bkroz

More like, despite what they used to say and then quickly pulled... But it's a bit too late, because news stations and publications ran with it. Though there is no official opening date yet announced, Universal does have special Harry Potter vacation packages (including breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, a commemorative ticket, etc) that go into effect May 28th, 2010. Last I heard, Rowlings team had filed legal documents with Universal that promised it would be open by June 18th or thereabouts (probably because it was originally to soft-open in December, and still hasn't). Perhaps that was done because of the grand-opening-atrocity that was / is Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit next door. As I recall, it was slated to be open for Spring Break 2009, but only recently began to operate its moving walkway (and still doesn't have all of its trains on the track)! Of course, even if the official grand opening date does come around to be May 28th, it may soft-open before that. The rides are just advertised as being in "technical rehearsal," so you're not guaranteed to get every single effect in working order (but then again, when are you?) and the ride may stop and start throughout the course, etc. I would be wary of them opening the big ride (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) for an extended length as a soft-opening, but as Delirium Guy said, it wouldn't be unreasonable to see Hogsmeade and Dragon Challenge open for spring break. I'm currently planning on being at Universal Orlando from the 19th to the 26th of May, but might push that back a few days so I have more of a guarantee.

^ Also, I am 5'6" and 130 pounds, so I'm not the 'average American,' and some of their rides are still uncomfortable. For example, I like the "isolation" of not really being able to talk to the person next to you on The Crypt, but they didn't do that on purpose... That shoulder restraint is huge, and unpadded for the most part. Literally having two little 4 x 4 inch padded (REAL padded, like filled with delicious fluff) would make it better for your head, and having the same on the crotch and lower back would be awesome.

I agree 100000%. Top Spins (real ones, not Giant ones) have this really terrible... I don't even know what it's for, just a giant knob that quite literally is angled inward, as if its meant to push into your crotch, especially during flips. I can't imagine why that can't be reshaped or something to create a better angle for male riders, or at LEAST add padding. Honestly. That's what I don't understand about HUSS rides. To have just a nice, padded seat like what you'd find in a car at least around the head, crotch, and lower back would make the rides they create MUCH more manageable.

I don't hear the best things of stand-up drop rides from male clientele. And then there's the floorless, tilting gyro drop Acrophobia at Six Flags Over Georgia where, upon reaching the top of the tower, the seats tilt forward fifteen degrees, almost forcing riders to look down at the drop before them... Wowowowow!

As was said, let us not forget that The Crypt is touted on the website as a "struggle against the fury of nature’s polar opposites" and a multi-sensory, immersive dark ride / adventure. In reality, it's just dark. A new "dark ride experience" may well end up being a heck of a lot worse than its previous incarnation. Or, (to get Terpy-ish about it) not. While I do not know what dark ride we're getting and I hope and pray I'm proven wrong, all other Cedar Fair parks that had interactive Scooby Doo dark rides are being replaced with "Boo Blasters on Boo HIll." If Cedar Fair had ever given the impression that they viewed our (admittedly, bigger & better) kid's area as bigger or better, I would be more apt to say we might get something other than BBOBH. Again, though, I would love to be proven wrong, and might be.

Because he didn't think that we were going to pick apart his every word? If whoever if answering these questions happens to make his(?) way to this website, they'll surely be baffled and, to say the least, surprised that many people hang on every last word. "It's on the map" clearly doesn't mean no, but a lot of us have to go back and forth for 45 minutes on whether or not it means "yes." Ah, the off-season!

I'm sure it means, it's being considered and something that's within view. I doubt you'd say "it's on the map" if you meant no.

Thanks

I can hardly imagine Volcano or Maverick having a rollback, but have heard from employees at both parks that it does in fact happen. Not frequently, or even occasionally, but it does happen. A question (probably for Terpy): Would it be safe to say that most launch coasters have experienced an unplanned rollback at some point? Or is one particular launching method so consistent that rollbacks are performed only during testing?

Notably, it seems that Action Theater will be operating... We just don't know what attraction will be inside. Very interesting, since that was something a lot of us had wondered and something that had previously been answered very cryptically ("we are still looking at a few options of what to do").

Even as one of the ride's biggest "defenders," I can't agree more with what's being said. At this point I would gladly have the entire ride replaced with a suspended top spin the same as Firefall. I think that it would be more fun and interesting if it stayed in the box, but if it had to be placed outdoors, it would probably still be better than what we have right now. The only reason I like the Crypt as it is is because I like seeing the goddess on the wall. But I would sacrifice that in order to have a suspended top spin. Really.

Invest in Universal Express for at least a day, I say! That way, you can have one day (and the preceding night) of just feeling like you're floating on air knowing you have no lines to wait in!

Looks awesome! Nice job! Though rarely mentioned as such, I'd say that particular ride, whatever name it may have, was definitely among the top three that need paint desperately, and among five or six that could really use a touch up.

Don't forget that, although some (or even most) of the roughness may come from the track, the actual safety problems have happened in the ride's structure, which would be unchanged (or even, under more stress) using steel rails. Plus, it would effectively be record-less since most would consider it a steel coaster. Not saying that's a reason to not do it, just that the "saving a world record coaster" aspect of it isn't really top shelf, I would guess.

Toy Story Midway Mania at DCA. Check it out... And while it's a great ride (I rode the Disney's Hollywood Studios version), it is still an interactive darkride using laser guns. Perhaps the best example of an interactive dark ride is Spaceship Earth at Epcot... That is a spectacular attraction. Really. Besides, Toy Story Midway Mania is DEFINITELY outside the capacity of a seasonal park, not to mention the many claims of nausea and headache during initial testing...

As a general rule, when interactivity goes up, attention to detail goes down. Looking back on it, I've never really seen much of the theme inside Scooby Doo because of always trying to hit the targets. I wish a company could come up with a way to introduce interaction without laser guns... Is that an oxymoron? i hope not. One thing i hope they're going to do, since the guns remain, is to turn off the sound effect (or quiet it) and add at least a little mist to the building - the fact that you can't see where your shots are landing (not even a red dot on the wall... It's entirely invisible) makes it almost impossible to play, and is actually kind of embarrassing for me when I bring new people. They always comment on it afterwards and how useless it is that you can't even see the laser. Even a small poof of fog every 10 minutes or so would help greatly.

Yes haha I went back into my post and added the link. But awesome. Keep it posted so everyone can enjoy the gentle purr of the world's only Giant Top Spin. What a sound!

Did anyone else notice that in the date 3-16-10 made into double-digit numbers and added together is 31+61 = 92, which is only 574 from 666, which, as a date is 5-74 which is 2 years 1 month after Kings Island first opened, and 2+1 = 3, and 3 times 222 (which is a good number, because it's 3 2's) is 666 again!? *bites nails nervously* I don't know if I like this whole Apollo thing!

I LOVE that noise (if you're talking about what I think you are). That purring noise as it speeds up or slows down... mmmm... I dream about it. I watch all the time. And I listen to it just to hear that purring. Hahha.Now if you're talking about all the resistor banks... Yes that's loud. Hahah.

Safety was not of paramount importance... That's half-joking... Does anyone else recall never hearing a safety spiel interrupting Tomb Raider's pre-show, or boarding music? Resulting in a lot of lost items in the lava pits?

But it would be a helluva 6 hours while it worked!

Sort of an interesting idea: Six Flags Over Texas' Texas Giant roller coaster, which was popularly down for an extensive rehab, is now being... steel-itized. At an estimated $10 million (nearly twice the initial cost of the ride), Texas Giant's track (not frame, but track) is being completely replaced by steel bars. http://www.amusementtoday.com/ The debate now (going on at Theme Park Review) is whether or not Texas Giant is still a wooden roller coaster. Technically, it appears to be a unique twist on the hybrid idea of Gemini, and sort an opposite of the short-lived The Villain at Geauga Lake. I don't think that this would be a fix for Son of Beast since most of the problem seems to be the structure and not the track itself, but this is certainly something to look into should the owners of the park seek a major overhaul. It would almost surely reduce the roughness of the ride. Of course, the structure could also be replaced with steel a la The Villain, which would technically leave it a wooden roller coaster (to save its records) and probably also drastically reduce roughness. Texas Giant's new rails, from the above linked Amusement Today article. The Villain's wooden track with steel supports. Sorry if this is old-news.. I don't think it is? But even if it is, I don't believe it's been discussed in relation to Son of Beast.

I'm so glad they're making a "thing" out of Planet Snoopy. The other parks had their ride names released on any ole' day, no hooplah, maybe the map came out and people just went 'Oh, there's Planet Snoopy...' But with ours, they're really making a production of it, first releasing restaurants, etc. It's very cool. Nice job, Cedar Fair! I'm liking this.

I'm always baffled that, when people talk about Paramount's poor themeing, they immediately jump to The Italian Job and Tomb Raider. No, the Italian Job didn't really belong where it was placed. It could've fit elsewhere. But with a bit of imagination, it fits quite well in the Coney Mall section; I chose to think of it like a "cops 'n robbers chase" sort of ride, and I find that it fits quite well. Also, most of the complaining that I hear is how the antique cars were there. Well, as one of a (growing) number of park patrons who barely remember the antique cars, I find Backlot Stunt Coaster to be a fun ride in a nice location. That leads me to believe that most of the "it doesn't belong there" hatred of it comes from an emotional, I-miss-the-antique-cars perspective. Plus, before Diamondback's splashdown eliminated Swan Lake, Italian Job was mostly removed and cut-off from Rivertown, anyway, and guests near The Beast couldn't see it, nor could guests near Tomb Raider. And as for Tomb Raider, where else would you have it placed? Oktoberfest? Coney Mall? It just so happens that we do not have the luxury of a well-themed, immersive Congo area the way that Kings Dominion does. When it came time for Paramount to place the $20,000,000 ride at one of its parks, I think we should feel lucky that they chose us and fit it in as best they could. In retrospect, of course, I certainly wouldn't mind having gotten Kings Dominion's, and they, ours. Again, Cedar Fair has improved the park markedly in many areas. In others, they've lost touch with what the park stood for. The same can be said of Paramount's time in control. I can't imagine there being a day when Flight Deck is called Flight Deck. It was built as Top Gun, it's referred to as Top Gun, and kids even today are being told by their parents "Let's go ride Top Gun!" Imagine if the tables had turned, and Ohio now was home to a park called Paramount's Cedar Point. Even should they rename Millennium Force to Iron Man: The Ride, it would always be Millennium Force. That sort of change doesn't usually go by unnoticed. What I constantly have to remind myself is, Cedar Fair didn't just buy the park, Paramount put it up for sale. The same can be said of Taft... Paramount didn't just buy Taft, Taft agreed to be purchased by Paramount. There were no hostile takeovers. Paramount sold the park to Cedar Fair, for better or worse.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on the 5@5, didn't they say a new roller coaster must be tested about 100 times (per train?) before it's operational? Even if it is per-train, it couldn't take more than a few weeks to run through that, right? Assuming nothing goes wrong, of course... Just thinkin' out loud!