VivaLaVibora

Did you ride the Fireball? Did they give you a long ride? I have to ask, did it breakdown? Sadly, that ride can't be run that long because when you do run it long, it just shuts down. They didn't give that ride enough power. I haven't been on that particular one. I don't care for that those new Tilt-A-Whirl cars. They are so slow moving around the track. The old ones are so intense, but these are just weak, and you don't have to do diddly squat to get them to turn. Sellner, go back to the other way. You should have tried the Moser Spring Tower at Belmont. I really like that ride at another amusement park. This one might not be as tall though. I don't know. Thanks for sharing the photos. The Chaos looks sexy. I have no comment on the roller coaster. I feel that you have to try them before you can say whether it's a great ride, or not.

The whole reason why we always compare them is because they both have a lot of roller coasters in the U.S. Not only that, but it's Six Flags vs Cedar Fair do or die. Obviously, these parks aren't doing as great as the big boys even though they have the most roller coasters in each chain. It's always Disney vs Universal because Universal is in the running with Disney. It's the same thing. The thing was before I become an enthusiast, and started worrying about headlines, and so on, I had no idea that Cedar Point existed. I probably didn't even hear that Magic Mountain existed. They are still mostly local parks which is sad. The respective companies don't want to advertise Magic Mountain across the US, and neither does Cedar Point. Just recently, I say some coupons in the paper for Cedar Point. People must think what the heck is that? They just don't put out the money like Disney or Universal does? They have Disney commercials, and they have Orlando commercials. I have seen Busch, and I have seen Universal. I have not seen Cedar Point, or Magic Mountain. No wonder why the attendance for both parks isn't that high. Why put all that money into those parks, and not treat them like super parks around the U.S. It seems stupid to me.

Absolutely. When I think that a 25 + old flat is the most intense ride at an amusement park, than I absolutely believe that carnivals do have more intense rides. Go on one of those amusement park tower rides, and than try an ARM Super Shot ride, and see how it feels. It's 140 ft compared to 215 tower. It's a huge difference to me.

Since, we are just talking about coasters: Blue Streak > Colosuss (Not by a long shot though) Gemini >> Corkscrew > Viper Magnum = bad Mean Streak = garbage Wildcat = okay Disaster Transport = boring Maverick > Superman Wicked Twister > Top Thrill Draster >>> ______________________ Riddler's Revenge >Mantis Batman the Ride > Raptor Scream > Gold Rusher >>> Cedar Creek Mine Train Tastu >> (I never been on Tatsu, but it must be at least as good as Superman.) X >>> Ninja >>> Iron Dragon Deja Vu >>>> Goliath = Millenium Force (I don't care for either.) Revolution = ??? (Never been on it) I like Magic Mountain better in both departments. I have 8 great rides at Magic Mountain, and 8 at Cedar Point. The whole thing is that I have ridden all the stuff I want to ride at Cedar Point. I haven't ridden Tatsu, or Revolution at Magic Mountain. I would imagine that it would be definitely 9 rides, but Revolution is said to be junky so I would say Magic Mountain has 9 great rides including flats. I really like Superman, and I think that Tastu should be just as great. Tatsu was being constructed, and I wasn't able to get on it. I think Cedar Point has a lot of stuff, but a lot of mediocre rides like Corkscrew, Wildcat, Matterhorn, Maverick, Sky Hawk, Cedar Downs, Disaster Transport, and Super Himilaya. I think that stuff you like is better than having who cares how many rides in the park. I can't believe myself, but I have Dorney Park as being better than Magic Mountain, and Cedar Point. Technically, if Tastu is great, it would tied with Dorney. At Dorney, I'm including the new ride because I have been on it at GL, and other places. So, that place now has 9 great rides, but Laser might soon be removed so it might be 8 pretty soon???

I'm glad you enjoyed La Vibora. That ride to me is a gem in that park. I think that's the best ride, and than you have Batman, and Mr. Freeze to add to that. You have other rides too that I think are great. I liked Rolling Thunder when it was at Six Flags Great America, and it's virtually the same ride with different style cars. Why haven't I gone to the Great Escape? Nothing else besides that and the Comet look that interesting for me to visit that park. I never felt a need to go to SFFT. It's so far away too. The only thing I don't really care for at SFOT is there flats. I wish they had some better ones. I really like SFOT though. Those roller coasters are just great to me.

I imagine so. It's in that area. They have to put Harry Potter something in it.

Did they have any cartoons on those tv screens, or anything besides music? I don't know what Mr T does besides that A-Team a long time ago. SLC's to me are just what the heck is going on. For Ninja, I think I'm going to have a headache because my head has hit the harness so many times. Tilt-A-Whirl replacing Ninja. Yeah. As long as it's not as UGLY looking as SFMM was. No wonder why no one went on it if that was the case. I might not go on that either. Kidding, I know.

What do you mean by "recycle"? Do you mean that the Zipper is still around even though it's from the 60's. The Zipper I know around me, they said it's from the 80's. Thus, you must mean they are selling their used rides, and someone picks them up. They do refurbish those rides however. I think the Zipper has been around for so long because I think it's a thrilling ride, but that's not the only reason. I think it would be very easy to replace parts over the years for that ride. It has tire motors, and a chain. The cars are just cars in which the person closes them. It also uses a cable, and it should easy to buy a cable. The lights are just wiring problems if they ever go out. I'm sure it's not hard to be new lights if they need them. They know that if a ride looks really old, that no one is going to ride them so they have to get a new paint job for that ride, or new sign. If the Gravitron has bad seats in the ride, they can't run that ride until they get fixed. A Gravitron is an older ride, and they still have some of them at carnivals. Wisdom is still making them in a newer form called Starship 3000. I imagine that a carnival company could buy a seat from the Starship because it's the same ride, and put it on the Gravitron. You would just paint it to match the other ones. So, they aren't just neglecting that the ride has broken seats. At a carnival, they had a Gee Whiz, and it was running slow. A person that I trust said that they are refurbing that ride. They understand it's not working the potential it should be, and they are refurbing it over the winter (It's now spring.). Overtime, to me it seems that Wisdom's ride just lose energy. A Himilaya got slow, and they bought a new one, and now you have this ride going slow. A ride like the Watkins Swinger is really old. Look at what it uses to make it go. It's just a simple motor. It's not that genius. The seats are just plastic with chains on them. Look at the Round Up. It's what, one tire that makes it spin? It needs to lift up which is probably hydraulics. I would imagine that hydraulics aren't hard to come by. An older ferris wheel is just a cable around the entire ride. It's very easy to replace a cable. The newer ferris wheels that are bigger have tire motors. The newer rides should be more troublesome to get parts when they don't make them anymore because they aren't just a motor, or a hydraulic. Look at the Power Surge, Dartron Cliffhanger, Zamperla Kite Flyer, KMG Fireball, KMG Freak Out, Tivoli Spin Out, Larson Hi Roller, and Shocker. If a harness is broke, and you need a new one, what are you going to do if the company doesn't support it anymore? How can you replace seats on those rides without going to the manufacturer? It's much harder to break a metal cage on a Zipper, metal on a Round-Up, or a plastic seat. Why don't they keep roller coasters longer (in years) than they should be? They aren't popular enough, and they don't want to invest the money into them. It costs a lot of money for a new train for an old ride. They don't feel it's worth it, so they tear it down, and put up a new ride that people will flock to.

I don't see the carnival as being horrible at all. It's just people's perceptions are very biased towards them being horrible. We all hate when people say on the news or elsehow that amusement parks kill people, and they should get rid of them. It's the same way with carnivals. It's still the kids that cause the most problems at both venues. These are the kids that feel overwhelmed by the ride, and jump out. If kids fall out more of carnival rides than amusement park rides (which I haven't heard of that), it's because of the parents. The parents accompany them on the Witches Wheel at the amusement park, and not on the Spider at the carnival. It's too much money for the parent to get a wristband at the carnival where they are forced to pay at the amusement park!! I heard of a Rainbow (maybe it was at Elitch Gardens) that a person jumped out of the ride. They had problems, but that's what people are doing to themselves. They can't handle it, and they squeeze, bend, and get out of that restraint. I bring this up a lot, but I have seen a person stick their upper body out of a roller coaster train. This person could have gotten out of that roller coaster if they wanted to. I think the difference again with carnivals or amusement parks is that the particular kid is going to go on that ride with dad or mom instead of another kid, or with a friend that's the kid's age. I hear that people were standing on the Condor ride, and Demon. They just got lucky, and didn't fall out. Than, there are just the rides breaking. We have the Chaos at Michigan Adventure that toppled. That's called bad maintenance. At a carnival, we have the Spider that fell apart. At Kentucky Kingdom, we have Superman. Than, we have the Spin Out at a carnival having an arm come off it because it cracked off. At Disneyland, we have a train derailing on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At that South Africa amusement park, we have that ride falling apart. One of the arms unbuckled. At California Adventure, we have the California Screamin' crashing into another train. At some carnival, we have the Himilaya and one person's restraints opening during the cycle, and they got ejected. At Great America, we have Demon crashing, and Demon stuck in the loop. Things are going to happen. On a waterslide (Family Raft Slide), I saw the raft lift upside down at least twice. I think the people were okay. They are mechanical rides whether carnival, or amusement park rides. Pro's: They have thrilling rides. A lot of the rides have nice lighting on them. They are affordable. Some of them are close to my house. They are safe being inspected by safety inspectors every week (Didn't realize that one, did you?) I love to see them setup, and how they set them up. The music with rides can quite fun compared to an amusement park where they don't want to put music on rides. They have just speaker music around the park instead. Con's: I'm only against some carnival workers who don't want to work the carnival rides because they "are on break", or you have ridden the carnival ride too much, and thus I get mad at them. They told me that I went on the ride too much, and thus go away. Heck, I saw an advertisement for a carnival company, and they said they need new workers for a particular ride. Serves that person right!! Jerk. Always email the company, and tell the boss! They want the money for that ride, and when workers are being jerks, and don't want to run the ride, they can get someone else instead. It's a no-brainer why that wonderful ride was a low-grosser.

I think that people will still spend on the entertainment in their life, and an amusement park is one of them. I think that the Florida parks are probably the only parks that might be affected. It costs a lot to get to them, and stay there for 5 days. A one day trip to Cedar Point isn't going to cost them as much as a $1600 vacation to Disney World.

For breakdowns, the Huss Swing Around, Troika, and Condor at my park are hardly ever down. The Top Spin does have some problems, and the Frisbee was a ride that was down for a year because they needed a part because some accident happened in Germany (Maybe, it was Germany at a carnival.). They were told to inspect the ride, and they found a crack, so they had to fix it by getting a part. Troika was only down because SFOT stoled our part, and they didn't have enough time to buy a new one for SFOT. On the way to SFOT from Astroworld, the part on that Troika got damaged, and it was the new ride, so they had to get a new part fast. When the Top Spin breaks down, you might get stuck in the air. It's also a ride that goes down because of low-staffing. I don't like the ride, but I understand why that ride goes down. The thing is that these rides can't last forever. The Rainbow was put in 1987 is what you said. That's 21 years of service. Rides are going to wear down year after year. It's just that's what happens. Than, you need new parts because you don't want to buy a new one, or they don't make a new one. They are sick of buying new parts, and it's probably not getting a strong turn-out of people. So, eventually they probably want to buy a new ride. I don't understand why Huss didn't weight that thing by putting a heavy weight in the middle so it shouldn't matter where you sit. There are other versions of that ride. A.R.M. makes ones, and Zamperla does. However, Zamperla is very slow, and boring, and there is some defect with that ride. Chance made one, but they don't anymore just like Huss. Wisdom's, KMG's, and Satori's don't go up that high, and are carnival rides that could be put in an amusement park. Condor, and Frisbee's are carnival rides for sure. I have seen a Swing Around, or it looks one also out of the states. Why don't you see these rides at carnivals in the U.S.A. ? It's because they take too many trailers to transport, and they aren't worth it. Before, they even had Enterprises at carnivals. Actually, they had one at the Ohio State Fair last year, and it travels with Wade Show. One trailer rides are more prevelant in the U.S.A. because they are less expensive to operate. Of course, you have a Mondial Top Scan, Roller Coasters (Zyklons, Mice), Flying Bobs, and I would think the Fabbri Breakdance are all two or more trailers. Heck, they even have Zierier Wave Swingers that travel on a carnival. Of course, these are usually only the state fairs because it takes so long to put them up. They also have a version of the Top Spin by Fabbri that's called Space Loop. http://www.fabbrigroup.com/rides.php?cat=used&index=fabbrigroup&pp=2

If they really made the Top Spins flip more, it could be more like the Zipper with pain. Instead, I consider it for a person that doesn't really like upside down rides. They can easily handle this one.

So, everything else was doing two trains??

Mickey Mouse ears on the first picture, you have. Griffon (to me) looks like a faded color they picked. Nice pics!

No, I haven't. Just go on the Internet, and find a picture of a person that's hot, and print that. I don't get it.

Then why did they remove it??? Well if they fixed all the flaws, my guess would be to make room for a new attraction(s). It would break down once about every 1 1/2 hours last year. Mis-parking would only take it down maybe 5 minutes, and it did that a lot, but last year it was more about it over-heating than anything else. My proof was that I was in line. They removed it because they still think it's a maintenance problem, and it has low capacity. It still goes down, and it might open later than the park. Heck, instead of going to ride that ride first, I figured it's not going to open when I got to the park. Before, in 2005, and 2006, it was actually open when the park opened. In 2007, they stalled, and it wouldn't open till like 11:00, or 12:00. So, why should I go to that ride first anymore? On low-staffing days, no Deja Vu for you. The general public says that ride is always down. It wasn't open at the beginning of the season, and most of the time it wasn't open at the end because of the cold weather. They just didn't want to run it at the beginning of the season because than they would have to hire more mechanics to watch over it when it broke down. Why do that when there aren't that many people in the park? Why buy the ride than for that much money if you aren't going to open it, and treat it like a ride that has been there for 90 years, or something? There was at least one year when it actually was open on opening day!! I really hope that Silverwood treats this ride better than SFGAm did, and it's open just like any other coaster on days when the park isn't that crowded. It's always been the last ride to open. They worry about the other coasters, and than later on, they finally start working on Deja Vu being open. Get the other coasters out of the way, and than let's worry about this ride. I imagine that when they didn't open the ride for a particular day, they didn't include that in the percentages that it was down. They only said on the days that it was actually open for that percentage. The ride doesn't work in rain, windy days, or really cold temperatures. So, don't go to the park on these days, and you might be able to ride it. I think the ride is timed, and other people don't think the ride is timed. The catchcars move at a an interval no matter what time the train gets there. Thus, you have problems on rainy days. However, you could have problems on rainy days just for the fact that it becomes slippery for the catchcar to engage to the train, and thus it doesn't want to catch. I think the cold weather makes the train go slower, and than it miscatches. However, for cold weather, sometimes it gets stuck, and it doesn't want to dis-engage from the catchcar. So, it could be either Windy weather also does the same thing. Miscatches take the longest time to fix, or a valley (I have never seen this before) when it gets stuck in the cobra roll. I heard it happened twice. Why do Invertigo's work so darn good (as I have heard)? It's because it's less weight up the towers, and the Invertigo's have some sort of brakes on the towers. Deja Vu has nothing on the towers, but the catchcar which wasn't the smartest thing to do. Based on my experience with this ride, I first think it needs more power than it has. It's over-heating to much when it is working. Sometimes, you have to wonder if it's miscatching because the catchcar isn't moving. At SFOG, I have seen that. The catchcar wasn't moving at all. The sun really beats down on that one. There isn't a lot of shade on that ride compared to SFGAm in my opinion. On top of it, it's Georgia. For mis-parking, I think that they need to make the metal square thing on the ride longer. It's only is so big for it not to mis-park. They should just add 2 inches. It's not like people are going to get off the ramp when they jump off the ride, or make the platform a little bigger than if that was the case. For mis-catching, I think that if it is timed, it wouldn't do that. I kind of think that should add LIM's to the towers to brake the ride just a little bit so that it could get caught easier. This would be like V2's LIM's that catch in the air. That would make much more sense. I don't think retractions should ever be a problem with the LIM's on the towers. Retractions are when it doesn't pick up the train in the "right spot", and than it has to bring it back down, and reset itself. So, it's scared that it's not going to catch on the other side. It's easier to fix the problem on that side than to make the train go back and forth from tower 1 to the cobra roll, or boomerang until it stops when brakes are engaged. For rainy days and windy days, it should catch better with the LIM's. For cold days, put a heater above the LIM on the towers for the catchcar. It will turn on when the heaters in the station turn on. There are heaters in the station to heat up the catchcar so it does dis-engage. Tower 2 doesn't have nothing though. All fixed!

Why haven't parks bought the giant rides? I don't think that they taken off. In other words, they are spending a lot of money on a particular ride, and attendance hasn't significantly increased. I agree that Huss does have some problems, but yet you have to think that those are bigger than life rides. They are going to have some problems. I don't think any other American theme parks are going to buy that Topple Tower because of what happened to Dollywood. I always think of Huss as a relaxing ride company. The Condor, Troika, our Top Spin, Swing Around (is a little more thrilling), and to me the Giant Frisbee is kind of tame. The most intense ride I would say that I've been on would be the Huss Frisbee. It's a little intense, but there are a lot of rides that are way more intense than that ride. I rather have the more intense Scat. Someone said that the Huss Jumping, and I heard people say that Topple Tower are tame. So, I think of them as a relaxing ride company. I think Huss is a mediocore company. I'll rather go on a Chance ride anyday (Yo-Yo, Thunderbolt, Zipper, Chaos, Wipeout). I believe that Chance Revolution is really a KMG ride. They sell it through Chance because sadly Chance has lost it's steam. They even partner with Vekoma now, or they did. They sell those rides to. If you think the S&S Screamin Swing is something else, you should try the KMG Fireball / Afterburner / Cyclops or the KMG Freak Out. I didn't really feel the force on the swing compared to those rides. I don't know.

That's a good idea to take a picture where you parked. For awhile, Deal or No Deal was on 3 times a week. It still might be on that many times a week. So, I understand why they have so many pictures of it. Bionic Woman, and Journeyman are canceled. I think they won't be airing any more Heroes for this year. People have to wait till next year. Scrubs is coming back in April, but they only have like 5 episodes left for the season, and maybe for the last season. My dad is better than your dad is probably going to be a short run show. Amnesia just came on Fridays. I think there are only a small amount of Medium episodes left. I would think that Celebrity Apprentice is another show that's not going to last much longer. It's a reality show, and they end after 2-3 months. The only other show I see that they should advertise is Law and Order. However, does Law and Order need to be advertised since it's been around for such a darn long time? So, why advertise it? They could also advertise movies like I remember them doing before. The Simpsons building looks cool, and I don't even care for the Simpsons.

I thought I heard this before. I thought did this happen again? She tried to choke her, and it's the person that's being accussed fault. My question is how much harm did it really cause. Did she almost kill the other lady, or was it a fighting type of deal? Pretend, someone punchs someone, and someone punches another person. They do this for a little while, and they both have broken noises, but it's not a battle in which they can't even walk, or talk. It's a horrible fight, but did she come too close for comfort to killing her? If she came really close, that sentence should not be only 15 years, in my opinion. If it was a typical fight, than I think it should be way less than 15. It's the degree of what "really" happened.

For Titan, were they running all available trains?

I wasn't actually kidding. I've seen it on cops twice (the tv show- Yes, two car were burnt up!), and I definitely see cars that have smoke coming out of them too much. When smoke comes out of them, they become dangerous to drive. We are talking about the smoke that smells bad. It might have been this month I've seen one. It's a fact of life. Cars have problems, and buses have problems. They both breakdown. They are machines created by human beings. I was commenting on the person that said they will never ride buses because buses do things like this. Sorry, you thought I was joking around. I won't post anymore more about cars and buses in this topic.

^I found out that the drop sequence is about the same amount of time for both of them. It's about a minute: MGM: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9ZGYPvlcX-E&feature=related (about 3.45 minutes) DCA: (2 1/2 minute ride) I find those two rides interesting. For MGM (Hollywood Studios), the ride is sort of built like a square while DCA (I don't think is.). For the MGM one, you are in the basement when you get off, and than it moves sideways (when no one is on it), and than it goes up to the floor where you board. Than it raises up, and than it goes sideways. After it goes sideways, it's ready to drop. Than, it empties, and goes sideways when there are no people in at the bottom floor. There are 4 elevators for this ride. For the DCA one, I believe that it just goes up and down, and it doesn't go sideways. I think there were only 3 elevators instead of 4. If it did go sideways, than they would have that story, but they don't. Also, I believe that this one takes a lot more time to board. There is a bottom floor, and a top floor to board the elevator. It probably uses the same elevators for each. However, what they could have done is actually have 2 elevator vehicles in each shaft. They can just move the elevator vehicle that's boarding forward more so that the other elevator can go up and down through the shaft. Remember, that these elevator vehicles can turn, and move on the track. So, you board on the bottom floor. This elevator vehicles departs. After maybe the minute and a half mark, the elevator vehicle on the top floor opens up. It's moved foward so it's not in the shaft. People start loading the ride. The other elevator vehicle is finally done, and it goes to the bottom floor where it belongs. It's sitting there waiting until this top floor elevator vehicle is done with. Maybe, there are two elevator vehicles, but maybe there isn't. I don't know. For the other MGM, there could be 3 elevator vehicles. I imagine is has to clear a certain section in order for it to work properly. If you are in the drop section, than you can't have an elevator right near the drop section. If the people taking there time on the bottom aren't out of the vehicle, than it can't drop. It's too close to the other vehicle. Obviously, they spent more money into MGM than DCA. It shows.

^I know you are joking, but you never see smoke coming out of cars, and than it just sparks. It's the same thing.

The thing is this. The ride is not new, and I don't know if it has to go through as much testing as it is new. However, I want to say that Silverwood is probably doing a lot of stuff now. They are probably putting footers in, and working on moving underground wires and so on. The track is the last thing to put up, and it's much easier to put up than the footers. The footers are the thing that takes the longest. Getting that track over there means diddly squat if they don't have the footers up yet. It's just going to sit there unless they painting the pieces on site when they coming to the park. If that ride isn't open by July, I think that ride should open next year though. Why? Already, your new ride isn't even open in July (Pretend it's not.). That's bad, and a lot people are going to get excited, and it won't be open. It's too late in the season to buy a used ride, and they should have put it up in 2009.

I don't see how this thing is that great. It's looks ugly, it almost slips on ice (I should be built to not slip on ice if you want to demonstrate that instead of almost falling over.), and it's just walking like a little robot, but it's bigger. As people have said, it looks so real but it simulates something so unrealistic which is a dragon costume at the Chinese parade, or two people in a horse costume (One is the front, and one is the back.)