speedracer

^ Yeah, but all you need to do is look at WDW's Space Mountain to see how their original inline seating non-locking retraint rolling stock were modified, for the exact same reasons. This may not be the final shell design/colors/handlebars, but you can pretty much count on individual seating with lap bars being final.

Bad news coming out of Screamscape: Hope this is wrong, I realize the holiday stuff is the main focus, but I was really looking forward to night riding my Medusa and Roar (was just too crowded last month). With the reduced admission, probably correct. At least Boomerang will still provide some aerial views of the bazillion lights.

Correct again. Out of courtesy, if you're posting a pic, should commit to checking this thread more often. Just leaving it for people to keep guessing even when the right answer gets posted is a bonafide thread killer.

No, CF needs to keep dumping millions more into SOB for the next 10yrs to teach then a lesson. After the accident, they should have just ripped it down like I and many other suggested, no one would have blamed them or missed it. Paramount spent millions over the years trying to fix it, and it still sucked. It was a stupid decision to build in the first place, anyone with half a brain would have eventually woken up and just cut their losses. But nooooo, what does CF do? They spend millions removing the loop, reprofiling track and buying replacement trains, and surprise, it still sucks. All those millions flushed down the crapper for nothing, serves CF right to have to keep dumping millions more to keep the POS running for their knuckleheaded decision.

^ And how many times have they switched out the much loved original 1959 inline bobsled seating arrangement? Or added unnecessary lap bars to a ride that has run fine without them for almost 50 years? Yeah, I guess you missed the point.

Plus side: Custom layout, themed trains, first chance for us in the US to ride a motorbike style coaster. Minus side: The length is my only beef. Usually a coaster this short can get away with it because you spend half the time climbing the lift (Soapbox Racers was short in length, but had 3 lifts). With a launch start, this ride will be over right when it starts getting going. I can't imagine the entire ride time will last more than 30-40 seconds tops. Xcel and Monte do it, but they pack as much punch as possible in those 30 seconds. Looking at the layout, I'm not confident this one will too, but let's hope so. Kinzel once said he'd rather add a few more hundred feet of track rather than spend that money on theming. With that in mind, hopefully the theming will be spectacular and make up for the lack of length.

First pics I've seen of the new bobsled cars coming to the Matterhorn: http://disneyparksinfo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33 Will sure miss the inline seating, but that has allot to do with the necessity. Disney says too many riders choose to ride by themselves, so 4 riders per train was common, significantly reducing capacity. At least with the new configure, 6 per train will now be possible, reducing wait times. I'm thinking lap bars on this bumpy old Arrow track will sure be brutal on the legs though, ouch! Suppose be switched over on the next major refurb, so enjoy the fun old school bobsleds now while you can.

Just to end the guessing, you're right, was called Electric Rainbow before being Gothamized in the 90's.

Here's another blast from the past for us old farts. Used to be enthralled as a kid with these Banana Splits intros just for the random shots of 1970's KI, right up there with the infamous Brady Bunch episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w5HMbWkCPw

^ Even worse, of alll colors to choose, why paint the tracks the exact same color as the clone down the road???: http://www.rcdb.com/ig278.htm?picture=8

Interesting picture of the sauna....(Should be rated R) LOL, only rated R if you're an American, perfectly normal and natural in more relaxed Europe. Reminded me of another unique waterslide though, the Nude Slide (warning, side boob shot if that offends anyone): http://hedonism-resorts.com/h3-the-slide.php

http://www.trips-n-pics.com/tips/comingsoon/?lang=en&order=week&continent=1#

Alien Abduction looks pretty impressive, incredible theming, efx and storyline, could be the beginning of more immersive waterpark attractions (don't skip past the front page intro, shows the larger images of AA): http://splashtacularlive.rbcreate.com/ Hopefully they'll sell a few next week at it's IAAPA premier. OT, but for a good : Poor people already on the ride must have been thrown off their tubes when the ramps had to be suddendly stopped, ouch!

Busch has been doing it very successfully for decades in central Florida. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, SFMM needs to use the Busch parks as a model of how to do a world class theme park with thrill rides. If they could do it, they'd actually be a compliment to the DLR the way the BGA and SWF are to WDW. It can be done, but only if done right. As far as Colossus, meh, taer it down. Ain't what it used to be, has seen better days and way outdated by today's wooden coaster design standards. We all know woodies are harder and more expensive to maintain, for such a mediocre coaster, if it's sucking the budget dry, taer it out. With both weak woodies gone, that'll clear the way and justify a low maintenance Plug n' Play as a replacement, which would be a hundred times better than Colossucks and Psuklone combined.

^ Why I love my NorCal, so much more history and natural beauty preserved up here than SoCal. Many history parks and small towns up here that have remained intact exactly as they were in the 1700's-1800's. Plus I wouldn't trade my 100yr old classic seaside amusement park for anything in the world, even a big corporate rollercoaster park like CP. Seems like the planners down South didn't care about preserving much of SoCal's history, bits and pieces here and there, but nothing like we've got up here. Really beautiful pics of PA, wish I would have had more time to enjoy the surrounding scenery on my 1 visit in and out of Hershey.

^^I've heard some pretty positive reviews of Renegade, a good ride is a good ride regardless of it's a clone or not. The last time I looked this forward to one of GA's additions was 1996's Drop Zone, so something this good has been a long time coming. ^I agree about Stealth, it was a POS that should have never been installed in the first place. When GA announced it and everyone else was jumping for joy back then, I was the only one that thought this was a stupid decision. The last thing GA needed back then and still doesn't need to this day is another short, low-capacity gimmick coaster. So it would be the first flyer, big deal, as expected, it's been overshadowed by much bigger and better versions. Even I couldn't have imagined though how quickly it would turn to crap and how much downtime and problems there would be. Just kills me thinking of what we could have gotten back then instead for that $16 million, stupid Paramount.

^ When I found out the actual magnitude, I was suprised there wasn't more damage. You hear about earthquakes around the world this size or smaller killing hundreds if not thousands of people. Considering no one died is proof all the retrofitting of many old buildings and bridges out here paid off. The shortness of it also was a factor, but with a bigger longer lasting quake which they keep telling us to expect, can't guarantee we'll get off as easy as we did this time.

^ As far as TT goes, don't have high expectations. SFDK's was very underwhelming, the small static sets and 3 minute ride reminded me more of some low budget story book land type ride. Can't believe anyone still builds sets that don't have some sort of animation to them, you just ride by static sets hoping the next set will do something. At least ours has the 2 kidde flats to make it more of an area, SFMM's sounds like it'll offer even less.

Oh man would I HATE to be that truck driver! Thanks for the update.

Screamscape posted one piece of artwork for TT: http://www.screamscape.com/html/sfmm_-_thomas_0.htm Is rumoured to occupy the GGP area, ironic since I believe this is where the old Train To Trollywood once was.

I agree, instead of being glad a landmark coaster is not being scrapped, lets bitch about it staying and being improved. Like stated before, these are long overdue costly upgrades that have been needed for years. If they didn't do this, it'd be only a matter of time before Shapiro yanked this one out too. And who cares if they could have built 2 small woodies for the same price, fact is it's the parks signature attraction and the GP loves the ride. Does anyone honestly believe if the park instead scrapped X and went ahead with the suggested woodie or any other mediocre $10 million coaster in the SoCal market would do anything for SFMM's attendance? Even a $15 million floorless did nothing for SFMM. X2 is being marketed to the GP who will eat this up, and not even sit here for 10 pages questioning SFMM's marketing decisions or where every single penny of this $10 million upgrade will be spent. All they know is their favorite ride is being enhanced for an even more disorienting experience. SFMM is not marketing this relaunch to the small percentage of enthusiass that make up their attendance, nor should they even bother as demonstrated here.

New site just went live with an interactive map, be sure to check out the vid of the just announed "Nights In White Satin-The Trip": http://www.hardrockpark.com/ Amazing, a dark ride simulating an acid trip, Magic Mushroom Garden, etc. should build something like that here in San Francisco! Looking forward to the Punk Pit Bounce House, specially designed to accomodate every member of the family!

^ Totally agree, if a park wants more elements and a longer ride, they can just build a floorless for probably alot less. As you said, the point of a Dive Machine is the drop, everything else is just icing on the cake.

Sweet, sounds great to me! I also imagine a Demon-like light tunnel at the bottom of The Drop, with you lying on your back looking up, could be a cool effect if the tunnel's long enough. Track is already dug into the ground, just need to enclose it: http://www.rcdb.com/ig750.htm?picture=21 They didn't say how many replacement trains, I'm assuming 3 since it was suppose to have 3 train op? With the rumoured reconfigured station, 3 train op and a new GM to whip those lethargic ops into shape, could see the wait times drop as well. S&S (more so than SFMM) has more riding on the success of this relaunch if they ever want anyone else to take a chance on a 4D. They had better correct all of Arrows mistakes and get everything right this time, espcially with Intamins Zac Spin now on the market. It is a great concept and I'd like to see some of the smaller 4D layouts show up at more parks in the US.

There's alway Vegas, coaster fixes, cocktails and buffets! SFDK makes a nice side trip from San Francisco. Will be open for their Holiday In The Park weekends from Thanksgiving till Xmas, ditto for Gilroy Gardens and their Holiday Lights celebration. Plus the SCBB and Nut Tree Family Park are always open weekends year round.