JT325
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Posts posted by JT325
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On 7/30/2023 at 5:06 PM, prozach626 said:
^It has the most underrated back seat first drop.
Thanks for the info.
After Demon, of course
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^Probably on the crowded side. Unless you like long lines for drinks and food, pack your trunk if you can. Hope you like the park, I always say it's the best in the chain ;)
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Looking for input on crowds for tomorrow, Sunday May 28th. I know some holiday weekends are crammed, but there were always some that were dead. I can never keep track, and have had SFE (Six Flags Exhuastion) for years. I just want to know NOT when to go. Is tomorrow one of them?
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B&M giving us variety! It's always a good day when it happens... which isn't much. Looks like a tester/test track more than a big B&M, but good for them! They can do anything. Except laterals haha
Not fun in bucket seats anyway.
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On 3/29/2023 at 7:14 AM, prozach626 said:
Someone finds this every couple years.
It's an element specifically designed to increase capacity and reliability...
Does the spike really do that? Or just sarcasm? Can't tell
Seems more controls and track switching would complicate the operation.
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Those are beautiful posters! Thanks for sharing, miss this place. I'll never forget how beautiful and intimidating Texas Cyclone was... and how dang tight those curves and drops were.
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It looks great... I asked about the length b/c it definitely looks longer than the one at Dollywood. Waldameer can't go wrong, love the place. A rare class act, top notch everything.
I'm a huge fan of Comet... that special smart AND classic station.
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Wow, that's gonna be a huge hit for them. Looks nice and long, does anyone know the lengths of the longest water coasters and where this lies? I seem to remember the Dollywood one was on the short side (after riding those at Holiday World especially).
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23 hours ago, AmyUD06 said:
I wouldn't trust any prediction about any Six Flags park's calendar, even what they've posted, at this point.
I've learned not to trust the posted hours the day of... for years they started closing the park at a drop of rain during the week. They would say the weather wasn't safe, but really its "oh well, we ain't gonna make enough money today so shut down and send everyone home."
Not to trust pretty much anything about a SF, sadly. They have so many good people, they just don't know how to train them correctly.
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^Those are fun! From Americana in Ohio I presume?
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21 hours ago, greenman said:
Sarcasm or not. This is actually very accurate. It’s November and I haven’t seen one footer in the ground on the land they cleared. July is a real possibility because we all know how they will say "Well it was a harsh winter" because it’s said every time construction gets behind in any industry.
But, when it does open... I bet it will run close to the projected capacity. The crew will know what to do in any common guest situation; the station and queue will be clean. The communication in the station will be clear and the walkway into and from the ride will be relatively close to the midway/main walk way. There will be good accomidations for ADA folks, and minimum crowding in station, and station exit (the turnstyle will be at the entrance of the staion where it belongs). In that respect, it will be totally different than Six Flags.
Let it open late, let it open in 2025. At least it will be operable and user-friendly. Cedar Fair has higher standards, so what if it's late
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I just tried out GG's work at Kings Island last week. Since the layers are on their side, it's a stiffer track.. and it feels as such. It's not like brand new wood coaster track, it's got a hardness to it. Not sure how that will go over on already steel-framed rides ... too much stiffness leads to worse rougness later. But hey, maybe GG has that all figured out.
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Rumor is Cornball and Hurricane (in dire need) are slated for Gravity Group work. Long overdo, hope it happens. The current owners inherited a mess, they're working on getting everything together. Let's give em props.
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Great pictures! The park looks fantastic and clean.
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^Noted. Bummer. Anytime we get a lot of high up hijinks (hello Gerstlauer and your shaky one-car rides) we get lots of vibration. No ball joints or hinge points, it's gotta shake. Like an Arrow.
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The S&S coasters have operational/sensitivity issues... as with Maxx Force at Great America. But here's a couple AWESOME things I also noticed:
1 - the seats are the most comfortable *new* coaster seats from anyone in a LONG time. They don't cut off circulation, and they don't rack my boy parts. You have room to move, opposite, say rmc, and it doesn't constrain my shoulders like Mack. They don't ratchet down tighter either, all an important enjoyment factor for me.
2 - Maxx Force, at least, is a VERY smooth ride. It doesn't have the Intamin GRIND found on rides such as Millenium Force, has no shaking or heavy vibration found on Hang Time at Knott's, and no noticeable rattling.
To pull of the relative smoothness of a Schwarzkopf, oh yeah... Way to go S&S. So many have tried.
Maxx Force only runs one train now, they put the other one away (in the Dark Knight building). Lemon chilld kid said it just sets up too much with 2 trains. But look at your clearance coming out of a huge inversion into brakes and the immediate station - of course it will be sensitive. Gotta stay in the SF budget I guess.
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The CP Blue Streak original trains (when I worked on it 92-93 before all the "gear" on them now) was said to be "6 tons empty" by the maintenance guys. That seems about right ... on the 2 bench buzz bars on Hoosier Hurricane at Indiana Beach, the fact plate on the train says 1,900 lbs per car, all this seems about right.
Throw on ratchet bars and their heavy associated under-train-gear, a few 40lb steel core headrests (seat dividers are only like 5 lbs) and you have a train that is too heavy to run on the standard wood coaster track that was used into the 90s, and it's structure. Rumor was those changes added 200lbs to each car. Putting in those heavy steel brake fin brackets didn't help... most woodies had smooth skid brakes. Surely, skid brakes aren't great in the rain, but new mag brakes are so much nicer than the metal clamp/fin brakes. (NOTE: Waldameer did the smartest thing ever by adding mag brakes - in a curved station no less - to a classic woodie. It's a super smooth and reliable stop, and the trains can stack in the station one right behind the other, so smart. It would be nice to see more conversions like this.)
The 90s brought an onslaught of those PTC changes (the parks as for it; PTC gives them what they ask for), and so many great wooden coasters dropped off the community radar. They got bumpy and rough; they ALL had to have extra "mini-bents" built between standard bents on all the pull-out and steep slopes. Add to that the awkwardness of those ratchet bars againts the legs, no fun. I believe some states (Maryland) have a rule against head rests on wooden coasters as they cause more injuries.
I'll never forget how those wood coasters sailed over speed bumps with the trains as they were meant to run; effortlessly flying airborne over the hills and down the drops. Now, it's all a fight with lots of slamming and grinding. These rides ran virtually perfectly for years and decades in some cases. It was a case of liability... due to people doing stupid things, getting hurt and the park getting sued; it was big at the corporate parks, naturally. Ironically, I think there have been more injuries with ratchet bars.
I've gotten away from myself a bit, but had to run with it. Damn those rides were good. So many awesome woodies in top 20s didn't mean anything anymore.
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One guess I heard is the CP might take this chance to "take back the record" from Kingda Ka. Really? Why bother. Cedar Point cares about a quality experience. I *LOVE* TTD. Rode Ka once in 2006 and I'll be fine never riding it again. It was enlightening to see how much different such similar coasters can be. Presentation, station, operation, maintenace (and restraints!) mean a lot with this sort of ride.
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They're hard at work, it's looking great!
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I'll piggy back on what bert425 and Pedrinho said; it's good stuff, you're gonna need time. I went there for like 8 PPPs in a row, and I would always get there Thursday (Covered Bridge festival + some rides + carousel!), stay Friday (not sure if coasters are usually open, but most everything is), and then Saturday and all day Sunday. Still go home wanting more!
Of course, we do have variation in opinion, a good thing!
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On 8/4/2022 at 4:22 AM, VegasCoaster said:
Anyone know what took RailBlazer down the other day?
It's knee was sprained from too much jerk, so it's been given a time out. It's on it's last leg, sorta speak.
Check out the fabulous Demon, right up the street!
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^Add smooth-flexing, jointed-track. Even B&M hasn't been able to do that. Giavanola came close, but those trains are rattly.
Perfect trains - you can move around (feel real-air-time, where applicable) and perfectly safe; you're in a position where you aren't going anywhere (even in the case of a slow or stopped inversion), but can still move your legs with plenty of wiggle room (note the smart ankle bar). They were basically designed like super-smooth woodies with loops; you can even experience true laterals where applicable - but only in the original or duplicate original trains - as opposed to the new messes Six Flags is building. Hersheypark had 2 sets of duplicate originals built by Gerstlauer; even the slightly altered new orange trains are still much better than those being built by SF.
If you do enjoy the classic Schwarzkopf feel, get to Shock Wave in Texas while you can. Just a matter of time before it has the SF-designed bucket, grippy seats with strange reclined-vibration prone headrest. Whatever Knott's does, I'm confident it will be well thought out.
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I'm hoping they keep everything as original as possible. If the launch changes, the dynamic of the ride will likely change. Different launch types feel different; faster or more intense isn't always better. The weight drop model shuttle loop (Intamin, version 1) gives a great tummy drop tickle that these version 2's don't have. However, these were less maintenance and more reliable, and have other changes that makes it easier for them to climb all the way up the back spike (where the version 1s were usually braked first). Tradeoffs. Many of us are aware of what changing the seats/headrests can do to the quality of a ride (hi, Mind Bender)... Huge props to Knott's for keeping those train details intact; the park LOVES this ride, everyone there loves it.
It's a huge, expensive deal for them to take it apart carefully, inspect, check all parts/replace/remanufacture, sandblast/prime/paint (as opposed to slapping on a cheap coat of paint, hello SF). Kudos to Knott's! Cedar Fair knows they sold off a valuable "old Schwarzkopf" at Worlds of Fun. They really lost a world class ride, nothing there can fill those shoes. Schwarzkopfs are special! Whizzer at SF Great America runs likes new and is more popular than ever (and luckily Great America takes good care of that ride.)
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^I'm not sure if that's sarcasm or not, but either way it works for me. Add Cesari's to the top of the "Pizza that is clearly no where near good enough to be in a park of this high calibur" list.
Knoebel's and Holiday World at the top of my list. But man, dat pizzas baad!!
The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
I vote for Magic Mountain and all the SF parks to focus on taking care of and improving what they have. All those rides are used at a fraction of the capacity they can handle; many have old rough spots, add more quality family rides .... like a monorail and open the Tower. Improve flow to and from rides - I'm talking about the 1/2-mile long not-wide-enough-for-a-wheelchair exit ramps from many popular coasters - at ALL big six flags parks... that crap creates fights.
I just checked out the google map of the park, as you guys were talking about the homes moving closer at the back of the park. I'm not sure how old the google map is, but there is still space that looks like its being cleared... isn't Socal oversaturated with everything already? The homes look like prisons, made me think of Clockwork Orange. Probably just eco-housing, I hope they are nice inside (pure bright white with lots of sharp edges, class and steel?)
Dang I gotta get back to get on X2, Revo and Ninja... some of my favorites! But the park has gotten so not fun in the past few years. I hope they make it what it could be, sure deserves it.