Hank

Big Kitty sandbox?

Kennywood - what a fun park! There is a little bit of everything there and it's all wonderful. It was the best time I ever had, with my entire family, at an amusement park.

Amen, my friend!

http://rcdb.com/241.htm ^ here it is!

I realize there are reasons for a coaster to be removed & some of those reasons may not be all that well respected! I would like to know why Dorney Park removed Hercules.

This happened in Toledo today.... HOME → NEWS→ POLICE & FIRE Print Story Published: Monday, 4/28/2014 - Updated: 9 seconds ago Student arrested at Start High School after being in possession of handgun, drugsBLADE STAFF Share43 Tweet19 2 Reddit1 0 Email4 Start High School was on lock down earlier today after a student was arrested for bringing a handgun to the school. Toledo Public Schools officials reported that students were safe. However, a search by Toledo police, TPS officials and a K9 unit was conducted as a precaution. Police identified the suspect as Willie Carter III, 18, who is affiliated with the Lawrence Blood Villians gang. Carter had a .45-caliber handgun and marijuana with him and is facing drug and gun charges and a resisting arrest charge after scuffling with police upon arrest. According to court documents, a Toledo Public Schools officer learned that Carter had a loaded .45-caliber handgun on him in the school. The officer confronted Carter, who resisted the officer and only complied once the officer pulled his gun on him, according to court documents. Toledo Police Sgt. Joe Heffernan said that classes are not currently in session. Because of this, I am becoming afraid of what could happen at a place like King's Island. I think the metal detectors need to be put back in place AND USED! If you think I'm full of sh** on this one, just wait until you or one of your loved ones accidentally gets shot with a gun or stabbed with a weapon that got thru the gates without any problem.

I feel that if new coasters are built with quality, no gimmicks would need to be employed on said rides. Picture a wooden coaster with a moderate height, g!ood speed, nice theming, extra boosts along the course, a bit more lengthy than usual, no loops or inversions, but lots of fun built in. These are the machines that need to be built. The smile on the rider's face when they step off the train will be the proof in the pudding that the coaster was a good investment for the park. Fun is the ingredient most needed, and most lacking, in the minds of today's coaster designers. They need to figure out how to make fun rides without having to break records all the time. This will also, hopefully, reduce the cost of some of the installations. Just my thinking

So, are the shirts coming? How do we order?

High Roller closed on 12/30/05 and was removed in 06. Sorry. Uh...the ferris wheel is actually called High Roller. The Linq's official website: http://www.thelinq.com/high-roller.html Well, sonofab**ch! I didn't know that. Pardon the interruption.

High Roller closed on 12/30/05 and was removed in 06. Sorry.

I've see videos of that thing - makes SOB look good! (well, not really, but you know what I'm getting at)

Didn't The "Old" Bat have them too?

Get a load of this.... http://news.yahoo.com/riders-wowed-view-big-vegas-ferris-wheel-211725877.html;_ylt=A0LEV0IzzjpTy0QAT1FXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0NDAwYXNwBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1NNRTQwMV8x

Coasters that have launches, like Maverick at Cedar Point - what under the train meets with the launch "thingy s" on the track which propel the train forward? Are the brake fins ever used for this purpose? Also, if the launch thingy's don't match-up properly with the train's under thingy's, what would happen? Could the ride resume from that spot (assuming it was stopped) or would the train need to be dragged back to the start? Maybe the individual launches can be adjusted for such occasions? I'd like to know - especially if launches are coming to more coasters - steel & wood.

So, tell me..... If they're gonna name this coaster, are they gonna name the other coasters too? Or, unbeknownst to me, are the other coasters already named?

Tell me - were they a "hit" last year?

Will there be movies this year at Soak City?

Kings Island would be foolish not consider this proposition. Believe it or not, I have also though of something similar to this idea...It is true what they say, great minds do think alike. Speak for yourself! No, just kidding. I really don't think they should ever mess with any coaster once it's built - kinda like Christmas Carols...don't change the words! But, there are times when things are not very good and re-dos are called for. The Beast does not need a re-do, and it would be a mortal sin to touch Racer. However, my extension thought (I should get it patented) remains in my mind - if I ran the zoo....

I always thought of have a Beast "extension" - after the shed's brake run, go straight instead of turning....go down the hill, adding about 4,000 more feet of track, then back to the turn, through the first tunnel and onward. It's just a thought.

Go on YouTube and look up coaster built by RCCA (I know KI finished SOB, but RCCA had their hand in it). The video shows all of those machines have that jack-hammering ride. I blame the mother!

SOB could have worked when built - if they would have followed the designer's instructions and not cut corners to save money.

Banshee ice cream = purple people eater!

This particular attitude drives me bonkers. No, not all change is good. To try and fail miserably has drastic consequences. From a park losing all kinds of money, lost opportunities for far better rides (how much time, money and space did/do Son of Beast, Hercules, the old Texas Giant, Mean Streak, Drachen Fire, etc. take up?), lost careers (Mr. David Focke comes immediately to mind), bored or unhappy guests to injuries, to a park merely being stuck with a bad ride/investment for years (Six Flags and Ninja now at SFOG, the Vekoma messes Deja Vu)...Sometimes doing nothing or at least doing something else is a far better choice than a wrong-headed bad choice. Final Thought: What would Kings Island look like today, and what would 2014's new addition be had Son of Beast never been built in Mason? What would NJFTP look like? Who would own Kings Island? Dare I say it?--Who would own Cedar Fair? I submit ALL these questions would have different answers had either Son of Beast not been built or had it actually been built to the design specifications without client cost cutting that greatly negatively affected its reliability, rideabilty, comfort, thrill factor and guest and park satisfaction. Kings Island would not be the same place. It might be better. It might be worse. The alternative ride was a re-creation of the Rye Aeroplane, for which Kings Island had purchased the blueprints. A ride that, by all accounts, was simply one of the best...ever. Instead, innovation was selected. Risky choices were made. It is hard to say they benefited the park. Doing nothing would have been, in my opinion, a far, far better option than building the trouble prone, litigation causing, uncomfortable, maintenance nightmare, not even very thrilling, tallest, fastest and only looping wooden roller coaster on the planet. (Why do I hear Jeff Seibert saying those words?). Maybe I need to be a bit more specific. Today, the designers have learned from the past and now have much better "tools" to work with as compared to 25 years ago. Oh, a coaster could still be built that becomes a flop, and a coaster could still be constructed poorly or with cost-cutting measures that would be disastrous for a park, the public, the investors, etc. - but I believe that ALL things come about through trial and error and if nothing is ever tried, we'd have nothing today.

No one knows how anything will be until they try. It may work. It may fail. But if you just sit and do nothing, nothing is exactly what will happen. And SOB was built 15 years ago - so were 2000 model year Chevys, Hondas, and Toyotas. Cars have come a long way since and engineering has also come a long way as well. Stagnant will get you no where. And din't I mention thinking caps in the start of this thread?

Maybe it will be a new fifth dimension model - "would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?"