Browntggrr

How do you know if the coaster is "world class" if it has always been trimmed?

They did try with the removal of 2 coasters prior to the 2007 season. But even with that, the cost of maintaining and staffing the park were too high vs. the amount of people that actually came to the park. Too little, too late.

Yes, I will dispute that. This video was originally on an old u-matic tape that I purchased some years ago and transferred to VHS. This is simply a video of Beast prior to the ride actually opening. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=875 If there WERE people on The Beast w/o the skid brakes, you can thank them for the introduction of the brakes due to how forceful the ride was in the helix. They were the test dummies for one of Beast's first rides.

Yes the trims are there to save money. Trims are also there to increase uptime. If there were no trims, then the coaster would need to have more maintenance done, which would increase downtime. A trimmed coaster is better than SBNO. And no matter what you want to believe, trims are there to make the ride more enjoyable. The amount of G's an untrimmed coaster can put on a person's body makes it unridable for most people. Coasters are there for everyone's enjoyment, not just for the small percentage that can withstand the amount of force an untrimmed coaster can exert. Along with the amount of G's is also the amount of headbanging that occurs with OTSR's with an untrimmed coaster. FoF was a good ride with the old restraints, but with the new restraints it is fantastic. Why? Well, the headbanging is gone. Which is why trims on Maverick are in place, and why Steel Phantom was modified to Phantom's Revenge, and also why Drachen Fire was removed. The more headbanging that is present, the less enjoyable the ride is. Trims can reduce the amount of headbanging that occurs for a majority of the people, not for the small percentage that know how to "ride" a coaster. You don't like trims. So be it. But you have two choices: 1) Deal with the fact trims are here to stay no matter how much you complain. 2) Start your own personal boycott of the park until the trims are removed.

^ Wait till you read the other posts.

Yes I saw that same thing! It was reported by L.C. Guy.

^ Meaning what? Which rides? How many times? How long?

HB huh? I LOVE staying there. Right on park property and steps away from the resort gates. Sure it is pricey, but if you can do the package deal, it is not that bad. Like Interp said, thank your parents. Even though it is a one day trip, you will still have fun. As far as your brother goes, how tall is he? And is he afraid of coasters?

Yes it goes back over the road. The first few times on the ride, it is actually hard to tell where you are at. It may not be the "fastest" coaster, but going over the bridge for the first time, you can hardly tell. It has great air time, transitions, and laterals, and the tunnels are a great addition. And as most know, I'm not a big fan of SoB, but for RV2's cost of $6 million, it is too bad that KI could not have done something like this back in 2000. Between Maverick and now RV2, I am now a true believer that a huge lift hill is not necessary It is not Beast, El Toro, or Voyage; but it is one of the best wood coasters that I have ever been on. And even though it is intense, it is so re-ridable (unlike Voyage). It is just a fantasiclly fun ride.

If a mod would please delete this topic I would appreciate it. I really don't know why I started another topic, tired I guess. Or too much Bud light.... Thanks! And until this gets deleted, please see my Waldameer PTR part 1 topic.

But we did have to eat. I got the meatball sub. It wasn't too bad. But for $5, it should have been better. Oh well, that's business for a park these days. Yeah, that's it. No, just kidding, that's half of it. With the drink, my total was about $8. Mom and the girls got the hot dog, 7/8 ounce of chips, and drink school special. Without the coupon, it would have been $3.50. Obviously NOT a CF park. Now, how can people miss the creepy clown cans? Speaking of lunch, there must have been an ACE convention in town: This was the key note speaker. Remember, crack kills! This is the Whacky Shack. It is a great, old Sally Dark ride. Some of the inside effects did not move, but still a great ride. Ok, OK! Ravine Flyer 2 time: Happy? This is actually a pic of my oldest daughter, Julianna, waiting for her first trip on RV2. I have never seen a ride with so many signs at the entrance. Lift hill and into the gully. To the bridge and over the "Ravine". Around the turn around, and back over the bridge. Station shot. Break run. The wife liked RV2! I took a bunch more, but I'm tired.

The requirements for land travel have gone back and fourth so often it has been hard to keep up. The requirement has changed due to an excess of applications. Basically, the demand has been so high, they can't keep up. My family has passports. And I have not had a problem. Personally, I would get a passport if going out of the country. What customs has been doing is that if you have proper ID, and your passport application in hand (not the actual passport, but the paperwork that it is on it's way) you don't have a problem. And if the process has sped up as others have mentioned, I would do it ASAP. Even if you don't go, it is always nice to have.

ughh...

OK. First, this is my first, and probably ONLY PTR that I will ever do. Man is it a pain in the a$$. Anyway, my kids' school picnic was today, and it seemed like a great opportunity to introduce KIC to Waldameer in Erie, PA. It is a fantastic little park, with some really big thrills. Namely the new Ravine Flyer 2. I first rode this new coaster when it first opened, and of course again today. They have since removed almost all the anti-rollbacks, and boy, does this coaster FLY. Many of my pics came from the ferris wheel, train (as you can probably tell from the looking throught the fence pics), or the Skyride. Please feel free to critique my loads of pics. Many of them are rides, or my kids, or the ACE convention that was obviously in town, but it actually was kind of fun. One hint, I kept editing my post so that I knew that I was not screwing it up! Welcome to Waldameer. Evem older than Interp, Woofer, and Brown put together! This park means business! And if you don't wear your shoes, you will get whatever this is describing. Decently priced. Midway shot. Another midway shot. Games on the midway. This guy had no idea what was being built at KI. I tried to dip into his knowledge of parks. Needless to say, it was a quick conversation. OK, onto some rides: Comet was first. It is a nice Jr. woodie. The kids loved it. The neat thing about Comet is that a turn ariund on the ride goes directly above the station. Above the ride, over the station, through the trees! Am I kidding myself? I'm an expert at this PTR thing! Mom and Jessica loved the Comet. Next up: Paratrooper. This would be the kids' first ride on a BIG ride without mom or dad. Boy, was dad stressed! Onto Ravine Flyer 3. Funny thing about RV3, it was actually built before RV2. This is a kiddie steel that goes around twice. And this ride is for kids? Look at that angle! A view of RV3, Sea Dragon & some kind of wooden coaster in the background! Hmmmm.... RV3 Kiddie Kingdom rides. Random mom pushing her kid on the "little trains". She probably thought "What the heck is this guy doing taking a pic of me and my kid?" Now that is a GREAT ride op! KI workers take note! Speaking of great ride ops. I really loved this option. I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like this at another park. Shot of the 7 miles of beaches on Presque Isle. PI again with Erie Bay to the right and that pesky wooden thing that keeps getting in my way even further to the right. Onto Part 2....

You have been to KI on a Sunday in July, and all the rides were walk-ons? I have been to KI enough since 1978 to know that is not true. And yes, even Saturdays at GL, the park was dead. A average Saturday crowd at GL is a typical Wednesday at most parks. And CF did not "steal" any rides. They purchased an already failing park from SF. It's not like CF took over, and then the park failed. And if GL was competing with CP, then why would SF sell a park that was such a cash cow? SF purchased GL with the intent of competing with CP, and they built it up so fast that the attendence could not keep up with the cost of ride development. Prior to SF, GL was a small park, maybe the same size as Kennywood. But in two years time they doubled their amount of coasters? What park has ever done that? And we are not just talking little coasters either. Look at it this way, KI has 13 coasters, in 2006, GL had 10, for a MUCH smaller and less popular park. If SF had not purchased Sea World, there would have been a chance that the park could still be around. But now we are getting into the hindsight of decisions.

Do you think that CF is the only park with prices that high? If so, you really need to get out more. For example, at Waldameer Park here in Erie, PA, the all day lockers are $9. You get $4 back when you return the key, so the locker is actually $5. And at KI the locker after the deposit is $7. Needless to say our little waterpark is not even close to what BB is, and for only having a $2 difference, CF seems to be priced correctly.

You said it yourself. You were there on a Sunday in July, and all the rides were walk-ons. If a July Sunday had all walk-ons, can you imagine what it was like during the week? Unfortunately, parks are there to make money. If a park has all walk-on rides on a weekend, in the middle of summer, it is quite obvious that they are not making money.

That is very possible. But also, the weather has much to do with it. Memorial Day weekend, the temps barely hit 70. The normal highs are usually around 68, and in 2008 it was 65. And at night the temps went into the 50's. It really has been downright cold in this area. http://www.wkyc.com/weblog/weather/labels/may%20weather.html It has only been just over a week now that you could wear shorts comfortably on the shores of Lake Erie. Now if we could see what kind a attendence WWK has had for the last two weeks, that would be some good (and intresting) data. It has been downright hot.

^ Well now that you mention it.... ...oiling the lanes could very well be an issue.

^ Wait till you have to hit the windmill on lane # 102. Meh, it gets UGLY!

^ It is nice that they do have the teat seat. But where is gets really bad is when a person will fit the test seat, and then not fit the actual ride seat. CP has been dealing with that chaos ever since MF had it's seatbelts shortened. Needless to say, it has caused MANY loud and embarassing incidents on coaster platforms.

Kingda KaLanes?

But you can't forget about those that are rather small. Including larger restraints for taller people, could excluded the smaller guest. We already have enough upset kids in the World because they are not tall enough to ride.

^ You are absolutely correct that is what has been mentioned about the lubrication. But, if the cable was frayed due to lack of lubrication, it should have been noticed that replacement was necessary. Or if the cable has not been replaced in quite some time (i.e. MF elevator lift), or if the incorrect cable and/ or supplier was not used, any amount of lubrication still may not have prevented the accident.

^ Hey if you feel that way, nobody is going to change your mind. But somethings to keep in mind: Both Intamin drop ride incidents were on rides that were engineered and designed before Drop Tower and are very different from KI's version. The SFKK incident was caused from poor preventive maintenance and not from a design failure of the ride itself. If the cables would have been replaced in a timely manner we would not be talking about this at all.