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And even those who do know, I bet less than a tenth of a percent gives a hoot. Statements like that one are among the things that give coaster enthusiasts the reputation they have with many in the industry. It's sad, really.

If 500 are attending then that's way too many for the IR.

...Things have life spans. Parks are not operated like playing Roller Coaster Tycoon....

The solution to that problem is to get a subset of the group to start walking towards an attraction. Some will follow, others will split off, and that's OK! People enjoy the park in different ways. Although, it is fun to get to a line separator as a group of <hilariously large number>. Bonus points if that number is as large as (or exceeds) the capacity of the ride vehicle.

It's not exclusive to normally single riders, but that sort of thing happens quite often. See the meetups forum here; the people who frequently participate are a rather welcoming group. It can definitely be fun to visit amusement parks with others who really enjoy them.

I highly doubt most of BGW's audience even knows about the other 4 copies, 3 of which aren't in the US.

Actually, there is an ideal group size. Get much above that, and far, far more time is spent kibitzing and arguing about what to do next than doing it. Sometimes, that's a good thing, though.

Of course, the more the merrier! I'll be on the lookout for some gatherings.

I don't see why either coaster needs the Iron Horse conversion. Rebel Yell, like Kings Island's Racer and Beast, is an ACE landmark, and Thunder Road is one of the few remaining original rides at Carowinds.

I know just the Queen song they could play: "I want to ride my bicycle..."

Never thought I would be able to contribute to this thread so quickly. Tonight while walking the qeue to get on The Beast, two ladies were talking in front of me. One of them looks at the other and asks "how does the car change from this brown wood track over to the blue metal one?" Lol I had to laugh inside a bit.

Ooh. Big faux pas by the ride op! That's a huge no-no! I understand, especially from recent memory of things (during 'Starting to Decode 2014') that the park takes its own trespassing rules very seriously; so, for an employee to announce that guests can "come back" when the park closes, joking or not, seems dubious if not irresponsible.

For me I end up spending the money I would have spent on food on things I wouldn't normally do much of. Like games, souvenirs, etc...

Me too! Other than the swag (I was happy enough about a t-shirt, now it sounds like we're getting pins and stuff too) it's the thing I've been most excited about. Even though I try to spy the house through knotholes in the fort every time I ride the train, the idea I might see inside on the tour didn't even occur to me until my husband mentioned it earlier today. Now I'm even more excited about it!

I'm just happy to see S&S get something out and hopefully working. I really feared for that company a few times the past few years, especially since their new merger with this new company. Hopefully seeing this ride develop and what people think of it, I hope S&S gets a few more new developments. I will say it seems very B&M inspired, especially the restraints. The brakes surprised me the most seeing almost PTC esque brakes on the track, but hey if it works and does what it needs to do, who cares.

Six Flags knows but they ain't tellin'.

Well I figure not all 500 are going to be there for the morning ERT and some of that number will be at The Bat. So lets say we have 400 people in the queue at all times, and you get off and get back in that queue to ride again. It is going to take appropriately 11 trains to cycle about 400 people through. Assuming they are sending a train of enthusiasts out every 2 minutes that will be 45 trains sent during that ERT. Divide that by your 11 train wait, you should get 4 rides in during ERT if my math is correct.

Rougarou Media Preview was held last Friday (May 8th) beginning at 5:00 a.m. I was one of the 100 randomly selected people from the Winter Chill Out that took place in February. I took my Dad along with me since you could pick another person to go with. I went up the day before right after dinner (from Cincinnati) and arrived at Sandusky at 9:30 p.m. Woke up the next day at 4 in the morning to get ready for the day. I didn't take long to get ready because I knew thing I was going to was something special. We left the hotel at 4:30 and arrived at the park at 4:55 and began our walk to Rougarou. I could hear the roar of Rougarou from the car. Once we hit the area Rougarou is located we began to see a lot of news media (go figure ). We got in the line of people that were waiting to enter the entrance of Rougarou. I got to ride in the second train that went out once the line open. I rode Rougarou a total of 8 times that day and absolutely loved it. They did a very good job with the fog, light effects, sound effects, and the ride (of course). It was so cool hearing the noises and howls of Rougarou while on the ride and just looking at the ride. Here are a bunch of photos taken by me during the four hours I was there: I am working on putting a video together with the video I got from the event. I will post it here when I am done.

Not exactly, almost 10 years later and it seems like things happened slightly different than were feared... Still going strong.... TERP you either are a really really good guesser or you may know some people in the park business.... I love the new Coke Stand... Sadly or not, IJST lasted longer than both these posters... Under new management, charm and class may be retruning, sort of... Funny, that GL was destroyed because of this deal... Well the theming did get stripped... and then the ride did... So a decade later (and new management later) how we looking? I will say that the park still has some distance to go to recapture some of the charm it had years ago. The landscaping (personally) doesnt look as great as it once did. The Floral Clock and the Floral Calendar always disappoint me. At one point they were great, last year and so far this year, nothing photo worthy.... Then again, I look at the park through my son's experiences and its one of the greatest thing on this earth.

No, because last year they sent out new passes via good old Snail Mail to the address you have when getting your pass. Wrong ZIP code, pass never arrives, guest never visits. I meant at the gate. I wonder if the pass shows a zip code when you scan or if there is a way to manually override it/enter new a one? I still question if Hart is purposely doing this stuff to make a buck and then leave like an evil business person. Or is he just so misguided and surrounded himself with yes men that he no longer sees what he is doing in an objective light ...

I'm betting buffet in the Picnic Grove. Less than two days to find out for sure!

Mindless repetition. If I say it enough, I will believe it and eventually it will come true.

This weekend is going to be great.

See also flying inverted kiddie coasters.

Well, if next to no one knows they've built it (even the enthusiast community was slow in learning about it), then of course they're going to see low numbers. What did they expect?

I know there is some debate as to whether the "snapablity" of the old Flying Scooters has become exaggerated with time but... it hasn't...

Where was the unlimited refills confirmed?

Well......that's interesting. Do you know if they are the standard souvenir cups or Coasterstock branded ones?

Originality is way better but that's not going to stop me from riding. It just means that I won't necessarily enjoy the ride as much. Nothing to complain about, of course. A day at an amusement or theme park is better than a day at work, after all. Unless, of course, you're out of work. Then, you'll be sad that you can't go to work.

Oh I agree, just stating why I think Tempesto was downplayed. All over BGWFans news & updates it kept referring to it as a copy. I think it looks great, and actually quite colorful on that side of the park considering how dark Apollo's Chariot is when approaching the parking tolls or walking from the Rhineland to Fiesta Italia. I was there watching it test one day and it actually looks quite fun. Plus you do seem to hang upside down quite a bit on the first pass or two. To me though, again Verbolten for me is just the perfect ride. Theming, launches, drops, and really fun experience. Sad it removed the best suspended of all time, but at least KI has the next best one, and looks to stay around for quite some time considering the overhaul the other year.

Generally, not everyone stays through the end of ERT. At least in the evenings..

Well, they did...

I honestly don't think it will be too bad. Even if all 400 attendees show up right at 8am, people will spread out and take advantage of all rides that are open for ERT. I plan to take advantage of Drop Tower and Delirium ERT as well since those rides typically have longer lines when they park is busy.

The Scrambler at Coney was NOT removed. It was temporarily removed while the support pieces received a fresh coat of white paint. The ride was open this past weekend for the Appalachian Festival, and will officially open with the park next weekend.

At CP: "I can't believe they got rid of The Mantis." That speaks for itself.

That sounds about right (I didn't check the #'s ) I wasn't complaining.......just thinking (typing) out loud. Wonder what the crowd will be for Friday night? Either way, should be a good time hanging out with other park geeks like me.

Thanks for posting that video of the old Flying Eagles! Wow, that brings back alot of memories of that day...so happy to see I was actually one of the people interviewed in it. Watching that video makes me realize, no matter how happy I am with our new flyers, how amazingly out of control and fun the Eagles really were. Absolutely cannot wait until my trip out to Charlotte later this summer...might just take a whole day to exclusively ride them and nothing else!

Maybe with the longer lines as this is the gliders first season, they wanted to keep the ride cycle short to make long lines more manageable. Maybe next season or following seasons we'll see a change in cycle time to possibly Carowinds ride cycle. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a fun day for sure. I wish I went to the winter tour however it didn't align with my work schedule. Heard nothing but positives from everyone there though. I'll admit the sound and stuff by the first drop is a really awesome effect especially seeing the train whiz by and pull the mist behind it

It's Deja Vu all over again: http://m.bizjournals.com/louisville/news/2014/04/08/ed-hart-talks-about-why-the-new-and-improved.html?page=all&r=full Is he live or is he Memorex? Terp, advising note the date of the link. Does history repeat itself, or is it merely a haunting echo?

I'm always a single rider since my wife doesn't like to ride. However she is going to visit her family in Washington at the end of the month for 6 weeks. Maybe a group of us normally single park guests can arrange a meetup one day. Might be fun meeting some of you and having someone to ride with.

There was a kid today on Viking Fury that told me he has a better idea for the ride theme..."Biking Fury". Instead of a boat, it would be a big bicycle. I couldn't stop laughing.

I just drove through Nashville over the weekend and there was not a KK billboard any where. HW on the other hand.

The weather is not looking too good this weekend. That could work for or against us...Hopefully it will be enough to make the crowds a little lighter without completely washing out the event.

@IndyGuy4KI on Twitter.

Not meaning for this to sound like I'm attacking you: outside of the nonexistent promotion of Tempesto during its construction, how has it been a failure? Good question! Simply put, it hasn't achieved the numbers it's been expected to. I wish I could provide you with exact numbers, but they're not what one would typically expect with the opening of a new coaster. I'm not sure if it has to do with the nonexistent advertising or not. I will say that BGW's park president, Carl Lum, explicitly stated that Tempesto wasn't meant to be a "major" coaster, so perhaps it was never intended to bring in the masses like, say, Verbolten. I don't mean to knock the coaster itself- it's a very fun attraction. I highly recommend experiencing it. I should also add that, personally, I don't mind Hurler. I am of smaller stature, which is perhaps why I don't find it rough at all. It is, however, a somewhat boring ride, with a fairly lackluster layout. It's certainly worth at least one ride, though. Also, thanks for the warm welcome. Sorry about the misspelling of King Cobra- I didn't realize there was a difference in spelling!

State or DC? Terp, who likes to ask questions.

I'm not sure why I just now am visualizing this, but I think Seeing Stars (a song from Cirque Imagine 2014) would be awesome as part of the nightly fireworks soundtrack.

I love how they're able to deny the story, but somehow the story of one guest whose credit card didn't scan properly was such a big event on their opening weekend that the marketing dept. was informed of it and was ready to comment. I guess it's easy to keep track of those types of things when only "hundreds" of people enjoyed the park over the weekend.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that their excuse is true. I don't buy it because I trust Terp considerably more than I trust Hart's cronies, but hear me out. On a busy day, one would think that several people would have payment methods fail to scan. The fact that they are able to pinpoint the specific incident means that none of the other people attending had any trouble, which IMHO probably indicates that they are dealing with a laughably small sample size...