A.J.

Has it ever unintentionally rolled back on the launch or valleyed in between the first two hills? I feel like it's pretty difficult to nail that sweet spot for the speed. Too fast and it burns its wheels off, too slow and it doesn't make it over the top.

I mean, I never had a problem with the way they were before, but I'm glad that the people that did will now have a better experience.

I've ridden Lightning Racer in a downpour before. Surreal experience.

Basically, this is the exact same 1999 coaster, but designed using 2015 / 2016 standards. I'd be willing to bet that in terms of layout and smoothness, we guests won't be able to tell the difference (apart from riding on fresh new track instead of old track).

Nvidia's 10th-generation graphics cards start coming out at the end of May.

This is probably nothing, but I believe the chain dog that "catches" the chain is on either Car 3 or 4 (the ones that derailed). From the SFStL (Arrow) video, you can see just how much the train wobbles at those two cars when it catches. Any link? I wonder if something happened with the chain dog. Maybe it tried to catch the chain but missed for some reason? Maybe because of that, cars 3 and 4 were -just- misaligned enough to cause the derailment on the way back down.

You have the super glass-smooth coasters that everyone likes, and then you have the downright painful ones (poorly-maintained Vekomas, RCCA wooden coasters, Zamperla Volares, etc). But in between those is a huge area made up of exactly 50% gray. The way all the coasters in that gray area are arranged is going to be different no matter where you go or who you talk to. Example, Twister at Knoebels is in that gray area for me. It's definitely a rough-and-tumble wooden coaster and it can give me a headache sometimes but I don't think it's horrible. Likewise, I'm not the biggest fan of Mystery Mine at Dollywood, at least in terms of roughness - but as a complete experience it's really good!

I mean, we all got along just fine going to Dollywood before Lightning Rod was even an idea...

They have a pretty tight "ride time" range that they require Flying Turns to stay within to run. For any reason - weather, time of day, etc - if it's going through the circuit too fast or too slow they won't open it.

Yeah, it's near-worthless to drop on a Wii U at this point unless you're into Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, Splatoon or Super Mario Maker. I picked up mine back in 2013 when Super Mario 3D World came out and it's been well worth the purchase for me, but for late adopters the games lineup has been pretty freaking mediocre, save for Super Mario Maker. StarFox Zero with its learning curve, Paper Mario Color Splash with what looks to be a repeat of Sticker Star, and what will likely end up being the inferior version of the next Legend of Zelda title. It's too bad! EDIT: I also just remembered hearing about some rumors that Smash Bros, Splatoon and Super Mario Maker would all get ports to the next console as well, so there's that.

You mean...you can't wait to visit Cedar Point during your Knoebels trip in July?

I've said this before, but Phoenix, Twister and Impulse are a near-perfect trifecta of roller coasters. Classic wooden, modern wooden, modern steel; Airtime, laterals, positives; front, middle, rear of the park.

Honestly, I kind of agree with him in that it's incredibly difficult to know what to expect going into Blazing Fury. I feel like if they better communicated that it's a "heritage" attraction and did something to make the story a little bit easier to understand, it probably would be a little bit more popular, even without being "re-done".

I'd go with the first hill after the drop because it's the best (or nearly the best) airtime moment in any seat, not just the back.

Thank you, poop emoji, for your valuable contribution to high society.

Did they only have the main handstamp building open? Last year they had a few portable units set up in the nearby area to deal with overflow.

I realize that I haven't been to Kentucky Kingdom so I -technically- can't talk but my biggest concern about Storm Chaser was that it would end up being too similar to Lightning Run. If they were going to build a third Rocky Mountain / Ride Centerline coaster I would hope that it would be pretty different from those two.

Mr. Six's? I think he's referring to Road Runner Express, the park's Vekoma junior coaster. Wasn't it announced as "Mr. Six's Dance Coaster"?

So, wait a second - let me make sure I'm understanding this. Are they basically sopping up as much money as they can from East Rutherford, and then trying to find ways to not pay the borough back?

Djurs is beginning to tease the new attraction. Source

Yes, Black Diamond has a vortex tunnel.

Just adding to this, as of a few days ago I finally broke in. It's an internship, and I'll still be searching for a full-time job at this time next year, but I'm on my way. If I were to think of the thing that allowed me to break through, it's the combination of having a wide knowledge of a bunch of things you could potentially do in a job, and that one marketable thing that makes you stick out from the crowd.

It's not necessarily the intensity of the ride that controls the height restriction, but it is ALWAYS the configuration of the restraint system. I'd be willing to bet that Great Coasters would have designed a brand new system that seats two adults comfortably per car but still can take riders as short as 42" tall for Invadr - but at what cost to Busch Gardens? Pretty much all of Great Coasters'...coasters have been the same kind of ride - twisted wooden coaster, 80 to 120 feet tall, generally "high thrill". They never needed to make a ride with a lower height restriction because their coasters are typically some of the "most thrilling" in their respective parks - the kind of coaster that younger children would be too intimidated to experience. Because of that, they've never had to develop a car that hits the "sweet spot" of low height restriction and room for two adults. The Mini-lennium Flyer trains are only meant for narrower-gauge track, right? So, they have to spend all the time and resources to make a new design, and who fronts the bill? The first park to buy it. Unfortunately, it would appear that by dropping Gwazi's rolling stock onto the new coaster, they're prioritizing budget over accessibility. We may not like it, but they're going to save a ton and have plenty of parts to spare to help keep it going.

It's pretty interesting. Are they basically trying to funnel all the children in the park into Land of the Dragons and Forest of Fun? There are so few rides throughout the park that can be experienced by children outside of those areas.