Mechanic

Thank you for making this its own separate topic Robb. Ghostrider and Colossus were definitely among the coasters that came to mind for me. I hope that smile when you mentioned Colossus does mean there may be plans afoot to bring some lost glory back to this once iconic ride. I do agree that we'll have to see how this works out on TG first. I'm very optimistic that it will work out well. It certainly "looks" great.

I need to change my underwear now. I really hope this hybrid deal pans out and is used to resurrect more woodies that could use some love. What woodies do you think need this "Rocky Mountain Coaster" treatment? Post them here! MOD EDIT: I broke this into a separate topic to not detract from the happenings at SFoT.

From outward appearances the park itself seems to be English-speaking friendly. How much of an issue is language in the UEA? Thanks for the PTR.

Thanks for the coverage! The new generation Sally dark ride video/shooter stuff looks great. I sure hope a park somewhere close to me gets something like that soon. A couple questions for the TPR crew in attendance: Of all the different things you saw from the exhibitors, what stood out to you the most? What did you think was the newest or "freshest" idea that you saw?

^What?

Personally, I'm really intrested in any new types of dark ride offerings. Whether it's ride systems or animatronics, I really enjoy coverage related to dark rides. I really wish more parks would look into adding dark rides as opposed to more and more coasters.

The Cowboys... Man, I can't even come up with the words to describe what an incredible disappointment they are right now. Wade Phillips was the first coach I liked since Tom Landry. Anyone can understand why Jerry had to fire Wade though. Too bad he can't fire himself.

^ That's definitely Charlie Sheen. He's even displaying the super-kinky type of condom that he uses when screwing Heidi Fleiss' high-priced hookers. Gary Sinise would never be linked to such immoral behavior.

Scare actor, away!

This is very welcome news since I was just about to demand such a video! If anyone asks if you're having a good time in Wisconsin, just say, "You betcha!"

Nice review coaster1000. Personally, I've never had an excessively rough ride on X2, in any seat, but I know that enough posters on here have to realize there must be something to the reports of roughness. Tim Burkhart has mentioned before that you'll get the smoothest ride if you put a heavier rider on an outside seat and a lighter rider on an inside seat. The fact that I'm just over 250 lbs may account for my smoother rides. Other than that, my opinions of the coasters at SFMM are similar to yours. I'm a little more gentle in my criticism of Goldrusher than you were, but that's mainly because it holds some nostalgia for me, and the fact that it's quite a different experience in the dark during WCB ERT.

The small drop into a pitch black tunnel with some unexpected laterals on the Giant Dipper at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is a real key to setting up the riders for a fun time. I wish more wooden coasters had that feature.

^SCBB operating calender link

The Sierra Falls location makes a lot more sense for the kiddie coaster placement. Sierra Falls was a fun little slide, but I only bothered to ride it once or twice. I won't miss it too much if it does end up leaving entirely rather than being relocated.

Now, don't get me wrong here, I think this will be an amazing ride, but... While the videos of the launch are incredibly impressive, I wouldn't expect that they'll necessarily launch it that hard with GP riders aboard. Don't forget the video of Xcelerator launching at 100 mph. Just because it can launch that hard, doesn't mean it will. Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2b6OaI0BXM

Thank you Elissa for the reassurance a few pages ago that larger riders shouldn't have trouble with the new ZacSpin coaster. I do, just barely, fit into the seat belts and T-bar restraints of Xcelerator so I'm guessing, based on your description, that I should fit fairly easily on Green Lantern. I'll definitely be hoping for TPR events related to the opening of these rides. P.S. It's awesome to see so much action in this thread about one of my favorite parks. P.P.S. If you would have told me 5 or 6 years ago that SFMM would be one of my favorite parks, I'd have told you that you were nuts!

This is great news. One question though: How accomodating are the ZacSpin coasters for larger riders? Just for point of comparison, I have a build fairly similar to Robb, but I'm a little bigger overall. (He's been far more successful with his attempts at weight loss than I have)

I don't think they should sell alcohol, but they should give it free to Piers.

It looks like a red "X" to me.

That idea may actually be better than you think. Not that I'm opposed to a Bizarro theme (or really care much one way or the other), but the fighting statues wouldn't be able to be seen very well from the backward facing car, which means.... To get a good view of the statues up close you would be "forced" to also ride the forward facing car. That could possibly help to ensure a somewhat more even ridership between the sides. That would, of course, be assuming that only one side was in fact going to be launched backwards. It seems most of the speculation so far has been that both sides would be launched backward, but who knows?

Looks like Uncle Henry might be thinking about going "up the auntie". Auntie Em, that is.

I'm not at all surprised by that ridership number. The queue moves reasonably quickly. I'm looking forward to getting down to the boardwalk some time early next month to get me a Giant Dipper fix and take a spin or 2 on Desperados.

Electron microscope?

That shipping was insanely fast. I actually got the shirts yesterday. Thanks again Robb.