Shavethewhales

I kinda hope the rumors of the Herschends looking at these parks are false. These parks are nice, but it would take so much work to get them up to Herschend quality, and it may never pay off in CG's case. I want CG to get a good owner, but as for the Herschends, they need to keep to what they're good at, otherwise the other parks may loose some of their individualized charm and feel. Poor CG though, I'd kill to have a park like that near me, but it just can't compete viably with the big Florida players, or so it seems.

Never say never. It may be awhile, but when the economy swings around again and parks start competing, having smaller 'good' coasters won't seem to cut it any more and the big parks will start lusting for the biggest and the fastest yet again. Say what you will about ride quality, having a friggin' monster in your skyline like MF will draw crowds farther and wider than a smaller yet funner woodie. Still though, CF and SF need something like a decade to catch their breath before they get back into anything like a coaster war.

I'll take late spring/early summer for my vacation over deep summer when everything is melted. Or, well, I would. I don't see how CP would really gain much from this though. I mean, don't more people go earlier in the summer than later?

It would definitely be awesome, but who would organize it? You know, if someone reliable did, and a return was promised to all investors, it could really work. I mean, it would be just like any park project, but with a much, much larger board of investors. Well, it's a nice thought anyway.

Bah, it'll be forever and a half before CP takes out Mean Streak. I mean, why take down what looks like an awesome coaster? You can't say that it doesn't look impressive, at least to everyone else.

Jeez, just look at how fast that thing moves! It just slings the riders everywhere. I don't know whether this would be fun or painful, but I'd try it.

^That's because it wasn't run-down at all. I'm still scratching my head as to why people thought so. I guess to bulk of the people who complained thus are also those thought Zingo was about to fall over because 'they haven't built wooden coasters for over a hundred years'. Some people need to discover that Disneyland isn't the only other park out there. Anyway, here's my take on it all:

Read this -> http://www.kotv.com/news/topstory/?id=135092 It's the single greatest piece of journalism I've seen in years. Now we finally see what Bell's was planning: not just a new roller coaster, but an entire new park. They had plans to re-build the park where it stood from the ground up, with new flats, a new river rapids, a new steel coaster, and of course, a massive new wooden coaster that dwarfed Zingo. They were even going to give the park a park-wide theme. Unstable business? Randi will have to run out of town quick before the lynch mob forms. This is what she gets for asking Bell's to publicly release their business plans. Bell's was fit to burst with a new era of expansion and prosperity, so it's not just a coincidence that their biggest competitor happened to pay off the very people that opted to kick Bell's out - and was then given Bell's land. Anyone who's still attempting to argue that Bell's was 'run-down' cannot begin to make a case against allowing Bell's to re-build it's self on this magnitude.

Are you sure about that? That would have to be a huge section of the ride.

Look at the track, S&S's has a spine whereas Premier's is only 2-railed. You can see the transition quite clearly at the top. They made that top turn pretty funky to allow for the new drop to be built off the old lift. I still think it's odd how they chose to re-use the lift just for that last drop and helix. The ride hits the breaks so hard, it makes you wonder what else they could have added in.

^Amazing, I've never, in all my years of going there, seen it that empty except for after a major thunderstorm. Actually, the drop from Buzzsaw wasn't used in PK. I believe only part of the old turn through the woods and the lift were actually used again, but it's also somewhat possible that other pieces of track were salvaged and re-used on different parts of PK like the brake run. I've never heard of an accident on Fire-In-The-Hole, so I'm skeptical, but with that being so long ago, stories could easily conflict.

^Actually, the bridge seems to have sporadic opening times. Sometimes I'll be there in the middle of the day and see it closed for no reason, and then I'll come back a couple of hours later and it'll be open again. Haven't they started closing off the bridge at night? And I know they've begun closing it when it rains...

^^^Once again, have you been to many carnivals? ^Meh, the park didn't need to be touting expansion, it needed to touting about how good it already was. It needed something more to draw people from the beginning, and Etheridge should have seen that. The 'let's open the park without thrill rides to attract families' gimmicked backfired miserably.

Wow, I can't believe you caught PK with only 5 min. waits. What time of the day did you ride it? Also, did you check out Grandfather's Mansion? I've been expecting them to re-vamp it, so it'd be nice to know if you spotted any signs of work on it.

^^What are you talking about? Last I was there on the 1st of June it was still there. It's pretty much one of the two focal points of the ride, they can't just take it out. There has been a small effect taken from it though I believe. Once upon a time, the roof of the bridge 'collapsed' as the train dropped under it. Also, there have been a few minor scene changes over the years. I believe the last major update to the ride was just in the last couple of years. It's not like they just let it sit and deteriorate.

^Both those things would have a lot to do with it, but also, SDC crowds are just funky. For all we know, yesterday was dead and today was packed out. Last week some visitors said it was pretty crowded, but not bad. I think right now would be an excellent time to visit though, with it being so hot, no major festivals going on, and everyone occupied with going back to school. Just wait till the Christmas season starts though...

It would seem so, all the specifications are correct. 28 seats, built in 1981, and it's available at the start of November. When does Dorney Park close for the season, isn't it right after Halloween?

^^Hmmm, I hope, but you'd think they wouldn't tear the whole ride down for that. ^Yeah, but this year was supposed to be the year of improvements. They said there would be massive upgrades all around, but look what we got.

^Yeah, and you know, I still haven't heard the final story on why it left. Some say that SF didn't include Tomahawk in the park sale and planned to move it to SFOT, but ended up forgetting about it, while others say that there was some sort of mishap where a gear broke and oil was sprayed all over riders.

Wasn't there a huge battle between the park and the local officials over some sort of soil issue? I thought they had resolved it though...

^The Nightmare Mine (enclosed galaxi) has been down for years. They're investigating the possibility of re-using the building, but the current coaster is up for sale in R.P.M.. The most likely scenario (and most hopeful) is that they'll just take the whole thing out and put in a new coaster there soon. As for Diamondback, well.... that thing is just old. It's fun, but I think it's dying.

^Yeah, something needs to change soon. I'm hoping that PARC will use this season as a training course, and next year will bring the needed adjustments. It's not a bad park, it's just obviously not run as well as it could be.

I spent an entire day last Monday at FC, and while I had a reasonable amount of fun, I couldn't help but feel that the new management hasn't changed the park all that much. True, there wasn't nearly as much ride downtime as there used to be, but the food, staff, and atmosphere was the same as always. Everything that could have made half a meal was $8. No really, a cheeseburger was $8, a corn dog was $8, a personal pizza was $8, and drinks were all $3 - including water. Yeah, I tried to go without eating, but I eventually succumbed to buying a bag of mini snickers and a powerade for lunch. The staff were all kids, who loved showing off how bored they were. They did their jobs, but only what was absolutely required. The atmosphere felt almost worse than in the old SF days. Shops and stalls were boarded up, crappy, over-priced games were everywhere, and most of the theming was falling apart. I had heard that PARC was spending a ton on renovating the park, but other than Quick Draw, I can't see any improvements. The rides were pretty 'meh'. Wildcat feels rougher than ever, but it's still really fun riding through the woods; Silver Bullet was OK, and all the others didn't provide anything to speak of. Eruption and the Diamondback were closed all day. Quick Draw was better than I thought it would be though. It's not a huge upgrade over Treasure Mountain, but it was clean and fun. It didn't really have much theming, just a few scenes with sparse targets, but it was cute. The shows were the one thing that has really improved. 'It's Magic' was surprisingly good, with several awesome acts. Once, the magician disappeared off the stage, and came walking out from behind the audience. The western show was awesome: loads of stunts and a lot of good humor. The only show I didn't like featured a lot of young actors lip-syncing to 'me and my gang' while twirling around. Overall I walked out thinking, "Meh, I don't think I'll come back again unless they either really clean up the park or install a major new ride." I've got more photos and additional commentary here: www.superstevessupersite.com/park_galle ... _trip.html God I hope they plan to take this out soon. It looks like a giant turd on FC's skyline, and there are so many things that could take it's place. They could at least attempt to re-open it. Hats can only be worn forwards, no bandannas... a little strict, but we are in the bible belt. I could live in one of these. Every park needs a few of these, they're excellent. My lunch. A bargain at $6. Meh, no air anywhere. This squirrel was awesome, he just sat there all day letting people get up close to him. Wildcat has actually gotten rougher with the new fix-ups, but it's still fun to ride through the trees. This would have been better if the water didn't smell like dead fish. Quite a few of the food stalls were boarded up. The ones that were open looked like they should have been as well. Gotta love the retro trains. Quick Draw was fun, but it wasn't a huge improvement over Treasure Mountain. Err, why do they need these? No one plays them, and they really take away from the atmosphere. They really squeeze the life out of you on this thing. It would have been much funner if I was allowed to breath or feel my legs. Silver Bullet was fun, but wow does it need a new paint job. It's not even just because the current colors are awful, it's also just because it looks like it's starting to rust badly. Woot for my attempt at an artistic shot. Gotta have one of these, right? Glad to see the fountains working again. These bears are the greatest thing to hit the park ever. They not only sang and played, but performed an entire show, complete with commentary. I thought about stealing one for my living room. Just in case you forgot where I was at. Diamondback's got a sexy new coat of paint, but the same old mech. problems. It was down all day. Shame, it is really fun, and has loads of air. At least FC has plenty of mature trees. Sigh... the absence of Tomahawk really left a gap at FC. Ferris Wheel upskirt shot. Probably the biggest park improvement after QD. It was nice though. Why is this thing never open? The swinging ship was very dull, but they did have that trick where they set a cup of water in the centre of the boat and it doesn't tip over anytime during the ride. I still don't see how that works. Still a fun ride, I hope the rumors of it leaving are wrong. The Main Street area. I was horrified and amused at the same time.

Wow, what a super stunt. Seriously, how crazy is it to ride a rollercoaster!? You've gotta be a superhero to do that kind of thing; it's not like thousands of people could do it a day. What a crap show...

^Oh... Well, see what I mean? Yeah, I'll bet they're working on replacing/fixing it.