2012jarrett

So about that freaky 525-foot Polercoaster that I might actually be too scared to ride... Put drop tower hardware on the observation tower! I had always thought that a 500+ coaster should be called either a Macrocoaster or a Supercoaster. Peta coaster just doesn't sound as cool as terra coaster or giga coaster. I really think these polercoasters could be what puts S&S up there with B&M and Intamin if they make enough money off of them. I have very limited personal experience with them but these seem like a large risk that could either end up being the next biggest thing since sliced bread or BAM!!!! Orphan Rockers at every tourist trap in the world. I feels like one of those sketchy things that doesn't ever get built, but if they're building it and it's S&S, they know what they're doing and it should work. I feel like this would do well in Myrtle Beach, Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, Downtown Disney (silver supports, pink/green track, and a giant glass Mickey head at the top would look great!), and Vegas. And every train shown off looks great! Really hoping to be able to get to SFGAm to get on that sweet Goliath train! The only concern I have is FireChaser Express's trains looking a tad small. I thought it was supposed to be a family coaster, but I'm not sure I could fit into it, and I fit into all Intamins I've attempted to ride (including Millennium and Dragster). Is that just a camera angle or are those really not that much bigger than the Jr. Gemini trains?

My gifts are ordered and should be on their way! Looking forward to what my recipient thinks of them!

Lightning run looks like WATER, that thing flows so well. And those overbanks. <3 Definitely need to get down there next year. And if this is just year one, I can't wait to see what comes for T2 and Twisted Twins. I unfortunately never got to go when it was Six Flags, I was crushed when it closed, I can't wait to finally go!

That looks terrifying! 325 feet??? As a coaster enthusiast with a bad fear of heights, this thing would scare the heck out of me! This is something out of my nightmares! And I must ride it! I'd like to see it creep 2/3-ish down the tower through inversions and then just let it fly through the rest, pulling plenty of good forces. Definitely following this one, it should be interesting.

Fuji-Q is definitely a bucket list park for me. This, Fujiyama, Eejanaika, and Takabisha all look like fun. Unfortunately this is the only park in Japan I have any desire to visit. Maybe Nagashima or Disneysea as well. And that launch looks so messed up! XD

I posted a rundown of what I like earlier, but here's a more detailed description: Roller coasters are by far my biggest interest. I'm a busy college student, and it's something that can be enjoyed in doses big and small equally. I have other hobbies I'll mention later, but they're my first and foremost interest. Things I HAVE: * Milennium Force mug, keyring, Coasterdynamix, hat *Cheetah Hunt cap, shirt, mug, photo frame *Cedar Point shirts GateKeeper hat, shirt, keyring, mug *Diamondback mug, keyring, shirt, hat, bag *Beast mug, keyring, shirt *Wild Eagle shirt, hat, mug *Thunderhead shirt *Dollywood shirt, mug, keyring *Mystery Mine keyring *Carowinds shirt *Intimidator keyring, mug *Firehawk mug *River Battle mug *I-305 mug, keyring *Volcano shirt (doesn't fit) *Griffon mug *RCT3 *NoLimits *RCT2 I'm a BIT of a packrat with the industry. What I'd LIKE: *GateKeeper Coasterdynamix, bag, statue thing from online *Top Thrill Dragster anything *Beast hat *Maverick anything *BGW anything *BGT anything *Millennium Force shirt *Anything from a bucket list coaster On that note, here's my bucket list: 1. Outlaw Run 2. Skyrush 3. Iron Rattler 4. Leviathan 5. Nemesis Other interests I have: *Photography *International Sports (I'm a totally different person during the Olympics or the World Cup) *The Hunger Games *Engineering *I've always wanted to travel to Lake Placid, NY, Istanbul, Turkey, and Portland, Oregon Just a long, rambley post if anybody needed help with me. I know what I'm getting for my person, just struggling to ship it. Fun fact: I was posting this from my phone on the city bus while the cops came up and arrested a guy for shoplifting! The things that happen when I'm on here! XD Edit: I'm a size XL

*For Busch Gardens Tampa, I'll throw in Skipper's Smokehouse. It's a restaurant built not in a restaurant, but a "hive" if you will of trailers laid end to end. There's a stage outside but you eat inside of a trailer. They serve seafood including local crawfish and gator tail. I can haz gator tail! *For Kings Island, there's a chain in the Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky tri-state called Skyline Chili. It's got some chili that some but not all care for. I describe it as "so nasty it's tasty" to people who've not eaten it. Their chili has a cinnamon taste to it, and some like it and some don't, but it's my favorite chili dog. And for Kings Islanders like myself, it's almost as much of a symbol of Kings Island as the Eiffel Tower or The Beast. Wikipedia says it's also in Florida, but it still remains mostly a regional thing. A lot of you might know about it, but if you didn't, check it out! I think there's one even inside of Kings Island!

Debating on posting a picture of my "stash" of theme park things so that if somebody wants to get me something park-related, they can make sure what I get isn't something I already have. It's a huge concern of mine when pickin out gifts for others that at least I have, and while I don't expect a list of my person's possessions in full, a little but of things related to what they asked for would be nice. Would you think it's worth it?

Saw it, ran out of time, never got to ride it. Wish I could have, though!

I understand everyone has their opinions, and expectations of parks, but I disagree with a few of your statements. Banshee is Montu's little sister. (Not about size, but about age.) While they do insist that you use a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo, they do have cubbie bins for hats and glasses. Montu was originally planned to be an indoor coaster built inside a pyramid before B&M was contracted for the final design. Actually, Busch Gardens called and want's their B&M back. Please refrain from dissing Kumba, that is all I am going to say. You should have got the All Day Dining Deal. NEVER EAT AT ZAGORA!! The food throughout the park is amazing! You should have tried this: Alfredo with meatballs, mac n cheese, and fruit punch! Had this twice in one day! "He dissed Kumba again." Kumba is far from vanilla! It is certainly lightyears away from, ugh, can't say it. "Plain". ** clutches chest ** Diving through the Congo jungle is not enough theme on Kumba? Kumba is a perfect example of what YOU ACTUALLY DO when you design, build, and maintain a roller coaster. Other parks need to take notes from Kumba. 20 years old, and still rides like it did in 1993. Like a dream! Okay, I am done... ** Walks away mumbling to self ** I'll address the Kumba thing here in a bit, but for all of your statements: 1. Agewise, definitely, I just feel like Montu felt like a smaller version of what Banshee will be. 2. I ended up figuring that out later in the day. Didn't get one for Scorpion or Sand Serpent. I just thought the Cheetah Hunt ones were for small objects like GateKeeper's. 3. Montu was going to go in a pyramid? That's cool! I'm glad they built what they built, but that would have been cool too! 4. I meant that Griffon seemed more Cedar Fair style and SheiKra seemed more Busch Gardens, and in the end, I like the Busch Gardens style more than the Cedar Fair style. Both are awesome, though. 5. That was probably a mistake eating at Zagora. We didn't get the deal since we were planning to eat just one meal at the park. The Italian sub I got at Zagora wasn't anything to write home about. 6. Addressing Kumba later! I know this is off topic but I'll come out of the Gatekeeper closet right now... I had low expectations for that ride and it's now in my top 10. I've been on over 200 coasters which isn't a lot compared to a lot of people, but it's enough where gatekeeper wouldn't normally be in your top 10. I thought it was really cool and have no idea why wingriders get such a bad reputation. I've ridden both GateKeeper and Wild Eagle and I loved both of them. I think people who prefer forces don't like them because they are relatively forceless (though I got the heck stapled out of me in the back left of Wild Eagle) and the stapling issue bothers some. It's worthy of a top 10 spot for me, at least, though. Beautiful ride to look at and to be on. And the lights on the trains are sweet. Addressing Kumba in a bit. I'd never ride Falcon's Fury (I'm scared of heights) but Cheetah Hunt has to be one of the most unique coasters on earth. Thanks! I think some of it is because of the park, some of it is because of the school. The town where my current college is has a good university and a mall and it's full of restaurants, both chain and local, and has a decent mall nearby. I don't know why that area of town is like it is, though. There was a big light-up sign outside a strip mall my dad and I visited that said "SHOPLIFTING EQUALS ARREST," somebody had tried to steal a neighborhood watch sign and failed leaving it dangling on the post by one nail, and there was the sign in Red Lobster I mentioned in the report, so there is obviously some crime there and people threw their litter out the window and there was a really dirty treelawn I saw near the KFC, but I'm not sure why it's not become a really hospitable tourist/business area. It's got a good college and a really nice destination theme park that probably sucks in a good portion of the Orlando crowds, it's a headscratcher why it's not the booming business district that, say Carowinds or Kings Island are located. I understand some areas can get like that if there was a lot of business that left, but there's currently booming business there, I'd like to learn more about it. ABOUT KUMBA: I was NOT saying Kumba was a bad coaster. It isn't by any means. I shouldn't have said "vanilla," I should have said "standard." It's a standard for most coasters, a good one to gauge others against. It has some minimal theming that's there, a pretty straightforward layout, some interaction with pathways and structures but not too much. It felt a bit more themed than Cedar Fair and a bit less themed than a Herschend ride. I don't think it's a bad ride at all. It's just how I think a roller coaster is without all the bells and whistles.

I was actually a bit worried about being let down, but I didn't let it call the trip off. I know my taste in coasters is a bit different than that of most enthusiasts (certain rides like GateKeeper and Intimidator and now Cheetah Hunt being on my top 10 really illustrate this well) but I know what I like and don't like really well. It's also one of those coasters where the POV doesn't do it justice since the surroundings are all around you and a narrow YouTube screen doesn't convey how immersive it is, and the scenery looks better than it does in most 2011 POVs because that was while they were still growing foliage in. As my dad said, "Cheetah Hunt proves that a coaster doesn't need to be big or fast to be really fun," and I think that's what BGT and Intamin were going for. I wonder how many people would argue that it's better than Millennium like I think. It'd be interesting to rank coasters in numerous categories (speed, intensity, inversions, location, ect.) and try to gauge what an enthusiast likes/doesn't like based on the coasters in their top 10. YES, someone who agrees! I definitely find it to be one of the world's most underrated coasters. You definitely should! It's my new favorite park!

Here's the long-awaited trip report from yours truly! I flipped out the first time I saw the virtual POV for Cheetah Hunt. I HAD to get down to Florida to ride it. It shot to the top of my bucket list. I tried a few tactics to get down there. First I decided that I should enter the Snyder's of Hanover Pretzel Coaster Build-Off despite the fact that I hate pretzels, and, well, this Eurofighter was the result: Unfortunately, as impressive as Gonga was, it didn't win. I tried talking my parents into vacationing in Siesta Key and spending a day driving to the park, but they weren't interested. 2.5 years and 5 pounds of pretzels later, my dad decided that I needed to learn to fly on my own. Being in engineering and possibly designing roller coasters for a living, I would have to do a lot of flying around to see stuff I've designed built, so he asked me if I wanted to fly anywhere close by. I told him I wanted to go to Tampa and ride Cheetah Hunt. The trip was confirmed in February of 2013, and called off in July because we flew to Mexico for vacation and I discovered my phobia of flying. However, I decided in August that I needed to get over it, and called it back on because 1.) I HAD to get on Cheetah Hunt and 2.) I needed to learn to fly for professional reasons. They served these on the airplane? Really? One of the first things you see landing in the Tampa airport. Yup...we're in the right place! Traffic going to the hotel was bad, but we were near this car! The fact that we practically followed it to the hotel showed us just how close to the park we were. MY BABY!!!1!111!! Flew all the way from Ohio to get here and seeing it in person was amazing! Best of all? This was across the street from the hotel! Blurry zoomed shot! Montu! About to be Banshee's little brother! Walking in the area around the park, you can see that the city needs to redesign that specific part of town and maybe maintain it a bit better. Some brilliant engineer felt the need to put this right in the middle of the sidewalk, there was roadkill in the streets that spent all three days we were there in the street and never got cleaned up (here in Ohio you can drive past it one way and find it cleaned up on the way back from a quick errand), and one of the crosswalk buttons had fallen off so every time you had to cross that street you had to play "reset button" and find something small, usually a twig, to push the smaller internal button to cross. Not to mention the sidewalks slanted at a fifteen degree angle. However, you couldn't find a friendlier community. Everybody we spoke with in the area businesses was so nice to us, quite a nice change from the "Ohio rudeness" I hear people visiting Ohio talk about so much. The area seems to be growing too. There was a really nice Ihop, a Red Lobster, an Olive Garden, two new hotels, and there was construction going on around the block from us. Maybe now that it seems like the park's really starting to reel in new businesses to that block the city will renovate it. It happened to a stretch of rode in my hometown, I'd love to see a booming business area expand around such a nice park staffed by that already friendly community. Saw this in the hotel! Grabbed dinner at a place called Skipper's Smokehouse that night. I had crawfish and gator tail and it was to DIE for! The place was also built not in a building, but a strange "hive" of trailers laid end to end. The next day was the longest morning of my life. We intended to get up at 7:30, ended up getting up at 6:30 because neither of us could sleep and ended up going to Ihop for breakfast. After that, we waited around the hotel for a bit and walked to the tram! After getting our bag checked, we spent thirty minutes waiting outside the park for them to unchain the entrance. After a pretty awkward national anthem with no flag and everybody looking around for one, they let us in! I really like BGT's entrance, easily beats out Cedar Point's for my favorite park entrance. Now build a roller coaster over it! We BOOKED IT to Cheetah Hunt! We had a bit of a delay needing a locker for the bag (I heard they had cubbies like Cedar Fair does but they didn't) but were still on one of the first five trains of the day. Move over, Millennium Force, Cheetah Hunt is now my favorite coaster! I understand that a lot of enthusiasts don't like it, but I do. My favorite part would have to be a tie between the windcatcher (literally, airtime, terrifying time hanging on your side at a good angle 100 feet above the ground feeling like you're falling out if the restraint isn't there, airtime drop into a good trench) and the barrel roll (am I the only one that feels the strange force transfer/hangtime that feels like it'll smash you into the rapids below if your already loose restraint fails?). I would also like to mention that there is plenty of airtime on the hill after launch three and the canyon bit is sweet, and you can get wet if you sit in the front! Not to mention that the surroundings near the Nairobi walkway which parallels Cheetah Hunt feels exactly like Africa and it really felt like you were riding a NoLimits fantasy coaster. After two rides on Cheetah Hunt (one in the middle, one in the front) we went to ride Montu, which was also MY 75TH CREDIT!!!!! Easily my new favorite B&M invert! It's like my old favorite (Afterburn at Carowinds) but on a much larger scale and with better theming. The whole Egypt area is great but it feels tiny. I feel like a well-themed S&S Screamin' Swing would work well there or if they can fit it, a Polar X-Plorer styled Zierer with the VD element in a pyramid (I saw NO pyramids the whole time I was in the area, they should really add them!) but it's a great area of the park. And then we backtracked and rode Cheetah Hunt again, this time in the back. Because we could. We then went on to experience the roller coaster enthusiast coming-of-75th credit ritual known as Gwazi. OH, Gwazi. Gwazi, Gwazi, Gwazi. Gwazi. My favorite wooden coaster is Thunderhead, it's a GCI, I love GCI, but they REALLY had to get it together after this one it seems! I'm an Ohioan, I got more than my fair share of Son of Beast, but this was worse! And the thing I don't understand is WHY??? Son of Beast was a giant coaster that ran heavy trains, it's almost a given that it'll tear up the track. But Gwazi was so tiny! It might be from intense forces (I didn't notice the intensity, I couldn't even see straight) but it didn't come across as overly intense or do anything crazy I could see to chew up the track that much. And the trains were so comfy in the station! Anything that can make those nice, padded trains that painful should be torn down. Not to mention that the whole Gwazi area was like the current Gemini midway at Cedar Point in that there were a bunch of colorful smaller rides and games made to compliment a large, wooden-supported ride that nobody cared for as much as the larger coasters at the park. I saw ONE kid on Gwazi Gliders the entire day and everybody just walked past the game booths. I hope that when they winch down Gwazi that they bulldoze this area too and use it for whatever else they have in store. Next came SheiKra. My dad skipped out on it because he didn't like Griffon, its sister coaster, so I rode alone. While Griffon does have a better layout, I liked SheiKra better. SheiKra feels like a true Busch Gardens coaster with plenty of pretty theming and a strong feeling of the experience it was meant to convey. Griffon, on the other hand, feels like "Cedar Fair called, they want their B&M back." Both great coasters, like SheiKra better. Next came Kumba! My first B&M sitdown and while it was a great ride, it felt like one of those infamous "tropical B&Ms" that plauge the RCT3 forums. Layout was just okay, pretty much nothing overwhelmingly unique, minimal tropical theming, the like. Glad I rode it, though. Sand Serpent was next. I liked Ricochet at Carowinds better but this one was fun too. The illusion on Sand Serpent I didn't feel was as strong and I want to say Ricochet had two dips in a spot where Sand Serpent has one. Great family coaster, though. Perfect for those who were like me that would ride anything as long as it didn't have an inversion up until I was eight that wouldn't ride Cheetah Hunt for that reason alone. We WANTED to ride Scorpion, but it went down. We then ate at Zagora Cafe for lunch. The park food was just meh, but it's a nice pavilion. And then we rode the train. Such a great train ride! I have a POV from it but I loved it! The Serengeti Plain feels remarkably like Africa and going around and seeing the coasters on the return trip was awesome. We then rode Scorpion. Such an awesome coaster for something that small and that old! Going through the loop with that insanely loose lap bar and the helix at the end is INTENSE!!! We also got to see an octagonal footer poured for Falcon's Fury! Cool to see the ride moving along even though it's something I'd never ride. My dad's last ride at the park with me was another ride on Cheetah Hunt. Yet again, it's my favorite coaster. Can't wait to hopefully get back on it already. I had so much ERT for that day! I rerode Montu after my dad left and literally got on in the front, and ran back around the queue and got on in the back. It only makes me even more excited for Banshee! I then rode Cheetah Hunt AGAIN!!! Love that coaster! Then I rode SheiKra again and Kumba again. SheiKra's view at sunset is beautiful! I could see Tampa Bay, the skyline of downtown Tampa, and the entire park as the sun began to set. Kumba was just as good up front as it was when I rode it earlier. I feel like Kumba's your typical "vanilla" coaster. It's the absolute plain in terms of them. Finally, I got in my last ride on Cheetah Hunt. Because the ride ops at BGT are pretty inefficient, I told one I was a single rider and BAM!!!! Empty seat up front! At sunset! I really loved this final ride, perfect way to close out the season! And the lady sitting next to me was terrified and it was hilarious! That night we walked to a Red Lobster a few doors down from our hotel. Nowhere near as good as Skipper's but the staff was nice. However, that specific Red Lobster appears to have issues with funny business going on there, because behind the podium there's a sign that says that doing certain illegal things would get you kicked out, and there was a cop car in the parking lot from the time we got there to the time we left. Not sure what that's about but I'm glad they're taking care of it. It's standard Red Lobster food but that's not a bad thing! Great meal! Didn't like seeing this out the window the next day, but we didn't plan to go back anyway since we had a flight to catch. Goodbye, Busch Gardens! We decided to go to the International Mall that day and look around. Well, we didn't COMPLETELY ditch Busch Gardens. Those foam play areas at the mall for kids? They have one there! An awful picture of me standing next to the little Cheetah Hunt! I want this in my room! And a creepy topiary with little Cheetah Hunt! What a great season! 2013 was easily my best season, and it really went out with a bang! Four coasters added to my top 10 (GateKeeper, TTD, Cheetah Hunt, and Montu) and a whopping 19 new credits! My first times visiting parks with other enthusiasts, introducing one of my best friends to her first major roller coaster, skipping a 3-hour GateKeeper line from that Plinko pass, Millennium Force at night, Cheetah Hunt beating Millennium as my favorite coaster, and finally getting my driver's license! And to top it all off, it was announced that my home park is getting an epic new B&M for the 2014 season, AND I might be able to drive to Chicago to ride Goliath at SFGAm and the last of the US wing coasters I haven't ridden next season! 2014 can't come any sooner!

Just a few I've thought of: *Most of the Pacific Northwest, and I don't think they even have any major theme parks (mainly Seattle and I think Portland) *Charleston SC, it's a favorite vacation spot for my family and it would be really nice to have an SFOG-like park but with more emphasis on the southern charm (could see Herschend doing this) complimenting the already really nice city. *Lake Placid, NY *Cancun, Mexico * New Mexico Some of these might have smaller parks I didn't know about but these are all places I think should get major theme parks.

As said before here, no idea what kind of area they want. I actually made a Hunger Games ride in RCT3 last year. It was a Mummy-esque indoor coaster in the arena where you go through a few scenes and it launched you when there was danger (fire, tracker jackers, ect.) and ended with a freed all drop after an animatronic mutt popped out at you and a cannon sound effect was played. It was a fantasy coaster I made for fun and could never be built, but the concept worked surprisingly well. Not sure if a ride about kids fighting each other would go without controversy, though. But a shorter more reasonable version of this I could see being the next Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I also got this idea from a Facebook friend of mine for a dark ride that goes through all 12 districts, maybe call it "Victory Tour?" Another one I had was a wing coaster called Mockingjay that flew through the wartime Capitol from the third book. Maybe a walk through obstacle course themed to the training arena? Or riding the high-speed train used for transportation? Restaurant themed to the Capitol banquet from Catching Fire? The tribute parade down a Capitol-themed main street? Plenty of opportunity here! I'd wait to see how the other three movies play out before deciding on this but it sounds promising. I love theme parks and The Hunger Games, so I can't wait to see how this turns out!

Never seen one if those before and they look fun! Now make the channel wider and send six down at once and race them! Call it "Go-Bobkart!" I don't care how unsafe that would be, I want to try it!

*EVERYTHING at KD that wasn't I-305, Volcano, Flight of Fear, or Anaconda because it rained. I really need to go back. *Big Bad Wolf at BGW because I was too young to go off alone in the park and my parents didn't want to ride it and would have rather waited in a 2-hour line for DarKastle. I'm still a bit bitter about it. *Disaster Transport and Wildcat at Cedar Point because I ran out of time that day. *Woodstock Express at Carowinds because it didn't occur to me at the time. *I finally got it because I stopped being chicken and did it, but I actually put the TTD cred off for three years because I'm afraid of heights and had never done anything that tall. I honestly regret it, though, it's one of my favorites now. *Air Grover at BGT because I had limited time at the park and would probably never visit again and would rather have taken another spin on Cheetah Hunt. *All of the Opryland credits because I was 3 years old. *Primeval Whirl at Animal Kingdom because we didn't get to it. *Georgia Cyclone at SFOG because we ran out of time (I really need to manage my time better! ) At least I learn from all these experiences because I'm MERCILESS with creds now! I make sure to get every major cred possible as quickly as possible; Kings Dominion is what taught me that lesson.

Do we have any knowledge as to whether or not this is filled with sand? It doesn't have the little dots before each tie like the Heide Park wing coaster does but it's the only filled one with them if I'm correct. I can't think of any modern B&Ms I've ridden that are as loud as Mantis/Kumba. Wild Eagle I would say is the loudest, but are there any that are downright deafening? If they name a ride after a mythical being that becomes a bad omen by screaming, it would make sense to not fill it at all. The only thing I could think of that would keep them from doing so would have to be GWL. It's shaping up! I bet we'll see the monster height difference in this thing by next week! I'm curious about the lighting packages they might install too. Mr. Ouimett seems to really like them (GateKeeper, both Disko Coasters, the renovated International Street fountains at either KI or KD, I forget where) and I'd love to see what this does to Banshee/Bat/Delirium. Banshee should just have a few dim lights on the hill, loop, and dive loop and maybe some dim LED lights on the wheel covers. Maybe Bat could have some sort of orange lights on it that are hooked up to accelerometers that make them twinkle more violently when the train goes through intense elements? And maybe a matrix thing for Delirium like on Giant Wheel at CP where there's a plane of light inside the ring that spirals and the like? I'd love to see where the Cedar Fair lighting package party goes here.

That view is phenomenal! I wonder if the top of the batwing will be visible from there. It's still beautiful without though! I can't wait to see the station. It looks like GateKeeper's with the high ceilings but well-themed.

Busch Gardens Tampa has the best GP ever... Kid: Mom, I want to go on that! [points to Scorpion] Mom: Oh, no, sweetie, you can break your neck riding those! Guy on Montu: This coaster doesn't have a floor! What kind of coaster doesn't have a floor? Is this thing it safe? yeah... -_-

Do those little pegs on the bottom of the train exist to make it swing harder or do they have some sort of mechanical significance? If they're used to stabilize the train in the station, could they have maybe supported a guide rail below the corkscrew to make sure it held the train up if it stalled? I remember Zamperla made a suspended coaster called Zooom!, could they maybe bring the design back or help keep these Arrows kicking? And their next coaster to replace the rest of Son of Beast needs to be called Flaming Son King of Bat Flight Beast Banshee Kobra Deck In Space with a Side of Fries: The Best Roller Coaster Ever.

I was on streetview and noticed some undeveloped land back behind Kumba and Congo River Rapids. Is this owned by the park? If it is, maybe they put some sort of covered bridge over Congo River Rapids to get back there? I don't think a Leviathan-esque coaster could fit in Gwazi's spot. I know B&M's magic and could make it fit if they really wanted to but that space back there seems more likely for a giga. I don't see Gwazi's land as fit for a theater and the reason being is focus. When I went to BGW in 2007, the shows we saw were amazing (Kinetix, Pet Shenanigans, and Castle O'Sullivan, which was my favorite), but I feel like Blackstone puts less emphasis on these shows than the previous owners did. The park seems to have a lot of show buildings and it really needs something big if they want to outdo the rest of the tough competition in Florida. A giga could easily do this, maybe so could a wing coaster. Put the wing coaster in Gwazi's spot and the giga behind Kumba. Maybe a nice air-conditioned dark attraction would fit somewhere in the park, maybe a sister ride to DarKastle in Egypt with Montu. I could also see an S&S Screamin' Swing towering over Egypt with scarabs painted on the arch. One thing I've always wondered about the park is whether or not BGT is BeeGT. In other words, does this park have the "bees swarm on lift hills" issue that other parks (Dollywood, Carowinds, BGW) has? If so, that could make life really suck on Falcon's Fury. Usually you just move through it and go faster than any bee would probably bother to chase you, but if the tower sways and rocks a nest up there while it's flipping you forward, you stay in the same spot. I'm not sure if drop towers (especially ones this tall) have this issue but I'd like to know if the park in general has it, particularly on Cheetah Hunt at this time of year, how long it usually lasts before it's cleared up, and if there's a strategy to avoid letting it keep you from credits. Last paranoid Jarrett question, I promise, but does Cheetah Hunt have a height max? It isn't listed on the website. I know Maverick is 6'5 and I'm less than that, should I be fine? Can't wait to go! Thanks for all the help here, everybody!

Since this seems to be the "critters at theme parks" thread... The Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Dollywood/Smokey Mountains/Land of 1000 Pancake Houses area has a lot of critters in it, and we got our share of them staying in our cabin out in the middle of nowhere with no cellphone reception as expected, but at the PARK??? I'm walking by the fountain and I see these little nuggets and their mom! A bunch of people were pointing them out and I zoomed in and got this shot. Don't worry, I didn't get this close to them, this was done with zoom. They jumped into a planter alongside the path and disappeared into the brush afterwards, but it was really cool! And on our way out there was this giant snapping turtle-looking thing on this stump! And on day 2 when I went back, there was this nice fellow waiting for me when I left the door to leave for the park. If I'm correct, it's a brown recluse, and if I'm still correct, it's the most dangerous spider in North America. And I did just about get hit in the face with a seagull on Blue Streak's turn out of the station earlier this season. It was a good five feet from me but if they had dispatched just a bit earlier I'd have hit it at a slow speed. Critters aside, I was at Kings Island with another TPR member and we got in line for Flight Deck. It started to rain when we got there and the ride ops shut it down, so we all decided to set our stuff down and nap in the Flight Deck station! (They BETTER not replace the station! That was the first coaster station I slept it; IT HAS SENTIMENTAL VALUE!!!!!!) It wasn't a thing but it's still the most random thing I've done at a theme park. And during a 45-minute wait for Raptor in 2011, there was this couple in front of us that did NOT stop kissing the ENTIRE time! Honestly, a full themeless shadeless roller coaster cattlepen might be the LEAST romantic place I can think of!

So I cracked open Photoshop with the picture on Wikipedia and this was the result. The track might be a different shade of orange (though it looks nice as is) but I'm guessing this is pretty accurate for how it will look next year. Excuse the crappy job, I just wanted to see what it would look like.

Yay! Really looking forward to seeing how they do this! Seems very Halloween-y, should compliment Banshee perfectly! I wonder if they plan to theme it in any way other than a steel maintenance deck over a paved lot. They could easily cover the structure to make it look like an old bell tower or something. I'm starting to think that A. this part of Action Zone is being broken off into its own spooky-themed zone much like X-Base was broken off of Coney Mall, or B. They retheme the entire area. I could see Invertigo getting themed to a type of haunted stopwatch that reverses time, hence being dropped backwards (the new blue colors could match this if they make the logo a specter-y blue), a potential but very unlikely, almost impossible clue is that the Invertigo sign is still its original yellow and red and they never made it match the ride. Congo Falls could be given a sort of "Bayou Monster" theme, Skyflyer could possibly be made to tie into Banshee/Bat, Drop Tower could be rethemed to witchcraft, painted green with black accents and have a few Stonehenge-esque rockwork pieces built around it with a lighting package that would add twinkling runes to it, and Delirium could be rethemed to a mad scientist (it's almost all that works with the existing ride structures).

Hills. NOTHING is better than airtime!