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Yeah really! I agree with that. Some of it almost seems like nit-picking. Wait until it is built and ridden, then nit-pick it to death! I'm just going to say I don't care what the theme is or whether or not the wood is painted or where it's put. The next time I go there it will be open and I just look forward to riding it and having a good time.

Wow that really looks great. The reflecting pool with the trash in it, fire, and the fog is just awesome! Wish I lived close enough to this Great America to check it out.

And they said a coaster topping 400 ft. could never be built yet there they are. You can't put a loop on a wood coaster and yet, for a while, there it was. The point is with today's computers just about any type of coaster can be designed and if designed right will work and the wood would not break or fall under gravity or all that weight. If that were true many wood coasters of today would have those problems eventhough they are not inverted. Whether or not there will be a demand for it who knows. My feeling is it's a neat idea but not practical. Wood coasters are supposed to be rough to a certain degree, it's part of that out of control feeling, and if you built an inverted one no matter how much padding you had there would be lots of head banging. And like someone else said...wood coasters are unique in their simplicity and inverting one takes that away.

The 49ers.

The phrase "only time will tell," which is frequently used on this site. As far as parks I agree with everything said especially about line cutting. But I would have to say I would get rid of crappy and expensive theme park food and drinks. If I want to pay way too much for food that isn't all that good and drinks (especially like someone said...$4 for a bottle of water and rip off vending machine drinks), then I will go see a movie.

Good. What exactly was wrong with it...what was repaired/replaced?

Maybe these 'trouble shooters' Dee-Dee-Dees should be looking into why this kind of stuff gets so blown out of proportion and is so full of crap and they should also be pointing out you can't protect against stupidity. As long as people continue to be stupid and do stupid things, (stupid) people will get hurt.... or write articles like this.

I wonder... If it's true how did it happen? I'm thinking either.... 1. Somehow ALL of the brakes AND pinch tires at the end of the brake run all the way into the station totally failed and let the train freely roll into the station or just all of the brakes, includung the magnetic ones failed and the train sailed through the brake run and the pinch tires only slowed it down a little (tires squeeling as it ripped through them) and it hit the train parked in the station. (extremely unlikely if not impossible). OR 2. The brakes worked fine but the pinch tires either brought the train through the (old) unload area not stopping and rolled it into the other one...or, the train was stopped in the correct position in the (old) unload area and for whatever reason, sensor or PLC malfunction or something else, rolled the train into the other one parked in the load/unload area. (extremely unlikely but possible). But for this to occur there would have to be a serious malfunction either mechanically or in the control system. I have a question though... If one train is parked in load/unload and a second one is parked in the old unload, will the PLC let the ride ops 'accidentally' bring the 2nd train from the old unload to the current load/unload (which would crash into the 1st one)? I would guess that it would not let that happen but I am just curious.

If memory serves, the X and X2 trains do not have bumpers like B&M trains do, for example. So IF there was a collision in the station (the 2nd train either not stopping or moving from a stopped position forward and hitting the 1st train), then this is the type of damage I think you would see. But this has not been confirmed or denied, this is all just speculation at this point, but it makes sense along with what other posters have said. IF the two trains hit each other, besides the wheels nailing each other, what on the train in the above pic could have hit the audio box? Or was the force of the impact enough to do that? Did this even happen?

You know I cannot have or feel any kind of sympathy for any idiot that hops a fence for any reason clearly intentionally ignoring warning signs (and if no sign then common sense and the fence...DUH!), then getting hurt by the ride or killed. Whoever this guy is all I have to say to you is...... I don't care, you are a total dumbass, what you did was beyond stupid and whatever happens as a result you deserve because it's your own damn fault this happened in the first place. Really, a hat?

Enter an area clearly marked off limits and all fairness goes away. Frikin' dumbass, it should have hit him harder. He needs to just take a stroll across a busy freeway now.

It hurts A LOT (more than it has to or should) .. I don't remember the old trains banging in that spot so badly.

Yes please if you find something in the footage about X by all means let us know. I've been on a lot of coasters and can take the usual Vekoma/Arrow style headbanging but this is certainly NOT the usual headbang. I think this is a serious issue that should be looked into right away. It's one good hard whack toward the end of the ride, it's really unusual and it just comes out of nowhere, not like the mild beating you get during the ride. It's almost like the track is really messed up in that spot and your head slamming the headrest feels like somebody hit you with a bat. It's really bad and I would be interested to know if anyone else has experienced this. Maybe it is the trains, I wish I knew. Anyway though thanks for the awesome videos and I look forward to future footage.

Funny (but not really) about the X2 head slamming you experienced...I rode it a few weeks ago on the outside and during that last flip (outside loop whatever it is) I could not keep my head back and experienced the same bashing you did. That was some pain! I was dizzy for a bit and had a serious headache after that. I don't know what it causing that but it is very very painful and I think it should be looked into as this could cause mild concussions. If nothing else it kind of ruins the ride. You go through all that awesomeness and then BAM! Pain.

I wish I could go to FF this year. I've always wanted to try Colossus backwards. I've been to FF at SFDK and it was pretty cool but I can only imagine how much better it is at SFMM.

Marriot's Great America Tidalwave Willard's Whizzer The Lobster Yankee Clipper Triple Play Skywhirl Bottoms Up The train ride Fiddler's Fling The Edge and the best one of them all...... The Turn Of The Century

Yeah I thought it was funny that when we were leaving at closing time it said 93 when it was clearly only around 70-ish all 4 times we went.

I have found that if you ride Medusa (SFDK) in the back you get some airtime on the first drop, floater time on the diving loop, and the Zero G is just plain incredible! That weightless feeling as you rotate is something that you almost can't put into words. It doesn't seem as intense a feeling in the Zero G on Scream but it's still there. Maybe because Scream seems to keep it's speed up more....don't know.

It is a fun fad that has passed. Eventhough Intamin and B&M aren't pushing this design anymore I think if a park really wanted a new one from one of them they would design it...they would still stand to make money on the design so I can't see them turning it down. Will a park want a new one? Don't think so. There are too many other proven coaster designs/fads that are more in demand now. I don't epxpect to see a new standup unless there is some super awesome never before seen element designed into it. But what else could you possibly do with a standup that hasn't already been done to death?

I guess that would explain why the ride ops aren't exactly overflowing with friendliness. I know the job can be boring (from experience) but it helps pass the time and can make it not seem so dull when you interact or just simply go out of your way to be friendly to the guests. A simple 'hi' or 'enjoy your ride' makes a difference. I'm not talking about having lenghty conversations with every guest but don't completely ignore them. Even just a simple smile or wave would do. And why is the air horn at Scream in the breakroom? Was that a design oops or was the breakroom put there after the fact? That would suck not being able to take your break in there. That thing is pretty loud and I can only imagine what it must be like in an enclosed space. Couldn't they just simply run a new airline and relocate it outside? Seems like a simple solution but there's probably more to it than that.

On a different note... During my recent 4 day visit I was only told to "have a magic day" twice, and I agree the friendliest employees were the foodservice/retail ones. I didn't play any games but it seemed all the ride ops did not want to have anything to do with the GP, mostly they just kept to themselves. And at Deja Vu there was no grouper so the girl at panel was telling people at the turnstiles, in kind of a rude way over the P.A.... "go to #1...okay keep going... Okay stop...you in the red shirt, yeah you go to #6 etc.' It was anarchy because the people in the regular line and the people in the single rider line were getting confused and they didn't know who she was yelling at and when to go through the turnstiles. It was bad. So then you ended up with rows that had 1, 2, and sometimes 3 people in them. Maybe they were short staffed but it sucked not having someone at the turnstiles. It didn't go smoothly at all.

^^Training on their cellphones? Yeah I guess when you run Tatsu you are supposed to be texting your friends at the same time. Where is that in the training manual?

Yeah I agree and that #3 pissed me off too. There should only be the required number of people at each ride station and no more. Panel, load/unload, etc, and any other position is not the place to hang out and socialize if you don't belong there. And if you don't belong there get the hell out of there so these other morons can do their job. I swear the cellphone texting while operating a ride thing is absolutely rediculous. You are there to do a job and run a ride and your phone is not part of that. I wish that everytime that happened we could take the offending person's phone and smash it into a million pieces right in front of them. Besides causing a severe distraction and being totally unsafe they are not getting paid to do that. I don't care how young they are or if they only get paid minimum wage this behavior is completely not acceptable and needs to stop now, there are absolutely NO EXCUSES for this to be happening! If these idiots are not going to do their job and instead hang out and socialize and text while they are supposed to be working then they don't need to be at SFMM and need to be let go so they can go somewhere else and not do their job.

Maintenance at CGA is top notch if the appearance of the park is any indication and extended downtimes there are rare. I have every confidence that if it is possible they will have it back up very soon. Plus they seem to be on top of maintenance more than some other parks and my guess is it is something unusual that happened. I still would like to know what caused it to go down.

That is too bad. *start rant* Vekoma what a surprise? Actually ANY ride from ANY manufacturer has just as much of a chance as a Vekoma does for experiencing major mechanical problems and being down for a lengthy period of time. (Remember the lift on X being down for months? Or the lift chain sprocket breaking on Goliath. I'd say that was pretty major to name just a few. And those are not Vekomas). Typical Vekoma bashing, and you work at that ride....that's funny. *end rant* I do hope it is up soon as it is my 2nd favorite ride there and thanks for the information.