jzoole

Sorry, I don't know how I missed that! I guess I barely skimmed through that post beacause of the whole flag discussion lol. Thanks for letting us in on how you felt they compare. It sounds like Wild Eagle is the Nastia Liukin, graceful, fluid and beautiful, while X-Flight is the Shawn Johnson, compact, no-nonsense, powerful and exciting. (I'm such a queen )

Awesome trip report! Has anyone ridden X-Flight and Wild Eagle? Just wondering how they stack up against each other, as they both look awesome in different ways. Anyway, in regards to the whole "Orginal Six Flags" thing, I always assumed that the reason they don't keep with the original meaning of Six Flags is that it really only pertains to SFOT, and Texas history (the six flags that have flown over Texas at different points in Time: France, Spain, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and U.S.A.) So it's sort of irrelevant to the other SF parks.

Memphis, Omaha and Boise all come to my mind as metros with no major park within close proximity and no major competition, with populations sizeable enough to support a medium-scale regional park.

Oh my god!!! I have written emails to SO many small parks to tell them they should buy up Greezed Lightning!! (Lame, i know.) This is such awesome news!!!

^^That's an interesting idea that I think was rumored a few years back. It certainly would be neat. I'm not sure what kind of attractions could be fit into there. I'm having visions of a much larger version of the Adventuredome in Vegas. I really think an outdoor park would be fine in Houston if a page was taken out of SFOT's book and there was heavy utilization of shade, misters, water rides, and places to get inside and beat the heat. Even AstroWorld did a great job of making the heat tolerable with shade structeres and air conditioned queues. Anyway, the cost of even bringing the Astrodome up to code has proven too expensive for anyone to attempt it yet, so it would be an insanely expensive project. It would probably allow for a higher quality product just to start from the ground up on an outdoor park somewhere North of Houston.

Awesome pics! I love the theming. This ride is great to look at. (And so is that Phillipe Cousteau guy! Grr!)

You must have never met an Aggie. Hahaha! Good point! But seriously, this overly cheesy Texas theming wouldn't resonate well with the majority of people in the Houston area.

Jesus. The video... the website... it reeks so badly of unprofessionalism and some man-child's pipedream. Houston is the fourth largest city in the U.S. and needs a legitimate developer with legitimate investors to come forward with well-thought out plans for an attainable world-class park. This certainly isn't any of those things. Anyone from the games/models forum probably could have put together a better looking video and website! Lastly, I'll add that the whole kitschy Texas theme seems like it was thought up by someone who wasn't from Texas.

I'm not bothered by silly "articles" like these. Obviously whoever wrote the article is not going to be very coaster-savvy, or pick the coasters that enthusiasts would label as the "scariest". But I actually appreciate seeing news fluff like this, because it's basically free advertising for the parks/rides mentioned, and really just the amusement park industry in general. Anything that gets more people through the gates and helps park profits to go up, and therefore invest in new rides, is a plus in my book. And by the way, I think it's a little silly to criticize this piece for not being factual or well-researched enough. It's not exactly intended to be hardhitting news. It's just a piece of fluff that flashes by on the yahoo homepage for casual reading. Anyway, I have to agree with him about the Big Shot for sure, and I'd say I experienced some jitters sitting on Kingda Ka waiting for that crazy launch. But other than that, the rides I find the scariest are those small carnival ferris wheels. Yikes!

I'm no expert on the layout of SFDK, but Superman is super compact and totally linear. If they really wanted to, I'm sure they could have found a spot for it that wouldn't require removing Pandemonium OR the go karts. I mean, look at the tiny spot they squeezed V2 into. I'm sure they must have been ready to let Pandemonium go this year anyway, or I'd imagine they would have come up with another spot for Superman.

^ I would take a Mr. Freeze over a Poltergeist/Joker'sJonx/FoF any day. Just sayin. But I hear ya.

^^^^ I've said it before but I love your posts!

Ah. Sorry!

Sorry if this has already been posted here, but it's the first I've seen it. So the permit to build the woodie has been officially approved. smartpermit.santaclaraca.gov/tm_bin/tmw_cmd.pl?tmw_cmd=StatusViewCase&shl_caseno=PLN2012-09049

Posted on Screamscape today: "Park News - (4/20/12) If you visit Kings Dominion this summer, be sure to get your ride on Volcano: The Blast Coaster while you can. The coaster isn’t leaving… but I’ve heard it reported by Coaster Crew that Volcano is expected to close down before the end of the summer to begin a major renovation on that ride and station area that is supposed to increase capacity and allow for three train operation." If this is true, I guess it sucks for those planning a trip late this summer, but it sounds like awesome news.

My guess would be that there are ton of shots of Incredible Hulk on the subscription image services (which are sort of like the Associated Press but just for stock photos/video) and it's an easy image to get and looks like a generic roller coaster. Those are the kind of services graphic designers often use when putting together stuff like this merchandise. Who cares? The gp will never notice.

Bummer. Good thing I already got the credit. Can't say I loved it. Those horrible Premiere OTSR's sort of ruined the ride experience. But it could have been pretty great with lap bars. RIP Speed!

^^ That picture was probably taken awhile ago.

I always sort of thought that all theme parks are amusement parks, but not all amusement parks fit into the smaller sub-category "theme park". Cedar Point, is just an amusement park. If you look at their park map, there are no labeled themed sections. Holiday World however, is an amusement park that can be classified as a theme park, as it the park is clearly divided into 6 different themed sections. Yeah, there are some parks that do a lackluster job of keeping all the rides in their different areas cohesive with what the theme is supposed to be (Hersheypark and many of the Six Flags parks are now starting to fall into this catergory) but I'd call them theme parks nonetheless, because they atleast make attempts at theming, and have designated themed areas labeled on their park maps and in-park signage.

Who can possibly afford to get wasted at an amusement park? The one time I've ever bothered to drink at a park was on my 21st birthday (it was obligatory) and I got an $8 watered-down margarita at Fiesta Texas. It was so weak, I would probably have to have six of them to catch a buzz. If someone is that desparate to get tanked at an amusement park, then great, the park makes an extra 60 bucks. Also, I fully support Chuck E. Cheese selling beer. Apparently they don't sell it anymore, but my mom was telling me recently that the beer was the main reason she agreed to taking us when we were little lol. I never even noticed that she was drinking when she brought us, so who cares?

So this has nothing to do with X-Flight, but I was looking at SFGAm on Bing maps and noticed that they have added cool outlines of where all the rides in the park are. This must be new because I've never seen it before, and it doesn't seem to have been added for any other parks I've seen on Bing maps. Thought it was kinda cool.

Whoa! That looks awesome! So it really is pretty much a Mack version of an Intamin Mega-Lite. That's what I had imagined. I wonder how it compares price-wise to an Intamin Mega-Lite. *Edit: On closer inspection I see there is a barrel roll in there right at the end. Sweet.

It's also so much more expensive when on top of the $40 admission, $20 parking, $30 food, $70 hotel room and $100 worth of gas to get there, you shell out another $50 for a line skipping pass. I understand why people are in favor for them. I'm just saying that I understand people who are pissed off by them too. Going to an amusement park is an expensive endeavor. A lot of people have to save their pennies to even be able to GO to the park. And then when they show up, these wealthier folks who could afford to throw down more money at the entrance gate get to waltz right by them in the line and take their seat. It can be infuriating, and really makes people feel like second-class guests when they've already spent a lot of money to come to the park. But anyway, this topic has been debated plenty, and we all know there are two schools of thought on the subject. I certainly do see the advantage of a system like this when you have a limited amount of time at a crowded park. Amazing pictures by the way!

I've always liked names that are sort of a play on words. Like Shivering Timbers or Judge Roy Scream.

Hmm. I'm not sure how accurate that thing is. Do you know if it goes by those posted signs in the queues that tell how long the wait is from a certain point? Because those things are way off a lot of the time. For instance, last time I was there, the line was way past the sign that said Kingda Ka was a two hour wait, but it was really more like a 25-30 minute wait. If that helps. But you could always be safe and get a flashpass if you want.