RCoasterny

The evacuation system has me intrigued. I guess we all will have to wait until it's done to see how it is set up. The other 4 manufacturers that have built a vertical lift system all have a different system.

Back to the new stuff- To be honest, I was feeling a bit "meh" with the Giant Loop ride. I've ridden the carny versions many times, both the original with the cages and the open air versions. Why not something from Mondial (Top Scan, Diablo, Jet Force, or Ultra Max)? A Zamperla Air Race 8.4? A Zierer Star Shape? I really liked Darien Lake before the Premier/Six Flags take over. I haven't gone there since MotoCoaster was new.

I liked the twitter feed. It's nice to have a "go to" point to see all of your tweets in one spot, instead of having your tweets buried in everyone else's tweets that I'm following. I do have one minor nitpick: the font used in the buttons across the top of the page. I would prefer using a sans serif font, since the rest of the page uses sans serif font. The font kind of looks like an old 1980's font. :/ Someone mentioned a while back (on the 1st or 2nd page of comments) that there was a problem with scrolling. Just watch where your cursor is- once a scrollable window comes into focus with the cursor, that window starts scrolling. As long the cursor is out of any scrollable window, the entire page will scroll just fine.

I wonder if Larson had a booth, and did they display a Flying Turns car?

Wow! It's amazing how the next generation of the 4th Dimension coaster turns you into little kids!

Looks like the people who made the model discovered Faller... I don't think Bruch would give up their Schwartzkopf speed racer that easily...

I too loved Huss. My first experience with them was the Enterprise ride at Dorney Park. It then led to the Breakdance and the Condor ride at Morey's Pier in Wildwood. I've also ridden the Huss Flipper (Tornado that is currently traveling with the orange unit under Reithoffer Shows; it started out with the blue unit before it got transferred), North America's only Huss Magic at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Canada. Other Huss rides I've ridden: Top Spin (standard models), Troika, Airboat, Ufo, Rainbow, custom Rainbow (former Conestoga at Hersheypark), Ranger, the original Frisbee model, and Topple Tower. Marineland did take out their Topple Tower as well. It was an okay ride, did not have the aggressiveness that the Huss rides of the 80's had. That was their best time. The only news I've read was that they're bringing back the Condor ride into their portifolio, with a improved 2nd generation version. It's supposed to go to one of those Happy Valley parks in China for 2014.

Now the million dollar question is: who's the manufacturer? Huss? Zamperla? Intamin?

I thought it was that Knoebels was looking into buying Six Flags!

I wonder if the wild mouse would be a standard extended wild mouse, or Eberhard's Wilde Maus XXL that's going around the european fair circuit?

On a happier note- Knoebel's doing fine. The creek did not overflow.

And, it's in! http://yfrog.com/kht69rxj

I'm sure it'll be okay as long as the back is all black. Your back will be facing the cameras used in the shot.

Rochester Institute of Technology (not to be mistaken with Ride Institute of Technology behind Hersheypark's viral marketing campaign for Skyrush) Big Shot Project for 2012 will feature Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, NY. The Big Shot will take place on Thursday, May 3rd 2012. Participants are to wear dark (black preferred) clothing and arrive at 8pm at the amusement park. Participants are to bring an hand-held light source, such as a flashlight or a camera flash unit. The photo will be taken at approximately 9pm. The link to the Big Shot page is here: http://www.rit.edu/cias/bigshot/BS_2012.html

Reithoffer's is the main midway for Bloomsburg Fair, and I remember some of their rides. Flip N' Out is from the 90's! Interesting ride, but not as good as a Huss Top Spin. I was disappointed they moved the Tornado (Huss Flipper) to the Orange unit. The Blue unit is the one that visits Bloomsburg. I remember the Raupenbahn, a rare Mack Caterpillar that Reithoffer's had in the 80's.

Knoebels swapping a Schwartzkopf for a Vekoma, and the demise of the High Speed Thrill Coaster.

I think because of the size of the carousel makes it look faster. Knoebel's carousel is the only regular carousel I know of that has 4-abreast horses. Most I've seen are 3-abreast. Derby Racers are 4 abreast as well. Knoebel's carousel probably turns at the standard speed as other carousels, but since it's diameter is much larger, the outside row moves much more faster.

I was once able to get 14 ring s, and that was with a couple of misses. If I got really good, and didn't miss every time, I would have ended up with 20 ring s. As for the timing of the stunts- there are several stunts that "fall" onto you. The problem is that the stunt activates when the front of the train is a good 6 feet away from it. If the stunt activates when you are right next to it, it gives that surprise effect which makes it a good trick. They should make the falling barrel trick activate when the 1st car is right in front of it, and then make the falling rock trick activate when the 2nd car is right in front of it. They did however, get the timing for the collapsing ceiling right.

After riding Black Diamond over the weekend, I thought the ride was well done. The scenes were of a better quality compared to the Haunted Mansion. There were a few gripes that I had- the timing of some tricks were too early, especially those that were designed to surprise you. Even with sitting in the front of the 1st car the tricks still came on early. The other gripe I had was the block brakes that also functions as a speed control for the ride. We would be going along, picking up speed then suddenly slam into the brakes. It kind of disrupts the flow of the ride. Wish they would come up with something that would control the speed less harshly, like a 2-stage brake system - 1 stage at a lower air pressure for slowing down, and the 2nd stage at a higher air pressure for emergencies. Some of the tricks weren't well lit, like the trapped scene with the hands and feet. Some extra lighting there would be great. I liked the humor at the end of the 2nd drop, and the dino head was a nice surprise as you rounded the bend. The tunnel effect was awesome, hope they keep it running unlike the one in the haunted mansion. They also had a water effect, but it was very unnoticeable. Sitting in the 2nd car you can feel the drop as it goes down, however you can feel a bit of a braking effect as you go down, but still gives that bit of a wild feeling like on a roller coaster. Hope they make some tweaks during the off-season and make it better for 2012! As for the one who said it was down for the count later on the night at PPP, I was on the next train to go when it went "down". What happened was that the fire alarm went off. So, they shut down the ride to make sure the alarm wasn't coming from the building. It was actually coming from a Halloween decoration outside the ride near the exit that had a smoke effect. The smoke effect would trip the alarm even though there wasn't any fire in the building. After clearing out the train from the building, they had a bit of a rocky start getting it back up again.

Why does Hersheypark need another one? They already have a GyroDrop tower! The only downside is that the drop is very heavily braked. As for the coasters- Hersheypark does have a nice collection of coasters- Except for 2 cookie-cutter coasters, each coaster is unique. SooperDooperLooper is a great coaster for the younger ones starting out into the coaster enthusiast world!

Did you guys break the Crossbow? At the end of the video, the train just stopped before the station and just... sat there. It was already apparent that the station was clear to proceed...

As long as they run it Hersheypark-style! But if Dorneypark's Wild Mouse is any indication, it will be a crappy ride.

Now if they could take the Kick Boodie concept and put it on a Star Flyer... They do something similar in Europe on the swing rides where they try to swing higher and grab a piece of rope hanging on the outside of the ride. Here's an example of what they're doing: (you can see the rope below the blue ball on the left hand side that they are trying to grab) This video shows in detail some of the techniques they use to grab that rope while the ride is moving:

This is actually made by an company called Big Ass Fans. Their company website is here.

Knoebel's, if you read this forum, please ditch Flying Turns and build something like that. Holy hell that looks ridiculous. Knoebels did. It's called the Twister.