aCoasterStory
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Posts posted by aCoasterStory
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For what it's worth, it looked like Mantis's third train was disassembled/ in pieces underneath the transfer track.
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^ not sure, but it's up today.
In other news, Flight of Fear no longer has a FastLane entrance. Apparently they got rid of it because it was making the lines obnoxious when it rained. They said the FastLane line would be 90 min and the regular queue would be 4.5hrs!!
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At the park today. Mean Streak is running fine. Is it amazing? No. But is it bone-shattering like Gwazi, Wildcat, or ROAR? Not at all. If anything, all it needs is some topper track in select sections (maybe with a small amount of reprofiling) and to take the trims off.
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This may be a silly question, but in the video it looks like all the supports are steel. Wouldn't that (1) mean that they're functionally building an entirely new coaster from scratch and (2) make it a straight-up steel coaster, not a hybrid?
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All I have to say is holy crap. And awwww man, here we go.
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I appreciate how they took the time to craft the logo to make it really unique...
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Does anybody know if anything is happening with Gwazi? When I went earlier this year, the open track was rickety-ing all over the g-damn place, and the closed track was rusting over...
Something needs to. Desperately.
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What are the stations like for the coasters as far as loose articles go? If I had a bag with me (for when the waterpark opens), can I leave it on the station platform or in a bin? Or do I have to rent a locker?
Are there any issues in Splashin' Safari with wearing eyeglasses (with a strap) and/or water shoes on any rides?
If I head straight to Voyage at opening on a Sunday, how many rides do you all think I could get in before Splashin' Safari is ready to open? Is there time to beeline to Raven/Legend for a single ride and then still get a couple rides in on Voyage before the waterpark opens? Or is that just a terrible idea?
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I would expect this ride to get the RMC treatment when Six Flags wants to get around to doing it. Either this or Wild One.Roar in SFA (also known as Six Flag's roller coaster clearance bin), is the only GCI without Millennium Flyer trains. Just add the trains and BOOM!..."brand-new" ride.RMC better not touch Wild One. That's too good (and classic) a coaster to jack with.
ROAR east on the other hand, isn't the best coaster ever, but I did ride it earlier this year and thought it was running pretty well with the new wood on the first few drops.
ROAR west, though, was abysmal when I rode it 2 weeks ago...and it's been running Millennium Flyers since it opened! FWIW, I haven't ridden a GCI that has swapped from PTC's to MF's and had a pleasant ride experience afterwards. Definitely don't think that's the solution for SFA here.
I also don't think the RMC treatment would be good since ROAR spends so much time relatively low to the ground. If anything topper track might be the solution. Or maybe topper track plus the train swap?
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* Raise the Colossus lift hill to give a drop 180-ish drop (I would think they would break Goliath's record drop, but I thought Schilke gave an interview indicated that their agreement was to not surpass Goliath for a period of time?)
Keep in mind that Goliath is *technically* still a wood coaster; it uses topper track, whereas this will most likely feature the steel I-Beam track, thus the hybrid designation.
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So I won 2 tickets to the park last night/today via a contest on the HoliBlog (http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/2014/08/25/want-win-tickets-answer-simple-question/), and I've spent most of the day with a dilemma: when to visit the park given that these are for 2014 only and we're near the end of the operating season?
I really want to visit when Splashin' Safari is open because that's one of the best waterparks in the country, but that really only leaves this weekend or Saturday the 13th.
SO, since I was already planning on doing a coaster road trip this weekend, I'm thinking about making some alterations in my plans. We'll still drive up from Atlanta Thursday afternoon/night, hit Cedar Point Friday and then also Saturday morning, and drive down to Kings Island for the rest of the afternoon/night Saturday. But instead of spending Sunday at KI as well and then hitting Dollywood Splash Country on Monday & driving back to Atlanta Monday night, I think we'll spend Sunday at HW and then maybe hit a couple smaller parks on Monday on our way back to ATL.
I really want to get a bunch of rides on the two water coasters, so what should my plan of action be for that? Last time I was at the park was in 2012 and I remember those lines getting pretty long, even right at the beginning of the day.
Also, what (if any) are the recommended seats on the coasters? I remember really enjoying Raven & Legend on my last trip, but Voyage beat me up more than I liked. Has it been running better lately? What times of day are best to hit what? (I'd prefer to keep all the waterparking in one solid chunk, and we can be there from open to close no problem). Any other tips?
Thanks!
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I do hope that if it is Joker themed - it goes in Gotham City where it belongs and not over near the Mine Train.
Agreed. I suppose I'm an SFOG purist, but that section of the park is so beautiful to me.I feel like any addition near the Mine Train would detract from an area of the park that helps set it apart from other ones in the chain. Though, you will not hear me complain about Acrophobia...
As for me, bring on the flats. A well-rounded park is better than a lopsided park.
Flats would be great if they hadn't neglected the coaster collection so much in recent years. With the exception of Deja Vu in 2001 (and we all know how well that turned out), SFOG had been adding coasters every 2-3 years since 1990. But since Goliath in 2006, all we've gotten has been a Eurofighter in 2011, which to me isn't all that great. It's hard to not be jealous of all the other SF parks with launched coasters or RMC creations, etc.
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http://sixflags.com/node/16115
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/overview
http://sixflags.com/node/16149
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/media
http://sixflags.com/node/16150
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/news-release
http://sixflags.com/node/16151
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/images-and-logos
http://sixflags.com/node/16152
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/video
http://sixflags.com/node/16153
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/twisted-colossus/facts
http://sixflags.com/node/16155
This page redirects you to https://www.sixflags.com/magicmountain/special/twisted-colossus/classic-colossus
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So I didn't start counting till I was well past 250 credits, so I don't know with 100% certainty exactly where/when I hit each of my milestones.
BUT, I've been able to guesstimate, and I know that I hit my 50th credit in 2006, most likely at Geauga Lake. I figure by the start of 2012 I was at around 60-65 credits.
I also know that I hit my 250th sometime in August 2012, likely at either Kings Dominion or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I figure I finished 2012 with somewhere between 255-260 credits.
So that would put my 2012 total at around 190-200 coasters. That were a total of 4 trips that year (1: the Los Angeles area, 2: SDC/SFoT/SFFT, 3: Carowinds/KI/CP, 4: a 3.5-week long mega-trip including everything from Beech Bend to WoF to Valleyfair to Waldameer to CW & La Ronde in Canada, down through NY/MA/NJ/PA and all the way to BGW as the final stop).
For the record, I'm at 299 now and planning to ride Banshee next weekend as my 300th!
Edit: the following is the list of what parks I actually visited in 2012, roughly in order by property owner.
Six Flags Properties: Magic Mountain, Over Texas, Fiesta Texas, Over Georgia, St. Louis, Great America, La Ronde, Great Escape, New England, Great Adventure, America
Cedar Fair Properties: Knott's Berry Farm, Carowinds, Kings Island, Worlds of Fun, Valleyfair, Cedar Point, Canada's Wonderland, Dorney Park, Kings Dominion
Herschend Family Entertainment Properties: Silver Dollar City, Dollywood, Darien Lake
Other Properties: Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, Beech Bend Park, Holiday World, Adventureland, Mount Olympus, Timber Falls Adventure Park, Kennywood, Waldameer, Lake Compounce, Quassy, Knoebels Amusement Resort, Hersheypark, Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Water Parks: Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Dollywood's Splash Country, Soak City (Kings Island), Splashin' Safari (Holiday World), Schlitterbahn Kansas City, Oceans of Fun, Mount Olympus, Kalahari Wisconsin Dells, Noah's Ark, Chula Vista, Darien Lake, Wildwater Kingdom (Dorney Park), Water Country USA
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Just re-watched the POV a couple of times, and I've gotta say I'm actually really excited about this ride. Looks like it's gonna have a nice mix of speed, floater air, twisty bits, and crazy sideways airtime. And as much as I love I305, this will probably be way more re-rideable (can't really do more than 5/6 laps before my shoulders/brain just can't take it anymore).
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Not gonna lie...I'm excited.
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So I haven't been to Splash Country in a couple of years, and I have the option to go on Labor Day (Monday 9/1). I know it's the park's last operating day, so I expect things won't be quite in mid-season form, but I don't know what that will *actually* mean for my experience at the park. First, what should I expect the crowds to be like, given that it's a holiday? Second, what should I expect operations to be like given that school is back in session? Third, what are the chances I'll be able to find anything worthwhile to eat inside the park? Thanks!
I would go into it expecting it to be quite crowded, being a holiday coupled with the last day of the season. Now, the weather forecast may change that if its bad (I haven't looked yet, this far out it wouldn't be reliable anyway). Everything should be in tip-top shape and operations should be flowing just fine simply because it is a holiday and the park should be fully staffed.
Splash Country actually has a pretty good variety of food for a water park when compared to when it first opened. Admittedly, the selection isn't as good as Dollywood, but that's to be expected. Burgers/Fries/Chicken/Pizza/Salads/Wraps can be found at Campsite Grill and Miss Mamies (same large building in the middle of the park), Tacos and taco salads can be found at High Country (by the wave pool), Funnel sticks can be found by the main fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo, corn dogs and hot dogs can be found at Dogs n' Taters (by RiverRush) and hot dogs/nachos/BBQ sandwiches can be found at one of the other stands by the wave pool (the name escapes me). The park also has several Dippin' Dots stands (since DW switched back to them this season), as I said, pretty good selection for a water park!
I'm mainly interested in getting a few rides in on River Rush. I assume that's where everyone will head right at opening, so I'm hoping to be on the front edge of that crowd & get a couple rides in before the line gets long. How long has that line been getting this season?
As to the food, my big concern was that the restaurants would be running out of stock, given that it's the last operating day.
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So I just discovered I had my coaster count wrong (was missing a couple of parks I thought I had accounted for), and I'm actually going to hit 300 next weekend (8/30) on Banshee. This will be my first milestone coaster since I actually started keeping count, so how should I commemorate it?
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^
Awesome Thanks.
On another note, I finally got to ride Undertow. I thought it was fun, but all those brakes sort of killed the thrill. Is it better than Hurricane? In some ways, yes. But they should really let up on the brakes.
The brakes killed speed, but I thought they helped with the spinning.
My car barely spun at all. And the ride's pacing suffered greatly from all the braking.
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Keep in mind, though, that your actual wait time will vary greatly depending on the merge point & actual ride operations.
While some rides dump you at the exit platform and others just dump you straight into the station, some merge a decent while before the station, so the entire line might be 60-90mins, but the merge point can still be 20 mins back from getting on the ride, so you wait 30-45 mins with your gold pass and then check in and wait another 20 mins in line.
All parks/rides are different in how they handle that. I know at SFOG most dump you right into the station (Scorcher, Goliath, Mindbender, Superman, Cyclone), but some take you up the exit platform (Batman, DDD, GASM). Not sure about Ninja or Mine Train. But again, every SF park is different. I want to say SFStL had a bunch that dumped you straight on the exit platform. Mr. Freeze: Reverse Blast comes to mind--I got to essentially marathon that right before closing when I visited a couple years ago bc my gold FP kept letting me reserve with 0 wait, so I'd get off, re-reserve, hand it to the guy to scan, and jump right back on the train I just got out of (only in empty seats that the GP weren't filling--I'm not a heartless tool). That was a super fun night.
I will say, though, I've had platinum passes before (at another park) and had to wait over 30 mins in line for a ride because the merge point was that far back from the station. (That was a *very* frustrating day, btw.)
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What morning ERT do they have on Saturday (or do you just mean the Millennium walkback and early entry)?
I know they have Passholder ERT Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
As far as crowds they'll probably be very large but not totally unmanageable. We'll be there that weekend also.
Do they not still do the 9AM early entry every day for platinum passholders? (Maverick, MF, Iron Dragon & Gatekeeper were the options last year, I believe)
And is there any option for my buddy to join me on the Milliennium walkback without him having to join a coaster club directly (ie can I add him to mine or just bring him as a guest or something)?
I've asked Tony about this, and no, it is ONLY for coaster club members.
What's the walkback like? Would it be worth paying the $38 for my buddy just for that? He's not really *that* into coasters, so I don't know that he'd get anything else out of the membership beyond getting to go with me for that (and I couldn't very well just leave him in the car for an hour while I go and do that). Or would Robb maybe let me just add him as a "family member" to my membership for $5?
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I hop SFOG gets Time Machine to replace Ninja
Honestly, I would be happy with a lemonade stand replacing Ninja
I would be happy with a nice planter and some benches.
They replaced Deja Vu with a train-themed toddler play area...
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I was thinking that BC this summer their big concerts have been in the picnic area which isnt ideal for that.
They do need a concert arena if they want to continue having bigger acts
They had a great amphitheater. Then they tore it out and put a waterpark there. Something tells me that won't be it.
I also don't see an El Loco since they have a Eurofighter.
The park really could use a launched coaster. I really wish they could have found a way to keep the Viper when they put Superman in (maybe just have moved it somewhere else instead of send it to KK to run for a few years and then get turned into scrap metal).
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (BGT Discussion Thread)
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
FWIW, I was told earlier this year when I asked if/when it was re-opening that it would be open for Summer Nights and then probably closing for good sometime thereafter.