CoasterGuy06

Look forward to finally trying backwards Batman! Add me to the list that doesn't want to see GA Cyclone get a make over yet. I had some of the most INSANE coaster rides on it this year!

The park certainly had debt. Almost all parks do. How else do you think they were able to by a Vekoma SLC, Intamin Drop ride, and the world's tallest B&M stand up coaster in three seasons? As long as you are current on payments you are fine, but at a certain point taking out millions a year for new attractions will cause you to reach the point where you can no longer keep up on your payments (see Six Flags back in 2010).

Found the article I get the information from. The debt was actually $52 million that Premier took on plus the park's original investors received stock in Premier Parks. Article here

Not necessarily, Ed's all about rides. He says that the reason KK was so successful before Six Flags was because they added many rides and coasters. Six Flags just removed, ending in the park's closure. Ed tends to also leave out the fact that KK had over $60 million in debt that his group had racked up that Six Flags became responsible for when they took over.

Haven't been to Great Adventure, but if they have you checking your B&M's like the Six Flags parks I have been to check their B&M rides your checks are inefficient. If you are running with two attendants one should start on row 1 and one row 8 and check all four seats until you meet, theoretically in the middle as I have seen other parks do (Dominator at KD, for example.). That way even if you get held up by a guest your seats can still get checked fairly quickly. Yes there is still a brief pause as you switch rows, but an average of four pauses every for four rows is better than eight pauses every two seats. Nothing is more frustrating than seeing the loading side of a train fully checked and ready to go while waiting on the unload side to be done because one guest took forever to get in their seat, as is the case on B:TR on almost every visit I make to SFOG.

According to the park's GM the final pieces of track should arrive next week. Won't be much longer until it is finished!

Easter Sunday back the year Intimidator opened was a slow day. It's line never got over 10 minutes and really the only rides that saw line longer than that were Nighthawk and maybe Ricochet. Afterburn was a walk on every time I rode it. It's actually a good day to visit parks.

Some other things that were at least discussed (how serious I do not know) The last GM when it was being managed by Alfa Smart Parks was interested in building a Wave Pool, Shoot the Chute (both of which would be built years later), a Mammoth slide, and a Vekoma SLC or similar ride. The first GM when the park reopened in 2003 was really interested in a Vekoma family inverted coaster. When Zoomerang was built it came down to either the Boomerang from Wonderland Sydney or the original Invertigo from Liseberg. The decision was made based on the Boomerang still being functional and they were able to see it running in person and the Invertigo had already been disassembled. When the park announced Zoomerang they also inflated the dollar amount they spent on the ride (sadly that particular ownership fudged several figures they released to the media). At one point there was a member of management that was really pushing for the park to build a Skycoaster. Both Adrenaline Family Entertainment and General Attractions looked into building an Aqualoop at various points. The idea behind Buzzsaw Falls started when Intamin was trying to sell a small (~60 feet) version of Pilgram's Plunge had been cancelled after manufacturing had begun. When the park was able to get approval to move forward with the project the ride had already been sold. They then attempted to find a used Shoot the Chute elsewhere. This was done because they had several projects they wanted to complete at once (such as re-routing the entrance to the waterpark, add new deck area by the lazy river, etc.) and buying a used ride would allow more of these projects to be completed. None were found in decent enough shape so they then looked into finding used boats to use. Eventually the decision was made to build a new ride with new boats. When the park was sold in January 2012 it was sold for roughly the same amount they had spent on Buzzsaw Falls in 2011. Yeah, it was that bad. If the park had not been sold there would have been big budget cuts in 2012 which could have included reducing the daily operating schedule down to six days and removing up to six rides from the theme park side, among other things.

It's manufactured by Intermountain Lift in Utah.

They actually had some plans for a Sally Dark ride back when the park was bought by Adrenaline Family Entertainment in 2008. It would have gone in the arcade (which eventually became the Star Theater and later the indoor catering facility).

Yes they did. In fact when Splashdown (bowl slide) opened back in 2004 it was only open for a couple of days before its pump malfunctioned. In the short time between the purchase and opening this season they replaced several pumps in the water park but they still have a long way to go. It was removed when the Whitewater Aqua Course was put in. I don't know how it was removed so I don't know if it would even be reusable at this point. It was actually built using the original plans Cedar Point had, so it used the same kind of pumps. The cause of the weaker looking flow could never be pinpointed though.

^The Scrambler the park had was sold. Also so far that is the only train that has been refurbished. The other train was actually left in the station after the park was sold and was only removed towards the end of the retracking project.

^Corpus Christi

One train was left in the station. The other one (the one refurbished by PTC) had been in the maintenance shop since the 2010-2011 off season. Buzzsaw Falls was purchased by Schlitterbahn and was built in their new park. They also purchased many of the parts (pumps, augers, belts, etc.) for both Wild River Gorge and Woodchuck Run.

It has two trains, but only one was sent to PTC. Don't know if/when they plan on sending the second train. No it never opened (they ended the season on September 1st.) They are supposed to be having an event for ACE members at the end of October and Rampage is supposed to be running then.

Several of them do, but you can only get to them once in the station so they really don't do anything. I think I have seen two people using at them during my two visits this year.

^^ How do you think the people turned away would feel about it? Some of those would be driving long distances.

SFGam announced they were running Backwards Batman in January of 2013 and SFOT announced their Backwards Batman in the spring this year. Just because it wasn't announced doesn't mean it isn't coming. For all we know another SF park may have it next spring and SFGadv will have it in the summer.

The execs of the parks just sat around one day and decided they wanted to upset as many guests as possible. They figured an arbitrary maximum height restriction that had nothing to do with any possible safety issue was the way to go.

Even if you don't like it, Hurricane Harbor WAS a major addition. It's not like they only spent a couple million to build it. It was a multimillion dollar expansion.

^No you don't. This is a park model.

^So adding the world's second largest standup in 2011, adding 5 new rides in 2012, completely redoing the safari in 2013, and adding the world's tallest drop ride in 2014 isn't major? Wow.

Supposedly this the "new" slide will be 20 feet higher than Cliffhanger.

Crime Wave was added to Gotham City back in 2004.

It's amazing the cries of "we didn't get anything" from a park that since 2000 as built a B&M Mega, flying, and stand up coaster, a waterpark with several additions, a prefab wooden coaster, multiple flat and family rides, the world's highest drop ride, and completely redesigned safari included in the park.