chadster

for those who were thinking of going to check out the progress of the giant today, I would highly discourage it at the moment. The exit ramp and highway 360 are jammed with cars trying to get in. Security is waving people around the corner to the far back lot to park. I came to town for xmas shopping and to screw off, so I'm reversing course and will come back tomorrow evening. It's just plain insane, never seen it like this before.

Now THAT's what I'm talking about! Edit: At least the discussion has moved from "will the structure hold" or "the wheels are going to hit the bolts" to "the train is too heavy and it's gonna get stuck"

It really was sad to see OzCat sitting idle. I wanted to try and get some lift shots to see if the motor/chain was still in place, but, after getting dirty looks from the vehicles entering the parking lot on my way up to see about permission to shoot pictures from the church parking lot, I decided it wasn't in my best interest. I suspect they would have removed the chain to prevent weathering, but who knows. The steel track strips appeared to be rusted pretty bad. The structure overall, however looks to be solid, but certainly would need some TLC if it were to ever re-open in that location, but that, is doubtful. Moving such a sexy coaster as this to another site would require a lot of work, time, and money. Not to mention the terrain would need to be as close to spot on as possible. I just don't see this one getting moved. A simple out and back, maybe, something as complex as this, it just doesn't seem to me that it would be financially viable. It's sad, but IMO, true.

I'm sure they get it in there like in most bridge construction projects, it breaks down to next to nothing.

Ran across this story on MTV.com today

Thanks guys! While I'm sure you'd rather been in Madrid, Hyde looked fun, many kudos for making up for it!

Vote Set for Jan 11 on splitting up the position of Chariman & CEO Article

I can't offer fat checks, but if you deceide to come down to Texas for the new Giant, I'll meet you there You might even be able to talk me into some sight seeing

How about a Big Dipper Ornament? Availble at the Historial Society located in the basement of the Aurora Memorial Library. Phone (330)-562-6502

I'm just curious how he got re-involved with the project. He's the one that was posting that he no longer recieved updates from Kat since they cut ties, and now all of a sudden, he's big man on totem pole. Delegating a fundraising task to a person who's failing math, that gets an A+ from me.

Details are sketchy, but look for a new combination waterpark/hotel/outlet mall to be built on an old tornado destroyed site in Stroud, Ok. off of 1-44 (Yeah turnpike fee to get there!!!) The developer is trying to finalize a land deal with the tribe that owns the land, which, shouldn't be too hard if they want the money and rid of a piece of property that's been less than profitable and a thorn in their side for quite sometime. I would look for an official announcement and additional details within the next 120 - 150 days

mmmm, Refresh with Pepsi

considering they use the area around titan for old rides, parts, and two of the Giant's old trains, I don't put it past SFOT to place things wherever they can.

112 degrees, hmmm, that's also how hot it will be there in August. Can't wait until March.

OMFG!!! In the words of Kelso, burn.

I'm thinking we need an official web browser discussion thread...

MINTS!! It's all about the mints! Talk about something that could be sold in the store

Wow, that's crazy operating the motobike with snow on the track, and the pirate ship with snow on the sides. Don't know of many American parks that would even think of that!

^ Based on the conversation going on over there, it looks like they have seen the light and realize that saving a pile of rotting wood is probably not the best idea.

So, was this camel anatomically correct?

Somebody, please, SAVE THE SUPERMAN TRAINS!!

I shall hold my head in shame as I've not even been to Disney Studios, maybe during WCB. If you do get out there, send us some pics! The only thing that SDC had dancing to music was their Christmas tree. It had a steller sound system as well, the bass could be sensed halfway across the park.

Day 2 (12/3/10) Arrived at the park at 12:15 and was rewarded with a close free parking space. I went ahead and made my way to the entrance around 12:30 and stopped off for one of those cinnamon rolls. Yum. Yum. The ropes were up preventing you from going much farther than the area of the General Store and the bulls were lining up. Their destination, the Opera House. Talking with one of the ride ops on Powder Keg, I was told that the Christmas show in the Opera House was not only a production worth watching, but their most popular, and that was 100% true. When the ropes dropped they were off like a motocross race running through the hills and cutting people off. The electric scooters were getting pushed out of the way and some had to just be pushed. By 1:15 they had already taken all they could for the 1:45 show, so, the old people camped out for the next one at 3:15. Myself, I went by Wildfire for the first ride of the day, and that's where we will begin. First ride on Wildfire! Nerd Shot! Ultra Nerd Shot! weeee and weeee and weeeee again, ok, enough of WF, time to move on to Powder Keg in the daytime. hmm, I wonder what ride this is? poof Let's play red light - green light; Red Light Green Light weeee they do have nice themeing Noted! station shot and here's a little game we like to call, facial expressions. This guy's posing for project runway. Front left just farted. line for the Opera House despite the theatre being fill this show, the fa la la is also packed. One thing you can say about SDC, they put a lot of effort into their productions, which, makes them extremely popular. Fire in the Hole, a Jeff Johnson credit. so, we now move back to the swing. Only the far side in operation. They even ran the ride with a single rider. How cool is that? This is the magnet I referred to earlier, first one of these I've seen on a swing, and I must say, it's quite effective in stopping the ride quickly. After the swing, it's off to find a mega-disk-o, and food. yes, i love these! yeah, disk-o with a crazy insanse ride program! did they get this from Disney? these are cool too and you've gotta have a ship and tea cups But this is what I came all the way for! Don't let this ride fool you, that first turn and drop is a wild one! And now, for the last credit of the trip. this is a hard ride to photograph given the outdoor theatre is closed Noted! death helix. I often wondered why this mine train style ride ranked so high, now I know. It packs a mean punch, not too jerky, and no lift hill for quite some time. we end this report with another round of facial expressions on various rides. You insert your own captions if desired. We'll start out with "You can't see me!" Not sure what those two on the right are holding on to... Now five of them are holding on to um, something. Girl in the gray is doing the sprinkler... Ok, that's it, thanks Silver Dollar City for a Good Time and Good Food!

^ Same as Knotts. I was reading on the new S&S website (it's no longer s-spower.com, it's now engineeringexcitement.com) that the ride cycle was 50 seconds. I too like CP's, the extra 25 seconds they give you makes all the difference in the world. I'm working on day 2, hope to have it done shortly.

^ Thanks, and no reason not to post your experience! The main reason I posted what I did today was that I'm on my death bed and bored... I've been on roughly half of the Screamin' Swings installed in the US and this is the first I've ran across that was in one arm op. It's also the first I've been on that didn't have a line halfway to China. The swings and towers are fairly reliable, the restraints on the swings can be a little touchy which, as we know, is the same system on PK. I suppose that's the price you have to pay to make sure everyone's locked in safe. Cost wise to run both sides, I suppose, to increase capacity, they would want two loaders versus one, and then of course the extra electrical cost, but to me, that's minimal, but I'm not paying the bills so it's easy to say. If they had really long lines I would want both sides working for sure, afterall they paid for the 32 seater, might as well use it when needed. One thing odd I noticed that this ride has that the others I've been on don't is the magnetic plate on the ground that helps stop the ride, that for sure increases capacity by not having to wait the extra twenty or so seconds for both arms to stop. Also the ones at Dorney, Morey's Piers, and Knotts are up charge attractions ranging from 5-15 dollars extra.