jamesdillaman

Here's the question: What ride will leave GL next, or do you think this is a one-time deal? -James Dillaman

SoB was never good, even the first day it opened to the public. Sorry to say but I don't remember it claiming any awards. Look at where it is on Mitch's poll and you'll understand what kind of ride it is. -James Dillaman

I think you should introduce the two-headed beast "Donica" to the strip.

RideOpMarcus said: Ehhh, we're working on it. I guarantee you it wasn't SFGAm though. We are sent through metal detectors to ensure no one has a cell phone. They have metal detectors at PKI, too, and I don't have to take my cell phone or keys out of my pocket, as they don't set them off. I gurantee you the metal detectors are there to keep weapons out of the park. I was a ride op, and know how annoying the GP and some ACErs can be, but there's no excuse to shortcutting and just being plain lazy, which a lot of ride ops are. Almost every park has different problems with their operations that I've noticed. For instance, PKI has problems with policies. An example is IJ:ST. Sometimes they'll let you wait for whatever seat you want, and sometimes they assign seats to you. I thought it was tied in to how many guests were in line, but it isn't, as we had assigned seats on a 5-minute wait, also. Cedar Point's ride ops can be very rude, and don't tell you ANYTHING. I've been in line when a ride breaks down, and they don't even tell you the ride is broken down. You have to be sherlock holmes and try and figure out if it's just a station delay or what the heck's going on. I can understand not telling people what's wrong, but it won't hurt to say "We are experiencing a minor mechanical difficulty, if you choose to leave the line you forfeit your place, blah blah blah." Holiday World is hit or miss. I've had some great ride ops there, and I've been stapled to death. It depends on who you get. Some who worked on Raven at SRM2003 it's understandable that they're shaken up and would encourage tight lap bars, but don't be ridiculus. Indiana Beach my girlfriend and I rode Galaxi with the restraints OPEN. This would be grounds for shutdown if it happened during an inspection, or at the very least a crew being fired. I shouted at him, saying our lapbars were up, and we can't reach the pedal BEHIND the car to unlock them to go down, and the idiot said "It'll probably go down" It didn't throughout the whole ride. We just had to hold on, as there are some decent pops of air, and some "headchoppers". We probably weren't in any real danger, but if either one of us had been drunk, we could've jumped out anytime. -James Dillaman

Would love to see pics, stupid drunk women falling out of rides at PKI, ruining all my fun... -James Dillaman

She was awful close to Ryan in some of the comics, wasn't she?... -James "Ryan wishes" Dillaman

^ Hey!! Julia and I went Friday night. Did you catch the ice sculptures? I agree that the "Wild Lights Show" was more like "what your weird uncle would do for christmas if his wife would let him show". I was shocked that the lights were only on the trees, and all the "choreography" was exactly the same. We didn't do the carousel this time, as we've been on it earlier in the year. All in all, we weren't impressed. If you want a good holiday fest, go to the Beach waterpark. That's loads of fun. We went, and I'll post a photo TR as soon as I can get the pictures off of Julia's camera . See ya soon, Joe, on our big credit-whoring trip to the mall! -James Dillaman

I have been to Kings Island many many times and Face/Off is rarely down. The times it has broken down, it has been fixed in a decent amount of time. I also have seen Face/Off broken many, MANY times. Also it has a tendency to valley....

It never bothered me that much, as I don't go to the amusement park for the beauty of the midway, I go for the rides. There are a few parks, expecially at certain times of the year, that I go for the park environment. For instance, Dollywood or The Beach's Holiday Fest at Christmas time. CF's parks have always seemed cleaner to me, although I haven't been to KBF, so I can't vouch for that. I'd rather have too many trash cans than not enough. It also makes the parks workers jobs better when every trash can isn't overflowing, because there are plenty of them. I would guess it would cut down on the number of bees at each trash can also, which can be a safety issue for park workers and guests. -James Dillaman

Call me crazy but X-Flight doesn't fit in any park, as it is, as stated, an outdated maintenence nightmare, which pki definitely doesn't need another of (TRTR, Delirium, SoB, IJ:ST, just to name a few attractions that from talking with maintenence guys they wish were never built). I personally wish that Dominator was coming instead, or even Steel Venom. Heck, I'd rather ride Raging Wolf Bobs than wait an hour and a half for X-Flight just to have it break down. -James Dillaman

If they really do this theming, maybe their opinion towards it (theming) is changing. One can only hope, as CF can't survive only building the biggest and fastest every couple years. If this ride does well, I imagine we'll see more like it, at least in concepts, in the years to come. -James Dillaman

^ You're assuming the asking price was the same... -James "just a thought" Dillaman

^ The parks own advertising locally says (a direct quote): "Come and ride the Beast only at Paramount's King's Island!!" They don't mention the SoB, and haven't since the year it opened. I've seen it pictured in ads on TV, but it hasn't been a draw since maybe 2001. -James Dillaman

^ It's still powered either way, is it not? -James "doesn't coast, isn't a coaster" Dillaman

^ Every visit to PKD for me has been much better than visits to PKI. I think PKD is one of the parks that Paramount poured the most money into. If anything, CF looking to sell Hypersonic XLC I think is a step in the right direction for them. I just don't see this decline you are referring to.

Jingle Bells Batman Smells Robin laid an egg; Batmobile Lost a wheel And Joker got away. -Christmas carol, traditional, author unknown. -James Dillaman

No it doesn't, these are coasters that used to be GOOD -James Dillaman

^ I totally concur. It just bugs me hearing every five minutes from some PKI fanboy (that phrase itself is questionable!!) that CF took away the record-breaking ride and made it just another wooden coaster. Technically they only took away 1 record from several. The ride is still junk, and I believe it will always be, until it is torn down. I rode it around twice a year, just to keep tabs on how much worse it became every subsequent season, and that was enough for me. They could build like 3 coasters the size of Raven (I'm approximating based on cost...) with the wood, and even have them duel (truel?) to be the only triple racing coaster in existance for all I care. Just get rid of the SoB (and that doesn't stand for son of beast ) I'm all for making the ride better, but it'll take more than new trains to help this monster. -James Dillaman

^Suck -James "boo Colts" Dillaman

^It's still a record holder, funny how everyone's all gaga over what is the tallest and fastest steel coaster and all that junk, but nobody seems to notice the world's tallest and fastest woodie. Anyway, if they put a camelback in place of the loop it would be a much-imprpved ride, but my guess is they'll just add a straight section at the bottom of the drop, or maybe a tunnel to make the drop bigger. It might be cool. Only time will tell on this one. -James Dillaman

^Nice of you to call it a dump, but many people in western and northern michigan are proud to call it their homepark, if just for the waterpark with the best wavepools I've ever been in. If MiA is a dump, then Beech Bend Park is beyond help of ever looking like a decent park. Just because MiA hasn't had a new coaster in a while does not mean it's run down. To the contrary, the new rapids ride looks great, much better than most I've been on, and I seriously believe they are finally filling out the back of the park. You have to remember, when CF bought them, there was nothing back there. -James Dillaman

Nice! I drive a 2006 Toyota Matrix XR. A nice red one.

In all seriousness, if you are worried about people judging you based on your age, which I do not (as you seem quite intelligent and your posts are nice and legible), you can remove your age from your profile. I notice a lot of people who don't have their age listed beside their post. Just a suggestion. And before anyone else asks, I've seen useless posts be closed, no matter what the age is of the poster, so removing your age will not help you if you don't follow the forum's rules, which Robb has every right to set and enforce as owner of the site. Just a suggestion if you really feel this way, Andrew. On a side note, I hope nobody has "looked down" on you because of your age, as I believe if every one in your agegroup posted like you do, there wouldn't be any problem. -James Dillaman

Oh come now, certainly you picked up on my sarcasm. You did, didn't you old chap? We all know they're replacing the loop with the world's only corkscrew on a wooden coaster. -James Dillaman

No news on this? I drove by MiA today, and could tell something was being done behind Wolverine Wildcat, over in front of Grand Rapids, but couldn't tell what. For all I know it could just be sewer work! I've also heard land being cleared by FoF at PKI, but maybe that's to make room for the new layout of SoB (I hear they're adding another helix, to claim a world record for the one they gave up). Anybody hear anything valid? -James "Key word being VALID" Dillaman