Hang And Bang

I have another question... I know they're doing trackwork on Shock Wave at SFOT right now. Does anyone know if that'll be finished by the time I go? How laborious of a process is it to re-track an old steel coaster? I really hope it's open when I'm there!

For sure: - Six Flags Over Texas - Six Flags Fiesta Texas - Cedar Point - Michigan's Adventure - TPR East Coast Trip - Lots of visits to Six Flags St. Louis Maybe: - Dollywood

Thanks Elissa! *Heads to main board*

Well, I went ahead and booked the trip, but changed the dates to Sunday the 16th to Wednesday the 19th. I'll fly in late Sunday night and back home Wednesday night. I'll do SFOT on Monday and Wednesday, and Fiesta Texas on Tuesday. Anybody got any tips on getting the most out of these parks? I'm pretty sure they're gonna be crazy busy.

I'm contemplating a trip to Texas this March. I found a *great* deal on Hotwire for flight, hotel, rental car, the whole deal. I'll be hitting up both SFOT and Fiesta Texas for the first time. I'll be going through the week (Tues 18th - Thurs 20th ) (completely avoiding the weekend), but this will be spring break and I hear the crowds can get ridiculous even on weekdays. So, am I crazy??? I'm definitely not against ponying up the extra $ to buy Flash Passes. Any advice would be appreciated, especially from people who call either park their homepark, although really any advice would be great. Thanks!

*double post*

I like the colors. That blue is awfully pretty, and the yellow sets it off nicely. At least it's not another orange and teal Goliath. I'm glad this ride is coming back up. It's had some tough times and it's good to see it survive. Fiesta Texas will be a good home for it. The mirrors are rare. I'm glad we have one at my homepark (SFSTL) just because they offer something at least a little different from the others. With that said, I tend to enjoy the ones that drop to the left a little more.

I think it's great this ride will have a life after GrAm. The GIB's are intense and have provided some of the best coaster experiences I've ever had. Really, these rides make more sense for a smaller park due to the capacity issues so it seems Vu will be a great fit for Silverwood. It doesn't even matter that it's a second-hand ride since they're fairly unique.

Flight Deck = FLIGHT DRECK Afterburner would've been much better, even better than Top Gun, actually.

On the thyroid issue it really varies. Medications help most people, but there are exceptions. As for the set point theory, I personally feel it's true. I've watched too many people diet rigorously and still not lose weight. It's great that Robb is having success with his diet, but that's not the case for everyone, unfortunately. You also have to take into account all the people who take medications for a myriad of illnesses that have weight gain as a side effect. I do think weight is an issue with us Americans. There are a lot of people that are lazy, eat too much fast food, etc. I've been guilty of this myself. I'm just offering another viewpoint on the whole issue.

On the weight issue, quite often it's an underractive thyroid. Your thyroid regulates metabolism and heart rate. An underractive thyroid can lead to excessive weight gain. There's also the set point theory, which says that every person has a personal metabolic rate that maintains a given weight, regardless of calorie intake. More and more scientific evidence is collecting that supports this theory. Yes, many Americans are lazy and don't try to maintain their weight, but there really are those who can't help what they weigh. Back on topic, I found SFOG full of interesting people, and Holiday World, too.

This stuff is great Shane! Thanks for sharing!

I've been on a whopping two of them! But one of those I've been on is the #1! I've been on Voyage and Raven, and I'd give Voyage the higher rating.

- East Coast Trip - Dollywood - Silver Dollar City and Celebration City - And lots of rides on Evel Knievel!

Definitely Mr. Freeze! The hangtime on that thing is incredible, especially going backwards.

I've been watching mad amounts of POV's and pouring over the 2007 guidebooks of the parks on the East Coast 2008 trip.

Mine was Ninja in its first year at Six Flags STL. Maybe that explains the soft spot I have for Vekoma? Anyway back then it was red... ... and actually had long lines. Crazy but true!

I'm amazed at the outporing of love for King's Island! Now I don't feel so bad for loving it when I went! The Beast, Vortex, Top Gun, Racer backwards... Glad you guys had such a great trip! I wanna go on one, dammit!!

Never ridden a TOGO but I'm gonna go ahead and say B&M. Of the ones I've ridden Chang and Georgia Scorcher were the best. I love stand ups so much and wish they would make a big comeback!

The ones that immediately come to mind for me - - Ninja (SFOG) - Too many to count. - Ninja (SFSTL) - After the sidewinder and during the last turn before the brake run. - The Beast - The helix finale. - The Voyage - The tunnels. - The Boss - The first half of the coaster has a few decent headchoppers.

It did look pretty sweet in red and white at Expo! http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2462773160064924833ukSmsc Ninja did look like this for awhile. Red track, white supports. The black track it currently has is awful. It's chipping, and the black pretty much obscures the coaster. Blink and you miss it. The location of the coaster - behind a wall of buildings, and even it's own scaffolding-like support-structure - doesn't help matters. It's even easy to miss in the skyline since it's hidden behind the attention-grabbing Batman The Ride. The red track really made it pop. I like the idea of red track and black supports with white trains. Mr. Freeze could also use a fresh coat of paint, but preferrably not the red and bright blue that SFOT's Freeze got.

I'm going to second that notion. I third. I love SFOG, it's such a great park and you really don't hear that much about it. Their coaster collection is ridiculously good, although I do believe those who love GA Cyclone are masochists. Shame about Deja Vu.

Of the few I've ridden I'd have to say Vortex and Top Gun were the best. Vortex especially blew me away and I'm hoping to ride some of the SF Arrow megaloopers next year.

Was at the park last weekend and saw the cleared land. It was bigger than I expected it would be for some reason. I just wonder which way the drop will be facing, and how the Moon Cars are gonna interact with it.

I said it over at sftl.net and I'll say it here... I think the Evil Kneivel theme is kind of cool... very retro. I think they could have a lot of fun with this and go all out - 70s minimalist art - simple lines but a big logo with Knievel's signature red, white and blue color scheme, lots of stars. Make the queue entrance a huge blue star with painted flames around it or something. Have fun with it! And... Evel Knievel brings to mind more than just extreme sports (unlike Tony Hawk, which imo is a much sillier name than Evel Knievel). Evel is all about the 70s, think retro, google some info on the era in general.The 70s are coming back bigtime in current pop culture anyway. It all fits, really. The ride looks great, and the themeing could be very unique, FUN, and again -- retro. The EK theme came out of the middle of nowhere and is throwing everybody off, which is a good thing. It's unique. At least it's not another superhero theme. I think you guys are really missing the mark on what this one's really about (aka it's more than just extreme sports or stunts). Think outside the box people! Have fun with this. The Evel Knievel theme is gonna be 100X better than Tony Hawk at least. If you don't know much about Evel or the 70s, google them. Look at the era. And btw I still think they should paint it white.