Lareson

If I remember correctly, that was nothing official. Was a fanboy that was ambitious during TTD’s construction.

That would be it. Expect Whitehall Rd to be shut down probably near the end of the season (don’t really want to cut off traffic to the main non-public entrance to the park) to hook it up. Think the plan is to also slowly phase out one of the septic ponds in the back. They said they’re going to use the old system as backup. I mean, they could try to make it an overnight shut down, but with our US construction tactics and laws, chances are it’ll take at least a week, if not more. Gotta have 5 guys supervising 1 that’s doing the work.

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Lots of reasons: cost as it required a complete re-tracking, prototyping never worked out with that train, losing Will Koch and the whole turmoil that fell over the ownership of Holiday World which led them to drop the purchase of Kentucky Kingdom and Will's daughters booting out half of the Koch family from the park. Essentially a lot of really bad stuff was happening and unfortunately the Timberliner conversion fell into the middle of it. I think we'll eventually see something happen to Voyage to improve its comfort, but it'll probably be a while thanks to its giant expensive steel counterpart known as Thunderbird.

When GCI re-profiled the helix in 2015, it was no longer needed so it was disabled. Even before then, it was just being trimmed just ever so slightly to help make the helix more comfortable and less wear and tear on it. Well, before those new trains on the SFNE Mind Eraser, it was known as the smoothest SLC, so it's pretty high up there. I wouldn't say it's butter smooth, but it's certainly way better than your standard Six Flags SLC, that's for sure.

I was thinking Zamperla myself as a lot of the Planet Snoppy rides and Disk-Os are from them and they do make coasters that are not Volares such as Thunderbolt at Coney Island. That was really the manufacturer that came to mind instantly when they said they bought from them before and wanted to add them to their coaster manufacturer list. Unless Larson or Mondial has started making coasters, Zamperla seems to be my main choice.

Yes it was. Still unfortunate that there's still no proper replacement for it yet.

The trabant was just sent to Chance a couple years ago and got a complete refurb. The Chance refurb was actually I think was in 2005/06 if I remember correctly. Was when quite a few of the Chance rides had full refurbs. Even though this was one of the two rides from Bob-lo Island when it closed, these Trabants are pretty hardy. And it's all pretty common parts that run it so it's not like it's a rare custom job, like other rides from other companies. I really hope Cedar Fair picks up other classic rides. I'd love to have a Enterprise and/or a Troika here. Heck, even bring back back the old Monster that's still part of a traveling fair in California.

Speaking of compensation, I wonder if Vortex and/or current Bat (Kings Island) was compensation for the issues with the original Bat. I think that was the case if I remember from reading up the history on The Bat. I know it happened to Cedar Point when VertiGo collapsed. Essentially is the reason why they got Skyhawk as that was their "trade-in" value under the warranty for losing VertiGo after 1 season.

I don't think so, this is the tires which bend them. During the course, they are only stretched between there two anchor points and thus have no reason to move (maybe they wiggle, tho, I don't know how tense it is). As for the Chance one, it seems that the outer tire is spring-loaded and can move. He doesn't mention it, but Brian from IOE did a cool video where you can see the hardware up close. Having worked on a Chance Big Dipper (which is the same train/propulsion system as the Arizona coaster) the whole wheel assembly is on a pivot and the smaller wheel has a spring clamp so it can freely move. I was always fascinated by the fact that the Big Dipper models have a curved lift. It also kind of terrifies me that the Arizon coaster uses the same train and restraint system as a Big Dipper.

Nice pics. Judging from the track and support work, that's definitely GCI's handiwork. I can see a bit of the top layer of track in your second pic and that's definitely the new laminate layer GCI is using now with that different kind of wood for the 2 track layers. Looks like everything leading to and from the former trick track has been redone. Sort of sad that the trick track is gone, but really glad that the pothole at the end of the trick track is finally gone. That would mean the turn around, helix and now the new airtime hill is all GCI's work. I don't think I'd want any other company to work on this beast outside of Gravity Group, but I don't see the parks working with them anytime soon since GCI has been doing a great job with all of their wooden coasters in the chain.

It would be interesting to know if RMC could have even salvaged Son of Beast, since I believe it had some pretty severe structural issues. Yeah, that was never going to happen with that crappy RCCA support structure and the crappy lumber Paramount used to cut costs. I always knew Son of Beast was trouble from the start when a section of the lift collapsed when they were building it. And of course their reasoning was "insufficient support" even though that certainly wasn't the case. But yeah, think we're for sure seeing the first hybrid hyper coaster! Just going off of the steepness of the lift alone and how much of the original hill they're keeping shows that this is easily going to peak 200ft, if not more. That would be 6 coasters over the 200ft mark, which that in itself is an impressive stat.

The brand study was done at Carowinds a few years ago and what came out of it was Carolina Harbor and them bringing the park into the area's demographic instead of a corporate copycat feel. They essentially take a look at the area, see what the area's interests and themes are, market the park towards those interests, and rebrand if needed, such as the Carolina Harbor expansion. With Valleyfair, I can see them pushing more towards the family friendly aspect and modernizing the park. Who knows what that can entail.

I haven't noticed any work in the waterpark. The new maintenance building is coming along nicely. I am still banking on the fact that the old maintenance building is being tore down and that is where the water park will be expanded. I would guess Thunder Falls from GL? Don't expect any of the Geauga Lake attractions to be relocated. Because water park attractions can be bought rather cheap, it's not worth the move, better off for scrap and buying new for the parks. The old building will be staying for now, just put into another use. Also don't forget the employee lot that can be used for future waterpark expansion. There's still plenty of new property behind the the maintenance building that can be used for a new lot. Do expect more painting being done in the spring for the water park. Heard that Cyclone Zone will be the next set of slides to gain some new colors.

I'm not surprised... It was brutal on the trains and track, especially the transition before the next hill. Adding another airtime hill though, a very short one at that, means that it's going to be a great pop of air. Better than a straight section I guess.

Would you rather have your orientation/training session outside in a picnic pavilion or inside in an air conditioned building? It has many, many uses for it rather than just "training."

Yes, you are correct. So if Cedar Fair did indeed get the trademark for Startosoar, it only makes sense that they would name their first star flyer using that name. Did you know that the starflyer can be programmed to spin backwards as well as forwards. Apparently when spinning backwards it tilts your chair forward causing you to face the ground. It also can be programmed to ascend and descend multiple time per ride. That is how many European parks have them programmed. Hopefully Valleyfair will follow that example and have them do more that just spin forward and go up once per ride. I, for one am really looking forward to a star flyer. I watched several POV's and the chairs really sway and tilt especially if its windy. Windseekers are too rigid and do not do that. I'v ridden the windseeker at Carowinds and found it amusing and relaxing but definitely not thrilling. A couple of seasons ago SFStL ran theirs backwards for Fright Fest, and it is currently programmed to ascend and descend the tower twice. (Well, it descends halfway once and then completely at the end of the ride cycle). The Mondial Windseekes also have the option to spin backwards as well. At least I've seen it on the control panel for the Worlds of Fun relocated one from Knott's.

Yeah I'm not sure where that came from. Yes, they've been wanting to get a 2nd train for Timbertown Railway for a few years now, but I can tell you it's not a Chance. It was from some company out west that builds and restores replicas, but they're nowhere near the quality of them as a Chance CP Huntington as why they're having issues with it. This year is the closest I've ever seen it getting ready so could see it appear sometime mid-July. The park still has a good standing with Chance, considering that they have 6 rides from them and send parts to them for refurbs. If that was the case, then they wouldn't even deal with Chance when it comes to those things. We'll see what 2017 brings us. We already know that they're building a giant maintenance building behind the new Training Center and connecting to the county's sewer system, there's a ton of options for expansion coming. There's quite a few options, but we'll see how things go.

That would be a water tower. The township I live in built one a few years ago very similar to the one CP is getting. They build the top part on the ground, then raise it up to its final position at the top. I was very confused on it as well when ours was getting built. Here's the final product (pending giant Cedar Point logo plastered on theirs.)

Well, I was comparing it to a regular season pass, where most of the discounts are only park specific, not the gold, but he should get the gist.

Yep, all Platinum Passes and their benefits transfer from park to park. It's not limited to one park like a Six Flags season pass is. You'll just have to check each park's website to see what sort of benefits you'll receive as each park has different ones. Essentially, at every park you'll receive a 10% discount on food and merch, free parking, and some sort of early entry, whether it's on certain rides in the morning or early access to certain water park attractions. Other things that are included are bring-a-friend days, free Dinosaurs Alive, and discounts on up-charge attractions. You can pull up the list of the benefits for each park by going to their website and under the "Plan a Visit" tab and click on "Season Pass Benefits" or "Platinum Pass Benefits."

Routine refinishing on slides that are not even a year old? Think there might be something more than that. If there were premature wear spots, that's usually a bad sign and can cause scrapping on people's backs. Usually a water flow increase fixes it, but must of been a bad coating in combination with the pumps not pushing up enough water. It's not cheap to have the slides refinished thanks in part to the particular resin paint that's used, but if WWW is coming out to fix it, must mean it's still under their warranty.

As long as we get the new B&M vest restraints, I think VR would be a great addition to that ride. For a small compact ride with not much of a view that would sure give it a refresh. I cant imagine having VR with the current restraints though, its rough enough as it is without not being able to see the turns coming. Sorry, but any B&M conversion more than likely won't ever get the newer style restraints. Ride envelope and weight issues are the main reason why you'll never see any of the older inverts receive the Banshee-style trains, so it would follow suit for the others. In the future plan Ouimet presented, there is a possibility for Vortex to be relocated in the park, so when they move it, they could make several track modifications to help smooth it out while also converting it over to a floorless. But yeah, it seems the VR experience works better on the smaller coasters, so Vortex would be a good candidate for it, post-conversion of course.

All from what I've been hearing is that attendance still hasn't hit the 750K mark yet. Still hovers in the 500-600K range in the past couple years, so it has essentially plateaued since 2010. And I can tell you, no way have they came close to hitting 1M yet. Of course the chain won't ever release specific numbers per park, but there's still a lot of expansion needed before the park has the potential to reach 1M. Mind you, that's around Valleyfair's average attendance, if that gives you an indication on how much the park still has to go. And I can tell you, Mad Mouse's system was slightly upgraded, shortly before Arrow went bust I believe, but it's still running a very old and outdated version of the ArrowVison program that's very hard to troubleshoot and is super buggy, mainly because it's hard to get ahold of tech support for a company that no longer exists. Plus, Cedar Fair has been trying to unify the operations in the chain for all of their rides, (also why we're seeing some of the older wooden coasters getting "upgraded" trains, i.e. Thunderhawk at Dorney and High Roller at Valleyfair) so having a different way of operations for a coaster that they have 3 of the same models doesn't fit that bill. If this new system improves capacity and efficiency, then it'll be a no-brainer to upgrade the other 2. And not to mention, the old ArrowVision system does not have any newer safety requirements, such as a control panel power lockout. And the person that asked why so many block brakes, has to be able to safely stop 8 cars in any of the positions around the course. Yes, they were designed to run 10, but both Arrow and the parks that installed them, found out that it doesn't really improve efficiency. So the other 2 cars are used for backups if something goes wrong with one of the other cars. And trust me, as someone who visits the park often in the summer, the lines have gotten quite long on everything the past couple years even now during the week in July/August, both amusement park side and water park side, especially if the weather is nice.

If you've read the article properly, you'd know that it's just a marketing research team that was sent to Canada's Wonderland for only that park specifically. It really won't affect the other parks that much. It was just a coincidence that Thunder Run was the test bed for CF's VR experience. Since Mack was doing all of their VR testing at Europa Park, it was easy for them to bring it over to Thunder Run for CF to test out since it's one of their coasters and they just modeled one of the VR experiences to fit to Thunder Run's layout. That was pretty much the only reason why that was tried out on Thunder Run. Kings Island is actually the true test park for the chain, in both technology and benefits. Lots of "prototype" programs first got their start out at Kings Island, such as FastLane, and the new mobile apps that are rolling out this year. It's also why Kings Island also gets some of the more fancier tech stuff too, such as the interactive park map screens. Some programs, like the season pass benefit program they had a couple years ago, never ended up working out so it was cancelled. It's why it's important to do some of those surveys the parks send out via email, or have you fill out at the park. It's how they know what they need to improve on, or what the market is expecting the park to do next. Without those, it's hard to figure out what the guests think the park needs to improve upon.