Jon Sabo

Nice photo's. I would have to comment on the paint job thing, but were those the supports (11th photo) for Stealth? Omg-I thought little kids painted those supports..lol

how about another Disaster Transport?..looooool

^ I know what a lightning rod is...lol I had to take a certification class in FL..relating to amusement ride safety.

I can only imagine the investigation is going to dig DEEP into the maintenance logs. When I worked at BGE &BGA the policies for maintenance logging was (and I agree with it) strict. Most people don't realize that document is similar to the airline industry where when it is signed and becomes and official document (along with legal/binding issues attatched). During the parks off-season, most maintenance manuals require x-ray of those parts (depending on the specific part in question). In this case, if it is a restraint (part), the parts are supposed to be rebuilt (and/or replace in a specified time). Dealing with a restraint failure, no matter how minor or severe, is a BIG deal and the legal rammifications (fines/firing, etc) could be huge. It appears from the reports on this post that no one was killed or injured, but it appears the park will have some explaining to do and have a closer look at its maintenance policies.

The purpose of this discussion is to gauge on the opinions of where our (US) themeparks are heading into the future. **New management at Six Flags has quite possibly changed the landscape for the mega-themeparks in terms of investing in huge rides (ie-hyper/strata-coasters). Management will have a daunting task to satisfy its shareholders and reduce its mounting debt. The reason this may be so is that competition of having the tallest, fastest, longest, may be dying down as we begin to enter a new renaissance in attracting "family" type of audiences. Mr. Shapiro himself has been quoted "We won't be seeing anymore Goliaths." Contrary to many opinions, mega-coasters are not the overnite money-makers anymore and most parks are not able to recoup their investments within the 1-2 yr. timeframes as in the past. Marketing budgets are skyrocketing in order to attract new guests and increase revenue (and turnstile numbers). Some industry analysts say many of these mega-rides/coasters don't even pay for themselves until after five years or more. **Cedar Fair is heading into a new era as Mr. Kinzel, an icon within the industry, is retiring. What is the next move for CF and its current portfolio of parks? **Disney is also going through 'growing pains' as new leadership is (perhaps) struggling to regain the magic it once had. Although it may take a few years, I believe Mr. Iger will turn this company back into Walt's vision and develop a re-birth at Disney once more. **Paramount is up for sale and who knows what plans are in store with its new owners. Will the new owners split up the parks and sell off property? **Universal, also up for sale, is in a time period of trying to re-brand some of its marketing to regain market share. Stock is not performing to analysts predictions and insiders say a major shakeup (management) is on the horizon. **Anheuser-Busch is also rebranding (of sorts). BEC has initiated yet another name change among its parks in order to attract new visitors and its general sales are sluggish (corporate reports). **Let us gaze into our crystal balls and discuss the following:(explain your answers). 1. Will Six Flags (overall) ever build mega-coasters again? 2. Which parks/owners will rise to the top and dominate the market (Disney, Paramount, Anheuser-Busch, Six-Flags, Universal, CF)? 3. In your opinion, do YOU envision any merger among the mega-park leaders? 4. What are the next generation of rides and what is the future of new rollercoasters? 5. If you are a new board member/park owner, what is your OWN vision of the themepark industry? What new ideas will you develop to gain market-share (new guests) and increase profits. 6. Do you believe in the parking fees? 7. What will be (projected) entry fees in 3-5 yrs? Will you still go?

How about a Hyper-Aquatrax coaster WITH an inversion?..lol (some of the more irritable peeps on this thread are already going to respond to this saying 'can't be done and so on, but guessing they don't get the joke..lol)

lets start a new rumor..lol Its going to be the new B&M-converted Intamin-track (style) Hyper-Woody disguised as a Flyer. Lift height is right at 500ft. BOTH TRACKS! The train(s)-6of them, will disembark from the current que-station, head out over the ocean (into Canada..lol), return towards the park, perform 11 inversions (that covers this record), then splash down that dirty-water 'pond'. The CP sign "We are going in different direction"?>> When the ride clears the #3 lift (lol), it has a transfer track area where the remaining ride is performed IN REVERSE! "Maverick" will have theming based off the movie (with Mel Gibson and Jody Foster). Each set of trains will have spurs (bottom of the chassis), and each rider must don cowboy pants and hats to ride. Camera's allowed for POV's? Why yes, of course. If the person (taking the vid) looses the object or injures someone, they are required to have a shootout (at sundown-by TTD) and Jessie James in reincarnated and is the other shooter. Be sure to read your waiver form as CP is not responsible for lost appendages. Did that cover all of the rumors?..lol

But, isn't that park located within the vicinity of an airport (or along an airplane path)? That, more than likely, be a major reason for installing the light-tower at the top of the lift. It was posted on the RCDB site as quoting the lift height being 262' (meaning feet, not meters). Perhaps it was a misprint or did not specify it being metric...Only in America are we still the pitiful ones using the standard measurement system instead of metric..lol

But, isn't that park located within the vicinity of an airport (or along an airplane path)? That, more than likely, be a major reason for installing the light-tower at the top of the lift. It was posted on the RCDB site as quoting the lift height being 262' (meaning feet, not meters). Perhaps it was a misprint or did not specify it being metric...Only in America are we still the pitiful ones using the standard measurement system instead of metric..lol

Oh and just for the record...Mr. Kinzel ha never said in any interview that he wanted to, "Go out with a bang." or anything along those lines. It was a something someone posted somewhere and basically made that up. ^ I NEVER quoted Mr. Kinzel personally saying that. It was reported from a media-related topic on another site regarding him leaving the company at the end of the year. And YES that line was quoted from the writers report. Here we go again with the backlashing and crude comments/remarks on who said what to whom again *shaking head* Chill out!

You might be able to find on the following links: 1. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22681 2. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 (read the message from the link#1, because the administrators may close this current thread).

^ (smacks Beemerboy)....HEY? you drinking all the beer and hogging all of the popcorn...share with the rest of us too!..lol Just for that, your doing everyone else dishes. Perhaps another way to help this thread is begin a poll and eliminate some of the "obvious" rumors first..lol For example: Who believes it's an Intamin track? Who believes its just a coaster? A water-ride? A combination of the two (water-coaster)? Who has been taking hormone pil.....oh wait, thats not the question I wanted to ask..lol

I would agree with the person that posted the same comment. It surely doesn't look the advertised 262+' tall, but taking a closer look at the surrounding support structure, it does tend to look over 200' tall. I'm sure once the lift hill is complete, we can gather a better view on the overall height.

Note to self: get my a** to DW quickly..lol Great pics. I love the way that park is layed out and the overall theme. I would be shot if I was going to compare it towards a mini-Busch Gardens brain child so I wont..lol (I worked for BGE and BGT for many years and the theming/cleanliness/atmosphere is definately on par with the mega-parks, but with its own unique attitude of fun). Although I have never attended the park, I met Dolly herself a few years ago and noted that she LOVED butterflies. I noticed one flower garden shaped as a butterfly. How many "butterfly" themes are their within the park? This mission, if you choose to accept it, will vault you into coasterdom..lol

I' sorry if I mis-posted the ride in reference to Anaconda...lol I was referring to the ANACONDA from the park in GOLD REEF (not the PKD version). I remember when the PKD version was being built because my best friends daughter (her father) was errecting the ride. I am curious on the past/present color combinations for the GOLD REEF-Anaconda...wheeeee

OMG..lol!! I just have to laugh my butt off now because so many people now are taking this TOO SERIOUSLY! THIS ISN'T A CONTEST for crying out loud. Some here just need to relax. This is supposed to be a "GUESS" thread, not for people to be at each others throats and put another person down because of his/her OWN opinion. Did someone forget their Geritol tablets?.lol Come on now...just relax...this is supposed to be a FUN thread in guessing what the ride(s) is. Now, it appears the deeper this thread has become, the more backlashing (between some members here) has become. If someone has an opinion(s), we have to respect it. Some of us here are basing our analysis on several criteria: 1. Look at the links from the pics posted (especially under the tarps)...LOOK 2. Analyze the construction zone "signs". CP is giving us clues toward the new attraction. 3. B&M vs. Intamin. The reason why many of us (including myself) are changing our views away from B&M is that the evidence, so far, is showing that it perhaps is an Intamin attraction. Case in point: 1-footers and 2-track configuration. From my understanding, those that attend CP on a regular basis has noticed (including a past post I placed in this forum), the primary reason why many of us are predicting an "aqua-track" ride is because the area tends to lead towards the area it is placed in. It doesn't matter if some of the footer locations are on land or not (Look at SEA WORLD ride). Why does it just HAVE to be over water for it NOT to be an aqua-coaster? It makes good economic sense (assuming a water-ride/coaster) to use an area which contained a previous (water ride) because much of the infrastructure already is present and will greatly reduce construction time and financial windfall from creating an entirely NEW infrastructure. As I stated before, the pumping stations/equipment, the station/que, the run-off lake area. All of these items already exist. If anything, just some upgrades would need to be done (projecting a cost savings about 1-3 million; of which that savings could be incorporated into theming). Finally, I will surely laugh at myself (and many others here) if we ALL are totally wrong and CP builds an entirely new ride concept that none of us has mentioned to date.. We can only assume at this point it has to be BIG (because this is Mr. Kinzels going away gift..lol) and I am quite sure, as an icon in this industry, he wants to go out with a BANG!

I am quite biased here having worked on that ride for several years (wayyyy back when it opened), but I'm going to say: Big Bad Wolf @BGE-that last drop is a picture-perfect shot (also the restricted ride area)-the swinging motion of the last drop (usually shown on brochures-but Ill post my own version as soon as I can find the file..lol) **Question: Did Anaconda have a new paint job? I seen (perhaps older) another photo where the supports and track were a different color variation. Although the colors are cool, I wish they painted the supports black/brown with teal & Blue track.

Those pics are awesome. The clarity is what I would say to a previous post "I could almost reach towards my monitor and touch them." LOL If I recall, isn't El Toro track built by Intamin? Is that the same company who did the Colossus in Europe (forget park name)? I heard that ride was smooth as glass. If the same applies towards El Toro, then there may be a new fight within the top 10 woodies.? Hmmmm

So, with all of this information floating around about the cable breaking; it now is presumed that it was damage when an object was caught in the track/channel? I though there was an earlier post about someone (kick in the head if true) taking a cell-phone onboard and he/she apparently lost it during the launch? *Assuming the post about KK is down because of El Toro construction access, that is either the most brilliant comeback from a marketing/guest relations team (or the biggest cow-lie of all time..lol).

The reason why many are speculating the "aqua-trax" coaster design is because of several "CLUES" that have been posted. 1-Look at many of the pics being posted (namely CP's pictures regarding the construction zone. Also, take note of the one sign in particular 'We are going in a different direction'). 2-Look at the location. A former site of a water-ride/attraction. It would make economic sense to install a new water-coaster within the same confines of an existing area to save on infrastructure costs. Also, the station, pump units, splash-down area, and other components can be upgraded rather than completely building NEW infrastructure (the money save could already be implemented towards the ride theme-package). 3-B&M footers are different. Take note of many of the B&M footers (and compare them towards the Intamin footers, then look at the following pics posted on this forum). 4-The evidence (from the track under that tarp) surely is NOT a B&M. Unless the Swiss guys had too much to drink and chose a new track design overnite..lol I know all of us here are speculating, but that's what makes this site (and as coaster enthusiasts) FUN!. **It would be pretty cool if Intamin incorporated the "Ball Coaster-within the parameters of an 'aqua-trax' coaster all in one combination..lol

That ride experience is going to be awesome when it opens. If someone else can confirm my observation, but in those pics, didn't the entry sign say it will open May 24, 2006? (Looks like alot of theme-construction work left). 2-If you notice on one of the pics from that site, the first chassis (car1) has the wheel coverings installed. I don't believe they want to put ALL of them on yet assuming they are putting the hours on the trains/ride and they want to visually inspect the wheels to see if any issues are present (ie-minor gaps in the track will leave markings on the wheel material). Do we now have a new beast to contend with Nemesis now? Hmmmm.....

I now wonder if HD will ask Tony "Smoke" Stewart (Nascar #20-HD sponsored car) will be at the parks painting Six Flags buildings now...lol He is a big coaster fan for sure...

I now wonder if HD will ask Tony "Smoke" Stewart (Nascar #20-HD sponsored car) will be at the parks painting Six Flags buildings now...lol He is a big coaster fan for sure...

Eurostar

Eurostar