TrippinBillie
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Posts posted by TrippinBillie
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I saw a side by side of 2016 and 2024 Lightning Rod that was synced up at the exact same time after the crest of the first hill; I have to say it's extremely neutered. I'm sure they will take uptime and reliability over the guest frustration and guessing game of open/closed each day, but that thing is definitely a shell of it's original form. After watching the official TPR on and off-ride, you can tell that thing isn't as whippy and out of control as it's v1. As someone who rode in 2016 and then 2020, I noticed a HUGE difference in pacing and a slower launch. I can't imagine how clipped it must feel now.
I'm certainly not one to cause problems or throw shade, but I'm a bit shocked and disappointed Rob continuously replied to comments on his POV YouTube that "I couldn't tell one bit of difference". I'm not sure if that is genuine, or if he was wanting to help the PR train with Dollywood....but it's sad to see videos of the old vs new with this coaster. That quad down in 2016 was literally absolute chaos and insanity. If you look at POVs from this year, that thing is crawling over that first return up and over to start the quad down. But, again, I'm sure Dollywood is happy their big investment has more uptime. I just wish people would admit to the glaring difference in pacing and how it runs.
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On 2/13/2024 at 11:00 PM, Danrarbc said:
I'm not sure how realistic some of this is for a park our stature right now.
The last Six Flags and Cedar Fair I-Box conversions were done in 2018. Vekoma has only just now built a relationship with both companies and Cedar Fair still has a bad one with Intamin even if Six Flags just went with them for a coaster in Georgia.
Ninja's plot is not terribly large for a full circuit coaster. If it isn't being used for something that goes up and over Mine Train (Hyper) then you're really limited in what you can select for it. Something like a Double Heart or Sky Rocket II would end up in the short list even though they're a bit small for the space. Vekoma's smallest new generation full circuit thrill layout is the Wildcat - without reconfiguring that area by removing Axis and moving not-Joker there isn't room for it. There's only room for a Super Boomerang if Axis is deleted too (but not-Joker can stay). Chance Hyper GT-X coasters are meant for this kind of scale but obviously there aren't many of those out there.
I mean RMC the Boss would bring a MASSIVE influx in attendance for a cheaper than new coaster. Use that added park revenue to get a multi-coaster deal from Vekoma and replace the Ninja in 3 years. That's realistic and needed to stay current. In addition, the plot of land for Fonix (new gen Vekoma in Denmark) is 1.49 acres and the Ninja plot is 1.48 acres. With 1.48 acres (and change), that's a lot of land to get creative with. If not a Vekoma, maybe you make a deal with RMC to do the Boss and replace Ninja (or Tidal Wave land) with a Raptor? DO SOMETHING!
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I was hoping that the merger would tip the scale in favor of how Cedar Fair was ditching all their crappy arrows and the SF parks would follow suit. Could you imagine if corporate cared just a little bit for our lil' ole' park and replaced Ninja with like a small scale Vekoma or the cheaper vertical Intamin models that just released and RMC'd the boss over the next 2-3 years? We'd have, like, an actual fun park worthy of season passes again!
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I'm with @prozach626, I don't care much about "the park doing it's job", with respect to handles and new roofing on a queue line.
To the point made about Fiesta posting things like that and behind the scenes type stuff: I would eat that UP if my park was consistently adding rides and rollercoasters! When a park genuinely cares about the guest experience and shows it based on re-investment in the park, you're going to have more acceptance to the small behind the scenes stuff. When we're sprinkled with a flat ride and "infrastructure improvements" (total BS imo) for a number of consecutive years, it's tough to feel "connected" to the park or feel they're really wanting to bring us along for the ride with offseason stuff. We literally don't have momentum or excitement, so why invest in time on their socials or feel thankful they're doing that? I'm not trying to be negative, just being real about my opinions - and those of fam/friends I interact with about SFSTL.
Yes, I understand it has to do with corporate, capital investment and so on....but that's part of the problem too. WoF, SDC and Holiday World are LAPPING the field in the MO region for park-goers and enthusiasts. I have no idea why we're not thrown a bone of a Boss RMC, or even a Raptor or ANYTHING - while surrounding parks continue to improve and move forward. But that's beating a dead horse. Happy Friday!
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As long as SOMEONE f*&%$@g RMCs the Boss, I really don't care LOL
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Here's a powerpoint prezo that was reviewed in the call:
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2 hours ago, Danrarbc said:
In fairness the Six Flags CEO did reverse course last year and decided to increase capital investment. It's the reason all of the 2023 rides are late - all of the contracts were signed later than usual because it wasn't the plan all along.
As for employment you see some cases where they're investing in systems to reduce the need for employees. Automating the toll plaza can add a handful more people to the to the workforce inside the park. Implementing the soda dispensers they're using in Six Flags Over Georgia can decouple the need for that service to be done at a manned food location. They should consider employee housing the way some Cedar Fair parks do it as well - it's easier to bring in migrant workers when you make the process easier for them. SFStL in particular is actually at a pretty big disadvantage just based on its location for employees overall though - the commute to the park is longer than many other parks in their respective cities and there's no way that isn't having some impact (this is the hardest thing to fix).
Yes, I am aware of the reversal....but it only affected a couple parks. Cool, he gave us a hand-me-down Vekoma crawler thing for kids that was supposed to be going to the failed Six Flags in Dubai. And then we got a giant swing, to replace a giant swing after we lose XCalibur for next year. If he wants to see people come through for 1 day, repeat visits or annual passes, he has GOT to invest in a coaster for the park. You would get flood of people coming from all over. I remember the late 90s/early 2000s when we got investment how packed it would be. Gotta spend money to earn money. Your cheapest ROI without it being a large, drawnout project is simply a call to RMC to complete the job at a fraction of cost for a new coaster.
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15 hours ago, Danrarbc said:
Six Flags tried to raise prices and the fanbase let them have it over it. Their 2022 was ABYSMAL in both attendance and revenue.
They can't put the cart before the horse on this. They have to make the parks better first to justify a premium price. They can't just bump prices up to Silver Dollar City level and expect it to work all by itself that's what they attempted to do in early 2022.
I see your point, and I 100% agree with you. However, they're going about it the wrong way. Can Saleem come in and jack prices up immediately and expect no objection? NO. But if they were to scale raising prices appropriately by improving the product, I think you'd see an incredible support in revenue and attendance.
RMC the boss. For god's sake. You know how many regional pass members you'd get JUST from that? As a 38 year old dad with 3 kids (1 of which is 5 1/2 and asks to go all the time), there isn't anything enticing me to get a pass - other than caving for my son. However, if they properly added thrills and invested capital, that'd be a different story! Think of the draw this place would get from RMC Boss ALONE!!!!!! Then, go get an Intamin or Mack Powersplash for the old Tidal Wave plot and raise the annual passes a tad more, incrementally.
You can't continue to roll out the same sh***y park year in and out, and believe that people will support it. Need more example of this?....see the STL Cardinals. The ownership is under amazing scrutiny because the fans are bought in because of success. They had their worse year since 1990 and have seen attendance crumble, season ticket sales plummet, and have seen revenue decline in the BPV and hospitality areas. Their response is that they need to spend aggressively this offseason and put a better PRODUCT ON THE FIELD. SFSTL could learn a valuable lesson from that.
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15 hours ago, prozach626 said:
What's the height requirement on those things? Cringeworthy coaster name.
Edit: Reading is good.
They also had a slide on the Grand Carousel, but I couldn't zoom clearly to see what they said? Thought that'd get ya fired up too @prozach626
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Hearing that the water on Cheetah has stopped again. Anyone know what's up with that? Makes the s bends so much better and feel faster with the water rushing by....and is just a fantastic touch. Sad to see small things like this go away. But then again.....#PantheonTheming
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Well said, @prozach626- however, when you know as a corporation the VERY well-overdue thing that would boost more consumer dollars and flat-out ignore it, it's stupid for the corporation to continue turning away from that glaring need. I understand consumer frustration, to that extent. I also agree with you - don't like it, don't support it.
It's just mind boggling to me they have a violent, rotting coaster that COULD be a world-class one and be half the cost of building a new, ground-up build. But that's the sh*t we deal with having SFSTL local - and them barely getting by. A small capital investment would, without question, boost their ROI/Revenue exponentially. See any other park that did an RMC conversion.
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15 minutes ago, swfan1988 said:
Its been closed for how long now? 5 years? It's about time they did something with it...
I wouldn't bet on a replacement, BGT seems to have a nasty habit of taking forever to replace closed attractions...
I think it has been 5 years, maybe more? I should have stated something other than they "closed" it. It's been SBNO for years. Seems like Falcon's Fury might have the same Intamin Flat luck that Phoenix has. Hope not, though.
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The park is closing and dismantling their Intamin flat ship: Phoenix. I loved that thing! I thought it was so cool how it'd hang upside down. Lots of people would just watch the ride cycle. It's next to Falcon Fury, so I wonder what the future of that area will be?
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I'm hoping Universal takes a page out of Port Adventura's book with their new coaster collab between Intamin and Sally. Thing looks INSANELY good! Gut F&F and put it in there!
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This thing looks brilliant! I'm shocked Epic Universe didn't use this "story-telling" type ride for it. Maybe IoA or Studios could add this? Simpsons or Fear Factor Plot? Or just re-do F&F...
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Side note - Spartus is a strong name! I don't see anyone mouthing off to Spartus in HR
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19 hours ago, prozach626 said:
A trusted source no longer with the park confirmed the RMC information as well. Before his departure he always gave me reliable information. But, it doesn't matter. It didn't happen.
Shafted once again.
Any idea how far planning got? I had heard that as well from a person who has family with Eureka Town Hall....so I wonder if it ever got to serious planning? Pretty cool to think what could have been. But also f'n VERY depressing. I think Steel Boss could have moved the needle for STL as WoF and SDC have had capital (SDC way more obviously than WoF).
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22 hours ago, prozach626 said:
Is this another "The Beast's trims kick in harder now than they did before argument?"
Not trying to cause any issues. Just what I, personally, felt and observed. I'm just hoping it's more consistently up....that's all that matters.
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16 hours ago, JJLehto said:
The "slowed down even more" myth has been debunked. The person who took the 2021 video said it was very early morning and if you look it up its from March. So well before the park was running regularly. I recall them saying it was maybe 50 degrees when filmed. So that is not accurate to a warmed up in season ride, and whoever made that dang triple comparison video maybe didn't do it on purpose to stir the pot....but its very inaccurate.
And don't get me wrong, I have been one of those bitterly disappointed people that never got the OG experience and I too was very sad the ride was maybe "neutered" farther. However...when I rode it in 2021 it was nothing like that video, was much much faster. Also for each comment I've seen from someone commenting "I rode opening year. its nothing the same! A sad shell of how great it reallt was yall really missed out sorry!" I've seen three saying "I rode opening year, I legit can't tell any difference really" so yeah...
Again, I'm certainly not here to argue or stir the pot. I do remember opening year vs my experience last year - I came off thinking it was a bit slower, is all. It was a shade slower cresting those first hills and I remember it not having that "insane out of control" feel. That's all. But to each their own; maybe it was just not a perfect ride. I don't know. But it's not worth getting in a back and forth over
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2 minutes ago, leftcoaster said:
Visiting CP October 1st and 2nd (Sat and Sun). My 2nd time visiting. First was 2007 and MF wasn't open the day I visited. I literally cried (but I did ride the old Mean Streak and it was a scary experience) so you can imagine how excited I am to finally cross so many bucket list coasters off my list. Does anyone know if this weekend will be cray cray busy?! Does the price of FL+ go up those days because of the Halloween theming?? Any tips for navigating the park would be much appreciated.
Probably a good question for the Cedar Point thread.
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1 hour ago, TEDodd said:
You can see that much variation from a cool morning to a warm afternoon. Never mind a early spring (March) morning vs a July afternoon.
I can be on board with some difference in the day, but that is a huge difference. I went on it opening month(ish) back in '16 (spring-ish) and then again last year (summer) and could feel/see a noticeable slower launch up the hill and not the "pop" of airtime at either of the 2 top points of the launch. I'm no scientist, just saying that I definitely noticed a slower launch and less "insanity".
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On 8/9/2022 at 1:27 PM, TEDodd said:
Having ridden it since the first public rides (pure luck, but was there the day they had media doing interviews as people came off the ride. Had a nice chat with Pete Owens that day too) I really don't think it has changed in any significant way.
Sure the original zero car looked better, but that doesn't really change the ride.
The whole point of I-Box and Topper track are that they ride like wood with less maintenance, and I don't notice any differences in the two nor the re-tracked sections.
It has significantly changed. The launch is MUCH slower and the ride time is longer, due to that. When it first opened in 2016, that thing was literally insane. Now, it's still fast paced, but it doesn't really leave you totally spirit-less walking off. You can see the difference in speed over the first launch hill here:
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Anyone know if they'd consider turning the Eagle trains around for FF? Or 50th? That's something that would be great to see return!
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On 6/10/2022 at 8:12 PM, teacherkim said:
I was at the park on Thurs 6/9. Had to do a favor for a friend that lives close to the park at a specific time and then had an appointment later in the afternoon and therefore had a 2-3 hour window when I was near the park. Been meaning to stop by because I haven't been able to change my email for my membership account and therefore not I'm not getting updates. So this was the perfect opportunity.
I took care of my business at member services, where I did ask about the status of memberships and she assured me they had heard nothing about them ending for those already holding memberships. No idea if she really didn't know or wasn't saying, I'm not sure SF even has any idea what they are going to do, but at the moment it is status quo. As well as all the perks associated with it, including deluxe dining which is two meals and a snack.
At this point I had about 2 hours until I had to leave and more than try to run around and ride a bunch of stuff I really wanted to take a deatailed walk around the park and see how things were going so to speak. I was at the park one night for FF and one night at Christmas but other than those two nighttime visits hadn't really been there for a year. Besides I didn't take any motion sickness meds so wasn't going to ride much anyway.
Crowd was light but definitely got heavier in the couple hours I was there. Tsunami Soaker, Excalibur and Dragons Wing were down as well as Am Thunder of course. SuperGirl was initially listed as down but was running by the time I made my way over there. Catwoman did have a long line, no way I could ever ride it, and my son said it is uncomfortable but the GP love it. Heard one guy say it was the best ride in the park and several people waxing poetic about it. I don't think anything else had more than a 15 - 20 min wait. Hopped on Eagle and was surprised to find no line for front row. Got a very smooth ride and guess that lends credence to the stay out of the wheel seat theory, which is why I think Bert and I got hammered so bad on Voyage a couple weeks ago. Also rode JL which was a walk on in single rider (after I explained to the party of 5 in front of me what single rider was when they couldn't figure out why they were passing everyone up. So much for reading signs
) I didn't miss the 3D at all and all the effects seemed to be working; Joker, fire, truck except the rack of barrels almost falling on you. Although they do need to update the pre show now which gives directions on using the glasses.
I know there has been some discussion on food changes so I literally poked my head in most of the dining venues to see what was up. For the most part all the usual things are still on dining plan with the exception of the double burger at JR, wings at JB's which I think are a new addition and for some weird reason funnel cakes. I find it kind of strange that first cone which is fairly good quality ice cream from a local dairy is on the plan but cheap as hell funnel cake batter is not, but whatever. The GoFresh is completely gone, no signage no menus including the shortcut stairs are blocked off, Cold Stone is gone, the Mexican place was closed. I do miss the nice wraps they had at GoFresh. Mooseburger is the only venue doing mobile order now and it is only mobile order, no walk up. They have several new items there so I decided to try their Impossible burger and it was pretty good, nice toppings and mobile order worked perfectly. Perhaps they are using it to work out the kinks? The stories about lack of condiments and napkins are true. Which would be fine if it reduces waste but when I asked for a couple of napkins she gave me 6 and was going to give me like 8 ketchup packets. All of which would have been wasteful, so I think this is a good in theory but not in practice thing.
Watched some kids sneak in the side door of Fowlball and illegally get soda in the tiny free water cups they had. Gave them my harshest teacher fish eye and they ran away
Harassed the ride op that lives in my house from the exit of Freeze while he was manning outpost #2 for Thunder River. Which apparently went down close to the end of the day and when they turned the pumps off one of the rafts was sucked into the reservoir. They deal with this by the high tech method of throwing a rope to the riders and pulling them to the dock, lol. I can report though that it was not only up and running today but the employee manned water cannons are once again operational.
In addition to several of the midway games being gone, which I am in favor of because I think they were totally oversaturated on those and the area around the new Eagle entrance is soooo much nicer, the old time photos and the little pay to drive toy cars by the MT exit are gone. All probably outdated things.
They have a new completed horse on display at the carousel. And yes I am still fine with them taking their time and doing it correctly as I HOPE that is what is happening in the park in general. There are of course lots of areas that they eventually need to deal with like the Old Glory, Tidal wave sight, defunct paintball area etc. But the new area by Eagle being an awesome first step as well as some of the improved infrastructure. Will it pan out, cautiously optimistic but only time will tell.
Was not impressed with the arcades which are mostly claw machines now and the one at the TR exit is janky looking now with the wall still up for the haunted house that was back there. But I have noticed that many parks have gutted their arcades for claw machines. Kings Island use to have a great arcade that is ruined now. Only decent one I've seen in the last couple years is Hersheypark. Can't believe that many people pump money into those stupid things but I guess they must payoff. Also the gardener in my was dying looking at the wilting flowers in front of the Palace that desperately needed water. Landscaping was an eh for me yesterday but I know a lot of people could care less.
No shows listed but Looney Tune characters were out, including Foghorn Leghorn which I have no idea how many kids know who he is anymore, lol.
Didn't go in the water park but several slides were listed as closed including the lazy river. It's a good guess that this is all due to the lifeguard shortage that has been a major news story and also why the water park will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays all summer.
The lack of workers was quite apparent to me BUT they did just bring back some international workers that started this week. That ride op I know could not remember where they were from but I am guessing the one that was training up at Eagle was from Latin America/Caribbean based on his accent. He was struggling just a bit with the loose article, keep your arms and legs in the car speech but hopefully practice will smooth that out. If you run into these workers PLEASE be kind to them. Remember they are young, far from home and living for the summer at crappy motels on the outer road by the highway. Probably getting an experience that falls a bit short of the cultural exchange it is supposed to be but desperately needing the money and the park desperately needs the workers!
So what I saw was a park still working to come out of the effects of the pandemic and dealing with the same worker shortage as lots of other businesses and hopefully they can make a steady climb out of the crap of the last few years, even if it is kind of a slow climb and we will need to be patient.
The one thing I would beg of the park is please for the love of God paint Eagle for her birthday in a few years. Every lady deserves a new outfit for her 50th!
AND put the racer lights back up! At least on that first drop....that was soooooo cool
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Dollywood Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
I rode the first 2 iterations and noticed a significant difference with the lowered launch speeds. Now, with the chain, I can imagine it's slower - by literal physics going over the first top hat. I've heard from other friends and enthusiasts that it's a shell of itself from old, with respect to intensity and ride experience.
With respect to your second point, your "signals" are CLEARLY off. I'm never one to purposely cause problems - nor do I intend to be negative. I just find it odd that he went through several comments to go out of the way painting it like it's LR from 2016. It wasn't a personal attack, at all. Again, this is a DISCUSSION forum. Not all opinions have to align, correct?