Ed Farmer

Me neither. I've been doing my best to avoid this thread because I have nothing good to say about anything this park has done since about 2006. I used to go to this park more than any other (It's less than 2 hours from my house) and Six Flags is ripping the charm out of the place (along with some really good rides). They took out the log flume for an ugly raft ride that doesn't get you wet at all, they turned Tiny Timber Town into the ugliest kiddy area in the world, they removed the well themed splash boat ride that fit the theme of the area for ANOTHER boomerang, and of course they took out the 150 foot tall Colossus Ferris wheel which had been a staple of the park for almost 30 years. . Not too sure about the application of the adjective "charm" to a corporate-owned park with numerous steel coasters themed to superheros. Last I checked, charm wasn't doing so well anyway...

I don't know why people expect no trims. B&M have put trims on all their rides since the 00s. It's only their early rides which don't have them. ...Right around the 00s is also when their rides started getting as soft as the TP someone with acute irritated-ass syndrome would use. I think we may be on to something!

You won't find me arguing against anything that moves people away from the dry park. The only addition I could think of that would top this is the installation of powerful lighting/floodlights that would allow water parks to stay open past nightfall.

Surely, you will recall the awesome and terrifying power a small group of spurned enthusiasts is capable of wielding once it's found out that a roller coaster or theme park is closing. Give them a professional looking website clearly stating their goal and how it will be achieved and a working paypal link, stand back, and behold. Watch magic. Petitions are only for the meek and those who follow.

Purely speculating, but if Hard Rock Park ends up like everyone thinks it will, the barely used B&M looper would be a decent consolation prize for losing Chang (even though Chang's lift hill provides more exhilarating forces). The typical guest won't know the difference.

An excessive, yet ingenious plan to gain control of the Anton shuttle in order to move it to HW. Really though, I hope the park lives on as more than just a water park.

/thread

I don't think any of the Superman flyers use sand to reduce noise. They might sound quieter, but that's because they crawl through the layout.

Damn- that looks more intense than Cheetah Hunt. Just hoping that it doesn't have OTSRs. *ducks*

Iron Wolf just wasn't as big of a draw anymore. I think it was too intense for most people. Mix that in with what appears to be a revitalized ride-exchange program, the maintenance a 20+ year old coaster requires, and you have an empty spot on the map. I'm looking forward to X-Flight, but will miss having a B&M standup in the park. Nothing else really matches the intensity those things provide. Another reason that makes sense to me is that Chang was going to come to GAm last year. I assume the two would have operated at the same time for a year (this past season), and Wolf would have closed down around Labor Day weekend to be shipped off somewhere else. So, Chang for 2011, nothing (maybe the HH expansion the park got this year) for 2012, and a glorified kiddie coaster (Eurofighter) to take Wolf's spot in 2013. Or another mouse coaster. GAm seems to have a thing for them.

I guess "crest of lift hill" was simply too mundane nowadays. Turbo Zone of Rapid Deceleration™ (brake run) is mine.

2011 was pretty slow movie-wise. Three movies total, 2 good, 1 pretty bad. In order: The Good: Sherlock II, Moneyball Sherlock pretty much took everything the first wasn't able to do (still an awesome movie), and improved upon them. All of this while adding a plot much deeper than the original. The supporting actors/actresses were all great- especially Sherlock's brother. As for Moneyball, I had no idea how they would turn a book that was pretty much behind the scenes, and dealt heavily with sabermetrics. They did, and it worked well. I got to see this one at a screening hosted by Richard Roeper of Ebert and Roeper. The Awful: Horrible Bosses. I wanted to like Horrible Bosses, but it wasn't to be. There were a handful of parts that made me chuckle, but that's about it.

Curious to see how much the offseason work helps Voyage out next year. My 1. and 1a. are Toro and Voyage, with Toro getting the slight nod in recent years for the obvious reasons. Hopefully the reprofile, trackwork, and new trains don't take away from the sheer bliss of the ride.

Bubblicious has never let me down. The regular kind, not the newer ones with the juicy core.

*Proponent of Phantom's Revenge treatment on Viper* (if they decide they absolutely need to kill off the last of the three SF megaloopers, that is)

My unrealistic coaster dream was that Shockwave at Great America could get the Morgan treatment rather than be scrapped.

Well aware of the negative reputation Fuji-Q has on here, but it's right at the top of my international wishlist along with one, maybe two others. Six Flags America and La Ronde generally aren't regarded too highly here, either- I had a ball at both. I'm generally satisfied as long as I can get on the rides I want to get on. I realize I'm in the minority here.

AL Central just got roughly 275 pounds heavier. I've heard of teams having to patch a hole due to injury (Victor Martinez), but this is something else. Prince Fielder going to the Tigers, 9 yr/$214 million. Once V-Mart gets back in 2013, they say they're going to move Miguel Cabrera to 3B. That'll be a thing. I doubt it'll get to that though, and either MCab or V-Mart are shopped eventually. White Sox, Twins picked the right time to embark on a rebuild. KC is always rebuilding, and Cleveland is a non-factor. Unless Verlander vanishes from the earth, don't see much uncertainty in who walks away with the AL Central. Blindfolded.

This was going to be a post about a 144' 3" B&M mega coaster until I decided that topic was exhausted.

Perhaps (in the spirit of the seemingly re-vitalized ride-rotation program) SFGAm can help solve the kiddie coaster deficiency by providing one of theirs. S:UF would be a great fit in Freeze's current location.

I read on another board that on some rides (the specific ride mentioned was Silver Bullet) the last row was blocked off for Fastlane users. IMO this is absolutely the wrong way to do this. I have nothing against pay-to-cut being implemented at a park, and am willing to wait a little more to accommodate those who chose to fork over the extra money- but as someone who gravitates to the last row on just about every coaster I ride, I think it's horseshit that I won't be able to on certain rides unless I pay up. The correct way to implement pay-to-cuts is to merge the lines near the station, or if you insist on delegating a certain row- do it on every other train. I'm glad this method isn't in use at the two parks I visit most often (SFGAm and Busch Tampa). I seldom spend more than half a day at the park, and make an effort to visit during times that the overflow lots aren't in use. The money I spent on my 2012 passes for both of these parks would essentially wind up becoming a donation, because they would see the inside of my shredder before the entrance plaza.

I wasn't familiar with Megaupload aside from a few articles on Ars Technica that I read since the shutdown. That's just the thing, though. Megaupload was shut down, and people were arrested outside US borders under laws already in place. So what exactly was it SOPA/PIPA were needed for again? As for file sharing/P2P/torrents/etc.- a buddy of mine had to fork over 5 Grand in 2007 for something he downloaded. I'd rather not test those waters, since they've only gotten considerably choppier in the 5 years since.

Don't worry. These bills will be re-packaged, given an innocuous-sounding name along the lines of "But What About the Children Act" (so as to make vilification of opponents easy and to garner support from people who don't bother to look into their content), and re-introduced- probably alongside a plethora of other bills so as not to draw attention to them. The reason these bills were shelved is because while RIAA and MPAA have the pockets of our politicians, so do Google and some of the others who drew attention to SOPA/PIPA the other day. If these bills are redrawn just enough so as to avoid interfering with Google's (and other's like them) interests, we won't see the same vocal opposition next time around. Does anyone think that all the co-sponsors of these bills backed off because oatmeal.com (never even heard of it before the other day) made a cutesy cartoon to protest? Or a some petitions were circulated? Or eleventy billion people "liked" an anti-SOPA/PIPA group someone created on Facebook?

I hope they stick around for as long as possible, but I have to cast a vote for Arrow mega-loopers and suspended coasters. With the removal of Drachen Fire, Shockwave and GASM, I can only think of Viper (MM & DL), Anaconda, and Vortex as the last of that breed. Also not sure how much time some of the older B&M standups have. Iron Wolf had low ridership at SFGAm and was just shipped off. I haven't visited CGAm or KD to see for myself, but judging by the comments on message boards such as this one, the Vortices aren't too popular. Having greatly enjoyed Iron Wolf, I'm trying to find time to visit CGAm and KD soon just so I don't have any regrets in case their time really is limited.