East Coast(er) General

Since I was with Adam & Bryan at the tour, I thought I'd post this photo of the guys in action & and the links to the videos I took. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 They're in high quality. I hope you find them informative.

We were making final preparations for my son's birthday trip to HRP and went to double-check everything when we found this: http://www.hardrockpark.com/ Why did they close unannounced (we were looking at the schedule on the website just last night)? Because they filed for bankruptcy today. No word on refunds for season pass holders. At least they intend to re-open next year. http://www.hardrockpark.com/closinginformation.cfm Now I have to cancel my hotel reservations. Guess we'll just have to do BGE & KD.

My son & I went there today and confirmed that Cyclone and all the rides at Deno's (including the Wonder Wheel & Super Shot drop tower) will be operational next year. Although Astroland will be gone, Cyclone will be operated by the same staff (they have a two year contract independent of the Astroland being operational). What will be missed is the Big Apple kiddie coaster, Pirate Ship & Top Spin. I hope they find room at Deno's or Kiddie Park for some of Astroland's rides (especially the Big Apple). We now need CIDC to get their butts in gear with getting the zoning laws changed so that they can begin to build the new park. It will take a couple of years to get the project underway, so it's a shame that Astroland couldn't stay open until that time. There are already three empty lots at Coney Island and it looks like the fourth will be the biggest eyesore of them all. Here are the artist's drawings of what the park will look like if CIDC gets their way: Here is the link to the CIDC site: http://www.thecidc.org/

Its still that way. I've ridden it over 70 times so far, including 11 times today (2x front row, 6x back row, the rest in between). I had to keep changing seats in order to stay on the same train during Rise & Scream and got in eight rides in a row. So believe me when I say that the coaster is still as smooth as it has always been in all the seats, but sitting in the last car is much better do to the massive pull (especially over the insane ejector hill)!

^Yeah. ERT on El Toro is going to be awesome! We got 8 rides in a row without having to leave the train this morning & it was in-f*cking-credible! No, that's not true. It seems to give a bigger jolt as the train moves onto the lift hill (perhaps due to the new cable), but that's the only difference I noticed. Like Maverick, you have to anticipate the turns on El Toro or you might get roughed up a little, but not any more than usual.

I am happy to report that El Toro is back to normal operations. Today's Rise & Scream event featured ERT on Kingda Ka, Medusa, Rolling Thunder & the Wild Bull!

El Toro remains closed today (Friday), but they still say that they are hoping to have it open for the weekend. I will be attending Rise & Scream tomorrow (Saturday), so I'll post an update after the event.

Rob, No offense taken, I was only trying to pass along what I had heard & never claimed it to be factual. I found out today that the gentleman that gave me the information I posted on CF was not a ride engineer (that was the term I used to differentiate him from ride operations staff), but part of the ride maintenance team (the guys that actually do the work on the coasters). As you know all too well, the park will not give out any information other than saying that rides are closed from time to time for maintenance, that is why I tried to find out more. It was never my intention to cause a stir, rather just to inform people who were thinking of going to the park that the coaster is closed for an unknown period of time. Today I did find out that El Toro is still closed, but I also got 'official' confirmation that the park hopes to have it opened by the weekend. I will be attending Saturday's Rise & Scream, so hopefully El Toro will be back up and running for the event. Even if it is not open by the weekend, I am sure they will have it fixed long before the TPR event.