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SaweetDude04

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Posts posted by SaweetDude04

  1. Went to the park yesterday for a few hours. Overall a good, very hot day with the longest wait being Green Lantern with a 30 min wait. Everything else was a walk-on. El Toro and Sky Screamer seemed to have some difficulties, with El Toro being down at least twice the time I was there (12-5). Houdini seemed to have a new pre-show and ride audio, replacing the music in the pre-show with a pre-recorded woman talking the entire time. Did the Houdini at SFNE receive the same upgrades? The only negative for the day would be the Nitro crew. They seemed to be the slowest and stacked all 3 trains quite frequently.

     

    GL: 1x

    El Toro: 2x

    Sky Screamer: 1x

    Nitro: 1x

    Houdini: 1x

  2. The new leg guards on Bizarro were brought up a few pages ago, but got lost in the discussion of the Star Flyer. Here's a picture of them.

    [attachment=0]New Restraints.jpg[/attachment]

     

    Personally, they didn't affect my ride at all. In fact, I hadn't noticed them until today, even after waiting in a 45 minute line last week. Since I always keep my knees inside the restraints, they have not hindered the ride for me at all. The only crime they pose is being really ugly...

     

    Does anyone know why these were added to the restraints? It seems like this park seems to have issues with their Intamin restraints. As a result of the accident at SFNE, all three Superman(Supermen?) mega coasters had their T bars modified. Now the U bars need to be slightly modified? I'm curious to find out why these were added to the trains and if any other modifications to the restraint system are planned, as the ride is four years old and without any major accidents since the transformation.

     

    EDIT: Does anyone know if El Toro had it's restraints modified as well, or is this a purely SFNE thing? In any event, at least it doesn't interfere with the ride experience.

  3. Trust me it will be popular. The whole wing rider concept seems to blow the GP's mind. The key hole and hanger seem to be especially loved. Plus SFGAm hasn't got a new coaster in 10 years.

     

    Did I hear that correctly? Um I don't think so as that little park in MD. was the one to go 11 years without a coaster till now.Hate to say this but the wingriders thus far look a little lackluster in terms of the typeof inversions offered,much like the DM'swhich only offer immelman's as their main element.

     

     

    I personally feel wing riders have shown their ability to do almost every inversion out there. From the long drawn out twists, zero g rolls, dive loop first drops, immelmans, and the vertical loop on Wild Eagle. I feel as the concept starts to mature, we will begin to see taller, longer, and even more intense layouts. I feel X-Flight is just beginning to show what the wing riders are capable of.

  4. As you all may know, the US Congress and House of Representatives is set to vote on PIPA and SOPA. The following 2 websites give you information about these two bills, as well as why they are damaging to freedom of expression. They also allow you to sign petitions stating that you do not want these bills to pass and will be sent to your respective legislators. They only take few seconds to fill out and will help in the fight against internet censorship.

    https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

    http://americancensorship.org/

  5. Based on this article in Loiusville Courier-Journal, it sounds like Ed Hart is actually close to finally getting the financing to open Kentucky Kingdom!

     

    Businessman Ed Hart said he is “close to an agreement” on securing a $23 million bank loan toward his effort to reopen the Kentucky Kingdom amusement park at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

     

    Hart has been given rights — until Sept. 30 — by the Kentucky State Fair Board to negotiate a lease to operate the park.

     

    With the abandoned park across Phillips Lane as a backdrop, Hart said at a news conference Tuesday at the Crowne Plaza hotel that he is waiting for the Fair Board to offer him lease terms that he can accept.

     

    He said he would be receptive to an extension of the lease commitment but emphasized that time is growing short to meet his and the board’s goal to reopen the park next spring. Hart said he would consider waiting to open the park until 2013, if the lease conditions are right.

     

    Hart said the $23 million loan would be provided by two local banks. He declined to disclose the terms, but said it would be a 15-year deal. He said the banks have asked not to be named until the deal on the park’s reopening is final.

     

    The loan would be guaranteed by his new partner, the Al J. Schneider Cos., which owns the Crowne Plaza, the Galt House and other area commercial property.

     

    Hart previously put $3 million into the park project, some of which went to acquire land owned by Six Flags, the amusement park operator that abandoned Kentucky Kingdom in early 2010 amid a bankruptcy filing. Hart said at the news conference Tuesday that he has now increased his equity investment to $5.6 million.

     

    In addition, Hart has spent more than $1 million to date to pay for the ongoing costs of security, repair, maintenance and other expenses related to the park.

     

    Hart said the Fair Board has been cooperative in its talks but that a final lease agreement remains elusive. He acknowledged that now that he has put additional equity into the venture, he expects additional lease concessions beyond what he originally sought.

     

    Fair board president Harold Workman didn’t immediately return a phone call Tuesday. But he told state legislators in late August that he expected the Kentucky Kingdom to be open next spring, barring some unforeseen occurrence.

     

    Hart said, “Assuming a lease agreement is reached, (our) goal has always been to reopen Kentucky Kingdom in 2012. However, we are subject to the production schedules of the national and international suppliers who will provide new rides for the park, as well as the parts to refurbish existing rides. Time is running out.”

     

    Hart said the only participation he is asking from Louisville Metro Government is a $300,000 a year payment toward the loan debt for 15 years.

     

    Last spring Mayor Greg Fischer offered that the city might issue as much at $17.5 million in bonds to help finance Kentucky Kingdom’s reopening, but he set terms that Hart apparently found unacceptable.

     

    On Tuesday Fischer spokesman Chris Poynter said Fischer has now agreed to provide toward the park’s loan debt 1 percent of all occupational-tax revenue that the city collects from park employees. That would likely generate less than the $300,000 per year sought by Hart, Poynter acknowledged.

     

    The park would likely generate about 1,000 summer jobs per year in addition to several dozen permanent jobs.

     

    Poynter said he didn’t think the commitment of the tax revenue would require Louisville Metro Council approval. Most council members have made the park’s reopening a priority.

     

    Hart said his Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Co. is “close to an agreement on private sector funding” of nearly $29 million to reopen the park. However, it needs the Kentucky State Fair Board’s cooperation to seal the deal, he said.

     

    A year and a half ago, the Fair Board selected Hart as its choice to reopen the theme park, a state-owned facility that last operated in the fall of 2009. The Fair Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be Sept. 22 — just over a week before the current interim agreement is to expire.

     

    The initial $28.6 million investment would go to expand the Kentucky Kingdom water park and add several new family-style rides.

     

    But Hart envisions what will eventually be a $50 million project for redeveloping the park. That level of investment would require the Fair Board’s asking the 2012 General Assembly to invest about $20 million more, probably via a bond issue, in the park venture. At that level, the park would get several new roller coasters and be marketed as a regional attraction.

     

    Mary Moseley, president of the Schneider organization, said, “We have great confidence in Ed Hart and his team of professionals. They’ve turned failed theme parks around before, and we know they can do it again.”

  6. For those saying Cedar Point would never consider a Zac Spin, I found some evidence to the contrary. in

    Discovery Channel documentary, around the 2 minute mark, they are discussing designs of coasters, and they clearly show and describe a "spinning ball coaster" which looks exactly like an Intamin Zac Spin. If we see actually see one at Cedar Point in 2013 is anyone's guess, but that's what I'm hoping for!
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