John Peck Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 That is probably why Paramount is no longer in the theme park industry. Paramount are no longer in the industry because around 2004 or so, Paramount was sold to CBS, who had no real interest in running the parks, so they put them on the market. As a Ohioan, the only bad thing about having two large parks 4 hours away under the Cedar Fair umbrella is that when they build "big" rides, they alternate. Cedar point and "Paramounts" Kings Island would build stuff nearly every year—not that they competed that much (a little bit in certain markets, like Columbus for example, where I live), but each park was in a specific market that justified putting something new in at least every other year. I don't find it a coincidence one bit that that Kentucky Kingdom is trying to reopen in 2014 and we are seeing ground work going on at both Holiday World and Kings Island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAMTABSFGAm Posted June 16, 2013 Share Posted June 16, 2013 From California's Great America's Facebook: "How many times have you ridden Gold Striker??? Jeff and James just rode it for the 100th time!!! Congrats guys…" Congrats Guys! Did you know you were going to be on their Facebook? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJnCFL Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 From California's Great America's Facebook:"How many times have you ridden Gold Striker??? Jeff and James just rode it for the 100th time!!! Congrats guys…" Congrats Guys! Did you know you were going to be on their Facebook? Thanks! CGA was on hand for our 100th ride and personally took the photo, a huge thanks to Tyler & the GM, Raul Rehnborg for their outstanding hospitality! Looking forward to next 100+ rides, I still can't get enough! Happy 100th Ride Photo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayCool64 Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I just visited CGA on saturday, and I finally got to ride Gold Striker for the first time! Not only did it live up to my expectations, but it even exceeded it! I was able to ride it about four times (the last time was at night). I also decided to check out the live shows since the new On Broadway show premiered on that day. I thought that On Broadway was a pretty entertaining show, even though I wasn't familiar with most of the songs (I'm not much of a musical buff). I also decided to check out Happiness is Snoopy, and I found the first half to be a bit lacking, but by the second half it got more interesting. I also found out some really interesting, yet really dumb, information about why the storage bins at the Logger's Run and Rip Roaring Rapids were removed. According to ride op at RRR, they were removed because of the park's transition from Paramount to Cedar Fair. I find this story to be really stupid. Why would Cedar Fair remove those storage bins?! They had a purpose to be there: it was so that the guests' belongings wouldn't get soaked or drenched. It blows my mind that CF would do such a thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyskraker Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I also found out some really interesting, yet really dumb, information about why the storage bins at the Logger's Run and Rip Roaring Rapids were removed. According to ride op at RRR, they were removed because of the park's transition from Paramount to Cedar Fair. I find this story to be really stupid. Why would Cedar Fair remove those storage bins?! They had a purpose to be there: it was so that the guests' belongings wouldn't get soaked or drenched. It blows my mind that CF would do such a thing! ...hmm, I'm not sure that's the reason those were removed. I'd be willing to bet money they were getting quite a bit of theft coming from those things. Think about leaving your goods there for 5-10 minutes while dozens of people walk by your stuff just sitting there on display. As I remember, they tried to do the on board storage bags on the rafts at RRRapids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I also found out some really interesting, yet really dumb, information about why the storage bins at the Logger's Run and Rip Roaring Rapids were removed. According to ride op at RRR, they were removed because of the park's transition from Paramount to Cedar Fair. I find this story to be really stupid. Why would Cedar Fair remove those storage bins?! They had a purpose to be there: it was so that the guests' belongings wouldn't get soaked or drenched. It blows my mind that CF would do such a thing! ...hmm, I'm not sure that's the reason those were removed. I'd be willing to bet money they were getting quite a bit of theft coming from those things. Think about leaving your goods there for 5-10 minutes while dozens of people walk by your stuff just sitting there on display. As I remember, they tried to do the on board storage bags on the rafts at RRRapids. RRR did have those (somewhat useless) compartments at the center of the grab-wheel. I honestly don't think you could have even fit 1 backpack in there, let alone 6 riders all having bags with them. I do remember when both rides did have the little cubbies to put your goods in and then visiting the following season to find out we have to take our goods onboard...the only thing we could leave behind on the platform were (full) souvenir cups. I'm not complaining though, with that many logs going through, theft seems extremely likely. I usually have a plastic bag in my backpack that I put critical things into as to prevent any unwanted wetness. I noticed last weekend that Gold Striker now has 2 sets of bins...2 for Train A and 2 for Train B. You have 1 set (A&B) at the front end and another set further back. This hugely relieves congestion and should help speed up operations. Though most people don't think about it, in our group we usually have 1 person take both bags up to the bin as that's 1 person less that is creating a crowd around the bins. It actually helps a lot, and you can save the row should people behind you decide to up and take your seats. Firefall's bin...it's a plastic storage box that sits at the entrance. While I'm glad I don't have to leave my goods stashed at a planter box behind some shrubs, I still feel uneasy with having a bin out in the open in a high-ish traffic area. I typically only ride Firefall when there's 1 member of the party who doesn't like Firefall/won't ride it is present...I feel safer actually having someone from our group watch our goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJnCFL Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 During my visits last week, they added a second storage bin to go along with the cubbies at Grizzly, though when I passed by FireFall they removed the plastic storage bin located at the front of where the fast lane attendant stands, not sure why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Went to CGA yesterday and rode Gold Striker a few times. I thought it was great. Easily the best wooden coaster in CA (not like that's saying much) and probably the best GCI I've ridden (I've only ridden 6 so take that with a grain of salt). It's a really great addition to the park. The rest of the park ... needs some love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swornenemy Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The rest of the park ... needs some love. There working on it. A lot of the shops have gotten some fresh paint this past off season and they started painting flight deck and demon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Clinksalot Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 ^ I know. It's great to see the park getting some love and hopefully with the new stadium, etc, CF will start putting some $$ into the park. With Raffi there now I'm very hopeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Random retro photo from 1991.. just noticed the guy filming on ride with his giant 90s camcorder I wonder if he tried that on Demon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Random retro photo from 1991.. just noticed the guy filming on ride with his giant 90s camcorder I wonder if he tried that on Demon. If he tried that on Demon it would have been shaken into a thousand pieces! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Fire Guy Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 ^ Especially in the second loop (major jackhammering there) and the coathanger transition into the corkscrews! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 What I don't get...why are the corkscrews themselves amazingly smooth but coming in and out of them are awful? I can't even describe the weird sideways curve into the corkscrew...wait, yes I can... *grabs ibuprofen* I will say though...2 weeks ago we had an amazingly smooth ride on Demon, even the second smaller loop. I believe we had the yellow train. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swornenemy Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 The yellow train is the smooth one. My last visit I rode demon a couple of times, once in the red and once in the yellow. Both times same row and the yellow train had the smoother ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoopScreweD Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Fun picture i found of greezed lightnin while surfing the web the picture is off a model of the ride and the actual ride going thought the loop at the same time from 2002. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I love that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Fun picture i found of greezed lightnin while surfing the web the picture is off a model of the ride and the actual ride going thought the loop at the same time from 2002. This ride model lives in one of the guest services buildings, to the left of the main gates. It looks pretty neat in person! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subject_12 Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Slightly off topic, but why does everybody knock on Grizzly? I think it's fine. It's a genuinely fun ride. Granted, I'll ride it again in about a week, so I might find out then. (Might also pull together a Photo TR) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singemfrc Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Slightly off topic, but why does everybody knock on Grizzly? I think it's fine. It's a genuinely fun ride. Granted, I'll ride it again in about a week, so I might find out then. (Might also pull together a Photo TR) Would you like to buy it? Cheap? If you're interested there's another similar woodie up in Vallejo you might want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domm Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Slightly off topic, but why does everybody knock on Grizzly? I think it's fine. It's a genuinely fun ride. Granted, I'll ride it again in about a week, so I might find out then. (Might also pull together a Photo TR) you could walk faster than the train during that first turn around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Gumball Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I'm waiting for this day... Granted this coaster isn't Grizzly but it will do the same one of these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V2-dude Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I've actually seen that at SFDK (and had to do the pushing a few times). On several different coasters actually. It's actually quite common even on coasters that maintain decent speed when moving parts are cold as well as outside air temperature. I'm sure it's happened on Grizzly, just not seen/recorded by anyone on here yet. I've seen footage of it happening on GhostRider. Not what you want to have happen, but it's better than valleying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tmcdllr Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 I've actually seen that at SFDK (and had to do the pushing a few times). On several different coasters actually. It's actually quite common even on coasters that maintain decent speed when moving parts are cold as well as outside air temperature. I'm sure it's happened on Grizzly, just not seen/recorded by anyone on here yet. I've seen footage of it happening on GhostRider. Not what you want to have happen, but it's better than valleying. Ever wonder why the anti rollbacks are on the first hill after the lift? One morning when I was working there in '89 they were doing test runs and the train did not make it over that hill and stopped on the anti rollbacks. Three mechanics then walked up there, gave the train a push, then they all hopped in and rode it back to the station. It was actually kind of amusing. Back then this was not an unusual thing to happen. They tried several things like adding weight to the front car but it still happened sometimes, I was just lucky enough to see it that morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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