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Cedar Point's rain policy is one of the things I hate about the park. There's no thought put into it. They close the rides well before the rain comes. Sometimes the rain misses (like it did two weeks ago), so people are left waiting for no reason. The practice of going down to one-train operation during or after rain is ridiculous. Magnum's got a bad brake run. Taking the trains off MF and Maverick is completely ridiculous because the brakes are magnetic. It's like the person who makes the decisions doesn't work with the maintenance people and has no concept of how roller coasters work. The park needs to go back to the old policy of running everything except TTD and Raptor in the rain. There is no safety issue. And shutting everything down well before the rain may or may not come is just going to get people angry. I propose that all of us who have been to the park and not been allowed to ride during, before or after a rainstorm write the park. The contact form is here. I know Cedar Point takes lots of complaints seriously (they changed an articles in line policy in early 2005 because of complaints). I doubt we can make a difference, but we could at least possibly get them to think about how stupid this is.

They hopped the park perimeter fence. The second fence they hopped was in a low zone at Batman. It's one of the fences surrounding the area where the track gets low to the ground.

I'm still skeptical! This ride sounds like no real progress is going on. Weren't the trains or brakes not working right, so it was delayed even more? I'd like to see actual pictures or video of people testing it instead of just some vague news.

Lakeside is a really cool park. But it's only alive at night with all the lights. Your pictures are pretty cool. The Hurricane isn't run well at all. At least it wasn't when I rode. Do they still run it too fast to snap the cables?

Then let's compare it to those guys at the San Francisco Zoo. The police say they may have taunted a tiger that escaped and killed someone. That's the same thing. Whatever the argument is, this kid screwed up, and it cost him his life. The only person to blame is him. As for everything else, this news is barely a day old. Let's wait until at least the investigation details are released before saying a Christian teen who should have known better was on drugs and doing backflips over park fences to grab someone's legs on Batman near the area he lost his hat.

I don't understand why so many of you are angry at the media. They're just reporting what they hear. Some reports said he tried to reach up and grab someone's feet. Some said he lost his hat. They're just reporting that. MyFox Atlanta says the police said he may have been trying to get a hat, so it's not the media's fault the cops told them that. You guys should read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution online. It's a more reliable source than the TV, and it appears to have more information than the TV stations and sites. This article says the father is waiting on the results of the investigation but isn't blaming the park. So that's something.

Go to ajc.com, which is the homepage of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That's the newspaper in Atlanta. The story there says police said he was decapitated.

The news reports don't mention anything about his head being removed. "decapitation" doesn't imply a head being removed. Could be any body part. Although obviously in this case it's most likely. But if it was a low enough zone and he got hit in the torso, it would be quite messy. Franky I don't like to even think about it. Gives me chills. "Decapitate" means to cut the head off of. Why would the news reports say decapitate when they could say his hand was cut off or his leg was dismembered? It's safe to say his head came off. I was also pointing out to QueenCityBoy that his head most likely did not fly through the air.

B&M inverted coasters have a metal bar connecting the seats in each row. See here. If anything, that's what decapitated him. QueenCityBoy, his head most likely didn't fly off. This isn't a movie. It may not even have been completely severed. Maybe it was hanging by ligaments or part of his spine. Who knows?

That's no reason to hate the media. That's what happened. What should the headlines say? "Boy killed someplace, but it wasn't that place's fault." Get real. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has updated the story with a lot more details. It says the boy was with a friend, and they left the park to get lunch. When they came back, they didn't come back in the entrance when they got back. They hopped a fence surrounding the park, then hopped the fence surrounding Batman. Two bad moves.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is saying the police won't say whether or not he was decapitated, and the park statement doesn't say that either. But this is all late-breaking news, so we won't get the details for a while. Oops. That site requires free registration. Anyway, it also says that he hopped over two six-foot fences to get there. Come on, kid! They're there for a reason!

See story here. I wonder what happened? Did he lose his hat or shoe on Batman and run in a low zone? I recall something similar happening when a maintenance worker was in a low zone while Batman was running, and I think it was at this same park. But not many details are out now. Another source. So they jumped the fence, and the kid tried to grab someone's feet? That's insane. Batman goes 50 mph. Even if it's going 35 after one of the corkscrews in a low zone, it will do some serious damage to anything it hits. This is ridiculous. It's like running onto a busy highway and trying to grab someone's mirror off their car. No one does that! So why do people lose their minds (no pun intended) when they enter amusement parks?

Cool TR. I really enjoyed New Mexico Rattler. It's got its share of surprises. Why don't you like the hollow seat dividers?

Here's a working video. This is the first I've heard of it. That's crazy.

How is Texas Tornado? It's a Hopkins, so I'm sure the trackwork is crap. What are those PTC trains like? That loop's supported like that because the track originally followed the main spine. But it would roll back, so they made it shorter and supported it that way. Weird, huh?

This sounds ridiculous. I can't wait to see screen shots.

I just wanted to clear this up. Chang was made before Riddler, and it's in no way similar. Chang actually is a mirrored clone of Mantis until the block brake. There are subtle differences like the drop isn't as steep, and the turns are less intense. It's a pretty good ride.

Make your kid play outside for a while. That's a bit better than a video game!

A resort might work, but I still have my doubts. Why would anyone want to stay in Eloy unless they're skydiving? Phoenix and Tucson are close enough that you don't have to stop halfway to get to either destination. There are plenty of resorts in those cities. As much as I'd love to see a good-sized amusement park in Arizona, this doesn't seem like the way to go. But if it does somehow take off, they'd better figure out a way to keep people cool in the summer.

Just go. Experience a new park and new coasters. It's not like you're going to die. There's nothing to be afraid of.

^ Why not ask one of your industry contacts what it is? I wouldn't be surprised if it was an expansion for Thanksgiving. That area's relatively small and doesn't contain much. It's got a lot of potential.

I don't remember if I've replied in this thread or not. The most I've done in a day is 50 on Raptor.

Are you asking about the little thing sticking up with the green thing on the end? That's a proximity sensor. It senses the speed of the train so the brake can engage. If the train is traveling a certain speed, the brake will slow it down to what the park sets.

Why is stuff like this being posted? It doesn't matter. It happens. Just like yesterday's post of California Screamin' stopping. So what?

Hmm. Not really a tour, but there's a photo gallery here and a trip report here.