pǝʇɹǝʌuı
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Posts posted by pǝʇɹǝʌuı
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Lex Luthor is definitely my favorite, and I'm sure Zumanjaro is even better. It's just so dang tall.
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^ Provo to Farmington is 61 miles. That's an hour, tops, on the highway. And don't talk to me about traffic. Utah's "traffic" is a joke compared to real cities.
I knew I was going to get a comment like that. Lagoon is far enough away that I wouldn't make it any sort of weekend ordeal like I would for, say, Sundance.
Any knowledge I have of where Lagoon is comes from my cousin who firmly believed it would take 2.5 hours to drive there. I feel totally ignorant now and I'm sorry about that. I should have looked it up for myself. It still looks pretty far away, but certainly not in Logan and definitely not 2.5 hours away.
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When you're comparing to Universal and Disney, even Cedar Fair lags behind in operations. What DoubleDown said is sad, though, that nobody that works for Six Flags seems to care about the overall park experience. Even more sad is the fact that the parks still make a ton of money. Doesn't Six Flags have a "new ride every year" policy for all of their parks? That would certainly attract guests a lot better than "Hey, we cleaned up our bathrooms!" From what I've seen the GP eats it up. SFMM in particular seems to be getting more and more crowded every year. In fact, slow operations may even make you want to come back and ride the rides that you didn't have time to get to, or pay for a ridiculously overpriced fast pass.
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^Lol I guess I don't know Utah as well as I thought. All I know is it's far from where I live in Provo.
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Cool Trip Report! I just visited the park in January and, as usual, I loved it! The highlight of my day was definitely getting to pet the dolphin. I'm so glad they changed the attraction, that show is great now. It used to be that you had to pay $5 for fish in order to get up close to a dolphin, but now they bring the animals right to you.
Manta is a great ride. It really throws you around a lot. It's super forceful for a family coaster and has plenty of good airtime moments. Also, the operations of that ride are simply unmatched. I think it's the highest capacity ride I've ever ridden and I believe it got a golden ticket for capacity in 2012. Journey to Atlantis will always have a special place in my heart since it was my first "big" roller coaster, but the theming on the ride is starting to fade.
I'm not a huge fan of the dolphin show, though. As a kid I had a season pass since my family spent almost entire summers in San Diego. The dolphin show back then was much more interactive and educational. It's a common sentiment to hate the change. The new show just feels too much like a theatrical production where the animals have been reduced to props instead of being the stars of the show like they used to. The Christmas show that I saw this past January was better than the regular show, though. If nothing else, they need to cut the part with the divers. I came here to see dolphins, not acrobats. I have similar feelings toward the whale show. Too much TV, not enough whales.
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Okay, I get the operations thing. I thought most people were hating on the theming and vibe of the park. To be honest the theming on some of the rides is much better than most of the rides at Cedar Fair parks, but people complain that it's not kept up very well (which I can see to an extent).
But yes, the operations are terrible. One of their big rides is always down whenever I go, and the ride ops are super slow in general. Don't even get me started on how poorly designed Riddler's queue area is. It's a great ride, but I skip it every time. Even if the line is just in the station, you can bet you'll wait a good 30 minutes before getting on. Tatsu breaks down a lot, too. I've seen it break down while I was in line at least three times, and every time I swear it's ride op error. The only ride that has decent operations is Scream, and that ride never has a line so I usually ride it 2-3 times every time I go.
I really shouldn't complain about operations though. Nobody should unless they've been to Fuji-Q. Holy crap that park is slow. That's a discussion for a different thread, though.
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Except Lagoon is in Logan. You fly into SLC. That's the airport code too so there's not much room to change the acronym.
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I'm curious as to what is so unappealing about Magic Mountain. I find much of the park to be pretty well themed, specifically the Gotham City area. I like how the park is wooded and has a mountainside sort of feel by Tatsu and Ninja. I think Full Throttle worked wonders for the front area of the park and the fountain there never was an eyesore either. I predict the screampunk area will also look good. Overall I think the park gives off a pretty good vibe. It's definitely different than a cedar fair park, but it's not bad. Call me blind, but to an extent it feels like Islands of Adventure.
Okay, Islands of Adventure clearly has much better theming, but I think the overall vibe is similar.
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Great trip report! I get a ton of nostalgia from these pictures. I used to live right by Kings Island until I moved away from Cincinnati three years ago. My friends and I all had passes and we'd go every week. You could say I know these coasters pretty well (except Banshee ).
I find it really interesting that you think so highly of Diamondback. It's not that I disagree--DB is definitely in my top 5. I rank it that high mostly for sentimental reasons, though. I agree that it definitely has some nice floater air, especially on the drop. As a ride I prefer it to Millennium Force, but I have a feeling Fury will be better.
The Beast is also one of my favorite coasters in the US. Definitely a great night ride, but you have to know how to ride. Never sit in a wheel seat unless it's the front row. I tend to prefer the middle of the last car because it generally has the shortest line. You also have to anticipate the turns as they come otherwise you'll get destroyed. On the drop out of the second lift hill, lean as far as you can to the right and it makes the helix much better. I don't know if this is common knowledge among the roller coaster community or not, but it should be.
I rode Banshee one time last season, that's it. Take my comments with a grain of salt if you want, but I think it's overhyped. When I rode it became really obvious to me why so many enthusiasts are giving B&M "meh" reviews on their new coasters. If I closed my eyes, I may as well have just been sitting in the station. It's super forceless and almost too smooth. I did actually really like the last zero-g roll, though. Keep in mind that I'm definitely still bitter that I didn't live by KI when Banshee opened.
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I love Cedar Point too, but I think a distinction needs to be made between amusement parks and theme parks. Cedar Point is definitely in the former category. You won't find any theming or immersive experiences there, and the park is known rather for its world class roller coasters. An amusement park needs to spend a far lower amount of money building and expanding because they only need to build the bare bones. There is no need for additional decoration beyond building a collection of thrilling rides. On the other hand, theme parks like Disney and Universal spend 10x or more the amount per attraction because creating a cohesive and elaborate environment is critical to the atmosphere and immersion that are integral to a themed experience.
When rating a theme park based on its most important purpose (great storytelling and how well it transports guests to a different time and place versus how thrilling its rides are), Tokyo DisneySea is the clear leader (even over other Disney parks) because no other park in the world can match its scale and detail of theming. If I wanted to ride the most thrilling attractions, there are many amusement parks I'd choose before even considering a Disney park of all places.
Interesting. I'd never really given much thought to distinguish amusement parks and theme parks before. You're right though; I guess they serve a totally different purpose. It's really comparing apples and oranges. I will say that I much prefer amusement parks to theme parks as you refer to them.
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I also had a chance to got to Tokyo DisneySea this past summer. I was definitely very impressed by the theming of the park, but I don't think it was the greatest theme park ever. IMO it does not balance the thrill with the theming. Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones are the most thrilling rides, but they both generally deliver the same ride experience as their California and Florida counterparts. Also, the food is not as good as it's hyped up to be (at least when you are on a budget like I was). They have really good ice cream and probably popcorn (I didn't get the chance to try any) but the main dishes at the restaurants are not as good as the food in the rest of the country.
There are definitely things that make this park worth visiting. I personally much prefer the Japanese culture to the American. Everyone is so friendly and much more conscious of the people around them. Also, if you didn't pick it up from the original post, the theming is the best in the world. The inside of the volcano is particularly magical and Journey to the Center of the Earth has a kickbutt lava monster.
Part of it was that I was with my cousins who were expecting more thrills. My group preferred Fuji-Q to DisneySea despite terrible ride ops and extremely slow operations. The rides there are also definitely worth getting to if you're in Japan, but as an overall experience it's much worse. If you must know, the greatest theme park in the world for me is Cedar Point. Great thrills, well kept paths, and fast operations make it amazing, but none of that is any kind of secret.
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Wow! This looks incredible! This past summer I had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Unfortunately I had to decide between Nagashima Spaland and Fuji-Q Highland and I chose Fuji-Q because of its lineup. This would definitely put Nagashima on the map for me if I make it back to Japan in the next few years.
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Cannibal won't be opening on the 28th of March. It may open Mid April if everything goes well.
Now we know. I really hope I'll be able to make it up to the park once it does open.
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Does this mean that the ride will be open this weekend? As far as Lagoon's website is concerned, Cannibal does not yet exist. I guess there hasn't been an official announcement yet; is this correct?
I was planning on traveling up to Lagoon on the 27th or 28th with my roommate. I feel like the ride will be open by then, but a week of testing prior to a grand opening seems a bit short. Perhaps it's different for this kind of ride since the trains are so small. On the other hand, the test video didn't show any launch of any kind. If that's going to be a thing I don't see the ride opening very soon.
Lagoon doesn't open until the 28th, which is not this weekend, but next weekend.
I'm sorry; I totally missed that. I could have sworn that it said it opened the 20th when I checked before. I still feel like Cannibal might open with the park though. Yes, they just began testing, but they also just put the last piece of track in place. It seems like the final stages of construction on this ride are going by pretty fast and I suspect the park is rushing to get it open. Plus, the park actually has two weeks before it opens, not just one week like I thought. I guess it's not all up to the park at this point, though. I'm not sure how much of a say they get in getting the ride inspected and stuff.
I'm going to join the minority (of pretty much just me) and say that the ride will be open on the 28th, but that's probably more of a vain hope than an educated assumption. I leave school mid-April when most people seem to think the ride will open. With finals and everything, I doubt I'd be able to make it up to Lagoon around that time.
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Does this mean that the ride will be open this weekend? As far as Lagoon's website is concerned, Cannibal does not yet exist. I guess there hasn't been an official announcement yet; is this correct?
I was planning on traveling up to Lagoon on the 27th or 28th with my roommate. I feel like the ride will be open by then, but a week of testing prior to a grand opening seems a bit short. Perhaps it's different for this kind of ride since the trains are so small. On the other hand, the test video didn't show any launch of any kind. If that's going to be a thing I don't see the ride opening very soon.
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I was very let down my Millennium Force. It's just a bunch of large, mildly forceful curves with very few airtime moments. The drop was not all that great either; I think Diamondback's is much better shaped and much more thrilling despite being 80ft shorter. I'm holding out hope that Fury will fill the 300ft hole ripped out of my heart by Millennium Force.
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Hello Everyone!
I've been reading these forums for a while. A select few of you may recognize my username from SSCoasters or even the CoasterDynamix forums back when they still existed. I am the same person and I'm starting to get back into the rollercoaster scene. Since I am now living in a dorm in college 2000 miles from home, I can no longer build K'nex or CoasterDynamix models like I used to. However, now that I'm on my own I have more opportunities to visit parks around the country (whenever I can find the funds to do so, at least).
I'm originally from Ohio. For 13 years I lived 10 minutes away from Kings Island. During middle and high school, Kings Island would be a weekly ordeal for me and my friends. Two years before I left for college, my parents dragged me up to Columbus. It was a sad day in my coaster-loving life, but on the plus side I was now 100 miles closer to Cedar Point. I've now been to CP several times. I've also been to Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, and Seaworld San Diego multiple times considering my family visits California often. My wildest adventures have brought me to all the Disney World and Universal parks in Florida as well as Fuji-Q Highland in Japan.
I'm currently in college at BYU in Utah. In just a few weeks I hope to travel up to Lagoon to be one of the first TPR members to ride Cannibal. I've put Fury 325 on my bucket list for this summer, but I'm not sure that dream will become a reality before I leave on a two year mission for the LDS church. If nothing else, I hope that I can get in one final Magic Mountain trip to ride Twisted Colossus.
My favorite park is Magic Mountain. My favorite roller coaster is Top Thrill Dragster, with Eejanaika coming in 2nd, and Tatsu, Maverick, and Diamondback all being honorable mentions. I can attest from experience, though, that every ride has something unique to offer, something that makes that ride irreplaceable.
Snowboarding/Skiing
in Random, Random, Random
Posted
I just started school in Utah this year. I picked up skiing and it's amazing here! I'd been skiing before, but never like on mountains like the ones in Utah. Unfortunately it was a pretty bad season so I only went a few times, but I'd definitely love to get even more into it in the future. Perhaps I'll travel around and try out different spots in the country. Take this with the knowledge that I haven't skied much outside of Utah, but IMO it's the best place in the US to ski. The snow is incredible and the resorts are great.