WFChris

Haven't actually been on Manta, but I would go ahead and say its MUCH better seeing as how it has actual fans. Pony Express doesn't. It's awkwardly short.

Anyone can release a single for the radio...whether it gets played is another story...and whether anyone they're marketing to listens to the radio is another. That's not necessarily true, the vast majority of music you hear on the radio is not requested, rather, the record companies pay a fee to guarantee a specific number of plays per hour/day/week. If Six Flags or the artists record label pays to have the track play over and over again, then you will hear it over and over again regardless of what the public wants to hear. I've been thinking about this statement and how it can be labeled as 'first' and I truly believe this makes sense...these days you just buy your way into popularity....now that Clear Channel and CBS basically own the entire radio market.

Perhaps they are implying that this will be the first 'Roller Coaster Theme Song' that will be released as a single on the radio? I can't think of any RC theme songs that have gone that far yet...

I see the rockwork in the concept art. Hope this is a sign that some of it will stay!

CP will be cheaper and be more 'thrilling.' You can also take a day trip down to KI if you need more. It's a bit of a drive but doable. If you are going to Orlando for thrills I would consider going to BGT as well.

^I hope I'm not out of line but I think were supposed to be discussing newer items, not old patents. Always cool to read nerd stuff though, I'm loving the idea of this thread. So back on the floating omnimover, after reading the description I think the elevation changes would be more of a 'water to land' transition or vice versa, hense no need for a speed change when going up or down an incline. This makes more sense than what I was originally thinking. It definitely sounds like an upgrade to..say...the IASW system.

I know we all like being negative nancies around here when it comes to SFMM, but I would be hard pressed to think that one of the top 20 parks in the nation 'Doesn't care.' It's a huge park that's been mismanaged for years and it is hard to make any noticeable changes without spending lots of money. For every flowerbed Knotts replaces, SFMM has 20 that they have to fix to have the same end result. I would imagine its an incredibly tough property to manage...not to mention that it's a bit harder to lure people 25 miles out of the city as opposed to Knotts which is right in the middle of the urban sprawl. For reference: KBF had 3.65 million visitors in 2011 SFMM had 2.70 million visitors in 2011 Not quite '3 times the amount of visitors' but I guess I sorta kinda see your point. But I pretty much don't. They're two different parks.

^It does say Elev. 1 and Elev. 3, I would assume Elev. 2 is off the page, and I would also assume that Elev. means Elevation. Then again I am no engineer, I'm just trying to figure out how this concept works. I didn't really care at first but for some reason it's been bugging me!

So anyway, I'm having trouble grasping the concept of the boat omnimover patent. I guess I don't understand how it will change elevation in a water setting without changing speeds....or even if it did, what the point of that would be without any acceleration or sense of speed while dropping. The concept of the waves is very cool, a great setting for an updated PoTC attraction, I just don't get the concept of elevation changes with an omnimover boat based ride. The closest thing I can think of is IASW, but thats not an omnimover...and there are no elevation changes. Is this clearer to anybody else?

Those port towns all look a lot lamer than I imagined them to be.

Hey the last decade called, they want their thread back.

Regarding the AP price increase, I agree with others in the sentiment that if you don't like it, don't buy it. I hear Knott's is doing lots of things to encourage disgruntled Fanboys to transfer their loyalty, so go there. I pay for the lowest end pass (I'm in that grey area where AP people think I'm cheap and online people think I'm a fanboy), and I think it's totally worth it. I wouldn't go on the blackout days anyway because I work weekends, and I don't like massively packed parks. So thats that. There are two parks, which is double that of any other local theme park. So you can look at it as if you are paying $134.50 per park. That's not unreasonably higher than the other parks prices compared to what you are getting. This year, Disneyland has really went over the top with their AP offerings so far. Last month they had the whole Frontierland thing for passholders, this month they are doing the 2 extended hours every Thursday at DCA. Something new is promised every month and I think that's very cool. It seems like they are trying to fill the calendar with AP events so we are a) encouraged to visit more often, and b) visit on days that have lower guest volume. I particularly enjoy the fact that you have to arrive at Noon for a better chance at getting a wristband for the extended hours. It encourages visiting the park for the whole day instead of hanging out looking for things to complain about for a few hours. Brilliant. We get discounts at Disney hotels, usually around 20% Universal? Knotts? Six Flags? Hello? You get a gift at the end of the year. How nice. Disneyland is an upscale experience. They offer things that other parks don't or cant. I pay $134.50 per park, the equivalent of less than 2 single day tickets each. Where is there room for complaining? Chris "I would pay $269 for a Splash Mountain AP" DeRosa

I don't think the slingshots are ugly, including SFMM's. They are an affordable way to add to the skyline of the park while using a small footprint and upcharging guests. It's all the rage. And how is a trailer model possibly more attractive than SFMMs, anyway? iRat looks amazing. That drop is something else.

^I was JUST going to post about Alpengeist's cobra roll as you put this up! And you know what, I will anyway with a train in it...shows off how BIG this element is!

Pleasant: The Swinging Cars on Mickeys Fun Wheel. Seriously. I don't exactly go to the Disney Resort for thrills, but this ride totally raised our heartbeats a bit. I think we were more 'thrilled' by this than Tower or Screamin'. Yes. Really. Unpleasant: Hyping up the best woodie on the west coast, Ghostrider, and taking my first ride on it in over 10 years to find that it has turned into Psyclone the 2nd. Because of that piece of junk, one of my friends outright refuses to ride woodies, including brand new awesome enthusiast bait woodies.

If anything, these youtube videos that get released have largely replaced the NEED for fact sheets. Who cares if a ride is 2317 feet long 1 vertical loop 1 camel back 3 launches yadda yadda yadda.... ....when you can SEE the whole thing in the video? Back in the day, the stats were all the info you had about the new ride, except maybe a crude diagram or a cheesy press rendering. With such a simple ride, I don't think anybody needs to know the exact length or other useless stats when now-a-days we can just view the video. 'Oh. It's THAT long.'

I have no idea what the WF in my screen name stands for.

^^LOL, yes! Back when I was a little kid, I discovered that you can call theme parks and have them send you a press kit, or something similar. I ended up calling every Six Flags theme park I could find the phone number to, and I got all kinds of cool stuff in the mail. Postcards, park maps, typewritten press releases, stickers and other stuff. I got in a good deal of trouble for all of the long distance charges I accumulated. This was before I realized that the word 'enthusiast' existed. Ahhhh...the good ol' days.

I kinda miss the days where we actually had to ride the new ride to enjoy it. This 'Wheres my POV' conversation is stupid. Seriously, the announcement video provides more than enough information as to EXACTLY how the ride is going to go. Why do you need more?

I can see the reclining seats being used briefly for some kind of 'warp speed' simulation.

Fun report. Thanks for posting it!

I saw Cars 2 a few times on HBO, and I think it was good in the same way that Speed Racer was. Fun to look at but not very deep. I think I would have been disappointed if I went to a theater to see it as watching it on television felt appropriate. Then again, I have never really been a fan of Disney sequels beyond Toy Story. I mean, most if not all of them fall flat when compared to the original, and most of them went straight to video as well.

Wall-E and Up were both pretty boring to me. Those movies are actually why I stopped going to theaters to see Pixar movies. And the Up and Wall-E segments in 'World of Color' are short and useless as well.

You know, I have never been on a wacky worm.

With my limited west coast exposure, my favorite is still "The" Drop on Ghostrider, circa 1999.