Olsor

From a video of SFOG's Ninja: "Why are we doing this to ourselves?!?"

I haven't been following this too closely, but I thought it was pretty clear once we saw pictures of water jets on the uphill portion that this thing wouldn't be sending rafts airborne. I mean that, and the fact that Schlitterbahn isn't Action Park.

It's worth noting how historically bad the winter was in the Midwest. It was simultaneously the third-coldest and third-snowiest winter in Chicago history. Chicago hadn't seen temperatures that low in 20 years, and hadn't seen that much snowfall in 35 years. This was truly a once-in-a-generation type of winter, and not something you plan for on an annual basis. That said, there could have been plenty of other things that contributed to the delayed opening, but if ever there was a year that weather was a perfectly valid excuse, it was this year.

And since Geocities is no more, I'll repost the few pictures that were on there:

Nice slideshow from Astroworld's earlier days here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/slideshow/Early-days-of-AstroWorld-72994.php

But with all of the things done to produce that smooth ride (including using polyurethane wheels), does topper track provide an appreciably different experience from a straight-up steel-railed ride? Is there any advantage to building a new ride with topper track as opposed to i-box (other than maybe aesthetics)? Or am I just overthinking this and it's simply "because the park wanted to build this ride"?

Very much THIS. I just took my nine-year-old nephew last week, and he could hardly tolerate any line longer than five minutes. I told him when I first went to the park in 1988, there were five roller coasters, and a half-hour line was considered short. This bears repeating. And I remember when it opened and the line started in Orleans Place behind Cajun Cliffhanger... and was 2 1/2 hours long. I also remember Shockwave's line extending out into the midway and under the train bridge.

Long story short: Knoebel's is not Universal. They're not competing against Disney and SeaWorld for guests. They don't need to build multimillion-dollar attractions to sustain massive attendance numbers that make shareholders happy. Knoebel's is a small, family park committed to preserving classic rides.

Ride-induced amnesia?

Love the "Hanno, take care of Kristen when we die."

And that article just goes to show how hard it is to ease the general public's conscience about this kind of stuff. They don't know the difference between ratcheting lap bars and hydraulic lap bars, and they don't necessarily understand how a heavier person could be thrown from a ride without the restraint failing. They also have a really negative attitude about ride operators, simply because so many are young. They think operating a roller coaster is like flying a plane, when reality is so far from that. It seems that all amusement parks can do is to add the illusion of added safety (seat belt, shoulder harness) and wait for the accident to slip from public consciousness.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing, John!

Very cool--thank you for sharing!

^ They already dropped $22 million on Diamondback...

I remember someone telling me (over 20 years ago) that the Bat was removed because it was sinking. That rumor has longevity! Most of the myths I can think of had something to do with ride removal. There was always some sinister back story (e.g., someone died or was maimed) instead of the bland reality of the Six Flags ride-rotation program.

Ducks into thread, shows avatar, ducks out of thread.

That's my recollection as well. You just went under the train bridge, and there was the queue. A long, long queue.

^ THIS. SO VERY MUCH THIS. Also, and the video covers this, but I like the ability to resize inversions. One of the downsides to the original RCT games was being limited to stock inversion sizes or stock track piece sizes.

This just in: your new wooden roller coaster sucks. I'm Ron Burgundy. Stay classy.

You own a pair of Trucknutz, don't you?

The park is open almost year-round, so there's a lot of dates to spread that attendance around. I can't speak for the rest of the city, but I prefer to visit the local parks in spring or fall, when it's not 100 degrees every day.

Would love to see those pics, mcjaco. I remember seeing pictures my friend's parents took opening season. The lack of trees is jarring. /pours one out for Sky Whirl

^ I'm going to guess there were a lot more kids doing this than just the ones in the three-year-old video.

Best TR ever. Shut it down. Let's go home.