Skramp

I thought it might be fun to post some weird Google Earth images in a thread and see what everyone else has. I was going to post in the random thread, but figured a lot of images might be park or coaster related so I put it here. Feel free to post anything you want that you think is funny. Lazy river at Carowinds, looks really inviting!!!!

Sue happy? It's not frivolous when there's a legit reason to sue. If Cedar Fair didn't already offer to pay for all the costs related to this, I would sue too! I kind of understand what he's referring to. I agree about your comments, but I think what he might be referring to is the reasonable vs. ridiculous lawsuits that happen. I agree a lawsuit is warranted here and in every accident, but the problem is with the lawyers that get ahold of these cases. I've been yelled at on here about making almost identical comments, but I don't know if I ever explained my thoughts on it. The problem with our society is not that they sue for the right reasons, they sue for the right reasons but try to make substantial monetary gains from it. I'll give two scenarios. #1-Injured on Wildcat. Suing for 50k for medical costs and 50k for emotional distress/pain and suffering. #2-Injured on Wildcat. Suing for 50k for medical costs and 3.5 million for emotional distress/pain and suffering. #1 is realistic and valid, #2 is absolutely absurd. The problem is situations like #2 happen all the time. I know you can't put a dollar amount on pain and suffering, but really? Come on, do you think it's worth that much? How could a judge not throw that out. It's not just amusement parks either. Remember the judge in DC last year that was suing for like 20 million for his pants not being ready at the dry cleaners? Or the lady who spill McDonald's coffee on her? Those are the kind of lawsuits that ruin our country. They don't happen all the time, but there is enough that go on that it makes our judicial system look ridiculous most of the time.

Here's another great example of CF showing originality!! Same colors as Wicked Twister? Why o' why? How about purple supports with orange track? That would look nice and fit the name, but the exact same as WT? I just don't get it. Sorry.

Nice PTR!!! "Gyro Tree" best pic/quote of the year so far!!

But if you look at the wall on SheiKra, it is at least 6 ft tall (look at the workers standing next to it), while the wall on the new KI ride can only be about 3ft tall max. That's why I was saying I'm not sure if it will be a true splashdown, or just a run down the middle of the pond. I just don't think the wall between the pond and the track is high enough for a splashdown.

^Very well written post and I agree completely with your descriptions as that's also what I've seen happen.

Haha!!! ^Post of the month right there!!!!!!

I wasn't going to get involved in this thread because it seemed like a bunch of bitching and whining, but I have to say something about your ticket price comment. CP=42.95 (for 1 day!) 29.00 for Soak City (for 1 day!) Universal=79.99 (for IOA and Universal Studios for 7 days!!) Disney=71.00 So yes, CP does charge less for 1 day at the park, but with what Universal gives you it's horrible. Universal's pass is valid for 7 days at 80.00 making it just over 10.00 a day. We all know what experience you get at Disney so the price is valid. I would be almost any park over CP based on one point, once they get your money they don't care at all about you. They have tons of trash cans which few use, they have minimal bathroom facilities, which are always in abysmal shape and they do nothing to alleviate lines for rides. Why would I want to pay 43.00 to go wait in line for 10 hours to ride 2 rides? That seems like a complete waste of money. Leaving their "Rain Policy" aside, CP, actually CF as whole shows no concern for their customers once they get their money at the front gate. And I have never stayed at the Breakers, but I will say there is a nice EconoLodge right outside Pennisula Dr that's like 34.95 a night or something. Stay there, it's a great value. But overall Thom25, I would say your arguments here are completely invalid and you're showing no concrete evidence to back up any of your points

Found this on ScreamScape, Dubailand Master Plan. Not a whole lot of info, but still some fun stuff.

I don't think that could be a splashdown. The height of the walls doesn't seem high enough for the train to come close to the water. If you estimate that a piece of track is about 3 ft tall from bottom of spine to top of rails, those walls look no more than 2ft tall. Could just be a fly over or possibly a tunnel, but doesn't seem like a splashdown to me.

The theming on both versions looks amazing. Incredible attention to detail. As a huge Simpsons fan, can't wait to get to Florida and check it out. Thanks for the pics Robb. I see what you mean about it looking weird in 3D, those couple pics from Universal do look strange. But, great report!!

Yes, you are correct. What I was more referring to is that things like this cause people to get outrageous and sue for anything, especially the stupid stuff. What if someone breaks their finger on a roller coaster because they are goofing off and trying to get free of the harness? Nowadays, you could find a lawyer to sue anyone for your own stupidity, that's what I was referring to. And as far as the elevator thing, it was just an example. I knew the first person to respond to my post would be Jaco, just because he has nothing better to do, I believe his signature states all we need to know about him, but anyway, it was just an example of how if something like that happened, the media would completely blow it out of proportion (like the SFKK accident) and cause mass hysteria all around while the actuals numbers are greatly less than what they make it seem. That's what I was getting at.

You know, I'm all for better safety standards and all, but this interview seems like overkill and what really makes theme parks "seem" unsafe and gives the GP the wrong impressions. I feel very sorry for the girl. But seriously, you know going into a theme park, that you are riding on engineered devices that constantly push the limits. If there was suddenly a rush of elevator cables snapping and elevators plummeting in skyscrapers, would we be having these same types of things happening? It seems like they are using the girl and her injury as a jump start to accomplish their own goals. Yes, she got hurt and that's horrible, should it have happened? No, but will it happen again, yes, probably. There is no way to prevent accidents from happening, hence the name accidents. It just bugs me in this sue happy country that things like this get so blown out of proportion. You are at risk anytime you go anywhere of getting hurt or losing your life. That's called life. Not to be a downer, but just seems like they are completely blowing it out of proportion and this Senator or whoever is writing this new bill is using this little girl's injury to jump start his career and gets his name recognized.

American is still there. The rides that are left can still be seen from the road. An RV dealership bought the site and you can see everything behind their setup. Fantasy Farm is still there but a little harder to make out everything. Many of the buildings are still there, but you have to try really to find anything there.

So looking at pics on KI Central, here are my guesses so far. Not sure how correct I am, but seems like the lift hill will go up the right side with the station being on the left. Looks like the splashdown/pond will exit right into the station. Out of the station you will turn left behind the theatre and head to the lift hill. Anyone with more info might be able to provide more details.

Wow!! Looks like they are really putting alot of work and money into it. There really isn't much in the Columbus area for waterparks, you either have to go to KI or CP for that. There's a hotel that opened an enclosed waterpark, but people have said it's not that good. This should be good for the central OH area, as long as Marc Dann doesn't mess it up. (Us Ohioans will get that joke!!)

Here's what you can see left of it in Google Earth.

This is a pretty stupid story. I don't see how you could ever assume it was a good idea. I know in the southwestern ohio area, we have a huge problem also with copper wire theft. But, we take the cake with some serious morons trying to do it. There were a bunch of abandoned buildings broken into and the wiring was pulled from them and I guess sold. Here's the best one though, in the old Reynolds and Reynolds building, theives tried to steal all the power wiring including the main line coming into the building, but they forgot to check to make sure it wasn't live. Well, two of them died by grabbing a bare copper main power line. So now in Dayton, you have to give them a state ID when you sell scrap metal so they can track it. Damn economy!!

Honestly...GOOD! I'm glad they took them down. If a park has a "no camera on a ride" policy then they SHOULD be going after people who sneak cameras on ride and post them on YouTube. I can't tell you how many times I've been told by Six Flags or Cedar Fair to make sure no one at any of our events takes a camera on a coaster, but yet they don't go after the THOUSANDS of non-enthusaists that took their camera on a coaster and posted it to YouTube. --Robb I wasn't complaining about Universal. I completely agree, understand and like that they go after people who post their stuff. I'm just mad I didn't get to check it out before they took it down. I completely respect any group that goes after YouTube vids and users. It's ridiculous the amount of crap that's on there and that's what makes it so hard to find and remove all the illegal ones.

Ahh, to walk in your father's footsteps. Wouldn't it be better if he was jumping a huge pool of Beverly? There would be some serious pain if he didn't clear it.

So, I was watching Roger & Me the other day and there was a part where they talk about AutoWorld being built to try to revitalize downtown Flint, MI. I looked on the 'net' and didn't find a whole lot about it. Does anyone have any memories or stories about it? I found it funny that the town, that was already in a complete economic mess, spent over $100 million (1984 $'s) to build this hoping it would rejuvenate their tourist industry (in Flint MI?) and the place was only open for 6 months!! Sounds kind of like the western amusement park recently that did about the same thing. But, from the little bit I could find out, they hired SF to manage and plan it. But it was more a museum attraction type place with not much amusement park in it. Just wondering what others knew about it.

Thanks Universal!!! Now the vids are completely gone. I understand their reasoning, but damn, do they have to move so fast to take them down!!

Looks pretty sweet. Knowing CF, maybe KI is getting a clone next year. Was it just me or did anyone notice what looks like a camera mount on the front of the train? I swear it's there!! Anyway, looks pretty nice, should be a great family coaster as it doesn't seem too intense and no inversions. Hope you had fun!

Not sure if you could say what type of coaster that track belongs to (dive, hyper or what.) But looks like it's ready for a midseason installation. I would venture to say that if it is for KI, they are going to have to start installing it soon. Those of us near KI know how harsh the winter months are so I can't see having it painted and ready to go, then letting it sit all winter. This factory produces track for so many coasters, hard to pinpoint exactly who it's for. I think it's too early to speculate.

Ahahahahahah!!!! Man Wes, sometimes you are truly magical!!! I agree, KI really has no unused space that they could build on, I mean it's not like they took a safari attraction years ago and just have a vast "jungle" of space that is open for future development. I mean that would be perfect if they had an area say 1/3 the size of the current park where they could continue to expand. I mean if they had something like that, who knows what they could do. But, onto the real topic, I think the one thing everyone in the past three pages who have been arguing are forgetting is this, if you look at parks within certain chains, you will notice patterns. Let's look at a few: Busch parks- Much more than rides. Heavily themed areas and beautiful gardens. Areas are planned to sprawl and not overlap too much. Rides are spaced out. Disney parks- Well, what more can be said. Cedar Fair- Parks aren't really themed. Rides are usually crammed into certain areas and overlap greatly. If you look at the way a group designs most of their parks you will see trends, that's why alot of parks are different. But if you look at CP, Knotts and Dorney, you notice a lot of the same design structures in place across the board. Just my two cents.