ride6

It's kinda strange having Cedar Point be my "home park" (though it's still a 2-hour drive) considering that going there still can feel like and event; which isn't true of a lot of other parks. I think most of that is thanks to the highly novel location on a peninsula (I believe it connects back to the mainland, even without the causeway, though only barely) and the shear scale of the place. Some parks have skylines, but Cedar Point is probably the only one I've witnessed that really looks like it's own "roller coaster city". I agree that Midwesterners (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, at least), have a serious bias about the place. Clearly everything they build is the biggest and best of it's type, ever! /s Which, for what it's worth, is often true (at least statistically) at the time of opening. Almost every ride at Cedar Point has been surpassed elsewhere, but since they haven't all been surpassed at the same place the GP still buy into the whole "coaster capital" thing, for better or worse. The only really sad part is that people seem to think wooden coasters are automatically either small (Blue Streak) or so rough that they almost invite class-action lawsuits (Mean Streak, with the brakes on at least). It also seems, statistically speaking, that Cedar Point has reached it's plateau. Regardless of further expansion (or lack thereof) attendance numbers are remaining approximately steady year-to-year. Personally I don't think that's likely to remain true next year. I think a lot of it is the effect of the new additions being perceived as insignificant (Shoot the Rapids, Windseeker) and/or the lack of reliability of Dragster for years sorta spoiling people's drive to go and risk the disappointment of shut downs...

From what I could tell on Maxair and Raptor today it appears the old bobsled track is being removed in sections similar to how it was originally assembled. The wreckage is from the building that actually enclosed everything. To some extent I hope the ride itself gets relocated unless it had become a giant maintenance headache. Cedar Fair certainly has some parks that could use a coaster, even if it's something "meh". Similarly I think they should probably start relocating some of crap-show at Canada's Wonderland to Michigan's Adventure (or something) to make way for more growth there too, but that's probably just me. Regardless the site they're working with, including the bit of the parking lot that's closed off, appears to be massive. There's been a lot of talk of them reformatting the whole area, so I think new shops/restaurants/flats/etc are in order over the next couple of years. I would be rather shocked if it's all solidified by this coming season but I could be wrong. It seems like an extensive project and there might even be another coaster planned into it for down the road (5 years or something). Meanwhile there's also construction back in Mean Streak's queue area to facilitate the Halloweekend Haunt(s) that otherwise would've been in DT's old building. And if Cedar Point is truly concerned about improving the overall experience they could take those awful, hard, "visual security" straps off Maverick and put on the fabric "racing harnesses" similar to those found on I-305. It would improve the ride MASSIVELY. I'm seriously thinking about starting a petition about this. On the plus side the ride would be safer (no more minor head/neck/earring injures) and VASTLY more comfortable. The only downside is loading times, but I honestly don't think those would get much worse... I rode I-305 11 times inside of 2 hours... Doing the same on Maverick (not that it's possible with the lines) would probably mean a slipped disk in my neck... They should also run Mean Streak with minimal brakes and just invest heavily in track repairs and structural reinforcements. I got a few rides about two weeks ago with no brakes on the first drop and minimal trims at the mid-course and a strange thing happened: it was smooth. Or about as smooth a huge wooden coasters get anyway. Smoother than American Eagle (which I'd ridden only a week before) and basically in class with where Shivering Timbers was last year. Without those brakes Mean Streak even had some... wait for it... airtime! Often at surprising and unexpected moments at the tops of hills going into turns. I was genuinely quite pleased and since it always has short lines I figured I'd be giving it a go for the rest of the year: WRONG! The ride today was braked absolutely to death... it nearly rolled back and it was brutally, cruelly, astonishingly, and indeed, painfully R-R-R-ROUGH anytime it wasn't almost stalling out. At least I know I wasn't lied to when a ride op told me a couple weeks ago "the faster it runs, the smoother it is. But we're not supposed to do that because it rips it's track up." :-/ The management needs to make their mind up: pony up the cash and keep 'er running right (minimal to no trim brakes) or remove it. With the brakes on it's possibly the worst coastering experiences I've ever come across... with them backed off, it's an above average wooden coaster, that could be exceptional with minor reprofiling (particularly in the 2nd half to reduce laterals and increase airtime) and modifications to the cars (replace the hard plastic/rubber padding with real... PADDING)...

Joey was waring a USC shirt I notice. As a Michigan student I now officially hate Joey . I used to think of Nagashima Spaland as one of the parks that was sorta 'in league' with Cedar Point. But I used to think that of Six Flags Magic Mountain and Blackpool Pleasure Beach as well; which, in retrospect is clearly all wrong. But anyway, it looks like a cool park, probably one that I'll never visit as Japan doesn't look to have the individual "OMG- World Class" coasters like this country (the USA) or Europe do. While Europe doesn't seem to have as many rides at least half of them aren't "Jet Coasters" and are instead old Schwarzys, which I love.

Who's willing to join me in betting that this thing will own GCI's twisters because it'll actually have real airtime? Or at least we can always hope...

I can totally empathize with you on the weather though. Went to Cedar Point on May 18th (Physics day) last year and it poured so hard towards the end of the day that even the aircraft warning lights on TTD were lost in the haze. Maverick looks good, I'm really looking forward to that one... Better make some phone calls to see if I can't pull a trip together out of friends rather than being lame and going with family (I'm 18 for god's sake!).

True... I think something must've gotten messed up at somepoint. It looks like it rolls around the "spine" of the track more than the riders "heartline", which would explain the problem I think... I'm still one to believe that a proper heartline roll can and should go there. Cedar Fair should just get a few lawers together and argue with Stengel until they get a ridable roll. I agree that as it is it would've made Maverick the modern equivilent of Harry Travers abuse machines.

Being "young and strong" plus knowing an excellent chiropractor. I'd take the roll.

Am I the only one still royally pissed off by the removal of the roll? That was the signature element in the ride video for me... Then again it's got a few good drops, a couple inversions and a decent look'n launch. I guess I'll deal with it... I still hope that they get a proper hearline roll in there next year because that looked sick in ways that I can't put into words.

Funny thing about Anaconda: I actually liked it. In fact I had no clue what people are always complaining about when it comes to big Arrows. That is until the corkscrews, at the point it blew it so hard that it ruins the whole ride. Shame too because up until that point I was actually thinking that it was something resembing smooth. This brings back memories for me though, having been to PKD a few years back. It's quite amazing how much has already changed since I was there (in '03 I believe).

Okay, I'm officially too poor to do this so it would be fantastic if you'd release the dates that you guys will be at the specific parks (say SFGAmer, Indiana Beach and Cedar Point) I'll try to meat you guys at one of them. I should be able to afford to at least do that. Oh and please do Indiana Beach at night, it's so much better than during the day. Ride6

So you mean, you could help us find flights from a certain area. Say, Chicago to Cincinnati. Um, rent a car and drive? It's almost certainly cheaper than flying in this case, but I guess that depends on gas prices next year now doesn't it? Anyway since I haven't recieved a flyer I assume you need my e-mail address: ride6_rct@yahoo.com Midwest trip, I'm willing to help plan as well, just PM or E-mail if you need any information or advice *cough*IndianaBeachMustBeAtNight!*cough* Oops, I know that's not what this thread is for... How aweful of me. Ride6

^My guess is that it depends entirely on the park's policies for water park admission. Those with the water park included in the main admission would obviously be include, those where the water park is seperate (such as Cedar Point and Soak City) it would be up to you to pay if you decided that you must go to the water park. Just my guess... Ride6

I'm interested in the Midwest Trip and more than happy to help with planning as well since I live in the area (midwest) and have maps and such. Even though only about 1/3 of the parks will probably be new to me it's all good since out of my top five favorite rides pretty much all of them area here (then again I'm missing alot of good stuff outside this region, and even in it!). Ride6

No taking shots @ my #1 favorite park (of the 8, yes only 8) I've been to. I <3 Indiana Beach. It's a park that "should never be" in America. At IB you're not really held in on the sky ride or one of the coasters for that matter. Last time at IB I noticed at least a 1/2 dozen major lawsuites waiting to happen, I just prey they never do because I'd hate to have that place become like the rest of this padded, pathetic country. Well and the "grittyness" at IB gives it quite a bit of it's charm imo. Oh and that place looks excellent in a big way, major beautiful. I <3 Schwarzkopf coasters. Esspecially one's with "OMG WTF BBQ" drops like that one has. Ride6

Um, what's so different about it from X other than not being at SFMM? The layouts look EXTREMELY similar from my angle except for the "full-full roll" which looks pretty damn sweet but I can't use to justify the cost of plane tickets to Japan... Actually I can't get to X either so what am I babbling about? heh. Anyway, it looks great and I'm extremely pleased to see another 4D. I'm just alittle confused on what makes this "so much better" than X... Ride6