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smallish

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Everything posted by smallish

  1. Dropped in today from 5 PM to 9. The park was busier than I was hoping considering it was a Tuesday. Seemed like there were 15 - 30 minute waits on most rides. - Twisted Colossus - This was my first visit to the park since 2013, so I was super excited to get my first ride (and first RMC credit!!). Lady Luck was on my side as I got double duels for my first ride ever. It was balanced out by double missed duels on my second ride...and it's just not the same without it. Still, it's a capacity monster (by sfmm standards) and finally a source of bona-fide ejector airtime in California. That first drop on blue...it's not quite at the El Toro-tier but god-damn is it good. Line was almost to the entrance all day. - Lex Luthor Drop of Doom - Good ride. Same as ever. 15 minute wait. - Apocalypse - It's funny how only six years after its installation this ride has already acquired the temperament of its predecessor. Two trains, but slow dispatches. 15 min wait. Tatsu - Both stations operating! Thank god because each train takes like 4 minutes to load. Two-train operation. Line was to e Very reasonable 15 minute wait. Ninja - Two train operation, walk on. I Noticed the transfer tracks were totally empty. Where'd the other train(s) go? I thought they had another one or two they used for parts. Superman - Running both sides. Skipped because I mean it just feels like you're waiting in that dark room forever for the doors to open. Yet when you stand underneath the tower it seems like there's an ear-splitting launch every minute. That is the Superman paradox. Revolution - New paint looked purty. Line looked ridiculous and I didn't want a non-VR ride so I skipped.
  2. I chose Heide for my Berlin trip. It's a pretty big journey for a not-particularly-large park, but I spent a fun day there. Colossos is fantastic-- the first half is right up there with El Toro, though the second half is definitely lacking. Desert Race was also a really nice surprise. Maybe I just like intamins. The B&Ms meanwhile were nothing to write home about, despite their nice theming. The bobsled was actually really really fun and a very solid, long, family coaster. It's a very pretty park too. At times I felt like I had stepped into the RCT1 recreation of Heide Park park I remember so fondly as a kid.
  3. Sorry I forgot to check this thread again! You are correct! You get to post the next one! The minor change I made was the omission of the dual loading station. I think that would have made it too easy!
  4. ^Superman: Escape? EDIT: I'm pretty much positive this guess is right, but I can't technically start another round until Jakizzle confirms. However, int he interest of keeping this thread going I'll post one to guess right now. I actually omitted a certain detail of this track in the interest of making this a little harder....
  5. Went yesterday. The good: Not too crowded Two sides on Superman Two trains on Yolocoaster The bad: Apocolypse closed One train on Scream You don't need a flashpass to hit every coaster in the park. Just make sure you don't go to the park on a crowded day. Any time between now and October should be just fine. Rush to Yolo at opening, before the line gets onto the ramp between the station and switchbacks. Then wind your way around the park, riding (in this order) Goliath, Lex Luthor, Green Lantern, and Batman. Climb the hill to Samuri Summit. Ride Superman, then treat yourself to a front row ride on Ninja. Go back down the hill. Ride Riddler. Ride Goldrusher if you're in an Arrow Mine Train kind of mood. Ride Tidal Wave or Jet Stream if it's hot. Ride Apocalypse. Pass by Tatsu because the line is too long. Ride Viper unless the wait is longer than three trains. Ride Revolution unless the wait is longer than three trains. Leave the park for lunch. Save your parking receipt so you can get back in. Savor your lunch and take your time because there's no hurry. Return to the park, making use of the shuttle if you parked all the way over by Scream, and head over to Colossus Country Fair. Ride Colossus and Scream. Walk back around the front of the park and ride Revolution if you didn't already. Check the line for X2. With luck, there is no line. This is the fabled "afternoon-slump" of X2. If you aren't lucky, either tough it out and wait in a line that could be an hour, or come back later. Ride Viper if you didn't already. Finally, go to Tatsu. The line should be 1/3 to 3/4 the length it was earlier. Just wait in it because it's actually kind of a nice shaded area, and you've been running around all day so it will be a good change of pace. Hit X2 if you didn't already. And there you go, every ride done, and it should be between 4:30 and 5:30 depending on how good of time you made.
  6. Having rid the ride today, I can tell you that the brakes don't detract at all...coming down over the loop is one of the most intense moments on any coaster I've ever ridden. It's the rest of the coaster that's somewhat disappointing; it's just too short! I think having special effects in the tunnel would go a LONG way towards making the ride feel more complete. It's not a bad coaster, but Tatsu, GL, and Apocalypse were much better additions to the park in my opinion.
  7. Anyone else having technical issues with registering for the Saturday preview? The "Select a Date:" drop-down box doesn't have any options to choose and it won't let me continue without selecting a date. They're not out of space already, are they? Maybe I'll just go during the next week and get in at 9:30.
  8. My guess is a new type of freefall/tower ride that flips you upside down when you're a hundred feet up. Past experience tells me that if it were a coaster: -They would be hyping the fact it is a coaster -Word would have gotten out about it being a coaster (Seriously, if Screamscape doesn't specifically think it's a coaster, it probably isn't.) -We would have heard something about this at IAPPA, especially if it were a prototype. -Though a Rocky Mountain is heavily rumored for SIlverwood, it seems a VERY late to start, especially looking at how early Outlaw Run started construction. -Also, considering that a RMC is already supposedly their next big project, and rumors also say it was pushed back to 2014/2015, that means whatever this is must be less major than a new coaster. -If we assume it is a coaster, it seems likely it would be a relocation of an existing coaster because that is more likely to be able to be built within their budget and time frame. But the advertisements say it's unique, so it must be new, which is a contradiction.
  9. Why does GCI consistently build twister layouts as opposed to out-and-back layouts?
  10. Sunday was a great day to be at Magic Mountain. Waits were minimal and everything was open. I even noticed that the black slides at Hurricane Harbor were open again. This was the first time since 2003 that I turned right after entering the park, and it was an EXCELLENT strategy, at least if you don't mind waiting for Tatsu later in the day. We rode Drop of Doom, then Green Lantern, then Superman without any waits the whole time, since the back of the park takes forever to saturate with people. The opening of Full Throttle will solidify the strategy of going right first as the optimum way to start the day at Magic Mountain. This is the specific order I'd recommend following if you want to ride everything: Drop of Doom -> Green Lantern -> go up the back of the mountain -> Superman -> Ninja (since there's no line, go for front row seats) -> go down the mountain by Tatsu, check the Tatsu line and decide if it's worth riding it then -> Apocalypse -> Riddler's Revenge -> Batman -> Goliath, Scream and Colossus (order doesn't matter) -> Go around riding the rides you missed like Revolution and Viper because they rarely have lines, but continuously check the line for X (it can be done from the batwing of Viper if you keep a close eye) because it tends to shrink dramatically in the afternoon. The same goes for Tatsu to a lesser extent.
  11. The capacity of a ride is directly proportional to the number of people per vehicle, and inversely related to the amount of time between dispatches. The amount of time between dispatches is limited by whichever of these two actions takes longer: loading a train (and dispatching it and bringing the next train into the station), and waiting for the last train to clear the block section. At a Six Flags park, usually the loading time is the limiting factor. We can see this true of Goliath, for example, by watching it during operation and noting there is a long gap between one train clearing the mid-course brake run and the next train beginning its climb up the lift hill. At Disney parks, the limiting factor is amount of time it takes the train to clear the block section. Space Mountain has a very simple loading system, but it is incredibly effective, with only 20 seconds between each dispatch. Even if they found a way to load it even faster, they probably wouldn't be able to dispatch that quickly because of they have to keep a brake section between every train to ensure they don't collide. On Disney coasters where the amount of time it takes to load a train is higher than the amount of time it takes to clear a block section, like California Screamin' and Thunder Mountain, a dual loading station is employed so dispatch times can be twice as fact as load times. So to answer your question about which coasters have the best capacity, I would conclude that in practice, Disney coasters like Thunder Mountain, California Screamin, and Expedition Everest probably have the highest capacities of any coasters. However, there are many coasters at other parks, such as B&Ms that, if operated with the right number of trains and properly motivated employees, could theoretically match or even exceed Disney's operations.
  12. ^Interesting, that contradicts what the guy I asked told me, which was that Venom Drop is fine, but the other two body slides are getting unequal water flow (one has too little, one too much), and as the tube slides, they were having troubles with the rental tubes getting stuck in them. Of course, we all know that employees aren't the most trustworthy sources. And if it is because of a lack of employees, maybe it's because every slide takes twice as many employees to man now that Flashpass exists. One thing is for sure: with the additional capacity of those slides gone, expect longer lines on all the other slides.
  13. Speaking of Hurricane Harbor, when I was there this weekend ALL 5 slides on the Venom Drop tower were closed. I asked an employee and apparently they've been having trouble with those slides all season, and there aren't likely to be open at all until next season. Now, Six Flags has a definite tendency to avoid investing money into rides if they can't market it as a new addition, so I wouldn't be surprised if they replaced some or all of these slides instead of fixing them.
  14. Thanks for the phone number, there actually was somebody there ready to answer my question, even at 8PM on a day when SFMM wasn't even open! And apparently the answer is yes! Is it just me, or does the Gold Pass seem like a REALLY good deal?
  15. I'm thinking about going to Hurricane Harbor tomorrow, but now I'm thinking about that Gold Pass. If you buy the 2013 Gold Pass now, I know you get admission to Magic Mountain in 2012, but do you also get Hurricane Harbor and parking for 2012? Because if you do...well, $30 for Hurricane Harbor tomorrow, $17 for parking tomorrow, $40 for Magic Mountain in 2013 to ride Full Throttle, $17 for parking for THAT trip...well, that's already $104. Can the 2013 Gold Pass cover all of that?
  16. You couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic? I thought that was the most beautiful piece of sarcasm I've read in quite some time. Aww thanks supertrooper! And thank you Crazy4Coasters for explaining exactly why the "coaster war" is silly. BTW, does anyone else find it odd that Magic Mountain isn't trumpeting around the fact this addition will solidify their record for most coasters? It seems like they love to say it in their press releases for new coasters. Though I suppose they aren't really recapturing it at this point because Cedar Point never took it back, or even quite tied it.
  17. What does that even mean? He's clearly referring to the fact that the addition of Full Throttle with cement Magic Mountain's lead over Cedar Point as the ultimate coaster park. See, Cedar Point can only remain a successful park as long as it is able to keep its coaster count roughly equal with Magic Mountain. We coaster enthusiasts live by the principal "Quantity Over Quality." The war between Cedar Point and Magic Mountain is an INCREDIBLY important issue to us. Why do you think Magic Mountain keeps removing non-coaster rides and adding new coasters with short layouts? Because they are trying to cram in as many of those things into the park as they possibly can! So yes, Cedar Fair is without a doubt "son done for." I couldn't put it any better myself.
  18. Like it or not, Knotts caters to families and thrill seekers these days, and after adding two excellent family coasters, it's time for another big one. If correctly designed and placed, a thrill coaster won't necessarily destroy the park's atmosphere. Xcelerator and Ghostrider actually contribute to the atmosphere IMO. Silver Bullet however, well, to say building that big, ugly thing was a mistake would be a massive understatement. Can a giga be built without ruining part of the charm of KBF? Well, probably not. But hey, at this point I'm wouldn't mind ruining Knotts if it gets us some airtime. Even floater airtime. Just as long as they don't hurt Calico Mine Train. I love that old thing so much.
  19. Alright, I'm going to be "that guy." You know, the one who isn't happy with the idea of getting an excellent, world-class, high-quality coaster just because we could have had something even better (i.e. an intamin). From what I have read about Leviathan it is a very good ride, but it is built for speed, not airtime. The layout is big on turns and lacking on hills. Yes, what a great idea, that's just what California needs, a hyper without airtime. Those who aren't from California do not understand, do not understand what it's like when someone tells you how great Goliath is. "No," I want to shout to the poor airtime-depraved fool. "I have been to the east, I have made the journey to the one they call "El Toro," I have seen what they are keeping from us." The intamin giga rumors were my last hope. Nothing, not even Ghostrider topper track can save us now.
  20. But the question is whether it feels that way because it uses the same technology and there are a limited number of effects they can do with it (falling off a building, something grabbing the vehicle, etc.), or, as it has been all but confirmed, because Transformers was specifically designed to be a "new movie" for Spiderman now that Disney owns Marvel. In other words, is every ride using this technology going to feel exactly the same? I thought Transformers was an excellent ride, and I especially loved the third projection screen where suddenly instead of just looking at a screen it really felt like you'd been sucked into the action. The only change I'd to this ride would be to shoot a big blast of air at the vehicle when Starscream transforms and flies off. Does anyone know if any new effects been added since the first week of soft opening?
  21. I was just getting on the Batman train once when there was an earthquake. The train shook a little bit; my first thought was that someone was rocking the train or something (I guess they'd have to be pretty strong to do that). Anyways, they immediately unloaded the train and closed the ride. In fact, they immediately closed every coaster in the park and cycled empty trains for an hour or so. Anyone been to the park lately? Are any coasters down right now?
  22. I'm so glad I got the chance to ride BBW. I really don't think any coaster will ever have anything comparable to that final turn over the Rhine. And the drop right before the turn totally had airtime if I remember correctly. Shame S&S doesn't seem to be building any more of these.
  23. Terminator is a solid, fun ride in the day and a wild, crazy coaster at nigh. If you can, make sure to ride after dark!
  24. Now that's a good collection of KMG (Kermis Machinebouw Gaasendam BV) rides. I have seen the Tango and Speed before in Del Mar, but I'd never seen their big Afterburner before. I would love to try it as the common smaller version is just about the best fairground ride.
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