A.J.

Save teh Mack Bobsled coasters!

Yep, that sort of thing is what I'm suspecting as well. I wonder - why didn't the lift stop or be stopped by the operations team when the first raft got itself stuck, if it did indeed get stuck? And if it wasn't stuck, how did two rafts end up so close together on the circuit?

I mean, the last time I was there (late 2015) Country Fair still looked pretty good.

Here's an image of the situation, courtesy CNN (U.S. cable news network): Looks like a freak accident. Speculation based on the image - the front raft appears to have been stuck, and the lift hill was never turned off. With nowhere to go the back raft gets dragged upward (on top of the front one) and subsequently backward, ejecting the riders as a result down into the mechanism of the lift. Scary stuff.

Wouldn't it be cool though? Has the area formerly occupied by the Waterboggan been taken yet?

Uh, hello? How about a Mack Bobsled coaster? Huh? Huhhh? ...I'll see myself out.

Yeah, perhaps the trains are just missing their shells.

So is the Hyperspace Mountain just another temporary overlay? Rough trains aside, I would have loved to have ridden Space Mountain in its original form just once.

Get hyped Nintendo fans. This may be a day one console purchase from me if it's priced appropriately.

^ The Atlantic Ocean would probably talk to all the hurricanes and tropical storms to make sure it washes back on shore perfectly intact.

Likely because historically most Vekoma coasters have been significantly cheaper in price than their counterparts by other manufacturers. An example could be, and we're talking strictly price rather than quality, the B&M invert vs the Vekoma SLC. Cheaper price on the SLC made them a more popular and feasible route for many parks than a B&M invert. Eh, suspended looping coasters aren't necessarily cheap under all circumstances. It really all depends on the conditions of the site they're built on. If anything, I would say that the off-the-shelf 685-meter layout is popular because it packs a lot of thrill in a relatively small, nearly-rectangular space. With, say, a Batman clone, you have to have a longer skinnier plot on the lift hill side and a weird larger trapezoidal plot on the spaghetti bowl side. With the Vekoma, all a park really needs in terms of space is, according to Vekoma themselves, is a 110-meter by 47-meter rectangle. Would the Vekoma mega coaster be cheaper? Maybe. But I would bet that the difference between the two is piecemeal unless there's something drastically different, such as a higher / lower maximum height, longer / shorter track length, etc between them. EDIT: For comparison's sake, Raptor, a big old B&M custom-designed for Cedar Point, costed about 12.3 million USD adjusted for 1997 inflation, whereas Six Flags New England's Mind Eraser, much shorter than Raptor in height and length, costed 10 million USD when it was built new in 1997. A difference, sure, especially for 1997, but I doubt the price was the deciding factor for Six Flags to go with the suspended looping coaster.

^ Fair argument, I've certainly fallen victim to the "this other one looks prettier" thing. No worries, friend.

My point is, I do these sort of blasted things for a living, and apart from Intamin calling out the elements as they're shown I can't see any discernible difference in quality between the two videos. Maybe I'm desensitized or just burned out from staring at my computer screen so much.

You're saying that Vekoma needs to be taught a lesson? Seriously? They're layout proposals, not 100% concept marketing material. They're supposed to be functional. Besides, the only difference appears to be that someone at Intamin took a short amount of time to whip up what could pass in some countries as a building and a pathway. Both had overly-dramatic music, both had a set of custom trains, both used a combination of cinematic cameras and on-ride shots... To say that one simulation was miles better than the other is splitting hairs. Also, the videos are only a part of the bigger proposal. Do you honestly think the park going to make a decision based solely on a video? No, they're not! Both Vekoma and Intamin likely submitted elevations, overhead views, perspectives, etc to go along with the video. Heck, for all we know, whichever layout they go with could end up being different once it's drawn up based on the topography of the site it will be built on.

As a guy who's dedicating his master's thesis to all ages / abilities / etc play space design in theme parks, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Once again, I say, never change. Honestly, I hope it opens in 2017 so that every other poster in the Cedar Point thread no longer has a reason to post about Rocky Mountain redoing Mean Streak. Now all we need them to do is Hurler and nearly everyone will give me peace and quiet...

Speakest not ill of Kozmo's Kurves.

^ I agree with yah. Another thing that's great about this is that they're [at least somewhat] giving their guests a voice, rather than letting the designers and manufacturers decide what they THINK the guests will enjoy.

Some of the building exteriors look very plain. I want to say that they're not done yet...

They probably switch to steel supports when the track gets higher off the ground.

Looks like they're going with a teal to dark blue color gradient from northwest to southeast. Looks pretty good.

Again, I say, Bobkart alternative. Ironic considering that Skyline Park already has a Bobkart.

The back seat makes the double-down terrifyingly awesome, but the front gives you great airtime on the tops of the three turnarounds and right at the end.

I tend to ride Impulse like I ride in a car, with my back on the seat but my head away from the headrest, and it's generally fine apart from occasional light-headedness, which is understandable on this kind of coaster. Impulse has a lot of "kicks", or sudden G-force transitions, that can really drag your body forward and down. Normally you'd keep your back and head plastered on the seat back to make sure your body stays upright during those transitions, but since it opened I've felt noticeable vibrations when I put my head back. It's not jostling and it's not head-banging, so it's more uncomfortable than it is painful. Even then, I seem to be the only one with that sort of problem so maybe I'm over-exaggerating. I certainly don't feel like I have to ride defensively by any standard, especially through everything after the vertical loop, which is smooth and graceful. The ride itself is not bad by any means, it's incredibly wacky and it completes Knoebels "G-force trifecta" (Impulse positives, Phoenix airtime and Twister laterals).

Ugh. Too crowded today. The queues were manageable but getting into the park was a pain thanks to backed up traffic on PA-487. Phoenix, unparalleled magnificence, no surprises there. Impulse is still rough if you keep your back and head against the seat like you're supposed to. Twister was giving some of the best rides I've ever had this year. I really wish the crowds had been lighter, I would have planned to drive in earlier today. I only spent $20 on a single book of tickets but I barely used them all once 5 PM rolled around. But, for the time I was there, I was at Knoebels, and that's all that really needs to be said. Oh, also, the Phoenix air gates mean absolutely NOTHING. Great work as always by the crew.