FeelTheFORCE

I can't speak for the European versions, but being at a weird angle (or worse, upside down) when going through those transitions is not fun. It feels like a car crash with intense pressure on your head, like your soul is being ripped from your body. The S&S versions are slightly milder, but not by much. I think it's just the nature of the ride, and I'm not a fan of either brand.

Yeah, I get that. It just didn't bother us. I even went in with those complaints in the back of my head and it didn't bother us. I think part of that is that we pretty much like everything and we're really not as critical as most, and I get the complaint and see how that could bother people but I really don't mind it at all. I think the vast majority of the rides at Universal are amazing (even the ones that generally get less enthusiastic reviews from the community). For me, they lack the immersion that some of the older rides possessed. Being plopped down in front of a screen, shaken around a bit, and spritzed with water doesn't exactly get me as engaged as having a giant animatronic shark jumping out of the water from only a few feet away. I just expect more from a billion dollar theme park.

Sometimes the ridiculous California laws can cause delays, and construction projects to become a major pain in the a$$ in general. Believe it or not, a lot of companies just straight-up avoid the state entirely because of it.

Hot damn!

Geographically, sure. Demographically? Nah. Cedar Point is a destination resort. Kennywood is a classic amusement park. People make trips specifically for Cedar Point. People don't make trips specifically for Kennywood, they make trips to Pittsburgh, which Kennywood may or may not be a part of. Kennywood is right in the thick of a whole bunch of Pittsburgh suburbs, and within easy driving distance of the entire region. Kennywood doesn't get anywhere as many guests as Cedar Point does but I would not be surprised if their annual passholders visit more times a year than Cedar Point's do. No offense to anyone that lives there, but when was the last time you heard someone say, "I'm going to take a vacation to Sandusky"? Kennywood does not, nor will it ever, need something like Steel Vengeance to continue to sustain itself, no matter how much our kind of people cry out in anguish over the fact that their region doesn't have a Rocky Mountain Construction coaster. Kennywood has a niche, and they play it better than almost everyone else in the United States. I've been to some really crummy "classic" style parks, and each time I went to one, I was reminded of just how good Kennywood and Knoebels really are. Kennywood also has many nationality days, and school/work picnic days during the summer. Tickets are cheap through those means, and school/work gives everyone the day off to go. Most locals go to Kennywood every year regardless of wherever else they go in the summer, simply because it's tradition. Pretty much every one I knew growing up would do their annual Kennywood day, in addition to whatever other summer vacation they had planned. It was never one or the other. I've lived in Pittsburgh my entire life, and have honestly never heard anyone say that. Everyone I know who's ridden the original, hated it.

There's going to be some major hairtime action going on with this thing.

No argument there. You do you, everyone enjoys rides differently, and there's no right or wrong way. The SV trains will not care what type lap bars are on them when they're tearing around the track, that's for sure. I found it funny that, of everything else to take away from it, my first ride on Goliath at SFGAm was with a random mom who kept saying the craziest part is having nowhere to put your hands or hold onto. Apparently that made a big impact on her. I guess you could liken it to S&S Screaming Swings; how you're scrambling to grab onto whatever you can find when you're at max swing height. Not a huge difference than if there were an actual bar there, but a nice touch that there isn't, especially if you're not thinking about it and instinctively go to grab something that doesn't exist.

^ Definitely! It's not a gamebreaker either way, but I do like the subtle mind games that come along with not having any "oh $h!t handle."

I know you said your tickets are already purchased, but just for future reference, Cedar Point also offers ticket/Fast Lane+ bundles on select days as well at a very reasonable price. I don't know how I managed back when they had no system in place, to be honest. It's a must for me.

I'd be on board with that. Having ridden Monster at Adventureland, the sensations aren't all that different from Sky Rocket.

Hmm, I wonder if they're a surefire thing moving forward?

They'll probably get CCMR if Cedar Point should decide to remove it...

Ah, gotcha. It's interesting they would open the ride (TT) without them, but install them only shortly after. Let's hope they keep them off SV.

The little handle on the side isn't a grab bar, it's so the ride operators can easily check the restraints. I guess you could use that, but it's still kind of awkward to hold onto during the ride. Below is a picture of Twisted Timbers' seats, and I don't see any additional grab bars. I'm not sure if anything additional has been added to Lightning Rod, but Joker and Goliath are identical to the picture as well.

I have faith in RMC that this will still be balls to the wall, regardless. I'm not losing any sleep over wondering how much the MCBR will slow down the train.

That it was not, and Arrow was a US-based company as well.

Monster's drop is pretty similar to Spongebob's if that's what he was talking about, so he wasn't necessarily wrong, but Iowa has too many cities with "Cedar" in the name. I was there a couple months for work a while back and never did get down which Cedar was which between Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids. Although Adventureland is in Des Moines, nowhere near either, so who knows.

I hope I'm completely wrong, but I would be shocked to see a B&M or Intamin coaster at Kennywood. They just don't seem like a park that's quite on that level. It's one thing to have Intamin build you a flat and a rapids ride a couple decades ago, but a major coaster from them is a whole different ballgame. Kennywood has for the most part seemed to stay with companies based in the US for major coaster additions. There's always a first time for everything though.

I actually enjoyed seeing them and how they (and their bodies) reacted in some of the crazier bits. We know there will be a full POV eventually, and with it being so close to opening anyway, I didn't really care at this point lol.

Ghostwood is definitely very underrated and worth many rerides! I don't believe they've moved the entrance, because the entire queue is held within the building's footprint.

After all the hype, all the teasing, and so on, we're finally getting close to this thing being unleashed. I cannot wait!

Agreed. I'd advise first-timers to not get their hopes up unreasonably high for Kennywood. It's a great park with many quirks and an amazing traditional feel, but definitely not on the same level as Cedar Point or Hershey. I've been trying to limit my KW visits in the past few years to build up that excitement again.

Isn't the track gauge different for trains with vests, versus traditional? I'm not sure if that's the case with dive machines, but I remember hearing that about Banshee when the topic came up of retrofitting existing coasters with vest trains. I'm sure they could make it happen if they wanted to, I mean B&M found a way to fit their trains to a Morgan, but it was probably cheaper/easier to just go the traditional route.

Stepping through those gates and sitting in that seat for the first time is going to be a great thing!

I hope this catches on and becomes a popular thing to preserve some of the older iconic classics and make them actually enjoyable to ride, like CP's corkscrew and others. Maybe even larger ones like KI's Vortex.