ahecht

As the crow flies, the closest piece of operating coaster track to me right now is the turn into the brake run on S:RoS at SFNE. Do I feel lucky? Yes. Yes I do. (the closest piece of coaster track is actually the Flyer Comet at Whalom Park, but that has been SBNO since 2000)

Here's another link with a smaller picture: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/17/eighth_graders_build.html

I'm not quite sure how they keep the car on the track, and there is no banking, but it's still pretty cool: http://www.neatorama.com/2006/03/17/royal-oak-intermediate-schools-roller-coaster/

Nice drawing, but you spelled brake wrong (sorry, it's a pet peeve).

Yeah, I remember SoundWave (then called MTV SoundWave in a brilliant move of corporate synergy) from the survey they did a few years ago. Basically a poor-man's rock-n'-roller coaster.

There are some great pictures of the Yeti over at JimHillMedia: http://jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1815

Damn, I'm gonna need a new avatar over at Westcoaster

How could you have skipped Storm Runner?

I rated Thunder just above Lightning.

"If the train doesn't make it over this time, the ride will be a complete failure, forcing Six Flags to demolish it, which could possible cause the entire site to turn into a sinkhole, opening up a time portal to the year 1200 and allowing Ghengis Kahn to take over the modern world"

Funny that they are opening one there just after the once near Knott's announced it is closing.

It's not bare metal, it's grey paint. - A "or is it gray?" Hecht

Vekoma Flying Dutchman: You are in a a flat position (similar to a stand-up coaster) with the car to your back, interesting layouts, smooth B&M Flyer: More of a sitting position, but facing the ground. You are lifted up into position. So far layouts have been rather forceless. Zamperla Volare: Single car trains. You are actually lying on your stomach on a hard fiberglass piece, and there are bars in front of your face. You are lifted up into position. The lift is a spiral piece of track with a rotating paddle in the middle which catches the edge of your car and screws it upwards. Interesting layout, but rough as hell. It's like being inside an egg beater.

I can't believe they're having them run though the castle backwards!

Before we drive 5 hours down to New Jersey this weekend, I wanted to check if Kingda Ka has been running recently. Anyone know?

I'm BGT. 71% on Theme, 57% on Rides, 99% on Atmosphere, 28% on Value.

This is still my favorite TTD picture:

Best I have: S:RoS at SFNE's new electronic lapbar system.

I believe that picture was taken during the press previews, when there were only four cars on the train.

What is an e-motion? The track and cars look a bit like a spinning mouse.

104

I probably had the wierdest re-ride story, as SpaceFreak and I got to do 2 re-rides on S:RoS in the front row when there was a 1.5 hour line. Our group was about to get on in the front, but they told us to wait for the next train since there was a disabled kid coming in from the exit. We didn't mind too much, and got on the next train. However, when we got off, the kid and his family were waiting at the exit to apologize for the inconvenience. It turned out the kid had some sort of terminal illness, this was his first time out of the hospital in a long time, and their trip was sponsored by the Ronald McDonald house (which gave them a front of the line pass). Anyway, this kid took a liking to SpaceFreak, and insisted that we ride with him. Although we felt bad about using this kids pass, his mother talked us in to taking him on a few rides (I think she was tired of riding them). We did Superman twice more, and then went around to a bunch of other rides before splitting off. As for rerides without any line, I have posted in this thread before about the time in Jr. High when we visited USH and rode Jurrassic Park 76 times in a row. Not as fun as some might think.

I went a number of time, including on the actual 50th (read my Photo TR I posted here). Unfortaintely, most of the stuff they are doing for the 50th (repainting main street, having a decent parade, new fireworks show, refurbing the Tiki Room, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain, etc.) seems like things they should be doing anyway.[/url]

It will probably be some crappy record such as "First theme park to build a wooden and steel coaster from the same manufacturer in consecutive years"

Nice to see that the Six Flags Insecurity Department is hard at work.