John Peck

Fantastic. I think one of biggest killers of this park wasn't the fire, but when they put the kiddieland on the site of the old giant pool... unfortunately, refurbishing the old pool was way out of their budget at the time, too... so it was fate from the start.

I have that same Metallica T-Shirt. Still one of my favorite albums by them.

My Wish list? • A nice 3-Train B&M Invert • Either Son of Beast removed or redesigned omitting the Rosebowl. • 4 more flat rides (Teacups, Flyers, Enterprise, Swing Around, etc.) • A Splash-Battle water ride • Giant Wheel • New set of Bumper Cars • Second Wavepool & some more slides. • More corporate sponsors

Here's my new rendering of the ride. For entertainment purposes only... Enjoy!

Chapter 7 means the business is completely bankrupt and closes immediately. Chapter 11 means that a business can continue to operate and a court is appointed to resolve their debt... usually for 1/3 the cost Six Flags and GM both filed for Chapter 11 (Bankruptcy Protection) Shapiro has already said that will not be building anymore $20+ Million Rides

^ I do think it was a park policy/capacity issue for pairing up on the Rock O Plane. There is no bulletin from Eyerly that states you should ride in pairs. Chance however require you be paired on the Trabant/Casino/Wipeout as well as the Zipper.

Lets see if I can help you a bit... The Fireball is a KMG "Afterburner" That Particular Rock N Roll is built by Bezzatron The Zipper requires 2 riders because there is no seat divider and people have slided around too much (it's a Chance requirement) Not sure why they were pairing up people on the Rock-O, it must have been a park policy because I have never been paired up on many. The Rock-O is quite an enjoyable ride, even if you decide not to flip your tub. You should give it a chance again someday. The Zero Gravity and Cliffhanger is built by Dartron (who used to be Hubritz.. the builders of Round-Ups, Paratroopers and Hurricanes)

I like your "artist attempt" photos. Keep it up.

There have been threads in the past on various sites that came to the conclusion that a coaster like Mantis or Chang could not be converted to floorless or sit down due to where the forces are located. It was mentioned that B&M design around the "Heart", which is the reason why changes like that couldn't be done. Now personally, I find that iffy, because on a stand-up, everybody is a different height, and the floors sit low to the track and floorless cars are raised higher anyway, so I don't think theres that much of a difference... but I'm no engineer, either. As much as I would rather see Mantis and Chang Floorless, and if it was possible to do, I really don't think a park is going to invest that much into doing it... (you would literally have to demo most of the station) unless they want to totally spend millions to re-market the ride as we have seen with Six Flags recently, so if it IS possible, I'd be all up for that.

Astroworlds old SLC, which according to Screamscape, (so don't read too much into that) has been on the move.

^ The point would be to replace it with resources on hand at a fraction of the cost. I heart fully believe that there are some significant structural problems with that ride... enough to cease 2-train operation.

T2 is just so bad, it needs to go. Screamscape reported that The Serial Thriller from Astroworld was seen leaving Great Escape, who knows, maybe T2 will be replaced with that one. I'm not sure if the footers would match up, though. After all, T2 was a prototype.

A great video on the grand opening of Funland in Sea Isle New Jersey. Looks like most of the rides are from Cypress Gardens including the Zamperla Mini Mouse Coaster. (thanks to rcdb) I couldn't find a website for them. http://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/pre ... 03286.html (Sorry if this has been posted, I used the search feature and couldn't find anything)

Heres another amazing plane:

Well, I'm with Shapiro... it's all about the branding on the newer rides that can be put in and marketing them as unique to the area. I picked a Tony Hawk and GCI because not only are they unique to the 3-major theme parks (SFKK, HW and KI) but they are also small and have a pretty good record, plus with how popular Thunder Run is, the park could stand to use a different type of wood coaster if Twins is out the door. Also, re-branding T2 into The Dark Knight has significant marketing power as well. I think it's a terrible ride, but perhaps something can be done with it if the removal option is not in place. So.. with the Dark Knight theme, it gets repainted with Blue-Steel Grey Supports and either Black or Dark Purple Track and Black and yellow Trains. The water park is a huge draw to that park still where a second wave pool will defiantly be beneficial, as well as a few other standard water slides. Here's an updated layout that I thought could also work, I'm not saying it would happen, but it makes decent use of the land and eliminates any major dead-ends (which was terrible for Twins as it was backed up right against the road, and there was really nothing else in that area) and flows the water park easier. I still am guessing that Mile High Falls is on the chopping block, basically because: 1. Some of the shoot the shoot rides at Six Flags have been removed 2. It has been closed off with the area.. since it was the first ride you got to, you'd think they would have left it running.

My thoughts: • Remove Mile High Falls & Twins. • Build a second bridge extending from the old Rainbow spot to where Mile High Falls was. • Remove Dragsters, build a second wavepool & waterpark extension here. • Build a Tony Hawk Big Spin On the Mile High Falls site • Leave Zeppelin where it is • Build a GCI with brand theming and a closer entrance (on the Twins site) • Allow for a second entrance to the waterpark near the twins site (w/ new changing rooms/bathrooms and counter service) •Add a couple flat rides Scrambler, Top Spin or Frisbee/Delirium Future Ideas: • Build a Splash Battle ride • Build a Wave Swinger Themed to Gotham City • Take down T2

As the screamscape article also mentions, the trains for Mega Zeph were sent to SF St. Louis as well. Right now The Boss and Medusa at SF Mexico "I think" are the only two Six Flags CCI's running Gerstlauer trains. Could these trains be so bad where they need replacement parts quite often or does it mean something more? I think so. Or think about this, with New Orleans complaining about Six Flags removing rides, could it be that they'll just ship the Zeph trains back down there again. (not the wisest idea, but it get them off their back... Mega Zeph won't ever run again, anyway.) I think Twisted Twins is a goner. It took up a lot of room and needed several attendants to keep it running, plus, it rarely ever ran both sides anyway and add the fact that it was way back in East Jesus.

They still have the Scrambler, too. But it's no longer indoors, and is called the "Undertaker"

I'm getting this feeling that Son of Beast won't reopen again, and will be removed in the off-season. If it does reopen, there will be more changes made. But I think it'll be down the rest of 2009 at least.

^ The wife and I did a Mexican Riviera trip back in November 08 on the Carnival Spirit porting out of San Diego.

I see where all of you are coming from, but let me just say this: • The "middle of nowhere" claim just doesn't fly with me. I can name about a dozen "middle of nowhere" parks that have marketed themselves well and gone on to have cities and resorts build up around them. Its all about marketing and branding. • You need to look at the car rental vs shuttling vacationers. How many people that visit Orlando rent cars? How many of those people who have those cars drive to Tampa or Co Co Beach or even have a hotel outside of Orlando or Kissemme? Cypress is only about 25 miles from The Disney area, which is a little far in comparison to the other Orlando parks, but not unbearable. - The one thing I can see against Cypress becoming a Legoland is not as many Hotel Shuttles may be offered. • Cypress obviously worked at one time, I just didn't think their product would generate a lot of repeat business. Legoland in California, for instance has an expansion every couple of years, so it's always got a new product to offer. Cypress just doesn't look like it will fly on it's own much longer. • Splendid China, though it sounds like a great location, has been shuttered for 6 years, and may be too expensive to reopen and retheme. You could probably build something entirely new for that... but if they can do it, then go for it.

Not trying to contridict anyone here.... I think the Lego "brand" could work in the Cypress Gardens site. There are already a LOT of money-saving options where they already have the buildings, utilities, freeway access, supporting communities and the mature landscaping (and even some rides still) where it would cost them less to build within the park than build a whole new one. Cypress Gardens has lost it's "brand" years ago. Im sure half of the Floridians think it closed years ago. Legoland in it's place could be quite successful. What percentage of vacationers drive from Orlando to Tampa for Busch Gardens? If that number is high enough, say 15%, then the Lego Brand could very well work at Cypress if done right.

The parks website confirms that it's open, too. I'm in no hurry to get there until it's been running a little while, to work out any bugs. I made this for the park, hopefully they will put it up:

I haven't been able to tell by the aerial photo I have seen of it. Is this a trailer-mounted or ground-mounted Sea Dragon?

Chaos' have a whole slew of problems.. Chance released like 20 bulletins on it already. • Bolts coming undone on the hub • Electronic seat mechanisms failing due to flipping • hydraulic issues • restraints not locking • And so many more. Its too bad, it was such a neat design, 32 riders per wheel, easy open loading, one-click restraint release, and only one trailer... it was meant to be a carnival operators dream. Wish they could have gone back and reworked it somehow. There are other rides that flip and twirl on several axis' and seem quite reliable... (Power Surge, Top Scan, Spinout)