bill_s

I've tried a few in the central Virginia area. Not as great as some you guys are describing, but still possibly worth a try. Creepy Hollow/Scream Forest was professionally done, but the tamest including some lighting on the trail. They have a somewhat short woods trail and a hayride, which while shows effort didn't impress (I was also freezing). Haunted Hill made an effort to do acted scenes in some small buildings along its trail, including one of the most messed-up scenes I've experienced. Slightly short but good quality. Ashland Berry Farm is much funkier and their trail is very long, in fact a bad choice if you don't like walking. They also have 2 houses. You will need to at least stoop over to get through the houses. The intense thing about Booger Woods is the sense of isolation. You are taken way out through fields to it. There is minimal light pollution and on a clear night the sky is huge! After much walking and becoming even more isolated then you come to a building where you have to crawl through! There are also pitch black mazes you can get lost in. The actors are a little sparse due to the length and are mostly for scares rather than anything complicated. But this one definitely makes you feel like you survived an experience when it's over, and the size and setting is impressive. I haven't tried Wicked Woods yet but am planning to try it on its last weekend, after KD is closed.

Arrow made some good rides but they're all old. Vekoma made and makes some great rides. The SLC is a classic and one of the best rides for its size. You can't compare them to a 160'+ tall coaster though. B&M's acquired their grace when they went to the larger sizes. On the other hand they don't fit on a boardwalk pier, so they can't have the best setting in the world.

Maybe when they come out with a 5 hour long coaster.

I meant of the options I listed which the park is lacking, only launcher would be 300', unless the 65 MPH part is also true. I think Carowinds needs another coaster more than KD, but if they're trying for a superpark it doesn't get them there.

They retracked the first curve of the KD Hurler for this season, if they're doing the exact same thing at Carowinds the trim brake will not be coming off. Dissapointing news since that seems to indicate nothing more major will be done to either (KD is also launching an improvements program over the next 2 years as part of the 40th anniversary). After seeing all this I realized I hadn't ridden ours all year and tried it. It's still rough but not painfully (in a decent seat), but still too slow with that brake. Yeah it could be painful but it was exciting before, with some good bursts of air, loved it. Looks like the park has changed their info on the ride and they're trying to make it out as a mild family coaster. It is sort of, just not a good one. Problem with removing the brake is these things were needing a lot of work. It just seems so obvious and logical to me to Topper track the first 2 turns and then take off the brake for smooth speed and air. It wouldn't beat a new ride but could be very good at minimal cost. Having 2 Hurlers in the chain would only sweeten the deal. OTOH the trains are the worst of the KD woodies, too small-seated for a family coaster, and KD would make you think that all wood coaster trains are about the same, so new trains would be great IF they would allow removing the brake. Seems to me Carowinds is most lacking a launched coaster, or a top grade woodie (e.g. RMC, Intamin). I would like to see taller inverting coasters, I don't even see those listed as a category in coaster records lists. Only a launcher could match the current new ride description, though.

9, which was more than I expected. However I also rode Hypersonic which would be fairer than the rides that haven't even been open a year, and Space Mountain at Disney world not Disneyland, and have trekked all the way to Carowinds and SFGadv before they had any of the rides listed at them.

The time on Drachen Fire I thought maybe I broke my neck. I loved the ride, especially the "our own private coaster" aspect that often occurred. The biggest problem with the ride was the big piece of steel covered with about 1/2 mm of rubber right at jawbone level for the midsize rider. There were other problems, but this was so obvious and easily correctable it shouldn't have ever even opened that way.

Well they're both nice parks even with 305 out of the picture, and both should be avoided like the plague on Saturdays (and Sun. on Labor Day weekend), although at KD you might practically get a little woodies action, and I305 could still be worth it if running and you haven't experienced it before.

^^-- I had one idea ... LIM/LSMs are somewhat speed limited. But, that could take you uphill, slowing down, and another launch could occur, which could potentially take you even higher (etc.). The negative is the elevated launch(es) would need to be supported, so I don't know if it could give you more coaster for the $$$ -- unless terrain was also involved. Since launches can avoid the undesirable impact of a mid-course lift on pacing, I'd like to see a coaster that starts out slow, works its way down a hill from the station with increasing speed for the first portion of the ride, and then launches. (As part of the first portion, the first couple of turns could be unbanked.)

I think the victim wasn't large as much as round -- probably very short legs. I also have to wonder if she passed out (it's hot in Texas) although things happen quick. That's the most restrictive rules I've ever seen. I don't think I've ridden a lap bar coaster recently where the bar touches my thighs. Sounds very painful unless the geometry is better.

Anaconda first 4 rows or very last. Middle gets the worst of "the spot". Loch Ness very front and back is fun, but the spine-jarring increases the further back you go. Just watch that first curve in the front.

^^-- Their small size is one thing that makes them rougher, to fit in everything they wanted. Track/wheel design also, but mostly being one inversion after another with 2 high-G curves and one airtime bump on the standard SLC. The train is very long compared to the elements, which results in rough but intense rides in far front or back. Vekoma seems to have gone for a niche of smarter/gimmicky/bang-for-buck, vs. bigger, but they have done enough right I'd like to see them get more ambitious.

Take them to theme parks but discourage them from riding. They'll be pulling you along in no time. Well that's what my parents did, although mostly they didn't want to wait in the huge lines at the time, or maybe it was deal with me impatient in the line.

Williams Grove. Appeared quite popular for family picnics that day (seperate from the amusement area). I know it was never a that serious a park, but those bathrooms were something else.

They don't have to plan on using the invention to make it worth patenting. It could give them claim over something else someone comes up with. I also think large companies have large patent portfolios as a kind of defense -- you go after us, we'll find SOMETHING to fire back with. Or at least swamp you with lawyers.

Starting from a dead stop seems a motif in LIM coasters, I wasn't aware of any single-launch coasters that don't. Extra credit if the LIM makes a noise when doing so (FoF). On the other side, Backlot Stunt Coaster starts with less than a full train length of LIMs, so it takes off less suddenly, more appropriate for kids. It gently pushes back your head. Starting any electric motor from a stop takes a lot of current, though. Also there's no low gear. The resulting "ratio" also seems to make most LIMs top out about 70 MPH or less as diminishing acceleration meets greatly increasing launch length. Probably a design without the need to start from zero could go faster, although that's a little complicated for me.

Certainly. I'm not a young 'un anymore so there's a stamina issue, but even when younger I don't recall any case of staying all day. Either had to get home or ran out of energy before close unless weren't open late. And the best time to be at a park is the first hour and the last 2 hours. Unless you have a hotel room next to the park it can be difficult to do both. I've also left a park with friends intending to go back later and then been overruled. I like going to my home park a lot, but for an average of about 2 hours per visit. I might feel like that's enough and yet I'm ready to go again a few days later. I've gone with only an hour left, wasn't sure if it was going to be worth the trouble and found it a blast. Going so often can take the glamour out of a park, and yet I've enjoyed some closing days as much as the first time. I also think a great "amusement park" suffers less from overexposure than a true "theme" park. I went to BGW enough at one point that I was noticing every flaw and there was nothing beautiful about it. Disney-style parks seem oriented towards a single experience of everything only (although it could take a couple of days).

Yes. Epcot has much better food than most non-theme park restaurants. Places like Sizzler and Golden Corral have worse food than I've seen in many theme parks. I went in 1983 and the food was mostly terrible. American made McD's look good and I think the Mexican restaurant was about to have a riot due to slow service and poor quality. Japanese was good but probably $$$. BGW is decent. Country Kitchen at KD is good when they're even open but more expensive for what you get. Both definutely were better in the past, though. When KD had Bubba Gump's, now that was something. Panda's is good but volatile. As to SF, the superhero theming doesn't make me want to like them, but in my limited experience is OK except some ride closings at SFA. Their early closing times are lame, though.

You reminded me, I once thought of something much like Verbolten's inside section (sans drop track) except every surface covered with moving projections or displays (but preferably curving sections, so projection probably). ... To some extent the future is here, designs are moving past the obvious goals of hitting certain sizes or number of inversions and exploring every possibility and combination. There is still a lot of room here. At the same time they are becoming more artfully designed and flowing. Accurate design software plays a big part, but there may be another step, something more like: instead of thinking in shapes and then trying to make that rideable, think in terms of forces and sensations, then create the shapes that will make those forces. Launching is also in further exploration, not just a sensation in itself but in allowing a change in the dynamic and pacing of coasters. I can imagine a coaster that starts slow, gains speed into larger elements as it goes downhill, THEN gets launched into a finale. (However I hope we're at the end of multi-launch coasters that use launches to allow the ride to STOP in the middle of the course, while somewhat creative this is too remniscent of multi-lift coasters and their unavoidable shortcoming.)

I so wish I could ride more of these. Looks like what Drachen Fire's cutback might should have been if they weren't trying to make it an unambiguous inversion. Proper simulation opens new possibilities for these kinds of elements, although Rocky Mountain seems the only ones doing them, steelie makers where are you? I invented that element (well came up with it about 10 years ago). I called it the "true double sidewinder helix" ... Vekoma used the term "double sidewinder helix" to describe an element on the SLC, probably the pretzel loop. This one is more like a Cobra Roll in including the entire sidewinders, but unlike the Cobra it doesn't reverse the twisting momentum or act as a 180 degree turn. LOL .

The Flight of Fear design has zero airtime and hangtime except maybe the final corkscrew (more so with hands up, try it!). I haven't ridden any other Premiers with lapbars but the point is that lapbars being OK for some isn't the same as all. And I would rather have a ride more extreme sometimes, even if it means OTSRs. They vary greatly. I mentioned Drachen Fire's, which were basically hard steel aimed at your jawbone, unsafe at any speed.

I had heard about the ride so I chose an "easy" seat (row 5?) and rode defensively, but still compared to say, Anaconda ... also I went at night, and that thing is fugly enough then, shocking compared to expectations. I can see not really wanting to like it, being one OK drop and a slow "stunt" area. Also I thought it ended indoors, later? TOGO was a weird company, you can see they were trying, but I don't think they analyzed stresses as much as overbuilt, and the way they consistently put your body to the same limit over and over, clearly that was the design concept.

I don't always agree with what he is screaming but defend his right to scream it. On videos he makes, anyway. I didn't find that one funny except in its absurdity. Having actually ridden that ride (2007), I find it more perplexing than anything else. Everyone else on the coaster sounded like they enjoyed themselves as well.

I think it's fairly well known by now that coasters without inversions can be thrilling. In fact I think a good hyper has more draw now than a good mid-sized looper. Also, my favorite inversions ARE a form of airtime. "A good coaster also shouldn;t cram too many types of element into a ride." -- strongly disagree. Well actually, if the result felt "crammed" in, yeah that wouldn't work... even in rides that are mostly inversions, curves, or hills, their interest, pacing and flow comes from variations in the elements and often some mixing. The same aspects of design would apply to making a ride work with a more of a variety of elements. Obviously this would give more variety within a single coaster, but also more opportunity for a great design or a poor one. I wrote "curves and bits of airtime can make a big difference in looping coasters" -- this is just easiest to explain. Plus, as soon as you put any inversion in, that applies.

There's always limits on track length so you can never have lots of everything. Therefore, some specialization. But definitely, curves and bits of airtime can make a big difference in looping coasters, and there is room for improvement. Maverick would be an example of a more mixed combination, but it took a more mature industry and public to appreciate that great specs in one area such as inversions is not what makes a great coaster. I would like to see and ride more coasters that really mix it up, not just to do it but in an effective arrangement. For example, by having an inversion near the beginning and end, they would be more different in speed, you don't need a bunch in between. You don't need an airtime hill right after a good drop.