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Posts posted by willski
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It's funny how the human race interprets something incredibly vague into something so concrete.
Personally, I'm a believer in Negrodamus:
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9559/negrodamus9081d8coc4.jpg
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^^They are sad because they can't ride Freefall. It's simple logic when this park has these problems. Do they more than 2 trains on Batman? I don't think they do. How about Deja Vu? Nope. I don't know how many trains they have for Superman. They might really have one, and the other one is burnt, or something. I have no idea if the other one is junked or not. The whole thing is that this park isn't run like an entire year park. Busch Gardens runs an entire year park, and so does Disney. They have 5 trains on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and I don't think any of them are condemned like what I saw on Ninja's, and Goldrusher's train in March 2 years ago.
Yes, those rides are old, but they shouldn't be taking whatever they feel like off of the other trains. Rather, just buy more parts. It was like they were cannonbalizing the trains on those two rides. Let's take spare parts off of those trains, and put them on these other trains.
People complain about Magic Mountain having nothing open, and that's mostly the reason why. Having 2 trains on Batman ensures that it's going to be down some part of the year, or run 1 of the trains instead of 2. It's too obvious. They didn't want to invest the initial cost of buying an extra train to begin with. Period, Batman the Ride should have 3 or 4 trains instead of 2. Maybe, they have 3 or 4, but I doubt it. X is only getting 3 trains. I think X could run 3 trains at one time. I'm not positive, but is it smart to only buy 3 new trains for X?? Shouldn't they have bought more than what the ride can run. I'm guessing that X can run 3 at one time.
People go Disney is open all year long, and they don't have problems. Look at how many vehicles they have for every ride. It doesn't matter if you take out 4 cars for refurbishing on Matterhorn because there are so many left. For Busch regarding Sheikra, I guess they bought 5 trains. I don't think they can run all of them, but I'm pretty sure they bought an extra one for refurbing duties. Kumba, they have 4. I again don't think they run them all on the track everyday. I'm not positive.
Let's face it. They didn't want to spend the money to upgrade Flashback to new trains, so they let it rot. Hurricane Harbor was another excuse that eventually lead to it's demise. Why is nothing open at Magic Mountain? Besides the fact that they might have low-staffing problems (I don't think that a year round job would have problems like that.), they just don't have enough trains for coasters, and they don't want to buy anymore except for X. That's the real killer of bad operations. You go why buy 2 for Deja Vu when you only can run 1 at a time. Otherwise, it's going to be down every year just like every other seasonal park.
Why spend extra money on extra trains you don't need? Busch Gardens, Universal, and Disney do it because they are open every day of the year and can afford it. They need to minimize ride downtime due to problems with vehicles because the rides are already down periodically for rehab. SFMM isn't open every single day of the year and isn't exactly wallowing in cash, so they can use the closed days to do ride maintenance and save a ton of money.
Plus, if one coaster is closed at SFMM, there are 15 others to ride, making it really not a big deal. Whereas at IoA, if Hulk is closed for 3 weeks, that leaves DD as the only major coaster open in the park. I just don't see why you need 3 or 4 trains for a ride that can only accomodate 2 t a park like SFMM.
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Hmm, every weekend in March, eh? How about week days? I was thinking of giving myself a flight down to SFOG for a birthday present when I'm in college or later. I always wanted to go to a park on my birthday, but the snow drifts reach half way up Predator's lift. (March 23 - this year it's on easter, but I'm Jewish, so it doesn't matter. )
-Tanks "Joey's not the only jew on here" 4me05.
It's not open on March weekdays. Except that one Friday before Easter, which will be completely deserted.
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Nice TR. Is this the usual crowds for an opening day? I might have to keep that in my mind for my next SFOG visit.
I agree that Ninja isn't that bad of a ride.
Every weekend in March, except for the one just prior to Spring Break. That's usually when they host some sort of cheerleading competition, so I'd avoid it on those days unless your thing is tons of 12 year old girls.
I wish I could've gone, but no car=no SFoG. Going both days next weekend though.
And as for the friendly staff, that is only there for the first month or so. After employees start working double shifts and overtime over Spring Break (in addition to the weather going from 60s to the 90s), the quality of service drops completely off. It's nice at the beginning of the year though...
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Hopefully Dubai can actually sustain this park. It's growing faster than people are coming in.
Of course it can sustain it. Have you seen the other, more ambitious projects that are happening in Dubai? These few parks are minor compared to other projects.
Dubai's population has more than doubled in the last 10 years, it is currently building a new airport that will be able to handle 40 million more passengers per year than ATL. On top of that, tourism has quadrupled in the past 8 years and shows no signs of stopping. The growth is really phenomenal, they just need to watch out for inflation.
Im no engineer, but these reclaimed islands dont look like the best place to build.....well anything. I can't even imagine the kinds of footers you would have to pour for a large coaster, let alone any substantial size building. I got to think in the long run, mother nature will win this one. A perfect example is the airport in Japan that was built on a reclaimed island. It has sunk over 4 four since its been built.Actually, the soil sinkage was anticipated and has now stopped. It very easy to make artificial islands-all you have to do is drive the pylons deep enough into bedrock.
Geography lesson of the day:Shows map depicting Dubai's exact location
Where is Dubai?Epic fail.
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Something like X-Scream or Insanity wouldn't blend in well with the falls at all and would diminish the image that creates so much tourism for Niagara Falls. Besides, the effect wouldn't be as impressive since you would be "only" 170 feet or so in the air (as opposed to 900).
Have you been on X-Scream or Insanity? The extreme height really didn't affect me, as I was so tightly wedged in my seat and the view was pretty unspectacular (at least on Insanity, where you are essentially looking down at the casino roof/maintenance areas).
Although it would look really tacky, a ride like X-Scream just at the edge of the Falls diving into the mist would be absolutely crazy!
But it's probably just a ton of hype for something not so big.
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^Anti-rollbacks. The center is the chain dog, sides are anti-rollbacks.
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Not that it's REALLY important, it could be just a matter of an initial design that always worked for them, and for all we know, to pump out coatser designs, that was made the default lift template in their CAD in the beginning.
They don't design their own coasters, Stengel does most of the layout/forces calculations. It does reduce lift chain stress, since th chain is gently disengaged instead of the train ripping itself off. This can be heard on a lot of older steel coasters (Arrow and Vekoma), when the train makes a huge clunking noise when disengaging from the chain (Ninja at SFoG is a good example).
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If it means more new rides sooner or better rides in the future, I'm all for it. If they can drop $3 off parking because Allstate paid them to paint the spot with "You're in good hands" on it, that would be great. Same for food and drink prices. Any way they can improve the parks is fine by me.
SFoG really doesn't have that much theming to begin with. I honestly wouldn't care if they plastered everything possible with stickers or other ads. They could put a giant poster/billboard ad on the side of Scream Machine or Cyclone, and I honestly wouldn't care. I don't go to Six Flags for the theming, so it doesn't detract from the park experience.
I can understand the uproar if they did this at a park like IoA, but Six Flags? Bring it on.
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^I guarantee you I know more about that accident than you do. Your post is pointless. Anyone who really knows me instantly knew when I posted that it was 'kind of' a joke.
I am the disaster queen...air disasters especially.
I fly all the time, I know it's safer than sitting in my apartment right now. Get to know me better before calling me out next time.
I apologize, I didn't know if you were being serious. I'm a big aviation freak, so I'm used to people blowing aircraft incidents even more out of proportion than they already are. Maybe because my dad previously worked as an airline safety consultant, or because I'm currently planning on pursuing a degree in aeronautical engineering, and our professors always complain that the general public is so uneducated about aircraft.
My apologies, I wasn't aware, and it's good to know that not everyone thinks airplanes are giant metal death traps (seems a bit like some people think roller coasters are death traps).
Back on topic, this park looks absolutely incredible. The atmosphere and theming of the park reminds me a lot of IoA or Disney. They've done a great job with this.
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Reason for Elissa not going to the Canary Islands anytime soon...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_disaster
That is all.
And? Maybe I missed the tone of the post, but that doesn't seem to be a valid reason to not visit somewhere. You do realize that Los Rodeos:
1. Was not the intended destination airport of either aircraft.
2. Did not regularly handle large aircraft such as the 747-100/200.
3. Was not, and still is not, the primary airport for the Canary Islands.
4. Has been moved since the accident to a new location closer to sea level, eliminating the fog that was a huge factor in the accident.
Additionally, huge changes were made throughout the aviation industry as a result of this accident, and modern technology equipped on all passenger aircraft such as TCAS would prevent the disaster from occurring again.
Accidents caused by pilot error do not make an airport unsafe, and it would be highly foolish to think so. If this were the case, every major airport you've flown into would be "unsafe". LAX, O'Hare, JFK, and Heathrow have all had major accidents involving pilot error, yet these airports are not considered "unsafe".
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With all of the extra dough I'm getting from W-2's, leftover scholarship, and now this economic stimulus check. I may just get a laptop. I feel like an outcast NOT having one at college!
How are you getting a check? You shouldn't have paid any taxes out of your paycheck, just social security and medicare withdrawls.
Full time student=tax exempt (up to a certain extent).
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A lot of the IoA development team worked on HRP. That's why you get that feel.
Too bad there isn't an Intamin drop tower or another major coaster. Maybe in time...
It looks interesting though. I hope they theme the mine train instead of just leaving it like that.
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The new renderings look awesome. It would be really interesting if the cars incorporated a drifting feature for the curving part of the track.
Why?
Race cars (especially F1, which is what this ride is modeled after) don't drift. Drifting is not an effective way to race, despite what you may see on the Fast and the Furious.
F1 cars have no need to drift, as the faster you go, the more downforce (and hence grip) increases. This is why F1 cars take curves at insane speeds and have no problems with grip. This is also why F1 drivers must be in excellent physical shape, because some turns (such as 130R at Suzuka and Eau Rouge at Spa) pull up to 5g's.
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^The 2009 model is a beast though; 550 hp and 550 lb./ft. of torque. Should be an M5/CLS killer.
That is until they update the M5. My guess is a twin-turboed version of the V-10 currently in it. Just look at what they did with the 3-series inline-6....
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I'd rather take a ride on the ring.
Uhh...YA. Give me a Ferrari F2008, and an hour of the 'ring and I'll have WAY more of a good time than on a coaster.
Fixed.
But yeah, I'm sure I'd enjoy this coaster too. Slap a prancing horse logo on the nose, let Ayrton Senna be the ride op, and you've got the perfect record breaker, regardless of what the layout is.
Fixed yours too.
Should be cool, I can't believe they're theming it to Ferrari. Although they are a great team/manufacturer, a true German firm like BMW or Porsche would be much more suitable, given that both BMW and Porsche have tested their cars on the Ring for many years now.
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I went to KI this past June and got all credits except SoB (closed) and the kiddie coaster (I'm too tall).
I got a few re-rides and some flats in before 4 pm. If you went hardcore and ran around, you could finish by 2.
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^They don't own that land. Plus, can you say hurricanes?
They would have to sink the pylons so deep for the coaster so it wouldn't shift with the sea floor during wave motion (especially storm surge), it would just be unfeasible. A steel coaster would be a stretch, but a wooden coaster is impossible.
Too expensive.
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Notice how something like 84 deaths a year in the USA are Suicide and only 4 are because of Theme Park accidents, do these people not realise they are more of a danger to themselves than any themepark ride?!
Ummm...it's way more than 84 a year due to suicide. Try 30,000 per year. It's one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States.
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The article even stated that fixed amusement parks host over 300 million guests a year and give in excess of 1.8 billion rides. And there are what, maybe 18 deaths at USA parks in a year (and that's an overestimate in my opinion)?
That means 1 in 100 million rides ends in a death or severe injury.
That is an absolutely insane ratio. Your chances of dying doing any other everyday activity are higher than that.
Honestly I don't see why Ed Markey always insists on bringing it up. What an asshat to waste money like that. Fix a real problem, like the genocide in Sudan. Ridiculous...
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^That, and the water table can't be much below the road, since the lake is right there.
Did anyone else think that the train had a lot of difficulty ascending that big hill on the turnaround section? That looks so slow in the POV.Other than that complaint, I can't wait to ride this coaster in May!
Seemed fine to me. Pop of ejector in the front, with floater down the drop and ejector in the back on the drop.
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Am I the only one that thought it looked like it was haulin' a$$ through those inversions?
That rattle definitely has me intrigued. Hopefully it's just something minor.
No, you're not, it was definately hauling, especially through the second loop and helix prior to the MCBR. The MCBR level-off alost looked too gradual, it looked as if the train "jolted" a bit when leveling off because the peak was so quick. Not really sure what video everyone else is watching....
Just look at video of Hulk, the cobra rolls are the same speed, the first loop on LZ is a bit faster, the second loop is much faster, and the helix is a ton faster on LZ as well.
Nope, seems like B&M no longer designs their zero-g with that snap roll to them. Now they're more like a big spread out corkscrew roll, you can totally see and feel the difference between Scream's and Medusa West's, or B:TR's and SB's. One just gradually floats up and gracefully flips over, the other whips you around that inline spin and out of your seat like a rag doll.
No. They didn't change it. Silver Bullet came after the two floorless coasters, so it's not like they've recently stopped doing it.
B:TR debut: 1992
Medusa debut: 2000
Scream debut: 2003
Silver Bullet: late 2004
What's actually going on is the way the track must be rolled around the heartline to do a zero-g roll.
As seen here: http://rcdb.com/ig735.htm?picture=6 and here: http://rcdb.com/ig502.htm?picture=12
Invert rolls are designed a lot differently than above-track rolls due to the heartline. For this reason, they also give very different sensations. Inverts tend to feel snappier and the float is usually harder to feel because of lats, whereas above-track coasters are generally less snappy and the float is easier to feel.
Anyway, LZ should be pretty good, looks like some nice hang in the zero-g roll and loop, with some nice positives on the 2nd loop and helix. Not sure about the ending, I wish they had done more with that (including a higher MCBR). Reminds me of Hulk a lot. Starts out with a bang and fades to a whimper post-MCBR.
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What a crazy three weeks. Sounds awesome.
What engine do you have in the Skylark? 401?
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So basically, one of the things that made the first and Guitar Heroes so good is definitely not apparent in GHIII.
For one, there wasn't a progression of difficulty through out the game. To me it just seemed like it went from easy and playable to extremely difficult. (Raining Blood, i have no idea how I beat you, but at least there was a practice mode for you)
But what's really pissing me off is they have different songs that you can only play in different sections of the game. For example Suck My Kiss can only be played in co-op... what the hell? Why is it that I can beat all the songs and not be able to play it in the free play section? Worst of all... I can't even practice or play any of the boss battle songs. It's so retarded.. I can't even beat the final boss. If I could practice it... then maybe I could beat the finall boss.. but the option is not even there to do such!
It just takes what would have been a fun game and turns it into a frustrating peace of crap. It totally defeats the purpose. Its not like I'm playing on expert and I'm trying to go for something that is suppose to be REALLY difficult... I'm playing on hard and I just need a challenge not a freaking brain aneurysm.
Who else got the game and is just kind of pissed off about it? Dare I say it, but I'm going back to halo.
Ok, here are the solutions for both of your problems:
1. Get a friend (with guitar) and play co-op mode. You can play it on easy if you want, it doesn't matter. Once you beat the co-op "bonus" songs (like Suck My Kiss) in co-op mode, they will be available in the quickplay menu on all difficulties.
2. Beat the game (including bosses) on medium. This will unlock all of the boss battles so you can play them on all difficulties in quickplay (and practice mode).
Hope that helps...

What bands need to go away?
in Random, Random, Random
Posted
Ability to drink and play does not make you a good band, hence why you don't see many alcoholic street musicians topping the charts....
Herman Li is ridiculous in concert from a video I've seen, but the others suck something awful. I don't really like Dragonforce anyway; I've played the song on Guitar Hero far too much to like them.