jmicha

^I think that also may just be due to the fact that the station track isn't exposed to the sun like the spikes and therefore hasn't faded. The track still looks good on the spikes, but it wouldn't be as good as the station track even if it were to be properly washed.

^That's what I was referring to. The lateral movement could very possibly make it feel quite different than any other zero-g rolls. It should be interesting to see the initial reports once this opens.

Is it me or does the pullout in the tunnel look quite quick. This ride keeps getting better and better. It looks like some good positive g's will be had right before that awkward/awesome roll. Not sure if I should call it a zero-g roll since I have no idea if that shape will actually produce zero g's. But it looks like so much fun.

^I second that. Tunnels are such a simple yet amazingly effective element on coasters, especially wooden coasters. The ridiculous amount of echoing from wooden coasters in concrete tunnels adds another dimension to those few moments. This ride looks like it will be pretty awesome. I've yet to get on a GCI but they look like they're great coasters and this is no exception. If I'm ever in Europe, this park is going to need to be one of the parks I visit.

I've seen this type of situation quite often in other fields of design like architecture, automotive design, etc. A positive reputation is built and from there a company stagnates because they really don't need to do much in order to continue this reputation. That is until other companies catch up/surpass them and then the creativity comes out and comfort zones are expanded/broken. It's a great time I feel for B&M as I feel they are at this point in their existence and it seems like some really cool things are coming out from them and I have no doubt this trend will continue for a while.

^It was quite subpar. It had its few moments, but they were few and far between. The movie had a bit of darkness to it that I feel should have been expanded upon greatly. More death, more gore, more tension between the father and the one guy (sorry, can't remember names and too lazy to care enough to look them up). The ending left a lot to be desired, but after looking it up apparently the original script ending was quite a bit different and quite a bit darker. The movie had a ton of potential but it seemed to miss almost all of its opportunities.

This ride looks quite good in my opinion. I really liked Diamondback, Goliath, and Apollo's Chariot, and this seems to be a plus-sized version of all the best elements of these rides. Although definitely not as intense as the Intamin mega/giga coasters like I305, the grace of B&M megacoasters is a lot of fun. Although a little odd with Behemoth so recently, it looks like it will offer a slightly different ride experience and the different trains are honestly probably enough to differentiate the ride from behemoth in the general public's eyes. I'm excited to see this one rise. And for B&M fans to stop insisting B&M will 'never' go over 230 feet.

^I also remember this, but who knows, maybe the new train design allows for them to more comfortably hit that 300+ mark. People change their minds every day and this may just be an example of this.

I haven't been following this at all until yesterday and looking back at everything that has been posted I feel the rumors may be accurate. It's obviously a B&M which has been rumored for a while and the picture of the rebar labeled "Giga Coaster Caps" is pretty telling. I'm definitely excited to see if come the 18th we will be seeing the first 300+ foot B&M.

^I feel that neither Six Flags or Cedar Fair had the name trademarked. X-Flight's name didn't change when Cedar Fair bought Geauga Lake like everything else that was trademarked by Six Flags and if they are now trademarking it, that would leave me to believe that Cedar Fair never felt the need/desire to trademark it either.

^We also have no idea if it will even be used. Dominator has trims before the cobra roll that were never on at Geauga Lake and weren't on at Kings Dominion when I was there a couple weeks ago. Regardless, this ride looks incredible. The steepness of the first drop, the apparent 'whip' at the top of the dive loop, the BTR-esque overbank, always fun vertical loop, and the great looking descent into the immelman look insane. I'm super excited to see this one finished and for testing to begin. The French are very lucky with this one.

^Exactly. The first time I rode it I wasn't too happy afterwards, but after learning how to anticipate the upcoming elements properly the ride was extremely enjoyable. I actually quite like Mantis and make sure to ride it at least once every time I visit.

^Mantis is kind of hit or miss depending on the person so I would say go into that with an open mind. And also, don't bother going into Mean Streak expecting much. I like roughness on coasters as well, but that's about all Mean Streak has. The first drop is trimmed, the next two hills are painfully slow, and the rest of the ride just meanders. The one redeeming spot on the ride is the drop into the turn that leads into the MCBR in the back of the train. Other than that the ride does a whole bunch of nothing. As overall advice I would say don't go into the park with a list of expectations for each and every ride. It's a lot harder to enjoy it that way. Just go, have fun, ride everything, and make your lists afterwards accordingly. You'll enjoy your visit so much more without any sort of expectations other than having a good time.

This ride looks fantastic. I absolutely loved everything about Wildebeest and now an even longer version that will offer different experiences every time you ride is going to be awesome. This is a great addition to the park.

^Sorry, my description was quite poor. I know it wasn't a direct view of the ocean. I was, however, unaware that this body of water is a river and not just an inlet, but that's useful to know.

I was at Busch Gardens on Saturday and had a fantastic day of no waits whatsoever. It was bloody hot but free water plus Darkastle every couple hours helped make it bearable. Many front seat rides were had on all the coasters and all of our 7 rides on Griffon were on the very outer edge seats which was nice. That's such a great ride. I didn't realize the view from the top would include the James River so that was a lovely surprise. As for Mach Tower, it was testing all day. I saw it drop several times plus many slow descents. Although I've never seen the park in person without the ride, it seemed to fit in well and will be a nice addition to that part of the park. Construction seemed extensive for the 2012 coaster. The train ride offered some good views of the site. It's quite a large piece of land. Hopefully I'll be able to get back once it opens.

^^^Go to Google and type in "parking garage costs" and read everything you find on the first few pages. Trust me, that figure isn't that unrealistic for a garage of that size. In fact it's probably quite conservative. The cost of concrete and steel is skyrocketing at the moment and some places in the world are finding parking garages to cost anywhere from $15,000 to anywhere south of $65,000 per space based on what I've seen. ^^ Between the main lot and Soak City lot there are about 11,000 spaces at Cedar Point along with somewhere around 2,000-3,000 additional spaces if I remember correctly in overflow parking. If just the main lot and Soak City lot were combined into an 11,000 space garage at $15,000 (quite conservative) per space, that would be a $165,000,000 investment. That's a ton of money for something that is not currently necessary and may never actually be necessary. If anything I can only see a small garage being built to shrink the parking lot, not eliminate it in its entirety. Either way, it's not happening anytime soon.

^Of course. In my in infinite wisdom I had completely forgotten about that feature of the site. It helps greatly and is definitely a great framework for how to plan my day. Thank you.

Thanks for the advice, this is exactly the type of information I was looking for. Here's hoping this weekend will go as planned, I will survive the insane heat, and come back home with 12 new credits from Kings Dominion and 5 from Busch Gardens

^That's great to hear. And I'm hoping to get to ride Dominator a few times at least. It was my favorite ride at Geauga Lake and getting to ride it again will be nice. We're probably going to hit the water park in the middle of the day (hooray for 100+ degree temperatures) so I'm thinking that the best idea would be to hit the most popular rides in the morning before the water park, then finish up the rest of the park after the water park and then hopefully have time for rerides and night rides on I305

The big problem with garages isn't even that they empty too slowly, it's maintenance costs. The average garage parking space in this country costs about 10 times as much annually to maintain as the average surface parking space. I will try to find the article that studied this if anyone is interested, but I have absolutely no idea where I saw it so it would take some digging. But this is why people only build garages when it's a last resort method to park more people. Until the park actually runs out of space, which wouldn't be for a LONG time, there isn't a need for a garage. Although the idea of putting that sea of parking into one, much smaller area, and using both the beachfront and bayfront areas as boardwalk type areas makes my imagination very happy But yeah, until the park legitimately runs out of options to build rides (which, honestly, probably isn't going to be happening any time soon, or possibly ever) there is never going to be incentive to condense the parking into one structure rather than a surface lot.

I'm going to be at Kings Dominion this Sunday for the first time ever and am looking for some advice on a game plan to get everything in credit wise. From the most recent discussion it seems Sunday was the right choice for the park and that makes me happy as I'm really hoping to be able to get as many rides in as possible and have time for rerides on I305 and others. Is it realistic to expect to be able to ride all the coasters (minus Taxi Jam) at least once on a Sunday? I have no idea when the next time I'd have the opportunity to travel to Virginia would be so I would like to get the most out of my first visit to the park. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

I will be visiting the park for the first time this (incredibly hot) Saturday and have been looking through this thread about a possible plan of action. I've gathered that it's probably going to be busy but the extreme heat may help keep the crowds from being excessive. The group I'm going with is only three big, myself included, and all of us like pretty much everything so we are going to want to try to get as much in as possible. I've essentially determined that the regulars suggest just getting there at opening and riding all the major coasters/rides as quickly as possible in the morning and then doing the other stuff later on when the lines increase in size for the major attractions and it becomes unbearably hot outside. Is this essentially what a regular to the park would suggest for a first-timer? I will admit my knowledge of the park is lacking at best and beyond getting the five credits, what must I make sure to get in during my visit in order to get the best first time experience out of BGW? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

^I've seen a surprising amount of Fiat 500s out and about in Cleveland suburbia, a region that loves its excessively large vehicles. They are quite attractive in person and are definitely a stylish departure from the typical garbage I'm used to seeing driven around that area.

I drove by the park on Sunday when out and about and first and foremost was incredibly depressed. It looks so sad and lonely. Big Dipper and Raging Wolf Bobs both rotting away is sad as both could be great rides for some smaller parks but the chances of this happening are essentially zero. I had a question though regarding the park. The old rides side parking lot was hosting some sort of race event. There were cars and a course set up. Does anyone know what exactly this is or if it was just a one time thing?