MrSum1_55

Which is why rides like Sky Rocket at Kennywood are a good compromise. Personally, I would rather see a giga or hyper, but, realistically, a ride that would suit everyone's tastes would be a Premier-designed looper, with plenty of airtime and lap bars. Sky Rocket is just a compact launched looping coaster, but manages to have more airtime than any coaster at SFMM (I counted 7 spots). Does everything at SFMM have to be devoid of major airtime? Even the park's hyper coaster is lacking in airtime! GL:FF probably delivers the best airtime in the park, and a zac spin is not a difficult ride to top in terms or airtime.

"Sum1" is written somewhere in all my online accounts. "55" really means nothing, just another number. So really, what my username means is "Standard internet someone number 55"

My bet for the manufacturer is not on Maurer Sohne or Gerstlauer, but Premier Rides. Premier is known for for launch coasters, and lately, Premier coasters (track and trains) have turned out to look a lot like. When Sky Rocket at Kennywood opened, I thought it was a Maurer, since the trains and track look very similar. My 2 cents is on a Premier.

Coasters or overall atmosphere are your choice. However, if you are selecting a day you know will be crowded, go to SFMM. Otherwise, go to Knott's for less crowds. The reason for this is Knott's generally receieved shorter lines for its coasters, but SFMM has better operations. Over Christmas, the wait for Xcelerator was 2 hours, with very dispatches and 1 train operations. The previous day, X2 had about a 90 minute wait, with little stacking of two trains. If you only really want to ride coasters, go to SFMM.

If this was on purpose, why now? Why not a time when the park is usually less crowded? Why not summer, when they can run three trains? Six Flags has maintenance procedures; they just don't make any sense. EDIT: v I was just thinking the same thing.

^Thomas Town was a fail, that is true. However, there is a fine line between being (little) kid friendly and being family friendly. Family friendly rides are rides like Splash Mountain or Jungle Cruise. SFMM should understand the difference between the two. Another problem I believe they have is the park's bad reputation from the early 2000's. I know many people who are still afraid to stay past sunset. The park hasn't really been that way in nearly 10 years, but the word of mouth keeps the reputation alive. Nevermind that the previous management spent millions on improvements; it's more about what used to be than what is now. What the park needs most is probably a Blitz or an Aquatrax. However, what the park needs and what it's going to get are two different factors. It will be something extreme. On second thought, it will probably be an Aquatrax.

Whenever you get in a conversation about coasters, you try to quickly change the subject. It's only a matter of time before you geek out...

When I have a toss up for voting (did not submit a ballot this year, but almost did), I simply imagine the two coasters right in front of me, with no wait, and I pick which one I would rather ride. This works well for rides you do not ride often. However, if you are comparing a coaster you have ridden 15+ times to one you have ridden 1-2 times, a problem may occur in this situation. I have no idea how anyone could claim that they could stand equal distance apart from El Toro and Rolling Thunder, with no line for either of them, and yet choose the rotting POS with only bunny hills that provide little airtime. Sometimes, wood coaster purists are even more annoying than the GP.

I would consider GCI to be the midpoint between Intamin and Gravity Group. Intamin wood coasters are very graceful with plenty of airtime, while Gravity Groups tend to be rougher, but have some very quick airtime and direction changes. GCI's do not deliver the laterals and ejectors of Gravity Groups, nor the graceful but strong airtime of Intamins. They are smoother than Gravity Groups, but not as smooth as Intmains. Thus, GCI's are allowed to rank highly because thy can appeal to a wider audience. GCI's are the compromise between grace and out of control. Although, Knight Valley's GCI might serve as a turning point for the company. maybe we can see more intense coasters from them in the future?

^I believe the problem is that building coasters now costs a lot more than it used to. In 1989, $8 million bought you a hyper coaster. Now, a hyper costs at least $20 million. Also, not nearly as many coasters existed in 1989 as so now. Before, people went insane when their little park added a new major coaster. Now, people wonder if a difference of one coaster, from 18 to 19, makes a difference. Imagine if the locals of every park in the world were as eager to see a new ride as those local to CGA now.

www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36113 And to think I thought CGA actually got three brand new slides in one year! Silly me; I should have known two of them were used. One thing that I find to be a bit headscratching is that CGA is placed in the same category attendence-wise as Dorney Park. Yet, Dorney has receieved plenty of new rides in the past few years, even if many of them were used. (one of them being from CGA). Why has CF kept investing into Dorney, while placing only a couple flat rides at CGA?

Overall, I would say Premier killed Geauga Lake. Premier was able to successfully convert Marine World Africa into a thrill park, now known as SFDK. Currently, all seven coasters now operating at the park were built in a four-year span. 1998 came Boomerang and Kong, 1999 Roar and Roadrunner Express, 2000 Medusa and Cobra, and 2001 V2. What SFDK did right was limit expansion to no more than two coasters every year. Four coasters in one year was simply too much; only one or two coasters were really needed each year. This way, the park could gradually ease in to becoming a major complex from being a family park, rather than trying (and failing) to make the immediate transition. In terms of competition with Cedar Point, building rides gradually rather than all at once would have given locals more time to get used to Geauga Lake being a major theme park. If this had been done, management would also be able to cope better, as new staff could be hired over the course of several years, rather than one year. And, the gradual building of rides would not only cause more people to come, but give people a reason to come back. If a park builds 4 new coasters in one year, a person would be likely to come once, but, if no new rides were added the next year, would you be likely to go back? My answer is no, especially if the park was as bad as Geauga Lake was. However, one or two rides a year would allow more people to come back, and slowly build the park up to compete with Cedar Point. If Geauga did not build four new coasters at once, one the next year, and none after that, I believe they would still be open today.

I have been on 1 and 5. For some reason, I have always prefered Phoenix over El Toro, probably because I have kind of held a grudge with Great Adventure since my first visit. Hope to ride Ravine Flyer II next summer. My dream is for Intamin to build a showcase park like Europa to Mack. if the park had an onsite hotel, my reservation would sound something like this: Me: Hello, I would like 23,725 nights in your hotel, please. Operator: Ok, that is $2,847,000. Would you like to pay that off over time? Me: Yes, please (Operator hangs up phone) That's the 14th time today someone has asked for that many rooms! Should we just make this an apartment complex?

When Tatsu runs one train, a return-ticket system is used, with a time given for people to return to the ride. It is arranged so only about 250 people can be in the queue at once (about a 1 hour wait). However, that was when the dispatch times were about 4-5 minutes. Now, they can usually send trains out in around 3-4 minute intervals. While that is still pretty slow, it is much better than the old way. Last year, pretty much every coaster except X2 went down to one train at one time or another. This year, they seem to better have their act together with ride rehabs, and Tatsu hasn't gone down to one train yet. Since Tatsu has three trains, it should ideally never have to run only one train. X2 has three trains, and each train takes longer to rehab than on Tatsu. Their priorities should be X2, Tatsu, and Goliath. These rides all have three trains, and so far none of these have had to go down to one train. Hopefully, it can stay this way the whole season.

Some of the most brilliant engineers spend days and nights to ensure safety of the coasters they design. Apparently, a 16 year old on a trampoline is FAR less likely to become injured than in the hands of a double-checked locking mechanism. From what the department of education is saying, I am safer doing flips on a trampoline than riding a coaster. What's worse than a GP claiming to be an expert enthusiast? A GP claiming to be an expert enthusiast that happens to be a teacher or politician!

^^I believe SFGADV's Bizarro still has audio. X2's audio is present, but just not always on. I believe train 1 has been lacking audio since spring, but 2 and 3 still have it. Apoc's removal was really more for licencing thing reasons than anything else. Speaking of rehab, this is usually the time many rides go down to one train. (At least one already has). X2, despite a long rehab time, seems to always have at least two trains ready. What about Tatsu? I really hope that does not go down to one train again. 5 minute dispatches+2 minute ride time=7 minutes per train. Deja Vu's removal might give rehab crews more time to focus on more popular rides.

If motion sickness is the problem, I would advise watching a pov of the ride before riding it, and, when ridden, should be done in the front row. I once knew someone who would get sick on rides all the time, and decided to ride Batman: The Ride (a ride known for making people sick). However, while standing in line, she was able to memorize the whole ride, and did not get sick. Riding in the front is also a good option, as your eyes can better see the moving track, and your brain can better detect that you are moving. Also, you have some time to brace yourself for the rides' elements. As for fear of heights, start small and go a little higher each ride. Try riding inverted coasters, as they are not half as terrifying as the concept sounds. Avoid B&M flyers, as the lift hills on these things still scare me. Vekomas might be OK, as the lifts to these are done on your back. However, with some people, I have found the opposite strategy works, to take a giant step from small to large coasters, to know you can handle anything in between. A strategy for pretty much any fear is to ride as many coasters as possible, at any opportunity. If it is a ride that gave fear, ride again. Ride as many different rides as possible to get one's body used to the sensation of being up high, and traveling at high speeds. If possible, ride "extreme family coasters" like Cheetah Hunt, Maverick, and California Screamin.

This just in! New Mayan tablets were recently discovered, indicating the seven signs that the world will end! These are the exact translations: -B&M will build a giga coaster -At least one GIB will move -China will get a crap load of new rides -Construction of a wooden bobsled will be delayed for the fifth time -Sea World San Diego will actually get a real coaster -CGA will still have pretty much nothing -The human brain will earn the official classification as a vestigial structure Americans are to thank for the last one.

If CGA really wanted to make attendance skyrocket, I believe what would work best would be an 8+ inversion, 151 ft+ coaster. In the bay area, Medusa is the coaster everyone talks about. Everyone talks about Medusa. While I believe Flight Deck to be a vastly superior ride, Medusa is the ride everyone wants to ride. If CGA wanted to compete with SFDK, they could advertise the new coaster as "bigger, faster, more inversions than Medusa". Is this likely to happen? No. Would it really work for the park? I believe so. If CGA really wants to have some competition, this is what they should really do. Assuming they were remove no family rides in the process of building this, this should not really effect the park's reputation as a family-friendly park, but will serve as a major addition to the park's thrill scale. I know that it sounds crazy, but anything can happen at this point, even if that thing is nothing at all.

You get pissed when a textbook lists coaster stats incorrectly. One physics problem was where you had to calculate the speed of Superman at SFA. The problem started out as the following: If the Superman roller coaster in Maryland is 70 feet tall... I hated that book from then on.

^Yes, there are unrealistic hopes, but, a the same time, they could relocate Thunder Dolphin to GCA, and most of us would feel like this was the greatest thing that ever happened to us. Actually, that does sound quite nice...

I my first visit was in 2007, right after the name change. My initial perception of the park was pretty much what all the bad reviews were saying: one train operations, slow dispatches, not clean, confusing layout. Many rides had waits over an hour and were running one train, even though this was in the summer months. Medusa had a station wait of an hour, with five minute dispatches and one train running. (They did add the second one on later. However, Medusa was the only ride to get the two train treatment) Next, I went for Fright Fest 2009. Not much had changed In Spring 2011, I actually had a really good time at this park. All rides were running two trains, but dispatches were very slow. Early Summer 2011: Pretty much the same experience as in spring, just PACKED. The park was not very clean, and the slow dispatches that were not noticable in the Spring, really added up and made many of the waits very long, even with 2 trains Late summer 2011: The park was fairly crowded, but I actually had a really great time! The lines themselves were longer than usual, but the fast staff and quick dispatches made the lines move surprisingly fast! This day felt like a major step forward. Fright Fest 2011: It felt like the park had stepped backward again. The quick dispatches in the summer were gone, and the crews were really more like they had been in early summer. I also saw an insane amount of line jumping, whether legal (priority boarding) or illegal. This is how the park has evolved since the name change. Really, since then, I have only had one day where the park was crowded but still enjoyable. The park is headed in the right direction now, and hopefully the good days will soon outnumber the bad days.

if your home park is a Six Flags or Cedar Fair park, you pretty much come to hate your home park. SFDK is my home park, and I really don't care much this park. However, I would probably like it if it were not my home park. Even though it ranks pretty low for me, I still enjoy a day there, as coasters are a bit scarce in this part of the country. Although, I do not believe anything majorly bad or wrong with the park, except for the staff. The staff are often times not very helpful, and dispatch times are generally very slow. However, I was born fairly in between SFMM and ! I usually visit one of these places when I visit my relatives. is already perfect, and the other park seems to be getting better with every visit.

^^^Maybe the queuing area will just be small? GL has a small queuing area, but probably takes up to/over 45 minutes to get through it. (I am not exactly sure how long it takes, I have never waited in line for that ride when the line was to that point) However, I have often seen the queuing area overflow on very crowded days. Since it is a low capacity ride, adding a small queuing area makes sense, so people can scale how long the line will be based on the queue lenght. X2 and Tatsu are usually 90 minute waits from the entrance (although Tatsu can take longer with a slow crew) Apoc takes about 2 hours. These queues are all fairly large, as they were designed for high-capacity rides, although that is rarely true with Tatsu.

See! Even the city is encouraging CGA to build a new ride! Can this park finally get the hint that it is time for one?