MrSum1_55

YES! I know this is only a Eurofighter, but this announcement actually makes me more excited than some of the larger coasters being announced, mainly because it is great to see a coaster-starved region of the country finally see some attention. I go to Portland all the time. I love the city, but I have always wished that it had a full size amusement park. I am glad to see somewhat of a change to that status. I am looking forward to riding this next time I go there!

I am actually glad they went with a non B&M dive coaster. B&M dive coasters are fun, but they feel very much like one trick ponies. I am sure Gerstaluer will offer something much more unique. That being said, I hope this thing is smoother than Karnan. Gerstaluer is not perfect at is making smooth coasters. The three big Gerstaluers I have ridden (Mystery Mine, Karnan, and Novgorod) all have some degree of problems with roughness. They are all still ridable, but the roughness does detract from the enjoyment a bit.

God I hate these loose article policies. I will be very sad if they catch on to more parks. I am okay with having to check a bag, but when parks start turning me away even if everything in my pockets is buttoned, zipped, or safety pinned, I get annoyed. (BTW, safety pins are awesome if you have no zipper pockets and are concerned about loose articles).

1. Phoenix 2. Phantom's Revenge 3. Batwing 4. Firehawk 5. Manta (SWSD) 6. Magnum 7. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit 8. Wild One 9. Sky Rocket 10. Giant Dipper (Santa Cruz)

The renewed relationship may be one of the most interesting parts. I may throw out there that CGA or Knotts may be getting a Chance hyper GTX. I knew Cedar Fair worked with Chance-Morgan in the past and have not worked with them since. Premier could count as the "renewed relationship," but as said they worked with the parks when they were Paramount and not yet Cedar Fair.

^I think the implication is that it stands for "Single Rail #1," as in it would be the first single rail coaster. It that does sound way more far-fetched than Sky Rocket 1 for several reasons. If CGA were to get a single rail, they would most likely go with a TRex over a Raptor due to capacity. However RMC might not be ready to make a TRex at this time. We only have two letters and a number to pick from, and it seems very unlikely that they are pointing to a single rail coaster. A Sky Rocket I, however, is an established design and is an actual ride model. I stand by this. ^SFDK has an SRII. And SRI is a very different ride from an SRII. If anything an SRI would be more marketable as it feels like a more "complete" ride.

Late to the party on this, but I have a guess as to what SR1 might stand for. Premier offers a Sky Rocket 1 model, which is the one at Kennywood. This coaster is also 95 feet tall, right around the 100 feet that the archetectual review stated. Plus, this park has no launch coaster, so a SR1 sounds like a fitting addition.

Montezuma's Revenge. Those brakes at the end come on hard. A distant second would be Magnum without trims. That entire second half is pure insanity when the trims do not engage.

Pretty much any coaster that is dark or indoors and difficult to get a pov of like: Space Mountain Rock n Roller Coaster Verboten (1st half) Skull Mountain Expedition Everest (backwards section) Runaway Mountain And oddly enough, I never memorized the layout to Dueling Dragons fully before riding it. Better yet, I had already ridden multiple B&M inverts, so I was not expecting that Immelmann-to-helix element on the Fire track. I think this was the last time a roller coaster element truly caught me off guard. Also, Taron because that thing is just so twisted, I still cannot remember the full layout even after watching the pov multiple times. I am now trying to avoid watching more pov's of it before I ride, so I can at least be surprised by some of the elements.

I would say the worst theme has to be YOLOcoaster. YOLO is literally the point of the theme. It has music and billboards that are supposed to be themed to "Living it Up," but they just do not mesh well. This could be excusable if it was a good looking ride, but the area they built the ride on still looks like a dirt mound on a hill with no attempt to make it look nicer. Or that honor could go to Living With the Land at Epcot. It is a ride where you learn about and look at plants. It starts with a mediocre at best dark ride section about how animals adapt to the land, then the rest of the ride is set in a greenhouse where you mostly just look at plants. There is some guilty pleasure in going on a plant themed ride with friends to make fun of how bad it is.

^I've technically ridden every operating GIB in the US, though I mean that in context of how I rode Deja Vu at SFMM, and Aftershock at Silverwood. I never experienced the Premier trains, but I do think that the one at SFMM was much better than the one at Silverwood. The one at SFMM actually seemed smoother to me. Either that, or it just felt smoother because the restraints had far more padding. This is still a bit strange, as I have heard that Silverwood takes much better care of that thing than any Six Flags park ever did. However, I do think that a coaster like that is much better suited for a park like Silverwood. It is a big ride for that park, and the capacity is fine for a park of that size. (The park was relatively crowded when I was there, and the wait for Aftershock was only 15 minutes).

Maybe they are going to RMC it to become the Iron Rattler of Europe? Though, everything I have read about how this park is being run makes it difficult to be that optimistic.

In terms of over sightseeing in the area, you could also go to Bonn. It is 30 minutes form Cologne on the Regional Bahn, and it is a very nice city to see if you have extra in the Cologne area.

I am going to pick a trip outside the US, and this is a trip that I am kind of actually doing! Phantasialand, Holiday Park, and Europa Park. I cannot think of any other combination as well-rounded as this one. This trip allows you to ride one of the best roller coasters in the world, while also visiting two parks with theming that easily rivals Disney. However, I would say that I am only kind of doing this trip. I am going to the general areas where these parks are located in that order, but I am staying extra nights somewhat close to these parks so I can also see the cities of Cologne, Bonn, Heidelburg, Freiburg, and Baden-Baden. (Yes, parks are awesome, but I also do like to see other things besides coasters).

I do with more parks would learn from Disney. Ironically, one of the worst parks in the US is a resort very close to Disney: Universal Orlando. I do not mind having security checks in the front of the park, but having to go through a metal detector before every single ride on one of their major coasters is ridiculous. While I have heard that Japanese parks have similar loose article policies, at least these parks will let you take your phone with you in line, and wait until the end of the line to empty your pockets, instead of taking your phone right at the beginning of the line. Another good point made in this thread was how uncomfortable people can be with being touched in today's time. I do wonder if this reaches the point that more parks start adopting the Disney method. That could be a great silver lining. Otherwise, it is still insane that I can take an entire backpack with me on a launched, looping coaster at one park, while a park just down the freeway will not allow me to ride a coaster with a penny in my pocket. (I am not exaggerating. On Rip Ride Rockit, I literally had to take one penny out of my pocket to ride).

^I would not call a coaster at a major park in a metro area of over 1 million people to be in the "middle of nowhere." Salt Lake City airport is one of the top 70 busiest airports in the entire world. Heck, I am taking a direct flight from there to Amsterdam this summer to connect to Berlin. A coaster an hour away from an airport with plenty of direct flights to Europe is not in the "middle of nowhere." However, I do also get the point people are making. Many people on the west coast like to joke about how bad east coasters are at perceiving distance. Salt Lake City is not an ideal place to live if you like roller coasters. Sure, you have Cannibal, but there are no other parks that can be reached without driving for an entire day. SLC is roughly 8-10 hours away from any other parks (Elitch, Silverwood, SFDK, SoCal parks). I would not be jealous of Lagoon, as there is not much else around that.

^Early season and summer operations are usually the best times. Early season is when the energy of the staff is highest. Summer is then parks have the highest quantity of staff, and also people working at parks over the summer are more likely to be people who want to work there, as opposed to having to. (I actually know a few people who want to work in the theme park industry, and are looking into working at parks over the summer to start with networking).

Lateness in the position of travel is certainly important. Hiccups do happen in life here and there, but traveling is especially a time when it is vital to plan ahead for everything. I have been planning solo vacations since I was 19. I started at that age because I knew and understood that the 9:05 train leaves at 9:05, assuming no delays. So I would plan plenty of time ahead to get to the train station long before 9:05. And then, I would set an alarm on my phone on the train before my stop was coming up, in case I fell asleep. I knew how to fly cross country and book trains at 19, but I regularly see people double or triple that age who cannot handle themselves.

Strangely, Dominator is actually my favorite floorless coaster because it has fewer inversions than the rest. While B&M coasters always do have great flow through the inversions, I like how Dominator has elements like the overbanked speed turn, and that low-to the ground turn at the end of the ride. I thought those high-G elements added some good variation to the usual constant inversions I am used to on B&M's. In terms of constant inversions, you cannot beat Kumba. Kumba has perfect intensity and flow through each element. Afterburn is pretty amazing too, to the point that I would call it the inverted version of Kumba. But other than these, I actually prefer a layout with more variation to the layout as opposed to constant inversions.

The only good boomerang is the kind with the modified restraints. As in, Sidewinder and Carolina Cobra are awesome. Most of the rest are splitting hairs. However, I will miss the Knott's version for its unusually slow cable lift-that added an extra bit of tension that the other boomerangs seem to lack.

^Yup. I am absolutely playing that card when I go to Germany. I live in Nevada, which is not exactly CA or MA, but I can play the "Trump did not win my state" card. Though this still makes me a bit nervous (I am 20, and leaving the country alone for the first time).

^Also note that you will be passing through lots of areas with high elevation, so wear lots of sunscreen! Cover every inch of yourself. I do not know if you have ever had a high altitude sunburn, but I know you do not want one. If you are going to stop by Tahoe, maybe go to Heavenly? In the summer, they have a small park with some zip lines, ropes courses, and an alpine Coaster. But Heavenly is also on south shore, which is a good deal out of the way from 80. Source: Tahoe local, and I go to college in Reno.

1-2 Riders: Rolling Thunder, Tahoe Amusment Park (Lived in South Tahoe for a few years when I was little) 3-5: Coaster, Playland, Reno NV-Mostly grew up there 31-42: Krazy Koaster, Silverwood (Surprisingly fun for its size) 58-76: Looping Thunder, Oaks Park. (Thankfully, my only Zyklon loop) Wildcat, wild island (Had a unique layout. It was a larger Miller Coaster design) 77-100: Both Silverwood wood coasters. (I guess Silverwood is the rarest "big" park in the US?)

^^I separate load/unload platform would be great on Xcelerator if it ran two trains. But it is not practical since it only runs a single train most of the time. Nowadays, it usually runs two trains only during Haunt and Winter Break. (Peak visitation times).

^^I love non-inverting barrel rolls! The Ride of Steel clones have the best ones!