BrownStreak

Sorry for bumping an old topic, but I've been having troubles with my camera...so here is her official "Adoption Picture." It's Millie!

Not only has Disney done this, but I know that Cedar Point had an event for Magnum's 10th, and Gemini's 25th. And Gemini's 30th this past summer complete with disco balls and special red or blue uniforms for the day. They also celebrated the Cedar Point & Lake Erie Railway's 45th Birthday (did you know CP has traded engines with Disneyland?)

Wow! Thanks for a lot of great ideas...seriously. Also a bunch of laughs! I was for a time thinking of Corkscrew- but seeing as I have been sober 6.5 years people not educated on roller coasters might get the wrong idea:) I was also thinking of calling her Lift...then she'd be the Lift Dog. So far I like Millie- the nickname of my favorite steel coaster (Mil Force) because I am NOT naming her Raging Bull! Of course I could also name her Judy and then my gay friends would think Judy Garland while my coaster friends would think Judy Kinzel (Dick's wife and namesake of one of CP's trains).

In about 32 hours I will be acquiring a four month old Boston Terrier. I originally thought I was getting a boy, but its a girl and now I am having trouble coming up with a name so I thought "What should a coaster enthusiast's dog be named?" Any ideas?

^^^^^^What I want to know...can you feed the turtles too? They are totally my favorite reptile and seeing them in that photo was the highlight of looking at your fun PTR!

Umm...Cedar Downs, the Midway Carousel, all nine of the rides in Planet Snoopy (2008), and I think Wildcat were all "used." For that matter so were the train engines- one of which is named after his wife.

Okay, so here's my opinion...Hard Rock Cafes have opened in far too many places for them to still be considered "cool" and a "destination." There are two of them in Toronto and one on both sides of the border in Niagara Falls- thats four of them within 100 miles. That's more coverage than TGI Fridays has in some markets. And lets not overlook the fact that NF,NY is pretty much a dump and there's one there. I certainly wouldn't trek all the way across a red state to visit Appleby's Wonderland. The other thing I have to say about both HRP and WWW is that they both looked like RCT parks with coasters and rides plopped down on a flat piece of land with bits of scenery thrown in like they were waiting for the trees to grow to fill in the rest- which just as in RCT never happens.

I voted for "CoasterTube" because I did some playing on Google. I searched "Coaster Videos" and yes TPR comes up second. However, when I searched my personal #1 favorite steel coaster (Raging Bull) as "Raging Bull Coaster Video" TPR was nowhere to be found although sites with "coaster" in their title came up high. However, when I tried "Maverick Coaster Video" TPR was 8th, though again it was beat by titles with "coaster" in them. I would also think that if anyone did a search for "tubular steel coaster" Coaster Tube would come up for them too. Its funny I just took a Marketing Class this past semester and one of the things our professor was telling us is that some companies have a hard time in letting go of their usual branding in order to get a product to sell and its funny to watch something like that happen in real time.

Wow, how depressing...I have not been on a single top 10 woodie! To top that I have been on about 1/2 of the 10 worst. Then...to top that...I haven't been on any of the top 10 steelies either! I've been on I think like 250 coasters...man. I didn't vote this year...I got the email because I voted last year. I put a star next to the email and figured I would come back to it later. I personally find the voting to be a pain which is why I didn't vote right away. Any poll that starts off with "Copy the ballot form into Notepad" j just seems like a pain- I had to submit three times last year. I know a bunch of people that don't vote because they think the system is too much of a hassle. The only reason I bring this up is that means that this poll is turning into the same basically as the ACE poll or similar ones which are complained about wherein only a certain group of people vote and the results are predictable. From coasters I have been on I am only surprised that Maverick is ranked so high- my ears are still bleeding. Then again I have a large frame and smaller framed people do seem to like it more than me.

Seriously these ships are getting so big I am still surprised that no one has tried to put rides on them- A LIM shuttle coaster or something...

^You mean like "We're going to take you forty...five...feet. Not once... but twice...traveling at speeds of up to...forty miles an hour! Five miles an hour faster than the casueway speed limit!" Stuff like that? Yeah that was me- I also faked a southern drawl at times and at other times I used other odd voices. I actually got a guest compliment. I really enjoyed Mine Ride and didn't mind working on the train either. Working in the back of the park I could dance to the music working the Gemini Gatehouse and chat with people working the Mean Streak Gatehouse...and sneak cigarettes rotating between the two. They moved me to sweep for one full week and I started having severe foot trouble. The CP Doc told me I was developing issues with my arches and they transfered me to Admissions which I didn't like so I was like "I can get a job back in Cleveland that I don't like and make the same ammount of money working less hours."

Correct. And I wouldn't normally have a problem with this, except that I signed a contract to work at a particular attraction and they broke the contract without my consent. That's why I respect the DCP, they don't tell you which ride you will be at. You just find out that you got attractions. And I think that's how Cedar Point should do it. And I don't know if the housing even constitutes as housing, as much as a cardboard box. That was actually a huge problem this past summer. I worked all the way through the end of July from Day 1 and never worked my contracted ride- in fact I wasn't even in the same Zone or Area by July. There were a bunch of us that were "re-assigned" that got together and compared our assignments vs. what we were working and then we check around others in the park and our conclusion was that they intentionally assigned more people than necessary to the good rides to get you to sign your contract. Disney was the same way back in '94 when I worked there (not College Program). When you went through Casting if you were "cast" as a Sky Ride Host that was code that you'd be working in MK East; if you were cast as Big Thunder that was code that you'd be working in MK West- they reassigned you when you got to your department after two days of Traditions. I guess to some extent it makes sense of the park's end. Not many theme park employee-aged people are going to travel cross-country to work in Kiddie Kingdom- but they will if they THINK they will be working Top Thrill Drag Queen. The best part of working at CP this summer though was working at Mine Ride where I could sit up on the mic and announce to people I was the 2nd oldest ride op working on their 2nd oldest coaster- which often got me applause (which is better than pity).

No Robb, it is not just you. I went back later to check on the video I was having trouble viewing earlier, but it wasn't there anymore.

Very good question! Let me ask this to others - are you seeing any lag in the buffer or the videos playing? On my system most videos download and play very quickly and there is no lag or buffering issues, but I'm curious to know those who are having problems what your internet connection is. --Robb The same vid has been loading/buffering/whatever for about five minutes. I am not sure how to check my internet speed but for comparrison sake I opened another window and loaded a youtube episode of Roseanne in a few seconds. Then went back and refreshed your new site and its been 5 minutes again and nothing. The first vid I watched (the Pipeline POV) loaded quickly. The one that won't load is an RCT creation vid. I then moved to Big Bad Wolf POV and it became watchable fairly quick but it took awhile for the full vid to load so I could watch it without stopping. The RCT one just didn't load at all or make any apparent progress.

Hmmmmm. Westcoaster.net wasn't a choice in any of the categories. I would have liked to have voted for them for something- its my 2nd most visited coaster site- followed by themagical.nl which also wasn't a choice.

Yeah sure...just be sure to bring your Thrillville: Off the Rails parachute so you can safely land when the train crashes at the end of the track. And rest assured that it won't explode into flames because this isn't RCT.

I watched the video twice and I can figure out for the life of me what the heck that ride is supposed to be! And it REALLY bothered me that he said 22nd Century Technology- its waaaay too early for that to be the next shortcut term for slightly more than current technology:)

I wonder if we have enough majors and people in careers on TPR to fully staff a park... I am in Urban Planning/Transit Planning so I can do the layout and roads and stuff.

^They only provide housing if you are in the college program or the overseas program. Some apartments in the area do offer discounts if you are a Disney employee though it is not much of a discount.

Here's an idea... Get to the Point!...Cedar Point. Turn 18 and then spend a summer working at Cedar Point. Their year-to-year turnover is getting high to a point where you can almost definately return in year 2 as a Team Leader and if you go back every summer you can surely work your way up. The Zone Supervisors don't last more than a few years there so one of those slots should open at some point and then you get sup experience too. I had these ideas until I worked at CP and saw how bad they treated their employees- now I don't even feel quite safe visiting there- but if you really want to buy into that mentality that they need for their supervisors and higher that's a good place to advance fast.

I can remember back into the 80's (I know...shocking) and they used to have ol' school simulators back then at fairs and carnivals. You would get into this thing that looked like a sideways silo (I suppose it was supposed to look like a rocket) and you sat there and were amazed at the motion "technology." On the outside it just lifted from one end, shook a lot, and turned side to side. Of course the predecessor to that was the "You Are There" not-quite as big as IMAX movies. Darien Lake and Fantasy Island had them. You went into this "tent" that looked like a boob and inside you would STAND and watch a big movie screen with shots of rollercoasters, skiing, and other action shots. Anyone remember these? In 1994-95 I worked on Mission: Bermuda Triangle at Sea World in Orlando (which is now Wild Artic). It was a fun ride to operate. I also worked on Back to the Future at USH (I get around). Is it bad that both of the simulators I worked on are now gone?

This would fit perfectly into Martin's Fantasy Island! They seem to be good at adding something new every year and its 'bout time they added another coaster- plus its short enough (height) not to detract from the look and feel of the park!

I definately want to thank Robb for the information that you provided. I was able to cite B&M's website, Amusement Today, the ACE Landmark Records, and a youtube commercial link. This was not as easy as it seemed that it would be! But Thanks again for your little bit of info which at least allowed me to discuss "the competition."

Amusement Today is "quoteable" and its online...I can use the manufacturers' website, so I just need one more source. Note- it can be online but it has to be "reputable" meaning I can't cite a chat room or public forum.

I have an assignment for my Intro to Marketing class where we have to find a product that was an "early innovator," i.e. coming up with something new and maintaining a market lead for awhile thereafter. Examples from the assignment include Red Bull, TiVo, and I-pod. I am attempting to write my paper on the B&M Inverted Coaster. It is a concept they came up with and still 15+ years later they are on top of that style of coaster. This idea matches most of the requirements as I can identify a few competitors which have since launched similar "products:" Vekoma, Intamin, and one of the Italian firms. I can identify which stage the "product" is in its Sales life (Late Market- based on a chart in our book and the fact that by now smaller "major" parks are starting to get them and the fact that their hypers are starting to take-over to compete with Intamin. Okay- so I have all of that but I need to cite at least three sources in my paper beyond my own knowledge, and I have a professor who does not like us citing the internet much. One other thing, if anyone knows of somewhere online where I can find the original 1992 Batman- the Ride Promotional material that is something I need to look at too...Shane? Thank you for anyone that can help!