Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Skysthelimit

Members
  • Posts

    51
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Skysthelimit

  1. I grew up in Syracuse and have been visiting the park since I was 5. I also worked there as a Rides Supervisor from 2009-2011 while in college. 
     

    The leadership team at Darien Lake was and remains incredibly tenured and talented. That said, the “hopefully this year xyz will be better!” comments I’ve seen floating around the internet/coaster forums & message boards for 20 years now. It continues to be essentially the same conversations which has been interesting to watch over the years. 

    I have a sentimental attachment to the park and care for its success, but to think something as major as a 2nd train coming to the park for Ride of Steel is frankly a pipe dream. Could be wrong, but I don’t believe that Six Flags approves capex, it’s the property owners (previously CNL, not sure who it is now) which means their hands are tied to an extent.
     

    John Hildebrandt mentioned in his book on Cedar Point (Always Cedar Point) that Gemini had a hard time competing against The Beast back in the late 70s because you can’t really “sell” a coaster to the public by using hourly throughput as a value proposition. I can see why the threat of Boomerang’s closure took precedent over increased ROS capacity.  

    During my time, if and when we did have 2 trains available for ROS, we ran them 7 days a week regardless of crowds. We knew it was important and was always a pet peeve of mine when managing my area of the park. It just tended to take a while to have an available second train (e.g. in 2009 we don’t get it until early August). Intamin has always been notorious in the industry for not being the best about keeping parts in stock, or over charging if it’s not a white glove client of there’s. Vekoma was much easier to work with from what I recall.

  2. 3 hours ago, coasterbill said:

    Kumba has 4 trains and 4 transfer tracks if you look at the transfer table.

    Once upon a time, this park used to care about stuff so they had one more train than needed so Kumba could always run 3 trains. You see how well that's working out...

    Sorry, you beat me to the punch. I’m pretty sure there are only 3 bays, because I thought to myself they have no where to put the train that was running at the end of the night.

    When I worked Raptor eons ago, we’d never leave a train on the track in the evening and I think that’s common practice on most B&Ms to take weight off of the road wheels. You could be right on the 4 bays I just don’t recall that in all my visits. I’m giving this topic too much energy than needed but as a nerd who enjoys the history of the Busch parks, I found it interesting. 

    • Haha 1
  3. 5 hours ago, DoinItForTheFame said:

    Kumba only has 3 trains.... Not 4. 

    They still very much have 4. They were running 1 train running last time I visited in February and all 3 transfer bays were filled with fully built trains. Back in the day, the 4th was used to allow for continuous year round operations which is why I was surprised to see with my own two eyes 4 trains otherwise I would have never mentioned it. The lead car also says “4” on the bumper for one of the trains. 

  4. If one of the parks closes at 6 pm, it’s typically because there is an event buy out. If they take the average projected attendance for the evening and determine a buy out is more profitable than what they’d earn those last couple hours, they take the business. It’s very common this time of year with heavy convention volume in town. Larger companies will do their after hours events, sometimes 2 at a time. I worked for Mears and we’d have separate buses going to pick up one convention group from their event at Marvel and another from their event in Hogsmeade the same evening. 

  5. We did the behind the scenes coaster tour a couple weeks ago on a Saturday. 2 trains were running and they said the 3rd, which looked mostly intact, was in one of the bags and will be stripped down for rehab. I’m not sure what the issue is, but there should be two trains available once they fix it. As a Florida local, Montu does seem to have more downtime in recent years. We went to ride again later in the day and they had to evac off the transfer brakes when we tried to ride, but when we left it was back open. Still running great though, no rattle and trims are very light. 

  6. We were able to make an expected visit when we had an additional day in Belgium about 2 weeks ago and had similar thoughts. Great first half, I was indifferent towards the non-inverting cobra roll other than it’s not very punchy, but the return run did feel very awkward. I much preferred the return run on Goliath up at Walibi Holland. Still fantastic, very smooth, great theming without being over the top, but the last section of bunny hops and turns just didn’t flow right for me.  

  7. We arrived back in Orlando yesterday from our Missouri trip with first time visits to WOF and SDC. Just some first timer opinions on the park from when we visited on Thurs 6/29. 

    - It’s been said before, but this park is gorgeous.
    - The temperature exceeded 100 degrees on Thursday. The shade helped quite a bit and we purchased a cabana ahead of time because we need knew that the heat would be brutal. We alternated between the lazy river and dry park throughout the day. 
    - WOF has a TON of drink refill stations, so the wristband system worked perfect and a great deal.

    - We figured there’s be some sort of foolishness going on with Zambezi Zinger so we came armed Fast Lane plus which we had purchased prior to our visit to minimize any frustration. Sure enough, it didn’t opened until probably 3p or so and was on one train. We saw maintenance walk away with a guide wheel, so it was clearly out of their control. I would have guessed that the standby line was at least 2 hours and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many guests seated while in a queue for a ride that was technically functional. Anyways, the ride itself exceeded our expectations. Incredibly smooth and experiencing the titan track track has a really cool feel to it. The S-hill after the first turnaround seems to be about 15 feet too tall, but the pacing on the rest of the ride is near perfect. The tunnel has some great headchoppers, the layout is whippy, and there’s surprisingly strong positives. Definitely a great fit for the park once they can get it running on all cylinders! 
    - Mamba was so so good. I recall some lackluster rides on Steel Force back in 2009 that made me swear off Morgan hypers for years but this was a home run. Incredibly smooth and running trimless, which gave total magnum vibes minus the thigh pressure on the routine route. 
    - I’m probably in the minority who prefers Prowler to Mystic Timbers. The latter has a better experience but I thought Prowler had a bit more bite, similar to what I enjoy about Thunderhead. 
    - We had an awesome back left seat ride on Patriot and didn’t get the criticism, but rode twice more and were like “yeah, that’s just.. average”. Presentation is A+ though. 
    - The only bummer of the trip was Viking Voyage (or whatever the log flume is called). The water in this and their river rapids was just foul. I felt like I was being bathed in Smartwater on Mystic River Falls the next day compared to the sewage water here. Yuck. 
    - The clientele and staff were all very pleasant. I’d take this over a larger SF park even if the ride selection isn’t as extensive. 
    - We really enjoy re-rides when we visit new parks and one ride never feels enough. We were impressed the coasters (minus Zinger) were running multiple trains despite being a dead Thursday. We had a zen ride on Prowler to end our day.

    Overall, we had an awesome day at the park despite the heat and not ideal circumstances for Zinger. We rode it twice but didn’t want to be “those people” that marathoned it while people sat in stand by. 
     

    We spent the next two days at SDC which doesn’t require much of an explanation other than it’s one of if not the best theme parks in the country. I surprisingly preferred it to Dollywood, including the coasters, which were collectively more intense than the mix of family rides at DW.
    Time Traveler and Outlaw Run were both reliable and had the wow factor that WOF was understandably lacking. I do get frustrated with HFE’s disdain for running multiple trains unless they absolutely have to. The Cedar Fair parks are a more comfortable experience in that regard but the novelty of visiting SDC for the overall experience was more than worth it. 

    • Like 3
  8. Yeah, I agree it’s definitely a little slow. I worked Mantis many moons ago so I was really intrigued. SeaWorld has had four on platform which definitely helps. The crew up there is fantastic and you could tell they knew how to run a B&M

    It’s essentially the same process as a traditional stand up in the sense that you understandably have to stand straight up for the harness to lock at the proper position. Guests try to bounce like Tigger before they’re in the proper position. You also have to pull the seat down to your height on your own just like the original design- I think if there was a way to have them automatically lower that would speed things up, but not having to constantly lock/relock the up/down motion of the seats is one less thing slowing down the process. 

    • Like 1
  9. 21 hours ago, thrillseeker4552 said:

    You show your pass at the entrance of the ride. They will also stamp your hand, I presume so you don't need to show your pass every time. I only rode once so I cannot confirm but that seems to make sense why.

    I asked the employee at the entrance and yes, you are correct it’s so you don’t have to keep showing your pass. You can ride as much as you’d like. 

    • Like 1
  10. We were able to ride 3x after work and had a nice 2 hours at the park. Pipeline really has a strong presence in the area and although the aesthetics are basic, somehow it works. Definitely not a Pantheon look and the water feature and sound effects were nice. 
     

    We rode twice towards the back and once towards the middle. I didn’t notice as much of a difference in either section of the train compared to say Mako. There’s definitely a rattle, but it seems more to do with the seat than the actual wheel chassis. Both trains were running and the line moved pretty quick.

    The launch, airtime hill and layout were about what you’d expect but really what makes the ride shine is the movement of the seat. There as some semi-forceful positive g’s followed by airtime pops and it’s a super unique sensation.


    Great addition and better than you’d expect!
     

     

    • Like 4
  11. 21 hours ago, southpuddle said:

    Yeah I’m hoping about 45,000 trees are going to be planted around the ride to make it feel less like Big Bear Wide Open Field. 

    Hopefully they can call whoever Universal used to sprout the Forbidden Forest after Dragon Challenge was scrapped. 
     

    Rock work and theming aside, I’m not really getting the “mountain” part of the theme. It’s the flattest part of the park. I hope the ride length and capacity is enough to make this a success for them.

  12. We just arrived at the Carowinds campground and will be at the park this weekend. 
     

    With limited ride availability and cool temps (Florida boys here), we are debating getting Fast Lane. Sounds counter intuitive but if there are less rides to go around and chilly weather, we’re spending time inside between rides lol and keeping waiting to a minimum.
     

     It looked from the webcam that Fury still has one train. Is it possible there was only one because it’s a Friday or are they still in Winterfest-mode?
     

    Carowinds isn’t one to let their coaster trains sit idly on a transfer track if the wait times exceed 10 mins (looking at you Dollywood with Tennessee Tornado), so my assumption is that it’s still one train but if someone could give me a sanity check, I’d love that! 

  13. We had a really nice time at the park yesterday. It was a bit warmer and busier than expected, but ride lines were manageable. We grabbed QQ because the price is so cheap with the Platinum 50% discount and it was definitely helpful but not mandatory. 
     

    S&S Screamin’ Swings are my favorite flat ride and Serengeti Flyer was no exception. We faced Kumba forgetting that most of the safari “action” is on the side facing Montu. It  will be a great 1-2 punch once FF reopens next door. Fills a huge void!
     

    The biggest call out is that Kumba and Montu did have 2-trains running all day, which has been fairly inconsistent in recent months. Kumba was a walk on and Montu’s standby looked about 20 mins. 
     

    The finally seemed to have fixed Cheetah Hunt’s operations. The sweet spot seems to be 4 trains, two stations with strict bag checks. The line was only about 30 minutes all day, which I think most know used to be unheard of. 
     

    Just leaving a picture of Montu, because it’s Montu.
     

    And yep, Scorpion is open, running like a dream,  and comfort collar free.

    8BBEFEB3-6AC4-4AEE-B700-03CAD42C52B5.jpeg

    • Like 3
  14. ^ I noticed the $10 one-time QQ was added to the Ice Breaker lockers  when we were at the park last weekend. It definitely wasn’t there a month ago. 

    We’re local and DHS is the only park that we actively avoid where we can. The lines are always significantly longer proportionally than the other Disney parks. 
     

    I get the concern about IOA and while it’s not cost effective whatsoever, the park hasn’t been insanely busy lately and Velocicoaster’s line is typically less than an hour these days. I would personally feel comfortable doing SW and IOA if money is a non issue but otherwise, you’ll have plenty at SeaWorld to keep you busy.  Ice Breaker has been on 1 train the past month or so, so I’d recommend knocking that out with QQ if you can. 

    Mako-sure you ride one of the best B&M hypers in row 7! The first drop has quite the kick compared to the older hypers.  

  15. I took today off to go tandem skydiving for the first time. With the jump spot roughly half way between Tampa and Orlando, I thought I’d make the Trek to Tampa. It was a really amazing experience and no where near as nauseating as the Stratosphere Sky Jump (I found the Vegas strip lights to make the sensation of height a bit much) and the whole thing was very serene yet thrilling. Highly recommend! 
     

    Ever since I moved to Orlando, one of my favorite things to do is visit this park on a weekday during January or March.  Today was no exception and the added bonus was that the ride availability was probably the best I‘ve seen in 5 years. 4 rides on Montu, IG, and   Kumba, and a single ride on Cheetah Hunt, Sheikra and Tigris. Just a few notes :

    - Ops were good with 2 train operation on Sheikra, Iron Gwazi and Cheetah Hunt. Everything but the front rows were a walk on. 
    - Montu and Sheikra were running like a dream. I really do prefer the latter to Dr. D, as much as it pains me. It’s so much smoother and the “loop and swoop” (as I can the  Immelmann and sweeping turn before the block brake) is still my favorite moment on any dive coaster. Montu was nearly trimless and running like a bat out of hell despite half full trains. 
    - I’m a huge Kumba advocate but it was pretty gnarly going into the first corkscrew in the back. I had a Zen ride in the front which was ironically smooth. 
    - I rode in the front seat of Tigris with a nice younger guy. I think we were the only ones on the ride and we started chatting about parks afterwards when we noticed we both had coaster apparel. We both agreed that SV has the edge to IG, which I know is an unpopular opinion. I just love the sheer setting and length, but Iron Gwazi is fierce (to quote the safety spiel) and so much more accessible, so I’ll take it. 

     

    Best day I’ve had lately!

     

    • Like 4
  16. ^ Love the pictures! Glad you had fun. My partner and I don’t drink anymore so living vicariously through you with hurricanes. I thought only SeaWorld Orlando and SFOG free poured the hell out of their drinks of all the parks we’ve day drank at over the years. 
     

    Anyway, we were at SeaWorld San Antonio yesterday and SFFT today. Flights from Orlando were cheap which is rare so we used our miles and took advantage of the long weekend. 
     

    We visited the park for 2 full days in 2018 and were stoked to be back. I’m not an expert like Bert so I’ll keep it brief, just as an outsiders opinion. Keep in mind in my advanced years I have some weird quirks when it comes to park preferences:

    - I could sit and people watch at this place all day. It’s so pleasant and the gorgeous weather made it even better. 
    - We both agreed that the whole Dr. Diabolical “experience” was something that a coaster enthusiast would design if they had a chance and the presentation is stunning. Operations were great. It was weird to only have a retractable floor on the front row and the lift was speedy. It pains me to say it, but the ride itself is the 5th in the park, behind IRAT, WW, Superman, and Poltergeist. Even with a full train, the rattling takes a way from the experience a bit. 

    - For some reason, I thought WW was closed. We were pleasantly surprised to see it running. We agreed it wasn’t rough and really enjoyed it. I think I appreciated it more on this visit. Just so unique and powerful. 
    - Random notes: Less busy than expected. We bought Flash Pass because of the RMCs. Loved the Pride merchandise staying around. The merchandise in general was also much better than the other SF parks. The lunch we had at the cafeteria had impressive operations but terrible quality. The Pirate themed Sally Ride (forget the name) and FREE haunted house (“ “) were both spectacular for a regional park and rounded out the experience. 
     

     Until next time! 

    • Like 1
  17. On 10/21/2022 at 9:08 AM, Hilltopper39 said:

    I think the website has already stated it's 54 inches.

    I feel like the point about height requirements at SeaWorld is one that everyone is making, myself included, but maybe they don't care about having things for people under 54 inches? For now atleast? I mean my youngest hit 54 inches when she was almost 7 years old, maybe they realize that in the Orlando market that if you've got little kids and want rides for little kids you're gonna go to Disney, no matter what SW builds, so why go after that market? And with as many "adult" events as they offer (7 Seas Food Fest, Brews n BBQ, HowlOScreams) maybe they'd rather focus on thrill rides for those guests. 

    As a local who visits 2-3x a month, I would agree with your logic. That said, it never goes unnoticed when friends/family who visit that there is a limited number of rides that the entire family can enjoy together. I think that Antarctica solved for some of this back when the ride existed, despite its flaws. Maybe SEAS has done the math and the strategy you mentioned just works for them. It’s also become a heavy day drinking park on recent years which is probably becoming more and more lucrative. 

    I never thought I’d say this, but Mako is probably one of the most wide-appealing rides at the park if you overlook the height requirement. It’s incredibly accessible, typically solid operations and short lines, and it’s still so butter smooth as a crowd pleaser 6 years later. It’s the only ride my parents, in their 60s, seem to want to do each time at SeaWorld.
     

    The general consensus I’ve heard from locals and visitors alike seems to be that Manta is just too intense for the average park goer, Kraken is a little “shaky”, and  Ice Breaker’s punchy — you’re just lucky if you can safely get out of the train and comfort collar without passing away. 

     

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
  18. We had a great time at both Carowinds during the day and Scarowinds in the evening on Saturday 10/1! It was our first time at their campground with our RV and we were both wildly impressed. The transportation was quick and easy. The shuttle bus allowed us to come and go as we pleased to the park (well, during the day at least.) Here are a few pictures and thoughts to share:

    - We rode Copperhead Strike opening year and I thought it was a solid B+. Not sure if it’s running any different or if it took a few extra rides to process, but we just loved it! It was a walk on during the day and probably a 30-40 minute wait with 2 trains running (3rd in the transfer bay). The launch felt like it had a bit more kick than usual for Mack and any animated theming elements seems to have held up. 
    - Iron Gwazi and Steel Vengeance still trump Fury for me, as they have a bit more bite to them, but the blistering speed, length, and all the things people love about Fury still hold up years later. I was impressed they were running 3 trains on both this and intimidator even though during daytime hours there had to have been less than 1500 people in the park. I will say that after experiencing Orion, that coaster has significantly more kinetic energy and atmosphere with the Imascore soundtrack (I’m a sucker for those) and the general area theming. Still a testament to how perfect of a ride Fury is. 
    - Intimidator has always been a middle of the road hyper for me. It was running really smooth and I never quite appreciated the first turnaround the way I did this trip. Super cool sensation that’s different than Mako down the road from us. The layout is a little bland and the theming a tad difficult for me to get excited about, but a great coaster that also dominates the skyline.  
    - I rode Top Gun in 1999 and it was fantastic and the ride really hasn’t changed much since then. The station and queue seems abit haggard, but the ride itself looks and feels perfectly maintained. For a compact layout, I really prefer this to the Batman clones. The trench dive gives a respectable nod to Montu which is appreciated. 
    - We quit drinking 9 months ago which has freed up extra money during our park visits so decided to splurge on a VIP bungalow after having a great experience at KI. This was even better, as it was private and even had a TV. In my advanced years it’s been good to take a breather between rides and we really enjoyed it. Definitely worth the $79. 
    - I always enjoy riding our old favorites like Goldrush , Carolina Cyclone, and even Hurler. We had a zen ride (is it called that if it’s just two of you? Might be a stretch…) where I took someone’s recent advice to ride front middle. It was AWESOME - I worked Mantis briefly during college and this really didn’t feel any more uncomfortable. I’ve had some brutal rides in the past. We came back and did it again and had another great ride. 
    - For Scarowinds, we enjoyed ourself because we budgeted in Fast and Frightlane (worth every penny, as always), but frankly the event felt very low budget and light on decor. Thankfully it was included in our platinum pass. The park was packed but not as busy as I expected for a Saturday. Paranormal Inc. was the standout house with a really cool pre show. My second favorite was Depths of Darkness, with the premise that you are in the mind of a serial killer. I’m a sucker for well done fogging, lighting and sound and I thought this was great - just skimping on the actors. Very likely because we walked in shortly before close.

    Overall, Carowinds was a wonderful time as always and the park is just so comfortable and easy to navigate. There were some IROC certified trainers at the coasters that seemed to be smothering and terrifying their trainees and slowed dispatches to a crawl, but who am I to judge. 
     

    As much as I love to visit parks that are inherently more charming than Carowinds, such as Kennywood, Waldameer, Hershey Canobie and Lake Compounce, I love knowing that I can go to most CF parks and the rides are running at or near capacity. I know CP can be a crapshoot these days, but my visits to Carowinds and KI rarely is there ride downtime and I don’t think I’ve ever seen single train ops. Taking a weekend to fly to Pittsburgh to get a credit only to show up knowing there is a 50/50 shot of Steel Curtain running one train, with that similar foolishness going on over at Phantom/Thunderbolt too, I’ve found myself avoiding those parks because we just don’t have the patience. Just a personal preference and not trying to be b*tchy. 
     

    As a huge Afterburn fans, we’re really looking forward to Aeronautica Landing livening up that section of the park. The area is already fenced on off so hopefully they can get a good head start. 

    On Monday, we did make a stop at Lake Shawnee Amusement Park for a tour, which was fantastic. I think most on this forum have heard of it, but the site has been featured on Travel Channel/Ghost Hunter shows. I have never had a paranormal experience in my life, but we actually experienced some activity on the swing ride where a small bag was spinning/swaying fairly violently as our three dogs approached. It was not windy and the other items hanging from the swings weren’t moving - spooky. The guide said the little girl who passed away when the ride was hit by a delivery truck during operations was likely excited by the dogs. The guide seemed relatively unphases and continued his spiel. I can’t say we felt the same level of ease/calm, but super cool. I don’t have a video but my mom is my witness as she saw it on FaceTime. 

    Anyways, here’s a few pictures to share! Next stop, Dollywood today and tomorrow. 
     


     

     

    98D25266-268B-4503-A588-F23BDBF6DC19.jpeg
    Quick photo op before opening!

    4B69A1EA-E3B1-4C34-9AD0-038F3EF0CEC3.jpeg

    Empty station at Vortex. I’ve always had a soft spot for this one. 

    0C966EB6-3AD6-4360-910D-D108626C6566.jpeg
    It’s still got that whip, especially row 8 right side.

    866C50AA-C673-4909-A23F-488EA0342D7E.jpeg

    Fury as it’s about to start it’s morning tests

    00C813DD-D2E3-4CBF-BA0B-8544A775E86F.jpeg

    8D040471-A478-43C6-ABF6-E5DBD142B78C.jpeg
    Money well spent! Enjoyed hanging out here and the ambiance of a Boomerang really made the experience 🤣

    E10D6B93-E304-44F2-B3BA-3555E75A1877.jpeg
    Obligatory PSL post. 

    C887974C-052E-4297-B9C3-24DBEE867AA6.jpeg
    I don’t have a great picture of the swings, but here is the Ferris Wheel at Lake Shawnee located in close proximity. 
    ADFC47AC-0E8A-4DBB-9EBB-21FE7E261550.thumb.jpeg.26df01d624582912024d1e8271ac4311.jpeg
    After our tour, we were allowed to walk through their haunted attraction which was pretty cool. Highly recommend if you are off the beaten path! 

    63E2B7D5-E6BE-489E-8D78-6C333257913B.jpeg

    Quick last shot on the outskirts of the campground. 

     

    367FF641-A6E0-465B-BD27-6D86091635F7.jpeg

    • Like 3
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/