buck funny

So when is the B&M truck going to come and cart this thing off to the darien lake coaster museum so it can start bringing parts for the new coaster?

maybe just a 'mountain dew' sticker is all you need.

since it is already there, don't tear it down. build a huge queue with shiny things and themeing so it will keep more people away from the real rides. anyhoo, on to more important things: Has anybody seen if they are starting to dismantle skyrider yet? Is there any news on what the new attraction that will replace it will be? I am a fan of floorless coasters and B&M inverts. I would like to see a modern looping coaster. I was looking at kraken at sea world in orlando, and it is beautiful: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Krakencoaster.jpg I want one!

It depends on what you like and what you want to ride. I would go for: thunder run, fly, vortexx, guardian? and then over to skyrider Guardian has it's lineup almost entirely inside, so if you were to save that for the hot part of the day, it could be a nice rest. Get a drink and a snack and sit back and criticize the themeing. Leviathan and behemoth have good capacity and can move long lines quickly, so you could go later on these. Skyrider, people love or hate. I like it. It will be your last chance for one of the few remaining togo standups... Enterprise: one of few remaining huss giant enterprises! the bat = vekoma boomerang = why? time warp: very slow capacity, lousy ride, headbanger, makes kids vomit.... apart from that, great... Flight deck: slc headbanger = why?

i never really liked homework, or snarky people. If it makes you feel better to be right all the time, then whatever. i do like seatbelts though. premature ejection is a problem we all struggle with...

re: seatbelts It took a while for me to be comfortable with the B&M t-bars, just psychologically. I'm not saying there was anything wrong mechanically with them, but the thought went through my mind that if this thing lets go, i have nothing even to hold on to since the only handles are part of the t-bar. Then, this june i was at sfga on El toro, and as we were headed over the first drop, mine went `click` open to the next notch. I pulled it down tighter when we were at the bottom of the hill and held on tight. It was a bit unsettling. It never gave me any other problem for the rest of the trip, but i didn't re-ride (and their dispatch times were painfully slow too...) I rode the behemoth earlier this spring with the new seatbelts and felt better about the redundant security. I would prefer them for peace of mind. I don't know why they are starting to add them now, other than that as the mechanisms get older, wear may be a factor and if they can't guarantee absolutely, a second restraint might be a good idea. I don't like the argument that `nobody has been ejected so far`. It would sure suck being the first one... regarding superman accident: If you are an amputee missing leg(s), then follow the restrictions and don't ride. They aren't there to be mean, but to avoid killing you.

You go to Oktoberfest not for the beer, but for the coasters! (and you are a professional brewer as well...)

Is the Flight Deck themeing supposed to be that of a decaying decommissioned Air force base? Budget cuts... what got it built in the first place.

^ i don't know how skyrider lineups are on a regular day, I chose to go on days that the park is not likely to be busy. (weekday before school out). I think that I aiso found dragon fyre didn't have much lineup either. Oddly the bat had a longer line that day, considering you get an extra loop and corkscrew for your ride, and no sucky vekoma shuttle loop. Kids these days... maybe they should pull a six flags stunt and run skyrider trains backwards...?

It wasn't glass smooth, but it was smoother than Time Warp, Flight Deck, Wild Beast, Dragon Fire, Minebuster and The Bat (imo) so I always thought of it as one of the better coasters in the park. re: nutache, bend your knees a bit before they lock the seats and then stand flat footed for the ride. If that doesn't work maybe there is a cream you can apply afterwards. Then you could really look forward to riding. I went on skyider this spring on `don't take your kid to the park day` and went on 5 or 6 times walk on/ reride. It was a good time. I don't think i would want to go back and face huge lineups just for one last ride. I wonder if they are removing skyrider because it is in the way and disrupts the pathways. Maybe we can put up a petition to remove time warp and flight deck and relocate skyrider there. I remeber sfga was planning to remove whizzer and it was saved by public outcry. (skyrider is no whizzer, but is still worth riding).

Well, i can't take any chances. I have always wanted to go ride it and would regret missing it. (thanks tpr for letting me know in time) i am going to oktoberfest sept 26-28 Mostly for Olympia Looping. I will probably stay for a few beers too while i am there. Anybody else that crazy that wants to meet up? Does anybody that has ridden the coaster have a seating preference? front/middle/ back? (I will probably ride it many times since that is the main reason for the trip) I own a microbrewery, so i am going to also brew a tribute beer for the coaster as well.

I don't work for the company or have any information, this is what i would like to see. (i would also like it to come toronto, and bring delicious german beer with it as well, and maybe Hofbrau barmaids in dirndls as ride ops. If you don't ask, you don't get!

I wasn't clear, is this year's oktoberfest it's last planned appearance, or are there others planned for next year? I have wanted to ride Olympia Looping and would like to make a plan to do it if there is still a chance. is there a schedule anywhere? It would be awesome to take it on a farewell tour before retirement in mexico...

go up the middle left side of fountain, hit guardian, thunder run, fly, vortex, around the back to behemoth/ backlot/ enterprise/ hammer/ pscyclone, come back to skyrider, minebuster, reride vortex if short line, clockworks, the bat (if you must), wilde beast, leviathan, dragon fire. then beer break, then reride what you liked best. piece of cake!

I actually like skyrider. i was 16 when it came out and it was a big deal back then, so maybe there is a sentimental connection. I wouldn't say it is a great layout, but it is fun and it is a window into what they were trying to do when these first came out. The helix is crazy in that it is at about a 90 degree bank. The g forces pull you into your seat, but you lean on your side with 1g lateral. As a standup this is exaggerated. Why didn't they bank it a little less so people could avoid lateral g's? Did it predate the modern idea of the heartline? who knows. I have ridden iron wolf (at both sfga chicago and relocated to sfa DC) the one at magic mountain, and the one at La ronde in montreal. the tracks were (for the first 2 anyway) more interesting, mm especially, but i spent the whole ride looking up the track to see which way to brace myself so i didn't smash my head. they were kinda fun, but too much work to make me want to re ride. the one at la ronde was a crummy track poorly maintained, little merit. If you are going all the way to the park anyway, ride it and form your own opinions. As for italian job, it is too bad that they just shut off all of the special effects and ran the coaster dry. It is still fun, and if you are already there worth a ride. I hate lineups and prefer to go preseason weekdays before kids are out of school. If lineups are less of a problem for you then go whenever and bring someone you like to hang out with while you wait. let us know what your thoughts are once you have ridden them. I also think sledge hammer is boring! your results may vary...

^ Skyrider is an early togo standup, and one of the few that you don't smash your head on. Ride in the back and you get pulled over the camelback humps by the front of the train. the sideways helix is nice too. Dragon fyre is a classic arrow looper with corkscrew. in 1981 it was the scariest thing. now it's lift hill is below leviathan's brakerun, and it seems puny, but it has decently forceful toomey loops. Plus no lineups. Leviathan has the worlds most spectacular brakerun! (and the track ahead of it is fun too) thunder run is a little minetrain through the mountain, long line but fun. Great Canadian Minebuster has had it's out and back airtime neutered a bit, and a bumpy but spctacular final helix through a tunnel. the bat is a vekoma boomerang. enough said. fun fact train on the bat was originally the third train on dragon fyre but they rarely (never?) ran 3 trains so they bought a new track to put it on. the kiddie suspended coaster is fun. You must go on enterprise to celebrate old school schwarzkopf/ huss! Unless you like slc headbangers you don't have to bother with flight deck. although the themeing makes me think of an old mothballed airforce base that has been left to rust. budget cuts for top gun... time warp is a bit of a head banger and the seating position encourages vomiting beware...

Where should I put Backlot, Psyclone, and Guardian in that plan? psyclone is beside sledge hammer, backlot beside behemoth. after vortex you could go on the fly if the lineup is not long, since it's line doesn't move very fast. It is not spectacular but is a fun little coaster anyway. The queue for guardian is almost all indoors, and may even be air conditioned. If you get a snack and go there during the hot part of the day it is a good strategy for getting out of the sun. Leviathan and to some degree behemoth have great throughput and just eat through lines. Wild beast is getting rough, but if you sit near the front of the train you don't get whipped around as much. it is too bad because it was a pretty nice coaster.

I went to the park this past monday, and it was unofficial `don't take your kid to the park day`. it was great, there were almost no lines and it was walk on for almost everything. I love weekday, early season before kids are out of school! I am glad i went to see guardian, but won't be rushing back to go again. As stated before, the station is kinda neat, but looks like they didn't have time to do much theming. There is a lot of flat black painted cinderblock. They also don't do a good job of explaining the back story. They hand out 3d glasses, which they wash them in a commercial dishwasher between riders. You need to look on top of your gun for the colour so you know where you are aiming. If you go with a group of 4, try to sit either in the back facing seats or all front, so when you rotate to go through the maze you will be on the same side. The coaster part has a lift hill then a bit of a pumpy jerky dip. There are more exciting wacky worms on the planet. after that, your seats rotate 90 and it looks like a 3d version of an 1980's duck hunt shooting arcade game. Your car rides along, and you shoot everything you can. It would be nice if you could see your score as you go along, but the whole thing is pretty disorienting. Then it stops and you go through the final dive loop surprise ending, and it shows your picture with your score. the end. (just kidding about dive loop) It is worth going once, but i don't need to go again. elsewhere in the park... The Wild beast got it's trains overhauled, and the one we were on was nice. Unfortunately the track is pretty beat up. This coaster is all about the turns, especially on the first drop, but they are so shaky hunting back and forth they are abusive. We went in the back car then the second. I would say the front is better, because you have less cars in front of you whipping you back and forth. I love the coaster, but it needs some major trackwork. Minebuster tends to be straighter and was smoother until the helix. It didn't have the air time i remember it used to, but maybe with more than 4 riders it might go fast enough to do better. Skyrider was fun in the back, getting pulled over the camelbacks. It is a decent ride and without the headbanging of any other stand up i have ridden. (no restraints near your head may help this...) Flight deck supposedly got a train refurb but it was shaky as hell and lived up to it's slc headbanger monicker. Oh vekoma... Tomb raider should be sold for scrap or best offer, so they could build a real coaster in its place. Not very comfortable, not very fun, and a lot of head banging. The poor kid ahead of us barfed on the seat, but i can understand why. Dragons lair was old school arrow dynamics fun and in reasonably good shape apart from a slight jerk going into the helix. preferred back 'o 'train. Brohemoth and Levithian were fun. Seat belts on behemoth were not a big issue. I have never been a fan of the heights of their lifthills, but reriding back to back to back 4 or 5 times has helped me be more comfortable with them. Plus i could see downtown from the lifthill! They were both really smooth and a nice ride. There may be a sweet spot where cooler weather and less riders means the trim brakes don't get activated, but i rarely felt them. Vortex was fun, and i enjoyed it way better that the arrow suspended at sfmm. The final brake run still shakes back and forth when you come to a stop. I guess it is supposed to happen, but it makes me wonder.... oh ron toomey... Had to go on enterprise, one of my favorite old school flats! Anyway, we had a great trip and went on everything we wanted at least 6-8 times. Preseason rules!

discount tickets: ^ Coke cans. Or join Club TPR. Hi, i don't live in an area where we get those coke cans, in fact i live in canada. ( crack smoking mayor yes, but no 6 flags coke cans) Is there some code on the bottom of a coke can you type in? if so can somebody let me know what it is or email it to me?

does anybody know the best (cheapest) place to buy tickets? Is the website the best bet, or is there a discount code to save money? i will also need a parking pass, as i don't want to fool around with getting my car towed to save $20. I am planning to go wed june 11, as i will be in town for the LEGO convention in schaumburg. I live in Toronto. If anybody local wants to go and hang out for the day, i would be happy to meet up. ( i am a big schwarzkopf fan and will probably aim for a dozen or so rides on the Whizzer) thanks doug p.s. if you want any wonderland swag i am going tomorrow. (monday)

If you consider the lifespan of one of these coasters, a few months late opening is a drop in the bucket. Once It is up and running people won't care that it was late. Generally speaking with projects big or small, things tend to cost more and take longer than you expect. As experienced as the builders are, it is still a one-off/ prototype of a complex machine being built outdoors in a harsh environment. You can pad in a bunch of extra time to complete the project, adding cost, or accept that if there are delays it will be completed later than hoped. What does it add to the cost to put all of the workers on overtime? VS How much revenue is lost by not having it open for the slow early season? As a business they probably decide the gain from opening at the beginning of the season is not worth the extra cost of rushing to finish. It also makes no sense to rush testing and then have a problem where the train valleys and strands riders creating a pr nightmare and casting a bad light on an expensive attraction. On the bonus side, it is interesting (for me anyway) to see the project as it comes together. The fact that the park is now open so fellow coasternerds get to see the construction and take work in progress photos is pretty cool. PR wise they get people talking about the ride and the park longer as anticipation grows. more free publicity!

will they have Goliath Speedo s ? Tallest woodie in the tri state area?

so now that they have this one pretty much finished, what coaster are they going to get next, and when?

measure once, cut twice... if it is too short cut it again. when they build an outdoor coaster they put all the footers in place and line them up with surveying. It must be difficult to do when you are in and out of an old structure and can't get a line of sight between footers. Any slight differences for each one can be multiplied through. also we assume the track pieces have been built to precise tolerances. If there is a new one every 2meters and the track is 1200m long it is over 600 points to get millimeter precise. I heard when they built leviathan the were within millimeters of perfect when they connected the last piece. Occasionally it can be out by a significant amount. nothing that can't be fixed with some prybars and a big hammer, maybe a sawsall or acetylene torch...

This may not be popular, but i have always been a little uncomfortable with just the t bars in the big b&ms such as leviathan and behemoth. I need to remind myself that if it weren't safe with some kind of internal redundancy they wouldn't be in service, but i can't help but think "if this thing opens up i'm screwed". Wether it is rational or not, on the older style trains like arrow, it feels like you would have something to hold on to to brace yourself in if something let go. The handgrips are part of the t bar, so if it lifted up i would have nothing to hold on to. Add to that the really high lift hill (not so much a fear of heights, but i don't love them), and the airtime hills, i am a bit on edge. I guess part of the excitement of the trains is the open seating, and the unencumbered restraints, but i still need to get comfortable with the idea, and spend my time in the station and lift hill reminding myself... nobody has fallen off yet, odds are i won't be the first. I had a conversation about this with someone in the line for leviathan and she said " if it does let go your death would be pretty spectacular and quick"