sirloindude

I'd love to... ...but that requires NL expertise I don't have.

Re: guests blacking out on a low-level giga Not necessarily. The whole ride doesn't need to be low to the ground after the main hill. Just space out the hills a bit and keep the low-level stuff in between. Also, Intimidator 305 proved that a lot of high hills to bleed off speed aren't a total necessity for a gigacoaster. I think the perfect blend is somewhere in the middle: enough terrain hugging to keep things interesting with the massive hills sprinkled in for good measure and variety. I think this will be a solid ride, but I can understand the sentiments of those who maybe wish it used the terrain to its advantage a bit more.

With a compliment that great, how could we not get excited? I kid, I kid.

Interesting to read some of the feedback about some RMCs having too much going on in the layout. I'm inclined to agree. I felt that Steel Vengeance having so many elements packed into the design detracted from the experience a bit. The ride is exceptionally huge, and Millennium Force right across the park showed the value of having drawn-out maneuvers that allow riders to experience the incredible speed. I'd like to see RMC find a good middle-of-the-road approach, a la some of the examples listed by Invertalon. That said, focusing specifically on Untamed, I'll take too much going on over what the ride was as Robin Hood. Oof.

CMH isn't a bad idea if you want to fly in and out of the same airport. If you did CLE or CVG but wanted in and out of the same airport, you'll do two full-length drives across the state. The most ideal option would be into one and out of the other, but of course, that may come with higher costs.

Those positive g-forces are what make me love Titan. It’s cool to have a hypercoaster that isn’t focused predominantly on airtime.

I imagine Cedar Point's location is to blame. I have no data, but I'd venture, and this is based a bit on past experience, that they have a disproportionate amount of their workforce that isn't local compared to other parks. The nearest large city is Cleveland, and that's an hour away. Most SF parks are much closer to the nearest cities, and the ones that aren't (Great Adventure, Magic Mountain, Discovery Kingdom) are still in areas/markets that are far more developed than, well, Sandusky. I like Cedar Point's strategy and would gladly take the reduced ride count but have them running at peak efficiency.

Great TR, and if I may continue the discussion on Everest, I might actually prefer Slinky Dog Dash to Everest as well. Slinky Dog Dash is one of the best at what it does, whereas I feel Everest is a visually stunning yet, and pardon the harshness of this, pretty weak attempt to be a thrilling coaster. It has some great moments and it isn't a total dud by any means, but I think I expected a lot more from such a massive ride. In my opinion, there are at least three coasters on property better than it, and maybe even a fourth. TL, DR recap: I don't think Everest is all it's cracked up to be because I had the wrong expectations.

Valravn at #356. I'm not ordinarily a fan of Dive Machines, but that ride was absolutely fantastic.

GateKeeper on the 19th. I really enjoy that ride.

It's a shame that it has become hit or miss these days. Despite my visits to SF parks other than America being pretty infrequent, I felt like SFOT always delivered when I'd go there. It's one of the few in the chain to which I'd really like to get back in the very near future, although based on this review, maybe I don't.

It's cool to see that you think Maverick is still the dominant ride in Frontier Town. I don't know that I've arrived at a final conclusion, but I think I'm leaning towards Maverick myself. Steel Vengeance had so much to it, but there's just something about that punchy nature of Maverick that really makes it almost unmatched in its greatness. Glad you had a great trip!

Exactly! It's like the hall of fame for roller coaster design. This was by far the longest I’ve gone without going there since I started visiting in 2002 (I even worked there in 2006 as a ride op on Top Thrill Dragster), and I felt like I was more excited than I’d ever been to get back. I realized that Valravn was the 20th coaster I’ve ridden at Cedar Point in my lifetime, and it’s crazy to think that the rides that have left since my first visit were Wildcat, Disaster Transport, and Mean Streak (I don’t count the Mantis/Rougarou conversion as a ride going and a new one coming, although I’m sure it counts from a comfort perspective), and in their place have come Top Thrill Dragster, Maverick, GateKeeper, Valravn, and Steel Vengeance. The best keeps getting better. I do want to point out that I take nothing away from Steel Vengeance when I say that I can't definitively call it the park's best coaster, because it was genuinely incredible, but those other two rides are just so incredibly fantastic in their own right that it's impossible for me to try to rank them. I also meant to add that my Magnum lap was of the rare trimless variety, and I dare say it rivaled Skyrush and El Toro on the airtime front because of it. Unreal.

I was out there this past Friday. First visit in five years. It was a rescheduled trip from the weekend after Labor Day, so I basically went in knowing I just had a few hours and I needed to make them count. First off, thank goodness for early entry. From the way it seemed the lines were getting as 8-9 pm rolled around, that extra hour saved my bacon. I snagged a walk-on for Maverick, 20 minutes or so for Steel Vengeance, and 15 for the front row on Millennium Force. Valravn eventually became my fourth ride of the night, but mechanical downtime delayed that a bit. I eventually wandered back to it right as the line was opening after two previous checks on it, and so I mercifully avoided a lengthy wait. I timed Magnum right after it reopened, so no wait there, and GateKeeper would've been quick were it not for transferring on the third train right as I was about to board. It's a shame to hear that Friday nights are usually not so crowded as it would've been nice to binge some of the heavy hitters, but I was able to pick up the two credits I didn't have already (Steel Vengeance and Valravn). (Possibly) controversial opinions: Steel Vengeance is not the clear winner as the best ride in the park in my eyes, with Maverick and Millennium Force being possible candidates. Also, Valravn is an exceptionally good ride, and I usually don't care much for dive machines.

Capacity is my biggest criticism of its placement at Kings Island. I worked it as X-Flight at Geauga Lake in 2005 (hence my selection of a Vekoma avatar), and even though we really made it our mission to check those trains as efficiently as possible, you can only move so fast. The slow recline didn't help matters. Even with both stations running, things just don't move too quickly. At a smaller park in the chain, it wouldn't be much of a problem, but Kings Island needs people-eaters.

I would hope that Firehawk is the coaster getting the axe, but I hope it gets relocated to a smaller property within the chain. It could be a top-notch ride at a number of other parks. Kings Island just hasn't struck me as the park for it. As for Vortex, even if it's old technology, it seems like a good fit there, and it's a nice people-eater. I think it has life still left within it.

Glad you enjoyed the trip. I've only been there once, and it was five years ago, but I was extremely impressed with the park. I wish the day had been longer as I wanted to explore the animal areas more, but I was very much impressed with the park as a whole. Whenever I get back to the bay area, I'm hoping to make the journey back out there to try out some of the newer stuff.

U2 - The Joshua Tree To me, it's the most complete, consistently good album there is. There's not a dud on it, although Red Hill Mining Town is the weakest by a considerable margin. I'd go into other honorable mentions and albums I really love, but The Joshua Tree is the clear-cut winner.

1. What is the best park visit you had in 2017? Arguably Kings Island. I did a HW/KI double feature, and while Holiday World was outstanding, KI just narrowly takes the win. 2. Have you ever traveled to a park with a specific ride in mind only for it to be closed all day? Yep. I was taking my first trip to the non-Disney Florida parks and Kumba was one of my most anticipated attractions. I got there only to find it down for annual refurbishment. 3. GCI or Gravity Group? Pick one. GCII. I don't have much GG experience (Boardwalk Bullet, The Voyage, and Wooden Warrior are the only ones that come to mind), and while all were quite good, I give the edge to the fine folks from Pennsylvania. GCII has only gotten better with time. 4. How many different parks did you visit in 2017? 12, if I'm not mistaken. All Orlando parks, Wild Waves, KI, and HW. 5. How many times did you visit your home park in 2017? Too many to count. 6. What was the first RMC you rode? New Texas Giant 7. Best view from the top of a lift? This is a very tough call. Mean Streak, Griffon (I love the view of Hampton Roads), Behemoth, and Fury 325 all come to mind, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. 8. What new-for-2018 roller coaster are you most anticipating? Pick one. Steel Vengeance 9. RMC or Intamin? You can only choose one. Probably Intamin, but not by much. 10. What was your favorite new-to-you ride of 2017? Mystic Timbers 11. Money is no object. You can travel to any park in the world right now by snapping your fingers. Where are you going? Walibi World 12. Have you ever made out with someone in a queue line? Nope. Our kissing was pretty gentle. 13. What is the last coaster that changed your top 10? Probably Fury 325, but I can't really give a definitive top 10. 14. Disney or Universal? Disney by a landslide. 15. When is the last time you witnessed someone puke at a park? Probably back in 2006 when I last worked at a park. 16. How many new credits did you pick up in 2017? If you don't count, take your best guess... 11, I believe. 17. You're at Magic Mountain. You have a one hour ERT session on ONE coaster of your choice. You choose... B-TR is my favorite, but I'd probably say X2 since that's a much more unique experience. 18. Name a coaster or ride that you passionately dislike. Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril. Ugh. 19. What is the most amount of money you've spent on a Fast Pass? I don't recall exactly. Maybe $60-something? 20. Skyscreamers or Windseekers? Never done the former and don't have much desire, but I L-O-V-E WindSeekers. 21. What is your most recent B&M credit? If you mean credit in general, whether previously ridden or not, Chinese Fireball. If you mean new-to-me B&M credit, then Banshee. 22. Best adult beverage at a theme park? (under 21: whats your favorite beverage you can only get at a park?) I've had some good ciders at Epcot, but I don't remember their names. 23. Most irritating coaster nickname/abbreviation? None really come to mind. 24. Butterbeer or Dole Whip? Dole Whip 25. Favorite steel coaster *under* 100 feet? RNRC 26. What's the best bathroom at your home park? The Tangled one in Fantasyland. 27. Nighttime ERT on Lightning Rod or all-you-can-eat Cinnamon Bread? You can only choose one. Are you serious? I don't have to worry about cinnamon bread going down for maintenance for weeks at a time. ERT all the way. 28. If it were in your power, what coaster would you relocate to Knoebels? A Batman - The Ride clone. It's the best coaster in the size range that a Knoebels steel coaster should be. 29. What is the last thing you remember eating in a theme park? Popcorn 30. Your favorite coaster got equipped with on board audio x Spotify. What's your hype track? Zoo Station by U2. It's my favorite song due heavily to the way that I feel it builds in intensity. 31. Name the most disappointing ride you took in 2017. Timberhawk at Wild Waves. Major letdown. 32. Airtime hill or Zero G Roll? It depends on context, but probably airtime hill. 33. What is your favorite coaster/ride built before 1970? Yankee Cannonball. Wow, that is a heck of a ride. 34. What's worse - splashed by malaria lake flume water or dripped on by chain lift grease? Grease. 35. Name an Intamin coaster on your bucketlist! Goliath at Walibi Holland. 36. You just won a 3 day trip with hotel and airfare included. The catch is you have to choose between Disneyworld or Cedar Point. Which do you choose and why? Cedar Point, but that's only because Walt Disney World is right up the road. 37. Floater or Ejector? Ejector 38. What was your worst park experience of 2017? Wild Waves. It's rare that I really haven't found a park with pretty much anything going for it, but that park was a major dud. 39. Name your favorite coaster under 41 feet tall. I'm sure I'll think of a halfway decent answer later, but for now, I'm just going to go with Barnstormer. 40. End your post with an aerial shot of one of your top 5 coasters.

One issue I've found is that after dragging and dropping, if I drag it around a second time, it resets its ranking to 1 in the box on the right. I can easily adjust it manually (it doesn't skew the rankings behind it, i.e. all coasters will drop one number further), but I just wanted to add that for your reference. I'm using IE if you need browser information.

Where did you get the dimensions for the track? I'm working on a class project right now and I'm trying to get the inner diameter of the rail tubes.

I definitely went on a great day. I was bracing myself for a potential Fastlane purchase, but it thankfully wasn't necessary. I kind of wish I'd have taken the time to maybe ride a few more of the park's coasters as it likely wouldn't have added more than just a few minutes to our various laps around the park, and it also would've been nice to take my wife on a wider selection of rides, but given the limits of her endurance, the approach we took was probably for the best.

I was at the park a week ago and other than the thirty-minute waits for both laps my wife and I took on Mystic Timbers, the other rides we rode (Banshee [once with her and once more by myself], Diamondback, The Bat, The Beast, and a solo lap on Vortex) had lines that really amounted to either just a few trains or probably sub-fifteen minutes. Also, as those were my first laps on Banshee and Mystic Timbers, I'd have to say that Banshee is spectacular and, counting the B-TR clones as one for ranking purposes, it's my #3 invert behind them and Afterburn, and Mystic Timbers was beyond exceptional. Kings Island finally got themselves an epic wooden coaster. *ducks*

I haven't been to Adventureland, so my vote is for Adventureland. All jokes aside, Hades was closed due to staffing during my visit. I'm still in no hurry to go back. The park wasn't dreadful, but there just wasn't about it that really blew me away.

Like when you forget to add the word, "said," into your last sentence? I won't devote the extra time to the punctuation errors. I say it in jest, brother. However, I'm really surprised that so many people seem to look down on non-enthusiasts because they aren't walking encyclopedias of coaster knowledge, as if the exact height of Superman - Ride of Steel's lift hill or the number of inversions on a ride is somehow essential in a test of one's overall intelligence. It's kind of Sheldon Cooper-esque to get annoyed by such things, and who is to say in what areas those folks are knowledgeable that the rest of us aren't? I don't even know where to start with this one. Clearly, if that guest said the ride was okay, Taron wasn't the world-class coaster in his or her eyes that it was in yours. I was also unaware that there was a minimum amount of time one must spend after a roller coaster reflecting upon its greatness to the point where if anything other than the ride is discussed for x number of minutes, one's priorities in life are improperly ordered. However, I think the better way to respond to this situation is that you need to not get so worked up over something so exceptionally inconsequential.