A.J.

Seriously though, most Wikipedia articles nowadays cite all of their sources, and are flagged if they don't have any. Wikipedia has become a pretty good starting point for research.

Stumbled across this piece when making the rounds today. Is there any validity to it? It reeks of the kind of rumor that you just pass by without reading, but it would be pretty unfortunate (in my opinion) if it were true. wdwnt.com/blog/2016/02/breaking-shanghai-disney-puts-financial-strangle-hold-on-domestic-disney-parks/ Considering that the Dream Along With Mickey show at Magic Kingdom is being replaced instead of removed, I'm certainly skeptical, but I would definitely feel bad for the "little people" that work for the other parks if they were being directly affected by the Shanghai resort's apparent development troubles.

Now this is a new addition I can get behind. I like it!

NO. We can't let Rocky Mountain win! More Intamin Mega Lites! MORE! Honestly, in terms of what we experience as guests / coaster junkies, I think that the only thing that the new track has going for it is that it will give Rocky Mountain's coasters a new, distinct look, and that's it. We already know that they can come up with some crazy aerobatic elements in their rides, and I think that the new style will be much more "evolution" than "revolution" in terms of end-user experience. That being said, there's obviously a huge advantage for them as company, be it in design, manufacturing, construction, or whatever, so more power to them for coming up with a design that works.

^ Bingo. Because of Wikipedia's nature, every article is pretty different. Different grammar, different levels of descriptions for rides and attractions, the whole bit. If you're curious, check out Cedar Point's page, and then contrast it to, say, that of a smaller European park, such as Djurs Sommerland. You'll see the "thrill ratings" on, say, Cedar Point's Wikipedia page because they're taken, as stated above, directly from Cedar Point's website. It's my understanding that the Cedar Fair rating system (low, mild, moderate, high, aggressive) is based on how difficult the ride is on a person's body, and not necessarily how tall, fast, long or "good" the ride is. If you're curious about a specific park, check out their website and how they rate their rides. But there's no accepted standard across all parks.

So, I'm assuming that this is a manufacturing / fabrication thing and not a design thing?

Don't give the construction webcam fans any ideas.

I'm curious about this. The different track style could also mean different support requirements - a bulkier track could even reduce the number of supports needed and free up some room underneath the ride. (Mind you, I'm not familiar with Morey's in the least, so I have no idea if that would give them enough space for an extra ride/slide.) If they're replacing "90 percent" of Nor'Easter's track, they can't use the new-style track like Battlestar. I would guess that they aren't going to replace the station, brake run and transfer track. This probably means that the current trains are hanging around too.

Must. Be. Respectful...I'm having trouble. I'm sure there are other factors at play here, but this absolutely reeks of a cop-out.

It really all depends on the way the metal bar part of the restraint is shaped. If it's just a regular old U-shape bar they might be able to make a new foam mold for the part that sits on your lap.

You're better off looking at Great White (EDIT: AND Nor'Easter itself), which costed five and a half million dollars in 1996, as a comparison because it was built around the piers and on the beach as opposed to actual terrain. That's -almost- eight and a half in 2015 adjusted for inflation. So, the Nor'Easter renovation is basically half a decent coaster. Also, what do you expect them to do? If they just go, "whelp, we'll leave it" it'll just make a half-decent-to-mediocre coaster even worse. If they remove it, what are they going to replace it with? To put another signature coaster in that space they either have to spend even more precious time and resources designing around the existing water slides and Zoom Phloom, OR build a new coaster and renovate the water park all at once.

Is the audio system box still staying even though they're removing the speakers?

I mean, I don't disagree with you, but if I were a child, I'd rather know straight away that a coaster was themed to The Big Bad Wolf than wonder what lies inside of Verbolten's show building.

Kind of, though it's not as family-oriented as Big Bad Wolf was. For one thing, Verboten has a 48" requirement up from Big Bad Wolf's 42". But what plonks Verboten into the "thrills" category is that it's marketed as a scary experience. I don't know about you, but I think that is enough to make guests with families think twice before putting their kids on Verbolten with them. I don't think that Big Bad Wolf was a family coaster either, but it was definitely more approachable.

How about a Gerstlauer family coaster or a Mack YoungStar coaster?

Whatever it is, I don't see them formally announcing it in its entirety for a long while - at least not until after the season starts. They'll lose 2016 season pass revenue if they jump too early.

And Busch Gardens turning into Hersheypark? No thanks.

If I'm not mistaken, Talon was the first B&M to be "quieted down". I would assume that it had to do with Dorney's neighbors. I would then guess that the noise regulations are probably different now than they were when the first Hulk was built.

You can't have everything, even in MONEYMONEYMONEYMONEYMONEY China. Regardless of how much you spend, something is going to have the lowest investment. Disney doesn't automatically shoot for the best, most advanced system every time, they look at what's best for their park and what can carry out their story. The Winnie the Pooh ride at Shanghai might not have the crazy-awesome trackless system that Tokyo has, but if it tells the same story and is at the same level of show quality, it's still a win and will still be well-received by guests. Sometimes, you need to keep it simple.

Eh, don't be so sure about that. At least in the Florida parks' case, a loud coaster might be scary to small children.

I hope that if their next ride is a coaster, that it's like Loch Ness Monster - barely peeking out over the top, or Verbolten, not visible at all.

Yeah, there aren't very many wooden coasters that are about the laterals anymore. I guess they're just going out of style?

I mean, the sign was plenty visible from Interstate 95 anyway... Every time I've driven by I've been able to read the screen part with no problems. But, if it's needed, it's needed I guess.

PhantomPoster32 could have ins within the chain, and that's fine. The problem is, they can't prove anything because A) developments are subject to change and B) this industry tries its hardest to be very secretive until official announcements are made. Regardless of how many "connections" or "credibility" an anonymous poster on the Internet has, anything that they say has to go firmly in the "speculation" camp until it's been proven officially, regardless of how accurate it ends up being in the future. At the worst, it's just more to add to the discussion...

So, apparently the partnership that will result in Nintendo-themed attractions in the Universal theme parks will extend to Universal Studios Japan as well, in case anyone was still questioning that.