ginzo

I'm going to disagree. All accidents are not the same. This one is much easier to swallow than the recent one in Japan. It goes without saying that this isn't great news, but at least there were no major injuries. Coasters are still far safer than the cars we use to get to the park.

You might want to review elementary Physics if you think that's the case.

Great success!

I visited Waldameer yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised. It's a very nice little park with tons of trees, decent food, fun rides, and very polite staff. A good woodie will help this place out, as it really needs a stand out ride. They're in good hands with the Gravity Group! I'll try to post a photo trip report in the next few days of this overlooked park.

Neither park is strong on flat rides. But, I think the trio of Goliath, Mind Bender, and Batman have Holiday World whipped. Holiday World is a nice park, but I don't think it's worth all those extra hours in the car with the kids. If you were closer to Holiday World, it might make more sense. Using google maps, it looks like Holiday World would be about 275 miles more each way, or a total of 550 miles extra. 550 miles means a lot more "are we there yets". And no free Pepsi is going to make up for that.

That just sounds like marketing BS speak for "terrain coaster", which makes their claim especially bad.

The skyride solves that problem. After you enter the park, you go: 1) Montu 2) Skyride 3) Kumba 4) Sheikra

I believe that the 1920s are typically considered the "Golden Age" of amusement parks. There were supposedly ~2,000 parks in the US alone. Of course, you're talking about theme parks, which are a different animal.

I don't think this is too unreasonable of a critique of diving machines. I haven't been on Griffon, but I have been on Sheikra, which is similar enough. Sheikra is just too "wham, bam, thank you m'aam" for me to measure up to Montu and Kumba, which are much more balanced, varied rides. I'd hate to wait an hour to ride a diving machine. Yes, Sheikra is fun, but I think it's too centered around doing one thing really well to be a top level coaster for me.

In this situation I sometimes politely ask if I can have a specific row. The ops usually go for it in my experience.

It has a bad reputation because it's a jackhammering piece of crap. Obviously, it was a great ride when CCI built it.

I've noticed this phenomenon to some degree, especially with Kings Island. The old pictures of Kings Island from the 70s and 80s that I've seen show a much nicer looking park. Yeah, I think being newer does help a lot, but I also think parks are a lot more slack on upkeep in general these days. Would the faded paint on Xcelerator fly back then? Something tells me not. Parks are also a lot bigger these days, which means removing trees and landscaping to install new rides. The focus seems to be more on rides than aesthetics. And bigger parks are also more of a pain to keep up.

Signs point to never.

Dude, no! That Sky Trolley has like a 34 inch high restriction! It will be many years before she's able to ride that! --Robb Growth hormone injections.

I completely agree. I was supremely impressed when I saw it in person last weekend. It's going to be a great ride.

You should have no problem making that goal, or going far beyond that. There are many parks that are within reasonable driving distance here in the Midwest. I've only been traveling to parks since last May, and I'm already up to 125. Though this includes some California and Florida credits. I hope to make it to 200 credits this year.

Yeah, I'm going to be staying in Meadville this Friday. I'd love to catch a few rides on Saturday, but apparently this isn't going to happen. Is it just me, or is this a lost cause? This park just doesn't seem to be economically viable.

Well, I heard that it was originally planned for this year, but they had to take out the heart line roll. Also, the park is suing Intamin for $10 billion dollars.

Being #1 in both the Internet Coaster Poll and Golden Ticket Awards for 2006 is hardly any hype?

My parents, like, totally suck and stuff. They, like, make me clean up my room and do my homework and stuff. Who do they, like, think they are? Oh wait, I'm not 13 anymore. Never mind.

I'll second that. It's a pretty fun ride, but by no means the greatest in the world or whatever. Millennium Force has "Disney airtime". Actually, strike that. The airtime on MK Space Mountain that you get on the drop next to the lift hill is better than anything on Millennium Force.

Yeah, this is great news. If Intamin keeps getting orders for these puppies, maybe we'll see another US installation. Cedar Point, for example, desperately needs one. Does this mean another TPR Korea trip is in the works?

Yeah, I agree that attitude is unfortunate. I've tried to avoid appearing judgmental while making my points here. I just like being able to breathe clean air. I'd be fine with allowing smoking in bars as long as smoke eaters and good ventilation are present. That may have been a better solution than outright banning smoking in bars, requiring that they install smoke control systems. The poison is in the dose, and if they can get the amount of smoke down then there is no health issue.

Well, I'm not really talking about restaurants. Smoking around food is just disgusting. But, as for the bars, I still think the majority of people who drink in bars also smoke. If they aren't full time smokers, then they are the types who only smoke when they go out. I spent years in those places, and was by far in the minority as a non-smoker. Not that I would know, but apparently nicotene and alcohol is a good combination. Smoking bans are also a relatively recent thing in most places, except for California. NYC only did it a few years back (2003).

Let's be honest about this; it wouldn't really be a choice. They'd all go back to being smoking establishments, except for maybe a select few of the really upscale places in major cities.