robbalvey

It's funny, there's a couple of them out there, and they do blogs and road trips... We actually spotted one of them parked outside a Waffle House here in Orlando a few years ago!

Oh, that's great to know!

Here's another article on the announcement: http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2015/08/record-breaking_dive_coaster_s.html

My favorite part about these debates is that it helps us weed out the crazy people from the rational people. And then overall, that just makes the forum better for the rest of us moving forward! Seriously, that guy signed on just to complain about The Voyage and when he's met with rational discussion, he freaks out. In short, he's not "one of us" and I'm totally fine with that outcome!

I love posts like this! lol People who think that because the are a "die-hard" fan are better than someone who is a "casual fan." Guess what? The majority of people who go to parks fall into the "casual fan" category and that's EXACTLY the type of person the parks should be catering to. Can you just imagine what a mess parks would be if they actually did everything that enthusiasts wanted? People that RUN the park are the ones that are going to be able to make the best decisions on how to run the park. Not you. Not me. Not anyone on this forum. (Ok, except for Paula.) The concept that you think you know more about a ride because "I've been to Holiday World more than you" is absolutely laughable and stupid. I never said that I thought the ride wasn't different at all, I said it wasn't "much different." And I stand by that. In 2006 I remember getting thrown around on a ride that delivered not as much airtime as people hyped it up to be, and in 2015 the ride delivered EXACTLY the same as I remember it. (with a little more roughness and a midcourse brake that didn't seem to effect the ride much at all, at least not to me) You can tell me I'm "wrong" as much as you like. I stand by my thoughts. Oh, and you're banned. Not for having a different opinion, but for not being able to share your opinion without being an asshole.

What's ironic about this post is it comes off *EXACTLY* like a self-entitled obnoxious coaster enthusiast who thinks they know better than the park or the people who built the ride. "HW should just put it back the way it was..." "It's incredibly disappointing..." *sigh* I have to be honest, I didn't think my ride on The Voyage this year was much different than the rides I took on it in 2006. And if *I* don't notice a difference, I highly doubt that 99.9% of the people who walk through the ride's turnstiles every day notice either. Some of you are going to notice if someone farts differently on the ride, and IMO, that's just not the type of person that the park should be catering to, sorry.

I think what amuses me about this is how coaster enthusiasts don't always understand how things work (even though they want to believe they do.) Your ride op in the station probably was grinning for absolutely no other reason that because he was having a good time working. The brake was on the ENTIRE time during the media day. It was just on at varying degrees based on how heavy the train was when it hit that section. I saw many run where there were only a few people on the train, and I'm sure on some of those runs people *thought* the brake was off, but it just hit it much lighter. I think Paula has explained it enough times that it's not a constant setting, it's variable. The whole idea of a "trim" is to "trim speed" meaning if when it comes off the brake, for example, the train needs to be going 50MPH and the train is going 60MPH when it hits the brake, it will trim 10MPH, same thing if you hit the brake going 55MPH, it will trim 5MPH. If you happen to be going 50MPH, you might not feel it at all. But the end result AFTER the trim is, in theory, always the same. I can't tell you how many enthusiasts I've heard claim "Dude, the trim wasn't on and we got SOOOOO MUCH AIRTIME during this part of the ride..." only to look at them and think to myself "Um, I was on the train, too...we got exactly the same amount as you always do." I really think that so much of this is all psychological. Someone doesn't hear the trims engage or feel them as much, and in their brain they got more airtime, when in reality they didn't. I've also been on many rides where someone didn't hear or feel the trim for whatever reason and claim "TRIM WAS OFF!!! TRIM WAS OFF!!! THE RIDE WAS INSANE!!!!" and I'm all "Dude, the trim was totally on and it was exactly like it always has been...." Again, maybe I've just been on more rides in my lifetime, I dunno. But I kind of find a lot of this to be slightly entertaining, if not sometimes annoying.... Just my thoughts on the matter....

Or them not wanting to get electronic VR headsets wet?

Hey everyone! Set your DVR's! Travel Channel's Thrill Factor starts TOMORROW night (Wednesday, 8pm/7pm central) and you'll see some TPR footage in a number of episodes! As some of you may know, I have been working with Travel Channel for many years consulting on many shows and writing articles for the website, and we have also contributed some of our amazing footage for this show as well! Here's a little more about the show: Be sure to watch starting tomorrow!

We are looking for someone to attend the Carowinds announcement for TPR on August 27th at 11am. If you are able to attend, please contact robbalvey@themeparkreview.com Please note & include in your email: - Your Full Name - Your Age - Your email address and phone number - Links to your social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) that show examples of photos you've taken at parks - Links to any trip reports you've done on TPR - You must be over 18 years old and provide your own transportation to the event. - You must be willing to take photos and maybe video to post a trip report to the TPR Forums. - You must maintain a mature attitude at all times. Don't go asking the park for special stuff. Don't go complaining about stuff. Just be cool, have fun, and appreciate that you're getting to do a cool invite-only event. We will select someone based on the emails we receive.

I'm sure it's a bit of both. Honestly, I feel bad for their team right now. Imagine if you were building up to one of your key moments of the year, only to have it broken by something that is not really in your control. I mean, from what I understand, the leak happened because someone hacked into the new VR app, right? That's not cool and not the way they wanted things to happen. For me, I know it puts me in a tough spot because on one hand, I'd prefer to totally ignore the leak, pretend it's not there, and just go along with the announcement because that would be the right thing to do, but at the same time, it's impossible to ignore it and we would get crap for pretending it didn't happen. You just have to also put some faith in the park that maybe there will be things about the ride that we don't know about - the theming, the surrounding area, the design of the trains, etc, that will come out at the announcement and also be exciting to hear. And just on top of all that, new ride announcements are simply "cool" even if we already know what its going to be. So yeah, I don't blame them for being a bit quiet and I'm still looking forward to the announcement regardless!

Every time I've been there (9 or 10 times this season) it has been on with the exception of Thunderbird's Media Day It was on during Thunderbird's media day. I certainly felt it and was VERY happy it was there!

Alpengeist and Raptor are both incredibly smooth in every seat. People are so damn spoiled, I won't even bring up a really horrible coaster like a Golden Horse SLC, just go ride any Arrow mega looper and then come back and see how rough Alpengeist and Raptor are. I would say something like "If you can't handle Raptor go ride a ridiculously forceless coaster like Gatekeeper" but according to this thread Gatekeeper has painful death vests so I guess go ride Midway Carousel or something (Cedar Downs is probably a little too much for you).

I really can't tell if you're passing some sort of weird judgement on me and the types of rides you think I like or don't like, or if it's just incredibly bad wording to get your point across. Either way, this post comes off pretty obnoxious, which seems to be par for the course with you far...

Like I said, I have seriously, never EVER heard this. And considering that Raptor is 21 years old this year, and STILL gets a fairly significant line, I don't see how your data is anywhere CLOSE to be accurate. Sounds like you need to hang out with people who aren't pussies.

What??? I seriously in all my time spend at Cedar Point and working around coaster nerds don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about Raptor! And the only things said bad about Maverick was resolved this year with the new restraints. I really don't think there is a 50/50 split of people loving/hating Maverick & Raptor. That data doesn't even seem close to be accurate.

I was sent an invitation that I have to RSVP to. So I'm assuming that means it's only open to invited guests.

^ Ha! See!

Except with Frozen, it's target audience still isn't over it. Just go count all the girls wearing Anna or Elsa dresses every single day at Walt Disney World. And even just last month on our YouTube channel, a Frozen video was our #3 most viewed video of the month, and it has been every month we've put it up. So I think you might need to adjust your assessment!

^ I honestly do not understand the people that complain about this. Maybe they are just purists, maybe I'm just not a fan of The Voyage (I'm not), or it's a combination of things. But all I know is this. Your screen name is "The Voyage", so I'm guessing of *course* you are going to complain about it. I'm also guessing that if the parks guests were throwing the kind of shitfit you are, they might look into doing something about it. Personally, I *LOVED* stopping on the mid-course during the one ride I took this year, because the ride threw me around so much, and I was happy to have the break in the action. I didn't feel that the mid-course took away from the ride at all because it still felt just as rough and out of control as it always has, and how much of that do you really NEED? Again, I'm not a fan of the ride. I took my one ride on it for the year and that was enough. But I get there are others who are opposite of me and are die-hard fans of the ride, and I also get that there are casual fans of the ride who just like it for what it is. Perhaps the latter are the ones that carry the most weight and is who the park listens to the most? All I know is that there are a lot of rides and parks out there that I really, really like a lot. And I understand that not every ride or park that is my favorite is going to always cater directly to *me* but I appreciate them for what they are, even if they have to make minor changes that I don't always agree with. And yes, the mid-course on The Voyage is a minor change. I most certainly wouldn't go tweeting 'ticked off' complaining about stuff and then follow up creating an account on a forum to complain even further. IMO, that's just being a stereotypical, self-entitled "coaster enthusiasts" that thinks the parks should be catering to their personal preferences. Suck it up and just be thankful parks are putting a hell of a lot of work, money, and effort into keeping rides running great, adding new additions, and making the parks a really fun place to visit. Just so sick of all the complaining from coaster enthusiasts. Sorry, just had to rant a little about this. --Robb

So I received something in the mail today from Cedar Point... Let's open it, shall we? What could this be? Looks like maybe a DVD or something??? Aha, it's an announcement invite! Made out of cardboard that comes apart...hmm... There are instructions! And following the instructions I now have sort of a box! But look! It's not just a box! It's a VR headset for my iPhone! "All will come into view..." Hmm... so I think with some of the leaks we get an idea of what this is going to be...but could there be more than we are SEEING yet? I know we've seen a lot of tests done with things like Oculus Rift headsets, and Cedar Point sure is making a big deal with this VR thing. Is it a marketing angle or are we looking at quite possibly the first coaster to actually incorporate this technology? I guess we'll find out on the 18th!

I'm 6 miles from Epcot, and yes, that's my favorite in the USA. I'm a lot further away from Tokyo DisneySea, so my "home park" is not my favorite in the world!

Interesting... seeing that it goes right over the Marina Gate, does that make it... Marina Gatekeer?

Just getting caught up on a few things after a very busy summer... While I don't want to personally take credit for any of the changes, we did lead a pretty big campaign a few months back to basically show Atari that what they were making was not what people wanted. Whether that was a deciding factor or just another "voice" in the mix, who knows. But a new developer with a new idea is certainly a step in the right direction. Now just to see if they can follow through. In the meantime, I sort of have my eye on Parkitect for those who want something more old school RCT!

What the hell is your problem that you keep throwing this back in people's faces?!?!? First of all absolutely NOBODY is saying that the drop is either forceful or forceless. It produces some nice airtime, mostly floater, and that's the whole point. At the bottom of the drop, like I said, it pulls 4 G's. According to the internet, Kumba pulls 3.8 Gs. So sorry, you're wrong, SheiKra is actually more forceful. Does it feel more forceful than Kumba to me? No, but that has less to do with the actual recorded G forces and more about the layout. I'm not sure where you're trying to go with your little factoid, but it's incredibly stupid and pointless that you felt the need to bring it up twice. Yes, you pointed it out. Thanks a lot. Whatever... Now move on...