Medusa1861

Six Flags America Six Flags New England Six Flags Great Adventure Paramount's King's Dominion Keansburg amusement Park Bowcraft Amusement Park Storybookland Funtown Pier Casino Pier Morey's Piers Steel Pier Blackbeard's Cave (kiddy park was closed when i went) Eagle something park (just stopped by with James.. because.. it was a park) Blue Diamond Park Clementon Amusement Park Fantasy Island ..And parks I am likely to go to before the 2007 year ends... Busch Gardens Williamsburg Darien Lake

Actually... Six Flags bashing with me started when Shapiro took over. With Great Adventure my home park, they've done a lot wrong For example.. last year. El toro and Kingda Ka were last to open at noon. Chiller operated less, Stuntman's Freefall and Poland Spring Plunge are removed, Now Chiller is removed. The years before Shapiro took over, i felt that Six Flags was really starting to make the parks work well. I won't say premier sucks or Six Flags sucks because I am not sure who made the decisions that lead to some problems. Six Flags is at fualt for selling it though. Trying to add the humps instead of the rolls, I am unsure if Premier suggested it, or Six Flags wanted the ride to be less intense. The idea of making the trains only have 4 cars i believe is what screwed it up, and caused Six Flags to sell it, I kind of believe that was Six Flag's doing though. Premier might have just Oked it though.

I just got back from Great Adventure, And asked around. The latest rumor around the park is.. that it has been sold... The rumor goes farther, but just wait, it might show-up again somewhere overseas...

Everyone keeps forgetting..Dragon Coaster at Funtown Pier. Does it still count? Or because none of us can actually fit on the ride....

So, since no one cares about the person who has only 30 posts on this forum. (I do read it a lot, it's more reliable than screamscape!) Well Here's James' TR from a different perspective. Ok, So Friday, 12:15 after walking around Keansburg back and forth, James finally arrives. First we hit up Sea Sepent and don't get denied.. because.. I'm from Jersey.. I got connections. The ride was running kind of slow, I didn't get all the airtime i remember. Wildcat, Ran into the ride-op that reminds me of a poor Bon Jovi (sorry about having no picture). Then for some strange reason the tourists from Mass. want to visit keansburg beach. Luckily we didn't step on any needles on the way. Afterwards I lead them to the Hazlet Burger King, where i got us all free food, well, Rob and James freee drinks, I ate the food. See, New Jersians have connections! Then the rest is classified... It was a lot of gossip.. and listening to techno... And extra credits. My #s 108-#111 At Steel Pier. I kind of got confused by the coaster's theming...Dinosaurs..in New Jersey? 1.5 hours later... Hippo is cheating on me with James.. or Hippo was cheating on James with me. Either way, I'm sad James is just "acting happy" because this is not the superior Mouse in Seaside.. Exit 82 on the GSP While James and Taco were in the Gravitron, I went on a date with Hippo. I think we're ready to take it one step further Attention! James rides his 483rd coaster! Congratulate me. Dusa and Taco* did. *Taco is other Rob "I'm not too sure about this water..." "Hold on, I need to get this really good picture of Double Shot" So THAT is the "got crabs?" stand.. And it is at Keansburg. And the sign is because everyone in Keansburg DOES have crabs(minus 3 people).. Not that good kind. The "other photo" that you see me taking from above.. err below. And yes, James/emo boy/ Canobie fan etc. IS feeling the power if you catch my drift.

I'm just curious, how many people here are actually questioning the validity of this company. I feel it is kind of awkward for any company to start out with outrageous designs without showing any experience. I don't remember them at IAAPA last year and i'm unsure if they are going to be a vendor at IAAPA this year. The all-in-one concept is interesting but as mentioned in this topic, The forces would be too different for each row. Not saying this concept is impossible, but I feel there must be A LOT more engineering and problems. A bit too much for a start up company. If i were a park, I would not invest much money into something like this (assuming this is a real company) Just reading the website, everything about it is so vague it's unreliable. " In 2001, a group of senior engineers from various amusement and commercial construction design, manufacturing and construction companies joined together to form a new, full service engineering firm catering to the amusement industry, the Ride Tek Engineering. Ride Tek entered into relationships with well-known manufacturers working on an international level: it provided them with engineering services and new design solutions as well as project management, supervision of manufacturing and commissioning for many rides, mainly roller coasters." Most if not all company websites will at least state the names of the creators or give them any credibility. Any potential client will want to know the companies they are from as I am sure they will all be familiar with GCI, CCI, B&M, Vekoma, Intamin and even S&S. As to his/her designs, they are creative, but not (can't think of the word) realistic.

I don't know if you rode El Toro opening year, But the El Toro lead was my operator on J2 when i went this year. I really enjoyed J2. Am i really the only one that enjoys coasters that are rough? The Log ride is actually pretty decent too and offers some nice photo ops.

My parents came home with tickets to that fair (they work for the county) I didn't go because i had work each day that week. I went to that fair last year, or was it two years ago. I didn't think it was ghetto, and i enjoyed the log rolling competition, Did they still have it I didn't see it in any of your pics.

^ I don't know anything about you, But i gather that you work for Six Flags? I feel that if i were hired to work at Six Flags, My job would be to.. operate the rides? That would be all I am required to do. Can you honestly say that everytime you go to your job, You are in a cheery mood? And i will admit, i was wrong about the garbage policy. But I really don't feel the need to g o out of my way and complain that "employees aren't doing their job correctly". Because there are some (probably including you) that do do their job very well. I'm sure the same goes for cedar Fair parks, I'm SURE they have some lousy employees. I don't feel it's right for anyone to be like "Six Flags employees don't do their job right" I don't know if i am just more accepting of these operations; but I still feel the same, If you don't like the park operations, guests, cleanliness of Six Flags parks... Don't go there then. And like he said, "Please don't get me wrong, we did have a good time and we will likely go back." That sentence alone gives the message.. "if he's coming back.. why should we do anything differently?" As with the security guard, I'm not one, So i have no idea of the policy, But as just a customer at Six Flags, I'm not complaining. Your whole "there is always someone willing to do the job." Once again, I'm not an expert on any of this, But i recall that every year, there would be an article in the Asbury Park press that Six Flags is underemployed and cannot get enough help. I am also pretty sure that it's difficult and expensive to replace employees mid-season. Once again, I am not an expert, but I believe that the amount of training to operate a single ride is many hours, My guess at least 16 hours. Also mid-season i'd say most people have their summer job already so finding someone is even more difficult. So is it really worth it to fire a mediocre employee because they aren't "smiling enough" or that they aren't fast enough. Aside from all of that, I would agree, Yes Six Flags is a poorly run company. But there are also some very good employees, And i feel it is unfair to bash Six Flags because "it's employees aren't happy enough" I've gone to SFgadv quite a lot during the spring and I didn't see anything wrong, i began to recognize some of the employees and they would have their good days and bad days.

I woudl have to totally disagree with this article 100% Compare Six Flags to Disney.. HA! A better comparison is Six Flags to any Fast-food chain. I'm an employee at 2 of them and i won't mention which. But i believe the attitude is the same. To the employees.. We get paid a low wage and therefore..why try harder.. It's really a "dead end job" or "i'm only going to be here for this season" The comparisonI Six Flags and any fast food chain knows that it's customers come here for.. convenience, it's cheap (they all have Season passes because it's nearby) , The customer gets what they want (food or rides), and no matter how bad you treat the customer, most will come back. Now you may disagree with the last statement, but having worked at fast food for years, i know this. So many times i've heard "I'm never coming back" and yet.. I see them the next day, or "Every time i come here you always make it wrong". Well, if we always make it wrong, why do you still come? I see it the same with Six Flags, I get fed up with Six Flags with the rudeness and i'm like, I'm not going to go next summer, But i always do. The reason.. "big thrills" just minutes away. There's no other offer. The author writes that "The ride operators all seemed bored. Well, OK, it is probably boring work, but it is also is your job, so perk up for heaven's sake." My response to that is "pay me more, or at least give me a reason to" I know that they all get paid near minimum wage, tehre's no reason to. Yes, ideally you would want to go to a park and have everyone happy, But it's just not going to happen. I also think he was over-reactive about the missing fence posts. Yeah, i do see that it is potential for something to happen. But i'm sure the ride operators knew that it was there, and honestly, can't do anything about it, they're just ride operators. They most likely reported it and it takes awhile for stuff like that to get fixed. The backpack thing was just rediculous. If someone came up to me and told me "there's an unattended backpack over there..." I would be thinking "you're kidding me.. you're worried about a backpack.. I'm not going to go and pick up a backpack that someone is probably just leaving there while he's either going to the bathroom or getting in line" even if he may think it contains a bomb.. he already knows that the security guards at the front gate check all bags even if it doesn't make the metal detector go off. I'm also kind of sick of hearing those stories from the older folk, "when I was your age... I worked so much harder than these kids today, things were done so much better and there were no problems, kids today just don't have any discipline anymore" Well, I live in New Jersey, and my Six Flags park i have heard used to be worse than it is now. I've heard all the stories about violence in the park and stories of disrepair. His little story about how he would never be caught walking by a piece of paper on the ground without picking it up. Most of the garbage I might see on the ground are food wraps. I believe in sanitation before anything else. If i'm on my way to go to my ride or any other duty, I would also, not pick it up. I'm not going to pick it up and get someone's left-over ketchup on my hands with no way of cleaning it up besides going to the bathroom which will add on another 5 minutes to my trip. I'm also not even sure if it's policy to do that. After many visits to any park, i have never seen any employee pick up trash with their bare hands. It's always with those poking sticks, broom and dustpan, or the long extension gripper. Even if it is much easier for the employee to just pick it up, the employee will clean it up, what i assume is the "correct way". I feel that people "these days" just want too much bang for their buck. The arguement is always "I want Six Flags to be just like Disney, or "I want Six Flags employees to go very fast, be friendly, and always have a smile on" Sometimes you just have to accept that Six Flags may actually be doing the best they can with what they have. They can't afford to be paying it's employees enough to make it a job in which they can layoff an employee or not being happy or friendly enough because finding a replacement is too hard, no one wants the job. Maybe everyone can just admit it, that maybe, just maybe the employees are human just like you and me. I've seen employees just "almost" lash out at customers for just, making them mad. For example, now that Six Flags screens all the photos before they post them on the hoto booth, it takes awhile. So many people were just like.. When does my photo show up. At first he was like, I'm sorry, I'm unsure, it will come up eventually, I have no control over this" And they kept on nagging him "my photos stilla ren't up" then he was just said in an annoyed voise "well magically they will just appear". I saw people got mad at him, but i saw zero reason why. Ok, I'm sorry for my rant.

#1 Kingda Ka Sfgadv (still not bored of it) #2 Superman: Ride of Steel at SFNE #3 J2 Clementon Amusement Park #4 El Toro Sfgadv (lucky it got to stay up that high) #5 Storm Runner: Hershey #6 Millennium Force CP #7 Batwing SFA #8 Wicked Twister CP #9 Top Thrill Dragster CP #10 Great American Scream Machine SFGAdv (yeah, i don't like B&Ms and I've only been on 86 coasters)

Clementon Amusement Park because ...well... J2 is amazing. The log ride is ok too...

No, the ride is probably about 30 years my guess. And no, the park is not in great shape. It houses some nice real old rides. Loop-o-plane for example, it's also got the last of it's kind dark ride. i don't know anything about dark rides though. The park is just usually empty, and there are still rumors that it might be torn down for... You guessed it.. (probably) Condos. One train operation really isn't too bad considering that the park is usually empty, i waited about 5 minutes and got on. So if you're in the New Jersey area, looking for credits or looking for some old rides that are almost "last of it's kind" Keansburg is deffinitely worth it.

So as anyone looking for easy credits in New Jersey (James.. who couldn't even ride Sea Serpent) Wildcat has been closed for awhile. About 5 years ago, i saw it run, but didn't ride it because there were no ticket booths open(didn't know i could just pay with cash) Well, I didn't have a car so i couldn't get back (The park is literally only 5 minutes away from me.. because of 35mph and 25mph speed limits) As the years from 2004 went on Wildcat looked more and more hopeless; rumors of it being sold were high and a newspaper article about the park being removed (it's been operating for over 100 years). To tell the truth, i didn't expect it until last weekend i heard a rumor that "The owner is going to refurbish it" 3 days later my brother tells me "I saw people waiting in line for it". So today i decided to check it out for myself.. and well here it goes: The other credit. You're already at the park already, might as well ride. It's actually REALLY fun too... AFTER! Before... And it comes with it's own paint job too!! well.. sort of. The bottom is blue, everything else is purple Yup, it's reopened! One train, but it's (most likely) and original, one of the last Schwartkopfs.. Does it look open? Not really. Does it look old and beat up.. YUP

Something that owner of Wildcat at Keansburg Amusement Park tells. Is that he stopped trying to sell The Wildcat and is now looking into refurbishing it.

Just thought it would be fun to post this here. James missed his plane to Spain, so he was in Illinois (he lives in Mass.) and is now in Ireland... I hope he's able to get to Spain before they all "ditch" him.

Does this mean that Roar at Six Flags America can get these without a retracking? Unfortunately these trains might not "take off" if only GCI creates Wooden twisters.

After reading, i find it interesting no one (or that i can remember) mentioned X.. Probably because it opened 2days? before the new year. Well here's my list. Home Park: Sfgadv or Keansburg. Pick 2007: (none) Future: Renegade (1 more month) 2006: (none) 2005: Hydra: The Revenge 2004: Storm Runner 2003: Top Thrill Dragster 2002: Wicked Twister 2001: Talon: The Grip of Fear 2000: The Villain Superman: Ultimate Escape Batman: Knight Flight

Well, I'm not being that sarcastic. I really don't like this ride anymore. I'm not a fan of "floater" airtime. I miss the almost painful ejector airtime it used to have. And the slowed lift hill... It FEELS like it brakes pretty hard. You are actually forced forward.. It's not really a smooth slowing at all... I will admit, the Drop into the rapid turns still gives ejector though.

So Chiller had alot of work today, and i got 2 people kicked out of the park for attacking me in line. I wouldn't let a girl cut in line, so then her huge boyfriend comes and attacks me. Words of advice from security gaurd. "let ladies through" I don't know if that means... Men are ok to be like.. No your not excused. I guess you can say I have a line cutter problem. Time for parks with no lines for awhile... And to properly close this TR. Comes a pic of "old school" James.. 3 years ago. At closing time we meet up with Aflac. She is a duck. Owner says that someone tried to steal her at Hurricane Harbor. But now she's safe. Maybe it had something to do with this happening all the time. It just can't make it to that yellow line anymore. 5. Employee at entrance says that he has only heard "rumors" that the trains will only have 4 cars, and "didn't" know why it was down. The big question now is.. How many cars are running on Chiller? Is it four or is it.... In the middle of silence..comes the ultra loud testing of Chiller! (picture is actually the second test) After being stuck on KK for 45 minutes we head over to the ultra-reliable Superman. We get on. ride op says: "all clear!.........cancel" As you can see, El Toro stinks now. Just look at it! No more ejector air, it's all "floater air" now Over at El Toro, This employee was playing the lemonade.. But he stopped by the time I got my camera out Coming back again.. Chiller is now put back together! It was a heated event, So it was time to cool off Nitro..didn't get to ride because I got attacked because I wouldn't let a person cut the line. kinda reminds me of the good ol kingda Ka days... Really fun shot, All those supports to keep the train.. from collapsing? This hole provided me much information including.. a separation of the train!? So after arriving at the park, heading over to Chiller what do I see? Robin Train! and... Robin Train!

I am also considering the California trip now if it happens to be during Rowan's Spring break. ( no idea when that is though yet). But a serious concern is, that if you (Rob and most other TPR members) are from South California, wouldn't everyone just be bored and want to leave? Especially at SFMM, since I remember in another topic how Rob A. told that he went to SFMM, rode the "big" coasters asked if anyone wanted to ride anything else? No one wanted to and left.

Too soon! Also, As far as i remember (and i remember Viper well, one of my favorite rides) Viper didn't slow down at the top. I believe I may have ridden El toro with the slowed lift hill... just because my last ride.. I got off and was actually completely bored of the ride!...so I went over to Medusa and rode that 14 times. A day later i remember seeing the Gadv TR with the "Slowed lift hill". Me, i guess you could say being a Great Adventure fanboy... El Toro went from being my #1 coaster.. to.. umm.. below #10, and i've only been on 85 coasters. j2 = my new favorite woodie.

Finally, a trip I can go on. I almost did Spain this year, But then I bought a car instead. So I'm all up for Texas! And Dollywoood and umm.. Magic Springs? Is on the way there! Now.. to save up $1,000 What a long winter this will be. Texas.. I hope isn't beggining of May, that's when my finals at college are. Please, think about the college students...

well, of the rides i've been on.. Mind Eraser at SFNE was the ONLY one that was kinda rough. I've had a fair share of Vekomas 4 SLCs, 4 boomers, 1 invertigo, a kiddy or two... YAY! Go Vekoma!

I don't really like Great Adventure that much... I'm more of a SFNE or SFA fan if anything. I know i can't say much not being on Voyage, but Voyage is just not for me. I like my coasters short and sweet, extreme ejector airtime over extreme floater. So i guess i would agree, for most people, Voyage would most likely be the better choice, just not for me. But like you said, the "loosing speed before it heads into the twister section. That is what makes that hill (i think) the 2nd best hill on El Toro, Because it feels like the ride is over... But then it surprises you with the best ejector airtime on the ride. and IN the twister section, i deffinitely don't feel it goes too slow.