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Episode 173 - YFCSurself
94 Plays2 days ago
On this episode, Ben and Zach talk about several park visits from the 2025 season. We're back and we're ready for 2026.
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Transcript
5th Anniversary Reflections
00:00:42
Zach
I'm Zach and I'm recording from my bathroom.
00:00:47
Ben
I'm Ben and I forgot how to do this completely.
00:00:53
Zach
Oh my God. Well, at least you remembered your name.
00:00:57
Ben
It is weird. This is definitely the longest break we've taken. And um
00:01:03
Zach
Five years.
00:01:03
Ben
yeah, I know. It feels like we've never done that. It almost feels like we never even recorded before in a way.
00:01:09
Zach
Right? i mean, um our fifth anniversary of our first upload passed us right on by back in September.
00:01:16
Ben
Oh my god. That's crazy.
00:01:21
Zach
Yeah, because it really doesn't feel like it's been five years.
00:01:24
Ben
No.
00:01:25
Zach
In some ways, it feels like it's been 10 years. In other ways, it feels like it's been a year and a half.
00:01:32
Ben
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, the first couple of episodes feel like they happened a long time ago. But then the... You know what's a blur, honestly, with the show is everything from, like, January through April of 2020. Like, pre-COVID 2020 is a... For some reason in my brain, it's like this blank spot.
00:02:02
Zach
We had some guests on and um that's of course the timeline of when we did our very first meetup in San Antonio.
00:02:02
Ben
Everything... Yeah.
00:02:13
Ben
Yeah. Like, um I kind of remember most of the guests. But, and then February was, the meetup was February, right?
00:02:26
Zach
Yeah. Like very end of February going into March.
00:02:27
Ben
Yeah. Okay. That's right.
00:02:30
Zach
Because like it feels like maybe two weeks after ah we all got back home from that trip, the whole world shut down or started shutting down.
00:02:40
Ben
Yeah, i so I went to work. i had I went to Sacramento for work right after that trip. And then when I got back from that work trip on that Thursday, that's when, yeah, but at least for us, that's when it started pretty much.
00:02:59
Ben
the And then like the week after that, everything shut down. We were frozen from travel and well,
00:03:09
Zach
Yeah, we all remember how that went.
00:03:14
Zach
But ah yeah, that was, it's it's it's crazy to be back, and i' I'm glad though. um
00:03:21
Ben
Yeah.
00:03:23
Zach
Last time we recorded was just for for posterity, I guess.
00:03:23
Ben
Especially.
00:03:29
Zach
I don't know. July was our last episode.
00:03:33
Ben
Did it ever. did it ah Did it get uploaded?
00:03:38
Zach
Yes.
00:03:39
Ben
Okay.
00:03:41
Ben
Cause I was trying to remember what.
00:03:44
Zach
But we also were on break basically from March through July.
00:03:44
Ben
Okay. So.
00:03:49
Zach
Because we didn't upload after March until July.
00:03:51
Ben
Okay.
00:03:53
Zach
We uploaded that one time. And here we are.
00:03:58
Ben
Okay. All right. Well, there's a lot of catching up to do, I guess. I was just trying to like get bearings because guess I've already talked about, I've already shared my thoughts on Wrath of Rakshasa then.
00:04:10
Ben
so I don't know if I want to like repeat that. It's also old.
00:04:14
Zach
I think we both did.
00:04:16
Ben
Yeah.
00:04:18
Zach
But it was a new for 2025 coaster, so we can tread this covered ground.
Balancing Roller Coasters and Podcasting
00:04:24
Zach
Retread.
00:04:25
Ben
Yeah. Well, what's funny is like out of all the time that we started recording the show, I rode the most roller coasters and been to the most parks during the time we've recorded the least.
00:04:40
Ben
So I suppose that's how it works when you have a podcast about a specific topic.
00:04:47
Zach
Yeah.
00:04:47
Ben
but
00:04:48
Zach
Well, maybe you needed the break to um reset and kind of go have the experience more to be able to refresh and come back to it.
00:04:57
Ben
Yeah. Okay. So our last episode, we did discuss Wrath of Rakshasa. Okay. That makes sense. Okay.
00:05:08
Zach
Yeah, well, I mean.
00:05:10
Ben
So basically, it was our little California trip and then new for 2025 home park dive coaster. And then basically, that's where we got to pick up from.
00:05:22
Zach
Yeah, yeah. So I guess we'll start off with a quick shout out to our buddy Lance for hanging out with us in Southern California almost a year ago.
00:05:38
Ben
Yep.
00:05:40
Zach
Because that was, a what was that, like early March, late February?
00:05:48
Ben
That was, yeah, that sounds right. I think it was like mayte March 1st or something close.
00:05:55
Zach
Yeah, yeah. That was a blast. It was a great time. Really enjoyed that. um
00:06:05
Zach
Let's see. Yeah, we both got to ride Wrath of Rakshasa, but not at the same time. ah
00:06:12
Zach
On the whole, i would say, yeah.
00:06:12
Ben
And I was.
00:06:16
Ben
Yeah, I was. Well, I what's funny is like I want to talk shit about the new BNM stuff, but I actually didn't experience any roughness on the ride, but I also got stuck either dead center or just left or right of center.
00:06:32
Ben
So I was always above the track. I didn't feel roughness, but I believe that it was rough and I'm on board to believe that new B&Ms are rough.
00:06:43
Ben
so And I fully anticipate that the the Giga Dive is going to produce some Giga Rattles.
00:06:52
Zach
Well, thank you for but not being agnostic about the rattle of wrath of Rakshasa.
00:06:52
Ben
But...
00:07:00
Ben
is it too rough to enjoy the ride?
Critique on Modern Coaster Quality
00:07:02
Ben
I don't know. But like, is it annoying? Yeah. Like that's why I think that's, what's funny. i never, it will, first of all, I never thought the industry would be at the point where people are are acknowledging an obvious roughness to BNMs, but also people now defending BNMs and being like, Oh, like you're just being negative. Like, um,
00:07:26
Ben
you know, oh, you're weak, you're just being negative, you never have anything nice to say about a park or about a ride. And i think the obvious thing is, well, if it's a 20 plus year old company that's been producing a specific type of ride and experience and suddenly that quality goes down, I think it's fair for everyone to complain about it. So I don't know why our other manufacturers do not have this problem. It's only BNM.
00:07:58
Ben
So,
00:08:00
Zach
Well,
00:08:01
Zach
I don't know. Like,
00:08:04
Zach
they must have, I don't know what the thing is, because like, yeah, I mean, Intamin stuff now, doesn't really it functions differently than the Intamin stuff from like the early 2000s, at least in terms of the lap bars and the placement of the seating and all that.
00:08:23
Ben
Sure.
00:08:27
Ben
Yeah. But I mean, you can ride one of the Ride of Steel clones and it's not um you know compressing the discs in your neck when you go down the bottom of a drop.
00:08:42
Zach
but Yeah, and i'm and I'm also trying to just make the point that Intamin has kind of evolved.
00:08:43
Ben
It's... Yeah.
00:08:50
Zach
Whereas B&M are like, I don't know, Vester Strains.
00:08:56
Ben
Yeah. And the and I, it's still like, I want the company to succeed because obviously like they're doing a giga dive. Like that's a giga dive.
00:09:07
Zach
That's sick in theory.
00:09:09
Ben
Yeah. A giga dive with two Emmelman, no three Emmelmans
00:09:16
Ben
and a cutback. Is it five inversions?
00:09:22
Zach
Uh,
00:09:22
Ben
Oh yeah, there's a giant yeah five giant loop. Three Immelmans, one giant loop, and a cutback.
00:09:29
Ben
So it it looks like it could be I mean, like I guess if you're gonna... That's a thing, like a dive coaster was never... I never was really like that tickled by them. But it's if you're going to do a dive coaster, at least in my mind, it's like, oh, well, it should be 300 feet. like If you're going to have a cool dive coaster, it should be you know it should be a giga.
00:09:52
Zach
Well, to be fair to be fair, I think um Oblivion like looks sick, and that concept of just like having it drop underground for like a good portion of the drop, if it's not super big, is also cool.
00:09:52
Ben
So
00:10:10
Ben
Yeah.
00:10:11
Zach
But Oblivion's the only one ever fucking done that.
00:10:14
Ben
Yeah. I mean, it's and it's also the prototype. So it's, it's, it's, they, it's almost like they, i don't know.
00:10:19
Zach
Ugh.
00:10:21
Ben
I mean, obviously I don't know how the conversation worked, but Alton Towers was like, Hey, we want to do something cool. We want to build like a tall coaster with a drop. And they probably went to BNM and then BNM probably designed that style of coaster around the limitations of Alton Towers.
00:10:41
Ben
And then suddenly parks are like, oh, that's a cool gimmick. And then, you know, copy paste.
00:10:49
Zach
Let's see. Tormenta. Yeah, I mean, fuck. 309. Drop is 285. There's going to be some Kings Island fanboys
00:11:01
Ben
Oh, sure.
00:11:03
Zach
ripping that one for sure.
00:11:06
Ben
Yeah, because it's it's a reverse Orion situation.
00:11:11
Zach
Yeah.
00:11:12
Ben
And I will say, too, that um the looking at the photos, so something that I've always been kind of, don't know what the word is,
00:11:28
Ben
like sensitive to it on dive coasters is if you're going to build a dive coast, you need some really good, midway interaction.
00:11:40
Ben
And it looks like that is the case for the entrance by that parking lot. Um, but looking at the renderings, there's really no part of the midway that gets close to the ride.
00:11:55
Ben
And that's one complaint I have. Because like i the like Shigra and Griffin definitely do it best. Where when you're standing on the midway and the like the angle that you're looking at the drop and the ride run, like it looks like it was very...
00:12:17
Ben
designed and curated for that type of experience. And then Ratharak Shasta doesn't really have that, but it has like the, you know, the the midway goes through the ride, which is cool.
00:12:31
Ben
um
00:12:32
Ben
So yeah, that's my only complaint. Otherwise it looks cool. I mean, I'll be excited to ride it. I don't know how the rattle is going to be. i hope it's not super bad on 300 foot drop, but
00:12:44
Zach
I mean, my experience with Wrath of Rakshasa was like the drop was dope. But it's everything where there's any kind of like banking or, you know, movement on that axis.
00:12:51
Ben
yeah
00:13:01
Ben
yeah which in that case it's good because all the high speed stuff doesn't really have much paint cane it looks like um
00:13:03
Zach
Look.
00:13:13
Ben
Because all the banking and like the Immelman should be happening when the train is weightless. So hopefully that kind of alleviates that. Also, I noticed too, the first Immelman has more of a kind of a elongated inversion. So it looks like there should actually be some decent floater when you come out of it
00:13:38
Zach
Yeah, it looks interesting. It definitely has that like large half loop from RCT3 look to it.
00:13:45
Ben
is
00:13:47
Ben
And then, yeah the cutback at the end.
00:13:51
Ben
i mean, it all also, it's going to have eight across. So yeah, I'm curious. I hope this isn't like the nail in the coffin for BNM because if anything, their quality is going to go down every year.
00:14:09
Ben
It's not like it's going to – like this idea that suddenly they're going to figure something out and it's going to get better I think is a long shot. um But at a certain point, if it there really is an issue with quality or manufacturing that's causing this roughness to new B&Ms, there will be a point where a line is crossed.
00:14:29
Ben
and Because that's kind of like the argument against it Usually people are like, oh, well, like the GP doesn't notice and they'll still ride it and you know no one's like getting injured. It's not a big deal.
00:14:41
Ben
But at a certain at a certain point, at the line will be crossed to where people will be like, that was rough.
00:14:48
Ben
And they're not going to want to get on it again. um So we'll see.
00:14:54
Zach
Yeah, i
00:14:54
Ben
um I might get out next year, give it a try.
00:14:58
Zach
I'm kind of wondering how like Wrath of Rakshasa's Qs are going to be 2026. twenty six
00:15:07
Ben
Yeah, I suppose it's a good test. um Because obviously the first season, it's hard to tell because, you know, I think any new ride is going to pull guests, but yeah, we'll see.
00:15:24
Ben
If it has like a 20 minute wait next year, then it's clear that it's not a, it's not a fan favorite. Although.
00:15:33
Ben
don't know. We'll see.
00:15:35
Ben
i will say though, like when I wrote it the people's reaction around it were actually very positive and people were talking up the ride and they were, they thought it was a good, you know, they thought it was great.
00:15:47
Ben
So
00:15:49
Zach
Same, but that doesn't necessarily translate to re-rides.
00:15:58
Ben
yeah, that's true.
00:16:00
Zach
Because some people would be like, I rode that one last year. I'm good, maybe, or something. You know what i mean
00:16:06
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:08
Zach
mean? I remember, it's like my parents, where it would be like my dad would be like, ah that one's okay, but I'd rather ride something else.
00:16:16
Ben
Yeah.
00:16:18
Ben
And it's clear that I think in that park, the big GP draws are still Superman, Max Force, V2, and Raging Bull.
00:16:34
Zach
And Goliath.
00:16:36
Ben
Does Goliath still pull? I guess like, yeah, I guess it has to.
00:16:41
Ben
When I was
00:16:41
Zach
Yeah, I mean, part of that is just like the capacity is not fantastic, you know?
00:16:48
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. And that's kind of like what I always think though, is like, this is a, like, this is still a pair of fairly like, because when I was there this year, um, it only had like a 20 minute wait.
00:17:00
Ben
Like basically Goliath was a 20 minute wait. And then raging bowl was a 20 minute wait. And so if you think about the capacity per hour or like, you know, people per hour on those two comparisons, like raging bowl, 20 minutes makes sense.
00:17:15
Ben
But for Goliath, that means that there's only like, what, like 150 to maybe 200 people online? mean, it's not that much.
00:17:27
Zach
Like, where was the line visually?
00:17:31
Ben
It was,
00:17:33
Zach
Like in the Q house?
00:17:34
Ben
no, it was in front of the station.
00:17:37
Zach
Okay.
00:17:38
Ben
Like on that flat, like when you come out of the Q house, you know, it's like flat and then you're right next to the, you're like below the station, right in front of the old sign for iron. Like, you know, like when you, if you were standing right in front of the iron wolf sign.
00:17:54
Zach
Yeah.
00:17:55
Ben
Yeah. It was like right there.
00:17:59
Ben
And then Batman was like 30 minutes. Yeah.
00:18:07
Zach
That makes sense.
00:18:09
Ben
for two trains. Um, I don't think, yeah, I don't, I don't think Goliath is unpopular. i I just, I'm curious if that's one of those weird perceptions, but as enthusiasts were like, Oh, of course the RMC is going to be the most popular, but I don't know if RMCs translate to GP popularity.
00:18:27
Zach
and No, I just, it's always seems to have a long line when I've been there.
00:18:33
Ben
Yeah.
00:18:34
Zach
Like it's in the queue house.
00:18:34
Ben
But it's, Yeah, but it's but also it's it's like hourly capacity is, i think it's the same as what Deja Vu was. It's in like the mid upper Yeah, yeah.
00:18:46
Zach
Yeah, that's what I was saying. Like, the capacity is not great. So, like, that definitely, like, inflates the queue time, obviously.
00:18:55
Ben
yeah yeah
00:18:57
Zach
But, yeah, so I don't know. But, yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Wrath of Rakshasa becomes one of the, like, heavy hitters of the park lineup, so to speak.
Future of Wrath of Rakshasa
00:19:11
Ben
Yeah. I mean, also it is in the center of the park and because of its beyond vertical drop, I could see it. It'll probably be okay.
00:19:24
Ben
I mean, unless it gets like ungodly rough, but um I think, i think it's a location probably will do it a lot of favors.
00:19:35
Ben
And i guess I guess just from like my perspective, i I already sort of forget the ride is there. like In my mind, it hasn't quite left that impression yet, unlike the other rides.
00:19:48
Ben
um But yeah.
00:19:51
Zach
Well, here, let's see if um I'm checking right now if Sif Gam World has updated their banner.
00:20:01
Zach
Maybe.
00:20:06
Ben
No, that's...
00:20:08
Zach
oh yeah, I guess it is.
00:20:10
Ben
But then where's X-Flight? I think I know what you're talking about. oh wait. Okay, so there's V2.
00:20:19
Ben
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that is it.
00:20:23
Zach
Remember when,
00:20:23
Ben
Wait, are you sure? Wait, are you sure though? That's not X-Flight. cause are are you talking about the one? no that is it because there's the M-M-M-M.
00:20:32
Zach
yep.
00:20:34
Ben
So then X-Flight's missing.
00:20:37
Ben
Right. There's no.
00:20:40
Ben
Cause I see, you see, I see demon.
00:20:43
Ben
Boliath, Batman. Yeah, I don't think there's X-Flight.
00:20:49
Zach
Well, shit.
00:20:51
Ben
Unless X-Flight is underneath the first turnaround on Raging Bull. Kind of above Demon. Where like all that track kind of blends together.
00:21:03
Zach
Yeah, it might be. It's hard to tell in that area because there's like...
00:21:05
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:07
Zach
Everything is like shadowed, you know?
00:21:09
Ben
yeah
00:21:11
Zach
I know the exact like angle from the parking lot that that like... angle is from.
00:21:21
Zach
But yeah. um
00:21:25
Zach
Remember when Cedar Point's website had the the little trains going?
00:21:32
Ben
Yeah, that was pretty cool. And you could even, um, there was even settings in like the flash panel and you could turn certain rides on and off and like change the speed of it and stuff.
00:21:47
Ben
I used to, cause, um, don't know if you remember, did you ever have the, the shockwave player on your computer?
00:21:56
Zach
Yeah.
00:21:57
Ben
where you could like download shock like ah Flash games and stuff. um You could download that Cedar Point thing in the like player, and then you could play with like the settings.
00:22:14
Ben
or something It was something like that.
00:22:16
Ben
Good old Flash.
00:22:18
Zach
Wild. I just remember looking at that and being really entertained because that was what the internet was 2002.
00:22:22
Ben
Mm-hmm.
00:22:24
Zach
If were 13.
00:22:26
Ben
Yeah.
00:22:26
Zach
if you are thirteen
00:22:28
Ben
Yeah. I mean, I remember that flash shit probably, I think they had it in 2000 when millennium force was built because i remember playing on the website before we went on our first time.
00:22:43
Ben
And then at nighttime, the skyline would change and it'd get dark. And then the millennium force lift hill would change colors.
00:22:48
Zach
the Yeah, the lights.
00:22:50
Ben
Yeah.
00:22:51
Zach
Yep.
00:22:52
Ben
Yeah, that was cool.
00:22:57
Zach
Bring it back.
Cedar Fair vs. Six Flags
00:23:02
Ben
um But yeah, actually, it was weird. After this summer, i um think I'm going back to being like a Cedar Fair fanboy.
00:23:16
Ben
i think my days of six, I think my stays of Six Flags are numbered.
00:23:16
Zach
Okay.
00:23:21
Ben
Even though it's all we're all Six Flags.
00:23:21
Zach
You know, it's one company now, right?
00:23:24
Ben
No, I know.
00:23:25
Zach
Yeah.
00:23:27
Ben
But...
00:23:28
Zach
hu
00:23:30
Ben
Yeah, we're all Six Flags these days. But... um Because especially, like, i also do think that... I think I've said this before, but Great America definitely should be a Cedar Fair park.
00:23:46
Zach
It is.
00:23:47
Ben
i and I know that. I just mean like in in its like, what do you call it? It's in like the mindset. Like if, I don't know, there was a yeah U-turn in the 80s or 90s and Cedar Fair bought it instead of Six Flags, that park would be in like a much better shape.
00:24:06
Ben
Because the Marriott stuff is closer, more closer aligned with Cedar Fair than Six Flags and you know, Takis and superhero stuff, you know?
00:24:20
Zach
Oh, oh, so it's too good for six legs.
00:24:26
Ben
Well, I mean, think about the whole, well, I guess like the Cedar fair to me is very like, uh, it's very Americana just in that's like general theme and great America is ah an Americana theme park.
00:24:43
Ben
And so it just sort of, there's like a handshake there. Whereas when it was six flags, you're having superhero themed things and like Yankee Harbor. And i don't know. It's just, uh, obviously like we're used to it. And so as a kid, you know, like growing up as kids, they're like be going on Batman and Superman and stuff. And I think that that nostalgic connection is there, but if you take a step back and like, Oh, I've never stepped foot in this park. I think it's better as a Cedar fair park.
00:25:19
Zach
Yes, I guess I can see that.
00:25:20
Ben
which Just my opinion.
00:25:24
Zach
Hey, I need to take a break for one sec.
00:25:27
Zach
We're back. Okay. um Yeah, so i I think I can get on board with what you're saying about Cedar Fair being more aligned culturally with Great America's inherently.
00:25:45
Zach
inherently
00:25:46
Ben
Yeah.
00:25:47
Zach
But I also kind of look at California's Great America. Granted, that had a lot of paramount influence.
00:25:57
Ben
Oh, Paramount ripped everything out of that park pretty much. Like that's what i think that's like what the difference is. And even within King's Dominion and King's Island that and or Carowinds even.
00:26:12
Ben
i always forget that one was Paramount too, is that like the Paramount, like Paramount did a number on those parks. um So it's a little different, whereas at least Six Flags, I think.
00:26:24
Ben
Kept a lot of it. and at least a great America or gurney, great America, like for the most part, things are intact. Like the basic infrastructure is still there.
00:26:37
Ben
Um,
00:26:37
Zach
I mean, ah California's Great America, it's basically like the
00:26:44
Zach
left and know the right side of the park from entry is still kind of intact.
00:26:50
Ben
mm-hmm.
00:26:52
Zach
But everything on the right is funky past Orleans Square or Orleans Place.
00:26:58
Ben
Yeah. Yeah, that's true.
00:27:01
Ben
Yeah, and I think... um
00:27:03
Ben
Yeah, I don't know. I guess so it's hard to say. like Maybe, i don't know, maybe in a way Six Flags preserved it. Because I also remember the Warner Brothers days were actually pretty good at the park. And from what I heard, too, is that um When Warner Brothers owned Six Flags, they definitely put more investment into Great America.
00:27:29
Ben
And then i think over Six Flags' newer management, the park the or the chain was just struggling so much that they weren't able to put the money that they needed to into Great America.
00:27:41
Ben
And then ah now I think Cedar Fair wants to make Great America. It's, you know, one of its more higher tier invested in parks. So hopefully that's the case because I think it deserves it. I mean, it's probably on par with like Kings Island and Cedar Point as far as like attendance and revenue and stuff.
00:28:03
Zach
Yeah, no, it's that's the thing. is like I think
00:28:08
Zach
i can't imagine any of their parks still, even after with Six Flags, anything outperforming Knott.
00:28:18
Ben
No.
00:28:21
Zach
So let's put Knott's to the side. We'll say the other top performer.
00:28:24
Ben
And that's and that's its own thing, too. Like, that's not even like that's a special case, that pork.
00:28:31
Zach
Well, it's just, yeah, it's because it operates 364 days of the year and it's so close to Disneyland.
00:28:40
Zach
So it's, yeah, it's, it's in in its own kind of thing. um so putting that aside, i got to imagine top performers in the full portfolio, probably um Cedar Point, Kings Island,
00:28:59
Zach
Carowinds.
00:29:01
Zach
Great adventure, great America. Maybe Magic Mountain.
00:29:07
Ben
I think Great Adventure and Magic Mountain are kind of at the bottom. like they're i think from what i I mean, I could be wrong, but I think with those parks is that their revenue is high, but their cost of operation is also very high.
00:29:21
Ben
um And then also, magic I think Magic Mountain's problem is that because it's year-round, there's a lot of days where it just doesn't make any money.
00:29:32
Ben
I think great and I think great adventure wasn't really near that. don't know. I could be wrong. I think like what makes Kings Island Cedar point in great America successful is just that they're short seasons and pretty much there's no dead days at that park.
00:29:50
Ben
Like are those three parks like pretty much when it's open between Memorial day and labor day, or, and actually I guess even if you can count fright fest to like, Those parks are pretty much slammed every day they operate.
00:30:05
Zach
Yeah, they're turning the turnstiles for sure. But I mean, that's the thing is like Magic Mountain is weekends only during the offseason, you know.
00:30:18
Zach
It's not like 365 like it used to be.
00:30:22
Ben
Let's see. Um.
00:30:25
Zach
And honestly, i'd be I'd be surprised at this point if they don't maybe close up for January or something.
00:30:38
Ben
I'm trying to use.
00:30:41
Ben
Oh, God damn it.
00:30:43
Ben
Jesus Christ.
00:30:47
Ben
AI strikes again.
00:30:53
Ben
Have you been watching? Have you seen Pluribus?
00:30:57
Zach
No, but Rhian's been watching it.
00:31:01
Ben
Okay, so i don't know if this is net revenue, but apparently... Yeah, this can't be right. Because on this list, in this ranking, Great America is near the bottom and Six Flags Magic Mountain is at the top.
00:31:15
Zach
Yeah, no way.
00:31:16
Ben
i don't maybe just maybe Maybe this list doesn't exist. But either way, i um I just think Great America deserves more love and I think that this new merger is actually going to give it what it needs.
00:31:34
Ben
And unfortunately though, it's gonna come at the cost of losing parks like Six Flags America and the other Great America.
00:31:47
Ben
But think Illinois deserves the better one anyway.
00:31:51
Zach
Well, I mean, i agree. Great America deserves the love. But
00:32:01
Zach
also feel like Six Flags tried because they wanted to develop a whole entertainment district tricked across the highway in the area that became the business park.
00:32:17
Zach
And the Katana Gurney fought them on it.
00:32:24
Ben
Yeah, I mean, annette maybe that just doesn't work there. I think there's enough people who live within day trip drive to where it's probably okay.
00:32:39
Ben
without that. um
00:32:42
Ben
But i also think, yeah, and I think the problem with six Six Flags is that Six Flags just had so many underperforming parks in their portfolio that any excess money that Great America brought in just had to go to the other parks or, you know, it's net losses.
00:32:58
Zach
Well, yeah, for many years, in the Premier Parks era, they added shit to every park every year.
00:32:58
Ben
And so now...
00:33:09
Zach
and it was irresponsible as fuck.
00:33:12
Ben
Yeah.
00:33:13
Zach
The same year they added V2 and Deja Vu. Isn't that the same year they built, like, five fucking coasters at Geauga Lake to try and compete with Cedar Point?
00:33:25
Ben
Yeah, that sounds right. Because it was X-Flight and... X-Flight was new. Well, I don't know if it was... Was it the same year?
00:33:36
Ben
Maybe it was earlier than that. Because Villain... was 2000 with Superman, Ultimate Escape, and Dominator or Night Flight.
00:33:55
Ben
I think I could just click on this hyperlink on the screen I'm staring at right now, but
00:34:03
Zach
Oh yeah. Okay. So it was 2000. They added the kids coaster, dominator, Batman, whatever it was called at the time, steel venom. Those are Superman and villain.
00:34:19
Zach
And then they added exploit in 2001.
00:34:23
Ben
Yeah, so I think that was probably one of those panic purchase situations of a, like, oh shit, Cedar Point's building a 300-foot coaster. Let's compete with it.
00:34:38
Ben
Which is like a really dumb. It's funny, but like, yeah. When if you could have just, but you could have just probably built a an emergency giga coaster. Like that would actually be kind of funnier.
00:34:54
Ben
If like they went to like instead of building five or arrow,
00:34:56
Zach
Fucking Vekoma in 2000 or 99.
00:35:05
Zach
Can you make the hook design 300 feet tall?
00:35:05
Ben
man, and that,
00:35:09
Ben
actually like that imagine like the alternate universe that would it could have been though or even like togo because i know superman krypton because superman krypton coaster was supposed to be a togo originally um so togo was still probably in the business back then
00:35:17
Zach
Fucking Togo.
00:35:30
Ben
But yeah, dude, that have been so funny if like, Jagger Lake, they were just like, oh shit, let's compete with Millennium Force and they build a 315 foot tall ah Togo as the hook or, you know, maybe it was like a shuttle coaster moonsault scrambled type of ride or something, you know.
00:35:49
Ben
That have been...
00:35:50
Zach
Manhattan Express, but bigger.
00:35:57
Ben
We missed out. But...
00:36:00
Zach
That'd have been crazy. That was such a crazy fucking time to be an enthusiast. Cause also like a fucking son of beast happened.
00:36:07
Ben
Yeah.
00:36:13
Zach
And the fact that that ever happened is just wild.
00:36:19
Ben
Especially from that company, which still is, like that's another dumb fucking, like who, like,
00:36:27
Ben
I mean, I would imagine that parks have are a little bit more responsible with companies and purchasing rides from them. But just given the history of... Because what was it? RCCA?
00:36:41
Zach
Yeah.
00:36:42
Ben
Yeah.
00:36:43
Zach
And what was what was their pitch? Oh, how much do the other guys want from you? Oh,
00:36:48
Ben
Yeah.
00:36:50
Zach
we'll do it for half that.
00:36:52
Ben
At a certain point, you got to be like... You know, like, I don't know. i was i was just stupid on their part.
00:37:03
Ben
But I'm imagining that these companies have learned since then. And maybe that's why Vekoma is taking a little bit longer to... New Vekoma is taking a little longer to pick up steam.
00:37:16
Zach
Right, or like Mach.
00:37:18
Ben
Yeah.
00:37:20
Zach
Because 20 years ago, Vekomas were rough pieces of shit, and Mach made family coasters.
00:37:20
Ben
Which, by the
00:37:26
Ben
the
00:37:29
Ben
by the way though the new Vekomas are it's I was shocked how good it was um also because like um all companies have probably so well I think they all do that but there's the like ride they're like what is it the center line program Where are you on, are you in discord right by chance right now?
00:37:58
Zach
No, but I can pull it up.
00:38:02
Ben
and
00:38:09
Ben
if you scroll up, there's like a screenshot that I posted of some of the thing called V or FVD plus.
00:38:18
Ben
Posted on 1121.
00:38:22
Zach
Discord's opening. Here we go.
00:38:23
Ben
Okay. Cause this shit, I, this is the first time I've ever played around with this program. Um, and I had like a
00:38:34
Ben
like a, know what you call it. it. A change of heart or like a, an epiphany about coaster designs after playing with the software.
Software's Impact on Coaster Design
00:38:45
Zach
Okay, so what explain what that is.
00:38:50
Ben
Okay, so and it looks and it this thing this thing it looks like a confusing image, but it's not. It's the easiest. It's it's like it's cheating. like Years of playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and early No Limits and like Planet Coaster.
00:39:06
Ben
So basically what you do is you design a ride by controlling. you basically draw the ride forces. so um Okay, so like on the the chart on the bottom where it has like a blue lines, red lines and green lines.
00:39:25
Zach
Yeah.
00:39:25
Ben
um So red, the blue line is positive G's. The green line is lateral G's. And then the red line is banking.
00:39:36
Ben
So basically what you do is you, you like on the blue line, right? You draw a let's say like a 10 second line or into like a 10 second long segment. And you're like, I want this force to start at zero G and end at four G's.
00:39:57
Ben
And then within the 10 seconds, I also want a 180 degree roll And what then what it'll do is it'll the track will design around those forces.
00:40:08
Ben
So you don't have you don't place track pieces. You're literally just drawing um like seconds of forces. And then the ride gets designed automatically for you.
00:40:22
Ben
So what you do is like, you're like, okay, I want a bunny hill. So then what you do is like, okay, I want four seconds of 3.5 Gs. And now I want six seconds of zero G. And then it'll design the perfectly parabolic hill. And then you're like, okay, now the, the oops, like this is a little too long. So now you go to the previous one, you change it to, you know, you shave off a second.
00:40:45
Ben
And now you're like, okay, now you can squeeze in one more half second of air time. it's like It's hard to explain without just like showing it live. um But yeah, it's fucking cheating.
00:41:00
Ben
and this is what all And that's what all of these that's what all these companies are using nowadays.
00:41:00
Zach
Interesting.
00:41:07
Ben
Because you can make perfect zero-G rolls. I guess like the the funny thing about it is... like you can make what looks like a really crazy random kind of track element, but the ride forces are perfectly calculated. So if you were riding it, it would be a super smooth experience.
00:41:27
Ben
And that's like what RMC and new Vekoma is using.
00:41:28
Zach
Hmm.
00:41:31
Ben
um But it kind of takes the soul out of designing coasters. And this is like a kind of boomerant on coaster designing and as a non roller coaster engineer, but,
00:41:44
Zach
Oh, here comes Ben.
00:41:46
Ben
fish but like, you know, but it was kind of, I imagine old designs where you, you basically you think about what, where you're trying to, you're where you want the track to go and then you draw something and then you calculate the forces and make adjustments. Whereas this, you design the ride based off of the forces.
00:42:09
Ben
So it's, and then of course, if you're RMC, you're just like, okay, how do I squeeze absolutely as much airtime into the layout as much as possible? And then that's where you get the kind of like soulless, repetitive um RMC, modern RMCs, kind of like steel vengeance in my opinion.
00:42:31
Ben
You know what I mean Steel Vengeance is like how much air time can you squeeze out of a layout? And then basically you got that.
00:42:38
Ben
Which is why the rides feel like they're missing something.
00:42:41
Zach
I mean, they don't feel like wooden coasters to me.
00:42:45
Ben
No.
00:42:46
Ben
On the flip side though, i think Vekoma has figured out how to use that software to maximize forces in like a good way because i don't know what it is about so about Siren's Curse, but um well what's funny too is like there's the none of the forces on the ride are incredibly forceful.
00:43:12
Ben
I don't think anything really ever exceeds like three G's, but the way that the forces hit your body are very unique to any other manufacturer right now.
00:43:25
Ben
It's almost like you, it's like you, there's always a force on your body and in some direction. It's kind of like you'll go directly from positive G's to laterals, to airtime, to act to positive.
00:43:38
Ben
um It's nonstop. through all the rolls and, you know, the bunny hills and the inversions. It's, um, yeah, I was shocked. Like that ride is so much fun and it is a very sleek, very smooth, very precise ride, but it's precise, like in a good way.
00:43:57
Ben
And it's very, very fun.
00:43:59
Zach
Oh, it's so Vekoma good, RMC bad.
00:44:02
Ben
Yeah.
00:44:03
Zach
Okay.
00:44:06
Ben
No, actually the modern, Modern RMCs are actually, because I actually really liked Wildcat's Revenge. and I think that was like a newer one.
00:44:18
Ben
Honestly, I think I figured it out. It's really just the Alan Schilke RMCs I'm not a big fan of. The new ones are fine. Whoever, i don't know who designs those, but isn't it a new guy?
00:44:28
Zach
Yeah, new guy Steve, i don't know.
00:44:32
Ben
Yeah, i don't know. there's a difference and I, you can, I, it's noticeable. Um, no, the new Vekoma is awesome. Like I, I am really excited to see these go elsewhere.
00:44:47
Ben
Um, also cedar point pulled off the perfect theming for like the budget that they clearly had, like the low budget they clearly had. Remember those, um, remember those TLC shows in the early two thousands, like,
00:45:04
Ben
trading spaces or, um, don't know. There's all sorts of different ones where it's like, you know, this couple has a budget of $1,500 to make over a bedroom.
00:45:17
Zach
Yeah.
00:45:19
Ben
It's kind of what the vibe that the theming of sirens curses, but it's pulled off so well that you don't notice it's low budget.
00:45:28
Zach
OK.
00:45:28
Ben
Um, it's like, it's almost like they gave, They gave someone who's like a huge coaster, almost imagine like if Nolan was a like really big planet coaster nerd and they're like, okay, you have 48 hours, you get to design the theming of this new coaster.
00:45:50
Ben
And then like just went completely nuts on planet coaster. And then the real, it's literally when you stand in the queue, It literally feels like you're you're inside of the game of Planet Coaster. It's really funny.
00:46:06
Zach
Interesting. I'm looking at some pictures right now. I'm pulling it up.
00:46:13
Ben
Also, too, the cue line has a really good soundtrack. um It's basically like a radio station that has it just plays basically like...
00:46:21
Zach
Okay.
00:46:26
Ben
you know, summer, like very good nostalgic, like top 40 summer hits from like all different decades. Just like it's the playlist is perfect. Like the music, like the music selection, someone knew what they were doing.
00:46:40
Ben
um And then it has like a, you know, it's like a, there's like a DJ in between the music. um And it sounds just kind of like a local radio station.
00:46:50
Ben
And even the, What's cool too, they have that, um i don't know what you call it. There's like a flat effect on it to make it sound like it actually is from a radio station.
00:47:04
Zach
Okay.
00:47:05
Ben
I don't know how to describe it.
00:47:08
Ben
Also a Planet Coaster thing, which I thought was kind of funny. Because when you play music through speakers on Planet Coaster, it kind of flattens the audio settings and it actually sounds like it's radio kind of that like tingy AM kind of classic, i don't know, sound.
00:47:26
Ben
Um, just little things like that. You could just tell like whoever was in charge did a really good job with the short timeline and the low budget.
00:47:36
Zach
For sure.
00:47:37
Zach
i mean, I really would like to go check it out. Haven't been a Cedar Point in a couple years.
00:47:43
Ben
What's funny too is that the ride has, it's kind of surrounded by water, but the water is like, ah it's like four inch deep water that they just dyed black to make it look deeper.
00:47:57
Zach
Did it work?
00:47:58
Ben
It works. Yeah. You can't tell the difference.
00:48:02
Zach
that's all it needs then.
00:48:03
Ben
Yeah. Also too, the queue line goes like through the ride. um And then at nighttime, the trains have this really cool um kind of like neon LED effect.
00:48:22
Ben
So when it starts getting dark, it it looks like... Um, I mean, I've never seen a siren in real life, but it kind of looks like ah almost like an animal, like the ride, like the, especially the, the motions of the train.
00:48:39
Ben
It looks like just this thing is like, you know, diving in and out of the water and it it like dives up and twists and then it dives back down. It's, it's pretty, it's very, it's like visually very, it's a very fun ride to watch in the queue line.
00:48:54
Ben
Um, Probably like honestly one of my favorite new four i like coasters I've probably been on in a very, very long time.
00:49:05
Zach
Nice.
00:49:06
Ben
Yeah.
00:49:06
Zach
Nice. Yeah, no, I know um you went out for lance Lance's meetup at Cedar Point in Kings Island, right?
00:49:17
Ben
Yeah. So that was part of, so I met up with, uh, yeah, Nathan and, Flew to Richmond. And then we hit King's Dominion for a couple hours. Got Pantharion.
00:49:34
Ben
Which is not a new credit, but it was painted. So, yeah.
00:49:40
Zach
New experience, new credit.
00:49:42
Ben
Yeah. So we got on Pantharion. Got on... oh yeah. Also, forgot the new wing coaster. The Raptera. Which...
00:49:54
Ben
was rough. Did you see the videos of the launch? Remember like, the yeah, it what was funny.
00:49:59
Zach
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:02
Ben
It was like, i loved all the comments of people being like, oh, don't worry. This is, this is just test footage. It's not going to be like that. They're they're still working on it. No, literally that's exactly what the train does when it runs in normal sick circumstances.
00:50:19
Ben
Oops, sorry.
00:50:20
Zach
Well, damn.
00:50:22
Ben
You get, it's like when you're riding, when you're getting the launch, it feels like you're on Magnum's like final bunny hills.
00:50:29
Ben
It's just like, like your legs and you're like your whole body just bounces out of the seat. And then, yeah, every pot, every like bottom kind of trough of the ride.
00:50:35
Zach
Damn.
00:50:41
Ben
it's just the whole thing just bounces like crazy.
00:50:45
Zach
that's that's it That seems similar to what I experienced on Wrath of Rakshasa.
00:50:51
Ben
Yeah. And I mean, I get it. The trains are wide, but also it's like, okay, so if you have this lower quality manufacturing thing that you're doing to save money, then why are you building these coasters with such a wide trains?
00:51:06
Ben
But I mean like the layout was really cool. Like it it could have been a really cool ride. The theming also, they also did a really good job with the theming on it too. um It's just, yeah, just the the roughness of it just wasn't up to par, which was unfortunate.
00:51:26
Ben
And then, um yeah, I got a front row ride on Dominator, and it was a lot better than I remember last year. And then we drove out to a Holiday World.
00:51:40
Ben
And it was hot as fuck. It was like 90... don't know. It was like in the mid-upper 90s. Which... That park, if you're not going to the water park and you're walking along the whole thing, especially if you go way out to Thunderbird, is is it is hellish. But... Yeah.
00:51:58
Zach
Yeah, it's all hills.
00:52:00
Ben
Yeah. But the park was dead, which was good. Also, although it kind of was ah ah downside because it was Nathan's first time there. So, of course, I was like hyping up, you know, Legend and Raven.
00:52:12
Ben
But all the we didn't get any rides on those two coasters where the train was. more than maybe a third of the way full and when the trains are empty it just you know the trains are just shuffling and bouncing more and it doesn't they don't run as fast so um definitely wasn't as good as it was running when we were all last there during hollywood nights in 21
00:52:40
Zach
Yeah, and by the nighttime when it's all warmed up.
00:52:42
Ben
yeah and it's been full of a you know it's been carrying a acers all day and
00:52:49
Zach
Yeah, right?
00:52:50
Ben
Yeah. Um, voyage though, voyage is running really good, way better than it was last time we were there. Um, probably some of the best rides I've had on that coaster since it probably opened.
00:53:04
Ben
Um, because I honestly didn't really remember very good voyage rides and we were there last time. And then Thunderbird was great Especially compared to riding Raptera the day before, like literally the day before, less than 24 hours.
00:53:25
Ben
um Completely night and day comparison. Thunderbird is still smooth. The launch is still good. The element still hit.
00:53:33
Ben
And then we got on Good Gravy, which is actually pretty fun. It's got a little like Thanksgiving theme queue house where you go through this... I guess like grandma's house and you're going through different rooms and there's even a bathroom, which is kind of funny.
00:53:51
Ben
Um, and it's, it it's air conditioned and it smells like food and stuff.
00:53:52
Zach
That's cute. Looks fun.
00:53:55
Ben
Yeah. Um, and then, yeah, then we drove to Kings de Mint or Kings Island and actually had a really fun day at Kings Island, which, um,
00:54:09
Ben
I was telling those guys, like, especially during this, I think Kings Island and Kings or Cedar point are, have like a very def, like a very defined, uh, like summer feel.
00:54:20
Ben
Like there's something about being in those parks when it's miserably hot and humid in the middle of summer. That kind of just like adds to that Midwestern, I don't know, theme park experience, but it was hot, brutally hot and humid.
00:54:35
Ben
Um, So we got on the classics, got on like Diamondback um Banshee and Flight Deck and stuff. And then we came we left the park for a couple hours just because it was so ungodly hot and then came back at night, got really good night rides in had like the best ride I've ever had on the Beast.
00:54:58
Ben
The Beast is running so good. And now I kind of like understand why people love the ride. So i was happy to get I was happy to get like one of those night rides, like summer night rides in to where people kind of always throw it in their top 10.
00:55:13
Ben
So I kind of get it now. I've been converted.
00:55:17
Zach
Oh, shut the fuck up.
00:55:19
Ben
so
00:55:20
Ben
It's so good. Like especially just like a night ride in the hot when it's super hot because i don't know. It's definitely better than anything I've had on it before.
00:55:30
Ben
We also had edibles. i don't know if that helped, but you know, same with, um, same with Orion. We did, we got a good night ride on Orion and same thing. It was like, holy shit. Like I get why people love this right now.
00:55:47
Ben
Um, so yeah, I think that's, I think that's just the key is like, sometimes you just have to ride those rides on a super hot humid day when the park is open from 10 10.
Night Rides and Generational Preferences
00:56:00
Ben
Just to get those like you know those like what really good, fast kind of rides in.
00:56:06
Ben
um What else happened there?
00:56:11
Ben
Mystic Timbers was still good. Beast, I actually thought the Beast was better, though, after that ride. And then, yeah, and then after that, we had two days at Cedar Point, which was a lot of fun.
00:56:23
Ben
Um, already mentioned sirens curse. Awesome ride. Loved it. And, uh, finally got on top thrill too. Got a couple rides on it, front row, back row.
00:56:34
Ben
And, um, I agree. I think it's a worthy replacement. I was a little skeptical, but, um, I think it's, I think it's good. And it's a better full rounded experience and it's modern and it's been updated.
00:56:51
Ben
The back spike is really cool. The launch on the second time is still, it's not as thrilling, but like it's still going 120 miles an hour. The lap bars are comfortable. Um, yeah, they a good job.
00:57:32
Ben
Yeah.
00:57:37
Zach
That's a bummer.
00:57:38
Ben
yeah
00:57:39
Zach
How about Magnum?
00:57:41
Ben
Magnum was Magnum wasn't down. Oh, it did go down actually. Our last day there for a couple hours, but yeah, not as good as I remember.
00:57:51
Zach
Shit, how about Millennium Force?
00:57:54
Ben
force is still fine. Like we got a night ride on it and I still think that that coaster is only really worth to ride at night.
00:58:05
Ben
Um,
00:58:07
Zach
You're such a hater.
00:58:08
Ben
I know. It's like it's not good in the morning. and that's I know it's a harsh opinion. It's just like when you ride that ride in the first hour the park is open, it's just not running that fast.
00:58:20
Ben
And when it's not running fast, the airtime's not as good.
00:58:25
Zach
That's true, but the first drop makes up for it.
00:58:27
Ben
Yeah. But I mean, i think like that, the night ride on millennium force is like, uh, it's still one of those top park experiences, but, um, yeah, it's just, it's, its I don't know how much faster it runs at night once it's warmed up, but it's noticed like the airtime is definitely noticeable on the two bunny Hills.
00:58:50
Ben
Um,
00:58:50
Zach
Yeah, absolutely. It's better. the The bunny hills are better in the front. But the first drops way better in the back.
00:58:59
Ben
Yeah.
00:59:00
Zach
But like.
00:59:02
Zach
I don't know. That ride's awesome. Don't be a fucking hater.
00:59:06
Ben
I don't hate the ride at all. I just, um I just, you know, I'm aware of what the ride is. important to, you know, acknowledge what the ride offers.
00:59:21
Ben
um Maverick was and then like you know like the other ones like Maverick was same as it usually is it's still good um interested to see if the roll comes back that's a rumor that people are floating around because apparently the ride is going to be retract as well which is kind of funny to think about being that it's less than 20 years old but
00:59:46
Zach
It's almost 20 years old though.
00:59:48
Ben
Yeah. But I don't know. I'm curious like why the ride has to be retracted. if it just I don't know if it just has that much like stress going on it. Yeah.
00:59:59
Zach
Possibly. It's got really intense forces like in every curve.
01:00:05
Ben
yeah
01:00:06
Ben
But if the roll comes back, that'd be pretty cool. But i've also I've also always wondered why they didn't just... Make a longer drawn out role. Because they kind of have the space.
01:00:22
Ben
But. We'll see. that'd be If that happens that will be sweet.
01:00:23
Zach
Well,
01:00:26
Zach
well fuck, it's been nineteen almost 19 years now, so no time like the present, right?
01:00:30
Ben
Yeah.
01:00:33
Ben
Yeah. And of all. With the new way that management is treating. Their. You know flagship parks. I definitely could see them. giving Cedar Point, you know, God's Park, the special treatment on doing something like that.
01:00:48
Zach
Maverick 2.
01:00:49
Ben
Yeah.
01:00:50
Zach
Roll over.
01:00:54
Ben
Oh, we also did get... um So Steel Vengeance, they the crew will send the last train of the night around twice. I think it's on the last two trains.
01:01:07
Ben
um They'll send it around twice, which is kind of cool. um But because this is so well-known... like you know we've We've talked about this so much, about how... you know, the Thuse kind of hobby has gone very mainstream and TikTok and Instagram and all that stuff. So now you get like this basically a group of probably 40 plus people, kind of like Thuse's all waiting out at the entrance, waiting from the close the line.
01:01:40
Ben
just to ensure that they're the last ones in the queue line to get the double ride. um So that was interesting to witness.
01:01:49
Ben
But yeah, we got the double ride on it. It was a lot of fun. And that ride's still good. I don't hate the ride at all. Actually, I had a lot of fun on it, especially a night ride on it. But um I still don't have that... um that Gen z opinion hype on it.
01:02:09
Ben
Like a lot of people do. i think it's still good. I just, I don't, you know, no, I have a few Okay.
01:02:16
Zach
God's Coaster.
01:02:20
Ben
This is, this is, this is a joke and I, I promise it's a joke. I don't actually feel this way, but I was thinking, you know how, like, I think the reason why people love steel vengeance is because it is a it is like a pure dopamine hit of airtime, which makes sense because think about think about this like epidemic of iPad kids who are chronically addicted to phones and like screens and social media and like essentially have that like hijacked dopamine addiction in their brain.
01:03:06
Ben
And it makes sense that they love those types of people love Steel Vengeance because it is just pure airtime, nothing else. It's like a
01:03:16
Ben
it's like you're getting a main line of drug just pumped into you when you ride that ride. And so I think that's why the younger generations love that coaster, the iPad kids.
01:03:28
Ben
Is that theory?
01:03:28
Zach
Okay.
01:03:29
Ben
That's just a theory. But...
01:03:33
Zach
I mean, i guess i can see where you're coming from it at the same time.
01:03:33
Ben
makes makes it, makes it.
01:03:36
Zach
I'm like, what, in contrast to other fucking roller coasters?
01:03:42
Ben
i mean, yeah. Like what other, I mean, what is like, think about seal vengeance as ranked as like the number one coaster by any enthusiast under the age of what? 25, 30.
01:03:55
Ben
twenty five thirty
01:03:58
Ben
Compared to other rides, I don't know. It's just...
01:04:03
Ben
I think that's why RMCs are so popular, though because like airtime is basically like a... It's like if you're like if you're like a junkie for airtime, you know what I mean? like That's basically what that ride offers. It's just pure airtime.
01:04:17
Ben
Nothing else.
01:04:18
Zach
Can I get a hit?
01:04:22
Ben
You go from scrolling TikTok to sitting down on Seal of Engines to getting your airtime hit to then going back to scrolling TikTok.
01:04:28
Zach
Next thing you know, you're sucking dick for an RMC.
01:04:33
Ben
Somewhere in the world that has happened.
01:04:40
Ben
At least once.
01:04:41
Zach
I need to just get up the exit, man.
01:04:45
Ben
And at Cedar Point, that wouldn't surprise me at all.
01:04:49
Ben
But overall, fun time. It was actually really fun to go back into that park during the summer and ah absolutely sweat balls. What's disgusting, though, is anytime you so what what thing, though, that I never forget is when you sit down on a coaster and it has like other people's sweat in it to where when you sit down, you get wet.
01:05:15
Zach
You don't find that comforting?
01:05:17
Ben
disgusting. But also like.
01:05:21
Zach
you know' You don't feel like squish squish. oo Now my ass cheeks are so extra comfy.
01:05:31
Ben
And then like there's people who probably will go home sometime and like not shower. That's like one thing that. Has always been in. biin
01:05:40
Zach
Dude, I assume only about a quarter of the people at any theme park, anytime there, have taken a shower that day.
01:05:47
Ben
Yeah.
01:05:48
Ben
It's just like, like to, there, there should be like a fun little study on this, like a blacklight test or something about how much sweat you accumulate on your body and your clothes at just spending a day in a theme park in august and 95 degrees.
01:06:08
Zach
That's disgusting.
01:06:13
Ben
Oh yeah. Monster mansion or whatever. Boo blasters or whatever it's called now. um That that's closing. So,
01:06:23
Zach
Fuck.
01:06:27
Ben
you know, also what's interesting to see is like, so Kings Island is Cedar point in Kings Island. And I suppose even great America, you know how there's every ride has that local celebrity.
01:06:39
Ben
of the person who always rides the ride.
01:06:44
Zach
What do you mean?
01:06:45
Ben
um There's always, it's always like, Oh, that's millennium force Bob. Oh, that's Raptor Sue. oh that's, you know, chair swing Alice. I don't know.
01:06:59
Ben
Like there's, there's just like those, those like celebrities in the park that everybody knows where they just ride that one coaster over and over and over all season.
01:07:11
Zach
Sure.
01:07:12
Ben
So Kings Island has one of those for the boo blasters.
01:07:17
Zach
know,
01:07:18
Ben
It's, it's just someone that just rides that ride every single day and they know all the secrets and they're able to max out the score. and um, yeah, we witnessed that. It was kind of funny.
01:07:30
Ben
And then of course, like in line, all the, all the like Thuseys are able to clock each other and be like, what's your score? I have 1700.
01:07:39
Ben
Um, but yeah, that's always another, that's another,
01:07:42
Zach
you know It is okay to socialize with individuals at theme parks sometimes.
01:07:52
Ben
I agree. No, I agree. But like there are, but like, i'm just saying, you know what I mean?
01:07:59
Zach
I mean, it is Ohio.
01:08:02
Ben
I'm not talking to, there's 90, 90, ninety
01:08:03
Zach
I, I, and I apologize for nothing.
01:08:07
Ben
I mean, yeah, 90% of the time, it's fine. I just mean, like, there's always... i don't know. this whoever This kid was just, like, bragging, right? Like, he was just looking to brag. It was just kind of annoying. It's like, we get it
01:08:23
Zach
Yeah, that that kid lives in Ohio. That's what he has going on.
01:08:30
Zach
His score on Boo Blasters.
01:08:39
Zach
We get to visit. He has to stay.
01:08:42
Ben
That's true. a good way to put it.
01:08:47
Ben
Yeah, the results.
01:08:48
Zach
Well, I've been thinking about it since you said it makes sense that like Kings Island and Cedar Point exist in Ohio.
01:08:56
Ben
Yeah.
01:08:57
Ben
Because it's Ohio.
01:08:59
Zach
Yeah, because like they need that shit.
01:09:05
Ben
Yeah, I mean, there's not much going on in the summer there.
01:09:09
Ben
But it is it is fun. like i get you know I get it. It was fun to like dip the toe in the water again and relive those those old days.
01:09:20
Ben
and um oh yeah, there's also... Kings Island also has a new Vekoma Junior Boomerang.
01:09:30
Zach
Isn't it the same as good gravy?
01:09:32
Ben
Yeah, I think it's a clone.
01:09:35
Ben
I think. or it's it's It's pretty close. Oh, we also rode the yellow submarine ride.
01:09:44
Ben
The ride op clocked us as Thuzis and convinced us to ride, and so we did. you know, the little, in like the Planet Snoopy, it's like like a yellow submarine that just...
01:10:01
Zach
Hey, you group of men of diverse ages for no inexplicable reason.
01:10:07
Ben
It's like, yeah, it's like we got it we got two young children and a mom riding this. We can need a couple more bodies.
01:10:17
Ben
I forgot what it's called. Basically like the mini version of a Trailblazer. Cam Cartoon Network had one of those too. Real Scooby-Doo bus.
01:10:29
Ben
Yeah, we all crammed in one of those. Yeah.
01:10:32
Ben
Also, what's terrifying is that those kitty rides have locks. like like they're locked They're locked with a key, so you can't open them.
01:10:41
Zach
yeah
01:10:42
Ben
And so you're just trapped in this like metal tube that has no airflow.
01:10:48
Ben
is good sport. I ah wish I could grab his name. He seemed like a cool guy. So props to him. Thanks for the ERT. And then...
01:11:00
Zach
Yeah, it's pretty dead giveaway. What, four dudes in Ohio?
01:11:05
Ben
Yeah. which It's,
01:11:13
Ben
Oh, I did have a, the only bad experience I had with a staff member was on Orion. We were were, we got a night ride on the front row and this ride app was clearly just like, they were just how like having a bad day. You could feel it.
01:11:30
Ben
Also the ride came out of a breakdown And actually, well, this goes in a little side story i thought of when I was there. So first, imagine a ah ah movie about a mechanic at a theme park who, you know, low self-esteem, probably like divorced, you know, just like a Imagine like a typical just sad kind of guy.
01:12:00
Ben
um But as a ride up, he gets a thrill every time he fixes the ride. And then the station, you know, like the ride goes down for 30 minutes. The mechanic comes up. He's like the hero saving the day. Starts to ride back up. Everyone starts cheering for him.
01:12:18
Ben
And he starts getting like super, super arrogant. So then he starts breaking the ride on purpose just to like i get the praise every time the ride comes back up. um Anyway, the. That happened, this guy like came up, the ride is down for 30 minutes, and this guy showed up on the platform and everyone started cheering for him and he was like waving and.
01:12:42
Ben
was like the little celebrity.
01:12:46
Ben
um was like, that'd be a cute movie. um
01:12:50
Zach
I am picturing Sean William Scott for some reason.
01:12:55
Ben
yeah yeah
01:12:58
Ben
and then ah you know maybe he becomes like suicidal and decides to completely break the ride and the ride crashes or something and there's casualties and he lets see his ego gets to his head
01:13:11
Zach
Wow, that got dark as fuck.
01:13:13
Ben
excuse
01:13:21
Ben
But yeah, we got a front row ride on Orion and the ride up was clearly having a bad day. They were arguing with the team lead about something. i think that it was a classic situation, been working all day. They just want to get cut to go home.
01:13:38
Ben
There's still a 30 minute line. hot, you know, I've been there, but, um, I was, ate an edible, of course, and the edible was kicking in and I'm trying to, I'm trying to buckle my seatbelt.
01:13:53
Ben
And, um, I, I took like maybe literally two extra seconds. Like I didn't, cause like I was sitting down and you have to like dig on the side of it to pull the little yellow tab, you know, to pull it across to you.
01:14:05
Ben
Um, I took maybe two extra seconds, um,
01:14:05
Zach
Yeah.
01:14:09
Ben
And this ride up was impatient because she's just trying to like get the lap bars down to get the train out. Um, You know, and then so they they did one of those things where like she started to grab it So then I take my hand off of it. Like, okay, like go for it. Like, you you know, and then like she's like, are you going to buckle?
01:14:32
Ben
And I was like, yeah, okay. And then I grab it and then I wasn't taking long enough. So then she grabs it out of my hand and is trying to like pull it across my waist. um And then then it completely staples the shit out of me. Like, I've never been stapled that hard on a clamshell.
01:14:50
Ben
um But, like, clearly this was, like, full body weight. She just totally gut-punched it down. um
01:15:00
Zach
Wow.
01:15:02
Ben
But it was, it's it's like, what are you going to do? Complain about it? Like, I've been there. I've done that to people. i get it. But it's annoying. Yeah.
01:15:11
Ben
Ryan was still good, though. Either way.
01:15:15
Zach
Yeah, like I lost feeling in my legs.
01:15:20
Ben
But it's like, yeah, what are you going to do? You're a 35-year-old man. You're going to go to guest relations and complain because the overworked ride-op stapled you? Nothing.
01:15:32
Zach
Excuse me, ma'am.
01:15:32
Ben
Nothing.
01:15:37
Zach
It was an extremely enduring situation.
01:15:43
Ben
If it was someone we knew, they would have tried to get some exit passes out of it.
01:15:50
Zach
Right?
01:15:51
Ben
Yeah. um
01:15:53
Zach
It was rather traumatic.
01:15:53
Ben
Yeah.
01:15:55
Zach
I demand compensation.
01:15:59
Zach
I would like it in the form of three groups of four exit passes.
01:16:11
Ben
Oh, also Banshee. I got a bit of a redemption ride on bansuit Banshee. Banshee rode it um front row later in the day, in the evening. And um yeah, i I don't know if I loved it. i don't think it's like a God-tier invert, but um yeah, definitely went right shot a little bit higher up on my list compared to previous rides on it.
01:16:37
Zach
Well, look, I'll try it again next time I'm at Kings Island.
01:16:41
Ben
Yeah, it's it's just funny. I don't know if it was just because of the hot weather or something, but yeah, all the B&Ms were running pretty good.
01:16:53
Ben
And obviously the Beast with its new track and um hot weather definitely gave it a pretty wild ride.
01:17:02
Ben
Yeah, i Kings Island was... one of the surprises of the trips of a park that i actually really enjoyed so i was happy to have one of those kind of days there
01:17:17
Zach
Yeah, dude, and Ohio's legal now.
01:17:20
Ben
yeah yeah we we checked out one of the dispensaries there um I don't remember what i had.
01:17:32
Ben
So i had I had these edibles that I bought that at first I thought I got screwed. I got screwed because this dispensary, they had of their whole menu of edibles, but they were also having stuff that would like You know, that it's like, oh, like this is this is a good one if you're looking for CBG and this is a good one if you're looking for, you know, whatever, THCV and stuff like that.
01:17:58
Ben
So at first when we were at the dispensary, i was just like, whatever, I'm just going to like buy the cheapest pack because I'm probably only going to have three out of the 10 anyway. So I ate them and like, I didn't feel shit for probably two and a half hours.
01:18:17
Ben
It was the longest, um, like come up of an edible I think I've ever had to the point where I was like, fuck, like, I think I got sold CBG edibles that have no THC in them.
01:18:32
Ben
And I was kind of like bummed out about it. And then eventually like two and a half hours later, it kicked in. Um, yeah, it was weird.
01:18:42
Zach
Interesting.
01:18:44
Ben
And I mean, it was nothing like normally. Sometimes you get like a slow come up that takes that lingers, but this was like nothing, zero effect, nothing going on two and a half hours.
01:18:58
Ben
um
01:19:00
Ben
But after, after it creeped up, it was
01:19:02
Zach
Like how high did you get?
01:19:04
Ben
um like a normal 30 milligram edible feeling.
01:19:11
Zach
Okay. Yeah, I'm like leery about edibles since Knott's Berry Farm.
01:19:17
Ben
Didn't you do like 100 milligrams or something though?
01:19:19
Zach
Yeah, I had a 100 milligram drink because normally that's about as much as it takes for me to actually feel edible.
01:19:26
Ben
Yeah.
01:19:28
Zach
But the problem is you also run the risk of like it hits really fucking hard.
01:19:34
Ben
Yeah.
01:19:37
Ben
um I mean, that joint, that joint we smoked too hit me hard because I had no, had like zero flower tolerance at all then.
01:19:45
Zach
Yeah, and that was like an infused joint or something.
01:19:46
Ben
So like, Yeah. I still like it was I was so high when we because we did front row on accelerator.
01:19:57
Zach
Yeah.
01:19:57
Ben
And I had this like very vivid image of the cable snapping like right before we launched.
01:20:04
Zach
Yeah. Yeah, you kept talking about it. And like, I was just like, yeah, you guys go ahead in the front row. And I was in the second row.
01:20:16
Zach
ah
01:20:19
Ben
Which like like normally, obviously like normally like as an enthusiast, those types of things aren't a big deal. But like when you're too high, like it's just like, ah yeah, it is 80 miles an hour.
01:20:27
Zach
Yeah.
01:20:32
Ben
the giant steel cable that's just out in the open right there.
01:20:36
Zach
Yeah. And it's happened before.
01:20:40
Ben
Yeah, and it's Intamin.
01:20:44
Ben
it was less yeah It was less about the fact... it was like i get yeah It was less of the fact of it of me thinking it was going to happen when we were riding it. But for me, I was just thinking about... i could like envision the super graphic detail of... like Okay, i wasn't there when the cable snapped, but I can imagine exactly like what it looked like, what it sounded like, like what the cable would a mut the cable must have looked like if you were on the ride.
01:21:14
Ben
You know, like the... the way the train would have felt when it rolled back over on top of it, just like those like very detailed, like those very vivid details were just like popping in my brain as we were sitting there.
01:21:30
Ben
was like, oh shit. This could have, this could have even been the exact train too.
01:21:32
Zach
that's That's so awesome.
01:21:40
Zach
Just the entire sequence from ah fucking Final Destination 3.
01:21:45
Ben
Yeah.
01:21:47
Zach
But just on Accelerator.
01:21:49
Ben
yeah
01:21:52
Zach
but no, I... I got really high because that joint hit and then we went in and I was already pretty high and then we got in line and that entire drink hit it once.
01:22:08
Zach
And like, you know how you, when you first like get real, like an edible really hits and like your heart starts racing that like happened. And I'm like, is that because of the roller coaster? Holy shit. Yeah.
01:22:24
Ben
yeah yeah i know what you mean
01:22:27
Zach
But yeah, i I'm really leery about doing edibles at parks like that now
01:22:35
Ben
i mean i think 30 is a good amount um But also too, like having a positive, like King's Dominion last year um was probably one of my favorites just because it it hit perfectly and like had like all like all the rides we ran on were like perfect.
01:23:01
Ben
um Then same at King's king's Island too. i did It was a little bad. Um, actually, sorry. Do you mind if I take a quick piss break?
01:23:12
Ben
All right.
01:23:13
Zach
Yeah, for sure.
01:23:14
Ben
One second.
01:23:18
Ben
Oh, thank God.
01:23:20
Zach
ah
01:23:22
Ben
Um, yeah. Like, uh, park environments matter because I, uh, I had a pen that time at great America this past summer by myself in June.
01:23:36
Ben
And I just kind of got like a weird vibe when I went in there. I mean, it, um,
01:23:41
Ben
could have just been the fact that it's home park. There's just a lot of memories. Maybe just that adds paranoia to it. I don't know. Um, but I've noticed the less familiar the park is, the more enjoyable, the edible experiences.
01:24:01
Ben
When everything's new and familiar, like especially, especially roller coasters you're not familiar with or you haven't ridden in a long time or it's your first time. i think that's like the best.
01:24:15
Zach
Yeah, I mean,
01:24:17
Zach
can't really remember any other time doing like big edibles at a park.
01:24:25
Zach
I feel like that would be fun at Disneyland for sure.
01:24:30
Ben
Yeah, and that's like a whole thing now. i've ah keep Occasionally I'll see a YouTube video where it's like, watch me eat an edible and walk around Disney.
01:24:41
Zach
Yeah, that seems fun as hell. Not worth making a video of yourself doing, but fun.
01:24:49
Ben
i I encountered this one a while ago. It's like, I ate an edible and run around New York City. And it's just this guy filming himself running around New York City getting higher and higher.
01:25:05
Zach
Okay. even That seems boring.
01:25:10
Ben
Yeah, I mean, I scrubbed through it. it was okay.
01:25:15
Zach
i
01:25:17
Zach
I don't know. I feel like part of the thing is like I'm a flower guy. You know.
01:25:25
Zach
And I'm really now like a dry herb vape guy. Because
01:25:29
Ben
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:25:31
Zach
I have a volcano and a mighty. And that's pretty much exclusively what I use.
01:25:38
Zach
So like edibles hit different. Dabs hit different, you know?
01:25:47
Zach
So, but one thing I want to try more of is mushrooms at parks.
01:25:56
Ben
Yeah. And that's, uh, it's, uh, sometimes it's kind of a tight rope walk. It's like, uh,
01:26:04
Ben
I enjoy it, but also it can, you just gotta to like plan your day. Um, we didn't have any problems in March, which was good.
01:26:16
Zach
Yeah, Magic Mountain was a blast.
01:26:16
Ben
Um,
01:26:19
Zach
That said, couple rides I knew were a little too intense for where I was at.
01:26:25
Ben
Yeah. i also kind of just got like, I think for me, i was in a weird bummed out headspace at Magic Mountain.
01:26:36
Ben
Not unlike Knott's Berry Farm. Knott's Berry Farm just had like such a more positive park environment. To me, at least. um
01:26:47
Ben
I don't know what that was about, but
01:26:50
Zach
That's interesting.
01:26:52
Zach
Because I always like Magic Mountain. I like going there. But I think that's purely nostalgia based.
01:26:52
Ben
magic mountain
01:27:00
Ben
yeah and i and that's kind of what i had like um obviously wanting to go there as a kid the excitement of x2 and just you know having all the roller coasters and um I think this past trip, though, I realized i was like I don't really like any of the coasters here.
01:27:24
Ben
um
01:27:25
Zach
Really not even X to
01:27:28
Ben
I mean, i obviously, I like X2, but...
01:27:32
Ben
But, I mean, that's kind of it. And the that, like...
01:27:35
Zach
What about ninja
01:27:37
Ben
Oh, okay. I, I don't hate, I don't dislike any of the coasters. I i just mean like in my brain, like the park, rank the park ranking as a coaster collection was like always super high in my mind and like that nostalgia factor and everything. But then this time around, it's that realization of like, Oh, like the majority of the coasters here, I don't love like, um,
01:28:03
Zach
Okay, but I still think there's some really solid ones. Okay, Tatsu, X2, Ninja, Riddler.
01:28:09
Ben
Yeah.
01:28:14
Ben
Yeah, I know. i I completely agree with you.
01:28:18
Zach
Twisted Colossus is also pretty solid.
01:28:21
Ben
That one i like, but it'd always it's i always kind of forget it's there. i think it's one of my least favorite RMCs.
01:28:32
Ben
And maybe that's just because most of the time it's not dueling. Because I think we got we got one duel on it, right? The first time we...
01:28:40
Zach
I think we got half duel, yeah.
01:28:41
Ben
Yeah.
01:28:43
Zach
um
01:28:44
Ben
and then But like, you know, like Goliath and then Scream and then like Apocalypse. Batman was down. I love the era. Like, I love the actual mountain part. Like, i basically like X2, Viper, Tatsu...
01:29:03
Ben
ninja gold rush um like those kind of uh staple those yeah like that part is cool but then that whole other side of the park is kind of like i don't know i guess i guess well i guess it was just a little bit of that and and disappointment of uh oh i like i'm like you know when i was like oh i remember as a kid like this was
01:29:09
Zach
Yeah, Gold Rusher. Yeah, dude.
01:29:29
Ben
you know, like the best fucking park ever. And now I'm kind of like, ah, now I just feel old. And I, some of these rides just don't hit the same way for me anymore.
01:29:38
Ben
And also too, as I mean, that park is just so it's very inversion heavy, which obviously as you get older is a little bit harder to marathon through.
01:29:53
Zach
Well, yeah, we were definitely speaking about that when we were there is that, you know, everything in the entire collection there is pretty intense. And ironically, one of the only rides that's not really intense is X2.
01:30:10
Zach
Despite the gimmick.
01:30:12
Ben
yeah
01:30:15
Zach
It's a very swooshy ride for what it is which makes sense because if it was disorienting and super heavy on the G's, it nobody would have liked it
01:30:27
Ben
and it is also it like for me um and i mean I guess I only rode on the outside, I think, on most of the rides. It is a little... two Two rides in a row, I kind tap out on the roughness of it. I don't think it's like unbearable, but um the like there's diminishing returns for me after like the second consecutive ride on it.
01:31:00
Zach
is that Is that an old fuck I hear talking over there?
01:31:06
Ben
Uh, maybe, but it's not because it's uncomfortable. It's more just like, it's the gimmick is 20 years old. It's kind of like, it's one of those things where riding it,
01:31:16
Zach
Excuse me, it was refreshed in 2009.
01:31:20
Ben
I know that. I guess like when, i mean like the first couple rides you, the first couple of rides you had take on it are like, holy shit, this is absolutely insane.
01:31:33
Ben
And it's like, you know, it's like super exciting and it's new, but now, I mean, the ride is 20 years old. Like the gimmick is it's done. Like it's, you know, like been there. And so after like, I don't know, that was in my lifetime, five magic mountain visits. Yeah.
01:31:51
Ben
been there, done that. The ride is now a fucking walk on, you know, you go on it and you're kind of like, Oh, like I get it. Like I've, I've done this. And then once that, once that excitement wears off, you're kind of just left with the, the like, you know, the head bouncing around and stuff.
Rides and Popularity Over Time
01:32:11
Ben
Don't get around. I loved every ride we took on it. I'm just saying like we took, what did we wrote it? Like what? Six or seven times, six times, five times. Um,
01:32:21
Zach
Yeah, at least four or five.
01:32:23
Ben
Yeah. I guess the ride had more of a lasting impact when you were waiting 90 plus minutes for it. And it was newer and that excitement buildup was there. But now the ride is a 20 year old ride. That's a walk
Magic Mountain's Challenges and Future
01:32:38
Ben
on and you can reride, which is crazy to think that like, I mean, like imagine being whatever, a teenager in that park when that line is long and being like, one day you're going to be in this park and the ride is going to be a walk on.
01:32:53
Ben
I think that part is always was like a weird kind of a weird mind fuck to.
01:32:58
Ben
Like that second day we were there is a literal walk on, which is insane to think about mean one train.
01:33:04
Zach
I mean, it was February...
01:33:05
Ben
up No, I i know. But still a one train up walk on for X to.
01:33:12
Ben
The fourth dimension coaster.
01:33:15
Zach
Yeah, that was dope as fuck. Because to me, I'm like, yeah, all the coasters at Magic Mountain are very intense. So it's tough to rewrite anything. Right? And I think they always count on the fact that there's like a big lineup. Right?
01:33:33
Zach
So it's like, and it's a big park, like physically. So it's like, okay, you ride one and then you go to the next one. And in between, you've already walked 10 minutes. So by the time you get off one, get to the entrance of the next one and wait in whatever line, it's been at least like 20, 25 minutes.
01:33:55
Ben
Yeah.
01:33:56
Zach
Even if it's a walk on for most of them.
01:33:59
Ben
Mm-hmm.
01:34:01
Zach
Um,
01:34:02
Zach
So like with that in mind, I feel like X2 is one of the only re-ridable coasters in that park.
01:34:13
Ben
Yeah.
01:34:15
Ben
Yeah, that's true. I mean, like, I definitely would ride that more than once versus anything else there. Even maybe Viper, because I think I rode, no, I only rode that one one time each day.
01:34:31
Zach
Which, yeah, I like i want to there soon and just get a ride on that because I have this weird feeling now that Cedar Pairs is in charge. you know
01:34:41
Ben
yeah Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I guess like overall though, there's something about the lineup at Magic Mountain that it's missing something and I can't put my finger on it. And I think it is just a like a airtime focused kind of hyper slash giga coaster.
01:35:05
Ben
And if it had that, then it would be it would go back to being in a solid lineup. And it's kind of weird to think that the park doesn't have, even this like the state of California doesn't even have that.
01:35:20
Ben
Like the state of California doesn't have a single just airtime focused big coaster.
01:35:28
Zach
No, not really.
01:35:29
Ben
NorCal doesn't have one either.
01:35:31
Zach
No, but there's not really any big coasters in Northern California per se.
01:35:36
Ben
really And the only coaster that really fits that spot is Ghost Rider.
01:35:43
Zach
More or less?
01:35:46
Zach
mean, technically, Accelerator, i think, is a hypercoaster.
01:35:52
Ben
True. Yeah. and that's And that's kind of a little different. I mean, yeah. But so then it's, so then when you zoom out again, it's like, all right, the whole state of California, two Cedar Fair parks, two Six Flags parks, and the only real like big kind of airtime coasters are Accelerator.
01:36:18
Ben
And yeah, actually i won't even count Ghost Rider. It's basically Accelerator.
01:36:25
Ben
um
01:36:26
Zach
Because, yeah, I mean...
01:36:27
Ben
That's all. it just Magic Mountain just needs... They just need like a...
01:36:30
Zach
i guess maybe Railblazer... railblazer
01:36:36
Ben
Sort of. But it's such a that's such a like... That's not like a big... like um i know what you mean. and even And even Wonder Woman too. But like it's not ah it's not like a raging bull.
01:36:50
Ben
It's not a like one of those timeless... all around loved, re-ridable, big airtime kind of coasters like a Millennium Force, an Orion, a Raging Bull.
01:37:05
Ben
um
01:37:07
Ben
That's all. that's all so it Six Flags, Magic Mountain just needs one of those coasters in the lineup. That's all. ah It's like something something has always been missing there.
01:37:19
Ben
And I hope, if if like if Viper gets knocked, if Viper gets taken out, and God forbid X2 gets taken out, they have a huge plot with a giant hill right there that they could do something pretty cool with.
01:37:34
Ben
Now are they going to do it? I don't know. I also could see them selling, they like they take out x two and Viper and then they just sell that plot to like real estate developers or something because there's that whole neighborhood behind there now.
01:37:50
Ben
I don't know.
01:37:52
Zach
Yeah, but that wouldn't build a whole community. And they probably wouldn't... Nah. I wouldn't see that happening.
01:38:00
Zach
that's still the entry to the parking lot right there.
01:38:03
Ben
Yeah.
01:38:05
Zach
um
01:38:06
Ben
But I mean, does that, but like, that by mean I guess like, but it makes sense though, right?
01:38:06
Zach
I really...
01:38:11
Ben
Like, ah they're you do you think they're missing, like, there is a gap in their lineup somewhere and I don't know what it is, it but it's like.
01:38:20
Zach
Well, I think it's it's like a a a coaster, like you said, something airtime focused that's not like necessarily really intense.
01:38:30
Ben
Yeah.
01:38:31
Zach
Because like even Goliath being the the actual hypercoaster, the only traditional style hypercoaster in the entire state, is like it's only got one bunny helm.
01:38:45
Ben
Yeah.
01:38:46
Ben
And also too, like that, the state of California as a whole, their coaster collection is feels very aged at this point.
01:38:57
Ben
Um,
01:39:01
Ben
Cause that's the other thing too. Like what I, what I honestly think that what Cedar fair does better, because Kings Island and Cedar point both have arguably the same aging coaster collection, but for some reason, in my opinion, the coasters at Kings Island and Cedar point feel a little bit more timeless than they do at magic mountain.
01:39:26
Zach
Wow, that's such a Midwestern bias. Sounds like you worked at Cedar Point at some point in your life.
01:39:32
Ben
I know. I'm just saying I went to both Magic Mountain and Cedar Point in the same season and they had very different feels.
01:39:42
Zach
Oh, oh, oh, okay.
01:39:44
Ben
Yeah.
01:39:45
Zach
This guy knows what he's talking about.
01:39:52
Ben
I think it, but also, I also, but I also will fully give it to, to what,
01:39:52
Zach
It's all about the feels, the vibes of the park.
01:40:02
Ben
It's probably just the chain not giving. i don't think Magic Mountain gets enough money it gets as much money as it needs to be to sustain to sustain it sustain itself. like You know what i mean? The park needs more money to be nicer.
01:40:24
Ben
And it's very clear that Cedar Point is the favorite park in the chain. God's Park is going to get all that and Magic Mountain probably isn't.
01:40:32
Zach
I don't know.
01:40:35
Zach
i think Magic Mountain...
01:40:39
Zach
has a good market share in the LA area.
01:40:43
Ben
That's true. That's why they deserve it needs more investment.
01:40:47
Zach
And I don't think, I really think if you think about how big the greater LA Metro is, Knott's and Magic Mountain will probably both be a little bit better positioned
01:41:04
Zach
In under a singular corporate umbrella rather than competitors.
01:41:14
Zach
Because like.
01:41:16
Zach
If you were going to buy a knots pass because you live in the knots area and it only costs you 50 more bucks to add on magic mountain.
Cultural Differences in Theme Park Interest
01:41:25
Zach
Which is the same as a one day ticket there.
01:41:28
Zach
then you might go just add on Magic Mountain.
01:41:32
Ben
Yeah.
01:41:35
Ben
I'm also curious just what the cross, like what the previous crossover was, like how many, how many folks were already getting a six flags and a Cedar fair pass? Um,
01:41:50
Ben
like, I, I just be curious, like what percentage of Cedar fair pass holders also have a six flags pass or vice versa?
01:41:58
Zach
I don't know. It's definitely not like a
01:42:03
Zach
I got to imagine it's not he a huge number.
01:42:08
Zach
But that's why I'm feeling like it's probably going to work to both bark parks' benefit.
01:42:14
Ben
Yeah.
01:42:15
Ben
Well, and and also too, throwing in the, if Discovery Kingdom and California's Great America closes, which
01:42:25
Ben
seems very likely.
01:42:30
Ben
i have a whole other side theory on tech cities being just full of NBCs who don't like to have fun. Um, with like wild waves closing now in Seattle, Portland area is missing a theme park. The Bay area clearly doesn't care about theme parks.
01:42:49
Ben
It's all that tech bullshit. Killing the fun.
01:42:54
Zach
I mean, you're not necessarily wrong, but
01:43:00
Zach
a lot of that shit moved to Texas.
01:43:03
Ben
Yeah.
01:43:05
Ben
Which at Texas kind of seems like it's in the same boat as like Ohio and Florida. Just people appreciate theme parks. It's like part of the part of the culture. No.
01:43:16
Zach
Well, i mean, Florida is kind of on its own because it doesn't need the locals to support the parks in terms of patronage.
01:43:25
Ben
no But i do I do think, though, that Florida had... Well, because... I mean, I always thought that California sort of had that. people like People from California were more likely to be a Fousey-adjacent person just based on the amount of theme parks that were adjacent to them.
01:43:51
Ben
but now it doesn't seem like the case, but Florida seems like it's like that where, cause I mean, my sister lived there, just people that when you talk to people, people do like, they're like, Oh yeah. Like we go to SeaWorld in February and we go to universal when there's like, when it's like locals discount day or whatever, you know, there are like Florida state resident discount things every once in a while.
01:44:19
Ben
um
01:44:20
Ben
Theme parks are like in the vernacular of people in Florida, even if they don't necessarily go to Disney. They're more likely to go to probably Universal or SeaWorld, one of the SeaWorlds.
01:44:36
Ben
Or nevermind, SeaWorld and Bush.
01:44:39
Zach
Yeah.
01:44:41
Zach
I mean, it's, yeah, definitely California and the Bay Area in particular. It's not,
01:44:51
Zach
it was like at Great America when I went, granted it was opening day, but it was definitely like, not It wasn't like opening day at Great America and Gurney.
01:45:05
Ben
Right.
01:45:07
Ben
It's because tech people look down on theme parks. They think they're gross.
01:45:13
Ben
They think they're better than theme parks.
01:45:16
Ben
Because they've got that Google money.
01:45:19
Zach
I'm pretty sure Intel is right in here. Great America.
01:45:25
Ben
yeah i like Yeah, that sounds right. There's a couple of um yeah there's a couple of like big headquarters right over there.
01:45:35
Ben
San Jose. as saying tech Tech just like ruins things, which which is really unfortunate.
01:45:41
Ben
and I was...
01:45:42
Zach
as someone who lives in San Francisco... ah
01:45:45
Ben
Yeah. It just...
01:45:47
Zach
Where just recently a Waymo killed a cat that lived on our street.
01:45:52
Ben
Yeah, i saw that.
01:45:54
Zach
That literally was on our street.
01:45:57
Ben
Oh, shit.
01:45:58
Zach
I walked by the liquor store that that cat lived at like every day i'm to get to the train.
01:46:04
Zach
That sweet cat named Kit Kat.
01:46:07
Zach
He sat outside and shit. He'd patrol
01:46:12
Ben
Oh.
01:46:13
Ben
Yeah. I, I, um, Seattle is adjacent to that. It's pretty close because of Amazon. It's like a different flavor of the text bullshit. Um, when we were there reaches recently, um, and I haven't been in a couple of years and I've, it's only been, it's only my second trip there since I moved away from there in 2020. Um,
01:46:38
Ben
um
01:46:39
Zach
Did you hear the blues is calling? Toss salad and scrambled eggs.
01:46:46
Ben
Sure did. They were all over my face. um Yeah, the it was a little sad because like we were I was like showing Craig around and walking around my old neighborhood and stuff. and Nothing felt that different, but we also stayed in South Lake Union, which is where Amazon owns 90% of the real estate.
01:47:12
Zach
Oh.
01:47:12
Ben
because Because what they do is they basically bought... up the and basically bought the entire neighborhood 2008, 2009 after the, you know, the housing market bust.
01:47:27
Ben
And then what they, what happens is they own so much of the real estate that a, they're able to influence local elections, but B they're able to artificially like,
01:47:39
Ben
like restrict the housing supply so it artificially raises the value. you know It's like if there's 10 rare baseball cards that are printed and you own nine of them, right you're basically able to manipulate the market because you own the supply. So it kind of just fucks up the real estate and the rest of the city.
01:48:04
Ben
And then what they do is then they lease out the land that they own to franchises that they then own so it'd be like if it's like the so basically they own the land they own the building and then they will open a franchise like
AI's Influence on Media and Advertising
01:48:24
Ben
restaurant that they own that's also amazon but they're not paying rent because it's also because it's ant because they're i don't know if that makes sense like
01:48:37
Ben
Normally, if you're like, I want to open up a subway, you find some commercial real estate you find a commercial space and then you pay rent in that commercial space and then you pay a franchise fee and then whatever is left is your profit.
01:48:51
Ben
So in this case, Amazon is like, we're going to open up a subway, but we're going to put it inside of the building that we already own and that we're also leasing out to other companies and they're paying us rent.
01:49:05
Ben
That goes directly into our pocket. It's just, it's basically they're just able to manipulate an entire neighborhood and they've completely jacked it up. Anyway, we've stayed there.
01:49:15
Ben
We stayed in a hotel there and everyone felt like an NPC. Like everyone walking around, it looked was like the classic joke of NPCs. Like just, it's like, what do people do here? Like there's thousands of people who live in this neighborhood, but like,
01:49:35
Ben
And yet it seems like no one actually is doing anything. No one's interacting with each other. There's no real like neighborhood feel.
01:49:44
Zach
Hey, there's a Chipotle.
01:49:44
Ben
guess just.
01:49:48
Ben
Yeah, it's like.
01:49:50
Ben
People work from home and then they sit at home and then they get their groceries delivered. And think that's how people do that everywhere, but. don't know.
01:50:01
Ben
This is weird. if It had a spooky vibe.
01:50:07
Ben
but yeah, tech is literally ruining everything and it's going to kill us all and we are fucked.
01:50:16
Ben
So...
01:50:18
Zach
I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords.
01:50:25
Zach
No, I and do you think ai is fucking, it's like being used for the stupidest shit.
01:50:37
Ben
So this is, yeah, and that's why I,
01:50:40
Ben
especially in what's really sad is AI and porn is going to get really really bad. um It's terrifying.
01:50:52
Ben
Even if it's not like chatbots, like sex chatbots and stuff, or like AI image porn, it'll be, the AI will,
01:51:05
Ben
be able to influence your algorithm in like your newsfeed for things to the point where, i mean, like, let's be honest, like news, scrolling through news feeds and scrolling through like reels and all that shit, like is already pretty addictive, but the AI is going to eventually be used to further enhance the addictive nature of those things. So like,
01:51:31
Ben
it will be able to figure out like, um i was i was just i was watching this YouTube video about it where, anyway, the algorithm will just get more and more advanced and become more and more addictive. And it'll use these like very,
01:51:47
Ben
don't what he called it. Like, yeah okay, like we're all naturally, we we all have like a sexual attraction, right? To certain things. that we don't even really fully understand. And it will use those kinds of patterns, shapes and recognitions in apps and news feeds to become more addictive, if that makes sense.
01:52:11
Zach
Sure. Yeah. It made me think of like a bit you could do or you like or be like. OK. AI porn is getting ridiculous.
01:52:24
Zach
I wanted to look up. You know, a guy who looks like me. Fucking hot lady. And I was like, this is crazy. That guy looks like me so much.
01:52:40
Zach
Except my thing's not that big. And I only have one of them.
01:52:48
Ben
Nice. Yeah.
01:52:50
Ben
Yeah. it will, it's kind of true. Like the, and so what'll happen is so like ads right now are not really dynamic. Um, but eventually they will be. So like, um, eventually you, like your phone or your user will have a learned profile.
01:53:11
Ben
So, when you scroll through ad when you scroll through a newsfeed and it's showing you ads, you might be seeing an ad for like, um, fucking allergy medication.
01:53:29
Ben
But in the ad, it'll show, it might show someone that resembles you and another person that resembles someone that you're attracted to. when,
01:53:39
Zach
And just flesh tits.
01:53:41
Ben
which is That would be hilarious.
01:53:45
Zach
Do you sneeze sometimes? boobs
01:53:50
Ben
um But kind of like that's, but ah like in know in in a way where like if someone just showed you that image and like, do you like this image? You might be like, ah yeah, that's a cool image. And you won't know why you like it, but it'll figure out those types of weird details and it'll just get more and more and more refined.
01:54:09
Ben
um Because that's kind of the next thing is dynamic advertising. So like we, right now we have curated ads to where showing you topics that you're interested in but eventually it'll be topics that you're interested in. And also the image that you see for that ad in that company will be also curated to what your preferences are.
01:54:34
Ben
Um,
01:54:36
Ben
And it's just going to keep learning and get more and more advanced. So if you are a serial, I guess, newsfeed, scroller, reels, shorts, tech talk, and on your phone, you might want to relearn some of those habits before the algorithm shit gets more and more intense, because that's the problem. These AI companies, they can't figure out a way to make money.
01:55:04
Ben
um No one's going to pay. They're not going to be able to become profitable by people paying subscriptions to use, you know, like chat GPT seven or any specialized AI bot or something. So their only way these companies are going to make money is literally through porn and through like these advanced um advertising kind of applications.
01:55:30
Ben
So it's a getting it spooky.
01:55:34
Zach
Yeah, wild. All right, I need a pay break real quick.
01:55:38
Ben
Okay.
01:55:43
Zach
AI and tech are going to ruin us all.
01:55:46
Ben
I know.
01:55:49
Ben
What sucks too is like imagine like I feel thankful that I grew up in an era where
01:56:01
Ben
you didn't just get like instant
01:56:04
Ben
porn on your phone.
01:56:07
Ben
Our days it was pixelated. You had to use your imagination.
01:56:12
Zach
Yeah, I remember when porn on the internet was just pictures.
01:56:16
Ben
feel bad for the young ones.
01:56:19
Ben
Especially, especially like going back to the just general addiction thing. Like, The economy is fucked. Cost of living is fucked.
01:56:28
Ben
But you got a phone.
Theme Park Pricing Strategies
01:56:30
Ben
got a phone with limited access to everything.
01:56:34
Zach
Damn straight.
01:56:36
Ben
But you also have RMCs.
01:56:39
Zach
And let's talk about this, right? The talk the price to go to lake Magic Mountain or Cedar Point is, I think, pretty much the same as it was 25 years ago, dollar amount-wise.
01:56:53
Ben
Yeah. Yeah. Like a ticket is at the gate is like, yeah.
01:56:57
Zach
60 bucks, 50, 60 bucks, which is like the same as it was 2003. How fucking crazy is that?
01:57:08
Zach
how fucking crazy is that
01:57:11
Ben
Yeah. Cause adjusted for inflation that should be like at a minimum, at least double.
01:57:21
Zach
Right, and we talked about it them at and in Southern California when we had our meetup that lake food at a theme park now is the same as like fast food places outside the gates.
01:57:35
Ben
Yeah.
01:57:39
Zach
So it's not, the value proposition is the same to just eat inside and not lose the time.
01:57:47
Ben
Yeah, because a burger and fries and the...
01:57:54
Ben
Like that Moose Burger place or Moose Jaw, whatever the hell it was in Great America was probably 14 fourteen bucks
01:58:04
Ben
if I had to guess in the mid two thousands
01:58:10
Ben
and to the point where as a high school driving down to six flags for the day, anything over 10 bucks was like too much. $10 was like the budget for the day.
01:58:22
Zach
Yeah, well, at that time, like $12 could get you an insane amount of food at like Taco Bell.
01:58:30
Ben
Yeah.
01:58:32
Ben
Yeah, like I'd probably, there were there were probably days where once I filled up the car, I had maybe a 20 that would have to get through the whole day. And that was usually like a pack of tourneys,
01:58:46
Ben
an energy drink, which brings you up to probably seven bucks, maybe a roller dog and a soda for like two something.
01:59:00
Ben
And then at the when the park closed, about $10 to then get a couple things at Taco Bell, which was usually a $2 meal deal, which got you a half-pound burrito, bag of Doritos, and cheesy Fiesta potatoes.
01:59:17
Ben
Or no, sorry, and a drink. And then like get cheesy Fiesta potatoes, maybe a quesadilla. You're just under $10.
01:59:27
Zach
Yeah, I remember like that or like White Castle, which I guess you could still get some sliders for a decent price.
01:59:31
Ben
Yeah.
01:59:34
Zach
There like yeah it seemed like it's like there was plenty more options for cheaper food than inside a park.
01:59:45
Ben
Yeah. Even a, yeah. Cause even like a Burger King meal was seven bucks usually. Yeah.
01:59:52
Zach
Yeah, whereas that's like $12 on the cheap end now.
01:59:57
Ben
yeah
01:59:58
Zach
Where it's like, if it's $12 for a Burger King meal, might as well just pay the $13 or $14 in the park.
02:00:05
Ben
Yeah.
02:00:06
Ben
And maybe that's, and maybe that's got to adjust.
02:00:06
Zach
so yeah it's like
02:00:09
Ben
I don't know. Like
02:00:12
Ben
I'm curious what the market research was telling six flags about that right now. You know, like if they raise prices, is it really going to cut into, um, their revenue? I also, but because I also, my, my other fear was, i remember we talked about this before, was that the chain was trying to go towards a like higher cost model. So like basically less guests, but higher revenue through raising ticket prices and raising the price of like flash pass and all that stuff.
02:00:50
Ben
um But I don't know if they're going to go that way with the merger now.
02:00:55
Ben
That seemed to be a was that guy, Salim?
02:01:00
Zach
Yeah.
02:01:00
Ben
That's kind of like what his direction was, where his direction was going. And then the merger happened. And now it seems like they're going back more towards the, the model of get everyone a pass, like get as many people a pass as possible.
02:01:19
Ben
And then try to keep people into the park as long as possible.
02:01:24
Zach
I mean, that's a pretty good model post-merger.
02:01:27
Ben
Yeah.
02:01:29
Zach
Because of the fact that like
02:01:32
Zach
they now have like a park within probably like 70 plus percent of the entire population, like within a day's drive.
02:01:42
Ben
Right.
02:01:45
Zach
And possibly more.
02:01:47
Ben
Yeah. Oh, for sure.
02:01:50
Zach
I feel like... ah You know, think about like...
02:01:54
Zach
When we were kids. If you could get a pass at Great America that worked at Kings Island and Cedar Point.
02:02:03
Zach
Bless you.
02:02:04
Ben
Thanks.
02:02:06
Ben
Yeah, I mean, and even.
02:02:07
Zach
But like, if that was the case...
02:02:11
Zach
have been like, fuck, we have to make up an excuse to just like get to Cedar Point.
02:02:19
Ben
Yeah, that's true.
02:02:21
Zach
And like, or like Valley Fair or whatever, you know what i mean?
02:02:25
Zach
Like, if you know your past is good at all these parks that you can get to,
02:02:25
Ben
Well,
02:02:30
Zach
when we were kids like that would have been like all the more incentive to get to the parks.
02:02:30
Ben
yeah, I'm curious.
02:02:38
Ben
This is probably a terrible business idea, but imagine if they started to to offer like um transportation between parks and You know what i mean? Like, I don't know, like get a bus ticket from Great America to Kings Island to Cedar Point on a three day weekend and get a deal on two hotel stays.
02:03:11
Ben
Something like that.
02:03:13
Ben
To like encourage the multi, um, the multi park visits.
02:03:20
Zach
That could be genius if they tied it with their heart hotels.
02:03:24
Ben
Yeah. Yeah.
02:03:26
Ben
I don't know what... That's the thing, though. like i don't You probably wouldn't be able to offer that every day or even every weekend to make it profitable because who would actually do that?
02:03:37
Ben
I don't know. Unless they partnered with Megabus or some shit. or Yeah, I don't think there's a viable way to do that as a bit you know to make it profitable, but it'd be something kind of cool. Or even if they just did hotels.
02:03:53
Ben
They got to find, they got to be creative and figure out a way to get people to besides enthusiasts to then, you know, visit other parks in the chain. It's like, Hey, you got this pass. You got this whole portfolio of parks at your disposal now.
02:04:07
Zach
I would love to do another Cedar Point trip and stay at Breakers.
02:04:14
Ben
Yeah.
02:04:15
Ben
Yeah. We say that we stayed at an item breakers and it was actually pretty cool. Um,
02:04:20
Zach
It's not like the hotel super nice or anything.
02:04:23
Ben
No.
02:04:23
Zach
It's just the location is so optimal.
02:04:27
Ben
Yeah. Also that pavilion and boardwalk thing was, um it was executed pretty well. It was nice because it was nice to be able to eat food and not have to wait it in a super long line because they had two different options or like two different restaurants inside of the pavilion Like one had barbecue stuff and then the other one had like classic burgers and you know tenders and stuff.
Travel and Logistics for Theme Park Visits
02:04:57
Ben
um you know and There's like four separate lines. It moves quick. There's plenty of open seating. You're right on the lake. They pulled that off one pretty well.
02:05:11
Ben
And also too, just being able to walk from there to breakers on the boardwalk and
02:05:16
Zach
Yeah, that boardwalk is fantastic.
02:05:20
Ben
They also had a lot of live entertainment also, which was kind of cool. So they had, there was like different, like there was like an acrobatic performer thing and they had synchronized kites and there were just like various kind of like acts and stuff at nighttime. It was a really good, good vibe. Definitely something that that park never had before.
02:05:47
Ben
And now it's like, has more of that kind of resort feel, which is, which is cool.
02:05:54
Zach
Yeah, that's what I'd like to do there because like Breakers is just such a good location for that park.
02:06:02
Ben
is
02:06:04
Ben
Yeah.
02:06:05
Zach
Because it's like can do the early entry.
02:06:10
Ben
Also, too, we we got we're able to get to go drinks at that bar and then we hung out on the beach. After the park closed.
02:06:21
Zach
Yeah, dude, and now it's legal in Ohio, so you could just smoke out there probably.
02:06:26
Ben
Mm hmm.
02:06:29
Zach
Like... Yeah, that's even better.
02:06:33
Zach
I find that now... In my like mid 30s, I'm big on taking a midday break on a long park day.
02:06:43
Ben
Yeah.
02:06:44
Zach
So like anytime the hotel is walking distance from the park.
02:06:51
Zach
That's like a huge bonus.
02:06:55
Ben
Yeah, for sure.
02:06:59
Zach
You mean I can sit for an hour and take my shoes off without really worrying about missing too much during the busiest part of the day? Fuck yeah.
02:07:08
Ben
Yeah.
02:07:10
Ben
I think the only downside of Cedar point is that, um, there's no convenience store. And this was like, this was like peak of my Zen phase this summer. Cause, um, I took, I did this trip in the middle of, um staying in Duluth for the month of August.
02:07:34
Ben
Cause we were up there for a couple of weeks and, um, which was a fucking nightmare. Oh my God, i totally forgot about that already. had to take a shuttle from Duluth to Minneapolis, which is a three-hour drive.
02:07:49
Zach
Oh my God.
02:07:50
Ben
And the shuttle runs at the worst times. So my flight to Richmond, I had to leave Duluth at 11.45 p.m.,
02:08:00
Ben
eleven forty five p m
02:08:02
Zach
Good Lord.
02:08:03
Ben
So I got on the shuttle and then I got to Minneapolis airport at like three 30 in the morning and my flight wasn't until six 30. So just like having to sit and also this is terminal. So there's terminal one and terminal two terminal two is like, or terminal, yeah. Terminal two is their non-international hub. So there's like nothing really open and nowhere to really like, you know, hang out.
02:08:29
Ben
Um, And then a bar opened at 4 a.m. And I sat down, ate breakfast. the bartender's like, hey, we got a special, get a free shot if you order a tall beer or whatever it was.
02:08:45
Ben
And I'm like, dude, it's 4 a.m. second i was like, i I didn't sleep last night. And then, of course, there was these like you know typical...
02:08:56
Ben
minute like Minnesotans next to me. They were going to Vegas. They're on like a 6 a.m. Vegas flight. So of course they were getting hammered. um
02:09:05
Ben
Yeah, and flew to Richmond, connected through Chicago. or no, connected through Baltimore. Nevermind. And then on the flight back, I flew from...
02:09:20
Ben
Toledo? No. Dayton. think it was Dayton.
02:09:25
Ben
Dayton to Midway to Minneapolis. I got stuck in Midway for seven hours because of a thunderstorm. And I closed out the bar.
02:09:36
Ben
It closed at 10 and then our flight didn't board until 1.45 a.m.
02:09:40
Zach
Oh, damn.
02:09:41
Ben
Yeah. And Midway is also, it's not O'Hare, so there's literally nothing open after 10 p.m. in that airport. um So yeah, get on the board this fucking flight, land in Minneapolis at 3 a.m., and then I had to wait until 7 a.m. to take the shuttle from Minneapolis back up to Duluth.
02:10:06
Ben
So it was miserable. Miserable. Anyway, what I was saying is there was nowhere to get Zins on the peninsula.
02:10:18
Ben
which was kind of a bummer.
02:10:20
Zach
No, you got to bring all your alcohol and shit with you and weed and all that and snacks and all that shit.
02:10:25
Ben
Yeah.
02:10:28
Ben
Yeah.
02:10:30
Ben
So that's the only downside, but um otherwise, yeah it's lovely.
02:10:33
Zach
Not really a downside, though. You just got to plan ahead.
02:10:36
Ben
Yeah.
02:10:38
Ben
I know. Also that breakers cough that that's so that Starbucks inside of the Breakers made the mistake of trying to get it a drink there at 8.45 a.m.
02:10:51
Ben
and there was literally 25 people in line.
02:10:52
Zach
Oh, God.
02:10:57
Zach
Yeah, you got to go at like 6
02:10:57
Ben
and there's like yeah And there's like two poor people like working only and you're just like, oh my God, I feel so bad.
02:11:06
Ben
like And then there is and there is a Starbucks inside of the park that was that was ah a lot nicer. so
02:11:19
Ben
um Well,
Episode Reflection and Future Plans
02:11:20
Ben
shit. i
02:11:24
Ben
need to hop off soon-ish.
02:11:28
Zach
I mean, it has been almost two and a half hours.
02:11:28
Ben
What's up? Yeah, but I'm glad that we got... um Yeah, glad we got one in.
02:11:37
Zach
Same, same. It feels right to close out the year with an episode. Maybe we can do a couple more.
02:11:47
Ben
Yeah, I got my, I mean, I'm going to Wisconsin next week for a couple days, but I'm around that whole week between Christmas and new Year's. So I've got time.
02:12:01
Zach
For sure, yeah. um
02:12:03
Zach
I might be in Vegas.
02:12:06
Zach
We'll see.
02:12:08
Zach
We shall see. um But yeah, I think i'll I'll let you know. Hopefully we can record something.
02:12:17
Ben
Cool. Nah, I'm
02:12:17
Zach
Or whatever. But this, yeah, this has been an awesome. And I'm glad we're able to do it. It's been a good time.
02:12:27
Zach
Shit, you got anything else?
02:12:29
Ben
yeah i'm all good
02:12:32
Zach
All right. Well, ah for the first time in a long while, thank you all for listening so much. And until next time, your favorite coasters sucks.
02:12:43
Ben
Your favorite coaster sucks.