coasterville

I have no doubt that the real lap bars will be different than those on the show car. That tour they had roughly 75-80 local area coaster enthusiasts get into that seat. People off all different shapes and sizes, that's a lot of research they were able to perform in the name of giving a tour. About the blue fabric - yes those state flag patches are labeled with the names of the GG or even CCI coasters from that state, and the patches are even mostly in the correct position in relationship to each other. Look to the right on the fabric and you will even see patches for France and Spain, etc. for the international installations. The map next to the fabric is China, so that all fits the theme.

I was also a part of said tour, the photos already above mostly cover it, but here are a couple of my own to add to it. First, my official"on-ride photo" At first we just sat in the car, and they were like "Now, is that how you would look if you were riding a oaster?" Then, the only other thing we were allowed to take photos of, the front door: Yeah I know only coaster geeks would get excited about that front door. As I alluded to, there were photo restrictions in place except for those two items. The Gravity Grojup crew was very hospitable and it seemed as if almost nothing was off limits for discussion. The room that also had the Test Car, also had the train that ran on Raven, and you could notice subtle differences in some of the cars. Or at least I did. Towards the end of our tour, they gave us a close look at the bogies of one of the cars so we can see how the wheel assemlies are spring loaded and have some kind of shock on them. The ideais the train will hug the track, while still being able to flex, as opposed to the hunting and shuffling experienced on most wood coaster trains. Another advanage will be how open the bogie will be when its on the transfer track, they will be able to do a lot of maintenance without needlessly taking stuff apart. They also had a bunch of different seat molds, lap bar molds scattered about the room. They mentioned the finished product will probably be slightly different than the car we tested out. For one there will be some kind of front railing ahead of the front seat. The other is the lap bar will have a grab handle on it. The test seat had hard seats but they said the real cars will have a plusher softer material. They also mentions there will be some tweaks to the seat mold in terms of the "wings" onthe sides of the cars will be reduced to create an even more open feeling car, as well as changes on the seat dividers. It was mentioned that these will be "standard" on all future Gravity Group coasters, and they will then seek to target existing coasters to retrofit with their new trains. The trains use the standard track guage so should be able to be adapted to any ride out there. They said they could not speak for Holiday World but they said it will require just minor changes to the Voyage station floor. When asked about the queue gates, thats when he said thats up to the park. Look at Beast, its been using gates for 4 bench cars for a long time with the three benchers. They can solve the problem with painted arrows on the floor, or they could totally redo the station, its up to them. Fun Fact: They said this will be the first time since 1942 that nobody is opening a new wood coaster in the United States. The tour also included a cursory tour of the office suite, a look at the model for the Splinter. They mentioned it takes conventional coaster cars about 24' to turn, and their cars can turn in 6'. They said just imagine a 90 degree turn with a 6' turning radius. Everybody got a Gravity Group folder, and they had a multitude of collector "postcards" think baseball cards for coasters and you get the idea. Also while supplies lasted they had the Golden Ticket awards issues from the last three years of Amusement Today, and one IAAPA convention issue. It was fun way to spend the afternoon during the off season.

Thanks Robb, already have my order in. I'd been meaning to ask you if you would cut a deal to buy the whole set, and now you have. David "Been watching TPR vid's ever since the "Bootlegged Cheeseburger" video" Bowers.

And if your TV doesn't have the red/white/yellow jacks described above, and is still one of those sets with only a coax or worse yet two screws that hold antenna leads, well there is still hope for you. I think the part you need is called an RF modulator, they aren't cheap though, $25-$50 at Best Buy when I got one many years ago. The deal is it gives you the three jacks descired above for your DVD player, and then you hook up your antenna or cable/satelite IN to one coax jack, then run another coax cable from the RF box to your TV. At least thats one way to do it.

Thanks Robb! I downloaded it last night, haven't gotten a chance to watch more than the first clip. I added it to my movies folder in iTunes just fine, and the video started so I'm going to take that as success. I'll probably be back around to pick up the other downloads over time. Need to get cracking, as I have the videos back to what, 1999 was the first one, or was it 1998?

I have the 1978 version of the same KI booklet. It's quite similar to the one posted, except the part about the Beast is concept sketches.

Well, in the artist sketch of the entire project, you can see one area in light gren marked out as go-karts. Assuming the go-karts don't move to a new location, I'm guess ing the water park is expanding out towards the front gate. Recall that park is essentially a large figure 8 shaped park with the water park and the mini golf course in one end of the 8 with rides around the perimeter, and a big lake in the other end of the 8, again ringed with rides. If I recall the only thing along one side of the waterpark was the video arcade, so I'm thinking the waterpark is going to expand out moving away from the curent park confiines removing the path that went essentially from the front gate to the crazy mouse. It is ey to be seen if they will put a new walkway around the enlarged perimeter of the waterpark so as to maintain the same basic traffic pattern, or if they will make the end with the Moby Dick, Crazy Mouse and Jumpin Jumbos a cul de sac. Again, that is just my two minute obervation. My first hunch when I heard it was the mini golf course was gone, but seeing the go-karts on the park map in that sketch. The other green building is "Beech Bend Hall" is that the name of the video arcade building? That would put it where I would think if I am visualizing this correctly.

20 pages and I haven't seen one of mine listed yet: * People who 'make out' in line. You know there is a difference between being friendly and activity that borders on "Get a Room!" Regarding the others: * The person who holds up the line - Yes, I know I won't get to the boarding area any faster, but there is just something about the person who zones out and lets a 30' gap get between them and the next person. That said the flip side of that can be nice, that is when you do move 30-50' all at once. * The children in line - Hey, I understand lines are dull and boring, I don't like waiting in them ether. I draw the line when the misbehaving kid whose chaperones think "Oh, he's so cute" or are totally oblivious to what the kid is doing when the actions of said kid disrupt my day. Note; this can happen in the queues and out on the midway, or yes evenin WalMart. In line its the little kids who crawl or walk around you wether you are in front of in back of them. I like when the parents have moved on in the line forgetting to make sure the kids have kept up with them. Sometimes I take to ignoring the kids and figuring "The parents will figure it out sooner or later" And they usually do when the kid is now five people back in line. * Its hardly worth mentioning the cases of "My so-and-so is up there" line jumpings I have been a victim of. I've even seen a few make a second LAP while I'm in line. One that strikes me as funny, earlier this month I was in line for Cornball Express. I had just joined the queue. A kid comes up, does the "My friends up there" - said friend was the person ahead of us in line, so no big deal, but then the friend takes off to 'use the bathroom' Now, the bathrooms are located right next to the entrance to Cornball, so your telling me both of them couldn't have used the facilities before getting in line. Same duo proceeded to engage in a spitting-for-distance contest further up the stairs. On the other extreme is Goliath at SFMM where the line jumpers decided to manhandle us out of the way when we wouldn't move. I used to think line jumping only happened in long lines, but I've started to realize there is no line too short that there isn't room for jumping. * I have to respond to the bit about oversize riders. I admit, I fit that category. I make use of test seats whenever they are available, don't try to make a scene when its obvious things aren't going to work out, etc. It does need to be said though, that sometimes you don't know your not going to fit until its too late. B&M's are bad for that, you get in the seat, pull down the bar, it locks, then you can't get the belt fastened. Yet, you can't try to make a quiet graceful exit because you can't get out of the seat until the bars are unlocked. Then the ride operator comes around and realizes "Great, now I'm going to have to recheck all these bars" I think thats why they might spend 15-30 seconds trying to see if they staple you enough to get the belt fastened. It's that or restart the whole bar check process over again. "Upbar!. Downbar!, Recheck!" Of course I honestly think the ride op standing in the station has a greater mechanical advantage at stapling/tightening a shoulder bar/lap bar than you do sitting in the seat. Plus, these guys are working those rides everyday, they can probably look at a 'borderline case' and tell right off it its hopeful or not.

You mentioned significant Kings Island anniversaries: 2007 - Firehawk 2002 - Tomb Raider (Now Crypt) 1997 - Boomerang Bay (massive renovation/ expansion of WaterWorks) 1992 - Hanna Barbera land renovation featuring Phantom Theater 1987 - Vortex 1982 - help - was this another HB renovation featuring the Smurfs 1977 - ???????

Are those signs also taken down every year? Good question, I know they usually close White Water Canyon and Scrambler for conversion into haunts, and haunt queue areas, I'd expect the same with the Action FX Theater if they run the same haunts they did last year. I'd check around those rides to see if there signage is removed as well. Although, I'm guessing they won't close those until after labor day weekend. We don't have a precedent for SOB as it pertains to Haunt becuase it has been open for Haunt in the past. Anybody think to take pictures of the signage, or lack thereof, when it was closed in 2006 for almost a year? Even flight Deck is usually open until 6 on Haunt nights, then its queue becomes the Club Blood queue.

I was at the park on Sunday, and yes the ride was open. They are so good with the wait signs in that park, the sign said 90 minutes and that factored in the 20 - 30 minute downtime. On another note they have moved the seperator person aout 20' back in the queue by the final turnaround in the switchback. More though, they had all the misters going full blast, and they were making announcements regarding the need to drink lots of water - not soda pop, not alcohol, not energy drinks,but lots and lots of water" I've been to the park on plenty of hot days,and never before had I heard them stress drinking water quite so much, and then only in Firehawk's queue. Could that have been a contributing factor? Hence why the Firehawk crew was mentioning it so much.

Until "Magic Your Way" was unveiled in 2005, old Disney park tickets never expire, at least that was true in Florida. Guest Relations has a binder that has examples of every kind of ticket the park sold all the way back to Day 1. In the past I have heard some stories of gate attendants being able to honor the old tickets right at the turnstile, but then you won't have anything to put into the FastPass Machine, now would you? (Ok, some ride hosts can push a magic button to issue ayou a FP on the spot if you are using an old ticket. ) However, I beleive the proper proceudre is to take the old tickets to Guest Relations and they will validate and determine how much credit is left on that ticket, and issue you a "Magic Your Way" ticket that mirrors what you had. So if you have a 1989 General Admission ticket with even 1 day left on it, you can bring it to the park and either use the remaining days at no additional charge, or they will assess the tickets trade in value, and you can trade it in on a newer model. I've heard they will even take the old A-E ride tickets but they redeem them at face value off the price of a ticket, so its more worthwhile to hang onto those as collectors items. There is one big catch if you do have a 1989 ticket, it will only be honored at the parks you could have visted when the ticket was purchased. So no Animal Kingdom with that ticket, and I'm not sure if Disney/MGM Studios is an option for you. Of course old multi day tickets were all park hoppers so I'm not sure how that works. As always, best advice as Robb says is to research it, give the Mouse a call. The Mouse won't tell you how many days are left on a ticket over the phone, however, but I beleive 1989 tickets still had tear off stubs, so it should be self evident. Regarding scalped or second hand tickets, thats the whole reason behind both the biometric machines and the barcode or mag stripe tickets. You simply can't tell by looking at a ticket how many days are left on it, and even if you could you can't be sure you can even use it. In the case above, was the nervous breakdown and risks of losing $52x3 worth it? In the end, the biometric machines are way faster than what Six Flags is doing for multi day tickets (Think Big Six Pass), which is to have the person go to the season pass processing center, fill out the registrtion card, stand in line, get a photo ID made, etc. Then again the photo for my Big Six is so bad and undistinquishable...

$40 - who said anything about $40 - I'm going to Greatest Wood Coasters on Earth (and free soft drinks, too!) World on Thursday, but I only intend on spending $20 on a 1-day ticket. I bought mine from a TV station in Nashville that was runing a Buy 1 Get 1 sale back in April or May. Imgine this wood coaster lineup Wednesday - Cornball Express, LoCoSuMo, and Hoosier Hurricane (Really, can't wait to try Steel Hawg either) Thursday - Voyage, Raven, Legend Friday - Screamin Eagle, Boss, Evil Kenevil Will Six Flags St. Louis suffer the "Post Holiday World Trip Let Down" that SFKK usually suffers from, time will tell!

Just further proof that WDW is focusing their marketing strategy on the resort guest as they are offering the price breaks on rooms and food, and charging the 1 day guest more to make up for it. But, it would be interesting to see just how much of their sales come from basic 1-park, 1-day no frills tickets. I bet its not that much. The 7-day ticket comes to just under $240, so add No Expiry to that, use what you need and save them in a safe place. Probably work out to around $40-$50/day even with the expensive no expiry option. Sure with the ticket tag system you can't scalp the remaining days (not that I would ever encourage such behavior), nor can you donate them to a friend or family memeber. They probably really only *need* $30-$40 bucks from you but grossly overpricing the 1-3 day tickets might be enough to encourage somebody to exctend their stay to a longer trip, where they have more exposure to you for food, and merch. The folks with enough free cash to drop $79 per person for a 1 day, they are making up at the gate part of that lost revenue from being a short stay guest. It is interesting though, every time Disney prices go into the next decade ($10, $20, $30, etc) people have screamed, "they are crazy", yet they keep raising the rates and we as park goers keep paying them. It reminds me of that scene from Jurassic Park where the lawyer and Hammond are talking and the lawyer gets starry eyed thinking about just how high a ticket price they can charge, and people will pay it since nowhere else in the world can you experience real dinosaurs.

Talk about coincidence, I thought Mold-A-Rama was a thing of the past. I hadn't seen a Mold-A-Rama (The injected plastic mold toy machine) for like 15 years or so. I was at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry over the weekend and saw some of them and thought I had found a great treasure from the past. The museum was getting $2 for them and had replaced the coin slot with a bill reader. They did NOT emphasize just how hot those toys are when they first come out. Luckily I remembered that part from my youth, to let the toy sit there for a few minutes, or until the next person wanted to use the machine. Great update as usual, and that Taj Mahal at adventure golf looks just like the castle I mentioned above.

Bunny Massacare? What happened, from context I thought somebody meant the place burned down or something like that. But now I hear there were TWO bunny massacares! They need the bunny rabbit from Holy Grail! I don't know if this was a Smokey area mini golf as I've hit quite a few mini golfs in different tourist cities, but I remember us being drawn to one by a huge castle in the back of course. We asked which of their courses involved the castle, and were all exciited. We got to the castle, we walked up a long windy rampway to the top of the castle, then you merely putt your ball over the drawbridge into the castle and walk back down to continue the hole down below.

I also seem to recall seeing a mini golf in the Pigeon Forge area, that in need of a gimmick, or intense jealousy over Hillbilly Golf's gimmick, has some kind of mine car that you ride from the ticket office up to the start of the course. Mind you that unlike Hillbilly Golf, this track just circles the perimiter of the golf course. Oh at Dollywood you can't go wrong with any of the food but try their buffet, that was bar none one of the best amusement park meals I have had in a long time. Aunt Granny's is it? I recall being surprised the park has printed up t-shirts for it, seriously, how many other theme park restaurants have a line of souveniers? I've also never been to the Comedy Barn, so I don't have my standard issue red and yellow t-shirt. What, do they give those things away free or something, its not uncommon to see entire families walking around town all wearing them.

Yourself? You know, since you pull your own cord, you decide how long you hang up at the top. Just saying While that's true - you technically aren't allowed to pull the cord until you have been cleared by the crew on the ground. That whole "3, 2, 1, Fly" is more than just a motivational countdown, it also means everything and everybody on the ground is clear of your flight path. So if the guy on the mic doesn't clear you to fly for a minute or two after you've reached the top, you are technically hugn there for a minute or two.

I've been sitting back soaking all this in, and taking notes if I ever get down there again... The World of Illusions just isn't what I remember it being. Ok, the lobby looks sort of the same, except back wen I went through it they flashed it with star wars characters, not Harry Potter, and not the double edged light saber which we didn't even know about at the time. The only thing I can remember being the same is the "Make your friend" disapear trick, which was at the very end of it. The other one I remember vividly is one where you looked through a window and saw a gyspy with a crystall ball on a tablle, the table appeared to stick out into the hallway where you were standing, and supposedly you could move your hand on the table to move the crystall ball on the other half of the table. Not that it ever seemed to work right.... From your photos above it just looks a lot drier in tone than I remember it being. IIRC, didn't World of Illusions close down for some time? I never got to see Mysteries of the Unexplained or whatever it was called, I was alwsys told "You're not old enough for that one" then it went out of business. I sometimes wonder if your not old enough = nice way of saying "we don't want to blow even more money on these tourist traps" I recall I was usually allowed to choose 1 per trip so choose wisely, unless of course somebody else wanted to see one of them, then I could parlay it into seeing more than one on a trip. We used to go down there evey year, but the last time was down there with the family, Thunder Eagle was still running. Oh, I made a drive by in 2004 and saw Dollywood, Dixie Stampede, 2 or 3 of the go-Kart/arcade places in Pigeon Forge. (The one that looks 50'sish outside and required waivers to drive their fast carts on a slick track., and the one with three tracks, none of which were all that special - okay well except for the one where you do a hairpin turn while dropping about 30-40', said drop having big flashing lights and use brakes signs. I would later figure out that if you just let off the gas, you could safely make it around the turn just letting the cart coast down. (This IS a coaster group, right), they were also unusual in that you loaded the carts and then drove through a little 1 cart wide passage to get to the track, then returned the carts down that same passage. Let me add my kudos along with all the others for bringing us your feature. Gatlinburg area tourist traps I have done (and can remember) * Ober Gatlinburg (Alpine Slide, yessir!, why else would you go up there *The skyride you showed that just goes up to the Gift Shop in the Sky, as opposed to the Ghost Town in the Sky in a a somewhat nearby city (I've seen that one as well) * Space Needle and its arcade * Ripleys Motion Theatre * Ripleys Haunted Adventure * The indoor mini golf where Ripleys Haunted Adventure is now, it had the Star Trek themed holes, and had the finale with Hole 18 being the Space Shuttle hole. *Christus Gardens * The haunted house a couple doors down from Christus Gardens, I redid that one in 2004 and it did not live up to my memories of it at all! * A big wax musuem that was up where Old Gatlinburg mini golf is now, and then Q-Zar after that. My only game of Q-Zar brand lazer tag in fact. * World of Illusions * Hauntings * Earthquake the Ride - I redid that one in 2004 just to sucker the person I was with into it. "You won't believe how amazing this is!" - How is that indoor mini golf next to Earthquake, the Indiana Jones (I think) Adventure Golf? * Gatlinburg (No) Fun Mountain - short lived(?) traditional style amusement park * Hillbilly Golf - Perennial Favorite! * The wax museum down that way, which was an indoor gokart and mini golf last time I saw it. - also, I've seen over the years, almost all the crafers get run out of the stores there as more and more of them get filled in by the same tacky souvenir and T-shirt shop as every other joint in town. Of course I've hit whatever go cart park had the Thunder Eagle, and I have that credit, and I saw the NASCAR speed park. Yep, also hit Cade's Cove Loop Road, Clingman's Dome - you want a challenge do the Cherokee to Gatlinburg drive on the foggiest day you can find! Did the Bear Zoo thing in Cherokee, and remember fondly the coin operated "Educated Animals" that did tricks. Darn PETA! I recall somewhere around there was one of those Mystery Houses at one time, the kind where water runs uphill, or a person leans way back in a chair and doesn't fall over, easier to walk up than down, etc. Once I even did a helicopter tour of the Smokies, the only time I have been in a chopper. A couple of the traps I haven't done are either the old or the new Ripleys museum, but I did get snookered into that Tales from the Crypt attraction that lived a short time where the old Ripleys was. I also never did the Guiness World Records museum. (As opposed to the Guineess Tasting Museum, which would be quite a feat as I recall the area is dry.) Remember, at least one breakfast in a pancake house is required per trip. Though, I call breakfast at the Apple Barn - its a long wait for family style breakfast featuring apples any way they can serve them - apple fritters, apple butter, apple juice, etc. Not to be confused with a similarly named restaurant right on the main drag in Pigeion Forge. We've gotten nailed on that.

Kings Island runs $5 specials with some frequency. JerryD and I took advantage of it in May.

Like others have said, your first time is really the best. Go ahead scream bloody murder, the crew will think something's wrong if you don't. My first time, I think I had the whole "life passes in front of your eyes" on the initial fall. Anymore if its over $5, I pass on it. Also safety in numbers, if you fly the first time in a group, just wait till your first time alone, you get to get totally freaked out again as there is nobody there to grab onto or talk to. You just feel that much more exposed hanging out in the middle of thin air in your harness. Also remember that even though you aren't allowed to pull BEFORE the countdown, that doesn't mean you can't add a 5 count or 10 count after it, just to throw the other flyers with you off. I've done most of my flying at my home park (Kings Island) of course, but have gotten to do the 300'er twice now. The big thing there is getting over the sheer height on the way up. A couple other interesting ones I have done is the little 100' one at Extreme World in the Dells, it has the manual platform instead of the more common scissor lift, which means you walk up a flgiht of stairs, get attached to the launch cable,then you grab onto the front rail of the plaform which lowerd down as you lower down slowly (as opposed to "The floor is about to go away, DO NOT grab a hold of the sides or any of us" (WHAP). Then the stairs roll away on a track so they are almost back by the back spike. Extreme World has a nice mound of jagged rocks positioned right where your eyes are looking during the first drop. The other one was a portable model at the Minnesota State Fair, also only 100', but from a crane, a crane that shakes, in the wind. You can actually snap the cable on the first drop, not break it mind you, but snap it, much like on a Flying Skooter, giving you a nice jerk when you hit the bottom. I've also been subjected to the spinning Skycoaster, I'm not sure how that works, but once you pull the ripcord, you start spinning around as well as swingign back and forth. So yeah, to the OP - go ahead, try it, $15 is perfectly reasonable for your first go.

I hear that, as one who needs to use the test seats, there is nothing more frustrating than to wait in line to use said test seat when you are behind two people who have no chance of being rejected. Or the kids who think they are toys, or the parents who think a photo of their little darling in the test seat would be so cute.

Before you get excited about alcoholic drinks at the Magic Kingdom, remember the Mile High Bar in Fronteirland. Even though they call it a bar or saloon or tavern doesn't mean it will necesarily serve adult drinks. I like the idea of two Dumbo rides, considering how long the line gets, but just didnt think they would actually do it. It looks like the only casualty here would be that new play area and part of Toontown, hardly a loss. I most like the fact they aren't heartlessly ripping out any classics. Mr. Toad, anyone?

I was also at Cedar Point on Monday, instead of doing a full blown TR i'll just tag along with my thoughts. Cast of characters: I went to the park with my cousin Rick, he had never been to Cedar Point before which made for an interesting day. To give you his profile he is not the hard core coaster maniac, and hates spin rides, but likes seeing the shows, playing the games, eating the food, and yes riding the rides. Getting there is half the fun: WE traveled up from Cincinnati the night before opting to follow Googles advice and take I-75 to US-6 all the way to the Causeway. Stop at Cracker Barrel was fine, those 4 miles on I-75 around mile marker 160 where we traveled 10mph at most was not. Note to AT&T users, Sandusky seems to be very spotty for AT&T service (iPhone users beware) For example signal was fine at the park and at MAx and Ermas on 250, but at the Howard Johnson on US6 right by the Causeway, nada, nothing, and no in room WIFI either. Talk about roughing it. Monday mornng - stopped at the McDonalds on the Causeway for a slightly overpriced McDonalds breakfast. Ate it while going over the causeway. It would figure this would be the year I did not get the platinum pass, so its $10 to park the car, and then be shown to a parking space by a parking attendant that has a death wish. They waved us forward and then when we were making the turn they jumping in front of us and signal stop. I guess that one car coming in from the Chausee was more important. We enter the park taking advantage of the Ohio Lottery promotion - a losing Ohio Lottery ticket is worth $7 off, so that made the gate $38, and half of parking meant I spent $43 vs. the $75 it would have cost to upgrade my KI Gold to Platinum. Entered the park to "God Bless America" playing in the background. Enter the park, and I head directly to TTD so I can confirm that yes, I still can't ride TTD. I'm not too suprised or upset, as that is not news, but there is hope, I could get the two ends of the buckle on the tester to touch but not to fasten. TTD wasn't open yet anyway, so over to Magnum. Magnum was a total walk on, in fact we walked all the way on to row 1.3 AKA the Ejector Seat. Magnum seems to have gotten a great new paint job this season, and the ejector seat was ejecting in fine form. Massive airtime on this Arrow masterpiece. Rick's review was that it had "too much airtime" Is that even possible? Where did I go wrong? What's wrong with the kid? HE further explained the ride was very painful due to his legs and the safety bar getting to know each other real well. Next up was Gemini - another walk on, only blue side was working but I had delight in looking up to find the "Track Trim Brake Open" light lit, "Special when lit!". Gemini is not the airtime producer that MAgnum is, but the ride is no slouch either. I don't remember the final helix being quite that agressive before, it really fools you as the rest of the ride is so mellow. Folow that up by, wait Mine Ride isn't open yet. I take a ride on Skyhawk but Rick sits it out. I walk all the way through the empty queue and right into a chair on Skyhawk. I note the caribeaner and eyebolt safety has been rplaced by a more conventional length of seatbelt. I'm real happy I had no trouble getting onto Skyhawk as I really enjoy the S&S swing rides. I exit Skyhawk and note that those coin operated strongboxes you store your stuff in are up to $2, for a single use! Moving back to Mine Ride, its a 2 train wait for the front, and after the usual contortions involving crossing your ankles and folding your legs under the seat I was able to ride. What more can I say, it's Mine Ride. I start to get the impression Rick is not caring much for Cedar Point. We continue our way around the park with a walk on ride in the back seat of Mean Streak. I'm glad they have the longer seatbelts on Mean Streak, and hey I don't think Mean Streak is near as bad as people make it out to be, particularly if you remember to lean forwards a little bit. In more odd news, Rick enjoyed Mean Streak. Then again I prepared him by telling him it made Son of Beast look good, its all in the perspective. We headed over to Maverick and decided to come back later insted of wait 90 minutes, let's see if we can knock any other rides out of the way before we start the long tiring coaster waits. We take the walk down the Frontier Trail, for some reason I don't think I remembered the petting zoo before. We got towards the front of the park, and well you should guess that if I couldn't fit on TTD, I didn't have a chance on M Force, but I tried the tester anyway just to make it official. I advised Rick he should really try to ride this while we were there. I offered to make a run of the spin rides while he rode. We wound up not even walking all the way to Mantis, with a line overflowing the queue area, and knowing how painful that wait is, we passed to come back later. We next wound up waiting 15-20 minutes to ride Iron Dragon, I got the bad feeling the crowd had caught up. We rode in the back seat, and I wonder why this ride didn't get the Arrow train seatbelt treatment like Top Gun / Flight Deck did. Rick liked the second part of Iron Dragon, so he's starting to warm up to the park. Rick assumed Wildcat would ride like a Galaxi or Zyklon, and didn't want any part of waiting 15-30 for it. We decided to check on Raptor so we wound up taking the Sky Ride (walk on) to the front of the park, and Raptor was still posting about a 75 minute wait. We looked at Demon Drop, (45 minutes), and after Rick saw Demon Drop run he was like "No way in ____" We took a look at the skill games, and wound up riding the Space Spiral. It was a "Wait till the car returns" wait for Space Spiral, they were only running the lower deck, and Rick really enjoyed the view from Space Spiral. We next waited 30 minutes to ride 12E (Disaster Transport) I note they have now permanently cut off the first 2 section of queue house and moved the entrance furhter down by the exit. They seem to have replaced the stupid 3D glasses person with a night novelties person. Yeah kids, enjoy those night novelties for the 15 or so minutes you are in that dark room. I bet the rides crew appreciates not having to sweep hundreds of pairs of discarded 3D glasses off the brake run as well. I kind of like Disaster Transport, and Rick seemed to like it was well, he just thought it was short. He commented "All the rides here seem short!" We started to Wicked Twister, but then had to make a run, I rode Matterhorn while he took care of business. For some reason, I don't recall seatbelts on Matterhorn before. After Materhorn we took a while to walk through the arcade. Rick (27) is just old enough to appreciate some of the older games in the back of the arcade, and I really liked the row of working antique pinball machines I was intruiqed by the mechanical tank driving/shooting game, they even had two machines, but neither of them liked any of my quarters. After leaving the arcade, we headed to Midway Market for some food as it was about 2pm. Midway Market seems to be the deal at only $12 a person for unlimited chicken, meatloaf, pizza, pasta, tacos, burgers, sides, salads, soups, and an awesome desert bar with hand dipped ice cream. Midway Market was doing quite a brisk business. Rick wanted to let dinner digest, so we cuaght the "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" show at the Centenial. Nice looking theater, I like the fact the cast does meet and greets after the show. Oh yeah, and the show wasn't bad either. After the show we paid the price for Midway Market, and let me warn you, do not under any circumstances use the restrooms by Raptor exit. Those rank right up there in my worse amusement park bathrooms list. Speaking of Raptor, it was time to wait 45 minutes to learn I coud not ride Raptor anymore. That was depressing, I didn't try the tester as I had ridden Raptor before. Rick could have ridden, barely, but he complained his harness was way too tight and wound up not riding also. We next headed to Blue Streak, and I was glad to fidn the new longer belts here as well. I didn't expect much as rick to the walk on ride in seat 2.1, but let me tell you seat 2.1 was delivering the airtime like nobodhy's business, I almost thought I was on the return run of Voyage, it was delivering air like a mad coaster. NExt up was Cedar Downs, well Rick made it to the boarding gate, but when he saw the ride run his 'I hate spin rides' alarm went off, and I wound up riding Cedar Downs without him. His loss, I really love the ride. Cedar Downs holds a special place for me becuase I rode it with both my parents. At this point, Rick expresses an interest in riding TTD, he even chides me "I'll get to ride a coaster you can't" "Good for you, I'll go ride some spin rides" It wiped the smile off his face when the test seat rejected him as well. We went and took a walk on ride in the front of the back car of Corkscrew. Hey, it's Corkscrew not much to say here. We noted the Magnum queue looked half full now, and I showed him the Paddleboat Excursion.. If you have not ridden the Paddlewheel Excursion, its a nice laid back ride that is in a very similar vein to Jungle Cruise at that famous chain of parks. Well, the Jungle Cruises jokes may not be quite as corney as Paddlewheel Excursion, but I think its a toss up. From Paddlewheel Excursion we backtrack to Wicked Twister, taking time out to go out and put our feet in the sandy beach on the way. Wicked Twister provided another double elimination at the test seat. Rick proceeded to play some skill games while I rode MaXair. I thnk I got the better end of the deal, and MaXair is way better than Delirium. Returning to the main midway, we started to head back to Millenium Force for Rick's benefit but wound up taking in the ice show instead. We are both suckers for an ice show. I was really glad to see their ice show is much different than the one at Kings Island. It was really a good ice show, in our showing we got the added pleasure of having this dude in the back row who was standing up during the show, singing along (loudly and badly) to the songs, and heckling the skaters. Tot he point where at one point half the audience was staring at him. The ushers did something to take care of the situation. Upon exting the Ice Show, we observed the Dodgems, and realized, "Hey, these don't look half bad" We waited 3 cycles and we were riding the Dodgems, and hey these aren't bad at all. From the Dodgems, Rick got the bad news at MF, and we boarded the train ride. Train ride took us right back to Maverick, so that was convenient. Maverick was still posting about a 75 minute wait, but 45 minutes later we were in the station, if not for some downtime, we would have been out in less than the 65 minutes it actually took us. I'm just happy both of us, mainly me, are able to ride Maverick. Maverick is, without a doubt the best coaster in the park. I noted though, they seemed to have toned down the "Spray the cars" water effect. After Maverick, we played the shooting gallery, I got my butt kcked at air hockey, we took another walk on ride on Mean Streak, then we walked the Frontier Trail. They have this speical event where they have covered the Frontier Trail in christmas lights. I swear I thought I should be hearing carols and wearing a coat. By the time we got to the front pf the park it was about 9:30 and we decided to try to beat the traffic out of the park. By 10 we were at Max and Ermas - open till 11PM, and providing good, friendly, fast, competent service, I know thats a rare thing in Sandusky. It might not be how you would have spent the day at Cedar Point, but it worked out well for us.

I'm a fairly good size guy myself - 275 and 6' - 42-44 inch waist. I was just at Cedar Point monday - For me Dragster, M. Force, Whicked Twister, Mantis and Raptor were no-gos for me. At that park I have come to terms with the fact they have rides I can't ride. Raptor was a bit of a shock as I last rode it in 2003 and was fine. I just rode Dominator in 2007 (I think that was my last prior B&M OTSR experience). As far as Mantis goes, I had a clue at SFKK earlier this season, when I had to struggle to get on Chang. I think my answer is to avoid Cedar Point, as that is really the only park I have significant troubles with. Cedar Point is good about putting test seats out in front of a lot of rides, which will at worst save you the time in queue since you can find out right away. Know that I feel your pain and know that Walk of Shame. My cousin, who is 40lbs lighter than me and wears a 38 also failed the testers on MF, TTD, and Wicked Twister. What is with those fluffy bunnies filled with goo?