HHN916

SFA already has one of those ballon ferris wheels so they're probably just going to move it to the Thomas Town area.

With the Gold FlashPass at SFOG, do you get to pick any seat you want on the rides or do they assign specific seats?

I would say Headless Horseman is well worth the $32. Dahlia Blood, The Feeding, and The Slaughterhouse are HHN quality houses except you get more scares because you go in groups instead of the conga line. Those three houses alone are worth the cost to me but you also get an awesome hayride, the corn maze, and John Shaw's insane show. The chainsaw guy is in The Feeding, not Dahlia Blood. The Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce sounds awesome. I'm planning on hitting it up for the first time this year especially since I'll be able to get some Boulder Dash rides in while I'm there.

I think SFA is definitely changing for the better. My visit this year was very enjoyable and I was very impressed by the positive and friendly attitude of the employees. The Thomas Town should help bring the families back and hopefully the park will keep delivering a positive guest experience. Add me to the list of people that think Chang is going to end up here in 2011. The park still needs some work. I would like to see SFA fix Roar as the ride is in terrible shape. They need to speed up the evac procedure on Batwing. We were stuck on the brake run in the sun for 26 minutes before they got us out of the train and it was very uncomfortable. One more thing, they should put a box over Superman's first helix with some lights and fog.

I'll take B:TR. SLCs are one ride credits for me now.

I was thinking the same thing. My theory For next year, move Splashwater Falls to Chang site and maybe install some new things like one of those surf things, a racer slide, and/or a half-pipe. Within the next few years: - move the roller skater, go-karts, and flats to the front of the park - Blizzard River incorporated into water park - T2 either sold to South America or scrapped - Thunder Run, Twisted Twins, and everything else to the wrecking ball That leaves a huge chunk of space on the Thunder Run side of the park for perhaps an indoor waterpark/SF lodge type of thing. Just a guess.

Big Bad Wolf has been my favorite coaster since I first rode it in 1997. The theming, sensation of speed, use of terrain and amazing night rides made for an awesome ride experience that I will truly miss. I'm glad I was able to get down to VA in time for several front seat night rides Saturday and Sunday and to pay my respects to a great, unique coaster. While walking away after my last ride, it still didn't seem real that the Wolf would be removed. I wish Blackstone would purchase the park and decide to somehow save the Wolf with some creative engineering. But sans a miracle, I hope BGW's next coaster uses the terrain and has excellent theming - perhaps a B&M mine train coaster.

I doubt La Ronde and CW have much impact on each other's attendance. They are over 300 miles away from each other and each has it's own metropolitan area to draw from.

Operations were fine and I didn't notice any poor behavior from anyone. I'll definitely visit again when I'm in the area.

The wife and I headed up to Montreal for the first time for a weekend trip that included a visit to La Ronde on Friday, July 24th 2009. The park has a scenic island location, charming atmosphere, fun rides and we had a fabulous time. We took the metro to the island and decided to walk to La Ronde’s entrance which was a pleasant fifteen minute stroll. We arrived at the entrance at 10:30 and waited with a small crowd until 11:00 when the park opened. It had been drizzling in the morning but it stopped by the time the park opened. We had originally planned to get a gold flash pass but decided against getting it based on the size of the crowd at opening. Le Galopant and Minirail were the only closed rides and all coasters ran one train but the lines remained short during our visit. We headed to Toboggan Nordique first to get on the low capacity mouse coaster without a wait. I think we were the third car out of the day. Next we headed to the back of the park to the excellent Goliath. We traversed the long but empty queue to find a three train wait for the front row. Nice! As we waited, a train got stuck at the top of the lift but maintenance hustled up the exit ramp and had the coaster reset and running quickly. Goliath has some nice airtime throughout as well as a sweet airtime + lateral moment and I really enjoyed it. We then headed to the far reaches of the park to face the Dragon (walk-on, mid-train). This mild Intamin coaster is enhanced by an excellent all-around theming package. Any coaster where the riders are digested by a creature gets high marks in my book. We got a double ride for some reason, maybe a station overshoot. Both sides of Monstre were running with about a fifteen minute wait per side. We rode the right track (left entrance) first in the front seat followed by a mid-train ride on the left track. Overall I enjoyed the ride and found the layouts to be quite unique. I enjoyed the right track more as there was some surprise airtime hills not visible from the midway. I was super psyched for a Super Manege (walk-on, mid-train) but alas it turned out to just be a coaster. This was the first one of this particular old school Vekoma I’ve ridden and I found it to be a smooth, enjoyable ride. I wish I could say the same for Le Boomerang (walk-on, front) but the ride was rough and it was my least favorite ride of the day. The temporary Mummy attraction was our next stop. This was a good haunted walkthrough with some nicely detailed sets and scareactors speaking French. I am a haunt fan so I was glad that this attraction was at the park during our visit and although I didn’t understand what was being said, I enjoyed it very much. Vampire was our next ride and we waited two trains for the front. I don’t know why but this ride seemed more intense than B:TR at GADV. The turn after the 2nd vertical loop has some mad Gs. The final coaster credit of the day was Cobra. I’m not a fan of stand-up coasters but this one wasn’t too bad. There was some ear-boxing but the restraints were really soft so it didn’t hurt. So it was 2:00 now and we needed to find something to eat. We opted for pizza from the Pizza Pizza stand near Goliath and it was really good. After lunch, we took another ride on Goliath and Dragon (both 10 minute wait, mid-train) as they were our two favorite coasters in the park. Next we grabbed some amazingly delicious Rolapan Crepes and ate them down by the water. We hopped on the Spirale tower for a beautiful view of the park and surrounding area before heading to our final ride of the day, Pitoune (15 min.) Pitoune is an awesome log flume that runs very fast through its course so much so that we both fell off the seat at one point. We couldn’t help cracking up on this ride even if the devil chased us in a canoe! Before leaving, we walked through the kiddie land to take a look around and so that I could unclog my nose at La Marche du Mille-pattes. It looked like a nice ride line-up for the little ones. We left about 4:30 to get ready for a night out on the town. La Ronde hosts a world fireworks competition and we caught the spectacular Montreal fireworks from our hotel Saturday Night. The city of Montreal and its people were wonderful and we look forward to a return visit to Montreal and La Ronde in the near future. Back of the park. Dragon is in the grey building on the left. Front of the park. I fart in your general direction! The Mummy. Oh Snap! It's the devil!

I was just there on Friday, July 3rd and the lines weren't bad at all. We were done with the park in a few hours. If you plan on riding the swan boats and/or the antique cars, do them first thing at opening as they take the most time to get on. Otherwise, go to Sasquatch, then Boomerang, and then Alpine Bobsled. When they open the Frontier area, head up there to beat the crowds. The Comet was a three train wait max in the afternoon so you can hit it whenever and yes it is still great. We ate at the Festhaus because it was air-conditioned. The food was decent for park food. I doubt you would even need the Flash Pass but it's your call. It's a punch card. Hoffman's Playland is five minutes off the thruway. The coaster is $1.50. They have a Subway restaurant at the park. I am a haunt fan so I'll mention that there are four haunted attractions in Lake George - Haunted Castle, Alien Encounter, Frankenstein Wax Museum and Dr.Morbid's Haunted House.

I'm planning to be at La Ronde on Friday, July 24th and could use some help. I'm getting a gold FlashPass and will be staying at the Sandman Hotel. 1. Where should we eat in the park? 2. Where is the Mummy attraction located? Is it an upcharge? Is it on FlashPass? 3. Do they usually run both sides of Le Monstre? 4. Can adults ride the kiddie coaster without a child? 5. How far is the metro stop from the park entrance? 6. Any tips, tricks, recommendations? Any information is greatly appreciated.

I have to give props to Kennywood's Log Flume for having a non-lift incline which I believe is pretty uncommon these days. I recall the GADV Log Flume having a similar element back in the '70s but it has since been reprofiled (first drop I think). Does anybody else remember it or have a picture?

Wasn't there speculation at the time of the LL accident that the girl was intoxicated & sat down in the seat AFTER the staff had already checked,and cleared the train for dispatch? Had she been sobor she would've seen as she approached the car that the restraint was down already. I think one of the stories was that she had chickened out on the platform and was heading to the exit stairs but changed her mind at the last minute and jumped in the seat after the Ops had checked it.

Unfortunately, the best part of Pirate's Hideaway is the facade. Forget about the lack of interior theming and the weird seats, the coaster itself is just terrible, particularly the pacing. Love Bugs / Wizard's Cavern was a much better ride.