BrownStreak

^Like I said, I knew where they were from, I just could not figure out what kind of ride it was. Anyways, Here is the end of my project: After the two maps below, I announced that our company was ready to contact Fayette County to begin the next phase of the site selection process. This is a satellite image of the area where my study point between Austin and Houston is located. We can see a few water features as well as a few buildings here and there. Not much of the land in the greater area appears to be typical farmland. In the previous map we were not able to fully determine the "depth" of the land. This is a topographical map. We can see that where our study area is the land is relatively flat and it is near a major road that connects to the Interstate

While I was searching around the Internet for pictures for my powerpoint presentation I found the two pictures below. Anyone have any idea what this ride is/was? All the caption said was that they were from East Germany. I will have the final update of my park selection real soon. Looks like a coaster version of EPCOT's Horizons...RIP What is this?

I want to know what happened to the ice cream hot dogs that they had at IAPPA a few years ago. It was like they split a twinkie and then had a chocolate log laying in it- they looked really good.

Not to go completely off topic, but that guy from Gerstlauer is really cute!

The other one is classified as a VERY small park and I got it from one of your posts...Schnepf Farms. I did my best to include tiny family parks; however, once I got about 25% into the project I realized I missed Memphis Kiddieland, right down the street from me! Ooops! As far as Memphis goes- I was going to talk about the factors which led to the parks closing which used to be in Memphis, Nashville, and Houston- in general terms.

^Anymore the term "Valued Farmland" is meaningless. As Urban Sprawl continues outward, farmland is being snatched up and developed constantly. This particular county is the only county between the Austin MSA and the Houston MSA along that particular Interstate and if Urban Sprawl continues at its present rate I would see this county getting developed within the next 10 - 20 years anyways. I am not done with my project either. I am currently evaluating ortho photos and topography maps to further evaluate the county (and yes there are vast tracks of openness in this particular area). Also look at how many parks are in the middle of farmlands - Michigan Adventure and Darien Lake come to mind immediately.

Here is more of my project. We left off looking at the Nashville/Memphis Region. We will now look at our other Finalist Market: Here I combined a few steps. I found a location within 10 Miles of the Interstate which is about halfway between the two Metro areas - I then found the population that was within a 120-Mile Buffer AND in the Study Area This area also fits the criteria- In the opening section of the Project it was announced that in the case of a tie the larger population would win. I zoomed into the county where the Focus Point was placed and determined the Population per Census Tract in that County Finding parcel files for other locations can be very difficult- in their absence I looked at the Population Density (per square mile). The low density near the Focus Point would indicate lots of open space in this area.

^I used an Amusement Park Business listing from 2003 as it was the only listing that had more than just the Top 20 parks listed. For the "Major" Parks I simply picked the Top 30 off the list (by attendance). Fiesta Texas ranked 34th. For a nationwide project I need to keep the number of categories low to keep the maps from becoming completely unreadable. Its also sort of hard to rank by attendance as you have to look at something like the Stratosphere Tower in Vegas - they have 3 or 4 rides and are considered a "park;" however despite their size their attendance is "high" especially when compared to another tiny park with fewer than 10 rides.

I am all set to graduate from college in about 44 days. All that stands in my way is a 20-page paper on Public Transportation in Cleveland a project on "any topic" for my GIS Class. GIS (Geographic Informational Systems) is a map mapping software used in Urban Planning, Geography, the Government, Media, etc. I chose to gather statistics and data in order to provide my imaginary client with information on where would be the best place to construct a new theme park. At the onset of my project I laid out the following guidelines: 1) The project site must be within 120 miles of at least 2 million residents 2) It must be within 10 miles of a US Interstate 3) It may not be within: 120 miles of a Major Park; 60 miles of a Moderate-Sized Park; or 30 miles of a Small Park 4) Preference will be given to whichever site possesses to largest market possible With that I began to compile data to create maps. I am about 75% finished with the project and decided it might be fun to post my findings on TPR This is what the US looks like to the Census Bureau - without any water This is again the US with the MSA Borders drawn on Here we have added water files Here we have used the water files to "Clip" the US Map to look "normal" Here are the largest Metro Areas in the US I had to "un-project" the map in order to plot the locations of all of the parks. I used Google Earth to obtain their XY Coordinates Here are the parks in relation to the largest metro areas I used a 2003 Park Attendance List to gain these stats and "guestimated" the rest The Top 30 Largest Parks were buffered out 120 miles and any Metro areas fully within those buffers were eliminated Here are the mid-sized parks with 60-Mile Buffers. This time I only eliminated the city if the park was completely within it These are the smallest parks and again I only eliminated cities that the parks were physically in The "open" portions on Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and San Bernardino are either mountainous or barren, Phoenix/Tucson may be worth looking into I eliminated Miami & Jacksonville due to the huge pull of Orlando and Raleigh-Durham is just off the edge of two Major Park Buffers and a Medium one as well; Austin/Houston and Memphis/Nashville might work Only a tiny slice of Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, & Chicago are "uncovered" so they are out and Providence is on the edge of multiple Mid-Sized Parks- so nothing new here So here are my three target areas to study further Here I have downloaded the Census Tracts and found the populations within each of the Study Areas- We can already see that the Study Area in Phoenix/Tucson has less then 2 million people Lets look at Memphis- its Study Area is wider than 240 Miles so we need to find a point that will maximize the population within a 120 mile Buffer (240 mi diameter) The original point we choose did not pass the Interstate Buffer; however the new point is still within 120 miles of 2 million. Lets look at Austin/Houston...coming soon!

Okay, so let's look back 21 years here for a momment. When Crystal Beach closed in 1989, the Comet was taken down and stored at Fantasy Island. In 1993, the owner of the Great Escape purchased Fantasy Island and had the Comet moved to Lake George where it would be re-opened in 1994- he then re-sold Fantasy Island. If I remember things correctly, ACE wanted to buy the Big Dipper, but this guy out-bid them and then tried to sell it back to them. Why doesn't he crate up the ride and save it for when the economy is in better shape? It worked for the Comet.

^Indoor Water Park maybe?

Maybe I'm just strange! I mean, I hated Shivering Timbers but I love Wolverine/Wildcat... I L-O-V-E-D the Big Dipper. It has been on my Top 5 favorite wooden coasters since I first rode it about 7 or 8 years ago. The last time I rode it was about 6 years ago and it was still in my Top 5 (albeit at #5). That is out of probably about 50 wooden coasters -- a few of which are no longer standing. Those of you who feel it is "no big deal" are probably those who did not consider this coaster among their favorites. Think about your 5th favorite coaster and then think about how you would feel if it were being ripped out before you criticize those of us who loved this fun coaster!

Cedar Point & King's Island are almost always right next to one another, although they alternate which one is on top. I found this: http://www.amusementbusiness.com/amusementbusiness/images/pdf/2003-top-50-north-america.pdf Its 2003's listing; however it is usable considering I will being using 2000 Census Data (2010's Census won't be released until 2011), it works for my project. There are two issues with this Top 50 List however. For one, two Canadian Parks are listed and for another, two of the parks on this list are no longer around. I guess I will have to present it as the "Top 46 Parks?" I will also have to take a look at the other 100 or so other small parks around the country to determine their approximate draw- nearly all of which will be below 1 million. Anyone want to help with that? When I start pumping this stuff into my GIS Project, I will start to post images of exactly what it is I am doing.

I seem to remember seeing a park attendance listing that went beyond just the Top 20. It would come in very helpful for a school project I am working on - which once I have it going, I plan to update on this site weekly. Does anyone know where I can find attendance figures for more than just the Top 20?

Yes, clearly they didn't do their research before posting. SFOG never heard of Mystery Mine or Sponge Bob I guess. LOL Or Maverick, Fahrenheit and Steel Hog. Right, Steel Hawg (not Hog) was the first thing that came to mind. It would be one thing if there was maybe one other, but five other ones! Not to mention, isn't Steel Hawg tied with its clone as being the steepest drop?

Okay, so I had to go to Indianapolis for a competition last weekend and I had to arrive there Thursday night. Since it was my first time in Indiana (other than going across the top to get to/from Chicago) I decided to try and check out their often talked about parks. Holiday World was already "Weekend Only," so I settled on Indiana Beach. I had some problems getting there (from Cleveland, OH area) and spent most of the time west of Lorain, Ohio on County, State, and US Highways versus the Interstates which actually made for some unique scenery - but often made it hard to find a bathroom. I had stopped for a quick bite to eat in Huntington, IN, which ended up taking a great deal longer than I anticiapted and then made a wrong turn as I neared Monticello which took up some more time. None of the area lodgings seemed to have overnight staffing, except for a Best Western that wanted $95 for the night despite an 11am check-out time and the fact it was already 2am. I ended up having to drive all the way over to I-65 to find a place to sleep and did not get to bed until after 3am. I arrived at the park at around 10:30am and based upon the suggestions of many people on this site, I chose to park at the Bridge Entrance. The park looked exactly as it had in every PTR I have ever seen or books I have read. The sign at the entrance listed several rides as being closed. One of these ended up being opened (the train) and one ride was closed which wasn't listed (Air Crow). I casually walked across the entire park intending to start my day on Steel Hawg; however its operating crew did not show up until after 11am and said it would be awhile. I found some of the entrances hard to find and noticed that I wasn't the only one. The joint set of stairs that held the entrance to the Log Flume and the Hoosier Hurricane and the exits to both rides constantly had people trying to enter either ride from the exit. The Hoosier Hurricane ended up being my first ride of the day and I found it to be highly enjoyable, but nothing too special. I still think that they should have called it Hoosier Daddy (say that out loud if you don't get why I say that...oh come on, the Ride Supervisor I said that too thought it was funny...yes, she was probably just trying to be nice...okay). I hit Steel Hawg next - I don't know much about the history of this park and would like to know why it is so far over to the side and why nothing has been added between it and the rest of the park. I found the ride to be fun for the most part; however there were one or two turns that hurt a little bit due to the restraints. I will say that I love the layout of the park. It seemed like it was designed by an intermediate level player on RCT2- the way that the coaster stations for the two woodies are like four floors up and how other rides are on the water and so on. I walked across the long pathay that crosses over the Log Flume (which again seemed very RCT2-like) and headed over to ride Tig'R. I found this to be a fun little ride. AND THEN! I rode Cornball Express! I have not heard very much about this coaster; however, it has quickly become one of my favorite wooden coasters- probably around #5. Next I rode Den of Lost Theives and got to have an interesting conversation with a mechanic on the history of the ride. I found it to be loads of fun and had it not been for the fact that it would soon have the longest line in the park, I probably would have ridden it again. I next rode the Galaxy Coaster which I found to be a "Tummy Tickler." I then rode my first ever Splash Batlle type ride. It was sort of boring, but then again I was the only person riding and there was no one of the Midway! I then hit up the Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain. OMG! What a fun and totally random coaster this is! I rode backwards in the 2nd car and was surprised how long the ride seemed to be. I did not find it too rough and found it very quirky which added to its charm and fun. I had noticed a diving platform; however saw nothing indicating any shows anywhere. I took the Skyride back over to the other end of the park and rode Steel Hawg once again. Next I did the Log Ride and then I hit HH and CE again and was headed back to Lost Coaster when I noticed that a show was going on in the water which included the diving platform I had seen earlier. I only caught the end although they announced additional shows at 3pm and 5pm. I had planned on leaving at 2pm; however decided to wait and see the 3pm show and leave after that. I took the train back to the other side and then rode Tig'R a 2nd time followed by a front row ride on CE- this ended up being my 3rd and 4th ride as they let us go through twice! I then rode the Sea Dragon and considered going into the Haunted Castle; however was told that it was not a Fun House, but a house of horrors and skipped it. I rode the Antinuq Cars and then I rode Lost Coaster again - this time facing forward in the front car. I spent some time in the Boardwalk Gift Shop as I wanted a souvenir of this wonderful place AND I had forgotten to bring a coffee cup with me- so that is what I purchased. I wondered if the Crow on the cup had a name so I asked about 10 random employees to see if they knew and got four different answers which included "He doesn't have one," "I don't know," "IB Crow," and another name I don't remember. I watched the show through and found it to be highly entertaining and then left the park, verbally thanking each employee that I passed. Overall, I found the staff to be very friendly and into their jobs- rare this late in the season. If I had to complain about something (and anyone who reads my posts knows that I seem to have to), I would say that Steel Hawg was only running two cars and was not very good about matching up pairs to fill the cars; HH's last break is insane!; I didn't understand why Lost Coaster only had one train (they have a break in the mine scene and that odd uphill break at the end, it would seem like they could add a 2nd train); and the show was hard to view as it seemed as though you had to choose between having a good view of the Jet Skiiers/Russian Swing or the Diving part. Overall, I found this part to be very friendly, packed with many fun rides, a good price, and well worth another visit!

So I was up in Michigan (for the 1st time ever) to help out two friends. On Friday night I helped a friend with an event his club was doing in Detroit so I rented a car and drove up there. Credit #1 was the Detroit People Mover (hey it has hills). The next day I drove over to help my friend with his booth at Kalamazoo Gay Pride. The Festival was hugely impressive for a city with only around 75K people (metro area 325K) - bigger than Cleveland's and Buffalo's put together! Sunday I drove up to Michigan Adventure. I found it odd that the park just sort of appears. You're driving down a country road, you past a clump of trees, and poof there's Shivering Timbers. I'm used to Kings Island and Cedar Point - which you can see quite awhile before you actually get to them. Upon paying $8 to park (ridiculous!) I noticed that the parking lot was mostly empty! Yeah! I should mention that I had originally planned on arriving at the park's opening time; however, as I stayed with my best friend in the universe the night before and this is someone I don't get to see quite often enough - it took awhile for me to leave his house Sunday morning. Anyways- I arrived around 1pm. I paid my admission and tried asking the ticket agent: "This is my first time here, what should I do first?" She responded with "I don't know" and then started doing something else in her booth. I entered the park and headed towards Shivering Timbers. I had been interested in this ride since it opened. It always looked like so much fun. I really wanted to like this coaster! I liked the fact that there was no wait whatsoever! They had two trains and 3 ride ops and no line. I will say that I liked the ride for the first hill or two and then I stopped. I could feel the upstops slamming into the under track and then the wheels slamming back down and at other times rapid combinations of the two. The purpose of "trick track" is beyond me. I was a bit bummed that I didn't like the ride I tired riding later in the day in a different part of the train and still did not like it. Oh well. I then went over to ride Wolverine Wildcat which sounds like a coaster with a split personality disorder! One train and only 2 ops translated into the longest wait of the day (about 15 minutes) the first time I rode. I LOVED this coaster! It had three of my favorite things on wooden coasters: Three-bench cars (so I don't have to sit on the wheel); a double-up AND a double down! I didn't re-ride right away because of the line; however by the end of the day I had ridden this wonderful gem 3 times. I would even go as far enough to say that it is definitely in my Top 10 Woodie List. Next I hit the Log Flume which I thought was fun - even with only one drop. I walked over to hit Mad Mouse next. Its operational style seemed odd to me. It took almost as long to get off the ride as it took to get on. They had a back up of four cars at any given time and they only loaded and unloaded one car at a time. I noticed two other cars on the transfer track- how would they ever get those on? There was rarely more than two cars actually moving on the tracks at a time. I then went to got rise the Corkscrew. Big mistake- could have cost me my life! I'm not kidding! I got up to the load platform with no line and had the gates closed on me right before I tried to board an empty seat. Once I finally did board the coaster (which was again only one train) I sat in the back of the 2nd to last car. Again only 2 ride ops on the ride. The guy on the platform never made it back to the last two cars before signalling that the train was "all clear" and we were dispatched. The people in the car behind me started screaming and I saw them lift their harnesses. Sure enough I unbuckled me and it lifted as well!!!!! Before the situation was rectified I heard the girl at controls tell the platform host (That's the 2nd time you did that)! We were rechecked (the full train) and sent out. Keep in mind that the op at the controls should have checked to see that the "pedals" were all up before sending the train so I hold her equally to blame! Upon exiting I saw someone who looked like a supervisor and I tried telling her what happened but she ran off as she "half-apologized." I walked over to Guest Services which was in actuality just their stroller rental. I told them what happened and they got a Park Manager to come talk to me. He radioed the Ride Manager and said he needed to come to the front of the park and talk to me. He said it was going to be awhile even after the Front Manager told him it was a serious matter. I went over to one of the smoking areas to wait. Eventually the Front Manager came over and asked if I wanted to walk with him to the Ride Manager's location. We did and the Ride Manager for one- never apologized and two- all he said is that the male ride host had already been removed from the ride (apparently another guest on the train had already complained). I tried telling them that I felt both ride ops were to blame (having worked on similarly operated coasters in the past) but both managers left before I could say this. No compensation and anything! I was tempted to leave- but I had only been in the park about an hour (and 15 minutes of that time was spent on this issue). I decided against leaving and went over to ride Zack's Zoomer. I asked the ride op who Zack was and she didn't know. This was yet another wooden coaster that I liked more than Shivering Timbers! It was a fun junior wood. This is when I doubled back and hit Shivering Timbers and WoWiCat again. I then rode the train back to "Grand Rapids Junction" and rode Thunderhawk. I was mad at Thunderhawk because now I have to say that I liked a Vekoma hang and bang better than Shivering Timbers! It wasn't that bad. I was however trying to figure out why it wasn't built over the water instead of removing part of the lake to put ground in for the coaster to sit on. I rode the train back to the front and rode WoWiCat again. I saw someone eating mini-donuts and got excited- it turned out that they weren't the "freshly made" ones I am used to (riding the donut rapids ride) but just heated up. I then began my "flat rides" circuit. I rode Sea Dragon (FUN), Thunderbolt (too short), Trapeze (fun), Tilt-a-whirl (never stopped spinning, ride seemed to short), and Trabant (is this a smaller then normal model? Also too short). I was confused overall why the ride cycles were so short - especially considering how slow the park was. I wanted to end my day on the Ferris Wheel however the ride ops were not going to let me ride because I was a single rider (BULL-CRAP!)- luckily a couple already seated said I could sit with them. I left at 4 feeling as though I had seen everything (didn't notice any shows- something I usually enjoy) also feeling a bit ripped off. Seems as though the park should be cheaper for its size (comparable to Fantasy Island in NY). At one point on the Ferris Wheel I had the thought "If this is largest park in Michigan- that is really sad!" I hope Cedar Fair lets this park expand and doesn't run it into the ground like GL. I went back to Stroller Rental err Guest Services to get directions because I wanted to go over and see Lake Michigan before heading back to Cleveland. I would HAVE to be with a few friends to visit this park again unless they got something VERY unique- Sorry I have no photos but my camera has not been working and I don't know why...

^^I have done similar inversions like that only a bit higher and I think that my "uphills" were behind the loops...

The weird thing about ERT at CP is that you can "buy" it. Some of the ticket packages have the option of adding it - plus I think that the resort guests get it too. In fact when I was working in CP admissions there were several days when there was larger number of people at the ERT opening than there were for standard park opening!

If you want a unique loop that you can do in RCT- I used to do one the looked like a big "S": It starts with half a heartline twist and then goes into a downward half loop- this is followed by another heartline twist and another downward half loop. Looked cool and gave good excitement ratings.

Well, you can't do it in RCT without using a cheat or something- but I always thought it would be cool to have a water coaster with a loop...come out of the loop right into a splash.

Not to sound like a moron, but in reading this thread and the "Official" thread on the same ride topic I can still not fully figure out what this ride is. Is it a tracked ride or just a simulator? Does anyone have decent photos or video of the loading station (seeing how rides load is interesting to me...I'm weird).

How is this park on Saturdays/Sundays in this part of June? Do they handle crowds well- do they ever get huge crowds?

^^The funny thing to me is that unless you are on a ride, there are only a few places where you can even tell you are near water (between Ocean Motion and Wicked Twister//and//over by Blue Streak).

The point is- where the trees are along Frontier Trail is not the only place where they have room. The inside of Mean Streak's "bowl" is unused, CCMR uses a great deal of real estate where another coaster or tracked ride could intertwine with it, the air space over Turnpike and the Antique Cars (next to Raptor) is open, the roofs of the Main Midway have nothing atop them. Look at how Blackpool or even Indiana Beach stack rides atop each other and run rides through each other. It takes a few extra minutes of planning, but it also adds to the thrill. CP really has more options available over their usual "Plow N Plunk."