gatorchomp83

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Looking at going to SFMM for the first time on either Friday, June 8 or Saturday, June 9. Will definitely be getting a QBot either way, and Friday is a supposed to "Grad Night" where the guests get a free ticket to the park, as well. With all of that said, any regulars have an opinion of which of the two days would be better to go? The Friday with the park closing at 6pm and a Grad Night crowd, or a Saturday in June? Thanks for the tips!

I just wanted to quickly thank everyone so far who has donated, setup pages for donations, and who has pledged their personal time to this great cause. I've had the great fortune to volunteer at the Village many, many times, and it truly is an amazing place. Your time, money and efforts will NOT go unnoticed. And thank you Robb and Elissa for the extremely generous donations you have already pledged, as well as the time and effort you have put into making TPR a huge force in this event. I cannot thank you two enough. Keep it up, everyone!

My point was that everyone is getting their hopes up over something that B&M has only done once (launch, 12 years ago) and never (anything over 240ft). It'd be great, but I think we should all settle down as to not be horribly dashed.

Launched...Giga...? You guys seem to have forgotten we're talking about B&M here...They seem to be changing a lot of their design philosophies of recent, but I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here, aren't we?

Manta was soft opening for at least two weeks before it's scheduled opening.

Ride looks awesome. Am I the only one a bit concerned with capacity, however, considering how busy that park can get and how "wonderful" their operations can be?

Yeah, the leg choppers on this ride look fantastic. And the train is gorgeous. Wish I could get out there to ride this.

He's no bigger now than he was when he was actually in the show. His size is not an issue in regards to being in the show. His sole purpose in shows it to splash people. Even before, trainers weren't in the water with him. Frankly, if something else happens with ANY of the whales, SeaWorld is going to be in the spotlight no matter what. If they feel he needs the stimulation of going out in front of a couple of thousand people three times a day for 5 minutes, with no trainers in the water, and new safety precautions in place, I trust their judgement.

^ That doesn't seem typical. It's been a long time since I've seen Kumba have a 35min wait, honestly. Not this past weekend, but the weekend before, I was there on Sunday and Kumba was a walk-on. Sheikra was 10min. It was like that two weekends before, as well. This was a holiday weekend, however, and most schools/jobs had today off. Not to mention the gorgeous weather we've been having here in Florida of late. Don't think you have much to worry about in March.

^That's how my rides on it opening weekend were. Its why I fell in love with the ride. Unfortunately, did not have the same experience the following weekend.

I never considered that one. Me being the giant that I am, it might be a little nerve wracking. But will that stop me? Hell no! On a completely separate note, there are two TPR members who are unusually tall, named Steve, and have a deep love for all things Gators. Where's the Twilight Zone music when you need it?. That is quite funny about the two of us. It was a running joke many moons ago about my absurdly long neck when I was younger.

^^^Very funny.

I don't exactly consider that calling you out, sorry if you took it that way. Was merely addressing you, and I like to use people's names when I address them directly. I also feel as though I have at least a minimal friendship with both you and Robb, and am merely having a grown-up debate about an issue that all of us have an opinion on. On the flip side, I feel at this point that I, as well as others in this thread who are offering a different opinion than yours and Robb's, are being straight-up called out and patronized. Which is cool, your website, your rules. But I think its absurd that this has seemingly turned that corner, and if I'm wrong, please let me know.

Elissa, there's no reason to be getting upset about people discussing the safety of a certain manufacturers product in comparison to others'. I'm sure no one knows for sure the true numbers, but I bet some time and digging could figure that out; I sure don't have the time to do that, as I'm sure you, Robb, nor anyone else in this thread does, either. It's just as easy for you to cast your view towards PAX or Zamperla as it is for anyone else to cast their views toward Intamin, so why is it so wrong for people to be down on Intamin? For me personally, I still feel safe on any roller coaster I ride no matter who the manufacturer is, and I'm not gonna get upset when people cast their negative opinions towards my favorite company. Neither should you, nor anybody else. We're all (mostly) adults here, on a message board, discussing a semi-major incident on a ride designed by a company who has had other semi-major incidents in the past. And that's all the discussion should be about.

Someone's gonna get decapitated on that ride. Looks amazing.

More rides doesn't have to mean more accidents, though. The two aren't synonymous with each other. The fact of the matter is, Intamin rides have more incidents than any other manufacturers. That's fact, and as much as anyone loves the companies amazing rides, you absolutely cannot dispute that fact. Whether the blame falls on Intamin, the maintenance crews, or both, the simple fact is Intamin rides have a track record of breaking; and seriously, at that. And especially when compared to B&M, the difference is alarming. I LOVE Intamin rides, and I LOVE B&M rides, and my feelings for each manufacturer's catalog does not affect my views on the safety records in comparison to one another.

Just returned from a four hour trip to BGT, and have a lot of positive things to report. First off, VERY impressed with Gwazi's operations. While they do still have the whole first check seatbelt, then check lap bar procedure, they were running all four trains today and they were making attempts at dueling them. Only when one side was taking an inordinate amount of time to dispatch did they send a train off without the other. Also, IMO, Tiger side is definitely improved and I didn't feel it was nearly as rough as it used to be, while Lion is still a bit on the uncomfortable side. Montu and Kumba were both running two trains with great dispatch intervals, and Sheikra was very efficient as well. We took a ride on the skyride to get a better look at construction, and the area this ride sits on is just massive. There is a ton of land-clearing going on right next to the skyride entrance near Montu, and there are survey markers everywhere, reaching all the way to Rhino Rally. We were a bit perplexed about where the transfer track is going to go, as looking at the blueprints while there, it appears that they're actually going to be below the skyride loading platform. Its also very clear that the loading station will be on the furthest-most area in the old monorail station. I have a feeling this ride is going to be massive, and can't wait to see what's to come.

No no no Robb, I'm not trying to change your opinion or force mine down your throat. Just trying to discuss why you think it's so boring and pointless, and letting you know why I think it's the most amazing ride I've ridden. Nothing more, nothing less. And what's funny about your opinions on Griffon/Sheikra is also completely opposite of mine, as I find Griffon a MUCH better ride than Sheikra! I'm going to BGT today for a couple of hours and probably won't even ride Sheikra, but if I was off to BGW, honestly Griffon would be the first thing I'd want to do! The thing with El Toro's ending for me, is that it seemed to REALLY putter out and lose steam very quickly after the insane Rolling Thunder Hill. It kinda just went through the motions on its way to the brakes and ended with a leisurely route to the end, which was rather boring to me. What the rest of the ride did, though, was still good enough to be #2 wood for me behind Voyage, until I rode Hades. And with I305, it does putter out at the end, but everything it does before that is MORE than enough to solidify it at #1 steel, if that makes sense. To each his/her own. I'd be curious what you guys thought of Intimidator compared to the other B&M hypers, although I'm about 99% sure I already know that answer.

I'm honestly amazed that the dive machines find their way in that list for you! All of those B&Ms that I've ridden are their more intense models, and the ones I haven't ridden, I've heard nothing but reviews stating how intense they are....But the dive machines are so graceful and different, that it really surprises me they rate that highly in your opinion. Interesting. I knew Voyage didn't hold a very tight spot in your heart, but "terrible?" "Pointless?" What's terrible and pointless is half of El Toro and its boring as hell ending.

/\ I rode CaroTimidator 24 times opening weekend and there wasn't even the slightest hint of a trim on the entire ride and it ended up earning #1 steel coaster for both me and my girlfriend. I returned the following weekend with my friend Todd on our way back from Kings Dominion and the trims were on noticeably hard and just killed the fifth hill and the remainder of the ride. It instantly fell out of my top 10. Yes, it was still fun, but it was nothing compared to the previous week's experience that I had. Perhaps having ridden 305 a couple of hours earlier impacted our view of it, but that doesn't change the fact that the trims were hitting hard. And Elissa, I don't find Voyage rough at all. Opening year it had the nasty pothole before the third 90 degree turn, but that's since been fixed. I think it's so damn intense and relentless that it can easily be viewed as rough. Everyone has their own opinions, but that ride is the perfect roller coaster to me. I CAN see where you can see that it's rough, but to me and everyone I've ever ridden it with, it's just mind-blowingly intense and perfect. And I can't wait to ride it over and over again in a month!

You do have a point, however, not ALL of them are boring as hell. I mean, there's gotta be at least one in your top 500, right? I just think it's so strange how you can find uber-intense Intamin coasters as amazing as you do, but hate getting your ass kicked on rides like Voyage, which is pretty much the epitome of an intense ride. Granted, I don't have the Intamin experience that you guys do, and I'm absolutely in love with 305, but I love it so much BECAUSE its the only steel coaster I've been on that even comes close to Voyage to me...

I305 is trimmed in the second half and it noticeably affects the ride...However, its at a point where it doesn't detract that much in the grand scheme of things. Will you be singing your same praises of Intamin > B&M once they trim the first drop on 305? It really is disappointing the difference between Carowinds' Intimidator opening weekend without the trims compared to now with the trims. But at least B&Ms' trains don't fall apart in the middle of a ride.

/\ Sounds like you're a blast to visit parks with! Tampa will run their coasters in pounding rains, which is more than most parks can say. Any park in the world will shut coasters down when there's lightning near or around the area; if you can't deal with that, then don't go. Busch parks in particular, as far as I'm concerned, are among the most efficiently run parks in the country. Sounds like you had a bad day, but understand that when you go to a BEC park, you're getting what you pay for. Compare this to a place like Six Flags over Georgia that will run one train on every coaster in the park with over an hour wait, and not open 50% of the rides the ENTIRE day when there's "inclement weather" and not one drop of rain falls, nor is there a hint of a thunderstorm. Rest assured, those poor riders aren't still stranded.

Agree about the trims, very disappointing; although not surprising. Opening weekend, Intimidator easily became my #1 steel coaster, but after returning the following weekend (right after riding 305), and with the trims killing the two best hills on the ride, it immediately fell out of my top 5. Oh well, though, no reason to complain. Ain't gonna change anything!