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I'm pretty impressed that Will took the time to make that video while they're busy scrambling to get the Raven trains working on the Voyage. Obviously, he has a lot more pressing issues than explaining things in this level of detail. It's also pretty impressive that they're doing all this work to temporarily increase the capacity on the Voyage.

Breathalyzer?

Well, the park got the trains a little bit later than they expected to. And testing is taking a bit longer than anticipated. It does not make sense for them to have the expensive trains arrive too soon and have them just rotting outside in the winter, not generating any ROI. The ideal is "just-in-time" delivery where they get the trains exactly when they need to start testing them with maybe a little bit of a time buffer to fix any problems that might arise. However, this is not Wal-Mart automatically pushing orders to a factory in China for umbrellas. This is a fairly complicated, one-of-a-kind machine that was custom built for this park.

I'm delaying my trip to HW this year until the new trains are working. No worries. I'm just intensely curious about how this new rolling stock will perform. Maybe Voyage will climb back into my top 10.

^The crow didn't lie. He says, "There's more than corn in Indiana at Indiana Beach." He didn't say anything about Holiday World!

Considering the financial situation, they might just be looking to milk this for as much cash as possible. It's not like they'd be closing down the "crown jewel".

I'm glad he's still at it. He's so entertaining. I wonder what he'll try next? A hostile takeover of Disney?

Eh? With other statements like: I'm not sure that Dick is being fair to the investors by writing off their decision as due to "emotional attachment". It's sounding like the investors might have made the correct, objective decision in turning down Apollo's low ball offer.

^Do they even let you inside The Party Source (large alcohol store in KY), Zach?

That's a very interesting observation considering the clientele at Kings Dominion. Few would describe them as "much richer" than the clientele at Kings Island. But, please, continue.

^What if they gave the job to Dick Kinzel? Would that give you even more of a boner?

That's an exaggeration to say the least. Have you not noticed the constant bitching about the lack of major installations under Shapiro? Mark received credit for cleaning up some of the parks, improving employee morale, trying to attract better clientele, etc. But, "a god"? No. IMO, Six Flags was on a one way course to bankruptcy. Given the debt load and general crappy economic environment for the amusement industry, there was probably nothing he could have done to save the company. Still, as CEO, he was paid be ultimately accountable and now they have held him as such.

^Yeah, that points more to a recent fight between Shapiro and the BOD than it does him being the scape goat for the company almost going bust. Though this is all incredibly speculative. IMO, it's reasonable to assume that he was fired.

It's not lame. Some people value aesthetics more than you do. And the concrete and trash cans motif is just plain ugly. I'll continue to pay extra to travel to European parks where they actually care about how the park looks (Efteling, Europa, etc). If that's not your thing, that's cool as well.

^Don't you mean Jessica Rabbit? I don't think Jessica Simpson is smart enough to build a sandwich. Or maybe she could build sandwiches when she was going through her fat phase.

It's awesome that people like this are breeding.

Coaster Expedition 13 is the best video in the history of homo sap. It cures boredom, cancer, AIDS, leprosy, Ebola gout, and the Black Death.

Universal got their money's worth with Spidey. I know people who think Spidey is the best ride in the world and will go to IOA just for that. I actually prefer the more subdued DarKastle, but I'm a bit weird in my tastes. For example, I like some Sally shooting dark rides more than MiB.

Yes, Jesus prefers Coke!

^Sorry to hear that. That sucks ass.

^I wonder how hard it would be to get expert witnesses competent enough to testify against Intamin as far as steel coaster design defects are concerned. Aren't they about as expert as it gets? I also wonder if anyone who did have the expertise would be willing to testify against a company they could potentially work for in this VERY small field.

They tested the Timberliner prototype car on the Raven. Apparently, Holiday World liked what they saw. In terms of saving maintenance cost, it makes the most sense to put the new, less-wear-inducing trains on the coaster that is presumably the most expensive to maintain: Voyage.

"I'll take 'Things Nobody Believes' for a thousand, Alex."

If you think Voyage is intense, try Tele2 Insane without riders on the other side of the car for balance.

Presumably original trains on a 9-year-old ride with high forces. Pretty big coaster to maintain for a park of this size. Similar accidents have been the result of poor maintenance. Park had an incident on this same ride last year. Lots of parks, even Disney, have been known to skimp on maintenance. Etc. Obviously, nobody knows the real story yet, but I personally would not be surprised if it came down to iffy maintenance practices.