John Knotts

I just find it funny that people claim not to care about Superman, yet they're concerned about whether it has OTSR or not. If that's not pointless I don't know what is...

I beg to differ. Theoretically speaking, Bizarro SFNE has a deceleration G-Force of about -1.2 (see graph), and at the rate of acceleration Superman usually takes to reach a 100 it should be roughly the same sensation sustained, or they could reduce it if necessary if they were to use lapbars. You can see it peaks -1g of deceleration on the graph. The acceleration is only part of it though. Riders will also be hanging against the restraint for a few moments on the tower. So that makes 3 instances where the body will be pressed against the restraint. Besides, let's not forget what state these mods are being made in. For insurance purposes, there is little choice here. End of story.

Well you gotta figure that eventually there will be an 18th coaster regardless...it's just a bit too early to care. I'm more interested in what exactly is happening next year.

^ My guess is project 18 represents the park's 18th coaster, to which there is no way a Superman update can be that. I think were looking at 2012 at the earliest. As for a "Dive" coaster, keep in mind lots of coasters start with verticle (or beyond verticle) drops. Everything from a Euro-fighter, Dive Machine from B&M or even something like Maverick. It's way too early to make too many assumptions. I just hope it's cool!

^ Well now that makes more sense! Someone of Jay's caliber, after the job he has done at SFMM, deserves all the good things that are coming his way. Good luck Jay, and I will miss you!

^ You might be thinking of 2012, the year of explosive new attractions all over So-Cal. I would imagine SFMM would have to add something pretty "interesting" to keep up. Unfortunately, none of us will get to ride any of them, seeing as the world ends in 2012!

^ Yes! Superman backwards!

Me thinks the new CEO took a look at some of the salaries and decided to slash, regardless of the great jobs they were doing. Just speculation on my part, but something similar is happening at the company I work for.

Charm is overrated.

This is a park that could VERY much benefit from a medium sized, Intamin plug and play.

Nice to see Tatsu getting some love. Finally!

So does anyone think Cedar Fair will actually add something of worth to the park next year, or are they just biding time until they can sell it? I actually really like this park, and it deserves so much better.

^ That's what I mean. The ride is Knotts caliber, not Disney caliber. Tower Of Terror is what Disney does best.

^ Maliboomer never should have been greenlit for a Disney park, so of course the ride did not last. The proximity to Knotts also helped make the ride downright desposible. Although it would fit in much better at SFMM, I'd rather they invest in something unique to So-Cal, like a Huss giant frisbee. One "hand me down" kiddie coaster is enough for one year at a park of SFMM's stature. I do agree that it will take a several years to build up a worthy flat-ride collection as well as kids rides. But I like the way parks like Kings Island, Cedar Point and Dollywood have done it. In-between coaster years. And they did it by making the ride choices unique to thier regions, and almost as marketable as a new coaster.

Six Flags has chosen it's new CEO: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/james-reid-anderson-named-chairman-president-and-chief-executive-officer-of-six-flags-entertainment-corporation-100615754.html

^ A couple of faces actually!

Same could be said of Knott's when they built Silver Bullet. Well not really. Silver Bullet is larger, faster with unique elements. While Maliboomer would be a cheap addition and the park does need a drop tower, putting in something that Knotts already has feels a bit redundant to me. Not to mention the ride just isn't that good or special. But, if they decided to buy the ride from Disney I wouldn't complain. It's mild enough to appeal to families I guess.

I would think that SFMM would choose to go in a slightly different direction then what the competition already has. An Intamin gyro-drop would be the only one of it's kind on the west coast. Plus they could take away Knotts record as the tallest.

^ Yeah, parks are no more perfect than the rest of us.

I know many will disagree with me, but I think EK and Roar are the clear winners. The former has air that really surprised me, and Roar has the best "pops" of air during the last half of the ride. Of course as you mentioned, it's all relative because GCIs are rather tame, fun coasters. But those two stand out for me.

Wow. Could we really be looking at another year like 2000, where several major parks are already hinting at something big. Stay tuned...

^ That's going to cause a serious set of forces! I like it.

The other theory is that since these are the only two type of these rides built anywhere, the two parks have kept in touch over the years offering back and forth maintanance advice and so forth. So that when one park approached Intamin with the idea, the other park jumped on board as well. Purely speculation on my part though.

I don't know why, but I agree with this. It seems like a "northern" California alternative to not being able to build a full-fledged hyper.

^ Well if you think about it, not only is Superman double the ride of it's overseas cousin, but SFMM has the added challenge of getting both sides to run at the same time again. Unless the plan is to only convert one side. I really hope we get the tunnels as well. Thinking about it, blasting backwards into darkness, followed by going face first up the spike facing the ground sounds good to me. Not to mention the added head chopper as you drop back into the tunnel. Add in special effects and perhaps a pre-launch show, and there's your markettable ride.