southpuddle

Oops. why is the delete this post option not available?

You do realize that not everybody who visits CP is a coaster enthusiast and wants to ride MF, Raptor and Maverick for an hour before the rest of the park opens, right? I can tell you that a good number of guests were upset at the JoeCool lineup last year (especially those families with little kids) when they got there early in the morning and didn't have anything to do for an hour.

If Knott's was exactly the same as it was back in the 80s, then today.... well there wouldn't be a Knott's today LOL. You can love a classic old ride with all your heart but the sad fact is that it won't be around forever. It's been this way since the beginning of the amusement era - old outdated rides will be taken out when the majority of the park's patrons have lost interest in it, and the most you can do is to ride it as much as you can when it's still there, take pictures, and think back on your memories. I'm pretty sure that a "longing for the past" is a common theme of humanity. The "old-timers" back in the 70s probably longed for the Knott's of the 50s... the "old-timers" of the 80s longed for the Knott's of the 70s, and we'll continue that tradition by longing for the Knott's of 2008 ten year from now. Just go along for the ride LOL. I love Knott's. Went for the first time back in 2003 and had a blast, and I've gone once a year since then, and plan to keep going.

^^ I really don't think that having to pay an extra maybe $5 a day is going to deter a guest from visiting the park again. If anything, it'll make them rethink what they need to bring with them into the park the next time they visit. With lockers, they really do save time in loading rides. Trust me, I've been operating the things for four years. The thing is, it needs to be done right. If the operator at the entrance to the coaster misses just one article, there is going to be a big problem once they get to the platform.

Says the man that always brings a backpack to Disneyland... The main difference there is that you can bring a backpack on pretty much every ride there... maybe even every ride at Disneyland and DCA (not sure about Screamin', but you're allowed to on RnRc, so maybe). It's always been my stand that the people who bring giant bags filled with crap to parks can leave 90% of what is in that backpack, in the car.

In order for the lockers to work they're going to need... about three times as many as they have now. At least. I'll be making my first trip to SFStL this summer!

Agreed. I really wish more new steelies were built with simple vertical loops, OTSR-less, and with awesome airtime and good drops. To me, these are the most fun coasters out there. I absolutely loved Mindbender when I visited SFOG. The twisting dive offers one of those "oh, $***!" moments in the back rows.

^^^ When I say 'rough' I mean bumpy - being able to feel the vibrations and the imperfections that are inherent in the wood structure - not rough as in painful. It just seems to me that a lot of people feel these bumps and vibrations and assume that it's hurting them when it really isn't. Another poster above a few pages back said this as well, but I really do think that today's riders have become pampered to the point where just the tiny bumps and shuffling of the trains (that EVERY wooden coaster has!) is equivalent to it being a bad ride... 'rough' as they say. My top 10 wooden coasters: 1-Voyage 2-El Toro 3-Beast 4-Shivering Timbers 5-Kennywood Thunderbolt 6-Ghostrider 7-Coney Island Cyclone 8-Santa Cruz Giant Dipper 9-Kennywood Jackrabbit 10-Legend

You poor California people. I may be from California, but I'm pretty well-traveled. I found Voyage (my favorite woodie, BTW) to be rougher than Mean Streak. Ghostrider... rougher. Son of Beast... rougher - duh. Certain rides on Blue Streak have been ten times rougher than any of my rides on Mean Streak. I just don't see how MS could possibly be rough - it's just going so slow the whole time. The thing is, I don't care if a woodie is rough - it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just my body size that prevents me from banging my knees or ribs on the car. I'm average height... 5'8". Out of the 38 woodies I've been on, the only one that I honestly wanted off of was Son of Beast

I really don't know how some of you can consider it to be rough. It's a wooden coaster. It's not going to be smooth. Tough it out. Mean Streak is an okay woodie that would be awesome if it wasn't for the trim at the top of the first drop that completely sucks out any potential speed or airtime that might have occurred had it not been there. You know there is something wrong when you are feeling lateral Gs on a heavily-banked curve in the opposite direction you should because you're going so SLOW.

Hulk's a snooze-fest after the first four inversions, IMO.

I think that it's awesome that the Pope is out doing fun stuff and getting out of the stuffy Vatican. It's also excellent publicity for Six Flags. Hopefully it'll get more God-fearing Christian folk to visit the parks - something that they are in desperate need for! Last time I was at Six Flags I heard more curse words than I cared for! What a wonderful man!

As someone who has worked at WDW, I can tell you that no guest would ever actually get kicked out of a Disney park for line jumping (save for a guest who becomes violent...maybe LOL). The most that would happen is a "Don't do that again. Have a magical day!" Just one of the reasons I preferred working at Cedar Point...

So that nobody has to guess, I've worked as a ride operator the past two seasons at CP (2006 and 2007). I love my park very much, but just like all of you, I think that the rain policy at the park is completely ridiculous. My first summer I worked at Wicked Twister and last summer I was at Magnum. I was off the day that Magnum crashed, but from the stories the I got from my co-workers, I'm almost 100% sure that the rain was not to blame, which makes me loathe the policy even more. Bottom line: the ride ran just fine for 18 years in the rain with no problem. It's also true that the accident could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for some very quick thinking on one of my very good friend's part. I'm not going to go any further on that subject, as I'd like to work there again this summer. I can explain a few things that have been brought up in this topic. Raptor shuts down in any sort of rain (and has for the past few years) due to rust water that tends to rain down on riders. Apparently one day a few seasons ago 20-something people showed up in Park Operations completely colored orange and quite mad LOL. Not sure what can be done about this, short of repainting the entire ride and/or getting new trains. Other rides that will close in any sort of rain are Dragster (it has problems with wet friction wheels in the pre-launch area and simply cannot get over the hill with water on the track). Also, Gemini will close because it uses photo eyes to sense where the trains are the won't work if they're wet. Disaster Transport closes because the roof and track tubes leak, causing the cars to fishtail inside the trough when it's wet. That ride just needs to be demolished. Someone said that each train has to cycle 15 times after a shower... it's only five. I'm not condoning their policy, just correcting you. I don't like it when people embellish their stories to make something sound crappier than it really is. 2007 was also a very strange year weather-wise for the park. In 2006 we had the typical thunderstorms that would come through almost every day, once or twice June through August that would soak the park for a half hour, then the sun would come back out, and it would be beautiful for the rest of the day. Now I'm from California, but from what I heard from other employees, this was normal (and quite cool for me!). Even with the current rain policy, this type of weather wouldn't pose much of a problem, as the coasters would be down for a maximum of 45-50 minutes if there was a 30 minute shower. In 2007, however, we had many days that it would simply rain all day, which is very atypical for the park. It was, as I described it, more of a California-style rain. The clouds would just sit over the park and drizzle all day. These were the days that I dreaded going to work. I was fuming inside since I was used to 2006's policies: run it unless there's lightning. I really just felt terrible for the guests that visited on those days. People just didn't understand, and the answers that we were told to give them were not only lies, but they didn't make any sense. What answer are you supposed to give a guest that asks why we USED to run in torrential downpours? "Oh, you were in danger when you rode it in the rain that one time." Riiiiight. I'm very curious as to how many complaints the park actually got due to their policies. For a park that increased their operating hours the second week in May last year because enough season pass holders complained about the park closing at seven, it amazes me that they'll continue their current policies if there were a ton of complaints. If any of you guys visit the Point this summer and see a guy named Brian at Magnum, say hi! If it's not raining, I'll be in a good mood and I'll say hi back. You'll have a great time if the weather is good, too

Wow. You're the kind of idiot these Health and Safety people go apeshit over and implement crazy rules that don't make your average guest any safer. Thanks.

^ That's... exactly what I was getting at. Being at CP doesn't matter - it's the view of the lake, the wind rushing off the lake, and the proximity of the waterpark that makes Magnum truly something special. In a sense, I guess being at CP does matter... the simple geography of the place adds a lot to most of their coasters.

Are you serious? Magnum is a perfect example of exactly what you are talking about. Magnum would not be rated nearly as high 19 years after it opened had it been built in a field in Arkansas. The simple fact that it is located at "that park" has little to do with it. You know, people who are avidly anti-CP are every bit as annoying as the "CP-fanboys" you talk so condescendingly about. That said, I would have to say rides like MAGNUM, most of the coasters at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (since they're all so intertwined) and The Beast all fall under this category.

Who ever said there was going to be a tunnel after the first drop? Now I'm the one that's confused. Plus, it's not like there's going to be a movie or a comedy act or anything playing inside the tunnels. At the most it will be colored lights, fog and sound effects: all of which can still be seen and heard even going fast, believe it or not!

Techno works well for coasters, despite your personal musical preferences. What do you want? Some rap? Country? Metal? Trust me, you wouldn't hear the lyrics anyway, unless the trains are equipped with an in-train sound system, ala Rock 'n' Rollercoaster or California Screamin'. You would hear the beat - the bass... and what you have left is techno.

I visited the park yesterday (first time in almost a year) and had a blast! I had no idea that the speakers under Scream! were anything new, and me and my friend thought they were awesome! It's true that they can't really be heard during the first half of the ride due to the roar of the train, but the sweet techno could definitely be heard during the second half of the ride. It's audible from the queue, but since they're aimed away from where you're walking/standing, it's not too loud, plus there's a fence between you and the speakers. It made the ride more enjoyable, for sure! On another note, I'm really liking what I'm seeing at the park. I've worked at Cedar Point for the last two seasons as a ride operator, so I'm able to see things that other ride ops do in a different light, maybe than someone that hasn't ever operated a ride. The crews were doing a fabulous job at dispatching rides quickly. The Riddler crew was hitting interval (not sure if this is a term used outside of CP, but basically means that they weren't stacking) which is something that even CP has some difficulty doing with Mantis in two-train operation (granted RR has a longer cycle than Mantis, but it's still impressive!). Goliath could have been operating with three trains without much (if any) stacking at the pace they were going, which again, is awesome. My only real complaint all day was one train op on BTR (not sure if they went up to two later that day or not) and a VERY slow crew - almost two minutes to dispatch. The park was very clean and employees seemed to be having fun and were pleasant. Went up in Sky Tower twice and the employees there were very friendly and talked and joked with us. The museum up there is going to be pretty sweet - there's some very interesting stuff up there. Viper's paint looked fabulous and the ride was running extremely well. The only rides not operating, that I noticed, were Jet Stream (looked like it was being repainted/worked on) and Deja Vu (who cares?). Even Yosemite Sam Sierra Falls was open, a ride that I haven't been on since my first ever trip to MM back when I was eight... 14 years ago lol. Rode it. Butt got soaked. Also of note, while in line for Goliath, I saw what looked like a paint test for the rumored new paint job for Superman - there were patches of red, blue and yellow at the bottom of the tower. Not sure if I would like a red, blue and yellow superman, but I'll have to wait and see it in person. Overall, a great day, and I'm looking forward to my next visit with my new season pass!