ScottBrown

My question is does Darien Lake allow handicapped people to go up the exit like other parks do? Is that sign that gives the safety rules to the ride located anywhere in the exit if that is the case? He may not have ignored the rules and warnings because there may not have been a sign stating them anywhere on the path he entered the ride through.

EXACTLY. That's how I am. I love time lapse and I'm getting better at anticipating the results but this made me do a double take on the lcd screen when I checked it out. You get me, lool. Yeah I would have done the same thing these are absolutely remarkable images thank you so much for sharing

I take quite a few long exposure images of rides in motion and that is the last thing I would have expected very cool

I have not been there since I moved up here but I did go several times as a kid

I call it mediocre America

Its just too bad this top spin can't manage to make a complete flip most of the time

Its nothing like the Euro-Fairs but its still fun since the nearest amusement park is over 300 miles away from us. Still one of my favorites I had forgotten how much of a punch this little ride packed

See that is what I don't understand if a ride is a maintenance nightmare why keep it in the same company where in the long run you are still paying for it instead of selling it off and washing your hands of it altogether

Not to mention that the vast majority of them are not aging well and are becoming more and more uncomfortable to ride

Yeah I am hearing that it keeps getting stuck at the top, I think it may be time to just retire this ride it clearly doesn't want to work anymore

Im sure if they just were willing to sink a little money into it to add some new technology like adding magnetic brakes and other various improvements it would be fine, its an old ride and just needs some TLC it would be much cheaper than replacing it I would think

While I do find the pre drop amusing and find it to be quite fun in the back row I really hate that they have gradually taken the sudden whip out of their corkscrews, those older corkscrews are so much more fun in my opinion than the new ones

Amazing pictures

I must throw in my vote for Stealth and Invertigo, I just don't understand what compels a park chain to relocate a parks newest largest and most popular attractions somewhere else with no replacements, I might have understood more if Six Flags wasn't so close by and there was no competition but in my eyes it just seems like a very odd business decision unless the plan is to slowly shut the place down

I think Wildcat just needs an overhaul of its systems I would hate to see another Schwarzkopf Wildcat bite the dust

Demon @ Californias Great America

The good old Giant Dipper in Santa Cruz

You'd be surprised by that- Most of the early generation (Non-flywheel) Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loops chewed through cables like an Accelerator coaster from Intamn does; not to mention, each day the weight assembly required lubrication, the motors tended to wear out (Especially in higher traffic parks; KD replaced/removed/restored the motors on KK every YEAR!) and other smaller things. In all reality, other than the motor, it was labor costs as well as the novelty wearing out; where we respect and value a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop, the general public does not. Only three of the flywheel Shuttles still live on- One at Hopi Hari, and the other is KK's model- itself a hybrid of the two Great America models. The remainder are the flywheel drive system models. Sadly, the parts aren't avaliable anymore, which almost requires a park to build replacements by hand, or as the case of Greezed Lightning at KK, cannibalize another model for replacement parts. Hopi Hari rebuilt the old KK from the ground up, and replaced all of the parts by hand- including the original weight system with a more beneficial cement block in the 'tube'. THe third is still extant at Gold Reef City in South Africa, it too having been rebuilt by hand when it was relocated there from Carowinds. These smaller park don't operate their shuttles nearly as frequently as the larger parks do- less than 12 times per hour, as opposed to 30-40 times per hour in a 'standard' park. This prevents parts from wearing out over time, making them feasable for these small parks. I'd LOVE for Intamin to get off their duffs and build a LSM version of the Schwarzkopf Shuttle loop. It would, I think, be a big win for small parks wanting to break into the big ride market. I would love to see any of these coaster companies that offer launching coasters provide a newer modern replacement launching system for the old Schwarzkopf shuttle coasters that would keep them running into the foreseeable future

I don't think it was long term maintenance costs as much as something that would have been very expensive to replace broke or was nearing the end of its life and they decided not to put that kind of money into an aging "unpopular" coaster.

And I am sorry but I lay part of the blame on the Tidal Wave's low ridership on Days Of Thunder being built and the entrance being so hidden and easy to miss if you didn't know where to look for it, perhaps if it had more riders the park would have been able to justify the expense of keeping it running

And seriously what is up with that face plant the cars do in the brake run was that really necessary

I don't know I think describing it as The Zipper strapped on a track works as well

I don't honestly think it would take that much to make it great look what they did to NTAG following its basic profile the same can be done with this coaster as well, the potential is there but will they tap into it is the question

Used to have a whole bunch of piercings but have taken them out over the years and am down to 5 earlobes and 2 cartilage

Got the Bag of crap thank you so much Robb and Elissa