saxman47

My thoughts exactly! I'm sure the majority of people who shoot footage at a park don't put toooo much thought into it since the main purpose of their visit is to enjoy the park! I know for me I try and get a few minutes here and a few minutes there, but I try not to spend my day getting the perfect shots only to leave the park and realize I didn't have any time to enjoy myself. I would rather get a limited amount of footage and try and edit it as best I can, just as a way to document a fun trip. Also, I'm sure many people didn't make their video "to win the contest". Personally, I made a video which I enjoy and I entered it in this contest as a bonus. I'm not saying that someone who plans out their video ahead of time, includes a plot, etc. shouldn't win, but you can't expect that from the average amateur videographer.

Same here....I really don't get what everyone loves about these types of Schwarzkopfs (blasphemy!). I've been on SooperDooperLooper and Scorpion as well, and those don't stand out in my mind either. Just as a side note, I'm not saying this because Gadv is my home park. I also enjoy Dorney and I'll say that I LOVE steel force. The first time I rode it I wasn't expecting much since everyone seems to say the ride is "nothing special", but I really enjoyed it. With that said, I would probably choose Great Adventure since you owe it to yourself to ride El Toro

This is my first year working at the park, and I can say that their training is REALLY focusing on the guest experience. Smiling, making small talk with guests, and going out of your way to help them are being stressed extensively. I guess I never thought about it, but just having a park employee say "hello" or "how is your day going folks?" can really make a difference in someone's experience. I just completed my training this past weekend, but so far I must say I am very impressed. There are a lot of people at the park who really care about it on a personal level and want it to succeed. My training supervisor was even saying how all you have to do is think of your own family visiting the park. Wouldn't you want them to be impressed by friendly staff and quick service? Then they tell their friends what a great time they had, and the park attracts more and more families who may have written this park off years ago. Personally, I really wish some people would come out and give us a chance again. This is a new era and a new leaf has been turned for Great Adventure.

LSM's are much more efficient. Each individual LSM turns off after the train passes through. LIM's just all turn on and off at the same time, so even the one at the back of the launch that isn't being used anymore has to remain on until the train is completely clear. I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that LIM launches also utilize some timing pattern to turn individual or blocks of motors on and off in a specified sequence. This is not necessary, since turning them all on at once as you described would work fine, but it would be highly inefficient. I think a timing pattern that "follows" the train is used so that the spike in electricity needed to launch is greatly reduced. This timing, however, does not need to be as precise or sophisticated as the one needed for LSM's.

nice TR, I was there too and it was coooooooold. After riding Nitro I couldn't feel my face!

This is where this system is flawed. I doesn't make sense to have a scoring system that makes a ride that is "of not interest to you" on the same level as a "terrible ride." And even further flawed is that the number of coasters are not equal. Because in this example, Woodstock's Revenge is probably a MUCH better ride for kids than either of the two SFMM kiddie coasters, yet it ranks the same as a "terrible coaster" in your system. Is there a way to remove the coasters that don't interest you, score them, and then take the average? --Robb "This is why I don't like making these kind of comparisons...if you like the park, go there, if not, go somewhere else!" Alvey I suppose that giving the coasters that do not interest me a score of zero would make it more fair. I just came up with this scoring thing in like 5 minutes, so I'm sure it is flawed. It was just a way for me to personally rank each ride without having head-to-head comparisons. Basically, Woodstock express being better than Goliath Jr. does not influence my view of either park's coaster collection, so a score of zero would be more appropriate. Obviously, someone with young children is looking for much more than the biggest and best coasters. Even I think that park atmosphere and such are extremely important. The article seemed to focus on just the coasters, and that's why I only took those into account.

I feel that rather than comparing coasters individually, you could assign each coaster a rating from 1-5 and then tally the score for each park. Keep in mind that I’m considering the coasters only…..not the park atmosphere, flat rides, etc. I understand that Cedar Point has more coasters than MM, and this will skew the score, however, it can not really “hurt” to have more coasters. Even if a ride is terrible it is better than no ride at all. (at least it makes the lines for other rides slightly shorter). The scoring system I’m using is as follows: 5 - This coaster is one of the main reasons for my visit to the park 4 - This is a great ride, which I enjoyed thoroughly 3 – This coaster is good, but doesn’t really stand out in my mind 2 – A so-so ride. I wouldn’t wait in line for it again. 1 – Either a terrible ride or one that simply just doesn’t interest me. Keep in mind this list reflects my personal opinion only, and I have rated many coasters as a 1 even though they are decent rides, because they do not appeal to me. Wildcat is a good example of this. Strictly coaster wise, here is my breakdown: Cedar Point Maverick - 5 TTD - 4 Wicked Twister - 3 Millennium Force - 4 Woodstock Express - 1 Mantis - 4 Raptor - 5 Mean Streak - 2 Magnum - 5 Iron Dragon - 2 Disaster Transport - 3 Wildcat - 1 Jr. Gemini - 1 Gemini - 3 Corkscrew - 2 Cedar Creek Mine Ride - 3 Blue Streak – 3 Total = 51 Six Flags Magic Mountain Tatsu - 5 Scream - 3 X - 5 Déjà vu - 5 Goliath - 4 Canyon Blaster - 1 Riddler’s Revenge - 4 Superman The Escape - 3 Batman - 3 Viper - 4 Ninja - 3 Colossus - 3 Revolution - 2 Gold Rusher - 2 Percy/Goliath Jr. - 1 Total = 48 As you can see, it was extremely close, but Cedar Point edged out the win. If the coaster counts were equal, it could have been 49 to 48 assuming that 2 of CP’s rides which I did not care for were removed. I’m sure if other people follow the same strategy they will get different results, because this is all based on opinion.

I always kinda liked coasters, but I never really knew anything about them and rarely thought about them when I wasn't at a theme park. This changed when I visited Six Flags Magic Mountain in the summer of 2005, mostly in part due to X. My one ride on this totally blew me away. When I got home from my vacation I wanted to know everything about it, how it worked, who built it, if there were any more, etc. I had never seen or even imagined anything like that and even when waiting in line I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I thought you just sat on the outside.....I had no idea you went up backwards, dropped face first, and spun 360 degrees throughout the ride. I was definitely a "dumb GP" anyway, after researching X I began to learn about arrow, intamin, b&m, etc. and I've been hooked ever since.

I know the flat collection is pathetic, but aesthetics-wise the park looks great. The landscaping and overall atmosphere last season were better than I can ever remember. The golden kingdom and plaza del carnival especially are just beautiful.

the acceleration is not constant. even if the LSM's provide the same amount of force throughout the entire launch, at the start you have nearly no air resistance. Drag increases with the square of velocity and thus once you start getting up to higher and higher speeds the drag force increases very fast. There is no way that S:TE accelerates at the same rate from 0-10mph as it does from 90-100mph.

only idiots say that it's basically the established overall opinion that hypercoasters are some of the best rides in existence.

an intamin prefab woodie uses prefabricated track that is laser cut in advance at the factory and then shipped to the park. All the park has to do is bolt it together. A traditional wooden coaster is built on-site and the track is laid by hand. The fact that intamin makes the track at the factory allows it to be held to much tighter tolerances and therefore creates a much smoother ride. Intamin also uses polyurethane tires on the wheels, similar to what is found on steel coasters, which also contributes to the smoothness of their new woodies.

I don't think it's anywhere near 6 sustained G's. If I had to guess I'd say 3-4 max. This is just off the top of my head though, so who really knows!

ding ding ding!

who ever said that B:TR isn't forceful? It is considered one of the most forceful coasters B&M has ever produced. Also, you cannot judge a ride's intensity merely by looking at the maximum G-force. One ride may hit a peak of 5.0 g's, but only sustain that force for a fraction of a second. Another ride, such as SFMM's Goliath, may have a lower maximum g-force reading but sustains a high value for a long period of time (the helix). Trust me, 2.5-3.0 g's sustained is intense.

^you're right, and I believe Six Flags (the old management anyway) vowed to not purchase any rides from Vekoma anymore. I have a feeling the new management wouldn't rule them out for a family coaster or something, but I think the days of big Vekoma prototypes at Six Flags is over.

^ Six Flags Mark Shapiro is not the same guy as the Cleveland Indians GM Mark Shapiro

that was pretty cool hearing about Shapiro's old career and at least he threw in a bunch of plugs for Six Flags! Also, it just goes to show how rampant the idea that MM is still for sale is.

I like them, but I have a feeling they anger more people than they help. I know the few times I've gotten a flashpass the guests in the regular que look at you as if you just took their first born. I must admit, when the regular line is moving slow it is very frustrating to see flashpasser after flashpasser bypass you. I can definitely see how a family at the park could get annoyed by this. They are probably thinking, I've already spent enough money to get in the place, and now they want us to shell out even more just to have a somewhat decent time. I'm not saying that the flashpass is unfair. You pay more, you get more. That's the way life works. But, even so, a theme park's goal is to please the most number of guests, and I wonder what would happen if they ran a "trial" in one or two parks and eliminated the flashpass for a year.

honestly, I really don't think there is any easy solution to get rid of the undesirable clientele that some of these parks attract. Also I think that it would take a while for some families to come back even after some of these troublemakers have stopped coming. In the meantime, Six Flags will have lost attendance from these people but not yet gained back the families. I sort of have a feeling this is one of the reasons attendance hasn't been strong the last 2 years.

I agree that the gate price/season pass price ratio is way out of line. It makes no sense to charge $60 for a day or $80 for the year. I actually think that if Six Flags were to lower the gate price substantially......say, to $40, you would get a lot more people actually paying the full admission price. I know at Great Adventure NOBODY pays full price to get in. It would be absurd since there are so many deals out there. Now, what if they got rid of all these deals and instead advertised heavily that they are reducing admissions prices by $20. I think you would get all those people that got lured in with the promotions, and make more money by having a vast majority of people actually just pay the full price admission. $40 per guest is better than a buy-one get-one $60 ticket. Just my thoughts on the subject

Drachen Fire - First and only roller coaster to use a cutback element

as you go higher and higher the maximum speed will increase at a slower rate due to the fact that wind resistance increases according to the velocity squared.

thanks Robb that was an awesome update!

Wow, Six Flags bought some impressive ad space on the yahoo homepage for this! Also...am I correct in assuming that the promotion is only for a single-park pass? In the fine print it says not valid on premium passes.