Steely Dan

And you REALLY don't get the most out of it unless you ride it at night.

I still believe that if CF keeps boomerang in the chain, it's likely going to Michigan's Adventure. It would be a good fit there and the upper midwest currently has no boomerangs, so it could be marketed as something new and unique to the region. The closest standard boomerangs to MA are at CW (~320 miles away) and at SFStl (~400 miles away). KI (~300 miles away) has an invertigo.

I don't know, from what I can tell from the pics, it looks like this new element on RMC mean steak inverts more fully (all the way to vertical) than maverick's stengel dive. They're perhaps similar, but I wouldn't use the phrase "EXACT copy".

^ Yes, DT's theming was more intact early on in its life, and gradually deteriorated over time, but even in the beginning, it still wasn't anywhere remotely close to disney-level. And no one has ever been able to give me a good explanation for why we were supposedly going to Alaska through outer space. WTF? But don't mind me, I'm just a DT hater. DT was a ride who's lameness was only surpassed by it's unrelenting ugliness. Good riddance.

I didn't use any logic, I simply went to Google Earth, drew a polygon around the outline of Xcelerator, then had Google Earth tell me the area of that polygon. I'm FAR more inclined to trust Google Earth's measured size of the ride's footprint than your "feelings" regarding how big you think the ride should be. I neither know nor care what the size of your garden is. I also fail to see how the size of your garden has anything what-so-ever to do with the size of the footprint of Xcelerator.

Google Earth says that Xcelerator sits upon ~1.33 acres of land. What's your source for the 5-10 acres?

They tried. source: http://www.experiencethepoint.com/rides/disastertransport.asp They failed.

yeah, going through all of the energy and expense to completeLY redefine mean streak only to have the ride prematurely end several hundred feet after the MCBR just doesn't seem like CP's style. I'll never say never, but that would be a truly head scratching development. It's become pretty clear to me that they're going all out here in an attempt to build another coaster that will hopefully contend as a global top 5 coaster.

So very true. Hades, Zues, and Cyclops all have the potential to be really good (even great) roller coasters, but the complete lack of maintenance and single train ops mean that they are all supremely underutilized assets. Even in their current sub-par state (and despite the park's overall shabby state), I'd still say that the park's coasters are worth a credit visit if you happen to be driving right past it on I-90/94. I mean, even though Hades will beat you to hell and back, how often do you come across a monster 4,700' long inverting wooden coaster with not one, but TWO, utterly insane pitch-black 800' long subterranean tunnels? That alone is unusual enough to warrant a stop, in my opinion. Cyclops is the gravy. And the park is crazy inexpensive, so you will feel no need to stay there any longer than you want to "get your money's worth". I don't see it happening, but that would be a dream.

I'm not sure, but here are the lengths for the existing Ibox conversions for reference: Twisted Colossus - 4,990 ft New Texas Giant - 4,200 ft Wicked Cyclone - 3,320 ft Iron Rattler - 3,266 ft Joker - 3,200 ft Medusa Steel Coaster - 3,000 ft Storm Chaser - 2,744 ft

I'd ride it! But it needs some pre-lift RMC zaniness. I'd also change the middle inversion from a roll to a stall.

Indeed. The whole teetotalling christian thing is a cultural construct, not a religious one. The drunkest people I ever saw as a kid were at our parish's annual St. Patrick's day party. Everyone would pile into church for mass at 11:00am, then the congregation would move over to the school gymnasium and drink the afternoon away in a shamrock and leprechaun filled kelly green fantasyland. Catholics have no shame about getting their drink on.

Regardless of whether or not that tragic fatality occurred, I HIGHLY doubt that River King Mine Train would still be running stand-up trains over 3 decades later. I never rode the stand-up incarnation of RKMT, but I simply have to believe that the ride makes a million times more sense being operated as the conventional mine train coaster it was originally intended and designed to be.

yeah, if hell has indeed frozen over and there's any truth at all to this very odd rumor, China would be my first thought as well. With the eye-poppoing rate that China is building new B&M's (there are currently 8 B&M's under construction over there!), I suppose it was only a matter of time before a stand-up or two snuck in.

double post, please delete.

According to RCDB, all of the stand-ups in Japan were built by TOGO. Here's a list from RCDB data of every stand-up coaster that has ever operated, broken down by manufacturer and year first operated: TOGO: 1982 - Dangai - Thrill Valley (Japan) - retrofit - removed in 2002 - DEFUNCT (built prior to 1982 as a sit-down, stand-up trains added in 1982) 1982 - Momonga Standing & Loop Coaster - Yomiuriland (Japan) - retrofit - OPERATING (built in 1979 as a sit-down, one stand-up train added in 1982, still has one sit-down train) 1984 - King Cobra - Kings Island - removed in 2001 - DEFUNCT 1984 - name unknown - Otaru Expo (Japan) - moved to Rusutsu Resort (Japan) in 1985 - OPERATING 1985 - Star Jet - Tsukuba Expo (Japan) - moved to Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland (Japan) in 1986 - OPERATING (has one stand-up train and one backwards sit-down train) 1985 - Skyrider - Canada's Wonderland - moved to Cavallino Matto (Italy) in 2015 - OPERATING 1986 - Shockwave - Kings Dominion - removed in 2015 - DEFUNCT 1991 - Milkyway - Greenland (Japan) - OPERATING (double tracked coaster has a stand-up track and a sit-down track) 1992 - Fujin Raijin II - Expoland (Japan) - removed in 2007 - DEFUNCT Bolliger & Mabillard: 1990 - Iron wolf - SFGAm - moved to SFA in 2012 - OPERATING 1991 - Vortex - CGA - converted to floorless in 2017 - DEFUNCT (as a stand-up) 1992 - Vortex - Carowinds - OPERATING (assumed to be getting a floorless conversion soon) 1996 - Mantis - Cedar Point - converted to floorless in 2015 - DEFUNCT (as a stand-up) 1997 - Chang - Kentucky Kingdom - moved to SFGAdv in 2011 - OPERATING 1998 - Riddler's Revenge - SFMM - OPERATING 1999 - Georgia Scorcher - SFOG - OPERATING Intamin: 1986 - Shockwave - SFMM - moved to various SF parks, last removed in 2006, in storage at Darien Lake - DEFUNCT 1988 - Stand Up - Skara Sommarland (Sweden) - moved to La Ronde in 1995 - SBNO (fate uncertain) 1994 - Shockwave - Drayton Manor (UK) - OPERATING Arrow: 1983 - EXT - WoF - retrofit - DEFUNCT (built in 1976 as a sit-down corkscrew, stand-up trains added in 1983 for only one season, ride eventually removed after 1988) 1984 - Rail Blazer - SFSTL - retrofit - DEFUNCT (built in 1971 as a sit-down mine train, stand-up trains added in 1984 for only one season, ride still operates as a conventional mine train coaster) Please correct any errors or omissions I may have made. So that makes 11 Stand-ups left gloablly that are still operating (5 in NA, 4 in Japan, and 2 in Europe). And with Carowind's assumed Vortex floorless conversion, that would bring the global number down to 10 (though there is that super-wacky screamscape rumor of a new B&M stand-up possibly in the works).

Well, this is completely unexpected stuff out of left field, but screamscape has a rumor about a possible new B&M stand up in the works. It's only been 2 decades since the last one, so why the hell not? This seems WAY too freaking weird to be true. http://www.screamscape.com/html/industry_news.htm#BM

Vito & Nick's is absolutely one of the best, if not THE best, classic chicago thin crust pizza joints. Their pizza is magical, I only wish they weren't located so far away from me on the deep southwest side. But they don't do chicago style deep dish, which is what I think our man prozach has a hankering for.

Giordano's or Uno's will be a wash on the experience/ambiance front. They're both gonna be rather generic suburban chain pizza restaurants located in strip mall outbuildings, ie. nothing terribly special. But if you're into obscene amounts of cheese, then go to Giordano's. they put about 5 pounds of cheese into every deep dish pie. It's overkill in my opinion (I prefer a more balanced pie), but if cheese is your bag, then you should be very, very happy.

Whoops, I just realized that the Lou Malnati's up near Great America that I recommended is one of their carry-out/delivery only restaurants, there's no dine-in service offered there. I forget that many of Malnati's suburban locations are not full service restaurants. I live down in the city where that's not the case. In fact my local Malanti's is their original restaurant in Lincolnwood, about 3 miles west of me. Oh well, at least there's still a Giordano's and Uno's very close to the park on Grand Ave on the other side of the tollway near Gurnee Mills.

There may be a better local one-off place for deep dish that I don't know about up that way, but of the major chicago deep-dish chains, Lou Malnati's is my personal favorite, and there is one located in nearby Third Lake, IL, about 10 minutes west from the park's south entrance/exit (the one down at Washington St., not the main one up at Grand Ave.) There are deep-dish options closer to the park on Grand Ave. by Gurnee Mills (Giordano's, Uno's , Rosati's), but I do suggest that you go a tiny bit further out of your way for Malnati's. It will be worth it. If you love a ridiculously meaty pizza (and who doesn't), I would suggest you get deep dish pizza with sausage, onions, and giardinera w/ butter crust. It's one of my all-time most favorite "perfect pizzas". Hold the giardinera if you don't do heat.

as a longtime CP fan of the (northside) chicago persuassion, it greatly pleases me.

first you're robbed, then you're raped. perhaps the designers at Togo were just trying to recreate an authentic experience of visiting NYC in the '70s. mission accomplished.

What about desperado? Is that ride even still around? According to RCDB it is. It's been in continuous operation since 1994. It is fairly off the beaten path, but it's a western US hypercoaster none-the-less. I've never ridden it, but the general consensus seems to be that for all of its height and speed, it's a rather dull ride, particularly the meandering last 2/3 of the ride.

What about desperado?