Lareson

Yep, I believe that picture is taken in between Adventure Express and where Thunder Alley used to be, where if Son of Beast would still be standing, you'd be facing the support structure of the lift. That pathway on the left there used to run parallel to the lift, so yeah, this "field" as it is now, looks very bare! Hopefully something starts happening here near the end of summer...

Actually, all but 1 coaster Gravity Group had built the past 4 years have all had wooden supports. The exception was Twister at Gröna Lund. They haven't built a large hybrid coaster since Ravine Flyer II in 2008. China, why are you taking all of the good coaster designs...

More than likely sometime this year, this will be taken care of like the article states, since Ouimet is trying to "clean" the company out, so to speak. They sold the empty plots of land, I think last year, here in Michigan that was suppose to be come the 2nd Cedar Point in the 70's but fell through. Six Flags pretty much knew why they wanted out of the park, and kind of left everything when they sold it, except the animal side of the park which they took everything there. I feel sorry that the people of that area have to look at what remains of Geauga Lake. If it didn't become the over-saturated park it was during the 90's and early 2000's, it probably would still be there. With the way Cedar Fair was then and the direction Cedar Fair is going under Ouimet, I'm sure they want to try and get this solved as soon as possible. Hopefully the lake does get turned into a more recreational spot, with possibly Big Dipper ran similar to how the Coney Island Cyclone is, but it might be too late for that coaster. Been 6 years since it operated last without any maintenance, so at this point, it could be too far gone. That article seems to have a slight error, Cedar Fair bought the property back in 2004, not 2007 like it states.

Giraffica is staying in the same spot as before, but I believe the location for the new water slides is one of the reasons it was "moved" into Splashin' Safari, but not entirely sure. Paula or someone else might be able to answer that one more thoroughly. The name change though, since it's not part of the Thanksgiving section anymore, it would be silly to have it still named Pilgrims' Plunge when it's in Splashin' Safari. Also I see it allows people to be in bare feet in order to ride now too, with a 47" height requirement without shoes and 48" height requirement with them.

22, with mine being Corkscrew at Michigan's Adventure when I was around 12. Don't remember that one too much along with Wolverine Wildcat, but the one I certainly remember is Shivering Timbers, riding it for the first time. I was slightly terrified and sadly my mom got an on-ride photo of it, which to this day, can't live down. But considering that it's now the coaster I've ridden the most and rode plenty more, you can say that my fear has been long gone!

As far as I'm aware, yes, the height limit is still imposed on the park, along with the weird noise ordinances too. I know the lift isn't going to be very tall, think it came out shorter than Oblivion if I remember the plans. It's also a reason why the taller coasters are painted a darker color, or like on Rita, the taller sections of it painted that forest green color. I'm really excited to have Alton Towers in my 2014 plans! I do feel sorry for this park though having all of these limitations, but it at least has turned out some pretty creative coasters!

There's really no fully enclosed coaster stations that I can think of besides the indoor ones. If you can, just do giant windows where it would normally be open. Here's an ideal station in my sense: • The station itself must be pretty decently sized, but nothing too big and usually isn't too much longer than the coaster train. Good example of this is Diamondback, it's not too big, but can still hold a lot of guests with plenty of room for the employees to move around. • Control booths on a coaster must have full view of the guests, preferably for the controls to be enclosed, but open ones are fine. Can be located on any corner of the station, unless it's a special case like a B&M winged coaster or a racer where they're mainly located in the center. • Exit and entrances must be on opposite sides of the platform. We saw how well only having one side for an exit/entrance on Skyrush did. The coaster track is not always centered in the station, it's usually offset with the entrance side being slightly bigger. Here's a little layout for example how a station maybe laid out. This is for a 2 row, 3 car train. Imagine like a single Maverick train. _______________________________ Exit _______________________________ | |Control| | | Booth | | | | | |_______| | | | | _________________________________________________________________________ Direction of Travel -----> Coaster Track _________________________________________________________________________ Gap For Employees | | | |------|------|___|------|------|___|------|------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |___| | |___| | | | | | | | | | Gates | | | | | | |___________|__________________ Entrance __________________|__________|

Yep, this is the first new ride to be built here since 2006. Last one was the Intamin Rapids ride, Grand Rapids. This isn't the newest attraction the park has received though, with Beach Party, a giant WhiteWater West AquaPlay structure, installed in 2011. This will be the first in the ride side in a while. This will be a Larson International flying scooters model. Examples of where it's already installed are Indiana Beach, CA's Great America, and Holiday World. It'll be the same one also being installed at Knott's and Great Escape this year as well.

Think this is the 1st time in a while that news crews were actually allowed inside of a B&M manufacturing plant. Looks like there's still a lot of pieces to be completed. Great to see that the manufacturing is pushing along, along with vertical construction, unlike another park across the country...

That B&M Flyer... That certainly puts the Superman clones to shame by a mile! There's a few parks here that I know of that layout of that coaster would fit really well in! If B&M can make duplicate coasters that we have here over in China, we can certainly bring a clone of that over here! I think Shivering Timbers trick-track is unique as it's the only wooden coaster that I know of that still has this element. Boulder Dash had its trick track removed and I know Villain had it taken out I believe the season before it was torn down.

The newer Arrow ties were actually bent out of 1 piece of square tubing, and what RandyV said, it was pretty much to transfer more forces from the train into the main support spine. Basically forces try to go in the most easiest direction it can. With the old "L" shaped one, it pretty much put most of the force on that welded corner, basically causing it to try and bend down and out, creating the weak point seen fixed on a few Arrow coasters between the tie and the spine. Whereas the newer "U" shaped one, the force is transferred almost directly into the spine cause of it being in 1 continuous piece and the forces more concentrated on the center of the spine where it's stronger. Also I can see it could of helped manufacturing out a lot too. Basically required bending 1 piece of steel to form the ties vs cutting and welding multiple parts together to form one. Now with the advancement of computers doing the cutting and calculating on how the ties, rails, and spine are connected together, things like what Arrow used to do have pretty much became obsolete. I think Vekoma is one of the few remaining companies that still bend and make all of the track by hand using plumb bobs and measurements marked on the ground. B&M is mainly top secret on how they make and bend their track with only a few process of it being shown public, but as they've shown over the past 20 years, their coasters are some, if not the best in the industry for still being smooth after years in operation. Intamin's track manufacturing still puzzles me though. They're the only ones I haven't seen their manufacturing process shown. Their track is very simplistic, but is probably one of the best in terms of how forces are transferred on it.

Aw, you beat me to the punch, was just going to post it. Really liking the "Lakeside Gliders" name. Not only because of where it's going to be, but kind of part of Michigan's Great Lakes region. Very unique and I believe the first flat ride to actually have a proper name vs the manufacture's name at the park. Location is somewhat confirmed that it'll be either near or on the lake. Looks like Falling Star's old location is going to be empty for a bit longer. If this ride is part of an indication on the direction the park is going, I'm really excited for the next couple years. Cedar Fair's smallest park might become a nice little destination and a boost to the tourism here in Michigan as well.

This is still way confusing. I know Six Flags is rolling in the profits the past couple years, but them investing this much into a new Asian park did seem a bit odd, considering how bad the European parks did. Having just the Six Flags name on a park would be a big thing though as it seems everyone around the world knows what Six Flags is. I still have a few friends over in Europe that still call the Walibi parks, "Six Flags." I know Cedar Fair is in no hurry to build a brand new amusement park. Ouimet has stated that a couple times and with the stack of debt still from the Paramount parks looming over their head, don't expect them to build anything new outside of the current 11 parks. Plus, they already have a park outside of the US: Canada's Wonderland.

I managed to drive by the park not too long ago. Not much is happening there, at least nothing visible from the road. Did notice though that the LED sign by the road has updated to graphics similar to what's on the website. Looked great! There also could of been trackwork on Shivering Timbers as there was a cherry picker next to the structure, but nothing that I could tell was changed dramatically like them completely stripping and re-tracking the 1st drop last offseason. With what I've been hearing, it does sound like Flying Scooters is going to be put in Falling Star's former location. The area is still the same way as it was last year though so no prep work yet. Construction at this point probably won't start until it warms up a bit. Would go up fairly quickly though. Did learn that Rock the Coast is moving the stage from the wavepool inside the waterpark to the empty lot across Riley-Thompson Rd. The waterpark was going to open on that Saturday anyways so having that out of the way means that all 3 wavepools will be ready on the 25th. It also looks like the big name for the concerts is a group called Tenth Avenue North. Never heard of them, but their latest album seems to have sold well since it reached #5 on the US charts.

Innovation could be part of it too. I've noticed since the record breakers were introduced at Cedar Point (Millennium Force and TTD) kids think that if a coaster doesn't go 100mph+ or 400ft+ tall, it's a boring coaster. Some of the GP comments can be pulled out of that category every time some ride is announced at a park. I remember hearing all of the complaints with Maverick when it was announced about its height and speed. Kind of irked me, but the line doesn't lie at the park, turned out to be a popular ride even with it flaws. Inversions don't seem as big of a thing anymore as it was 20 years ago, but that seems to be coming back with a few recently built coasters. I'm glad the industry is getting more involved with social media. I mean, 10 years ago, sites like TPR would be the only outlet to get info from. Now that a majority of discussions have moved onto more "public" sites, you can pretty much follow any park from the moment a ride is announced to when the first pile of dirt is moved. I remember back around when Millennium was built, there wasn't any construction tour, it was just the occasional video or picture released on the park's website or that someone was lucky enough to know someone who worked there and could get a tour and forums go crazy to discuss what was going on. Now that the GP has gotten involved with those discussions, let's just say that there's been a lot more bickering. Only thing that does slightly worry me is preservation. In 30+ years, will we still have some of these classic coasters around and will there be the thought that future generations think of them as pieces of crap that need to be torn down. I do always have that in the back of my mind, will my grandkids be able to ride The Beast, Shivering Timbers, Magnum, or even TTD and Millennium. I already know that by that time, a lot of the old Arrow coasters will be gone and that they'll never get to experience many of those, but I guess it's just a waiting game to see what's going to last the longest now. What Robb and Elissa have done is unbelievable, TPR would probably one of the last sites like this to exist if some of the other ones close down. The community on here is probably one of the most friendly that I've read and now that I've been more involved in the conversations over the past few months or so, I'm looking forward to being part of this for quite a long time. Like what others have said, thanks Robb and Elissa for keeping it alive!

Wow, those are really impressive! I'm also seeing attach points for the track, so this is actually going to be part of the structure vs them encasing a support column in the keyholes. Was wondering how they were going to do that. Starting brand new amusement parks here in the US is very, very difficult, not to mention expensive. Hard Rock Park has shown this and now has some pretty awesome rides just starting to rust away. I know there's been a couple proposals to build parks up here in Michigan, but none of them have gone through the initial planning stage. Same thing could be said about a few others too. It also doesn't help that during the 70's and 80's, the industry was over-saturated too. If they pretty much didn't have a good family name and reputation or part of a chain by the 90's, it wasn't going to go anywhere. Idora, Bob-lo, and Chippewa Lake are examples of some that just couldn't make it, some blame could be put on Cedar Point too, but that's debatable. China is a good example of a boom in the amusement park industry. I've seen at least a few major parks freshly built over there with some pretty great coasters that we could only dream of having over here, and having an economy that can support them too.

Yeah, Kings Dominion I believe is one of the parks that will not be receiving anything too major in the coming years since i305 was built in 2010. In 2014, KD will probably not be getting anything major more than likely, just being a recovery year for Planet Snoopy. 2015 does point to Knott's though if Kings Island is getting the headline attraction in 2014. Valleyfair, Michigan's Adventure, and Worlds of Fun will probably be getting the mid-range investments over the next couple years. What each park is getting though, could range anywhere from a coaster since all 3 parks are possibilities, a Planet Snoopy at MiAd, new flat rides at Worlds of Fun and Valleyfair, or possibly Windseekers if Cedar Fair decides to continue building them in 2014.

Yep, I knew a few people who thought Windseeker was going to be a thrilling ride and they were severely disappointed by it after getting off, but I considered it quite relaxing and enjoy them. Those StarFlyers though, holy crap... I'd probably be bracing for my life on the 400ft tall ones! A 48" height requirement is actually what I consider the starting point for many young kids. They can pretty much ride every Arrow coaster and any wooden coasters that have PTC trains on them. I think Millennium Force is a weird one to be 48" which I thought it was 52" like TTD. I really don't know what to say about Kings Island next year. All I know is that with Cedar Point getting a large investment this year, and Kings Island basically getting nothing major in rides for 2012 and 2013, all of the signs are pointing at Kings Island to be next in line for the major investment in 2014. There's actually a weird trend going on in the chain for the investments since around the time Ouimet was brought in, basically it being this: - A large, roughly $25-20mil major investment at a major park (Leviathan, Gatekeeper) - At least a couple $15-10mil investments (Soak City at Kings Island, Gold Striker, Planet Snoopy at Kings Dominion) - A few $8-5mil investements (Windseekers, water park slide complexes, Knott's Boardwalk expansion, coaster relocation like Stinger) - A few minor $4mil or less investments (Dinosaurs Alive, single ride additions like Flying Scooters, refurbishments, capital improvements) I don't know if this is part of the 5-year plan that started last year or just me looking too much into the hard numbers, but I'm starting to think some kind of pattern is showing up. Yes, I know that there's usually no set pattern on how investments go, but there has to be something going on here with the 5-year plan.

Gonna try to see if Shivering Timbers is going to be my 1st for 2013. But if not, then it's going to be my first trip of the year to Canada's Wonderland, Leviathan more than likely.

I think because Corkscrew was so brand new when it came out I think they may have thought it was a feature. I knew Toomer couldn't ride any of his rides, but man, you'd think someone would of told him over the 20+ years he was designing coasters that the transitions didn't feel right. One that instantly comes to mind is the banked turn going into Vortex's MCBR. Going from that angle to completely flat in that short of a distance going that fast, was a "what the crap was that" kind of moment for me. I don't think smoothness was a factor on many steel coasters built during Arrow's prime. They were still smoother than many wooden coasters of the time. I mean, I guess in 1993 when Kumba opened, we were all spoiled on how a steel looping coaster should be like.

I think if Drachen Fire was made a couple years later, instead of 1992 when computers were just coming into designing roller coasters, this would certainly be one coaster that would still be around. I had also forgotten that Toomer was the one who designed Drachen Fire as well, being his final major looping coaster design before he retired. Think that's when he realized that his method of designing looping coasters was outdated and probably why his final coaster was Desperado, which was their 1st coaster to use the 1 piece bent rail tie. I think if X would of been a better success and didn't have the issues it did, Arrow would probably have became more or less what S&S is today and S&S would probably still be in pneumatic powered rides. But then again, Alan Schilke would of never helped formed Rocky Mountain Construction and the Iron Horse track system if Arrow didn't go under. Outlaw Run, New Texas Giant, and Iron Rattler would have never came into existence. A new style of trains and restraints would of been a much needed help, maybe even could of retrofit those on some of their older coasters. I actually would like Vekoma to put their new trains on an Arrow looper to see how it'll perform and could result in a more comfortable ride too.

Not really off topic since it is about one of Cedar Point's coasters and this whole topic is about Cedar Point, not just Gatekeeper. The heartline removal I know has been talked to death about when it was announced Maverick was going to have a delayed opening and it being removed. I personally think Maverick is a great coaster even though it has some flaws about it, mainly it's poor capacity. I don't think I'd enjoy the heartline being where it was. Literally at the bottom of a trimmed hill that comes out of a 70mph launch so I'd guess it was going at least 50mph into that heartline roll. Just didn't look comfortable in the animation. I personally think if they would of put it underneath the 1st drop, it would have been a better situation. Maverick was the first coaster by Intamin to use this kind of LSM system in this way with smaller capacity trains and things have changed in the 5 years since it was built. I always thought it was a great concept at launch but it's execution was a disaster. Cheetah Hunt is a good example of what they learned with Maverick and the changes that was done to this kind of coaster. I haven't had the chance to go to Busch Gardens since Cheetah Hunt opened, but taking out a train and adding a car to each train increased its capacity to 80 people on the ride at once from the 72 it is on Maverick.

Ah... I see it's orange! For some reason I think in some of the pics, it looks almost red. Actually kind of glad that Fiesta Texas babied this coaster as much as it was an engineering failure when it opened. After I figured out RCCA was the one who designed it and the rush on it to beat Mean Streak, it kind of made sense. I'm sure we are looking at a new station setup anyways with it bumping to a 6-car train config. From what I could tell from pictures, the air gates look like they were torn out for the other 2 cars. Six Flags does have a few PTC parts floating around now with Texas Giant and Rattler's old trains. I figured that is what happened to Rattler's 3rd train if it just ended up disappearing one year, a parts donor.

Maverick's negative air time is pretty much close to zero in quite a few spots, although I never saw any hard numbers or anything, just my own testing on a free app on my iPhone a few years ago. Thought I'd say this too since this is the first time I've read this post and have noticed the red reflectors before. Not only on Mean Streak, but I have seen them at Michigan's Adventure on Wolverine Wildcat. As far as I'm aware, I haven't heard or seen any testing at MiAd on the coasters. I never did like the feeling I got from Superman at SFGAm at the bottom of the pretzel loop. Don't know if it's the way you're laying down or just that it pulls a ton of G's or combination of both. Invertigo at Kings Island was another one too. Those trains though are quite heavy so that could be a major factor in that too. Shivering Timbers though is still my top one for air time. It's the perfect amount too, nothing too flat or nothing too forceful.

Looks like Iron Rattler will only have 2 trains, just because of the block layout. No mid-course brake run or an exit station would make a 3rd train operation impossible. The station will have to be fixed anyways considering it was configured weirdly due to the 5-car PTC trains. Considering that Fiesta Texas is a much smaller park compared to Over Texas, this really doesn't need a 3 train operation. I'm glad to see how well this is coming. Probably won't ever have a chance to go down that way to go to either Six Flags park, but hoping to see a nice POV for it, unless Six Flags decide to give out a butchered one like they did with Texas Giant. Also it is just me or are there 2 different track colors? I noticed on the lift it's the orange, but the former helix area is red.