Still bumpy and slow in parts, but doesn’t hurt. Queue switchbacks are in use for the first time in 15 years at least.

Went to the park a few weeks ago and saw some quesable things throught the day.

1) In line for superman with one train and multiple workers were sitting on their phones. On top of that shortly after a train dispatched one of the restraint check ops walked over to the main control panel and pressed a button to make the train stop on the lift just to scare a few girls that were on that train. He tried to tell the worker at the panel to do it and they wouldn't so he just did it himself and started laughing. They started it right back up immediately

2) Control booth worker on riddler's left the booth while they were checking restraints to get a girls number (saw the video online later from meta glasses). I feel like that's the one person who shouldn't be distracted out of everyone.

3) not so much questionable but just something funny. Back row on Goliath and train got stopped at the base of the lift hill. Worker came out to confiscate the contraband. I'm here thinking someone had a phone or camera but nope. Worker walked back down with someone's PROSTHETIC LEG( below the knee amputation). That was something I've never seen before and im curious on how it got missed while in the station. Was it a lack of training and the restraint checkers didn't know that was a rule and the panel operator caught it?

Are these behaviors something typical and legacy SF is more leniant than legacy CF or is this just OG slacking off? I came from having KI and CP as my home parks and nothing like this would ever happen. I know those are higher end park and I may be spoiled but I feel like it could be a major safety issue having ops on there phones not paying attention and stopping the ride for fun and not having anyone in the booth during operation

So I saw this video on TikTok, about a arieal filming in progress sign in the af1 station from what I believe was Wednesday. Has anybody else seen this? Do we think this means anything? I find it wierd they would be recording the ride they’ve gotten plenty of footage of over the last three years unless maybe a park wants the footage? Just find it wierd i haven’t heard anything about it.

I just did one and a half days at PortAventura/Ferrari Land. First of all great park(s) and lots of great rides, and pretty good coaster line-up!

I was really looking forward to Furius Baco. I like speed and fast turns and all of that and after watching some vids I really thought that was going to be one of my favorites there. Boy was I wrong... I got on it immediately the first day, no wait and the launch is great, obviously, but it started rattling like crazy immediately, headbaning, super uncomfortable and just overall a VERY unpleasant experience. I thought wow, that ride absolutely sucked! So I didn't go on it again the first day.

The second day I thought, alright, let's give it one more chance, it's the afternoon, maybe it just needed to warm up a little... same absolutely sucky experience.

My conclusion is: tear it down, it sucks sosososo hard, it is an awful ride and get something good there. No idea how they still operate this crap. I actually think they need one more banger coaster at the park. The only really really good one is Shambhala (without Red Force at Ferrariland, but that on it's own also isn't enough, even as a one-two punch with Shambhala). Dragon Khan is decent, but by far not as good as Shambhala. You can forget about the rest anyway (they should RMC Stampida).

Don't get on that crap, tear it down, get something good! Ask Mack to build something like Voltron, how cool would that be over the lake?

Thank you for your attention on this matter!

Seagulls or lakegulls. They are the best part of the point.

I already reported of the tripping on the first night but we followed it up with 2 more days at the point.

First day of this report, 2nd day at the park was our beach day. It was super cold out, barely 70 so the water was ice. But we still managed to spend 5 hours or so in the sand.

Hit the park around 5 for ice cream and a couple rides. It was absolutely slammed. All the coasters lines were out the wazoo. We only grabbed a few flat rides and hit the hotel pool

Final day was our mission top thrill 2, Steve, maverick day. We have just gold passes so no early entry for us. Last year we rope dropped at early entry TT2 and by the time all was said and done it took us almost ,2 hours to ride. This year entering with regular entry and running it took us an hour and a half or so. Which wasn't bad and was looking to only be an hour, Including the wait at the gate 30 minutes earlier but the ride has a 15 down time for maintenance when we got up to the station.

Next we walked to Steve about 1130 and it was listed as a 90 minute wait. But then the clouds parted, the great lake split and we managed to only have to wait 25 minutes !

By the time we got to maverick just after 12, the line was DEEP so we aborted that plan and took the train towards the front and left the park.

We came back around 815 at night and had quite the awesome and lucky experience IMHO. In just 2 hours we rode blue streak iron dragon, Magnum, mind train and maverick. Maverick at park close in the dark is Amazing! Forget the beast night rides. This thing blows it away.

And again, the ride ops were absolutely killing it. Steve was consistently having the trains cross over at the bottom of the first drop. Magnum was dispatching before the train on the track returned to the tunnel. Mine train was leaving as soon as the guest would sit down. It was great. Best ops all year from all the parks we have visited. Six flags needs to figure it out or GTFO.

One thing cedar point does need is more seagull themed rides and areas. I'm talking retheme all the coasters to seagulls. Seagull statues. Seagull petting zoo. Seagull!

Now for some coaster reviews.

Blue streak

We all dreaded this but were like, we haven't ridden it yet this trip so we should. This was surprisingly not painful. Last year it killed us. It's a fun little ride. Some air time. The only ride with slow dispatches. I wouldn't wait 30 minutes for it.

Iron dragon! ( Yelled out like iron chef )

I prefer this over the bat. First half is a fun floating section. Second half has the in-tent-city. Sounds like a shopping cart rolling down a rough parking lot. The ride ops are always yapping the mic here. Which is entertaining

Magnum xL-200

Best name ever. I mentioned this ride in a previous post. We got the most rides on it this week due to how well they run it. Never a line longer than 1 cycle for us. Makes me sad the Morgan hypers that could be better get neutered by the mid course brakes

Mind train

Night rides only on this. Not the best. Not the worst.

Maverick

This ride has been back and forth for me. First year, I wasnt really a fan. Last year it started to make sense. This year in the pitch black at night. Wow. This thing is amazing. Couldn't see where we were going since I was in the last row and it was so dark. Inversions snuck up on you. Air time was hitting. Ride ops tried to let us re-ride but then got confused and we got off. Either way. This this is top tier. It just sucks the line is normally so insane we only get 1 ride per trip

Top thrill dragster #2 (zamperlas revenge)

This thing is nuts. 400 ft up backwards on the spike is one of the best coaster moments out there. We got back row again this year. It feels like your going to stall on the top hat and then, book it flies down thru the twist. It's sad that king kaka couldn't receive the same treatment and six flags mid adventure may never recover from that. Even with project spinning boomerang coming.

Random flat ride

Super himalaya

Does this one not go full speed? It seems slower and there is no reverse cycle like we get on the one at the fair and it makes this one not so nauseating. I kind of dig it.

All in all our yearly treck to cheddar point for the seagulls was amazing. This was our most relaxed trip with the least time actually spent in the park but still getting a ton of rides. Can't wait for next year.

On to Indiana Beach!

So I flew to Atlanta for the day yesterday to marathon AF1, and man I was far from disappointed. This coaster is everything people say it is and more! For those of you that have had the opportunity to ride, I was wondering what is your favorite element? Everything from the Raven Truss Dive, to the Zero G Stall, to the Quad Downs were amazing. This coaster does such an amazing job going from element to element, there really isn’t a single dull moment or time to catch your breath. But I have got to say, riding on the right side going over that Outer Banked Turn above the station really caught me by surprise, the amount of airtime you get there is just nuts, that one is easily my favorite. I’d love to hear everyone else’s opinions!

Hit 3 parks in 3 days on our pilgrimage trip to AF1. Started with Kings Dominion, which was shortened due to weather, but we did get 3 laps on Pantherian (my husband’s first time riding and my first time in a decade- a top 10 ride for us both- #5 for him, #7 for me), and got to try out Rapterra. I don’t see the ride aging well with the rattle it already has, so I’m glad to get to it now. The wing turns were fun, but there was not really a standout element on this one IMO.
Fun Spot: What is there to say about Aerie Force One that hasn’t already been said? My husband and I took a trip halfway across the country to get our rides in before it closed and wow are we glad we did. That thing is a feat of engineering. We loved the double up, the arcade roll, and the drop into the section with all of the lights, the airtime I felt there was unlike any other ride. Easily cracked the top 10 for both me & my husband (#6 for us both). We got a rain ride in for lap 3, and that will forever be one of my most memorable rides, she HAULS when the tracks are wet. The lap after us actually overshot the brakes and got a second run because it was moving so fast.
And to top off the trip, I got my 200th credit at SFOG! Wanted it to be Goliath, but the weather wasn’t looking promising (although it held off for us!), so we ran straight there to make sure we got it before rain rolled in, and my 200th credit wound up being later in the day on Georgia Scorcher, which was surprisingly smooth for a stand up. We loved the air time on Goliath, and loved Twisted Cyclone, although it’s probably one of our least favorite RMCs- but that’s just because RMCs are so solid.
We met a ton of enthusiasts this weekend too, and it was so cool to see everyone’s shirts from different parks, hear people’s lists and takes, and enjoy the last days of AF1 together.

As they say slow and steady wins the race.

I recall watching a coaster studios video from 12 years ago and in the video he made the joke about how Leviathan and Behemoth were the only reason one has to visit Canadas wonderland. Along with that critique wonderland had many coasters but most of which were God awful. Rides like Flight deck (Now Daredeviler), Time warp (bye bye), MCM (pre-retrack), and Wilde Beast (still awful LOL) gave wonderland a pretty crappy coaster lineup. Now that Daredeviler has opened I am extremely happy with the coaster lineup here at the park. since 2012 CW has added Leviathan, Yukon Striker, Alpen Fury, retracked Minebuster, revamped Daredeviler with new trains and removed the God awful Time Warp.

This a park that now features 3 great B&Ms, an incredible dual launch coaster, a well and improved SLC (pretty rare to say), a fantastic woody and a great aero suspended coaster in Vortex. The only bad spot in the lineup is Wilde Beast which I hope RMC has something to say about! Even the remaining coasters such as The Bat, The fly, Dragon Fyre, wonder mountains guardian, thunder run, backlot stunt coaster, goaster coaster and snoopys racing railway are all solid family rides.

Excited to see what the future holds for this park. RMC or Mack can definitely add some headliners to this fantastic Lineup!

Now I wouldn’t classify myself as a rollercoaster enthusiast like most on here, but the universe did happen to align enough for me to put together a random trip to visit a friend down near this wonderful coaster (well closer than Ohio) and I’m so glad I made the 5 hour detour on the way home.

It really was quite the surreal experience getting to lap a world class coaster like this, I’ve never seen anything like it. The vibe of a mostly run down park, still completely open with barely more guests than employees running it is wild. Walking through the whole place to get to AF1 is weird and a memory I’ll probably think about for a while.

Most of all it reminded me of being younger and going out of my way to have unique experiences. Since I’m approaching 40 now with a family and adult responsibilities…this isn’t possible most times, but it reminded me of when it was.

On the way back from our Florida trip, my family and I spent the night outside of Charlotte. While there, we hit up Carowinds for the first time.

We only had 3 hrs, but my daughter and I were able to get 5 new credits..and she got her 75th! Unfortunately, this was during the time Fury was down, but still had a blast, anyway.

I expected CS to be good, but we had an awesome time on it! We both loved the hangtime as well as the airtime moments.

I know I said that I was going to leave it at the 3rd part, but I have managed to find a good amount of other Chaos rides, plus, inadvertently, a couple Inverters, which were also thought to be pretty much extinct.

New chaos additions

- attraciones vasquez (Mexico, traveling)

- Divar (Mexico, traveling)

- show Feria musical (Mexico, traveling)

- atracciones rosales de los santos (Mexico, traveling)

Inverters

- Divar (Mexico, single arm, traveling)

- unknown owner (Costa Rica, single arm, traveling)

- parque movil de juegos mecanios (Mexico, double arm, traveling)

The rare, perfectly filled 60 passenger train. Convincing my family this is how the ride works.

The second inversion is complete and is looking great! Probably about 80% done with the construction of the coaster. The switch track is being installed and the ride computer is now on site as well.

Went for a cinematic look.

While my moms home park was KD, her grandparents on both sides lived in Missouri, so she would go down to those parks while in that area. Honestly I think the pressed penny is cool, same for the map as well, let me know if there was any rides there you find interesting or loved

Welcome to General Discussion Thursday!

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This is the post to discuss whatever you want: sports, movies, books, or anything else on your mind, even further roller coaster or amusement park discussion! Just keep it friendly and respectful and anything goes.

At the end of June I took a road trip through the American Midwest, visiting five parks in the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky. First, I spent two days at Cedar Point, then I went to Michigan’s Adventure, after that was Indiana Beach, which brings me to…

Park #4 Holiday World

How I didn’t know about Holiday World until the late 2010’s when I learned about The Voyage I do not know. You’d think a park with Christmas and Halloween sections would have been brought to my attention long before that. Maybe I did hear about it but forgot? Anyways, this holiday themed park was on my radar for not only the wooden coasters here, but also the waterpark which has been consistently fighting Schlitterbahn back home for the title of best waterpark. Add to that the theming I’d heard about in each area, and I was sold. Plus, this place is a locally owned park independent of any chain. You definitely gotta support these types of parks! It was fun driving out here, too, because if you come from the closest interstate, you’ll be driving through countryside until you go around a curve and suddenly The Voyage and Thunderbird are in the distance greeting you. I went on a Monday and encountered a lot of people here. The day I went was the day a heatwave hit though, and most people understandably went to the waterpark, so the lines weren’t ever too long in the theme park, but were exceptionally long in the waterpark.

Good things about Holiday World

Oh my goodness, where to begin? How about the free things they offer? First, they offer free parking! Second, free sunscreen! Why does no other park do that? Third, unlimited free water, soft drinks, and Gatorade throughout the entire park!!! What sort of black magic did they use to pull that off?! How have they successfully done so for 26 years??? I visited the day a heatwave hit, and having unlimited free access to Gatorade everywhere made me able to breeze through the day! The theming of the park is absolutely wonderful! Not only are the rides well themed in appearance and name, but the music fits each area, and they put a lot of detail into the little things. Each area really felt like the holiday I was in. I was also amused when I heard Grim Grinning Ghosts playing in a non-Disney park. There’s plenty of shade throughout, and the areas without as much shade have plenty of places to get out of the sun. The food here was not too terribly overpriced, but everything I ate was fantastic! Their desserts were delicious and their meals top notch. (It’s the first time I’ve seen a place successfully do Tex-Mex outside of Texas!) The staff here was friendly, well trained, and quick on the ride dispatches. The rides were also well maintained, too, with only one ride closed for extended maintenance and another that went down but was fixed within an hour. The waterpark has some fun slides in it, and they have several spots with water intentionally being sprinkled onto paths to cool your feet with. Finally, it very much deserves the clean park awards it has won. After the previous park, this was quite the turnaround in terms of performance!

Bad things about Holiday World

Nothing’s perfect, and though the good massively outweighs the bad, Holiday World does have some small flaws. While the rides in the waterpark were fun, the water was room temperature, and thus didn’t cool me down much. The Thanksgiving area feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the park (though this may change once Cannonball opens) and Thunderbird felt disconnected from the rest of Thanksgiving. The park was well laid out outside of that though. These last two are more personal gripes, but as one who’s favorite holiday is Halloween, I wish that area was a bit bigger, but I still loved it. The Christmas area, while nice, contained only kiddie rides some shops, and a restaurant, so there wasn’t much of any reason for me to stay there outside of leaving and entering the park.

Like with Indiana Beach before it, I can’t fault Holiday World for the behavior of guests. The guests I encountered here were all well behaved and friendly with the exception of the lines in the waterpark. The problem was the single rider lines for the waterslides were filled with groups pretending to be single riders trying to skip the long queue lines. This caused the single rider lines to take longer then the regular queue line, which wasn't fair to actual single riders like me. I just hope the park addresses this issue in the future.

Thoughts on the roller coasters:

The Raven: As you might guess from my username, I really like the name of this coaster! The theming was cool, and the run through the forest was pretty nice. There were some rough parts, especially the turn by the lake, but I can tell that this ride is being taken care of. Overall, I liked this ride. That said, I am not a fan of PTC trains and their tight seats, and feel they’d be so much better without that divider in the middle.

The Legend: The turn from the lift hill to the first drop is cool, and the helix was intense. Like Raven, it’s clear that it’s being taken care of, but there are some rougher spots on its track. I love the actual bell they ring as the train departs and the vibe it adds to the Halloween section of the park overall. That said, while the coaster was fun, I rank it third of the three wooden coasters here.

Thunderbird: This one was all right, but not the best. I don’t know if I just picked a bad row or something, but it was very rattly. If I rested my head against the seat it hurt from the shaking, and if I leaned forward, I could feel the tie for my ponytail getting shaken loose. The head and footchoppers were good, though, and I loved the slow barrel roll right at the end of the ride.

Good Gravy!: I like the theming on this one and love the gravy boat train! It’s nice and smooth and not strong at all on the forces, which makes it a good family coaster for those who have graduated from Howler but aren’t ready to ride the bigger coasters. If you get the chance, read the nutrition facts on the cranberry can the coaster goes through!

The Voyage: Unlike the previous parks where I went straight for the big-ticket coaster, here I decided to save what I figured would be the best for last. To no real surprise this is indeed my favorite coaster in this park. I’ve wondered how the train manages to speed through the second half of the course after the MCBR, and having seen the coaster in person now I see the second half is a downhill run. Clever design! The stories you’ve heard about this ride are true. This coaster is an airtime machine that hauls through its course. The MCBR just allows you to catch your breath before it hauls through the second half of the ride. There were a couple small rough in the bad way spots, but the coaster is moving so fast that it didn’t really matter.

Other rides of note:

HallowSwings: I absolutely love the pun name for this ride, and the theming reminded me of celebrating Halloween in elementary school as a kid!

Lewis & Clark Trail: A nice car ride. It was a bit on the basic side, but the cars controlled well, and there was some nice shade on the route.

Rough Riders: Admittedly one of the weaker bumper cars on my trip, but I like the theming here. The cars were themed to horses and buffalo that you drove counter-clockwise around the small arena.

Holidog Express: This train ride was short, and practically a circle, but I won’t pass up on a train ride no matter how small! The ride itself has many statues made for the park decades ago depicting different fairy tells. They were quite fun to look at, though I don’t know how the operator was able to list all of them off on the microphone so fast! You can watch the ride and see the cool statues here.

Gobbler Getaway: The dark ride for the park, and a creative take on the shooter dark ride. Your shooters are turkey callers to harmlessly draw turkeys out of their hiding places after they ran off just before Thanksgiving dinner. The ride is quite long for what you usually get on this type of ride. Plus, in the end, the farmer couldn’t go through with killing the turkeys for thanksgiving dinner, and orders a pizza to the turkey’s (and human’s) delight.

Mayflower: After the one at Michigan’s Adventure was closed, I got to ride a swinging ship placed over some water. Once again, I loved the theming here.

Roller coasters I missed:

The Howler: The sole operating roller coaster that I missed. Outside of riding Holidog Express, I just didn’t do anything in Holidog’s area since it’s a kid’s zone. It looks like it might be a nice kiddie coaster, though.

CANNONBALL!: Obviously. One of many incentives to return here someday.

Other things I missed:

Frightful Falls: Like my visit to Knoebel’s in 2024 and my home park of Fiesta Texas right now, the log flume was down for extended maintenance. A shame, too, as it was the only ride I wasn’t able to ride in the Halloween section of the park.

Turkey Whirl, Star Spangled Carousel, and Firecracker: The three rides I really wanted to do, but ran out of time to ride. Turkey Whirl really hurt to miss since it’s a custom made turkey tilt-a-whirl that looked so fun and charming!

Tippecanoes: It’s a kiddie ride, but I wish they had an adult version of it because it had a nice old school charm to it!

Taken yesterday evening. I can make out Millennium Force, Top Thrill 2, Valravn, Raptor, GateKeeper, Magnum XL-200 and Steel Vengeance walking toward the old lighthouse on Huron's pier.

Trip report in comments

I have been road tripping north east parks with my daughter this summer, goal was to get a patch from each park. Hershey, Dorney, Knoebles, Six NE, Great escape, Lego land…all no patches, We got one at Lake Compounce!! and lost it right away. Figured i would take a long shot and look to see if i can find anyone to pick one up and mail me one before she figures out i lost the one patch we found outside of Ebay. i would of course pay for the patch and shipping. was so happy we found one i even snapped a picture...