DirkFunk

My assumption is that the owner is hyper concerned about wear and tear on the ride and sees the possibility of cutting back on several hundred dispatches a year as saving him thousands over the long run in track/train maintenance. I think that's stupid, but that's me. Also I'm really happy I didn't bother with going to MFI a couple weeks back when I was debating doing so, because yikes.

I'm with you. The potential for immersion in the experience is enormous and far greater than anything possible with animatronics or projections. You literally create the entire world without needing to worry about hiding show buildings, wires, etc. It also makes sense that this would be useful on powered coasters rather than real "coasting" roller coasters since it is easier to control the speed throughout the ride when it is on a third rail.

I acknowledged this. Robb mentioned the 7-11, and that's 100% true. That was purchased and closed with the intent that this was moving forwards. I don't think I indicated that they were. This is more my belief about the people behind the project. Which.... My assumption is that the bidding already took place when the original contract with S&S was signed, though obviously that is speculation on my part. I would think that they'd have done that from the get-go, but who knows? People do things. Did Intamin possibly come in because they were cheaper? Wouldn't surprise me. But then things.

Money can basically buy you anything. I would not at all be surprised if Skyplex didn't buy out the restaurants. I really don't think they would go to all of this work to release this project if they didn't already have everything lined up. It isn't that they don't have the access to the land. It is that they don't have investor money to move forward with fabrication and construction, and thus there's no reason to even close the restaurants currently sitting there. Whether the money was dried up when S&S/Sansei left or did so after Intamin was brought on the project, I can't tell you. All I can tell you is that if this was to be open by 2017, you'd expect construction by now in September of 2015. Absolutely nothing is happening.

For anything to happen with the Polercoaster, they have to first close a few restaurants. Those restaurants are open. A buddy is a manager at one. Unless something dramatically changes, that ride isn't going up by 2017, or probably ever.

I hate to be Debbie Downer, but I wouldn't get too excited about Polar Coaster ever happening. They're building one in Orlando right now. Not sure if you meant that in a "nobody would ever build this way" or "it won't work" way. They're building the Orlando Polar Coaster in the same way that Dreamvision is going up in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. There isn't any actual tangible progress that's been made in months.

I hate to be Debbie Downer, but I wouldn't get too excited about Polar Coaster ever happening.

If there's something they want (and Intamin brokers for the best companies out there selling stuff like monorails, for example), I'm sure they'll place a call. In the meantime, everything I've heard suggests we'll see Intamin rides being taken out of CF parks before Intamin rides go in. I guess we'll all find out together.

This discussion keeps popping up in almost every thread, and it's getting comical. Intamin doesn't build the most expensive rides (they're fabricated in Slovakia to save money), they aren't getting hurt by the US dollar's rise, they just don't have products right now that the majority of theme parks owners in the US trust or desire to buy when everyone looks at the competition or their own limited bottom lines. I don't know if it "ended" except in the way that anyone's relationship ends when they don't regularly buy products from someone any more. However, clearly, if we just want to list issues at just Cedar Point, we could go on beyond that: flume boats that sink, can't be fully loaded, and then overturn; Wicked Twister being welded at 2AM because the tower shakes so badly, Maverick's barrel roll that wasn't. Cedar Fair still bought rides. Cedar Fair hasn't bought an Intamin ride since management changed and seemed to have put a premium on capacity and reliability. If they see something that tickles their fancy, I'm sure they'll be interested. If not, they have others to turn to in the industry now. They'll be fine. To use the popular car analogy, B&M builds Mercedes. They run smooth and fast. They're an aspirational item for most, but common place for those with money. Do they look the most exciting? Not really. They're always about 3 years ahead of everyone else building sedans when you compare an E Class to anything else out there, but at no point do most people look at their cars and necessarily ooh and ahh. Intamin builds Maseratis and Alfas. They go as fast or even a little faster than a tricked out E or S Class, they're a bit rarer to see, and they're much more aggressively styled. You might miss someone in a Mercedes; you won't miss them in a Maserati. They're often more fun to drive. They also break down more often because, look, you're buying a Maserati. That's what they do. And that's why those brands have moments where they can break into the US market and sell some product, and often end up back out of the market when people start to think, "Gee, a Corvette is better and $30,000 cheaper..."

Bumping this TR for a request for MOAR

Europa, Efteling, Heide Park, Phantasialand, all the Legolands, Tivoli, Alton Towers, Blackpool: they all qualify just within Europe.

They only did part of it (the track was their primary function IIRC) and supposedly they screwed that up too and a bunch of stuff had to be redone at the last second. There's enough production model 8 and 10 inversion Intamins in the world that simply aren't that good and age poorly that I don't feel the need or care to see one built in America. Megalite, sure I guess - I'll just as happily take more Lightning Runs too.

A park with a bunch of coasters but crap food, no infrastructure, poor entertainment, etc. is basically your garden variety Six Flags. Or even worse, your garden variety Six Flags that was sold to PARC. What makes OK parks good and good parks great isn't just that they have some sort of monster #1 in the world coaster, it is that they have other things. There was this movement years ago to laugh at that suggestion that people wanted "charm" - now all those people aren't around the hobby because they seem to have realized that barren coasters and concrete pathways are easily replicated experiences. Or they confusedly prop up every myth about Disney's superiority in the book without ever analyzing why Disney is different. But I digress. My point here is that if I wanted to make Valleyfair somewhere better and different to go to for my own tastes, I'd want it to be more like a place I could enjoy without necessarily riding the ever-loving crap out of the coasters. That shouldn't even be as tough or as expensive.

Right. I understand that. You do understand that unless there's perpetual mass turnover, that is bound to happen no matter what, right?

Then you're doing the healthy act, which is to stop going somewhere you and your family aren't enjoying. You have alternatives, and it seems you're going to use them. I just think you need to do some personal reassessment here. If the only thing that will make you happy going there is seeing new coasters built with frequency, then maybe you have to accept needing to travel to more parks outside your immediate or even close vicinity to scratch that itch? Adventureland probably isn't going to receive a new coaster for another 10 years. Mount Olympus...it's just gonna fight to stay in business the way things are going. Arnold's hasn't gotten a new-to-them coaster in 17 years, and that was more of a rental/concession situation that lasted one season. You might have those trips next summer, but then what? Alternately, maybe take your kids to the zoo or some museums. Go to Duluth. Take a train trip. But don't get angry at Cedar Fair simply because they don't make your specific park the jewel of the chain.

CAN I BORROW YOUR BABBBBBBBY -bottom jaw falls off-

Some sort of crazy steam punk merger with 1930s gangster films would be cool. Really you can do anything if you can storyline the guests that by entering they've walked into some extradimensional thing. I don't know if anyone's actually tried that previously, but it seems like a smart way to go about things. Also, obviously, I run out of weed and the dealer won't answer the phone. That's a horrifying scenario.

Who knows how it was being operated or anything like that. We're all just guessing.

I would sit down with Mapquest and do the routing out without Arnold's and do it with. If you're adding 5 hours of driving, maybe it isn't. Of note to you: Near Arnold's is Boji Bay Conference Center, which often allows people to use their giant wooden fun house slide. There's also a bunch of other funhouse stuff there which may or may not be open or might have a special event going on which you can join. When I say "other funhouse stuff" I mean things that are virtually impossible to find anywhere in the world like a human roulette wheel. You might want to schedule around either the Minnesota or Iowa State Fairs. Both have some rides and attractions outside the portable ones that are of interest. Both have permanent Old Mill dark rides that operate only for the fair.

Probably the line was massive, people decided to start cutting, and the ride operator decided to try and get order in a crowd that was having none of it. His backup should have arrived a lot earlier. Actually, there should be cops patrolling, but you know, cops cost money.

With all due respect to those locals complaining about Valleyfair: -You have access to rides all year long. Not just any rides - we're not talking Boa Squeeze/Python Pits - there's full size and rare flat rides, a Eurofighter, a big themed log flume, all that junk, open 365 nearby. -You have possibly the best fair in the US in your city. It has a Intamin/Biro Observation tower, a wacky rafting ride, an Old Mill, and most of the major flat rides, fun houses, and coasters on the road. And incredible food. -Valleyfair has a hyper coaster, two wood coasters (one of which is a solid GCI), a nice attached water park, a funky/rad Arrow Mine Train style coaster, and an Impulse. Yes, I'm sure you'd like to get a Giga Coaster or a B&M Invert or whatever, but be realistic for a moment. You have awesome stuff around you. If you don't like Valleyfair that much and the flyers don't do it for you, you actually have alternatives. Most markets don't! It is OK. Really.

wot Memphis itself has over 660,000 residents, making it the 23rd largest city in the US. The metro area is 41st largest at 1.34 million. Memphis has: -No amusement park (Libertyland closed in 2005 and was replaced by a grass field. Little if no real review of finances has ever been done AFAIK) -No water park (only pools and a couple of very small slides at public aquatics facilities. closest thing to one is this: http://www.krocmemphis.org/facilities/aquatics/) -Two family entertainment centers: an Incredible Pizza Company and a place called Golf and Games. Nowhere in the country do you have this many people this under served for amusements. The best guess I have is that racism (active or latent) is the only reasonable explanation as to why.

lmao, the trims aren't being removed? Well, I guess if I get a good deal to SoCal I don't need to care about waiting for that then.

The Trail Tavern on Frontier Trail should have it on bottle.

Always had worse restraints, but now it has even more deplorable capacity. I can understand it.