ginzo

That light show looked 20 years out of date. I think it was mainly for kids. It was just a bunch of Christmas trees with strands of different colored lights. Sections of the tree would change color as they played music. I wish my camera batteries didn't die so early. I didn't get to photograph much of the light displays. We wound up leaving early last night due to the cold, and a few other reasons. We hoped to get a quick view of all the lights on the tram, but it broke down. FYI: Unlike our local amusement park, Cincy's Zoo is world class. Sure it's not quite on par with the San Diego Zoo, but nothing is. I don't go there much, because I'm not keen on keeping giant wild animals on display in cramped little habitats.

Ok, this is my first TR posted here, and my first time to attend the Festival of Lights. This is one of the few outdoor events in this area at this time of the year. PKI dumped Winterfest long ago. The night didn't go that well. The tram broke down 5 minutes after we got on it, and my camera ran out of batteries shortly after it got dark. I didn't even get any non-blurry pictures of the Carousel. Anyway, here goes: These special effects aren't very special. Watch out for that tree! You won't marry me on Colossus. Pretty kitty takes a nap. The other red ass monkeys decide to take a peek. Hey, get a room you two! Phantasialand might have the #1 steel coaster. But, can they compete with this? We've come for your daughter, Chuck. I'm tired of these !@#!@! snakes on this !@#!@#! plane. This poor little guy is hungry because some ACErs ate all his food. Let's get down to brass tax here. How much for the apes? You really don't want to know where those gloves have been. Poor Babar is stuck in this low rent gig. Some day this will all be yours. Yes, we have electricity in Ohio. Indoor plumbing coming in 2008! A concrete gorilla holds the real baby surri.

I was just fantasizing about the park that PKI could be. Obviously, they won't invest the $50-$60 million that it would take to turn PKI's coaster collection into something world class. There's no solid business reason to do so. The park gets excellent attendance, and they do it with crappy rides. I think a B&M invert would more than make up for the loss of Face/Off and Top Gun. PKI doesn't even take Top Gun seriously. They don't run it on slower days. A solid hyper would certainly make up for the loss of SOB and Vortex. PKI really needs a change in strategy. They've clearly got more coasters than they can handle. Look at how poorly the Racer, the ride that made the park, is maintained. I think cutting back would help them out.

Call me crazy but X-Flight doesn't fit in any park, as it is, as stated, an outdated maintenence nightmare, which pki definitely doesn't need another of (TRTR, Delirium, SoB, IJ:ST, just to name a few attractions that from talking with maintenence guys they wish were never built). I personally wish that Dominator was coming instead, or even Steel Venom. Heck, I'd rather ride Raging Wolf Bobs than wait an hour and a half for X-Flight just to have it break down. -James Dillaman PKI needs to scale back the number of rides, and worry about quality. I think the following rides should go: Top Gun Face Off SOB Vortex Then they should install a B&M invert, a hypercoaster, and overhaul Racer and Beast.

I'm not trying to give offense. I'm well aware of human rights violations in the Middle East, and it extends far beyond abusing gays. The world can be an insane place. And there is not a thing we can do about it. I find that laughing at idiots like that helps me deal.

In Kazakhstan homosexuals are no longer required to wear blue hats. http://www.borat.tv/response.htm

I'm pretty sure that one of the deaths on the Traver coasters was due to a rider standing up. I believe that injuries were common, but I haven't seen much record to support this. Roller coasters have been largely ignored by mainstream historians. Munch's book appears to be the best resource available on Traver, and apparently even it has problems that the publisher never corrected with a reprinting. Munch did some decent research though. He even interviewed Traver's wife.

Unfortunately, even if the Crystal Beach Cyclone or Revere Beach Lightning would not have been torn down for ecconomic reasons, they certainly would have eventually been shut down for safety reasons. The nurse station deal was very real. Broken bones and dislocated joints were not at all uncommon on these. It's very hard to separate fact from fiction about the "Golden Age" of coasters, especially where Harry Traver is concerned. It's not a well-documented era, and many rumors fly. The pictures of his coasters suggest that Traver's coasters were extremely rough, much rougher than anything today. Traver and his contemporaries did not benefit from computer modeling and knowing exactly what the forces on riders will be at any given moment on the ride. But, how bad could it have been? If passengers were being mangled at such an alarming rate, who would have ridden his rides? There's a difference between being a thrill-seeker and being a dumb ass hoping to get mangled. Some people have written that Traver was a sinister figure who delighted in using passengers as guinea pigs. Richard Munch's book dispels this myth. Traver was a very nice man, generous with his employees to the point where he lost his house during the depression.

I find that Flight of Fear usually has the longest wait, but that could just be due to slow ops. SOB was usually a short wait last summer, but sometimes you'd have a 30 minute queue. I don't recall ever seeing the line go that far down the ramp, certainly never down to the switchbacks below.

Where is our EE POV?

The Mt. Olympus ops are pretty indifferent, but I never noticed them being mean. One of them wagged her finger at us for trying to ride the kiddie coaster, even though no posted rule forbid this. Another really annoying thing about Mt. Olympus is how you have to swap e-tickets at the ticket booth for wrist bands. We got the evil eye from the gate lady when we tried to bring our tickets straight to the gate. Newsflash: Bringing e-tickets directly to the gate is how it's supposed to work! I had another idiot op moment at Timber Falls. I inadvertantly went to the log flume via the exit line. The op made me go all the way around back to the entrance, even though there was nobody in line and plenty of empty logs waiting to be boarded. Why?

I think that making it floorless could really intensify hanging over the drop, especially if they lengthen that part. I was let down by Sheikra, and thought it by far the weakest B&M at BGA. It's just two big drops and a loop, and not much else. I was expecting much more out of it.

What enthusiast wouldn't ride it? I think it's sad that no Traver coaster survives today. It's also sad to read web pages that say stuff like: Greatest roller coaster transformations in history? Lame. They turned the most extreme coaster ever into an every day out and back. The bit about "heavy articulating trains" is interesting, as this is exactly what happened to the SOB. I found a nice animated POV of the Cyclone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSoaJVBbypA

Econ and science are both awesome. Physics is my least favorite science, but I don't dislike it. As far subjects that I don't like, art was it for me. I love art, but I have no artistic talent. This meant that the classes were torture to me.

Yeah, the computer safety systems are obviously the main thing keeping us safe. But, think of rides with powerful ejector air, like El Toro. In that case, an idiot op not properly checking a lapbar could result in a terrible accident.

I disagree on the GPA issue. A lot of firms look at your GPA, and actually have a minimum GPA to be considered for hire. This is mostly for high profile positions, like a Chemical Engineer at a multinational oil company. Shell isn't going to take an engineer with a 3.0. For this situation, a higher GPA is always better. Premedical students are in a similar situation, higher GPA is always better. You can get accepted with borderline grades, but higher is better. GPA is, of course, only a fraction of an overall application. You cannot get accepted on grades alone, but low grades will kill your prospects. I agree with your second statement, but remember that high grades and social skills are not mutually exclusive.

I saw an op at SFKK find a dollar in one of the seats of Greezed Lightnin'. Overcome with joy, he began to shout, "I got a dollar. I got a dollar. I got a dollar," while he loudly banged his height-checking stick on the ground. This display, of course, gave me great confidence in this kid's ability to keep me safe.

All I get to read lately is textbooks. My most recent read. Exciting stuff!

Dont forget my Robotics Team! Ouch. Just cut it off now. There is no hope.

Coaster Enthusiast + Civil War Reenactor = never getting laid for the rest of your natural life. You're going to need to make up for those nerdy hobbies by doing some super macho stuff, like wrestling crocs or BASE jumping.

Man I was totally hooked on that game way back then. I started playing it when I was in my early teens when my brother bought a 3DO. In fact I don't think I did any homework for weeks after I first got a hold of it. I think that may be my #1 game of all time. Only I played it on the PC. I never owned a 3DO.

I'm also not much of a gamer anymore. But, here goes. Quest for Glory I-IV (PC): My favorite Sierra online game series. They had a wacky sense of humor that my juvenile self liked. I never got into the fifth game much. Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)- Duh. Terranigma (SNES)- this was never released in the US, but it's my favorite action RPG ever. I think it pwns all Zelda games. Star Control II (PC)- I imagine nobody here has even heard of this game, but it's incredibly unique. It's a space RPG with a sweet space ship fighting arcade mode for when you get into battles. There is nothing else even remotely like it. Yoshi's Story (N64)- A kiddie game that got bashed for being easy that I happen to love. I think the creators were on LSD or something when they made it. It's so trippy and awesome. Super Mario World (SNES)- Duh. Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)- Duh. Yoshi's Island (SNES)- Duh. Bust-a-Move- I wasted more time on this dumb game than any other.

That pool in the basement is kinda cool, but creepy also.

It's because of law suits and the media. SOB killed like 75 riders last year when the train jumped off the track at 500 MPH. So, now they have to take the loop out.

The Biltmore tour is neat, but very long. People really take their sweet time looking around, and you get stuck behind them, because the tour is basically one big line. I also find it amusing at how poorly decorated the place is. Sure they have priceless tapestries and paintings, but nothing is coordinated properly. All the colors clash. It's kinda gross in some of the rooms. I also dunno if it's worth $40.