dougstanton

Notice that the floor doesn't have a drop floor like S:UF or other Flyers? Interesting... Tatsu also doesn't have the drop floor.

Maybe the weight of the boat? The others are probably almost twice as heavy due to having twice as many seats. The splash is really what makes these rides popular. Without any theming or a splash, this ride doesn't mean much.

According to Paula on Holiblog, that does appear to be the final splash. I agree that the splash is rather pathetic. The boat design also appears that it will have the flooding front row like the mini drop on Journey to Atlantis. With little crowd interaction and now what appears to be no plans to ever install a tunnel, I personally consider this ride a fail. If I want to go down a big hill and not get wet, I will ride Voyage.

They wanted the lift to really stand out and have the rest of the ride somewhat hidden. I can't wait for all of the trees to fill in and have Diamondback be just like Beast.

Wow...that ride looks terrible. I know you shouldn't pass judgment before you ride something, but this has terrible pacing along with few flips. Honestly, after watching the POV, it seems like it would be miserably rough if it went much faster. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing an Intamin model similar to X but these small coasters aren't too impressive.

Huh? Haha. I was trying to figure that out as well. Isn't Dueling Dragons known as one of B&M's best masterpieces?

Also, as far as Goliath needing to be longer, its really the same length in time as the other hypers. The only reason Nitro is 1,000 feet longer is due to the fact that each hill is slightly taller. Also, PKI Man, how does Diamondback compare to Goliath? I will be visiting your park in a week on my way to my new park for the summer, Cedar Point.

I couldn't possibly disagree with you more. I am famous for bashing my home park. I agree that our operations are terrible. That is mainly what I complain about. Also, a couple years ago SFGAdv's operations may not have been that great but have been outstanding in the past two years. As for the coaster selection, I think we have a great selection with 4 B&Ms. Goliath continues to be my favorite B&M hyper as I really struggle to see what people see in Nitro. They are basically the same rides but with the hammerhead and helix switched but Goliath has so much more airtime. Nitro is very tame and has nothing more than slight floater air on a few of its hills. Also, not being a fan of stand ups, Georgia Scorcher is the best one I have been on. We have a great Schwarzkopf with Mindbender. Also, while Batman and Superman are clones, they are favorites with the general public and most enthusiasts love Batman. While I feel that our lineup was much stronger with Dejavu (very unreliable but something unique that everybody loved), we still have great coasters.

I head up to work at Cedar Point on the 8th but I will be going on Saturday the 2nd followed by Holiday World on the 3rd.

...but the restriction never used to be there. The height restriction was after the accident with the modified trains. I contacted guest relations as well. I didn't understand how trains that are literally the steel comparison as El Toro without a height restriction could cause these trains to have one. They didn't have an answer. Luckily, I am 6'3", but I really do feel bad for my friend, bgroodog.

I experience with Hershey Park is that it is busy no matter what day or what month of the summer. Both of my recent trips were mid week and the park was still busy. If you are willing to pay for the flash pass, go to Hershey on Monday, but honestly, it won't make much of a difference.

GOLIATH is probably the second or third worst wait with Batman being the other one up there. While GOLIATH will get a big line, it seems to only last for the first hour or two since that is where everybody heads first. Later on in the afternoon the line is always significantly shorter.

April 18th has the potential to be busier since it's a Saturday. I went last night and less than 5,000 people showed up for the entire evening. The lines never left the station all day. If it is your first time going, I can't emphasize enough how well going to the back of the park first works if you get there at opening. Superman will always have the longest wait in the park and then I would hit GASM and Ninja and then head towards USA/Gotham City. The crowds haven't been bad at all this year, but last night was the start of Spring Break, and if memory serves me correctly, the weekend operation tends to get busier after Spring Break until schools let out.

It says in the FAQ section that you can bring as many guests as you would like.

You must be mistaken. There is no possible way that another pen performs as well as a TPR pen.

I think the main problem with Knoebel's is so many people are attached to it because of its history, etc and you go in with the mindset that you are supposed to like it. Honestly, I feel like most people only like it to jump on the bandwagon. I can't imagine placing Knoebel's above a park like SFGAdv, Hershey, or Cedar Point.

We wanted to enjoy the park but didn't enjoy the trashy people or atmosphere . I really wanted to love Phoenix as well. It just didn't happen...for any of us. Maybe we caught it on a bad day though, right?

Ha. This brings back memories of my trip this past summer. We started out the day at SFNE. After the less than hour drive to Lake Compounce, we had to take a nap outside the ticket booths due to the fact that we got there about 90 minutes before the twilight special and knew we didn't need long at all. We then hopped in the car and drove to NYC to ride the Cyclone. That wouldn't work for your trip but I can definitely say that you don't really need more than two hours at Lake Compounce. There isn't anything special about the park itself, but Boulder Dash is INCREDIBLE.

No. Both Medusa and Superman will be ready to open Memorial Day Weekend.

I agree on the atmosphere but felt that the operations were rather poor at Indiana Beach, of the 5 coasters (at the time), only Cornball and Hurricane were running. I can't comment much on Knoebels. It was a park that we only spent about an hour at, simply grabbing the credits and moving on with our trip. Our group found both Twister and Phoenix to not be worth paying for a second ride. Honestly, I found Phoenix to be more of a better Thunderbolt at SFNE. To the OP, I can tell you that even at the best parks 40 days is ridiculous. After graduating high school in 2007, I thought it would be great for my first true trip with only my friends to be a cross country roller coaster trip for 17 days. After about a week of long drives, lack of sleep, and non stop coasters, we wanted to head home. This past summer's trip was more reasonable, about 8 days.

I know I am clearly going to be in the minority but I visited both Indiana Beach and Knoebels for the first time this past summer and didn't see what the big deal was. Cornball Express is very average with numerous rides I could place above it. I will admit that Phoenix was fun, but after all of the praise it got on here, I expected a lot more.

Yes. Luckily, I knew two ride ops at GOLIATH and we were able to talk about geeky stuff like that. Obviously it still runs just as well up until that point, but the bunny hills suffered from the additional trims. I just wish I was lucky enough to have ridden it during the test runs at 77mph. From the view from the ground, it looked like it kicked Intamin ejector air's ass. Oh well.

Regarding how many trims are on GOLIATH, I think those two pictures were taken at different times. The ride opened with less consecutive brakes. B&M actually had to return to add more because the ride was consistently overshooting, causing numerous breakdowns in the beginning.

im sure all that will change by opening day lol...I remember goliath at SFoG testing in the mornings and not having the trim on but when the park open you could really hear the trim if you were outside the park... The reasoning behind not hearing the trims during the morning is that the trims only activate when the train is going at a certain speed. It has to do with the fact that there is no weight in the train in the morning.

That does sound more "roar-y", but I am not impressed with the speed it takes throughout the ride. I remember watching GOLIATH at SFoG test before it opened. It had been clocked at 77mph in test runs. Its advertised speed is 70mph. They test it with different wheels than normal operation. It should only go slower.