QueerRudie

TWINS!?!?!?! Double the profits for kiddie coaster credits! Imagine this: You will have TWO kids you can profiteer on at parks with the "MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY CHILD" sign. Way to go to setup your retirement! (And congratulations to you both as well!)

Yes- Robb opened it just prior to the start of the Track Challenge- and I had wanted it to run through the end of the Track challenge; beyond that I'd forgotten completely about it.

Being a devout believer in His great works, this coaster is -high- on my to ride list. Some things you'll notice: The track is identical to Venus at Space World in Japan- this ride, like Venus, is made by Sansei Ltd. with BHS engineering- and Schwarzkopf design. This, by technical definition, is His last design before entering full retirement, and shows the practical care he gave to every design out there- and fits well with His other great works. R.D.

Done- Good luck, too!

That's something I've thought about- but I don't see there being much change off the existing system itself. Usually, if there's a handicrapped guest entering (Say, for example, me...) there will be assistance needed to get into/out of the ride vehicles. However, chairs will require you to not only deal with a 'taller' car (See the picture a few pages bacK) but also some key issues gripping the ride vehicles. Most likely, there will be a 'sliding board' from chair to vehicle at the end of the day- that's pretty common in most parks for chair-bound guests. For those of us who are ambulatory, we're pretty much expected to get in on our own, however, I -loved- the low sides to the old sleds. I could get in and out without any difficulty whatsoever, and without feeling like I had to climb over a wall to get into the vehicles. The same thing could be said for BTMR, with the coaches having low sides. In the end, however, I think that the traditional 'stop loading for the handicrapped guest method' will be standard- although at a slight reduction in capacity overall.

You're making this seem like Michigan's Adventure. CGA already has enough flats and already has two family coasters: Woodstock Express & Psycho Mouse I do expect a major roller coaster because look at SFA, they finally got Apocalypse, sure most parks think of this as a horrible addition, but they got something. I do expect somewhat of a major coaster because CGA is in competition with SFDK, and the problem is that a lot people I know go all the way to SFDK from the South Bay rather than going to CGA which is in their "backyard". Why? Teens - CGA doesn't have as much thrills as SFDK Families - CGA has no animals, let's go to SFDK! (or Happy Hollow for really small kids). CGA cannot compete with the family atmosphere because there already is two family amusement parks: Happy Hollow & Gilroy Gardens. Though. CGA can compete in thrills. If they spent money on that GCI coaster, around $10 million in investment, advertise it like crazy just like how SFDK did with Sky Screamer, than the attendance would skyrocket. I'm going to repeat myself: You're setting yourself up for major disappointment. 1.) Attendance will not skyrocket. It didn't following Stealth- nor did it following Psychomouse. The attendance has been, pretty much for 20 years, as flat as the salt beds in Utah. 2.) The budget is for RIDES over 10 years. 'POOF'. There went your fanboy-coaster. It's gone, off to a faraway place, called REALITYLAND. 3.) Cedar Fair may have taken back the park, but that does not guarantee an expansion- or for that matter any real change in the park's operation status and schedule for expansion. From the financial documents, Cedar Fair is looking at this as being a cash-cow: Needs very little feeding, and lease costs are dirt cheap all things considered. 4.) Teens have never, and will never, make up a financial demographic for a theme park. Never have, never will. Why? THEY DON'T HAVE M-O-N-E-Y.Teens are for the most part the lowest scale demographic for a park, as many enter on their pre-paid season pass, spend a few hours and leave, without dropping any money into the parks' coffers. To a park chain, you get the guests in who ARE dropping money: Families of all demographics, and adults 25-49: The ones WITH money. The ones who are buying the food, wine and beer. The ones paying to act like they're 19 again on the swing. The ones who HAVE M-O-N-E-Y. 5.) Gilroy Gardens IS a Cedar-Fair managed property- and is marketed along with Great America as a fellow park. BOTH have Family rides, and attractions, and in all reality, the Planet Snoopy renovations make Great America even more family-friendly. Thus, those kiddies aren't going "I want to see animals" at SFDK... they're going "I want to see SNOOPY!" at Great America. Guess which one has more Star-power? It's not the whales in Vallejo. It's the Beagle in Santa Clara. I don't want to seem like I hate Great America: I don't. I like the park, I love the rides, and yes the park needs some form of development. But I'm also -realistic- and look at the grand scheme of things, too. It's the over-obsessed fanboy fantasies that end up in disappointment at the end of the day- when the 'It's coming! It's Coming! I heard from the dippin' dots guy it's coming!" fanboys are crying when they don't get their fantasy coaster.

Something else for the ride, the Theoretical Riders Per Hour should increase with these new sleds. I realize that the old sleds held up to 8 people per train, but most of the time the train wouldn't fill that way, lowering the capacity of the ride. With the new arrangement, they should be able to get more people on per hour. Actually, that's not quite accurate: Most of the sleds I've seen dispatched have had... six to eight people on it. Now, counting the 'we can't find a single rider' seat, we're looking at five per sled. So much for gaining capacity....

With a layout like that... you need something even more terrifying. The layout and 'base colors' are dark, combined with a bowl-style racing profile of both dueling and interacting rotary curves. The trains, with the numerous high-low elements looks like it's interacting with the terrain. Rapid direction changes, airtime hills and other profile variants makes me think of weather... and more precisely a tornado. Looking at the size of the ride, it's a pretty bulky monster, so a tornado of large scale, and most likely, destructive. I'd go for a name like: F5 or FJ5 (As in the most severe tornado on the scale) So the ride's outside/platform side sign would read, in bold letters (Color would be signal red, outline in black) F 5 The undersign (subtitle) would read "Maximum Destruction" (Color would be Warning Yellow, outline in black) R.D.

WHEEEEEEET! WHHHEEEEEEEET! WHEEEEEEEEEEEET! So a few days back, my little Guinea Pig, Mr. Mouseburger, started reminding me that Anton Gardens didn't have a good 'family' theme area, with gentle rides and scaled-down versions of larger ones. After digging around older parks I've made, I took some pages from other parks, and decided... It was time for Ginn E. Pigg to return. Now this expansion is challenging in quite a few ways: The site is narrow compared to the others in the park, and two other theme areas are bordering on it; The land use has to be optimal, as there isn't much room to grow 'out' with the new area (There are still two more theme areas to be built) and the park has to be able to maintain function while the new area is built. These complications aside, I think I came up with a good solution to the process of building the Ginn E. Pigg area- as well as preparing for the last two 'original' lands to be built. First, let's look at the base area as it grows out: Using the land that was formerly occupied by SpeedRacer was easy- there was no issues with the berm for the fort, and plenty of room for the first plaza. SCR153.BMP The first 'core' area is added. SCR154.BMP Two attractions are added to the first plaza, as well as a junior log flume and car ride next to it. Since the parks' variety of coasters was lacking something for the kids, a small Zierer coaster is added. Theme still to be determined when the picture is taken- but I had some ideas in mind. SCR155.BMP A small Zierer junior coaster is added, to compliment the parks' collection of larger rides. Scaling down the coasters wasn't the only priority. A junior flume, as well as an autocar ride are added- and intertwined for effect. SCR156.BMP A close up of Rainbow Falls and Ginn E. Pigg's Freeway system prior to theme elements and scenery being added. The 'cornerstone ride for ANY Ginn E. Pigg area is... Ginn E. Pigg's Barnyard Adventure: A tamed-down wild mouse built around Ginn E. Pigg's search for vegetables. However, due to an error I made in the initial building of the scenario, not all the elements I'd have liked were in there: Primarily, carrots and large grass. Undaunted, though, I did figure out a good solution... SCR157.BMP Ginn E. Pigg is assembled- and ready for theming and scenery additions. SCR158.BMP The Big Red Barn where Ginn E. Pigg lives- and a staple of her attractions! SCR159.BMP The Big Red Barn, plus the garden/farm elements added in. Instead of grass, trees are used, but with some creativitiy, Ginn E. Pigg will find her food! Once the core rides are in place, and basic pathway attention is done, focus turns on completing the building structures, including the various food and park facilities. Here was where I wanted to have some variety of building structures. In addition, in keeping with the 'lighter' aspects of the Ginn E. Pigg theme area, colors are bright, cheerful and eye-catching. SCR160.BMP Core rides and basic gardens are added. This is the final layout for this scenery area. Now let's take a closer look at Ginn E. Pigg's farm, up close. First, the key to the rides is 'gentle is good' to keep with the family friendly ideals of this theme area. Nothing has a high intensity, and rides are 'Thrilling, but fun.' Two flat rides are in the first plaza; Ginn E. Pigg's Circus (Circus attraction) plus Twirling Teacups (Teacup ride) are on the first plaza, along with park services. Across from this plaza is Rainbow Falls, an Arrow Junior flume. SCR163.BMP Looking at the forward part of the area, we can see the attractions with guests waiting to ride. Running underneath and around Rainbow Falls is the Ginn E. Pigg Freeway system, a toned-down version of Autopia. Across from this is the Hamster Run- the junior coaster themed around cute fuzzy rodents running around in circles- as they are well known to do. SCR164.BMP Here you can see Ginn E. Pigg's Freeway System and the Hampster Run junior coaster. Now that this area is completed, let's take a closer look at the whole park- as you can clearly see the two remaining plots of land for building. SCR162.BMP Anton Gardens: Phase IV completed... and room to grow! With this area now complete, and attendance up, it's time to turn to finishing out the first of the two 'original' theme areas. One of these will feature a third hotel addition, as well as two 'core' attractions. While I'm still thinking about how to finish these areas out, I've got a pretty good leaning that one will be a Castle theme area, while the fifth area is still TBD. I have a few more themes I can work with, so it's not a priority, either. R.D.

Looks very nice, Pup- but I'd make a few revisions to the Schwarzkopf triple-Looping: Make the helices larger in diameter- your riders will thank you for it later. A very nice start- and I'm looking forward to seeing your skills improve in the future!

OK: From my Masters Degree in Marketing Science, courtesy College of William and Mary: In order for you to properly market a product, no matter what it is, you need to know what the product does, how it will fit into the marketplace, and it's specific use. Without that, you are aiming blindly into sales- and possibly failing to sell your product right. In other words: If you don't know what the coaster does other than race, what's the point in naming it. Is it a twister? Does it duel? Does it have special effects? Is the ride family friendly? Is the ride in a themed area? Does this ride have any notable firsts? Will this ride be a record-setter? Is the layout of a particular shape or design? Will the ride have a specific niche in the marketplace? Could the ride be used for tie-ins to other marketing endeavours? Will the park be adding any particular theme to the ride itself BEYOND what the park has already? Is the ride part of a series? Could the ride be sold as a production model? Thus my statement before: I see a brake run, and a lift hill. I don't know of anything else of the ride, so coming up for a name for it beyond 'Racer' is just about impossible. If I had the answers TO those questions, I could come up with a more appropriate name, instead of random names that might not make sense for the project. R.D.

I think Six Flags over Georgia's version is even worse--mainky because it's longer. Agreed... At least Ninja at SFStl has -flat and smooth- spots on it...

I'll do that now-

I think it's quite premature to start celebrating rides yet... Remember. that is a SCC recommended expansion budget... and not a realistic one at that. Fanboys: Remove thy head from the ground, and breathe the fine air of reality: The budget is not going to get blown on one ride. I could see: 1.) A set of flats, along with some basic park improvements. 2.) A small junior/midsized coaster (Perhaps a Vekoma Mk700) with family appeal - as well as another flat. 3.) A restored relocated coaster from another CF park- PLUS two flats. Either way you look at it: I don't see any big-scale coasters coming to Great America. It doesn't make sense to. Nor does it make sense to try and even fantasize about it... you're setting yourselves up for serious disappointment.

Well, based upon how little you've shown of it: I'd simply call it Racer. Without showing off some actual RIDE part of it, how can anyone judge the personality- or for that matter name it? Right now, you see a lift hill, and a brake run. And that's it. Where is -anyone- supposed to come up with a good name based upon a lift and a brake?

Let's think of the potentials based upon other rides of similar ilk and genre: 16 people per cycle- assuming they use BOTH sides of the tower (Which, on 'slow' days they won't..) and a cycle (Load to load) of around 120 seconds or so. If they are using good operators, this could be as low as 90 seconds. That means, with a peak operation and good operators of 40 cycles max per hour at 16 riders per cycle: 640 riders per hour- on a GOOD day. Now, take the average park visitor to SFMM: Let's say that 1 in 6 people ride the attraction- (A good average, considering the kiddies don't ride and some of us don't do drop rides. You're still going to have some lengthy lines, even with the TC and the 1 in 6 principle in place. The area around the base of Superman isn't that big, and it's a bit landlocked. I don't expect Lex to have a lot of place to have holding areas, etc. (I've been wrong in the past on this; parks never cease to amaze where they can stuff a line into/out of). But for some reason, I don't see them having recordbreaking queues- it doesn't make sense to.

I call it: Incomplete project of two GCI Millenium flyers on a brake run that nobody could tell what it is even if they tried: THE RIDE. (Seriously, don't post obscure pictures like that. It's hard to name a project based upon what you see from a brake run.)

Well, later on today/tommorow morning voting will start on the tracks- Be sure to promote your tracks once voting starts via Facebook: We've had some clear trends that people who promote their tracks/parks via Facebook have -often- had higher vote totals- of TPR members.

Yup. I pulled it for content- is this OK for us to display, or should we keep it here? PM sent before I pulled it yesterday.

Sigh... Perhaps instead of the 'boarding spheel, they should play the old Jimeny Cricket song "I'm No Fool" while showing people how to board the ride...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Disneyland_Resort Both involved the seatbelt being undone in some fashion. Thanks... But I also stand by my statement: In one case, admission of stupidity... in the other, there's no clear 'did she do it' to the accident- and the cars have, if you discount stupidity- operated fine for 52 years... But as people are saying, welcome to the Lowest Common Denominator system of life in America.

Great quote if I've ever seen one- and so very true as well. It took me till I was 16 to realize I was 'boy oriented'... and another 10 years to figure out how I fit into life. Don't rush it. Enjoy the journey- as there is nothing else like it on earth.

Besides the two people who died on it? Do you have a reference point to that? I can't seem to find it doing a google search...

Just beautiful as usual, Hanno- Some spectacular pictures of another GCI Crown Jewel!

RITA: Queen of Speed, the Intamin Accelerator coaster has been added today- and it is by far the most 'refined' of the RideSims yet. I'm quite pleased with it- and it's nearly impossible to run out of people to ride with (Beware: REALLY LONG LINES!)