defrocker

My in-laws are from Florida, I disagree with this statement.

I was out of the loop during construction of Thunderbird. What system does it use for its launch? LSM powered by a flywheel. It would've been drawing too much power at once, so they decided to use the flywheels to just be able to slowly charge up for the launch. They have one big generator (last year it was 2 further down the hill) there as back up systems in case the flywheels were to fail. I think this is mainly because it's the star attraction. They can't really afford for it to go down, or they'll have plenty of angry guests in the park, since it's the only steel coaster there. Dang. When B&M builds something, they overbuild it. lol. Interesting. I assume it's been effective as I haven't heard much about downtime.

I was out of the loop during construction of Thunderbird. What system does it use for its launch?

I can take or leave drop towers. Glad it's an S&S though. I definitely prefer the upward launch to freefall. Super excited for Chick-fil-A though!

Bill, surely you of all people understand the humor in this sentence...

*Deleted

It's not that nobody wants a coaster. I would like to see it as it is close for me. The truth is KD has just been stagnant since the I305 fiasco and likely has not yet seen much in the way of ROI. Cedar Fair's "Southeast Region" sees more potential in Charlotte than Richmond (and reasonably so) so for the time being KD is simply maintaining while money is getting pumped into parks and attractions that will bring in money. Tl:dr - The truth is I305 put an end to the KD glory days, for better or worse.

Are we sure that bulldozer hasn't moved? It's casting a slightly different shadow. Maybe that could be a teaser! The shadow is symbolic of the dark times at King's Dominion without a new rollercoaster. The repositioning of the dozer is symbolic of the rising hope of new construction. Lastly, the machine itself... the yellow machine of destruction is there to tear down the hopes of KD fanboys thinking that they will receive a new ride in the future. Enjoy your new plot of dirt and maybe a show for 2017. At least the mushrooms are still singing.

Good question. They marketed this pretty heavily as being a "crowd sourced" ride and so far they haven't done anything new to the industry.

Listen to the man, don't be disappointed.

I know! We showed up there and I honestly thought we went to the wrong place. Other than my wife and I there was one other family of 4 there. All the ride ops brought books and just said and read the whole day. We rode Leap the Dips, then went over to Skyliner and rode it like 5 times in a row. The op didn't even stop the train in the station and we were the only 2 on the train. We got on the paddle boats because there wasn't anything else to do...

I went in early May and they were only running one side. I passed. No real desire to ride it that way. Without racing, it's quite forgettable.

I don't think he's being a dick. I think he's saying that SFOG has the only good Stand up model, so if you want to ride one, go there. I agree, they aren't coming back, and that's a good thing.

I thought this was a fun ride too. My wife hated that you could feel the car "jumping and landing" and she said it didn't feel safe.

I would liked to have gotten some more rides in that evening (like you said, for that reason), but had to get home while it was down that evening. Glad to hear you had some great rides.

Yeah, Had some hot days at both Carowinds and Hershey. Fantastic time to be riding.

You know what they say, you are what you eat. No, I've played hockey in the south (redneck hockey) all my life so I can take it. I'm not saying it was not tolerable or that it was painful or anything. I have rode it several times over the season and was really surprised by how it rode. Like I said, not rough, just shaky in the transitions which is why I thought it was strange. I was assuming it was a wheel as you could hear it, just seeing if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Also, I meant to add... Aside from Fury being down for a bit of the day Sunday, it was not having a great day otherwise. It was running kinda rough through the 'S' curves. It wasn't rough like a vibration or a rattle, but instead more like a shakiness. I could see in some of the transitions my lapbar shaking back and forth somewhat forcefully. It was noticeable through some other parts of the ride but mainly the first third. This being said, all of my rides were in the same area and same side of the train. I didn't pay any attention to if it was the same train every time. I hope Sunday was an anomaly and not indicative on how it will age.

Just wait until you get a little age on you... That seems to change perspectives. Time is the great equalizer.

Do you hate your life?

I like this guy.

Went to the park yesterday. Yet again it was extremely hot. That chased away the crowds, but it was a pretty rough day for the coasters. Fury was down as much as it was up. I saw that the mine train was stuck on the first lift most of the day. Cobra was down a bit mid-day. Intimidator went down around the time we left at 5. Everything was a walk-on, but the heat was taking its toll on the rides. When some of the big rides go down, it really shows their glaring lack of flats... a welcome addition for next year. Got several re-rides on the big 3 and the next highlights of the day were the Woodstock Gliders and Cirque Imagine. This is my second time seeing it, and I just want to add my voice to the crowd saying it is a fantastic show. P.S. You get really wet on White Water Canyon. More so than on their rapids ride and with a shorter line.

So I'll be going to Carowinds Sunday with my wife and one of her friends. Her friend said the last park she went to was Busch Gardens years ago and Verbolten was the biggest ride she went on. She was too freaked out to ride Apollo. However, she said she would do everything with us on this trip. Could be interesting...

I have thought that they are lacking a launched coaster. I hope they install one down the road, but I do think it will be several years. I wish I could say that I love the park, but honestly, I love 3 rides. They do need to round that out, and I think Cedar Fair is tapping the flat ride vein first while Fury pays the bills.

Does that mean you punched-out the attendant, grabbed the Wii, and ran?