MrSum1_55

Pitt Fall leaving? That is the best non-coaster ride in the the park! I'd rather they take out Aero or Swingshot than this! To take out an attraction that large, that popular, and that awesome must mean they have something amazing planned. Cause if they don't... MrSum1"If its anything along the lines of a Starflyer, someone is going to be VERY unhappy (unless its a Starflyer/freefall drop combo tower)"_55

1. Dueling Dragons (But that never actually races, so it doesn't count 1. Lightning Racer 2. Gemini-CP 3. Racer-KI 4. Racer-KW 5. Colossus 6. Rebel Yell (little to no airtime)

As far as SFMM goes, the thing they need most is a prefab. However, due to the recent addition of Apoc, I highly doubt we will be seeing this anytime soon. California needs to see how to make a good coaster. I was almost shocked how many people on the east coast understand how a non-looping coaster can be better than a looping coaster, but that is probably because nearly every large park in the mid-atlantic area has either a hyper or a good wood coaster. On the west coast, the only hyper we've got is Goliath, which has a dissapointing first drop, a tiny shot of airtime on the second, and no air beyond the third hill. Ghostrider in the back seat on the MCBR drop had what may have been the only ejector air in California. However, now that no longer applies. Pretty much everyone I know loves Goliath, so an I305 style giga could easily be very popular with the GP. If the fact the hypers don't invert is an issue, then why not make one that does? I305 has the same restraints that Intamin uses on their looping coasters, so why not incorporate a heartline roll or something? Everyone would benefit from that, and I don't quite understand why I305 never made use of its OTSR's. I know it is a crazy thought, but Furius Baco did it, so why can't a hyper or a giga? MrSum1"Once people start calling Goliath an airtime machine, you know something is wrong"_55

Can't think of a better way to describe Knott's!

(While I was wearing a Cedar Fair jacket) Where is the Cedar Fair set up? Gold, just pure gold. Also, pretty much all of my friends agree that Pony Express at Knott's is better than Perilous Plunge! I absolutly HATE getting wet, but I will STILL ride the latter, because it is that awesome. Also, as for one person I know in the category above, her favorite rides are Ghostrider and Roar in the back row. Ghostrider was her first wood coaster, and I got her to ride in the back. (Not a good idea...) but she still loved it! Yet, she will not ride Demon, California Screamin, Revolution, any Boomerang, Montezooma's, or Revolution because they all have inversions. (Never been on an inverting coaster) Soo, with her logic, a Pinfari looper has a more extreme layout than El Toro!

^^I hope they keep it that way! The ride would be much be much better without OTSR's, anyway. That's not gonna happen, though. The removal of an entire piece of track on a steel coaster seems like a pretty extreme rehab session.The ride was designed to look like a wood coaster; apparently they were so serious on the theme, they had to rehab it like a wood coaster too!

I totally 100% agree with this. Soak City can become PACKED, but it has very few slides. With the crowds it gets, it should have at least twice the amount of slides it currently has. Back to Knott's, a clearing of an area leaves the possibility of a new coaster open to question. If it is a new coaster, I hope it is something good. The last "good" coaster to come to knotts was Xcelerator in '02. There has been nothing that would influence my choice to visit Knott's since, except MAYBE Silver Bullet.

I was at Cedar Point when my dog died of cancer back at home...why don't I have MY own news cast!? People are stupid, and the media sucks. A lost dog!!?? How is that worthy of its own news story!? A news cast on why the color purple makes you happy makes more sense.

^exactly! I should copy that over to the CW thread!

The ganeral opinion of a B&M giga coaster is one of dissapointment. However, the best way I pucture a B&M giga is Millinium Force with more floater airitme hills. Unless B&M decides to make ejector airitme their goal, it is unlikely they will make anything better than I305. However, the potential for something as good as MF is present.

^I would give anything now to be able to have ridden it back then, no matter how long I had to wait. Sure, it is a walk-on now, but that is the only wait it is now worth due to the trims, unless you ride at night. To ride without the trims at night is something I wish I had a time-machine for. Edit: Back on topic. I once got in a pretty good argument over which crew was worse, Tatsu or Firewawk. Tatsu during its glory days was worse than Firehawk, due to 1 station operations, while Firehawk now runs two. Tatsu, however, can now run three trains on crowded days, resulting in them being a superior crew. Both of these rides, though, need to purchase a new train. This would bring Firehawk to three-train operations, while Tatsu would never have to go down to 1 train.

^^^^^^That's nothing compared to a bad day. Operations are much better now than before, but, if you ever planned on going on Medusa during the "old days" it was best to wait for the second train to be added. When there was 1 train running, 1 hour for a 12 train wait was not uncommon. The line never even had to touch the switchbacks downstairs to make that possible! Even when two trains were running, just a few of the switchbacks could add up to an hour wait as well. A full queue could mean a 2.5-3 hour wait. Now, with three trains running and little stacking, a full queue only means a 1-1.5 hour wait. That is how much things have changed.

I almost forgot this thread even existed, and it is really less than half way done! This is Kennywood day. I see you corner of awesomeness! Here you can see the ultra-sensitive, airport-style metal detectors. A paperclip in your pocket will not go unnoticed! First stop: Phantom's Revenge! The ride is a MUST in the back row. It is just not the same toward the front. I'll get to you later, Intamin hotness! On the west coast, we only have one of you! (Soon to be two) I can see the arrow resemblence, although smoothed out a bit. Is this the last remaining, operating Tumble Bug!? The best of steel and wood, at Kennywood I found the first half of the ride to be quite overrated. You do get airtime going in to the drop, but the actual drop itself has none. Nerd shot! The operrated first half is made up for by the INSANE second half! Through the trees! There is some ejector airtime here, but once the full slope is hit, the airtime instantly dies. Its a large curve with a view. It's a low-quality image of AIRITME! Pitt Fall was running with one of the cabins remaining at the top! That left only 15 per cycle, causing slow-moving lines, even with a pretty good crew. Thunderbolt is a pretty good coaster; I feel it is pretty fairly ranked on mitch's poll. The helix is intense, but I am more of a negative/positave G person. The trains are open to board on only one side, so that means loading/ unloading have to be done on the same side. I believe, though, that this reduces capacity, and I would like to see the ride modified to unload/ load in the same place. At least there is no stacking. The underside of Jack Rabbit. It is a pretty boring ride, except for the insane double down. The main problem with this ride is that the station has no air gates or rows, which always results in stacking. Aero 360 is the same flat ride as Hammerhead at SFDK. But this one is better, mainly since the restraints are not as hard on male parts, not to mention that the ride is not at SFDK. This one had quicker dispatches as well. It did not seem to resemble a GIB like California's does. Racers are always high-capacity rides, right? They had to stop the ride for a while for the parade. I kept my spot in line. Honestly, this thing would give Le Monstre a good battle for lowest-capacity racer. There are no air gates or rows, and they had only one ride op checking restraints. (I mean the same one checking both sides!) However, the biggest dissapointment is likely two-train operation, which is a real shame, considering it appears that the ride could easily accomidate four trains. The layout looks like it could provide some airtime, but I only really got any airtime 2 or 3 times, and my body only touched the buzzbar once, on the third drop. I was even sitting toward the back of the train. At Kennywood, they have a street-cleaner-like mini truck that drives around collecting litter. Kind of like SFA's golf carts. These look good. But this is the line you have to wait in to get them. Can you even see the end of the line?! But the result is WORTH IT! Do you wish you were there? You are probably licking your screen right now. My camera sucks at night, which is a real shame, considering how awseome looking a ride Sky Rocket is. The ride itself is very smooth with plenty of airtime. One of my favorite looping coasters! Two night rides in a row on this ended the night, one being in the last train of the night! I cannot think of a better way to end a great day!

I said FASTPASS was 20 minutes. Not RETURN in 20 minutes, but actually STAND IN THE FASTPASS LINE FOR 20 MINUTES. The actual wait was about 90 minutes. True, that is not exactly Six Flags or Cedar Fair, but that is far below the usual Disney norm.

Slowest line ever: Deja Vu at SFMM. 1 hour for just two switchbacks. However, this happened to me at least twice. I am glad the ride will be gone soon. Longest-Slowest line ever: Apoc during the 1 train period. The wait looked like it could be no more than 1 hour. (In fact, the ride op even told me this!) However, the actual wait was 2 hours. Slowest line on a high capacity ride: This honor goes to SFDK's Medusa. The line barely extended out of the station, but the wait was still an hour due to 1 train operations and a slow crew. The dishonorable mention goes to Tatsu at SFMM and S:UF at SFGADV. Both of these were running with 4-5 minute dispatches. I had a Flashpass on the latter, but on the former, the wait was 1 hour just to for 3 small switchbacks. Slowest line during three-train operations: Again, I have to refer to Medusa at SFDK. All three trains were running, but not once did the crew not stack all three of them! Dispatches were about 3-4 minutes, with a 2 hour wait. Slowest on a water ride: PP at Knott's. The wait was an hour, with one boat running on summer day! The dispatches were so slow, there were actually several occations where I thought the ride had broken down! (But it was just a slow dispatch) Slowest Disney ride: CA Screamin on a summer weekend, when three trains were running. Even with Fastpass, you had to stand in line 20 minutes! Biggest non-Vekoma capacity nightmare: Farenheit at Hersheypark. The capacity of this thing is only slightly higher than a Zac Spin! But, it may be the most popular ride in the park!had the ride just been designed to accomidate a 4th car, nearly all capacity problems would be solved! (BTW, the 850 per hour number is entirely dependant on the crew. The capacity can be even lower with a slow crew)

Is that the white-haired guy named Dale? I love that guy! He will sometimes come out and ask people questions in line, as they wait for the train to return to the station. MrSum1"Wishes every Cedar Fair, or even Disney, ride op were this enthusiastic"_55 Also, the Dominator and Flight of Fear ride ops on my last visit were actually doing pretty well, usually not stacking the trains. This was especially great, considering the fact that seats usually went out empty, since there was no one in line to fill them! However, the rest of the park is pretty inefficient. Stacking is usually horrible on all two-train rides. However, a two-train ride is a pretty rare sight at KD!

One note: if you plan on going to Knott's on a wednesday toward the end of summer, only stick to the large rides that little kids aren't tall enough to ride. Here is why: Arriving at the parking lot, I saw about 30 school buses in just one area. Then, I knew that day was going to be fun. These youth groups are usually under supervision of a counceler, who, I believe, only made things worse. First off, these groups (under total supervision) would stand at a ride entrance for about 10 minutes, blocking anyone trying to enter. Oh, well. At least we now know their entire group is tall enough to ride, right? It is when you get to the front of the line that you realize that they were not checking heights at all, but rather simply finding out who wants to ride. Then, for the millionth time, the ride ops have to open restraints, check the kid's height, find out he is not tall enough, relock restraints, recheck, etc. Anyone who has ever been to Knott's knows that this is not something ride crews do best (or fastest) Like mentioned above, none of these kids understand the concept of air gates, and their instructers were usually too busy texting their boyfriends to explain the concept to them. These kids were line jumpers as well. Their instructers not only let them do it, but also cut the lines with them! After trying to get in some credits with frustration, I was able to get several repeat rides on all the large coasters, thanks to none of these kids being in any lines for XLR8R, GR, and SB. XLR8R and SB had waits under 15 minutes all day, while GR's wait never exceeded 30 minutes. Stick to these rides, and nothing else.

Premier rips off Maurer Sohne yet again! They stole their trains, but did they really need to steal their style too? Nevertheless, these trains worked very well on Skyrocket, so I can see this working just as well and smoothly on this. Even though the basic design of the trains is almost a complete ripoff, the restraints and seats are a lot more comfortable than Maurer seats, so that is really good, I guess. MrSum1 "Can no longer tell the difference between a Premier and a Maurer Sohne"_55

16 per cycle? The park probably should build two more on the other face of Superman, allowing for 32 per cycle. Kennywood's drop tower holds more people than that, at 20 people. However, when I went, one of the cabins was out of service, while the queue was 3/5 full. Even with a pretty good crew, the line still moved pretty slow. But, who cares? Its an Intamin. I've ridden KI's and KD's and find it hard to imagine another hundred.

That is exactly what SFDK's president said at the bay area weekend; the system used to be you were told what you were getting, by Sf management, and it was up to the park pres to make it work. Now, the system is different. A park manager can install whetever is needed most, as to avoid stupidities. He made a remark how SFDK never needed Thomas Town, as it has plenty of kiddie rides. However, stupid SF management made the park do that. I am not sure what the outcome of this will be, but moving an unrealiable ride (Deja Vu) from one park to another sure seems like a bad idea. Lets see how long it lasts at SFNE before it is gone for good.

^ SoB NTAG treatment perhaps? Or maybe a new coaster? Could it be a good, new, reliable looping coaster? If it has nothing to do with SoB, Hopefully a park can get an Intamin 12 inversion looper (hate modern B&M's) but it will probably be a B&M looper anyway.

UNLESS Atari also plans on making an RCT4 for PC, I will be heavily dissapointed. We have waited years for a new game, and all we get is a carbon copy of a six-year-old game? That is just my observation. I don't want a handheld console, and I have no interest in buying one. If this game is simply a copy, I probably will not buy it. MrSum1"My laptop runs RCT3 just fine"_55

Firehawk, being the Vekoma it is, is prone to slow dispatches, crazy downtime, and rough rides. So, I rode it first to avoid the lines and get the credit over with. You can even still see some of the paint from the old X-Flight days. This is sure going to be a quality ride! They were running both stations, but with only two trains. Its a real shame KI was too cheap to buy new parts, so now the third train is gone. Oh, well. Time to prepare for the worst... You know what's strange? Firehawk was actually good! I rode in the front of the yellow train, and the ride was never too rough or too uncomfortable. I thought this was supposed to suck! Flight of Fear exterior theming You now come to a complete stop on the MCBR, which results in hangtime on around 1/2 the following curves. The ride also has a somewhat annoying rattle toward the back of the train. However, most of the lighting effects were actually working, and dispatches were quick. Vortex opened up just as I was walking to it. Its not a bid ride, except in the coat hanger sections, where it tries to kill you. Not to mention that it was actually running all three trains, and rarely stacking all three! Backlot, like Knott's Pony Express, is a good 1st launch coaster, although the former has a lot less suck than the latter. The helix after the first launch is actually pretty intense, at first. However, it really has few intense spots after that. The train ride...I mean Beast rran three trains with little stacking. It also has plenty of brakes, to make sure you have the least amount of fun possible! Diamondback may have been the dissapointment of the trip. I have no idea how this thing is ranked higher than Phantom's Revenge on Mitch's poll. Even for it to be ranked so close to Nitro is astonishing. Dispatches with three trains were not bad, though. On Boo Blasters, the guns seemed to be having problems firing. I was not alone in this experience, as many other riders had the same problem. Most rides at KI had pretty good operations that day. This was not one of them. (Still one of the better drop towers, though) Wait for the train...wait for the train...wait for the train...oh wait... Ill get back to you later... Waiting for the train makes me hungry. Good thing they have an indoor picnic pavillion with a Panda Express! Now I don't have to eat regular park food! Hello Invertigo! Glad to see you haven't become the Invertigarden like my Invertigo! Actually, if this one gets taken out, it will become the Invertigravel. This one seemed to run smoother and faster than Invertigone. But which is which? I have one of those! I'm so tired of waiting for the train! Now here is a good suspended coaster. Not as good as Ninja, but worlds better than Draggin' Iron. The only thing I don't like is how this suspended coaster is kind of "out of the trees" like a normal coaster. Why won't the train just come!? It will never be as good as the compact invert in California that shares the same name, but at least its not an SLC! Isn't this a clone of Vortex at CW? Skycoaster and Delirium. One of these was having a sale on rides, so I rode it. Having ridden MaXair two days before made me skip this one. Intamin drop towers are the best flat rides around. Period. No questions asked. Here is more Drop Zo--....Tower! Adventure Express is my favorite Arrow mine train. It is kind of like a "mine Beast" although it actually might be more intense. The queue for Flight of Fear was spilling out onto the outside switchbacks, but the inside switchbacks were untouched all day. Goodbye! Since I enjoyed my first ride on Firehawk, I went to ride again. I rode in the front of the yellow train in the morning. This time, I rode in the back of the red train. The vertical loop is meant to give the same experience as a pretzel loop. Although I prefer entering from the top. The only effect riding in the back as opposed to the front had was a more intense ride in some parts. I am just confused. This ride was supposed to suck! It was not a fraction as bad as others had made it out to be. Has it been running very well lately? Perhaps I am just the right height to fit in the chest restraint without discomfort? I actually thought this was the best ride in the park. (Well, at least during the day) Like Dismondback earlier in the day, the queue was full, but with no switchbacks. This was worth the 20 minute wait it had. This is the only good picture I have of Racer. While it does have its rough spots, this is actually a pretty fun ride, with some nice floater air toward the back of the train. I was able to ride this Windseeker at night. The lighting really doesn't add much to the ride as it does to bystanders watching the ride. When on the ground, you see a patriotic blend of lights. When in the air, light combinations give a great specticle. It is a better ride at night, but, like all versions of this ride, it needs SOMETHING that will add more variation to the ride. It is worth a ride if the line is short, and that is about all I have to say. A ride on Beast ended the night. For about 30 minutes, they had to shut down the ride for fireworks. So pretty much everyone camped out on the queue floor. However, Beast toward the back of the train at night is actually the best experience in the park! It is hard to believe it is the same ride as during the day. How many wood coasters allow you to go that far out in the woods with that little light!? Never went up the Eiffel Tower, although it looks pretty good at night! Thanks KI for a great day! (Ok well, every day of the trip was great, expect the first one) How are the pictures from my first visit? Why does everyone else hate Firehawk? Feedback is always great!

^Because Intamin towers> S&S Towers> Windseekers

My favorite train ride is the Beast at KI. Very few train rides allow you to really go away from the park and out into the woods. Also, the nearly 5 minute length allows for a nice long break from walking around all day.