ginzo

The 90 degree sections are actually pretty smooth because they aren't very forceful. I think the twisty section at the end is probably the roughest part.

For what it's worth the special announcement on Cedar Point's web page says: "Maverick will be delayed until early June to make modifications to the coaster's steel track." "IntaRide has already started designing replacement track." The fact that they're apparently back in the design phase suggests that the issue wasn't related to manufacturing or construction. Of course, this announcement is very vague. It's anyone's guess really.

LMAO! Man, you speak the truth! Yeah, Kinzel all but called the SOB project a failure in that Cleveland Plain Dealer video interview that was floating around. He said something to the effect of "SOB didn't do what the Paramount company wanted it to do". He also made an allusion that he thought the project should have been for a steel coaster instead. Granted these comments seem harmless enough, but it was a very upbeat interview overall and he enthusiastically praised Kings Island and the Beast. He then dropped into to a more somber tone when the topic of SOB came up. I thought that was very telling.

To be fair, he was joking around. One of the few lighthearted responses in that thread. Yeah, but the "whole gallon of ice cream" bit is priceless.

From PointBuzz:

Cedar Fair isn't going to tear this puppy down. SOB is about to break another coaster record by featuring the most trims ever on a coaster. Don't you want to brag to your friends about conquering the coaster with the most brakes?

Yeah, I dunno. It's easy to play armchair critic when you're not directly involved in the project. From my point of view, Cedar Point did everything right. They hired a top end firm to build the ride, and they started construction very early. Their official press release is VERY vague. So, we don't really know what the screw up was, or how bad it was. On a mildly related note, John Fetterman of Knoebels posted on RRC that they save a lot of money by building their coasters slowly. They don't have to rebuild sections as much, and they don't have to pay extra to have materials shipped promptly. Maybe Cedar Point should have started even earlier.

I tend to believe that CP thought they could get the ride ready on time. Why would they intentionally deceive? This is their reputation on the line. I mean we don't know exactly what they found, or what their exact testing protocol is. Maybe it's something subtle that they noticed at the last minute. Very few people here have any true expertise in designing, building, and testing roller coasters. ginz "these conspiracy theories are all crap" o

I disagree. Maverick, to me, has the most interesting design of any coaster in the park. I fully expect it to be my favorite at CP. I'm glad that they're investing in a more creative design instead of just building coasters designed to do nothing but break records.

I think I'm going to keep my reservations for this weekend. I think the crowds are going to be a bit lighter as a result of the Maverick fiasco. And I can just go back up later this year and get the Maverick credit. I am still a little bit bummed. I was really looking forward to that ride.

Angry enough?

As far as I know, the LIMs on the hill are weak, and are just used in lieu of a chain lift. It's not a launch per se. Think of it as LIM lift hill. As for putting in brakes after a launch, that makes no sense. Why wouldn't you just weaken the launch?

I tried to load PointBuzz, but my browser crashed from the 23423423 pop ups.

Well there goes my weekend I hope CP is nice about letting me move my hotel reservation to a later date. BTW, I don't see this as being too big of a deal. Although I like B&M, would they even attempt a ride like Maverick? I really hope CP maintains a good relationship with Intamin so that they can replace Mean Streak with an Intamin woodie.

This is even more craptacular than the MSN list. They are totally right about #8 though. That ride scares the hell out of me every time.

It looks like they've cleaned up the petting zoo area, a lot. It was disgusting when I went last year; feces and flies everywhere. Also, the flume ride's water was a very strange and unnatural color. Beech Bend has both the best (Rumbler) and worst (Looping Star) coasters in the state. You should have done the super slide. The haunted house was broken when we went.

Yeah, thanks for the pics. I'm hitting Darien Lake later this month. I really hope Ride of Steel will be open.

Mt. Olympus is pretty darn bad. Here are some more problems: 1) They don't cut the grass under part of Zeus. I think they just let the train whack it down. 2) All their woodies have only one train. 3) None of their woodies are handicap accessible, not even Hades. Seriously guys, how much could a simple ramp cost? 4) They don't properly surround their track areas with fencing to keep idiots and children away from the coasters. Despite the inherent ghetto nature of the park, I didn't mind Mt. Olympus so much. It doesn't make my personal worst list.

As is mentioned earlier in this thread, there was a derailment in 1984 of the King Cobra at Kings Island. This was, of course, an earlier model, and the problem seemed to be corrected. I do think it's safe to say that the safety record on Togo stand ups is solid. If you look at the tens of millions of riders over the years compared to the number of injuries, you get an activity that is far safer than most.

Wow, and I thought the Golden Ticket Awards were bad. We should have a "TPR lazy journalist" award, and give whomever wrote this piece first place.

Think of it as truth in advertising; like father like son. I viewed a recent interview with Kinzel, probably that same one. My two main impressions were: 1) Kinzel seems like a decent, straight-shooting kind of guy with reasonable business sense. 2) Kinzel is not enamored with woodies, which makes sense. He's made his bones with steel coasters. They've been good to him.

It gives them extra time to beg for spare change on the street.

I need to get back to SFGAm. I'm still missing more than half of the credits there. If only it was that dead when I went.

I'm glad that the clock is staying because I use it.

If you're looking for amusement parks and mini golf courses, it's not the place. I mainly go to visit family, but the first time I went I was really shocked at how nice the place turned out to be. I was expecting a total redneck mountain town.