Midgetman82

Its cheaper to use available stock media than to have a team go out and get original footage. Six Flags can't always hire a team for every single one of their parks to do a special commercial just for them, so they'll tend to borrow shared footage from their other parks (especially if it includes cool arial footage). It's been done for as long as I can remember, and I think almost every other park does it; including Cedar Fair and Disney at some points. Some of Kentucky Kingdom's adverts use stock images from other parks for both Deep Water Dive and Lightning Run (I'm assuming is an image of Wild Thing at Valleyfair with Lightning Run's logo photoshopped to the front of the train).

Woodies with a "fly-through-the-station" element (namely Apocalypse @ SFMM). Great elements onride and on paper, but not very fun to listen to when waiting to board a train. I feel sad for those operators as well. Kumba's pretty loud, but at least its intensity is there to match! Superman: EFK (haven't ridden it since The Escape era) is mind-numbingly loud as well when you're anywhere close to it, but it's one of the coolest things to hear from far away imo.

Award for most heartwarming video goes to^ ---- I absolutely love modern takes on classic flat-rides. Although, being able to see the world revolving would make me pretty nauseous... all the better! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXVGWOBFuFk Also this company has a killer lineup of other small flat rides; especially spin-n-puke ones.

Very nice! Looks very inviting, with olenty to do in the water park and outside of it too!

^That's always the biggest consideration when a park looks to invest in something new: Who spends the most money? This is true for most other parks (chain or no chain) for the exact reasons you listed.

Depends what day you go and what time you do them. LR can usually top off a 45-50 minute wait, but the line shortens to anywhere between 30-40 minutes around 2-3pm since most people are in the waterpark. I'm pretty certain Thunder Run is about the same since it runs only 1 train.

Myself, at about a 30 minute drive when I'm not at college. Lightning Run is #10 on my overall list currently. I'm very, very certain some folks who've been on more coasters have probably ranked it higher. Edit: Not a big difference, but I'm 25 minutes away actually.

I305 (KD) - This introduced me to a whole new level of coasters the first time I boarded the train at East Coast Bash 2012. Wowzers! Maverick (CP) - Those transitions into the turns are super sharp. Get some i305 restraints on it, and it'll be my #1 coaster, hands-down. Top Thrill Dragster (CP) - That launch is an out of body experience. Bonus points for the floater top-hat 400+ feet up. Voyage (HW) - It's always an adventure that leaves me breathless after each lap. Goliash (SFMM) - Always greyed out on the helix. T2 (KK/SFKK) - Brutal in "certain" ways while it was open. Not really "painful," but did shake my entire body around violently. Sometimes that roughness made me laugh.

Strobe - Deadmau5

I never thought lying flat on my back staring straight into the sun was comfortable either, but I guess neither position works for everyone.

Bumped into this gem and couldn't stop laughing at myself. Honestly, I share your irritation for people always immediately speculating big on things they're not totally sure of (not just for Holiday World, but everywhere ). It's fun to do so, sure, but you can't always fill-up pages with people pin-pointing where every park might throw in, say, a B&M wing rider as a family-owned park's first-ever major steel coaster... Well slap me stupid! Biggest plot twist of the decade. Honestly, I couldn't be happier to be so, so wrong. To those who guessed correctly, props to you!

... If you're telling people to "Have a Six Flags day!" I'd prefer a fantabulous year, but, whatever. ... If you'd prefer to install a hand-me-down from a sister-park every two to five years and advertise it as a brand new attraction, while saving original designs for water slides and flat-rides.

^True, but they did sorta perfect it: riders exit the station face-down, more comfortable and quicker loading/unloading restraint system.

They better make the announcement soon. Some of us are still a bit exhausted from following Holiday World's campaign.

I think they should leave Hydraulic launches to the super-fast machines. I haven't been on a lot of LSM coasters, but I thought Maverick got to a pretty good amount of speed and worked pretty well for the initial uphill climb and tunnel launch. Also while Wicked Twister's initial launch isn't super fast, I thought its LIM system had an impressive kick to it as well. Same for Volcano at KD. ^^The thought of Dodonpa's launch scares me a little.

As far as I know, there's more rides for them to do at Holiday World, versus Cedar Point. Holiday World's Christmas town has an area that cateres to the young ones with small rides, and there's the Holidog Fun town with a playground, junior coaster, and a train. Outside of those areas, I'm not sure if there's a whole lot more for them, unless they can meet the height requirement for Gobbler's Getaway. Don't forget the water park as well!

Thank you! That's my biggest (and basically only) downfall with Maverick, except it's not painful, just really harsh around those transitions into the turns. Legend is all sorts of awesome when it's running its best. Last I rode it, though, it had a serious rattle at the bottom of the first and second drop; the rest of the ride was a-okay. That's really the only time I considered it "rough." The coaster is intense, but I wouldn't consider it constantly being rough. (That's just my 2 cents though.)

Those dual drop slides look like they have a pretty tight radius after the big drop. Might pull some serious g's, unless there's a lot of water to slow you down. Water park looks great though, and I can't wait to hear more about it!

^I do see a point in what you said. Many times, parks that try to cater most to families often have more flats than they do coasters. Holiday World is a fairly good example, since those not 48 inches tall yet to ride the coasters can hop on plenty of flats and still have a pretty good time. Cedar point had a bit of a problem in this field as many in their ride lineup used to required riders to be at least 52" or taller (of course with the recent flats installed, I'm sure they've taken notice of this issue). Of course this is only speaking about a park's well-roundedness, and not about why we don't see as many major flats in parks.

Europe has a superior fairground market, but the majority of those rides seem like they're originally built to be transportable. I wish as much as you do that they would bring more of them over to the States. They look awesome! I think a park would do excellent if they spent money on a line of flats instead of one major flat, like what Coney Island did when they called in Zamperla a while back. The only problem is that it still wouldn't market that well nowadays.

^I can sort of agree with that. It just depends on where you look (and what you consider a "flat ride"). While focus is primarilly on the roller coasters, there are plenty of parks out there with a good to great selection of flats as well.

Lightning was also dancing like crazy all around the Louisville area tonight, and storms are supposed to continue through tomorrow. Maybe the legends are true and the Thunderbird has truly risen (or maybe it's rainy season again... I prefer the legend!).

I adore that color scheme (I'm a big fan of things B&W)! I also love how WhiteWater's version always looks much more massive compared to ProSlide's Tornados. It's a shame they didn't include any balconies or bridges so people can see inside the funnel.

The ones that brake every now and then are okay, versus the ones that allow the train to run through before coming to a screeching halt at the end. But even then, my rib cage can only tolerate so much...

Arguably, The Legend and The Raven at Holiday World have some pretty strong brakes as well. But it understandable once you see how much distance they have to halt a speeding train.