GayCoasterGuy

^I can definitely agree with that. I don't care, as long as the ride is good. But like most coaster nerds, I have an opinion too. I'm all for any combination of wood/steel. The I-beams on American Eagle were the first "steel on wood" tryout I know of. And good thing, it may have saved the ride. It was getting painfully awful near the end of it's "traditional wood track" phase.

The point I was trying to make is that, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. ^Good point about CI Cyclone and Comet. I remember in the Traver book, Crystal Beach Cyclone and similar rides were called "Steel Saftey Coasters." Interesting stuff.

^^^I really like the look of Heide Park's white/green theme! The late, great headbanger Orient Express looked great. Bright red in amongst all the green foliage: (I swear I had a couple fluke smooth rides on it!) Way too much good stuff to pick from. I can stare at coasters all day. But I've always thought the Revolution - the graceful, sweeping first 3 drops (and the rest of the ride!) was particularly attractive. Even though it's completely covered by trees, it still maintains it's beauty.

I count Eagle as 2, and Outlaw Run (and the new Goliath) as official "hybrid" wooden coasters. No one cares To maintenance, operations, and a bunch of coaster nerds, Eagle is 2 coasters. To most everyone else, its one coaster. Just like Goliath will be a woodie to most people. Heck, some people who visit Cedar Point still consider Gemini to be a woodie. None of it really matters. American Eagle had steel I-beam track put in in the 90s for the out-run... but mostly still a woodie.

^Roller Coaster Fever

They were going to call it Gladiator, but decided that may be a little too gay (I know that was bad, but too good to pass up.) It really is a great logo! Didn't Colossus originally have gladiator-type dudes on the sides of the cars? Colossus would have been a great name too! Goliath works great for Great America, the next closest one is SFOG.

I still haven't been to Canada's Wonderland, now I have more reason to go next year! Plus that must have Sky Rider credit

American Eagle held the fastest (and tallest?) record for years after it was built... looks like Goliath will do the same thing. I have a feeling it won't hold the record for as long, though, with the way things are going in the industry.

Maybe eventually, CP will do a makeover on Mean Streak once they know the RMC have proved themselves long-term (maintenance, cost, reliability...)?? But I guess I shouldn't open that can of worms in the wrong thread! I'm glad they're going with orange track - matches the other behemoth of a ride on the other side of the park! Variety is the spice of life! We can still have "traditional" woodies. I'm sure Thunderbolt will still be my favorite woodie, but this ride will be awesome. Heck, if American Eagle runs this October like it has the last 2 Octobers, it still may be the best woodie in the park! That run home (on Eagle red, when those brakes are off) is "Voyage meets Phoenix"!

They still could, at some point! Financial and operations-wise?

That drop looks insane. A great reason for me to return to Great Adventure soon! Last time was 2006 for me. I've heard things are much better now. That kinda stinks they are taking out Rolling Thunder. Guess I was one of the 16 people that liked it.

Of course... and it's going to be a stellar ride either way. A further discussion might include - "well, they could wait another year, and build a longer ride" (complete with pre-lift section, etc. etc. etc.) but they aren't doing that. *Edit: An Anton shuttle loop is what, 32 seconds? Those are still one of my favorite rides. So length doesn't have to matter from that pov.

This thing looks insane. Very happy this is coming to my home park! The ride looks very intimidating; I'm glad they came up with a cool logo too! That reverse loop/speed hill thing nearly made me fall off my chair this morning. Crazy stuff! The whole first curve/turn-around looks like a psycho Cyclone tribute - 2 high, stacked turns, but insane here. I didn't catch it - are they using the old Iron Wolf/Z-Force station again? The only downside is the length. A coasters track length used to be determined by the height. There is so much wasted potential and kinetic energy at the end (YOLOcoaster, Iron Rattler, Leviathan, etc.). But as others have said, the short length of Outlaw Run hasn't kept it from being the best wooden coaster in the world!

I'm 6-1 and find Maverick a real pain in the neck. The jabs from those thin/hard bars are worse than any Arrow I've been on. My friend Beth, who cannot get off Voyage during ERT (I can take 2 rides in a row at most) will not go anywhere near Maverick. It's all opinion I guess... and all the combinations of different opinions. I really want to LOVE Maverick, but those dang jabs.

I wish I could go back in time to Action Park! There was (I guess still is) a place in Indiana called Lake Eliza. I dunno if I went with the boy scouts or during summer camp... but they had a couple slides that were insane. A quick google search yielded this: That slide was the fastest thing I ever rode. The stairs were creepy tall and slick, and it seemed so high off the water where you flew off. There was also a mat slide down the side of a wooded hill, where all sorts of wrong moves were happening. Great stuff. Even the diving boards and high dives I grew up on are gone People are wimps.

That really had to suck! You could, in a very polite and nice way, suggest they get a single rider line. But you must make that suggestion at Guest Relations, and make sure it's on paper. This picture was taken on Saturday, July 13th of this year: Think about all the single riders waiting in line that would love to take any one of those 10 empty seats to avoid the line. The picture was taken walking out of the Viper queue, and I notice the empty seats later. It's not uncommon. I've seen as many as 13 empty seats on one train. You do not need assigned seating to fill the train and get it out on time. I'm cursed knowing that can be done, having worked at Cedar Point in the early 90s. It's a blessing but a curse at the same time Another park would be great! We had Kiddie Land, but a mid-sized park would be great. Some people kept trying to get another Riverview started (in the south burbs, I think), but no go so far.

If more CP "fanboys/girls" piped up about that, I figured the park would have gotten rid of the shoulder part (they are easily taken off with an Allen wrench) or traded them in for soft pads like I-305. But no one wants to "complain." Done politely and constructively, it can lead to changes. I find that trying to sit up with the small of my back not slouching in the seat helps. Kinda keep the lower back away from the back rest, which sounds kinda silly... but works for me

I can appreciate that, for sure. People love Maverick. But when I've ridden it, I just keep thinking "this thing would be GREAT with out these stupid hard shoulder bars."

I guess I might have been a bit, sorry It's the inner-child-still-a-punk that wants to get loud over the mom & pop parks. Good points made, people really do say stupid things about the big "corporate parks" as well. I guess I just don't see those as much cuz I don't pay attention to their facebook pages. Thanks for the heads up, guys I love the big parks, too.

I'm going to miss Ragin Cajun. The capacity is horrible and annoying... but it can be one of the funnest rides in the park. Every time I take a non-coaster friend, it's one of (if not) their favorite rides. I'd rather see Dark Knight go. Or Superman (I know I know, just my personal opinion.) It's too bad they couldn't get the capacity issues worked out. From what I heard, it had more to do with the insurance company and not the park. Great America wanted to run it full capacity (9 cars instead of 5, I believe?). Heck, I'd rather see X-Flight go. But that would be obnoxious

Similar case with Knoebels... Holiday World, the "mom & pop park that could" gets it's signature ride called crap... Meanwhile, a few hours away, at big corporate park, Maverick beats the hell out of necks and heads and nobody complains.

I remember never stopping... you kept walking and walking. Ahhh... 6 train ops with rare stacks. I think that ended around 85 or 86?

It's funny all the complaints a little mom & pop park can have against them... But then big corporate park announces what looks to be a mediocre-at-best design with an 80 foot high ending, and the fans are friggin foaming at the mouth. I'll be at Knoebels this October for PPP, Flying Turns open or not.

What do these ankle holsters look like? The ride was perfect in the early 2000s... Very strange for a park to spend $10 million on a ride that is near-perfect and rated #1 in the world. That was strange. I haven't been back since 2006.

You haven't lived until you've pushed a person in a wheel chair up that exit ramp. Or Eagle's. Or Raging Bulls. Or Vipers. True hell. Pushing a wheel chair up an inclined ramp for 1/3 of a mile is bad, but trying to accommodate exiting hordes of riders and then waiting at the small/congested exits to those stations... my gosh. The person who designed those exit ways should have a full time job of assisting wheel chair patrons all summer long. With overtime. Cedar Point did their exits right. I'll give em that Even Indiana Beach and Hersheypark have dedicated elevators.