willh51

This is not getting "scrapped." Period. That is tabloid fodder. As bad as it sounds, I hope it was human - fallable - error. I don't want the computer system to be at fault. That would be more devastating to the industry.

Awful, awful. I just hope everyone is OK. Perhaps the block was clear, and a train rolled back from the second lift? That would make it more of a mechanical issue. In any event, Alton and Gerstlauer will figure it out, and hopefully the victims will have a speedy recoveries.

Why not just slow both lifts if dispatching quickly is an issue? That would only really work if they want to give riders "one duel" per ride though.

Enjoying the Web cam this morning. I see Maverick running. The Rougarou crew was doing well until a train stopped on the MCBR. AAAAAND 15 minutes later she's free. Barely made it back to the station, but no valley!

^Not upset that KD didn't get Thunderhawk. Was that non-compete contract really true? I always thought that was an odd decision on B&M's part. I remember hearing that Alton Towers had something like that about their dive machine for a time, too. Very risky to limit your potential sales, but maybe B&M was willing to lose KD and SFA(?) as potential clients for a time. I really miss Huss. I hate that shit went south, and that a lot of parks got burned by their customer service. The Crypt looks great at KD, so hopefully they won't have a problem operating it in the future. As for Shockwave, I have no problem with it staying. It looks nice with that semi-new paint, and it's in a spot that likely won't be filled by a coaster. It isn't an absolute POS either.

^There is a testing video on YouTube where Tony Clark jokes about it but confirms it's not on. Rougarou is hauling with the hard wheels, too.

Several good coasters and an awful knock-off SLC. I wonder if the money men at this park have ever ridden a Golden Horse abomination?

It doesn't seem worth it to spend money converting Vortex. Unlike Rougarou, it has a short, simple layout and the stand-up trains are really the only thing that makes it unique. It's not a bad coaster, per se, but I definitely wouldn't drop a couple million on remodeling it. The park would be better off selling it to another, small park and putting a mega-lite, Mack mini-hyper or Lightnin' Run inspired coaster in its place.

I am really happy to hear both Drop Tower and Grizzly are open this early in the year. It seems like those rides were delayed till summer for the last couple of seasons. Funny about Hurler, as sometimes the KD version is far superior to Carowinds' ride. I guess they didn't do much off-season retracking this year. The Crypt is kind of awesome, and I really like the floorless Top Spin models. That little area of the park has some nice scenery, too. i305 tends to creep up on you. When TPR was there a few years ago I rode 10x in a row and REALLY felt it all over my body.

I did the Fly Away and was scared shitless. I was 100 percent sure I was going to throw up, fall out or both. Huss!

Looks great. I wonder if Cedar Point is happy with the paint job? The rails look awfully worn already.

Vortex, still have. https://www.knotts.com/rides/Thrill-Rides-1-5-12-42/Rip-Tide

Just found some home video from the late nineties. My cousin and I had a blast riding Phoenix over and over. It was crazy to see AXS in action. Power Surge replaced it but AXS was the superior ride.

Oops!

Any change in KK/Zumanjaro dispatches for 2015? Are they running together? What ride did Great Adventure valley?

The restraints are the same but Carowinds seems to require one more "click" on Intimidator than Busch does on Apollo. This was an informal survey, of course.

^I think it was Goliath at SFOG in 2006. That was $20 million. The next season, someone in Six Flags upper management mentioned how they wouldn't be adding rides like that for a long time, as that is what got them into debt.

I meant to chime in earlier but I don't even want to hear that s**t about removing Thunder Road. It's running better than ever and I bet they can figure out a way to expand the water park without tearing it down. Just spruce up that County Fair area for 2016. Maybe add a flat?

Fury looks amazing! And, unlike a park in Williamsburg, the marketing team absolutely killed it. When my 63-year-old mom knows about the ride, they've done something right.

WOW. Did not expect Intamin to make this.

MM also doesn't have an SLC and Scream never had black supports. But they photoshop stuff all the time, so no surprise.

Holy Huss! You'd think they'd be able to get parts for Topspin since they pretty much own half the Huss catalogue. I really like the look of that SLC much better than the standard model, though it looks slow.

Having to watch that pre-show a dozen times was crazy annoying, as was seeing the empty trains rolling by. On my second visit they actually let people walk straight through the room if they chose, which was much better. The drop on Zeppelin is great, but after the cobra roll it was forgettable. And there was DEFINITELY some misalignment of the piece of track after the midcourse, the whole train shuffled diving into that helix.

I went Sunday on opening weekend of Intimidator and it was fine. Great operations meant a 20 minute line.