ahecht

As others have said, the tunnel wasn't a problem -- they caught it exactly when they should've, and the lifthill change was on Universal's request. As for the supports, was there ever ANY confirmation of the supports not lining up? It seemed to be just a rumor at the time (and you know how many rumors about supports not lining up and sinking and stuff you can see around here).

I don't actually count, but there are rides that I know every twist and turn of in my head because I've ridden them so many times. Those would include Califonia Screamin', DLR Space Mountain, DLR BTMRR, and SFNE's SRoS/Bizarro. There are other coasters I know really well because I got to marathon them, even if my lifetime totals aren't that high. Those would include X (yes, I was there on a day so empty that they were allowing multiple rerides on X), Kraken, Xcelerator, and USH's Mummy.

At the beginning of the month when I was there, it was running about 50% of the time, and they held each train on the launch track for about 30 seconds so that maintenance people could inspect the train. It's a bit disconcerting to be sitting there about to launch while maintenance people are crawling under the train.

Why not? BGE just down the road has Red Goose: The Ride (just ask Fabio).

I still have my old Aladdin cartridge as well. I even remember the cheat code ([start]ABBAABBA)

Other factors are not efficiency... What you are referring to with respect to downtime/maintenance is reliability. What others have been referring to with respect to how fast it can accelerate things is performance. As an engineer who works for a company that has regular "efficiency" reviews and hires numerous efficiency consultants, I can tell you that from a business standpoint that reliability and performance are part of efficiency. It's all about how efficiently money is spent. Servers being down, employees being sick, and employees that don't perform well are all efficiency problems. How are ride downtime and under-performance different?

You're looking at this from a physics/engineering standpoint. From a business standpoint, efficiency is about a lot more than energy in/energy out. It's about cost in/customer satisfaction out. Therefore a system which requires frequent costly maintenance or has a lot of downtime is a less efficient use of the money you spend to buy and run the system.

That's not true. Both LSMs and LIMs require the current to switch. The difference is that LIMs the current must be constantly alternating in a sine wave at high speed (just like the AC current that comes out of your wall), but with LSMs the magnets just have to switch polarity once as the train passes. Basically, a LIM system induces a magnetic field in the copper plates on the train (hence the "I" in LIM), propelling them forward. Inductance only works with alternating current. In fact, many modern AC motors that you might see around your house (power drills, kitchen appliances, etc) use induction motors because there are no brushes to wear out. The real advantage of LIMs is that they don't require the launch system to know the exact position and speed of the train. The train is basically riding on a magnetic wave which is traveling at a fixed speed down the launch track, and the train will accelerate to catch up to the speed of the wave the same way that people get pushed to the shore in a wave pool. A LSM system requires a huge number of sensors to know exactly when the train passes each magnet so that the polarity can be reversed at the right time.

I hope you're talking about the inside of the roof. The brown roof at DLR was a cosmic mistake, which was fortunately rectified by the Ouimet administration.

Awesome map! Thanks!

Ever see "The Producers"? Same idea. I guess the Nazi theme park would've been too obvious.

I'm having a heck of a time figuring out which chutes connect to which other chutes based on the map online at their website. Is there a better diagram somewhere? As far as I can tell, Raging River connects to the Tunnel Tube Chute, Cliffhanger Tube Chute (which later connects to Tunnel) and Congo River, and then Congo River connects to Comal Express Tube Chute, and then Comal Express Tube Chute connects to River Tube Chute. Is that even close? Are the connections I'm missing?

Which chute is it a retheme of?

If you have AAA and click the link on the AAA website to print Six Flags tickets at home they will waive the print-at-home fee (and give you 30% off the gate price). If you're an AAA member, just log into your local AAA website and then paste the following into your address bar (replacing the XXX with your 3-digit club code from your membership card and the YYYYY with your zip code): http://ww2.aaa.com/scripts/WebObjects.dll/AAAOnline?page=AAASixFlags&association=aaa&club=XXX&zip=YYYYY

The park is closed that day. As far as I know, unless you're invited, you cannot get in. Typically, those invited include the media, owners of significant coaster fan websites, members local coaster clubs, etc. Each park and each event is different. In this case, they are reaching out to the fan community by giving invites to the first 500 people at SFNE and SFGAdv (so 1000 total) to submit an accepted entry at http://bizarroishere.com

I was just notified by SF that I got tickets to the media event on the 21st (my entry at bizarroishere.com was posted). Anyone else here going?

It's not their policy to deny admission, but the two times I went I was warned by the employees at the ticket booth and the turnstyle that it was a park for little kids only. Rather then explain the concept of credit whoring, I just lied and said I was meeting my family inside.

At least Indy was eventually changed so that everyone walks through that elaborate line. Everyone walks through the line, but unless you have fastpass you spend most of your time waiting outside in the relatively unthemed overflow queue and then briskly walk through the themed section.

There was a new narrow red stripe painted on the platform near the front of the train, and the front of the train stopped within that stripe every time.

Yeah, thunderbolt was running as good as it ever has, and is still one of my favorite woodies. However, there is one spot of airtime that seemed to have grown to painful proportions with the new trains.

Yes, I should've mentioned that it was COLD today. Temperatures barely broke 40, and there were constant heavy winds. With the wind chill, it was around 30 degrees. All the employees were bundled up in heavy coats, hoods, and scarves, and we saw managers walking through the park passing out chemical hand-warmer packets to the front line workers. I'll also add that the park looked in great condition. The staff were all incredibly friendly and attentive, despite the weather, and there were characters out everywhere, from Looney Tunes to Justice League to Mr. Six. My only real complaint is that the park still charges much more than most non-SF parks (including Disney) for both food and parking.

I was at the park this morning, and even though it wasn't raining, the park was just as dead. Everything was a walk-on, and I was able to ride everything in a few hours except for Pandemonium, which had vallied in the helix (!). They were still working on Bizarro, and the exit/photo area was open to allow a closer look at the new shield flythrough. The new Thunderbolt train worried me too -- it easily adds a minute or more to the unload time, and there was only one train in sight (anyone know where the second one is?). As to the Funatics thing, there were signs in the park directing you to sign up for it at http://www.sixflags.com/national/footerNav/enews.aspx . They don't ask for your season pass number when you sign up, so if they track how many times you visit they must be matching up your name and address. The Superman Shields, which overhang the photo area. Pandemonium, after valleying in the helix.

I have never been to a Six Flags park on Easter, but I was thinking of doing SFNE this Sunday. Will Easter make the crowds heavier or lighter? Anyone have experience with this?

Currently I only hold a Six Flags pass, being stuck up here in New England. At my peak in 2004 I held, at the same time: Disneyland Resort Knott's Berry Farm (also used it that year at Dorney Park) Six Flags Magic Mountain (also used it that year at SFNE, SFGAdv, and SFEG) Universal Studios Hollywood Paramount's Great America (also used at Bonfante Gardens)

I grew up in the LA area but moved to New England about 7 years ago. I still regularly visit LA, and I can say with confidence that compared to Massachusetts drivers, California drivers are wonderful. For the most part, CA drivers know how to merge into traffic, park without blocking whole streets, and yield to pedestrians -- something MA drivers never seem to do. They also generally don't pull stupid crap MA drivers do all the time like trying to make a left turn at the beginning of the green light (instead of on their yellow or when traffic is clear) or entering an intersection when there is no room to exit it before the light turns red, causing gridlock (there are no "do not block intersection" rules here). Also, one piece of advice: in most places in the country, people refer to road numbers without the word the, as in "Take 90 to 495" or "Go North on 9". However, in California, you always use the, so you would hear "Take the 5 to the 101" or "Take the 210 North". However, as people have said, finding your way around isn't tough. The signs tend to be very good (although the lack of exit numbers on the freeways confuse many tourists), and all the parks are freeway accessible (with Knott's probably being the hardest to get to). Besides, it's kinda neat that you can ride Arrow's first steel coaster (Matterhorn) and last steel coaster (X2) without straying more than a mile from the 5 freeway.