Jason Hammond

Across all of the parks, we are up to 110 participants who have raised a total of $13,941 so far. Keep up the good work guys. Our goal this year is $50,000.

Hey guys, Coasting for Kids is back in full swing. It's on a Sunday this year. So, for you people who work Mon-Fri, here's your big chance. As always, this is not an event that requires a club membership. Everyone can participate. If you want to participate at any of the Cedar Fair Parks, go here and sign up: http://www.givekidstheworld.org/coastingforkids/ If you hover over the park on the state map, you will see the event details at each park. It's a bit different this year in that you have to put $40 down for registration. But, you more than welcome to get that $40 from donations. In addition to the $40 some parks have a minimum amount of donations needed to participate. We're looking for this to be the biggest year ever. So far we have 68 people who have raised $9,566.

In regards to the video. I'm pretty sure the in-air off-ride video was shot by a para-sailer, not from a guy in a helicopter. In regards to the lift system, there are 12 cables that lift the gondola. The gondola can be supported by as few as 4 cables. Second, and I don't have confirmation on this item. But, I was told that there would also be a system in place similar to how an elevator would be stopped in the catastrophic event of cable failure. http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/question730.htm

It was very cool to be able to see the park in the middle of winter. A bit of snow on the ground would have been even more awesome. Thank you very much Great Ohio Coaster Club and Cedar Point! I look forward to future events.

I have ridden 3 so far. My first was the one at Wisp resort in McHenry, PA. My second was Tobotronc at Naturlandia in Sant Julia de Loria, Andorra (a tiny country between Spain and France). It is the worlds longest Alpine coaster. The park lists ride statistics that I feel must be based on an average rider using the hand brake. The lift is approximately 13 minutes. The downhill portion of the ride is 3,550 meters. The decent with no brakes was about 5 minutes and 10 seconds. 3,550 meters in 5:10 is an average speed of 41.2 km/h. So it wouldn't surprise me if we hit 45 or 50 km/h in some spots. My 3rd was the one at in Park City, UT. Tobotronc was by far my favorite. So far I have been allowed to take a camera on the ones I've ridden. But, these can be aggressive rides. Especially if you have your foot wedged on the brake to get as fast of a run as possible. Here is a link to my videos: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F562315E124DAEC7

I'm doing my part. I have been voting every day. I added the widget to my website. I'm posting the link on facebook daily and I'm adding the link to all my signatures.

I was wondering if anyone knew the history behind Canobie Lake's Caterpillar. I know there's only a handful of these left. They still cover theirs too. I think the park got it in the 60's. I was wondering if anyone knew who they got it from and maybe how old it actually was. Any help would be appreciated.

I finally got around to doing this. It was a lot easier than it appeared to be. From the looks of everyones lists, I definitely need to do some more international traveling.

I'm surprised. This isn't even that intense of a ride. It's definitely one of the smoothest Vekomas I've ever ridden.

Since they don't open until 6pm, Fridays are only $30 to begin with. I'm not sure they'll give you a discount in addition to that. If I remember, I check my getaway guide when I get home. http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/admission/prices/index.cfm

Speaking of bridges, they are partially backfilling the lagoon near the maintenance bridge. They'll probably also backfill toward the bottom edge of the cameras view, then drain that section for construction.

How is having a second Shoot the Chutes a replacement for a Flume ride? Even if they get rid of Snake River Falls, it would just be a replacement for that.

Wasn't Viper removed to make room for El Toro?

^Well not recent history maybe. But, there were 13 coasters that previously operated at Cedar Point that are no longer there. http://www.rcdb.com/pd1.htm Most recently in 1978 they removed Jumbo Jet and another Wildcat they had before their current model.

Being one of the lucky few who got to participate in the Ravine Flyer II B-Roll shoot last year, I got to ride Ravine Flyer II 52 times in one day. Anyone else who was there and rode every circuit got the same number of rides. The only time I got off the train was after about ride 30 when they brought us some Applebees for lunch. I also got to participate in the video shoot for Kentucky Rumbler back in 2006. I don't remember exactly, but I'm sure it was at least 30 rides. There were people there that day who got many more rides than me. It was a similar number At the Maverick Media Day. About 30+/-. Again, there were people that day who got more rides than me. Those were probably my three top numbers for a single day's riding.

The only work being done on it is the relocation and redesign of the transfer track. To the best of my knowledge, the layout of the circuit has not and will not be changing at this time.

I was at ACE's Spring Preservation Con last weekend. If you go to the original entrance of HSTC, you'll see a basic picture of what Kosmo's Kurves will look like. The boats were running when we were there for the event. In addition, Golden Nugget will be located where the Eagles are now, next to the museum. But, first that have to relocate the eagles. The current working name for the resurrected Nugget is Black Diamond. Dick's hopes are to possibly get Black Diamond opened sometime next year.

Coastin Steve spoke at Eastcoaster about the coasters. The kiddie is a Miler. It's being custom made by Miler to be more aggressive than their standard models. The Golden Nugget won't be touched for at least 2 years. They've got a few different ideas of where to put it. But, they haven't taken any measurements yet.

Are you sure? To go to the media day at Cedar Point, you had to be invited by the park. Spring Fling will be at Knoebels on April 25th (opening day). They will be having an event at Kings Island on August 22nd. A GOCC membership should get you into most if not all Park Sponsored events too. I know it's accepted for Holiwood Nights and Coaster Mania.

I would love to see Golden Nugget show up at Knoebels. It would make sense with the fact that it's a PTC. They have a good relationship with PTC already. According to RCDB, Golden Nugget is the only steel coaster PTC ever made.

Everything seems to be pretty quiet about the Turns lately. Has anyone heard anything?

Are you saying you heard Phoenix is rough this year or Timbers. Because I was at ACE Spring Con and Shivering Timbers is running the best it ever has for me. I have not ridden it every year, but it is no where near awful. Why is it only a front seat ride? I was at Rumblefest Sunday and sat in nearly every seat, had about 30+ rides and got great air no matter where I sat. With steel prices having more than doubled in the past year, I wouldn't be surprised if more parks decide to go for a nice $6M to $8M GCI instead of a $20M to $25M Intamin or B&M. Jeff Pike, Chriss Gray, the interns and someone else from GCI were all at Rumblefest. They mentioned that they'll be pretty busy next year and are looking to take on an intern in the fall and possibly another in the spring.

That picture helps out a lot. I knew there were only a couple of us with red shirts and I did sit next to Janice a lot of the day. I'm farther back in that photo. The front right seat of the second last car.

I believe that directly behind you is a pink hoodie (Janice) and my red t-shirt. I don't think we ever sat together. So unless there's something you aren't telling us Exit, i think you might be a few rows back or your thinking of a different picture.

Yesterday was unbelievable. 52 consecutive laps. The day surpassed all of my expectations. I thought I might ride a few times here and there, but Other than moving around the train occasionally, I never got up, other than to eat and well, you know. Waldameer was nice enough to treat us all to Applebees for lunch. In terms of intensity and pure craziness, I still have to give my vote to Voyage, but I can't ride that more than a handful of times. This is very reridable. If needed, I could have stayed on much longer. I prefer the left side of the train in the back seat. Of the 10 airtime moments, i think 4 felt like ejector. Keep in mind that it was cold. So this could be different with warmer weather. I only had three rides in the very back seat and it was the first 3 rides, so I wasn't yet paying attention to the details. That being said, I recall there being good air over the hills. I didn't get any front seat rides and will defiantly go back sometime this summer. The 2 biggest laterals in my opinion were the right turn just after the first drop and the right turn going up through the turnaround. The 90 degree turn is of course amazing. This is a very well paced ride that is non-stop from beginning to end. The view is pretty sweet too. There is much to see and you have to ride it a few times to really get a good look around. Most of my rides were toward the front due to my morning purchase of a red Ravine flyer T-shirt. I have transition lenses in my glasses, so the guy if you see a guy in the pics from Saturday in a red shirt with what appear to be sunglasses, it's me. Rob did a great job and I can't believe some of the places he stood to get video. Thank You Rob for this wonderful opportunity. I would love to be apart of any of these that you do in the future.