Nitro1118

[imghttp://i67.tinypic.com/2m2zyg6.jpg][/img] His glory returning back to form!!! (Pic courtesy of SFNE online)

Cornball Express for me. Phoenix gets so much love in the enthisiast community for its amazing airtime and buzz bars, but Cornball is right with it. Some amazing pops of ejector, especually on the first drop in the back row. The ride is just a pure blast to experience.

Decided to hit the park up today from 3-7 for the last hours of the regular operating season. Some notes... Ride count: -Nitro 2x -El Toro 1x (magic seat) -Kingda Ka 1x (front row) -S:UF 1x -Green Lantern 1x (front row) -Namtab 1x (row 8, front/back row) -TDK 1x -Decorations prep is looking good for HITP. The tree looks great at the fountain with its bright LED lights (although the tree looks unfinished since it looks like a Dots candy). Saw other lights and setups throughout the park. It should look amazing a few weeks from now. -Crowds were low, although when we first got there the parking lot was decently filled. Everything was just about a station wait the entire time we were there, including a few opportunities to reride certain rides without getting off (couldn't take advantage because we had a 6 year old with us). -Namtab was a lot better than on my July visit since I got row 8, which gave the open view of the track. Still very rattly and disorientating, and I am glad it will return back to normal next season, but I'm glad I got 1 more spin on it. -El Toro ran surprisingly fast for such a cold day. Still not its summer form, but still amazing. -I don't know if it's the chilly weather, but there is no better way to ride Nitro than on a cold fall night. Had some of the best rides I've ever had on it tonight. Speaking of which, some group in one of the middle rows on our last ride started smoking a blunt while going up the lift! Since it was 20min before the season ended I didn't bother telling anyone, but that amazed me they had the balls to do that. Ended this season on a very strong note!!! Can't wait for HITP and Total Mayhem next year! Some pics... The bull. Parabolas!!! GL ran very smoothly in the front row today. Can't get enough El Toro. No one should ever comment on KK without experiencing the front row at least once. As I said...can never get enough of El Toro. Nitro at sunset. S:UF gets too much hate...always gives a solid ride. The park looked great at night. Favorite pic of the bunch. Nitro and Namtab were a great way to end the season!

My favorites are Boulder Dash and Phoenix for their incredible final runs of bunny hills, El Toro's twister section, and Talon's ground-hugging finale. The worst is probably Thunderhawk at Dorney's highly trimmed finale, or Great Bear's straightaway.

For me, it is Skyrush. Intamin is my favorite manufacturer, but my one single ride on Skyrush was disappointing. The forces were insane, especially the first drop and S-curved hills, which really toss you around in the back winged seat. However, the restraint was distracting most of the ride. Tolerable, sure, but I hate having my attention be taken away from the actual ride....it really hinders the experience. The open-style trains also make those S-curves almost impossible to keep your upper body from being perpendicular to your lower body without keeping a strong grip to the restraints, or seriously focusing on keeping your upper body stiff. Again, it's tolerable, and very wild, but distracting. Lastly, the layout itself is a bit underwhelming compared to the upper-echelon Intamin and RMC coasters, which makes the winged trains so vital. Maybe a different riding approach would shoot Skyrush up my rankings, but the fact that I have to figure that out is frustrating.

The best was Chiller when it was still around. You could hear it clear as day from HH, and the exit tunnel was deafening when a train would be launched

How would you compare WC to the other RMC's/top coasters on your list?

I noticed it on one of the trains back in June. It wasn't painful, but it was extremely noticable and seemed to coorelate with that train giving sluggish rides.

I heard that Universal brought up their 200ft height limit, and why Skyplex can be allowed to nearly triple that. To me, that is actually a much more reasonable gripe than "light pollution" which is utterly insane.

I lost a single car key on a water slide at SFNE and they actually recovered it by the end of the night, so I'd say there's a great chance you'll get some of your stuff back. S:UF is one of the best rides to lose stuff on since all areas below the track layout are easily accessible.

This, I really like every flyer I've been on, in particular Tatsu. I think Tatsu could have been even better if it was more low to the ground like Ninja is. Maybe they could have had the first drop and inversion the same as it is now before going into a sequence of steep dives and sweeping turns following the terrain. That sensation of speed would've been insane! I'd even forgo the Pretzel loop as amazing as it is because I think that a terrain coaster that follows the landscape as closely as something like Ninja or Lisebergbanan is what would suit the flying coaster genre best. I've never ridden Tatsu, but I always felt they made it so high up to take advantage of the hill it sits on, giving the sensation you are flying above the park much higher than what it is in reality. That first drop looks great! I always wanted to try a flyer with a steep, non-curved first drop like that. The back row should give a great experience on that element

I would think there are a couple major steel coasters with the wear of the Hulk (Viper at SFMM comes to mind), but it's a very small number. I feel that this total retracking definitely wasn't necessary, but my guess is since they wanted to do a major rehab/update, they would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and get it all done with the rise already closed. Now they'll be able to run the chain's flagship coaster another 20 years straight, which to me is a huge win! I really can't wait to see what updated theming they include, especially in the queue and launch tunnel. Some fog, green lasers and LED lighting would be amazing in that tunnell.

From the pics it looks like that RMC is learning from their mistakes and using no paint on the strip of track the wheels run on (which was slowing down their new rides, according to sources at WC's media day). I'm interested to see if that's what it is or if I'm just mistaken.

I think Storm Chaser was met with a lukewarm response due to the horrible animation KK released for it. Had it been a quality, SF-level animation, I think the ride would be a lot more hyped right now. While I don't think it will be the very best RMC creation, I think it will be one of its better designs, which means it will be amazing.

I'm confused...I assumed skycoasters are like Daredevil Dive at GAdv, which makes me confused as to what bungee rides you are talking about. Anyway, I prefer the older models of the slingshot compared to skycoasters. However, after my recent trip to Seaside, I far prefer the Skyscraper to either. It is very thrilling, fast, deceptively tall, out-of-control and in an amazing location on the pier. Going backwards, while being upside down looking at the ocean from 150ft up is quite the sensation!

I'd go with WC for volume of strong airtime moments. Since the two barrel rolls offer crazy airtime, I count at least 3 moments of floater and 7-8 moments of strong ejector. I'd go with Skyrush for strength of airtime. The first drop in the back is absolutely insane, especially with the 2nd pop you get halfway down the drop. I think El Toro gives the best quality of airtime overall. It's very strong, and more importantly, it is sustained. The camelbacks are my favorite elements on any coaster in the back because you are ripped and then dragged, ejector-style, for a good 3-4 seconds. The RT crossover hill is just icing on the cake. Lastly, Bizarro is up there as well, with at least 3 moments of strong floater, and 5 moments of ejector. The 3rd camelback is up there with Toro's camelbacks as the best single airtime moment on any ride. Other honorable mentions- Phoenix, Cornball Express, Voyage, Boulder Dash, Apollo's Chariot.

El Toro is my number 1. My 2nd would be Cornball Express in the back row...extremely underrated and slightly frightening.

Skyrush is a beast of a ride, but in 2012 my feet felt like they were going to turn purple by the end of the ride. Still an amazing coaster, but similar to a standup coaster, it has a an issue with comfort that does take attention away from the stellar track design. Because of this, I rank it lower than rides like El Toro, WC, Bizarro, etc...

I think it mostly has to do with the reliability in their design. I305 and Maverick both needed to be re-profiled after being built. Skyrush's restraints needed to be modified due to widespread discomfort. And lastly, the rate of riders being ejected from their rides is considerably greater than their competitors...sidenote- it wasn't so much the design of the restraints as it was having no fail-safe for the trains dispatching with overweight riders, which they did fix in the mid-00's. A couple years of successful international additions should be enough to be gambled on again here in the US.

Steel supports. They can do steel supports with I-Box. The value of this track looks to be it will be able to use minimal supports, much like Skyrush/I305. This will cut costs and allow RMC designs to be more space-efficient, especially as their builds grow taller.

The track is ugly as sin, but I felt the same way about the I-Box when NTG came out...a few years later with rides on WC under my belt, I now LOVE the I-Box track Until we see what can be done with it, I won't get too excited. In the back of my mind, though, I feel they are using this track to eventually enter the hyper/giga market. Before new track design, they do need to work on their train issues. I know WC has been very tempermental with the trains badly vibrating and riding slugishly on some days. I hear TC has had similar issues. Especially with new trains riding on steel I-Box track, it is an area they need to brush up on.

I think both GL and S:UF are solid coasters. GL can be (and was) an anchor of a small park, with its size and intensity. I hate the standup concept in general, but it has its moments and is one of B&M's best in that category. As far as S:UF goes, its a fun, comfortable ride with one amazing element. Enough to provide quality diversity to that lineup. With all that said, I only give each ride 1-2 laps per season. My time is much better spent on the Intamin duo on the left side of the park, or the better B&M duo to the right.

GL and Zumanjaro. Both are near useless. Agreed on Zumanjaro, disagree with GL. Zumanjaro's SRL moves horrifically slow and takes a HUGE standby line to justify. As long as GL's standby is near the start of the switchbacks by the stairs, the SRL will get you on in half the time.

He would also likely close 2 of the 3 gondolas. I'm pretty sure he's also the cause for closing the Golden Kingdom/PDC bridge as well.

Great Adventure: 1. Adding Chiller instead of a Mr. Freeze clone. Now, Chiller was one of my favorites at the park, and if it had no issues I would much prefer it over a clone. However, the power issue left only one side operational, and the inline twists gave the park huge issues later in its tenure. If they just put in a Mr. Freeze clone instead, we'd still have that Premier launcher that really completed the park's lineup. 2. War On Lines. It was a great idea in theory, but some of the rides were plagued with issues, and the ones that could work stayed closed due to severe staffing issues. Had the old regime kept the rides dormant, I do believe the new ownership would have finally had the staff to operate them. However, all we have left is mostly concrete pads and smoking areas. 3. Closing Old Country and letting Movietown rot. Not much to say here, it is still an ugly, awkward eyesore. Hopefully that area is next on the agenda for refurbishment.