Reuschini

Really looks like CP is doing this Wing-Rider the right way. Looks great!

The more I look at photos of this ride the more I think SFMM has officially lost it. Some nice, lengthy, spectacular coasters have been announced for 2013 at other parks. Considering this picture is pretty much ALL Full Thr0ttle does, comparably this one just looks lame. I would almost rather they skip installing this to spend money restoring Revolution like mentioned above, as well as facelifting the rest of the park in areas where we all know it needs it. Wait a couple years and build a ride that has a decent ride time and actually makes sense.

Maybe its just me, but something like a monorail in Vegas seems like a bust right off the bat. I didn't particularly find the route they chose (along the dumpy backstreets, away from the more popular areas of Vegas) or the ease of convenience particularly favorable. Taxis are abundant in Vegas, much more so than in Anaheim. I also don't really think of Las Vegas as a place where they put much effort into the longevity or upkeep of their projects, which in the end will hurt its success. For example, the end of the monorail line is at a Casino (Sahara) that doesn't even exist anymore. Talk about poor planning! IMO where they are considering public transportation in Anaheim, a monorail is something more practical for the long term than the one in Vegas. Getting from the Honda Center/Angel Stadium/Metrolink Station to places like Disneyland, DT Anaheim or the surrounding Convention Center and vice-versa seems like it would really draw public appeal. All you'd have to do is have a line down Katella. You could go from San Diego Metrolink Station, to the Anaheim Metrolink Station, to the Convention Center/Disney area without even having to get in a car! If you're at a hotel near the convention center, you could get on the monorail to take clients to the ballgame, hit the bars after, and get back without driving. It seems like the surrounding infrastructure (Convention Center, Sports Stadiums, Amusement Parks) in Anaheim is much more permanent than say, Casinos that are run down in 10-15 years and lose popularity. A monorail line down the center of Katella would be in-sight visually, which then becomes close and efficient, and would draw both residents of the city, and tourists. And last, in order to be an effective mode of transportation, I really feel like it needs to be out of the way of auto traffic, independent of how busy the streets are at any given time. That's what makes it appealing, when it saves time. Zooming past traffic below at 4pm during rush hour provides that.

Not that this disproves your criticism, but believe it or not there is a "logical" method to the 1 train madness. The ride may have extra trains sitting on the transfers, but operates with one train on slow days because it is one less train mechanics have to inspect before the next operating day. Does it make guests wait 20-30 minutes instead of just walking on? Sure. But it keeps operating and resource costs low. It also keeps guests in the park later in the day to buy merchandise and food instead of just riding everything in the first 3 hours and heading back home. For example, it doesn't matter if a train cycled only one time with guests...that train cycled with the public, and will need to be inspected as if it were running all day. That is why sometimes you will see "empty" trains cycling in the beginning of the day. The train is there to operate immediately if the park gets busier than expected and ride central ok's it --but-- it cycles empty to avoid having to inspect the train the next day if they don't. Unfortunately the ride-ops at Magic Mountain are a bit below par on the efficiency level, and when one train operation occurs, many of us guests get the brunt of it. It can be very dependent on the ride ops whether you will be waiting 10 minutes or 30 minutes. Perhaps. But, likely, it would only be a partial paint job. Just like when Colossus was "painted" when they opened Goliath. Funny how when Tatsu was installed, Revolution was in the vicinity of media shots and got a much needed partial paint job on the loop. Kind of ironic how Tatsu may finally get a similarly needed paint treatment when a newer coaster is installed in its vicinity.

I think the best solution would be a monorail in the center of the street where the islands are already anyway. All you need to do then is dig footers, pour supports, then hoist and connect prefabricated track. It's out of the way, they're no ugly wires in the air along the entire track, it moves regardless of traffic below, it's quiet, holds more riders, and is clean. Instead this project is going to take years and the traffic is going to be 10 times worse during construction while they're tearing up the streets and infrastructure from the Honda Center to Disneyland. It's going to cost them more than they estimate and take twice as long. Love the idea of public transportation, but they can be smarter about it. Street cars are a terrible idea in my opinion.

There may be no reason but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It is very possible for the park to have ride policies that go beyond the manufacturers requirements for personal park reasons, especially if the ride mechanics believe they have a reason to do so.

Well based on the fact that Disney doesn't typically have its characters pointing fake guns at their own heads, and you have an avatar where you are, I would say yes. Yes you are. Maybe Disney should loosen up on that policy?

If I didn't know better after reading the last couple pages of this thread I would have thought I was in the Disney World Resort thread. It's like going in the Universal Hollywood thread and repeatedly saying that Universal Orlando's food selection is better. What?

I would beg to differ.

That might be true but kind of an odd decision to mention here considering we're discussing DTD which is not in LA.

Pro tip: Don't read too much into coaster names.

I think it says a lot about the excitement surrounding this ride when the fact that a majority of people were more excited talking about what may come to the mountain other than talking about the ride now that its been announced. I for one am not quite sure what to think about it, but I can say I was definitely more excited for Lex Luther.

Got in the park right at 7, showed up a little too late to get in the side entrance. Even though it was busy which we knew it would be going in, everything was great. Group thought it was the best Haunt event they had ever been to. Definitely better than Knott's. We got scared TONS by monsters in the mazes and in the streets. VERY VERY FUN! Suggested plan of attack if you get there at 7pm: Do the 3 mazes on the upper lot (and skip the Techno one), head down to the lower lot, do the mazes down there. Hit up the rides on the lower lot. Come back up to the upper lot and do the techno one (the line never got over 30 minutes for it the entire night) then spend time sitting in lines the rest of the night on rides or going on mazes again. Waited in a 100 minute line for a maze, and while it moves, it really kinda kills the mood. Super packed but Universal is great with crowd control. Next year it looks like we're gonna cough up the cash and do the VIP experience, as waiting in such long lines wears on you. I would recommend this event to anyone looking to get in the Halloween mood! And go on Transformers! Amazing ride!

I am going to the event tonight and am super excited and I'm going to be getting there pretty early with a group. Do you know what time they open this side entrance to get to the lower lot? It sounds like they let you in earlier than the main entrance, is that true? I REALLY wanna try this out to save some time as I'm guessing it's going to be packed tonight. I also want to make sure I'm in the right spot, so I'm guessing the side entrance leads you over the bridge that crosses with the entrance to the hotel parking. Just want to make sure. I am also interested to know if the Frankenstein parking lot is closest to the park entrance? I paid $20 for premier parking and want to park as close to the entrance as possible. I am guessing using the Hotel parking is not an option. Thank you so much for this insight and thank you in advance for your response!

Without a doubt Projekt Helix wins. A nice lengthy coaster with a launch AND a noregian loop? Sign me up! That looks like a coaster I would actually get excited for!

I have been much a bigger fan of USH than Knott's for Halloween events over the past couple years. Knott's just feels "old hat" as if they know they are one of the most popular and will get crowds regardless and don't seem to try as much anymore. For example after midnight some of the mazes are dead and you walk through without even getting scared. Even the scare zones have gotten lame as either the fog is barely working or there just aren't many monsters roaming around. As far as fully immersive mazes and not just feeling like you're in temporary mazes made of plywood boxes, Universal takes the cake. Universal IMO has been trying to be more of the premier Halloween park over the past couple years so they've really stepped up. Employees and workers are much friendlier and nicer too when you ask questions. I also actually get "scared" in Universal's mazes, as it seems like not only is the talent at Universal better, but there are also more of them. Even the scarezones have tons of fog, and you really never know when someones gonna pop out. For example on the upper lot in the "studio" area near Terminator seems to always be a good place for thick fog and scares. If you've never been to HHN and can only go to one event I'd say skip HH @ Knott's and give Universal a try. You won't be dissapointed.

HA I have been saying this for YEARS to friends and acquaintences when they talk about going to Magic Mountain for Fright Fest but it's very hard to give an accurate description of the parks poor attempt at Halloween attractions without sounding like a big downer. I gave the park chances for years trying to do Halloween, but to be honest the parks management, budget, and infrastructure is just not able to create an event that immerses you like other parks just because of the sheer size of the park. I think people talking highly of the mazes may just be comparing them this year to how poorly the park had executed them in the past. As far as comparing Six Flags event to Knott's or Universal, don't even bother.

If anything that video made the ride look more boring as it really looks like for the speed and height, Leviathon really fizzes out as it comes back after the turnaround on its return trip to the station.

Very interesting to hear about GardenWalk as from my experience in visiting, it has been pretty difficult to get retail stores to buy rental space at that center (which IMO is still nice and pretty new quality). It will be interesting to see if these new investors can get companies to lease space, or even better get some bigger companies to move in and attract more traffic. Also wasn't it rumored for a while that Disney was going to do something "resort-y" with that space? I go to the park once a month, sometimes more, and Splash Mountain is usually a ride I stop by for a ride. I would say this is classic MiceChat over-dramatics as even I (a frequent visitor) have found it hard to see animatronics not working, or props as you they describe "decaying." Unless you get on the ride a few times in a row and try to eyeball EVERY SINGLE problem, which no average guest does. You got to be careful around that site, they can really ruin what still happens to be a very nicely run resort with very nice rides.

But you have seen it and you have just mentioned its name on a forum. Checkmate, Battleship Marketing.

Very nice graphic created by Ahecht. So I guess next time I need to animate the graphic I find instead of using a still image? Haha, you gotta admit, the graphic I found really wasn't that far off, and was better than many of the wordy "cut and paste" descriptions that were being thrown around... When the computers that control the magnets lose the location of the car, the magnets that control the ride are designed to shut off and the train is practically free-rolling. At that point the only thing that'll slow the train down is the permanent emergency magnets with the same polarity of the magnets on the train behind the station, which is what happened when you rode. It's also possible for the computer to lose the trains during launch, and that's when you'll the train stopped at the bottom of the curve near the tower.

Based on your post I can't seem to find a description where you've differentiated LIMs or LSMs much differently than I have (although I suppose that blinking light graphic is a nice touch). I'm also not sure when "correctish" became a technical term. It might also be fitting to notice you neglected to come up with a description most people would understand, or a source that proved the nice graphic I shared was, in fact, "completely wrong."

The image below is the best description I've ever found reguarding the difference between LIM and LSM magnetic propulsion. Everyone can try and impress you with college terms, big fancy words and technical jargon but as far as actually understanding how they work: this takes the cake. From a reliability standpoint, LIMs do the job. There's only one path they follow and they all fire in line. But as you can see (referring to the numbers on the image) they take a high amount of power each cycle. Costly. LSMs or Synchronous motors are a bit more complicated (although these days with computers they're much easier to control) but take up much less power (referring again to the diagram) but require you to fire off the magnets "in sync" with eachother. These magnets are required on a ride like Superman at Magic Mountain because they both control the launch speed and the decceleration. This type of electromagnetic control was amongst the first of its kind on Superman, which, most of us know, plagued it with downtime. The synchronization is so precise that any kind of faulty speed or loss of car location caused a launch or return failure, resulting in magnets shutting off, and friction e-brakes at the end of the launch or behind the station stopping the car. Most novice visitors of the park are familiar with such events occuring on Superman.

I don't get it. Whats the point of stopping the ride in the tunnel? I think I'd rather they invested this money in Log Jammer to keep it around, as well as improving other operations around the park. This is nothing like I thought it would be. A longer ride duration may have made me a bigger fan of this ride, as it looks like a lot of good kinetic energy is being lost. Guess we'll see!

I went to the park with a group of 6 a couple weeks ago, and we rode Colossus. They actually preferred Colossus over Apocalypse so much that we rode it twice. I'm not sure what some of you are qualifying as "rough" but even I found it to be much improved ride experience. I would agree also that the last few hops would be more fun if the train didn't slow down so much from the MCBR, but the first, second and third drops we A LOT of fun for all of us. Especially considering the thing is 40 years old.