BintamiM

I think Universal Studio is pretty much king of Dark Rides. And I love most of them. Transformers, Spider Man, Gringotts, Forbidden Journey, Men In Black and ET (mostly because of its nostalgia) are all great rides. While Disney may have good ones, I think Universal's dark rides are more thrilling.

So Fury 325 just didn't do it for you, huh? You're right. A 325-foot, 95mph coaster that is 6,602 feet in length looks very "meh" and uninteresting. Okay. Here's my rant. I understand that the majority of the comments on here are positive about Fury 325, but this rant is for those who consider this to be "boring", "meh", and any other negative, judgmental word you can think of (I say judgmental because none of us have ridden it yet...of course). I don't know about other people, but lately, I have been getting pretty bothered about everyone trashing every single new B&M coaster in that last few years. Why do enthusiasts constantly think that every new coaster to be built in the world at any theme park in the future has to be OMG KICK YOUR A$$ AMAZING??? We ride roller coasters for enjoyment and fun, not to train to become an astronaut. In my opinion, Fury 325 looks like the best B&M ever built. What is there not to like? It has an ENORMOUS drop at 81 degrees (literally free falling 300 feet to the ground), it goes 95mph, it is a LONG ride, and it looks like it has some decent airtime. Oh yeah, airtime. Does this coaster look like it will have OMG EJECTOR airtime? No. Does it have to? NO. I happen to LOVE floater airtime a lot. And especially with the open, comfiness of B&M Hypers, it is such a great feeling! It frustrates me when people say "no airtime" when they really mean "-0.02 Gs". If you can manage to ride a roller coaster that crests and hill and drops back down without lifting up our of your seat at all, let me know, because congratulations, you are able to defy the laws of physics, and I will totally respect you for that. So strap yourself in, throw your hands up, and enjoy the ride! If enthusiasts are going to be disappointed and uninterested with a 325-foot monster, then I personally don't see the point in being an enthusiast anymore. I don't know about you, but I would rather have 325-foot behemoths (no pun intended) be built than Mega-Lite clones at every park. Diversity and originality is what makes being an enthusiast so much fun! Okay, rant over. Had to let off a little steam. I never said that Fury 325 did not peak my interest. I just said that Carowind's line up of coasters do not interest me as much as other parks like Cedar Point, SFGAD, BGW, Hershey Park or KD. I for one can only take so much time off or can afford 2-3 theme parks a year. So my bad if I did not elaborate on my statement, but I was simply implying that even with a brand new extreme ride, it is not going to make go out of my way when I feel i have better options. That is all. Carowinds is getting there, just not there yet for me.

Carowinds has a "meh" line up of Coasters, maybe (a BIG MAYBE) I will try to make it there.

Maybe the best option is to stop all further captivity of large creatures such as the whale? I like how the article put it, It's a big bathtub. It'd be like enclosing you inside a mansion all of your life. Sure, it's big, sure you can get your exercise and survive, but give it a while and you will go insane. That's just my humble opinion and I respect everyone's viewpoints on the subject, So I am guessing you do not go to any SeaWorld park? or Disney, Six flags, Dollywood, Hershey park, heck even Universal for that matter. A bunch of Animals died at Disney Animal Kingdom the first year it opened, and nobody made a movie about it. People seem too sensitive towards whales, but not any other animals.

Looks like a flying roller coaster is heading to Japan... It seems like an exact copy of Manta http://rcdb.com/12272.htm

WOW! That project came out of the blue (pun intended). It looks spectacular. Hmmm. I wonder if that is the reason why BGW is getting a small foot print roller coaster. I think that in the coming years they may not invest a lot in other attractions due to the size and scope of these projects at all of the SW parks. But wow...I am impressed

Interesting. I can see the double station working really well.

Very disappointed with the results. But I expected it. Let's hope this is their rock bottom. Didn't India ban having dolphins in captivity?

Video has surface on youtube today of FF with employees riding it today.

I am pleasantly surprised. I never thought that HW would get a nice big steel coaster, let alone a B&M launching coaster. I am excited and hopefully this wing rider is better than the rest.

This is one of the top 5 European parks I would love to visit. It looks very clean, beautiful and organized. Not to mention the rides. I can't wait to start making a little bit more money. Who knows I might be able to join you guys on one of the trips.

This looks great. Looks like it will have hang time.

Very Nice. I did not think they would be able to pull it off but they did. I am very happy for them. Once the season is over I am pretty sure they will do a few finishing touches, such as a little more TLC to the front entrance. I do feel that KK would be a great candidate to get Led Zep from Hard Rock...

While the park's revenue increased last year, it may not work again this year. For one the first quarter for this year was pretty dismal. They can blame it on whatever but the other park's sure did not take that big of a hit. I think they are playing way too safe. In regards to Latin America, I am glad their numbers increased. I hope it keeps growing, I see Latin America as the next frontier in the industry. There is a lot of potential in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico ,etc.

It is really sad to see all of the major parks for SEA take a beating. But I don't think there is 1 major reason for their attendance to go down, but rather several reason, a Perfect storm. This is just my opinion, I am pretty sure most of you may or may not agree. But wanted to put in my 2 cents. Change in Ownership = When they got sold to Blackstone they had a hard time finding their new identify (Worlds of Discovery, SeaWorld Parks, Etc) With that came uncertainty and a lack of interest from the public. And they are going through it again now that they have gone public and Blackstone have less ownership of the company New mission, new identity = Now that SEA has establish what their goals are, I feel as if people are not warmly responding to it. For one their new attractions have not been what we would normally expect from the company. They are more than ever vigorously targeting families but I feel as if they are forgetting the young adult market, which was a big chunk of BGT and BGW's market. What works for the Sea Parks will not necessarily work for the Busch parks. Guest service = I think the public recognizes that SEA Parks have better customer service than the Six Flags and CF Chains but lousy when compared to Universal and Disney. I actually have been appalled by few encounters I have had and some that I have seen. My major was in Hospitality Management and I heard what a lot of the students had to say about the SEA/BUSCH parks, It was rather embarrassing. I think that in some areas they have improved and in others it has gotten worse. Blackfish = There is no denying that Blackfish had a big impact at the SEA parks, to think otherwise is ludicrous. They set out a mission to hurt the company and they have. Hopefully this will blow over and SEA will recuperate their losses Competition = Disney, Universal , SF, CF have all stepped up their games immensely. I heard several hire ups from SEA say that "we do not like to see them as competition because if we do we will loose" I think that is very naive to say but I do not know much of their plans. I think the industry is growing a lot and I am happy to see that, just a little sad that SeaWorld Parks is not enjoying that growth.

I am hoping that these "rumors" are false and are actually a distraction from what really is being planned. But if they are true I will try my best to look at the positives. It is hard for me to believe that BGW will built a roller coaster like this.

I pretty much love everything about this ride. The color, the theme, the layout. I am glad the ride is riding well.

This may be the one ride I may just walk by. It looks terrifying. I think the tilting of the seat is the most scary part of the ride. lol. I hope the delay doesn't take too long. I was concern with the opening date as most rides tend to be opened around memorial weekend, so to me the delay wouldn't affect BGT too much.

Florida - Kumba Georgia - Goliath Massachusetts - Superman (2003) New Jersey - El toro New York - Jack Rabbit Ohio - Wicked Twister Texas - Titan Virginia - Volcano I need to do more traveling =/

I went this Saturday and the park was pretty busy. Cheetah Hunt had an 80 min wait! But it shut down in the afternoon and never re opened. They kept on doing test runs. =/ Also Falcon's Fury did not look that tall for me. It looked 40 ft taller than Sheikra. But Whatever. The area is coming along nicely, a lot of construction going on. Can't wait to see it finished.

Going back to Pantopia... I feel like Busch Gardens may have big plans to renovate the old hospitality house and now defunct critter castaway theater into a nice big area of some sorts. With Walkabout way nearby I can't help but think that the area may be Australian themed. I feel like BGT has moved away from the African theme a little (Jungala, Walkabout Way and now Pantopia) Add to that the rumors of Gwazi leaving then they have a large area of the park to expand. I personally feel Tidal wave needs to go and be replaced with a better newer water ride, Same with Rhino Rally although I feel RR can be easily re-done and expanded. Sheesh come to think of it half of the park needs renovation. lol

Are those white strips the brakes? Because if they are then it seems as if the ride will not plummet at 60mph. Perhaps they are to actually accelerate the drop and then slow it down...lol that would be crazy.

I see everyone is guessing or hoping to see one of the 3 following coasters: 1) A Giga from B&M or Intamin 2) A Wing Coaster 3) A better Woodie I hope it is a Giga Intamin. I think that a Giga coaster is much easier to market since it can be the tallest in the southeast region (is Virginia consider southeast?) I would cry if it turned out that their next coaster is a Wing Coaster. If they end up with a Woodie, which to me is the least likely to occur, I wouldn't mind an Intamin or better yet a RMC creation.

I myself fear that it will be hard for Sea World to recover. Mainly because those acts (especially Willie Nelson) drew a huge crowd to the park. I also feel that this issue will stay on people's mind forever because Sea World is not like McDonalds, they do not have a park everywhere. When people see a Sea World they will stay away from it because they will remember black fish, a movie that was emotionally controversial and thus they must heed to the "cause". I love seeing what the animals do at Sea World, it is such an amazing thing how we humans can "domesticate" animals to do what we ask them to do. I for one do not see anything wrong with that. Instead of going after Sea World they should be going after circuses. I just hope that it only hurts them in the short run and that two years from now Sea World will be bringing in more guests to their parks. I do not think this would be such a big deal if they were still owned by Busch. Whatever happens, they will always have my support.

Why are most coasters at this park white? Is it part of the theme in that particular area of the part? It seems a little bland to me.