GigaG

I thought that Speedy Gonzales opened?

I am on my way home from SFGAdv (I went last year too.) Here is my review of their coasters- Batman: The Ride - Just your normal B:TR clone. Has a noisy lift hill like Raptor. I don't particurally like it. Then again, I don't gravitate towards most inverts. This is my 3rd Batman clone credit, the 4th Batman clone experience (ridden SFMM's as both Batman and Namtab), and the 4th one I've seen (went to SFOT long ago, but was too short at the time.) Bizarro - I tend to gravitate away from most B&M multi-loopers, not just inverts. Bizarro, however, is still a good ride, at least compared to its West Coast cousin. Compared to Scream (Scream!, if you really need the exclamation mark), Bizarro seems smoother. It also has a zero-g roll that actually provides a pop of airtime and a smooth cobra roll (smooth, at least except for a rattle directly afterward.) Despite the fact that neither fire nor mist was running, and the sound has been removed (I never rode the ride with sound, however), I still love corkscrewing around the, um... auger-looking thing that usually sprays mist, if I remember correctly. Blackbeard's Lost Treasure Train - This Zierer (how is that pronounced? I say "ZYAY-rer") Tivoli has 2 things to note. One is its long train, which creates vicious lateral g-forces in the rear of the train over the first drop. The other thing is the horn which is blown when the ride dispatches (usually several times) and when it passes through the station for another round. This horn is really, really awesome. Just the sound it makes is. I don't know why I like it. I guess it reminds me of a carnival or the Bayern Kurve model ride at CGA. More rides need this horn. Dark Knight - This "Mouse in a Box", as I think it has been called before, has epic theming. The ride is fairly smooth until the end. I'm kinda saddened that such good theming has to be used on a layout as common and "average" as a Wild Mouse. The continuously moving loading system of this ride definitely speeds things up quite a bit, only stopping for restraint checks and blocking. On occasion, cars stack in the station. El Toro - Does anything need to be said about this? It is awesome. Just lots of airtime. Although, I sorta wish they could have jammed in one more ejector hill, the ride is still epic. I do barely fit on this ride, so be warned - walk of shames occur frequently. During Discover Card/Season Pass ERT, I got to marathon Toro for nearly 2 hours. We even got the front row to ourselves, but my mom wanted to leave. El Toro is not glass smooth, but is still smooth, especially for a woodie. Most bumpiness can be avoided by sitting in the middle row of a car. The front row of a car also seems a bit better than the back, but I'm not sure. Green Lantern - Last year, I thought this ride was a bit less forceful than Mantis, but had a better ending. It is much smoother than Mantis. However, the ride is actually very forceful. So much, in fact, that it needs a few breaks in the force. Kingda Ka - The launch seemed better this year. The capacity, however, has likely been decreased by the draconian rules of Zumanjaro. The ride is very shaky and trimmed over the tophat, but not a bad ride by any means. I believe that sitting "on a wheel", which is the back row of an individual car (correct me if I'm wrong) makes the shaking worse. Nitro - If you don't get a good ride, Nitro is not very intense. The "turning hills" have no airtime. I do like the rising helix into the MCBR. The bunny hills are good in some seats, but not that great in others. I still like it, and I'm still kind of debating whether I like it or Diamondback better (and I like Diamondback.) Road Runner Railway - Did not ride. Runaway Mine Train - I hate the restraints on this ride. If I have my stuff in my pocket, I have to contort myself into the restraint. The front row of a car is better, though I do not know about the front row of the train due to the locomotive theming. The ride itself is fun. The helix right before the finale is somewhat painful, but the finale itself has potential for airtime over the final hill, depending on where you sit. Skull Mountain - In spite of one-train operations and a building that has a massive leak of light where the switch track goes outside, this ride is a fun family coaster with good scenery in the queue and some decent props and sound in the ride. Ride in the back for a pop of airtime over the first drop. Superman - It seems that this version is a bit slower through its second half than the Georgia version... I would need to ride both to compare how their pretzel loops differ with the extra car on the SFGAdv version. Not a coaster, but- Zumanjaro - Very fun, but sad how they can't run both KK and Zumanjaro at once. Zumanjaro already has a mesh over the ride gondolas. All it needs is a bit of Plexiglass to the sides and maybe on top to go with the mesh. This would protect riders from most loose articles. You would have to throw during the pull-up to hit the Zumanjaro gondolas. So maybe they should modify the ride and time KK to only be forbidden to launch while Zumanjaro is near the pull-up section of KK.

Cedar Point got the giant macaroni noodle sculpture (AKA #Jonathan) from Kings Island. I've seen one pic of him and he seems to be near the Gemini Midway. (Yes, KICentral's official name for the sculpture is #Jonathan including the hashtag, although I just call him Jonathan.)

^ 'Tis all true, but the lapbars are fine. They're still buzz bars. Everything else angers me. I can't stand to see a classic neutered and quite bumpy.

I've heard of people here using an app on their phone to measure g-force while the phone is in pocket. What is a good iPhone app for this? It has to work on the 5S and output a graph. It also should measure force on all axes. Thanks for any tips!

There has been an injury on a trapdoor slide at a waterpark owned by Terra Mitica's owners. The injured claimed that the ride is unsafe and opened 10 MINUTES after the accident. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/british-holidaymaker-injured-60mph-benidorm-3848005

Well Magnum is orange and bounces up and down... perfect for basketball! Maybe... My mom suggested SHOOT the Rapids, but that isn't a roller coaster.

It's like the El Toro of waterslides! If El Toro didn't have upstop wheels... By the way, who made Twin Peaks?

They do that in the US too. However, the lights are not so exactly to indicate whether the restraint is locked. They show whether the restraint is down enough. A restraint can lock, but still be too high.

It reminds me of Cedar Point's old speed slides. Times ten. Is Twin Peaks a double drop or a mini-Verrukt? Does the first drop go down to the ground level where the splashdown is like Verrukt?

So on another note, could Twin Peaks exist in the US?

Those sorts of disclaimers typically don't hold up in court. You can't release yourself from liability just by saying you can't be held liable. Have the guests sign a ToS when paying at the entrance then. That would be a legally binding contract. I think that would drive people away. The GP would consider that creepy. As for coffee, that coffee was actually very hot and the woman suffered third degree burns. The lawsuit isn't totally clean, but still a LITTLE rational, unlike the pants lawsuit.

Do parks in Europe have such disclaimers? And if you are being sarcastic, are you targeting me? Not that I know of but there really isn't a need for it as you will not become an $ millionaire by spilling coffee on your own lap. Oh, and I see that the end of my last comment might be a bit unclear. It's not complaining about un-neutered rides but the lack of them in the U.S. The hot coffee lawsuit was actually not that frivolous when you look into it. You want frivolous, look up the $67 million pants.

Do parks in Europe have such disclaimers? And if you are being sarcastic, are you targeting me?

There is an alleged weight limit of 230lb on Intamins? I haven't been on a scale for a long time but I reckon I'm in that neighborhood. However I'm 6' 3" and nobody would call me fat. I've heard chatter about it, but I call bullcrap. Or at least it's not a hard set limit.

SFMM believes that Americans are, as I say, made of butter and cannot appreciate intense rides.

So is this lawsuit also the investigation? Or do we officially have a person or group at fault for the accident?

Now this comment takes the cake- I see what they mean, but from the enthusiast's perspective, it makes no sense. I really hope that these lawsuits don't destroy the last nice things that parks have. Parks have already bubble-wrapped everything else due to fear of lawsuits. The argument that Novack uses here disregards the dozens of other coasters within tree's height of a forest that have never had an accident. SFMM may or may not be at fault, but the solution is NOT to cut down EVERY TREE.

^Why don't corporate parks do that? Especially when many of their coasters ran with that same restraint system years ago. I think it is stupid that what was safe 20-30 years ago and is still safe today is avoided.

The video itself is sorta stupid. But look at the comments, especially about "King Kong." The original comment is a story about the guy's belt unbuckling on SFDK's Kong (built just like Oblivion, he says, he must mean the restraints) and some of the replies are stupid.

I don't see why a guy shouldn't be able to wear a rash guard. It's the same as a girl wearing a typical one piece. One pieces are usually quite a bit more snug than a t-shirt. Ah I thought the issue was about the shirt getting caught in a gap between slide pieces, not the shirt coming up and over.

No, just a few idiots who sue for crap. The reason that parks think Americans are made of butter and neuter their rides as such. Again, this lawsuit isn't frivolous (at least not until we hear more about it), but I hate how parks live in fear of mythical lawsuits for headbanging or intensity that will never come.

Why can't America have nice things!?

^Ah, yes. I was singing that on KI's log flume when I went a week or two ago. One of my new favorite TPR videos, up there with Intimidator 305.

While Xcelerator does look ugly up close, I'd advise you to see a doctor if your puke is that color.