AllenA07

In years past I've seen them continue to run Colossus backwards a week or so into November. Now I have not been to the park in a couple of years (has it really been a couple years now???) however it might be worth checking out if you go. I don't think the park advertises it, rather it is going to be something they just do. Backwards is an interesting idea, but generally not really my thing, I like seeing where I'm going on a coaster. However since we're on this backwards binge I have always wondered about Ninja backwards. XLR8 ran backwards for a short time so we know it's possible. The question would ultimately come down to the forces. I never got a ride on XLR8 but as I understand it the forces were a lot less then on Ninja, which is a critical factor.

Silver Bullet has always been an ok coaster. I would have liked to see it be a little bit more intense, but it has some fun moments. My biggest complaint with it is that it is so completely out of place. It just doesn't fit into the park, and really stands out. I think that a different color scheme would have even helped make the ride fit in better.

I agree with others here, I fully endorse having a zippered pocket for rides to keep things from flying out. I generally just give in when I get to the park and get myself a loc.ker if I know I'm going to be doing a full day of riding. Edit: Interesting word to get picked on by the word filter.

Hmm... I mean physically I think I could, the better question is why would I want to.

Well may not be quite on point however I did have a rollback of sorts on Superman: The Escape. As we're sitting on the ride, waiting for the launch the nerves are building. Then suddenly the train rolls forward and speeds up to a blazing 5-10 miles per hour. As we fly at break neck speed towards the tour we surge 15 feet up the tower before slowly rolling back down and towards the station. Needless to say, something didn't work right on that launch.

Dear Title Fairy, I have never asked before but have decided that I would like a custom title. If possible I would like to have it changed to "Res ipsa loquitur." Thank you for your consideration.

This is a strange move that I don't quite understand. Not surprised that Demon Drop is leaving Cedar Point, just shocked that it is going anywhere other than a junk pile. I'm happy that this means a 1st gen freefall might get a new lease on life, but still, it just seems like a bad move to me. I'm going to give it 2 years before the rumors of its removal begin.

Not saying that I think this ride is going to happen (and by that I mean I seriously doubt that this ride is going to happen), but I seriously doubt the park cares much about the whole clone thing. The thing about a clone, especially when they're on opposite sides of the country, is that nobody is really going to know it's a clone. Other then the people on this site, most people would never have the slightest clue that an exact copy of a coaster exists elsewhere. With that said if I were to build a clone I think I would add on 1-2 mph and maybe an extra 5 feet of height simply for advertising purposes.

Eric I've also thought that this would be a future possibility for the park if they were needing to free up some space. Many years ago I always figured that the park would expand out into the parking lot over near Colossus. However the park has since added Scream! which is in the way if they ever wanted to do an expansion like that.

^I've had that exact thought before. There is actually a lot of room up on Samurai Summit. Actually I've always thought that if the park were to remove Jet Streamer (not something I'm advocating, especially since it's a ride I enjoy) they'd have a large amount of land in which to use, with a station up on the summit. Again not something I see happening, but it is possible. Another place that I'm actually surprised has never been used is the area where the Cyclone 500 ride is. I seldom see that many people on the go-carts, I've thought for years that land was going to be used for a coaster. For a long time I was being told that the park was at least considering that land as a location to move Flashback. I never was terribly sure how accurate that information was but it was floating around.

My favorite part of school dances is that I don't have to do them anymore! I tried to to enjoy them, I really did, but it was never my thing. It was also true that more often then not I didn't have a date to the dances which didn't exactly help. However even once I managed to get myself dates to dances, they still generally made for bad nights.

The PSAT... As I remember it looked nothing at all like the SAT.

I've heard this for the past several years and I've always doubted that this would ever happen. Granted I'm not an engineer, but I would think that the cost to completely retrofitting the existing Superman would be more costly then just rebuilding. Not that I think S:TE is going anywhere in the near future.

The park hosts a lot events at Golden Bear (not sure you were saying that) but I just don't see it being taken out anytime soon. I except that at some pint the park would spill out into the parking lot if they really needed more room. Not saying we're there yet, but at some point in the future I could see that being a logical place to expand the park outward.

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if sometime in the near future the park adds a major record breaking (or something that is unique) coaster. It has been a while, and with the economy improving I could see the parking making a move in the next several years. 2011 still seems a little soon, but I think sometime not too far after that a coaster like this could be in store for the park.

^Either that or there was enough merit to the case to avoid death by Summary Judgement, and this woman really wants her day in court. Believe me, some people just don't want to settle and want to have their day in court. It's a gamble either way as sometimes the jury can do weird things and award next to nothing or some exorbitant amount (think of the McDonalds coffee case, even the plaintiff's lawyers and the judge were shocked at the jurys award, which was subsequently reduced). I'd personally have such mixed feelings seeing SOB go. I've never been on it, but after all the hype and excitement around it when they built it, I just think it would be sad to see go. But considering all of the problems with it, and the fact that most people don't really care for the ride, it might just be easier for the park to cut there losses and get rid of the thing. Basically I guess what it is going to come down to is how much the ride costs to operate and maintain vs. how much money the park makes by having that ride. I bet that SOB isn't exactly a cheap ride to operated and maintain. Furthermore I'm guessing that at this point the coaster doesn't bring all that much money into the park anymore due to how rough it has become, and the general feelings of unpopularity. It just doesn't seem like SOB wins this cost benefit ratio to justify the park keeping it.

Ok well I've got a story from when I worked at SFMM, not retail but it fits here: The most common problem I would encounter was from people needing directions. I generally didn't mind helping out and directing people where to go however sometimes people were really not paying much attention: This exchange took place directly across from Goliath, we're talking 20 feet from the entrance: Guest: Hey could you help me find where I'm going. Me: Sure Guest: Where is the Goliath. Me: Umm right there (I point to the giant letters directly next to us.) Guest: Noooo The Goliath! Me: Again sir, I think it's right there. Guest: Noooooo damn it, I'm looking for the Goliath, the big one!!! Me: Sir that is it, I promise you that is it. Guest: I want the Goliath, I saw it from the parking lot. The white one, why are you playing games with me? At this point I just give up and direct the guy to Colossus. What gets me is why would he assume we'd name two of the coasters Goliath? Lets see, among other things that went down while I worked there came during cheer comps. A guy gave failed to que up the music correctly and then told me to take blame for it. I didn't because this was a competition. I think though my favorite moments were when I would have people flirt with me. Not sure what it was, but when I was working the Fright Fest cooking show, I scored more phone numbers from all the weirdest (and generally) grossest girls you could ever imagine. One girl went as far as inviting me back to spend the night at her place after work. Fun times.

Name: Allen Age: 24 What is your roller coaster count? Somewhere in the ballpark of 75, but I don't really keep a good count. What is your home park? Don't have one at the moment. What is the nearest big city? Dallas, TX What is your occupation? Law Student About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? 1-2 About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 0-1 When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? I always hit other sites on the trip. What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? For a park alone, only about 60 miles. For a trip including a park, a few hundred miles. Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) No Do you have any other major hobbies? Yes Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? Nope. Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) Yeah Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? Now it might a little more, but I did it all the time when I was younger. Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Yeah actually Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? As easy as anybody else I know with a similar hobby. How do you get your coaster news? TPR How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? 4-6 (depends how we define regularly) If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? I have no clue, not much up on current rankings. Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? Cedar Point Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Magic Mountain Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? Nope Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) Nope Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? Generally I look for deals and check RCDB. Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? This is a great community, very warm and accepting. Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? Only if I'm at the park and have a cool tidbit.

In mother Russia, bacon eats you. Yes they do have bacon in Russia, I know this because it was the main source of meat for many people during WWII. It may be hard to find in some places however because of the large Jewish population in parts of Russia.

^Why would it have been dangerous? Anti-Rollbacks are going to keep the train from coming back down, and it's not like when the cable broke it widely whipped through the station.

I fully agree, the ride broke down, all the safety systems worked, that's the end of the story. Rides break, and it isn't always the fault of the company that built it. If your 1986 Ford Pinto, with 250,000 miles on it, has a belt snap (an original belt), you're not going to be complaining that Ford makes inferior products, you're going to suck it up and blame it on the fact you're driving a 23 year old car. In this case the coaster may not be that old, but it has been in service for several years now. Intamin doesn't come do daily inspections to make sure it is in good shape, the park does. In my opinion Intamin basically has nothing to do with this, and has been taking far too much blame recently. And just a side note, my biggest fear is neither planes nor shark attacks, but rather being attacked by a shark while on a plane, that's the kind of thing that gives me nightmares.

If only we could work a question about Final Destination 3 into this thread this may be the most inclusive post in TPR history.

That was a amazing call. I had no idea that Mike Blowers is still doing anything baseball related. I remember him being a Dodger for a short time many years ago.

There was actually a trial out here earlier this week (and by out here I mean in Houston which is some 750 or so miles away from me, but hey who's counting?) for a woman who killed three people while driving and talking on her phone. Now I can't seem to find the outcome of the trial, but I believe she was looking at a decent stint in prison. Personally I am fine with giving out a fine for a person who is talking/texting while driving. I can tell you that a good size fine for most people does work as a great deterrent. I see no reason why we need to wait until it becomes a matter where people are looking at doing prison time for killing somebody behind the wheel. I think it is the same with DWI, start with a slap (fine) and just move up the ladder of punishment if they repeat. Not saying that texting is as serious as a DWI (not even in the same league) but if it makes driving that much more dangerous I'm all for criminal sanctions.

I will admit to texting at red lights while driving (though seldom) however I simply don't have the coordination to do it while going at 70 down a freeway. I personally think it should be banned, as others have said, people are bad enough at driving without trying to text, no reason to make it more complicated.