Welcome to our advice thread! This stickied thread serves as a place to ask questions, receive trip planning assistance, and share helpful tips. Individual advice threads will be removed and directed here to keep the sub organized and fun to visit.
What sorts of questions are these threads for?
Essentially anything that has to do with trip planning belongs here along with simple, commonly asked questions. Examples:
What ticket/pass should I buy?
How crowded will __ park be on __ weekend?
What parks should I hit on my road trip? Is __ park worth visiting? (the answer is always yes!)
I’m scared of coasters! How can I conquer my fear?
While all questions are welcome here remember that we do have a search feature which may be helpful for common questions. For example, the coaster fear question comes up frequently so there are a ton of past threads to peruse for tips.
Remember to check back on these threads to answer questions and offer advice; they're a success due to engagement from our awesome community!
Resources:
RCDB: The roller coaster database. Contains info on any permanently installed coaster or park in the world, past or present.
Coast2coaster: A worldwide map of coasters big and small that's great for trip planning
Coaster-count: The most frequently used website for tracking what coasters (or "credits") you've ridden.
Queue-times: A resource for wait times and crowd levels at parks; good for the "how busy will __ be on a specific day?" type of questions.
Thrill-data: Wait time data combined with a planning feature so you can make the most of your day.
Nothing really secret. Do the Mack bobsled coaster, it's the best of the type. Otherwise just do the coasters and I guess Ghostbusters. Also Scream if you like drop towers.
The tragedy that occurred on Goliath, had me wondering.
I always thought the “fail safe” position of coaster restraints was closed and it took power that only the station could provide to open them up or other emergency means if there’s a valley or stoppage.
But if the fail safe is closed, how did a restraint fail to the open position?
There is a lot of speculation online you can read if you're interested in theories. Ryan the Ride Mechanic did a helpful video putting forth his best guess. The short answer is, we don't know yet and won't until the investigation is complete. Yes, it is extraordinarily unusual (maybe even unprecedented) and the fail safe position is closed.
Is going up to New England for SFNE and LC probably better the weekend of the 24th? Or the weekend of the 31st? I know both will be packed either way but which would be the lesser of the two evils
Ghostrider at Knott's is the slowest load and consistently has the longest line. Ride that first thing and later in the day after its warmer up.
With X2 being down now, you can pretty much rope drop anything at MM without trouble. Most people will probably run to Full Throttle and Revolution since both are at the entrance. You could always start in the back of the park while the lines are shorter back there.
Hey guys, I'm travelling to Europa Park in mid December with my 7yr old 134cm tall daughter. We're staying in the park. We're very excited!
I have not been to any parks in Europe before (I am Australian) and would love some info from any of you that could help.
Are there any tips that you would give me?
How does it differ from the Aussie parks?
Can anyone give recommendations for places to eat that cater to vegetarians?
My daughter can be sensory sensitive, are there any rides or ride queue areas or other places that feature sudden loud noises that I should be wary of?
Will anyone stop us if we try to ride Voltron? The ride info does say 8yrs old, but she's almost 8 and big for her age and it's kind of a once in a lifetime for us, so I'm wondering if I should try and get her on it. She is often mistaken for being older, but I also don't want to set the precedent of lying being okay if they are going to ask her...
Does it look like Voltron would even be open? I checked last year on the same dates and it was open, so hopefully that's a good sign, but I know it is low season and it can get too cold for the coasters to operate (unimaginable, for an Aussie)
This might be a dumb question, but how does it work when it's cold at the park and you have hats or coats - do you have to take coats off to ride because of the bulk? Is it better to wear thinner layers so you dont have to disrobe every time?
In terms of clothes: Coats are fine (unless you are really overweight). Also, I would pack gloves and (if you can spring the money for it maybe even ski masks (ideally ones that also cover your lower face). Germany doesn't get crazy cold in mid-december but riding in 5-10°C can still be cold, especially if you are not used to it.
Thank you for linking this! I will have to buy some gloves and ski mask. Where I live, wearing a ski mask will make people think you are a criminal because it is never too cold to wear them for legitimate reasons hahaha
You will be amazed at the speed of operations at Europa Park vs the Australian parks. You also don’t need to empty your pockets for every ride but obviously be sensible about loose items, zip pockets are handy! Unless the restraint won’t close, you won’t need to remove coats. The level of theming and details is way above anything in Australia - the bare minimum you’ll see is like Jungle Rush so take your time to explore.
Voltron’s queue is very loud inside with the Tesla coils which you can’t anticipate. They aren’t going to ID your daughter’s age, just check her height.
Unless it’s absolutely freezing all but a few water rides will be open.
Most restaurants will have at least one, if not several vegetarian options.
Make sure to go to Rulantica at least once. They do evening tickets.
I was reading on their website that you can take gopros on some of the rides and I nearly fell off my chair ! Dreamworld would never!! I guess a coat with an internal zip pocket for necessities is probably ideal then, so I wouldn't need a bag at all.
I did not book rulantica because I wasn't sure how much of it we could use in winter and because my daughter isn't a confident swimmer yet and I'm single parenting. She does love the water, but she doesn't like unexpected splashing (also a sensory issue) so I wasn't sure if it would be worth it or how splashy the water rides would be. The lazy river there does look absolutely amazing
There's luckily no paid skip-the-line at EP, but I recommend using the virtual queue that anyone can use for free via the app.
EP has many great attractions that aren't just coasters, primarily the dark rides and shows. I would recommend to at least do: Piraten in Batavia, Snorri Touren, Voletarium, Madame Freudenreich Curiosités, Castello dei Medici. And for shows in winter: I love the Ice Skating show ("Surpr'Ice presents ...") and the Winter Circus. Also, since winter is the almost only time to be in the park at night, I strongly recommend to do a Euro-Mir night ride (it's my by far #1 night ride, even ahead of Taron, and Euro-Mir will close forever in January) and the Euro-Tower at night.
Regarding the hotel resort: if you're a guest of one of the hotels (excluding the western camp / Riverside Western Lodge), you can use the pools and saunas of all of the hotels for free. My favorites are the pool of Bell Rock, Santa Isabel and Colosseo, and the sauna of Kronasar, Bell Rock and Colosseo (in that order).
I highly recommend Rulantica. Even though Europa-Park is my #1 theme park, most of the time when I drive away from Rust I feel like that the Rulantica day was my favorite day. But I also spend a lot of time in Hyggedal when I'm in Rulantica, and in winter the outdoor slide tower is of course closed, without those things it's a half day park at most. Hotel guests also get early entry in Rulantica.
The Voltron queue building has 4 tesla coils in the ceiling that every couple of minutes activate out of nowhere and are very loud. Out of all theme parks I've ever visited, that matches "sudden loud noise" the most.
I believe all restaurants have some vegetarian options, but I don't think any restaurant caters specifically only to vegetarians, except the restaurant "SPICES" which currently is doing its "Vegan Weeks", but they will end in a few days. In general, my favorite restaurants in the park are Fjord Restaurant and Spices. Food Loop is imho only fine, I would not recommend it above the others
As long as it isn't very close to or below 0°C, everything will be running in winter except the water rides.
You can wear as much or as little clothing as you want, as long as you're not naked and the restraint can close it's fine. For winter, I strongly recommend leaving all your clothing on and also wearing gloves, the wind during the ride can otherwise freeze you and especially freeze your hands, especially if you do many re-rides. Items like scarves or hats on the other hand have to be left in the free lockers in the station (or on the slower coasters, at your feet).
Thankyou for all this! Especially the tip about gloves - I had not considered the wind chill making the rides feel colder!!
I did not book rulantica because I wasn't sure how much of it we could use in winter and because my daughter isn't a confident swimmer yet and I'm single parenting. She does love the water, but she doesn't like unexpected splashing (also a sensory issue) so I wasn't sure if it would be worth it or how splashy the water rides would be. The lazy river there does look absolutely amazing
Take advantage of early entry. The park opens early for guests staying onsite.
Don't skip the smaller rides throughout the park. There are tons of Fantasyland style dark rides that are all worth riding. The Christopher Columbus flat ride in the back of the park is one of my favorite overlooked gems. The park is all about discovery and many of those smaller rides are usually a walk on compared to the bigger rides in the park.
Don't forget to say goodbye to Euro-Mir. This is the ride's final season. It will close when the park closes in January.
I don't remember if they had any vegetarian options, but I really liked the roller coaster restaurant.
If your daughter can handle the more intense coasters in Australia, Voltron should be easy. It's pretty long and intense, but a really cool experience, especially if you go in blind. Most of the other coasters in the park aren't intense at all.
Jackets and coats work like any other park around the world. Unless you wanna freeze on the coasters, I'd recommend keeping your jackets on. If it's warm, you can remove it. All the coasters have storage for your things.
I'd recommend at least two days there. I did 4 days there myself and could've done more if I had time, but I was very satisfied with 4 days there.
Thank you!! Are most of the coaster storage areas bins at the station like Australia?
I'm glad euro mir will still be open then, I wasn't sure exactly when it was closing. My daughter is obsessed with space and will LOVE the theminf i think
- Voltron: If she is big enough, she can ride. Keep in mind that the ride is pretty intense, so you have to judge if your kid is up to that.
There are lockers before the ride so you can put your stuff away. (I don't think the jackets will be in the way, but I have no experience with that yet. But better stay warm and take off if asked.)
Anyone who rode that monstrosity? Have any tips to arrive from Shanghai or even were to buy tickets to the park?
I'm planning to arrive to ride it on October 26. l'm coming from Shanghai just for 3-4 hours to enjoy the park.
This is going to be my first ever 4D coaster as well!
Any tips about knowing if the coaster is working?
The line is usually busy? And if anyone knows how the rules about filming on the ride? (Obviously using a action camera + hand / chest mount)
Honestly I'm kinda overwhelmed and excited because I'm flying to work in Shanghai for few days and it's also my first time in Asia
Are you visiting any other parks in the region? I can help more with the 3 that I've been to, but what I will say is that if the park has a mini program on wechat, that could help you.
Hey! Actually no, I’m going to work in Shanghai and have one spare day to travel far and I’ve never been on the 4D coaster. Can we talk in private chat?
With the incident on Goliath it got me thinking… are engineers including hypermobility in their calculations? These disorders and spectrums aren’t exactly uncommon, and it would change the way the body responds to the forces involved in the ride wouldn’t it?
Sorry if this comes off wrong, but when I watch roller coasters, they seem fun till I’m on it and I’m thing about going to sfog and I js realized it’s the one where someone died at so can some people give me advice
I mean, it's similar to people vacationing in areas after a terror attack or disaster. The odds of something happening again so soon there are astronomically low and they will be under a massive media spotlight to keep things running safely.
If the park is re-opened this weekend, most likely Goliath will still remain closed for investigation while the rest of the park that does not use a B&M hyper design will be open.
Yup, check my profile for my trip report to there in June. Overall I had a great time at SFOG with their other attractions and it was worth the trip. I will say don't expect the best food there, I had a pretty bad experience at the bbq joint and next time I would have skipped that for some pizza or something and ended up doordashing food to the hotel instead. But overall it was still worth going.
Just read a decent bit of it, and what would be the best first ride there to calm nerves, I’m going to Bessemer to prepare for SFOG and hoping to do some big rides in Atlanta
Everyone has a different answer on what they like, so I would say pick whatever you like first. Once you're in the park you can either head left to Georgia Scorcher and Dare Devil Dive or right to Twisted Cyclone, both are pretty middle of the road intensity with some inverts but not crazy intense. The two DC areas behind those two spots are some of the most intense (Superman on one side of the park, Batman on the other). Then back of the park rounds out with Great American Scream Machine as a wooden coaster and Blue Hawk as a looping coaster with over the shoulder restraints. Near the middle of the park you also have a boat ride Monster Mansion which is a fun and cute ride in the AC very tame, and I didn't get a chance to ride but the Georgia Mine Train there is also pretty popular.
Okay I’ll probably go with the milds one first to get rid of the thought of it being scary and then work my way up, I appreciate the help sir, you have a blessed night
My family is beginning to plan our June trip. We usually do a theme park with something else. The top runners are Eftling and Alton Towers, choosing one and spending 5 days in the city and 2 days at the park. My mom is a full time wheelchair user. Does anyone know if either parks are particularly hilly or have uneven terrain? This changes how we plan for trips. Also any general advice would be helpful too.
Efteling will be far easier to manage than Alton Towers. Alton Towers do have an accessibility guide here, however as I’ve not used it I can’t comment on how good it is https://www.accessable.co.uk/alton-towers-resort
Efteling is one of the major parks that invests the most in accessibility! The park is mostly flat and they have priority passes also. And you can combine it with a visit to Toverland and Amsterdam/Tilburg!
Alton Towers essentially sits on the side of a large hill, especially the gardens, but many of the coasters are located in valleys and you'll have to walk up and down hills to reach the stations. That's on top of the sprawling layout. It's essentially Cedar Point sized. I would definitely look into their ADA policies if you're taking your wheelchair bound mother with you. You probably won't be able to explore the gardens either because those are a serious hike.
Alton is a fantastic park though. 2 days should be more than enough time to see everything. Don't skip Alton Manor. It's one of my favorite rides there.
Looking at visiting the major Spain parks between Christmas and New Year's - PortAventura/Ferrari Land, Parque Warner, and Parque de Atracciones de Madrid. What kind of expectations should I go into these parks with regards to crowd levels and what rides might not be open, single rider lines, and skip the line add-ons? Only interested in getting the coaster credits but looking at the ride lineups for these parks, is there a particular flat ride or even dark ride you'd recommend?
I plan to fly into Barcelona and get around by train, any tips? I have been to Spain before but not to any of the theme parks yet, and not during a holiday week. Lastly, with the response to the Goliath tragedy, it appears European B&M hypers like Shambhala are still operating, so I'm guessing those are safe for now and if there was a brief closure it wouldn't be for long?
I have a trip planned to Plopsaland Deutschland next week. Unfortunately, Ski Scream seems to be closed the whole week. Does anybody know if it will be reopening next week? I read that it depends on the temperature, but it's well above the required temperature.
We’ve all heard the tragic news, and my heart goes out to those directly affected.
There’s a deep ripple of fear going through many of us (I’m sure it’s not only me) that maybe this isn’t as safe as we’ve always believed. I’m not sure how to continue riding as happy-go-lucky as I have in the past. I know they’ve shut down the similar models of coasters, but how are some of y’all overcoming the tough thoughts when getting on other models by different manufacturers?
For example, Copperhead Strike at Carowinds is one of my top favorites. I love air time and upper body freedom, but the clamshell with slow inversions has always made me nervous despite how much I enjoy the ride. But now, shhhiiiiitttt.
(I acknowledge this is personal anxiety and do not mean this to negate any traumatic experiences lived by others. Just wondering how we’re all coping around here.)
This is as good a place as any to write some of my thoughts.
I'm a nervous flyer, and I've combated that by learning an absolute ton about how airplanes and their safety systems work.
One of the best things I've taken out of that is an understanding of the Swiss Cheese Model of how incidents occur.
Many airplane incidents and accidents are just super unlucky combinations of widely varied factors that just so happen to line up in the absolute wrong way to allow tragedy to occur. A maintenance issue, a communication issue, a tiny pilot error or misunderstanding, a bad procedure, etc. Each small failure that independently poses no grave risk stacks and stacks until catastrophe occurs.
It is still far too early for me to speculate on what happened on Goliath. Every possibility is on the table.
I bring this up to answer your question with what is going to be my strategy going forward:
How can I make the holes in my slice of Swiss cheese smaller?
I know this is perilously close to victim blaming, and I'm really truly not trying to do that. It's more a confession on my part.
I've done things in the past on rides that open big holes in my slice of the cheese. Sneaking an extra inch of lapbar room, looking at that RMC screen and trying to go minimum-verify, going limp or rag-doll on a ride.
I think I'm done with all of that. I'll take the extra click, I'll sit more properly, I'm probably even going to have my hands up in the air less.
This is copium, rationalization, and flailing for agency in a situation where you really have none.
Going back to the airplane comparison - it's not like I'm going to go up to the cockpit and heroically land the struggling plane. But I can read the safety card instructions. I can keep my seat belt buckled the whole time. I can count rows to know which is actually the closest exit. I can keep my phone/wallet/passport in my pocket during takeoff and landing so that I'm not tempted to waste time getting them during an evacuation.
But there are catastrophes so complete that no action has any hope of saving you. At some point you still have to be willing to roll the dice. Such is life.
Outside of that fraction of a fraction of a fraction of things, there are places that I can exert even the tiniest amount of control on the situation and - real or imagined - find some solace and comfort in doing so.
I'm still flying into Ohio and going to Kings Island this weekend, and made my peace with the reality that I most likely will not have the opportunity to ride Orion & Diamondback (so those will have to wait for another trip, hopefully not another decade from now).
The day of the incident did give me some pause, and it did genuinely keep me up a bit that night. I was considering if I wanted to just call the whole thing off. But it's been too much planning and too much to tap out now, so I'm still going and I'm still going to have a fun time. It does help a bit that I already do some pretty extreme things in my day to day life that are statistically much more likely to bring harm to me (vehicular cycling, climbing ladders at work on the daily, daily routine in the bathroom, etc).
The clamshell is specific to B&M Hypercoasters, the Mack Copperhead Strike has way more modern over the shoulder lap bars. I wouldn't mistrust them at all, especially if you fit comfortably without stapling.
What strikes me is how extraordinarily rare this type of failure is. Not just rare, but for B&M, completely unprecedented. This has NEVER happened before. Ever.
Roller coasters are exceptionally safe and over-engineered with lots of fail-safes and redundancies. B&M in particular has a stellar safety reputation.
Yeah, there’s a good chance if anything/anyone is to blame, it’ll be an operation error not a problem with the coaster itself. Not saying that’s what is, I’m just saying there’s a good chance it’s more operator error than the coaster itself. Anyway I’m going to wait and see what the investigation says.
Okay okay, Iike I said, let’s just wait and see on the investigation. Who knows? I’m sorry I even guessed. We all shouldn’t be guessing and speculating at this point including myself.
Not to be insensitive but anyone have any insight on if the B&ms will be closed for the rest of the year? I was planning on a trip to carrowinds, if fury is going to be closed im.gonna cancel
I've already made my peace with the reality that Diamondback and Orion will not be an opportunity for me this year. Which really sucks when it's been a decade since my last Kings Island visit, and it better not be another decade before I can come back. Sucks but it is what it is.
Yeah I’m accepting that I will not be riding Leviathan or Behemoth this weekend on our sojourn to Canada. I also went to Epic Universe right after the death of that young guy on Stardust, so I seem to have bad luck/timing for these kinds of tragedies.
Depends on when the investigations are done and what needs to be done as a result. Also, depends on when the parks themselves close. I would say any park that closes Halloween weekend, their closed B & Ms are more likely than not done for the season. For any parks who close later than that, it’s a coin flip. There are so many variables in any sense, I’m just in “wait and see” mode right now.
They'll be closed at least until the investigation figures out a cause, and depending on what that cause is, maybe until they can install some technical mitigation across the whole ride type. I don't think it's possible to say at this point.
What's the odds looking like for Diamondback and Orion at Kings Island this weekend? I'm going out for 4 days and had this trip planned for months, and it's gonna be the first time back at my original park growing up in a good 12 years or so since my last visit.
If they're down for good the rest of the season I mean it is what it is, I'm not gonna be too upset lapping Beast and Banshee all day and getting a first credit on Mystic Timbers. Plus probably want some laps on Racer (my first credit) and Invertigo before it inverti-goes away for good. But growing up I really liked Diamondback and I remember a lot of the hype in 2008-2009 when it opened up and waiting two hours to ride that year, and was also really looking forward to Orion and what they did with the old Firehawk lot.
Be a shame if something last minute this week kept those two away from me, but I'm not gonna call it off either when the rest of the park lineup is decent enough at least.
I don’t think anyone here can answer that 100% tbh. I would bet on it not being open this weekend though unless they find out quickly there isn’t a potential mechanical issue with the restraints.
Yeah, I'm really fingers crossed that they can open sooner since the two there seem to have seat belts as a secondary backup, but it would not surprise me in the slightest if this winds up just being terrible luck. At least the rest of the park seems like a pretty solid lineup, I'd be more upset if I was going to Carowinds this weekend or something.
Had a 7 hour roadtrip to Carowinds coming on Sunday. Think I can finesse a refund if the b&ms are closed? Obviously they say no refund, but these are odd circumstances
Contact the park. If you haven't used your ticket yet, they should be able to at least extend the expiration to a later date so you can come back when everything is fully open
Now that I'm an EP refugee, I still plan to get a Six Flags pass for 2027 for upcoming park visits. Ideally a Prestige pass since I don't know exactly which parks I'll visit and in what order.
Now, since it's not technically a renewal, I will lose my benefits for this season--most importantly all season Fast Lane--when I buy the 2027 pass (I won't be getting add-ons for next season). I've confirmed this with SF already. However, I think I may have found a loophole that I want to run by you all. Obviously I can't ask SF support directly about this lol.
I plan to be at CGA on November 1st. It will probably be my last SF park visit this year. They also have very cheap Prestige passes. Here's what I'm thinking of doing:
Go to CGA using my existing 2026 pass, get my Fast Lane band, and leave after a while
Purchase my 2027 Prestige pass with CGA set as my home park while I'm out
Return to the park later in the day and have them scan my 2027 pass, thus activating it for the season, while still having my FL wristband
Anyone ever done anything like this and know if it'll work?
I’m planning on going to Kings Island (long drive) on Sunday October 25. Knowing that people aren’t fortune tellers, do we think that Orion and Diamondback will be back open by then (they have seatbelts, if that matters). Not sure if it’s worth it to make a trip with them closed.
I'm going a weekend before you - this weekend in fact.
I've already made my peace with the reality that most likely the two of them will be remaining closed, even with the seat belt attachment. KI still has a pretty impressive lineup, and I'm planning on snagging Mystic Timbers to my new credits and lapping the shit out of Beast at night and some rides on Invertigo before it Inverti-goes away 😂
The Beast would have been closed for the big helix rebuild by Christmas last year, yes? If so, getting a night ride on the Beast this weekend is worth the price of admission alone!
If I'm wrong and you already did that, I still think getting night/dark rides on Beast, Mystic Timbers, Adventure Express & the Bat is always worth it. It is unfortunate that you'll probably miss the hyper models again, but there's still lots there.
Thank you for your detailed response! Yes the beast was closed when I went - the only thing you list that I rode/was open was mystic Timbers which I got night rides on. Hoping that Orion and diamondback will be magically open but thank you for the vote of confidence otherwise :)
Not really basing this on anything other than my own speculation, but I'd be shocked if they opened before the investigation was finished. I'm assuming all the other clamshell B&Ms will be investigated as well. Seems pretty unlikely they will open again this year as the investigation will take months, but who knows.
Hard to say for sure but I wouldn't be shocked if the ones with seatbelts open by then. I could see them staying closed through this weekend but I don't think they'll be down long. That's a ton of capacity at Kings Island for a really busy time of year and if there aren't any safety concerns they should be open.
I’m going on Friday for the first time (I’m not local at alllll) and not being able to ride Orion and Diamondback is making me not want to do the drive from and to Columbus
Columbus isn't a terrible drive to Mason and their lineup is still solid. Hell I'm flying up from Texas that weekend, catch me in the park 😂 You should still go!
Living in the west coast I'd consider a 90 minute drive as local. If I had Kings Island within 90 minutes of my house I'd go multiple times a year. Lagoon is 65 minutes away from me and I go quite a bit. It would definitely suck missing out on Diamondback and Orion but even without those 2 it's a great park. I do wonder how other lines will be affected though as those have got to be the 2 highest capacity rides in the park.
Yea I live in Orlando and I regularly do the 90min drive to Busch in Tampa. I’m going to the special Twenty One Pilots show in Columbus, and I tried to make extra time for King’s Island. I’m probably still gonna go just to see the park, but I’m sad about missing out on the heavy hitters
Shambala was posting wait times on Queue Times, so it looks like the closures were US only. I'm waiting on USJ to open to see if Hollywood Dream was affected as well.
Mako closed towards the end of the day yesterday and was listed as closed for the day at the park entrance today. Hersheypark wasn't open yesterday and won't be open again until Friday so no one knows on that one.
Not really. When it happened it was in the middle of the night and it made to the news around 7am. Europapark opens at 9am so they would have had time to act
Oh okay. That means that it wasn’t B&M who told parks to shut down their Hypers, it was probably Six Flags. I’m also guessing ones that closed not operated by Six Flags must have done so themselves
I'm going to be in Rome next week. I'm thinking on going to Magicland on Saturday the 25th. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to get there. The website is only in Italian so I can't seem to find directions. Google for some reason is having me go past the park, take a bus back to the park and walk a good amount, taking over 2 hours. Is there an easier way to get there?
If I do go, what flat/dark rides should I not miss?
It’s Saturday the 24th, how do I know, our ship stops in Rome on the exact same day. What are the odds? Unfortunately my girls are forcing me to play the tourist. Can’t Google Maps help you? We’re planning on taking the train from the port. I think public transportation is pretty good in and around the city.
You're right, I leave the 25th and got the days confused.
I have looked at Google maps and it does help, but it says it takes well over 2 hours. I can force it to go a stop before where it tells me, but still can't figure out how to get there without walking a couple of miles it seems. I would have thought that there would be good public transport to the park. The park is about 25 miles outside the city so it looks like trains or buses only.
Fastest I can find is a little over 1 hour but most are indeed 2 or so. Uber is a bit steep, you could rent a car. I did check from the center, so the edge of Rome or the airport even might be very different. Hope you’ll find your way.
I'm staying right near the big train station and would have thought a short train and maybe a bus. I haven't looked for the way back. Was hoping someone would know a quick way that Google just doesn't know about.
Is it weird that I occasionally (1-2 times a week at most?) kiss my dog on the snout to let her know how much she's loved? My wife and kids say yes. I (obviously) say no.
Obviously, the most logical place to ask this question is in the rollercoasters subreddit.
All feedback welcome, but feedback supporting me is greatly preferred.
you will miss those kisses when she is gone, believe me
Beautiful puppy and ugh, this really resonates right now. I lost my cat a couple weeks ago. What I wouldn't give to be able to kiss him on the head one more time and get a little nuzzle back. :(
(Sorry to continue this off topic musing everyone...mod is biased towards cute animals)
We have a trip to [Cedar Point] this weekend.
Super excited, been wanting to go there since I could read books about roller coasters!
Obviously we are all aware of what happened at Six Flags Over Georgia, a massive tragedy. My heart goes one to everyone affected by the situation.
Am I under the wrong impression that since Six Flags also owns Cedar Point, the ride operations could be similar?
We had an amazing time at King's Island a few years ago (under the Six Flags reign at that time).
Is there a higher quality of ride operations at Cedar Point due to the huge amount of coasters?
This is in no way blaming anyone for anything, but rather just curious. I've heard stories of people taking about the lackluster ride operations at SFOG, and I'm just curious on the comparison at CP.
There are no B&M hypers at Cedar Point, so no closures from that compared to other parks in the chain. Their operations are very S tier compared to the standard 6F chain parks as well, so you should expect great operations. It's a destination park the likes of LA or Orlando and it reflects that in some ways.
Cedar Point probably has the highest quality operations in the chain. It's definitely the crown jewel park. It's either them or Kings Island on ops, both are former Cedar Fair parks and were run way better than Six Flags parks before the merger and still are. I would say Six Flags Over Georgia has the worst ops I've ever seen. It's currently my home park, but I grew up going to Cedar Point and worked at Six Flags Great Adventure in the 90s, and have traveled to many parks over the years.
Most workers at SFOG just don't care and many do not even pay attention to the rides. I've seen quite a few just staring at their phones instead. I believe that'd get you fired at most amusement parks. The Park is not fully owned by Six Flags yet but will be in January. I've heard that was going to change how staffing is done, and after yesterday things are obviously going to need to change. So hopefully there are drastic improvements coming.
You will be fine at Cedar Point. It's entirely different experience despite being in the same chain.
The reputation of SFOG’s ride ops were pretty unique to that park, and they’ve unfortunately had that reputation since well before the merger. Cedar Point on the other hand has always had a higher standard for their ops than a lot of the other parks in the chain because of how big of a park they are and the crowds they can pull.
Also while this is 100% speculation and is only what I heard (I would love verifiable information if I could find it) but doesn’t Ohio in general have stricter safety standards as well in general when it comes to parks?
It has been many years since I’ve been to Point, but I had gone to Kings Island recently and they were extremely thorough when it came to checking restraints during my trip there.
Can't refer to exact legal code, but IIRC Ohio has a lot of state law on book for amusement rides and theme parks to follow compared to other states. All but 6 states already have state laws on book based on the ASTM standards recommendations, but Ohio is one of the strictest of the bunch in a good way. Then talking about Kings Island specifically, their options are unparalleled. They were a flagship park back in the day for Taft Broadcasting, then when Paramount bought it they wanted it to be the "Orlando of the Midwest" and their planning into the park very much reflected it. Some of the best ride ops in the world working there.
I'll add my personal experience to vouch for the quality at Cedar Point. I had to get off Power Tower a month ago. Belt was buckled and the OTSR clicked. It gave the green light that everything was good.
But then it started flipping back and forth between red and green. After four times of that flipping, they told me I couldn't ride. I would have been fine but I'm glad they were strict.
I always push out on restraints as sort of an anxiety tic. It would have taken something extraordinary for me to have come out of that seat. The restraint clicked and belt was buckled to it. It was secure. I think they require the restraint to click twice for the green light. When the attendant was pushing down on my restraint, I think it was so close to the second click that the sensor was picking it up. When I would slightly exhale, I think it moved the restraint just far enough away that the light went red.
Like I said, it would have had to of been extraordinary circumstances for me to come out of that seat. If the line had been long and they were trying to rush dispatches, it could have been easy to miss. But because they put safety first, they took that very, very, small chance of something bad happening and eliminated that possibility. Sad and embarrassed but glad that I'm here to ride another day.
We are going to Canada’s Wonderland this weekend, trying to prioritize getting our kid to 100 credits (he’s under 48 inches, for reference). Any advice or ideas on how to best tackle the park, places to eat, or things nearby is appreciated.
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u/CatOfTheNyanVariety 22h ago
Hii, going to Heide Park DE in a bit, what are the musts and donts there?