FeelTheFORCE

Woohoo for Intamin, and woohoo for Mirabilandia! Some day I'll get there. I'm also glad to see my number one coaster, X2 (although when I rode it, it was just X) not down in the basement and still at a reasonable rank of 32, right ahead of another one of my favorites, TTD.

I bought the new Motorstorm last week, Motorstorm: Apocalypse. It's a really good game, incredibly fun! Now if only PSN would come back online so I can try the multiplayer out. Rumors are swirling that it won't be back until May 31 at the earliest...bummer. Edit: A little update after I have played the game more. It's still a great and a really fun game, but I still think the original Motorstorm is better than both this one and Pacific Rift. I don't know what it is exactly, these past two (especially Apocalypse) have felt very arcade-ey.

The delay doesn't bother me, as I have a mindset of "it will open when it opens," but I still see where he's coming from and he makes a valid point. You don't need to be an engineer to know the differences in scale between this project and, say Top Thrill Dragster which opened on May 4, or Millennium Force which opened on May 13.

I wonder if it will make a return around Christmas, or if they are dismantling it for good.

I see, I just remember last year when I went in late July or early August the on-ride photo not being there, so I assumed it was new for this year. Anyway, it's good to see things like that being added.

Less than 200 away now!

I was there today (Mother's Day)...the weather was great and crowds were minimal. I never had more than a 2 train wait for Phantom even though it was 1 train op the entire day, and Sky Rocket's line never went past the heart sign from what I saw. Volcano and Wave Swinger were still closed, and I was kind of disappointed the water effect on Noah's Ark was not working. A couple new things I did notice were, Phantom now has an on-ride photo, and the Parkside Cafe now has ducts, which I assume are for air conditioning. That will be good for those hot summer months when it gets to the point of being a hotbox in there, and those ceiling fans just don't cut it.

Mantis at Cedar Point. If you stand right, it's not so bad on the man area. Also, last year without the trims it was really hauling ass and giving insane rides...I hope that's the case this year. Mean Streak at Cedar Point. I don't *love* this ride, and I have also had many horrible rides on it, but I have had some really fun rides as well. It's fun when you're with a group of people. Predator at Darien Lake. I think it's a good coaster, and has definitely improved since adding the Voyage trains. Son of Beast. I have only ridden it twice, both times post-loop, but I really enjoyed it! It was thrilling, fast, and smooth! Great ride! Deja Vu at SFMM and Aftershock at Silverwood. Vekoma GIBs are one of my favorite type of coasters. They give one insane ride! X at SFMM. It's my number 1 favorite coaster!

I completely disagree with anyone who believes the government had anything to do with 9/11. That's completely ridiculous, in my opinion.

Has anyone ever gone on Mother's Day? How are the crowds? I was thinking of surprising my mom and godmother and taking them to Kennywood instead of the usual, boring out to dinner, but I don't want to do so if the crowds are going to be heavy.

I'm sick of these lame NFS games like Shift and Hot Pursuit (and now "The Run"). They need to bring NFS Underground back. In my opinion, the only racing game that's going to be worth it is Forza 4.

I didn't like Fast Five at all. As a standalone movie without the F&F name it might have been okay, but how do you not have a single race in a Fast and Furious movie?! (the BS 1 minute police car race doesn't count) You could hear the entire theater grumble in disgust when it just cut away all of a sudden after the "we need a faster car" scene, and they magically had the Porsche. I was hoping to see a Fast and the Furious movie, not some special ops, cops, random South American drug lord shoot 'em up bullshit.

I highly doubt something that happened 8 years ago is going to have any effect on this series. Ovechkin was only 17 and Backstrom was 15. Don't underestimate Tampa. They are a great team on paper, they just under-perform sometimes.

Yeah, he's definitely inconsistent, but if he does take it up a level and find his niche, watch out.

I have an "it is what it is" mindset. I go to these parks knowing and expecting that everything from food/drink to merchandise to parking is going to be inflated somewhat, it's a given. So I don't get upset about it. Going to an amusement park is still one of the cheapest "vacations" for a family, and I'll gladly pay that minor fee to ride those 20+ million dollar machines.

I wouldn't underestimate Niemi. He has the experience and can hold his own.

Boston will have a chance for revenge...should be interesting.

Yeah, that's what I figured. I've gone on a Sunday in early June before and it wasn't bad at all, I was just concerned about the Student ID promotion, but it should be okay. I'll even use it myself! Thanks.

Has anyone ever gone during student ID weekend? Are the crowds that much heavier than normal? Weekdays are out of the question, but I'm trying to find a time that would be bearable, crowd-wise, and May 22 seems like the best choice before Memorial Weekend. Thanks.

I'm surprised too that nobody is complaining. I thought MK would create a crap-storm. Oh well, that's just fine by me! Also, I love King of the Hill, that's really fun!

I like "new hotness."

I wouldn't mind seeing modern Wild Mouse coasters built at some of these parks in need of more family rides like that. Kings Island doesn't have one at all, and Cedar Point has an extremely outdated one. In my opinion that would be a great addition at both parks. Referring back to what Jew said, I agree and I would also welcome a Flash Pass system at a park like Cedar Point. I can't express enough how annoying it is to have to consistently plan around the crowds year after year, and only have a brief window at the beginning and end of the season where crowds are bearable. Now that I will be graduating from college and will be working all day every day in the summer with no vacation time, I think it would be awesome if I could go to a park like Cedar Point or Kings Island on a Saturday without having to worry about waiting in lines.

Of course they both do, no one is denying that. It's our job as enthusiasts to bicker over the minute details that separate one company from the other. Besides, what's the point of this thread if everyone should have that mindset?

Ference was fined $2,500.

I think more recent B&Ms are still incredibly fun, but after a while they do seem too "cookie-cutter," and lacking a real "wow factor." They just don't seem to be the type of coasters that will put parks on the map and cause people to visit from all over just to ride them. Hopefully Raptor is the first step of great new things to come.