Electerik

Fair enough. It's just not my kind of park. And you probably would hate what I would do to try to improve it. But by "dark ride," I certainly didn't mean Dark Knight. And I think you're right in your implication (intentional or not) that Cedar Point would build a lame coaster in a box, call it a dark ride, and then draw the conclusion that people don't really like dark rides and/or just don't want them at CP. After all, that's pretty much what they've done with their few recent attempts at theming. /What CP really needs is more trash cans. //It's worked so far.

Really? You think that's a bigger hole in their lineup than, say, a dark ride? No offense, but I've never understood the mentality of, "This park has 85 coasters and nothing else. What they really need to be awesome is another coaster." /Bring back Pirate Ride! //Or San Fransisco Earthquake.

Among other good points, I think you've really articulated why the last name they should want to use would be "Hard Rock Park." "Dude, Hard Rock Park is closed...didn't anyone tell you? "Oh, Pencil Shaving World...yeah, I don't know much about that. It's new, I think." The Boyd's Bear store here in Pigeon Forge eventually went out of business because the employees of every hotel, restaurant, and shop in town told were telling their guests that it was closed for a solid year before it actually was.

So no silverware then? /And why were talking about deodorant earlier?

Okay, I'm getting tired of beating up on this kid. How about this? It's only necessary to use the train's electric motor in three places: Load, Stalactites, and Unload. It is, however, totally possible for the operator to use it just about anywhere. But, having said that, there are a couple if things to keep in mind: 1. Most of the ride is downhill. So power applied on these sections is just going to make it so you have to brake harder later on, since going too fast in some areas of the mine can be very, very bad. 2. If you were to do this a lot, and consistently throughout the day, you would run the risk of draining your batteries and taking that train out of commission for the rest of the day. And it wouldn't take much of that to find yourself rather quickly back in Camp Snoopy. And yes, I did know some ops who would throw the train into fourth in Explosion Tunnel (usually rookies). But the thing is, you can only keep it there for a second or two (max) before you're back in neutral and braking hard. So it doesn't really do much, except possibly make you look cool to your friend who is sitting behind you on the train. I must also concede (in earnest) that things might very well be done differently now. But, to the best of my knowledge, the ride itself has not been changed. Which means that the ops must conform to some standards, regardless of how different their approach might be. Good enough?

^^ Has "TAER IT DOWN" been out of style long enough that it might be cool again? /California has volcanoes.

I know I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't.... "Agree to disagree"?? Fine, we'll agree to disagree on whether or not you have any idea what you're talking about. Clearly, things have changed at Mine Ride. Because when I worked there, they wouldn't let just anyone learn it. And they certainly wouldn't have run the ride in a manner that would cause trains to derail. /*sigh*

Hey, California has bugs in it! Okay, it's a fair point. The individual lands of Disneyland are more coherent and make more sense than those of DCA. But still, based on what you've said above, it seems that you would agree that Disneyland never even tried to have an overall theme. So is that better or worse than DCA not succeeding in having one? I guess what I'm saying is, if DCA were called "Construction Wall Park," would we be lauding it as a triumph of consistent theming? California Adventure really doesn't "mean" anything. But, really, neither does "Disneyland." And if we're going to go after DCA for it, we should really be tearing Epcot a new one!

That's an interesting position that had never really occurred to me. As important as theming is to me, I never thought of it all tying together with the overall theme/name of the park as being all that critical. How do you feel about Islands of Adventure? (Which in my view, is five really well-themed areas, that don't have much relation to each other, united under a rather generic name.) I personally love it, but from a big picture standpoint, it could just as easily be described as "disjointed." I agree that DCA is better than DHS or DAK (and I might even throw in Epcot!) I still wish it didn't exist--but only so that Disneyland would still just be Disneyland. But, judged by itself, I thought it was a fairly decent park. I'm not defending the overall theme. "California Adventure" is kind of nothing-ish as a concept. But is "Disneyland" (as a theme) really any more coherent?

Well, since the question is "best airtime" and not "most forceful or greatest amount of airtime," I'll give one of my typical off-the-wall answers: Goliath at SFMM has my single favorite airtime moment: the huge camelback third hill. /Crap, I just said something good about Magic Mountain.

^ & ^^ Well, good. I hope I'm wrong. /Still haven't recovered from the loss of the Pavilion & Knott's Berry Farm. //You heard me.

Thanks for the TR...but now I feel like I'm stalking the park.

I've noticed that trend, too. I'm not sure how I feel about it, though. Maybe it depends on how frequent and close together one's travels are. Big Mike's really kind of seemed like one big trip (at least, at first). But I've seen some others who just seem to want their own ongoing thread, even if it's not really justified by the content. Anyway, sorry for the slight threadjack. Nice start!

Thanks for this. Think of it this way: The park may be old and boring to you, but to most of us on here it's pretty exotic! The new ride looks cool, but why on Earth would anyone name a drop tower after a snake??

Deal! In fact I'll throw in a free pen to all orders that go out this week! A pleasure doing business with you. /Ordered two. //The check is in the mail. ///Not really. I used PayPal.

Pens? I didn't know there were pens! Okay, Robb, throw in a free pen and I'll buy another DVD right now. /First thought was that this thread was the weirdest April Fools joke ever.

Wow, you've got some really great shots there. (I especially like the one of the Carowinds sign, the Carolina Cobra wideshot wth the sign in it, and the wideshot of Nighthawk framing the observation tower.) Shame about Afterburn, though. I'm a huge fan of it, and I would have liked to see what you could have done with it.

How much of a nerd does it make me that I'm almost more excited about the new path under Voyage than I am PP? /At last, a new place to take photos of Voyage!

Just read over the details on the website. Seems like a great program! As always, Holiday World rocks! I might make it back this year...my girlfriend's been craving Holiday World pizza of late!

It's a shame when almost any park closes, but some are obviously more important to me personally than others. Amongst my favorite parks, the one I'm most concerned about at the moment is Indiana Beach. I was concerned anyway when it got bought out last year by folks who didn't really seem that interested in the park itself, and now with the economic weirdness, who knows? Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid. But I still think I'll make an effort to get over there again this year.

You know, I can see how someone as old and non-discriminating as Mr. Mailman could conceivably count 11 credits just on that one small plot of land in the far back right corner of the park! Motor Cycle Chase - 4 Wacky Soap Box Racers - 4 Windjammer - 2 Xcelerator - 1 /Old enough myself. //Only count 4 total out of that, though.

You sure are quick to make bold pronouncements. But if you'll kindly read my post, you'll see that I never claimed that all the operator does is brake. In fact, I took great pains to explain how the trains are powered and exactly when that power is applied. But I suppose there's no way I could possibly compete with your mighty second-hand knowledge--unless of course I had worked Calico Mine Ride myself, personally, for years. /Tell me more about how wrong I am. Please.

Yeah, but if I count Test Track and everything that's more coaster-like than Test Track, my coaster count shoots up to about 1300! /No, I didn't count. //Seriously, rapids rides are more "coaster-like."

Okay. How about this? How many T's does the word "platter" have in it?

This looks like a job for Electerik! The trains have electric motors, but they're only used to go from Unload to Load, to get the train rolling from Load, and to get the train up the small uphill section just past the stalactite caverns. The rest of the way, the operator pretty much rides the brake. Theoretically, the operator could power the train through most of the ride, but it would be pointless and possibly unsafe (as it would cause the train to go entirely too fast through several areas that normally require heavy braking to maintain the approved ride pace).