Mr Stratosphere

Oh Carnival Vista, more negative media for this vessel. Now, Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas had a propulsion issue with one of its three Azipods, but was able to sail until its next scheduled Dry Dock. Unfortunately this same issue has hit Allure twice in the past several years, there was even a documentary on the fix of the Azipod. The problem with Carnival Vista is that it only has two Azipods while Allure of the Seas has three. I bet that having one down on Carnival Vista caused enough issues that they had to cancel sailings to fix it asap. We were on Allure with one of the three down, and while it kept the ship from traveling at max speed, there was also a noticeable wobble at the stern of the ship. Nothing terrible, but it was noticeable. When I sailed on Allure 2 years later, all three were working and the ship sailed much smoother. Below is the power outage from today. https://www.chron.com/business/bizfeed/article/Carnival-Vista-which-sets-sail-from-Galveston-14069733.php The Carnival Vista cruise ship, which sets sail from Galveston, lost power at sea just days before it's scheduled to be taken out of service for repairs. The ship temporarily lost some power from midship to the forward section of the vessel on Tuesday evening, according to a Facebook post from Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald. The loss of power meant no lighting in the affected portion of the ship. Elevators and air-conditioning systems weren't working, either. Nobody was trapped in the elevators. This news comes just days before the Carnival Vista will be taken out of service for 17 days due to "an issue affecting its maximum cruising speed." The ship maintained navigation control during the power loss, and some areas such as the Punchliner comedy club in the aft of the ship remained unaffected. "The engineers are working very hard to restore full power and of course the captain, Matt and myself are making constant announcements to keep everybody informed and the mood around the ship is one of understanding," Heald said in his Facebook post. Follow-up posts indicated that the ship continued on its normal set course, that engineers slowly restored the power and that people were even dancing on the tables in the aft dining room. Carnival said the temporary issue was quickly resolved and that the ship continued on without any changes to its itinerary. And on Wednesday morning, Heald gave one final update before continuing his posts about food and a guest's service dog. "After last night's adventures the guests are waking to beautiful sunshine and a perfect day at sea," he said in the Facebook post. "I want to thank all the guests here who kept calm as the engineers restored the lights that had gone off in parts of the ship, they were all brilliant. And the crew, well they were as they always are, dedicated, professional and kept the fun going."

I must have been lucky the day I went, I rode Golijavu several times last fall and really enjoyed it! I do miss it being tucked in the corner of SFMM.

1. Name 3 of your favorite roller coasters, but not your top 3. Xcelerator, Millennium Force, Expedition Everest 2. About how many different parks did you visit in 2018? 5 3. Which 2018 park visit was your favorite? Six Flags New England 4. Your favorite 2018 park addition (ride, food, show, etc)? Cowabunga Bay Las Vegas (Las Vegas Christmas Town) 5. What ride exceeded your expectations the most in 2018? Batman The Dark Knight (B&M Floorless) Six Flags New England 6. Best meal/food at a park in 2018? Teriyaki Bowls at Lagoon 7. What was your favorite new coaster of 2018 NOT made by RMC or Larson? Time Traveler 8. Name one park you will definitely visit in 2019. Cedar Point 9. Best ride themed to a bird? Raptor 10. Lamest ride/coaster you rode in 2018? Some Pinfari at The Big E 11. What roller coaster currently sits at the top of your bucketlist? (degree of difficulty: NOT a new-for-2019 ride) Gravity Max 12. What new-for-2019 ride or coaster are you most looking forward to? Maxx Force 13. Name the first totally middle-of-the-road (not bad/not great) park that comes to mind. Silverwood 14. You're in Orlando and magically have a 1-hour ERT session on 1 coaster of your choice at any park in the city. You choose... Space Mountain (No Lights, Pitch Black) 15. Holiday In The Park vs. Winterfest. Who reigns supreme? Winterfest 16. Mystic Timbers mystery shed or Wicker Man fire infusion? Mystery Shed 17. Which Six Flags have you been to most recently? Six Flags New England 18. Intamin or Schwarzkopf? You may only choose one. Intamin 19. Battle of Kings Coasters: Island or Dominion? Pick one. Kings Dominion 20. What was the longest you waited for a ride/coaster in 2018? 90 Minutes, Single Train on Superman at SFNE 21. What roller coaster have you ridden more than any other? Canyon Blaster, Adventuredome 22. Best drop tower under 150 feet? Hershey Kisses Tower 23. Maverick or Millennium Force? (If you haven't been to CP, pick what you want to ride more) Millennium Force 24. Log flumes or sky rides? You can only choose one. Log Flumes 25. What are 3 things you enjoying doing at your home park other than riding rides? People watching, eating food, watching shows. 26. What is your second favorite Cedar Fair park and why? Knott's, I really enjoy Knott's but Cedar Point reigns supreme for me, its just a fun park! 27. What is your home park and give us two good reasons why we should pay it a visit. Grand Slam Canyon, Adventuredome. El Loco and Canyon Blaster 28. Launch or Lift? Lift 29. Did you buy fast pass at all in 2018? No, luckily I didn't need to. 30. What is your least favorite wooden coaster? Hades 360 31. Disney fanboys: cool or cult? CULT 32. Best Batman themed ride? Batman: The Ride SFMM, the best one that come to mind. 33. Name something that tend to take home from parks that you didn't bring with you. T-Shirts and/or sweaters, anything with a logo 34. Best wooden coaster over 110 feet tall? (rcdb will help you) El Toro 35. Have you ever been hit with something (loose change/a tree/vomit/etc) while riding something? I've been smacked by a tree on Desperado and the most disgusting was getting showered by sweat from the rider in front of me on Goliath at SFMM. OMG THAT WAS SO DISGUSTING 36. Skywarps: credits or no? State your case. No, it's powered, just like a Larson Loop 37. Turkey legs: nah or yaaaaassssss? YYYYYYAAAAAASSSSSSSSS 38. What is the most recent B&M that you rode? Batman The Dark Knight at SFNE 39. You can eat nothing but corn dogs, churros or funnel cake for the next 48 hours, which do you choose? Churros (With Nutella) 40. Post a great on-ride shot of you from 2018. (DO IT!) Superman - Six Flags New England

Today, MGM Grand celebrates its 25th Anniversary! Here are some comparison photos from 25 years ago to today.

Today is the 10th anniversary of our big snowstorm that basically shut down the city but made for some awesome rare photos!

Desperado will be closed, I was told it will be open for the two week holiday and then probably closed until spring break again. Don't trust the site, and sometimes calling isn't good enough either, they will tell you it will be open and for whatever reason it doesn't. Getting a ride on Desperado is really a gamble nowadays. On another note, you have to admit, the rest of the rides in Vegas have an amazing up-time. Rare is the day you see rides down for mechanical issues here, just their normal maintenance and refurbishments.

Wow look at all of this world class coverage of IAAPA and this is only day one! Thank you for sharing! I love all of the modern looking trains. Its incredible!

[youtu_be] [/youtu_be] This showed up in my YouTube Feed today, its just haunting.

Only planned trip is Cedar Point in May for my birthday so far!

I was going to go yesterday since I was back in the area to work at MGM Springfield, the park's original hours were posted from 12:00PM to 11:00PM. But mother nature had other plans, the hours were changed to 5:00PM to 11:00PM, I figured none of the rides would open and it would only be Fright Fest stuff. I decided to go to a Springfield Thunderbirds Hockey Game instead, I am glad I did, because the park closed at 9:00PM. Short ops day for SFNE yesterday! Oh well, next time!!

So Mega Millions just hit a Billion this morning, who all has a ticket? What would you do with a Billion Dollars? (well, the cash option of $565 Million).

Circus Circus is celebrating their 50th Anniversary today! I will be sharing some photos later today or tomorrow of the property though the years!

Here is a shot of the High Roller's Control Panel at The Stratosphere. This was once the World's Highest Roller Coaster. Built by S&MC and Premier. Opened 4/29/1996 and closed on 12/30/2005 Super simple coaster to operate, switches for the loading and unloading gates, and advance buttons from Load/Unload and an E-Stop. Everything under the glass panel was for maintenance in manual mode.

Stratosphere's High Roller derailed and a wheel from the train crashed through a window at the Top of the World Restaurant. When in reality, it was a drive wheel actuator that dislodged, then the fencing was input under the ride on the outdoor observation deck. And, it is impossible for the wheel to crash into the restaurant with the window's angled towards the ground.

^Fair enough, remember when they did Katy Perry's Chained to the Rhythm music video? There is a quick shot of both trains having a lighting package on them. From the behind the scenes of the video, they actually did it, and it was not CGI.

After a quick glance at Google Maps, it looks like it may be on top of one of the slide structures at Soak City! Clever!!

I am sure a lot of us would find this interesting. Knott's added a third webcam and its Ghostrider. Great view of the park, you can see Ghostrider, Hangtime, Xcelerator and Sky Cabin. https://www.knotts.com/explore/live-video

^ That's pretty cool, would be cool to do on Twisted Colossus, would be amazing when it duels.

Want an even more rare photo? This is the main stairwell of the Stratosphere Tower. This is the core, three solid legs and the middle is hallow, housing all facilities items, and the elevator shafts are behind the concrete walls. This is looking up from the 4th floor up about a third of the tower. There are two large platforms on the way up for rest and mechanical rooms, but note how the stairwell just hugs one side of the core. Once a year for charity they run the Scale the Strat Marathon for the American Lung Association. Scale the Strat will occur on 2/24/19 at 7AM You can register Here! Stratosphere has 1.644 stairs from the ground up to the Big Shot's loading platform. Scale the Strat is 1,455 stairs.

Been going through some photos lately, and found my photos from the final day of the High Roller's operation at The Stratosphere. This is from 12/30/2005 and the immediate dismantling that started on 1/2/2006. Enjoy the photos! High Roller's Control Panel Final day of operations Head Chopper! That skyline sure has changed in the last 13 years! Just after the final ride and the ride was powered down for the very last time. On 1/2/2006 , restraints were already removed. Parts in the lobby of 112 The front car sat in the lobby of 112 for a few weeks before being brought down. This ad always cracked me up, it was still in use when the ride closed, the original train's colors, no OTSR's and the train is traveling in the wrong direction! Rest in pieces. The entrance to the ride on the 112th floor The entrance to the ride on the 112th floor

Superman The Ride (SFNE)

Ah yes, I didn't mention Scream, two towers operated Saturday, the original Turbo Drop only tower was running and the second tower was in combo mode until the afternoon then it was just a Space Shot. I still prefer the first generation space shots over any of the S&S Shot Towers. Bummer with Goliath, I rode 4 times on Saturday and had no issues with it at all, must have been lucky! I also have a feeling that the park got busy as The Big E had the highest attendance in record that day. For a single day Saturday saw 172,659 guests. That is insane!

Hey everyone! So I’m in Springfield Mass. for the last night so I have some time to post my review about Six Flags New England. First off, I have to say, this park is beautiful and kept up really well. Sure it’s the oldest park in the chain, but it is maintained really well and every restroom that I want to was very clean. Since The Big E was in town, crowds Saturday were very light until about 6pm when Fright Fest Started. With that being said, I was able to smash out the entire park within the first 3 hours and the park was open form 12pm to 10pm Saturday. For the coasters: Superman The Ride: I found this ride amazing, I can see why it consistently competed with Millennium Force for the Number One Steel Coaster on the planet. It would have beat out Millennium Force for me had it not been for the trains. The restraints rest on your legs in a weird way so a couple of the airtime hills are a bit painful. Had it had the T-Bar Restraints this would be my number one steel coaster. Also, Superman was still down to one train operations, the blue train was still sitting on the transfer track. Later in the afternoon, they started giving return boarding passes and I waited for about 35 minutes for my last ride of the day. Overall Superman is the best ride in the park. Wicked Cyclone: what can I say RMC has done it again. This is a solid super fun coaster and a non stop airtime machine. Second best ride in the park in my opinion. Pandemonium: awesome spinner not too much to say here. Flashback: Boomerang, need I say more? Funny though, this was the only ride to break down on Saturday, the train skipped a chain dog and got stuck on the second lift, ride was only closed for about 20 minutes. Goliath: I personally called the ride Goliájà Vu since it was Déjà Vu From Six Flags Magic Mountain. Personally I miss this ride at SFMM but glad they got it up and running this season. Goliath had no downtime on Saturday and consistently ran, the ride was a walk on most of the day. Now, the coaster has new trains from Premier and honestly I had no issues with them. I sat in the back row and I noticed the train completely hugs the track now, there are no gaps between the track and the upstop wheels anymore, no jackhammering! I ended up riding it a few times Saturday. Thunderbolt: The park’s oldest coaster and a classic. Just a fun figure 8 woodie! Riddler Revenge: standard Vekoma SLC, vest restraints for the win! Joker: S&S 4D Free Spin- awesome ride, always get off laughing, one thing I noticed is that where are no fins that intentionally spin the cars, you are truly free spinning on this ride. Batman: The Dark Knight: surprise of the day for me! Fantastic B&M flourless coaster, snappy quick transitions and a compact layout. It may be my favorite floorless coaster out there. Catwoman Whip: reminded me of jaguar because of the long trains. Gotham City Gauntlet: Escape from Arkham Aslyum: seriously one of the longest ride names out there! Run of the mill wild mouse, fun but a little rough for my liking. Harley Quinn Spinsanity: Fantastic Zamperla giant frisbee! Super intense, long cycle and just plain fun! New England SkyScreamer: Fantastic Star Flyer! I know I rode more rides but these are the ones the stuck out in my head. Was there by myself and had a fantastic day! If you’re in the area I recommend visiting! Now onto the photos! (In no particular order) Superman, only running one train, but certainly the best ride in the park! Joker Goliath with SkyScreamer in the background No one has ever taken a photo from this location! Better with riders! Goliath testing, this is a good sign! Batman, surprise of my visit! Goliath’s loading platform. Note, there are still loading gates for the old trains that had to v-shaped seating configuration. They just welded a railing in front of those rows. My favorite photo of the day! I noticed they covered the row where the audio equipment used to be for Bizarro, I wish they would put a row of seats here, same with Apocalypse at SFMM Hey is that spider on Wicked Cyclone the one from SFMM? We haven’t see the spider on Colossus since the RMC conversion!

Appreciate the heads up! I might check out the Big E sometime this week too. It's only about 2 miles from MGM Springfield. I don't have a vehicle while I am here, just using Uber. If anyone is around to meet up Saturday, message me on FB. Link in my profile.

Anyone going to be at the park this Saturday?