BrownStreak

Why did they enclose the station? It used to be fun watching the "rockets" zip around while you were waiting.

^That's perfect thanks! That way I can edit out a scene from Soarin' too and open my presentation with the flyover San Diego Bay!

That information is somewhat helpful; however can anyone provide any information on how it has helped (if it did) with business in that area of the city? Also still looking for a POV to imbed into my PowerPoint and I don't know how to pull them off YouTube.

I am looking for any good information/history on the Giant Dipper coaster located in Mission Beach, San Diego. I have to do a project on San Diego for my Urban Planning class to demonstrate how Planning & Historic Preservation have helped the city and being a coaster "pig" I wanted to discuss the Giant Dipper's restoration along with my project. If anyone has a POV of the coaster which I could stream into a PowerPoint presentation that would be cool too!

Just like RCT3- you can add the same coaster in the park multiple times and they ride it. On another note- the coaster being over water is not unique- even for that style! The same half of Darien Lake's version is over water.

Okay- so this is a bit late and lacking pictures because my camera is on the fritz... I skipped one of my classes on Friday so I could get down to KI without feeling rushed and actually got down there with time to take a dip in the hotel's pool. I arrive about 1/2 before the event was supposed to start and was surprised when we were let in soon afterwards. The pre-opening show wasn't timed very well as they dropped the ropes before it was over and 99% of us were well on our way to DB before the National Anthem started. So as mentioned, my 1st ride of the night was Diamondback and I sat in an inner seat in the middle of the train and thought the ride was "just okay." I then hit the Beast in daylight hours which I haven't done in almost 20 years! It was "just okay" as well. I then hit Italian Stunt Coaster and Vortex- both of which felt bumpier than last time I was here- and Stunt Coaster was having an issue with serious stack because it wasn't very busy and the crew was slow. Next I hit up Flight of Fear- which I thought was better than the last time I rode it even if my legs fell asleep. I was confused by Night Hawk's station as they were assigning seats but I got the front and for some reason I liked the ride better when it was green. I noticed only one side of Racer was running so I skipped it. I wanted to ride Adventure Express- but ha forgotten its name and when I asked a guy in games where was "the coaster that ends with the lift hill past the dudes with the drums" he told me it was the Beast and tried to send me to the back of the park. Adv. XPress felt rougher than last time too. On Invertigo a Ride Op three times my size (I am not that small) came by my seat and without any warning at all threw all of his weight into my already locked harness which hurt my chest- but I decided I was having too good of a day to bother with complaining. While on that side of the park I watched as a supervisor was giving a tour to Haunt workers as he said fairly rude things about guests- this was on the way back to Line:The Ride aka Flight Deck. It was now getting dark and I hit Drop Tower and Delirum on my way back towards Beast/DB for night rides. Before I did those again I rode the Crypt which was like 30 seconds long- we only went around 3 times- is that normal? Night time on the Beast was awesome- especially as the trains were now running full- with only a 2-3 train wait- same as with DB. My 2nd run on DB was the back outside seat, then the front outside seat. When I was coming up to the station for my last ride of the night I was offered a seat in the front row but I said "I like it better in the rear" and promptly got six phone numbers. Overall the night was great other than the large guy on Invertigo and the 30 second ride on Crypt everything was great and the ride crews on Beast and DB really played to the all-adult crowd creating a festive atmosphere. As far as DB is concerned- it the inner seats its a top 20 coaster- in the outer seats its a top 5! I did the Ren Fest the next day and had a blast!

^Height requirement is 48" and it is listed as a "5- Aggressive Thrill Ride." Then again their three car rides are ranked 3 as is the sky ride- STR isn't ranked yet.

When I worked on the train for part of last year I kept telling people I saw marking flags over in the area where this is being built but no one believed me because they didn't see them (I had a different view as I stood on the back). If my memory of that area serves me right much of the area was previously used as a "junkyard" of old parts of various older attractions- I think one of the wheels from the Frontier Lift was back there. On this same topic...where is the train in the images shown? It passes under the end of SRF and then cuts across part of where this ride is going to be- are they moving the tracks again? That would add to the construction cost just as the relocation of the Giant Wheel added to the cost of MF. My only complaint about the ride is that now all of CP's water rides are SOAK rides. What happened to a spritz of water like on WWL? From an ops perspective I can tell you that SRF staff used to help us out on the Mine Ride because they were only opened part of the day all the way into June (same with Rapids). Ever since the first rapids rides started going in (by Intamin) it seems all water rides want to completely soak you to the skin- I don't get it.

^I had considered that until I figured in the length of the drive back up to Cleveland

Coney Island, Indiana Beach, Waldameer, and the ride half of the Columbus Zoo are all closed for the season by the time that weekend comes around. Idlewild and Camden are both closed that Sunday- are either of these big enough for a solo adult to enjoy? If Conneaut Lake can get the Blue Streak running- I'd definitely opt for that. I should note that I graduate this coming May and so I really wanted to knock off a few parks before I leave the area for Grad School.

Coney Island is also closed that Saturday. I was recently at Kennywood and I worked at Cedar Point last summer- so I was trying to hit something new. I know its a lost cause I'm fighting here but I just thought I might be missing some park I forgot about. I am seriously wondering if all of these parks are "closed" the same weekend within a two hour radius of KI because of Pride Night, i.e. they don't want "the gays" in their parks in large numbers...any truth to that?

I am planning on going down to Kings Island for Pride Night (9/11/09- its a private party fundraising event that's been done for many years now). Usually when "we" go we stop at the Ohio Ren Fair on the way back- however since I am going solo this year I thought I would try to hit another park while I'm down there. I've never been to Holiday World or KY Kingdom- however BOTH of those parks are closed for "Private Events" all weekend. Any suggestions...keeping in mind I need to be able to drive back to Cleveland by Sunday night?

Its funny to me how often "limited space" is raised as an issue at CP, especially when you consider that they have 8.666 times as much room as Blackpool Pleasure Beach and only six more coasters. If they'd learn to intertwine their coasters and other tracked rides instead of laying everything out like a beginner playing RCT they would have much more room than they have. Mantis' lift going over Iron Drag-queen is the only crossover I know of.

Do kids even know who Snoopy is any more?

Why is one (and only one) of the cars a cow?

Definitely NOT too early...I'm already planning my Graduation Theme Park Marathon scheduled to start a week after I graduate from CSU next May... On another note however= There are many rafts running in that model demo video. What happens if a raft valleys? Does this ever happen? It would seem possible for it to happen and it looks as though eight rafts would crash into each other if that happened.

I was just taking a poll on this site regarding B&M coasters which listed all Batman clones together. This got me to thinking about La Vampire vs the original Batman at SFGAm. I like La Vampire more for some reason and I think it is because it is a more "open" layout as opposed to being squeezed in as Batman had been when it was built. I was then thinking about other coasters and whether or not they would be as good (or as bad) if they were located somewhere else. I like Speed: The Ride in Las Vegas; however would it be just as fun if you weren't weaving around the outside of a casino? Curious for any thoughts- how much do the coaster's location, surroundings, or even color scheme factor into the enjoyment of the experience?

Its a small park that doesn't get enough lovin' but at Seabreeze the awesome Jack Rabbit has a neat ending- you enter the tunnel that many coasters of its era ended with and you can see the station entering the tunnel, but what you can't see is the small drop hidden in the tunnel (which follows the natural terrain under the coaster if you ever go over to the overflow lot where you can get views alongside the coaster). This gives you a pop of air going into the station. On the boring end...Top Thrill Drag Queen. One big hill into a break run and then crawl back to the station and hop you don't have to wait outside the station due to a stack-up. I wonder if Kinda Ka and its return leg hill is any better? On a side note when I was working last summer at CP we were sitting in the Iron Dragon Island break area and I kept calling TTD Top Thrill Drag Queen and one of its ops was there and when he went back to his ride he accidentally called the ride that into the mic!

^The Magic Palace...formerly the Magic Carpet ride which had a really cool effect which was removed some time in the 60's wherein you sat on a bench made out of rollers and the bench snapped to a straight slant and you rolled down onto the slanted downhill ride on a carpet which transitioned onto a conveyor belt near the end. I know the air blasts were controlled by an unseen ride operator and I always thought that would be a fun job.

I REALLY wished that they had saved the Crystal Beach Giant aka The Yellow Coaster as most of us called it. Besides being my first "big coaster," it was also the last remaining side-friction coaster running a full train (as opposed to Leap the Dips which has single cars) in North America! Why is it in this country it takes 10 or more years to get permission to tear down a butt ugly, asbestos ridden, useless building because it is "old" and therefore "historic" but you can throw a wrecking ball at a coaster any time you want?

Funhouse Express?! I love that simulator/movie if that was it...was it translated in Finnish? I have to say one of the highlights of visiting La Ronde years back was doing the Spongebob simulator and hearing him (and Patrick) talk in French!

Doesn't seem to matter this year. My friend went on the 4th of July and it was not busy at all! Everyone here in northern Ohio is too busy sitting around waiting for manufacturing jobs to come back to the area (ignoring the fact that they won't).

Thanks for the info so far. One of my questions is if I got a Disney Park Hopper Ticket- could I hit the attractions that are new to me at say MK and Epcot in one day- or more likely MK and MGM in one day (since neither has added that many major attractions since I was last there). For example could I hit MK early on say Saturday and get a flash pass for Pooh and the go do Lightyear and Philharmagic while waiting for my time to come up and then do the new Haunted Mansion while I wait for a flash pass time at Big Thunder. And then still have time to commute over to the Studios and do ToT and RR... Then Sunday at Epcot/AK Monday any Disney I have missed and then start on IOA or USF Tuesday/Wednesday IOA/USF As for Disney I am really only definitely wanting to hit the newer stuff.

I was asked to present at a seminar in South Beach in March which just happens to fall during my Spring Break- but it is only from Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. I was hoping to fly in/out of Orlando the Friday night before and then rent a car so I can hit some of the parks and then drive to/from South Beach. This gives me Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and maybe Wednesday to work with. As far as what I haven't done/have done: Islands of Adventure- Never been there Universal Studios- New to me= Simpsons, Men in Black, Rip Ride Rockit, Mummy, Tornado, and maybe a few more Sea World- New to me= Kraken, Atlantis, Manta, Wild Artic, maybe a few shows Animal Kingdom- Never been there Disney Studios- New to me= Rock'n'Rollercoaster, Fantazmic, maybe a show or two Epcot- New to me= Test Track, Nemo, Mission Space, Univ. of Energy with Ellen in the pre-show, new Spaceship Earth, new Journey into No Figment, Soarin' over a different state than you are currently in Magic Kingdom- New to me= Pooh, Philharmagic, Buzz Lightyear, Aladin's Carpets Money is definitely an object (as opposed to not being one)- so what can I realistically get done with four or five days (I could maybe leave earlier on Friday and get a 6th day) Any suggestions on types of tickets or suggested itineraries would be much appreciated!

To all of those surprised or "shocked" about human nature with the guy filming the thing hop over to youtube and check the ride evac videos. There's one on PotC where a guy is asked 3 or 4 times to turn off his camera and he ignores them. Also look at the guy taking his kid to work who filmed the first plane hitting the WTC and selling that to the news...because we all HAD to SEE that- we couldn't just know that it happened. You see it on the highway- everyone slows down to look at not only car crashes but anytime someone is pulled over by the cops. We are a very sick society.