Skycoastin Steve

I worked at the Skycoaster at Carowinds 4 years ago. Believe me, it's 153 feet. Same height as the other former Paramount Skycoasters. We used to even argue with the Drop Zone crew about which ride had the bigger drop (Sky Flyer's being 147 feet which is 153 minus the 6 foot low point, Drop Zone's actual free fall only being about 100 feet to the brakes). And you're right about SFOG not taking them all the way to the top, they stop a good 25 feet short (which baffles me, because you're only required to have it stop a few feet short of the stopper on the winch cable). Edit: Here's the link to the ride page on Carowinds' website. Linkysaurus.

^I'd just like to see Rattler join SOB in that big woodie pile in the sky.

Nice TR, but just to clarify, the Carowinds and SFOG Skycoasters are both of the 150 foot variety. And yes, SFOG charges WAYYYYYY too much for theirs.

If you think that's true, go and check Robb's trip report from here in 2004. I'll even throw in a link for you. And yes, a majority of our management is former Cedar Fair and Six Flags management, and they've done a fantastic job. As I've already pointed out, we're taking a direction completely different than what you've seen under Six Flags in the past and what we're starting to see with Cedar Fair. It's funny what happens when the corporate influence isn't there anymore. I am by no stretch of the imagination a "fanboy" of this park, I see many of the same issues as you do, as do our managers and owners. The great thing is, we're busting our tails to fix those issues, unlike the managers and owners of the past. I just like to inform people of what we have going on here for the future, and frankly it pisses me off to be in any way associated with the name Visionland, because NOBODY that's a manager here now was a manager during that train wreck. It's incredibly disrespectful to the staff we have on hand now to even think about calling us Visionland. (Seriously, it was a crappy name for a park to start off with, anyway...although I must admit most park names are cheesy). To the original poster, we'd love to have you visit us, and we're also offering a Club TPR discount if you choose to join the club. Just let us know beforehand that you're coming and we'll make sure you have a great time while you're here. You'll get treatment from us that you'd never find at any large park, just ask anyone that was here for the Deep South Trip last year.

First Park: Scandia First Coaster: One of the two of their coasters First New Park: Scandia First New Coaster of 2010: Whichever the first at Scandia is First Food Bought: ummmm......?

I gotta say Intamin, especially based on their multiple positions on my steel poll and #2 position on my wood poll. B&Ms are still great, although they tend to be a bit redundant a bit redundant. Arrows have just aged horribly. I don't think the censor will allow me to give my true feelings on Vekomas. There's no question that GG is my favorite woodie manufacturer, as GCI is the B&M of woodies with being redundant with being redundant. CCIs are typically good, but are a little hit or miss because they can be incredibly rough later in their lives.

^I wouldn't expect them to put Discovery Cove on there. To be honest, I'm surprised they give Platinum Pass holders a discount to that. But great to hear that they are on board for the rest of their parks!

I'd like to clarify. Any post that I have regarding riding Xcelerator or Percy's Railway is completely and totally sarcastic, and pretty much just done for comedic effect. Whether or not the comedic effect works, I don't want anyone thinking I'm throwing a fit about something that's completely out of my control. I realize rides close and that I can't ride some kiddies, so it's seriously not a big deal. Regardless of what I get to ride, it's still going to be a hell of a weekend and I'm very, very excited for it since it'll be my first trip to both parks (and California, for that matter).

^In this case, I think it's different. The whole point of this argument was that this isn't Visionland anymore, we've done everything we can to separate ourselves from the incredibly negative image that was Visionland, and now we're working on building a reputation for Alabama Adventure. I'd say within 5 years this place will be exponentially better than it ever dreamed of being during the first 10 years of its operation. That in itself should warrant another go at it for park guests and enthusiasts alike. At some point, probably closer to our opening in mid-April, I'll post some pictures of the capital improvements (as well as maintenance improvements on several rides). A TON of work has been done since we closed our doors in October.

^^Don't forget that smaller parks also have fewer rides to keep track of, and that makes it easier to keep up with wooden coasters (which take a lot of constant care and attention). I think someone else also mentioned how woodies in the south tend to be rougher than ones in the north, that goes back to longer operating seasons (in some cases year round) and less rehab time for those coasters. The weather up north is just as harsh with all the cold and snow in the winter time, and that can take a toll on a wood structure just as easily as heat and humidity. The difference is, parks in the north have a lot more down time and have more time to repair and refurbish their coasters, whereas parks like BGA, SFMM, and KBF that are open year round may only have a few weeks or a month out of the year to rehab theirs.

^So you're going to take one man's bad trip report and make it your own opinion of the park? Can you think for yourself, or do you just use everyone else's ideas as your own all the time? Robb wrote a pretty glowing report about us after the Deep South Tour stop here, so why aren't you citing that? Are you just a negative person that likes to complain? Or once again, just willfully ignorant? Every park is going to have its good days and bad days. Probably the worst infraction of guest service I've ever personally received was a lifeguard at Holiday World who shreiked and yelled and chased two friends and me away from Bakuli because we mistakenly entered the queue after it had been closed off (there wasn't any kind of sufficient visible signage). Does that mean it's no longer one of the friendliest parks in the country? No, it just means there was one bad apple on a bad day. Conversely, some of the best ride operating I've ever seen was last summer at SFKK, a park that was known for horrible operations. I regret that Larry visited our park on a bad day (I do vaguely recall Labor Day weekend being a rough weekend for maintenance and other issues), but it happens. There isn't a park anywhere that isn't devoid of staffing or maintenance/ride closures problems at some point during a season, from CP and SFMM all the way down to the small parks. So if you want to make a sweeping generalization based on someone else's bad trip report, then I say baaaaaaaa to you and urge you to get back with the flock of sheep. As for single day prices, I'm not exactly sure what they are or if they have been finalized yet (I'm sure they have been, I just haven't heard them yet). I know our website is currently undergoing some redesigning, so that also might be a reason why it doesn't have those prices on there. I'll try to hunt down the answer for that.

^Believe me, the dig at Six Flags would have been made regardless if they were competition or not. No other park chain has exemplified "quick fixes" more than Six Flags, and in almost every case it's come back to bite them in the ass. Otherwise there wouldn't be mass amounts of Vekomas and park closures rampant in their chain. My feelings on that chain go back long before I ever became a park employee. And as I recall, TPR was here on a Wednesday, not a weekend. We were always staffed fully on weekends during the summer. Any "rolling ride closures" you are speaking of were maintenance related. The only rides that could have been conceived as "closed" for staffing reasons were our kiddie rides, which often times had rotating operators (as SEVERAL small parks nationally also do). See what a little information does for blatant ignorance? Management and maintenance also busted their behinds on an extremely short time frame to make sure TPR would have a two train operation for their ERT on Rampage, so a little gratitude wouldn't be so bad, either. I agree that Rampage is certainly the biggest draw for our park, and will continue to be. You say there have been rough years under the AA banner, but as I've already said, AFE has only owned the park since mid-season 2008. As evident by the large number of compliments we received from regular season pass holders and park guests, 2009 was a giant leap in the right direction as opposed to 2008. And I can sit here and guarantee that 2010 will be the same way, especially knowing what has already been done in preparation for this season. Nothing is going to get fixed overnight, and we won't claim that it will, but we're certainly building a solid plan for the future.

^Very much appreciated. Don't think I can say it enough, that was one of the most fun days I've had as a park employee. Actually prompted me to join TPR.

^Maybe the Griswold family BB gun would go a long way to persuading them to speed up the process of reopening Xcelerator. That would almost be as good as Percy's Railway being open for us.

^Well, if you had read my original post on the subject, you would be well on your way to knowing that we're working on it. This is only going to be the 2nd full season of AFE's ownership of the park, and there's a lot to be undone before we can ever take large steps forward. More has been done in capital improvements this offseason alone than in probably any other offseason in the park's history. I guess what the current management realizes is that perhaps improving the image of the park is the proper first step to making it a better overall experience rather than just dropping in a ton of new rides to "polish a turd" as you so eloquently put it. (ask Six Flags about that brilliant business strategy)

^So it'll always be a horribly conceived, poorly funded, even more poorly run, terribly laid out park started by a man who was just sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption? That's what Visionland means to me.

If they do end up purchasing Millennium Flyer trains, doesn't that mean they will also have to reinforce the structure in areas to compensate for the trains being heavier? Did they do that with Wildcat?

Yes, because I'll be one day closer to flying to California! Is it raining where you are?

^Kindly don't refer to us as Visionland. We've shed the incredibly negative image that was that disaster and are currently improving our own image and working on improving 10 years of mistreatment.

Given the other parks that you have listed there, you're going to need a park with an excellent wooden coaster, which you currently don't. Also, AA will be on the Club TPR discount list (details released in a week ). To answer shortly, yes it's worth the extra time and money.

^But what is that steel nailed to? Multiple layers of WOOD.

^It's really not that confusing. Steel track is steel track. If there's no wood involved in the track, then it's not a wooden coaster. There really isn't any gray area there. The support structure could be made out of petrified marshmallows, it doesn't matter. Coaster classification comes from whatever the track is made out of.

This is most excellent news. Unfortunately, it's still not a great layout, but maybe it won't be so rough anymore.

While there's never truly any guarantee that a new ride will be open by opening day, they have a pretty large event planned for I305 that day and probably have a very specific schedule laid out for the testing and all that jazz in the upcoming weeks. Carowinds actually opens before KD, and that Intimidator was also finished sooner than I305, so that's why it was testing so much sooner. They also don't do pull-throughs on B&Ms like they do on Intamins. Tell your parents to rest easy, there are some pretty smart people in Doswell getting that coaster ready for April 2.

I really wasn't going to. As much as not being able to get a credit bums me out, it's not that big of a deal, there's always credits to get elsewhere. I'm a park employee, I tend to take rules and regulations pretty seriously at other parks.