chauncey

isn't that kind of the whole point of The Sizzler? besides, rides aren't any fun unless they beat the shit out of you at least a little bit! i'm still trying to figure out whether or not i've actually been on a Sizzler, though — i never really made a distinction between a Sizzler and a Scrambler before, or even heard anyone else make a distinction, so i just kind of remember them all as “Scramblers”, and chock up the different names, and styling, and whatnot, as being purely aesthetic! it never even occured to me that one might be faster than the other, or anything! i've been on some pretty fast and forceful Scrambler-esque rides, though, so… uh… maybe?

i don't get it — it's bad enough to blatantly steal the name of another coaster, but, honestly, i don't even think “El Toro” is a name worth stealing! to get to the coaster itself, though: it's kind of cool to see GCI doing something a little different from their norm, i guess, but i think their “norm” is probably a lot more up my alley than this — i always think coasters need to be more twisted, not less! i'm sure it'll be a fun ride, though, especially since their does seem to be at least some of that great GCI twisty-ness, and the POV makes it look like it goes quite fast, too.

hmm… i've never been on an “alpine coaster” before, but, after looking into them, i have to ask: why don't they count as a credit? i guess everyone has their own definitions of what does and does not count, and why, but, as far as i can tell, they fit my definition completely (because they roll and coast over a majority of their course — or am i wrong about that?) guess i'm more of a credit whore than i thought! still, i honestly can't see myself going on a cruise ship, even for a credit…

gwazi regularly runs both sides, even on light days. i've very rarely seen any side of gwazi down without there being clear evidence of maintence somewhere. however, i have seen it, and, yes, every time, tiger was the side they were running. and, to the person who says they never duel, they do try to duel them on occasion, but it never works! i mean it! they release the trains at exactly the time, and, yet, they're always completely out of synch. i don't know why, as it never happened when they were dueling regularly.

as i said above, there appears to be 2 versions of the trains, ones with shoulder straps (the two on the sides in the picture you've shown), and one without shoulder straps (the one in the middle in the picture you've shown. there's no reason for there to be 2 unless one is for inversions (with shoulder straps), and the other isn't (without shoulder straps).

yes, except that the "big air thing" is just a half-piped themed hammerhead stall, and the hammerhead stall is a very old vekoma concept, predating intamin's "half pipe", and, actually, i believe, predating intamin's rise to massive acclaim in recent years, back when they were just the company b&m used to work for. what i like about the new concept is the trains! they look a lot more comfortable than standard vekoma trains, and, as you may notice, there seems to be "looping" and "nonlooping" versions (with or without shoulder straps), which may mean we'll see one, with, uh, loops! it is a borrowed concept, but, for a change, they seem to be improving the concept, instead of ruining it.

that article is really quite useless. i'm sure if it were about "the old" six flags it would be exactly the same except for the names, and the last little bit about "no goliath's". if the "old" six flags were touring a park with a reporter and somebody yelled at them for having longs lines, don't you think they would have tried to fix the problem, or at least look like they were trying to fix it? yes, they would, because, if they didn't, the reporter wouldn't be writing about how wonderful they are, but about how horrible they are. so far the full extent of shapiro's attempts to improve the quality of the guest experience seem to be limited to, well, what's documented in this article! however, we've seen huge attempts to improve his own profits, all of which degrade the guest experience (increased prices, advertising, trying to implement "no reentry, etc"). the article doesn't even mention, those, of coursed, and simply seems like propoganda for redzone, touching conveniently on all of the marketing points they used to take control of the company in the first place, and discussing how nice mr. shapiro is, and how much he "cares". bullshit.

well, if you look at the layout you'll see they pack in a lot more into the area than mack does with most of their bobsleds, but, you're right, it is basically a bobseld, although, i'd be willing to bet it will be the best bobseld on earth when it opens, if i were the type of person to, uh, bet, and i'm not.

i think those pictures are misleading. the ride is very compact, but it isn't wild-mouse size. the lift hill alone is twice the size of a wild mouse! i'd say that it would have the footprint of, well, a corkscrew (well, obviously...), and will probably fit at least twice as much track in the same space! anyways. i'm so excited! this is my absolute "dream ride", and it's being built! yay! the only thing i don't like about this is that it was always part of my dream that i would be building it! oh well.

I think that's wrong! The most financially succesful park in the chain gets a kiddie section, while another, less profitable, park a few miles away gets a flyer! I'd be really upset if that were my homepark!

Why do people want to put Millenium Flyers on everything? Put them on the GCIs, and older coasters who started out with articulated trains, but that's it! Let the other rides have their PTC trains, as they work great on most wooden coasters. But, yeah, I'd do the whole "retrack, and add Millenium Flyer" thing to Gwazi, as well as making them duel again! I remember what it once was, and it was awesome! It still is, but it's not the same. I'd also give Rock 'n' Rollercoaster a longer, stronger, launch. The launch starts off great, then it sort of plateaus, and the rest of the ride is forceless. If the launch were to keep accelerating at the same rate right up until the begining of the first inversion, the whole ride would benefit, I think.

SharkTums's made me laugh the most, but I had to go with smells_like_team_disney for the King Kong reference! Sorry.

I would love to do the construction tour, and talk with the GCI guys, I just don't think it's going to happen. Unless, of course, Discovery Channel wants to fly The Great Chauncey to Kentucky, so that he might grace them with his esteemed, and glorious, presence!

I'd have it go back completely to isometric, but with new, realistic, graphics, and more freedom. That's about it, really. Maybe some new ride types, and better scenery.

I think Montu's queue is the most organised. There's nothing special about it, but, of all the queues I've seen, it's the one which works best. Everything is clearly laid out, everybody knows what to do, and where to go, and they never have any trouble! No confusion, no crowding, no pushing, no line jumping, no problems of any kind. I can't think of any other queue where that's true!

I just realised that I'm not on the roll call for MNSSHP! But it isn't a big deal, really, as I can easily make it to the meet-up, and don't have a cell phone anyways, so cell phone numbers wouldn't help! I just feel a bit left out, that's all. Oh well, I'll be there Friday at 7:00pm roll call or no roll call, rain or no rain! I'm going to order my ticket tommorrow morning! Besides, this is good rain. No lightning, just showers. Nobody will be out, but all the rides will be running! The best kind of park weather, unless you're afraid of water.

That is a tall order Good luck. As for the Flying Turns, that thing looks wicked. I would! Not all at once, of course, but slowly, over time. Assuming, that is, that it's as good I as expect it to be, and they keep it running long enough!

I got Islands of Adventure, which I suppose makes sense, although I've only been there once. It said 68% theme, 55% rides, 52% atmosphere, 60% value. I'd put myself more around 75% theme, 85% rides, 75% atmosphere, 0% value, though, but, whatever.

Those are some great photos I hadn't seen before, Pete! I especially like the first one, as it gets really up close, and is in color! Thanks a lot!

I've been thinking of this statement, and I was reminded of something. This is taken from a B&M patent application, for the floorless rollercoaster, where the have to explain the use for their invention. They touch upon specifics in other portions, but this part simply explains "the point" of rollercoasters in general. It's probably my favorite amuesment-park related quote ever: I especially love the last paragraph!

Well, okay. I've never been on it! I should have said that it looks awesome, and it does.

I'd love to live in a Marx Brothers movie! Any one of them, really, I'm not picky. "Ducks soup" gets all the praise though, so maybe that one, but do I really want to live under a dictatorship? Maybe... just so long as Groucho Marx is the dictator!

Well, Claymation is stop motion animation with clay puppets, while The Corpse Bride uses foam puppets, so, really, you're just getting technical! After all, Foamation sounds sort of... stupid.

Theming: German folktales, such as those collected by The Brothers Grimm. I would keep with the original tone of the stories, rather than the Disney-esque tone which has become popular. The rides themselves would be themed in a generic "Bavarian storybook" style, and named after the various tales. The story would be acted out by animatronics in the style of European clockwork figures while you queue. Flatrides: None, they are evil! Maybe a carousel. Darkrides: Probably a few gravity-powered "rollercoaster" darkrides. Waterrides: A few different "Old Mill" and "Chute The Chutes" style rides, maybe a wooden watercoaster. Rollercoasters: "Scenic railway", "Flying Turns", "Wild Mouse", and "Steeplechase" style rides, as well as a good wooden twister, and terrain coaster. Maybe a junior wooden, too. Transport: I'd like a miniature railway, although I'm not sure if I could fit it in with the theming.

I agree. Besides, ERT on Sheikra sounds boring. It simply isn't very rerideable! It's fun to do once or twice, but not something you'd want to ride again, and again, and again, and again. It would get boring. The "private animal encounters" and "special guest speaker" might be interesting, though, or they could totally suck. It's all far too vague to tell!