jmicha

^I am so ashamed to go to the same design school as the woman responsible for that vehicle.

This is fantastic. I want to be there! I love how they are responding to what you are typing. Fantastic interaction right there. This is all intended for fun and that is definitely what is happening on both ends. That's what any design is all about and The Santa Claw is succeeding. I failed miserably when I played the first time it was around. But still had fun operating such a huge crane from my living room

^Although obviously not an accurate cross section of the population of people visiting Orlando, that sounds very similar to what I've seen from people I know. The Disney families/groups still went to Disney but often added a day trip to Universal Studios. I did notice, however, a TON of people (mostly college students) that visited Orlando for the first time for the sole purpose of visiting Harry Potter and the vast majority of them thoroughly enjoyed their visit and can't wait to go back. So in the end, both resorts seem to be benefiting from Harry Potter.

My highlight was definitely nearly doubling my credit count over the summer. Finally got on some coasters at Kings Island I hadn't ridden before, had two awesome visits to Holiday World for the first time this summer, and also visited Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Kings Dominion for the first time. Intimidator is at the top of my steel list with Maverick and Revenge of the Mummy and The Voyage is the best wood coaster I've ridden (not that that's a very big list). 'Twas an absolutely great summer for me.

I went Martin Luther King weekend five or so years ago and was able to comfortably do the four parks in three days. We obviously didn't get to do every last thing (limited time schedule) and couldn't extend our trip, but we were still quite satisfied with what we did get to ride. It wasn't empty, but none of the waits were anything to become impatient with except for the Nemo show at Animal Kingdom which I believe was brand new around that time. Like someone else said, expect rides to be down for rehab. When I was there Rock 'N Rollercoaster, Splash Mountain, and a few other smaller rides were closed. There's still so much to do though that this shouldn't have any sort of effect on the quality of your trip.

^^This is in no way an official answer, but I'd guess it is there to catch anything that could fall during these parts. People on the ride are most likely to have things out during these parts of the ride as well as maintenance workers. Having the nets stops anything from falling from these portions of the ride to the area below. Edit: ^Beat me to it.

This look fantastic! I've never been to Fun Spot, but maybe next year when I'm in the area I'll have to hit it up. A wooden coaster would be a huge plus

I'm loving the way that drop is looking. It pulls out quite a ways down the drop. It should offer some great sustained airtime. Hopefully someday I will be able to get to the park and ride it. I've loved the three B&M megacoasters I've ridden and would love to try this and Behemoth out.

I decided about an hour ago to go get something to eat real quick. Parking in my neighborhood (booming college neighborhood packed with more people than anyone knows what to do with) is hard to come by and the space right outside my house was fantastic. The car behind me happened to be leaving at the same time as I was. I was gone all of 10 minutes and when I got back there was a Golf in the center of the two spaces. Seriously, if you can't freaking parallel park a Golf and not take up two spaces you shouldn't be allowed to drive. Now I have to park about 4 blocks away and it was cold outside and I was hungry. Done whining now

^Exactly. I just drove home to Cleveland from Cincinnati for the weekend. It's only a four hour drive, but it's nice after working all day to not have to sit in the same exact position for four BORING, flat, monotonous, featureless hours. The only time I didn't use it was through Columbus (for obvious reasons. Traffic). Between Columbus and Cleveland I only had to adjust it once. If you aren't trying to fly past every single person and just go a typical pace it's not hard to reap the benefits of cruise control.

^This. I did a 10.5 hour trip to the Carolinas in my old Accord (before it was run into minding its own business parked on the street) and its cruise control was broken. It would work for about 30 seconds then slowly start losing speed at about 1mph per minute which obviously made it pretty worthless. So a 10.5 hour trip with my foot on the gas the whole time ended with me having a pretty sore foot. You definitely want cruise control if you're planning on ever taking some long drives.

This is great. I remember the few times I visited Galveston when on co-op in Texas, this pier was just BEGGIN to be turned into an amusement park. The hotel literally had entire sections of wall missing. It obviously wasn't going to ever be reopening. The location was great though. I really liked all of Galveston. The historic section specifically. I don't see this park having any trouble being successful. I also loved everything about Kemah Boardwalk (well, minus the prices) so a similar atmosphere on this pier should make for a wonderful place to visit.

^^I also got a night ride last night. It was the best ride I've ever had on it. It really was super dark and it was running on insane mode. The last bit before heading into the second lift and the helix were crazy. It was absolutely amazing.

I was lucky enough to visit Holiday World again on Saturday before the park closed for the season. It was a fantastic day. All three coasters were running great. Voyage had a couple of violent portions but only in one of the trains it seemed. And speaking of the trains, it was interesting seeing it operate with two 6 car trains rather than the 7 car trains. Is this something they do often when expecting lighter crowds or just an end of the season thing? Regardless it was running great. I can't wait to visit again next season and hopefully attend Holiwood Nights with some people I know who go every year. And adding Mammoth to the list of rides will only make this park even greater.

I came out to my friends at the start of college. I decided that it was time to be honest with them. They all said they already knew. Everyone I wasn't close with were surprised but nobody took it badly. I came out to my family about a year later. They drove down one weekend to visit me at school and when we were at lunch I told them. There was that immediate moment of awkward silence but then my dad asked, "Are you happy?" And when I replied "yes" he said, "Good, because that's all that matters." Things just went on exactly as they had been and nothing has changed. After getting it over with I wished I had done it sooner. My brothers (one older, one younger. Both VERY straight) said they kind of expected it. My mom said she noticed signs when I was like 3 or 4 lol. So I guess it wasn't at all a surprise. It was a huge weight off my shoulders though, that's for sure.

^Except this isn't a drop tower. Depending on what the patent entails, there may or may not be any sort of infringement whatsoever. This ride looks like it will be a good addition to the park. I visited for the first time this summer and loved everything about BGW. It seemed like one more coaster would be great though. I felt that would round off their collection very nicely and this seems like it will fit that spot. Hopefully I will be able to get back in the near future to try it out.

^You are correct that the structure being in line with the direction the loads are being transferred allows the structure to be more efficient.

^For being inside such a modern tower located in one of the most overly-planned financial districts of any city I've ever seen, that looks pretty...junky. I honestly never knew that was located inside the Oriental Pearl. You learn something new every day.

^The answer from everyone is yes. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. As for this merger of sorts, I was wondering who would jump on the opportunity to do something with the Avatar series. Should be interesting and will add to what was, in my opinion of course, the weakest of the Disney World parks.

The only stat I could find for a prefab woodie (doing a quick RCDB search) is 9-10 million for Balder. Sign me up for wanting that rather than the NTAG treatment for Mean Streak.

Wow, this ride is quite amazing looking. Like many others, I didn't even realize this was a Premier coaster until well after I watched the animation. I'm loving the complete lack of support at the top. That twist is going to offer some seriously intimidating moments for anyone not at complete ease with heights, like myself. If I'm ever out in California I'm going to have to make a stop to ride this thing.

^^^B&M track is built in Cincinnati.

Oh wow, I hadn't realized it had been that long. Well whatever has changed recently at B&M, I'm liking it.

Did I hear that B&M stopped using Werner Stengel somewhere or was that completely my imagination? It seems like a lot of their elements have been different than normal on all their recent rides. They're all similar, but...different. If that makes sense. For example, this heartline roll.

^I actually quite liked it when I rode it a month or so ago. The only parts that were rough were the turn into the MCBR and the middle of the super awkward figure 8 helix. I knew what to expect but could never prepare for it properly. The one time I even smashed my jaw on the restraint and it clicked for the rest of the day. Other than those two spots though, I actually really liked it. I quite like Arrow loopers in their extreme simplicity and lack of grace. A nice change of pace from the B&M's and Intamins.