Zingoman

Manic Monte i wasn't referring to you. You didn't quote me.

Funny how people like using only part of my post so they can accuse me of complaining. I said in that post that I wasn't hating on the ride for anything. All I did was share my experience. Am I not allowed to do that? Did I experience the ride incorrectly? I'm sorry. I wasn't aware we couldn't talk about things like that here on TPR. I'll check in with you temperamental types before I allow myself to have opinions or experiences from now on. Thanks for straightening me out.

I was amazed when I rode Lex, because the drop was so long I actually did lose the falling sensation by the end. It seems the drop is almost too long if that makes any sense. Once I adjusted to the feeling of the free fall that awesome thrill level was completely gone. I was shocked that it happened that way. I really didn't expect it. I'm not going to hate on the ride at all for this, however, going any taller really would be unnecessary. If you are just aiming at bragging rights then go for it, but anything beyond Lex I'm thinking probably won't enhance the ride experience. Heck if you decide to go higher it would actually benefit the thrill to add a brake half way down that grabs you and puts you at a crawl and then releases you into free fall again. That way you get the drop feeling two times on the way down.

I truly don't understand people hating on Viper. I think it's one of the smoothest old school Arrows out there and it's one of my all time favorite rides. Corkscrew at Cedar Point is more unpleasant to me than Viper. I rode it a couple weeks ago and had a blast, but my wife said it bashed her brains out. Are people just getting less tolerant of the old rides? I'm pretty sure the ride was running the same way it did in 1994 when I had to wait 45 minutes to get on it and people loved it back then. Perhaps the big difference is I don't keep my head back. Logic tells me if I don't want to bang my head, then don't keep it where the harness will hit it. I hold my head forward in front of the harness and let the soft sides of my neck deal with the harness. It's completely painless that way. B&M and Intamin have spoiled people.

Really nice work, but I don't think there is a roll off the block brake. Looking carefully it looks more like a straight drop off into the left helix, and then a bunny hop, then the turn into the brake. The angle makes the rise into the bunny hill look like a roll after the brakes. I think the roll would be way better if it turns out I'm wrong though. Oh, and I hope you are wrong about the trims on the big air hill. Knowing B&M though you are probably right on target there.

I'm loving the look of this layout and all of the elements. It's going to be a nice long ride which is a nice change from all of the rather modest lengths we've seen so far on these. X-Flight and Wild Eagle are an ok length, but hardly long rides in my opinion. I'm going to assume that besides the keyholes, the entrance isn't even in that rendering. I'm betting that the final product of the new entrance wasn't given to the people who rendered the coaster besides the parts the coaster were part of. Perhaps this is CP's way of still having more plans yet to be revealed, or maybe they just didn't bother to include it. Either way I'd be willing to bet pretty heavily on that not being all we will see for the entrance next season. That hardly even replaces what they have there right now. All I see are the turnstiles in there.

*I'd go on about Schwarzkopf as well and talk about how he was so ahead of his time mastering the portable coasters, and even being the first to silence anti rollbacks, and his inovative use of fly wheels for launches ect. That man was a genius.

I like the Dark Knight coasters just fine, but Six Flags did make a huge mistake and I get why the coasters didn't gain much acceptance. They took an intense action thriller movie, and turned it into a family coaster. The movie and the ride are created for nearly opposite audiences. A movie like that left people anticipating a wild ride like flight of fear. I love the coasters for what they are but they fall pitifully short of what the film is. Anyhow I'm certain it's not coming to SFOT. I would like to see a D.C. Universe section that connects to the back Gotham making a loop of two dead ends. Not that those themed areas have squat to do with what SFOT is supposed to be thematically, but there is no stopping what's already been done.

A person with El Toro as their avatar wants a "true woodie" to be built? I find that refreshing. Haha. I think SFOT has a strong arsenal of very dynamic coasters. Batmans may be a dime a dozen but they are still great coasters, I love Titan, Giant is a strong ride, Shock Wave is pretty wild in back and yes Freeze is fantastic. Bobsleds are also pretty great. After riding Xflight at SFGAm I'm a fan of the wing coaster concept in Arlington but I don't want to see a clone.

^^ Nobody better touch my beloved bobsleds! They are far too popular at that park anyhow. I can't see them getting rid of them. The bobsleds are as much a part of SFOT as the Log Ride, Mine Train, Shock Wave or the Oil Derrick in my mind. Some things you just cant mess with. Plus they have a single rider line and I make good use of it. haha

I'm all for new attractions and I say SFOT makes pretty well rounded choices for what they install, but my wish is never for a ride to leave when a new one comes in. I know that's not reasonable, however, if sacrifices must be made, rides of the most similar style should be rid of. Case in point is Parachutes for a star flyer is a tough one for me when St Louis took out their yo-yo for theirs. The yo-yo at SFOT is the only flat ride I'd actually like to see leave. It's a pretty crummy ride there. Indiana Beach and Valleyfair! know how to run a yo-yo, I'm not hating on them for installing new rides, and I've been preaching the idea of a Star Flyer there for a couple years now. Nobody likes to see a beloved ride, especially a landmark, leave a park. Of course some will be saddened even if there are good things to come. I'm not so sure the chutes were at the end of their life as much as simply inoperable too often with wind. Not to mention a ride op for every 4 riders doesn't look good on a budget I'm sure.

I'll never forget when I was five years old, and we took our first trip to SFOT. I saw the Chute Out tower come into view, and said "Is THAT where we are going??" I've been in love with the sight of that tower ever since. I did like Flashback, however it's not a loss since they are a dime a dozen. My old home park certainly won't feel the same for a while now though. Thanks for the life long memories you guys!

Sorry if this has been discussed but I'm on a phone with bad reception. I'll be at sfmm this weekend and wanted to know if lex luthor is an issue for larger riders. If you can fit in batman can you fit in lex? On the same note how about x2?

^Some major parks do force analysis on their coasters. They load up a computer and a dummy full of sensors on a train and run the ride. They collect data measuring the exact forces for lateral, positive, and negative gs, as well as the amount of force applied to different parts of a rider's body such as the neck and back. The end result provides all the data you are asking about and charts it out. There are markers attached to the track that the computer also pinpoints allowing the data to be broken into specific segments of the course. Example, a reflector at the beginning and end of a coasters first drop will earmark points in the data stream and can be brought up as an individual section for analysis. All of Cedar Point's coasters have oval shaped red reflectors mounted to their spines or track ties for this purpose. The rides must remain within certain limits and are tested anually to compare results and make sure the rides are maintaining the same result from year to year. It's pretty interesting stuff. I know Cedar Point does this but I can't say for sure who else does. I'd assume King's Island. A good indicator that a park does this is probably the presence of the reflectors on the track. The results are not public or anything though so I can't help you there. Busch tends to have accelerometers (g force gauges) mounted to the backs of certain cars on rides like Alpengeist, or Apollo's Chariot. If you ride behind those seats you can watch the g force read out right there in person. It's pretty cool. Anybody know why they do this? Is it as a service to the school trips that come for science days? (EDIT) Found some charts showing what the read outs can look like when measuring forces on a coaster. http://www.physics.sc.edu/~wilson/midway/wildcat-coaster.html

I'll try to name some that fewer people name, but the most outstanding ones will be common. Positives would be SFOT Titan and Shockwave, as well as SFMM Goliath BEFORE hard trimming on the midcourse block (I feel so lucky!) Negatives would be Magnum with no trims (dear lord it's INTENSE) and New Texas Giant isn't short on the ejector air either. Last car Cyclops is pretty sick too Laterals have got to go to Ghostrider, and HW's Legend. Do Sizzlers and Music Express/Himalaya rides count too?

Finally my Santa's Village pic! I cupped my hand a little too much and only the ducky's head is showing but he's there!

Went by Santa's Village AZoosment Park today, and got hold of a little ducky friend. Photo to come.

^you know, I was just saying to a friend I wondered the same thing, that maybe this was done on purpose. It's just a weird way for it to come out. Something is a little off about this "leak". Perhaps a way to get public opinion before finalizing all the details of the project? If they have several plans in mind, this could help guide them to a certain choice. Just a theory. I really have no idea. haha

I'm aware Paramount installed the frisbee at KI, but Cedar Fair decided the same ride should be installed at CP, so the same company is responsible for both parks having it. Continuing on, those parks share a lot of the same attractions. Wave swingers, monsters, troikas, rip chords, go karts, scramblers, frisbees, windseekers, swinging ships but different manufacturers at least, bumper cars, large rail roads, rapids, am I missing anything else? Lol. Point being, the major rides are where the two parks tend to differ. That's a long list of similar or identical attractions. They need to keep the two as separate as possible in their thrill ride offerings.

Space Spiral has a few things working against it that probably made them pull the plug. It really doeesn't appear to be affected by the new ride, but it's very aged, it has only operated at half capacity for many years now with the upper level being far too hot in the summer time, and it's ridership has declined tremedously. There is also the issue that high winds shut it down very frequently out on that peninsula. Quimet mentioned very early on that he was going to focus on removing aged, and unpopular attractions, as well as those that have become more costly. Space Spiral really fits all of those categories. It's a bit sad but it seems the time has come. It's not like they both installed scramblers in the same year here. These are major signature rides. You wouldn't clone Raptor at KI, or Diamondback at CP. Flat rides on that scale should not be installed at parks so close together. I frown on the proximity of MaXair and Delirium as well, however it's not as bad as putting two batman clones in the SAME CITY *cough cough Fiesta Texas cough cough*

If that's the way you see it perhaps you should count how many observation towers there are like Space Spiral. There are a lot more of those than there are Windseekers. Not to say you don't have a point. It's a bit silly that they built so many in the same market. It's practically unforgivable to me they installed one at CP AND King's Island.

lol. Microsoft paint is a perfectly respectable medium. I totally agree about space spiral too. I was sad, but for skyline purposes I'm glad Windseeker is in the neighborhood. Plus a new coaster in the skyline is always great.

Yeah, that's exactly what I said... a Norwegian Loop is just a dive loop and an immelmann smashed together, aka my "suggestion." I thought you were describing it differently My mistake.

Nobody is suggesting the ride won't fit into any given area. The topic of conversation is decoding the layout posted in the newspaper.

^I'm not saying the lift won't fit, I'm saying there doesn't appear to be room for a drop and an immelman after it, so it will likely have a drop more like X-flight and Swarm. Plus why would anyone doubt Millennium would fit along the frontier trail? It's a huge area. I don't think that ever came into question.