Electerik

1. I have worked at five different amusement parks. 2. I am an Expert at Chess. (No, really, it's a title.) 3. I can't swallow pills. It's psychosomatic, I know, but still.... 4. I no longer own a car. (We donated it to charity.) 5. Three Russian girls currently live in our guest room.

Wow...this thread turned boring fast. I say it's going to be an aquatrax! (After all, it is blue.)

Damn it, Joe. If you're going to keep talking about how hot the ride ops are, at least take a F@$&!#% picture of one!

I see that Ripsaw is back at the top of the water rides list. Well, that's cool, since I do have a certain affinity for that ride. But I wonder what happened to Bluto's? Didn't it always used to be number 3...? Interesting.

I greatly prefer Space Shots...which are actually winning in this poll. But I'm usually in the minority, opinion-wise! ^ Doctor Doom's Fearfall is my favorite as well. (Although my usual "but I'm biased because I worked on it" caveat applies.)

I always really liked the way Revolution looked, before Tatsu came along.

Thanks for the Photo TR! I've only been to Indiana Beach once (over the course of two days), but I absolutely fell in love with the place.

Since I unexpectedly had the day off, I decided to use it wisely. Is the Space Pope reptilian? I mean, seriously, I've seen some messed up versions of this, but WTF?! Time to head home. But before you go, would you like to buy something...disturbing? "Cruisin' along in my automobile...." Everything was fine, until the River lost its job down at the post office.... Arrow looping goodness. (No, seriously.) True Daredevil Fallers! I have a waterproof camera. I skipped this part of the park today. But here's a picture anyway. The Village Carousel. Be seeing you. Lunch time. A seat near the restrooms, please! A view from the ground. The famed Dollywood Express, taken from high atop their observation tower. This ramp is not wheelchair accessible. This is for my homeboy Seth, who's a fountain enthusiast. Sweet Lion of Zion! I'm in heaven! Hmmm, what's in here? These guys are part of the gospel music museum thingy. Speaking of which...what's that in the background? Stay tuned for another TPR Mystery Mine construction update! (Whenever Robb gets around to it.) Buzz Vulture tells the world all about his future home inside the Mystery Mine. I love the theming on this food stand! You may get wet on this ride. An overview of Timber Canyon--as it currently exists. Thunderhead is still running very well. It's never been a top 10 ride for me, but the more I ride it, the more I appreciate it for what it is. Pretty cool; The ops saw my Voyage shirt and started complaining that it's not a "real" wooden coaster! I guess they feel that Golden Ticket slipping away. !daehrednuhT So fast, it's blurry! Thunderhead! World's Largest Claw Game (I hope!) Off to Timber Canyon! Best have a sturdy pair of shoes. Wait, if it's a canyon, why am I going up? Map? No? How about a flower then? How long does it take to set up all those Christmas lights? Well, I'm guessing it takes a while, since it's August.

Just some random thoughts: I'm a huge fan of SheiKra, and Immelmans are my favorite inversion. Still, I'm not too excited about this ride having two of them. I think I'd prefer the second one to be something else (a dive loop, maybe). The bunny hops look pretty cool, though. SheiKra seems like it was supposed to have an airtime hill, but the water run kills off too much speed, and makes the ending kind of weak. This ending looks stronger, but it'll be hard to beat SheiKra's interactions with itself and the surrounding midway. I'm excited about Griffon, but I'm not convince that it'll be better than SheiKra. Obviously, though, we'll just have to ride it and see.

Screamscape has a little blurb on it being closed, as well.

Dude, you skipped the Calico Mine Ride and the Timber Mountain Log Ride?! You still haven't been to Knotts! Cool shots of Vegas, though.

I thought The Beast was okay. I mean, there's no airtime, and brakes are its primary element, but it's at least interesting and unique. Son of Beast, however, I really can't think of anything good to say about. Not just one of the worst coasters I've been on, but quite probably the stupidest. (The station and transfer track are, like, 80 feet off the ground; the on-ride photo is on the lift; there's a friggin loop in the middle. )

Sad news indeed. I really like these rides (PKI's Top Gun is in my top 10), and I'm also a bit surprised that no one else has really run with the idea. I still don't think that anyone has even come close to fulfilling the suspended coaster's potential, in terms of layout and ride experience.

Nice trip report! Sounds like you had fun. The pictures could have been a wee big bigger, though....

Nice trip report. And congratulations on your 100th.

Of course, not all parks are the same. But, in my experience, it's usually the ride's lead or supervisor who decides how many vehicles to run and when to take them on and off. However, there are many, many factors that inform this decision, including the philosophical bent of higher-ups (who are often just parroting someone even higher up--making it almost impossible to say who really makes the decision), staffing levels (most parks have fairly hard and fast safety rules about how many operators must be present to be able to run addition ride vehicles), and vehicle readiness (which can be a lot more complicated--and political, in an interdepartmental sense--than it might at first seem). As a general rule, though, I would say it's more of an overall philosophical thing at most parks that determines how many vehicles should be run. And that usually starts somewhere near the top.

Probably too late, but sometimes it takes me a while to crystallize my thoughts! Holiday World has the best pizza. Disneyland has the best ice cream. If you go to Indiana Beach, you HAVE to try their tacos! My favorite "theme park restaurant" is Mythos, at Islands of Adventure. The theme park with the most consistently good food overall is Knott's Berry Farm, followed by SeaWorld Orlando.

I think it's gonna be a roller coaster. Maybe a red one.

^ Of course, Millennium Force also had the worst tagline ever: "The future is riding on it." Gee, that sounds a little desperate, doesn't it? "Come ride this, or we're out of business," must have been taken already.

^ Yay, Desperado! Oh wait...you don't like it. Well, I do. Although, it has been, like, 8 years since I've ridden it. There was most certainly airtime back then, though, I can tell you that. Got attacked by the contents of a guy-in-front-of-me's wallet on that ride. It's also the ride that reaffirmed and rekindled my interest in roller coasters after the sad and premature deaths of Revolution and Colossus had sort of put me off (and before I'd travelled much, obviously). And it looks great! (In a weird Arrow way.)

^ I'd be more inclined towards a Christmas-themed carousel right inside the front gate. Of course, that might simply be because Pat Koch told me that she wants one there. (No, I'm not special. Holiday World is.)

So...every time someone asks about cost...should I link to it? You know, to help you out? Seriously though, if this thread and the spam one were merged, it might create a giant black hole of suck that could destoy the entire Alveyverse.

Knott's used to be my favorite park, bar none. But there have simply been too many negative changes in the last few years. True, a couple of (okay) things have been added, but look at what's been removed recently: Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, Gran Slammer, The Tampico Tumbler, The Haunted Shack, and The Sky Jump. Plus, the Boardwalk section has been turned into a big ugly concrete and mud zone. And the indoor part of the indoor scrambler was lost in that ride's relocation. Operations have also slipped badly, as others have mentioned. And many rides that used to have "Greeters" now do not. I think that one is particularly telling, as the KBF I used to work at preached that "Greeter is the most important position on the ride." Still, I don't hate the park by any means. It's still top 10 in my book. It's just not my number 1 anymore.

I love Arrow Mad Mouses. Also, while I wouldn't go so far as to say I loved it, I thought SFDL's Predator was certainly far better than its reputation suggested.

The way I describe Millennium Force to people who haven't ridden it is: "You know when you're driving and you go around a corner just a little bit too fast and you think "whoa, I'd better slow down"? The whole ride is like that moment." Of course, MF just literally is fast. As for "illusion of speed," I'd go with Thunderhead.