GayCoasterGuy

^Those things are incredible. Scare the crap outta me everytime. Imagine a LL:DOD ride built, but with that old Intamin Freefall technology (with out the run out, of course). Those things really gave you the dead-weight-drop feeling that I haven't felt since.

^This brings back memories of working the Cedar Point Blue Streak (when it was a classic with very high lap bars, no seat divider, etc.) and we would see kids walking through the queue with some very ridiculous foot-rigs. The stuffing of napkins in the shoe was popular. We saw little boys with HUGE cowboy boots (did they sell them in the park?) and once saw a little girl with a HUGE pair of high heels on. It's the kind of stuff I wish I had pictures or video of now. It was priceless. Then of course, we had good old fashioned walking on the tip toes. Thank you for respecting the ride op, as obnoxious and inconsistent as it was. It was a fluke of a case, a circumstantial discrepancy. It would have been perfectly within your right to go get a "height wristband" or whatever they do, but you let it roll off and went on with the day (more than I would have, but it speaks to your patience!).

Love this! The movie theaters (like AMC, for example) have all sorts of cutesy "no texting/talking" (I think one even says "no roller coaster riding!") clips before the movies. I don't know what it is in people to want to take out their phone, bright as the sun in a dark theater, and start looking at crap. A movie is a lot cheaper than the Annie play, but it's really annoying. I hope they crack down on it. And more cracking down on smoking, too! Gotta respect others when we share space...

hehehehe... that's a multi-layered joke, depending how you look at it! Could you imagine riding the roughest of all the roughest Vekoma Boomerangs? From what I've been hearing, yes. Unfortunate. The first day I was there, some kid was showing me his bleeding elbow the ride gave him.

This picture is excellent! I've seen low-res versions of it (or very similar). Do you have more!? hint hint...

Great pictures! My parents have told me Japan is the most "otherworld" feeling country they have been to this far. The Violence Soap name immediately reminded me of this:

Happy to see one of my favorite rides crack the top 20 this year! Not bad for the ole girl! She's #1 in my book

^It's nice to see the level of quality get recognition!

Oh heck no! There is still one operating at Paul Bunyan Land in MN: sorry for the distraction

I was trying to figure out which parks have a Chance ship, and I ran across this nugget on Wikipedia: which looks like a milder cousin to the old "stand up swings" (I can't remember the name of them right now) - the really dangerous looking stand up rocking swings that can't exist in parks today. That's a whole other discussion though Which parks have Chance ships? Edit - aha! I found a pic of the flying swings: Kiddieland in Schererville, Indiana had one, but I don't remember seeing people on it.

How about just one really kick-ass coaster? Just kidding.... sounds like a GREAT time. Friends have told me for a couple years now that I really need to check out KI Pride Night. How late did it go?

Not fair! But if I had to pick, I would probably go with Mind Bender. It's got a little bit of everything; good drops, GREAT loops, excellent curves; it's smooth and VERY comfy. You get real air time and great lateral time in those simple old Anton trains. Near perfect! (I Just noticed I added to this topic in about February; my main #1 was the same ) Fun topic! Nice to see what other people pick.

Happy to see the new addition is a GREAT family ride! And a new restaurant... very smart investments.

Next Sat (Sept. 14th) is (six flags) Great America's "out in the park" event. It's an extra $38 bucks or something... not sure I will make it this year, maybe next year!

Some of the best, I consider myself lucky! -Timberwolf 89 -Ga Cyclone 90 -Tx Giant 90 and then some "others" such as Vortex at KI, and a bunch of other less-memorable things. like Mantis

My favorites are still the old Anton shuttle loops. Simple, very comfy, plenty of great strange noises, blah blah blah. I know, it's a lot of sentiment. I remember being fond of Stormrunner and had a great time on Top Thrill Dragster as well. Ahhhh! How could I forget The Chiller!? The Chiller (only got to ride red side/Robin, with lap bars thankfully) was one of the best rides I ever rode. The twist-thingy tried to rip you out of the train! Very nice!

I rode it the 2nd day it was open (a Sunday in June) and it was great, but still very rough (except the new part) by most standards. One weekend later, it was noticeably rougher. Should we have a poll to guess what the outcome will be?

I'm all for keeping American Eagle close to what it is now. As someone else mentioned (probably me!) many times, topper track the helices, turn the brakes off and you have a top ride. For us locals who've caught the ride when it's running prime, we know what it can do Oh yeah, and get rid of the side "wings" and headrests. But that would be an expensive project...

Demon, American Eagle, Whizzer (my home park!), Blue Streak (CP - when it was still a classic; worked on it for 2 years), Kennywood Thunderbolt, Legend at Holiday World, Mind Bender SFOG... and my record for most rides in one day was 64 on Screechin' Eagle: It was 1989, I was like... 15, and obviously crazy. I loved every minute of it. No seatbelts, no headrests, none of that junk. Just one cranky old kick-ass John Miller ride with 2 drops that tried to throw you out. It was heaven! This was the killer drop: It doesn't look like much, but the tail end of that 3 bench car cranked right over! the drop after this one was nearly as wild

From what I heard, Hades was running very aggressive yesterday.

^ love it If RMC did do a launch (the break run of Goliath would be a good place for one!), I think it wouldn't necessarily need to be a very intense one - just something to gain a little speed. If it was an intense launch, they might have to add headrests. Either way (intense or soft launch, headrests or not) it's gonna happen eventually.

But then CP would finally have one really great kick ass ride! /ducks I never noticed how awesome of a skyline Carowinds has!

Is that what they're calling it? Whatever it is, you're right - it will be amazing. The inverted hill - 1/3rd loop thingy - that really made me look twice. Insanity... I look forward to the screams! RMC said a while back they would not do any vertical loops. But they have a half loop and a third loop! Very cool!

Yikes. Open for free on a holiday? Strange. I wonder how Hades is holding up?

Does anyone think (or hope!?) this may be a "say goodbye to Rolling Thunder" only to have the ride come back, re-themed/named in 2 years with RMC steel track? From what I've heard, it's pretty much a real goodbye. Sorry if I've missed some speculation...