mark549

Darwin Award: The Ride

A lot of rumors out there suggesting both KD and CW will be getting a wing coaster in 2017. Hopefully they can remove Anaconda and put it over what's left of the lake. That would be a nice upgrade.

It is not a coaster, so by definition, it is not. It's a lot cheaper ride than a new Shockwave-class coaster, however. It shouldn't exclude a coaster soon, although seeing CF lately, another may have to fall to get that. It would be a new experience for me, however, are thse rides in any way sickening like Berserker or Bourbon Street Fireball? Unless someone can convince it is not, I will never ride. Fireball was the worst experience I've had on a ride in years, almost ever. I've only been on the Huss model (Maxair, Delirium) but they were not nausea inducing at all. Much better than most coasters, including several at KD.

This, this, and this x1000. Being in a vehicle that impacts and kills someone can be life-changingly traumatic. I once watched a brief piece that interviewed train conductors and car drivers victimized by suicidal individuals jumping in front of them. Some people can shake it off, but in many cases it induced massive, lifelong, depressive emotions and the need for intensive therapy. My heart goes out so incredibly deeply to those riders. And..psssssst... it's "fair" hehe, "fare" is for the bus An Amtrak employee told me that every train engineer has hit someone, whether it was an accident or intentional (by the person being hit). It doesn't happen every day, but everyone who drives a train will have this experience. I saw a video recently where a limosine got stuck on a train crossing. Everyone got out but their signaling to the oncoming train did not prevent the train from smashing into it. The driver of the limo ran after the train and when it finally stopped he was yelling at the engineer to know if the engineer had seen him. The reply was that he had ten thousand tons behind him and there was no way he could have stopped in such a short distance. There are group support efforts for train drivers (Amtrak and freight) to help them cope with this unavoidable occupational hazard. I hope Cedar Point will have similar counseling available for their employees, if needed. At least no one else was injured by this guy's action and the passengers on the coaster train didn't seem to know what had happened. Not having a good view from most inverted coaster seats was helpful here.

We do? It's on the internet, so it must be true!

I guess the park is oversensitive and that's why they've delayed the announcement for their dive coaster, although I'll be surprised if any ride name changes happen as a result of this stupid accident. (I'm not a fan of the name "Valravn" since I doubt anyone will know what it means, but I digress and don't really care about the name, I'm more interested in how it will ride.) This story is just one more piece of evidence that de-evolution is real. The band DEVO was from Ohio. We are Devo.

I seriously do not get this whole "I hope the family does not sue the park" thing. Why would they sue the park?? THE PARK DID NOTHING WRONG. That would be like me going, and sitting in the middle of a highway, and then my family suing the state because I was hit and killed by a car. Also, the victim's facebook (assuming it really is his facebook) said he was a school teacher at Louisville City School District. Hopefully he wasn't teaching "common sense 101." It's easy to file a frivolous lawsuit, unfortunately. A lawyer could persuade the family that the hassle of dealing with litigation would cause CP to settle for something. There was a case a few months back (?) where someone who was injured but not killed by Ninja at SFMM sued Six Flags even though he had climbed over fences to retrieve a hat (and was hit by the coaster train). Fortunately his suit was dismissed and Six Flags was not found liable (although they still had to waste money and lawyer time defending against this BS). Sorry for the guy's injuries but it should be self evident not to climb into areas where high speed coaster trains are in operation. See the final scene of the movie "Rollercoaster" for details ...

Cell phone addiction was the underlying cause, apparently. It astonishes me that not only do some people look at their cell phone while driving, some even bicycle or skateboard while texting. A few years ago I read about some kid who was so busy texting he walked off a cliff, with tragic results. I hope the family of today's victim does not sue Cedar Point. Maybe they can go around and warn others than cell phone addiction can lead to bad results. I feel sad for the CP staff who had to deal with the aftermath. The local media near CP is saying the victim was a school teacher. I guess he wasn't teaching physics.

Rocky Mountain helped with the relocation. It's an intense ride but reasonably smooth considering what it does. I enjoyed it but I couldn't marathon it.

Nice they let people bring some food in. I don't eat fast food or corn syrup, so I avoid amusement park food. The roller coaster alley page shows that Silverwood clearcut the trees in the campground. It was a nice shady campground when I stayed there a couple years ago.

I'll give Cedar Fair credit, they're not overbearing with ads. Fun TV is a perfect example of this, it actually entertains people in line. Does it have an ad every now and then? Yes. But for the most part they have trivia, music videos and things that are there to keep the guests entertained. Six Flags TV on the other hand is getting absolutely unbearable. I'd much rather wait in line for a ride at Six Flags that doesn't have it and listen to music than endless commercials turned up to the max. Unlike Chance the gardener, I don't like to watch. It's part of the spread of giant tv's everywhere. Even my bank has them in case someone waiting in line for three minutes is unable to cope without seeing advertisements and flashy fluff.

There are two identical B&M inverted coasters in San Antonio ... but I don't think Cedar Fair will put a clone of anything at SFDK in their park. The question is will they put anything there, other than more parking for football.

Spiders eat bugs, of which there's more than a few at Cedar Point.

The Smoky Mountains National Park has more species of flowers than Europe. It's one of the centers for temperate diversity on Earth. Hiking a few miles away from a road is part of the experience for seeing the area, ideally uphill toward a remnant area of big trees I liked Wild Eagle a lot, a beautiful ride even if it's not Intamin level intensity. Hiking into old growth forest was even more scenic. Finding a waterfall to stand under on a hot summer day is recommended.

X2 was actually my first really crazy coaster (When it was just X). I got dragged onto it but immediately (mid-ride) loved it and since then I have to be dragged off of coasters rather than on them. sirspud described the feeling pretty well. Based on your accounts, you sound to be in a very similar place as I was when I went on it first, so I say jump right in and do it first thing in the morning like I did! Knock that one out and nothing will intimidate you. Except maybe Green Lantern. That's the only one I would recommend avoiding. It's possible you might love it, but it's possible it might try to injure you and turn you off of coasting. It's a very polarizing coaster. In my experience people come off of that coaster saying one of two things - either "I love it lets get back in line and re-ride" or "I'm never again setting foot on that piece of ****." What do you think of Tatsu? I remember when I was where you are that in videos and photos it didn't look too bad but when I saw it in person it seemed so much bigger. That lift hill seemed like the worst part. If you find yourself hesitating, rip that one off like a band aid too, you'll love it. A flying coaster is a unique coaster experience, and a very fun one. Some people complain about hanging in the cars on the brakes after the run, but I find the entire thing comfortable than most coasters. Tatsu's restraints are surprisingly comfortable. Just remember to breathe during the pretzel loop.

If you go to Kentucky Kingdom you will be near Mammoth Cave National Park. It's a wonder of the world, the longest cave on Earth. Lots of hiking trails (might be the largest tract of protected forest in that state) but the best hikes are underground. For summertime you probably should buy tickets in advance on their website. They have several tours to choose from, more than one is recommended. It's closer to Beech Bend than Kentucky Kingdom but other than Kentucky Rumbler, I didn't find Beech Bend that exciting. http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm

I think it's tough to compare the decisions of KK and CP as they are in completely different generations of existence. I do think KK is going about this the right way. Distancing themselves from Twisted Twins when marketing this new ride. I think Cedar Point would profit more however on the demolition of Mean Streak and creation of a new ride or two in the existing Mean Streak footprint. Their reputation of "The World's Best Collection of Roller Coasters" wouldn't suffer by an RMC rework of Mean Streak, but it wouldn't be enhanced. I think New Texas Giant really is driving their desire to not rework Mean Streak. The fact that they would more than likely be getting a clone of someone else's ride would be a shot to their collective egos. I know they have some clones there now, but they haven't installed one in quite some time. Iron Streak could be similar, yet different from New Texas Giant. At a minimum it would probably have a couple of inversions. CP has put a lot of new (and improved) rides toward the front of the park. Upgrading Mean Streak would add a great ride at the back. It might even be better than Maverick.

my favorites, some airtime on the first drop and great pacing: 1. Raptor (Cedar Point) 2. Flight Deck (California) almost as good: 3. Afterburn (Carowinds) 4. Alpengeist (Busch) not quite as good but still have a good whip through the zero-g: 5. Great Bear (Hershey) 6-10. Batmen disappointing (the most recent inverts): Banshee (KI) - looks great but floaty Talon (Dorney) - also looks great, but ... Silver Bullet (Knotts) - the only part with any real force is the helix at the end. I haven't been on Montu, Dueling Dragons, Patriot or B&M's outside the USA. Montu looks like the best. I've been on half of the Batmen, they're all about the same although the Chicago one has more trees and some water at the end of the ride. I like the idea of the same layout not being themed to a comic book with a station without ventilation in the summer (Fiesta texas ...).

Lightning Rod would be a good name for a drop tower.

ROARgasm! Well, that's at least my vote.... My son suggested "More Roar" lol and "Roar:Reloaded" More Roar. I like it. I hope the ride ops don't have say More Roar three times fast when they dispatch a train. Seriously, the first time I saw Roar the first drop reminded me of pictures of a Harry Traver Cyclone coaster. Riding it was less impressive. Glad my "home park" is getting an RMC, apparently. It will be a design challenge to have a "shorter" coaster be amazing, I wonder if they'll increase the height or leave it the same.

Complain. (in keeping with the theme of this thread)

Too bad he wasn't in Washington State, Oregon or Colorado ... The tourist traps in Cave City pale in comparison to Mammoth Cave, and I doubt this attraction will be able to have rides to rival Beech Bend or Kentucky Kingdom.

There's lots of things in Oregon and Washington, but not from a coaster perspective. Oregon's best coaster is a Pinfari looper. Ouch. Hot springs are more fun. For coasters, Silverwood in north Idaho is very good: two very good wood coasters plus a Giant Inverted Boomerang.

In the 1990's these guys tried to get about $300 million from the State of Maryland for a previous project also named American Dream, which encountered tremendous and successful public opposition to giving them that much public money.

Can you say that in the land of Deseret?