coasternut

I was at the Mountain again today. Waiting in line to get in, I spoke with Neil Thurman about the new finger scan entry system. I asked why the hand held scanners that worked so well last season needed to be replaced. He said it speeds up processing of the season passes. To quote him, it took sometimes 3 hours to process season passes. Now it's done at the entry gate. I thought to myself now it inconveniences everyone getting through the gate, not just the season pass people. He also said that's why they open early - because of the delay. Once you get in, there is a special line for gold pass members. The GP is held until 10:30. I got on the second train of the day on YOLO. That early in the morning the mechanics were still working on train #2 with water dummies still in the seats. I left after 6pm and train #2 was in the same position. Needless to say the line was unreal. Goliath was running 2 trains only so long lines there too.

No, you'd think that though. Picture on the first drop, the farther back you are on the train, the more of a whip the train gets. By the time the second to last row starts going down the drop, the train is already going pretty quick. It continues to gain speed and then the back row starts going down the drop. So the back row hits the drop a little faster giving more airtime. But honestly, the difference on El Toro between rows in the same car is minimal and so is the roughness. I test ride it every morning in empty trains where it's actually more bumpy than in a full train and it's not uncomfortable in anyway. I could ride it all day. Hey Ryan I think you were working ET yesterday morning. I'll be back today, and I'll say hi. The only "semi-rough" part of ET is the the turn around after the main drops. Lot's of up and down bouncing, but I try to push up out of the seat. Any plans to do a little work on that? If so it would need to happen this week as I think you start daily operations after Memorial day. Yes, I too can ride it all day, but a little work on that one part would make it perfect! It still runs great after all those year... Definitely my #1 by a long shot.

^ What happened a few years ago was a very slow speed collision on Magnum in the station. It was raining then, and that was the scape goat for it. Since then STUPID weather policy! This slow speed collision at the station had to be operator error, but the rain was blamed since it wet the brakes... I guess all the years / decades Magnum has been running the brakes never got wet.

^^ I totally agree on El Toro. I had a rideop tell me about that seat. That's now my row. I'll be there this morning.

I'll be at my second most favorite park today and tomorrow! I didn't go last night because of the weather. From the reports, I guess I should've. I cannot imagine Zumanjaro to be as scary as Lex Luthor at Magic Mountain. The KK tower seems more stable than Superman's at the Mountain. On Lex it's quite exciting to be at the top as Supe launches and the entire tower begins shaking! I guess time will tell, but I don't expect as much motion on the KK tower.

Is the park open today Friday with all the weather??? I've been on hold for nearly 10 minutes now...

^ Ryan, I'll be there this weekend too. Will you be at El Toro? I hope it's nice for Saturday and Sunday. I fly home back to Florida Sunday late Sunday afternoon.

^ I'll confirm that note on train C on Nitro roughness. In the back (the only place I ride) it's really rough. There is a lot of vertical vibration on the entire course. Trains A & B aren't bad. It has gotten rougher since last season. I've been there the last 2 days and I'll be there again today.

^ I was there today and very little work on Z. They were working like crazy last Sunday. Today being (finally) a beautiful day very little progress. Maybe they were off. They were laying more cement walk paths back to the ride, but I'm sure that's not what you were asking.

This is a great addition! It took them long enough. Six Flags have had them for years.

^^^^ I was at El Toro this morning around 11:30 - 12:30. Ryan if you were working, the dispatches were fine. We did have several "fat boy bounces." The crew at "the Bull" is always hustling, and I do appreciate that!

What's the plan for Blue Streak's 50th this year????

I beg to differ with you. I feel totally opposite. I grew up with Cedar Point as my home park. I have a great time at M.M. I can't say the same about the Point. Now, none of their coasters are in my top of any of my lists (either steel or wood). My favorite is the now 50 year old Blue Streak. It's my #5 woodie.

Saturday was my first visit to the park this season. I experienced the "no single rider in the last row" on Titan. I'm always by myself and had to move. They'll send the train with the last row empty, which makes even less sense. That defeats the insurance excuse stated on a previous post. They don't do that on Goliath (another ride by Giovanola - sp) at Magic Mountain. Besides I like Goliath better than Titan. I think sometimes 6 Flags has lost their minds! On a positive note, the addition of the small zippered pouches on the rides for cellphones and keys is a nice touch. Although people forget they placed items in there at the end of the ride.

A few weeks ago when I was at the park one of the ride leads said, it's too far gone now to run. He said nothing more. Not sure if he know more or not. I'm guessing that would be the first side to have "anything done to it," what ever that maybe.

This is one of many reasons why I moved to Florida over 25 years ago!

^^ That's no fun that way. I like to ride with my arms up, and let the ride have it's way with me. That can't happen with Maverick, I'm sad to say.

^ Amen brother...

This is when it ran the best! No QDC - "quick direction changes" to beat you up. Especially your neck with your arms up riding. I still can't believe they haven't replaced the restraints with the soft ones like I305. That would make it more comfortable for me. Come on Cedar Point!!!

^ Personally, I find Batman at the Mountain intense. I rode the backwards Batman the past 2 days and found it more enjoyable. Neal Thurman was on the platform this afternoon when we rode it, and thanked us for riding it.

^ This is totally my point. Train #1 should release AFTER train #2 is THROUGH the loop. That would've avoided the manual push back of train #1.

None of the biometric sensors were being used at the entry gates today. Well, I'm only speaking for the gold pass lines. They didn't open the parking gates early enough, so cars were backed up down the hill before opening. I did ride Batman backwards today, and much to my surprise I liked it better. Not a problem with going backwards except for a little "ear boxing." It was a busy day at the park. One more thing, YOLO had a rollback today. It took nearly an hour to get the ride open. The second train was already coming into the queue before train 1 cleared the loop. That is definitely an engineering mistake. The rollback train inched back to the station, but couldn't get fully in since train 2 was partially released into the station. They had to off load both trains, manually push back train 1, so they could back in train 2. They relaunched both trains empty and reopened the ride. This was a wasted hour...

I'll be heading to the mountain this weekend. I'm worried about the front gate change to the biometric scanners. These haven't worked properly at Busch Gardens in Tampa for quite sometime. What kind of delays will this create to get in??? The hand held scanners worked well...

^ To the best of my knowledge, he just loves the ride, and sets specific riding goals. I was low on his ride count, it's over 39,000 now. He wants to hit 40K by the end of April.

First of all he doesn't call himself Mantis Man, someone gave him that. I've never heard that name before. His name is Richard and I've said, I've ridden with him many times. He is a slight bit strange, but I can deal with it. I'm sure he's over 36,000 rides now. He's kind of a savant. You can tell him your birthday and in a matter of seconds he'll correctly tell you what day of the week it was. Also he's really good with math too. Let's try to not be so cruel!