Zorba

Yeah, the bond holders might come out okay in the end with the huge amount of shares they'll be receiving, if SIX comes out of this as a strong company. Share holders are always the most screwed by a bankruptcy.

So Thursday night waiting in "line" for The Beast (only line was for the front). An older guy (late 50s) asks the ride op on the left "Does this thing go upside down?" Left Ride op: "No it doesn't" Older guy to the Right side Ride Op "This doesn't go upside down? I though this was supposed to be a good coaster?" Right Ride op in an annoyed tune: "It IS a good ride!" Then the guy looks at me with a smile and starts laughing.

^^ Everyone knows that you release bad news late on a Friday night, I guess SIX took that to the extreme here

150 on a coaster sounds painful with bugs and raindrops. I rode Titan once in a light rain, front seat, it felt like a hundred little needles in my face . Still I would take the pain for 150mph . As for the color, the red track isn't bad but I don't like yellow support. I personally think they should do a tie-die track or a neon track with black lights

It isn't just steel costs, it is all costs. Material, fabrication, labor, site prep, etc. Just remember a 1% savings on Diamondback would've been $220K (or about 3 engineers annual salaries before benefits), with the cost of these things a little R&D to save costs is pretty easy to justify. And of course there is a trade off between expensive track and cheaper structure versus more cheaper track and more expensive structure. At my company, even though material prices are less than half what they were a year ago we are still spending millions on R&D to reduce our usage of those materials. And even though the prices are way down, almost all of these project have a payback period of less than one year.

Steel still isn't cheap, just like gas still isn't cheap. Just because it is cheaper than an artificially over inflated price doesn't make it cheap. I seriously doubt that it actually took 3 engineers a year to come up with this, like I said it looks like a straightforward evolution of design, not a revolutionary design. But the $350K guess should be conservative. As far as engineering work goes 350K is pretty cheap. Of course they would only invest in the technology if it was going to save money down the line, but it would also save money now, I am not sure how you can say that it won't save money now. Just because steel prices or down off their peaks? Airlines are still spending millions to save fractions of a percent of fuel, even though oil is less than half of its peak price. "But in the end I would hope the R&D $ would go for something more than saving $." - A quote I often see at work "You have to remember Engineering is not a scientific process but an economic process." No (smart) company pays for R&D without expecting a reasonable return on investment. Fewer supports should equal lower maintenance, also.

This I doubt they would save millions on one coaster, but I am certain they would save enough to justify the R&D expense on one large coaster. There is a ton of steel, labor, concrete, etc in 200+ foot supports

My friend and I both wear Rx sunglasses at Knott's but we both took them off on all the rides without being asked, so I don't know if that is still true. I did the all you can eat pasta buffet, it was 12.50 and really really good, I ate it around 1pm and it kept my full all night.

The trim on the second hill in the POV seems really short for a skid, so I would think it took off less sped than the trim now. I just had the strong feeling of the mag brakes, completely changes the feeling.

I've never understood why DT is inside. The point of a bobsled coaster is to see that you are not on a track, in the dark you can't see that, you just think you are on a mild coaster.

Steel is still a lot more expensive than 10 years ago, although it is down quite a bit from last summers completely inflated prices. R&D on the double spline probably wasn't that high, it seems like a pretty obvious evolution if the need presents itself. For example, say they had 3 engineers working on it for a full year with a full burden rate of $55/hour that is still only $343K. That would be made up for pretty quickly with the reduction in material and labor costs on the supports. Of course I don't work at the company so I don't know for sure how much they spent on R&D, but compared to projects I am familiar with I doubt they spent millions on it.

Off topic, but when I was at Knott's they had to stopped the train on the lift about every other time because people kept having cameras out. I just think people in Cali are dense

Man I hope not, that is a great ride

I wonder how that person knows for sure that it isn't an Intamin? The trade off for a stronger track (more expensive track, cheaper structure) versus more supports (cheaper track, more expensive structure) probably only makes sense if it is going to be pretty tall. That is just my gut engineering feel and I am not saying that it must be a Giga, but I am sure it'll at least be a hyper.

This the same strategy that many Gyms use. Make people pay for long term contracts upfront to cover your current costs, then when those gyms go belly up the members get nothing.

I could see chasers one DB, but I'd rather have them the full length of the track on Racer. I noticed they added chasers to Blue Streak at CP (don't remember them from before anyways), it looked really nice.

My brother worked the night shift at a nice gas station for years. Every single night he went out and cleaned the gum up in the parking lot. Since he did it every night, there would only be a couple of pieces and wouldn't take more than 5 or 10 minutes. If you let it sit there for a year before you do something about, it would take a full shift. If they cleaned The Racer tunnel every night or morning it would take less than 5 minutes once they got it cleaned off for the first time. Cleaning gum off walls is not that bad of a job in the grand scheme of things, a lot better than digging ditched or cleaning porta-potties. I am also sick of hearing the "$22 Million blah blah blah," maintenance of existing equipment should always come before additions, if they park spent their maintenance money on a new ride that is just very poor management.

The lights in the picture look like chaser lights, which DB does not have. DB has service lights. I personally think chasers look awesome on coaster, so I would like it. Vortex has them, by the way.

I don't even think Angrybeaver likes Mean Streak too! I love love love the Texas Giant and SOB but I can't even handle Mean Streak. Although I didn't ride this weekend, so I am not sure if the retracking helped.

SOB lapbars are much better than the PTC lapbars on The Beast and Racer. The PTC get your thighs if you are big at all.

Son of Beast, hands down. Beast has way too many trims and that stupid seat divider hurts. The seat divider always gives my wife bruises. Not saying I don't like The Beast, but I enjoy SOB much more.

^ One really nice thing about the woodies at Indiana Beach.

I've never thought it was that rough, but it does seem quite a bit smoother this year. Also you don't feel roughness as bad if you don't pin yourself in the seat, tighten you abs so you aren't thrown around as much. I finally got my wife to stop pinning herself this year and for the first time ever she'll ride in the back of the train on all coasters.

The drinks are were the real money is, because I am sure (from my previous work experience) KI doesn't pay a dime for fountain drinks, cups or the fountains themselves. It is 100% profit, minus the tiny bit of overhead, of course. This debate really comes down to simple economics, if the demand is inelastic then they can charge more and make more money, if the demand is elastic then the more the charge the less the make. The reason why most theme parks over charge for food is they have a monopoly and most people find going elsewhere annoying, therefore the demand is inelastic. But seeing what the per-caps have been I think CF has gone beyond that point and now an increase in price equals a decrease in sales.

For all of you who want SOB to be closed just be because you don't enjoy it. How does the ride being there affect you? If you don't like it, don't ride it. It is not like its presence is keeping a different ride from moving in. I personally get no enjoyment from AE, but I respect the fact other people do and for that reason I hope KI keeps it as long as possible. I will never understand why people want to destroy anything they personally do not get enjoyment from. But it does seem like hating SOB is a bang wagon on KI websites, I personally don't think it is all that rough in any seat, much less painful than Racer, AE or Vortex. Flyer, who is partial to Blue Streak because of its distant similarities to another coaster close to his heart. I am partial to Blue Streak for the same reason, although probably different distant coasters