could be a side effect of the fact that there are no B&M Wing Coasters west of the Mississippi (Why are all the good B&M's in the east again?), so there could be some novelty to it. However, for me, with the smoothness, inversions, unique layout, and great views, Lightning Rod aside, there really is no context. And...don't say it's forceless...I'll be the first to admit that I greyed out at the bottom of Wild Eagle's first drop. Every time, in every seat that I rode (front, back, and middle). IT IS NOT MY FAVORITE STEEL COASTER, by any means, but at Dollywood I think it's the best in the park (minus LR). After passing on a 45 minute wait on Tennessee Tornado (lol, bet your still screaming...), we decided to head for lunch. We thought about Aunt Granny's, but the health conscious part of our group won out and we ultimately settled on the steak wraps at the giant skillet. This was good! Definitely better than Trapper's, although not quite enough to top the All-You-Can-Eat BBQ at my home park IMO. It was very fresh, and tasty. Highly recommend! After lunch I decided to pay my respects at the almighty church of the broken RMC...Lightning Rod. While this was a hard one, I had a mind set going in that it would probably be closed, because that's just how my luck works (See Knoebels switching to tokens at Fascination, and Verbolten missing it's fake roof). So I wasn't entirely surprised or disappointed to see it closed...but bummed none the less. This is now my new favorite sign...even better than my home park's "This is a slow moving line". Lightning Rod does look like an awesome ride, and I'm (almost) sure that it's the parks best coaster. I hope RMC and Dollywood figure this thing out, and fix it for good. I think it would be a huge bummer for everyone if they gave up on it. After leaving the church of the broken roller coaster...we rode the train! I've heard a lot of about the Dollywood Express. I've heard the praises, and the awards. However, my home park's train (when it was at it's prime, which it sadly no longer is...) seems to me to be a high bar to clear. A bar that in my opinion the Dollywood Express failed to surpass. It's not that I didn't like the train (because I love trains as much as I love theme parks), it just didn't live up to my expectations. I knew that there was no on-board show, but I was under the impression that the DE was a scenic 30-40 minute journey through the woods with banjos playing, and maybe some wild life or a shenanigan filled vignette scene along the way. Instead it kinda felt like a short 20 minute trip past "The future site of Wildwood Grove Phase 2", to a random loop around a field and back. The only interesting thing that that happened was what wasn't supposed to happen...the train couldn't make it up the hill. For whatever reason it stopped just past the crossing by the Dreamsong Theater/Owen's Farm, then proceeded to back up all the way to Lightning Rod, and HAUL up that hill. Almost legit scary haul up that hill (Lightning Rod's launch has nothing on that train engineer, memories worth repeating right?). It was actually kinda hilarious, but other than that I just found the experience kinda underwhelming. It made me think, that maybe, just maybe, my home park might actually have a world's best on it's hands. Although I think a certain other Herschend park might have something to say about that... After the train ride, we headed back up the hill too...Daredevil Falls! (You've probably lost your voice from all that screaming by now...) I thought Daredevil Falls was a fine log flume, but nothing special. A little short maybe...wait...maybe I shouldn't talk about short log flumes... I wish it had some animatronics or something, that would at least give you something to look at besides the pretty scenery....you know what...let's just move on from log flumes... ...to...Blazing Fury! Blazing Fury is great. There I said it. It's great. I love semi-cheesy old school dark rides (like Black Diamond...), and Blazing Fury fits perfectly in that category. Some people in my group thought it was tacky, and weird, but I liked it. I do wish that Dollywood would bring in Garner Holt and let him do his thing. I think that would really make this ride go a long ways towards being great. The only complaints here were I thought that the cars traveled a little too fast for my liking, and the splashdown...or unsplashdown I should say. Now, I know why the splashdown was removed, but couldn't they come up with a better replacement then some blue Christmas lights and an air compressor? It was like the ride was going "Alright, were barely gonna escape the fire! Oh, look lets escape by dropping into a big ole hole, filled with some cheap lights and a blast of air! Impressive escape huh?" Why couldn't they drop you into a cave or something or just add one more scene of the firefighters being victorious? I think that would of been much better. After Blazing Fury (which for some reason had the best ops at the park that day) we finally got to Tennessee Tornado! And to be honest, much like Tempesto I can't remember too much about Tennessee Tornado. Unlike Tempesto though, I can say that I liked it, but the only things that I remember were that it was smooth...and short. I greyed out on the second loop, but I remember being very impressed by how smooth this ride was. I think that if Arrow could have built more of these smooth multiloopers, the theme park industry would look very different today. I was reminded of how short it was though, and I found myself wishing there were just a few more inversions. For that reason I think I prefer the Loch Ness Monster in the race for best Arrow looper, for the length and then the unique layout. After another ride on Wild Eagle...we know come to the mistake I mentioned earlier. FireChaser Express is a coaster that means a lot to me. When I was first getting into theme parks and roller coasters, Dollywood was in the middle of building this and I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. The mistake I made was not going here first or second after Mystery Mine. I had been watching the 50 minute plus wait time all day, hoping it would die down but it never did. So, sadly I choose to cut my losses and skip it... I thought about sucking up and doing it, but I just couldn't bring myself too. That being said, it looks as fun as I imagined it would, so I definitely have something (besides Lightning Rod...) to look forward too next time I go to Dollywood. But still... After giving up on FireChaser Express, we went for a few more rides on Wild Eagle before deciding to do the real reason people come to Dollywood...CINNAMON BREAD!!!! And...OH MY GOODNESS!!! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THEME PARK DESERTS OUT THERE, IF NOT THE BEST!!!! I thought the sundae at Knoebels was good...but this cinnamon goodness just obliterated it. So so good, you have to get it when you go to Dollywood! We also saw a turtle in the pond next to the Grist Mill. So next time your headed there, be sure to say hi to Earl the Turtle (or whatever the TPRers shall name him/her/it?)! I hear if you don't he starts to chew on the power cord for the Cinnamon Bread machine... After the Cinnamon Bread, we checked out the Dolly Parton museum and some of the other cool little things on that side of the park. I thought the Dolly Parton museum was nice, but a little cluttery and disjointed. I'm not a Parton superfan by any means, but it was fun to see her story. After that we finished up the day with another ride on Mystery Mine (this time in the front), and a couple more ride on Thunderhead because...why not! And then ended our day at Dollywood! A couple random tidbits and thoughts: - We went back into Wildwood Gove...I mean Concreteland, towards the end of our day and while I thought it was nicely done and very imaginative, it didn't exactly feel like a grove... I've seen pictures of what the area looked like before they put in WG, and I wish they could have left those trees up. That would have made the area so much better. We were there on an overcast day that wasn't overly hot, and it still felt like a sauna back there. I can't imagine what it would be like on a hot summer day... - Passed on Dolly's Magical Butterflying Coaster (i.e. Dragonflyer) and Whistle Punk Chaser, mostly because I'm not a credit whore person. Dragonflyer look fun, but I thought Thunderhead looked more fun so I did that instated. As for WPC...well...I just couldn't do it... - Didn't have time (or desire) to venture into Country Fair or Owen's Farm. Barnstormer looked cool, but totally forgot about it in the grand scheme of things. - Did I mention that this park is pretty? I didn't? Well, it is! I honestly have a hard time deciding if Dollywood or BGW is more pretty. I think I have to give it to BGW for now, but Dollywood is certainly in the hunt. I could tell that they had removed a lot of trees in the park lately, which to me is a shame. I'm not a tree hugger, but removing trees that take 20+ years to reach a decent size for no apparent reason really bugs me. My home park has been doing it recently too, and I hope they stop it. I think nice trees really add to a park's beauty. - They were doing some construction in Craftsman's Valley in between, what I presume was, the old blacksmith shop and the candle making shop. I don't know what the building was used for previously, but looked like they were going after it pretty well. Must be where they are putting that new strata coaster for next season... - Lastly, what is the deal with this park and hair bands? Could someone please explain this to me? There were a whole bunch piled up on the fake rocks in the queue for Daredevil Falls, at the base of the lift for Wild Eagle, and a few other places. I've never seen this at any other park so...do the people of Tennessee really like hairbands as lawn ornaments or something? Please...someone explain? All in all, I think Dollywood is an amazing park. You can tell that they have spent a lot of money on this place, and that they take very good care of it. I thought it was interesting that when I initially walked into the park I was a little underwhelmed. I'm not sure why, I just felt like something was missing initially. However, as the day progressed I found myself warming up to the park, and loving it more and more. I don't know if I'd call it my favorite park, yet, but it is one of my favorites for sure. I hope they keep up with the good improvements (and plant a few more trees along the way...), as I think they have done well so far. I don't know when I'll be back to that part of the country, but if I ever am I'll be sure to go back! Looking towards the future...I'm not actually sure what this park needs. When I was there I kept thinking "This park is like BGW, it justs needs that one stand out ride.", but I think Lightning Rod IS that ride, so it doesn't need that. Personally I'd like to see a B&M Dive Coaster themed to a flooded mine with an elevator lift, be put into the area where Daredevil Falls, the old Mountain Slidewinder (RIP), and Owen's Farm are. That would add another major ride at the front of the park (which the park definitely needs), and it could be really unique and a GP crowd pleaser (Does Dolly read these forums?)! Other than that enthusiast pipe dream...I'm not sure. This park has almost all the boxes checked, and I just don't think a B&M Giga would be a good fit here. Oh well! I'm sure they'll think of something fun to spend $300 million on... And...with that all my TR's are done for my latest coaster desert escape! (Whew...I thought I'd NEVER get them done!) I want to say thanks to tndank, CoasterBill, SSL, teacherkim, BitterOldHag, and TEDodd for their advice on planning a trip to Dollywood and the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg/Smokey Mountains area (Plus, anyone else I might have forgot!). The advice was much appreciated and made for a great trip! Thanks to the moderators and contributors, your hard work also helps make TPR such a special place! I'd also like to give a big special thanks Robb and Alissa, you guys have done an amazing job with this site and forum. It is such a fun place to visit and read peoples comments and thoughts. Please keep up the great work!! I don't think I'm alone in saying that it is very much appreciated by everyone who frequents your site! THANK YOU!!!! Oh! I almost forgot! The bonus theme park history nerd moment... Our (unfortunate) return to the coaster desert from Pigeon Forge, necessitated a flight out of Nashville...and I'm sure you can guess what happens next... When the country music fans in your group decide to kill time by going to see the Grand Ole Opry House...and your a theme park enthusiast who loves history...you have to ask yourself... Can you tell me how to get, how to get to, Sesame Streeeeeeet Opryland!! It's kinda hard to believe that a parking lot and an old house are really all that remain of the park. How could such a pretty, lush, and fun looking (at least in the pictures) park be reduced to this? Who thought a silly mega mall would be cooler than an amusement park themed to music! (Come to think of it...didn't someone else try that?) Oh well, I guess I'll never really know how great Opryland was. Sometimes I wonder what the park would look like today, and how it would hold up against the modern Dollywood? What could have been...? When flying out of Nashville, I looked out my window and we happened to fly over the Opry and it was pretty cool how you could kinda see how the park would just "fit" right into the space where the parking lot and the north end of the mall is. Maybe someday Nashville will get a proper successor...Storyville Gardens, anyone? Lastly...I think this sign might challenge Lightning Rod for the best sign award... Any ideas who thought this one up? Thanks everyone for reading! I really enjoyed sharing, and I'm grateful for the fun environment that TPR has. See you next time! P.S. Hey! There's no random photos at the end! Whoo Hoo! I finally figured it out!!

Farewell Shrek! (Not my tweet, just thought it was better to get it straight from the horse's donkey's mouth) Not to surprised, but bummed none the less. I saw the version in Hollywood as a kid and thought it was great fun! Not Universal's best I know, but it was just plain fun, at least for me. I always hoped to be able to see it again in Orlando, but I guess I won't get that chance now... Here's to hoping for an even better replacement!

Ever heard of the coaster desert? Now that's a terrible place to be a coaster enthusiast... Plus escaping from it ain't the easiest thing either...

What is it with Colorado and amusement parks that seem to be on borrowed time...? This place looks so sad that it might just ball over and cry...which makes me sad for it. Where's Gene Staples and Ed Hart when you need them?

I'd be very disappointed if Herschend pulls the plug on Fire in the Hole and the Flooded Mine. I haven't been to SDC, but having been to Dollywood and ridden Blazing Fury I think I can get the unique connection thoose rides have to the charm and feel of the park. Taking them both out I think would be a gut punch. Seems like a lot of trouble for them to go to for one big project in 2026 as well. It seems to me it be better to just bulldoze FM if that's what they really want to do rather than build a whole replacement for FITH. I hope neither goes away though, they look like really classic dark rides that people don't talk about enough.

Well that other Raptor that was supposed to go to South Dakota still might need a new home... Whatever it is, really excited for this since it seems like this park always needed a little help on the dry rides side of things, and this park sea to have gone through the ringer to boot. Good for the for stepping up and investing in the aftermath of COVID

I was there a month or so ago, and England, Scotland, Ireland, and France opened at the posted opening time (10 I think?). I think Loch Ness Monster is supposed to be the first coaster to open (although it was delayed for me because of a technical issue), then followed by Griffon maybe 15 minutes later or so. The rest of the park opened at 10:30/11 (I think). Finnegan's Flyer was also open, if you want to do that. I would say to hit Nessie first, and then either hit Griffon and wait for New France to open to ride InvadR, or after hitting Nessie wait for Festa Italia to open and hit Tempesto, THEN Apollo's Chariot. After that, the park is pretty much a circle so you can hit things as you circle (with the only true dead end being Festa Italia) back around. I will say, the park is bigger than it looks on the map, so you might want to avoid crisscrossing the park too much, unless you like walking a lot. I went the way of Tempesto after Nessie, which worked well but InvadR was on one train ops with 8+ minute dispatches so I ended up skipping it, although I don't know if its always that way though.

I also took a couple rerides on Apollo so it wasn't all bad... Yeah, quick queue probably would have been a good idea, although the only other rode that really needed it was Verbolten. Unfortunately, didn't think of it in the moment. Oh well, next time!

Hi Everyone! I know I said in my Knoebels TR that I had two more TR's to do, but unfortunately I got bogged down in some stuff. So, I figured I'd better do it sooner rather than later, before I forget the details, so...without further ado....here we go! (I promise that there will be no random photos at the end...hopefully... EDIT: Dang it! I did it again!) Also, big shout out to cfc, bert425, teacher kim, and anyone else I may be forgetting, who gave advice on the park and Colonial Williamsburg, it was very helpful and I really appreciated it! Busch Gardens Williamsburg has always been an A-list/bucket list park for me. I've always been fascinated by the parks beauty, ride collection, theme, and history. I still remember watching a promo for the park when it was under construction where the guy is walking in the Germany sections and he says "Now don't we all dream of a trip to Europe, but now a days who can afford it? Well, this is The Old Country, now being built by Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, near Washington DC. And I'd like to show you what you can do on this side of the Atlantic for less than $7. ", or something like that. So when the opportunity came to travel near Williamsburg, I just had to go. (Sorry Kings Dominion, maybe next decade...or whenever Cedar Fair replaces Volcano ) WHOO HOO! I made it! Being my first time to the Williamsburg area, I was impressed with how well hidden this park was from the freeway. I expected to see for a bit from the freeway before actually getting to the park. Instead it was this beautiful highway (you guys have very pretty freeways on the east coast, do you think you could tech the west coast a lesson in that department?), and you get off on the Busch Garden's exit and BOOM, there's the park! I thought that was cool. Small nerd moment, I thought it was cool how a couple of the parking lot trams had the various retro Busch Gardens logos on them. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I liked it! We got to the front gate almost right at opening, and headed straight for Nessie, cause...it's at the front of the park...I like old Arrow coasters...and...well...why not! Unfortunately, Nessie was a little slow getting out of bed...and wasn't open yet. So, we decided to walk towards the Italy/Festa Italia section, and this is where a little failure to prepare caught me off guard. I knew that there was a park somewhere that opened different areas at different times, but forgot it was BGW. We tried to go over to ride Griffon (which was open), but it had a sizable line by the time we got over there, so we decided to go back to Nessie, which after about 15 minutes pulled herself together and decided it was time to start the day! And...I really like this ride! I have found that I like rides with unique layouts, and Nessie's fits into that category very well for me. Started in the back and I was presently surprised with both the airtime and the smoothness. BGW must take really good care of this thing, because I didn't think it was bad at all. Although I do have a high tolerance for rough rides cause...well, in the coaster desert we got a lot of 'em! Comparing the smoothness to Corkscrew at my home park, I think that in the three years between when the two rides were built Arrow must have figured out how to do better transitions. I've found that to be Corkscrew's main issue when it comes to smoothness, and Nessie's transitions just felt much more thought out, and less like it was Arrow's first time. I don't think it's the best coaster at BGW, but I think it's very much a solid contender for best Arrow looper. After Nessie, we made our way towards Festa Italia and rode Tempesto! Now, this was my first Sky Rocket II and I thought it was...well...I can't actually remember it... I seriously can't remember if I liked this ride, the only I can remember is I basically had to fall into the seat to get in the thing. It must have been just ok, since I don't remember and I didn't take any pictures of the ride so I'll say it was just ok, nothing special. Next was Apollo's Chariot! This was another new ride type for me (Why are there no B&M Hypers west of the Mississippi again?), so I was really excited and while I walked away liking it, I could tell that this was B&M's first attempt. I started with the back (because the back is always better, right?!?!) and thought it was fun but a little underwhelming. Came back and got a front row ride, and man does this ride model have potential! I seriously hope a park in the west builds a new one of these. I know the reaction to Candymonium was mixed, but I'd love to see one come to the west coast and realize all the things that B&M has learned from the 20+ years of building hypers. That would just be so much fun! After leaving Festa Italia/Italy, we sucked it up and waited in line for Verbolten. This was the only ride that really had a line all day except for Escape from Pompeii and Le Scoot, and for whatever reason it seemed to move really slow. They weren't doing terrible on dispatches (believe me...I KNOW what bad dispatch times look like!!), and the ride never went down, it just seemed to take forever. Anyways, this ride is fun! (it was missing the roof on the fake bridge before the BBW drop, just my luck!) Only rode it once because of the line, and got the wolf program which absolutely made my day! I will say, this thing does vibrate a lot. It didn't bother me, but it was noticeable and bothered some people in my group. It's also a shame that so many of the black lights have fallen down over the years. This ride must have been really cool and fun in it's early years. Now, I said I like unique layout and unique rides, so I have to give the best coaster in the park to Verbolten. There's no other rides like this (except maybe Thirteen??? Maybe?), and it just is so much fun. I'm glad Busch Gardens took the risk and went with Zierer for the project, their work might not be the best in the industry but at least they try and be different. That being said, I definitely wish that BGW had refurbished Big Bag Wolf, and put Verbolten in the old Drachen Fyre spot (more on that later). I think that would have worked to Verbolten's advantage with the more forested setting, and we would still have Big Bad Wolf. By this time, we were getting hungry so we decided to get something to eat! Now, I had heard many good things about the Trapper's Smokehouse from several sources so we went there to try it out. And...I didn't think it was that good... It wasn't bad, just very underwhelming. I'm not a food snob by any means, so I still enjoyed it, it just didn't meet the expectations I had for it. We eat again later at the Festhaus, and while I thought that was a little better, I still thought that was a little underwhelming. Is this what both Busch Gardens park's food is like? If so I think their missing a real opportunity to have cool authentic food for the different countries in the parks. It could be so much fun (hey a man can dream right?)! Anyways, I thought the food was good, but not great, and a little on the underwhelming side. Now...I did not have the pretzels that I know Canobie Coaster talks so much about, so next time I'll give that a go. We skipped Invad(e)R because it was running one train with 5+ minute dispatch times...and we decided it wasn't worth waiting in that line for a "family coaster". I will say that it looks really fun from the train and Le Scoot, but it didn't entice me to sit down (yes, people were actually sitting down in the line for Invad(e)R, Seven Dwarves Mine Train style, in the queue. That's how slow that line moved) in that line. I'm a sucker for old Arrow log flumes, so of course I had to ride Le Scoot. This was another one where the line seemed to move abnormally slow for a log flume, but no matter, we rode anyways. I thought this was a fun flume! It's definitely better than the one at my home park (Heh...Heh...let's not talk about that...), although I don't know if it's the best log flume (that's not Splash Mountain), simply because I haven't really ridden that many. Regardless, It was great to be able to ride one of the parks signature classic attractions and ride a ride type that may very well some day go extinct. We rode the train around the park, which I thought was very nice. Not my personal favorite theme park train, but very nice nonetheless. It really showed off the park's beauty. Speaking of which...let's talk about that a second. The million dollar question is of course, is Busch Gardens Williamsburg the most beautiful theme park in the world? And my answer to that is maybe. I haven't had the privilege of traveling to too many theme parks, and I've never traveled internationally, so I don't think its fair of me to give a definitive answer. Without a doubt the park is very pretty though. Prior to visiting I was always under the impression that the park was considered "Most Beautiful" more because of it's setting and theming than anything else. I know that they has flowers, but I always thought that people thought it was beautiful because of the Rhine River, the (might I say well executed) european theme, and just the general beauty of the Williamsburg/Northern Virginia area. To my surprise, and delight, this was not the case. The park is very well themed, and the setting does contribute a lot, but the flowers and landscaping are what make it beautiful. I'm sure my home park also featuring a large amount of beautiful landscaping is increasing my bias, but still I thought BGW possibly toped that. I will say this thought, some parts of the park are more beautiful than others. I thought the Scotland, England, Italy, New France, and Germany/Alpengeist sections were the most beautiful, but I thought the France, Ireland, Festa Italia, and Curse of DarKastle/Octoberfest area were in need of a little help. Not to say that these areas weren't pretty, it's just they weren't up to the standards of the rest of the park in my opinion. I also really liked all the little details this park has. Whether it's the original (when the building was built) countries (and their names) in the stain glass windows at the front of the Festhaus under the AB Eagle, or the crashed skier who rented ski's from Bob's Ski Rental (which closed cause he's gone skiing) near Alpengeist, I just really enjoyed those little details. I wish every park had more of that kind of thing. Your probably wondering now why I haven't mentioned riding Alpengeist or Griffon, and the answer is...I decided to reride Apollo's Chariot instead. I know, I know...dumb coaster enthusiast decision #1999. Looking back, I should have at least done Alpengeist, but alas there's no B&M hypers west of the Mississippi, so I got to ride them while I can I guess! Oh well, something for next time right? Looking to this park's future...they announced Pantheon's opening date like a week after I visited (go figure!). I knew the chances were off the charts high that the ride wouldn't open for my visit, but still I had a little hope. When they first announced Pantheon I was honestly a little disappointed. I though the park needed a cool dark ride to replace DarKastle and Europe in the Air, and more flat rides than anything. Having visited though now, while I still think the park is just crying out for a cool dark ride, I think the Pantheon is a good fit for BGW. They lack an extreme launch coaster, and some ride that truly feels extreme. They have their B&M's but I've never heard anyone compare any of them to an RMC or Intamin. Form my experience with Apollo's Chariot I could see how a coaster with more extreme ejector airtime is needed, and I assume the same/similar argument goes for Alpengeist and Griffon. Pantheon seems to solve all those problems, so I think as long as it doesn't turn into another Intamin-quality downtime fiasco, or the next Lightning Rod, I think it will be a great addition to the park. My only ture complaints with it (having not ridden it) is that I wish it was in the old Drachen Fyre spot, and what I would consider a serious lack of theming. From the distance I could see, the queue and station looked pretty bland in that open field, and I hope that is not the trend for the theming level of new SeaWorld coasters going forward. Speaking of the old Drachen Fyre spot...I had to be a coaster nerd and go look at it. It's so sad seeing such a big empty spot in a park that if you think about it really doesn't have to many open spaces. I really wish that they had put Pantheon here, and saved the field it's in for something else, maybe a Italy section expansion or something? I just fell that the DF plot is really underutilized and could make a great setting for a coaster... And...please don't get me started on the whole "Drachen Spyre" thing... Let's just say that I think it's one of the top 10 dumbest coaster design ideas ever. Right up there with Hypersonic XLC (what is it with Virginia and dumb coaster designs), High Roller, and that fishhook thing that Arrow wanted to put on the side of the Stratosphere (come to think of it...what's with Nevada and dumb coaster designs...). I really do hope that the Drachen Spyre project got cancelled, and something better is on the way for that spot. I really do. Couple other tid bits from our trip to BGW: -The skyride was closed on my visit, which was a bit of a bummer. I've always wanted to ride a Von Roll skyway, and after SFOG shut theirs down and BGT's was put in limbo, I'm starting to get worried that these rides might be on their way out as well. -We bought are tickets while they were doing one of their flash sales, and I would definitely recommend doing that. They want to charge 70 some dollars for this park, and I don't think it's quite worth that price yet. Not to say that the park is overpriced, I just think that if park's want to charge that much per head, they better be operating at a level that commands that price, and I don't think this park was quite there. -Not to knock on the employee's to much, but I did notice that with a couple exceptions that there was a general lack of enthusiasm amongst them. I mean come one, your working at a theme park, that has got to be one of the most fun places to work, in my mind, ever! I don't know what was causing it and it's not necessarily a bad thing, but I just noticed it. -I didn't think the merchandise was all that strong, but I loved how they had both a Big Bad Wolf and a Drachen Fyre nanocoaster. They were a little out of my price range, but I thought that was neat. I also like their post card selection, so kudos to them there. We finished with a night ride on Nessie, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and that ended are time at BGW. Overall, the park did live up to my expectations in many ways, and was a little underwhelming in others. However, I would come back, and I would say that if your ever in the Northern Virginia area you have to go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg! I got one more of these trip reports to do from my latest escape from the coaster desert, I hope to get it out over the weekend. See you then!

Wow. I don't know what you say or do. Clearly someone somewhere messed up, because this should never have happened. It seems to have been very preventable, which make it even more tragic. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved, I just can't imagine what it would be like to be in that position. As a side note, is the seat belt the only restraint on this ride? I'm not familiar with this ride type, but it seems that it should have had more than just a seat belt? I don't think it's good to speculate on the future of this ride, this park, or their new Gerstlauer at this point. Doesn't seem like now is the time to talk about that.

Congrats Skyline! You've now officially managed to rip off Larson, RMC, AND E&F Miler! Wonder if these kids coasters will work better than their current models...but hey, at least it's an interesting concept! I'll take one that's 300' tall, has speeds up to 90 mph, has 10 inversions, and has height requirement of 48". (Wait...did I just describe an RMC T-Rex? What manufacturer are we talking about again?) Let's see...who's up for getting it first, La Ronde, Valleyfair, or Wild Adventures?

Hey Everyone! A few weeks ago I managed to escape the coaster desert to the east coast and visited three parks (In case you couldn't tell that's a big deal for me...)! Unfortunately, I've been kinda busy lately so I'm just getting around to the trip reports so there a little old but still good! The first park we visited (if you haven't already guessed) was Knoebels!! Now, this was my second visit to the park so I knew what to expect but Knoebels seems to be a place that surprises you even when you know what to expect... Last time we came on a weekday, but were forced into a weekend this time around. We got out tickets at a Weis grocery store on the way, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting on a weekend to do. Although (as I feared) the park WAS PACKED, and I mean PACKED with people, this place must have a magic recipe for making people disappear because I don't think I waited more than 15 minutes for anything, and this was with like 10 rides closed! Knoebels operations truly are world class. I was legit worried that the park wouldn't be able to handle the big crowds but handle it they did! Now on to the pictures (and my thoughts...)! First off I'm gonna address the elephant in the room...is Phoenix the best wooden coaster in the world? When I first visited a couple years ago, the answer would have been yes. But since that time I have ridden more rides, and have really refined what (in my mind) should be the best coaster in the world, and...I don't think Phoenix fits that bill at all. Don't get me wrong, Phoenix is still an amazing ride, but I don't think it should be a "Top Wooden Coaster in the World". Heck I'm not even sure it's the best coaster in the park, but more on that later... For me, while Phoenix's accurately legendary almost semi-scary airtime is great, where the ride suffers is in it's layout. Drop, turn, drop, airtime hill, turn, drop, airtime hill, etc. just doesn't interest me. I've found that I really enjoy unique layouts, and while Phoenix is a good wooden coaster, I wouldn't call it the best simply because I find the layout to be a little on the boring and uninspired side. Also, is it just me or does the new station look just scream "OVERRATED!!"? I think I really liked the old unassuming station better, but I digress. All that being said, I do enjoy Phoenix, it is smooth (although admittedly not as smooth as I remember), and it's fun, but not necessarily deserving of the title of the Best Wooden Coaster in the World. Next, up is Impulse! Since both Flying Turns (which I knew about) and Black Diamond (Dang it! I LOVE that ride!! Grrrr!!) were closed, I was left to ride the 3D motion simulator...I mean lone large steel roller coaster at the park. I actually skipped Impulse last time due to my enumeration with Phoenix (which is a theme for a certain other ride at this park...what was it called again....???...can't remember now....), so this was a new experience for me. And...I'm gonna be honest...this poor ride... Not only does it have to compete against 3 incredible/unique wooden coasters, two good dark rides, fun tasty food, and a bunch of classic or rare flats, it also has THE WORST RESTRAINT THAT I'VE EVER EXPERIENCED ON A ROLLER COASTER...so far...(which by my coaster count isn't saying TOO much). I didn't experience the ride with the old trains, but I was very disappointed with the restraint on the new ones. It kinda felt like someone was pushing a cafeteria tray down on my lap the whole ride. Yeah...not good... It didn't even hurt that much it was just very uncomfortable, and made what I would otherwise consider a fun and unique ride, into something that wasn't very fun at all. Other than the bad restraint, I thought the ride was fun. It just seems a little bizarrely out of place at a park full of so many unique rides, to have a modern Eurofighter knock off. I almost wish that Knoebels would replace or supplement it with a relocated Schwarzkopf or something along those lines. I think that would be a far better (and more fun) fit for this park. Last...but certainly not least...was Twister! Like Impulse, I was so entranced by Phoenix that I didn't give it a try the first time I visited Knoebels...and man I am disappointed I did. THIS RIDE IS FUN!!!! I wouldn't call it the best wooden coaster in the world by any means, but after riding it several times this visit I think I might be in the "Twister is better than Phoenix crowd". And I think that's for the exact reason that I don't think that Phoenix is the best wooden coaster in the world, Twister had a VERY unique layout. From that weird split lift hill, to the slightly awkward transitions, to the random (and noticeably cold) tunnel this thing fits the "unique layout" bill almost perfectly. It doesn't have the amount of airtime that I would prefer, which is mainly why I don't think it's a best in the world or a top 10 necessarily, but it hands down is the best coaster in the park for me! Also, a night ride on this thing is where it's at! If I ever came on a weekday that the park was open late one, you'd find me lapping night rides on this thing all night long, it's just an incredible night ride hands down! Flying Turns (and Black Diamond, BOO!!! If you couldn't tell I love that ride!) were both closed on the days we went, but that was it as far as rides that I would have wanted to ride that were closed. And too be honest, I think Flying Turns is gonna be closed for the rest of this season, it just ain't gonna happen at this point I think. Some other tidbits... This was my first time riding the Haunted Mansion...which was good??? (I think) I wouldn't call it my favorite regional park dark ride, in fact I think Black Diamond might actually be better in my opinion. (Which, I can't confirm because it wasn't open! Sorry I'm just bummed that Black Diamond wasn't open.) I realized and enjoy that it's a classic ride, but I don't know, I think it just wasn't quite my style. I was impressed with how well maintained it was, and I enjoyed that they still had many of the classic effects (and a few modern ones) sprinkled in there. Rode the bumper cars, which were fun, but I think I actually prefer the RDC bumper cars more. The Lusse ones are great, but I just find the RDC one's more fun all around. Finished on the Pioneer Train, which I thought was cool. I like trains (it's my other passion besides theme/amusement parks), so the journey through the woods was fun, and I enjoyed the uniqueness. For food: OH MY GOODNESS KNOEBELS FOOD IS SO GOOD!!!! We had the pierogi's from the oasis, which I thought were good...but the winner for me is the Boom-Shak-A-Lak burger from the Phoenix Junction Steakhouse. This thing is soo good! I would highly recommend it to everyone who visits the park! It was so good in fact that I copied Coaster Bill (Thanks for the inspiration!) and made a "Boom-Shak-A-Lak Burger Map" so you don't miss it! Also had a sundae at the Old Mill, and that was AMAZING!!! Although it also destroyed any desire for me to have ice cream for the rest of the trip...(Cinnamon Bread to the Rescue!) Also, fun fact...Dick Knoebels has been at the helm of Knoebels for as long as my home park has been around...which is either amazing or embarrassing depending on who you ask... All in all I think Knoebels is an amazing park, and if you're anywhere near the area you HAVE to go check it out. Definitely an "A list park" for me, and I can't wait to go again. I don't know when I'll be able to escape the coaster desert to that part of the country again, but something tells me that a Knoebels 100th Anniversary Celebration might give me all the reasons I need. Looking to the future for the park, I know that they have the Bayern Curve (Any word on where that project is at?), but I would personally love to see them either relocate Blue Streak from Conneaut Lake (Because let's face it, at this rate that ride is doomed...) or attempt to resurrect like an old school Virginia Reel coaster, like they did with Flying Turns. Now that would be fun! Alright, enough about Knoebels. Thanks for reading, I have two more of these reports in the works that I hope to put out soon! See you then!

Yeah...that's a tough one... Timber Terror Backwards is something to experience, I've done it during the day and I can only imagine it's better at night. I've also heard that Scarywood is a pretty solid haunt event, although it is hard to argue with the reduced ride offerings. I don't think Aftershock has ever opened for Scarywood cause of the weather, but I was surprised that Stunt Pilot won't open either. So unless they are going with a "under promise, over deliver" strategy then I could see how you'd want to skip out. Speaking of Scarywood... The park has confirmed that all 5 mazes from 2019 will return: Blood Bayou, Planet Zombie, Dr. Delirium, Pharaoh's Curse, and Total Darkness. On the website they say that both Pharaoh's Curse and Total Darkness have been "updated" for 2021. It says that PC has moved to "Across from Thunder Canyon", but everything else is in the same spot. So while there's no new mazes this year, it looked like they switched up a few of the scare zones although I'm don't know which ones are new or not. Also there's no log flume this year...so that idea didn't last long for them. I'm mostly just grateful that the park is able to have the event, and I hope that it works out for them!

Pages load no problem for me (much better than before!), but sometimes there is a delay for me between when I click the "Submit Reply" button and when it shows as posted. Yesterday, it didn't actually show the post posted untill I refreshed the page a couple minutes after first submitting the reply. It just said it was "Saving" the whole time. Thank you for working on this Robb! I think we all appreciate it very much! EDIT: It didn't happen to me with this post, it posted quickly and normally. Thank you for your hard work!

Welcome to the forums! Glad that your here! This is a really great place to learn and share your thoughts on parks, and the people on here are amazing so don't hesitate to reach out! I live in a coaster desert...so visiting a park is a big deal for me, and it often takes a bit of planning effort for me to get there, so I approach new parks a little differently. I've researched and made a "bucket list" of sorts of parks I want to visit starting with "A" list parks (Dollywood, Busch Gardens, Silver Dollar City, Cedar Point, etc.), "B" list parks (Kings Dominion, Carowinds, Great Adventure, Kentucky Kingdom, etc.), and so on. I rank them not necessarily on how "good" a park is or what rides it's famous for, it's almost entirely based on how badly I want to visit a park. This way, when an opportunity to "escape the coaster desert" arrives I already kinda know where I want to go. I'll then do a bit of research on the park, including what the major rides are, where the best places to eat are, etc. I really like this forum for that purpose, because if someone posts a trip report you can usually learn a lot from that, or you can just ask and more than likely you'll get a lot of great suggestions. This forum really is a wealth of information, so use it! When I actually get to the park (GET THERE EARLY!!!! That's like the number one rule of avoiding lines at parks for me, get there early and stay late if you can), I almost always hit the low capacity rides first. Find out which rides these are (you can usually tell or if not ask, someone on here will know!) and hit them early. For instance, when I went to Dollywood last week I choose to hit Mystery Mine first (SPOILER ALERT: Lightning Rod was closed) because by I knew it had one of the lower capacities in the park. Or at my home park of Silverwood, I'll book it to the back of the park and hit the wooden coasters first thing because I know I can get 2-3 rides on each before the crowds make it back there, and make long lines with the park's "semi-famous" one train ops. This strategy might not work for every park, depending on how the park is set up, but for me it works. Next, I'll work my way around the park in a systemic way riding rides, with the goal to be avoid walking across the park an unnecessary number of times. I generally don't buy skip the line passes, but they are probably a good idea for big parks on weekends or holidays, or if your in a pinch for time or your not in the mood to wait in line. So if I encounter a line for a ride than I'll either suck it up an wait in it, or come back later if I have time. I do rerides then on rides I like or if there's a short line. My rerides tend to be spontaneous, sometimes I'll do it again right away, sometimes I'll come back later. My biggest piece of advice is this: soak in the park. Many parks, but particularly the higher end ones, have thousands of little details and rides sprinkled throughout the park that take a bit to find sometimes. Take some time as your walking around and enjoy all the sights, sounds, and smells of the park. I've found it greatly adds to the park going experience, and it helps you to really appreciate a great park (and note what you don't like about a not so great park). I would strongly discourage a "get the credits and go" visit to a park, I've found it really short changes you in the long run. Hope this helps, and enjoy going out there and riding stuff!

I can agree with this. This is at least the second time that RMC has shut down both Jersey Devil and Stunt Pilot, both times relating to the wheel assemblies (I think?). People always talk about Intamin rides having issues, but people don't make as much of deal about RMC. It could be that Intamin had been around longer, or that more rides have had issues but that doesn't justify giving RMC a pass either. I think the only true pass might be Lightning Rod, since I think every steel manufacture has (or has had) at least one problem coaster (Drachen Fyre, Windjammer Surf Racers, Son of Beast, Harley Quinn, Galeforce, TMNT Shellraiser, Steel Dragon, take your pick for Intamin..., etc.), except maybe B&M, but even calling Lightning Rod a "problem coaster" might be being too generous. Saw this on Twitter (take it with a grain of salt!)...looks like a wheel did fall off, but haven't seen any other evidence of what happened. I hope no one was injured, as that could cause some serious damage to anyone or anything. Luckily it looks like it happened at the beginning of the ride, since that looks like the concrete footer for the lift motor to me.

Uuuuhhhh...Stunt Pilot is listed as "Temporarily Closed" on the park's website, which is something I've NEVER seen before for any ride at Silverwood. In addition they seem to have removed almost all other references to the ride on their website, including reverting back to the 2019 park map, and replacing the Stunt Pilot video on the main page with the old "Plan your trip to Silverwood" video. It it still referenced on the park's Facebook page though, but outside of that it just vanished. It must be pretty recent that the ride "temporality closed" because I saw someone post somewhere that it was open this last weekend. I saw a rumor on twitter that a wheel fell off, but that's twitter for you (IMO )... Anyone know more?

Yeah, Aftershock will more than likely be closed. I think the temperature and winds above 150' are what do it in, and north Idaho octobers army necessarily known for being sunny and 70 degrees unfortunately... You never know and the park may try, but I don't think I've even ever seen it listed as being a ride during Scarywood. I'm hoping Stunt Pilot isn't as finaky because an RMC raptor in near pitch darkness sounds incredible! Plus TT Backwards is always a good time!

"Should we put the new coaster that were advertising as being a cliffhanger on the side of the quarry wall? Nah, that be two easy, lets put it smack in the middle of the park where it will ruin any sight lines the park still has, and copy an already existing layout with some slightly more than minor changes to call it custom!"... Sounds like Six Flags to me! In all seriousness, this is SO COOL! I'm glad this is going to Fiesta Texas, and it makes me wonder if this is the new budget for Six Flags additions going forward? Unless a B&M Dive Machine now fits in the $10 Million budget...than every Six Flags park better watch out cause "DC Villain: The Ride" is coming soon to a park near you! Hoping the theme shapes up good, I've never been but it seems that Fiesta Texas always does a good job with there themes on most of there rides (at least by Six Flags standards). This really makes me want to take a Texas trip next summer though, will have to start looking at airfares...

Great news everybody! The fire near Silverwood is 90% contained and...it looks like Scraywood is back! The landing page on Scarywood's website has been changed from the "Sorry but no event in 2020" to this... It's hard to discern anything from the image but it's very encouraging that they seem to be planning to host the event. I would expect more details later in August. I'm really curious to see what they are going to do with the Pharaoh's Curse stuff, since its been sitting out on the end of the old runway since the end of last summer. I'm also curious since Stunt Pilot took one of the maze locations (that's why Pharaoh's Curse was moved in the first place), where they will choose to put the maze, weather it's Pharaoh's Curse or it's replacement. 2019 was reportedly Scarywood's best year yet, so here's to hoping that that trend continues in 2021!

EDIT: The park said that the fire is contained and the park will be open! Original Post: PSA for everyone in regards to Silverwood. There is apparently a wildfire burning about 1.5 miles west of the park along Brunner Road (the road at the south end of the park). The park was evacuated yesterday around 5, although they say that they are planning to be open today assuming they are not told to be closed by fire authorities. I would expect that the park will say whether they will be open in the next hour or so. Reportedly, the fire is about 87 acres and 30% contained. So far no injuries, deaths, or damage to homes has been reported. The fire wasn't on InciWeb (the online map of fires in the west) yet, but I'll keep checking to see if it appears. Photos courtesy of the local news: That's a little to close to comfort, if you ask me... Hoping everyone who lives, works, or visits in that area stays safe!

Bad news everyone...I emailed Knoebels about Flying Turns since I'm planning on making a trip out there in a few weeks. I know the ride has been closed due to staffing issues, but I wanted to ask them if it would open at all this season. Sadly, they state that it is "highly unlikely" that is would be open, and that they are "hopeful the situation improves for next season". Which seems to imply that the ride won't open at all this season, unless things drastically change. Just an FYI for anyone else planning a visit.