RollingRunner

^ Agreed. How can you NOT like a roller coaster?

So far, the best floorless i've gone on is Dominator at KD. The forceful inversions, tight turns, and sustained floater off the MCBR make it one of my favorites. Hydra would probably be my #1 if it were just a bit less rattle-y, but the creative elements including the Jo-Jo roll make it an interesting ride.

Wow, these are some cool pictures! I love those portable darkride facades you find at these fairs. I like how creative and twisted (and somewhat risque!) the backdrops were. That suspended wild mouse coaster looks pretty interesting too, I never knew those existed outside of Rct. Nice to see Laser still operating at his new home too!

The best airtime i've ever experienced is probably on Nitro at SFGAdv, especially on the hill after the hammerhead. As for wood, i'm going to be in an obscure minority here and say The Wild One at SFA has most enjoyable airtime. The hill after the first drop and the double up/double down has some intense "out-of-your-seat" action. Phoenix at Knoebels ties for me since it has some crazy pop-up moments, plus the fact it's just a buzzbar makes it better.

For NL2, I would hope to see... - New Intamin Trains (newer styled OTSRs and straps) - Giovanola Cars (Hyper and Invert trains) - Arrow 4-D Cars - Tubular Steel Tracks (Arrow mine train, Gemini cars) A suspended style would be amazing to play around with in NL too, i'd love to see that happen!

^^ Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't some of those rides still on property in the boneyard? Maybe 2011 will see a new life for these old flats, if they can still run that is. Alot of the old flats from the 1999 expansion had some pretty bad downtime and maintenance issues, so hopefully SF can invest in some better and more reliable flats for this rumoured package. Above anything, the Old Country area needs to re-open soon with the Autobahn and Express.

I spy some secret messages... Cool PTR too. I didn't know the iPhone took some decent looking video clips. And if Viper is anything like Scream Machine, I would agree that the back two seats are really the only good seats. Hopefully Viper will live longer to see a more prosperous future.

^ I believe the reason you can't download anything now is because youtube changed their coding and scripts for the video player so the downloader add-on can't recognize it, or something like that. But their unreasonable copyright laws might have something to do with it too.

^ I recently went to the park on the 22nd and the park was really crowded, but most of the lines were actually decently short. I rode Great Bear in the morning when it was still a walk on, but by noon and evening it became a 20 minute wait. Storm Runner held up good all day keeping the line at a 15-20 minute wait at best, I would go to that in the morning too. Lightning Racer usually has a station wait so anytime in the day is good to ride. But this year, Wildcat had almost a 30 minute wait! Compared to my past experiences with near walk ons, I was shocked this ride nearly fill the queue. Thoughout the day, I doubt you would ever wait more than 45 minutes for one ride, except maybe Fahrenheit (I skipped that one this trip). Definitely stay until the final hours when the lines die down. Night rides on Great Bear and Storm Runner are amazing!

Here's a small bit of a NL track i'm working on.

^ I think it would be slightly challenging to fall out of those restraints though. I do remember riding the SooperDooperLooper at HP and having that feeling sitting near the end of the train. Since the car slowed down a little nearing the top of the loop, the restraint was the only thing keeping you from falling for probably a quarter of a second. I think lap bars and OTSRs have the same quality of safety, but OTSRs to the public eye give the feeling of protection. Also, I do hope those strap retraints on i305 catch on one of these days.

I've been caught up in a few other plans so I won't be able to compete anymore. Sorry!

^^ It looks like Joker goes 1 mph slower than Poltergiest. Other than that, I don't see any noticable difference. I also did recently ride Joker's Jinx and FoF, and I thought they both felt the same. Flight of Fear just 'feels' faster since it's in the dark. A 6 mph difference isn't that much to begin with.

^ Me too for Orange, but I thought the book was way more disturbing since it was more graphic in detail, especially at the Ludovico torture part. The beginning scene to The Exorcist also gave me chills, and even the ending to the Blair Witch Project kinda scared me. Maybe I frighten to easily...

Big Thunder Mountian at WDW is probably the smoothest mine train i've ever been on so far. As for Arrow type mine trains, I'd say Trailblazer at Hershey is the smoothest out of the other two Arrows i've gone on, but a bit dull since it never gets up to a good speed and has a suck-ish layout. Canyon Blaster at TGE and Runaway Mine Train at SFGAdv are slightly better, but more rougher since they go faster.

Sheep - Pink Floyd Still trying to figure out the keyboard solo in the intro.

I'm interested, but put me on the 'maybe' list. Would it be possible to make the deadline somewhere near the first week of August? I don't really want to be in a mad rush to complete the track in one week. If you do, i'll join!

What a bummer. But I am glad the park is acknowledging the ride and giving it some positive attention. Obviously, not many people really like this ride, but i'm a bit disappointed with this decision to remove it. Though I do have doubts that Chang is going to replace GASM, since SF might not even own the ride anymore.

For me, I would say Storm Runner is the best launcher i've been on. The launch itself is so swift and abrupt, it's almost surreal. The top-hat, immelmann, and flying snake dive really makes it one truly solid ride. Volcano at KD is my second favorite launcher and Joker's Jinx at SFA is my third.

Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion. It was during my first visit to the park, and I was impressed!

I appreciate all the nice comments, so thanks! I agree that Screamie is a good ride and all, but i'm really not too broken up by it's departure. If Chang does indeed get sent here, it will fit in much better and give new life to the almost dead space of land. But I do think Chang would be better off at Great America or a smaller park like SFA or TGE.

So i’ve decided to make my first mini-trip down to Great Adventure for the summer, so I figure why not make a PTR? I didn’t spend much time there because of other plans, so my main goal was to ride the Great American Scream Machine to make sure I could get in one last ride. I was only at the park for about 2 hours with an extra 45 minutes driving the safari. I first went over to Nitro, (which I found to be plastered with horrid Snickers ads!) But the ride itself was good, so I didn’t mind much. I then went over to the Boardwalk to ride GASM a few last times. Soon, the park started getting crowded and the day even hotter, so I got in my first Houdini ride of the year, and left. It’s a shame Scream Machine might have to leave the park. My last few rides were truly amazing with ejector air off the crest, forceful G’s in the loops, and fun hangtime in the batwing. Plus the ride was as smooth as it could possibly be. I do agree that the ride is getting old, and it would be best for the park to let go. I know I’ll really miss it. Anyway, onto the pictures! The Big Wheel greets us to the park Nitro's colors clash with the morning sky Didn't get you today, Batman! No waterfall? Two Beemers! Skyride wasn't operating, so it mostly looked like this today. Big Wheel looking big. We see you Scream Machine! The Carousel doing it's thing. I see an Arrow! Scream Machine's "Grand" Plaza... Looking up to the lift. I'll miss GASM's intense drop loop. the axe train waits for some happy riders! I probably should have waited one more millisecond later to take this, but I liked it anyway. ...and then I looked up, and saw some Arrow track! The Batwing ... THOUGH THE TREES! =] I love this element. Scream Machine looking very loopy! Failed nerd shot #2 Failed nerd shot #1 Taking the plunge one final time. Re-opened Houdini has some pretty-ful gardens! Parking lot shots! 'Hi, my name is Kingda Ka, and I don't like to operate. Gimme some lightning!' Some happy riders take the loop. At least GASM's 'other' loop will still be here for a while! Ka towers over the Safari lot. and I'll finish off this report with the backside of Toro and Thunder. Hope you enjoyed reading my first photo trip report!

My last coaster was The Great American Scream Machine, which unfortunately could have been my final ride on it. Double loops!

^amen brother. Rolling Thunder is really the only thrilling family attraction Gadv has right now, and it still gives a fairly decent ride. If there's one ride i'd like to make rid of though, it would either be The Dark Knight coaster or Batman. TDK can probably be salvaged and run as a regular outdoor mouse, but i'm starting to lose interest in Batman now. I bet if Chang was to be placed in the area where Batman and the Arena sit, it would be a near perfect fit. But losing Batman would set SF back alot...

Didn't Scream Machine just get refurbished with new harnesses and wheels over the off-season? From my experiences on the ride so far, I think it really improved this year. Why would SF want to remove a ride that got much better? Plus, i'm almost certain removing the ride would cost more than to run it for the rest of the year, and I don't think SF wants to lose even more money. If the rumours are true and Chang were to come to Gadv, i'd rather see it go in the Old Country/Stuntman's Freefall area. I think GASM is still one of the signature coasters at the park and it would be sad to see it go.