arby

Thanks for all the updates. I look forward to a future trip with TPR. I didn't know you could pack so much into a trip.

Banshee looks like it will be a solid addition to KI. I particularly like the theme. Hopefully the new CF will keep up with themes better than in previous years. The posted layout is very close to the blueprints that were leaked. I thought for sure that was a distraction but apparently not. It's great that I don't have to hear all the predictions for Banshee being the new name of the next CF coasters for the next 10 years!

By the way, I was able to reproduce this behavior on my PC. I normally view the forums in Firefox which hasn't caused me any problems. I opened it in Internet Explorer 10 and it redirected for me to another page within a short period of time. Fortunately I happened to fire up a HTTP debugger before the redirect occurred so I collected some info. It wasn't much but I might have tracked down where the redirect is coming from. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like more details.

I've not been having any issues like that on my PC or laptop, both running Windows 7.

^That's good to hear. My body doesn't handle some of these rough rides as much as it used to although ironically enough I love wooden coasters the most. I'll have to make plans to stop and try it again when I'm in the area.

This was great! Too bad the media didn't find more good things to report about.

That's what I've been told, also.

It is actually really smart.... Attract a ton of people during what is normally a slower part of the season. Than get them really excited about the brand and the new expansion so they will want to return when it opens. ^Exactly. It is brilliant. I wasn't planning on returning until after the expansion is done but this is almost enough to sway me. My daughter would absolutely love it.

The best ride I ever had on Thunderhead was in the rain.

^Yeah. I didn't say it was going to happen, I just said that needs to happen more than new trains. They have replaced a lot of the track on Voyage since I was there at the end of 2011 and I'm hearing that it is still rough.

It could probably benefit from topper track more so than the Timberliner trains.

Yes. We were there the last day it ran on October 2011.

They put it beside the actual building for Great Pistolera Round-Up where there used to be a maintenance parking lot. I marked the spot with a red box. Here's a shot of it. Two of the new rides, while billed as family rides, are more-so kiddie rides. Adults can ride the third ride by themselves, Kite Flyer. Its location is marked by a green circle on the map above. Here's a partial shot of it. You can see Twist' n' Shout in the background across the swash. The Legendary Swamp Fox Coaster is no longer the 8th best wooden coaster in the USA per the new sign. When you ride it, make sure you keep ALL body parts inside the vehicle. I'm not sure what problems they've had in the past...

We enjoyed our trip here last spring break. My wife is not a coaster enthusiast (although she likes theme parks) and it's the only Six Flags park we've been to that she 'wouldn't mind going back to' so that says a lot about a park to me. The only issue for us was that some of the rides aren't ADA compliant so we had a hard time getting my son on them. (I recall him having to walk up the exit steps to Runaway Mine Train and not being able to just push him in his wheelchair - it takes him about 5-10 minutes to walk up those steps.) Even though he wanted to do it another time or two during our two day visit, we only let him once because it was such a challenge.

Funny you said that. When I read the sign to my wife, I was informed that I would get her one of those next year when we go to US.

I don't mean to kick a dead horse. As a newbie on these forums, I haven't read back through the previous 250+ pages. However, I've been forced to go to Myrtle Beach a week every year for the past 7 years and will be for the next four years so I thought I'd give my input. My daughter is a competitive dancer so we converge on the beach to compete with dancers from all over the country including ones from Ohio, Florida, and Canada. These competitions go on for 5-6 different weeks over the summer. While there is a lot of disposable income that comes into the beach, the largely rural (and traditionally lower per capital) nature of North Carolina and South Carolina helps to skew the studies that show per capita for visitors. With that being said, when we and our dance family friends go to Myrtle Beach, we like to spend the time relaxing on the beach and doing beach-type things like renting boats on the ICW, going parasailiing, or doing jet boat tours to see dolphins on the Atlantic, not spending a summer day in a hot amusement park with little shade. I may or may not agree with everything that was previously discussed, but I am in the general consensus that a traditional amusement park will never do well in Myrtle Beach. That's just not what people from the area are looking for when they go to the beach...and certainly not at that location. Any successful amusement park at MB has to be pay-per-ride. With that being said, Family Kingdom appears to be thriving and doing very well. primarily because of their location and the fact that it has free admission. They are close to downtown Myrtle Beach that is starting to become revitalized, drawing more people to the downtown area. Here's a shot of the crowds at the park exactly one month ago when we were there: The crowds caused 30+ minute waits on nearly every ride as dusk fell all the way up til closing at midnight. I certainly don't think Myrtle Beach could sustain three amusement parks, although it could potentially get a good draw from a free admission park built on a pier like Galveston or places in New Jersey. There is a second amusement park in North Myrtle Beach that we went to last year. It was not in the best of shape and we did all we wanted to in about an hour so we had no desire to go back there this year. It wouldn't surprise me if that one wasn't around much longer.

This is exciting for sure. I grew up near here and we plan to head back to give them support next season. I wish I could have made it up there to help this past week. A special thank you to everybody who gave their time and resources to help out!

Thank you for the advice. I'll let you know when I move forward with this.

Sorry for a slightly off-topic post... I could never figure out what to do with all the park maps and brochures that I picked up. I ended up making a divider wall in my 'theme park-themed man cave' and I use Mod Podge to adhere them to the wood. I am currently working on covering the TV stand in the foreground with maps and brochures with places we've been.

I only wish that my Panthers have a winning season...

^It was Carowinds where it got stuck again. It was up and running again a day or two after that happened.

I am interested in building a replica. I used to to a lot of woodworking as a hobby years ago so I have most of the tools I need to get started, I just haven't seriously thought about it much until I saw this thread and the awesome work you are doing. I keep thinking I want to build a replica of Thunder Road at my home park, only because it's so close and I can easily study the original. What keeps me from doing that is the sheer magnitude of the ride. From there, I'd like to move on to some of the classics like Leap the Dips, a truly remarkable ride for only having a maximum 9' drop.

^I've been on Thunder Road a few times this year and it hasn't been any different than previous years. Carowinds has always been strict on the use of electronics on rides. I've seen a few people escorted from the park by security. I'm willing to bet, if you pull your phone our on Intimidator and they see you, security will be at the exit gate waiting for you. I waited on the final brake run once for 3-4 minutes while they held both trains waiting for security to make it there. The train in front of me had one guy taken away by security. All you were probably seeing was an elevated response to reports or sightings of people not following the rules that they post.

I don't think that is true. Windseeker is running at Carowinds as I type this according to the webcam. It was also running on Thursday night when I stopped by the park.

You can say that again. We are planning a 2014 trip back to WDW as it's been over five years since our last visit, and it will take a sizable chunk out of our annual travel budget. A site I have used to buy tickets in the past is still offering 10 day park hopper passes with the no expiration option, so we're considering that. Since we usually go to Orlando at least once a year, with those, we can go 1-2 days each trip and be covered for the next 5 - 10 years. They sure are expensive, though.