sfmman2000

Interestingly enough, in the event of a fire the evacuation plan does not involve climbing down the stairs and instead there is an “open air” holding area just under the main floors. https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10544018/the-stratosphere-tower

^ The Boardwalk's video makes a lot more sense after watching that!

The new Fright Walk is COMPLETELY awesome! A lot of the effects were designed in-house and most of it's quite unique. Maybe not the world's scariest walk-through maze, but certainly an enjoyable one with plenty of jumps. The park recently posted a short behind-the-scenes "making of" video (possible spoilers): Speaking of videos, the park also posted a really cool animated video of the park "springing" to life in a steampunk sort of way. It's hard to explain, but definitely worth a watch:

Ripsaw Falls at Islands of Adventure does it too and Great Adventure's flume used to do it a long time ago but it's definitely a really unique feature. Hersheypark's flume has a small uphill section at the bottom of the first drop, but it's fairly minor. Jetstream at Magic Mountain used to, but that element was removed. There's also Splash Mountain's indoor drop, but those uphill sections seem more coaster-y and less water-y.

That's a lot of CRT monitors!

Cool, glad you enjoyed it! Here's a link to the TR I posted in 2012 that has some "under-the-boardwalk" photos: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1188906#p1188906

I wonder if SFMM's model will be the same ride hardware as other installations, except programmed to swing slightly higher. That would account for the marginal height and speed increase, since the 147/172 ft heights don't refer to the structure itself, just the maximum height of the swing.

I've been a fan of the Giant Discovery ever since riding Kennywood's version several years ago. Excited to have yet another one in California. Does anyone else think that 172 ft height is really just 172 ft "combined" if you take into account the height at the base of the ride vs the base of the Boardwalk area? Thinking this might be the case. Kind of like how SFDK's Skywarp is advertised as 70mph combined if you take into account the speed of both trains. Unless Zamperla has designed a new version for SFMM.. AFAIK, Zamperla has only produced one version of the Giant Discovery 40 that tops out at 147 ft on a full swing: http://www.zamperla.com/products/giant-discovery/

Yep, same. Even going back to "repeat" the gag was unnerving.

I think there's a chance it could open. It's not listed on the ride wait times page as being closed for the day, but it was listed yesterday. http://dw.dollywood.com/RWTimes/allRidesmob2017.html edit: and.... it was just updated, now listed as closed for the day

Lightning Rod is testing today, Friday 6/2/17

Great article in the SF Chronicle about the Fright Walk renovation: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Terror-takes-time-off-at-Santa-Cruz-amusement-park-9201380.php?t=a8ef4e9e247d4f3860&cmpid=fb-premium

^Yeah, I agree - the old Haunted Castle was way better than the new one. Although props to the Boardwalk for realizing that and continuing to invest in the new one. Many gags have been added since it opened and the lighting has been tweaked for a creepier effect. I always thought the Fright Walk was more on the legitimately scary side, but maybe I'm just easily spooked

I highly doubt that.

Arrow Mad Mouse at Valleyfair from: http://arrowdevelopment.blogspot.com/2016/05/teenage-wild-mice.html