Tchu

Here's hoping! During testing, the coaster trains have been flying around the course, up and over all the hills. The on-ride animation that was first released when the ride was announced showed the MCBR barely slowing the train at all. When Mr. Helbig was asked about the MCBR and how much it would affect the trains speed, I believe he commented that you would hardly notice it. Granted, nothing will give us an official answer till April 18th when the ride opens to the public, but all indications so far seem to point to Diamondback moving with a little more speed than some of the other B&M hypers. If the MCBR does in fact basically do nohting... those last two bunny hops are gonna give huge air, and that final helix is going to be intense... because right now, as they test, its booking it up through the last stage of the ride

Took a trip to the park today, and the new kid's are, Funland, was finally up and running. Nice little area that features a total of four rides and a funhouse. While at the park, I ran into Head of Public Relations, Don Cunningham, who was all smiles about the debut of Funland. "Better late than never!" Don said with a grin. "We ran into a handful of snags along the way, and felt that it was crucial for Mammoth to open on time. As a result, Funland wasn't able to open at the start of the season, but the new section is now open to the public, and this will really improve the park's atmosphere and appeal to the American family. Indeed, the park offers several rides for the youngsters, including a junior suspended coaster, funhouse, carousel, and silly slide... all sure to be a hit with the kids... something the park had sorely been missing. "Adding this section was key for us." Don stated. "It's still not finished in its entirety. We'll be doing some landscaping work and adding more rides in the future, but Funland has been a huge step towards offering up something for the whole family to do." When you enter the new section of the park, you'll find a slide to the left, and Flying Crocodiles to the right. FC is a junior suspended coaster that travels around a grassy plain, and swoops back and forth across the main path in Funland several times Here is Fruity's Freezies, which sells ice cream, Popsicles, and the like. Also, the station to The Jr. King, a 'trainer' coaster for those young ones who aren't quite ready for big rides. The layout for The Jr. King. Rumor has it that this coaster was to be called Fairly Odd Coaster (hence the colors), but due to trouble with licensing the park went with the tribute to King Coaster instead. The Carousel. The park put a lot of time into the scenery of this ride, feeling a Merry-Go-Round is a vital part to any park. And... Cedar Fair has already announced that 2006 will see small additions to the American section of the park, including a classic Arcade, and a nice sit-down restaurant located on the lake. But the big news... well, rumor... is that Kings Lake will likely be seeing a new coaster in the 2007 season. "There's a possibility of a new type of coaster heading our way in 2007" Don teased ".but right now... it's a lot of talk amongst the suits-and-ties, with nothing official on paper. You'll just have to keep coming to the park and watching for clues."

Looks absolutely incredible, DBru. I've seen a lot of pretty cool river rapids rides in RCT2 parks (I'd say they're the most consistently well-done attraction in RCT parks) and this is definitely the best. Nice layout, solid landscaping, amazing buildings/structures. As was mentioned above, this looks too good to even stop and think that this is a No-CS park. Once you take that into consideration... it goes from great work to stunning.

ATTENTION: Passengers boarding Hulk Hogan: The Ride should not do so if they suffer from high blood pressure, pre-existing heart conditions, or back problems. Also, you should not ride HH:TR unless you have been regularly saying your prayers and taking your vitamins. Failure to do so could lead to severe physical harm, brutthhhhuuuurrrrrr! And if that were to happen... whatchu gonna do?!?!?!

Finally... April has rolled around! And that means one thing... Time to experience MAMMOTH, the new B&M mega coaster opening as the centerpiece of the massive Kings Lake expansion! I made a trip to the park for opening day and it was worth the price of admission! Mammoth was incredible, the Smokehouse restaurant is worth the higher prices, and Hurricane and King Coaster were running great for older coasters! The all-new kids area is slightly behind schedule, but should be ready for June when the park opens for seven days a week. Here's a ton of pictures from the park! -Matt Entrance to ‘The Woodlands’, the brand new area of King’s Lake The entrance to the new river rapids ride. The loading platform sits atop a small hill. The Kings Rapids layout. The Smokehouse. A nice dine-in restaurant that specializes in BBQ. Their pulled-pork sandwiches are fantastic! The star attraction of the Kings Lake expansion… a B&M mega-coaster! The massive entrance to Mammoth. The large stone wall with the towering letters is truly impressive. The Station building for the new B&M. The stone is to fit the prehistoric reference of the coaster’s namesake. The quick turn to the right pulls some intense lateral Gs at the base of the third drop. After the fourth drop, it’s a ‘hammerhead’ turn-around. Diving under… then rocketing up from beneath what’s left of the old mill. An awesome, and unique, feature of this coaster! Nice airtime coming out of the 450 degree helix… plus the chain-lift for the ‘mammoth’ 230ft first drop! The airtime filled, terrain-hugging finale. And though it has nothing to do with the amazing new coaster… probably my favorite shot of the day. Hurricane… gotta love the classics!

Not to be an even bigger nerd, but Coral snakes and Cobras are of the same family.[/bignerdiness]

Small teaser of things to come! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2005 to be “Mammoth” year for Kings Lake October 14th, 2004 When Cedar Fair purchased Kings Lake amusement park in 2001, it set the wheels in motion for a plan that would triple the park’s size for the 2005 operating season. Nearly four years later, with the kick-off to the 05 season just months away, Kings Lake has officially announced its marquee attraction of the new expansion. Mammoth, a B&M hyper coaster, will anchor the parks new woodland section. The coaster, set to debut on opening day in April of 05, will rise over 230 feet in the air and give riders a thrilling three-minute experience filled with massive drops, loads of air-time, and numerous twists and turns that hug the densely forested hills along the parks northern boarder. “It will be truly magnificent.” Don Cunningham, head of PR stated. “And bolstering a dozen drops, including one of over 230 feet, with speeds exceeding 80mph… this coaster will certainly live up to its billing.” Bolliger & Mabillard, better known as B&M, are a world’s leader in coaster design. Staking claim to having built numerous Top 20 coasters across the world, the company was Cedar Fair’s first choice to help launch the new Kings Lake. “There are numerous companies we could have gone with, all of them bringing something unique to the table, but we felt no one offered the combination of quality thrills, timeliness, and safety that B&M has always stood for.” At over 6000 feet in length, Mammoth will be B&M’s largest mega coaster to date. “We can’t wait to debut this monster to the public.” Cunningham said with a grin. “It’s sure to be a smash hit with coaster lovers everywhere!” Stay tuned for construction updates, as well as more information on what else the 2005 expansion of Kings Lake has in store! The main logo for the B&M hyper set to debut in April 2005! An artist rendering of a helix located along the terrain-hugging 'home stretch' of the ride!

The coaster looks fantastic. I love the low to the ground Arrow/Vekoma loopers. Having just built one "on stilts" (to fit with the hurricane namesake) I have to say that i love the look of the terrain-esque coaster you have here And the brown supports help it blend in with the surroundings... makes the true blue track really pop. Love the lifthill through the loop. And the station building looks great... phenomenal when you take the severe limitations of no CS into account. This is putting my no-CS park to shame Fantastic work, DBru!

Thanks everybody. I greatly appreciate the kind words. This is turning out to be even more challenging than I thought without CS and expansion packs. Options are pretty darn limited. As it stands now, I've got two new sections to the park finished (those updates will follow over the next couple weeks) and have started further expanding Americana. Anywho... to kill some time till the unveiling of the new sections/rides... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ December 1st, 2004 Hey guys, Been giving Kings Lake a lotta love in the local paper I write for, and as a result I scored some great photos from Don Cunningham, head of Public relations from the park. He was kind enough to send me pictures of King Coaster testing back in 2002... before any expansion on the park had begun! He also sent me a sneak peek of what to expect when Kings Lake debuts it's new sections of the park next year! Below is the letter Don sent me. Matt, Thanks for all the kind words and great publicity you've been giving us! As a way of saying 'thank you', I've included some exclusive pictures for you. Hopefully this working relationship can continue in the future. We're expecting people to be quite 'hyper' when we open the gates for the 2005 season! Sincerely, Don Cunningham Hopefully, in the coming days, I can get some great shots of The Hurricane. It's one of my favs. Anyways... on to the pictures! Here's the first drop on King Coaster, complete with the classic "Do Not Stand" sign! Some air-time hills down the back-stretch. You can see how these hills were built onto the existing hillside. An overview of King Coaster. When it was built back in the 70s, it was one of the largest woodies in the world. Coaster track on-site! I've been told vertical construction is underway on what will be one of the biggest projects for Cedar Fair to date!

The challenge… I sat down to do a challenging park (in part for the fun of the challenge, in part due to circumstances such as building the park on a computer not my own) and thus far, it’s proven to be every bit as difficult as I expected. For starters, this is my first attempt at a replicating a realistic park. In the past, I’d simply built parks to the extent necessary to complete a scenario. This meant no scenery and unnecessary landscaping. No station buildings. No enclosures for food/drink stalls. Single-wide paths that didn’t waste money and wouldn’t get guests lost/stuck/confused etc. This is my first attempt at anything resembling an actual amusement park. Secondly, the limitations in place have been highly challenging. This is a no CS, no cheats, no hacks, no expansion packs park. This is just RCT2 as it was meant to be played straight out of the box. This means no custom supports (they look amazing… but unless they are the couple supports offered in-game… not using them), no custom scenery, no merged tracks courtesy of trainers or hacks. If it’s a coaster, flat, or piece of scenery that didn’t come until WW or TT… it won’t be included here. With that said… here’s the story: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kings Lake opened in 1978. The land (including said lake) was owned by the family of Gertrude King. Ms King and her family operated a small mill that became obsolete in the mide 70s. With a modest fortune at her disposal, Ms. King decided to use the family’s land to indulge a life-long passion of hers… roller coasters. In 1978, Kings Lake opened as a small pay-per-ride park that included a Ferris Wheel and their wooden classic “King Coaster”, built especially for the park. For several years, the park operated as such. Then, in the mid 1980s, in an effort to expand, King’s Lake added a scrambler ride, as well as their first steel coaster. The custom Arrow Looper, featuring five inversions and built on the lake side, was dubbed “The Hurricane”. The debut of the new steelie brough renewed interest to the park, and Kings Lake thrived as a small amusement, experiencing success through the 80s and into the early 1990s. By the mid-90s, however, unable to finance new and thrilling attractions, the park began to fall off many amusement park enthusiasts radar. It was during this time that Ms. King’s health took a turn for the worse. In her 70s, and unable to perform her necessary duties, Ms. King handed over the reigns to her son, George, who would oversee day-to-day operations. By the late 90s, Kings Lake was a shadow of its former self. In an effort to fulfill Ms. King’s dream of seeing the family-owned land turned into a thriving amusement park, and with his mother’s blessing, George King sold the park and all rights to the land to Cedar Fair. Talk of the change in ownership began in 2000, and the sale was finalized during the 2001 season. In 2002, Kings Lake was closed to the public, while renovations began on the existing rides. At the same time, the first ideas of expansion were tossed around by the park’s new owners. Finally, a plan was laid out. In 2003, Kings Lake would re-open, new and improved. The four existing rides would remain as part of a ‘classic midway’ themed area dubbed ‘Americana’. Meanwhile, work would begin on two new sections of the park, one making use of the heavily wooded hills, the second a kid’s area, meant to please the young ones and allow for the entire family to enjoy a day in the park. These new areas would tentatively open in 2005, tripling the parks size. Cedar Fair is (not surprisingly) moving away from pay-per-ride to an entrance fee for the park. Here is the ticket booth, complete with a place for processing season passes (which will debut upon the completion of the park's two new areas for the 05 season). The entrance gates, as well as a shot of Key Hole Photos, an info kiosk, and storage lockers immediately to the left of the entrance. The main entrance plaza or "Main Street". A beautiful fountain, surrounded by landscaping and numerous building. Here is a shot of the Regal Diner (just a food court) and a gift shop. The other side of Main Street. A building for unknown purposes, and a restaurant known as 'The Fountain'. The garden clock and the entrance to the park's tribute to good ol' fashion midways... Americana. The entrance to the park's first coaster, a woodie by the name of King Coaster. Also pictured: Subway... Eat Fresh! The entrance to Kings Lake very own Arrow looping/corkscrewing (is that a word?) coaster... The Hurricane! When ya gotta go... ya gotta go. Cedar Fair moved the park's ferris wheel, to give it a great location at the water's edge. An overview of the Americana section of the park as it exists now.

I'd love to add supports, but from the games given scenery packages, i don't think there's a support/scenery item that fits with B&M. I know they've got a couple pieces, but they're the supports most often seen on Intamin hypers and some Arrow loopers. Is there a scenery item that would fit for B&M hypers? I agree that the hill into the MCBR needs something going on. In an effort to really make this a terrain-hyper, i wanted to keep with the slope of the land, but with it rising so high, it loses that affect anyways... so i might as well do something a little more thrilling and less awkward looking. And the twisting finale is a little more compact than i'd like it... i was surprised that it only raised the excitement of the coaster when i added the last couple turns. I think there's just a couple turns too many in such a small space. As for the path over the coaster, It's a ten foot clearance (according to the game), so I think it works well, looks good, and is realistic enough not to be just plain silly. Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated! Oh, and as for the building... yeah, its simple and boxy. I've actually just started a park that i'm trying to theme up as best as possible with buildings/stations/etc. It's challenging without downloading custom scenery, because there's so little in the way of roofing objects (rounded, slanted, cornered etc) but the challenge of doing something with so little is fun (if not frustrating. extremely frustrating)

Hey everybody, Names Matt. Followed the boards for awhile, and finally decided to sign up and join. First post on the TPR forums, and I decided to start by posting a few pics from everyone's favorite amusement park game. Busted out the ol' RCT 2 disc a few weeks ago, and after lots of effort to shake of a severe amount of rust, I've built what might be my favorite coaster i've ever put together (not saying much). The park itself was just a big flat piece of land i put together to build a bunch of coasters. The coaster itself is... Copperhead. A B&M hyper-terrain coaster. This coaster is built across a wooded ravine and hillside that surrounds a small river. The track hugs the hillside in many cases, knifes in/out/and under the land, dives into a ravine, and finishes with a variety of twists and turns through an old mill town that has been abandoned. The coaster came in right at 10.00 on the RCT2 Excitement rating, making it one of the better rated coasters I've built. Here are some pics. No custom supports (unfortunately... not using my own computer to play the game, so I'm not downloading any material that might cause lag/problems/glitches etc). Comments and criticisms appreciated! The massive first drop... towering over 200 ft The unique turnaround, following the slope of the hillside, hugging the ground in many places. Airtime down the back stretch! And a helix in the ravine. The twisted finale! A train circling the Old Mill at high speeds A far-off overview of the entire coaster (complete with downpour!)