Password121

I wish, but I was with family on super limited time and didn't get anywhere near enough photos. Time constraints being in school (Engineering @ Purdue) as well. Bummer to miss out on my rambling blocks of text, I know

I prefer Mako to Manta but I'm more of a fan of hyper coasters than inverting coasters in general. Manta is still a fantastic coaster though and my favorite flyer (haven't ridden Tatsu yet) but I was really, really impressed with Mako's first half. To give some perspective... Out of 10 (5 being average), if Mako is an 8, Manta's a 7 and Kraken's a 5.5.

Those just made me infinitely more excited for this ride. Can't wait for the park to reopen and *hopefully* be at media day.

Don't get too excited about Kraken. The location is cool, the layout is tandard B&M, and the ride is quite honestly standard B&M. The only thing standard about Kumba is the layout, everything else is incomparable. I enjoyed Manta much more than Kraken, but it's a pretty good floorless anyway.

Thunderbolt at Kennywood might have my favorite ending on any coaster. Those last two drops in the back seat are ejector, literally out of your seat several inches, all over the place. It's like Jack Rabbit's double down, but twice in ten seconds. Mako and Diamondback, although they're two of my favorite B&M hypers, have pretty weak (well, disappointing) endings. The trims just hit too hard and they seem as though they were designed to take the end 10mph faster, especially considering how solid the first half was.

Why does this need to be a category at all? Rougarou is the only floorless coaster with elevated seats relative to the other B&M floorless coasters, does this put Rougarou in a separate "elevated seat without floor" division?

1. Dominator 2. Bizarro 3. Kraken 4. Rougarou 5. Hydra I was honestly expecting a little more out of Kraken and was disappointed to find it a solid tier below Dominator, with Bizarro right in between. Rougarou is about even with Kraken, with Hydra far beneath them all. The elements on Hydra range from dull to uncomfortable.

I rode Manta last week for the first time and we got off the train and looked in disbelief that the pretzel loop could exist, but in the most positive way possible. I absolutely love obnoxiously intense elements and the pretzel loop is one of them for me. Same with the entrance to Montu's batwing in the back row. That said, I can understand why you wouldn't enjoy them. It's a weird sense of being out of control with your body in such a position.

It's just to emulate the style of the 1900's classic wooden coaster. They also keep negative forces within -1g for rider comfort and to keep the height restriction at 48". This is straight from Adam House.

I asked for it

After visiting SeaWorld New Year's Eve we had a discussion with some family that was surprised at our willingness to support the company, but after discussing the facts they're fully supportive, just as we always have been of SeaWorld. Hopefully there's not too much press about a natural occurrence.

I think it might be a tendency for socially awkward people to grasp an obsession with something, so it's less so coasters-->awkwardness than the other way around, if that makes sense. That said, I have met a lot of cool people in this hobby and it's always good to be passionate about something (to an extent). I've been an introverted person in the past but (especially in the last few months) have met a lot of really cool people, some even close friends now, because of coasters... so it really goes both ways.

^Who says St Louis is getting a new coaster? Stop making assumptions and presenting it as fact, it's one of the things I really can't stand about about part of this community/thread.

Dear god please no. You're getting into just making it impossible to visit without spending hundreds per person to have a decent day.

Updated list 1. Phantom's Revenge 2. Mako - Quick pacing and a better first half than any other 200ft B&M. Without the trim and mid-course this could be tops. 3. Nitro 4. Diamondback 5. Raging Bull Honorable mentions to Magnum, Superman (SFA), and Apollo's Chariot. Intamin gigas would be the top two if they were included. Steel Force is nowhere near.

I believe opening day is the weekend of the 14th/15th this year.

That's a great idea for when they're building a wooden coaster!

I'll be at the park either tomorrow or Sunday--are we looking at hour plus waits all day? Don't really have a choice for when to go.

Don't really have additional input on growth, but what DirkFunk said about the clime in 30 years is incredibly depressing. Possibly exaggerated, but nonetheless depressing. Actually kind of a factor in choosing my education/career path. Anyhow, ignore the environmentalist. Carry on.

^Every single one of your posts sounds like an overly thought out Wikipedia article or park biography. It's astounding.

First visit to the park this weekend--are we better off going Friday or Saturday? Saturday being New Years eve with extended nighttime hours.

"Standard capex" aka $75 million.

Every ride I've had on Banshee in the last row has varying degrees of roughness that isn't present at all in the front. That said, it doesn't ruin the ride at all for me and I'm still not sure if I prefer the front or back, roughness included. It's more intense in the back and it feels even more raw, in a way. It's unfortunate but it's not so bad that it should prevent you from riding row 8 because I think the back is phenomenal.

They started the base of the lift quite a bit later than the original base so if they wanted to get 200 feet, they easily would if the lift peaked where it previously had. It's anyone's guess if they're actually doing 200 feet though--it's just possible with that lift angle if they wanted to.

^I prefer Nitro in the back (front is good too, middle is "meh"), but to each their own. Nitro's first half for me is all about sustained floating and a strong, borderline obnoxious helix--something you don't get on really any B&M's built after Nitro. The helix and bunny hops lift Nitro above Diamondback for me, which I actually found myself enjoying the middle rows more, with the very back almost as good and the front "meh." Again though, opinions and tastes vary. I've ridden Nitro dozens of times over several years and found it consistently good and filled with airtime. Diamondback falls flat the second it hits the mid-course, and the airtime hills just don't sustain well in the back and aren't so much stronger than Nitro's to make up for that.