QueerRudie

Exactly. Wooden coasters cannot be relocated, plus Grizzzly isn't much of an asset that other parks want. Don't say that to Knoebels, please. They might have to remove the Phoenix. And don't say that to Magic Springs- as the Tornado there might have to be removed, too. Or Wild World/Adventure World/Six Flags America... they might have to bring down the Wild One. I agree Grizzly would become firewood- but wooden coasters CAN and HAVE been moved before.

I'm having issues bringing the site up- is this me or are there issues I'm not seeing (Gremlins, elves on striike, Santa on a smoke break)?

So do I.... As a young and stupid man, I still had my earrings in- small and gold, they blended in well with my skintones- and being young and stupid, I didn't remove them... I bled for an HOUR afterwards. For those who think these new OTSRs from Premier aren't that bad... Just wait till you've had the pleasure(?) of riding with one of them... and beg for mercy with the pain afterwards.

Did you see the pictures? Any of them? Did you ride OL:FOF with the old restraints?

AGREED!!!! I opened up OL:FOF at KD in 1996- and was a little stunned at the size and overall bulk of the OTSRs... and let me tell you this: Having survived a ride with those things was, to me, about as wonderful as riding a TOGO with their OTSRs. You have -NO- idea of the pain factor you dealt with in any way. Earboxing? You bet. Gutpunching? Of course. Earrings through to your brain? Expect it. You were -very- lucky if you got off OL:FOF without pain. It was THAT BAD. We're talking concussion type pain. Rerides were impossible- as after one ride, you really didn't want to do anything else, except find either Advil, Aleve or Aspirin. When the lap bars were fitted to FOF later on, it was the re-birth of the ride to me. MUCH more comfortable, and a far better ride experience. I can only PRAY they choose to re-think the restraints for Golaith, as I know if I saw those on the train, whether I needed the credit or not, I'd walk away. I don't need that type of pain again.

Those are very rational answers- and given that the water park there took over a site of a coaster (Stealth) it would be a valid place for a new coaster of size. Sort of: Kennywood and SFMM don't have the same noise issues that GA does. To give you an idea of how strict the noise issue is in Santa Clara/San Jose: SJC (San Jose Mineta field) has strict operational guidelines as for arrivals and departures due to noise restrictions- almost as bad as SNA (John Wayne/Orange County airport). Planes leaving SJC on the northbound departure track (Over GA, the northern edge of San Jose and Santa Clara for that matter) must reduce thurst at 500 feet until clear of the coastline of the south bay, to minimize the noise from the outbound departures. If the air traffic is moving southbound into SJC, aircraft must stay at an altitude over 1500 feet until 2 miles from the end of the runway (about the point where the northern edge of GA is) and then cut the throttles to flight idle to descend rapidly into land. Same noise reason. And same locations. It's so sensitive noise wise that the city has monitors set up along both ends of the SJC approach and departure tracks, and if an airline leaving/arriving SJC makes too much noise, they can be fined large amounts of money for violating the noise abatement patch- and those can approach over 25,000 per violation. How does this tie into GA: A coaster full of happy, screaming riders creates just about the same amount of noise as a 737 on departure- and at just about the same frequency of operations (About every 90 seconds or so). And, if you consider that a coaster is FAR lower to the ground than a 737, the noise will be magnified there. Most of our members would find that sound to be alluring or welcome- but I can imagine the offices there would not like the noise at all. Your meeting has just started, and 35 seconds in, you hear screaming people flying past your windows. Not something I'd want to deal with if I was a business. Any new coaster for GA will have to be built to very strict noise levels- in any area of the park. A hypercoaster IS feasable- but not using the space you're mentioning. As for burying it in the park (Using tunnels, etc.) the soil at that part of the world is -very- sandy, and near a fault line (less than six miles away) making tunneling almost impossible for a ride due to earthquake risk. What I could see going in (coaster wise): A MegaLite, placed towards the far eastern side of the park, possibly in the area of Boomerang Bay. (Or even a Blitz coaster- as they're shorter, and tend to take up less space), a SMALL scale floorless coaster from B&M (Same arrangement for height). In a -perfect world- scenario, I'd do this: Build the parking decks up to the front gate of Great America, leaving the top part open, and then move the entry plaza/front end of the park ON TOP of the decks. Place smaller attractions, etc. on top of the parking deck, and open up the front end of the park for more expansion room, allowing for rides in other places to be moved forward, opening up space at the back end (southern end) of the park- and then use that space for larger rides/coasters. Buy out the nearby offices, and remove them, allowing for further expansion alongside the western end of the park. (Of course, that's not entirely feaseable due to costs, but it would make for a better situation all around, I think.)

You speak some logic: But remember, Bay area politics COMPLETELY lack logic. Second, look at your picture- see all those lovely office plazas? Put one hill up next to them, and you'd be able to hear the screaming from them... in Sibieria or Bothswana. You have -no- idea how cranky these people get. I live half my year in San Mateo, next to SFO, and there are -daily- bitchfests from the locals in Burlingame and San Bruno over the noise. IN the end, the best solutions are to do some hefty re-thought here as to the park and future rides. The noise issue is what will put a nail in the coffin of any attempt to put a large ride in. And remember, a stadium's games are not typically during working hours of Monday-Friday, and events would be in the evening/weekend primarily- opposite those of the offices.

Interesting theory: But look at the scale and size of the ride to the picture- and compare it to Leviathan. Secondly- remember those lovely neighbours? They just showed up to the SCCC meeting and started to throw things at you. There's NO chance of them using the parking lot like that- or taking out the ampitheater at the same time. Also, remember that lot will shrink by 70% in the not too distant future, meaning every single space in the lot will become gold for the park, and to lose some due to the ride would be a non-issue. Good fanboy thought- and interesting concept- but not happening this century.

I just got a cold chill up my spine seeing those restraints... as in: HELL NO. I remember OL:FOF WAAAAAAAY too well. And is it me or does it appear the seats are leaning 'back' about 15 degrees in a few of the shots?

As much luxury as the prime Disney resorts bring, I'm actually looking forward to the Four Seasons resorts: I've got almost 14 days of accrued time with them I'd love to burn off... and this might be the best way to do so!

I definitely would not want to live next to this house. The complaints by the neighbours would be like those of the offices next to CGA...

Awkward? Nope. Arrow Goodness? Yup. Excellent design all around: The ride itself looks like a bizarre love child of Drachen Fire and Anaconda (The loop Sidewinder and modified Butterfly element from Anaconda, the split corkscrews and long rotary drop of Drachen Fire) and works quite well all around. The only non-Arrowness I could spot is the off the lift into the drop. That's more of a Schwarzkopfian element of design, and to a lesser extent found on Sansei rides as well. When will it be uploaded to the exchange? R.D.

That might be the best quote I've seen about the SCCC... I hate to be a wet blanket on everybody who's gung-ho that this park is going to become the centerpiece with new coasters all over etc. It's not. Don't get your hopes up, and please be sure to come down here to reality. 1.) The park is SEVERELY landlocked. Adding a stadium and related infrastructure will eliminate any future beyond borders expansion. Kiss that hyper/Giga goodbye. Say Adios to the megacoaster. And wave bye-bye to that fan-boy powered ideal ride. They went out of the window YEARS ago. 2.) The SCCC (AKA: The Gestapo, Mussolini's henchmen, the KGB.) has repeatedly stated in the past their TOTAL compliance with the neighbours wishes (Look in the SCCC records in Santa Clara if you don't belive me) about the park being too noisy, too bright and being an eyesore. They have about as much feeling for GA as does a supermodel for an ounce of fat. The mayor might be on board with it, but he has NO SAY WHATSOEVER over the park itself. It's the SCCC that's got the ruling power here, not him. He is a figurehead, and very little more than that. 3.) The Neigbours (AKA: that 7 decibel scream was TOO loud for our computers): You're looking at the TOUCHIEST people outside of Bezerkely here, and they will WHINE, SCREAM AND COMPLAIN to the people they paid to have elected into office about it: The SCCC. One -hint- of a new coaster/attraction, and grab your kleenex, folks. They will complain at the drop of a hat about the park noise as being disruptive to everyone around there. Sorry to be a spoilsport, but let's face the reality of Bay Area Politics: It SUCKS to be a park there. Keep your emotions in line with that, and you won't be disappointed in the years to come with the plans you're fantasizing about not coming true.

Two thumbs... WAY UP! CJ it looks inspired by the greatest works of Traver, Prior and Church- and just as delectable. You should be proud: A coaster I'd consider as being worthy of greatness! R.D.

I think this is the biggest problem with Potterdump. It seems like you have to be a Potter "fan" to really appreciate it. (ok, yes, obnoxious people, please post that you're not a Potter fan but you still enjoy it...but you know what I mean.) For example, I'm not a Winnie the Pooh fan...but I *love* Pooh in Tokyo. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I enjoy Star Tours. I'm not a Spiderman fan, but I like the attraction. People who aren't Jurassic Park fans don't need to know anything more than "Hey, there's a dinosaur" to get the attraction. With Potter, I felt completely lost and the entire land meant nothing to me. I went through it once, it didn't appeal to me, and I'm done. That's it. I personally don't have any reason to go back because I feel they designed that land for people who are casual Potter fans and up. For the random person who hasn't seen the movies or read the books, it just doesn't play well to those people, and the responses you hear from the non-Potter fans even on this forum kinda reflect that. I'm all for building a $200 million dollar ride and the equivalent expansion. But build something I can appreciate, even without having seen any of the movies. That right there is my biggest issue with the Potter lands. --Robb "It's built for the fans, not for everyone." Alvey Robb- you have said what is my biggest beef about these new projects for IOA/USH/USF. Sorry, PotterHeads, but some of us have NO interest in these attractions. They do not interest some of us. You will have to deal with it. My problem with any park expansion is the target demographics should be studied- as well as the GENERAL PARK OUTLOOK. Sadly, Universal sees that whole bunches of kiddies are screaming for Mommy and Daddy to take them to IOA and drop 400.00 in a day to please the kids- and bore the craters off the parents. Those parents will remember that they found IOA to have things for the kiddies, but not for the parents- and how bored they were with the park. They will then choose to go to Disney or Busch or SeaWorld instead, where there attractions that the whole family can enjoy- not just one aspect OF the family. Sorry, IOA. Two strikes. Let's see if you go for a third.

Best. Response. Yet. I'll admit: There's a reason why there was frost here in Phoenix last night. It was hell freezing over. Even with CF retaining control (for now) of the property, there need to be some rather drastic upkeep changes to the park. 1.) New rides- across the board. 2.) Renovation of existing structures, painting and cleaning, and grooming of the park in general 3.) Better operations training. And mind you, I'm still in the camp of the park's lend-lease structure with the SCCC is still up for grabs to the right buyer. Sadly, GA has been the bastard stepchild of the KECO/Paramount/Cedar Fair chain for quite a while now. I'd not rejoice too much folks, till we see some serious changes to the park.

OK: I hate to say this (As I know a few of our members have serious Potter disorder) If I were in LA, and had to choose between USH or DIsney, I'm headed to the Mouse House. This attraction/expansion gives me -no- reason to return to USH. There is NOTHING there that I've not seen nor enjoyed before. And that, mind you, is not because I'm Anti-potter. That is a park goer who's seen USF/IOA. As a park enthusiast, there are many things I'd prefer to see first as a park attraction: "BENCH: THE RIDE" "PAINT DRYING: THE RIDE" "JIM AND TAMMYE FAYE LAND" "JESSE HELMS LAND" It's not a turn-on attraction to me, and although Universal has made a mint off of it in Florida, it's not going to have that same powerin Hollywood: The foreign (Read: ASIAN) traffic there is much higher- and Potter did not cause the same levels of hysteria that he did in Europe or the USA. In the end, they should have really considered something different or diverse- instead of a HP world.

Awesome! Bad news for me. My 1 yr. old daughter discovered the switch to the power supply for my desk. So, needless to say I lost my place in line. ONO!!!! That's terrible news! I hope you get your place back, though!

For the first time ever, I WON! I guess the visuals were what was holding me back last year... Now to see if it's something COOL!

I rode the Iron Eagle at SFA during it's first season (Before it broke constantly requiring parts flown in from Italy...) and I can say it was not a bad ride. Two sick-sacks WAAAAY up. It really did it's job very well as a twirl and hurl only could.

TPR REPRESENT!

YES! 6:42 till I go! The Jewish Yeti with the Apron is BACK!

It's interesting to see these types of light displays- as here in the middle of the desert, well, we've got NOTHING. Just a few Christmas palms, and the occasional tacky sled, but nothing as over the top as that!

Why bother? You are just going to have to get back in line at 5:00. Agreed... let the stampede begin at 3:00 MST...

VX (Virgin America) tends to have the same rotational 'deep discount' fare...but has (And will) go lower on occasion. The best sales, however. may still be yet to come...