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I want to make the best roller coaster trip I could dream of out of my upcoming trip in July. I've had a part time job the last year so my savings wouldn't take a hit in doing so, so I want to not hold back and enjoy something amazing before college. Speaking of, I want to set myself up really well in my First Year Engineering courses at Purdue starting in the Fall. That, and make some new lifelong friends while I'm at it. 2016 is going to be a key year for me, and I can't wait to get started.

For the needs of the park at this moment, I think Cedar Fair would be the better owner. Improving infrastructure with fresh paint, new walkways, replacing the parking lot, and repainting about half of the coasters are really needed and Six Flags, while they have been working on it, are very slow and unwilling to invest. Cedar Fair parks also have at least some shows (stunt show, a Cirque show, etc) that Gadv could use. Beyond that, rides expansions are all personal preference. Both do dark rides now, both do thrilling flat rides now, both do different types of coasters, both do family rides and water park expansions.

Harry--is all the track being removed to be replaced/refurbished, or just the final piece into the station?

I don't think Skull Mountain is "gaining" riders, I think it's a combination of its mass appeal to kids and adults as well as it's massive capacity that draws even more people to the ride because it has comparatively shorter lines. A massively popular ride will lose some potential riders that are deterred by a two hour queue, while a very efficient, middle ground ride in terms of popularity (like Skull Mountain) will attract riders that aren't willing to wait long. Efficiency is key.

There are also heavy rumors that Six Flags signed a multi-ride deal with Intamin for both Kingda Ka and El Toro in 2004. If El Toro was primarily an RMC coaster, this deal would not have been signed with Intamin. Additionally, RMC has had their topper track for much longer than when they built Outlaw Run (which is very commonly referred to as their first ground up coaster). They had used it for retracks much longer, and El Toro's track is not RMC's topper track, it's Intamin's prefabricated track, just like on Colossos, T Express, and Balder.

^I think you're really, really overestimating RMC's involvement in El Toro. That coaster was designed by Intamin and based off Colossos, another Intamin pre-fab which has been operating since 2001. RMC had previously been involved in many construction projects and had been doing retracks for a long time before El Toro. RMc only helped in the physical construction of El Toro, just like they are technically producing the track for Total Mayhem--not an RMC design, just the physical construction process.

That's awesome! I started my common app essay with an anecdote of my first ride on Kingda Ka--alone. It changed my life. Needless to say, I got accepted I actually also really like the song selection in El Toro's station. It's a lot of mid-2000's music and a few of them ("I'm Yours," Jason Mraz) I actually really like.

^I apologize, Harry. Thanks for the bit on Scream Machine. As for the restraints, Maverick (which I believe is pictured) did receive new soft restraints in 2015. I rode Maverick many times before the change, and while personally I'm tall enough to not have an issue with the hard restraints, I'm looking forward to trying them out next summer. Also, I'm almost surprised nobody mentioned this--how about an entire "Ka refurb"--complete with four new lap-bar only trains like Top Thrill Dragster? Obviously we'd have to hear a mechanic's input, but I do believe Ka's top-heavy trains have been a root cause of the roughness in recent years. Dragster is one of the smoothest coasters I've ridden and has no vibrations in the back seats. I also imagine it would improve capacity. Sorry to get somewhat off-topic again! What I do love about this calendar is that some of them have come true in the past.

Soft restraints would be great but I'd rather see many other things done to fix Kingda Ka first. At the minimum use the back loading dock as an unload station. Find a way to get the state to allow Ka and Zumanjaro to run together. Then, we can talk about new restraints (even though it's a very simple fix). Also in the next few years we should see a repaint as Dragter has started that process already, but realistically I don't see that happening unless the parks invests significant capital into park appearance (pathways, parking lot, new paint, etc). Sorry to go off on a tangent but I think it would be a really awesome move for the park to repaint Nitro and Kingda Ka all at once in an offseason. Nitro has never been repainted, right? It's been 15 years now. That's pushing it quite a bit.

"Ready to Go" by Republica amps up Top Thrill Dragster's station. It fits the theme perfectly and and I have some special memories of riding Dragster at night whenever I hear it. Millennium Force's futuristic styled station music is legendary and probably the most well known of any coaster anywhere.

Brick pavers would be an even bigger improvement but I understand they are very expensive. Regardless, blacktop looks awful in theme parks and should be avoided.

^If you haven't noticed already, coasters are not the big draw to Holiday in the Park. Not everybody is an enthusiast, and most people attending this event aren't there for the coasters. Lines for the major coasters have been a non-issue.

If they take four hours to discuss and not even come to any conclusion about native grass then I don't see how they're going to make any viable progress or decisions in the near future.

The park always garners massive crowds during Fright Fest regardless of the quality of the mazes or atmosphere (to an extent, of course). With HITP being a new event in a riskier time of year weather-wise, it makes sense they're going all-out with decorating the park as they want families, who spend the most money, to enjoy the experience and return. Families care more about atmosphere and shows than the crowd the park draws during Fright Fest, so it makes sense. Also, why spend so much on FF when you can spend less and have equal return? The same just isn't true with HITP.

The key word for me is "solid streets." This is absolutely RMC T-Rex track. HOWEVER Before you all think this is Great Adventure's 2017 expansion with no second thoughts, keep in mind two things. 1) Six Flags often uses surveys to plan for other parks or the chain in general. There's no guarantee this is for Great Adventure. 2) Six Flags is a very different company than they were in the Premier days. Gone are the days of two coasters without at least full year between them with a smaller/no addition. If this is for Great Adventure, look for 2018/19. Other than that, I'd look for a T-Rex coaster in the SF chain by 2018, whether or not it's at Gadv, if the reaction was overwhelmingly positive by the general public to the initial concept.

I'll say C.

Accepted to the Engineering program at Purdue University! So excited for college!

^How could I forget! Regardless, Lightning Rod will attract the same type of crowds that every other RMC coaster atracts, plus an additional small percentage of the population that won't ride coasters with inversions but will ride the fastest wooden coaster in the world. Come to think of it, and I know this is off topic, but the issue some people have with inversions is the feeling of being insecure of in danger. Wouldn't going 73mph and launching uphill on a wooden coaster (which some people also won't ride because they don't think engineers think things through...) seem much more dangerous than going upside down?

^Well, it's four, actually, soon to be five, but that's a moot point. Outside of the New Texas Giant, every RMC project has had inversions. And every park that's built one of these coasters in the SF chain has multiple coasters with inversions. Most have three or four already before the RMC coaster. It's a new experience and that's what parks are looking for. If you want to build an extreme adult steel coaster, unless you're going for a giga coaster, these days you're looking at inversions in all likelihood.

^From an interview, at least for me, it seemed like they're working on their version of a mega-lite. The info I heard was around 2,000 feet long and easy to clone at a low cost. Could be a family coaster, but from the sounds of "it would only need to be designed once" and cloned to many parks, I think an RMC version of Lightning Run or Intamin's mega lites is in the works.

^B&M coasters are the safest in the industry. No doubt. Seat belts on B&M coasters do nothing but slow down dispatches. In fact, the only ones that do have seatbelts are often cited as only making the general public "feel" safer and potentially lower insurance, though the clamshell restraints are already redundant.

^^Maybe it was something they were still working on and finalizing during the chain wide announcements. Parks announce new things throughout the fall and winter all the time. Cedar Point announced a slingshot in the winter before 2014. Carowinds with the Top scan, as Harry mentioned. Darien Lake is making their announcement later in the winter. Carowinds announced their simulator months after their water park expansion. Why is this any different? You guys bash Six Flags all the time, and while I give my input where I feel necessary, it's justified. How is announcing something new after a grand announcement "Bush League"? There is no law dictating when things should be announced. Cedar Fair didn't announce anything at all for Dorney Park or Michigans Adventure. That sounds a bit more "Bush League" than adding something more than anticipated.

Is this essentially what Six Flags Ameirca is adding in 2016 as well? If so, its pretty sad how Great Adventure's "after the fact" bonus announcement is the same as SFA's main addition. That park needs help.

People always say how we can't afford to add low capacity rides because of our attendance, but that's completely baseless. Flying scooters are a family ride and will never be as popular as a thrill ride, yet we have Kingda Ka which realistically does maybe 500/hour and Total Mayhem which won't be that much higher. Also... Cedar Point added flyers in 2014 and has higher attendance in a shorter, more concentrated period of time.

^We can't go back to the 70's. Those aren't made new anymore. This is a common theme--setting yourselves up for disappointment. "I'd like the park to do that, assuming of course it's under X condition."