bkroz

Plus you may want to establish a more positive presence here before you have your oldest child join...

Most parks take for granted that people won't be pausing the videos to dissect the shots. And as we know, most chains understand that people aren't wrapped up in the details enough to notice Maverick on Kings Island's page or Carowinds' Top Gun in brochures. It's very common. Commercials for Paris' La Tour de la Terreur contain something like 70% fifteen year old stock footage of Florida's Tower of Terror ride and 30% computer-aided footage recorded at and for California's. The facade shown most frequently, by far, is Florida's, which is done in gothic style architecture and positioned 'backwards' compared to the Puebo-Deco Californian / Parisian building. That is, the towers look NOTHING alike, but how many people outside of park fandom do you think notice / care? (Compare :12 to :48, or :38 to :01). Similarly, commercials for Walt Disney World often contain images of Disneyland's Tomorrowland and vice versa. The end of Florida's "Soarin'" (of course, a direct duplicate of Disney California Adventure's "Soarin' Over California," just with the attraction name conveniently shortened) is a finale flyover of Disneyland Park at Christmas. The parks share many, many, many nearly identical attractions even country-to-country, but a keen eye can spot major inconsistances in footage... It's no different for Cedar Fair. Why hire a costly production crew to film each park's rides when Joe Everyman can't tell the difference between Intimidator and Diamondback, and doesn't care anyway! Point out to a friend that the footage used in the Kings Island commercial is of Kings Dominion's Dominator and they might ask, "So what?"

Sometimes you say what you think, which just so happens to be what everyone else is thinking, and life goes on.

I'm excited for that possibility!

What we lack in trees, we make up for in three-pronged, pointed bushes.

Before Diamondback, would you have imagined that a B&M hypercoaster could've fit comfortably in Rivertown? And even then, the plot of land that The Crypt is on could very easily hold LARGE flat rides. An S&S Screamin' Swing... A suspended HUSS Top Spin placed in a highly detailed set... An antique car ride... Parks have done a lot more with a lot less. Did you know Disneyland is 85 acres? Kings Island is nearly 400...

Sometimes Cedar Fair parks make attraction announcements in the wee hours of the morning on their Facebook page! Headlining stuff, I guess.

At some parks, the trees (and flowers, plants, waterfalls, pools, and Gardens) are indeed a major attraction factor! I would very much approve...

Always? Hmm..

Done? In what way? 5, 10, 20 years from now? If the park continues to stay open for decades to come, then I'm sure each "area" will get new rides or attractions. Are they done for the next few years? Maybe... But will Rivertown look the same in 5 years, much less 50? Don't count on it...

Batman is a fantastic ride! The Dark Knight gets a lot of flac for being a family-style Wild Mouse coaster touted at the ride-version of a gritty, adult, much-loved, critically-lauded motion picture. Further still, a few flashing lights, mannequins, and ill-timed effects in a very-visible warehouse hardly qualify as a fitting pair to what is considered a phenomenal movie. It's a fun ride! It just doesn't meet the expectations laid out by its source material. I actually liked Raging Bull, but if I'd heard all the criticism (of which there's plenty) then I might've noticed more of the issues people say it has. I'm glad I didn't hear it, though, because I enjoyed my ride a lot! American Eagle's line almost beats Flight Decks! Sounds like you had a pretty good day. I'm glad!

Kings Dominion's Crypt (the only other Crypt) usually has some of the shortest lines in the park, even with its incredibly attractive cycle. I've always dreamed of Kings Island getting a suspended top spin identical to Kings Dominion's (including the rock work, water pool, etc) placed inside of our building. The combined music / effects / cycle / size of theirs with the darkness, build-up, and theatrical lighting of ours would easily be the most detailed of its kind once again. But the chances of that are slim to none! As it is, I think the building will eventually come down... It would be a lot of work to fit anything into that pre-existing space, so even if an indoor ride were on the list, it seems like it would be easier to build a new structure altogether and maybe just re-use some of the existing features of the Crypt show building rather than work around the current dimensions.

Durga was built in pieces, so its more semi-permanent than anything. Right. But to remove it without damaging it would be an ordeal, and when I asked on Twitter, they said that props from the ride might be used for future attractions. I think it's safe to guess it's still in there, but I don't know.

If the wall is still in place, so is the carving. I believe they're bonded together quite permanently, which is why I expected the building to come down, and thus to be able to get a piece of it.

Many of us here just want them to make an announcement, too... Only so that threads like these can die. But something tells me, people would still keep them active...

Hart has the experience and funding necessary? Let's hope a giant corporation comes by and snatches the park (and its debt) from him before the bills start coming again!

Sorry, yes, GCI. Computer Generated Imagery would also create a worthwhile Son of Beast, I'm sure. Thanks!

No. Re-tracking never made a difference before. Steel coasters and wooden coasters are very different. Vortex's awkwardness is very common of Arrow's creations. It's their style - whether purposeful or not - to have awkward track transitions and unusual elements designed before computers dominated the industry (For Busch Gardens' Loch Ness Monster, a piece of track arrived curving the wrong way. It was heated and re-angled on-site). Son of Beast was not the victim of poor aging or characteristic-but-safe manufacturer styling. It was a bad ride (and to re-state: I liked it and enjoyed my rides on it). The problems with the ride run much, much deeper than re-tracking. The rose bowl area, in particular, is just poorly designed and produced extreme, extreme forces while also producing violent reactions (commonly and appropriately, "jackhammering") on the train and the riders attached to it. The layout is ill-conceived, the planning was (admittedly) sub-par, the concept was too far ahead of its time, and the physical construction was undertaken by two companies who were unprepared for the scale, the latter of which might as well have been reading the directions in Spanish while they went. If the park operators at the time had waited a few years longer and been willing to spend a few dollars more, they might've been able to catch Intamin's Plug-n-Play wooden coaster line right out of the gate. Intamin, I'm sure, would've created a fantastic, smooth-as-steel, 200-foot wooden coaster that would still rank among the best in the world, and if any manufacturer were willing to try a modern loop, it would've been Intamin. Son of Beast is the tallest wooden roller coaster on Earth. The second, third, and forth place coasters are all Intamin Plug-n-Play wooden coasters, and all are very highly rated, celebrated, and adored by the community. Even now, I think the only way to salvage the name Son of Beast (not the ride) would be to completely tear it down and either build a true sequel (a CGI, forest-enshrouded terrain coaster that stands a hair taller than the original) or to have Intamin build a record-breaking wooden coaster in its place. Experimental tamperings from outside companies (having Intamin work on the ride to their ability, Iron Horse track, etc) might work, but would the park OR the associated manufacturer be willing to take the risk again? Don't assume Intamin would WANT to overhaul any part of the current Son of Beast... A "right price" might not even exist.

Hopefully I'm misunderstanding but let's be clear: Son of Beast would need more than a "few tweaks," and it would "need fixed" to ever operate again. The ride was cleared for operation by the state before its accident and after it hurt passengers. The paperwork all checks out on it and engineers approve the structure... Okay, so what? The ride is too violent, too rough, and too ill-conceived to operate as it did. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the ride - I did. But a park cannot ask its patrons to ride defensively or warn them that this ride is so extreme, it may cause serious health problems. Even if the ride was not solely or directly to blame for the woman's aneurism three years ago, there is no question that people have gotten off the ride with painful side effects. Even just general discomfort cannot be a common, accepted symptom of having ridden a ride in this age. Is it extreme? Sure. But there's a line that's not worth the risk of crossing. The park also never gave any indication that the ride was closed then or is closed now due to the reported injury in 2009. Not once. Terpy is fond of saying that just because B happens after A, it doesn't mean that A caused B. Maybe somewhere off the record, the report was an impetus to close it, but you'd be mad to think it's the only reason or even the main one, I think... If the ride ever operates again, I can't imagine it would bear much resemblance to the ride of 2009, much less to the ride of 2000. "Know your limitations" is one thing. But you have noticed in a court of law and outside of it that the park and others seem to agree that operating a ride that is violent and unpredictable does not fall under "rider responsibility."

Wait... Hershey's Chocolate World is still open? Was a decision reversed somewhere along the line? I swear I remember hearing that it was going to be closing a few years ago... But awesome report! I visited Hersheypark when I was a kid - long before I was interested in coasters and before many of their well-known rides had been added. Hearing about and seeing your photos of Fahrenheit, Skyrush, and the gang, I know I've got to get back soon. Looking forward to part 2!

As the number of air conditioned rides at the park dwindles, seems like a nice place to cool off! And $24.99 including a buffet and drinks is really not a terrible price. Especially since you get all-day access and (assuming it is the International Restaurant) a snazzy photo opportunity for fireworks. Maybe someone accidentally ordered a few wrong-colored Fast Lane bracelets and they needed to find a way to use them up. Hopefully everyone sees that reservations are required, and must be made by phone.

I wish so much that someone could convince them of this. What good could petitions or public outcry (especially from an apparently uninformed group) do when safety is the issue? If the group had their way, I think many members would have the trains added to the track tomorrow and send the ride on its way. And worse, many members would probably line up and ride it without a second thought! They think it's as simple as "bring back the movie names!" or "change it back to Paramount!" and as we all know, arguing with them gets exactly no where. It's frustrating. It's like children trying to annoy their mother into letting them play with knives - they refuse (or maybe, are unable) to consider that the mother may be a wee bit smarter or that she may have their own best interests at heart.

Watch for crowds to grow magnificently through the day as families arrive in the afternoon, planning on staying until the fireworks.

I wouldn't say that. But I wouldn't bother myself over conspiracy-type theories that a decision has been made and that they're just waiting to "reveal" it. If they decided three years ago that they'd tear it down, what difference does it make if they told us then versus if they tell us when deconstruction starts? It's coming down either way, right? They don't owe us an answer, honestly. If a decision has been made contrary to what they say, what difference does it really make?

Better yet, why can't this all be handled in the main Son of Beast topic? Gah.