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GOB isn't welcome at Disney anyway. They only hire Alliance Approved magicians. Depends on the model. If you have the earlier models, like the HT p133 or the i180, then yeah it's a little clumsy around corners. However, the current model, the i2, is very smooth around corners and evasive maneuvers. Before turning was in a little knob on the handlebar, vary similar to a motorcycle throttle. In the i2, the turning is by physically moving the entire handlebar left and right. This gives a sort of skiing motion, allowing for the ability to take corners easily and effortlessly. On the other hand, ECVs alone are a major hassle in safety and numbers. They take up an enormous footprint and, with their power and limited breaking ability, cause many a run over foot or a run over guest. It's also the case that, in my experiences, a good number of people who rent the ECV and don't use them normally, can't drive them safely. I've had my shins bashed many a time by an incoming ECV simply because the driver did not know how, or refused, to break before coming in contact with me. Adding another motorized machine could lead to a chaotic state. The Segways, though the driver is required to know how use the machine safely, also can go up to 12 miles per hour. That zipping through a crowded park on a hot summer day is hard enough to do for some of the managers I saw at Disney, let alone a guest. Weighing in on both sides, I feel in my gut that I side with the people with the Segways, but on one condition. I think they should be allowed, but they have to be key governed. There is a way to electronically govern the speed of the Segway through its key and I believe that govern should be to the same speed as the rented ECVs. That way everyone is still on a same page for safety in terms of speed. They should also be the guest’s property. The parks should not start a policy to rent them at the gate. I know that's not mentioned, but I can already see the pathway going that direction. In my thinking, the Segway might actually be safer than an ECV because of the smaller footprint, less torque on the wheels, a required knowledgeable user, and the ability for an outside body to stop the machine from colliding into them if the situation arises. Overall, they could be considered a safety hazard, but not more of a safety hazard than an ECV. I apologize or the long post. I really took this matter into consideration. Stuart Thanks for the detailed post. I find it very hard to disagree with you. If Disney's principal complaint, that Segways go too fast to be safe, can be addressed by lowering the top speed of the Segways then they should be allowed. Disney is smart enough to know that excessively going against the disabled community is a losing position for them.

You know if Cedar Fair sells off all of its parks then they'll be totally out of debt. Just think of all the awesome things they could do without that millstone hanging around their necks.

Instead of parks getting creative with new woodie installations, I'd settle for them to just maintain what they have properly. A return to proper restraints (buzzbars) would be nice as well, but that ain't going to happen.

Agreed. My point was that it's obvious that Robb knows about exchange rate fluctuations and can easily check the latest rates. If he wasn't extremely aware of exchange rates, the TPR trips would be absolute disasters.

Intamin has nothing to do with this project. On the "Intamin woodies" they brokered the deals, acted as a middleman between designer, builder, and customer, and built the trains. Arrangements like this are apparently how Intamin operates most of the time.

^^No, his Euro to USD conversion was correct. http://www.xe.com/ucc/ 6,000,000.00 EUR = 8,482,012.13 USD And inflation could have been offset by there being several hundred feet less of track and a shorter lift hill. Next time take the 15 seconds and look stuff up before you post. And a hearty BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to this not being a prefab woodie. The graphics used in the ad certainly make it look like one.

You not getting the references is hardly the same thing as the show not being funny. I enjoy Universal's willingness to rip on insane celebrities.

This is awesome news. Another "Intamin woodie" on the 2008 Europe trip! Let's just hope the G-trains don't ruin it. I hope that Gerstlauer has learned how to make wooden coaster trains that don't suck.

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36260&highlight=xcoaster

This thread reminds me of Midnight Cowboy. His next step is to become a gay prostitute that nobody bothers to pay.

That's the correct amount of time to spend in any Cedar Fair park.

There are a number of reasons for the delay. 1) This is a lost type of ride. The inventor of the Flying Turns, John Bartlett, died long ago. So they can't consult him. They have to figure things out on their own as they go. 2) The previous Flying Turns rides were notorious for being maintenance headaches, and the safety rules are much more stringent today. So, in a sense, this ride has never been built before because they want to built it to last and following much stricter safety guidelines. 3) Knoebels is building this ride as time allows while they are running a decent sized amusement park. John Fetterman is not a full time coaster design and construction engineer. His primary job is maintenance. If the flyers break he is going to work on that, not on construction of a new ride. 4) Building slowly is cheaper. You don't have to pay for rush shipping on materials. And you tend to make less mistakes, which means you don't have to waste materials and labor costs tearing out sections that you messed up because you were rushing. I think this is going to be an awesome ride whenever they get it open to the public. And well worth the wait.

If you're talking about the magician thing, then how? It's easy as crap. You'll understand some day.

Look for my Jungle Jim's PTR sometime after it gets cold. That's totally a winter thing. Trader Joe's is a really good store for getting amazing bargains on good food and wine, especially wine. But, their varying selection from week to week can get irritating if you've grown to expect a certain thing. I haven't tried Fresh Market out yet, even though we've got a few here now. As for the monorail, I don't think he'll ever actually get it working again. I think he just likes having it on display out front. You know the food theme park concept could really work if played out correctly.

Yeah, my one cycle on Wildcat was pretty torturous. I have no desire to ride it again. Gwazi was really decent the first time I rode it, but was a jackhammering mess when I rode it again just a few months later. I'm not sure MF trains would help it much.

Trader Joe's is nothing. Wait for my PTR to "The Jungle". It's a grocery store with theming. The owner actually bought the old monorail from Kings Island, and has part of it on display out front. He's also got a singing Elvis bear, and other misc. weirdness. He talked about building a food theme park, but I doubt that will ever happen.

I thought Wildcat was pretty darn rough when I rode it in July, and I rode it in the very front. Lots of back slaps and kidney punches, with some vibration to boot. I would blame the arid ~100F conditions, but Lightning Racer ran damn smooth that day. I guess GCII learned a lot in the years between those two projects. This describes the one major fault in the often-vaunted Millennium Flyer trains. Those darn lapbars sometimes dig further and further into your GI tract, like a boat anchor that somehow gets heavier and heavier. My colon is fine. No need to be disimpacted today. Thank you very much.

I think you're being a bit over dramatic. How can Zingo be "rotting away?" Didn't they just take it down like 6 months ago? And you make it out like the Bell's guy sitting out, homeless in the cold warming his hands over a trash can fire. I highly doubt that's the case either. If it makes business sense, they'll find a new location and rebuild. Wasn't that the plan anyway? --Robb Of course he's exagerrating, but this is still an odd situation. One minute the park is planning a new Gravity Group coaster, and the next minute they're being evicted and forced to leave some rides behind.

Maybe I'll post a photo TR from Jungle Jim's, an amazing international grocery store here near Cincy. Yeah, I know what you East/West coast people are thinking, but it's true. Jungle Jim's is about 300,000 sq ft. of awesome. Their wine section alone is bigger than an entire Trader Joe's.

This is a fun little game. I just got whipped by the first boss.

Yeah, I'm still wondering why they built a massive coaster like Hades with one train. They must have been on a pretty tight budget.

I tried Focus, and really liked the taste.

Uhm, that was how they rolled 50 years ago. The beatings are long gone.

That's about my assessment of it. It's hardly a death machine, but definitely a hooptie as far as B&Ms go. Easily the worst of the B&M inverts that I've been on, but not awful per se. As for my favorite B&M inverts: 1) Montu 2) Batman: The Ride 3) Dueling Dragons - Ice 4) Dueling Dragons - Fire Nothing for number 5. I've also been on Silver Bullet, Raptor, Alpie, and Great Bear. But I wouldn't put any of those in a top list.

Yeah, and the paddle is toned down from the old days. My dad went to a Catholic grade school in the 1950s that was run by nuns. He said one of the nuns would beat the crap out of the kids with a fiberglass wand. She'd apparently just hit the kids in the back until they had a fair amount of bruises, and this was pretty darn painful. Leaving bruises is abuse, but that's how they rolled 50 years ago. And if you got punished at school you were likely to get another beating when you got home.