BigBad

It was a light day, so it was hard to be too upset, but for all this schmuck knows I'm trying to time it with my girlfriend or wife or FWB so that we will race each other.

To me, Lightning Rod looks like the best coaster in an excellent class of 2016. Generally in the coaster community, Lightning Rod seems to be the most anticipated coaster this year.

I think that "Are you riding alone? Would you like to skip ahead of me so I can ride alone with my kids?" is the correct approach, not, "Come on, dude, are you serious?"

How would you say it will rank for big fans of B&M hypers like me? Maybe some of the testing footage had the trains running faster than they will let them go with riders, but it looked like it could end up being the best of the B&M hypers a few months ago.

A guy once kicked me out of the second seat of Lightning Racer so he could ride alone in the row with his two daughters in the other row of the car.

My skydiving instructor and I are cracking up over this. Do you have a strap that you can cinch tight? I can see why just a strap is insufficient, but with the strap tight around your head...really???

Does anyone else get the feeling that Dollywood is trying to become a top-tier thrill park, though? Between adding the first US wing coaster and the first launched and overall fastest wooden coaster, that seems like a pretty good recent history.

Dragster and Ka attach a hook to the train and then fling it down the launch track, right? Magnetic propulsion is used by trains all over the world. It really shouldn't be seen as some kind of trippy technology.

You don't wait in line to hear each song or watch each inning, though. If you get rocked by long lines, I can see feeling ripped off.

That will definitely apply with elements like the quadruple down or a first drop. When there's symmetry like with a parabolic B&M hill, the front has a slight advantage in speed. Lightning Rod should get better the further back you sit.

I've not been to Dollywood, but I plan to visit this summer. With what I know of the park so far, it strikes me as a family park that's trying to grow into a top-tier thrill park by adding Wild Eagle and especially Lightning Rod.

I doubt most people will remember SOB. Kings Island wouldn't have trouble marketing a big wooden coaster just because of the SOB flaws, especially if they use a real manufacturer this time. GateKeeper debuted the year before Banshee, and Cedar Point got Valravn this year. I could see them doing a substantial coaster at one of their top parks.

Only going by what I've ridden... FL: Hulk MA: Wicked Cyclone* NV: Manhattan Express NJ: El Toro NY: Cyclone PA: Skyrush OH: Diamondback TX: Road Runner Express (I visited SFFT when I was young.) VA: I305 *I was there on a cold day, so Superbizarro ran slow and was not impressive. Had I hit SFNE on a day with warm weather, there's a good chance it would be my favorite coaster. If I include what I suspect I'd like but haven't experienced... FL: Mako MA: Superbizarro NV: Desperado NJ: El Toro NY: Comet PA: Skyrush OH: Diamondback TX: Iron Rattler VA: Apollo's Chariot

The airtime is CLOSE to ejector? Meaning that it isn't Jack Rabbit, train-must-leave-the-track airtime? Ejector air is awesome. Floater air is also great. The ideal coaster would have both.

I know Vekoma didn't make the Lightning Rod launch mechanism. Is that generally something they do, though?

Does Vekoma not make launch mechanisms? Maybe I'm thinking of them because of their relationship with RMC.

I was at Hersheypark near closing time. I could have gotten the boomerang credit right before I left. Instead, I closed down Storm Runner.

WildFire ran into bigger issues than just not using Vekoma to make the launch mechanism, right? I thought there were real questions about the town allowing that large of a structure to be built.

Not #Showmearodshot?

Dollywood's website has a picture of Wild Eagle in their list of rides. Now, of course it does, but the picture is listed as Lightning Rod (and then reappears as Wild Eagle). That's right, they didn't post a proper Rod shot.

Google directions also says that SFNE is a little bit shorter drive (plus the fun of crossing the border) from Montreal than Montreal to Canada's Wonderland. "Coaster Capital of the Second-largest Nation on Earth" sounds better than "second-tier Six Flags park".

La Ronde is, as far as I can tell, in the city of Montreal. If you want to draw people from Quebec, remarking that you have the best coasters in Canada might not be such a bad idea.

Just don't set the password as Joshua.

The point is to ride a great coaster again rather than going on something just for the cred. Hitting for the cycle (hitting all of the coasters) is a luxury, particularly since you're not going to hit Wilderness Run and will not pass 99 credits. Having 99 credits is a nice position to be in, anyway. The next time you go to a new park to ride something awesome, that awesome coaster gets to be your 100th cred. My suggestion is to get to the park as soon as it opens, expecting to stay there until it closes. Whatever the posted closing time is, that's not when they close the rides. If you're in line, you get to ride (short of a breakdown or bad weather, I assume). So if the park closes at 9 and you're at the end of an hour-long line for Corkscrew, you'll get to ride.

I'd like to see a log flume or plunge ride that dives out from behind a large waterfall, but up near the top so the water isn't yet traveling painfully fast.