Samuel

That's interesting & I believe it's true for some enthusiasts, but it isn't how my mind works. To me, coasters and parks (well, good parks), put me in a zen-like state of total relaxation. Riding and even just watching a good coaster is a work of art. I feel like some people can recognize it as art, and others just don't ("that's for kids!"). I love the ebbs and flows of a coaster layout because it's a physical/sensory kind of storytelling that you put your whole self through, physically and emotionally. At the same time, the sights, sounds, and experience of being at a park just melt away my daily stress, and frankly it's like my version of going to church -- I know it's simply spiritually good for me to ride coasters and go to parks. It recharges my batteries and loosens me up. In the course of being an enthusiast, sure, I've learned a lot about how coasters work, but I'm not motivated by the premise of how things works. For others, I can see that being the case, though. There are many paths up that mountain that have brought us here!

What about Venus? Seems like that might be good for a mid-sized North American park looking to add something big to their lineup. It's not about Venus being a viable coaster - it looks good, it's just about Asian parks doing most of the heavy investing around the world. By the time a NA park sees the opportunity, plans the budget and land, sets a project schedule, and gets its approvals to get started, it wouldn't surprise me if Venus would already be up and running somewhere in Asia. There was already a domestic opportunity for NA parks to kick the tires on the former Hard Rock Park's coasters (the Vekoma mine & Premier carousel coaster seemed plausible for many parks), but they all went to Vietnam. For viable coasters already in Asia, I just have a hunch that one or several of the seemingly dozens of parks sprouting all over the place in that part of the world will jump first.

Yeah, put me down for wanting to see more pics, as well. This could change my indifference to 3D printing in a hurry. Very cool!

I can see some of the rides being purchased for Asian parks (China, Led Zeppelin to Vietnam, etc.), where tons of development continues to boom, but I don't predict a shopping spree from a U.S. park or chain. The dispersing of Geauga Lake's rides was a unique situation for Cedar Fair, and while the chain has been buying fixer-upper flats, my bet is that Zaturn & Venus will reabsorb somewhere in Asia. Even with the cool trains, I can't see any park being willing to take a large, hand-me-down, 1994 Arrow. A park that could relocate Titan would simply do better with something new from any number of manufacturers.

I hope it all goes smoothly, but SeaWorld San Diego is not the park to use as an example... SeaWorld unveils Blue World Project Blue World Project Canceled

"I'm not going on RMC Coaster 1 while it's raining!"

Holy smokes, what a gorgeous Christmas tree & overall great report of a great park! Nice to see that big toothy fish is still around and looking good at USJ. TPR having cultural fun in Japan could anchor entire trip reports alone, but it doesn't hurt that Japan has become a true showcase of some of the best attractions and environments that Universal and Disney parks offer. Great bonus pics from Hanno at the end, too! If my username appears in this topic for hours on end, it's because I'm still ogling those photos.

To your point, the old Paramount coasters leaned heavily on their gimmicks, so taking the gimmick away would make 1991 coasters look more exposed for being dated. Nevertheless, that gimmick is largely uncomfortable. There's a bottom line to the fact that I would skip Vortex and Mantis, but I at least look forward to riding their floorless reincarnations. Rougarou might be among the back half of casual rankings of CP's coasters, but that speaks to the strength of CP's lineup and not to Rougarou being a dud. I'm all for preserving classic coasters, but I appreciate the scrubbing being done to dated rides like stand-ups.

It's a long-standing rumor that still occasionally gets off-season whispers. The idea may have been kicked around in-house, but I recall enthusiasts lending it traction by way of simply believing that it would be a cool idea. Followers of rumor mills thought a boardwalk along the beach would be a great way of expanding the park with a new section that would have its own unique personality. The Disaster Transport/Gatekeeper area had often been pegged as the location, per enthusiasts. Demolition predictions for DT and discussion-panic about Cedar Point running out of space fueled the fire. That discussion also birthed the parking garage rumor. Before RMC existed, I recall enthusiasts calling for a "good" woodie from CCI or GCI to complete the classic feel of the project. Cedar Point needed to top Villain at Six Flags Ohio. Parking garages worked at Universal. Cedar Point would do a Jersey Shore area so well! In these ways, enthusiasts fed each other "yes!" momentum toward the idea as if they were bringing everything to fruition through sheer willpower. Before long, "yep, that would be neat" turned into "Wicked Twister looks great, is this an early sign of the boardwalk?" -- "Dragster looks great, so did they push the boardwalk project back?" -- "Shoot the Rapids will help balance out the back of the park, so they'll probably focus on the boardwalk now."

If it happens, I'm calling a Tony Hawk Big Spin to go in for one year, before it's also quietly removed & replaced by the park's second Boomerang in 2019.

I think that goes for people in general. Hey, we've all been in traffic and seen how minds can function (not function). I worked a stadium venue for years -- I've seen it all: fights, tackle arrests, bodily fluids, and even some tumbles off the escalators. Kids are prone to being immature or perceiving no consequences simply because they're not mature. With adults, on the other hand, I find it harder to come up with excuses. I think common sense is still fairly common, but the exceptions truly stand out.

Terrible to see high jinks end in tragedy, but as we've seen with stadium falls and other amusement park accidents, things that are supposed to be fun aren't exempt from reality. I know we can tend to withhold pity whenever we can point to stupidity, or whenever it involves Mt. Olympus for that matter, but kids are kids, and this is simply sad to see. I knew two high schoolers who died in a foolish car race on some unpaved roads -- it was beyond dumb, and just awful for the whole family. Given how easy it is to find trendy "fails" and Jackass stunts getting showered with attention online, I'm surprised we don't hear about more of these situations stemming from kids who acted on a whim idea that they didn't think through.

Ehh...not for sure. Have you visited most of the CF parks? Those are good parks you mentioned, but most of the cool-factor merely suggests the big coasters they've added in recent years. If that's all it takes, we'd be more welcoming toward parking lot coasters. Wonderland is also on par with those parks, too, but the giant coaster philosophy isn't the only way to become a cool brother -- look at Knott's! I'm going to stick up for the other Cedar Fair parks. They may not be global draws, but they're generally clean and appropriate for their markets. I think some people get a mindset that parks are either adding giga coasters or knocking on death's door, with nothing in between. In this way, Cedar Point & SFMM are bad examples from which to set expectations and define what makes a good park. For example, the GCI additions to Valleyfair, CGA, WoF, & KI, as well as the Ghostrider rehab, are really good coasters -- it's ignorant to use this bastard-talk to paint a negative image of parks that are maintaining themselves and adding fun. I know you didn't say this, but it comes off as a sour grapes way of rejecting what you got because of what you didn't get for Christmas. I feel like there's an unfair sentiment of laughing off any park that doesn't have its giga coaster or RMC by now. I think you didn't catch the exaggeration and the sarcasm in all this family metaphor. In fact, I have never been to any Cedar Fair park, as I'm from Spain and I've never been outside of Europe, but I just played with the global conception people has about the other parks in the chain. I completely agree with what you said: an RMC or giga isn't necessary, but keep in mind that was a comparison game, where the generalization wasn't meant to be a real definition, just a way of making fun about what the community thinks. I'm sorry that my laser seemed focused on you, and I do get the sarcasm. I should have pivoted to my larger point in a more distinct transition so that it didn't read like I meant all of it to fall on your head. I just meant to speak to the idea that when we compare parks to Cedar Point, we can too quickly dismiss them if they don't add coasters at a Cedar Point scale and rate. That's when the comparison becomes unfair and does a disservice to those other parks. Okay, I will step aside now so the silliness may proceed once more.

I agree with ya! My point is simply that the best coaster parks (or whatever criteria's used) shouldn't make other parks suddenly become poorly-regarded as a whole. When you (not you, just rhetorically) narrowly define good parks to only mean high coaster count or having RMCs or gigas, you can spoil your own fun by looking for shortcomings in other parks that still have lots to offer. For example, I think Iron Dragon is a serviceable family coaster. Not stellar, but a decent family coaster. It's an increasingly-rare Arrow, too. It was only when I went online and read about how Draggin' Iron was so boring and blah that I felt made to believe that it was one of the worst coasters on earth. It suffered because of comparisons to record-breakers that just weren't fair. In the same way, measuring against Cedar Point can make enthusiasts balk at regional parks just because they're not Cedar Point, which propels the false narrative that they must therefore be lagging and lame.

Ehh...not for sure. Have you visited most of the CF parks? Those are good parks you mentioned, but most of the cool-factor merely suggests the big coasters they've added in recent years. If that's all it takes, we'd be more welcoming toward parking lot coasters. Wonderland is also on par with those parks, too, but the giant coaster philosophy isn't the only way to become a cool brother -- look at Knott's! I'm going to stick up for the other Cedar Fair parks. They may not be global draws, but they're generally clean and appropriate for their markets. I think some people get a mindset that parks are either adding giga coasters or knocking on death's door, with nothing in between. In this way, Cedar Point & SFMM are bad examples from which to set expectations and define what makes a good park. For example, the GCI additions to Valleyfair, CGA, WoF, & KI, as well as the Ghostrider rehab, are really good coasters -- it's ignorant to use this bastard-talk to paint a negative image of parks that are maintaining themselves and adding fun. I know you didn't say this, but it comes off as a sour grapes way of rejecting what you got because of what you didn't get for Christmas. I feel like there's an unfair sentiment of laughing off any park that doesn't have its giga coaster or RMC by now.

Wow, looks very good. Those stats translate to 98 feet tall (or drop), 52mph, and 2706 feet of track -- those are solid statistics, definitely in the Juvelen category of "family" versus a big inverted Roller Skater.

I like the idea vs. the souvenir bottle, but I wonder if there's risk in cannibalizing drink sales from families/friends nominating one drink pass member to provide for everybody at the self-service stations. I'm not entirely sure where those stations are or if they're monitored in any way. Since this isn't my job, I'm not going to estimate costs/benefits or pretend to have the numbers, but I'm curious if anyone else has insight on a system like this. Knowing people, if a family or group of friends have season passes, I'd expect that just one of them would buy the drink pass & let the whole group piggyback on it throughout the season.

Goliath II: Millennium Force Boogaloo. I don't know, it seems like sprucing up rides by way of cosmetic changes has become fashionable in recent years. Like others, I preferred the green and purple/plum accents. It looked good without ever feeling like some sort of Joker theme, and felt unique to the ride. So long as it still walks and talks like an Intamin duck, we can't be too upset.

That Chinese looper looks like it came from a janitor who decided to start a coaster company after having swept up around the Hopkins and Arrow offices in 1978. Whatever's in that tunnel should get this thing nominated a few times in the "What Rides Scare the Crud Out of You?" topic.

I wholeheartedly agree. A lot of that "run here, then here, then there, and you should still have 10 minutes to get on that other thing if it's running three trains and is 67° outside" foolishly relies on maintaining a 12 year old's frenetic energy and having many uncontrollable factors bend to your plans. That's how you used to have to do it, & it may still be the case if you're short on time & visiting some faraway corner of the world, but I love how FL+ eliminates all of that stress. I like to take a lap of the must-dos early in the day, relax through the afternoon, and then pick up the pace for evening/night rides. At a 10 p.m. closing, it used to be a big choice to decide what one or two coasters to experience at night. Last year with FL+, I got 3x each on Maverick and Millennium, and then took a quick lap on Raptor to top off the night in the last hour of operations. I'd never be able to do that without FL.

Here's a link to the auction list, or at least the items that will be auctioned online.

I know, it's weird. It's almost as if people really love Gatekeeper and the overwhelming opinion of whiny A$$, cynical coaster enthusiasts means absolutely nothing. How is that possible? lol Ridership's a testament to capacity and a great crew, but only serves as a clue as to whether people love the ride experience. For instance, McDonald's moves a lot of burgers, but are those great burgers? Maybe, to some people. And if you don't really love McDonald's, are you an overwhelmingly cynical, whiny A$$ burger enthusiast? Your generalization of enthusiasts is a bit cynical in its own right. We shouldn't act like all coasters are glorious experiences (Hi, Goudurix) or pretend we all feel the same way about them for fear of receiving negative labels. You say an opinion "means absolutely nothing," but they're not supposed to "mean something" beyond having enjoyable discussion within the community. Conversation with one another is the purpose, not persuading parks to do as we say. The notion of droves of old fogy enthusiasts who yell at clouds and tell parks what to do is overstated. Now, let me agree with you. People surely enjoy Gatekeeper quite a bit, and you're right -- probably more than some enthusiasts would admit. I'd guess that 99% of visitors see a prominent inversion monster with a cool first drop, without having their minds be tortured with thoughts of, "Ehh, it's no Kumba, Nemesis, etc..." I've seen multiple people point right to Gatekeeper at the entrance and declare it the first ride of the day. I'm always impressed by how efficiently riders get off and head for the exit, even though they circulate the same areas of the station as the oncoming riders. I think the employees help to set that quick tone, and it also helps that the station is spacious. In contrast, the process on SkyRush is similar, but that station can feel like a cramped subway/metro sardine can during rush hour. Along those capacity lines, I'm sure looking forward to a three(plus?)-train RMC operations. If Corkscrew's running three trains, I have no doubt the new Streak will be made to gobble people up.

Awesome, awesome game, but I do find coaster speed, POVs, and physics to be just a bit off right now. The POV cam feels loose and disconnected from layouts. The cam doesn't give a good sense of weight to the trains, and doesn't capture nuance in track design very well. As a result, POVs often look like a slippery glide over the track that's only loosely following the course, and this makes different coaster styles ride with the same generic feel. In terms of physics, I've also noticed that trains inexplicably haul too fast through some elements, and inexplicably lurch to a crawl through others. It's like friction osculates between being too high or too low, but I'm sure there's an achievable sweet spot somewhere between the two. I hope better balance on these issues can be realized through patches/updates, though I'll reiterate that PLC is a gorgeous and well-made game!

Wooden Warrior & what's the other that I'm missing? I don't know whether or not it's just RMC making everyone else sweat, as GG has done some really cool designs in the past (with mixed maintenance results over time). They can also dish out great airtime, and I think this could be the most enduring onslaught of bunnies that GG has offered so far. Looks good!

I like everything I see. With excellent airtime potential and fast pacing, I think big fun will be packed all over this thing. I'm impressed with the length of the course, too. The double-down looks like a savory element. Another good-looking Florida woodie, pinch me!