pianojohn

Wow! Some of the theming reminds me of Canada's Wonderland when it first opened. I have not been back since so I don't know if they have maintained it. I also did not know Intamin made inverted coasters other than Volcano here at Parmount's Kings Dominion. Guess I need to do a search on www.rcdb.com Thanks again for the great pics!

Well, ever since I can remember, my parents would take the kids (6 of us) to Cedar Point every summer. I have pictures from 1972 on, and here's what I remember and miss: 1976 The first year for the Corkscrew. The line was probably an hour long, and people were just amazed that a coaster could go upside down. 1978 The first year for Gemini. I waited about an hour for that as well, and the coaster looked so great those first few years. The wood was very light in color, and the trains had this awesome prism logo on the front that changed colors in the sun. What I miss: Shoot the Rapids in Frontier Town. This was a great log flume type ride with wooden boats and troughs. We usually ended up waiting about a half hour every time we rode it. The Fun House right next to the old Wildcat on the beach. This is where Oceana is now. It was a cool walk through with an upside down room, a cave like room, a slanted room, some type of mirror maze, and a sprial slide to exit. But most of all, I miss the Pirate Ride and Earthquake. They were both custom dark rides, and Earthquake was so non-PC it was funny. "I predict an earthquake in your future!"

Arigato gazimos. (That means thank you in Japanese!) I was there 3 months and that's all I picked up. Unless you count coaster credits!!

Awesome pics! Of course, when I get back to Orlando, it will be Christmas week, the absolute WORST time to visit any of the parks! Unless you love crowds and long lines!!!

Wow, luckily I rode it in 2000 instead of Flight of Fear. I was very underwhelmed, and the low capacity thing...well, said to see it go, but not surprised.

Tommy, you are a sad little man. But you make great DVD's! We will agree to disagree! And I will see you peeps on my b-day in Orlando! Holla!! John "who is not nor has ever been a drag queen...not that there's anything wrong with that!"

Yes, it is awesome! And to clear things up (before Tommy slams me again) No, I am not nor ever been a drag queen! (Tommy is jealous of my beauty) Yes, they are crazy, although Tommy out crazies James by about 100 to 1 And finally, I look AWESOME in the BGW segment!

Thanks! Hope to see you there!

Any idea when the Knott's event will take place in 2006 and if Tatsu will be open by this time? I know this is many months off, but I would love to plan a trip out to L.A. sometime this spring and hit those parks as well as Disneyland for their 50th. Thanks!

I was on one but I think it was made by Senyo. It was like a shuttle loop. I left the station moving forward up a lift hill. When I got to the top, the track leveled off and then went further up. Then the car started going backwards, down the lift hill, through the station, through the loop, and up the spike. It then lost power and traveled forward through the loop and ended up in the station. I took a bunch of pictures of it, but they are all back home in Orlando. Here is more info on that particular ride: http://rcdb.com/id1250.htm

I like both parks, but I would have to go with BGW overall. The landscaping, location, and general feeling of being away from it all beats BGT's more city like setting. Now, to make the PERFECT Busch Gardens, I would start with BGW, add Sheikra, and have GCI design a Thunderhead-like coaster to go where Drachen Fire used to run. THAT would be awesome!

Great pics! I miss BGT now! I work there as a vocal coach, but currently I am in Roanoke, VA until Christmas eve music directing a show. I also LOVE Sheikra! I think it just has a great combination of drops and thrills, and it is just long enough. I also love the way they can run 5 trains VERY efficiently. It is also cool how the entire lift hill up, all you can see is the vertical track going straight down, and there in no way to avoid seeing it! Now if only they would re-track Gwazi and replace the trains with Millenium Flyers. THAT is what I want for Christmas!! Thanks again for the pics and comments!

Remember the first year Volcano was open and they couldn't get the trains up to speed? They had the GENIUS idea of removing half the seats so each train could hold 8 people total. And the lines averaged 3-4 hours....on a good day! But then this past summer, I got 2 rides on it in about 30 minutes and was very impressed! So things can change sometimes for the better! Longest line: 1 1/2 hours for Dodonpa at Fuji Q. They had MAYBE 2 trains on the track and took forever to load. Worth it? Hardly! Oh, and the best part was that I was there in December 2003 (30 degrees, cold) and they would NOT let me wear my hat or gloves for fear they would fly off and hit someone! Talk about paranoid!

As soneone who actually rode Steel Dragon twice in 2001, I was very under-whelmed by it. It looked big, but it was very bulky, the cars were high, and you felt as if you were riding in a big Edsel or equally HUGE old car. I don't remember any air time or even that big of a thrill going down the first drop. While it would be a shame to see it go, I can certainly understand the legal aspects of it. The other thing it seems is when a coaster in Japan has an accident, (ie Birdman at Fuji Q), they tend to close it for many years until the public forgets about it. But it is kind of hard to hide a 300 foot tall coaster from the public.

The first year or two that Gemini at Cedar Point was open (1978-79), the front logo on the car was written in a prism-like font that changed color in the sun. Also, the trains gradually got darker the farther back you sat. For example, the red trains started off as a pail yellow and got redder towards the back of the train. To me, that was pretty cool, since the only thing you could compare them to in that day were basic PTC trains and first generation Arrow loopers.

Have a great time! And I am with Elissa....NO money in the world could get me to ride those two new rides. I did do the coaster and Space Shot a few years back at night. The view is amazing, but it is also FREAKY being so high off the ground. Good luck with Manhattan Express. I would not ride that thing ever again for 1000 credits! It sucks sucks sucks! But I know you know that!!

I got to ride it in 1979 and was blown away. I also rode Colossus when they had the 2nd set of trains. I am not sure who made them, but it was also a good ride. I was just so psyched to ride the coaster from ROLLERCOASTER and I still have pics from that day. Unfortunately, I don't have them with me here! But the ride was fast, smooth, and never let up. I cannot bring myself to ride it now with the OTSR's. It is just sad.

As someone who has worked and still works for theme parks for the past 20 years, I see season passes this way: for some people, they are like a gym membership. The people who sell the passess (membership) may hope you come every day, but the majority of people will not. And like Rob said many times, the money is really made off of food, games, and souvenirs. I even heard that at Tokyo Disney Resort, the AVERAGE per capita spending per guest AFTER admission was $100. PER guest! I bought a Six Flags season pass last year even though the nearest park is 7 hours away. However, I was able to visit SF America, Wyandot Lake, Kentucky Kingdom, SFoG, SFGA, and SF Great Adventure. In my opinion, it was a deal. And I will probably renew since I can do so online for $49, and I will most likely make it out to SFMM and definately SFGA to ride El Toro next summer.

I also got ot ride it, and it was pretty mundane. The most exciting part was one of the swings to the side, and even that pales in comparison to the finale of Iron Dragon. It was great to be able to ride it in its first year since it was broken down a lot. But the ride itself: not that great.

The first year Mind Eraser was open at Six Flags America it was great: very smooth and ran great. I rode it about 10 times that day. Flash forward a few years and it is awful. I hate the new very restrictive OTSR's and the ear banging. Now if a park has an SLC, I will ride it once for the credit and pray that the headache will not last all day.

I have been hearing this rumor for years, and I hope it is not true just for the simple fact that I work at both Comedy Warehouse and Ad Club as a musician. CW was my first job at Disney since 1999, and since there are so few live musician jobs left at Disney, it would be sad to see this one go.

Well, if the Walt Disney Company was smart, they would do everything they can to own this park. When they built TDL in 1983, they foolishly let most of the ownership of the park go to Oriental Land Company who is now making money hand over fist. You would think when they opened Tokyo DisneySeas in 2001 that they would not make the same mistake, but they did. I would think they are kicking themselves for that business mistake as well since the Tokyo parks are the most profitable parks in the world. Just my two cents!

I spent one April Sunday back in 1998 riding the Coney Island Cyclone with Steve and discussing coasters. A nice guy.

I agree. But the thing I am most psyched about is the lower admission price AND the quote that they will be selling Cotton Candy for $.25 a stick. From a business perspective, this may not make sense since it will cost money for the product and to pay the employees making it. But from a customer standpoint, it is BRILLIANT marketing and will bring the park positive word of mouth and general good will. It reminds me of Holiday World's free soft drink policy. And when you have happy guests, you have repeat customers and good word of mouth, something that most chains (ie Six Flags) have forgotten about.

Hmm...how about this: rebuild Shoot the Rapids to replace White Water Landing! For those of us old enough to remember riding it, it was a wood trough water ride in Frontiertown. It would never happen, but it is still a cool idea!