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Awesome picture Steve!

Yeah IMO Terminator to Apocalypse is more of a downgrade, unfortunately but oh well.

SFMM's descision to refurbish Superman, add Green Lantern (definitely a world class coaster), add Road Runner Express, add DC Universe, add Pistachio Park and Whistlestop Park, and re-theme Terminator to Apocalypse didn't come very cheap. The three new "experiences" alone could probably buy up a 20million dollar ride (something on the scale of Millenium Force), and honestly, GL/S:EFK/RRE/DCU is better. So yes, CP SHOULD buy some good cheap rides! lol Oh my, the Terminator/Apocalypse re-theme must've costed the park SO much! Taking out all of the Terminator theming and replacing it with nothing but crappy pre-shows and empty once-themed areas must've costed that park a fortune! Wait a minute, I'm now remembering that SFMM was FORCED to do this! Same goes for Whistle Stop park. They were FORCED to make they change, and what did they replace it with? Minimal theming and cover ups of the original Thomas Town theming. Huge investment there. Pistachio Park is nice but again was a minimal investment as it's basically a garden with a few signs that focus on Pistachios. A nice place to relax don't get me wrong, but again it wasn't a large investment. DC Universe was actually a decent investment to go along with Green Lantern's theme and it looks pretty good. Certainly a welcome improvement. Road Runner Express? Are you kidding? This is a re-located coaster from New Orleans and all SFMM needed to do was pay for the ride to be shipped to the park. Minimal investment again. Superman: Escape From Krypton was a welcome improvement that turned a crappy ride into a great ride. The launch is better and it actually launches to the top. A real investment, even though it's not a brand new coaster (no new track). Green Lantern is the most this park has invested in this year and it still is less than what the park invested in for the X2 treatment or even the full cost of Terminator when it opened. This is the only coaster at the park that is actually a brand new coaster. So all in all, Six Flags Magic Mountain really went the money saving way and while they can advertise that they changed all these things in the park, it really came a smaller cost then you would think. Sure, it wasn't cheap altogether, but it still was not a lot if you look at all the things they "changed" this year. They really opted for quantity and not quality, while saving as much money as they could in the process. Considering Superman has COMPLETELY NEW cars and a redesigned launch it could well have been almost as expensive as GL, you don't really know that. And all the stuff they have done this year, ALL of it, costs money. There are ins and outs of things you don't know about that cost money, its not simply just put a ride here or there repaint this and that etc, there are a lot more costs you or I don't even know about. So its not really fair to say they went on the cheap when they are the only ones who really know how much this all costs.

The mechanics are not going to say anything about it to ride ops or the gp simply because whatever they say can be totally blown out of proportion. I used to work there and I had ride break down, we were not allowed to say what the reason was. As much as we want to say what is going on, we simply cannot. And as much as we (the park guest) want to know what is going on, because they have a job to do, we have to respect that and just go with whatever they tell us.

Ok that makes sense now. When I worked there in '89, when I would go on break I would go backstage through the gate by the foodcourt. I would sit back there, almost right next to the cable drum for the launch on Tidal Wave and I would just sit there and watch the whole thing. The weight dropping, the train being launched, the cables bouncing up and down, the weight being pulled back up, the pusher running back underneath the track to the station.....it was so cool to see all this! I was always hoping to see it "mis-launch" but it never happened, it always seemed to run great.

Wait a minute I'm confused....there are two different flywheel models? I thought there was only the weight drop model and then the flywheel model. All of them have a clutch so that is where this is confusing. The weight drop has one type of clutch, the flywheel has another type of clutch. Are you saying there are two different clutch types for the flywheel? In order for any of these to work they have to have some types of clutch on them, so basically they all have one. In fact the Schwarzkopf site lists both weight drop and flywheel types as having clutches, which means since Montezooma's Revenge is the flywheel type it also has a clutch, (actually it would have one either way). So you see why this is a little confusing as if it did not have a clutch it could not possibly work. Intamin could build a taller, faster shuttle loop with LIMs, easily. Or better yet, if the forces were not too intense, an even bigger one with the hydraulic launch, 200ft loop maybe towers reaching 300ft. The real interesting thing is way before it was developed for practical use, Anton mentioned using a "linear motor" as a launching means, that's how far ahead of his time he was.

Something about taking it out due to maintenance costs does not seem right. It wasn't a "big" coaster but it also wasn't a maintenence nightmare, really didn't cost that much more to operates than the other coasters, it just seems like that was not the reason.

I wonder what he thought of CGA.

So the Dip 'n' Dots guy didn't tell you any of this?....lol....jk

I have a question. Why is it the almost all of the coasters in Japan look like they are in dire need of a paint job?

Oh your username is CedarFair1, now it all makes sense.

Schwarzkopf ives on in Intamin. All we need is for a park to contract Intamin to re-create a Schwarzkopf design, could easily be done. And it would be a given that it would be a great ride.

Yeah they are.

Ok, do you have anything to back that up? And, CP may not be adding a coaster in 2012 because its possible they are planning on adding something big the year after. Who really knows for sure but Cedar Fair. Between you and Steve, I think I will believe Steve for now, he seems to have people who know and I don't believe him to be a liar. Even if he is wrong....so what! What you are claiming is really baseless unless you can point out otherwise and the staements you have made are really no different than what you say Steve is lying about. So you are calling him a liar and making up random stuff yourself.

Yeah I know....I don't get it. From the video of your initial ride it looked very intense and "crapped all over Millenium Force" but even the additional work done after that, from my pov, didn't really take away anything from having a great ride experience and continuing to crap all over MF! If these tweaks were necessary in order to keep maintanance in check which would keep it operating for a longer period of time, its such a huge ride that I don't think it really made any difference in the ride quality, unless someone is going to be ultra super picky about it. Its better to have an awesome ride in this manner than not have it at all, so the complaining does not make sense to me. Like with GL, if this is how the park is going to run it or it needs to be run, then so be it, at least its actually here and is still something really fun to try. If they can run it with more spinning and just choose not to then shame on them, but no matter, I will still ride it and enjoy myself ( a lot) cuz that's all that really matters to me.

Wow, 5 figures?

^Yes but didn't the adjustments on I305 have something to do with toning down some of the forces? Thought I read that somewhere. From the videos I've seen it still looks very forceful and a lot of fun.

What exactly is the dino alive attraction? Never heard of it.

Yeah, but nobody said that anything was cancelled. Nothing has been cancelled, hmm, is there more to that perhapse?

This complaining about GL not spinning enough eventhough it just opened, makes want to take it away and say "there, now you don't get any" like how you would discipline a bratty kid. I'm just happy there is actually one in this country now that I would be able to get to as travelling to Europe pretty much for me is impossible. Its a new and different ride experience I can't wait to try, 1 flip or 4 doesn't matter, I still think it will be a lot of fun. And if I only get 1 flip no big deal, I will just have to keep riding it until I get more. More rides, more fun, that's a win-win to me.

That'll happen soon enough...lol

Well new Schwarzkopf trains were unveiled recently, like about 8 years ago... I always like looking at those ^ And according to schwarzkopf.coaster.net And this is according to Intamin So I guess that answers it. Anton is also on Facebook, well sort of. Anton Schwarzkopf on FB

Considering Magic Mountain has the "coaster crown" now I would think CP would already have a new coaster planned for next season. Actually between that and the dino thing I'm surprised the dino thing seems to be what they picked.....too bad.

Can you imagine a hyper or even giga version of this...OMG!!! That new version you mentioned looks like it has a nice little drop from the lift.

Aw man, that's too bad. He really looked like he was enjoying himself on that ride.