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Everything posted by coasterbill
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This was my biggest gripe with the park when we visited last February. I get the fact that coasters may not be running all of their trains in the winter but a coaster that has 3 trains should never rehab 2 of them at the same time. We waited an hour for a middle row with a platinum flash pass. To be fair though we did get to ride every coaster except Superman (which was closed but I had ridden that before) with the Flash pass plus the Flume, Sky Tower and Lex Luthor. We even had time to re-ride Ninja and Apocalypse later in the day.
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TPR Scandi Trip 2014 Mini Updates!
coasterbill replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Jersey 101.5 shared it which made the google news feed. They did give you credit so this isn't pertaining to your above post, I just thought you'd find it cool (not as cool as Good Morning America... but cool). Link -
PTR CAROWINDS!
coasterbill replied to Nickstroberg's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Great reports! I'm looking forward to your next update. -
Ludicrous park food prices
coasterbill replied to GigaG's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Midway Market at CP! Every single time Everyone says this but I personally hate Midway Market. The food is awful because it's the same awful food from the picnic area (it shares a kitchen) with a slightly nicer presentation. I actually think Cedar Point has really good food for a corporate non Disney / Universal / HFE park. The standard park food is crap, but they have enough franchises to make up for it. I consider Pink's, Chick Fil A, TGI Fridays, Chickie and Pete's and Famous Daves to be really good food options. Boardwalk Fries by Corkscrew is a nice franchise too if you're just looking for a snack. -
The timeframes you're talking about hold true for RCT2 and RCT3. Spotlight level NE parks for example require countless hours of work. You can easily spend 10-20 game years on a single coaster... maybe more depending on the level of custom supports, theming and interaction the ride has. I think Pacificoaster's "Starpointe" which is currently the highest scoring legitimate RCT2 spotlight ever took well over 700 game years. I'm a fan of some of the RCT3 work I've seen floating around the community but as a whole I think RCT2 is a much better game that's much more realistic and fun to play. To each his own though.
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Photo TR: Evening at Valleyfair - 7/19/2014
coasterbill replied to VF15's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
What's wrong with saying that? If an enthusiast said a ride was boring because it had no airtime nobody would complain... some people like to go upside-down. I don't get why other people not liking a ride that you like and talking about that with the people they're with can be a "downside: to your day. I'll never understand this. It's a hobby that's meant to be fun, and everyone likes different things. Great photos BTW. -
I would strongly suggest NOT doing that in Greater Boston, ESPECIALLY not in Southie unless you feel that the possibility of getting smashed over the head with a bottle is an acceptable risk. Western Mass, on the other hand, cares far less. To be fair, I have already done it before...including taking the Fenway Park tour in a Yankees hat, and wearing a Giants jersey around Boston. Anywho, first trip to SF:NE and what can I say? Bizarro is awesome, still torn whether it tops MForce, but yeah, epic coaster. Rest of the park, well it was kind of horrible lol Glad you finally made it up to SFNE. It was fun hanging out all day. Basically I echo everything in your post. This park is infuriating but Bizarro mostly makes up for it. Bizarro was running better yesterday than it's run in years. After you left to get your car on our way back to the main lot we did see an empty tram going at least 30-40 MPH almost run down a ton of people in a crosswalk leaving the park. The woman driving it slammed on the brakes and honked at everyone leaving. And by "honked" I mean leaning on the horn for a good 5-10 seconds. It's not like anyone stepped right in front of it though, it was a pretty steady stream of people. It was a nice final reminder on the way out that we had just experienced a day at "One of the Friendliest Parks on the Planet".
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Only because the fact that they were voted one of the friendliest parks last year is so amazing. Last years SFNE staff was routinely the rudest, most disinterested staff of any park I've ever visited. Six Flags America, Jolly Roger in Ocean City and pretty much every carnival had friendlier staff and that's saying something. (I mentioned Jolly Roger because their staff is awful). They've improved this year though... I'll give them that.
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Kingda Ka still gets hour lines so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Most non enthusiasts don't care that the ride is rough in some seats anyway as the experience is amazing and it's a short ride so any headbanging is short lived. That being said (and I'm sorry to keep saying this), just ride it in the front. This eliminates all roughness and makes the ride really awesome.
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I can't wait to see the impact this ride has on next years Mitch Hawker poll. It's absolutely not in the spirit of the poll to even include this but if it's on the ballot you kind of have to. In that case I could see this being considered a top 10 steel coaster even though that sounds completely ridiculous.
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Photo TR: California Dreamin'
coasterbill replied to Canobie Coaster's topic in Photo Trip Report Archive
I just read through this whole thread and enjoyed every update. Great captions too... especially this one Which made me literally burst out laughing at work. I guess it serves me right for looking at TPR at work though. lol -
I would expect it to be permanent. The state of NJ does not want them run simultaneously. And per a ride operator at Ka and zumanjaro. Ka can not launch a train till the protection screen(roof) at zumanjaro is in a closed position. And so far with the rides running simultaneously, Ka's capacity has been cut in half. They now do 30 launches a hr. give or take. not the close to 60 they used to do. Also look at the fact that almost 10 yrs later, Ka has never reopened the original que path that leads under the launch track. I wouldn't say permanent. I think there's still measures the park can take like putting netting around Ka's pullouts but we'll see in time. Hopefully you're right. Great Adventure does seem to do whatever they can to increase capacity (short of hiring new staff) so I don't see this being permanent. Because they need to open up and let Wawa into their hearts.
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Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
coasterbill replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I don't think this Mantis thing has any merit at all. Mantis with floorless trains would likely make a sub-par coaster a mediocre coaster but that's about it. I think a lot of the appeal of the ride is the standing element, maybe not in the enthusiast community but for everyone else. Plus as much as I dislike the ride it's currently the only coaster in the entire park that's always open when it rains. The other coasters sometimes operate in the rain but the rain policy seems to change by the minute. One day Wicked Twister for example could be open in a light rain but the next day it could be closed under the same conditions. Mantis always runs without regard for wind and rain...2 things that can cripple the park with their current operating procedures. Hopefully if they were to happen they would design the ride so that it could still run in the rain, though I think the reason it can is probably because of the amount of blocks it has while only running 2 trains (when it's designed for 3). Edit: When I say "can" run in the rain I mean "does" run in the rain. I know the only reason everything closes in the rain is because Cedar Point decided to change the policy one day as a complete overreaction to an incident that probably wasn't caused by rain anyway. -
Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
coasterbill replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The only rides where I think the seat really matters are: Top Thrill Dragster: The ride is fun everywhere but it's OMFG insane in the front. This might add up to an hour to your wait time but it's worth it because it's a completely different ride in the front. I suggest riding it twice, once in the seat with the shortest wait so you guarantee yourself a ride as the ride breaks down frequently and then again in the front. Gatekeeper: I really like this ride in the front seat, specifically on the side of the train that loads over by the Midway and Maxair. Raptor: Raptor is one of the best coasters at the park and is an incredibly intense and snappy ride. Because of this it has a few moments where it throws you around a tiny bit. To avoid most of that ride it in the front... you get the added benefit of an awesome view and a wait that's only one or two trains longer than the other rows. Gemeni: Sit on the ride of the train closest to the other train and near the middle. That way you can slap hands with riders on the other side when you go around the slow turns. A lot of people prefer specific seats on Magnum but I find the experience to be the same everywhere... rough and mediocre. Personally my favorite seat is the front but it's up to you. Maverick and Millennium Force are equally amazing in every seat. I'd suggest one front seat ride on Millennium Force just for the view though. In the back the train feels like it's ripping you through every turn which is also awesome. -
You have great taste in hoagies. LOL I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not. As a lifelong Philadelphian, Wawa hoagies are kind of the bottom of the barrel but not inedible. They get the job done but it would be awesome if a Primos (hoagies, not pizza) were in or near the park. They are THE BEST. Haha not at all. After hearing from all of my friends of Phillie / Delmarva about how Wawa was basically heaven on earth I finally became a believer this year when we went to Busch Gardens and ended up eating Wawa hoagies for dinner since nothing else in Williamsburg is open after 8PM.
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Carowinds Discussion Thread
coasterbill replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Wow, you must have spent forever on that. Great job... if the coaster has transitions like that I'll be a happy camper. Edit: Did I just say "happy camper"?