chickenbowl

You're kidding right? All they've come up with a is a concept, how could have they failed already? Here's why they've succeeded even with a concept and early ride development. First they are clearly advertising this to small parks that don't have the massive amounts of land to put in a thrill ride. Secondly, with one track, there's less material, and less costs. This is great for parks that don't have huge budgets. This is clearly the first generation, who knows where this will lead. We never thought we'd see a launching wooden coaster, but we have one now. Who's to say this design doesn't eventually evolve into a launch coaster, giving the current small footprint launching coaster manufacturers some competition. This is a win for RMC and a Win for some of the smaller, not as well know amusement parks looking for an economical option to give coaster enthusiasts and General public. Yeah.... I was making fun of the user I quoted. He was telling us to chill when nobody said anything un-chill whatsoever. I'm a huge RMC fan-boy.

Simply disgusting. Thanks for the update

How can I be chill when RMC clearly designed this in roller coaster tycoon?!?! This is easily the WORST RMC layout to-date and its a worse parking lot coaster than Scream! I mean, who's even going to come out to this place to ride it, it's not even at a Theme Park... I haven't even seen a clever marketing campaign for this thing either. RMC has FAILED big time.

Here's a video they released for potential/prospective clients re: Raptor Here

I can't tell if you're serious or not? In case you are, yes, almost every manufacturer in the industry does some form of this

Woah

*Due to late-season openings becoming the norm lately, I'm going to count "debut season" as the first 12 months of operation. 2002: Technic Coaster - Legoland* 2005: Silver Bullet - KBF* Space Mountain - Disneyland 2006: Tastu - SFMM (opening week) 2008: Sierra Sidewinder - KBF* Big Spin - SFDK (opening week) 2009: Apocalypse - SFMM 2011: Green Lantern - SFGAdv Gotham City Gauntlet - SFNE Green Lantern - SFMM Road Runner Express - SFMM 2012: Manta - SWSD (opening day!) Skyrush - Hershey Verbolten - BGW Wild Eagle - Dollywood Superman Ultimate Flight - SFDK 2013: YOLOcoaster - SFMM Coast Rider - KBF Gold Striker - CGA 2014: Undertow - SCBB* Escape From Gringott's - USO Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - WDW Speedy Gonzales - SFMM (opening week) 2015: Twisted Colossus - SFMM (Before opening to the public!) Batman The Ride - SFFT Rewind Racers - Adventure City 2016: Flight of the Hippogriff - USH Valravn - Cedar Point Spinning Out - Beech Bend Storm Chaser - Kentucky Kingdom Coaster at Goats on the Roof - Pigeon Forge Phobia Phear Coaster - Lake Compounce Flying Dinosaur - Universal Studios Japan Joker - SFDK 2017: Lightning Rod - Dollywood* Mako - SeaWorld Orlando* Not sure if I'll be getting anymore in 2017

Here's my list of any coasters that I've ridden that have a height and/or drop over 200ft / in the style of hyper/mega/whatever. Ignore whichever coasters you don't think fit. 1. Lightning Rod 2. Intimidator 305 3. Skyrush 4. Mega-Lite (style??) 5. Fury 325 6. Superman the Ride 7. Behemoth 8. Mako (Rode this last week, it's great!) 9. Diamondback 10. Goliath (SFOG) 11. Millennium Force 12. Nitro 13. Leviathan 14. Diving Coaster (Happy Valley) 15. SheiKra 16. Steel Dragon 2000 17. Griffon 18. Superman el Ultimo Escape 19. Goliath (La Ronde) 20. Intimidator 21. Hollywood Dream (Why not include all the B&M hypers?) 22. Raging Bull 23. Xcelerator 24. Top Thrill (lol) 25. Apollo's Chariot 26. Valravn 27. Magnum XL-200 28. Thunder Dolphin 29. Steel Eel (baby hyper) 30. Kingda Ka 31. Speed - The Ride (Defunct, but well over 200ft) 32. Desperado 33. Titan 34. Goliath (SFMM) 35. Mr Freeze (SFOT) 36. Superman: Escape from Krypton (is this even a coaster?) 37. Wicked Twister 38. Manhattan Express/Big Apple Coaster In N.A. I'm still missing Phantom, Mamba, Steel Force, Wild Thing, SFStl's Mr Freeze, Cannibal

BOOOIIIIII. You better check them sources before claiming stuff, lol. You should read that post again... Maybe you should? He said B&M doesn't use the term "hyper"... just saying. No, he said B&M don`t use the term hyper on their dive coasters and other looping coasters that are 200+ feet tall... Ah, I didn't see the word looping. I do agree that "hyper" is a style and not necessarily defined as 200-299 or whatever. The discussion has happened like 3 times on this thread already

BOOOIIIIII. You better check them sources before claiming stuff, lol. You should read that post again... Maybe you should? He said B&M doesn't use the term "hyper"... just saying.

BOOOIIIIII. You better check them sources before claiming stuff, lol.

Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone. I wish everyone luck in riding Lightning Rod this season. I just want to reiterate that this coaster is insane - Better than any other North American RMC, better than any other North American B&M, better than any other North American Intamin - Every enthusiast NEEDS to ride this ASAP.

I thought the stage move was to alleviate congestion in the old area. Having the new coaster go around the front of Calico Mine Ride and over the train seems really intrusive... Who knows though?

^ That's hilarious! Good on them for being good sports about it!

Using that argument, you could argue that Mind Eraser at SFNE is a new credit this year because it got brand new trains with a different experience - It's not a different credit. Re-names and re-themes do not constitute new credits either. Sure, and it's worth noting the new experience, but it's definitely not a new credit. The track is exactly the same. coaster-count.com counts marks each iteration as the equivalent of riding a relocated credit (which is also not a new credit) - I think that's a fair way of counting it. Interesting. OMG who gives a f***!??! You're so much better than us - How do I get to be as cool as you? We're all just so lame, discussing roller coasters on a theme park website. Please just tell me how to be as cool as you! EDIT: But seriously? If you don't care about credits, why comment? Why such an elitist attitude towards fellow geeks? You're also cruising a theme park website everyday just like the rest of us, get over yourself.

Where's this rumor coming from?

Lightning Rod. Like many of you that visited Dollywood in 2016, I was simply out of luck (You can read about that a few pages back). But after hearing more reviews, I knew I must return. That return was this past weekend - Flying across the country to ride this thing. There's never been a coaster I desired to ride more - Wooden, intense, terrain-based, airtime-focused, fast as hell - All the ingredients for MY type of ride. It's been a long two years of anticipation, but I finally got my chance. I was sure that I built this coaster up past any reasonable tier of expectation, but no. Simply put, this coaster is perfect. 10/10. Instant Classic. Dare I say, the best coaster I've ever ridden? All it took was one ride to know. It started with the first train of the day in the front car with my friends. As soon as we hit the launch, all stress from the past year dissipated. I was laughing hysterically the whole ride, confused that something this crazy actually exists. We rode 4 more times and it only got more insane!! Lightning Rod is one of the most intense coasters I've ever ridden, sitting among the Intamin trio: I305, Maverick, and Skyrush. This coaster has the best pacing of any coaster I've ridden. It's unbelievably fast from start to finish and it never ever lets up. The full drop in the back seat is the perfectly sustained ejector. The wave turn is way better than expected, pulling you in directions that don't make sense. The "twist and shout" hill is almost too intense. That quad down is the best thing I have ever experienced on a ride. The airtime is beyond forceful - you're being ripped from the train with such force that the entire element became a blurry haze of intense airtime! The "non-inverted half loop" has the craziest positives RMC has ever attempted. Lightning Rod is truly my dream coaster, and I can't believe that it's real! If you like airtime, and haven't ridden Lightning Rod, you NEEED to! Not only is this my favorite wood coaster, it's my favorite roller coaster EVER. My current RMC rankings: 1. Lightning Rod 2. Outlaw Run 3. Medusa Steel Coaster 4. Iron Rattler 5. Twisted Colossus 6. New Texas Giant 7. Joker 8. Storm Chaser 9. Wicked Cyclone 10. Goliath ...Only missing Wildfire now. We also had a couple more days to do other fun stuff in the Southeast this weekend so we did SFOG and SeaWorld Orlando! Mako was excellent, one of the best B&M hypers - the first half is amazing in the front row! Incredibly re-rideable coaster! [RMC #10] Back to Tennessee. All is quiet before the storm. Watching people riding is a sight for sore eyes. It's stupid how fast the train comes careening down this element. Here's the station, simply-themed, but it works! As much of a meme it is, Cinnamon Bread seriously is the second best thing in the park. I had the most heavenly morning of my life between this and Lightning Rod. It's basically impossible to get any other pictures, but here's another one! I love how green everything is out here! Here's the team, CA to TN. So worth it! The train travels up this element faster than seems possible. Crazy positives into airtime to end this magnificent ride. Can't get enough of this view. That launch is so nice You really can't see much of this coaster from the park. I love the terrain interaction Sunday morning we drove down to Atlanta. I LOVE the location of this coaster right outside the park. But the forecast was stormy and not looking good. Testing is a good sign though. We ended up with a couple rides on this before it shut down for the rest of the day. Not as fast as I remember from 2012, but still one of the better hypers! These last airtime hills are so fun! This thing was hauling in the rain, Super enjoyable ride. PS - I didn't get a picture of GA Cyclone, but that thing was hauling also! The drop off the turn around above the station in the back is one of the gnarliest moments of airtime after. It bruised me so bad that I still have a limp 3 days later... Boring. Slow. Lame. Overall our day was cut short by a huge storm. We rode 7/11 coasters and unfortunately missed Mind Bender. We will get it next time! Just slightly exhausted, but thrilled to be here! The first half of this ride in the front row is so damn good. Sustained floater over that first hill. And that speed hill is amazing! Our goal was to ride Mako a few times. Oh my god, this coaster is a LOT of fun! Monday morning we made the quick 6-hour drive through Trump-land to get to SeaWorld for a couple hours before dropping off the rental and flying home! SeaWorld is so good at making their coasters fit naturally in the park. We got 12 rides over the 2.5 hours at the park! And one ride on this guy! Easily the most photogenic coaster ever! Up next: Who knows? Mean Streak? Wildfire? Hurler? Something Else? We will see.

That's as arbitrary as OTSRs to lap bars, in my opinion. Take Momongo Standing and Loop Coaster for example. You can ride this coaster today on a stand-up train, or a sit-down train. Does that makes riding each train a different credit? I don't think so.

Using that argument, you could argue that Mind Eraser at SFNE is a new credit this year because it got brand new trains with a different experience - It's not a different credit. Re-names and re-themes do not constitute new credits either. Sure, and it's worth noting the new experience, but it's definitely not a new credit. The track is exactly the same. coaster-count.com counts marks each iteration as the equivalent of riding a relocated credit (which is also not a new credit) - I think that's a fair way of counting it. So what about the great nor ester at MP? New track and new trains Maybe if most of the track was completely replaced? But my understanding is that only a couple of sections were touched. But yeah, that's much closer to a new credit than Rougarou. *In my conservative coaster counting opinion of course. You guys can do whatever you want, credits don't matter.

Using that argument, you could argue that Mind Eraser at SFNE is a new credit this year because it got brand new trains with a different experience - It's not a different credit. Re-names and re-themes do not constitute new credits either. Sure, and it's worth noting the new experience, but it's definitely not a new credit. The track is exactly the same. coaster-count.com counts marks each iteration as the equivalent of riding a relocated credit (which is also not a new credit) - I think that's a fair way of counting it.

New trains =/= new credit. Superman: Escape from Krypton is not a new credit. Blue Hawk is not a new credit. Y'all are stretching it pretty far to say Rougarou is a new credit.

Open again today... MY GOD. Rode front row first train, how can a coaster be that good? Instantly #1 Wood coaster... It's perfect

Sure, Tennessee Tornado, Thunderhead, Wild Eagle, Mystery Mine and Firechaster Express are all great rides so you should have a great time riding them, and have you tried the cinnamon bread? It's delicious! ... how did I do? Those coasters are fine and dandy, but I just rode all of them recently and I'm not flying across the country for them. It's easier to enjoy everything else when you've at least experienced the thing you came to ride. And you can all call me stupid for booking tickets to essentially ride ONE coaster, but in all honesty there's nothing I'd rather ride in the country. I thought after 5 weeks of consistent operations I'd be fine, Oh well. Anxiety lives on.

Speculating on this will always get a bit out of hand, none of us really know anything. But look at some of the facts this way: 1. A guest services employee said this was "scheduled maintenance" - This closure wasn't unplanned. 2. They closed the ride on Monday AFTER being open all weekend. They must see the value in weekend operations. These two facts make me think that this won't be a long-term closure, but maybe I'm just projecting my own hopes and dreams of my weekend at the park PS - Can everyone please send me good vibes this weekend?? Much thanks!

Vertical construction has started! Hoping to see the full layout soon! Anticipating this one for sure