smallpox

man, i am with you -- modifying that one stupid element would make the ride 100 times better, but it's not going to happen. Kennywood was in a totally different situation - Steel Phantom was their biggest, newest coaster. it HAD to be great to bring people in. also it was 14 years ago. Anaconda is far closer to obsolescence than the Steel Phantom was then. we are frankly lucky the workers out there have in their hands paint brushes rather than blow torches.

ok, but what's your point? the color schemes are absurdly similar in both cases. all four coasters we're talking about are now primarily red and yellow. seriously what is up with Cedar Fair Ronald McDonalding all their coasters?? i don't even hate it. it's just baffling.

how about good layout, bad engineering? it's not like 90s SLC Vekomas would have been smooth if only they had a different layout. furthermore, i bet you could smooth out those transitions and redesign the trains and have a very smooth ride.

Leftover paint from I-305? Not a huge fan myself as Anaconda's are not orange and red, but then again, probably not too many of the GP would know what color an anaconda is anyway. Maybe they are going to rename it Copperhead or Coral Snake? i305 is tall.

er, load in is from the opposite side now I guess ... that oughta boost capacity by about uh... hm.

it still does that, there are no trims on the first half. it's not too bad really. well, at least compared to the rest of the ride!

ok i know this is an unpopular opinion, but the first half of Anaconda is actually a smooth and fun ride! also, the second half was much smoother before they turned the MCBR up to eleven at some point in the 90s. it actually used to take those corkscrews pretty fast. the spaghetti bowl part was never smooth, but there wasn't all that banging and clanging when it was taking the course at the speed it was designed for. check out the 7:45 mark of this video.

why a rocket coaster? seems like the cable lift is more cost effective and more reliable. not that there haven't been breakdowns, but it just seems like a much simpler mechanism overall, and it's not like they can't build a cable long or strong enough.

indeed, indeed.

i think this one is probably an easy one, so no hints ... sorry for the shaky lines, all i've got is the trackpad on my laptop. woulda been smoother with a mouse.

yeah the Flying Eagles line takes forever. it was the longest wait all day the last time i went with my family, aside from Volcano. It's a really fun ride.

sounds like fun!

it was a really boring ride anyway. you could make it do a slowwwww barrel roll with a joystick mounted in the cockpit (and also raise and lower the arm it was attached to) but it wasn't thrilling. i doubt anyone ever felt the need to ride it again once they'd done it.

lap bars replacing the OTSRs on Flight of Fear is easily the greatest ride alteration i've ever personally experienced. that coaster was quite a headbanger pre-change. now the only thing to complain about is the MCBR that brings the train to a near-complete stop. (it didn't used to slow the train down at all, and that was back when it had OTSRs!) i feel like KD's over-aggressive use of the MCBR on FoF and Anaconda actually make the coasters ROUGHER because they are crawling through sections of track that are banked and engineered for much higher speed, causing the trains to slam around more than they would at a higher speed.

i think you're wrong. pretty sure they're exactly the same as they were. they aren't adjustable - the force they apply is a function of their length. unless the ones on there now are longer than in old photos, they are the same.

if you're talking about the one right before the two bunny hills, that trim was always there from day one and doesn't impact the ride much. if you're talking about any of the others ... they're gone.

i305's trims were removed (except for the small one on the bunny hill towards the end that was there since day one).

i really don't think the congo theme mishmash is a big deal. it's Paramount's fault mostly -- Outer Limits, Itallian Job, etc, but who cares? "Congo" is just a name of a section of the park at this point -- the area is not actively promoted as being African-themed as far as i know. Anyway, what is Cedar Fair supposed to do about it? spend $100 million to move a bunch of roller coasters to elsewhere in the same park? Re-theme a half-dozen aging attractions? Pointing out the theming incongruity is a fun conversation piece for theme park enthusiasts but it doesn't actually bother a significant number of people or impact park enjoyment or attendance.

Intimidator305 at Kings Dominion rarely has more than a 20 minute wait. it's just about a walk-on most weekdays! i think it's because of a few factors -- one, it is actually too intense for a significant number of visitors, at least for repeated rides. two, it is back in a somewhat secluded corner of the park -- a bit of a dead end. three, it's got great capacity. Volcano on the other hand ... 2 hours or more is routine. that's due to extremely poor throughput, though, and maybe also the fact that it is in a more central area of the park.

Anaconda's getting repainted this offseason and is featured in the marketing for next season's season pass. it's staying for the foreseeable future, as is Shockwave apparently, as it was also recently the recipient of some very spiffy new paint. that leaves Hurler as the most likely candidate for the scrap heap as far as KD is concerned.

That's just how I Type. Unfortunately, that's not proper punctuation and will get you in trouble with the mods. I'd recommend typing correctly. man I cannot stand improper punctuation

i am so psyched about the mushrooms coming back! the idea of restoring some of the park's old charm is such a great move.

looks to me like the piano-playing toad from the singing mushrooms, not yet painted?? edit: on their facebook page they have another photo and it is definitely him! i am so excited!

this is one of the most bafflingly absurd and misguided ideas I've ever heard in my entire life. I don't even know where to begin. you want "no influence from polls or opinions or anything subjective" in determining a roller coaster ranking system. the concept is logically bankrupt. all you are doing is discarding the opinions of all others in favor of your own subjective opinion, as the author of whatever methodology you concoct. which is fine! but don't make the mistake of thinking it's any more objective than any other individual's opinion. any methodology, no matter how rigorous or number-based, is still just an algorithm you chose to apply, that you made up. it is exactly as subjective as someone who ranks a coaster number 1 because it's in their home park. you can do all the math you want and compile and calculate as many stats as you want -- but your end result still amounts to a single person's subjective opinion (yours), no more or less valid than anyone else's, both from a scientific and a logical standpoint. Mitch Hawker's poll doesn't seek to discover the "objectively best roller coaster" it merely attempts to measure, more accurately than any other poll, which coasters are the most popular.

as always ... Dominator will be calling you as you enter the park, but ignore it. ride Volcano first. it has a super-slow line that just grows and grows throughout the day.