Browntggrr

^ I'm with you. I prefer MS to Mantis. I will only ride Mantis if I am with a first time rider, or if my wife REALLY wants to go on it (which does not happen too much). I have some good rides on Mantis, but for the most part they have been bad. I am just not sure if there is a good way to ride it. I just try to keep a slight bend in my knees to save my hamstrings and my manhood. And all the issues we have mentioned are probably why no new stand-ups have been built in 8 years.

There is a very good possibility that it will not be the fastest anymore. I just wonder if they are going to get rid of that cheesy *nucular* symbol (or whatever it is).

^^ I like the front myself. The 2nd half of Mantis there is a little headbanging, combine that with the hook on the seat and the pressure on your legs, it is nice to see where you are going. And according to what I have heard, Magnum is back to a three train operation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsnews/i...531591520070625 Update.

While TTD and WT did have numerous issues the first couple of years, the issues were not CP's responsibility, but Intamin's. Actually, even with the removal of the famous "heart-line roll" on Maverick, it has ran well being a brand new coaster with some unique elements to it.

Great article Chef! Since the park provided the pics, did they also supply the caption "The Firehawk"?

^^I disagree about waiting for DT. It really is a great ride to wait for in the middle of the day when the sun has been beating down on you for hours. The ride is below average, but the wait can rejuvenate you!

^ Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle BB gun with a compass in the stock and a thing which tells time? Hey check your calanders! 6 months till Christmas!

And do you know how scary that is? I am willing to bet that 99% of those who frequent this site know how to engage a restraint, as well as see when an operator is not doing their job. Now put a kid that may be a bit overweight, or a kid that is slightly mentally handicapped, that doesn't know any better about restraints. The potential for an accident is there. Operators like this need to be re-trained.

Ya, I was thinking the same thing. 1" over is a alot different than 1" under. I would have to think that with your son being so young, they may not even check him at all. Kids at that age have really weird growth spurts. If they strictly enforced that policy it has the chance to put a negative light on kids' rides.

If you are going to be getting to the park at 10:30am, I would not go to Firehawk first. Everyone else will be doing the same thing , but they showed up at 9:30am. Hit everything else first, Firehawk will have shorter lines later in the day.

Try riding all the coasters. That will fill your day. There are two avenues to try and hit all the coasters. If you are staying at a CP resort, use your Joe Cool to it's fullest extent. Hit Maverick early twice in the day, then avoid it. MF and TTD will be the next longest lines of the day. If you don't have Joe Cool, I would hit all the minor queue coasters early: WT, BS, Raptor if it under 1hr., etc. going to the back of the park but hit them in order. Once you go from the front of the park to the rear of the park, and back again, you have spent precious coaster time walking around the park. I would always park in the Soak City lot, it has that nice "halfway" feel to it as opposed to parking near the front. To fill your tummy. Try heart attack-on-a-stick, a.k.a. cheese on a stick. They are good! Just don't expect to fit on MF or TTD when you are done! Macaroni's is a nice stop for food. As is the TGI Fridays at Hotel Breakers. Have have heard both good and bad about Famous Daves, so that really depends on the people working and the crowd. Going this Friday is going to be tough. Many are starting their 4th of July vacations this weekend. The weather forecast looks good, so I would expect a good size crowd. Have fun!

^ I am going to guess that a majority of the testing takes place after the park closes. If the bulk of the testing were to be going on during hours the park is open, it would cause commotion from those who are not geek-like enthusiasts like us (you know you are! ). You can just imagine the comments from guests that want to tride it: "It's running, I want to get on!", "I paid for the right to be on that ride, let me on", etc. In our eyes, those are terrible arguements. But for the general public, all they see is the train cycling on the tracks.

It is quite possible that the thinking behind having the firework festivities on the 3rd is because of people (just like yourself) having to work on the 5th. From a business standpoint it makes sense. The park will spend money on days where they may not be busy, as opposed to days where you know the park will be crushed. People will come out for free fireworks. So have the fireworks promotion on the 3rd which may not be a busy day/ night, and more people will be more inclined to show up. As opposed to the 4th where people will show up no matter what. I can only imagine how many families took their summer vacation the week of 7/2 to 7/8. Combine that with SpiritSong on the 5th, everything with the park will be a mess that week. Given that the 4th is on a Wednesday, I don't think the park had a chance is pleasing everyone's needs. Unless they had the same type of fireworks display for 2 or 3 nights, but then that takes away the draw to go to the park on the 3rd. And a really decent fireworks display will cost $50,000+. And Avatar- it is too bad that you feel that way about KI, but hey, it is your opinion, and you are entitled to it. You have been to enough parks with your family to know the ins & outs. Just think, in a year or two the whole height restriction issue will be a moot point. (or MOO point- a cow's point of view- does anyone get that? ) But I do understand how you feel about the height issue. My local park, Waldameer, has changed the height restriction for their Scrambler ride the last three years. In 2005, my whole family was able to go on it. In 2006, only my older daughter (who was 5- but a year older) was able to go on it. Now this summer, neither of my daughters are able to ride it. The park's explanation was that the maufacturer changed the restrictions.

Vortex should own the Corkscrew. Technology & engineering advanced by leaps & bounds between 1976 & 1987. So you are saying that since CP has not built a "true looper" (I suppose that Raptor, Mantis & Maverick don't count for some reason), CP should not be known for their coasters?

http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/slidesh...mp;imageindex=1 It's nice to see Beast make the list, but some that are on the list are rather questionable. Superman at SFMM? TTD & KK on the same list? It is fun to see what the media will come up with next!

Update- http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/76112.html Timing could not have been worse for this to come out. With the unfortunate accident at SFKK, and now this report of poor maintenance at a Japan park will have all the amusement park nay-sayers in a tizzy.

^ http://www.mcall.com/business/local/all-do...sinesslocal-hed

Well now it's official. We know that at least one CF park should be getting a coaster for 2008. Not a brand- new coaster, but new to the park. http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/...alallentown-hed

^SBNO for 2007. Re-opened in '08. While Paramount did many things to make SoB an attractive ride for all guests, none were successful. I honestly don't believe that they would have removed the loop, nor do I believe that they would have torn it down either. Given the same circumstances that CF has dealt with over the last year, IMO Paramount would have fixed the problem with the cracking of the supports, but changed nothing else. But hey, that's all fantasyland speculation. It doesn't mean diddly-squat now.

^ You do know that even though it is an air launch (you must be referring to an S & S tower) there are still cables. Even though it is a rather scary thought that DZ at Cw was closed for a frayed cable, that is what the investigation is for. I applaud those parks that shutdown their drop rides for an in-depth inspection. I have really only felt unsafe on traveling carnival rides. Not that they are unsafe, but that is how I felt. Specifically on the Zipper-type rides.

From your experiance at CP it sounds like any other Saturday. If you are expecting short lines on a Saturday, the bar you are trying to reach has already been set too high. Of course you would be upset with the park. But what park is not busy on a Saturday? I have seen KI with lines that are 2+ hours for both Beast and FoF on Saturdays. I have even seen TG with a line of over 1 hour on a Saturday, that is why experianced park goers will avoid going on Saturdays. You complained about Corkscrew? That ride is 31 years old. When it opened in 1976 it had the record for inversions. But now it is a great starter coaster for those who are just tall enough to ride. Not every ride has to be the fastest or most thrilling to meet everyone's needs. There happen to be people out there that don't need the most thrilling ride to have a good time. You shouldn't expect parks to just reach out for the thrill seeker.

I have filled out positive comment cards. Specifically one after an unfortunate incident at SFNE. The wife and I took a Mother's Day weekend trip to CP, and I noticed that a ride op was doing a rather terrific job at checking restraints and happened to catch an issue many ops would not have seen or cared about (seatbelt was twisted and not buckled correctly). While it is the norm that a guest will usually complain about poor customer service, positive comments go much further. For instance, a individual operator could be given a promotion for good work, and thus their attitude could influence others on a ride or area. But all too often I have also complained about incidents where a operator has been just plain rude (also at CP and BGE). But I do not fault the parks. They cannot control every employee, especially an employee that is just having a bad day (each of us has been there) where no matter what you will not be happy. Without going into too much detail- at CP an operator for the Sprint Carts made my buddy's kid cry when he could not produce his second (consecutive) ride ticket, which I has in my possession so the young boy would not lose it. And at BGE, we were using the Parent swap and an operator for Alpengeist got very upset with us when my wife was not present at the exit with out kids after the ride. She actually was belligerent and then called security on us, and refused to let us ride. Security came up and questioned us about what was happening, but then the supervisor for the ride spoke with other operators as well as some other guests and found out the real story. The operator was immediately taken off the ride, and my entire party was given passes for AC. We were then given free admission passes for the next day (which we could not use).

To put a jinx on SoB now would indicate that it has not been jinxed as of yet. And quite honestly, this has been the worst ride KI has seen since The Bat was around in the early 80's. It would be great to see SoB operate again, but the over/ under is not in it's favor.

Huh?