chadster

Its disappointing to hear that you had a bad experience at a Wade Shows fair, they're usually top notch and well maintained.

Did you report your experience to guest relations? They do have a habit of taking action and making things right.

Eh.. i can imagine a drain where you could do that.. but it would get really sticky and attract insects.. eww That's why you install a water nozzle on it to keep things flowing, like at the ice cream shop for the scoops.

^They don't? Wow, but then again SFSTl really doesn't have any single rider lines at all do they? SFOT has four and they do make a difference, I've never waiting more than a few minutes on rides with a SR line. ^^Agreed, it was an afterthought. They were originally making people pour drinks out before getting in line, but with the heat that's not practical. So the solution for now is pour your drinks out in buckets before you enter the A/C building.. Give them time though, I think a permanent pour your drink out here station is on the horizon, but as far as a leave your drink here station goes, I wouldn't expect to see it.

As I've mentioned in the Bell's thread several times, what Tulsa needs is a kick ass FEC. And while America's Incredible Pizza has been in Tulsa for some time, it's more been along the lines of a Dave and Busters with video games and food (plus electric go-carts) And apparently they've seen the demand and are expanding their business to include one of those awesome spinning kiddie coasters, the model they've chosen was at IAAPA and I believe there is a TPR video on it somewhere (I don't have time to look at the moment for it). I've ridden a similar model at local fairs and wow, those things are awesome fun. In fact on a TPR trip about 2 years ago to the Texas State Fair many had a chance to ride and no one could stop laughing. A good thing for the city, that's for sure. So credit whores, now you'll have a reason to visit my home town. I'd suggest going during the state fair tho Edit: Found the video [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] www.tulsaworld.com/business/tulsa-s-incredible-pizza-co-expanding-and-adding-its-first/article_85621809-46f7-579c-85a4-d91d930a60a4.html

The old train was scrapped for a new train made by Kumbak which should be more comfortable. Fixd

Half of the area schools are now out so....it'll probably be moderately busy.

The target market and overall experience at this park is what most kiddie parks wish they could. They have a little something for everyone, and like Caesar pointed to, great food, staff, and themeing! I'm not sure it was possible for them to have selected a better ride for the park. Not only does it look nice, but fits their demographic. Looking forward to returning and checking it out.

Finally, some colorful trees.

Share a coke this weekend during park hours! Enjoy a nice coke before battling crime!

It's just a poorly designed ride vehicle.

RE: Front entry, keep in mind you can enter through the water park during season and also Saturdays during haunt. So the capacity to bring people in is there, what's not there is a grand entry of some sort that you see at the former paramount parks, Knott's, CP, etc. The offices, maintenance, and employee mess hall are kind of in the wrong place for that to happen. As it is I don't foresee the front entry getting moved again, but I would expect to see some improvements as in a way it's bland. The carousel did brighten it up. And unlike certain flags parks, I've never had an issue getting into this park, even on at capacity days, at most I've waited 3-4 minutes to enter.

If you are going a second time prior to Sept 7 I'd get the fun card, otherwise if you are for sure going again, consider that with two trips worth of parking and admission, you would end up saving you money if you were to purchase the yearly pass. On easy pay it wouldn't be a huge sting out of the monthly budget. As far as plan of attack, I would focus on the shows, the shark and dolphin area is closed off as they build Discovery Point. The newly refurbished Pacific Point Preserve and accompanying show will likely be a hot ticket item as is of course Shamu. I would plan to arrive about 10-15 minutes before showtime to get a decent seat as on the weekends the early shows at Azul Stadium, Shamu Stadium, and PPP will fill up, (people do tend to bail after 2pm). The big rides open 1 hour after the park opens. Most will rush to the rides when they open, ride a few times, and bounce so don't worry about long waits on Steel Eel or Great White. Your longest lines will be for Journey to Atlantis and the river rapids. The line for the rapids is generally steady, but if you want JTA you might want to hit it close to opening time to avoid waiting for 30-60 minutes. Other than that, the Smokehouse and Harbor Market both offer great food. Have a great time, and honk at the protestors!

While still trying to wrap my head around this whole thing, because it seems rather bizarre given modern day technology, I can only surmise two things. 1. The ride stopped on the first lift and displayed a fault. Maintenance, having already taken up shop at the ride and completely displeased with its crankiness, irritatedly places their key in the console and re-starts the lift, overriding the fault and blocks, not noticing that the carriage on course was not on the second lift but rather never made it to the second lift. 2. The park will re-open in a few days, people will go and enjoy themselves. The Smiler will remain closed pending the final investigative outcome. Modifications will be made to the rides programming that adds a dumbed down maintenance mode for when people are still physically on the ride. Programming that doesn't deactivate or reset the blocking safeguards but allows certain functions to still occur, such as releasing of brakes, etc on a manual basis. Or a programming change that not only does not reset the blocking, but also requires the maintenance operator to 'walk' the carriage through the course by keeping all blocks in a fail safe mode and require each to be released manually as a train approaches. Extreme? Yup. Would it require someone to pay more attention? You would *think*. Would it help, sure. But it still doesn't take the human factor 100% out of the equation.

Hades Express Coaster?

^^ You left out this part edit: got beat

^Yosemite Sams Gold River Adventure? I think it might have suffered the effects of the recent flooding. They had water hoses in there today washing it down.

^I could tell you, but I don't want to spoil it for everyone! (There's more than 1) Anyway, so today I took a stroll in the park being as it wasn't a heavy school kid day and had a pretty enjoyable time, especially with the sun finally out. Single rider line on JL is golden. Unfortunately the ride went down and interestingly enough the reason a little birdie told me was that a vehicle was overloaded. You know what they say, everything is bigger in Texas. One other interesting thing I noticed was the concession stands were staffed by a several(ok a lot) teenage girls from Thailand. I'm assuming the park is sponsoring them which is honestly not a bad idea. It was obvious they were brand new and a little timid, but pleasant to deal with, a far cry from the usual staff of those who didn't seem to care to be at work. So once again, they are making improvements for the better. Finally I've seen some photos and conversation circulating the internet claiming that the park has started demolition on the strip mall by removing the concrete parking lot. Well, I hate to be bad news charlie, but that isn't true. The dirt and concrete that is sitting in the parking lot of focus has been there for almost a year. I believe it was the material removed to place the asphalt pad down for the outdoor haunt. BUT on that note, being as JL was an expensive investment, do you see any new rides for the park next year, or will the next one come in 2017? Keep in mind they have placed new attractions in 4 of the last 5 years.

I knew I snapped a photo of a help wanted sign, this was Crabtree Amusements at the annual rodeo in austin, its like a 2.5 week rodeo.

I had to look up the def of 'rubes'

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and opinions and all have valid points. I'm glad to hear that Renegade has received some TLC, when I was there for Coasting for Kids a few years ago my tylenol wore off after about 45 minutes. That being said it has a great layout as do most of the GCI coasters. Overall from reading everyone's comments it would appear some are still decent while others are not what they use to be. I have to wonder if parks who had more of a traditional out and back woodie and elected to later install a more modern woodie realized the costs on the modern woodie to maintain would be much higher due to the intensity and layouts and thus haven't had the budget to be able to maintain them to the quality level they would like. Still safe rides, no doubt, just not as comfortable as what they could be. I've heard some parks spend 200k+ a year just for the yearly maintenance not including running costs.

I can speak to two specific cases in which I have previously been involved, but can't speak to all of your questions. If a small organization such as a church or school group, etc is interested in holding an event they more or less provide a guarantee of X amount of dollars to the carnival operator or a simple flat fee. If ticket sales don't meet the guarantee then the event holder is responsible for making up the difference. In our case we paid a flat fee. State Fairs run a somewhat differently. They have contracts with the fairboard to be the exclusive provider of rides and/or games on the midway. (The State Fair of Texas is a bit different in that they contract for rides individually, one of the only ones I know of in the US that still does it this way, Europe I understand this is quite commonplace) Depending on the contract, they may then work on a revenue share with a percentage going to the fairboard or event organizer as 'rent' and the remainder going to the carnival operator. While I can't recall exactly what our split contracted for, I believe it was in the range of 70/30, 70 for the carnival operator which over the period of two weeks with an attendance of over 500k would put a couple million in their pockets. Our fairboard provided the ticket sales and cash control for the midway. The Sheriff and local PD provided the muscle. Considering the costs of the rides, crew, maintenance(LOL!) and transportation you can imagine they burn through that cash quickly.

Well, level 53 showed up unexpectedly. Guess I should finishe level 52.

Best known for their Millennium Flier trains, GCI gave many park goers and enthusiasts something to scream about. Today, those same rides still give us something to scream about but not in the same way they once did. Words like rough, ouch, and I'm not riding that again are now common place. Thunderhead, Apocalypse, American Thunder, Roar East, Roar West, Gwazi(RIP), and even my beloved Prowler are just a few that have seen better days. Are parks simply not putting the love and attention into the rides, or is it that maintaining a new age GCI is too demanding on resources by requiring a complete re-tracking to make any difference? Will parks opt for RMC over a ride that they might only get a good 3 years out of? Personally I think the days of GCI as we've known them are over. What are your thoughts?