JT325

Looks photoshopped to me. I can see artifacts and stuff... smile

^I was just trying to be funny.

In a wooden-tracked coaster, the top 2 layers of wood are made of wood... not a rectangular steel tube filled with concrete composite material. Sure, it seems that the bulk of the track on Goliath is wood, but it's probably provides less than half of the load. Topper track is great, and is the very definition of hybrid track in my book. Wood coaster track has steel running plates, but that's much MUCH less steel than on topper track. Note the motivation behind what Six Flags (and RMC, consequently) calls wood and hybrid is to get more records. They wanted to have the "longest hybrid coaster" in Twisted Colossus (Isn't Ultimate a much longer ride?) and fastest "wooden coaster" in Goliath. That's just fine, but know where the motivation came from... to change a 30 year industry convention. Cedar Point never EVER referred to Gemini as a hybrid; it was always a steel coaster. As others noted, it doesn't matter and they are fun rides... but you would have to be drinking a lot of corporate kool-aid to not notice that change in the last few years. Remember, Six Flags calls Great America "the cleanest theme park in the world," and their Hurricane Harbor the "best waterpark in the country." Just adding my 2 cents. Plenty of my friends disagree with me, but we respect each others opinions. It would be lame if we all agreed 100% . It doesn't matter at the end of the day. We are coaster and park nerds, it's ok to debate this stuff respectfully.

And yet... Well, I haven't followed that dead horse here on TPR, but I was assuming it happened here too like on the rest of the internet. I'm not sure what the consensus is on here. It's ok to disagree, I just like to hear other opinions.

Like Mean Streak? That was too easy. It was just a matter of time.

Fixed that for ya. Even if you count topper track as wooden (which I don't, I know I know... dead horse), half the structure is still held up by steel.

A whole bunch! But after a few rides, the novelty of (fill in the blank record) wears off and I'm stuck with same old favorites. Thunderbolt, Legend, Voyage, Mind Bender... Magnum, and a few others.

^Yes, most of this summer it was running 3. In fact, except for last summer (one of the trains was not even seen), Demon has almost always ran 3 trains on busy days. Same with Whizzer. The thing is, trains always stack. I guess they go for the hope that there will be an occasional train that gets out on time. Gotta give em credit for trying! (Remembering the days when Whizzer ran 4 to 5 trains, no seat belts, no air gates, just get in and go! For Demon, as soon as a train hit the first loop, the next train would be peeking out of the lift rocks on it's way up. Since this is the Magic Mountain thread, didn't Revolution have the ability to have 2 trains in the station and unload the back one? Whizzer did that way back...)

Hey, don't knock em. Those carnival flats can be some damn good rides! EDIT -- Ew, except Larson Loops and fireball rides.

I replied to you a few posts back, sorry if my post made it seem like I was calling you out... I sure didn't mean it that way. Sometimes on the forums, it's hard to have much discussion about making suggestions to a park; immediately people accuse you of telling the park what to do, and how they don't need us. My point is that it doesn't have to be at either extreme. Same thing goes for discussions about forces; I've made comments about something, then right away I get yelled at "leave it to the engineers," and a bunch of lame stuff like that. Black and white thinking, unfortunately, is a way of our society. But it doesn't have to be that way. Especially on a theme park forum. It's not even creative replies, it's knee-jerk and super-generic stuff. I hope some of that makes sense. I would say that is standard operations at any Six Flags park. My home park, SF Great America (which I think is the best run and most well-rounded park in the chain), it's like that too. Six Flags operations are so all-over the place, so inconsistent (except for being consistently bad)... it's not necessarily a good thing to have super cheap season passes, but notice how they try to roll it that way. You pay with your time and patience through horrible operations (on every level and in every department). It's hard to believe they don't, isn't it!? This past summer, people were getting off every single Demon train pissed off.. like, not just a little huffy, but pissed. They were trying this thing where they have 2 VR trains, and one non-VR trains... but why would you have 2 VR trains, which take 5 to 10 minutes to load, while the other 2 trains are stacked with guests? They can't go anywhere. They are locked under those harnesses. It took them way too long, but they not only took a cue from CP with reservations, but they started only doing VR after 6pm. So regular Demon wouldn't be all cramped up during the day. Seemed to work much better. Personally, I think they should do VR in the first 6 hours of the day, then switch over to regular... but at least they tried something different. I wish Six Flags would change the way they operate their parks. It's really pathetic sometimes. There has to be something they can do. I would happily pay 3x the price for a season pass for good operations. My SF pass this year was like $67 and my CF pass was around $190. And it shows in the service.

You sure about that? Whizzer here at Great America has gotten much MUCH more popular over the last few years. People really appreciate a family coaster But then we probably have more families at Great America. If they promoted it right, I think it would be a big hit.

Go Bananas - does that count? Santa's Villiage SF Great America

I always figured if they had more ball & socket joints at the track/structure connection, they would be much smoother. Hinges of any kind would be nice. Look how silky smooth most Schwarzkopfs are. And Giavanola. Even super-sturdy Intamin rides (Millennium Force and Maverick come to mind) have a distinctive *grind* to them. Bhahahaha!!! Thank you for that.

Perhaps I'll trade in my cargo shorts with this: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-accesso-announcement-20161115-story.html "Prism would essentially allow visitors to enter a theme park without needing their phones or wallets to fully enjoy the day."

^With some constructive and polite suggestions to a manager and/or guest relations, those empty seats could see some happy riders! Look what years of asking when the shoulder bars were going to be taken off; everyone on every forum and industry folks at Six Flags said that would never EVER EVAR happen. But it did happen... we can suggest things to parks with out being nasty about it. There is a huge grey area between telling someone what to do and suggesting what we think might be cool. I wish they would do something like Cedar Fair and (later) SFGreat America did with their VR rides; they took reservations for an after 6pm (or 5?) VR experience, but the ride was normal (non-VR) during the day. This seemed to work fairly well. It feels like Revolution still has not had it's proper (and deserved) re-introduction due to the VR. Sure, the VR is fun, but they could really go far marketing the ride alone. They went the more YOLO route with the whole VR thing. They could also focus on Revolution for a while (I think it would be popular, if they did it right) and move VR over to Viper or Scream.

^I wish! I can't think, off the top of my head, of PTC's with mounted lap bars that are still in operation. The last one may have been the Joyland Coaster. The next type of PTC train to come after that (I believe) are the ones that are operating on Skyliner at Lakemont Park. Excellent trains and excellent ride! ^This picture is of the Forest Park Highlands (St. Louis) Comet coaster, a Schmeck design. Here is a video:

So... uh, when does everyone think Revolution will go back to non-VR operations? Next year hopefully? I think the VR is fun and all, but so many people just want to ride with out long line complications. Perhaps we should start a petition. Thread goes into another downhill spiral... edit - (Sorry guys, thought I was in the SFMM thread).

If you need huge looping coasters, just go to Great America. If you have an appreciation for detail, excellent service, and rides that don't look "as scary" but provide excellent thrills (Tilt-A-Whirl, and the best drop tower in the Midwest - no really!) then do yourself a favorite and go to Santa's Village.

I LOVE Gemini's helix.

^I really wish Colossus got to keep it's double-loading station for Twisted Colossus. Such a missed opportunity. I know I know, ROI and all that. But really... the ride is so much better when racing.

But at least far from that SLC and The Tooth Chipper (Volare)! Hard to believe they still have them.

This could be getting off topic a bit... but count me as a fan of the almost "stop at the top" lifts that Six Flags seems to love (and many fans seem to complain about). The top of American Eagle, trains racing - now that's a moment!

Paula is like a gift to all of us! You have to check out the HW podcast if you haven't. Tony as well! And for anyone who remembers there was Bob Bennet (SFOT), Ruth Voss (Kings Island), Janice Lifke (CP) and bunch of others who were gracious enough to - at the least - humor us. Good people!

I prefer a classic and slow lift hill, but I have enjoyed the speedy/cable/shot lifts as well. I just think they might be a little overrated. Add in the 45 degree B&M and RMC lifts; they don't give you a good opportunity to enjoy the ride up; you're tilted back too far. I like the fast/steep lifts we have, but I hope the trend slows down. Everything being Badass Steep and Fast doesn't always make a ride better.

^Thanks. It's just fun to watch this stuff. It's not all that serious; seems to be a little animosity (or a lot) going around on the forums over this debate.