abovethesink

There has been the rumor that RMC can't work in Canada for a while. If I remember right, it was something to do with needing to contract a certain percentage of the work to Canadian contractors and the company not being able to, or at least not being interested in doing so. It sounds plausible so internet pundits kept repeating it for a long time but comments from the company itself seem to suggest that there isn't much truth to it and that they could work in Canada if someone paid them to do it.

I am really curious about how much was done on Predator. If anyone goes, please risk the ride and report back! I know it won't be much, but did they replace track on a couple valleys? Is it just one little section? I'd just love for that thing to be anywhere close to rideable.

Thanks for sharing. What is the status on Predator? Is is still being worked on?

Did Storm Runner ever reopen?

Yeah, I don't think some of the concerns in here are really fair. I don't really know the story with Celebration City, but Wild Adventures isn't a rollercoaster park. It is a water and animal park with some rollercoasters in kind of a no man's land between major population centers in Georgia and Florida. Cheetah closing is a bummer, but we don't know it isn't being RMC'd which would be pretty major for that park. And even if it isn't, I don't think the rollercoasters are all that important to a small park like that anyway. As for bringing up Darien Lake, that is ridiculous. Herschend managed the park, they didn't own it. They aren't responsible for its lack of growth. Kentucky Kingdom is basically in Louisville, which is significant, and it is surrounded by other significant cities. Even if they largely have their own parks, people travel around to nearby parks for the novelty. Even the GP does that. The potential numbers KK can do dwarf that of Wild Adventures. While it isn't necessarily a tourist specialty spot like with Herschend's two main parks, it is certainly in position to do numbers more comparable to them than Wild Adventures. I don't think Herschend treats it quite as well as their big two, but this isn't a binary problem. KK to me represents a middle tier that will see consistent investments like Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, even if they might be a little more spaced out.

I get why my fellow enthusiasts are excited about this. Don't get me wrong it is definitely cool and I want to ride it, but I think this is actually a bad investment. Chimera does have a bit of a mythical reputation, but only among the most hardcore of enthusiasts so the marketing value of its time at La Feria is basically 0. If we take that away, they are left with an old and as it currently stands dangerous looping coaster from a defunct manufacturer. This thing is going to be extremely expensive to get up to code. It isn't like a woodie where you can just replace boards and beams. Even after refurbishing it, maintaining it long term is going to be much more expensive than a traditional steel coaster too as parts for defunct manufacturers are not as easily available. This is why all the old Arrow loopers are slowly being pulled out. I am reasonably confident that even in 2020 a rollercoaster in the US is going to be allowed to run in dangerous condition, so I don't think this is actually a significant risk, but we do have to talk about the last possibility. Can you imagine how much damage it would do from the park if the tiny possibility of something going wrong with it actually happens and someone gets hurt? The coverage of a park buying a rollercoaster on the cheap that had killed someone in Mexico and failed every single safety inspection afterwards and then having someone get hurt on it here would be potentially park killing. The risk here is astronomical and the reward is minimal. Chimera is not going to draw big crowds. Nor are enthusiasts going to rave about it over time after the novelty wore off. Part of the reason it fell apart in Mexico is that they shut the midcourse off, if I understand the story correctly. Indiana Beach isn't going to be able to do that and it will be at least somewhat neutered. I see this move as an attempt to up their coaster count on the cheap while throwing a bone to the enthusiast community that has really embraced the new ownership in the short term. In that sense, it is a nice move. I just don't think they are going to see a lot of return here.

I can't imagine this would stop them from driving attendance if they really thought they could do it. That is the whole point.

Man, reading through this thread was an eye opener for me. I have been in all these situations, but I have never cared and often end up having fun with strangers that I never see or hear from again after. I don't know why I would be bothered by physically bumping into someone or making small talk. I am glad I read this because now I can be conscious that other people might be feeling uncomfortable.

Well, I would notice if it was gone and not really bat an eye. I don't even know if I bothered to get on it in the past five years. Maybe once. A lot of older ferris wheels will probably start to go across the world. I wonder if we will see some sort of modernization and revival of the ride in the next ten years and see some start to be built again, or if they will just go extinct over time.

Is anyone else unable to really get much from POVs? I mean I can obviously tell what is happening and where I might feel what sensation, but every single POV I watch gives me the impression that the ride will be significantly slower and less impactful than I actually get. I am not a good candidate for them as a marketing tool, I guess.

You're being pretty generous there. It is horrible. Well, I guess maybe not since it has been quite a while, but it certainly was horrible for a very long time. Would have gotten back this year if not for the pandemic, hoping for next but not holding my breath. Anyway, I expect Six Flags to just put a couple sections on in the worst valleys and see how much improvement it makes before diving in all the way for a somewhat questionable investment in financially difficult times. As for what I want in my dream world with this situation, it would be a complete retracking with minimal reprofiling or alterations to the layout. They could do stuff like changing the height and steepness of hills to modernize it a bit or account for how the differences in how the new trains run on the new track versus what was meant to run on the layout in terms of forces, but overall I would like to see GCI pursue a more restoration oriented model of putting the steel track on the old woodies. Let RMC do their thing and leave them be. GCI's model would be more in restoring the spirit of the original layout. I don't actually think this is necessarily a good idea for them financially as the rides will be less novel to the GP, but it is what the coaster nerd in me wants to see.

I I saw this and I will potentially head down depending on what they open. We only live about two hours away and occasionally head that way for shopping anyway. I just don't see Cuomo letting major rides open up and attracting crowds at this point, as much as I'd love a Comet ride. I doubt it would move well in the cold anyway. The event also might be a bit cold for anyone in the area for Christmas. I mean Lake George/Queensbury are pretty balmy compared to areas north and closer to the high peaks, but the people that would travel to Lake George for Christmas and New Years are from the southern parts of the state and it will be pretty cold for them.

So Santa's Village, a small Christmas themed family park in Wilimington, NY (just outside of Lake Placid) has been cleared to reopen according to local news. I wonder if this could open the door for parks like SFDL or SFGE to do a holiday in the park in the unlikely event that they wanted to.

This happened?

Canobie Corkscrew #149, late August 2020

They definitely seem to be teasing something more than a simple retracking that the GP wouldn't outwardly notice. Switching track types makes a lot of sense. RMC is gonna RMC an RMC. Man, the English language is weird.

Last year we spent the longest day we have ever spent in a park doing the haunt at Universal. We got there at normal park open which was at like 8 AM if I remember right and then left around 1 AM, maybe a little after. I was pretty happy though as we got through every single haunted house without buying any sort of express pass which we were told would be impossible. Though I will say they definitely had diminishing returns as the night went on. The wife and kid stopped being scared after a couple. One thing that really hurts them is the never ending line. The other guests break the immersion. If a social distanced version gives your group some separation and makes you feel alone in there, that would be an infinitely better experience. The logistics of that are a nightmare though. You'd have to make each house and individual upcharge or something to really manage that.

Well like I said, it was probably 2013, maybe 2014 last time I rode it. I'd be shocked that it was suddenly better, but also happy. One interesting approach might be using the GCI topper track competitor. It would be neat if their niche was taking old, rough woodies and instead of RMCing them, just completely retrack them with the new steel track to give the ride a new life. Same layout and everything. Maybe new trains for the new track. I'd love to see that. I wonder if layouts would have to be tweaked at all for pacing issues or anything like that. It seems like the train might move faster on the steel track, but I guess if they were getting new trains too they could just counteract that with the weight of the trains, if they even wanted too. Often a little faster would be better.

You could do like a 24 hour fast leading into your rides and then eat right after the coasters in question if you think you are going to cut it that close. Whenever we have fasted I always feel super slim because all the bloat is gone.

Lapbar only on Tantrum, unless something explainable or really strange happened to it in the year of shut down it was perfectly smooth in 2019, a very nice small Euro Fighter. The two really rough coasters at the park are Predator (if you're in the front it really isn't all that bad but anywhere else is unpleasant) and Mind Eraser, but that's to be expected. Yeah, DL was my "home park" for a lot of my life. I am 33 now, but my family started camping there when in 97 when I was 10 and Mind Eraser was brand new. That three year stretch of Mind Eraser, Nightmare, Boomerang, and Superman is what made me a coaster nerd. I put home park in quotes because it was a four hour drive on a good day, but we went every summer for at least a few days. My parents would relax in the campground and I would usually bring a friend to explore the park with. If not, I'd at least drag my little brother or whatever cousin came with us around. It was ideal for everyone. My kid is ten now and we have only been once since he was born, and he was pretty small. I don't remember how old he was/what year, exactly, but he was kiddie ride young and I remember having fun on that stupid but charming moose ride they added. It was probably 2013, 2014. We were supposed to go back this year for a day on a road trip but it didn't pan out for obvious reasons. Predator is still by memory the roughest experience I have ever had on a coaster. I remember at one point getting very bad chest pains on it even though I was probably like... 15? It was an awful ride, but like you said front seat did make it more tolerable. The sad thing is I remember loving it in the very late nineties, very early 00s. I don't know if I just started growing up a little and losing tolerance for the roughness or if it just fell apart. And a SLC is gonna SLC. I am a proponent of RMC Predator in a big way. I'd like to see the SLC torn down and replaced eventually too, but that won't happen any time soon. As for the rest of the lineup, I don't have complaints. MotoCoaster was cute. Superman will always have a soft spot in my heart and I think at least as of my 2013/14/whenever ride it had become a little underrated. It and its clone are still good rides. Viper low key is one of the better original era Arrow loopers left standing. A Boomerang is obligatory and you probably can't do anything better with that footprint anyway, at least not with a coaster. Tantrum was a great edition on paper to round out the lineup too, though I haven't experienced it yet. Glad to hear it is lapbars only. So, I assume you have been on Mind Eraser when it was new? What was it like back then? Did it feel the same? Also, did anything else change since it first opened? I loved Mind Eraser when it opened, but I was also 10 or so. I think we become a lot less tolerant to jankiness/roughness as we age. My kid normally doesn't even seem to notice it. Plus, I am sure it has gotten worse over time. Thankfully they have stopped building them, but that does mean I don't ever get to experience a new SLC as an enthusiast and compare the experience. I am fine with that. But as for differences I can remember... Two trains, station was in better shape, people in line... That's about it, really.

Am the only one who thinks La Ronde gets dumped on a little too much? It has basically become a park meme with Six Flags America, but all three of my visits have been fine. It is relatively pretty and relatively well kept physically. The layout is weird, but whatever I think complaining about walking is a little weirder and I have a bad foot. I really, really love Goliath and think it is maybe the most underrated coaster I have been on and their Batman clone absolutely flies through the track noticeably faster than any other of the clones I have experienced. Monstre is so bizarrely paced that I found it charming too and well the rest isn't great, but I don't think it is all that worse than a bunch of other parks I have been to. Of course, and I am very sorry to whoever I am about to offend, but you do have to deal with the... locals... But I will just leave that as alone as I can other than acknowledging it. I will say it is downright funny to watch youtubers try to address the subject as they review the park, so there is that at least.

Also, I would be doing the world a disservice if I forgot to add how amazing the Go-Karts are at these parks, especially the Kissimmee location. I could have ridden them after dark forever. The racing got intense and my god those stacked tracks are pretty nuts. There was literally light air time on a couple of them. The Orlando tracks were good too and I thought they were great until I got to Kissimmee, so I recommend doing the parks in that order. Mine Blower is the main event for the coasters too. Honestly, we did SeaWorld, BGT, and both Universals along with the two Fun Spots and while those places were great as always, I think the most fun I might have had on the whole trip was on those go karts. Do not just go for the credits and miss them, especially after dark. They are included in the normal ride all day wrist band too.

Lapbar only on Tantrum, unless something explainable or really strange happened to it in the year of shut down it was perfectly smooth in 2019, a very nice small Euro Fighter. The two really rough coasters at the park are Predator (if you're in the front it really isn't all that bad but anywhere else is unpleasant) and Mind Eraser, but that's to be expected. Yeah, DL was my "home park" for a lot of my life. I am 33 now, but my family started camping there when in 97 when I was 10 and Mind Eraser was brand new. That three year stretch of Mind Eraser, Nightmare, Boomerang, and Superman is what made me a coaster nerd. I put home park in quotes because it was a four hour drive on a good day, but we went every summer for at least a few days. My parents would relax in the campground and I would usually bring a friend to explore the park with. If not, I'd at least drag my little brother or whatever cousin came with us around. It was ideal for everyone. My kid is ten now and we have only been once since he was born, and he was pretty small. I don't remember how old he was/what year, exactly, but he was kiddie ride young and I remember having fun on that stupid but charming moose ride they added. It was probably 2013, 2014. We were supposed to go back this year for a day on a road trip but it didn't pan out for obvious reasons. Predator is still by memory the roughest experience I have ever had on a coaster. I remember at one point getting very bad chest pains on it even though I was probably like... 15? It was an awful ride, but like you said front seat did make it more tolerable. The sad thing is I remember loving it in the very late nineties, very early 00s. I don't know if I just started growing up a little and losing tolerance for the roughness or if it just fell apart. And a SLC is gonna SLC. I am a proponent of RMC Predator in a big way. I'd like to see the SLC torn down and replaced eventually too, but that won't happen any time soon. As for the rest of the lineup, I don't have complaints. MotoCoaster was cute. Superman will always have a soft spot in my heart and I think at least as of my 2013/14/whenever ride it had become a little underrated. It and its clone are still good rides. Viper low key is one of the better original era Arrow loopers left standing. A Boomerang is obligatory and you probably can't do anything better with that footprint anyway, at least not with a coaster. Tantrum was a great edition on paper to round out the lineup too, though I haven't experienced it yet. Glad to hear it is lapbars only.

Thanks! I swear I used to have an account here back in the day, but I can't figure out what I might be so I might also have just been stalking this place for a very long time.

While their SLC's restraints make it more tolerable than most, well, here is how I see it... Presumably you don't run the coasters in the low temps because you think it will hurt them long term. But if the SLC were to just wear down a little faster... well, I might run it too.