neil009

Also forgot to mention, Dorney's carousel organs are running beautifully. The Chance carousel organ, which has been worryingly warbly in the past, sounds recently refurbished. If this small-ish corporate park can keep two classic band organs running, no other park in the country has any excuse. Although, we are in a sweet spot for that here in eastern PA. I wouldn't be surprised if they pay the person from Knoebels to come down and maintain them. While I'm very glad the Chance carousel doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, does anyone know why the rest of the building housing the organ (next to the ferris wheel) isn't being used? Seems like a perfect spot for some kind of concession stand but it's totally vacant.

Like many I'm considering stopping at KK this Sunday after Holiwood Nights. However, money is very tight, and I don't know whether to go considering the only ride I'm interested in is Lightning Run. Would you say the ride is worth the price of admission? Also, how long should I expect to wait for each lap on it?

The brisket is EXCELLENT. The fries are ok (a little too heavy on the seasoning for my tastes), and the ribs are ok too, but the brisket is way better. The meat portions are gigantic so you can probably get one side dish to split among your group. Saturday two weeks ago was your typical school group crowd, numerous and very obnoxious. I imagine the crowds from now on will be about the same, maybe a little busier, but hopefully less obnoxious. Stinger was open, I believe it's doing ok this year. I forgot to mention, we finally decided to do Dinosaurs Alive since it might (hopefully) not be around that many more years. We did the after dark addition which (according to signage) wasn't even supposed to be running, but a man standing at the gate told us it was. There were no "special effects" but they also charged us $6 instead of $7 so no worries. The tour guide was great, and the darkness made the dinosaurs a lot creepier and also hid any signs of wear they probably have by now. Also, at the end they told us "Here's your dirt cup". That turned out to be a free cup of chocolate pudding with oreo pieces and gummy worms on top. Which was adorable. Highly recommended.

^This thread doesn't quite have the vast legion of regulars the SFMM thread has.

^This whole discussion is amusing me greatly. All I gotta say is, I hope it's running as good in September or whenever I get to ride it as it is now.

Now I'm imagining a free spin with a fully realized out-and-back layout complete with twists and airtime hills (made possible because S&S can use magnets to limit where on the track the cars can spin) and I have to stop because it's too depressing because it'll never happen.

Medusa runs on steel wheels, and it absolutely rips through the course. As opposed to, for instance. Goliath, which runs on poly and has clearly lost a lot of speed by its final turn. Medusa uses nylon wheels. We need some definitive links here, I've read on multiple sites (including people who've ridden it) it runs on steel. Anyway the point remains, I imagine switching wheels will probably make the last half of the ride slightly slower. Probably will make very little difference, all the same I kind of hope it doesn't happen.

Medusa runs on steel wheels, and it absolutely rips through the course. As opposed to, for instance. Goliath, which runs on poly and has clearly lost a lot of speed by its final turn.

Very excited to see all the rave reviews for WC, I can't wait to get up there and ride it. Quick question though: Quieter yes, but I was very nearly certain steel wheels are faster...?

^I would take I305 over Fury and Volcano over Banshee. Pretty much anything from B&M would be a step down from what they already have. To me a wing coaster would not add anything to their current lineup, I don't really go by the "want a new ride just for the sake of being new" mentality. Note that I'm saying this because to me KD already has a spectacularly solid line up. They can afford to wait until CF hops on the RMC train. If it's Dorney we're talking about, sure, bring on the wing coasters.

I would love to see a free spin coaster at Great Adventure if it actually, like, you know, turned. What is the deal with these 4D coasters and not turning?

With Cedar Fair on their huge B&M snooze fest kick, why is everyone so eager for KD to get a new coaster? Wait a little while for them to start building good rides again.

Had a really nice day at the park today despite the rain. The park is really looking beautiful. I'm always amazed just looking around the place how good the landscaping is, I think it's severely underrated in that regard. Operations unfortunately were... bad. Normal early season woes, I guess. I tried riding the Whip while it was raining, along with a whole bunch of other people, but the kid operating it couldn't get it to start. He kept pressing the button and nothing happened, then he flipped through the pages of instructions on his clipboard, then pressed the button again, and still nothing happened. Finally after someone asked if they could get off he just apologized and let us all off. It was obvious from his body language he was totally lost, I didn't see him call for help or maintenance or anything.

Haha I was actually trying to reply to a different post and failed. This works too though.

^Why?

Fixed.

Very glad to see a queue with a roof and not just switchbacks and concrete out in the sweltering sun like Fahrenheit and Skyrush.

Single riders are gonna wanna be careful who they pair up with.

TBH, as long as it has a train, wheels, and an original layout, I'm good.

What's wrong with wingriders? They eat crowds and keep them off El Toro. They're boring as hell?

^Thanks for the reply. I'm very disappointed by that, but I'll reserve final judgment till I ride it at HWN.

^How did the second half of the Voyage feel? Noticeably slower at all?

I'd love to, unfortunately I don't live anywhere near California. Everybody's allowed to like what they like, right? Sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. Again, my interest is mainly just morbid curiosity, and as you can see from their youtube channel I'm certainly not alone in that. It's a little like a mystery, a fun puzzle to figure out, and you know the human brain's innate attraction to mysteries. In any case, I take back my previous post, it turns out I have a little more imagination than Russ McKamey. You can clearly hear in the background during the second video "anything but the drown tank", meaning a simple faux-waterboarding type situation, which is one of the most obvious ways of breaking people there is. BORING! Sigh... I also couldn't find anything online about people being suffocated via vacuum, for either torture or pleasure, so it would probably just rupture your lungs and kill you. So why the puffed out busted lips, who knows, but it definitely wasn't just cold water. We'll probably never know. So my morbid fascination has been satisfied, I won't talk about it on your site anymore. Unless they come up with something more interesting for 2015....

The goal of all BDSM scenarios is ultimately pleasure, so it follows that there'd be a system in place where once the pain/humiliation has passed the point where you're enjoying it, you can put it to a stop. The goal of MM is not pleasure, it's raw fear in its most extreme form, and having a safe word wouldn't help in achieving that goal, it would hinder it (knowing that in one word the experience can be stopped). They have a nurse (I'm assuming registered) on site, and Russ knows exactly what to look for so when a participant starts to be in any actual danger mentally or physically, they put a stop to it. Nobody has been seriously injured yet and/or threatened to sue so I doubt they see any reason to change. After watching all of the available footage I think I have a pretty good idea of the prop/scene that keeps single-handedly breaking participants. This is all total speculation but here's my best guess for anyone who's as curious as I am. It obviously is something very physical, and the most distinctive physical mark left on the participants during and after the haunt is swollen, busted up lips. One of the guys tells us it's from "cleansing" (at the end of that video he says his throat is still swollen and he has trouble swallowing). The moment in the second big video where Russ says "I don't know who that was" and warning he might come back suggests the scene is associated with one character in particular. From the bleeped out audio in that same video, we know it's something that can be described in a single two syllable word, and one guy later names it as his biggest fear. Again, all speculation here, I believe the word is probably the "dentist" or the "doctor". We know that a doctor scene exists, the only question is if it's the one that keeps breaking people. It's pretty obvious to me because at the moment during the second video where they have to secure, the participant is strapped to a table next to one actor in a doctor costume and one in hospital scrubs. Towards the end of the first big video the second participant describes the prop as a "contraption" he kept finding himself in (and says each time he was in definite fear for his safety). One thing that's said over and over again by different people on different visits is they thought they were going to die. In my mind, the only thing that can truly set the brain into panic mode to that extent, where you feel like you're going to die, is some form of asphyxiation. So given all these clues, I believe the prop in question is some kind of vacuum pump that's attached to your face and literally sucks the air out of your lungs.

Rode Skyrush today. Everything was as it should be, the final twist/airtime hill were sufficiently crazy. I did not feel any trims getting grabby. I don't think it's running as balls-to-the-wall this year as it did in 2012/13 but I think that's mainly inertia lost due to shuffling (the train shuffles a LOT now) and not due to anything Hershey has done. It reminds me of how SFNE Bizarro runs, like the roughness is just holding it back a little. If the trains see some maintenance during the off-season it should go back to running like new. That's my take on the situation, having ridden it a lot at the beginning and end of this season and both prior seasons. But even in its current state it's still hard to beat in terms of intensity, the airtime is nearly the same, it's mainly the twists that have dulled slightly. I can't honestly tell you I like the ride less since obviously the more intense it runs, the more painful it is. The day was chilly but beautiful, everything was a walk-on or station wait. Really awesome day. And I was reminded of how crazy Fahrenheit's first drop is in the back.