Zingoman

I don't think we are seeing a dive loop or immelmann off the lift there. My suggestion is that it is more like a norwegian loop off the lift. It will top the lift and rotate around 180 degrees and dive down (ala X-Flight, or Swarm) then half loop back up to rotate another 180degrees. It doesn't look to be like there is enough room in that layout for a 170ft lift, drop, and then rise again for the first inversion. Also, that is going to be the mother of all corkscrews. It looks HUGE!

Wicked twister still moves plenty, especially the back spike. They even took it down (the rear spike, not the ride) in 2008 to refurbish the track, and every single impulse in the country has had additional support added to the spikes. As for the wheel covers, Intamin wheels are notorious for shredding, and violently. The impulse coasters do something a little different than their upright counter parts. Impulse wheels tend to get spiderweb cracks that foreshadow the wheels shedding their eurethane (sp?) skin. Wheel covers made the issue impossible to detect early and they blew their wheels a lot. This is also the likely reason the covers looked so ratty inside. Those bits of wheel mean serious business when they fly off. No wheel covers means no wheels blown if things are well monitored. A regular operating crew can notice the issue and get maintenance on it before its too late.

My three cents worth would be GCI- SFAm Roar. It was kind of a snooze. No action. B&M- Hydra. Smooth. Quiet. Gentle. Boring. Intamin- Disaster Transport. I actually love Disaster despite it's sad state, but as a bobsled coaster, it's pathetic. Just judging it for what it's meant to be coasterwise it's extraordinarily lame. To lay validity to my opinions I guess I'll list what I've ridden of these manufacturers (plus I'm nerdy enough I'm curious to list what I've ridden) GCI I've done Renegade, Wildcat, Lightning Racer, Roar, American Thunder, and Thunderhead (6) B&M, I've ridden 8 batman clones, Raptor, IOA Dragons and Hulk, Hydra, Talon, Raptor, Mantis, Diamondback, Behemoth, Dominator, two Superman flyers, Raging Bull, Iron Wolf, Nitro, Apollo's Chariot, Griffon, Alpengeist, Dark Knight, Bizarro, Great Bear, Superman SFFT, and Wildfire (32) Intamin, bobsleds at SFOT, and Great Escape, Disaster, Jr Gemini, Maverick, Wicker Twister, Top Thrill Dragster, Millennium Force, Avatar at MOA, Possessed, Fahrenheit, Storm Runner, Volcano, Superman at SFAm and Darien Lake, El Toro, Kingda Ka, Skull Mountain, American Eagle, Vertical Velocity, SFMM Flashback, SFMM Superman, Bizarro SFNE (23)

What happened to the Big Bend Documentary?? I didn't get to see it.

I don't think anybody expects them to magically disappear here. The point I think most of us are trying to get at is that there shouldn't be a reason the park cannot get rid of them. We want a clear idea about whether or not it's really an option for the park or if it's actually something beyond possibility for the ride at this point. If your car breaks down don't you try to find the problem in order to determine if it can be fixed?

While on the topic of Revolution, I'm sorry if this was alreay posted but I'm not digging through the last 20-30 pages to find out. There is a new facebook page trying to rally people in support of encouraging SFMM to resolve the issues Revolution has regarding restraints and trims. I know how much people love to hate on these little movements but even if you think it's a lost cause, it's still a nice little page about the ride and has a slowly growing collection of media and information about it through it's history in tv/film, music videos, and old photos. I'd encourage any Revy lovers to join and contribute. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Restore-Revolution/388480361172971

This wasn't a necessary change by any means, because Freeze really is a great ride, but it certainly won't be a bad thing. Last I knew, enthusiasts applauded parks for "plusing" their popular rides, and refreshing them. This idea seems to be generating a rather odd lack of enthusiasm. I'm all for it and I'm sure that Magic Mountain was the real inspiration for this change. Who knows, if the ride had opened with lap bars originally they may have tried shoulder restraints out for reverse blast, but thank God they know better already. Haha As for the idea of being thrown forward, freeze's launch really doesn't accelerate that hard, and the seats are so deep that the lap bar is practically up to your chest. I think there is plenty of upper body support for this. Does anyone else realize dragster at cp decelerates in just about the same length of track that it accelerates? No upper body support necessary. I rest my case.

You know I've been hoping this would come up soon. I'm all for ditching the ugly bumper car building but how about keep flashback, but update the trains. I know I'm the minority but I like boomerangs. As for the rest of the property I hope it would mean a nice Gotham makeover. That section has just gotten sad looking.

Actually, the boo hill walk through only takes up a small portion of the building's front, and the arcade before it took even less space and was set in front of the large (and beautiful) mural of a ship on rough seas where pirate ride loaded/unloaded. The full ride area was rather large and is still a warehouse though slightly smaller with boo hill having moved the walls back about 15ft. A very fun thing is that the entire ride layout is still visible on the warehouse floor thanks to the tire marks from the old ride vehicles, as well as the emergency exit route still painted on the floor.

I'm all about the SFMM coaster collection but it's a blatent issue that if you aren't a coaster lover, then you have very few options at that park. The park boasts what, 5 flat rides? With the loss of Sierra Twist, Circus Wheel, Freefall (call it a flat?), and the Rotor (forget the park's name for it) among other rides in the park's history, It's really time to get some new flats in there to round things out. Toss in the loss of the monorail, and a flume ride, and your options are shrinking further. As much as I love coasters, I look at parks as a whole, and Magic Mountain has a noticable lack of variety outside of coasters.

They had two trains on there back in 1994 but I've only ever seen one each year since. I've been told they rotate them each season but given the parks history of maintenance and general upkeep I'm betting the second train became a parts donor at some point by now. There is just no w at the would see fit to keeping two trains in working order there. I always liked the fact that the more rare train style is at Frontier City though.

^kings island has drift capable trains that never seemed to work properly so the bolted the cars in place. If you study the trains carefully you can see how it is designed to drift. The train built after the originals like at CW are static cassis and were never built to drift due to the failed attempt before.

Judging from the video I'd imagine we might see some drift type effect in the trains the way Italian Job was intended to be, unless IJ is considered the first. I would argue that since it never operated that way to the public. That's my two cents though. As for the speed questioning, where was it suggested it would be traveling 53mph going into the drop? It could easily come into it at 10mph for all we know, maybe pausing slightly for sone type of theme effect before diving off the edge and not go over 53 at the bottom. I enjoy rides with a bit of mystery anyway. Makes the anticipation a lot stronger.

^well that would make them the undisputed mouse coaster capital. I say go for it!

Actually, if you compare those trains on EXT to Rail Blazer, they have different restraints for the legs. Very interesting.

It turns out there is a photo on TPR of the stand up trains on the mine ride. http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?linkid=4083&pageid=51

Good to see park reports for places people seem to ignore! The drunken barrels haven't operated in quite a few years sadly. They were very fun when I rode them in 95. I think they closed before 99. As for Superman it was relocated from Houston when Astroworld bit the dust. I hope I can make it out there this year. I LOVE Evel Thunder!

Haha. I guess Ravine Flyer runs better than you realize because in fact every seat on any PTC two bench train is a wheel seat. Their last trailored trains to run were on Predator and they have been retired. Only two bench non wheel seats are going to be Morgan these days as far as I know.

I was going to talk about the Bell's coaster too. I actually have a few renderings of proposed new rides tucked away somewhere that one of the maintenance guys gave me when I worked there. The name they tossed around for the ride was Rolling Thunder. The enclosed coaster was a really awesome concept actually. It was going to have two large buildings and underground tunnels that the track would dive into as it went from one building to the other and back. Any track that went outside the footprint of the buildings would have been enclosed in tunnels as well. There were also some pretty simple CCI out and back designs that would have run parallel to Zingo. The final design that did pass approval was indeed a Gravity Group design and the layout was released at one point. I'm digging for it right now but can't seem to find anything.

I'm in awww! I had no idea this park was so beautiful! I really wish I had made it a priority to visit while I was up in the northeast. Someday I must go! Just WOW! I'm so impressed! P.S. the food stands are hilarious and amazing!! Thanks for including those!

Do I hear a bad wheel already at 3:10? haha. Oh this is so Maverick-like already! Actually that sound occurs a few times. Maybe just the fiberglass rattling? Either way, it's a bit odd. Every shot of the ride looks different. There are a lot of speed variations going on. I'll be interested to see what it looks like when it opens.

They are taking Flash Pass but it's limited to only one use per person per day. It's located at the base of the steps to the station, so yes, it's where it always was. I'll even geek it up here with some lovely aerial mapping of all the queue arrangements! and at last the queue at it's fullest length

They actually installed and got the sound effect working as we were riding on media day. It was funny to be riding and watching them build at the same time. They had a little more progress each time we went by. I had to laugh a little on Saturday because I realized that Giant's entrance was in it's 5th location! It's insane! You never know where to enter until you scout out all the possibilities. If you count Flash Pass, there are six ways to enter the ride, and 7 if you count the ADA exit for special access riders. Crazy!

^It's very interesting to me to see how new rides change the pattern of the crowds in a park. Seems like every park is a little different.

Ummm, hello? It's the same letter type that ride has ALWAYS had. It may have a different color now, but why are you whining about something that they not only kept consistent, but actually embellished and made nicer? The real difference (to me at least) is that it's not mounted over an antique looking map. Maybe it just looks a little out of context now.