KDCOASTERFAN

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that pic looks like the regular park guests walking in. They let them come into a roped off section of the park (where they're standing) before the park actually opens, but they can't ride anything. However if that is early entry, it seems normal, though I have no idea why they would be standing there. Been looking at the live cam lately & that's the busiest I've seen it so far this year in that general area,of course I'm never up early enough to check it at that time of day however. Speaking of the webcam I noticed the time stamp on the clock being EST.Is Sandusky in the eastern timezone vs being in the central timezone?

Back in the day the area near the exit to rebel yell housed the southend sky ride station as well as the backstage area for games prizes...I'd like to see a simple entry ramp going straight into the station much like the set up on carowind's thunder road.

I'm amazed at how well they made DA fit into that area of the park(havn't seen it yet but might sometime) & love the new entry plaza for Grizzly.Now if they can somehow reconfigure rebel yell's queue so you don't have such a long hike just to get into the station.

My guess is a waterpark attraction or perhaps an STR clone along with DA?

^^I can attest to going to SFA back in 97 & having to ride python the first time seeing as wild one was down at the time on one of our visits with the climb up to the platform being scary enough but the reverse launch being worse. Another ride that scared the mess outta me was their defunct roto-shake,I can recall standing in the line to ride just shaking in my shoes hoping for a way to get out of it but after the first ride I actually enjoyed it...sad that the ride's reliability became so poor that it was removed for the 05 season though.

I really would like to try to give the park another chance but that's gonna have to wait a few more years till I can get my own transportation as my friend who does the driving has NO intention of returning anytime soon due to the bad experiences of the past decade that we spent going there.

Havn't gone through it yet but I must say that I really like the way they revitalized that whole area of the park....now if they can just squeeze in a new ride or two back there to spread the crowds more evenly through the park so that congo isn't so busy I'd be really pleased.

Did you take notice of the new blog KD's added to their site? this should prove interesting in the coming seasons. I might be able to make two trips in the span of one week soon,first is a group trip during the last week of june & then the usual trip on the 23rd with the guys so I'll definitely end up with another KD hangover after that week is over.

I agree as CP wouldn't leak this kind of information just yet.There's no evidence that a pretzel loop would be part of the layout for this type of design.

Last time I rode windseeker at night back in may I froze my butt off on that thing,it's sure colder 300 ft in the air than on the ground so it looks like I'll be wearing a jacket & gloves if I ride at night during haunt.

And that is why I won't go on drop tower as I've seen itget stuck quite a few times....I love windseeker however.

Anyone see the clips on channel 4 & news channel 8 this afternoon?I think they did a good job on this but they REALLY need to do something about the old two face station.

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this! Was watching the cam about 15 minutes ago & there are still a few staff members in the park probably rides staff coming from their zones in the back of the park...has anyone watched it overnight to see when the heavy cleaning & maintenance crews come in to do their thing to get ready for the next day of operation? I wish that tree weren't in the way though as it blocks the view of both PT & TTD.

There are indeed subtle differences in B&M's track depending on the type of ride it's designed for.

The one at Cedar Point opened up either yesterday or the day before. Good to hear they got it fixed & re-opened.

Was looking at CP's live webcam for a couple hours & was thinking that KD sure could use one....they could mount it on ET & have it aimed at the grove/congo area or facing south toward rebel yell/americana/windseeker.

Seems to work better on my desktop than my laptop.

Is it just me or does anyone else find the live webcam freezing up after a few minutes? I find that frustrating considering I'm on FIOS as my ISP but it could be that I'm viewing it from my laptop rather than my desktop who knows?

^I wonder if we'll get one of these at KD?

This should prove interesting. Windseeker has been pretty popular this year at KD & the views from on top of the ride are amazing,just the lighting package alone is a draw for people who want to watch it as well as ride it so if WOF gets one it should prove quite successful for the park.

Well, obviously if they just got a memo from B&M saying they would not build them a ride, they could not have been "SO CLOSE" to signing a deal.. They had the plans ready to go. All they had to do was sign the paperwork. Norm said he personally received a call from Walter Bolliger stating that their plans had to be scrapped due to the CP clause. At this point, Dick Kinzel was called and asked if an exception could be made. He refused. So the plan of a B&M was tossed out and a Vekoma SLC was put in its place. On top of that, we were only within 2 miles of the cut-off point. I would say it's SO CLOSE... I'm not saying that you're wrong or anything, you should just not believe everything you are told. B&M would not work with you for months to develop a custom made layout for you're specific space and requirements, and all of a sudden just sign such a deal as they did with Cedar Point. That would be very bad publicity for the company, and just a dickish move, taking time and money away from Wonderland. I do believe that the park was looking into getting a B&M invert, just not that they were as close and long gotten as they claim. Definitely not wrong. Radius restrictions are standard in a lot of contracts with specific vendors and stand for x number of years. Cedar Point may have been willing to negotiate a fee for compensation at first and it could have fallen through near the end of the process. Cedar Point would have paid B&M more to maintain the competitive advantage within a defined market area by maybe spending more than usual on one or more coasters. The last recourse would have been for Paramount/Wonderland to buy Cedar Point. Happens often in hotels and sports as an example. Unless you're on the negotiating team or have to access to the final contracts, no one ever hears about this stuff. Wouldn't the intention on CP's part be to protect the exclusivity of the ride type rather than the layout itself? An SLC does basically the same thing as a B&M invert so by allowing vekoma to contract a ride to CWL(a rival at the time) CP still would've lost the competitive exclusive inverted marketing edge for the inverted coaster. Reminds me of that rumor of BGW having a contract with B&M preventing nearby parks from buying anything in their product lineup,which doesn't exists BTW as I asked about it on BGW's facebook a while back.

KD's windseeker was running all day on saturday.

All of the "skip the line" programs (fastlane/flashpass etc.) work in the manner you described & yes it is a money making scheme....otherwise there'd be no incentive to do from the park's POV. Coasterfreak:Grizz has been running both trains on all of my visits so far this season & that's on saturdays with minimal lines,I guess people still aren't aware of the ride's existence in that corner of the park because even during the day you can get on with a minimal amount of time spent in line....now if more additions are made nearby in the near future then that may change as all of the coasters in congo were packed to the gills on saturday given their close proximity to one another. and that the problem with doing a Q bot virtual queue and when the salt! this system is that if 100 people come for the express these increases at the expense of the tail that extends normal excess is not right! I think that Cedar Fair has enough money to provide better service I agree & in the end this is gonna come back to bite them in the rear end.

I happen to like that slow turn thank you very much....it sets the pacing for the drop into the tunnel which happens to be my favorite part of the ride.

Right? I feel like the part describing the wind blowing the cables away was a little amateur. It would be really unfortunate to be stuck for two hours, though. Makes me wonder exactly what went wrong. Same here as the cable in question runs inside of a guide track that's pretty much protected from the elements....I guess we'll find out more when an investigation is conducted.It really is making me think twice about getting on it at KD on my next visit though.