ginzo

Sounds great. I just hope the thing stays this way until I can get down there. If I get lucky, Baylor will call me for an interview, which would bring me down to Houston in the next few months. Sounds a lot like Voyage, which has run the range from "Best. Ride. Ever." to "never again" in reactions for me. If Voyage ran at peak form most of the time, it would definitely be in my top 10.

The Great Adventure processing center might be open in March. Call the park and find out.

Steel coasters existed before Arrow. Arrow's innovation was using steel tubes. And they did this before they hired Ron Toomer.

Influence is nebulous. I'll go with the greatest coaster designer of the last 30 years. Based on the quality of his projects it's Werner Stengel. He played a key role in many of the successful projects of Schwarzkopf, Intamin, and B&M. His innovations include: -Clothoid vertical loop -Heartlining -Early launch systems Some of his firm's projects include: Maverick El Toro Speed: No Limits Storm Runner Balder Goliath @ Walibi World Xcelerator Expedition GeForce Katun Millennium Force Superman - Ride of Steel @ SFNE, Darien Lake, and SFA Dueling Dragons Montu Kumba Nemesis Pyrenees If you look at Mitch's Steel Poll for 2006, Stengel's firm was involved in all of the top 5, and 7 of the top 10.

They might be able to improve the capacity of that ride by running it more efficiently. When I went to SFGAm last year they let single riders have their own cars, which is completely wasteful BS.

Cedar Point: -Get a Q-bot system. -Higher quality food. -Intamin woodie. Clementon Amusement Park: -Give it up already. 75 B&Ms couldn't save this place. Holiday World: -Flat rides. -Flat rides. -Flat rides. Indiana Beach: -Extend operating hours to include more night time operation hours. Kings Island: -Build the rumored large steel coaster. I won't set foot in the park until this happens. -Remove SOB. -Repair and take the trims off Racer and Beast. Knoebels: -Actually complete Flying Turns.

Or how about an upcharge attraction dubbed "The Andy Kaufman Wrestling Experience" where you get to wrestle overweight women?

Jazzanova "L.O.V.E. and You & I"

I thought about going down to Beech Bend's Christmas thing, but I worried about it being too cold. Not to mention the coaster will run a lot better when it's warm. Oh well, no Kentucky Rumbler for me in 2007. I was hoping for some Mammoth Cave pictures here.

Yeah, and these were high school seniors, not 5-year-olds.

Can we pack 80 people onto a slide?

That Viper thing is bizarre, but only enthusiasts are going to notice or care. The lion's share of Six Flags' clientèle are GP types who talk in line about loops on woodies, a supposed 500 foot coaster in Japan, and how 75 people died on a given ride last week. Consequently, this wildly inconsistent nomenclature probably matters little in the end.

The newsie drilling the Premier Parks guy about "extra precautions" was laughable. The slide could easily support 10 times more than the 1 rider it is supposed to carry. WTF more can you ask for? I'm looking forward to trying out some European parks this summer to see what parks are like when they don't have to worry about being sued by morons who pack 30 to a slide.

Chins are awesome. Best small furry pets by far. I wanted to get my wife one for Christmas to replace her deceased rabbit, but she wasn't having it.

Thanks for the data Marcus. It was fun to read through it.

As much as I enjoy Islands of Adventure, it does not need more gift shops. How about another B&M?

I've been on both horrible and good rides made by both companies. Vekoma, however, is marginally worse because SLCs are the biggest crime against God and man. If every SLC was melted down today, I'd celebrate with an expensive bottle of Champagne. I'd be happy to see them go.

http://www.wlky.com/news/14887019/detail.html I can't believe it took SFKK this long to come up with a way to blame Intamin. My brain isn't working well today. Any idea on what they mean by stopping the ride? Do they mean braking the drop car, stopping the lift motor, or both? And how would this have prevented the injury?

Just another reason to never stay in a Disney Value resort. Edit: it's interesting that they use the verb "snatch" when reporting on an apparent attempted rape.

Fixed. Have faith, man. Those Maury test results will set the record straight. I can feel it. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm already working on my head bobbing technique. That's harder than it looks.

^^But think of the awesome rap career I could have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxXLp-2J3wI

It depends on where you do it. In some countries it's perfectly legal.

I confess. It's my baby. Now where's my money? I'm still waiting for that check from Anna Nicole's baby as well.

Hahaha. I knew this one wasn't going to end well. Thanks for the entertainment.

^^Hahahaha. "Vekoma: we might make something that doesn't suck some day."