John Peck
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Posts posted by John Peck
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It was mentioned elsewhere that this has something to do with re-routing the Tram, which incidentally, will be related to Carsland.
Things are really coming along, I'm glad we made it there back in November before all the walls went up, though.
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Those are some VERY nice pictures. You have really taken some great out-of-the-ordinary shots.
You may want to make a few of those black and white and have them framed up and entered in either a school competition or your local city's art show.
Seriously.
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Has anybody been able to get any night-time shots of the Giant Wheel and El Dorado yet?
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You and Elissa remind me of my wife and I... you're always taking cruises and hitting parks where you can find them.
How many cruises have you done so far? We are up to 5 now.
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Who is this Carnival Company? I wouldn't mind looking them up online.
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I may be wrong, but that looks like some form of a Trioka.
-Tatum
That is a Tivoli Scorpion. It has the exact same motions as a Trokia, except its a little lighter, smaller and faster.
No Ferris Wheel yet, huh?
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^ It wasn't long ago when I actually saw a Tilt racked. It tricks a lot of people because when they put up a Tilt, they don't use any parts of the trailer itself, they just winch pieces off, and basically build it from scratch.
The Spider for example is built like that too as well as some older Scramblers. (The scrambler in your above pictures is actually a late 80's design and incorporates the trailer along with the ride itself.)
Many carnivals have taken their older rides and had them custom racked to save time on putting them up.
This carnival is only 1 night? That sure looks like a lot of rides for that, but thats cool. The carnival company is probally getting a nice payment to just be there.
I learned a lot of stuff when I was little and would go and watch my local church carnival set up every May.
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The "Rockin Tug" is actually a "Skater" Not sure if thats a Zamperla or Magestic.
The white ride is a Fabbri Kamakazi
The other ride you question with the blue trailer and red tubs is a Tilt A Whirl
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I haven't been following this thread, but it's pretty cool they they got to do a test run on the Raven.
It will be neat to see how these trains act as far as maintenance, because I know those PTC's are pretty brutal on the track.
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I'm gonna miss that Log Flume. Thats okay.. something better will take it's place.
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The only time I visited Kings Dominion was in late 2000 (the fall before Hypersonic opened) and they had begun to work on the area. I can't believe of how much open space they have there.
I wonder where the Spider was "Supposed" to go.
There is still a rumor of a temporary attraction for this year according to kdfansite, but I wouldn't expect it to show up until around Memorial Day when the crowds get bigger.
It will be neat to see what they do with that area in a few years. A Giant Frisbee would work.
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It's amazing how how much red tape a park has to go through just to build a new ride.
Think of how many parks have suffered just trying to build something new. (IE: Dorney, Waldameer, Geauga Lake)
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Mirage/El Dorado was built at Geauga in 1991 and over the years had a handful of problems. I was really surprised it lasted as long as it did.
When the ride was first built, the thing actually went so fast that you actually got airtime. It wasn't until they slowed it down when the ride seemed to be more reliable.
Americana Came to GL in 1999 and was purchased Used from Old Indiana. The ride operated 1 or 2 seasons without any lights on the "wheel" itself. The, the park bought what looked like a Chance light kit for it.
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While I totally welcome the new rides - Toy Story Mania, Carsland, and Mermaid, I honestly don't see the park being *that* much better when it's all said and done than it is now, the only difference being they may have a few more interesting rides.
I wanted to throw my 2¢ in here as well...
Where in most cases, the park wont be much different as a whole, the aggressive addition of Brands and Characters is really what is going to change the feeling of this park. The Mickey on the Wheel will Scream Disney more now, and though they are losing the Ears on the coaster, it clashes a little with the new Boardwalk Themeing. I wouldn't have mined a redesign of those ears.
C.A. felt like it had no magic when I went in 2002, but it had a lot more in 2008. When I go to the Tower of Terror or Bugs Land or Monster ride, it feels more like what Disney should be, and these changes will help to bring it through the whole park.
I see CA being "Much better" after these changes because it will feel like it has the Disney Magic many have come to expect with Disneyland, I just didn't think they needed to spend over a Billion Dollars to achieve that.
Why couldn't they have added a few NEMO Characters to the Jumping Jelly Fish?
Animal Kingdom felt like this to me as well outside of the Minni/Mickey Land, but its getting better. Epcot is adding more Disney Brand into it as well, but it never felt Non-Disney to me because of the technology that "felt" Disney.
Once these changes are made here at CA, I hope their next addition is another large show, maybe bigger than the Festival of the Lion King only with say, Toy Story Characters.
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^ Thats okay, Nissan's are good, too!
Thanks for the picts.
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The crane's location is shown in the picture I posted a couple posts above.
I had a feeling you were going to say that!
Its wild of how close it looked to the right of the park in the webcam shots, I could have sworn it was right next to the S&S Tower from that perspective. Funny that!
Do you think they need a crane of that size because they are going to stretch it over the bay construction when the add the Micky Face? Is that what they are doing?
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Thats a pretty nice looking Accord! How many miles do you have on it now?
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Gee, thats really a big crane. Are they taking apart the Maliboomer? Why would they need a crane that big? Unless its closer to the Hotel than it looks.
We were there for our second-ever visit in November, I'm glad we got there when we did!
It can't be easy navigating around that park, at least they are getting a lot done before the busy season (or is California "always" in the busy season?)
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I've been lucky in the past to hit parks before they closed (announced or not) But right now, with the economy, it really could be any park nowadays that may not open the doors next season.
Enjoy all you can now, tomorrow isn't guaranteed for anyone.
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Or.. to add to the list.. could it be the old Expoland Arrow, just with a newly manufactured loop?
http://www.rcdb.com/ig1271.htm?picture=4
I thought it was closed before the park shut down.
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When you took the picture at Clementon of the dark clouds from the storm, what time was that? Was that before it hit? That looks terrifying! Where did you go during it?
I've been in a handful of bad storms at parks, but none that ever looked like that!
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That little cell phone of yours sure takes some good pictures! Thanks for sharing!
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Americana was a park NW of Kings Island. It was a picnic park around a man-made lake for the most part and had a handful of very nice rides. The park had a pool and kiddie pool area and well over a dozen picnic pavillions. A small park called "Fantasy Farm" used to sit right next to Americana, and that closed in the mid 80's.
Americana (formally LeSourdsville Lake, and changed back again) was home to the Classic 1927 John Miller Screechin Eagle - which was moved here in the 1930's from Moxihala Park. Americana was purchased by Cincinnati's Coney Island Parent Company, "Park River West" in 1996 and was operated until after the 1999 season when they gave up on it.
In 2001, Jerry Couch, owner of Couch's Campers Purchased the park with the intend to open it to it's former glory. He hired well-known operator Pugh Amusements to operate the rides and concessions as Jerry really didn't know what he was getting himself into. Jerry's plan was also to move his campers site and place it next to the park which is there still.
Though Pugh shows operated the current rides, they came in and set up a few of their own including a Zipper, Music Express, Tip Top, kiddie bumper car and Huss Pirate.
The park opened in 2002 and had a positive effect on the locals. They loved having their park back. Pugh shows had their own painting division, and began putting a lot of work into the old rides. He even purchased The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalks old "Wave Jammer" ride and set it up, though it never ran. He also told me he was looking into buying a huge Ferris Wheel for the park.
However, not all was well with Pugh shows. Money began disappearing, paychecks were bouncing and Jeff Pugh somehow had a lot of fingers pointed towards him. I do know for a fact that he spent $100,000 to re-track the Screechin' Eagle.
Jerry who spent little to no time at the park, found himself there a lot at the end of 2002 going through books and watching over his team.
He eventually would throw Pugh out, keeping his rides and searching for an operator which he never found. He called it quits a few years later and sold off many of the rides, but there are a few still there, including the coaster, giant slide and a few others.
Currently, the man-made lake has been filled in and he uses the land for summer camps, or so I've been told.
Below are some photos I took for the park commercially. They hired me to design the park brochure and marketing and I was gathering pictures to do so. Other than photos, I never got anything else done on the project because of the closure, I didn't get paid either for taking those, but thats okay, because they let me go enjoy the park after I finished. So in a way, I bartered for them.
I only have a few photos scanned, I have a bunch more, but the park had a Whip, a Calypso (relocated to Fun Spot), a Super Round Up (relocated to Stricker's Grove), a Chance Carousel, a pool, Tilt A Whirl, Tip Top, many kiddie rides, sky-ride and a ferry boat.
EDIT: For some reason, not all of my pictures wanted to load, so I need to work through them some more
Heres a copy of a small map i found online its from 1997.
Scrambler.. this ran at 12rpm... most should only run at 11
Looking towards the front of the park
Log Flume.. you'd get soaked on this
The Flyers and HUSS Pirate (One of Jeff Pughs Portable Rides... and still on-site)
These Flyers went to Fun Spot in Indiana
Photo TR: Walibi World 22/04/2009
in Photo Trip Report Archive
Posted
Thats a pretty Park... but not as pretty as all you girls! Wow!