steven6995

^ I can hear M. Bison yelling "OF COURSE!"

So its Kentucky, Mexico, Chicago, Holiday World, or California.

You make a very good point. Maybe one of the franchises or corp.'s related to SF donated to the democratic party or Obama's campaign, or it could be referring to SF Great America, which is near Chicago, Obama's home town, and has a largely democrat population. I'm probably totally wrong. EDIT: well Holiday World is full of those Pepsi Oasises, so that could mean somthing.

^Could this signify the competition between Six Flags and Cedar Fair?

Maybe it meas the relationship between immigration reform (immigrants from Mexico to be exact) being a hot topic in the democratic party, and taco bell being a "Mexican" themed fast-food joint. I'm guessing we're moving on to a park in Mexico? There are also two coasters called Tornado in Mexico, relating to an earlier clue. They can be found here http://www.rcdb.com/727.htm and here: http://www.rcdb.com/1867.htm

Harry Traver's infamous Crystal Beach Cyclone "Giant Safety Coaster" is known as being one of the most terrifying roller coasters ever built. A nurse was even stationed, well... at the station for insurance reasons. It operated from 1927-1946, and some of its structure was used on the Comet roller coaster, now at Great Escape. So my question is, if this ride was rebuilt somewhere, who do you think should build it (Gravity Group, S&S, GCI, ect.), and what changes do you think would or should be made to it? Here is some information on this legendary beast. Detailed Description of the Ride Features * curve out of the station onto the lift * the chain lift * a spiraling first drop about 90 feet tall * a second hill which ended about 82 feet above the ground * an abrupt left turn down the second drop at 52 degrees * a spiral drop * the emergency brakes * a steep drop into the high speed figure eight * another drop and "hops" under the lift hill * a 210 degree high speed turn under the coaster's superstructure * a "zigzag" or "jazz twister" track (now called trick track) * a series of track which rose and fell like small, one foot bunny hops, leading back to the station

http://www.rcdb.com/9352.htm?dt=126&d=336

While I partially agree with that statement, in terms of fixing EXTREMELY rough woodies, (Son of Beast, Mean Streak, Grizzly, Rolling Thunder...) Adding steel track could potentially neuter a wooden coaster's out-of-control feeling, and actual sense of danger during the circuit. This type of transformation should only be done on coasters that REALLY need it, not as a way to eliminate some roughness, and after reading reviews of Texas Giant before this happened, it sounded like it needed this to happen.

Last photo update! Okay is it me, or does the guy near the right side of the photo look a bit like Greg Lake from ELP? The wave pool got so crowded, I started thinking that we were in Japan. Holiday World's newest attraction... Lung Cancer-The Ride ES MOY GRANDE This speaker is probably thinking, "Just stay strictly incognito." Gotta love those "original" names. More lazy river pile-ons. I thought the size (or lack) of Plunge's splash would be taken care of by now. Nope. Well this is the end, my friends. We headed out, and I listened to ELP, Genesis, Kraftwerk, and Chicago (my favorite bands) all the way home on my iPod. Many thanks to Holiday World and the Koch family for such great service and fun. RIP Will Koch...

Update # 3 more photos. We missed Bakuli this year. Too Bad. This is pretty much the Cedar Point of water slides. They are everywhere, in any direction. Zoombabwe it still the best water side in the park. See what I mean? Zoombabwe is the most massive water slide I have ever seen. It is just gigantic, in height, length, and volume! Safari was PACKED. I felt a bit uncomfortable brushing up against a stranger's skin. More ACErs. It looks like there's more adults here than kids! Lazy river pile on? If you look closely, you can see Legend is getting some wood replaced. A hint of possible re-tracking perhaps? This is still in my opinion, one of the best wooden coaster drops out there. My sister and I headed out to Voyage and Liberty Launch to get some last minute rides in. Looks long, but the line moved quickly. Liberty Launch had a bit of a technical problem while we were on it. It did its typical steady rising as the billows filled up, but then it stopped filling up, and we slowly came back down after a loud KERTHUNK! My heart still skips a beat when the ejector air hits on the way down. After I assume this was sorted out, the ride worked fine. We both love the crazy ejector air at the top. This is hands down the most INTENSE ride at the park. It beats the Voyage by a mile. Meanwhile, I try to imitate a Phil Collins album cover. Legend with some TLC.

I wouldn't call it junk or in your face. The rooms are pretty subtle. Only the lobby is heavily themed.

More photos! Day 2. Here's a view of the Voyage from our hotel room. I just had to take a picture of this. I am a pianist, so I was bummed out that I couldn't play it. Santa's lodge has a wonderful lobby. After getting prepared, we soon made our way to the park. Saturday was much busier. This is a sea of vehicles! Jesus For The Win. We quickly headed to Splashin Safari to catch Wildebeest early. Anybody spot the A.C.E.rs in this picture? Voyage has become a very odd riding coaster. I rode in the first seat of the second and third car and got really jarred. These first two rides were rougher than the Voyage normally is. But then I rode the fifth car of the now 6-car trains, and got the smoothest ride I ever had on the Voyage. No jarring, very little shaking, and I was pleasantly surprised. Voyage is still my #1 woodie. Legend... THROUGH THE TREES!!! Mom decided to take a group picture, so here we are, sans mother. I'm on the right by the way, the one with the Brady Bunch hair. I'm much more interested in the background of this picture. Wildebeest was fantastic. The rafts are loaded and unloaded very quickly. The ride itself has loads of airtime, and we all got absolutely soaked. LIM's really CATAPULT you over hills. I felt the raft actually rise off the trough a couple of times. It is really worth the wait.

My family and I just got back from Holiday World a couple days ago, and had a great time, as usual. Many thanks to Holiday World for having such great service and my condolences to the Koch family. I am so sorry and shocked to hear about Will's untimely death. Rest in peace, Mr. Koch. So we finally got to Holiday World after a four hour drive from Springfield, Ohio. My older sister decided to bring her boyfriend along. (He's not a ride person though.) So after unpacking what we needed... ...we headed into the park, and Dad decided to just walk backwards as we discussed today's plan. As Mom got us a spot in the waterpark, we decided to catch a ride on Raven before heading there ourselves. Random equipment for the win! Raven already had quite a line when we arrived. This was on Raven's shed. A power washer might have enough pressure to get this nasty stuff off. NERD PHOTO!!! We skipped Hallowswings this time around. (No Pun Intended) This ends the photos of day 1. I decided to take most of the pictures the day after. So after a nice sleep at Santa's Lodge we packed everything up for day 2! Oh, and about the Glenn Beck book... yeah, I'm a conservative. It was much more crowded on Saturday. As you can tell, Dad likes Harleys. More photos coming soon!

I'll take this advice. I'm going to Holiday World tomorrow for the third year in a row. Sucks to hear about Voyage's condition, though.

Yes, I do believe CP had about 7 aswell. The main ones I can think of are the High Frolics, Racer, Cyclone, and Leap the Dips. Riverview had the Bobs, Velvet Coaster, Skyrocket, Pippin, and Big Dipper, I believe.

Many parks during that time period had more than 4 coasters. Cedar Point, Riverview Park in Chicago (R.I.P.),and Kennywood all had at least 4 coasters operating in the mid-late 20's.

Season 7, October 15, 1926 This year was hands down Avalon's most successful year yet! There are two brand new coasters, The Gazelle and Twirling Tub Run. It's time for me to leave, so I'll depart with this wonderful shot of Avalon's three, star attractions. Tantrum also finally received its new sign. Unusually lighthearted for such a brutal ride. The Blazer got its new sign after the renaming. The Twirling Tub Run is a Virginia-Reel type of coaster. Hopefully guests can hold their stomachs in the whirling carts. The Vida Hotel is as huge as ever. It was rarely vacant this season. A shot from the track's catwalk. The Gazelle was constructed in a bit of a bowl-shaped ravine. The designer had already previously had experience with terrain coasters. He designed the Jack Rabbit and the new Pippin at Kennywood. This new family coaster is The Gazelle. Here is the expansion of the zoo. It is built on very uneven land, so the paths were not made of concrete.

Season 6 Continued. Commentary is encouraged. I'll leave you with a rather eerie view of Tantrum at night. This is a night view of the children's section named "Little Avalon". Park officials have been spotted in the empty area near the Blazer with large drawing boards and what are believed to be local Architects. The Blue Blazer has been sandblasted to its natural color, and renamed to just "The Blazer". The Wright Flight got a new paint job this year. Wait a minute, what are trains doing in the Dip's station? The White Rotor is still an extremely popular ride.

Season 6 May 15, 1925 HEADLINE-MAJOR EXPANSION OF ZOO AT LOCAL AMUSEMENT PARK The popular Avalon Park has announced it will expand its animal section this season. New animals include Ostriches, Lions, and Gazelles. A new junior-sized roller coaster will also be included. Its name has yet to be decided. This expansion follows a record year last season. This massive influx of guests is mainly attributed to the new Tantrum roller coaster. Another addition to the park is a new, 2 year expansion of the Vida Hotel. The main addition this year is a set of balconies on the hotel floors. Park President Rael Vasquez has stated "I will not reveal too much at this point, but the Vida Hotel will undergo a large transformation. It will become a fusion of new and old architecture." This makes one wonder, what sort of fusion? With new styles of modernist buildings being constructed in today's major cities, such as New York and Chicago, it must mean something large or tall. The main question some may be asking is what will become of the remains of the Tornado Dips roller coaster? Mr. Vasquez had no comment on the matter. The Vida Hotel has already received its balconies. Notice the art-deco design of them. This is a view of the junior coaster under construction. I'm having a bit of naming block, so does anybody have any ideas? Preferably a 1920's or Animal type of name? Here's a view of how far the expansion has gone so far. The Ostriches have arrived! I decided to take a night visit to Avalon. It is beautifully lit a this hour.

Season 5 cont. I'll leave you with a shot of me riding the Tantrum. It was quite hard getting permission to take a camera on the ride. This is a photo of going through the tunnel after the main drop. Here's another ariel view of the park. A large children's section was added to the park too. You can see it next to where tornado dips used to be.

Season 5 March 10, 1924 HEADLINE-New roller coaster opens at local amusement park!!! The local Avalon Park, located on the banks of the Starkey River, has finally opened its first major coaster in three years. The massive white beast, aproppriately named Tantrum, is one of the tallest in the mid-west. It stands at a massive 92 feet tall, and carries its riders over 3,500 feet of track. The other roller coaster at the park, the Blue Blazer, was the only operating coaster at the park since the infamous Avalon fire in 1922. "This new roller coaster is my pride and joy, and I am sure our guests will discover the true meaning of thrills when they experience the Tantrum," says park president and founder Rael Vasquez, whose family has owned the park since the 1800's. Tantrum was designed by Prior & Church, famous for its twisted creations. The Tantrum has a bit of a pre-drop section, seen here. From this biplane fly-over of the park, you can clearly see that Tantrum is in the very back of the park. Here is a pretty nice shot of how compact the layout is, for such a large ride. The station is designed to look like a colonial house, an homage to the nearby colonial villages of America's early years. I present to you the meanest, largest, longest, coaster Avalon has ever seen, the Tantrum! Notice a change in the skyline?

Avalon Park Season 4 July, 1923 "Sadly, the newest attraction coming to Avalon has been delayed a season, so no new rides this year." Rael Vasquez Avalon Park President The Blue Blazer is not attracting many guests because of its position in the very back of the park. All the soot from the fire has been swept away. There were many complaints by guests about being covered in soot by a strong gust of wind by the the wreckage. The Dip's paint job is fading away due to no upkeep. Tornado Dips (or whats left of it) is SBNO. All burned track has been removed, the entrance, signage, and the queue line are all gone. Poltergeist Manor has become one of the most popular rides in the park. Today was a particularly crowded day. The zoo was wall to wall people. Possibly an update is needed to handle the crowds. In the early weeks of the season, Avalon had gotten enormous crowds. But as the season went on, the crowds quickly trailed off.

The Tornado Dips. Post-Fire September 16, 1922 A birds-eye view of Avalon. Somehow, the station, first turn, and a short section of lift hill survived the flames unharmed. Wait..... is that some tree-clearing I see? Much of the track had collapsed due to a weakened support structure. These are the charred, black, soot-laden remains of Avalon's beloved Tornado Dips roller coaster.

Season 3 photo update. The Tornado Dips Fire Riders were still on the coaster, receiving a much larger dose of fear than they expected. Luckily, there weren't severe burns, because the wind generated by the passing cars helped force the flames away from the swiftly moving rolling stock. Absolute anarchy. People were screaming, women were crying on the ground. Men fled, fearing the fire may spread. The flames had engulfed the entire lift hill in minutes. Oh the humanity! How could this be happening!? There are people still on the coaster! Somebody HELP!!! Is..... is that f-fire I see in the distance? Another shot of the roller coaster's articulated trains. A major re-tracking is expected next season. The ride's signature move, a steep, banked plunge under the lift hill's structure. A view of Tornado Dips' sign and first hill. The 3 year old roller coaster has already become quite rough, often causing complaints of back and neck pain. The Tornado Dips has remained a park favorite.

Season 3 1922