JEAPUgrad

Which college is offering that course? I'm a fellow AA County resident...

^Wild One is 93 years old. Roar East was the original. Roar West has a slightly different layout. Batwing is only one of two exact coasters of it's layout. The first of the three Vekoma flyers has corkscrews instead of barrel rolls.

I've been told it was sold.

WJZ channel 13 in Baltimore reported at 5pm that a cable on the ride snapped. They mentioned that the most serious injury was a cut to a rider's hand. http://wjz.com/local/3.kids.hurt.2.1820805.html

Python and Ultra Twister have been scrapped. Two Face was removed from the backstage area over the off-season months and shipped off to it's new (and unknown) location.

Answering a previously asked question a few pages back in this thread with a factual answer: John Winkler became SFA's Park President in the fall of 2008. He had spent much of the past decade at Six Flags Great Adventure as their Park President. Now for my opinion. If SFA is never going to amount to anything, why would SFI relocate arguably one of their top Park Presidents to SFA? Under his watch at SFGAdv he was a part of the Medusa to El Toro era.

^Yea, and Magnum is still sinking too, right?

Well I rode it last year and it was a terrible experience. Maybe this year it's better, who knows, but I'd be all for them tearing it out and putting in something else. I thought that last year too.

I am aware that Premier Rides also supplies parks with parts for older rides...does anybody know if they supply parts for older Arrow products?

I'll pay for your tattoo if I get to pick the coaster...a Vekoma SLC.

^I couldnt disagree with you more. I rode GASM on Friday and it was probably the most smooth ride I've had on GASM in the twelve years that I've been visiting the park. I've always thought GASM was rougher than the other Arrow Loopers I've been on (Anaconda, Vortex) but was pleasantly surprised with my ride so much that I actually rode it twice.

From Screamscape this morning:

This is very shocking news. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Koch family and the rest of the Holiday World and Splashin' Safari family. He was a wonderful person and will be missed dearly.

This was originally posted to my blog, Halley's Comments. If you want the raw and unedited version visit the URL below. Please keep in mind that my blog's audience aren't all coaster enthusiasts so I really dumb things down in my reports. The blog version does contain content that probably is not considered to be "work safe". ********** This time last week (this is being typed out Friday June 11th) I was in transit towards what would turn out to be a super awesome weekend at Holiday World and Splashin' Safari's Holiwood Nights event. I arrived at my hotel in Huntingburg Indiana around 10:30 am EDT and was able to check in early. The service at the Quality Inn in Huntingburg was far superior than what I experienced the night before. I dropped my stuff off at the hotel and wandered over towards the park. The hotel and the park were about fifteen miles apart which I didn't mind. Members of my group did say that they would rather stay closer to the park next year but that will mean paying nearly double than what we paid for our rooms this year. As you enter the parking lot, you are greeted to the park's entrance and the park's first roller coaster, The Raven. I picked up my event package complete with an event t-shirt and walked back to my car to safeguard these materials. I purchased a day pass to the park on Friday with the event beginning on Friday night. I re-entered the park and went on a wooden coaster tour in the order that each of the park's three wooden coasters opened. I started with The Raven (1995), then The Legend (2000), and finally The Voyage (2006). The Voyage itself was the reason for the trip! During my only previous visit to Holiday World in 2008, I wasn't very fond of The Raven. Back then, the Raven was inconsistent in delivery of it's rides. Some were great, some were not so great. Friday afternoon's ride on Raven brought a smile to my face. Lots of airtime and Raven had found it's out of control feeling. Raven was only running one train as Raven's other train was moved to The Voyage. The Voyage will be receiving new trains called Timberliner's later this season. These proto-type trains were not ready for the event so the park moved one of the trains to The Voyage to maximize capacity. Some joked that they were "Ravaged" while riding Voyage. The Voyage originally opened with three blue trains. Two of those trains were sold to another park during the offseason. Since the new Timberliners weren't ready to open, The Raven train that was moved to The Voyage is red in color. Hence the phrase being "Ravaged". The Legend was, and still is, too rough for me to handle. Doesn't matter where I ride the coaster is simply put too intense. The laterals on the coaster kill me. I don't like being thrown around from side to side like a ragdoll and that's exactly what you get on The Legend. Next up was The Voyage, the number one rated wooden roller coaster in the world! The Voyage is my favorite wooden coaster and in my opinion is a great ride. Some complained that it's becoming too rough to ride. My Friday afternoon ride on Voyage would be my only "hands up" ride of the weekend. The night rides on this monster are far different and I have no shame in saying I was white knuckling Voyage at night. More on this later. After completing a circuit on the park's wooden coasters, I decided to try the park's new for 2009 ride, Pilgrims Plunge. Pilgrims Plunge is the world's tallest water ride measuring in at 135'. This ride is tame in actual thrills department as the drop is only at a 45 degree angle. It's the climb to the top that makes this ride so much more than it really is. I've admitted before that I am scared of heights. How I am able to ride some of these coasters, I have no idea. I also have a fear of elevators. I got stuck in one for four hours when I was a child and have no particular like for them now. Anyway, you leave the station in a boat and you approach the lift structure. The lift structure is an open air elevator. You can see how the structure bows out a little bit...this allows for the lift to operate two elevators to the top. In the wider sections of lift, this is where each elevator platform passes one another to maximize rider capacity. What I've never read anywhere about this ride is that when the boat you are sitting in goes through the bowing out of the structure, your entire boat leans to the side, the side opposite of the lift structure. Great. Just great. Me at over 100 feet in the feet with the boat leaning over like it's going to fall? I may have had a mild anxiety attack. We get to the top and down the drop we go. The drop seemed like it lasted forever. With most of the other attractions of this type, normally once the boat hits the water, a gigantic wave appears and crashes upon unsuspecting guests usually on a bridge or walking on a nearby path. Not the case with Pilgrim's Plunge. Once the boat hits the water, you skim for about eighty yards across the top of the water before the "wave" is created. I didn't get nearly as drenched as I thought I would. My shorts were soaked but my shirt was almost bone dry. After walking around the park and soaking up the atmosphere, I decided to head back to the hotel and rest up a bit before the Exclusive Ride Time began. I arrived back at the park around 6pm CDT, a half hour before the event's start time. I was in a weird time travel flux all weekend as the park operates on Central Daylight Time and just about everywhere else operated on Eastern Daylight Time. This became a challenge on a number of occasions. I met up with my friends KO and JM, and was introduced to KR. KO and JM were also hanging out with some friends that I had known through a message board that I posted on. I handed out rainbow color Hawaiian leis that we all wrapped around our wrists just for fun. At some point in the night, we became the "Fruitty Pebbles" clan. KO was going to bring a princess tiara for me to wear but she could not locate one. While driving out West, KO and I had been exchanging a number of text messages amongst ourselves. I asked KO if she would be up for a ride on Turkey Whirl, the park's Tilt-A-Whirl ride with JM and I. You see, we're all a little bit larger than the average American. JM quoted his weight and I quoted mine, but KO refused. I'm guessing between the three of us there was probably 850-900 pounds in this one Tilt-A-Whirl cart. I joked about our weight flattening one of the ride's steel wheels or having the whole darn cart come loose from the axle. We flew. Round and round and round and round. I've never been on a Tilt-A-Whirl that spun like that little fracker did. Epic. We had to wait in a pavilion so the park could clear out the general public before the event began. The Koch family, Will and Ms. Pat, spoke to the enthusiasts in attendance while we waited. The Koch family owns Holiday World and Splashin' Safari. Will held a brief three Question and Answer period along with one of the designers of the Timberliner trains from Gravity Group. While I'm not one to speak in public, I kind of felt like my friend found the Genie's lamp and waste his three wishes. The three questions asked were: 1. The problem with the Timberliners isn't that they don't fit the track like a certain park to the north? 2. Will the park be purchasing Timberliners for the other two woodies? 3. If you rated The Voyage a 10 before the Timberliners, how would you rate them after? Question 2 was a good question but 1 and 3 were softballs! I'll paraphrase the answers: 1. Will admitted that there is a small problem with the trains not fitting the track and that small sections of track have had to be replaced. Though he was quick to admit that this is a very small issue on the larger scale. The guy from Gravity Group stated that they have had to make many more fine tuning adjustments to the Timberliner trains than they originally thought they'd have to make. That's why the testing phase is taking so long. 2. The park might consider buying Timberliner trains for the other two wooden coasters in the park dependent upon how well the Timberliner's run on The Voyage. Rider comfort and the popularity of the trains are one factor and another factor is if the Timberliners really do reduce the wear and tear on the track like they have been promised they will. 3. Simply put, an 11 is the rating with the new trains. After the Q&A the park was cleared and we were set loose on the park for a couple of hours. KO suggested prior to arriving at the park that I invest in some cheap sunglasses for the nighttime rides. Great suggestion! After the first drops on all three wooden coasters, I couldn't see a thing. I lost my sunglasses on Saturday night and not having the glasses made a noticeable difference in my ride experience. After riding Voyage at night for the first time I posted on my Facebook page that I had just creamed my pants. The ride was that good! The park made available the front car of one of the Timberliner trains for enthusiasts to sit in. I was very happy to hear about the design and introduction of this new train but once I sat in the train, I was like 'meh' about it. The train is more forgiving to larger riders and is more comfortable than the PTCs and Millennium Flyer trains BUT my major complaint is that there really isn't anything to hold onto. The lapbar is a large piece of foam material and it's so bulky you can't really get a good grip on it. I liked that the new trains had more back support than the PTCs and MFs as I think this is going to help make Voyage be more of a re-ridable coaster. A meal was provided with Friday night's event that was all you can eat pizza, veggies, and of course sodas. Each event participant received a quarter pound of fudge as well. ERT ended on Friday night and I joined my new friend KR and some of the other guys from the message board back at their campsite. We sat around for hours on end drinking beer, smoking cigars, and just shooting the shizzle as guys do. We had a lot of catching up to do. Finally around 4am EDT, I called it a night as we had to be back at the park for ERT in the waterpark at 8am CDT. Drink a couple of beers and try and do that math as you fight exhaustion. I drove back to my hotel and went right to sleep. Woke up some two hours later and was back at the campsite picking up the gang and shuttling them over to the park. Saturday morning's ERT was on the park's New for 2010 attraction Wildebeest. Wildebeest is an uphill waterslide ride that uses Linear Induction Motors (the same technology used on Joker's Jinx and the Flight of Fear coasters) to launch the rafts uphill. Allegedly there are moments on Wildebeest where you can experience airtime but I did not encounter this. Wildebeest has only been opened a few weeks and has been a giant success for the park. I thought the ride was fun and unique but otherwise did not "wow" me. The park's "Tornado" style waterslide was open for ERT as well as one of their wave pools. Every waterpark now has a "Tornado" style waterslide. They are a lot of fun! A breakfast featuring fruits and muffins were provided during Saturday morning ERT. As ERT came to a close, the rest of the waterpark opened. I really wanted to ride Bakuli, the waterslide pictured below. I've never been on a waterslide that simulates you being the toilet paper swirling around inside the toilet bowl. The ride itself was a lot of fun. We swirled and swirled alright. After we splashed down, we were waiting for some friends to come down the slide when we witnessed a tragic event. A raccoon was climbing up the raft conveyor belt when the lifeguard in the splash pool noticed the raccoon. She hit the Emergency Stop button which caused the conveyor belt to stop but the poor little raccoon then bounced all the way down into the splash pool. Unfortunately for the raccoon, he was a little too close to the pool's filtration system as the filtration system literally sucked the life out of the raccoon. How many times in life will you get to see an animal drown? The lifeguard was really upset. She called for her Supervisor and once he was in sight, she began waving her arms emphatically. The Supervisor who had no idea what was going on, took his good ol time getting to the splash pool. By this point the raccoon had been under water for almost five minutes. There was no doubt that the animal was dead. They brought in one of those poles that you would associate a person working with Animal Control to use where it has the steel ring at the end of it to control angry dogs. They brought this pole in to fish out the raccoon's now lifeless body. Adding insult to injury, the teenager that fished out the body managed to accidentally drop the raccoon's body on the concrete while trying to put the body in a black trash bag. After the body of the raccoon was removed from the pool, there was a brief delay so the water could be tested before the attraction could be reopened. Our friends were the next ones to ride the slide once it reopened. They had no idea what was going on until we told them. The crew then took a ride together on Pilgrims Plunge. Once was enough for me! We returned to the waterpark for a few hours before heading back to the hotel to take naps. I wound up doing the "Man-kini" where you pull the end of your t-shirt through your collar and walking around like you have a bikini top on. Most people thought it was funny but I did get a few dirty looks. Did it all in fun. By the time Saturday night's ERT rolled around, KO and JM found a pink tiara for me to wear. Here I am pictured above wearing the tiara. A lot of people got a good laugh out of me wearing the tiara. I had little girls coming up to me all night wanting one! One person thought I had lost a bet and a gaggle of gays asked me if I was the princess for the weekend. Many of the park's employees called my tiara a crown and they had to be corrected that it wasn't a crown but a tiara. Will Koch even posed with me for a picture while I was wearing the tiara. Without a doubt, Holiwood Nights 2010 was the most fun I've ever had an a park. I can't wait to return next year. Saturday night after the ERT I returned to the campground for more beers and chatting though I only stayed for one beer. Everyone had different travel plans on Sunday. I was able to arrange for a late check out and slept till noon EDT. I left the hotel around 1pm and made several stops along the way. I hit Sonic in Kentucky, Steak and Shake in Ohio, and even stopped back at King's Island for some bonus rides. There were a lot of familiar faces at King's Island from the night before. I gave Diamondback another chance after hearing so many people rant and rave about King's Island's newest thrill machine. It's still a 'meh' coaster for me. Next up was the Beast. I was asked by the guy who rode with me if I posted on TPR and sure enough I do! He was a member from Europe riding the Beast for the very first time! This was a special moment. Beast on Sunday did not deliver like she had on Thursday. Maybe I was spoiled with all those laps on The Voyage. I finished up at King's Island with a few rides on Flight Deck. Love that ride! I left King's Island around 7pm and arrived back in Pasadena around 4am. I made several gas and rest stops along the way. Great trip...can't wait for Holiwood Nights 2011.

Once you are of legal drinking age, you will find that there are far better places for pre/post game (ie. Pickles) than ESPNZone.

Will spoke to several of us in a group during Saturday's ERT. We were all in between Legend and Raven when we ran into him. He stated that while one of the two TL trains were ready, they canceled the inspection that was suppose to be on the past Thursday because they made a decision that they weren't going to operate just one TL train. He asked what sense does it make to get the trains inspected separately AND to have one train operation on the most popular attraction in the park during the two busiest months of the season: June and July? None.

Were you scared of the fat guy with the pink tiara?

You're missing the point here. That same money could be going to enclose Joker's Jinx, or turn Gotham City Arena into an indoor Wild Mouse coaster. Priorities are key. I really hope you are joking since you didn't use any smileys. This has been hacked out over the past thirty pages of this thread... Can we PLEASE not go down this path again?

^STALKER!!!!

I've shared those sentiments elsewhere and have been called a Drama Queen for it. Glad to hear we have the same opinion on Roar.

Robb, I submitted payment through PayPal this morning and received confirmation through their service but I did not receive the confirmation email that I was suppose to get from TPR (the one that gets sent out about 10 minutes after you've signed up). I've been checking my spam folder and all. Is everything ok? Joe

Re: Timberliners - no worries. Last night I was one of the guys with the lei's on our wrists. Today I was the guy who did the "Man-kini" by pulling the end of my shirt through the top of my collar. Tonight I'm told I'll be wearing a tiara. Joe "I'll do ANYTHING to make someone laugh" Halley

I was sitting so close to Will I could hear him without the use of the microphone. He didn't say that will be buying the Timberliners if they work out. He said they would consider purchasing Timberliners if all goes well with Voyage. Two completely different statements.

I'm in room 249 at the same hotel...stop by and say hi if you want. I'm going to head on over to the park in about an hour.

I'm not the sterotypical gay either. I'm a jeans and tee shirt guy who LOVES sports and doing guy things like smoking cigars, playing poker, going to titty bars, etc. I am secure with my sexuality and am active in many of the gay subcultures. I just usually get asked if I'm straight at a gay event. Oh yes, I have no rhythm either.