Planning to visit multiple parks this year

[rider]

Hi all,
I'm new here. I've had a life-long goal to spend a summer riding coasters, and this year I got an All Park Prestige Season Pass so I think it's gonna happen.

I'm going to use this thread to report on my visits. Not sure about etiquette here, hopefully this is a good use of a thread. I already went to Six Flags over Georgia so that will be first.

 

[rider]

I went to Six Flags over Georgia for the first time a few weeks ago. It's a nice park, it was clean (except for the bathrooms), and laid out fairly well. I only went on coasters, here are my thoughts:

Twisted Cyclone - awesome. I love RMC retrofits, and this was no exception.
Superman - Ultimate Flight - ugh those pretzel loops kill me, but in a good way
Riddler Mindbender - fun old-school inversions
Great American Scream Machine - I'm a sucker for wooden out-and-back coasters, this one is a lot of fun
Goliath - I really like how the coaster leaves the park and goes tearing around on its own
Dare Devil Dive - pretty basic dive coaster, the chain lift straight up was fun
Blue Hawk - nicely done inversions
Batman the Ride - meh, its OK for an inverted coaster

I will get to Georgia Scorcher today, if its running.

 

[Slamming Coastercore]

Hi Rider, welome! Looking forward to hearing your adventures! This thread would be best placed in the "Trip Reports" Topic. @Hixee may be able to relocate this.

 

[rider]

I see I had the wrong topic, thanks for fixing.

At Six Flags over Georgia now, the park is pretty empty and very hot.

I did get on Georgia Scorcher. It’s a very fun stand up coaster!

Not sure what’s up next, park-wise.

I’m gonna keep track of my 2025 coaster count here too. Right now it’s 9!

 

[rider]

Belmont Park, San Diego

I stopped by Belmont Park and rode the Giant Dipper twice, once in the front and once in the back. The rides were only $1, I guess because it's the 100th anniversary of the coaster?

At any rate its still a great ride, I love the tunnel at the beginning. On my second ride the train didn't quite make it back into the station, kudos to the three women operating the ride at the time who had to push us in the last few feet.

2025 count: 10

 

[rider]

Knotts's Berry Farm

Today was my first time ever to Knott's Berry Farm. What a great park! I've never seen such well curated shops, and the themed areas were a lot of fun.
I've also never been to a (non-Disney) park where the ride lines were so integrated into the ride footprints, I assume due to the limited real estate of the park. It made the entrances non-obvious, but made waiting in queue more interesting and made the park more enjoyable overall IMO.

As for coasters:

GhostRider - What a great wooden coaster. I loved how so much of it was inside the infrastructure of the ride, and the length was exceptional too.
HangTime - Fun dive coaster, rolls though some huge turns and some nice hang time too, living up to the name beyond the first hill.
Sierra Sidewinder - This ride was a laugh. I rode the last car rear-facing. The spinning was fun and disorienting enough to really kick things up a notch.
Silver Bullet - Reminded me of Raptor at CP. Big swooping inversions and just does not quit.
Xcelerator - Pretty fun launch coaster, though very short. The whole ride was smooth and fast. Not sure if the longer wait for the front was worth it though.
Coast Rider - I had some time left so I went on this, its a decent wild mouse type with some fun dips and takes the flat turns at a good clip.

2025 count: 16

 

[rider]

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain is all about rides, not much else there. Although I hear they are starting to have more events, and I saw an amphitheater being built so maybe changes are coming. It was hot hot hot in the park, 97F in the afternoon, and very little shade. Things got much better around 5PM, and the park really emptied out around then too. The park seems cleaner too. I was a bit disappointed with the food, several locations shut down in the middle of the day and since they're far apart it was a PITA to walk for a specific menu item only to find it closed. Maybe someone can get the app to update dining status too that would be awesome. I suspect the fact that I went right after the 4th and they haven't restocked yet was part of the problem.

It's been about 5 years since my last visit here, post-CF it seems like the ride operators are much better trained. Batman had a problem while I was in the loading station, it was all handled smoothly and professionally. Afterward I chatted with one of the ride supervisors, they said things have been good since the merger, with more opportunities for advancement.

I managed to ride 14 coasters in 8 hours (unfortunately Full Throttle was closed or it would've been 15!):

Wonder Woman Flight of Courage - I really like single rail rides and this one did not disappoint. They are so mimimal and still capture the essence of roller coasters.
West Coast Racers - Very fun racer, I like that you get to ride both sides. Yellow track definitely picked things up, and seeing the other train swooping aroung was a lot of fun
Twisted Colossus - What can I say I'm a huge RMC fan. I rode the original colossus and man what a difference. The crew managed to get us out in time for it to be a race too, which definitely added to the experience. Probably my 2nd fav here.
Apocalypse - Only wooden one here, I remember it being rougher in the past. Love the intensity.
Tatsu - I'm not a huge fan of flying coasters but OMG that pretzel loop. I acutally rode this last I have to psych myself up.
Scream - With this many rides there has to be a bottom and Scream is it for me. From the air horn at the start to the feeling that every element wimps out, I'm not a fan
X-2 - this used to be my favorite, but it's not aging well. In my seat the spins were jerky, and towards the end I hit my head harder than on any other ride. I have a feeling X2 will be gone soon it must be massive $$$ to try and maintain.
Goliath - My favorite current ride. Go on this it will not disappoint.
The Riddler's Revenge - For a standup coaster this is great. Smooth, lots of big elements, and great length.
Batman: The Ride - Meh bog standard inverted
Viper - Not the smoothest ride, but the super-high inversions are fun.
Ninja - I can't believe this is still running! Not many people make up that hill anymore I am sure. Suspended coasters are generally weak but Ninja tries really hard.
New Revolution - I like how it follows the terrain, and the loop is interesting as its barely compressed.
Goldrusher - I had time so why not? Its a fun little ride, really captures the essence of the mine car rides.

2025 count: 30

 

[rider]

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

The Boardwalk is a bit of americana! Clean, full of people having fun, and to eat pretty much deep-fried anything. Not to mention the beach and ocean.

I was hoping to ride Undertow but it was down, even the next morning a car was still stuck on the track. But I did get to ride this Giant Dipper too, one year older than the one in Belmont, just as much fun. The tunnel was darker. Belmont has more banking in the turns I think.

2025 count: 31

 

[rider]

California's Great America

Great America is so clean, and so empty. I know its closing soonish, that maybe makes it feel sadder that its not packed. I don't think it ever excelled at any one thing, like theming or family or rides, and just kind of faded in people's minds.

Gold Striker - Very similar to Apocalypse in MM, this one was a bit rougher when I rode it. Same relentless energy and non-stop speed though.
Railblazer - I like this ride, I guess I'm partial to single rail. The dip on the first hill, and the swooping layout overall, its just a lot of fun.
Demon - ah the heyday of Arrow Dynamics, two loops and a corkscrew. Not a lot of thrill anymore though.
Grizzly - its funny, Gold Striker never slows down, this one slows down after every hill. Somewhere in the middle would be nice, this one ended up ho-hum.
Flight Deck - I like this ride sooooo much better than any of the Batmans, and I think I figured out why. If you're gonna build an inverted coaster, give it room. The Batmans I've been on all fold onto themselves at some point, you are surrounded by track or supports or buildings. Flight deck (I remember when it was Top Gun) goes out and soars. That's the entire point of an inverted, and this one is one of the best IMO.
Patriot - another ho-hum coaster, it was much better as a stand-up.
Psycho Mouse - pretty bog standard wild mouse.

2025 count: 38

 

[rider]

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

I wanted to like Discovery Kingdom, I really did. But in the end it was disappointing. It was pretty dirty, trash on the paths and sticky tables, mediocre rides and theming. And I had problems (again) with dining areas unexpectedly closed (looking at you Johnny Rockets), or not having menu items the apps said they did.

I mean, they do have a freakin' Bengal tiger, and lots of sea animals, a fun dophin show, an educational pinniped show (I learned that word!). I really had to work to find the entertainment though, it just felt disconnected.

And let me make a PSA here: Do not get your cell phone out on a rollercoaster. Just don't. The train ahead of me on Medusa got stopped and ride operators had to slog up the hill to confiscate it while we all waited. Then some copy-cat tried it on my train too. Here's the funny (sad) thing, I like to say I can fall asleep anywhere but I never thought I'd have a power nap harnessed in the front row on a roller coaster lift hill, stuck in the California sun. But now I can say that, and the other fool can say they got ejected from an amusement park. We've all seen videos of this on youtube, Six Flags is clearly strictly enforcing it, just don't be that person.

Batman the Ride - Wait what, its a wing and not inverted? Yay! The free-spinning seats were fun, lots of unpredictable motion in three dimensions. A bit short though
Medusa - Ok so there are good floorless coasters! This ride was a blast on the section before the trim brakes, lots of great inversions and swooping around. After the trim brakes it was still fun too, just down a notch.
Kong - Ugh. Maybe the worst inverted coaster I've ever been on? Jerky and uninspired.
Joker - RMC brings another winner, easily the best ride in the park. Outstanding elements, speed, and smoothness.
Boomerang - Not really worth the effort. I don't understand why rides have padding that is stiff so your head can bash into it.
Sidewinder Safari - Fun little wild mouse, gets better after the car starts spinning.
Superman Ulitmate Flight - this is a good muti-pass launch coaster! Between the acceleration, slooooow in-line twist, and verticality, it was a lot of fun.

2025 count: 45

 

[rider]

Dollywood

Dollywood is such a fun park. The theming is good, the food is great (for amusment parks), they have some good coasters, and they have quality music shows you don't find at many parks. The employees are motivated to make sure you're having a good time, their engagement and the overall cleanliness of the park was notable. And even though the park was quite crowded, everyone was polite.

It was very very hot though, almost unbearable at 2:30pm to wait in a line. But they do have lots of shops that have AC, and the bottled water was way cheaper than at Six Flags.

Lightning Rod - I love RMC coasters, and I love terrain-hugging coasters, so as you might expect I love this ride. I overheard several people in the park saying its their favorite too I never rode it with the LSM, the theming is a bit odd now with a chain lift but it didn't take away from the ride.
Tennessee Tornado - OK this may be my favorite Arrow Dynamic ride to date. The tunnel was unexpected, the inverisons are huge, and it follows the terrain. In general I try not to find out much about a coaster before going on it, it made perfect sense to me that Alan Schilke designed this one.
Wild Eagle - Very nice wing coaster, B&M did a great job with this one. Smooth, soaring, fast but not rip-your-head-off.
Thunderhead - wow. This one literally took my breath away, as in I forgot to breath for a while. So much noise, speed without any letup, and yet so smooth. I like this one more than its west coast relatives, I think because it was smoother.
Mystery Mine - meh, dark rides are hard to keep up I think and this one already seems to be showing its age. The inversion at the end is pretty fun though.
Big Bear Mountain - This ride swoops around, has two tunnels and three LIMs but no inversions. What I really liked was the length of the ride, it just kept going, and how it follows the terrain. We didn't have any sound on our train though.
Dragonflier - This suspended coaster turned out to be more fun that I expected. Its not exactly intense, but it has some nice elements including a tunnel.
Firechaser Express - This is an OK mine car coaster, the theming is fun and reversing direction towards the end adds to it. Another one that follows the terrain.

2025 count: 53

 

[rider]

Carowinds

Carowinds was a lot of fun. It has a good collection of coasters, lots of dining options, and its clean. It was easy to navigate around in thanks to good signs everywhere, even the bathrooms were well marked (I wish that was true everywhere!). The bathrooms and several of the dining spots were all well air-conditioned which was very welcome in the southern summer heat. And the camp Snoopy theming was well done too IMO.

BUT For some reason, never explained, the park announced at 4PM that it was closing at 5PM. OK there weren't a lot of people in the park, probably due to the rain early on, but the had rain cleared. So what's up with that? I mean, I get it Six Flags just lost $100M and booted the CEO, so operating costs are clearly a problem. But still, you cut 3 of 8 open hours off at the last moment with *no* explanation. At least make that decision at the beginning of the day and give people incentives to come back another day. If I didn't have a season pass I would've been livid. As it is it left a bad memory at the end of the day's experience. Too bad.

Fury 325 - wow. almost all I can say. Huge airtime at amazing speeds, romping around all over the countryside, smooth like butter. Just a blast.
Vortex - just an OK ride. Not very all, not very fast, not very long, not too many inversions. Add the harnesses that you smash your head into, I was good with one ride on this.
Carolina Cyclone - hello Arrow Dynamics. Two loops and a corkscrew, with head banging restraints as well. Just an OK ride.
Carolina Goldrusher - ok Arrow Dynamics did much better with this one. Its just a little mine car ride, but its fun, it really captures the feel of a runaway mine car with all the decorative lumber tracks as well as the tunnel. And a second lift hill even.
Flying Cobras - I will confess I'm no fan of this Vekoma standard, however, the restraints on this one actually leave your head alone. Makes the ride way more enjoyable, especially the backwards run.
Ricochet - pretty standard wild mouse ride.
Copperhead Strike - this is a great coaster, it feels really unique. The theming is good, the length is good, and the elements are a lot of fun, especially the inversions that seem like you'll barely make it through including the heartline roll right out of the station.
Afterburn - another great jet fighter themed inverted ride by B&M, with lots of room to really get that flying sensation. Great speed too.
Thunderstriker - what an amazing out-and-back coaster. The hills are humongous, the airtime is crazy, the speed is intense. I could alternate between this and Fury all day long, though sadly I only had time to do it twice this visit. I will say the name is not good though, lol.

2025 count: 62

 

[rider]

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

This is a really scenic park, with lots of shade, and some really strong, European country theming throughout. It was very clean, lots of shops, lots of dining options, friendly employees. They have some animals (I saw wolves and bald eagles) as well. Overall it was really enjoyable, even in some intense southern summer heat. They had some shows too but the heat was too much to enjoy anything outdoors.

Sadly for us coaster enthusiasts, Alpengeist was closed for repair. From the train ride you could see a big crane and a working crew on the top of the loop, didn't look great. And even worse Loch Ness Monster was also closed, I'm guessing for safety reasons because of its proximity to Alpengeist and the position of the crane.

Griffon - What can I say, I was a bit underwhelmed. It's tall, and it's pretty fast. But two drops and two Immelmanns is all you get, dives just feel kinda gimmicky.
InvadR - This one is too small to get very excited about, the elements all feel toned down compared to its big brothers out there.
DarKoaster - I'm not a big fan of dark coasters. But this one has good special effects, and four accelerations are fun, also nice and smooth.
Big Bad Wolf: The Wolf's Revenge - This is an OK family inverted ride, there is one good turn right before the second lift hill the rest is just OK.
Verbolten - This one is only part dark, at the beginning. The effects are not as good as DarKoaster, but it does have that vertical drop which is unexpected. The rest of the ride is too short.
Apollo's Chariot - This is my favorite coaster at this park. It has good speed, good length, lots of air time, and follows the terrain (at least at the beginning). It's funny how I really like some B&M and really don't like others, when this is all done I'll have to figure out if there's one era I like or dislike more than the rest.
Tempesto - A fun multi-launch LSM ride. Same as Superman Ultimate Flight at Discovery Kingdom? I like the slow in-line twist.
Pantheon - This is a pretty unique coaster. LSM launch, LSM multi-pass boosts, forwards and backwards, a track switch, a fun top hat, and a zero-G stall. Overall lots of fun. They were only running one train though.

2025 count: 70

 

[rider]

Kings Dominion

Kings Dominion is a nice park. The entrance area and parts directly behind it have a ton of landscaping and shade, you can tell its been there a while. The newer sections have no trees and were super hot in the sun today, but the coasters are all pretty close together. They have good dining options, and everything was pretty clean including the restrooms. They also have a lot of shops, and all the employees I met were friendly. The operators were all very professional as well.

Pantherian was down several times during the day, but I eventually got on it (twice). Rumor says the new train wheels aren't working out in the heat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Dominator - a fun floorless coaster, really huge elements, some good speed, and pretty smooth. The interlocking corkscrews were cool.
Grizzly - pretty meh wooden coaster, seems the same as the Grizzly at CA Great America
Twisted Timbers - another RMC conversion that kicks ass and takes names. Just a ton of fun. Its the only ride in the park that requires you to empty your pockets, you figure out why after those zero-G rolls.
Apple Zapple - pretty bog standard wild mouse ride
Racer 75 North/South - This is a fun old-school out and back wooden coaster. The crew had things down pat so each ride was a race (North won both times), and the back and forth jockeying up the pull hill is fun, and so is the tunnel at the end. I liked the North track a bit better, both had some rough spots but overall a good time.
Backlot Stunt Coaster - the LIM launch was the best part of this ride, I liked how we spiraled up. The rest, including the dark park, was meh.
Flight of Fear - a dark coaster, but not too dark anymore as you could see the track a lot (except for the launch). Felt like its best days were in the past.
Rapterra - pretty good wing coaster. the LSM launch is fun, the height is good and the elements are big. I liked the heartline roll at the end for some reason.
Pantherian - not sure about the theming, but OMG what a ride. This actually beat out Twisted Timbers for my favorite ride in the park, quite a feat. This coaster is a monster, those turns at those speeds are crazy intense, yet so smooth. I overhear multiple kids said they grayed out, I dunno I didn't think it was quite that bad.
Tumbili - 4d free spin wing. OK overall, fun due to the random spinning, and fairly intense at the beginning. Very short though.

2025 count: 81

 

[rider]

Hersheypark

Hersheypark is a great time. It's scenic, just lots of everything: food, rides, shops. Nice and clean. I don't eat much chocolate so I was kind of oblivious to most of the theming. Great app (I just wish the nav tool had a directional arrow showing where you face). Their queueing has some oddities though. Many of the ride just dump you out into the middle of the station its kind of a free-for-all after that to get in line for a train. And several of the rides' Fast Track entrances are in conflict with the standard lines, its no fun having to try and get through.

Also this was far and away the busiest park I've seen this year, 10s of thousands of people here afaict.

Candymonium - I dunno, I expected a lot more for a ride that's 210ft tall, didn't feel like that much air time for the big hills at the beginning, and that's all it had.
Comet - Fun old-time woodie. The trains are in mint condition, though I swear you can feel them flexing as you leave the station. I liked how it went off on a spur instead of just around in ovals.
Skyrush - This one is ok, I feel like Intamin's 300 footers are so much more. Its not bad, its just no Pantherian.
Sooperdooperlooper - east coast version of New Revolution, it follows the terrain and has a tunnel so not all bad.
Great Bear - This is a fantastic inverted coaster. I loved the size, how it soared. the zero-g roll really caught me by surprise too.
Storm Runner - Pretty good launch coaster. The top hat is fun, and the flying snake dive is way cool.
Jolly Ranch Remix - standard Vekoma boomerang, but with the good restraints. And even I managed to notice the candy theme on this one.
Fahrenheit - another Intamin, the Norwegian loop (I had to look that one up this is the first time I rode one) and cobra roll really make this ride.
Wildcat's Revenge - RMC with another amazing conversion. So much zero g, and OMG that step-up under flip, another WTF was that I had to learn about after riding it
Wild Mouse - standard wild mouse.
Laff Trakk - ok if you're gonna do a dark coaster, do it like this with huge special effects that really add to the experience, don't just try to whip people around in the dark. This one was simple but fun.
Trailblazer - pretty weak mine train.
Lightning racer Lightning/Thunder - This is a really fun racer. They always released both trains at once, and its pretty unique in my experience how different the two tracks are, including even the pull hill. I went on the Thunder track first, it was very rough. Lightning was a whole lot better on this day, not nearly so rough, and for whatever reason I saw the other train bopping around a lot more from this track, which really added to the experience.

2025 count: 95