CedarFlags

I honestly miss the old days of the Batman and Robin show. It was cheesy to the max, but I watched it every visit.

So, with the Wizarding World now open softly, I'm guessing Magic Mountain is probably going to lose a big chunk of the President's Day crowd to Universal. Might be a good day to go.

I'm pretty sure Fox cast a woman as Dr Frank in hopes that the story will read as less gay. Laverne Cox may be an LGBT icon, but in the context of the show, it'll be a woman doing all the flamboyant Dr Frank stuff.

I'm actually NOT stoked about this new Rocky Horror, for several reasons that pretty much all trace back to... I really can't get behind a big budget, traditional Hollywood studio produced, made for TV Rocky Horror.

Interesting. Was it during morning testing or were people on it? Morning

Xcelerator got stuck on the top hat for a couple hours today. It had come down by the time I got there, but I guess the wind and cold and moisture during morning testing got the best of it. A big gust gave it enough of a jolt to knock it off balance so it could come back. I got sent a video Snap Chat, but couldn't save it and the picture doesn't really let you see what's happening.

Hammerhead was so great! I was really glad to see it get recognized in Iron Reef.

The main issue was that, because the Haunt Museum didn't exist for the first 40 years of the event, stuff didn't get saved. Stuff either got reused or thrown out. So, when the museum opened, there just wasn't very much to put in it and make it worth going to. Also, putting the Venetians costumes up was a stupid idea. Nobody gave a crap about the Venetians.

FYI - The Haunt Museum is now closed, most likely permanently. Perhaps they'll' try again a few more years down the line (with better displays hopefully), but it's gone for the foreseeable future.

Honestly, it's like they look forward to moments and get sheer enjoyment out of making people wait longer than they have to. Tripling the wait time is absurd. I've seen a ride operator hold up the entire train, and entire line on Twisted Colossus, because she was busy talking to someone behind the exit gate about fast pass. Everyone in the station is ready to go, and she's standing there having a full on conversation with a guest making everyone wait! Can't you maybe, dispatch the train, then finish the conversation? This is only a dueling coaster with a 6-7 minute cycle time that depends on speedy dispatches! As a former R.O. I will say.... walking away from a guest to dispatch a train is guest service suicide, especially when it's the type of guest who won't be satisified with a breif answer or being redirected.. If they were to make a complaint and mention that the employee they were speaking to walked away from the conversation, there would be a negative performance mark on that employee's record for sure. It sucks, but it's reality.

Diving loops and overbanked turns.

Here's what I want to know.... Rather than buying/building a amusement park.... can I just buy a coaster or two? What would prevent me from getting myself a chunk of land, and then meeting up with B&M / Intamin / RMC (or all three) and saying "Here's a check for 20 million dollars, build me a coaster"?

Yes, it's true. Purple train is back, AND Xcel was running both trains yesterday! I snagged a ride on purple, and it was like butter. I heard from a Ride Op that the reason that Purple came back is that Red is going out of rotation imminently. Also caught the final Fool's Gold show at Wagon Camp. It was such a great performance. I got to sit right in front of the rest of the performers and they were all having a blast. The guys really gave it their all and it was so funny.

Alan Schilke noted that the trains are designed to "shuffle" throughout the ride and shouldn't line up perfectly at every element. I noticed that as well when the ride first opened. You can have the high five or the inversion cross overs, but not both. I didn't notice it as a full 5 seconds before... it seemed more like 1 second.

Why are you afraid they'll neuter it? Pretty sure they haven't neutered any rides they've worked on before. Plus, they've already announced it will not be using the mid-course brake run any longer. That's an indication right there that GR will not be neutered. It's going to haul A$$ through the whole ride. One could also argue that the removal of the midcourse means it will no longer be needed. What has to have been done to the ride for them to confidently promise guests that the midcourse is gone? The midcourse brake wasn't part of the original ride experience, it was just an emergency/block brake only and didn't engage. Then, it started getting older and rougher, and guests started having to be taken off property to get treated for their bruised ribs and whiplash injuries, and the ride became a liability. Before re-tracking had become a fairly common practice, the park (and probably CF corporate) decided that slowing down the second half of the ride by turning the break on all the time would help reduce the injuries and the liability of keeping it open. The ride was designed originally to be run without it, so there shouldn't be any significant changes needed.

Picture I snapped of Ghostrider from the Knott's Hotel. I'm actually kinda digging the two-tone color situation going on with the new track and old supports.

So. Irritated. I checked the special events calendar on the website, and rescheduled my visit from last Saturday to today because there were two special events scheduled for last weekend and nothing for this weekend. So, I get to the park, and... SUPRISE! It's the So Cal Key Club fall rally! 50+ school buses and thousands of high school students who were all very excited to cheer and shout with each other at literally any possible opportunity. Hour long lines for TC, Goliath, Apocalypse, Riddler, Tatsu,X and 45 for Scream and Batman. What is the point of having that stupid section on the website if they don't put stuff like this on it?

I still love it, but I can't enjoy Xcelerator at Knott's properly because I black out every freaking time. I've been on the thing at least 50 times, but for some reason, I can't keep my vision through the whole ride. I'm good through the launch and the top hat, but then everything starts going dark halfway through the first overbank, and I'm usually totally blind in the second overbank. Once we hit the brakes, it all comes back in about a second. What am I doing wrong?

I think it has the do with the length and weight of the trains and the positive Gs.. because they're so long and so heavy, the acceleration feels like being shoved down the hills instead of gliding down them. And it does the B&M thing of constantly going from one hill / inversion tot eh next, so you never really get to maintain any speed... it's a constant volley between speeding up and slowing down. The seat felt like it was bouncing a little bit with the forces (which makes sense, being a wind coaster and all). I tried to twice, and it was slightly better in the front, but I did not love it.

It's veterans day. Will be more crowded than a regular off-season day, but probably not packed.

Me either. Huge headache both times I tried it.

They resemble carnival rides, because that's literally the theme of the area. A seaside boardwalk carnival amusement area. Scramblers are a staple everywhere. Almost every guest loves the Gliders because no one else in So Cal has them. Coast Rider is basic, but gives the area a good family coaster and now each of the 3 major areas has a big kid coaster (Jaguar in Fiesta, Pony in GT, and Coast Rider for BW). For the price of one big coaster, they got a coaster and 2 flat rides. Plus, the area already has Boomerang and Xcelerator.

Looks like they've increased the banking a bit on that tun. Photo #2 courtesy of this post on page 1000

I don't quite HATE it, but I agree that it's really not enjoyable. I skip it nearly every time (and always regret when I don't). It's like being strapped to an actual mechanized monster that's tossing you like a rag doll. I remember being SO STOKED for it during development and construction, and watching the old cgi renderings I was so in love. But the jerky rotations suck all the fun out of the experience.

I think the most impressive part of Iron Reef is the scenery work that was all done in house by Knott's. I wish the rest of the story telling experience of the ride measured up to it. Overall it's fine, but it's definitely an "only if the line is short" kind of ride for me.