coasterbill

Hello everyone! After taking a few months off after the completion of Sunset Valley, I've started working on a brand new Sunset park. This park is going to be a little different than Sunset Valley. Sunset Vista is a smaller park (though still very large) located right off the highway near a river. While it's doubtful it will surpass Sunet Valley's impressive coaster collection, it promises to deliver plenty of great rides and attractions but I'm going to focus a little more on scenery and architecture than I did last time. As always, comments are greatly appreciated. The park is in a great location, right near the highway with some hotels nearby. The parking lot entrance. The cars on the highway and entering the parking lot are all animated and set to a realistic speed. It took a long time to get this to work right but I'm really happy with the results. The main gate area is very colorful and should give guests a warm welcome.

Here's mine. Favorite Wood coaster (at #2) is El Toro. I know I put Raptor higher than most people but I love that ride, and while Intimidator 305 is an amazing coaster I put it below Raptor, Nitro and Millennium Force because even though I enjoy intense airtime and laterals (like El Toro), I didn't enjoy the blackout sensation I got on I305 at all. Millennium Force does the same thing at the bottom of the drop and Nitro does it in the helix but it's more drawn out on I305. RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,1 Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,2 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,3 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,4 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,5 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,6 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <-LEAVE Millennium Force Cedar Point OH,y,n,1 Favorite Wood Coaster Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,2 Raptor Cedar Point OH,y,n,3 Nitro Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,4 Intimidator 305 Kings Dominion VA,y,y,5 Bizarro SF New England MA,y,y,6 Storm Runner Hersheypark PA,y,n,7 Intimidator Carowinds NC,y,n,8 Alpengeist Busch Gardens Will VA,y,n,9 Afterburn Carowinds NC,y,n,10 Goliath Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,11 Kingda Ka Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,12 Top Thrill Dragster Cedar Point OH,y,n,13 Flight of Fear Kings Dominion VA,y,y,14 Flight of Fear Kings Island OH,y,n,15 Dominator Kings Dominion VA,y,y,16 Bizarro Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,17 Batwing Six Flags America MD,y,y,18 Batman The Ride/Clone SF & Other Parks **,y,y,19 Vortex Kings Island OH,y,n,20 Fav Vekoma Invertigo Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,21 Talon Dorney Park PA,y,y,22 Volcano: The Blast Co Kings Dominion VA,y,y,23 Superman - Ride of St Six Flags America MD,y,y,24 Gemini Cedar Point OH,y,n,25 Great Bear Hersheypark PA,y,n,26 Joker's Jinx Six Flags America MD,y,y,27 Sooperdooperlooper Hersheypark PA,y,n,28 Batman - Dark Knight SF New England MA,y,y,29 Loch Ness Monster Busch Gardens Will VA,y,y,30 Hydra the Revenge Dorney Park PA,y,y,31 Ninja Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,32 Apollo's Chariot Busch Gardens Will VA,y,y,33 Magnum XL-200 Cedar Point OH,y,n,34 Great American Scream Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,35 Riddler's Revenge Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,36 Superman – Ultimate F Six Flags Parks **,y,y,37 Superman The Escape Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,38 Fav Arrow Mine Train Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,39 Big Thunder Mountain WDW Magic Kingdom FL,y,n,40 Fav Intamin Bobsled Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,41 Space Mountain WDW Magic Kingdom FL,y,n,42 Desperado Buffalo Bill's Res NV,y,n,43 Iron Dragon Cedar Point OH,y,n,44 Avalanche Kings Dominion VA,y,y,45 Canyon Blaster Adventuredome NV,y,n,46 Steel Force Dorney Park PA,y,y,47 Fahrenheit Hersheypark PA,y,n,48 Skull Mountain Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,49 Fav Wildcat Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,50 Fav Vekoma Boomerang Any Park Anywhere **,y,y,51 Dark Knight Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,52 Anaconda Kings Dominion VA,y,y,53 Apocalypse Six Flags America MD,y,y,54 Vortex Carowinds NC,y,n,55 Wicked Twister Cedar Point OH,y,n,56 Possessed Dorney Park PA,y,y,57 Backlot Stunt Coaster Kings Island OH,y,n,58 Backlot Stunt Coaster Kings Dominion VA,y,y,59 Fav Vek Susp Family Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,60 Revolution Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,61 Viper Six Flags Magic Mo CA,y,n,62 Fav Arrow Corkscrew Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,63 Mantis Cedar Point OH,y,n,64 Fav Vek Susp Loop SLC Any Park Anywhere **,y,n,65 Shockwave Kings Dominion VA,y,y,66 Green Lantern Six Flags Great Ad NJ,y,y,67

Pleasant Flight of Fear: I know these coasters are generally loved by everyone now, but when they opened they were ridiculed because of the headbanging caused by the over the shoulder restraints. I dreaded riding this coaster but after I had put it off as long as I could I got in line. I'm so glad I did. When I got in the train I was surprised to see that the old restraints had been replaced with lap bars. It ended up being my favorite coaster at Kings Island (I have not been back since they built Diamondback). Unpleasant X: The most disappointing ride I ever had on a coaster was X. I've only been to California once in my life and it was in the summer of 2002. I was so excited to ride X, but found out that a few weeks earlier that it was closed due to stress fractures so I assumed I wouldn't get to ride it. The day we went to Magic Mountain was the day it re-opened after being closed for almost a month, and after a 2 hour wait we finally got to ride it. That was the roughest ride I've ever had on any coaster ever (except the Great Adventure Viper which should go without saying). What an unbelievable piece of crap. Magnum XL 200: The first time I rode this was in 2001, back when Paul Ruben was on every channel 24/7 talking about how amazing it was and every coaster countdown show put this at #1 or #2. This ride is extremely painful. I know if you ride it in certain rows it's better, but I don't feel like memorizing which rows are acceptable and which aren't before riding a coaster. I don't hate this coaster and I know it's iconic and appreciate the fact that it started the coaster arms race, but it was a huge let down.

A picture is worth a thousand words... El Toro's OMFG ejector drop over Rolling Thunder.

We're going to Knotts for the first time at the end of February and I hope Boomerang is open because I'm a filthy credit whore.

Sustainable Playland seems stupid to me. Their plan is basically to take out all of the rides on the shore side of the park except for the Carousel, add some tennis courts and athletic fields and then force local businesses to pay a fee for "common maintenance". They already do... they're called taxes. They also want to have a partnership between the public and private sector so basically the government will still be involved money, only they'll lose more money because there won't be as many rides so there will be less of a draw (they're not replacing the rides with anything, just a lawn which they call "public event space"). They already have concerts at the park every year and since the new concert area is just a big lawn, it's not like it's the kind of facility that will bring in bigger names. I'm not sure what other events they have in mind but concerts are really the only event I can think of that would bring in any significant number of people. Trade shows and conventions end up at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, so if they plan to add more of them they'll just take money from another county owned, taxpayer funded business and we'll be no better off than we are now. They're also keeping that stupid ice arena which loses about 3 million dollars a year and amounts for roughly half of the parks financial losses.

Best of the West! That's all I needed to know. I'm getting it.

It depends on who you're with and if the park is Six Flags America or not.

I feel like I should care but I really don't. I guess it's a shame to see one of the parks original structures demolished. Even though I thought this was kind of ridiculous looking, I'm sure it was quite a sight to see when the park opened.

I hate to complain, but I wish they would leave some seats facing forward. I'd love to try it backwards once or twice but they should give people the option of riding forwards if they want.

This is so cool that it doesn't even look real. It looks like something someone would come up with in RCT.

What is that on the bottom left corner of that first screen? Some kind of tram? So far, I love this.

For a minute I thought Premier actually referred to it as YOLOcoaster.

That's too bad. Maybe it's just me but I think Condor's are great and I wish there were a lot more of them. I never understood why these rides aren't more popular than they are.

Totally missed this, but not like it's badly out of date or anything. Sounds acceptable to me. Admittedly, I am the type to mourn the loss of buzz bars, even on rides that don't offer the right kind of airtime to enjoy them to the fullest. But I remember Rolling Thunder in 2011 as an airtime-free ride. Though incidentally, 2012 on a rainy day was a different story, as it surprised me by being just a bit of an airtime machine (and nowhere near the back row, at that). While Rolling Thunder is kind of a crappy coaster, I rode it a few times last year because the lack of a line and the desire to find a seat where the ride didn't suck kept drawing me in. I never found the ride uncomfortable, but it just doesn't do ANYTHING. There's no airtime, no exciting laterals and a really boring layout. The closest thing I got to airtime was actually in the front seat when the train entered the turnaround. There's no airtime to speak of in the back or middle of the train (at least not from my experiences). I think Rolling Thunder is a good family coaster and a good way for people to work their way up to El Toro if they're scared to ride big coasters but that's really all I can say for it.

Obviously park names will be unknowingly used by multiple people, but to take the original name of such a popular park that had a thread over 100 pages long is bound to rub some people the wrong way.

I don't really understand why anyone thinks that Boulder Dash is better than Phoenix but to each his (or her) own. Both are great coasters. It's great to see El Toro at number one again. It's easily my favorite wood coaster. I don't understand why more Intamin woodies haven't popped up since they built El Toro and it's had such overwhelming success.

Out of curiosity, when did he say this? Was it when the ride was suffering from daily breakdowns or was it a few years later when the ride was only breaking down every other day?

I actually bookmarked your park on New Element just to keep tabs on it because I think it's awesome. I didn't understand the overwhelmingly negative response to the old Intimidator plaza but this is much better. This is one of the most realistic parks I've seen in RCT2.

Doubtful...

It sounds like you don't have your priorities in order. Knoebels trumps those other parks. This man speaks the truth... you have to Experience Knoebels to understand but this park is a slice of Americana and is a great combination of old and new. Besides El Toro I would consider Phoenix the best coaster in the Northeast (I used to love Bizarro at SFNE and it's still a good ride but for some reason it's just not what it used to be) but this park isn't even about the coasters. It's about the awesome, old, unique flat rides, the common flat rides that have better programs and longer cycles than you'll find anywhere else, the old-school (award winning) dark rides, the great food, the theme park history museums and just the overall experience. Knoebels is one of a kind.

Yes... Ohio is completely destroyed. Yesterday I heard they had cops directing everyone off of I-80 and onto the last exit in Pennsylvania so they didn't cross the border into the disaster area.

A 148 foot drop tower is going to look huge at Knoebels. Another great addition for them... I love this park. By the way, they confirmed on Facebook that nothing will be removed and this will be located "roughly across the boulevard from the Twister bridge".

Six Flags St Louis advertises theirs as being "over 43 MPH". Let's assume that means it occasionally goes 44 MPH... it's only a 3 MPH difference.