Rustbucket

For those who may be going to SFMM or Los Angeles in general this weekend, I-405 (AKA San Diego Freeway) will be closed between I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway) and US-101 (Ventura Freeway). If you can, avoid LA at all cost this weekend. If you have to go to LA, be prepared for extreme back up. CALTRAN is expecting somewhere between 28 to 64 miles! (How this can be guessed is anyone's guess!). BTW, I-405 - I-10 interchange and US101 - I-405 interchange are two of the 5 most congested in the US. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-12-traffic-LA-405-closing_n.htm

Exactly. These Intamin rides lap bars are designed so that upper thigh is the main place for restraints. The seat belts are not the "Intamin" type though. I really feel badly for the family. My thoughts are with them.

I will be there this weekend to ride Wind Seeker. I have been on one in Canada's Wonderland. I liked the ride but not as intense as I thought it was going to be.

It was running great. I liked it more when the second trim was off. Great air time.

You didn't HAVE to pay for parking. lol. It's called go to the gold/platinum parking area. IDK why nobody else did it. I know the parking place exists. I USUALLY park there. I did it 8 times last year. It was closed by the time I got there though. I had to go to regular parking lot.

I visited Carowinds on Sunday. As usual, they had problem with my Platinum pass from KI. I had to pay for parking before getting the refund. The park was fairly busy on Sunday. I got there around 2 pm. I was able to ride Intimidator 15 times, Afterburn (I still want to call this "Top Gun".) 4 times, and Drop Tower 3 times in 3 and 1/2 hours. Not bad. How I missed coasters! I got a late start this year but am planning to catch up. I am trying to get to 300. (I am at 255.)

This was a nice coaster. Too bad this is closing. The Speed the Ride reminded me somewhat of Mr. Freeze although Mr. Freeze is better. For those who will visit Las Vegas, ride this coaster before it closes. I am hoping that this coaster can be relocated....

1972?

I'll give you Demon Drop but Hydra is the worst floor less that I have been on. Now Talon I could ride over and over again. Talon is my favorite B&M invert. I will ride Steel Force also. Does any one miss Hercules?

I do miss the ride. I rode SoB over and over again during Gold Pass Action Zone Thursdays. I used to take some time off on Thursday morning to ride Delirium, Drop Zone and SoB. I believe most I ever rode SoB without getting off was 10 times in 2003. Even in 2008, SoB had some long lines.....

Wild One at SFA. My fifth wooden coaster.

Speaking of which, how busy are the parks during the Gold Member's ERT before the park opens? Depends on what time of the year. This Saturday, we got to ride it 12 times during the hour.

As a frequent visitor to SFMM, I agree with many that CP is still my favorite park but not by much. The scenary of both parks are quite stunning as well. Frankly, I prefer Magnum scenary as the best in the US. However, SFMM has much more diverse selection of coaster rides than CP: 4D, Flying, Floorless which are missing from CP line up. CP and SFMM do not compete for same visitors. People go to CP and Sandusky area for thrill rides and the lake. People visit Los Angeles area for vastly different reasons. I know there are coaster fans who visit both parks, but how many of us are there? SF wanted the titles of "most coaster in one park" and "tallest coaster in the world". SFMM now has the marketing advantage of having the most coasters. They actually got there even with getting rid of two rather bad rides in 2006 and 2007: Flashback and Psyclone. They replaced them with two really good coasters: Tatsu and Terminator. I am really enjoying the coaster war once again. I eagerly wait for the CP's response.

Pony Express does have the brake for rollbacks. The launch is outside of the station. I have seen a rollback on this coaster. I hope that no one is seriously injured...

I voted for Voyage. Not even close for me. Raven is good CCI coaster that has one outstanding air time hills. Legend is one of my least favorite CCI adult coasters. (They built quite a few kiddie coasters.) Voyage is my second favorite wooden coaster for its intensity, lateral, and air time.

You don't know the half of it! The ride had so many effects, only a portion of which were still active when I started riding it in like, 1998. Apparently, he lift hill had a robot at the top who announced that something had gone wrong just as you plummeted down the hill, a star-field was projected at the top of the lift, there were strobes and disco balls (producing star fields) in many of the tunnels, effect lighting, animatronics, etc. Half of the queue isn't even open anymore and has been permanently taken over by a creepy abandoned toy factory, but when the entire queue was open, I can almost understand selling 3D glasses... The handprint tunnel, the groovy travel posters to Atlantis, the robot in the first room of the queue setting up the pre-show, the room full of boxes, the dripping-paint tunnel... You are right that they finally have turned on some of the effects in the main showroom, including the gigantic, wrecked space station (the one that, according to the ride's story, you're going out to rescue some astronauts from), which is lit in pink and yellow and actually does look like it's eerily suspended in space. Of course, years ago, there were stars all around it (you can still see the little LED lights hanging down, not turned on), space noises & music inside the ride, glowing planets (one of which I think they turned on) and illuminated pieces of the scattered spaceship floating all around you. It's a shame, really... People always ask, "What's the point of even having it indoors? It would actually be more fun if you could see [the unique bobsled configuration]." And yep, I agree. But when it first opened as Disaster Transport, it really was an experience on-par with Space Mountain... or so I'm told. You bring back some memories for me about this ride. Not quite to Space Mountain degree... You are right about the themes. The Disaster Transport commercial used to make the ride sound like a space ship crashing somewhere and going through some unknown place. It was quite a bit more entertaining during the opening year with many lights and 3D glasses. It was not very popular with many on that opening day in 1980, however. One person who rode Disaster Transport on that day told Dick Kinzel, "It was a disaster." (I posted this one before.) I am wondering if this exact incident was the reason why Cedar Point and Cedar Fair in general stayed away from the themes on their rides for a long time.

When I was at CP last week, I noticed that the light effects during the mid course was not working on Maverick. Did CP stopped doing this effect or was this an isolated case? It is quite common for CP to not keep up with themes like Millennium Force music after 3 years although they brought that back upon many requests by people. (Myself included) The light and fog on Magnum is long gone now. BLSC effects are inconsistent now in all three parks.

I deleted the initial post since someone found it to be controversial. I know that any topic can be viewed by some to be controversial and will leave at that. I am agree with you. My initial topic stated that I may be spoiled by the fact that I have been on much more intense and IMO much better coasters than MF. Also, I have been on MF more than 500 times and have probably gotten used to the speed. I was there for the opening week of MF in 2000. I loved the ride but I still thought Magnum was better even back then. I have always said (even in this forum and this very topic), the first drop on MF is outstanding and this alone makes it my top ten steel coaster. The rest of the ride is speeding through the track without much intensity and quite relaxing. To be honest, MF to many have a nick name "Minimum Force" due to lack of intensity. I always ride MF when I go to CP although I do not find MF worth waiting more than 15 minutes.

Dave. I agree with you about ranking coasters. I know some people do not Voyage because of its intensity. Some think it is way too violent. One classic example of what you are saying is Shivering Timbers. Quite a few people say that ST is the best wooden coaster out there. I RESPECTFULLY disagree although I have had some fantastic rides on that coaster and some extremely dull rides. I guess you can say the same about The Beast. As for Renegade, I absolutely loved the laterals and airtime on that coaster. I have been on that coaster over 50 times and have never gotten tired of that. Of all the GCI Coasters I have been on, Renegade is my favorite. I have been on Renegade, Gwazi Lion and Tiger (which I did not care for), Evel Knievel, Lightning Racer Lightning and Thunder, Wildcat, and Terminator. I have not been on Prowler.

This is amusing like you said. Please read the post before blasting someone. I was disappointed and ASKED if anyone noticed the same. If people cannot take someone's opinion that is contrary to her own, so be it. I will not add to the fuel to the flame war that someone started. If you want to continue, that is your choice. I will not tell anyone what he or she should not do.

Read my post again before blasting the post. Also, read my signature. I say this over and over again. Read the post and understand what ther person is saying. MF is my 12th favorite coaster out of 252 and 9th favorite steel coaster. It is not my favorite by long shot but can you tell me where I said I did not like coaster? Was there any mention of ejector on my post. Please read the post before blasting a topic or the poster. Or do you blast anyone who do not agree with your opinion?

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Can someone verify that Grizzly at KD and Wild Beast at CW are similar or clones of Wildcat at Coney Island? I know that Minebuster has been modified many times so the coaster does not really resemble Shooting Star any more although I definitely found the Minebuster to have characteristics of The Racer and The Beast (tunnel helix).

Obviously the Six Flags did not contribute money into this. MF is not the best coaster at CP even.

I am still upset over this one. I visited that many times. The Klingon interactive ride was very, very good. The Borg one was ok but still interesting. I have not been to the Las Vegas Hilton since then.