mark549

Skyhawk and Maxair have better airtime than the coasters at SFMM. (I haven't been there since FT was built.)

Voyage. Honorable mentions: Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion and Kings Island ...

Mild / Wild One was better as Giant Coaster in Massachusetts. I rode it as a kid. I remember it had more airtime in the turn around than the current version in Maryland. http://rcdb.com/147.htm?p=20056 shows how the top of the turn around used to be sharper, you can see remnants of this in the current configuration (old supports under the new track). There's not really any airtime now, even in the front, when cresting the top of the turn around. The helix in the current version didn't exist in Massachusetts, at least not when I rode it. I think it was part of the original design but was ruined in a fire, and not part of the repair. Anyone else ride the before and after versions? Wild One is better than Roar, the worst GCI I've ridden (worse than Hersheypark's Wild cat). Roar West (SFDK) isn't good but it's not as bad as this. Maybe it was good when it was new ... Iron Wolf was also better in its original location. SFA is the "Dorney Park" of Six Flags (a place to send old coasters). Ride of Steel is SFA's best coaster, although with a slight bit more creativity (small hills instead of straight sections) it could have been much better.

LOCATION FOLLOWS THIS LINE (LEAVE THIS LINE)_____ ~"Oregon" NAME FOLLOWS THIS LINE (LEAVE THIS LINE)_____ ~"Mark R." COASTER NAME PARK LOC El Toro Six Flags Great Adv NJ,y,y,1 My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,y,0 Voyage Holiday World IN,y,n,2 Ravine Flyer Waldameer PA,y,n,3 Tremors Silverwood ID,y,n,4 Twister Knoebels PA,y,n,5 Apocalypse Six Flags MM CA,y,n,6 Phoenix Knoebels CA,y,n,7 Raven Holiday World IN,y,n,8 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,n,9 Timber Terror Silverwood ID,y,n,10 after #10 it's difficult to rank them I've been on about 45 operating wood coasters, plus about a dozen more than no longer exist.

I've heard that wood coasters (Renegade) would be damaged in freezing conditions. I doubt that a coaster park would attract enough people on a frozen day to make it profitable (but I'd gladly ride if they were open). There's probably other differences between a test ride and a commercially viable operation. Glad to see the vest restraint seems to be getting more standardized, one of the reasons I'm looking forward to riding Banshee.

This looks much better than its sibling in Vallejo (SFDK). There's a world class Intamin next to it (which I've not been on ...) and no comic book characters for the queue (which is a good thing).

Does anyone know when backwards Batman is planning to open? Best wishes for rain and snowpack in California.

Georgia Scorcher has good airtime in the back row. It's also very smooth, without headbanging. I think they learned from their previous designs.

This is the driest on record. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=230 Driest Year on Record for California, Oregon

SFMM under extreme fire danger warning, not uncommon in late summer but this is January. "Red Flag Warning." Does anyone know if wildfire has ever happened in the park? http://www.wunderground.com/news/california-records-highs-fire-danger-drought-20140113

I don't think more paint would help Vortex, the worst B&M stand up coaster (and I've now ridden all 7). I love B&Ms but not Vortex.

SFMM is not hot enough in the summertime and has too much shade.

Most coasters are visually awe inspiring, even if they look better than they ride.

Riding El Toro for the first time (and more than 20 times).

Carowinds i232 is a fun ride, it would be a great candidate for marathoning all day long. But of the B&M speed coasters in the US it's my least favorite of all of them. Perhaps it would be a better ride if the trims were not on, but the finale after the break run is uninspired and not worthy of the size of the coaster. A very tall B&M could be a spectacular ride or it could be a larger version of i232. Afterburn was a lot more intense and exciting. Georgia Goliath is my favorite B&M speed coaster, followed by Diamondback. Raging Bull is great until the trim brake on the third hill. Apollo and Nitro are OK. Nitro suffers from having El Toro nearby, if it wasn't there it would seem better. I haven't been on any B&Ms outside the US.

Many hotels charge $25/day or more to park now, but that's overnight parking. It wasn't that long ago that many hotels charged $25 for a room. SFDK is now $20, too.

On Sunday, just before closing time, someone in the front seat of Medusa had a very large camera ready to film just as dispatch was starting. The ride op noticed and told the guy over the PA that he couldn't ride with it. The rider, of course, argued that he had a steady grip. The ride op eventually brought the floor back up and opened the harnesses to get the guy out of his seat. Unfortunately, this caused Medusa to shut down and all of the riders had to leave the train. Some went back in the queue, others went out the exit. There was the customary "we don't know how long Medusa will be down" spiel. Maintenance came a few minutes later and rebooted Medusa, cycling an empty train before riders could ride again. From a selfish perspective, the delay lowered my ride count potential by one, since I was hoping to get another ride before closing. At least my final ride was a front seat night ride, very nice. I'm glad the Medusa crew noticed the large camera and kicked the guy off the ride. All parks that ban cameras from their rides should follow Kings Island's lead. Their plexiglass box in the Diamondback queue full of busted cell phones that fell from the ride should persuade those in love with their nano-computers that holding them out on a roller coaster is a bad idea. (At least the guy who wanted to film Medusa on Sunday had a hand strap on his expensive camera.) Parks could also have high quality videos on their sites with a subtle message that a professionally recorded video is going to be much better than their shaky cell phone recording. Cedar Point has videos of all of their big coasters on line, perhaps some other parks do this too.

It will have long lines during coaster enthusiast events.

http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2013/12/18/walk-on-the-water-slide-lou-reed-played-at-great-america-in-1986/ Walk on the Water Slide: Lou Reed played Marriott's Great America in 1986 Posted on December 18, 2013

El Toro. i305, Skyrush and Maverick are nice, but I like Toro even more. Only Rocky Mountain I've been on is topper track (Tremors). Haven't been on Bizarro Superman either.

Yet another reason I'm glad I don't watch TV.

It will be maintained by Quantum Mechanics.

I'm so excited. I'm waiting for a ride simulating the comet impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Obviously they never get windy rain there that would require a wall or two. But at least there's a flow of air for hot days, unlike the batman station. The roof looks a little under-braced for lateral seismic concerns.

A partial antidote is to remember than most of the symbols around this are not actually from Christianity (ie. Santa). A viewing of The Life of Brian or Brazil is also recommended. "Santa died for your Mastercard" The exact spot where He supposedly came out of Mary. I saw this in person as a kid. Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nativity_Grotto_Star.JPG