MagicMountainMan

^I never ate there either. For some reason it was the only place in the park I never actually ate at and now I'll never get the chance... Oh well.

I've been on Indy at least 50 times and have yet to see that effect in person. I've heard that there are a few other effects that Disney hasn't kept up, either. I'm curious to know more! Indy ripoff or not, I'd love to ride this ride! Indy has to be one of my favorite rides of all time and a different version would be even better! I need to visit Lotte World and Tokyo Disney...

I agree, children's ride doesn't speak 'coaster' to me. At least I hope not. I wouldn't call a THBS or TDK a children's ride, I'd be calling it a family ride.

Wow, those pictures are horrible! Those people would have been killed if they weren't so lucky. Those shredded brake fins are crazy, too. When I was there a week ago I didn't see those but there was a platform erected on the launch about 3/4 of the way up so I'm guessing that's where the brake fins were. They got destroyed. I wonder if Cedar Fair will end up suing Intamin like they did with Togo.

As much as I liked Chang and how it was the park's staple attraction, I think that Kentucky Kingdom is heading in a better direction. Like Robb said, last few times I was there, there was a ton of people in the water park and not that many in the actual 'theme' park, also. And they do get a ton of competition from King's Island and to a lesser extent, Holiday World, so maybe making it into a big water park and a smaller theme park would be a better direction/attract more people. Heck last time I was there I spent most of my time in the water park.

I visited the park two days ago and did some asking around. According to the guy who does the voice in the Jail, Xcelerator will most likely be down for a month or more so probably no Haunt for it. It's in need of repair, but the main reason is because of the state investigation, which according to him has not started yet and "you know the state, they'll get to it when they get to it". So I'm guessing that the ride can not technically open until the state deems it safe to open again and who knows how long that will be... Also, I got multiple vantage points looking at the launch track and the catch car was about 3/4 of the way up the launch and there was a type of scaffolding on the track sitting over it. Just past the station, one of the break fins was bent at the tip. Also, the launch cable was inside the housing in the track, but I'm guessing that maintenance or somebody might have moved the cable since the accident. I'm not really sure what any of this proves or means but it's what I saw. I must say that when I first saw the video I thought, "cable snap, that's it" but I didn't see the seat jerk and didn't really notice the smoke either. But now it seems that it was much more serious then just the cable snapping. I hope that the riders are okay and they get the correct compensation for their traumatic experience.

Wow what a freak accident. I'm actually going tomorrow with a friend for his birthday and maybe I'll be able to find out some more. Ghostrider is down, and now the park's best coaster is down! This is going to be really bad publicity for Knott's....

^What backstage area are you referring to? I don't have any real statistical information for you, but from my observation every time I go to the park the only up-charge attraction that gets any real ridership is Dive Devil. Cyclone 500 hardly draws anybody and add the fact that it's a costly ride to maintain, (gas, go-cart servicing, etc.) I don't see that it would be making too much money for the park, if any. I think that it would be a great space for a coaster or something else just to break up the monotony walking through that area. Before Terminator, you could walk from Deja Vu all the way to the Jet Stream/Gold Rusher area and you wouldn't hit a single free attraction. But who knows, I want Magic Mountain to surprise me!

^Yeah I agree with you, Freefall didn't clear hardly any space. But if they took out Tidal Wave and used Batman's extended queue (I hope they don't it's actually very nice) it would be a decent plot of land for a medium sized coaster. But again, this same area was the rumored place for Terminator as well as other attractions I'm sure. Personally I'd rather see the park take out Cyclone 500 and put something else there, but that's just me. This is maybe the one time since I've really been following Magic Mountain where I really don't have a clue as to where a good place for a coaster would be. It seems like there was always at least one obvious spot where a coaster could go but now it's more of a mystery. It just adds to the suspense!

Cool! It sounds like Magic Mountain should have a pretty decent event this year and I have season passes so I'll have to go check it out. I haven't been to the Fright Fest for a few years now. I've always wondered how easy it would be to change the audio on X2 and Terminator. It would be cool if they could put a new track on for Fright Fest, or just in general (IMO the Terminator one isn't the greatest).

Wow, Carsland looks like it's going to be beautiful! All of that intricate rock work looks great and the ride is supposed to be the biggest that Disney has ever built? Awesome!

I rode the Voyage, Nitro, El Toro, Maverick, and Fahrenheit in the same trip over a span of about 15 days so I think that I can safely compare them. Granted, these are just my opinions. Voyage: It had airtime and a lot of it (I loved the hills going underground). However it wasn't as ejector as it was floater. I rode in both the front and the back and found that there really wasn't a 'magic spot' that gave me tons of airtime. A great ride with a lot of floater airtime. Nitro: Every hill had doses of floater airtime and the best hill was probably the hill coming off of the MCBR. Definitely a front row ride because I found that there was more air in the front then in the back. Another good, floaty ride. El Toro: If you ride it in the back, your life will never be the same. This is the definition of ejector airtime. By the end of the ride your thighs will be raped from being flung up against the lap bar so hard. The first drop and hill before the tight turns are particularly memorable. Easily the most airtime I've ever experienced. Maverick?: Why do people say this ride has tons of airtime? The first drop is great, but it's over in about a second. The only other spots that I can think of that really have any air is the bunny hill and the hill coming out of the launch (which is trimmed). When I look at Maverick I don't think 'airtime' I think crazy. Fahrenheit: The first drop is great, I loved it. The Norwegian loop also creates a bit of floater air. The best part of the ride airtime-wise was the last hill before the turnaround into the breaks, it completely dominated my whole body. The first time I rode it I was not expecting it at all. Overall I think that El Toro would win a competition for airtime by a decent amount. There's ejector air on every hill and the last hill before the turns is pure insanity. I'm not taking away from the Voyage, it's a great ride, but I think that El Toro has more, and better, airtime.

^If you're 6' or over it kills your shoulders, well at least from my personal experiences. Very good trip report and very funny!

Yeah my bad, I get them both mixed up all of the time and I'm not sure why. Probably because my other favorite coaster was Forester by Buster.

Why would Magic Mountain bother getting different trains for Goliath when they could be spending that money elsewhere? If you think about it, a B&M hyper wouldn't work because they would have to redo all of the catwalks for proper clearance etc. and if the train is substantially heavier or lighter all of the timing and braking would have to be redone. There are probably a million more things that would have to go into changing trains on Goliath too....

^ Benches are large investments? And yes, they are in the process of going through bankruptcy.

Great point B&M I do agree with you on that. I was only arguing weather or not Bizarro was a better ride than Scream! is. I too would rather see SFMM spend more money on maintaining the park then a re-do of Scream because what you said is true, after all is said and done, a few years down the road people won't even remember that Scream! got re-done. To them it would probably just be a decent coaster that they would ride once or twice and then head over to a headliner attraction like X2 or Goliath. To me it seems like adding anything but a family coaster or a very extreme coaster is like throwing money out the window. Sure they added Terminator this year but it was needed due to the lack of a woodie. But I think that if next year they add a half decent coaster (not a big 'headliner' attraction) they are shooting themselves in the foot. It would suffer the same fate a Scream re-do would, people would be interested in it for the first year or two and then completely forget about it after that. It might sound bad but I really do believe that Magic Mountain does need another 'headliner' coaster in the park to get people back. I don't think that most people are really going to care if they get a version of THBS or something else. For example, if SFMM spent 2010 and 2011 putting all of its money into improving the park (a few flats here and there too) and then in 2012 put in a coaster that is bound to draw people it might have the effect of "wow I don't remember it being so nice here". Too many people in L.A. are still under the mindset that Magic Mountain is gangbanger heaven. To an extent it still is. Basically I believe that adding anything else but a major coaster is counter productive to Magic Mountain. Heck I'd be happier if they didn't add a coaster for the next few years like B&M said and then putting in a new 'staple' attraction to draw people in.

YES I've been on it! With proper upkeep, any effect could be working for years and years. It's just when a park decides to neglect the ride is when it starts to become dilapidated. And in SFMM's case I do not think that the new management is going to let that happen to any of the rides, let alone a new/refurbished one. And YES the flames still work on every ride (Termy and X2). So you're saying that on X2 you didn't think that the excellent on board audio or mist or fire improved the ride?

I do believe that anything in the shape of theming or multi-sensory effects will only improve Scream so why not have a go at it one of these years when there is nothing major being added to the park? It isn't going to hurt. But I assure you that Bizarro is a much more enjoyable ride than Scream is seeing as I have ridden them both in the past 3 months.

I respect your opinion too, but it was also a smoother ride than Scream is. I agree that Scream really isn't a ride that's going to knock your socks off but I think that it could be a very solid and enjoyable ride if management decided to introduce a Bizarro-like treatment. Sure, mist and fire only adds to the overall 'experience' like you said, but isn't it the experience that actually counts? It's like comparing X to X2. But as a stand alone ride, Scream and Bizarro both are only mediocre, there's just that fact that Bizarro has audio, fire, mist, and light effects alone with a smoother ride.

I've always been partial to Phyter's Thunderhead Falls, but maybe that's just me. [/i]

Um...do you remember Medusa ever being spoke highly of? I don't really recall SFGAdv Medusa ever being spoken highly of but the Bizarrro re-theme has really made the ride better. For one, the ride was smooth, it had decent audio, FIRE, and the mister through the corkscrews was pretty sweet. I'd say that with the redo it's one of the best rides in the park! And it's awesome at night. I actually enjoyed Bizarro much more then I have ever enjoyed Scream!.

The back. The front is really good, but the back is insane! All of the airtime hills are even better in the back and the Rolling Thunder hill is the single most amount of airtime I've ever experienced.

^I've never heard that one before. Maybe that's true though because it would make sense. I do think that if Scream was given the Bizarro treatment like at SFGAdv it would make it a lot better ride. (Maybe it would be possible to make it smoother?) Bizarro was a really fun ride, but then again I wasn't expecting much because it's a mirror image of Scream.

The whole competition is a joke, it reminds me of ESPN's Title Town USA. El Toro should be winning by a landslide.