LuminousAphid

I bet the extra height would be crazy, but one of my favorite things about wave swingers is the fact they still use chains to attach the seats. Last time I rode one, it was going pretty fast so I was able to use my legs as a "sail" and swing around backward at one point, facing the person behind me. It was really fun and it's now one of my favorite flats, definitely my favorite "classic" flat ride.

Has anyone ridden one of these? It looks intense when upside down

I never really counted before now, but just realized I hit my 10 mark last week @ the Wa. State Fair! Hooray me! 1. Timber Terror - Silverwood 2. Classic Coaster - Washington State Fairgrounds 3. Aftershock - Silverwood 4. Tremors - Silverwood 5. Timberhawk - Wild Waves Theme Park 6. Corkscrew - Silverwood 7. Rainier Rush - Washington State Fairgrounds 8. Klondike Gold Rusher - Wild Waves Theme Park #9 and #10 were when I was young and I hardly remember them so I'll put them here until re-rides happen- 9. Space Mountain - Disneyland 10. Matterhorn Bobsleds- Disneyland 11. Wild Thing - Wild Waves Theme Park will probably stay at the bottom for some time- should be near Corkscrew but it's so incredibly bad edit: Yeah Buddy- although it worries me that Outlaw Run is there, my expectations for it are high. Also I'm more and more angry at myself I didn't get my EDL in time to get to Canada and ride Coaster this year, especially when I see it on people's lists

I know exactly what you are talking about, I feel the same about Zierer Star Shape's. The pendulum motion feels controlled or braked. Yeah I didn't like SpinCycle at Silverwood as much as I thought I would for that very reason. It's the same model as the one at Tayto and it was sort of disappointing that it was less forceful than you'd expect from such a huge ride. It's one of those rides that looks more impressive than it is, unfortunately. At the fair this year I tried a Fabbri Evolution, it still has a counterweight but pulls more G's and feels a lot more natural Anyway, great TR, it will be really interesting to see how this park grows and evolves through the years now that it's getting to be more of a destination with some top-class rides. I am hoping that the awesome coaster stays fast and smooth, but worry that it may get rough without proper upkeep.

Sounds like it's going to be a hippie commune of some kind. Disappointing.

I don't really get why this irks so many people so badly... you obviously know what they mean, just let it go.

Funny this would come up, I was just looking at one of our Family Fun Center locations online last night and saw they have a VR coaster experience for something like $7 Here's the crux of the matter; Most simulators give you the experience of something you would rarely be able to do in real life, for example fly a fighter jet, be a wizard, go back in time (Back to the Future I miss you ). So they are simulating a real-life or fantasy experience that just isn't possible or is very unlikely in real life. If a simulator is just simulating another amusement ride, it seems redundant. As others have posted, if you want to go on a coaster, why not just ride an actual coaster? Sure, there could be sims of coasters with gimmicks that you can't do in real life, but in my opinion that would weaken the experience even more. The scary part here is that (again as others have posted) parks could start making sims of roller coasters instead of actual roller coasters, and that would be horrifying. I don't think this will happen; the sims would never get popular enough to replace a real ride, because obviously people would rather go on a real coaster and those will always be the real crowd-pleasers. So I say nay, and I don't think we will see them explode or take over the market for coasters. It will probably be a niche thing that may make enough to just barely hang on, or it might die out completely. edit; and the only "VR" coaster I have been on is the one before the movie where you go zooming through all the popcorn and candy and splash into the soda! Weee!

I finally have something to add! Classic Coaster, Puyallup WA John A. Miller design originally built as a side friction, then redesigned by Walker LeRoy to accommodate trains from one of Playland's coasters in Vancouver, BC. LeRoy was also involved in designing Playland's legendary Coaster according to ultimaterollercoaster.com. The ride was recently rebuild section by section and is now completely restored, but still uses 3 old Prior and Church trains. They are colored differently and have silly names; Orn'ry Orange, Ol' Yeller, and Blaz'n Blue. How original! Anyway in my single day experience, the yellow train was noticeably faster than the orange train, and provided more intense airtime and laterals. I almost feel like I shouldn't be spreading this around, but the trains have no seat belts and a single position bar which sits about 8" above your lap The first time I rode, I thought the ride would be pretty tame considering the lack of safety measures, but was pleasantly surprised as the first real drop gave some nice floaty air thanks to a generous pre-drop Sorry the picture is so dark, its the best one I have of the top The train keeps a good amount of speed up to the turn around, and then one of 2 things might happen: a) You are sitting in the front, and you gently round the bend and speed down the next drop b) You are sitting in the back, and your car is whipped around the final bend and down the drop so fast you are nearly ejected from your car Here is a video, this was in the middle of the train and still quite intense [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]I was taken completely by surprise, and of course my first ride was in the back. I genuinely thought for half a second that I was about to be outside the car. I know it's such a "GP" thing to say, but honestly with the lack of belts and how high the lap bar sits, it was alarming to suddenly be ejected both left and up into the lap bar so hard it hurt my thighs. I haven't ridden any certified "ejector air" coasters, but I'm pretty sure this would qualify. The rest of the ride is great fun with lots of nice falling/floating air over the drops, and a wicked underbanked final turn into the last set of mini air hills. But nothing ever tops that first drop after the turn around, and that drop kept me coming back to the coaster until closing at 10PM. Great classic coaster with some honest-to-goodness thrills still left in it.

wot

Oh my, when I saw that event schedule, I got a little flutter in my stomach- I need to do this next time. I bet you guys had the best day ever!

NO! They had your standard Orbiter, but I have never seen that ride, it looks much more fun and less pukey. Or do you mean this crazy thing? That looks MORE vomit-inducing. I don't think that was there, although I can't be certain- I didn't realize they had a Hexentanz until halfway through the day when I was on the lift of Rainier Rush. I actually did get to ride the Evolution, which I just saw is also a Fabbri- it was up later in the day, though there was a guy greasing the main baring with a caulking gun while we were riding it (carnivals are awesome, I wish I'd had my camera out) It was really fun, in fact I actually liked it a lot more than SpinCycle at Silverwood, which is my only real comparison. It was much more forceful and the way it tilted to put riders on their backs made it a very different and fun ride. I'm sure you'll enjoy it! Have fun, and be safe- there were several strongarm robberies of merchants on Sunday so it's still The South End I have to agree on the nomination for best coaster in WA; I have ridden all the major coasters in the state now (except that Wildcat) and can safely say this is by far the best! The airtime is good, pretty much every drop gives you a nice lift from your seat I'm not the person to turn to for food porn- I have somehow become the biggest cheapass ever when it comes to everyday normally-priced food, so fair prices just put me off of the whole thing. I didn't buy anything at all food-wise that day. I know it sounds sad to go to a fair with no fair food, but I didn't go to eat, I went to ride! Plus nothing I saw or smelled really made me go, "Damn I wish I had some of that" edit for the nth time; also, who is Gary? The awesome guy running the coaster?

So, after skipping the nearest summer fair due to weather (Rain in Washington- who would have thought?) yesterday I had the chance to head down to the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, about an hour south of me. I got a free educator pass from my Mom and found free parking so that took care of a lot of upfront costs. The only other thing I spent money on was an all-day ride pass, I was expecting it to be $30 (online price) but it was well worth it even at $40. The tickets are only $0.50 but any worthwhile ride is 10+ tickets, so it doesn't take long to rack up $40. The Wave Swinger was one of my favorite rides, I was able to swing around backward at one point So, armed with my wristband, I headed for the obvious first choice- Classic Coaster aka Coaster Thrill Ride. This has been around in one incarnation or another since the 1930's, and has been rebuild and renovated several times due to fire or other reasons. Most recently it has just undergone "a five-year renovation to last the next 100 years" according to the fair's website. Whatever they did, it worked. This used to say "Coaster Thrill Ride" View from the station Some photos of reconstruction after a fire, or maybe the recent reconstruction My first ride on this coaster yesterday was the first time in my coastering life I was genuinely afraid that I might be thrown from the car. The pre-drop was good, the first drop was great, then up to the turnaround and the second drop and HOLY $#&%! I don't know how exactly to explain this drop, but I'll try. As you complete the turnaround there is a little chicane to straighten back out, and at this point sitting in the last car the train's already going pretty fast, so you get violently yanked to the side just before being absolutely ejected from your seat down the drop. Did I mention the refurbished Prior and Church trains have no seat belts? No? Oh, they have no seatbelts. That drop So after my near-death experience, I decided to go on a few more rides. I tried the "Vertigo," a tall wave swinger, "El Nino," and the "Falling Star" as I always call them in honor of the old one at Wild Waves. The "Evolution" wasn't running earlier in the day, but I kept seeing them test it. They had a really nice Huss Enterprise, but I was not allowed to ride alone View from the carnival gate Coaster about to coast Looks like fun... My next destination was one I was approaching with a sense of building dread- Rainier Rush. Ever since I learned this was at the fair, I have had a morbid curiosity about it, and finally riding this thing did not dissappoint. It's a Top Fun "Typhoon" model, which traveled around for quite a while before ending up here. It looks good from a distance, but the miles and years have begun to show on this baby. I don't know if it ever was a "fun" coaster, but any semblance of fun is long gone from this ride, IMO. Even the normal "GP" people I rode with knew this thing was not right. It's supposed to be an "inverted" coaster, because it has an inclined loop right in the middle. According to the sign, this pulls as many G's as Mindbender or Olympia Looping- I'm not sure. Regret Here we gOH NO Inclined looping fun for the whole family Are you sure about that? At this point I was starting to get hungry, and a browse through the fare quickly reminded me why I always bring my own food if possible. 'merica The same company redeems itself with some Disney flair Next I went to do some other non-ride things, such as: Hobby Hall- half of this was just people's collections of various items I liked the personal nature of these, much different than your typical commercial fair displays New Fair Record! Holy cow Lots of pretty produce I grew some Dahlias this year, but nothing like this So many flowers! Carnivorous plants- Cape Sundew I have several species of these at home, I may enter something next year Bitchin' Venus Fly Trap Rare Striped Donkey! This whole room was almost all different breeds of pigeons... ...as was this Clydesdales Dumpsters of Doo-Doo I had to go out to move my car due to 4-hour parking limits, but luckily they had hand stamps to get back in. Then I went for some more Roller Coastering! I couldn't get on WildCat, a Schwarzkopf Wildcat, again because I was by myself I guess I'd rather be alone than with someone really annoying, though... One of the nice parts about being alone is you can meet people in line etc, but if you decide you're done talking/they're annoying you/you're annoying them/whatever, you don't have to be around them the rest of the day like you do with your family I'm a marked man Coaster pron - it has a separate inclined unload platform with level transfer track between that and the loading area. The ride ops had to *spoiler alert* push the yellow train into the loading area because the transfer track is not inclined Friction brakes; overshooting the station a bit was common Schwarzkopf Wildcat, looking pretty against the sunset They also had a NOPE $30 It appeared to be powered by a big stack of springs I wanted to try this but there was no time- Coastering was calling So after another walk around, I went back to the Coaster again. I arrived at the station in time to see them transfer a new train onto the track!! The ops actually had to push the train off the transfer track because that section is level. They had been running one train, Orn'ry Orange, all day until now. Now that the line was shorter than it had been all day, time for another train!(?) It was weird but I wasn't complaining, 2 trains are better than 1 any time of day. Plus, the new train, Ol' Yeller, was FAST. It was noticeably faster than the orange train and the ride was even more crazy over that second drop than it was before. I tried my best, but every time I sat in the back I couldn't keep my hands up for that drop. 2 TRAINS!! Ol' Yeller was ready after resting on the transfer all day More Coaster pron After a few more rides, I was unlucky enough to be there for the day's excitement- a drunk guy tried to hop out of the train before it was completely stopped, and in the words of one of the ride ops, "Now his leg looks like chop liver." He proceeded to lay on the station floor with people gathered around while everyone watched from the loading platform, and eventually they just shut the ride down and made everyone leave. I was actually loaded in the back seat at the time, and had been about to dispatch, so that was a bummer. It took at least 30 minutes for medics to get this drunk guy onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the station, and then another 15 minutes to re-open due to paperwork. I should point out that the ride ops were awesome during all of this, trying to keep people happy despite being held up. I found it funny that they did not hide their disdain for the injured rider and how he was holding everyone's night up. I took this opportunity to try my first wave swinger in a long while- I quickly realized I could use my legs as a sail and was able to swing around completely to face the people behind me That was super fun. I don't think the ops appreciated it because when I rode again at closing, they made sure to tell me (I was the only one on it haha) to not swing, not twist, just sit and enjoy the ride. It seemed like it went super fast with just myself riding though. After swinging, I checked out the Classic Coaster park, and by the time I was done, the coaster was back open. The best part about this coaster was that they have kept it as true to the original experience as possible. Even with the rebuilt track and the opportunity to put in modern safety measures, they didn't comply to the norm of erring on the side of caution. The trains still don't have seat belts, and it doesn't even have station gates: GP are trusted with their own safety!? Unfortunately, as the crowds slowed, the ops were instructed to load the last 3 cars in each train with 5 gallon buckets filled with sand, and only the first 5 cars were used. It wasn't quite as extreme when not in the back seat, but still fun. It was actually nice not to be nearly thrown from the car for a couple of rides. By the time the night was over, the ride ops had seen me a good dozen times, and the girl directing people to the gates just gave me the rear seat each time I came back through Well, that was my 1 fair trip for the year I believe. It was actually really fun, and exceeded my expectations as far as ride selection and other things to do. I would recommend it for the Classic Coaster alone- a very nice, if slightly scary, wooden coaster which everyone should ride if you have the chance. edit; I will try to get a video thrown together later, I think I got some good stuff.

Nice trip report, I'm glad you and your family had a good time! If my trip report inspired even one person to go and spread the word about this underrated park, it was worth it Now that I have had a month to look back, it was still the most fun I have had in a great while, and I am really looking forward to going back for Scarywood in October. Cool that your nephew liked Corkscrew- he has good taste in coasters. I thought it was really fun too, and definitely rides better (and is prettier) than out equivalent here in WA. By the way, did you go on Panic Plunge? This was the surprise favorite of my trip, I couldn't get my older friends to go on it but I thought it was the best ride there besides the coasters. I agree that Timber Terror was excellent in the air time department, especially in the back- I heard there was some retracking done this year (I like to think by RMC down the road but probably too small a job for them now) and that it really helped the ride. The first drop and camelback in particular were super fun in the back. I those lap bars I also took pictures of the Sky Diver because it looks appropriate, but I'm guessing you didn't conquer that beast; I could not make myself get on that thing. I don't even know if they'd allow a single rider, but I didn't find out.

Just played this for way too long... it's pretty fun but gets repetitive. I like the Space Mountain Mission 2 sim, Helix was annoying trying to run 3 trains without messing up the launch blocks and having to use launch reset

It seems like these are all things that come with the theme park experience at one point or another... it sounds like you just don't like theme parks Although I'm sure you know the parks and times to go to avoid these things. I hope I can also find the parks where these are non-issues! Personally, my pet peeve is that parks I have been to only offer one low "tier" of food- pizza, hot dog, burger, fried, soda. I'm not a foodie, but I would gladly pay a couple of dollars more for something edible- for example I was eating a polska kielbasa the other day and thought, "this would be great park food" vs. your standard hot dog. I probably just need to get to some classier parks (or outside the U.S.) to experience good park food.

Just saw the Roar announcement- aside from the name (I couldn't care less about comic books), it looks stunning!

If I'm being honest, the main issue I see with this... it doesn't look very fun I mean sure, it would be a fun little novelty, but in reality how much would you actually use this thing? Not trying to be a negative nancy, but thinking practically I don't see it retaining its ride appeal for long. Just something to think about before spending a lot of money. On the other hand, thinking of some sort of crazy backyard pendulum ride gets my heart racing a bit edit; e.g. Personal Screamin' Swing

So I posted in the "Official help thread" a couple days ago, and so far no replies, so hopefully it's ok if I make a topic to get help on this... I bought a new copy of RCT2 about a year ago on Amazon ($4.99 sale) and have been addicted to it again ever since, but I am having a weird issue. When I save tracks in the game, they show up as available designs when building a new coaster, but when I exit the game (or even alt+tab out during the game) there are no files for the tracks anywhere. I have tried making hidden files visible, and windows even let me "copy" the track file from the in-game save window, but when I try to paste it anywhere it tells me the file no longer exists. Screenshots also do not apparently exist, even though the game says it creates SCR001.BMP The weird thing is, before now I was able to take screenshots just fine. I never checked on the track files really, until now when I wanted to upload one and couldn't find it I think this must be because it's a digital copy, but I can't understand how the game sees the files but windows cannot. Has anyone else ever had these issues?

Silverwood was pretty good overall, but inconsistent. I don't know if this counts, but Boulder Beach's frozen mixed drinks were pretty pricey- $8-$9 for just the drink, and a few extra bucks for the "souvenir" tiki glass. The kicker: almost no alcohol! I do appreciate their 2 drink maximum--suppose that's a good policy for a water park--but at least put a little kick in there Across the park, the opposite: you go for a decently-priced cool treat that SURPRISE! turns out to be a moon-sized mass of ice cream on a much-too-small waffle cone. Go for the waffle bowl, not the cone! NOT THE CONE!!

Anyone know why my digital version of RCT2 has suddenly stopped saving files? It seems the files exist to the game, but they don't actually exist on the hard drive... for example, I can see the file name "High Dive" when I go to save a track in-game, but when I go there in windows it's not there. I can load the track from in-game menu, and get the overwrite prompt when I try to save over it in-game. I can even choose "Copy" from in the game, but when I try to paste it anywhere, windows tells me the file "no longer exists" at this location. Screenshots are also not showing up where they normally do. I'm wondering if this has something to do with the game being a digital version. I think I bought it from Amazon for about $5, and it was definitely worth it. This is the first issue I have had with the game so far.

That looks awesome, thanks for sharing! I think I'm gonna go to the fair on Monday, I will try to get some good video/pics and bring them back here.

Oh I just looked it up, I thought you were talking about the ZacSpins but then remembered those are not S&S... sorry 'bout that. Like I said I am a noob. So that is a good ride like it looks? The concept Robb and Elyssa (sp?) and kidtums got to ride looked super fun!

I guess I should specify I'm talking more about specific trains on certain coasters- not so much the model but the particular train. I am dying to try out Millenium Flyers just because of the single row cars & visibility, I don't know if you're joking about the free spins?

^ was it wild like this?

I don't have much coaster experience so far, but one thing I have noticed about them is that the vehicle can make a huge difference in how a coaster rides. For example, I have ridden a couple of really similar Arrow loopers recently which are around the same age. One of them had a visibly distressed train that didn't look well maintained, and it tried to murder me; the other had a nice solid train which looked nearly new, and it was actually a whole lot of fun! Granted some of this could be down to variation in the tracks, but there's no doubt the train a coaster runs can make a huge difference. So I ask you, oh all-knowing coaster nerd elders, what are your all-time favorite trains? Style, ride comfort, restraints- what makes you a happy rider? edit: I should specify I'm talking specific trains on certain coasters, not just models. For example: For my own answer, again from a very limited pool, I say the train on Timber Terror at Silverwood. Classic six-car four-seater PTC train, single-position lap bars, and a beautiful paint job. Simple but effective. First drop Airtime [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]