bkroz

Right! And that'll work well... Until it doesn't. As I said, some people decide not to invest in the locker and never have it bite them in the butt. And unfortunately, the more times you successfully visit without paying for a locker, the less defensive you'll be. You'll naturally let your guard down over time. Hopefully it always works out for you. Your success story is nice, but hardly evidence that we should stop buying lockers. Things go well until they don't. Perhaps you'll have a very different story by the end of the season.

A very good lesson to share! A locker, after all, is essentially "insurance." There are those in this microcosm and on the larger scale who find that insurance isn't worth the extra personal cost. Some of them are lucky enough to never have that decision bite them in the behind. Others (like yourself!) learn a valuable lesson and make different choices in the future. I'm happy that everything worked out for you, though!

The trickle-down from these massive changes at CFHQ will be upon us soon... And the list of what we see (or don't see anymore) will undoubtedly be tremendous.

Very nice! I also visited and agree with much of what you have to say. The elephant sound (I also heard a sheep) was distracting, but can either of us be sure that that isn't the real, hypothesized sound made by that particular dinosaur species? Perhaps those noises are about as close as they can get to what they expect their calls really were. I wouldn't call it a "BAD BAD move." I hardly think that they randomly decided to be "cheap" with two of the figures... I thought the setting was beautiful and that there were plenty of figures spaced out well. It's a long walk that uses the natural terrain very well. I also laughed when you mentioned how you liked how some of their tails ruffled the foliage, because I noticed that, too, and really liked it. Truly the only thing that I would say could majorly improve the exhibit is to have the figures move continuously, or at least more often. Each moved for probably 10 to 12 seconds, then remained still for 20 or so. We happened to reach pretty much each one just as it stopped moving, and had to literally stand and wait for it to start again. Obviously, that sort of destroyed the illusion of reality far moreso than the elephant noise, and it was a little bit silly. Sure there weren't many people back there, but I don't think this is a "B mode" for the animatronics or anything - I think they're just set to repeat the same 10 second loop every 30 seconds. So that was a little annoying. It was a little strange to me that the audio couldn't come through a speaker placed in the mouth of the dinosaurs. It really wasn't too terribly distracting that their voices came out of a giant speaker-rock placed at the foot of each of them, but it was a little silly on the taller ones... And the volume seemed much too quiet on them. Perhaps that's to help from startling children, but they bill the 3D movie as appropriate for all ages, and it's very loud, so I can't understand why the dinosaurs can't make realistic noises. A really really nice exhibit though, and I'm happy with the up-charge. There were maybe 30 people spread throughout the trail when I visited, and it took a good 45 minutes. I would agree with your 9/10 rating.

That's a prototype chasis on the Flying Turns... Don't see many wooden, bobsled-style-lookin-coasters out there besides that one, do ya? (Maybe that's why it's taken years to open...)

Read a little closer and you'll see that despite the terrifying icon, there is a 30% chance of precipitation. Isolated thunderstorms mean that it may be a hazy, overcast day and that there may be a few rain showers that develop through the day. There will likely be short periods during which the rides shut down for a while, and periods in which the roller coasters run only one train. From my experience, it's a crapshoot. In theory, days like this keep the locals away, because they think to themselves, "We have season passes and can go any day we want... Why not wait till a sunny one?" But the one-train operation is a real drag during periods of rain. Last time I was there on an isolated thunderstorm day, I was honestly a little frustrated by it - running one train on Backlot Stunt Coaster? Really? Talk about redundant safety systems that lead to a full queue. But as I said, rides will stay open during rain as long as there's no thunder or lightning in the area, and a 30% chance of rain means that I wouldn't chalk the whole day up to being a waste. If you and your friends are not season pass-holders and your schedule is flexible, I'd suggest waiting till a better-forecasted day. But if its Thursday or nothing, I don't think you'll have too many problems besides a little frustration for the sake of safety. P.S. According to the website (which may or may not be trustworthy, since weather can change on a dime and I've seen them predict blizzards that just never came and vice versa), the morning and early afternoon will be sunny and warm.

Gah, wouldn't it be nice if B&M had a launch coaster? Maybe I'm way off here, but nowadays, I think that OTSR have little to do with the presence or lack of inversions. After all, there are plenty of inverting rides with lap bars (see, Flight of Fear, Son of Beast 1.0, Dare Devil Dive). So it's obvious that they aren't automatically necessary whenever a ride has an inversion. It appears that it has little to do with speed either, since Top Thrill Dragster doesn't have them. I'm not really sure who decides what requires OTSR, but I feel like it has something more to do with rides that make you lift out of your seat. Centripetal force would make it a challenge to wiggle yourself out from under Maverick's lap bar while going through the inversions, but there are plenty of moments of airtime that make the otherwise seemingly-redundant OTSR a nice idea... But I do not know, because rides like Diamondback don't have them either, and they're entirely airtime... Anyone have a better inside look? I'm not too worried. As the product tends to become more and more rider-friendly, OTSR are becoming somewhat less obnoxious. Compare Vortex's to Maverick's to Intimidator 305's, for example... It's on the up-and-up if you will. Many people prefer to not have them from a comfort point of view, but I suppose they're there for a reason, and at least they innovate to make them bearable.

And apparently, The Beast cannot exist by the very laws of physics! Haha.

What? Wait, wait? Hold on... What? So. Many. Questions.

They wouldn't be in the tunnel inspecting while the ride is operating. The supervisor at The Beast told me that they turn the lights on when they check the track in the dark hours before sunrise, and that they have likely just not gotten into the habit of turning them off. Of course, we're a good way into the season now, so if they haven't changed the habit now, they might not at all. She said it has nothing to do with safety or anything. It's the same reason Backlot Stunt Coaster's tunnel lights are on from time to time. The switch is in a lock-out area. Take that for what it's worth.

I think we can safely rule out any Cedar Fair park since the track is not red.

Thats comparing apples an orange. I'm just flabbergasted by this. So, it has the exact capacity, size, throughput, and duration as an Intamin Gyro Drop. Intamin calls it a gyro drop and uses its picture to advertise its gyro Drop Tower. Kings Dominion advertises it as the world's tallest gyro drop. It is physically, mechanically identical its sister at Kings Island, which is a gyro drop. But because it does not spin, it has its own classification that neither Kings Dominion or Intamin seems to recognize? Talk about arguing over semantics (and to argue that the manufacturer and owner are wrong, and that your classification is better than theirs... Argue if you must that it doesn't deserve to be classified a gyro drop, but recognize that it is classified as such regardless of your opinion). Happy to see Canada's tower seems to be doing well. Let's hope ours is fast-tracked to open.

^ Nice pics! Thanks! Then what is it? http://www.intaminworldwide.com/amusement/Towers/Gyro+Drop/tabid/142/ProductNumber/Gyro+Drop/language/de-DE/Default.aspx The gyro drop page on Intamin's website has a photo of Kings Dominion's tower. The attached PDF has two pictures of it. The only other tower types offered by intamin both use little four-person carts (see, Drop Zone at the other three Paramount Parks). It is a gyro drop. Perhaps when constructing their final drop ride, Paramount requested that the revolving mechanism be left out (that is, after all, the only apparently difference between ours and theirs in terms of functionality) for one reason or another. Does that mean the ride deserves its own unique classification? No. It's a gyro drop without the added revolving gimmick.

I don't know, but Kings Dominion's was built four years after ours, so perhaps technology had improved by then and allowed the ride to be adequately slowed in a shorter space on their tower. And as was pointed out, Kings Dominion's is a gyro drop (and not a giant drop or a ballistic tower, the other two Drop Tower variants offered by Intamin) as evidenced by the higher capacity and the ring of seats. It's been my opinion that Kings Dominion's doesn't bother with the spinning gimmick because not having it seems to increase throughput tremendously - the ring ascends the tower much more quickly, and the catch-car returns much more quickly. Of course, that, too, may be from four years worth of technology improvement more than anything.

^ Trying to figure out how our tower can be taller, but their gondola goes higher than ours... Someone somewhere must be levitating. "Gyro drop" is the style of ride, like a HUSS Top Spin or an Intamin Blitz coaster. Intamin has two types of Drop Towers - Intamin Giant Drops (like Wonderland, Carowinds, and Great America's Drop Zones) and Intamin Gyro Drops (like ours, with the ring of riders). Both Kings Island and Kings Dominion have Gyro Drop Towers. Kings Island's tower is taller, but the brakes start higher up, thus resulting in an altogether shorter drop. The tower is 315 feet, while the drop is 264 (which would mean that the brakes begin 51 feet up the tower). Kings Dominion's tower is shorter than ours, but the brakes also begin lower down, so there's actually a longer drop area before coming in contact with the brakes. The tower is only 305 feet tall, but drop distance is 272 feet, meaning that the brakes start 33 feet up the tower. So both are the tallest, just in different ways.

I can't say as I blame them...you are supossed to be their "friend"...if a friend kept coming over to my house just to insult me I would stop asking them over. Like! Consider yourself lucky. Many fan pages on that site don't have an area for guests to post comments, and if they do it requires a few clicks to get to it. As has been said in other posts, if you see 10 good things and 5 bad things in a day at the park, it's the 5 bad things that most people will pick out when they see the opportunity to contact the park. Read through the Facebook comments and you'll see a whole lot of negativity, a whole lot of uneducated speculation by people who don't seem old enough to even have a Facebook, and guests answering other guests questions (usually incorrectly). Frankly, I think it's a miracle the park still allows as much discussion as they do. Because policing that mess would be a nightmare. Especially during a season with a delayed ride opening... Brave souls.

So if you think the swings are about 280'? Why would Mr Sheids misquote the height of the riders experience by 20'? We've seen how anal people can get over a few feet, especially, as you mentioned, with the 300' barrier. I'm excited about the attention as well, and I'm not trolling. I just got to thinking about it. Is Drop Tower measured from the lightning rod tip of the structure? How far is the Drop Tower seats to the ground? It's got to be at least a 20' difference as well. But how are tower rides measured? Would you deny that WindSeeker is 301' feet tall? And wouldn't it seem superfluous to say "On WindSeeker, you will be 285 feet up a 301 foot tower!" People want the bigger number, they'll remember the bigger number, they'll tell their friends the bigger number, so what's the harm in advertising it with that number? And then there's Drop Zone... How many feet tall is it? And how tall is Kings Dominion's? Both claim to be the tallest gyro drops on the planet, but both have very different height statistics... Unusual indeed! Kings Dominion's drops farther, so isn't it the tallest gyro drop on Earth? But Kings Island's tower reaches higher, so isn't it the tallest gyro drop on Earth?

I believe the top of the tower is 301 feet. I actually could've sworn that at one point they were marketing it as 280 feet or something, since that'll be the height of the swing, but I could be wrong. 300 is a substantial psychological barrier for many, though, so if it piques interest and increases attendance then I'm all for it.

Here's a question - I plan to be at the park Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, June 7th and 8th... Will local schools be out yet? Should I expect massive crowds of just-released-for-summer children? Or worse yet, school groups? I'm going regardless, but as a person who likes to worry I just thought I'd ask if anyone had any information on the local school schedules.

This past weekend = May. "We anticipate the ride opening later this month." (On a sign written this past weekend = May = anticipated opening later in May)... Today = June. Strike 3?

Does the safety harness on Diamondback look "as good or as safe" as the one on Vortex? Do you feel safer on one than on the other? Are you safer on one than on the other? What happened on Flight Commander was tragic, but don't forget that it happened due to an intoxicated guest and an undivided seat that she sat in alone which was apparently not anticipated by the manufacturer. There are always unforeseen circumstances that can occur, but at least have confidence that WindSeeker will not operate until it meets and exceeds the strictest safety standards in amusement park history (things are a lot different today than they were two decades ago...). P.S. Not sure if anyone else noticed: Some of the people saying that WindSeeker looks unsafe or that they're not sure if they trust it are the same ones who say they would get in line for Son of Beast if it miraculously opened today, as-is... Interesting!

I'm sorry, but that's nothing short of ridiculous. The ride is a prototype. These four are the only ones that exist in the entire world. To a degree, they're figuring it out as they go, but even still they're equipped with technology, tools, time, and the strictest safety measures that have ever been applied to amusement parks. Consider wooden roller coasters, whose individual boards of wood are literally measured, cut, and bolted on-site. That's what leads to the rickety, bumpy feeling on traditional wooden coasters (and what prevents that feeling on laser-cut, plug-in-play, lego-style wooden coasters like El Toro), but that doesn't stop you from riding them, does it? Besides the fact that all that's happening to this ride is meant to make it work as it's intended, there are many forces in play to ensure it does not operate with human beings on it until it is absolutely safe to do so. Cedar Fair, Kings Island, their insurer, the public, the ride's manufacturer... Do you believe that any - much less all - of these parties would simply shrug their shoulders and throw their hands up and let people ride it before it's met their stringent, precise specifications? To say that all of the fixes that have allegedly been necessary is a little odd would be practical. But to say you'll never feel safe riding it? Do you worry about sinking on Shoot the Rapids, or the train coming unbolted on Maverick? You shouldn't. Checks are performed before, during, and after ride operation, and problems that arise are corrected or the ride does not open. Especially at Cedar Fair.

It could just be a simple handheld grinder, but the point is that it's yet another adjustment that's apparently needed, and it requires the removal of the actual chair from the arm for each pair. And then there's the hydraulic stabilizers that will probably have to be added eventually, too. And to my knowledge, neither of those processes have begun on Kings Island's ride (and might not until Canada's version is closer to operation - no need to start work on Kings Island's that might not even be necessary). I have confidence that the ride will not open until it can do so safely, and I think they're going about this the right way by focusing on one. Just sharing the news! And yes, this "rain delay" excuse is silly at this point. It's like if they had claimed that Maverick was closed for a "rain delay" and then removed a portion of the track and replaced it with a different element. There are substantial changes being made to the ride even now. If it were a rain delay, the timetable and extent of changes wouldn't seem so random or haphazard.

CANADA'S WONDERLAND: Via Screamscape. It's nothing if not humorous that park representatives apparently denied that it had operated on Tuesday despite the presence of a video showing the ride loaded with riders and going through the paces... Perhaps the "mechanical" happening that occurred, meant that humans probably shouldn't have been on it, and that it was very lucky that no one was hurt (thus making them try to cover their tracks). So now, even the "successful" Canadian one is closed and going through yet another mechanical change. If all of the changes performed to the Canadian version are essential to the ride's operation, than ours now requires hydraulic stabilizers on each arm and whatever is happening right now with welding each arm. At this point, I imagine they're just going to try to get the Canadian one working, then fan out and fix the other three once they know what they need. Twenty million dollars. Four prototypes. Four parks. One summer. Stay tuned? P.S. If you'd like the thrill of swinging hundreds of feet in the air, you can always visit Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Six Flags St. Louis, where their Starflier attractions are up and running...

Rather than Vault using Maverick's theme, I might think of them both as using similar triumphant Western music... The music played in Maverick's queue wasn't specially composed by an orchestra for Cedar Point, after all. It's just a collection of Western songs.