DoubleDown

I've heard this so many times, from so many posters, and I've seen no evidence to back it up nor does it make much sense to me. Is there ANY kind of solid evidence from anybody at the park to back it up that this ride is THAT much difficult to paint or are people just talking out of their asses because the ride appears "high up" in only a couple individual parts of the ride? I can't see it being any more complicated than X2, furthermore, my only fear of Tatsu getting a repaint is they will do away with the awesome 3 tone color scheme like they did with X and Scream. IMO Tatsu is NOT going to be "very" expensive to paint, probably as much as any other ride in the park. However I agree I hope they use the same quality of paint they used on X2 as it seems to have held up well.

Damn. Sorry to hear about that. While it is the off-season and some rides are inevitably going to be closed, that's a pretty lengthy list of significant closures. It's a little late for any kind of forewarned advice, but usually what I say to people who haven't been to the park before is "Prepare to be disappointed, and anything beyond that is a successful trip." So rare for Tatsu, FullThrottle, Revolution, Superman and Riddlers to all be closed at the same time. In fact I can't ever remember all of those big ones being down at the same time. Most especially on a Saturday, it just screws with lines at other rides. I swear this park makes excuses to close rides "next to" new additions just so they don't have to open them or do daily maintenance. "OH this ride is right next to a NEW ride we're putting up? Better shut it down!" Does Riddlers even need a paint job?

I don't even know how I'd go about eating this.

The first motion simulator I ever remember was called "Merlin's Magic Motion" at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. It was a runaway train ride film, and while probably wouldn't hold up now, was great back when I was 10. Pretty sure it's not around anymore.

To answer the original post, it's up to the ride programmers to ensure the braking is smooth and comfortable (as it can be in regard to the hardware limitations). I'm not saying this is not true, but to add, a lot of it has to do with ride mechanics at each individual park. They have discretion to apply brakes as they see necessary, and this can either be up to the individual mechanic who works the ride every day, or the mechanic higher ups who decide based on maintenance or safety what is best for each ride. Goliath at Magic Mountain is a good example, basically what I've been told is the ride cycles WAY too fast, which is why the MCBR basically comes to a complete stop, and the first set of brakes at the end of the ride hit super hard. The train comes into both of them with too much speed, and if they didn't brake it so hard on the MCBR you'd hear many more complaints about that brown-out helix of death. However on some rides I go on it really seems unnecessary for the brakes to be hit so hard. To me for the worst ones it seems like an oversight on behalf of maintenance, and I think with a little bit of tuning they could make them much more comfortable.

Seriously. Are you telling me after spending $10 Mill on a coaster you can't spend another $100k to have a helix turnaround or a couple high banked turns? Nah! Instead lets have them face the ground vertically and have them slam into their restraints!

Great TR, it really just looks like a bigger Disneyland with improvements to certain rides. Love all the photos! The issue with people in America is they no longer are embarrassed. They lack dignity and shame. "YOU CAN'T JUDGE ME! RESPECT MY LETHARGY!"

What really broke my heart was when a rumor was flying around that Knott's was going to get Demon Drop from Cedar Point. It was going to be in the old Haunted Shack area. I was so stoked. There was an upcharge attraction there at the time, I can't remember the name, it had 3 towers and took you up super fast. It had a pretty sweet name. I only rode it once during Halloween Haunt with my girlfriend at the time, and it was pretty awesome. Then something happened where either the public or enthusiasts starting making a big fuss about Demon Drop coming to Knott's, and it never came to be. Instead they put the Screamin Swing upcharge attraction instead which is now gone. And now apparently, there's supposed to be a stage there. I will say the first gen Intamin drop towers are one of the only rides I'm nostalgic about. They were absolutely terrifying, even only being 10 stories tall. The technology that Intamin had to go through at the time was ridiculous. And during the ride there was so much clunking and noise, which only added to the experience. Freefall leaving Magic Mountain to be replaced by nothing hurt as well. I feel like Riddlers was designed around that tower and is perhaps why it is such a good stand up coaster.

I love how Acrobat has the theming *between* the cars, not just at the very front. It's such a shame cheap ass Magic Mountain never put the dragon head on the front of the train like in the concept art, also imagine the cool theming they could have put between the cars as well. It's those little things that make a ride experience that much more enhanced, and when you're spending $20+ Mill on a ride, really, it's such a cheap addition. Love the TR keep up the humor Robb!

I hope I was wrong in misunderstanding...this is not the same tunnel that goes under Perimeter Road to get into CP on the Magnum Entrance side is it? Because IMO the tunnel by Magnum is AWESOME and it wouldn't make any sense to get rid of that one with all the traffic that goes that way. But I was looking at Cedar Point on google maps and I can't seem to find any other tunnel, maybe I just don't know where it's at? Because the tunnel above is different from this one below, correct? PLEASE SAY I'M CORRECT!?!?!?

Oh my god this is awesome I SO hope they name it this.

IMO Viper is a freaking awesome ride and probably my favorite of the Arrow 7 loopers, if they replaced it with some forceless B&M I'd be bummed. However if they hired Intamin to come in and sort of pay tribute to the Viper layout with a few more modern enhancements, I'd be down with that. And as far as it being rough, it's really just how it was designed, it's so strange to think that not so long ago the engineers applied such rough transitions between elements to a ride going so fast. That is one thing I am thankful about when it comes to B&M, they kind of pioneered a much more comfortable ride through the circuit. From what I understand due to the lack of a seatbelt, the ride capacity is insane and the dispatches are about as fast as you can get on any coaster. I remember back in the day when they would run 3 trains, and the ride would have a line out the queue and down the Baja Ridge hill, I'd see dispatches as fast as 50 seconds.

Shocking that the news reports 120 feet when they were really only 100 feet up. Wow, out of everyone on the Sky Cabin, 1 was "crying" and that was all. Misinformation from perhaps the lowest form of human beings on the planet. I'm so sick of the news in general, not to mention their exaggerations to create drama and get more viewers. They make everything sound incrementally worse no matter the situation. Unless they're doing a "feel good" story at the end of the hour, then they exaggerate the other way. I mean, check this out, from a Yahoo article citing the Windseeker incident: "In a much more frightening incident at Knott's, a group of 20 people in 2013 were stuck 300 feet high on a ride that left them exposed with their legs dangling out." Oh REALLY? That's all the info you wanna give? BTW I would be stoked to repel from the Sky Cabin from 100 feet.

The issue with Magic Mountain is simply location. It's not like Knott's or Disneyland in the middle of a major city that is open pretty much 365 days a year. Come October-March the park is semi-seasonal, so it is VERY tough for them to keep a consistent staff. For the past decade or two they've had a hard time consistently keeping employees around. Think about it, who wants to keep a job where they're only getting 20-30 hours per week, and works MAYBE Fri-Sun? As a teenager or college student, it's an inconvenience, you'd be better off finding a local restaurant job with tips. Add to the fact that they are NOT Cedar Point where people have pride in their jobs or look forward to being there during the summer and Magic Mountain finds itself in a unique situation. So, come this time of year, they rarely staff properly. And when they do, maintenance doesn't coincide. And during the Summer when there is proper staff and all the rides are running at capacity...oh wait, that never happens at Magic Mountain. Didn't renew my pass this year. Not sure when I ever will again.

Pepsi at a Disney park? FOR SHAME!!!

Pro Tip: Expect to be disappointed.

I hate this idea because it just creates more trash. At least with the plastic bottles you're somewhat "accountable" for keeping hold of them and not leaving them anywhere once you're done with them. With disposable cups people are pigs and will just leave them everywhere because they don't care about them after they are done. Just like you see them already when people pay $4-$6 for a disposable drink cup. Except it will be worse. One thing I liked about visiting European Parks is they had a deal where they gave you a durable plastic cup with their logo on it, and it was a deposit sort of system. You pay for your drinks, keep the cup throughout the day for refills, but at the end of the day you could either leave the park with it, or bring it back to the beverage booth where they gave you some of your money back. They would then wash, and reuse the cups the next day, literally demolishing the use of disposable cups. Why can't parks in America incorporate that kind of beverage system?

That checkpoint will only be for those intending to board the trams. There is a re-routed walking path for anyone who chooses to hoof it over to Downtown Disney and enter through the new security checkpoint set up in the old taxi/valet stop in front of ESPN Zone. With the way the tents are configured, it looks like there might be a middle gap for a 'Guests Without Bags' entrance. One can only hope! Ugh. With the park at capacity, with the new security checkpoints, with how crowded it will probably be, with 4 hour Tower of Terror lines, I will probably forgo my plans to make a trip to DCA when I visit Cali next week. Which means I will miss going on Tower of Terror for the very last time, which breaks my heart that park popularity, security, lines, and just being CROWDED AS F*** will discourage me from even trying. Such a shame that just a few years ago I was able to get a platinum pass and enjoy semi-low-crowded days at the parks to get on what I wanted, when now it's just a complete clusterf*** of crowds and lines, and more crowds and more lines. And now that Star Wars Land is coming and Tower of Terror is gone, I just can't imagine seeing myself visiting the park in the future ever. Unless I'm going with some super hot chick that really really wants to go. But she's going to have to be SUPER hot, and she's going to have to REALLY want to go. Other than that, I'm getting too old for the lines and crowds and waiting. Perhaps VIP passes/tours is the only way to go from here on out. Wow so you have to go through security just to get into Downtown Disney? That seems like it'd be...inconvenient. Sounds better than getting stuck in the narrows of the esplanade security lines. I won't miss playing the game, "who's touching my butt?!" ...or will I? I'm sure you will.

Do you mean these photos? Unless you're a CP employee/higher up, it's not a 16 year old's job to police people, nor start a "huge war" when you're not happy with what they post. Chill out. This is the kind of crap that makes some of us regular enthusiasts look insane due to association. By the way these photos are SPECTACULAR and made me say "Wow!" out loud. If they were truly a problem I would imagine Cedar Point, or whoever is responsible for that kind of thing take care of it. They don't need your help. And how ironic for you to call him a kid, because you're a kid yourself, and starting an internet war is definitely acting like one.

Wow so you have to go through security just to get into Downtown Disney? That seems like it'd be...inconvenient. Is this going to be located over by the ESPN Zone??

^Damn. I rode the back/right of Gatekeeper. And Valravn, we saved it for the last ride of the day, simply for the dumb long lines because it was like, 2 months new. I don't know, it just tamed in ride experience compared to Maverick, Dragster, and Force. I'd say in terms of comparison, Val and Gatekeeper were close to the exact same "huh? well that's it?" Maybe it was just how the day went about, but I'd say we enjoyed Magnum better than both of the latest B&M's in the park. Raptor on the other hand was fantastic. Roug was, eh, just something that's there for another ride in the count of coasters at the park. Kind of how I see Iron Dragon. I actually liked Gemini better than both of those two coasters. Cedar Point is such an odd park. Some of the big ones you expect to be insane and they're not. Then the smaller ones you really don't see it coming, and you're wondering where the hell that came from? Then a couple of the big ones deliver and you're like WOAH. It's one of the most bipolar parks in the country.

Did Knott's buy 2 or 3 trains for the Ghostrider refurb? Because running one train at that capacity is about as bad as running X2 that way. I haven't been there since the refurb, but am planning on going there at the end of the month. From what I've heard and seen, I'm pretty disappointed with the way the park has been operating the ride considering beyond the supports, the ride is practically new. It's also a shame RCDB isn't as up to date as they used to be, because typically I'd get this kind of information from there, but there's no information on number of trains at all.

Without a doubt, the coaster enthusiasts' opinion means nothing. I wholeheartedly agree. But Gatekeeper is the first thing people see entering the park *cough* X2, and the GP is such suckers for "first seen coaster, wanna go on that now!" and we all know it. Gatekeeper extremely underwhelmed me and my 52 year old uncle, it was our 4th ride of the day. Mad props to the Ride Ops for their excellent throughput, and also to Cedar Point and B&M for an excellent location at the front of the park that would guarantee busy lines for the first half of the day. But after 2pm the ride was a 20 minute wait- to a walk on. Honestly, the views were great, but the actual ride experience was so "meh" we went on Magnum 3x instead of giving Gatekeeper a double ride.

X2 in the last row scares the turd out of me everytime. The sensations while going through the first half of the ride are absurd. Tatsu's pretzel loop puts me into a seizure state, where I can't believe the ride is still allowed to operate that way. I also went on Windseeker at Knott's for the very limited amount of time it was open. My girlfriend at the time would not ride, but I was damned if I was going to skip out on that one. She was so pissed I rode without her, but there was no wait! That ride actually scared me as well. The way the chairs swayed left to right, with only a lapbar, and one support holding me safe, I was so glad I got on that thing. A few months later the ride closed, and I was so glad I didn't listen to her and went on it anyway. Totally worth dealing with her having to sit and watch me for 3 minutes. It's something I SO would have regretted had I not done it, especially after I learned it was getting removed.

Capacity didn't seem to be THAT much of an issue back in the rides heyday. Yeah there has always been congestion where the turnstyle is because the dumb GP doesn't know the proper time to go through it, and they don't pay attention to rows that aren't filled, but it is the ride ops jobs to get people moving THROUGH that turnstyle when they see that seats aren't being filled. It's not THAT hard of a job to do. They seem to be perfectly capable of yelling at people when they're sitting on the handrails, but they're incapable of telling them to go through the turnstyle? There is a stairway leading up the loading side of the station where the back of the trains are that I could see being used as a single rider line. Basically right where the Ride OP controls are. I seem to remember going that way several times when the park was empty, to skip the entire long winded line. There's a gate right there in the station. I'm trying to think how to enter those stairs, but you can clearly see them on Google Maps. In the case of low capacity maybe it would have been better to have a block brake where they originally were above the station, after the turnaround, just so they don't have to wait for that train to make it all the way around the circuit. But just keep the brakes there as an emergency, and otherwise, keep them off. I don't know, again, it makes no sense to me that you could have a park like Cedar Point in the same chain that perfects these kinds of issues, then have Knott's staff just look the other way. It seems so Magic-Mountain-esque. Less time in line means spending more money on food, souvenirs, etc. One thing I remember about the ride waiting in the station was as soon as you heard the rumble of the train above the station on the turnaround, they'd dispatch the train. Didn't Ghostrider used to run 3 trains on busy Friday and Saturday nights? Or maybe I'm imagining it.