netdvn

SF is in debt... Trash cans + concrete + and generic rides = identity? I don't think so... I could say the same about CF parks... - I see the exact same clientele at CF parks as I do at SF parks. - Like [insert element here]hawk, Drop Tower, Dominator, Flight Deck, etc... The names aren't that special. While SF has some generic names as well (Superman, Batman, Goliath) at least they sound decent. - CF parks don't really have themed areas much since most of the theming isn't emphasized. Aside from a Peanuts themed land. - I wouldn't say SF parks have crappy operations, at least compared to the early-00s. - All the CF park maps look pretty much the same too.. I believe the only CF park maps that look different are KI and Carowinds since both still use the Paramount-era design. The other CF parks use maps similar to CP's map. So yeah the advertisements on the trains may not look good aesthetically to some but then again, SF is in debt and needs to find a way to pay it off. Advertising is a perfect way to do this. Putting it on a popular ride like Toro gives the advertisement more exposure. Since when does any corporate park have a unique identity? Even parks like DIsney/Universal have similar rides with similar themes throughout the chain. SF is no different. In fact, the original three SF parks, SFOT, SFOG, and SFOMA all had similar rides at opening (parachute drop, large wooden coaster, Arrow mine train, dark ride, Arrow log flume, etc...) and a similar theme (Six states). The only truly unique original SF parks were SF Autoworld and SF Power Plant. This SF vs. CF debate is really getting stale.

What's wrong with that? Why does that even matter? - I doubt Son of Beast was supposed to be bad on purpose. It seems that if the ride would've either been a hit-or-miss ride anyway and Paramount took a risk. - In fact Paramount seemed to take a lot of risks during the late 90s, early 00s with rides like Stealth, Hypersonic, and Son of Beast... And even though two of the three rides didn't work out, I don't see that as a bad thing because it shows that the president is willing to experiment with new ride designs, which is something that Shapiro mentioned in his fan interview. I would be more worried about seeing rides like SFGAm's Whizzer end up like its sister did.

Here's the deal... I've head both very positive and very negative things about the former Paramount parks. On the plus side, the Paramount parks did bring some great, highly-themed rides to their parks. But then on the minus side, many of the former Paramount parks 1) lost much of their original charm and 2) had many older classic rides removed/replaced. I'm really hoping the second doesn't happen. As for Shapiro, I think he was pushing the parks in the correct direction, focusing more on quality attractions, upgrading old rides, and getting more involved in the parks by focusing more on cleanliness and service over building huge coasters and praying for them to bring revenue to the park. I just hope the new president continues in that direction (with the occasional major thrill ride) and I wish him the best of luck.

I was digging through some old posts I've made and stumbled across something I posted in September. Maybe this has something to do with CW's new for 2011 addition. Not sure if this is legit but I found this on Twitter not too long ago... Clicky EDIT: I've realized that clicking the link takes you to a different Twitter page from the original... I'm working to fix that.

- Mega-Lite: Looks like you're getting the hang of building more compact twister layouts. The ride looks great! Keep practicing and your coasters will get better. - Panther: Looks pretty good... Still a little too big for my tastes, but overall, it's a major improvement over your first woodie design. - B&M launch: My personal favorite... Layout is simple, yet looks really fun. Probably your best design IMO. It seems that you do better simple layouts than very complex layouts. Keep that up... - Hyper: I feel you should either make it solely out-and-back or solely twister. It would look better that way, but then again, that's just me. And I'm gonna second Stosky on trying to put some theming elements around the rides to make them look better and to enhance the layouts a little more. Just seeing them in ride editor or plopped down on top of each other in a park doesn't really bring out the ride as much as adding some theming (maybe a couple buildings here and there and a few trees to enhance the layout).

The last I heard, B:TE is pretty much in the same shape as a lot of other AW coasters, beat up, worn, possibly too expensive to restore, etc... While its possible for SF to just pick up the track and ship it back down to Maryland, SF would have to buy it back from Darien Lake, completely refurbish the track/trains, and reinstall it, which seems like a hassle since the track is worn and has to be shipped a long distance. And even then, why go through all the trouble of contacting DL, buying track for an old, worn-out, possibly damaged coaster, ship it a couple hundred miles, spend the extra cash to refurbish it, and rebuild it when you can have a perfectly good stand-up that is currently sitting in Gurnee's storage, is much bigger, is in much better shape, doesn't need to be purchased-just shipped and reinstalled, and no extra costs have to be considered aside from construction and building the station?

The problem with this statement is that /b/ is so prevalent online, it's practically impossible to escape. I'd say about 90% of the memes that are found on the Internet can trace its roots back to /b/ or YouTube. Human nature is a wonderful thing isn't it? But to go back on topic, Mr. Starr's post is pretty much the exact reason why I refuse to join park fansite/message boards. Sites like Pointbuzz, BGEscape, and SFGAmWorld are filled with nothing but immature, elitist pr*cks that seem to think that their park is better than everyone elses and that's all they care to talk about. Especially the fights that go on between KDFansite and BGEscape. Both sites have pretty much turned flaming each other and bashing the other park into an art form.

^ You could always just shrink the first drop a little and incorporate the first hill into a normal turnaround. Or if there's enough room, get rid of the first hill and replace it with a wider turnaround.

You have to be able to finish it in under an hour or you have to pay for it. Fast food and Happy Meals/toys have pretty much been an American staple for years but the problem with obesity seems to be a more recent problem due to kids not getting enough exercise and sitting on their buts behind a screen all day. I feel the government should make it mandatory for kids to exercise instead of taking Happy Meal toys away.

Color me impressed with this project. The theming, setting, and the layout are all top-notch... However, I have an issue with the small turn at the base of the first drop. Hitting a turn like that at a high speed is bound to be painful (look at how intense I305's turn is). Maybe incorporating the turn into the first hill so that it curve upward and drops into the next element would be much better.

Short answer: Gaylord felt that a mall would do better financially than a theme park would, so they ripped the park out and put a shopping mall on top of where the park used to stand. I've also heard rumors that Gaylord was planning on expanding the park but the residents complained. From satellite pics, the park was in a similar situation with Knott's (landlocked) and couldn't expand without interfering with some residential neighborhood or something similar.

I totally dig the new paint scheme on the coaster. It looks great! The pink and blue with the cool chewing gum logo on the side really brings out the Mexican theme more than the original color on the ride. I hope Six Flags makes this a permanent fixture on the ride. !!!!!one111!!!!COMBO BREAKER!!!!one!!111

Believe me I'm not a bot. A bot would continue to respond back to you like I am. So you're saying that even though you aren't a bot, you act like one???

I'm both impressed and slightly creeped out by this... On one hand the technology is very impressive. I'd love to see these more often since these can interact better with kids. On the other hand the technology is so new, that there is still a possibility that breakdowns and malfunctions at the worst possible time. Overall I see this as something really cool. Technology has come such a long way, this might just be the future of costumed characters.

^ Busch seems to be doing a pretty good job at the moment. With a possible rocket coaster/drop tower next year, I'm really excited to see what Blackstone has in store for the future parks. But seriously though, my parents are hardcore conservative as well. I just ignore it and stick with The Onion for legitimate news. ... and yes I feel that The Onion is a reliable news source (moreso than the other mainstream news sources).

So I picked up Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past not long ago and I really enjoyed the soundtrack. The credits theme is really good.

Did everybody celebrate Cinco De Mayo?? No Pants Day is supposedly coming soon.

Not used to the ZX control scheme and playing on a keyboard ups the difficulty but still a totally awesome game. I love how the programmer managed to put in the best themes from each franchise to put into the game. It makes gameplay that much sweeter.

1. Only the Universal parks and Nickelodeon Universe are using the Nick franchise right now (aside from a few foreign parks). All the former-Paramount parks have dropped the license because it was too expensive. 2) Just because SF doesn't utilize the Loony Tunes/DC franchise doesn't necessarily mean that the parks are gonna go all out on attractions/4D specials, etc. You can say the same about CF and their Peanuts license. I don't remember seeing CF parks installing a 4D Peanuts movie. I've just seen stage shows. Same with parks like Disney and Universal. They don't have E-Ticket attractions for all their biggest franchises. 3) Marvel has already been covered... 4) You missed my point regarding Batman/Superman. Both are instantly recognizable and even people who haven't been exposed to comic books can relate to them better. More movies doesn't automatically mean better franchise or more rides/attractions or IOA would have built a major Fantastic 4/Iron Man themed ride by now. In fact, IOA hasn't really built any major E-Ticket Marvel-themed ride since Incredible Hulk/Spiderman/Dr. Doom in 1999. Does that mean that Universal isn't using the Marvel franchise to its fullest potential? Paramount has been planning a park for a number of countries for quite some time now. That doesn't mean that Paramount will pull through though. The one in Spain has only been announced so far and I haven't seen any trace of construction/concept art yet. Just a press release. At this point all the future Paramount Parks are in the same state as Dubailand. Just a concept for now.

And I beg to differ... SF is already stepping in the right direction. The staff is friendlier, the parks are cleaner, and the rides are being run better than ever. SF has proven that they actually care about their older rides and attractions (Monster Plantation is a perfect example) and they're actually focusing more on theming, quality rides, and creating a great family experience over building the latest B&M/Intamin which was the reason why SF is in an insane amount of debt in the first place. While the changes are slow, they're happening at other Six Flags parks. On top of that, the SF parks have never been truly unique other than the themed lands and some of the rides they provided. SFOT, SFOG, and SFOMA were built with fairly similar rides (parachute drop, log flume, large wooden coaster, Arrow mine train, Schwarzkopf looper) and have a similar theme (six states). In fact I can't think of any corporate theme park chain that isn't completely 100% unique. Bizarro??? Dark Knight??? SF is already making deals to use other movie/TV franchises (Terminator, Thomas, Wiggles) and I get the feeling that those aren't gonna be the last ones. I don't see this happening anytime soon. SIX FLAGS IS NOT ATTRACTING THRILLSEEKERS, THEY'RE ATTRACTING FAMILIES!!!!!! Now that I've got that out of the way, Six Flags has tried attracting thrillseekers for 20 years and it only got them into debt. SF has seen the success of other family-style theme parks like Magic Kingdom and Dollywood and now they're trying to attract that audience that they abandoned in the late 80s-early 90s. Waterslides are a perfect family-style attraction that will help bring the parks the revenue they need. The SF parks do not need new huge coasters or thrill rides. While a new coaster would be nice, that's not the direction SF is moving towards. I would love to see SF spending money to upgrade aging, maintenance heavy rides like Rattler and Whizzer or focusing more on building heavily themed, quality attractions on par with Terminator/Dark Knight or even Mystery Mine/Big Bad Wolf if they're willing to go the extra mile. Aside from Stunt Track, FOF, and TR:TR KD didn't really have many Paramount-themed rides. Even then FOF dropped the Outer Limits theme after being in operation for a while. On top of that, chances are even if SF had a deal with Marvel,what's to say that we're not only going to see rides themed to only Spiderman, Hulk, and Iron Man? Batman and Superman are highly recognizable, well-known characters and while there are other well-known DC heroes, Batman and Superman are the most recognizable even to people who aren't into comic books (at least compared to other DC characters). Perhaps some SF parks should go after a "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" type celebration instead of a "Halloween Horror Nights"-type attraction.

The Six Flags season pass already grants you admission to all the other SF parks. There's no need to create another type of season pass that will grant you entrance to all the parks when the season pass already does that (at a good price to boot).

No rumors of a Giga or an Aquatrax on CWMania. B&M seems to be the most popular rumor on CWMania and Aquatrax is always mentioned. I doubt it's gonna be anything too big though (maybe a STR-sized water ride). Images courtesy of CWMainia. [EDIT1: Pix added] [EDIT2:Clicky] Construction equipment. Red markers near Vortex.

Just got to Millstone Mayhem in Donkey Kong Country after spending forever on Bouncy Bonanza and then cheating on Stop n' Go Station by taking the shortcut since I was tired of not being able to save.

So I finally watched Avatar today and it was a decent movie. Story-wise the movie is OK and the acting was decent. Special effects are a whole different ballgame though. I was pretty blown away by the level of detail put into the scenery and the planet in general. Explosions and action sequences weren't too bad either. But then again, even for that level of detail, the CGI effects still seemed a lot like CGI to me...

I got my second Getaway Guide not too long ago, and I think it's actually better than last years, visually speaking. CP wants to minimize paper and with everything being online nowadays, it's perfectly understandable that the guides are getting smaller and smaller.