coasterkid124

RCT3 is unrealistic in the money management sense. It doesn't take many hidden costs into effect, and the price for a new flat is only like $500. I could build a decent theme park if everything only cost that much in real life.

6 minutes and 9 seconds to be exact. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that last weekend, RoS had full switchbacks, Viper's long and winding line was half full, and Predator almost had to open switchbacks. Motocoaster and Boomerang are still using assigned seat systems.

I would have traded in rides like the rat bobsled coaster for more realistic rides like a round up, wave swinger, etc.

I think that the RCT series in general was unrealistic in every game, but it's all we had as a coaster community. I enjoyed the realism of the original RCT series, but RCT2 had so many more possibilities. RCT3 sort of combined the two, but if you didn't like the generic rides, you were kind of screwed. Then there's Theme Park Studio which allows for the possibilities but not money management. I actually wish that I could get a refund on that game. I believe that a game cannot truly be perfect as there's so much more that goes unseen. No game has shown the costs of electricity, taxes, etc., or even the cost of general maintenance and upkeep of the rides.

The park is looking good so far. It has a nice family feel with a decent collection of rides. Just a suggestion from me would be to add a paddle boat ride to the dock as it would compliment the park nicely.

In my opinion, this didn't really work out. The lag and cartoony RCT sounds kinda ruined the whole video. I would rather see the updates as pictures like before.

Well it was a clone, and that's a big reason why it did not survive. If it were a coaster with a unique layout, it may have had a chance, but other parks did not want to buy it because it was old and there are so many others like it.

I don't want to bring this topic up again because you can look at it two ways. Remember that the park did offer Hackemer a disability guide which he refused to take. Of course it finally came down to operator error that allowed him to ride but if I had no legs, I would not be going on any ride that holds you in with a LAP bar. Edit: And as I said in my last post, no disrespect to the families who were involved in the tragedies, but it is the riders responsibility to follow all rules of the park too. If you can't do that, you shouldn't ruin it for others.

Yes, because I base all my physics and physiology knowledge on Zach Galifianakis movies. I was just using it as an example. I know people that hold onto coaster restraints too tight especially on wooden coasters and strain their necks or shoulders. The park is trying to make the ride as enjoyable as possible and if people hurt themselves on the ride, they won't ride it anymore.

Like a mechanic friend of mine once said "It only takes one idiot to get injured for the whole country to change the rules." No disrespect to either person that got injured on RoS, but they could have used more common sense. If you have no legs, or are over 350 lbs, do you really think that you should ride a roller coaster? Again it's the park's responsibility to enforce the rules, but it should be common sense to the riders that you should be physically able to ride the ride before getting on.

This may sound really dumb but if you think about it, it could make sense. If you are really tense and grasp onto the restraints on a coaster, you have a better chance of hurting yourself. If anyone has ever seen the movie Due Date, when Ethan gets into the car accident, he is fine, but Robert Downey Jr, gets hurt because he was awake and tensed up before the accident. I know it sounds unrelated and dumb, but maybe manufacturers encourage less grasping of the grab bars.

This is the first time I've heard about this. My friend weighs about 205 and has no problem getting on Twister. Plus the park doesn't enforce the use of the test seat for larger riders that hold up the dispatch anyways (because they set the sensor off). I don't think that they actually enforce the rules, but if they see a very large rider trying to ride Lasso, they may turn them away.

Ooh. As much as I hate seeing the park possibly ending like this, it was a great story and an amazing twist at the end.

It seems like you would go with the larger chain like Kennywood, but I think that CNL would be an interesting and unique road to take.

Water slides aren't a huge investment compared to larger flat rides or coasters. Dorney doesn't have a huge selection of rides and only three decent coasters

Unless it's Whizzer. Attractions like Big Bad Wolf and Colossus will be closed but I never understood why that one was saved.

The best thing for the park would have been a small owner who had nothing to do with a chain. It wouldn't be for the money or anything and would have not been pressured by other larger parks nearby. It always makes me sad whenever I see Astroworld because I always wanted to visit it and from what I heard was a great place.

If the park wants to boost attendance, they can't just keep refurbishing old rides. They need to build new things that will interest people and make them want to visit. Besides the obvious choice of a coaster, a phase two of Splashtown is needed. About 2 of my ten closest friends actually like heights, and would rather visit a water park. With only one complex, and two other major slides, people are better off staying closer to home, and going to Fantasy Island for the day. Fantasy Island's Selection: Dragster Drench, Cannon Bowl, Raging Rapids Darien Lake's Selections: Swirl City, Tornado, Big Kahuna These are only major slides, of course. Both parks are equal, and some would rather just take the 20 min ride to Grand Island. But Darien Lake holds the major lead in the actual coasters and rides.

It's just nature that coasters of any make will suffer breakdowns. A lot of the errors that you have run into sound more like computer errors rather than mechanical errors. Lift and brake sections are controlled by PLCs, and sometimes if even a light bulb burns out, it can stop a ride. Allen-Bradley (Major manufacturer of PLCs) may be more to blame. However, mechanically speaking, B&Ms are more reliable, as they have suffered less accidents, and parts last a lot longer. Intamin tends to make things that can pump out a lot of power, but not be able to keep up with hundreds of circuits per day, over the course of a few years.

^^Well, you do bring up a good point considering SFA and Astroworld are somewhat similar, but Darien Lake is a different story. It was SF's first attempt at a resort, and received 4 coasters in 4 years. It's safe to say that Darien Lake is a much larger and more deserving park for a hyper. Astroworld was treated poorly, and I often believed that SF just wanted it for the money. (Being in the Houston area) At least the Grand Texas park is being built, and should bring back some memories for people who remember AW.

There is one event that is the indirect factor to AW's closure, and that is the season pass. The season pass allowed many rowdy kids and teens to roam the park all summer taking away from the family theme. Then the park fell into disrepair, leading to people staying away and traveling to larger parks like SFoT and SFFT. Due to Six Flag's debt , the smaller park (AW) got the short end of the stick.

Hmm this is an interesting topic. I feel that Cedar Fair would have a tough time with Astroworld. The park needed a huge amount of work and most rides did not live up to the CF standards. To me, parking wouldn't have been as major of an issue as the actual rebuilding.

What is the actual situation of the park right now? Is it truly set to close, or are they still trying to make ends meet? It seems like they should just pull the plug already.

I could see St Patricks Day before Valentines. It would be hard to theme a whole area after love.

^ I wouldn't say that at all. Darien Lake was Six Flag's first attempt at a resort and they really wanted to build into a huge empire. If they still owned the park, we would likely see Ranger, Haymaker, Silver Bullet, etc. be removed and replaced with things like Aquatwists and SkyScreamers. I believe that RoS and Viper at the least will have two trains sometime because both have had their sets of trains refurbbed. I just hope this rebuild isn't gonna take something like ten years before we see the park up to modern standards.