Capitalize

I probably should have been more clear but I meant more along the lines of Knoebel's Haunted Mansion or similar dark rides like that where many of the existing effects are still used. Even Disney's Haunted Mansion could be coupled with that to an extent. Just for clarification, what new effects did Pirates receive all at once? I know that after the films came out they added a very nice looking Jack Sparrow character that was top of the line. But I know that many of the animatronics in that ride are still pretty basic as far as technology is concerned. I guess that when I really enjoy an attraction a total overhaul makes me a bit nervous. Something like what happened with Journey into Imagination at Epcot makes me hesitant that the modernization won't always be for the better. Basically sometimes I think its nice to leave some things from the past as is because its nice to appreciate the original for what it is. Its not always as impressive looking as something brand new but it takes on a whole new quality of nostalgia over time.

Awesome pictures, Prague is definitely one of those places I want to see terribly bad. First I need to work on getting across the Atlantic and into Europe in general for the first time...

Thats my main thing, I feel like with it being the original and everything a total and complete overhaul would be a mistake. It would be like taking a classic dark ride and overhauling all the effects entirely. it would lose a lot of its classic charm.

As far as Six Flags parks closing, since the bankruptcy, stock de-listing, etc. news started flying I've heard plenty of GP talking about how all of Six Flags was closing forever or which in particular parks going to close forever...

I'm not sure you can just stick floorless trains on a stand up coaster. The heartline of riders, weight of the trains, etc. would all be drastically different... It seems possible, but I have my doubts. Seems quite interesting. Is this going to be a trend at all the parks (ride rotation coming back?) or does this speak volumes about the direction Kentucky Kingdom alone is heading? Are they being Geauga Lake'd or Astroworld'd?

Screamscape has some pictures up now that the transit system is back up. Apparently not a whole lot looks different, which personally makes me very happy... I've always loved Space Mountain. Everything from the music (in the line I mean), kind of campy old school theming, to the not smooth as glass coaster itself. All around always has been my favorite ride at WDW... So the less they change it the better for me. http://screamscape.com/html/wdw_-_magic_kingdom.htm

Holy cow, those pictures are amazing! Great stuff.

I think you have to say Arrow is rougher if you consider some of the great stuff Vekoma has been putting out recently. However, if you're just talking about when both companies were putting rides out years back I think I'd say Vekoma was more rough.

Plenty of floater air, though.

That picture really puts into perspective how much land is cleared for this ride, nice.

Good thing there's that other far superior poll on best wood/steel coasters every year. I don't even pay attention to the Golden Ticket Awards anymore, its always the same stuff and it really gets to a point where its ridiculous, imho. They do have advertising money involved, but honestly I think the problem is the voting pool is too shallow and lame to be taken seriously. No way in heck is Beast a top 10 woodie anymore for example.

Really? I've only got a couple of laps on that one (many more on SFDL) and they just seemed rather weak to me. I got off thinking "Wow, this sucks compared to (my) SFNE SROS. I can't compare it to SFNE's as I've yet to get on it ( ) but in the front of the train the third hill you can easily count close to a good second of being thrown into the restraint there. In the back the airtime on that hill isn't quite as impressive, though.

To give Vortex some love - it is at least among my favorite arrow loopers and arrow coasters in general, certainly has an interesting layout and some entertaining moments despite some bad head banging at times.

It feels very surreal to see this ride closed after all these years... I'll miss it.

Wow, that guy has to feel pretty damn lucky.

I have to say IOA right off the bat. Its an enjoyable park and I have fun when I'm there, but I never felt that any of the rides or the park as a whole deserved the hype it got. Hulk is a really mediocre ride at best especially nowadays, the launch and zero-g roll are fun but after that I always found it be one of the least interesting and poorly laid out B&M's I've been on. Dueling Dragons is a fun enough ride. Jurassic Park is always a good time depending on how many of the animatronics are working... After these rides I feel like the ride quality starts to slip and I always find myself running out of things I really feel like doing sooner rather then later. Spiderman honestly has never done a whole lot for me, I think its a decent ride but I just never bought into the greatest dark ride ever type hype it built up after opening... But yeah, all in all, IOA never does that much for me. I'm reluctant to put Cedar Point on an overrated list, but I find their coaster collection to be great all in all. My only issue is much like others my last trip was really affected by rain. Constantly drizzling off and on causing all the coasters to shut down or switch to one train operation. Ugh. I find Firehawk to be run far better then any of the other Vekoma flying dutchmen, PKI actually manages to run multiple trains and stations most the time...

With arrow it also doesn't help that they seemed to have no concept of how to make any transition between elements smooth...

Sounded like a lose or damaged wheel or something.

Hurler is better then Mean Streak to me because Hurler at least has a couple moments of good airtime... The turns are brutal, though. The front seat can be decent but any other row is too rough.

Ugh, these shows spent more then enough time showing Millennium Force between 2000-2005... I'll watch a replay at some point, I became disillusioned with these shows after the late 90's when they started recycling footage and some of the mispronouncing, incorrect facts, etc. started to bother me more. Normally they're fun to watch if only to see some decent footage, though.

I think the fact that so many people on this web site alone are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD says something, I don't want to insult those individuals, but it seems to suggest something about this condition. How can SO MANY people suffer from a problem like this supposedly? Perhaps given the sheer number of people diagnosed, it isn't a disability, but simply how some people are? Feeling anxious and impatient while waiting for something is not a disability. I'd say its normal and a lot of people would be better served if they simply learned to cope with it rather then being given instant gratification. Its like the bratty little kids you see at a store sometimes, they cry and cry until mom or dad gets them the toy they want, and mom and dad ALWAYS do. Its negative reinforcement and kids quickly learn if they can use something to get their way.

I unfortunately have not Probably the closest I ever came was on an early morning ride on Volcano during a special walk back thing for enthusiast several years ago. We crawled over the first inversion and nearly stopped.

I thought Timbers was good, but not nearly as good as El Toro, but to each their own.

I went to MA on a fairly crowded day two summers ago. Shivering Timbers was the main event, a really fun woodie with plenty of air. Wolverine Wildcat was decent. I rode in the front seat early in the day and found it to be a decent enough ride; smooth but with essentially no airtime, the double up/double down was the best part. Outside of that everything was pretty mediocre and worth riding if only for the credit. I waited probably 15-30 minutes for each coaster with the que's almost full. One train operation on a couple of the rides really slows things down. I got three rides on ST, one in the morning in the front row, it felt smooth as butter but gave pretty minimal airtime as it had just barely started running and it wasn't hot out yet. Later in the day I got another ride in the front and the back. On a hot day by the afternoon it really picks up speed and the airtime can be really impressive. The trade-off however is some really bad potholes show up and the ride can beat you up pretty good, especially in the back. Still fun, but definitely more aggressive.

That's a huge help, thank you! I was worried my only option would be taking a taxi out there.