ytterbiumanalyst

No. I can't remember the last time I did. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?

Bullet the Blue Sky

I agree with your expectations of records, but to drag your sentence into the corner with my own self-interest, I'm actually hoping for a more traditional, airtime-filled layout that doesn't lean so heavily on inversions. Even without them, I expect plenty of wall-riding turns and zany misdirections. Inversions are already the steak on the plate with the park's B&Ms, and Maverick does a sprinkling of inversions in a free-form layout quite well. Personally, I don't want the new Mean Streak to be thought of as an inversion coaster first. I'd simply prefer a long, aggressive layout with plenty of airtime, with no more than an inline twist or single stall thrown in. I'd like New Texas Giant with even more meat on the bones. The thing about RMC though is that they are first and foremost airtime coasters. Outlaw Run has 3 inversions, yet that isn't really the focus. It's airtime moment after airtime moment connected by very snappy transitions. Same with Storm Chaser; it has almost as much air as Lightning Run but with two inversions thrown in. RMC just doesn't make any one trick ponies. Their coasters do it all, and do it all well.

As in the tree of the world? The thing that connects the 9 realms? Oh yes, very intimidating. Almost as intimidating as renaming Banshee Mantis. Going from Mean Streak to Yggdrasil feels like a step down. I like it, but only because this is the first time I've ever seen it used outside of the Strider manga, where it was translated as "Yugdesiral". The NES version of "Strider" is based on the manga. The Arcade and Sega Genesis versions were totally different. I know I'm a bit off topic, but this made me nostalgic. I got that game for my 14th birthday and still have it. I tried to look up the meaning several years back, but I couldn't find anything. Now, I was able to find it and read all about it. And in the game, it is referred to as "the main tree", now I finally know why. I'm probably about the last person who remembers Capcom's "Strider" franchise. Back on topic, I'll be following the RMC rework of Meanstreak all winter. It has me intrigued! I would love to see them at least break Goliath's record for 180' drop. I'd also love to see them rebuild the first drop to at least 200' to score their 6th hyper. I don't think any other park will be sporting 6 hypers any time soon. Oh yeah, the Japanese are very big into Norse mythology for some reason. Capcom made a reboot of Strider in 2014, and it was pretty good, but I'm not sure how well it caught on. Really, I just threw the name out there for the fun of it. No one knows what it will be called, and no one should care. It's an RMC at Cedar Point. They can go full China and call it "4 Inversion Hybrid Coaster" or however many this thing ends up having, and it will be one of the best rides there. I do expect it to have lots of records, and I expect most of those records to be nonsense. "Longest hybrid coaster at Cedar Point," etc. But I think 4 inversions would be one of the serious ones they'd pursue. Most inversions on a wooden coaster would be easy to do and very marketable.

Yeah, the free spinning a la Pandemonium and Spinning Dragons has only been done on smaller coasters. I'm not a huge fan of that coaster type, but I also don't like tilt-a-whirls, scramblers, or tea cups, so that sort just isn't for me. There's a lot of uncertainty about this new coaster. We're not even sure it will be the Blue Fire type. All we have officially is a survey on themes that could be used, and the descriptions provided all mentioned spinning. The Blue Fire thing is a guess based on the immense size of the land being cleared, much bigger than usual for a spinning coaster, and HFE's MO of being either the first or at least the first in the US. Cobra's Curse is an interesting coaster. It has 3 sections: one where the trains are turned normally, then they turn backwards and lock there for the second section, and finally are allowed to free spin once the coaster is on the last and slowest section. If we are getting a large Mack spinner, I think that's the design this will take.

Granted, but it's not a coaster. It's a 500 foot drop tower that maxes out at 150 mph. I wish that would happen IRL.

I disagree. A spinning coaster with inversions would be right in their wheelhouse. This is a park that has had two prototype coasters, including the first Premier water coaster and the first RMC with inversions, and also has an S&S launch coaster that is unique in the US. People who come to Branson are looking for experiences they don't have at home, and the Blue Fire type spinning coaster would certainly fit that bill. Additionally, in the decade since Giant Barn Swing was built, only one year, 2013, offered a thrill ride. Every other year was spent beefing up their offerings for families, kids, and non-riders. Yes, it's true that SDC is not a thrill park, but they do understand that there will be some members of each family who want to go on thrill rides. If you look at their history of coasters especially, it becomes clear that each of their coasters is on the high end of intensity for that coaster type. Even Thunderation is one of the most intense mine trains there is. So for SDC to build a coaster type that has never been done before in the US, and that offers a higher than average thrill level, would be completely normal for them, and even expected.

I like it. Twisted streak? As far as names go, Yggdrasil would be an interesting choice. It's mythological, plays into the wooden structure of the coaster, and is nearly unpronounceable. Perfect for Cedar Point!

*shakes Magic 8 Ball* Ooh, it says: "They're already building a coaster. You're totally off your rocker." Wow, oddly specific for a magic 8 ball. *shrugs*

Awesome! It's great to see more parks like this opening around the country. I like seeing that's it's more like a civic park than an amusement park, as that can be overwhelming at times for the target audience. Looks to be well done!

^ I'm glad Indy opened back up for you. I missed it since it was down for renovations when I was there. Tower of Terror is definitely worth a re-ride; I went on it twice myself. I'm a big fan of drop towers, and that one is far and away the best I've ever been on. I hear people saying the Florida version is better, but really, Disney at its worst is just so much better than everything else. It's just impossible to have a bad time there.

Green Arrow

Portal 2 Uranium or plutonium?

It was exhausting, but totally worth it. I didn't realize how huge Disneyland is. Still enjoying the trip report, especially since you spent more time there than I did and got to see and do a few things I skipped.

Funny you should say that. I do keep track of how much I walk each day, and my day at Disneyland was a new steps record at around 38,000--literally 3 times as many steps as the old record.

Granted, but you could never go home. I wish there were a really good Mexican restaurant where I live.

It's Italian.

No. I've never been there, and I hadn't even heard of Geauga Lake until years after it closed, so it's meaningless to me. Have you petted a kangaroo?

Yes! In fact, we're making some right now. Is the above written in English?

That all looked good. Really good. It really is. SDC is my home park, so I've had everything there at some point or another over the years. They have just the best overall theme park food. You know the food there is great when they put up a kick-ass fry bread stand that would be the lunch place in just about any park, and here, it's really just kind of average.

That wouldn't be too hard to implement. There are at maximum 15 games at one time, so having 15 umpires in NYC shouldn't be too hard. Not sure how many they have now, but it's several.

I'm on team 2016. I think at the pace they're going, they could get it open before CP closes for the season. They've got two weeks. It'll happen.

Giggidy.

No, you're certainly not! This is McIntyre Cider, from the St. James Winery in St. James, Missouri. They're famous round these parts for their fruit wines, especially their blackberry and cherry wines. So cider is a natural next step for them. Pretty good stuff.

Grumpy