cfc Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 ^As pointed out earlier, nearly every park has an "unusual" regular patron (I know of one rather odd duck at Busch Gardens Williamsburg). Knott's chose to publicize him, and, well, strange habits or "fetishes" like his are going to draw comments, both favorable and unfavorable. I finally encountered Mantis Man for the first time last December. I suppose he's harmless enough, if a bit odd. You're entitled to your opinion--as are others to theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastcoast Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Not sure if someone has commented something similar, but 40k rides is putting a lot of faith in the evil intamin cable! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Just sat and read this entire thread. So funny. Was thinking the same thing about the Intamin cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 ^Well unless you don't sit in the front your safe from it, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 (edited) ^Well unless you don't sit in the front your safe from it, right? No one is safe from the Intamin cable--anywhere! Edited May 23, 2014 by cfc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 ^Even outside the coaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 ^^ or maybe he is trying to experience a cable snap on Intamin and wasn't lucky enough so he rode it 40k times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 (edited) The guy is clearly deranged and should be avoided at all costs. If he breaks park rules: throw him out of the park; and if he breaks the law: throw him in general population at Chino where he'll be the one getting ridden all the time. I think it's pretty disgusting how you condone the rape of a mentally challanged guy here. I think it's pretty disgusting how you interpreted that post. I can see the arguments for both sides here but, it annoys me how he's not paying for these 'privileges' that, any other Single rider (Like myself) would kill for. I actually met someone similar at USO last season; he was a guy who said he had rode HRRR many thousands of times and used to go a few times a week after work. I realize the single rider line isn't the same as Xcelerator's but, this guy would just ride, get off, click his counter on his wrist and join the damn queue again. What's so hard about that? LOL! when I worked at Universal I ran into that guy several times...very creepy guy, handsy with the female employees and such... As far as Mantis Man...whats the big deal? He's clearly not right in the head, and probably lives a pretty sad and lonely life...why cant you all just let him have his roller coasters? He's not delaying anyones ride or making the queue longer, he's filling seats that would be sent out empty anyway. Does he grope the people riding next to him or do drugs at the park? I dont see how he's disrupting anything. If you dont want to sit next to him, dont go to the park by yourself--you always run the risk of meeting strangers when being a single rider and the fact is even if he waited in line, theres a good chance you'd still get seated next to him anyway. Thats my take on it...just kinda sad that some of you feel the need to bully the guy for almost 20 pages when he has issues and has done nothing to any of you. Hes just doing what we all love doing, and Im willing to let him do it more considering he seems unable to have the benefit of the normal lives we all have. I mean, how would you feel if you knew there was a full thread on some website dedicated to belittling your passion? Bullying doesnt have to be in person. I personally wouldnt feel great if there were 20 pages on the internet dedicated to pointing out how weird or mentally challenged or unappealing I am...but thats just me I guess. You're obviously trying to turn this into a much bigger issue implying that we are making fun of, or trying to belittle the guy, and that's not the case at all. What we are pointing out is how unfair it is to other riders. Xcelerator does not have a "single rider line", however the guy has been allowed to create his own, just "because." As a paying customer of a park, I'm not cool with that and apparently others aren't also. You said you worked on Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit for many years. Would you allow some guy to come up the exit and hop in the train just because he had a "passion for roller coasters." Of course not. That is our issue. Maybe 20 pages of discussion about this should make the park think "Hey, maybe we should do something about this" or "Maybe we should try to add a single rider line to make this more fair to other riders." --Robb Edited May 25, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrlandoGuy Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 ^ok, first off, no I dont want to make this a bigger deal than it needs to be and Im sorry if it came off that way. But ok, lets pretend all the insulting comments never took place and we look at the supposed root of this thread...the line skipping. Personally, I dont see the problem. I never said I worked on Rip Ride Rockit, I worked elsewhere at the park and saw the man come around and talk about his conquest, so I cant speak to how operations on that ride would work in his case. BUT, I will say that if there is an empty seat, I dont personally see the problem in him filling it. Does he wait less in line? Yes. Does he also have a pretty sad life? I would assume yes. As long as he isnt making anyone else wait longer, I fail to see what the problem is. Thats my personal opinion, however, and I understand if you dont agree. The real thing that bugged me was some of the more condescending posts, because the guy honestly breaks my heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 ^ok, first off, no I dont want to make this a bigger deal than it needs to be and Im sorry if it came off that way. But ok, lets pretend all the insulting comments never took place and we look at the supposed root of this thread...the line skipping. Personally, I dont see the problem. I never said I worked on Rip Ride Rockit, I worked elsewhere at the park and saw the man come around and talk about his conquest, so I cant speak to how operations on that ride would work in his case. BUT, I will say that if there is an empty seat, I dont personally see the problem in him filling it. Does he wait less in line? Yes. Does he also have a pretty sad life? I would assume yes. As long as he isnt making anyone else wait longer, I fail to see what the problem is. Thats my personal opinion, however, and I understand if you dont agree. The real thing that bugged me was some of the more condescending posts, because the guy honestly breaks my heart. The problem that you fail to acknowledge in writing is Mantis Man is allowed to use a single rider line of his own making and no other patrons can do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrlandoGuy Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 No, I understand he isnt following the rules. What I dont understand is why it's caused such a fuss. We really cant let the guy have any leeway considering his condition? Yes, you have to follow the rules but the bottom line is this doesnt affect anyone in the line. So I guess I just dont get the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribar Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 No, I understand he isnt following the rules. What I dont understand is why it's caused such a fuss. We really cant let the guy have any leeway considering his condition? Yes, you have to follow the rules but the bottom line is this doesnt affect anyone in the line. So I guess I just dont get the problem. Why should he get leeway if he isn't paying more than the rest if us?? What makes him so special? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Monte Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 To me this a non issue. I really could care less. If this brings him some joy in life, more power to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urzishra Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 whoa whoa whoa, so this guy gets preferential treatment because he's "an enthusiast of this ride" aren't we all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastercoaster5 Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 maybe hes aways wanted to experiance a rollback and has yet to do so?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribar Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 ^Or he wants the cable to cut his leg off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) No, I understand he isnt following the rules. What I dont understand is why it's caused such a fuss. We really cant let the guy have any leeway considering his condition? Yes, you have to follow the rules but the bottom line is this doesnt affect anyone in the line. So I guess I just dont get the problem. You don't get the problem because you're not looking at this black & white. Fine, if he can go up the exit and fill empty seats because he's a fan of the ride, you bet Jurassic that I'm going to do the same thing on my next visit! Ok... I actually wouldn't do this because I follow the rules set out by the park! The other thing you're not mentioning, and maybe it's because I've had personal experience with this guy and you haven't, is that he doesn't just "fill empty seats." I've seen him be a nuisance on the platform yelling at ride ops if they send a train with an empty and he's standing off on the side. As though he's "entitled" to do what he does. I've also seen him take an empty, and then ask the person next to him to swap seats because he likes a certain side better, or whatever. But none of this should matter because it flat out shouldn't be allowed. I get that the park can do whatever they want in this case, and I respect that if they turn their heads to this situation, but I'm certainly allowed to have an opinion of it. --Robb Edited May 26, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrlandoGuy Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 ^the obnoxious behavior, I do see a problem with...that does affect guests and would be annoying! Didnt know our little roller coaster marathon man wasnt so innocent lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbatboy Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 So I wonder psychologically if this is would be classified as an obsession or addiction?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XYZ Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 According to a lead at Xcelerator, Mantis Man told her that Iron Colossus is happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 ^Maybe she is hoping that Iron Colossus happens so he will find a new ride to get 20k+ rides on....... I know the lead you're referring to personally. HaHa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirkFunk Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 LOL I've never seen this thread before and it is incredible. People like this are why I generally don't wear coaster shirts (aka "tard bait") to parks - maybe this guy is secretly the nicest and best, but I'm not really into having some forced, painful conversation with him or anyone like him. Also, riding a single roller coaster a billion times isn't an accomplishment and wow, anyone who thinks it is needs to get their head checked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribar Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 Does this moron ever ride anything else at Knott's or just Xcelerator. If so, do they let him cut on line for those rides too?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 According to a lead at Xcelerator, Mantis Man told her that Iron Colossus is happening. Wait, Mantis Man works for Dippin Dots? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribar Posted June 17, 2014 Share Posted June 17, 2014 According to a lead at Xcelerator, Mantis Man told her that Iron Colossus is happening. Than that probably means it's not.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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