willthethrill

^^ "Weightlessness" is exaclty right. There are no Negative vertical forces exerted on the riders during the course of the ride on the tower. "Airtime" is experienced when you have counter-acting forces; a car going down and a rider going up. On Superman, the car and rider are accelerated separetly (at launch) but when both reach top speed right before going up the tower, they act as a single entity through the rest of the trip up and down the tower until the breaks are lit. It would be quite impossible for anyone to get "airtime" as it is traditionally defined on that ride.

Don't know if this has been noticed and mentioned yet but I was cruising thru some old posts and came accross something pretty interesting. Check out Rob's comment on page 277 of this thread... is it possible this has been in the works for 4 years or is it just an amazing coincidence? And if not, Rob, can you give us some hints as to what we can expect in 2015?

Sky Rocket of the West? Or perhaps a ride rotation donation...

I think this whole conversation topic is old hat. The park is making huge strides addressing every single one of these issues; how quickly we forget that it wasn't too long ago that we weren't even sure there was someone "behind the wheel" at the front office. In regards to comparing MM with other Six Flags properties its apples and oranges. They are mostly all on their own as far as theme park markets. Lets not forget MM had to go in the mega thrill direction to stay competitive and profitable in the so cal market. Its not the same as GrAdv. Need to look ahead people. Most likely were going to have a Colossus makeover, Dr Doom, and another world class coaster installation as well as continued infrastructure improvements all in the next 3 years or so. I'm extremely pleased with the progress the park has made in such a short time frame. I can give the Scream! parking lot thing a pass when I look at 17 other well maintaned, aesthetically pleasing, top notch coaster experiences (with trees and fresh paint).

Along the vein of updating old rides, this would be a good opportunity to keep the water aspect of the ride area while also adding a coaster to their count in the form of an Aquatrax. Seems they have a new lease on their relationship with Intamin... I know I wouldn't mind the removal of the Jammer ride system itself nealy as much as I'd miss the general ambiance of that area; whatever they do, hopefully it won't be too intrusive/destructive. Afterall we don't need every square foot of the park covered with roller coaster tracks.

Yes, but what does it all mean?! Oh, the humanity!

Elisa - Yes I have And yes I still have my foot lodged so firmly in my mouth that its a good thing I can still type. I just thought that if it could have been done, it would have... oh, sometime in the last 15 years. I'm actually a little peeved at Six Flags considering the park hasn't done this BEFORE now since they could have. Feel like they've been holding out on us. Still shocked there's not some kind of coaster installation as well though, even if it were a mini.

^ those forces would probably be negligible. I was always just a naysayer because of the shape of the tower (lots of funky angles). Essentially my thinking was if they were able to do it, then why'd it take 15 years like everyone is saying?

I'm shocked, and eating my own hat. Never thought this would be feasible. Pretty awesome though. I think its safe to say that this tower is now the BEST COMBO DROP TOWER IN THE WORLD. Tallest and fastest with 3 ways to ride including a launch (assuming the turn a superman car around)? Just plain sick is all I have to say. Anyone else a little surprised were not seeing *some* kind of coaster installation to replace Deja Vu? Unless there's more in the article that's been deleted...

^^ That still doesnt look like anything

^^^wtf? I would swear you're trolling us but the drawing just doesnt look like anything... Sideways pacman with a rooster comb? Or maybe one of these

Well there you go. Now they're even crappier. Does the Knotts model still launch?

Never been on an Intamin next Gen giant drop but I can say that based on their older models they are more intense. The difference is that even though the S&S models are "launched" downward, they do not continue to accelerate past the initial drop. Also they are a fixed cable system meaning the cables are permanently attached to the cars which creates drag and a more controlled drop. Intamin drops have always been drag up and drop models, and experience a complete and true freefall. Also the intense sensation everyone is describing comes from the extended acceleration experienced while riding after about 1.5 seconds in. S&S's begin to decelerate much sooner and don't acheive the same speeds as their Intamin counterparts.

I did. I'm retarded. But I still think that at 100 mph its going to be only *slighty* better than it was before the revamp. I was at WCB but didn't sit thru all of the Q&A... some of the questions are just way too geeky

See I just don't understand that. Even if they do turn a car around to run forward again, Why!?! It was a lackluster experience hence the million dollar upgrade. Why go back to something you know wasn't successful and not well received? Besides aren't the new trains lighter to reduce stress on the launch system and tower? Wouldn't they have to re-program the system back to launch the old trains? Just doesn't make sense to me...

The tower is not designed to be a combo tower, period. It would require the tower to be dismantled and refabricated. Way more expense than its worth especially given how much $ has already been sunk into the ride. If it aint broke done fudge with it. They're gonna build a new ride with a large capacity, and why WOULDN'T they build it on the hill?

... and a holding brake on the top of Superman

They added First flight and improved that entire area along with it. The two are not mutually exclusive. My "hopes" aren't any higher than a relocated mouse and a drop tower. Unless you were making a pun in me saying I "hope" the drop tower goes on the hill which would then make my hopes, aptly high. If I'm really hoping high then give me a launched intamin with a buttload of airtime. And a monorail.

First, while I'm in the camp that Deja Vu is an outstanding ride and will be missed because it seems like it just 'belongs' at this park, we’re going to be better off in the long run. It's a resource hog; while it does run fairly dependably these days, I'm sure it takes a lot more man-hours to keep it that way than most of the other rides in the park. We all complained about the park not running rides to capacity this year due to rehab schedules and what not, and I'd put money on Deja Vu being the main contributing factor. (single train, extensive and frequent rehabs) Also, now that Superman has been updated (currently now one of my favorite rides in the park) Deja Vu seems redundant as it is now just a Batman/Superman hybrid experience. In the end, though disappointing, probably a good move all around and will complement the East park nicely. Second, we can with a fair amount of certainty expect another coaster for 2012. After all the marketing for most coasters on the planet it just wouldn't make sense not to. My money is on (at least) the coaster from up north. It's close (low transport cost), its footprint is similar to what‘s being removed, it’s cheap, and it’s a unique ride for this park which is lacking a mouse-type coaster. With 18 coasters, capacity becomes less of an issue and it will still move more people than DV. We can agree that diversifying the coaster line-up is a good thing. I’m also looking forward to the “all but confirmed” drop tower. Hope it’s put up on the hill. Couldn’t hurt to tear down some of those old buildings up there. And based on what they did with Superman and the Gotham Backlot, we can expect a nice facelift to the entire corner area I'm sure. Over the past few WCBs management has stressed that infrastructure is a priority for them now, and though the goings will be slow, they've stuck to their word so far. I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Colossus transformation announced as well if the coaster installation for '12 is on the smaller order. It’s inevitable at this point given the success of the Texas coaster and the direction this park has taken with its older rides. After all, why wait till the anniversary? Anyone know what happened with the LogJammer removal rumor? Seems to have come and gone...

Deja Vu shouldn't be judged against other Vekoma rides. Aside from reliability and some minor design issues (seat configuration) Vekoma got this one right. Is it worth the wait? Yes, but not for multiple rerides. I've never found the ride too uncomfortable, nothing you won't experience on X2 anyway. If you've never ridden a GIB, they are definitely worth the time.

Problem, OTSRs?

Are there going to be any vendors serving beer or booze by the time WCB rolls around? Saw something before about gates and a pending liquor license at Mooseburger...

I suppose. But it seems that strategy is really only necessary when there's a competitive variable. This is a once-a-year event; you either attend or you don't. Of course its beneficial to get people to sign up earlier than later but unless one knows how many spots are left, the strategies benefits would seem fairly inconsequential. Oh well, I got my tickets and I'm stoked.

now why is that I wonder...

Dont know if this was mentioned before, but what is the event capacity?