PURE

I dig it. Love the theming and how the slide has tunnels.

All of those videos are from either CNN, Fox, ABC, BBC, etc. This video in particular is from CNN Not sure what it has to do with yahoo. I was talking about Yahoo's promotions to those videos. They have them linked from their home page. Like this "news clip," they ussually say nothing. What did this news clip tell us? 1. The economy could effect the theme park industry numbers this year. Duh. 2. Conversely, the economy could have no effect on theme park industry numbers this year. Duh. 3. There are many alternatives to not spending money at a theme park ie go to the beach instead. Duh. What was this video? A waste of time. Its the same reason I can't watch TV anymore. Its all trash.

That's barely over 1,000pph. What is Vipers max theoretical pph? To answer your question Viper max is 1700 per hour according to RCDB. 3 trains running on Viper seems like overkill unless the line starts spilling out past the entrance. I think 2009 is going to bring us something along the lines of an Intamin hyper.

Yahoo has the worst news clip and video stories period. They make up issues that may not even be possible and turn them into issues that sound important. I wouldn't take this as more than a grain of sand (salt?).

Superman doesn't even use all that much electricity, which is much contribution due to using LIMs not LSMs. The wires they used when the ride was first built had problems because of the amount of electricity was going through them (they weren't designed for such uses), which caused the rides delay in 96. The electricity doesn't affect the wires or breakers they are using now (they were replaced to withstand the capacity). Superman actually uses less power than other rides around the park (take some guesses as to which ones). Superman does not have an electricity problem, it has computer and mechanical problems (being the distance between magnets, small margin of inaccuracies, and old outdated computers) which are why it can't launch to 100 consistently (it can clip the magnets at the top of the tower if they want it to). There's nothing mechanically wrong with tower, it was built to originally run 2 trains. Besides a couple bolt replacements here or there, the tower is fine. I think the fact that the train is 250 feet above the midway every launch and that people could drop objects that can do damage is more of a liability than people throwing things between cars (which is pretty much impossible). I don't think a rehab of Superman would be more than 10-15 million dollars considering the total cost of the ride in 96 was 20 million.

I can remember 3 of my worst lines: 3 1/2 hours Millenium Force- the most disappointing ride I have ever been on. 3 Hours X- The ride had just re-opened from is 2 month rehab after the incidents with the old train pickle forks. 2 1/2 hours Superman The Escape- Day the ride opened to the public in 97. They had both sides running, the left side broke down. They took the front of the left side line, walked it all the way around out the emergency exit, and had us enter back through the cave to get behind the people already waiting for the right side.

Some people were wondering why both sides don't run because they thought one was continually under rehab and this proves that both sides are operational. With that said, we may be able to see Superman duel again this summer. I just really hope in a couple years they make an investment in Superman like they did with X, and get the cars dueling, hitting 100, and running like they were originally intended. With a rehab of Superman's Fortress of Solitude, the ride could really get popular again. Especially if they're not going to be investing in any other launch coaster anytime soon. If this is all they're going to offer, they might as well spruce it up.

It's not like you'd even notice going over the road while you're riding anyway.

Supreme Scream also has a touch screen as well as its normal panel. Even some ops at the ride don't know that haha... ^Yeah I don't know, even for mechanics its pretty had to get trains to collide. Unless you're working the transfer on an older ride, or something but still.

^^As much as I'm thankful you do that even if its not part of your job, there aren't a lot of employees like you, most don't care. Here ya go people, straight from the source. Wanna know why line cutting is bad and going to get worse? Policies like these. I'm sick of companies putting up with guests crap because they're afraid of the bad publicity "Wah, they kicked me out of the park for meeting my friends in line" (which is line cutting). Stick to your guns be a good enough quality company and the bologna bad publicity will bead off your back because it won't even matter. If people think they can get kicked out they'll behave, which is why Disneyland is (or used to be when it came to line cutting) such a nice park, they don't put up with unruly guests.

nagro5: Thanks for the update photos and all, they're all appreciated. Haven't been able to get out to the park since WCB so this is all I get to see. Hopefully I'll be getting out there soon since it looks like they're open for the summer now. I really wanna get my hands on a couple last minute X merch before it changes to X2. Two days of 4-5 hours at MM on a Tuesday and a Wednesday in April will be plenty of time to get on whatever you want however many times you want.

In my opinion from just watching the videos, these will be awesome trains. Behemoth looks like it will serve its share as well.

Awww! You moved the forum button! I'm gonna be clicking in the wrong spot for years now...

^GIB's have gates for each row. It just doesn't work well on them because they're inverted, so vision is blocked and space is much more cramped. On this open sit down train, it will be open and much easier for guests to see where they'll be sitting.

Perfect. I think there should be better enforcement on the parks hands, they should be watching just like they watch when people are on rides. If someones cutting, its immediate removal. Especially at Disneyland. No, its just half full of selfish cowards that take advantage of the other half who would much rather just follow the rules. It's like that on Freeways too. I don't do anything to line jumpers other than yell something to point them out and embarrass them, mostly because I just don't want to deal with it. But if someone else wouldn't let them pass because they didn't like it, I'd be on his side.

as opposed to this I think the Bugs Bunny stuff looks much better. Why they couldn't just keep the same quality themework and tie in Thomas Town is my concern. Thomas town looks too cheap, with not so much quality.

Because someone has to say it... Maybe its just me, but do these Thomas Town installations look lame and sub-par to anyone else? I'm just not happy with the quality at all, and if this park is one of the best they got, its really going to look dumpy at Magic Mountain. I just think there's much better things the park could put in to entertain kids. They notice the little things too.

Love the front page as it's always been. If you want my two cents here you go (cause I already noticed a change that kinda bugged me): Don't move the order of the labels at the top of the page (the order of Home, Forums, Links, etc.) It just makes it more confusing for people that have been visiting the site for years. However, you can change the style of everything and I bet it would be just as user friendly. Using labels or symbols instead of the text is alright, but I'm a fan of the words, not wondering what each symbol means. Overall your page is great enough as it is, however, I think if you spread everything further out, it would look better. Everything so squeezed together in the middle, the "Theme Park Review" banner is nice, but I think you could make it more "2008." The rectangle boundary really makes it look dated. Overall I like how you have all the updates on the front page, and links to videos and archived updates as well. If I can think of more I'll let you know.

This is awesome. Whenever I see some sh*t kid doing crap like that I always hope a ride op sees them and makes them responsible for their actions. I remember back in the late 90's, (when the park was running itself into the ground) I saw some kids tagging on a Ninja train (the plastic scratches very easily) and told a ride op when I got off, and the ops didn't do anything, because they didn't even care. Superman doesn't run both sides because its not necessary. Maybe this summer because both are operational if lines get over an hour we might see it happen. They've had that "yearly rehab" sign for a decade now. Don't know why Sky Tower is closed due to weather all the time, sounds like a BS excuse to me. I've gone up there when the winds blowing and its raining, it's not like the thing is going to bend in half...

Everyone keep up on the phototaking of MM employees on their cell phones when they're not supposed to be! If MM can't keep their employees from talking on their phones when they're not supposed to, maybe the risk of TPR members popping out of nowhere on an unexpected employees will! I've never understood the "better than you" attitudes of some of the employees. Its like, hey man, you're getting paid minimum wage, the least you could do is get your lips unwrapped from your own ass.

And begins the cycle again...

I can't get over the thought that Storm Runner looks so damn similar to this ride. I know one's a launch and one's a lift, but they're both Intamin's with similar looking track, and top hats that look very similar to each other, hell you can see both of them in one of the photos. I'm sure the rides going to be a lot of fun, this is just something that's been peeving me since I first saw it. My favorite element is now the Norwegian Loop. Only if I could see it on an inverted B&M...

I think the problem with any park improving is definitely going to be the fine details getting worked out after the gears are spinning and work is getting done. Robb, I understand you ran into a couple crappy employees at the park, but they're just that, crappy employees. Atleast now there are only 2, whereas 5 years ago, they were all that way. You can't let that ruin your entire experience of the park and the improvements that are taking place. I never thought I'd ever see the eyes on Viper's sign being lit up again, I never even mentioned it and Bam!, it was done. These are things that are going on around the park that get the wheels in motion, hopefully to turn the park around in 5 years. Crappy employees and problems around the park are going to happen until the machine has been tweaked and adjusted. All in due time. I think it should be a rule (both great for guests and for the park) that ALL employees closing the park are going to be staying an hour after the park closes no matter what. That leaves an hour after each park day for employees to go through the queue lines, clean up trash, clean up buildings, and prepare for the next day. The problem is some people are off at 8, right when the park closes. That last hour, they don't give a crap about what's going on in the park, they're worried about going home. If they know they're going to be in the park for another hour anyway, it will discourage them from closing shops early, closing rides early, and keeping things open for guests to venture through as they're heading back to the exit gates. This leaves time for last minute shopping, snacking and donut and coffee pick-ups (at the Cyber Cafe). In my opinion, NOTHING should be closed until the closing hour of the evening strikes. This bologna of not opening rides for the last 45 minutes, or not having fresh donuts the last hour of park opening, or shops being closed before the park making guests that have traveled from far away pissed off because they can't buy something they saw in the store earlier in the day, all of these things are not good for business. The park says it's open till 8, they should damn well keep their word. Other than that, I think the park is getting better. Perhaps not as much as some people are making it out to be (I think some of you are asking for too much, too soon), but the upswing is happening. During my last few visits I've been walking around thinking "Wow, I can't believe this is the same Magic Mountain."

I've been on both and to me they're pretty much identical. I remember TTD's feeling of acceleration being much more forcefull, and that feeling lasting a longer period of time making it pretty intense. But with Xcelerator's push being much quicker, its almost like it barely happens, which adds to its intensity. Superman's launch is tame, its forces are weak, and even Burkhart confessed to the ride hitting 85-88, making the rides uptime more possible. He also said the ride has about 3 seconds of weightlessness, when the ride was originally billed to have 6.5. My favorite part of the ride is the change from going forward to straight up, because you can feel the forces on your body. Other than that I barely feel the weightlessness or other "G's" the ride is claimed to have.

LSM's have the magnets turned on by power that follows the car through the entire launch track, firing on and off between each magnet. LIM's have the power turn on each magnet and they stay on through the entire launch. LSM's require less power, but are much harder to run. LIM's require much more power, but are much more consistent when it comes to running.