Angry_Gumball

Superman Ultimate Flight's non-inverting loop is also pretty unique as non-inverting loops don't seem to be too common (yet). Some others: I'm not sure what you'd call the SDC Windstorm/Hurricane (SCBB) hairpin dive but that was pretty awkward...and Zonga/Thriller's loop-screw...felt very impossible.

Lovin' the "I can't sue no more®" bumper cars shots, good stuff!

Still waiting on the coaster, could be anything from Flight Deck to Gold Striker, to even a SFMM coaster for all I know!) but my first flat ride of 2013 was the infamous wrist-fracturing CGA bumper cars, in celebration to the use of common sense in CA in regards to that silly lawsuit. Otherwise it would have been the Flyers (which was my 2nd flat of 2013).

I'm guessing that was the case, as much as they could have technically used a portion of CGA's lot. Last year it was all set up in the overflow lot (where Stadium lives now). I hadn't done 2011's GWW but by the looks of the photos I saw, it definitely gave more of a ghetto carnival feel and felt real temporary. Being inside of the park appears to give it a better atmosphere especially since there were trees and such they were able to decorate as well as some of the park's buildings...decorations existed on permanent structures giving a higher quality feel if you want to say. It would be neat if Cedar Fair decided to carry on a similar concept since there's a lot in the park they can decorate, not to mention giving them a better opportunity to compete with the neighbor up north. I will admit, I am going to miss the carnival rides and the creepy carnies (including the one that reminded me of Elmer Fudd). Let's say on Delirium, I felt 'pins and needles' all around my head...you had riders that had yells/screams of joy to more of screams of pain when they got the high downward swings. The flyers was another interesting one as I've nearly perfected my flying technique (being completely gentle with the fin, moving it slowly at the right time), being able to do some nice hard dives at a fast pace...you had a mix of rain slapping and cable snapping Glad you guys all enjoyed the GWW coverage and Gold Striker porn/construction!

Back from a first 2013 CGA session (and a final GWW adventure). Not much has changed with Gold Striker however there were some workers out on the track, probably laying down steel (one can guess). We did have the threat of rain and it did in fact get us a bit wet... Originally my first intended ride of the 2013 season was to be the Flyers but decided to kick off in celebration of the failed lawsuit by riding the wrist-breaking Bumper Cars. Now some highlights: -Solo ride on Flyers, several times during the night -Very uncrowded park...by 9:00 the park was dead -Pouring rain ride on Delirium and Flyers (very interesting ride) -Went flying down the Funhouse death slide and actually touched the wall bumper -Managed to zip through the funhouse 'butthole' slide (Those who have read our updates or are part of our group know about this) -Being recognized at the gate, a worker asks "Hey, are you guys part of Theme Park Review? I read that site all the time and look at the CGA thread!" I managed to pull off about 6 total rides on Flyers, 4 times were back-to-back...also rode Delirium about 5 times (most I've ever done in a CGA visit), and actually pulled off Gravitron 3 times...normally after 1 ride, I'm spent and done with it for the night. I lost track in how many deep puddles I stepped in as my feet are now all wet...water tends to collect in random spots along the paths...yea, not fun. We're back! More mystery parking lot markings... Feed the lot...it's hungry! Looks like perhaps some electrical work..."Possible Rewire"? And to start off the night...not much has changed as far as GS goes, though there was some track work being done tonight. ...(feel free to add these to the park index!) Meanwhile, Jeff looks like he's ready to take on the Star Tower...problem is, it's closed...sad day... Trackwork... Tracked Prudential turn, looks sexy! Lift still remains the same...but now that holidays are over and stuff, things should pick up! A final look at what we saw last weekend before we move onto... ...Rue Le Fracture! And then this ride...when it decided to begin raining pretty hard. It made flying quite a challenge as I could not see what I was doing. In the mean time after the rain passed, we were in this weird bubble for quite a while while it rained elsewhere! However, this was closed all night...note the oily surface and how the water just sits and beads up. This was down too...boo! Meet Mr. Ice Cream! Death Wheel warning signage for you sign enthusiasts Speaking of the Death Wheel, here's a view of the rather vacant CGA lot...more on this later Night time GS shot... Yummy! In the mean time, it's time to hit up the funhouse again...this thing's quite a workout, a test on your equilibrium, and a test of pain! It was part water ride tonight too Reason why my backside's all wet...after flying down at Mach 5 speeds before hitting the wall! The inflatable pillow acted as a slip 'n slide. Someone's coming down! Jeff flying down at nearly the same speeds as I pulled off *thud* Back over to the death carnival, I noticed the gate was open and could not resist the photo op. And back for a final spin on the Gravitron...unfortunately someone in line.... ...yes, did that. Why must GWW be the theme of butts and gas anyway? Back over for a final session on Delirium where it was completely vacant...did I say how packed it was? So packed, I had a hard time finding my way around the parking lot...so yea, that's it for the night...Hope to see GWW inside the park next year, it's been a pretty fun event to fill the void of the dreaded off-season...now a long (should go by quick) 2.5 months before CGA's normal op begins.

Tonight, I kicked off my 2013 riding season with a couple rides on CGA's bumper cars...at one point during the ride as we were all just cruising around, the ride op tells us to bump into people after all they are bumper cars

After taking far too long of a break, I decided it's time to pick back up on Pokemon Black 2 again...still at the 4th gym, leveling up my monsters in preparation for it. Console games: still plugging along on NSMBU at the final castle in the 6th world, also playing Resident Evil 6, doing the Leon campaign. Can't have a Resident Evil with classic corny dialogue

I'm very happy for this...talk about starting off the new year right with a little bit of common sense! I was a bit worried from the start but had this feeling that the lawsuit would get tossed as afterall, one of the articles I read a few months ago mentioned about how the lady reached out of the car to brace herself. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you supposed to keep all extremities inside of any ride vehicle to avoid injury? It would be like trying to reach out and touch the wood handrails on Grizzly (like I witnessed GP do) or attempt standing up to touch the overhead beams also on Grizzly...now I know that ride does not deliver ejector air like that. Oh, and Rosenberg, you absolutely have no clue what you're talking about...go back to your closet and never leave it, please.

^We still ride the former Blue Streak (Now Woodstock's Express) to this day...in fact we got a whole group of us one time and took over the ride! And Invertigo...that was 1 coaster I could not do more than 3 times back-to-back. Honestly, after the 3rd ride I felt pretty nauseous for a while. Perhaps it was due to being inverted 18 times in a rather short period of time. Only 'old school' GA stuff I own is one of those tall hour-glass shaped water bottles with the Demon name on it...this was back when you could actually find ride-specific merchandise. I also have a map and brochure from 1999 (see CGA park index page since they've been posted there). Speaking of ride-related merchandise, I can probably expect to finally see another ride-specific shirt to add to my wardrobe this season...now instead of just only having general CGA and Flight Deck gear, I'm sure we'll see Gold Striker stuff!

One location I always thought was weird for a coaster was the infamous concrete slab at SFDK, where Zonga originally resided. It's almost like you have a dead end path branching off of a dead end path (being a path branching off of the Roar plaza). V2 is in an interesting spot as well as the front spike takes you outside the park, over the entrance plaza. Entering the park you walk under V2...SFDK's Gate Keeper?

Was just looking at what we've dubbed 'Anton's feet' (loop footers) the other day at the GWW event, since they are using back stage road from the Inverti-garden up to the restrooms be Delirium. The back half of the park is blocked off. I wish I tried the Skyhawk ride, had intentions on doing it as a kid to break fear of being inverted but the lines kind of made me look for something else to ride, probably being Triple Play (what a fun ride that was!). Since we are in a nostalgic mood, here's some neat little photos I scanned a month ago at work, from old 35mm slides...really great condition slides at that considering the time frame of the park. Let's start with a video first, that I captured last year...had a mix of stuff, including Star Wars and other TV shows...this caught my interest immediately! Start off with Tidal Wave in it's original paint job. And what do we have behind there? Turn of the Century making its turnaround before the drop. Note the lack of office buildings in the area. Also, I spy another Schwarzkopf ride hiding out back... Last but not least, the 2 flumes: Logger's Run and Yankee Clipper! Sadly I never got to ride Yankee, would have loved to see what that little jump was down at the bottom.

Awesome stuff! I really miss GL, even though I actually only ride it once. For some reason as a kid it amazed me and always sparked curiosity as to how it took off. Not seeing a traditional lift and not knowing about launched coasters added to the mystery.

Some more shots of my kitty, Luna! "hmm...what's this thing?" How video games are played here...she likes to just sit in front of the screen Cats enjoy Jingle Cats!

Could be wrong but V2 looks like it is the same shade as Kong's red/orange track...Speaking of which, I always did like Kong's old paint job with the brown supports, orange track, and the lime trains over the new one it has today...though both paint jobs do work. Before After Not crazy about Boomerang's color setup however...the yellow is kind of hideous.

That's right, I remember you mentioning how the red loop would flex as the train passed through when we talked about Zonga a couple weeks ago at the park (and I remember actually watching it flex around as the train passed). I did only ride it 2 or 3 times so maybe that's why I don't remember really any stand-out rough spots. I may have chose not to sit in a wheel seat either as the 2nd rows of each car did look rather cramped. I really wish I was less of a GP back then...while I knew some stuff at the time I was still kind of a 'newb' and just learning about things. The modified V2 had the blue/yellow scheme until the DK make-over. I do have a shirt that has the vertically twisted V2, in it's orange/maroon scheme...actually it looks cool with that color setup! Riding the original V2, I always went for the back as I wanted the full 180-foot vertical drop. However, I paid the price of not getting anything out of the twist making me feel 'meh' about it. I wish I tried it in the very front. After riding the modified V2 I was very surprised especially with being able to pick a spot and stall in certain positions...favorite row now is the front due to the nice hangtime on the first and 3rd forward pass.

I feel like I was the only one in the family that enjoyed Zonga when we went back in 2003. Everyone else hated it (my neighbor down the street noted that he'd rather just get beat up by someone)...most had no understanding of the ride and it's history. Still trying to remember which part was rough as I seem to have a high tolerance for rough rides.

I'm no expert in this area so don't take my word for it. My guess is that maybe its company policy. At CGA, employees have to cross their arms in the air and get the 'clear to cross' acknowledgement before doing such, and only cross when the train is in the station/ride not cycling. Also makes me think of what I observed the other day. Typically when a ride goes down, a mechanic is called to check it out. One of the temporary carnival rides (ferris wheel)made an odd noise so we got an e-stop and let off. Next thing I see, the ride op is climbing up the structure to get where the drive wheels are in hopes to find what the noise was he heard. The way it was climbed up however seemed a tad dangerous and I've never seen a ride op just take it in their own hands before. Perhaps company policy isn't so strict with these carnie operators, or the workers are more willing to risk putting their life and job in jeopardy.

Happy new year to everyone here! May 2013 bring more awesomeness to our theme park season!

^Thanks for sharing! Yea, this was a nice trip down memory lane, when I frequented SFDK from 1999-2003. What exactly was that virtual reality stage thing? I always saw people doing it but looked pretty strange. And the V2 castration...I don't think I got my pass until after it was changed up. I remember being completely let down at how 'hideous' it looked but was amazed at how it rode.

"+1"...must be google plus thing? I almost forgot of its existence

And in the words of CGA's Haunt Overlord...Getting rid of Robb's funny commentary and reactions is like shoving diarrhea back up your butt!

Here's a small update...haven't had much time the past few days but plan on hopping back on it this week. In this update you'll mainly see Medusa and such. I think my next section is to continue to work on the main plaza entry and join the paths to both Roar and Medusa plazas. An overview (Woa...Sky Screamer vanishes if I go too far back! Same goes with some of SUF's supports...). A bit hard to tell but Kong's been tweaked a bit. In reality, the track goes upward into the inline twist but in RCT it put it up too high so I had to do the helix at a downward spiral to make it look right. Monsoon Falls, the latest area I worked on. Sky Screamer... More to come soon!

My first coaster will be Gold Striker, unless we happen to hit up SFMM/KBF prior to CGA's opening (which maybe I'll kick off with Apoc...we'll see). My first flat ride of 2013 will be CGA's flyers next weekend.

It's funny because after I joined TPR, I was still an active member on another unnamed coaster site but quickly just fizzled out within days. People there felt that I didn't express my sense of humor there as I did here (where I felt at home when I signed up back in '05)...but there was no sense of humor and such there...and I didn't want to be the only guy there being 'weird' as many may think. I just recently posted stuff there but feel like everyone's got sticks shoved up their butts (ouch, that is probably a harsh description). And about the 'acting like an idiot sometimes' in a theme park...I'd prefer to hear it being more described as a nutcase/weirdo since we aren't going around breaking park rules and such. Last but not least, I've learned a lot here. I'm going to be completely honest now. Back then I was one of those who would be bothered by every little thing...reason behind that was being bullied as a kid...It only made things worse for me if I took things too serious. After signing up here and such, you can pretty much say that the pair has grown and I've learned to shake things off if I disagree with something, and to not take life so serious...and to just have fun/keep positive! It seems that TPR videos are starting to rub off on me as I've become a bit 'noisier' on rides, especially deadly carnival rides! In the end, it's all just having fun! Also, I really liked the whole 'treating an amusement park as a museum' analogy. TPR and theme parks are not the public library or the fine arts museum where everyone is as quiet as a church mouse, studying such things...As said, it's a place of fun.