A.J.

Freelance artists and designers are forced to charge more per hour than they would normally be paid working full-time for the same reason. Much like a freelancer has to pay for their own health insurance, travel costs, computers / equipment, software licensing... Every single one of these show companies has to pay for so much more than the continued maintenance of their attractions. Also, from what I understand, these attractions can sometimes be a family's entire livelihood. Curious unrelated question, is it officially called "Munich Looping" now?

Honestly, I think that small flats are brought in (with their fancy bright lights) to draw attention to a particular exhibitor's booth. Everyone goes nuts when SBF brings in their latest wacky looping ride, which is oh-so-conveniently small enough to fit inside the exhibit hall and is also oh-so-conveniently also available in larger sizes / capacities. But, how many people / parks purchase that specific type of ride right on the show floor? What's to say that the ride drew them in, but they ended up getting something else? Or nothing at all? I feel like the lack of rides outdoors has more to do with the manufacturer wanting to make sure their stuff is in the center of the action and generating buzz instead of making people walk outside where it's super-warm.

I know you want to see everything, but I would recommend against trying to hold yourself to an hour-by-hour itinerary. For one thing, if you go in with that type of plan "locked in" and an attraction goes down for whatever reason, your plan gets all screwed up and it might ruin your overall experience. I also know from "whirlwind tour" experiences that going in with a "checklist"-type plan like that tends to make your stay at the park(s) less meaningful than if you were to go in with an idea of what you want to do but let the day play out. Even if it were a once-in-a-lifetime experience like a day on the only Theme Park Review tour I will ever participate in, I would be much less upset about missing one or two attractions if my day were to be relaxing and enjoyable overall.

Fun fact, the last time that stretch of Phoenix was re-tracked was in 2010. How many wooden coasters have gone without re-tracking for decades? Here's Knoebels - it seems like they do a section during each off-season so it's always somewhat fresh. Here's a photo I took in the middle of the summer season, 2010:

That's totally fair, you're cool! From my own experience, I've met a lot of people that have gone to auto shows when they're considering buying a new vehicle so they weren't pressured into buying anything, and so they could just sit inside / play with all the features as much as they wanted. I would still consider an auto show (though maybe a state-specific show as opposed to the major national ones) as a more consumer-friendly event than the IAAPA expos. It even only costs $15 for someone to be admitted to the Los Angeles show this year.

Intamin themselves list Colossos at 53 meters with a 100 km/h top speed, and El Toro at 55 meters with a 113 km/h top speed.

Remember that, and I'm sure that there are plenty of us that do, for the most part, the IAAPA Attractions Expo is not a consumer's show. From what I've seen and read, we as an enthusiast community tend to hold the show up in high regard as our Detroit Auto Show, San Diego Comic Con, CES, or E3, because we are the ones that end up eventually experiencing these theme park innovations in the coming years. But we can't actually buy them ourselves, can we? From my own experience (your mileage may vary), the things that happen most often at the IAAPA expos (IAE, AAE, and EAS) are business transactions and networking. Those business transactions happen at all scales, from a family entertainment center looking to add the Honolulu Hot Dog to their menu, to a destination theme park looking to invest in an Intamin giga coaster. These companies are looking for clients to build rides for, to offer creative services to... Sometimes, representatives from a park will even go to the show for no other reason than to go, but they will leave with an order placed for a brand new type of flat ride. Some companies will choose to only exhibit at one of the three shows because they don't feel that their new innovation or service will be relevant in the other markets. The shows are also ripe with educational opportunities for attendees. For me as an enthusiast reading Theme Park Review, I'll never see or care about any of that. But for me as a creative in the theme park industry (which I am as well), some of those sessions are worth the entire ticket price on their own. I attended that year. One day, they were just gone. It was freaky.

I mean, based on that promotional video, you'll be going face-down when you pull the rip cord anyway, so...

I had assumed it was the zero car, like most B&M trains have. You assume correctly. Rocky Mountain's trains have a zero / pilot car in the front. The twisted, off-kilter train makes for a fun photo op, they had the same setup with Twisted Colossus last year and Goliath the year before.

I disagree. Maybe that will be the case for a few years, but once the company has grown enough, Rocky Mountain manufacturing the Skywarp track will become kind of like Intamin selling a half pipe coaster in the same year alongside a bunch of mega coasters. I do not think that the Skywarp and the Raptor / T-Rex share the exact same market space. I'd be willing to bet imaginary money that if the Raptor takes off, parks will be chomping at the bit for that signature Rocky Mountain acrobatic layout design in a brand new mega coaster that doesn't look like a mish-mash of wooden supports and steel beams. For now, Rocky Mountain gets to prove the viability of their brand-new wider steel track, Skyline gets a set of rails for the brand-new Skywarp to ride on... I don't see much negative from that arrangement.

I don't see any "pain" happening considering that the track only appears to be stacked for the end brake, station, launch, and loop. That one bit in the photos where the stacked track looks wonky is likely where the tracks split after the loop. Honestly, they really just look like regular old Intamin launched coasters after that. Not a bad thing, mind you.

1. Knoebels. I don't consider myself a permanent resident anywhere but my hometown yet. 2. No, but I do own several park / company novelty T-shirts. 3. Yes, but only with the new trains. 4. Phoenix, Balder Expedition Everest. 5. Lakeside in Denver. Don't ask me why I didn't go to Elitch Gardens that year. 6. No. 7. Phoenix, duh. 8. Phone, wallet, and a comfortable pair of sneakers. 9. Zero, unfortunately. Having to move halfway across the country multiple times makes it difficult. 10. Fahrenheit. Storm Runner just never appealed to me. 11. Yes. Don't do it. 12. Knoebels, duh. 13. That's a trick question. B&Ms are graceful and smooth but Intamins are intense and aggressive. I like both. 14. Any Screamin' Swing ride. 15. Cesari's Pizza, duh. 16. Wildcat, but it's not too bad. 17. Work work work workworkworkworkomdoecewomcw 18. Grizzly River Run, objectively. 19. On occasion. With Oswald most recently. 20. Not lost, but I did leave my glasses in the pouch on Magic Kingdom's Space Mountain once. Retrieved them when the same train came back around. 21. Trick question. There are no bad B&M inverted coasters, not even Silver Bullet. 22. Incredible Hulk. 23. Ropes Courses Inc! Didn't expect THAT one, did you?!? 24. Water Country USA, a bunch of times as a kid. 25. El Toro. 26. Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters. I've ridden that blasted thing more times in a year than anything else in my life. 27. Splinter underneath my thumbnail on the Knoebels Sky Slide. Most painful experience of my life getting that thing out. 28. Phoenix Phall Phunfest, duh. 29. Tennessee Tornado. What a trip. 30. Indiana Jones Adventure. 31. Phoenix, duh. 32. Zero, hoping to correct that soon with Twisted Colossus. 33. I haven't been on one...? Unless drop towers count. 34. Parking. Always. 35. Dollywood. I'm a mountain man at heart. 36. Two. I'm broke. 37. Space Mountain, duh. Could marathon that blasted thing. 38. Water. What is this, a trick question? 39. Alpengeist.

I highly doubt the swinging coaster will be making a return. That being said, I would love to see a "fixed train" suspended coaster that has the same narrow 2-2 seating, floor and reduced reach envelopes, but with proper banking. You could make some seriously insane terrain coasters with that design. If you closed in the sides of the trains so no one could reach out, you could get within a few feet of terrain!

SurfRider is also the name of the current generation of Intamin Half Pipe coasters.

Skyrush and Flying Aces are their own "Wing Coaster" type. These trains look like they're effectively just four-across versions of the ones that debuted on Taron and Hefei Wanda's new launched coaster, even with the ridiculous elevation of the center seats.

Gerstlauer is probably the most direct successor to Schwarzkopf. They've even done reproduction trains for two older Scwarzkopf coasters, Sooperdooperlooper and Turbine / Psyke Underground.

Like this one? Actually, they operate both the Mall of America and the West Edmonton Mall.

I would literally flip backward in my chair if Knoebels built one of those. That kind of ride is -so- their style.

How does this compare to Arrow's single-rail track? Perhaps they're testing a manufacturing process to continue to provide service to Blackpool Pleasure Beach for their Steeplechase.

Two so far, I prefer Ravine Flyer II over Mine Blower. Mine Blower is great but it's already a little rough at the bottoms of the hills.

Even in daytime form the ride is pretty aggressive for a drop tower. It really yanks you up and down.

No amount of "forum cool points" is worth violating confidentiality agreements. Just don't even bother.

Yes, one-train operations are the norm, and they often don't even consider bringing the second train on until the early afternoon at the earliest. I actually prefer one-train operations as it means I can leave my bag on the platform without worrying about someone from the other train taking it. During two-train operations, they release Twister's train 2 when the other train makes it past the first bowl spiral, and for Phoenix, they release train 2 when the other one makes it over the top of the double-up. When you stand in Phoenix's station, you can hear when the train hits the anti-rollback device on the top of the double-up, that's their auditory cue (unless it's automated now). Once the rhythm is established they start revolving those trains like clockwork.

It lives! This thing looks wicked fun.

For those of you that like to keep score, it looks like a WhiteWater installation with an AquaSphere and a Manta. Appropriate for being called "Ray Run".