harper83087

I stay away from anything that spins (teacups, octopus things, etc) because I just can't handle those. I've avoided any spinning mouse because of this but the next time I am at a park with one I'll have to ride it, it's been almost ten years since I've come across one haha.

I recently got back into RCT myself and it just so happened I found my copy of rct2 in a stack of old cds. I like 2 for the classic rct feel and the simplicity, at least what I see as simplicity. I have played 3 a few times and Im not sure if I didn't have the right mindset or something else, but it just felt...off. I will say though that I am going to give it another look after seeing what the game is now capable of.

My vote is for Wonka but Fry "not sure if..." is a very close second

I love the look of that plaza!! I hope it sticks fairly close to that. Is there going to be an entrance to the beach too, or just a lookout type of deal?

Hmm I didn't know this about the vest style restraints, good to know. I've only been on one ride with the vests, Tatsu, and my one lap was unpleasant. The restraints weren't tight enough and as the train would flip and spin I would get tossed around, kinda freaky coming out of the pretzel haha. Anyway, I hope there's no issues in my camp because I plan on riding this many, many times.

I have a few questions for the NCSO'ers here. I've recently gotten back into rct2 and want to develop as a park designer. I used to be all about rides and nothing visually pleasing. I'm beyond jealous of some of the work I've seen roll through here, and can only dream to achieve some of those levels of detail. I've seen Mastersax's tutorial on how to foliage (which helped tremendously), and a few on the basics of structure building, and with a few hours of gameplay I'm starting to get the hang of those. I've done all the searches I can think of and still have a few questions. - First, How important/useful is using a trainer(s)? I see 8cars and SOB are used a lot and I like what they're able to do, but not having easy internet access makes it hard to get those. - Second, Landscaping is a rough one for me still. Is it easier to shape the land in the scenerio editor or to go through the tedious process of shaping it cell by cell? Obviously something specific to a ride like a rapids is cell by cell, but the overall shape of the map is what I'm after. - Lastly, is it a crazy thought to do a portion in the scenerio editor then go through add some rides, convert the saved game to a scenerio, and back into the scenerio editor to shape and build some more, etc? Thanks in advance for any pointers

Not having been to many smaller parks, which seem to be the most ghetto, my pick is the local park here in Phoenix, Castles N Coasters. It's a fun park for what it is, a plot of land in a rough part of town with mini golf and rides. The two trip reports here on TPR explain a lot, although the park has made major improvements since those TR's. The biggest problem with the park is that it is the major hangout for tweens with no respect for anyone other than themselves, and most guests including the adults do not have any theme park etiquette.

I haven't been overly excited about this thing until now. The track going vertical is helping my excitement, but I was sold with the interaction with the superman plaza. I see lots of good photos in the future.

I heard testing could start as early as mid-march from a friend who works at the park, but I'm going to play the wait-and-see game. They still have to finish the electronics and a clearance test right?

Oh, I thought the page was run by CP, that explains a little haha. It is a nice thought though. I've always been one to keep MS as it is (see my signature haha) but after seeing NTaG, and now outlaw run and IRat, I think some RMC lovin' could do some good for that area of the park.

The gatekeeper facebook page just asked if we'd like a rocky mountain make-over for MS...if they're going to tease us then I hope they are considering it haha

I'm really enjoying following this construction. I love the contrast of the blue and white, then add the gold on the trains and it just completes the puzzle. Can't wait to see the keyhole towers finished and get some test laps going.

Anything new and exciting on the GateKeeper front? I see a few footers have been poured. Anybody know when are pieces supposed to start arriving for vertical construction?

^I'm going to go out on a limb and say his comment was just adding to the hilarious rumor of Magnum sinking just because it is on the beach. I'm so excited to see some groundbreaking pictures!! This is the most appealing 2013 coaster in my opinion and will most likely need some private time during construction

^^ I didn't want to get TOO graphic, but you went there

I can't post pics because I'm on my phone but I can't believe nobody's mentioned Alpengeist's massive cobra roll or just the overall look and placement of Kumba. Plus, who are we kidding? We'd stare at a box of bolts, a pallet of wood, or a single wheel and fall in love

My guess is they removed all mechanics for safety reasons and just chained the cabin at the top. It'd be kind of hard to predict how a cable would fly, especially so close to the buildings and other rides like maxair and WT.

Cool vids!! I can't help but picture a very cartoony explaination for the explosives though. I just see a team of execs sitting around a table stumped and completely exhausted while trying to find the cheapest way possible. Big boss man - "Alright, we need to figure out the cheapest possible solution here. Any ideas?" Exec #1 - "A crew with a crane and cutters?" Big boss man - "No, DT took too long to tear down. I want this quick and painless." Exec #2 - "...what about dynamite?" Big boss man - "My God!!! You are a genius!!!" Alright enough clowning...BRING ON THE GATEKEEPER!!!!

Last night was a weird one. I was riding Disaster Transport, or at least it was DT in the dream haha, and it was in the process of deconstruction while riding. It had 16 seat single car trains that were like 30ft long. before the lift was a section in what looked like a maintenance shop passing over several sets of transfer tracks while seeing other trains torn apart et. The ride itself was nothing like the real DT...no clue what brought it on but it was friggin weird haha

Some days it can be, but it's mostly just a toss up. Heat will cause a lot of coasters to break down because they are timed and the trains travel too fast, but for Dragster there are a lot more problems than just over speed errors. It's luck of the draw really. It could be that the time you spent away from the ride, it was broken down. You never know. TTD was running really great last week too. One day was cooler and the other was 85 plus humiduty. I had the best couple laps I've had on it to date, with some great airtime over the hat in the last car which I've never gotten like that before.

^ I never thad the stapling problem, maybe it's because I'm taller which helped prevent it? I thought it was quite comfortable other than the qdc's which I am growing to love with a bit of defensive riding.

So as I said before, I was headin to CP again on Friday 8/31 for a second day of nerding. It was a much better day as the group I was with was willing to marathon a few of the coasters with me rather than hit them once and leave. We decided to fork up the $50 per person for the fast lane which wasn't really necessary crowd-wise for the day, but did make for a truly great and relaxing day. We pulled into the lot at 10 as the park was opening, Magnum was up and running so we hit it first and I got my great front row ride on her. It's still my all time favorite because of the sentimental values it holds. Next we went to Maverick for a couple of laps with no lines, thank you fast lane. The more I ride Maverick and as I learn how to ride it with as little defense as possible I'm realizing that it's quickly climbing my favorites list. Even though I haven't felt the softer harness like on I:305 I can see how a little bit more padding would make Mav a much more enjoyable ride for the average person. After Maverick we hopped on the CP & LE RR to hit up Mantis and MF. Mantis was still running very rough like on Wednesday. I'm not sure if we got the worse of the two trains both times but I had a serious headache afterwards and the headbanging was just out of control. Next, another great lap on MF and got the red train again like Wednesday. Still a little shakey in the back but nonetheless a great lap. Today as we were walking up to Raptor I did wander a little more towards DT's site to paint the mental picture of what GateKeeper could look like during that walk. I think it's going to look absolutely fantastic and will change the look of the front of the park for the better. We rode Raptor in the last row which I very rarely do and got a nice, smooth, powerful ride. Next the gang wanted to ride WT and I was about 99% sure I wouldn't be able to. I sat in the test seat and needed a good 3 inches to connect the belt, disappointing but I was prepared for the shame. So I sat and watched a few trains while having a smoke then wandered to WIndseeker to snap a few pics of it. Windseeker never did open on Friday due to high winds and I still havent been able to ride it. Haha the seeker of wind can't seek because of wind . Another surprise was they had taken down all of the Gatekeeper teaser posters. I understand it's been officially announced but all that was on the wall by the site was the overview and stats poster. After they did WT we went back to hit up Dragster and once again the line was no more than 20 minutes all day. One of the girls with us had never been on it and it's always fun to watch the fear build as each train goes. She wound up loving it after about an hour and the adrenaline wore off somewhat but she was visibly shaking as we were checking out the photo booth haha. We'd hit everything major and it was only 2pm, what to do now? It was a hot day, much hotter than Wednesday so we wandered back to STR (I don't count this as a credit, to me it's a glorified Snake River Falls type ride). Having never been on STR i found it a pretty fun ride with decent drops. As long as you don't sit in the front row you don't get too wet and even then I noticed there isn't too much of the unecessary-amount-of-wetness factor going on. So after cooling off we started to lap the park again. Walking up towards the front I stopped to ask my friend what the best food for your buck. Usually we'd hit the Midway Market by Raptor because it used to be decent food for about $15 per person but I was told it has gotten to be lesser quality and more expensive. So I made the final decision and we went over to the marina and enjoyed a very delicious meal at Famous Dave's. Nothing like a two meat combo with chopped pork and brisket, potato salad, corn on the cob and a sweet tea for the same price as any "meal" you're going to get inside the park. Not to mention a very fun waiter, Nick from Flint MI. Thanks Nick!! After our delicious meal we stopped to see my friend again and her ride was "down for mechanical reasons". I put it in quotes because she was having fun with the guests who'd keep walking up and ask what was going on. We chatted and laughed until she had to get back to work and then we lapped the park again hitting Raptor, Iron Dragon, MF (this time I had the yellow train and it was much smoother than the red), Skyhawk. I'd completely forgotten how awesome skyhawk was. I'd only been on it once before and it wasn't enough to let it sink in. I'm going to have to make it a point to ride it many times during my next trip. Then on to Maverick, MS (which at night the first half wasn't as smooth as Wednesday haha), Gemini (still only running the red side), and another lap on Magnum. This put us at around 8:30pm and we had until 10. So at this point we split and half of us went to marathon MF and the other half went to Maverick. I went to Maverick to up my count, I got it up to 12. I have to say, Maverick at night is a completely different beast. I thought I'd experienced ejector airtime before but the camelback before the horshoe roll in the back row was INSANE!!!!1!!!!!111!!! We lapped Maverick several times before meeting up with the rest of the group and making the 2 hour drive back home to Detroit. Overall a very sucessful two days at CP and after getting back to my moms, and realizing that pretty much everybody I know has left the state of Michigan, I'm seriously considering a trip to Michigan's Adventure tomorrow. Fast Lane, like many have said before about fast lane and flash pass, is worth every penny IF you don't frequent the park. If I still lived in MI and frequented CP I don't think it'd be necessary to buy the fast lane. But to each his own opinion.

I'm a little late to the conversation here but, the thing I'm most excited about for Full Throttle is the fact that I get to ride a Premier. I've barely been on a handful of older generation Premiers so it'll be nice to check out the newer gen of their rides. It's got some cool gimmicks but, as was said before, I don't think those gimmicks will in anyway be powerful enough to make this a flagship ride at the park.

I was at the park for a while yesterday and I have to say it was a great time. I'm up from AZ visiting family this week for my birthday and decided I'm going to treat myself to a few days at CP while staying at a buddies house a few miles away. The group I went with was as GP as it gets so I kept my inner nerd inside for most of the day just becasue it was tiring trying to correct everything said haha. We got in around 1pm with some decent looking crowds, but nothing too major, parked back by Soak City and what's the first thing we see? Magnum stuck on the lift. That's depressing because it's usually what I hit first and it's my favorite coaster of all. So we headed straight to Maverick since I've only gotten two laps on it in previous years. Waited around an hour for it and it's still worth a wait in my opinion. Next up was MS since we were right there and we waited maybe 10 minutes, the line was just to the bottom of the stairs. I've always liked riding MS and this time was no exception. The first half of the ride was very enjoyable, at least in the front row, and it was the smoothest I've felt it in years. But a few hundred feet before the MCBR is where the noticeable change occurred and the violence began. At this point my buddy who is beyond scared $%!@less of coasters (he spent the day distracting himself with jokes and now refers to MS as "Michael J Fox -The Experience" and refused to ride anything with wood on it for the rest of his days) has ridden two and is getting to the point of not really wanting to ride anymore, but he stuck with it and rode the rest of the day, even though he would have much rather sampled every fried cheese stand in the park . So after MS we made our way back towards Magnum, skipping Gemini per Johns request and found Magnum still closed . Later I found out from a friend who works at the park that the lift motor went. So we hopped in line for dragster and how sweet it was. The line was only to the bottom of the ramp and it seemed to stay that way all day. This lap on Dragster was the best I think I've ever had with tons of air going over the top hat and it looked like they had her cranked up a couple more notches for the day because every train was flying over the top. From Dragster we wandered up to the Matterhorn, Scrambler, Dodgems area and found my friend working to see what kind of goodies she could get us. She could only manage a free ride on Iron Dragon but there was no line for it anyway so it was pointless. After a quick burger at the Coaster cafe we did a lap on Iron Dragon then Mantis. This was the first time I'd ever ridden Mantis towards the back and I will never do it again. I've never had a big problem with headbanging on Mantis until that lap, I thought my ears were bleeding and it damn near shattered my shatter-proof sunglasses. From Mantis to MF and sat in the back car for some great floater throughout. My only complaint was the train seemed to be running real rough, we were on the red train and was shaking quite a bit. So at this point it was kind of a group decision to check Raptors line and head home for some beer and steak. Walking up to Raptor I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful beach and no "12-E" towering over that midway. My inner nerd was trying deperately to just run to the Giant Wheel to get a better look but I managed to keep that urge down. I guess some DT track was layed out on the beach in the morning and removed throughout the day. I'm going again on Friday with my brother and his girlfriend who are both a little more interested in coasters and what my nerd has to say so I'll geek out then. Another surprise of the day was Raptor had virtually no wait, at least when we rode, the line started where the fast lane enters. We decided front row was a must to check out the DT site and I silently studied the site and front gate and have realized just how great GateKeeper is going to look there. After what was quite possibly the best lap on Raptor I've ever had we made our way back to the car and found the bar for the rest of the evening. All in all it was a pretty great day, 1pm to just before 6pm and we managed to hit just about everything. TTD and Raptor were running absolutely fantastic and stole the day. Tomorrow I'm meeting my brother and his group and we're going to try out the Fast Lane since he got tickets from a friend for next to nothing.

^Oh that's right, I forgot about that. It's been far too long since I've actually spent time in that corner of the park. I haven't been able to ride WT in a few years because of the big ol gut so there hasn't been much of a reason to be there haha. I'm actually going to be there next week, Wednesday and Friday, I'm hoping to be able to at least get on WT once and check out the dt site. Anybody know when SS is coming down?