𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 Alright not the season's end yet, I stand in Defiance. I was supposed to be in LA. Someone pulled rank. Denver as the consolation. It has been a decade but I said wasn't coming back here til they reopen the @LakesideDenver Cyclone. I offered to throw money at them. Sign a waiver. Ya know, X3 style. Glenwood Caverns makes you sign a waiver. Then I text Bedholm: I got a Casa Bonita res. He's never been. Aren't locals supposed to celebrate their childhood birthdays here? We roll up and what I remember as a vacant sad strip center is packed to the brim. The place is lit up. And all the crappy buildings surrounding have joined in the LED fun. Like a wacky neighbor holiday display. There's a line outside, a seperate fastlane queue and a metal detector. Things which Glenwood Canverns, an actual theme park, doesn't have. The Dia de Muertas overlay is going hard. This is Universal level decor. I've been before, a decade ago before the South Park Bros got it. I remember dated moldy kitsch. Terrible food. The novelty of getting legally high to heighten the experience before you could do that everywhere. The gorilla chasing women before he got cancelled. Now it is a scene's scene. The bones are there and the respectfulness is amirable but the charm is deflated. Every corner is stuffed with a new hip bar or merch. It's great to see such a success story and the food is much better. The sopapillas are the same. Raise a flag. This trip is a quick burn, but a small park seems to die every month now. I'm scared for Glenwood Caverns and their ugly balance sheets. I've never been west of Coors Light. I tightly throttle it into the Rockies. It's a great drive. I don't understand how the thoosies rip it from only a day in Denver. I am grateful Glenwood has weekday hours. I run by closed Elitch I wouldn't have gone to. I've heard a lot of hype about Glenwood Caverns. One of my few empty domestic boxes on the map. I arrive in the afternoon and it's quiet and mostly shuttered. I am confused by gravel and porta potties. The rides are well sited, but the park feels Fun Spot Atlanta on the mountain. I am not hating on the views, they are incredible. But I was expecting more infrastructure. I dig the trolls. Sitelines aside, the Gerst tracks as one of the worst. It is barely rideable. The SDC is better. With it's drop off the mid course, the best pad mouse. I missed this now rare model in Maryland earlier on the calendar. So I take a second spin to chase the rye of my youth. The Weigan Alpine is fun as hell too. Maybe it's just novelty as I normally don't pay a thoosie tax to count these things. This is their oldest model in the states still going strong. I am used to listening to @coasterstudios at two speed that he sounds drunk. The altitude is getting to me too, bro. The swing rides lean on gimmick, but it's a good gimmick. The caves aren't as interesting as sigh... SDC or other offerings back east. There's maybe three dozen people in the park and I do everything I want with rerides in a couple hours. Do I stand by the idea that Trey Parker and Matt Stone should buy this property too and inject it with IP? It would be the perfect South Park. They've done wonders at Casa Bonita, which was as similarly vacant and charmingly awful. They could work the same angle here. For better or worse times. I have a pre dawn departure which is just enough time for a quick evening soak, the real and best reason to go @VisitGlenwood . I drive by the shuttered Cyclone before the sun rises. Maybe next season.

Top Thrill X2 A unique special roller coaster at a @SixFlags park with a global reputation as a pilgrimage for thrill seekers… A ride that brings enthoosiasts from across the world to its gate. Has caused tragic, undeniable harm. Leaving it shuttered and future uncertain. Again. First off, X2 should never run in its current form ever again. This isn’t an essay on whether the ride has an issue (It does). This is an exploration of is X worth saving thru unknown reimagining. It’s hard to get over the algorithmic noise of hardcore thoosies, the hype brought by a 2-hour ETR cinematic feature… Does X2 actually matter today? It is the only domestic version of one of the most storied and extreme roller coaster designs ever created. Is it integral to the context, the audience of its park? I would make the argument Top Thrill Dragster absolutely was integral to Cedar Point. It towered over and became the 21st century identity of that peninsula. It was rightfully saved. Back as a better, safer and more reliable ride. Yes, there were hiccups and the project was a disaster of success. But a success, nonetheless. Pour out an extra beer by holding it on your Vekoma tilt track. Six Flags made a mistake in New Jersey. They tore down something so iconic to local identity that they’re now apologizing by rebuilding the exact same profile on the same plot and hoping we won’t notice. Back out west, X2 is the iconic entrance to Magic Mountain. As with Viper before it; The I-have-arrived-moment. An entrance design so good, Energylandia ripped it off. (They do that) At rope drop. Under the bridge like a Socal chili pepper. The day beginner (and often day-ender, Ikyk how to ride it) Right or Left, fool. Like Dragster, X2 is an overbuilt structure with likely additional service life. A beast to demolish. So do you do something with it? Can you? S&S (the most likely suitor) has a decade(s) history of making big engineering mistakes (from all their Thrust Airs to Steel Curtain). I can’t imagine anyone else would want to touch the ride. But Zamperla… This could be a huge Cinderella story for S&S. The stakes are so much higher than Dragster. This isn’t a launch system that needs to be taken out to the hydraulic shed. This is everything. Six Flags has been scrappy recently. The second-hand buys. Super Boomerangs. Ultra Surfs. Arie Force One. Layer in this era where nostalgia sells heavy. Phantom Manor returns. What makes this weirder is X is not the only abandoned hulking mass that defines the Magic Mountain skyline. The neXt 2 most iconic elements; The ones you can catch a glimpse of on that northbound approach from LA: the Sky Tower and Superman. Also vacant husks. The park has two other Arrow coasters crept past expected useful life. Arguably more so even than X2. (Remember when I made an argument, Six FUN should unload Magic Mountain? – see link below) I’ve never been a huge fan of @SFMagicMountain but I’m always drawn back to visit the park anyway when passing thru SoCal. I’ve been over a half dozen times, since my first in 2002 when I took and at the time captioned, the film picture below. I adore Viper and Riddler and Apocalypse is criminally underrated. Colossus was a lot cooler than the RMC that replaced it and I regretfully only saw but never got to ride Stengel’s Flashback. I’m very excited for the Thrill Glider which I hope contains shades of F.L.Y. Maybe it can replace X2 as the headline roller coaster of the park.