Hank

I was going to ssay that, but I thought it might be overkill. Glad you mentioned it.

You could even have the ride provide an extra "ghost passenger" like the Haunted Mansion does. It would be a dinosaur - all the different types of dinos, all looking happy that you're there to see them. Hummmm......with my luck, I'd probably get Kinzelsauras in my car.

Thought.....You saying Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.....Maybe have a dark ride through the dino era, only funny and light, unlike Disney's Dino ride, which is so jerky, you can't see anything.

Not necessarily.A software glitch may have prevented the system from going into a "manual" mode- a mode that will allow the gondola to be lowered using the motorized system as opposed to a hand crank. A hand crank. I knew 5 million sounded too cheap to be true!

Like hell - lube is always needed for those tight spots!

After the loop, that was the smoothest part!

"French Fry Coaster" with the cars looking like steak fries and you get squirted with malt vinegar at the end as you splash down into a pool of Red Gold ketchup! And if you get hungry while riding, you can nibble on the safety bar! The ride pictures will be placed in a cardboard frame that looks like a ketchup bottle - the picture placed where the big front label would be. Oh my gosh - all kids of possibilities!

OK - I hope CF doesn't think that interest in DA is gonna last forever - even with "updates". Therefore, something else will have to take it's place (maybe Disney, being that Mr. Q has ties there, would loan the Presidents from "The Hall Of" to take the place of the dinos for a few years?) But seriously, to get all whooped-up. building coasters and such that are dino themed, I don't think that that "theme" is gonna be en vogue all that much longer. - just my thoughts

Oh - I forgot - in addition to this one extra dino, there will be a concession stand installed along the path 'cos you gotta eat!

If trying to keep with being authentic, it wouldn't be tall enough, loud enough, or scary enough - however, you'd have the wealthiest dinosaur ever!

Those pics from the Register - the one of the wheels - is this gonna have an elevator lift or a chain?

Good pics. I can almost hear the lift hill chain - all the way here to Toledo!

20 million for sound deadening?

^ Die laughing?

All of the ideas are good. The admission price is gonna dictate a lot. How much can you do - making it affordable for people and still enticing? A lot of places do a Winterfest kinda thing and it works. Meetings with the higher-ups of those places would be a good thing to do. Also, you can start out small and grow each year.

A 20 million dollar machine!!!!! A few extra bucks for seat padding shouldn't matter at all - except if it required frequent changing. The Posturepedic stuff is advertized as never losing it's memory. I believe it was used in the NASA programs. I don't like the stuff. I own a pillow made with the material and I don't find it comfortable for my taste in any way, shape or form. Keep the posts coming - good stuff, my friends!

Maybe with all the exposure Mr. H is getting, he's gonna get a big promotion?

I was recently mattress shopping. I tested all kinds of available beds - all makes, firmnesses, etc. - and something started tugging at my brain......why couldn't some of these materials be used to pad coaster train seats? The specific material I have in mind is the Posturepedic stuff. You sink into it and it holds you. Granted, on a coaster train it would be covered with vinyl or something like it, and that covering would prevent the sinking, but it would seem that the Posturepedic material would certainly provide a great deal of cushioning and protection. Of course, I know nothing of what current (and past, for that matter) coaster train padding consists of - and it might even be this stuff already - but I'd like to know some good information on this subject. You never know when I might build my own coaster and need ideas!

I'd like a t-shirt - 3X, please - even though I won't be going to the park next year. Let me know when they're available!

Should we mention Flight Deck, too?

Yes, but there hasn't been one single page that didn't refer to SOB! (like almost all other topics used to)

"Good to the last drop!"

That is really a general statement - Vortex will be retired in the next few years. Heck, lots of rides will be retired in the next few years. I just still can't get over how some can throw away a multi-million dollar machine because they don't "like" it - to just toss it out, condemn it to kingdom come, think they could do better. Those machines were state of the art for their time and need to be respected, as some regard them as their favorites. I saw that coaster in NJ floating out into the ocean. My children thought it was funny. I looked it up on RCDB and YouTube, and realized that it meant a lot to some - and to now see it just washed away was heart breaking. It was nothing special, but to some it was "everything".

News story from Toledo news station WNWO......... http://www.northwestohio.com/news/story.aspx?id=816904#.UIhReMXBFGc

We used to have a local newspaper. here in Toledo. called THE SHOPPER HERALD. They had a few "sayings" for things that were quite different than commonly used phrases. I believe this thread would have spawned the following "saying" on the front page of that paper, directly under any of the de-construction photos...... "That's a couple of too bads"