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I just saw all of the photos of this ride and it looks to be a great one so far. B&M has always been my absolute favorite among coaster manufacturers, and it looks as if they are really stepping up their game. Raptor/Gardaland and Swarm both appear to be a successful translation of the 4D concept and it will be interesting to see if they go for the rotating seats or just get creative with the layouts to emulate the 4D type thrills (e,g,, the first drop for Swarm), and I am really anxious to see what they have up their sleeve for Dollywood. That flyer they built in China recently with the vertical loop looks completely insane. But this one looks to be a hybrid of the larger elements on coasters like Silver Bullet or Talon and the tight, smaller and more intense elements of the B:TR coasters.....it will be interesting to see how this one develops!

I will be attending this one. Initially, I had thought I would be out in the area visiting at the time of the event, but as it turns out, as of 09/01 SFOG will be my new "home park" as I am relocating to that neck of the woods. Look forward to seeing familiar faces and meeting new people!

Forgive me if I am posting this in an inappropriate place, but it seems as if it could be relevant, as it does involve theme parks and roller coasters (albeit no donkeys.....) After 23 great years as a resident of Southern California, life is taking me somewhere new. For a multitude of reasons, I am having to make a major move and adjustment. I will post the nutshell version here as to the why: my immediately family-my Mom and Dad are experiencing some rather serious health issues: my Mom has advanced Multiple Sclerosis that has progressed to the point where she is confined to a wheelchair and has no use of her legs, and more recently - about 6 - 8 months ago, my Dad developed some serious health issues that are preventing him from taking care of her the way he used to; we think he had a mild stroke in October, and he is displaying all of the symptoms of the onset of Parkinson's Disease, which has given him tremors to the point where simple things like driving are difficult. They, and the family need me out there-or at least close-to help them out for an indefinite period of time. "There" is a small town in Alabama, the town that I was born in (population less than 8,000). For reference, it's about 2.5 hours from Atlanta, GA and about an hour from Birmingham. (All of my family is in Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Virginia, I am the last one out here in CA.) After a visit out there early last month, where I saw and understood the situation more clearly and realized that they need me there, exhausting every possible alternative and option to get them back out here somehow or paying someone to stay to assist them other than me (which for a multitude of reasons are not feasible or possible) and much agonizing over knowing what the right decision was but being distressed about the prospect of leaving Southern California after so long and leaving all of the things I love here, I took a leap of faith and made the decision to do what I feel the right thing is to do, and help the two people who have always been there for me all of my life and that I love, and move out there to help them and to be closer. It's so tough and emotional for me to leave here but I feel good about what I am doing. So I will be making one last trip as a So Cal resident up to SFMM on the 14th and Knott's on the 15th and then on the 26th, the truck gets loaded and the next day, my cat and I fly out to our new home. I will still have the same job working remotely. My parents have a guest house/efficiency apartment attached to the house they live in-complete with its own address, utility hook up, and entrance (it's essentially one big room with a living/sleeping area, bathroom and kitchen attached) so we will be living there, less than a mile from the hospital where i was born. My new home park will end up being SFOG (it's about the same drive time from where I will be living to SFOG as it is from where I live now to SFMM); Dollywood is about 4-5 hours away as well and I think Carowinds is about 6.) It will be a huge adjustment for me as I will miss everything about living in So Cal. Of course, first and foremost, I will miss my friends, the weather, the sheer convenience of everything and many other things. But back to a topic relevant to coasters and parks-I will also really miss being able to call Knott's and SFMM my home parks and the fact that 4 out of 5 of my top 5 coasters are all out here-especially my #1, X2 (#2 is Tatsu, #4 is Scream, #3 is Silver Bullet). I will miss being able to drive 25 minutes and get to Knott's and marathon Silver Bullet in the offseason and being so close to SFMM (although I will be able to come back every year for West Coast Bash and possibly for Haunt in the fall). I will miss being able to go to parks in the winter as well and being able to go to the local parks to hang out. But there are positives on the coaster and park side of things as well about being in a new place, and reasons to look forward to new things and adventures rather than dwelling on what I will no longer be in close proximity to. My other family out there, although they cannot be there to assist my folks all of the time, has agreed to help out whenever I need to get away for a weekend for a coaster event or a day or 2 at the park. One of my relatives has already promised to help out so that I can attend Deep South Bash in September and has promised to do so again during West Coast Bash next year. #5 in my top 5 coasters, Goliath at SFOG, is a short couple of hours drive away, and I will still have my Six Flags Annual Pass; SFOG is currently my third favorite park after Knott's and SFMM and a great one. Dollywood is a half day drive, and are rumored to be getting the first B&M WingRider in the US next year which is the 2012 ride I am the most excited about. And Carowinds is about 6 hours, and I will still have my Cedar Fair pass. So there are some things to look forward to on that front as well. With the not having to work so many hours, I will have time to post more TRs and photos and interact more. And with the lower cost of living there, maybe I will finally be able to save enough to take one of the TPR trips. It's still tough to be leaving here, though. It's a huge adjustment, even if I am doing it for all of the right reasons, which are all for my family and I know that seldom does anything bad come of doing something good for someone else. Knott's and SFMM and So Cal will always be here-the people I love and value and quality time to spend with them will not. My parents are young figuratively speaking-they're only in their 60s-and I am hoping that my being there to help them get to appointments and treatment, getting their home together and just being there will lead to their health improving. That to me means more than staying out here, as much as I love it and will miss it.

Yes, more than once on Silver Bullet during night ERT at both Coaster Solace and West Coast Bash one year, and I think I was the last one on X2 on the last ride of night ERT on X2 at West Coast Bash 2010. I think I was the sole rider on the soon-to-be-closed Speed: The Ride at Sahara in Las Vegas one night. Those are the only ones I can think of offhand.

I just wanted to post a "Thank You!" for taking the time to take and post all of these great photos and put together such a concise, awesome and detailed TR for this event. Great pics and great job! The coaster looks to be incredible in terms of both being a fun crowd pleaser of a coaster and the overall theming, and it looks like B&M has another winner on their hands. I am anxious to see if they ever attempt the rotating seats, but even if not, I forsee this new coaster type as being a big hit for them. What I really am anxious to know is what USA park will be the first to receive one of these-I would absolutely love to try one out.

^X2 was running better than I can recall in a long time, I managed to get two fantastic front row rides on the Viper side during morning ERT. Unfortunately I just narrowly missed getting on the last train of the night during the night ERT, but those morning rides made up for that. Tatsu was running great, and Apocalypse was running like a banshee during the night ride I took. The only coaster that seemed to run a tiny but rough for me was Scream, my two morning ERT rides seemed a bit rattly but even that was not too bad. I didn't notice any rattle on the one ride I had during night ERT on Scream, but then again, it was raining and I was in the front row and the pain from the raindrops (which led to a brief headache that ultimately led to my not getting to X2 in time for one last ride) took my mind off any bumpiness to the ride! I will say this: even with the challenge of one train on Tatsu and Apocalypse and the weather challenges during night ERT, SFMM once again did a great job! The fog and lights on Batman should become a permanent addition.....

I just have to say that although I was only able to get one ride on it this past weekend, I was very impressed with the transformation to Superman: Escape From Krypton. You wouldn't think that just turning the cars backwards would have such and impact but to me it did. It wasn't just that the backwards launch caught me off guard, it was that moment where you pause momentarily nearly 400 feet up staring back down at the vertical descent in front of you, it takes your breath for a second and creates one of those "OMG moments". Whereas in the past S:TE was not a "must ride" but more of a "if there's time and there's not a long line" ride for me when I visit SFMM, it is now one added to my "Want to get at least one ride on this whenever I'm there" rides. I think SFMM did an exemplary job of taking the best aspects of an existing ride and improving upon the overall ride experience by making some revisions and adjustments as they did with X2.

Major thanks to KBF for giving us one of the wettest and wildest ERT sessions I have ever been to last night. They had closed to the GP but went out of their way to keep the few rides they could operate in such a nasty rainstorm open for us and although it was wet and cold, it was a BLAST! I think the reason for Silver Bullet not being able to run in that kind of rain would have something to do with the brake run being so out in the open and exposed, although I can't be certain. Believe me, as much as it was coming down, I think ERT on Bullet would have been extremely painful; the front row ride I had on Scream in the rain on Saturday at SFMM was pretty painful, to the point that I could have stayed on for a second and did not. Different topic, in re Windseeker: I had seen this posted online but did not see it in any of the Windseeker construction-check out the ride seats for WIndseeker. Even though they are not the chairs on chains as the Star Flyer have they are VERY minimalist and open for being 300 feet in the air: http://twitpic.com/49rtfx I am now officially terrified of riding this when it opens. I'm not saying I won't, but I have not been this nervous about a ride in I cannot remember how long!

I would have posted this last night after I returned home, but once I got in and dried off, the tired hit me and I was down for the count for some much needed rest. I am still in my "recovery mode" from what was one of the most thoroughly enjoyable weekends I have had in a very long time, and will post my full TR's and thoughts as soon as I can, but I did want to take a moment to express my sincere thanks to everyone who helped to make WCB 2011 one of the best ever! TPR, Robb, and everyone at SFMM and KBF truly went above and beyond and did an absolutely outstanding and exemplary job of showing everyone a fantastic time despite some challenging weather (especially yesterday evening, that was one of the worst rainstorms I have seen out here in a while) and all of them deserve a huge round of thanks and applause for doing so. From the fun that started out at SFMM on Saturday, with the great ERT, the highly entertaining comedy stylings of Neal and Tim at the Q&A, the backstage tours and the opportunity to hang out with old friends and meet new ones-plus the opportunity to have some ERT on SFMM's latest "transformation" with Superman:Escape From Krypton (a vast improvement which to me is as impressive as the transformation from X -> X2), getting intimately up close and personal with Tatsu, and all of the other actions the park took to make the event special for us, to the great time we were shown by Knott's yesterday (the awesome backstage tours of Xcel, the Log Ride, and the giant hole destined to become Windseeker, the custom T-shirts they made for us, the fun of participating in my first "TPR Quest" at lunch, the exclusive sneak preview of what looks to be a fantastic and extremely creepy new maze for Haunt 2011 and a very well done presentation on Knott's history, the hilarious Q&A with KBF staff with Jeff Tucker as the MC, and finally the joyous insanity of ERT on Supreme Scream, the Log Ride and Sierra Sidewinder in the midst of a torrential downpour-something that the park was very gracious to do for us after closing to the GP) to just hanging out with other like minded people and making new friend, having a great time and not allowing anything to dampen our spirits or ruin our good time, the entire weekend was nothing short of being one of the most awesome and memorable ever. I have been attending West Coast Bash every year since 2005, when it was just morning ERT at SFMM on the post Sunday Solace and each year, it just continues to grow better and better than ever. If anyone reading this has not yet attended this event, you are seriously missing out! Although the perks and the ERT are all awesome, the tours, the openness and hospitality and the going out of their way to show us a good time regardless of the weather conditions or whatever other challenges might arise that the parks show us, and just the overall spirit of pure fun that permeates the whole event combine to make this something I eagerly look forward to every year. Although I am blessed to live in So Cal, I would travel from wherever to do West Coast Bash every year. So once again-my sincere thanks to everyone for such a great time! WCB 2011 was a huge success and I can hardly wait for 2012! I will post a full TR and what few pics I was able to get as soon as I can, just wanted to say my thanks to everyone.

Firefox is definitely my browser of choice, followed up by Chrome and IE8, so I did Firefox first. It *could* be the add ons-mine is taking about 30 seconds or more to load, with a high speed connection and 4GB+ of memory. I have the Web Developer toolbar, Firebug, Page Speed (which is giving a score of 78/100, not bad for a page with so much information) and a few others installed. Chrome took about 8-10 seconds, surprisingly, IE8 was the fastest loading in five seconds but there appears to be a formatting issue with the ad on the upper right (as a developer myself, IE is often the bane of my existence for being notorious for mangling layouts, CSS/JavaScript and so forth, although 8 is a huge improvement over 7 and 6). My guess with this is that the add ons, or maybe even the ad on the top right or a combination of the two are the primary contributor to the lag in Firefox.

This is really exciting news-this looks like what could very well possibly be the first B&M take on the 4D coaster, perhaps even with the seat rotation. That first drop appears to be the real life equivalent of one I have seen done on RCT coasters for years and looks amazing. Even if this ends up being a standard "Wing Rider" coaster without the rotation, that twist into the first drop element seems as if it would be an exciting variation of the first drop on X2. And that zero-g, as well as the proposed theming make this look like it will be a hit. What I think could be the giveaway on what they do with the rotating seats will be what direction the trains are facing leaving the station-if they're backwards, I would guess they would have to do some type of maneuver during the ride. There seems to have been a great deal of speculation on how exactly B&M would do the 4D seats, being as that this coaster and Gardaland's Raptor both have a single rail track-my thought is that it would end up being something controlled by sensors communicating with some type of on board system or something controlled on some type of on board computer on the actual train. Whatever the case, I feel as if B&M have more than likely done their homework and have likely been researching the best way to do it for years as I would imagine their take on the 4D coaster has been in the development phase for years now. It will be interesting to see how this all pans out! I am really hoping this and Raptor are a success, as I would love to see one of these in the USA!

I am planning on getting out to SFOG this Spring sometime and am trying to plan to go after this is open. I thoroughly enjoyed SFOG last time I was there, especially Goliath, and have never been on a Eurofighter.

Just a fast note to anyone planning on staying at the hotel at Knott's: if you call to make reservations, and you have a Knott's or Cedar Fair season pass, make sure that you ask about any season passholder discounts on rooms. I was able to get a better rate on my Knott's room than I did on my Holiday Inn Express room for Friday with the discount. However, Priority Club has still been, and still is a good deal as well overall on the rooms I get at HI Express, though-it's just taking me a while to get enough points to redeem.....I have to try and push the issue of my accrued vacation time at work so I can travel more!

That shirt is awesome.....I added one when I bought my ticket for both days this past week. Have my time off secured, tickets bought and hotels handled-now just looking forward to the weekend of March 19th!

Don't know if anyone had seen this, and I didn't see it posted, but here is a new "helper" application that will generate a poll for you based on drag and drop functions: http://www.wardleystunnels.org/hawker/

That's great! I was actually going to get my ticket as soon as they went on sale, but have to wait until later this week due to another payroll "oops" at work. While I don't *think* there will be a sellout by the end of the week, you never know.....this to me is one of the absolute best enthusiast events that exists, and a very good value as well. For those seeking hotels: I'd rather drive where I am going to need to be the next morning early the night before rather than chance possible traffic issues or running late. I always stay at the Holiday Inn Express right across from SFMM and have found it to be very good for the price (considering all that you get, breakfast, fitness center, internet service, etc) included. With the AAA Discount and the Priority Club rate it comes out very well, and all of my experiences there have been great (I don't know if Best Western has improved, but I had two VERY bad stays there before switching to HI Express). Last year I stayed at HI Express across from SFMM on Friday and then the hotel directly at Knott's (Knott's Resort Hotel) on Saturday. I had thought the Knott's Hotel would have been more than the rate I would get at the Buena Park Holiday Inn, but it actually turned out to be less when I told the reservation agent that I was there for the enthusiast event and that I was a Cedar Fair Annual Passholder, as those both got me a discount on the room. Both the room and the hotel were nice-I had stayed there a few times in the past-but the real benefit came when it came time to get up on Sunday bright and early. I was very grateful to be within a few steps of the park-and, being able to go back and check out around noon once the park had opened! There are other hotels close to Knott's.....but I can say from experience, a few of them (the ones not part of a national chain) I found a shade frightening. Rodeway, Super8, TravelLodge, Red Roof-those are all decent-but some of those no name places.....pretty scary.

This looks even better than last year so far and I look forward to getting tickets for both days this week! I'm excited about both days, but one of the most intriguing things to be so far is the backstage tour of Timber Mountain on day two. I wish work had not screwed up our payroll this week causing our check to not arrive until Wednesday, otherwise I would buy my ticket now!

2010 ended off on a really good note, and I am really looking forward to a lot of things in 2011, but here are my most eagerly anticipated: Coaster and Park Related: 1. West Coast Bash 2011! 2. Finding out what the mystery 2012 projects are at Knott's and SFMM 3. Finally being able to take more than a day or two off work at a time so that I can actually visit some parks outside of Southern California. I am *hoping* that I will be able to visit SFOG, Carowinds, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg as part of my long overdue trip to visit my family in the Southeast, but the only definite on that list is SFOG. In addition, there is a remote possibility that I will be required to go to corporate in Montreal on business (as that is where the company that acquired my company and the website templating system that I helped to develop and that they need training on is located), and if I do, I want to check out La Ronde as well. 4. If Bay Area Bash is happening again in 2011, I want to try to attend that this time, as I was not permitted the time off to do it last time. 5. Seeing the reveal on the new B&M Prototype and seeing how they do with the 4D concept, hoping that we will see more 4D coasters in the USA from them or from S&S sometime in the next couple of years. Other: 1. Getting a new computer for my home office, with Windows 7, 8+GB of memory, and one of the new Core processors 2. Finally having some more time to myself and being able to maintain a decent work/life balance 3. Seeing and visiting my parents for the first time since 2006-their health prevents them from being able to make the trip out here, and understaffing where I work as well as workload has prevented me from having more than a day or two off at a time for the past few years. 4. Moving towards my first purchase of a home, if I can find anything at a decent price in Southern California. 5. Moving forward into a New Year with the improvements in my life from this past year and all I have learned and making this one even better than the last. I'm not much on resolutions, but if I had to list any, they would be: 1. Practicing better time management and acting with purpose to accomplish more in less time 2. Continuing to take care of myself the best that I can, hitting the gym daily, drinking more water and buying organic vs. processed food as often as possible 3. Maintaining the work/life balance and setting aside more fun time for myself than I was able to in 2010. If that means finally making the decision to resign my full time job and take the leap of faith to do freelance web development and design full time, then so be it. A very happy, prosperous and enjoyable 2011 to all!!!

This is great news! I'm going to go ahead and mark the calendar and put in for the Friday before and the Monday after off as I usually do. Looking forward to another awesome event-I'm not sure how you guys could top last year, but you always do!

There's also the rumor of the Dive Machine for SFMM-something I would definitely like to see at a local park. I could definitely see them going with B&M, for the above reasons, and due to most of the recent hyper installations at CF parks. There were rumors back before Pony Express of a B&M Hyper or some kind of hyper going in, so it could be something that got put back on the drawing board for future reference..... On a different note-I wonder when they are planning to commence with the Windseeker construction?

I'm probably among the minority in this opinion, but I am actually hoping that it turns out to be one of the B&M Megacoasters, as we don't yet have one on the West Coast and the one which I have ridden, Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia, is the only non-inverting steel coaster to have cracked my top five. Whatever they get, I feel as if they would implement it without completely destroying Ghost Town. I am of the opinion that the balance of rides at the park has improved since Cedar Fair took over and I feel as if the Knott family were still in charge, we would still have seen some of the additions that have come in since the takeover, although I think they would have been added in a drastically different manner: I could have seen the Knott family putting in Silver Bullet (although it would likely have not ended up being bright yellow and red and in the location it resides in now) and Sierra Sidewinder, although I'm not certain about Xcelerator. There's also been rumors going around online of a Mack Launched coaster going to a park in California, and some have speculated it was headed for KBF-but I just cannot see them getting yet another launch coaster!

Just my opinion, and as happy as I would be to see another 4th Dimension coaster here in the US, I think it might be more advantageous to them to focus on less rides, but more tried and true rides with potentially higher throughput and reliability as well as well rounded ride experiences. For example, instead of an inverted accelerator, why not get one that not only does a 450+ foot tall top hat but also throws in some airtime hills? I don't know what if any non-compete exists regarding B&M coasters, but if it did I would understand why they could not do a Dive Machine, Flying, Sit Down, Floorless or Inverted coaster as all of those already exist in Florida, but they could always go for a Hypercoaster from B&M. To me, a more sensible lineup would go something like this: For coasters: -B&M Hypercoaster -S&S 4D coaster -Mack Launched coaster -Non-inverted Intamin Accelerator with a layout beyond the top hat -Intamin wooden coaster similar to El Toro Other rides: -Intamin Mega Splash -S&S Power Tower -Giant Starflyer or Windseeker -Splashover -Revolution That to me would offer more of a variety of thrill experiences without being redundant, and help them to get started off with rides that have a proven (albeit in some instances sketchy) reliability. As much as I think a thrill park is a great idea, I think they're trying to overkill it a shade. And, I cannot help but wonder if a concept like this would perform better in a different demographic than a region which predominantly targets a more balanced family experience and already possesses a more than adequate selection of thrill rides to balance out the family rides.

^^I think that is actually the station for the "V12 - Enter The Engine" water flume ride at Ferrari World: http://www.thethemeparkguy.com/filestore/themepark/ferrari-world/241/world-record-breaker-big.jpg Apparently, they give out those ponchos to all of the riders.

Actually, I had thought it might end up being an immelman-but it turns out it is, in fact an overbanked turn, after seeing these photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardaparks/page4/ There's some really good photos in there, found the link on the same site where the photos of the drop had been posted. Looking back at some of the videos where the ride was being discussed and some of the original ride info released, this could be what they were referring to when they were talking about the "90°turn at high speed ". Really interested to see how this turns out-now that the track is complete, it should be interesting to see the theming and the trains. Just a hunch, but I still have a suspicion that they could possibly have something with the rotating seats on this version.

That's good news! I am actually thinking of getting Thanksgiving Dinner at Knott's day after tomorrow and hanging out for a few rides and getting my 2011 Platinum Pass while I'm there. I'm curious if the park will in fact be opening up the Sky Tower one last time still, I'm surprised they haven't closed it and began the process of replacing it with Windseeker yet. That's fine by me-the very thought of riding Windseeker is actually frightening to me. I'm sure I will get on it at least once, but looking at the videos of that has actually made me nervous about a new ride for the first time in a very long time. I'm even more curious to see what might be showing up in 2012.....