the_rock401

BGT going away. The Montu-Kumba-Sheikra trifecta is hard to beat by any three coasters in one park, with the possible exception of the Wisconsin Dells Woodies (Hades, Cyclops, Avalanche). SFGAm isn't all that great (Iron Wolf, S:UF, Batman, and Raging Bull, with the Bull being the best of the bunch), SFMM's are about on par with SFGAm (I thought Riddler was hard on the quads and knees, Scream wasn't anything to write home about) and I haven't been to anywhere else with multiple Beemers on site. Paul

I was there on August 18, and after the thunderstorm cleared the park out, it was a walkaround for Raging Bull and Viper. I was on the last ride of Viper during a downpour, and that thing was INSANE!

On that particular Tuesday morning, I was a senior at St. Michael-Albertville (MN) High School, and I was working in the library computer lab a little before 8. I wasn't sure why everyone was congregating around the TVs, and I didn't think anything of it. I had physics A block (8:30-9:50 AM Central), and my lack of knowledge of what was going on was quickly shattered by an announcement by our principal to keep the proceedings in New York in mind today. Things were already weird, and it only got weirder five minutes later when the classroom phone rang. It was my teacher's wife, and she said that another plane had flown into the Pentagon. At that point, we went over to another classroom (we didn't have a TV) and kept watching the proceedings. Normally, when you get 55-60 high school juniors and seniors in the same room, you can't shut them up. For almost an hour, no one said a word as the towers burned and fell. It wasn't until the A block bell rang at 9:50 did anyone move or start talking, and it was the buzz of the school the remainder of the day. Regardless of what you think of the various conspiracy theories floating around, or whether you think it was indeed Al-Qaeda, there were tremendous acts of heroism in New York and Washington that day that should never, ever be forgotten. Paul "My two bits" Miller

I'm surprised this show is even on the air. I watched the very first one religiously, and I haven't watched an episode from start to finish since.

I'll be at the Minnesota State Fair the whole weekend. And yes, I'll have some crazy photos. Paul "Food on a stick! Mmmmmm..." Miller

I was always terrible at sports during HS, but now I am a referee. I have my MSHSL card for basketball, an ASA softball card, and I do some intramural stuff around the U as well. Paul "STEEEEEEEEEERIKE!" Miller

100 hours of interning at three different locations before you graduate? That is REALLY strange. 100 hours isn't hard to hit at an internship if you're there for the whole summertime (At 40 hrs/wk, it doesn't take long to add up), but three different locations? Before the age of 18? I'm a senior in college (age 22), and I've had all kinds of trouble getting internships over summers. Granted, my field (civil engineering) doesn't really know how much personnel they're going to hire until about March (money allocations). As for an internship at something theme park related, a lot of your companies that have been mentioned (S&S, Chance, etc), assuming they hire interns, tend to gravitate their attention towards college students. Depending on their needs, they may also focus towards a certain field (sales, engineering, etc). That said, by all means ask! The worst that can happen is they say no, and then they'll have your name. Paul

This may sound sort of mundane, but an FM transmitter for your iPod that plugs into a cigarette lighter is a lifesaver. I've made a few trips to Wisconsin Dells (3.5 hours) and Six Flags Great America (6+ hrs) with it, and it saves you from having to listen to the crappy FM stations between the Twin Cities and either the Dells or Milwaukee/Chicago. Paul "Drivin' my life away" Miller

Baymont is a nice place, but it's a long hike to the main gate. Since they have built up the wall around the place, you have to walk the full distance of the park perimeter along Busch Blvd, then double back and walk from the parking tram tunnel back to the main gate. We were there in February, which is almost as good as late August for a BGA visit, and we decided it wasn't worth saving $16 over 2 days to not park in the BGT lots.

Don't bet on it. Unless the footers were driven/drilled to bedrock, there is always going to be some footing settlement. It will be a different amount depending on the soil type, and most of the time the settlement amounts to less than a tenth of an inch over 30 years, but sometimes that is enough to really screw up some structures, depending on how much tolerance is built into the design. Paul "Soil Mechanics II" Miller

Some of the pictures I've seen from the Point are the strangest looking pieces of track I've ever seen. I'm sure this is going to be the biggest, baddest, 50-inversion, launched Wingwalker the world has ever seen. And how surprised would you all be if the name Maverick was going to Valleyfair instead, for whatever coaster is going in the back 40? Paul "Would laugh my head off" Miller

The orange flags in the grassy area are making the "wetland" that is the bottom of the ditch. I was there on PresCon day, August 4, but haven't been there since. By new markings do you mean new stakes, paint, or dirt? Paul "Will have to get out there ASAP" Miller

COUGH Iron Wolf COUGH I've ridden High Roller solo. I didn't think that the train was going to make it back to the station after being almost completely stopped in the trims at the end of the turnaround.

"Imaginary Lover" Atlanta Rhythm Section

I hate digging out an older thread like this, but I MUCH prefer Facebook to MySpace. I haven't spent more than about 5 minutes on MySpace since it was created (which is impressive considering MySpace accounted for 5% of all Web traffic last month), mostly because of how messy, cluttered, and thoroughly disorganized MySpace is, but throw in the creep factor and there goes MySpace. At least Facebook has some semblance of privacy.

There has been no official announcement on the part of either Valleyfair, Cedar Fair, or any of the rumored coaster designers about what is going in behind Thunder Canyon. Repeat, NO OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. Believe me, as soon as something comes out, TPR will be the first to know. Until then, biding our time may be the smart play. We know NOTHING about what's going in back there. All we know is that the stakes on the knoll across from the waterpark, as well as the ones in Thunder Canyon, are to mark control points so the surveyors know where to put in the new outhouse holes that they're drilling out there. I think the smart money is on a B&M invert, along the lines of Patriot and Silver Bullet, with the concrete footers poured higher than the 10 or 25-year flood elevation. This is due to the fact that the construction is going to be outside Valleyfair's protective levee. I've heard the GCI woodie rumors as well, and I don't buy them for a second, for a multitude of reasons. The construction site I saw three weeks ago is in almost the perfect spot for NOT getting pictures. Until it goes aerial, it will be very difficult to get any pictures of anything, and believe me I've tried to get looks at the site from every angle that is publicly accessible, including the bluffs near Flying Cloud Airport, a mile and a quarter across the valley. I might be able to get out there during construction, but I don't have a vehicle while I'm at the U of M. Paul "Hold yer horses, darnit!" Miller

My only visit to Knott's was during Solace 2005. Me and another Minnesota guy split the hotel deal, so we were there during both nights of ERT. I was one of the few people on this board who didn't think Solace was a total bust. I thought the folks who hosted us at the Solace functions were very nice folks who went out of their way to have us enthusiasts in there. Comments made earlier in this thread about normal ops are, unfortunately, right on. They did a decent enough job with the theming back by Perilous Plunge and Xcel with the boardwalk style theming, but they did do a number over in the Old West portion of the park. I did not think Ghostrider was as terrible as you all seem to think it is, at least on Friday night. Ghostie had two very different phases on that particular weekend. Friday night during the out-of-towners event it was running great. However, Ghostie was kicking a$$ and taking names during the Saturday night ERT, and if this is the Ghostie that everyone is riding, I can understand why it has fallen from grace.

Usually the SFGAs have other letters on to tell the difference between the two. SFGAm = Six Flags Great America, near Chicago SFGAdv = Six Flags Great Adventure, in New Jersey VF = Valleyfair SFStL = Six Flags St. Louis SFFT = Six Flags Fiesta Texas WoF = Worlds of Fun

For all of you who frequent SFGAm, if you can help me out on this, that would be great. When I was in line for a night ride on Viper, I was talking with a woman who frequent SFGAm, and she said to avoid the park during the first two weeks of August, because that's when the book passes expire. When I was there on June 30, I saw a few of these passes used. Basically, they're rewards for reading a certain amount of books during the year in school districts throughout that part of Illinois and Wisconsin. My question is when do those passes expire this year? I'm looking at going on Friday, August 18, and I want to know if the place will be overrun with kids. Paul "Another lotsa-driving weekend" Miller

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/584542.html Who says you have to go all the way to Vegas for a Vegas-style wedding? The photo in today's Strib had the bride on Zeus at Mt. O. Paul "My 200th post! Yay!" Miller

Solace is usually the second Saturday of March. A lot of out-of-towners make a weekend out of it, sp it gets kinda busy. Paul "Plans to use next year's Solace as a stepping stone to Australia" Miller

Ideally, arrive around 9:30, and work your way to the left side of the entry plaza and pool. When the rope drops, go DIRECTLY to S:UF. The line moves very slowly for this, and will likely be back to the queue mazes when you get done with your first ride. Not a bad ride to end the day with either, but get in line as soon as the fireworks end. Raging Bull won't be a problem, huge line eater. When working, Deja Vu's line was never more than half an hour. American Eagle was not running either side backwards when I was there a month ago (Friday, June 30). A long walk for a 1-train wait on both sides.

Don't forget that you can put together great coaster videos without so much as a frame of POV. Paul "Has done a couple" Miller

Yes, that's what all of our money is on, but that rumor has been floating around since 1999, and nothing has come of it, so that rumor has fermented to "crying wolf" status. Paul

Just a quick update. I've driven by several potential vantage points for the new coaster out back, and it appears that Valleyfair has quite possibly the perfect construction site to keep nosy enthusiasts like us out of the loop. I tried looking at VF from the bluff near Flying Cloud Airport (the same one that kept Power Tower to 275 feet instead of 300), and could only see the top third of Excalibur and the very top of the Hurricane Falls giant tube slide. Until this thing goes aerial, there isn't going to be much updating about construction progress. Paul "If only CP or the Mountain had a construction site like this" Miller