A.J.

I'm not sure where all this talk of a 300+ foot coaster has come from, wasn't that FAA waiver granted for up to 220 feet?

Phaethon has been added, you should see it pop up shortly.

^ I've noticed inconsistent rides on Kraken recently as well. Not bad by any means, but definitely not AS good. The past few times I've ridden the train has been half full or so.

Got to give Infinity Falls a spin myself yesterday. It's wicked fun. Much more aggressive than Kali River Rapids.

Bingo. Hersheypark has become so much more than a "typical" regional park. You look at the TEA attendance report, it's the only park in the North American top 20 that ISN'T under the umbrella of a huge chain.

Considering in that very same image you can see a track connector with no support, and in a different part of the video you can see the train banking not matching that of the track, I wouldn't say that the video rendering is completely accurate. It might not be as banked as it looks there, but we'll see...

Hersheypark has announced their 2020 expansion, Hershey's Chocolatetown! More here: https://stories.hersheypa.com/hersheypark-announces--150-million-hersheys-chocolatetown-investment/ Image courtesy Hersheypark Image courtesy Hersheypark Image courtesy Hersheypark

If it is the "cloned" 453m Orkanen model, which is what it appeared to be in those leaked planning images, it will have one train with 10 single-row cars. The layout is designed in such a way that the brake run is the station, so the entire ride technically only has two blocks; To run two trains, you need three. So far, none of Vekoma's suspended family coasters have had more than one train. That being said, a piece of key art is often the intent - so perhaps they've asked for Vekoma to do a custom variant (like a Great Nor'Easter vs an SLC) that widens that last turn and allows for enough room for both a station and main brake for 6-car trains. That would be a really hard brake though. I think that their piece of key art is at least somewhat accurate (since it was probably based off of an existing 3D model) - but remember, things can change in an instant.

I was thinking about something along those lines, considering that the height restriction is given as 130 cm versus, as an example, Wildfire's 120 cm.

It's curious that S&S and Sansei are listed as well. I wonder why?

Good. The world needs more White Lightning, it's a masterpiece.

A wise Japanese man once said something along the lines of, "a delayed game is eventually good, a rushed game is bad forever".

Lovely blue color. Can't wait to see it built.

I also agree that the waiting process for the Antarctica ride is really bad. First you have to wait in the outdoor section for at least two pre-show cycles. Then you watch the pre-show. Then you go into the interior switchbacks and wait some more. Then you get assigned a loading bay where you wait some more. Then you watch another pre-show. Then, finally, you board. I'll be going straight into the exhibit from now on, thanks very much.

Yes, those appear to be Knotts' cars. Source

I honestly don't think that flying coasters ever peaked. Paramount bought Stealth, Six Flags bought Vekoma's other two. Ever since Six Flags installed the three Superman coasters, there's always been a new flying coaster or two popping up every few years. You know how Six Flags is, they like to take a coaster concept and copy-paste it everywhere. The fact that three Superman Ultimate Flight flying coasters were built at the same time isn't really evidence that flying coasters were "the cool new thing". They've always been "just another coaster type", though a coaster type that's pretty freaking fun.

Which is funny, considering the image of the coaster posted with the grassy background looks like it was produced with NoLimits.

Agreed. It was even better when they had four cars running instead of three.

They're re-targeting themselves. Instead of trying to be an amusement park, they appear to be trying to position themselves as a traditional city park / public space that just so happens to have amusement rides. I would definitely agree with what you said about spending a few hours in the park before / after a Curves game, that sort of repeat business will probably be what continues to let them operate. Plus, now that a lot of their space is open park land, picnic areas and concert venues, they can continue to operate in at least some capacity all year. You could draw comparisons to the Sustainable Playland project with this in my opinion. That never got off the ground, but if this does and it's successful, the "city park with rides" model could become a viable type of family entertainment center, or even as big as Tulsa's Gathering Place. I would LOVE that.

My goodness, I am SO interested in Gathering Place. If I do a central US trip in the future it's definitely slotting in between Silver Dollar City and Six Flags Over Texas, and I'm giving it and the city of Tulsa a full day. As for Lakemont Park, I'm totally on board with the renovation. I would love to see more traditional park-parks incorporate more amusement / theme park stuff. After all, riding a roller coaster is really just another way that people like to play.

They literally just removed a high-maintenance relocated Vekoma and you're expecting them to replace it with another high-maintenance relocated Vekoma?!?

That's a really nice-looking double figure eight layout. I can make out a stall and a zero-G roll on the right. Plus that wicked 90-degree outward banked turn on the left.

GhostRider is pretty long for a wooden coaster. Having the mid-course brake running means that they can now safely dispatch a loaded train without waiting for the previous train to move all the way through the main brake section at the end.

You've been able to do that for a while now, I think. Every time I've been there recently there has only ever been a cycle or two of waiting for any row but the front.

That area looks really great! I like it a lot! Perhaps I'll pop on down there this weekend to see if it soft-opens.