jmicha

Low to mid 90s all week here in Cincinnati. Decently humid, but nothing like last summer yet. Which is good...

-Loose article bins are located on all rides that don't have separate loading and unloading (I believe only Dragster and Millennium have separate loading and unloading). -When entering early you shouldn't have any sort of issue doing both before the park opens, especially since you will be there on a weekday. -Again, since it's a weekday you shouldn't have any issue. I was there twice this week (Monday and Thursday) and the longest wait between the two days was 30 minutes for Maverick. I would expect that the wait for the big rides would probably be in the 20-45 minute range depending on time of day. By the end of the night the waits should be minimal. I got on Dragster twice in 30 minutes on thursday towards the end of the night. The line was barely out of the station. -Millennium's drop in the back is magic. The front offers an amazing view though. I'd suggest doing both. Maverick is also pretty awesome in the back. Raptor in the front is great as well. Wicked Twister should also be done in both the very front and back. The difference between the spikes is pretty drastic. -Haven't done the ride nights yet so unable to help with that one. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

^I've been many times where they don't limit the number of people (all in the past, they seem to be much better about it these past seasons) and it is absolutely terrible. It's impossible to tell what anyone is waiting for. I went to Cedar Point Monday (and going again tomorrow. Busy week) and felt that the park was in a much better state than it has been in recent years. Everything looked great, everything was open, the new plaza looks great. The best thing, however, was all the new lighting. Giant Wheel, Power Tower, and Millennium Force all look stunning at night. I really hope this trend of new lighting continues.

Hopefully "interaction with the gate" means there will be a long, drawn out roll that passes either directly overhead of guests entering, or even passes through the interior of a new entrance building. Now THAT would be even crazier than the keyhole elements and would certainly make a statement to people entering the park.

Seeing Cedar Point without the Space Spiral will be weird, but no weirder than pulling up to the front gate after Demon Drop was removed. I don't remember the last time I saw Space Spiral even operating. As for Disaster Transport, good riddance. It was a nice break from the hot summer sun (well, when the air conditioning was working) and it will be a shame to lose a ride the young ones can ride, but opening up that view to the lake is going to be awesome if this all turns out to be true. Hopefully in the coming years a coaster that young kids can ride and some other forms of family rides will open elsewhere to make up the loss for the families visiting Cedar Point.

This thing looks great. I'm happy to see more of these small "family" wooden coasters that still pack a punch. They're great looking. And that turnaround is gorgeous. Maybe I'll be able to get to Fun Spot and check it out when I'm (hopefully) in Orlando after New Years.

That looks great! One question though (sorry, haven't really been following this coaster) but wasn't this supposed to get new trains from Premier? Or did that fall through/get pushed back? Thanks for the info. Looks great in its new home.

^^That's a great suggestion, as is the brand new casino downtown which has opened this last week to rave reviews and has sparked higher levels of nightlife throughout downtown. If you are interested in visiting Cleveland, PM me and I would be happy to help suggest some activities to do that would compliment a trip to Cedar Point. In the more immediate area there's Kelleys Island as well as Put-In-Bay. Not sure how old you are, but if you are of age, Put-In-Bay can be really fun. Even if you aren't, it's still great fun and very scenic. Toledo is also about an hour or so away and is home to one of the coolest museums, the Toledo Glass Pavillion. If you are at all interested in architecture, it's an amazing building that seems to defy structural engineering and gravity.

^That's a great point. The idea of losing Waveswinger hit me as quite sad and then I realized I haven't even ridden it in nearly a decade. It's such a picturesque ride though. Hopefully it doesn't leave us, unless of course it's for something better that's an appropriate replacement for the ride. A wingrider at Cedar Point is interesting. I wonder what the approach will/would be for designing it. Records would be easy to achieve since it's such a new coaster concept, but it also seems that Cedar Point is far less interested in that these days (which is good in my opinion) and more interested in solid, fun rides like Maverick that don't necessarily break any records or push any technological envelopes. Either way, I am excited for the supposed announcement at the end of the summer.

^Sorry, my response didn't come off correctly. I agree with you that it looks like they definitely have a winner on their hands but it's definitely true that the height restrictions will deny a large portion of the target audience from riding. Not having kids or siblings that are at that stage in life it isn't really something I think about when at parks, but 48" does seem a little too tall for a ride like this. I wonder if there is any ability for them to go shorter or if this is the absolute minimum suggested by Zierer.

^If that's the case then they definitely have a winner on their hands. The one thing I really liked about Expedition Everest was that although it is a big ride, it is accessible to the younger crowd and offers some interesting thrill elements that most family rides don't offer. On Expedition Everest it's the backwards section and on Verbolten its the launches and free fall inside. It seems that this ride should nicely fill the void left by BBW that was apparent the one time I visited the park over the summer.

Just think of it this way. If everything was always exactly the same as in computer calculations, what would the point of the testing phase be? To work out any discrepancies between simulations and reality. Like a slight trimming to bring the ride into what Intamin deems the safe operating speed range. It happens in many industries. Look at crash testing for automobiles, engineering for innovative buildings, electronics, etc. Nothing is ever exactly as a simulation will suggest.

Fantastic cinema is the answer I haven't had the chance to get out to the movies in like forever, but I have been hearing rave reviews for The Avengers. It smashed previous opening weekend records too grossing over 200 million this weekend. That's insane. I don't necessarily care for superhero movies, but several scenes were filmed in my hometown of Cleveland, so I've gotta support it

I'm loving how it appears the spinning is amplified during the uphill portions. Should make for an awesome ride. Can't wait to try it out this summer.

^Wow, really? Jumping from carnival rides all the way up to the largest of some form of ride is a pretty gigantic leap. Will be interesting to see how all of this plays out when/if it ends up happening.

^You may want to read up on the breakdown of Dubai's economy. Oil doesn't play anywhere near as big of a part of their economy as most assume. Not that it isn't involved with many of the major developers there, but they aren't anywhere near as oil rich as their neighbors in Abu Dhabi. I'm surprised this isn't bigger actually. Not that I care one way or the other, but it just doesn't seem like Dubai's style to only beat the current record holder by 5 meters. Now I'm dreaming of a 300 meter wheel and how amazing that would be. Now that would turn some heads.

^This. The old lights were less reliable than these will be meaning the epic brightness/color will last much longer than the old lights. If they were to line the entirety of the supports with LEDs like on Giant Wheel, that would look pretty absurd. And that would be a LOT of lights. I think it looks fantastic the way it now is.

Great videos. And Millennium Force looks AMAZING! I can't wait to see it in person once the park opens this summer. Every large ride in the park should have some sort of night lighting of this caliber. The park is going to look phenomenal from across the bay this year.

^Being accelerated backwards up the vertical spike is definitely the most intriguing part of this redo for me. Looks like quite the unique experience, and different enough from going forwards which is surprising to say for a ride where you travel both directions anyway

Good god that's bright. It looks amazing. That side of the park is going to be blinding at night with this and Windseeker. Isn't MF getting a new lighting package this year as well? The park's night lighting is certainly taking a giant step forward this year. I'm excited to see it in person.

Baton Rouge, LA * Little Rock, AK * Honolulu, HI Los Angeles, CA *** San Diego, CA Orange County, CA* Long Beach, CA * Las Vegas, NV ** San Jose, CA * Oakland, CA * San Francisco, CA Baltimore, MD Portland, OR Providence, RI New Haven, CT * Hartford, CT * Albuquerque, NM ** Washington, DC * Houston, TX *** Boston, MA Alexandria, LA * Worcester, MA Chicago, IL (where I'm planning on moving after grad school) Milwaukee, WI *Would not enjoy living there **You'd have to force me to live there ***I would rather die than live here Not that I was expecting it to be really that accurate, but I'm surprised there are so many places on this list that it determined I'd like to live that I know I would not enjoy living at all. Especially Houston and Los Angeles. I hate our auto centric culture and these two cities thrive on auto centricity. Chicago, Portland, and San Francisco are definitely the three most accurate for me.

Wow, it really flies through that first turn. And the epic B&M roar is so appropriate. The out run definitely looks like it will be great. The return run looks pretty standard B&M megacoaster in terms of intensity (granted this is all speculation, so who knows) but the first half looks pretty unique. I'm happy to see that with this (and Shambahla) the introduction of high speed, low to the ground hills. Those always seem to offer a great sense of speed and are completely appropriate for a ride of this scale.

^I believe it started testing without the scoops. Not one hundred percent sure though. This ride should offer a great deal of floater air. One of my favorite parts of Diamondback is the prolonged floater air over the second hill and this will just have an even bigger example of that which is great. That speed hill looks nice too.

I actually really like the trains without the covers. Regardless of how this ride turns out once it opens, there is no denying that these things are some of the most photogenic coasters out there, especially in the long, drawn out rolls. Just gorgeous.

^Their topper track coasters are still wooden. It's layers of wood on top of metal which is what allows it to have its maintenance/ride advantages. I am curious to see how their first custom coaster goes. If it's successful I could see this taking off far more easily than the NTAG style treatment.