redfoot12

Oh boo-hoo. Thats cute that you're just now nearing a seven 7 coaster drought after i305. I am certain after visiting this year that you are doing just fine with your collection. KD's turn to get something big? Who's the cycle through ( because obviously its not all the parks)? Were i305, Dominator, Volcano, Soak City, or Derilium not big enough / requested enough moves to satifsy you? The big parks have taken many turns and the samll parks are still waiting on their turn. Don't like KD? Go to BGW. Don't like either? Go to SFA for all I care. Dont like any of them? Well congrats. You can live like me, with no home park (after moving here, that is). Good points. I lived in Richmond most of my life and just moved to Colorado where I guess I could now claim Elitch Gardens as my home park (or Lakeside). I knew I was moving from an area with a really good amusement park 20 minutes away and a great theme park 45 minutes away to the land of mediocrity.

You're not supposed to say this. It will feed into my fantasies about KD getting an Intamin over a wing rider.

If I were to put aside my enthusiast glasses, I think a wing rider would be a great addition to the park. They're high-capacity rides that look impressive and the GP seem to love them. Assuming KD's opened in 2017, it would be the first one on the East Coast with the closest one being six and a half hours away (Wild Eagle). That said, if KD gets a B&M I'd really prefer an inverted. If I'm going full-on enthusiast, I'd love to see an Intamin. Just curious, but someone earlier in this thread stated that Kings Dominion still has a good relationship with Intamin. Anyone know the basis for that statement? I'm assuming the park has to have some sort of relationship with Intamin because of support for I305, Volcano, and Drop Tower. I'm not sure beyond this why the relationship might be better than any other Cedar Fair park. Someone may have mentioned Pat Jones saying this but I'm not sure that she would come right out and say publicly, "Yeah. Our relationship with Intamin is currently in the toilet."

Personally, I DO think the three B&M Wing Coasters I have ridden are "Great" coasters (GateKeeper and Thunderbird are at least - X-Flight is "Very Good"), and the GP seems to eat them up as well! Why, just the other week my wife went with a group of people to CP, all but one of them who were new to GK, and they all thought it was a "great" coaster. The ONLY place I have seen any less than stellar opinions of the rides are in "enthusiast" circles... Guilty

I think he's talking about a TPR poster, carolinacaniac.

^Yeah. It's best not to read the GTA lists or take them too seriously. Magnum being ranked higher than I305 and Maverick is faulty

Yeah--the title of that video was misleading. Ride op was doing fine.

I still hope to make it to this park next year, flyers or not. I'm thinking of an expansive trip--VF, Nick, Wisconsin Dells, Adventureland, SFStL, and WoF--all of which will be new to me. Couple of questions... Is Arnold's worth going out of the way for? Is Excalibur still being seen as going away sometime soon?

But two family launcheds in one park? Unlikely. I was thinking of something more along the lines of Blue Fire or Helix than Manta.

Fun stuff. Enjoying the updates--keep it up!

Yeah. People are disgusting.

Who's to say they couldn't add another? It's not like there's a rule that states a park can't have too many of a certain type of coaster. With Hypersonic, they actually once had more launched coasters than they currently have. Anyway, I was really reminded of B&M when I rode Manta, very smooth and floaty with comfortable seats and restraints. If not Kings Dominion, other US parks should look into Mack.

So after riding Manta at Seaworld San Diego yesterday, I would love to see a Mack launching coaster for KD some day. Probably not going to happen, but just my 2 cents.

Excellent event! I really hope I'm able to do it next year!

I loved everything about Revolution except for the OTSR's when I rode it last year. Sorry I'll miss out on it this year but can't wait to see what the new trains are like! I hope the effects are a bit understated but I know this is Six Flags we're dealing with.

My biggest regret from that Texas trip is that I never went to Whataburger! Looks like a great trip! I may be going to SFFT in mid-October so I'll use this report as a guide for places to eat!

Intimidator is a scaled-up Mega-Lite. The entire layout is almost move-for-move a copy of Kawasemi or Piraten, with changes in hill size and orientation to deal with the huge difference in speed. I remember Robb posting videos of Intimidator 205 and a Mega-lite for comparison. The second hill under the lift is really the only thing they have in common. Also that first turnaround after the first drop.

Sounds like they already have that ride. It's called Backlot Stunt Coaster.

Well. That was an interesting 5-6 pages.

Can't wait to explore this topic in another month or two, but for now it's Cannibal. Really smooth and very impressed that this ride was done in-house. Next up will be Iron Reef, Twisted Colossus at WCB and, hopefully, Batman and Switchback in October (although I'll be looking more towards Iron Rattler)!

Who knows? Maybe Kings Dominion will shock the world by announcing an Intamin. I wouldn't mind something like Xcelerator to replace Hypersonic I don't mind the Vekoma family suspendeds. Maybe a new family coaster is on the slate for KD within the next 5 years. Who knows? I'd also like to hear more about Vekoma supposedly no longer making coasters in the US.

Wicked at Lagoon!

Well, I did my first visit to Lagoon this past weekend and I really enjoyed it. It was very crowded and after driving for 6 hours on 5 hours sleep I was exhausted. I left for my hotel at around 3pm and meant to return at around 6pm. Didn't quite work out as I overslept I returned to the park at 8 and got two night rides on Cannibal, two on Wicked, and a single ride in on Roller Coaster I intend to return to the park next year with some friends and hope to do all the stuff I missed as this trip was coaster-heavy. That said, I did all of the coasters except for Jet Star, which didn't allow for single riders. Cannibal was excellent and Lagoon should be proud to have such a unique attraction. I really enjoyed Wicked as well and was also surprised by Roller Coaster. I wasn't expecting much from this wooden and I rank it up there with Cornball Express and Yankee Cannonball for smaller woodies that pack quite the punch. Fun times and I can't wait to return next year!

Just curious, but as someone who only speaks English, how is it getting around the Dutch and German parks? I figure a lot of the shows would be lost on me.

Nice report so far! All of these parks are on my to-do list. The ambience of both parks so far is very appealing. I recently watched a pov of Baron 1898 and was really impressed with the layout. It almost looks like it could beat out the "bigger" Busch dive coasters I've been on. I'd also love to see how Colossos stacks up with El Toro.