KDCOASTERFAN

It's obviously no wonder why my local Giant food is all OUT of adult tickets,they even removed the little Dominator display cases that were over by the registers when I went looking for it yesterday.Looks like I'll be standing at the ticket window to get mine while the rest in their group already has theirs. KD must be doing something right for the attendance to be so high,this is the first time I've ever heard that they had to turn folks away from WW because it was filled to capacity,not to mention a full parking lot.

As someone who patronized the park for 9 full seasons as a passholder(and two as a paying customer in the years prior) I must say that no matter how many times I've ridden any given ride I simply do not appreciate the policies put in place regarding flashpass & the lockers. Had KD done the same things in terms of operations I'd complain just as much & it would impact my decision on wether or not to visit the park so it's not entirely all a bout the lack of new additions at SFA for me. Speaking of additions: with two face supposedly on the chopping block I wonder if a whole SWT makeover is in the works? They could also remove TOD while they're at it.

If I had things my way I'd rip out the crypt & send it to ya....I rode it once in it's opening year & I hated that thing!

Nice seeing as how KDconnection went belly up when the season started.

I agree with Sushirocks13,just ignore it & don't let it get to you....the same thing has been going on over in the SFA discussion thread with me being caught in the middle of it over how the park is treated,or should I say mistreated.

I wouldn't care if I didn't like the ride, just knowing that they still care about the park enough to add a new coaster is good enough for me. Also that could bring more people into the park. I agree. It's not just the lack of new rides that turned me off,it's the horrible policies & operations as well,namely the mandatory lockers & the inept manner in which the flashpass system is being abused by the operators. Last time I went in 07 the operators at two face loaded all seats except the front row with flashpassers(my friend & I should've been allowed to ride that cycle as we were next in line & there was nothing wrong with the ride) but they sent it out with that row empty anyway & we had to wait an extra cycle as a result.Afterward we went to GR & filed a complaint about it to which they didn't even seem to care because the park never contacted either of us to apologize for it. The other horrid abuse of flashpass can be found on superman,I mean why on earth is one entire train reserved for flashpassers instead of assigning them two at a time to the clearly marked seats in the middle of the train? It's policies like these that make the experience at the park all the more unbearable...and in the end not worth the time & money.SFI is slowly but surely destroying what could be one of their better parks by not putting for the effort to maintain & expand it especially in a region where there's some hefty competition. You know,I may have figured out why Snyder won't sell SFA to another owner such as PARC.He surely knows that if another company buys it said company might make the necessary investments needed to turn the place around & become a major contender in the mid-atlantic market.....just look at how well PARC has managed to turn things around at DL for instance.

All in good time,just hang in there & it'll come. CF is making a wise move IMO with regard to relocating assets to their new properties,remember how SFI went overboard with rapid expansions at their newly flagged parks almost a decade ago? All of those coasters & flats that were installed weren't cheap after all & look at what they've got to show for it....they have a business that is quite possibly on the verge of going under is what they got. One of CF's greatest qualities is that,unlike SFI they carefully evaluate the potential ROI of a proposed attraction before making a final decision on what each park builds....after all if the attendance base cannot support an expensive addition then they're not going to gain a worthwile ROI for their efforts.SFI on the other hand just plays favorites with their parks or at the very least just randomly decides where & when to place new attractions each year.

I agree with you on that 100%.In order to remain profitable they need to spend money first.I read on SFNEOnline last night that SFI will probably send SFNE's coaster to SFM however. Why send it down there when MD. is much closer & the park is rumored to loose yet another ride next year?See this is what really convinces me that the end may be near because,like at GL they've been removing rides but not replacing them...sure the rides that were removed were maintenance nightmares but if they cared about their guests they'd at least replace them with something new.

I was kinda hoping that with the high gas prices it will keep the traffic on I-95 south down for a change.The last couple trips we've made in 06 & 07 I-95 south was a virtual parking lot from Manassas to Fredericksburg & believe me Route 1 was no better.

Looks like Dominator's doing it's job,no doubt CF's gotta be happy with the crowds & the cash they raked in on that one day alone. Twenty five days & counting til my date with Dominator I just hope the weather co-operates.

If they remove Two Face then thats when I'll finally believe when people say that SFI is slowly getting rid of SFA and will become the new Geauga (did I spell it right) Lake. SFNE's cancelled BDK coaster would probably fit in that area minus the building off course but knowing Shapiro he'll just say "let's build another show stage there instead of an expensive ride of any kind". Anyone remember what happened with the rotoshake & enterprise pads when those rides were removed? Sadly I do see SFA becoming SFI's version of GL,they've been removing rides without replacing them with new ones lately leaving guests with even LESS to ride than before.The park was medicore enough what with the lack of new rides (in the ride side) over the course of the past 5 years but it's even worse now that there's even less to ride than before. SFI doesn't get it that in order to bring people in they need to add new rides( and not just to the waterpark) or guests will go elsewhere like KD for instance.Like GL the drop in attendance is due in part to no new rides to draw people in & when the attendance continues to drop SFI sees it as "ohh they're not coming to the park so it's not worth adding new attractions at this park,we'll just keep giving them to SFMM,SFGRADV & SFGRAM instead where the attendance has remained slightly higher & cut our losses with SFA & close it".

Well when Roar debutted ten years ago it was a great ride with no roughness at all considering the trains it runs but since then SFI has steadily been cutting back on the maintenance budget for the park & as a result the ride has turned to utter crap.This also is why there's such frequent downtime on rides that were once highly reliable such as TOD,two face & Superman.

Due to the wawy the seats are loosely fixed to the chassis & held in place by shock absorbing dampers(one on each side of the main support) it only serves to intensify the lateral forces exerted on the car & as a result the passenger.As for the guide wheels not contacting the track:the positive forces exerted on the train in a curve keep the road wheels on the rail,it's only during the transition into,and out of a curve that the guide wheels "slam" into the rail causing a jolt that results in the headbanging we ohh so despise. Vekoma was forced to use this method of attatching their SLC seats to the chassis thanks to B&M patenting the rigid support design that they use to attach the seats to the chassis on their inverted coasters....notice how intamin also uses a bolted seating connection instead of a solid one for their inverts(with the exception of their newer impulse coaster installations)?

LOL,I'm suprised that CNN didn't go so far as to mention all the times that two face has gotten stuck in the past five years....or to just mention every single accident/death in the history of the chain. The story keeps changing so it's almost impossible to make sense of what is fact & what is not,especially from eyewitness recollections.

Unlike the SFKK incident last season this one cannot be blamed on the park. I swear what is wrong with people these days? Most anyone would know that if there's a large fence surrounding the ride with the words danger keep out or authorized personnel only it should be more than enough to make them realize that it's a restricted area & to stay out. What really gets me however is the assinine reason these kids had for entering such a restricted area in the first place.....to grab a rider's feet as a train passed by.Usually we have people entering such areas in search of lost items dropped from the ride which is bad enough but this is just plain aweful.

From what I've seen of the design they look more similar to B&M flyer restraints than flying dutchman ones.El Condor also has the new trains IIRC because they were testing them with at least one new seat last year. As far as I know so far no SF parks have purchased the new trains yet,after all if nothing's wrong with the current trains why replace them?

The Hurler clones were based on TR's layout & of course they turned out to be horrible wastes of wood.As for T2 it's NOT the SLC prototype,that honor goes to El Condor at the former SF Holland.

Speaking of the "parking brake" does KD have it on in full force for Dominator? Man I hope not.

Excellent TR & pics....just one moth from now & I'll be heading down to KD myself so long as the weather co-operates. You havn't ridden their top spin? good decision,I rode it once in it's debut season & hated it....the restraints were the most uncomfortable devices I've ever encountered on an amusement ride in my life.

According to RCDB's new for 2009 list it says that SFMM's latest coaster will be of the steel sit down variety.

SFNE's version is a custom layout so that's why it's percieved as the "end all be all" of the three while SFA's is a mirrored clone of the DL ride. It's difficult to ask for trip advice on the net I agree because naturally the locals/fanboys etc. whatever you want to call them are trying to defend their home parks at all costs by encouraging the person seeking advice to vist that park over the alternative options listed by the individual seeking the advice so it really comes down to what you're looking for in a park trip vs what others say about the quality of the parks in general.

Well I used to support & defend SFA & it was a decent park up until 2002 when SFI decided that they'd focus all of their attention(and capex budget) on SFMM,SFGRADV & SFGRAM & the park has been steadily going downhill ever since. Still making that trip would be worth it for KD & BGE however.

Just noticed the track colors in the 2nd set of pics & was wondering what ever happened to the red B&M track that was sitting in the lot a few weeks/months ago?Perhaps another CF park may be recieving a hyper as well for 09 since Manta at SWO will have a purple paint scheme for it's track.

As quite a few people have indicated it seems that the incident may have taken place in the parking lot rather than inside the park itself...still the lot is park property however. A couple years ago they had a shooting occur in the lot during FF right around closing from what I'd heard on the local news.This is getting bad because as these thugs become aware that they're not gonna be able to get their weapons past the metal detectors they end up taking their fights to the parking lot where just as many innocent bystanders could be injured. What's next? are the parks gonna have to resort to a vehicle search at the toll booth prior to allowing guests to enter the lots now?

Why does this not suprise me? there have been assaults at the park in recent years after all. At least at KD their security screening process is a bit more thorough,after getting past the metal detectors guests are then required to go to a seperate baggage checkpoint where ALL bags are thoroughly searched by hand & not with a stick before allowing full entry into the park.