Mark Rosenzweig

From my Zamperla days, (this is assuming the Rockin' Tug and Jr Tower are Zamperla products like Sea World Orlando and Sesame Place), both of these carry 42" minimum height requirements unaccompanied (i.e. anyone under this height can ride with a guardian). Mark

Not wishing the same fate for this park, but does anyone else see the resemblance to Jazzland in that one shot showing the S&S Towers with the Coaster behind it? Mark

Most of the trough, boats, and other components from the Southern California Busch log flume went to Great Escape in Lake George (then Storytown U.S.A.). Desperado Plunge opened in 1978 as a new anchor to the pre-existing Ghost Town area. One rare attribute that Desperado, Le Skoot, and Stanley Falls all have in common (besides all formally having the spillway coaster element that can only now be experienced on Kennywood's Log Jammer) is that their boats have two separate divided seating areas (unlike nearly all other Arrow Log Flume boats that feature one long bench for tandom seating- some with seat backs and some without). Mark

It could be as simple as a state-to-state/province requirement.

To answer your question regarding public transportation to SFA from downtown Baltimore, there really is no easy way without lots of transfering. You can pick up the Light Rail at the Camden Yards station (3 blocks west of the Inner Harbor) and take that to BWI Airport. From there, take the Amtrak/Marc bus to the BWI Rail Station where you can take either a Marc Train (cheaper then Amtrak but they only run Mon-Fri) or Amtrak south to D.C. From this point, I'm not 100 percent sure which station you would want to exit at. I'd say probably New Carrolton which is a large park and ride with bus stops as well or all the way into D.C to Union Station where you can either bus or cab it to the park. Not nearly worth all of this effort. Best if you can make friends with co-workers and have them drive you if you can't rent a car and drive yourself. Mark

Best broken park ever. Only because I saw pictures of it. Best possible scenerio for Family Kingdom, which had itself a record season this year thanks to the pink elephant....which would be how Myrtle Beach's most successful park continues to sit as a barren field after having been closed 2 years ago in favor of becoming residentialized into a mixed-use property prior to the market pop. m

Vekoma 50 meter Giant Wheels operating in North America include: SFKK Darien Lake Moreys Piers La Ronde Navy Pier As far as Six Flags goes, the double wheels that once operated at SFMM and SFAW as well as the Triple Wheel at SFGAm were all Intamins. SFGAd's Big Wheel is a Schwarzkopf design that was purchased used by Mr. Leroy from a large Flower Exhibition/Fair in Germany. It's the same model as the Schwarzkopf Wheel at Cedar Point. -Mark

I didn't know the rule existed either until a visit to Disneyland during the busy holiday period in late Dec after the "new" Space Mountain was re-launched. Ran to Space at opening, snagged a fastpass with a return time for 10:30 AM (waited in a 10 min line to get a fastpass) and then rode standby in about 30 min. Came back at 10AM (the park opened at 8AM this day) when I was eligible for another fastpass, but couldn't get another one for Space until 10:30 the CM told us. Again, only an issue on very crowded days and in the rare case where one attraction holds such high priority for so many people. -Mark

Jason- What you experienced here is a "fastpass rule" that many do not know exists. Guests are not able to acquire a second fastpass for the same attraction if the return time on the first fastpass has not yet come up yet. While you were indeed eligible for another fastpass, because it was before the 1PM return time for your first Pooh fastpass, the machine didn't allow for you to get a second Pooh fastpass in this case. This is only really an issue on very crowded days when fastpass eligibility windows are 2 hours (the max length). -Mark

For the U.S., both Splash Mountains and Dudley should be put aside as they are in their own league and had budgets that were higher than some total parks. Some of the best Arrows: Log Jammer (SFMM), Timber Mountain (KBF), Texas Splashdown (SWSA), White Water Landing (CP) Some of the best Hopkins: Zoom Phloom (Morey's), Log Flume (Myrtle Beach Pavilion), Log Chute (Nick Universe @ MOA), Yule Log (Santa's Village). Europe has a plethora of amazing flume rides- mostly from Mack (who had a license agreement with Arrow to use their technology) and Intamin. Not sure why the Intamin reversing flumes never caught on here in the States. The model at Holiday Park is a perfect example. -Mark

One of two things is probably going on here.... 1)The ride list has not yet been updated from last year's 2)Fahrenheit may not be accessible due to construction of the new wave pool/lazy river across the midway (although if this is the case, I have no clue how they are planning on getting guests back to Midway America). -Mark

As long as the "reserved" seating isn't in, say, the first 5 rows (especially for the Shamu production).... -Mark

They actually do that about eight inches down. I was curious when I first saw it at SFNE, but the supports are almost cup-shaped to begin with, the supports bolted on the bottom, then the foundations are filled in after the entire structure is standing. I'll try to dig up some photos when I get home. The technical term/description is "pocket foundations". This is the Gerstlauer's preferred method. As mentioned above, it basically allows the columns to be adusted further even after they have been placed in the footings (they are held in place with wood bracing until they are filled with concrete). Off the top of my head, I do not know of any other steel coaster manufacturers that use the pocket foundation as their norm. -Mark

Elissa- can you (or anyone familiar with this ride) explain what its faults are? As I've never been to DLPR, all I have to work off are photos of a very phallic looking cannon that shoots trains into the mountain. I've never come across photos or video that illustrate the ride's layout, experience, etc. Also never come across "lights on" footage that is out there on the web for other enclosed coasters. All I know is the initial "launch" (if you can call it that) and a mid course tire driven lift hill. I guess this ride has always intrigued me a bit as it was a custom one-off. What's the root of the evil- poor layout? poor track fabrication? lousy trains? harsh transitions? Is the ride up to typical Disney standards capacity-wise? I think I saw a BTMRR/Screamin' style double loading station that tells me they can run 4-5 trains... -Mark

Most of the "old school" family thrill attractions at Disney parks (i.e. TOT, BTM) were designed mostly inhouse by WDI. This includes the ride vehicles, so the seats/restraints/etc were designed to meet a specific height requirement (in most cases for Disney in the 40" range). In recent years, Disney has started ordering more in the way of stock rides from ride manufacturers with proven ride vehicles/restraints. In these cases, the same height requirement stands- at Disney Parks or any other park. Vekoma trains on R&RC have a 48" height requirement just as any other ride with these trains anywhere else. Same holds true for the Mack Wild Maus at DCA, Maurer Spinning Coaster at DSP, etc, etc. -Mark

For the most part, yes. But at least one other B&M coaster carries a 52" height requirement- Apollo's Chariot at BGE. No clue why either, as all other B&M speed/mega coasters have 54" height requirements. -Mark

As a preview of sorts, I just put up a new gallery outlining the many attractions included in the new wet/dry park complex at the Columbus Zoo debuting this weekend. www.whispers.smugmug.com -Mark

I personally found this to be a bizarre choice for this particular waterpark as a Proslide Tornado already exists there. Seems as though the "back and forth" halfpipe motion already exists. Also, unless I'm missing something, "Hurricane Mountain"- the original waterslide complex of SFA's Waterpark is SBNO as the new Tony Hawk slide blocks access to Hurricane Mountain's entrance, and the old slide complex is no longer on the park's list of attractions or website (despite being clearly visible from within the dry park). Shame, as the old slides were funky and unique tube slides that sadly had a poor design requiring each individual slide to have their own lifeguard (they drop off of four individual platforms). Surely a staffing issue as the new slide won't need more than a total of two lifeguards. -Mark

You know how when you revisit a place as an adult that you hadn't been since childhood and everything looks *so* small? That's half the case with regards to Sesame Place. I revisited the place in '06 when I was still with Zamperla and we were finishing up the installation of the three attractions in Elmo's World. All of those slides which seemed huge at the age of 8 (especially Slippery Slope) looked like jokes, while the net climbs were quite the opposite and seemed as though they grew! -Mark

Mike, FWIW, your TRs are entertaining and its always nice to see people having fun with this hobby. However, I am sure that more than 3 people thought you posting photos of junior high girls in bikinis was creepy. But a grown adult visiting a park aimed at children ages 3-12 alone and taking photos of girls in bikinis there is just creepy. And if you were there on behalf of TPR for some sort of media job then its only worse. I've said my peace and am not some kind of overly sensitive person when it comes to tongue in cheek humor either. But to post a photo trip report with 70 photos of yourself and then connecting your face to these bikini photos may gain you attention, just not the kind of attention you probably want. -Mark

Since no one else seems to have a problem with your third person coaster tour and stalker shots of 12 year old girls in bikinis, I'd just like to say that you come off as quite the creepy person. -Mark

I guess that's a question I've had for a while, is this one really a true "pre-fab?" I'm still a bit confused on this. --Robb Not in the sense that you are picturing. As you may recall, Cordes' part in the coasters done with Intamin was *strictly* the structure. The pre-fabricated track seen on Colossos, Balder, El Toro, and T-Express was patented by Stengel, who in turn has an exclusive with Intamin. Because Cordes is no longer working with Intamin, a new track style needed to be realized. The structure is still "pre fabbed" as it is cut at the factory and then sent in large segments to the site for erection. The track itself is a new style patented track in more of a traditional "stacked" style. Gerstlauer's hand in this collaboration included trains and controls. Intamin still offers the pre fabbed track. The main issue is cost. Even if the pre-fabbed track does save time and money over the course of the coaster's lifespan, few parks are willing to shell out the additional money up front. That's the primary reason why only 4 pre-fabbed track rides exist in the world. -Mark

This is the first collaboration between Gerstlauer/Cordes/Stengel as a wooden coaster team. Cordes not only did the structure, but has also patented a new track style designed to lower maintenance costs. The Gerstlauer trains are four cars of three benches each (same car design as used on the 5 car train on Falken), but here have polyurethane wheels. Future designs can be as aggressive as any client wants. This particular ride really just represents a park (Tripsdrill) with a great relationship with a ride manufacturer (Gerstlauer), and they got exactly the type of ride that they wanted. -Mark

As long as Big Mike keeps speaking in the third person and hopefully offers his tour shirts for sale in the TPR store, I'm happy. -Mark

That one's going to miss by 2-3 weeks as well according to HP (unless they are planning a soft opening prior to the Memorial Day weekend officially scheduled debut). -Mark