PREMiERdrum

Yep! I can't agree more. And also, I'm sure some of those things are incorrect. Just what I'd heard (which, for all intents and purposes, is just as important as what really happened, because that tenfold is what the public hears before they board these machines). True. And in many ways, I agree. There's something about Maverick, Millennium and the like - they're unique, they're twisted, and they have unexpected launches and airtime. Does it make them more suceptible to break-downs? Yes. But there comes a point when the casual rider will simply feel "If you've ridden one B&M hypercoaster, you've ridden them all." Do you think casual park goers notice (or even care about) the differences between Behemoth, Nitro, Diamondback, Apollo's Chariot, etc. If they can even keep the names straight, they'll probably prefer some over others, but all are smooth-as-glass, up-and-down, out-and-back airtime hills with a helix here and there. They're fantastic coasters, but after a few re-rides they seem to lack that "oomph." At least for me. Of course, that's saying nothing of B&M's other offerings - Inverts, stand-ups, multi-loopers, dueling coasters, flying coasters. They have some of the best rides in the business, but when it comes to just their hyper coasters, they do become a little "blah" for me. They lack the suspense, uniqueness, and re-ride-ability of Maverick, El Toro, Volcano, even Wicked Twister. But for me, I've never had a bad ride on a Premier. I know that's like, the oddest company to favor. But I love their rides. Perhaps because they have a little bit of vibration to them, and most every single one I've been on has been at least moderately well themed, and I think that's something that Premier enjoys being part of. And I feel like, since they make smaller, more family-oriented installations, they put more care and effort into their rides than Intamin, who might crank out two huge coasters, a few smaller ones, flat rides, and observation towers all in one year. Premier is going to be the one to watch going forward... they have some truly great concepts and seem to have the drive to get them installed. If some of the plans Premier has for the Busch parks ever come to fruition (they were paused during the sale), I think we're all in for a treat. If the Tampa park's 2011 project ends up being Premier (which I think it may - based on the groundplan, looks to me like a darkride / coaster), things could really get interesting. The work I've seen that was done for the SeaWorld darkride/coaster was simply incredible. Edit: For the record, my screenname has nothing to do with Premier rides, rather, I'm a huge fan of England's PREMiER Drum and Percussion company.

Just some corrections: Additional bracing was added to the back spike, as a routine inspection discovered hairline cracks in the track that makes up the back spike. The park was fined after it was discovered that the manufacturer's maintenance schedules and procedures had not been followed. Never heard this one... the only known incident from S:UE / SV occurred in 2006 when a slightly misaligned LIM caused serious damage to the train and took the ride out of service for the rest of the season. The incident happened during morning testing, when no guests were in the park. While the company certainly has had more than their share of incidents, they are certainly the ones pushing the envelope in the amusement device industry, and you might say that it goes with the territory.

Well, at least that will save me some gas money, which is good considering that I'm getting deep into work on my Falcon!

Some of us Media-types were excited to attend Friday's media day, which, pending notification, is likely cancelled.

From Facebook: LINK - OnPoint! Blog Another new Intamin at the Point, and another delayed opening...

I've heard that it's much faster and more reliable than "Internet Explorer: The Ride"

While I think that Glacier Run looks awesome, from what I've seen the actual habitat for the bears is much smaller, which isn't a negative thing necessarily, as the yards in both Columbus' Polar and Alaskan Brown Bear habitats are simply enormous. So long as Louisville looks to Columbus and Detroit's designs (arguably the 2 best anywhere) and decide to give the bears large grass yards instead of a sea of concrete mock-rock, they'll be just fine. As an aside, we were at the Indy Zoo a few weeks ago, and the only exhibit that I was really disappointed with was their Polar Bear habitat. Even though the entire Zoo is only 20-ish years old, the poor bears had a flat exhibit with a small pool and the entire thing was made of concrete mock rock, except for 1 small gravel digging pit. The lone bear in the enclosure spent the entire time we were there pacing back and forth in front of the door to her den. Dave: Excellent pics! I know that the Polar Bears are the stars of this area, but did you get any shots of the other animals? I've only seen a few pics so far of the Foxes, and nothing that shows off their enclosure at all. I'm also curious to see if they add on another yard for the male Polar Bear they're supposed to get from Toledo next year. You don't usually see a male bear in the same enclosure as the females.

Quoted for truth. When GL permanently started using just 1/2 the station things got really ugly. You could walk on Dominator with no wait, Steel Venom with no wait, Villian with no wait, and be stuck queueing for XFlight for an hour or more.

Columbus Zoo's Polar Frontier exhibit is now open, featuring Polar Bears, Alaskan Brown Bears, and Arctic Fox. The Polar Bear habitat is the largest of its kind in the world, and features a large grass yard, a tide pool, a large pool with live fish for the bears to catch, several fallen real trees for enrichment, and several viewing opportunities: From above the bears, at eye level with the bears in the pool, and even below the bears as they swim. The Alaskan Brown Bear exhibit, home to Brutus and Buckeye, also features a large yard, giant pool, and great viewing opportunities. The area is also home to a family of arctic foxes, whose exhibit is built to look like an abandoned work shed, going along with the Alaskan Mining Town theme of the whole area. Link to article, slideshow, and interview with the Columbus Zoo's Dale Schmidt, from WBNS TV. LINK - 10TV.com Construction plan of the area, which gives you a great sense of the huge scale of the area and the multiple different viewing areas for the bears. (Image used from ZooChat.com)

And a simple sunshade (not unlike what they have in the queue) over that area would totally fix the problem. It'd be a little more excuseable had those in Planning and Design NOT known about the same issue at GL, but I have a hard time believing they didn't.

With this being a somewhat logical response, it is not true however, a third train would slow down the porcess causing a train to be left iin the trim brakes while the other 2 were loaded and unload, then this also throws in a safty aspect, you can have three trains in the small amount of block space that Firehawk has And don't forget that the train stuck on the brakes would be full of people baking face-up in the sun. I've been stuck in that situation before (at SF:WoA) for what seemed like an eternity, and it wasn't fun. Just like the seats were designed to recline on the lift, the seats were also supposed to raise back up once they hit the brakes.

The queue and loading station were actually outside the building. Oh never knew that. Where were they outside the building? The structure that currently serves as the Great Pumpkin Coaster's station and ride photo building was the loading area, I believe. The entrance was in Hanna Barberra land and then climbed stairs to cross the ride's flume, then back down more stairs to the loading platform. The boats left the station and followed the flume into the building right about where the BBoBH entrance is now, entering a giant TV painted on the side of the building.

The queue and loading station were actually outside the building.

It had a third train but the capacity actually suffered with the 3rd train added. I only know of a handfull of times where all 3 trains were run.

It's supposed to take place in Lima (I think), yet they always show a shot of the Columbus skyline (albeit, an old picture) on their "local news." And the "duratran" (durable-transparency) used in GLEE's news set is actually the exact same piece taken off of the old WSYX/WTTE ABC6 Fox28 set that was replaced in early 2009. The promotions director saved it and ended up shipping it to Fox for use in the show.

Like I said in my last post, I thought they were LED Red-Blue-Green cyc fixtures, which ARE very distracting in that application. They aren't the fixtures I thought they were.

If you're referring to Festhaus, those aren't LED. They're Altman Zip Strips and they were put up for Haunt last fall. There certainly isn't a written law on how to use a lighting fixture. You don't HAVE to use a cyc light just for lighting a cyc. Lighting is all about trying different things. There are methods and common practices, but that doesn't mean you always have to follow the crowd... you can change it up sometimes. My apologies, they appeared to be RGB LED strip fixtures from the photos (I haven't been in Festhaus yet this season). I'm all about changing it up. Some of my best work has been improvised and jury-rigged together. However, using an RGB fixture (as I thought the strips were) as a "punch" backlight becomes more distracting and certainly doesn't add much. A tri-circut strip in different gel patterns are great for this application. An RGB, no matter how hard you try, won't function as a direct-at-crowd fixture. The fundamental of RGB fixtures involves a medium there to facilitate the blending of the colors (either through spaced, thick diffusion or directional targets). Anyhoo, enough geek talk, back to you regularly scheduled review!

This. I'd almost argue that 1972 park, with a few additions, might be in better shape than the current one, especially when it comes to atmosphere and quality of experience.

I wouldn't say the sound and lighting were upgraded. Certain elements were added on, but the core of it hasn't changed in a while. Don't forget the video rig either... the two projectors weren't cheap. Aren't those LED bars mounted vertically on the stage new? I didn't remember seeing them last year. And just for the record, this is NOT how LED fixtures should be used.

Strange that SF also went with... "entertainment corporation" for their name. Leaving the possibility of "Cedar Flags Entertainment Corporation?" (Yes, I know CFEC is actually "Company," not "Corporation." It's just funny how similar they are)

Kinzel's not really a "technology guy", either. Just look at the "season's pass" system. And welcome back, my friend. It hasn't been the same without you.

A stupid question is better than an arrogant one.

If they're making changes to this scene based on overwhelming guest complaints, I'm ok with that. If they're permanently turning the scene off due to overwhelming guest complaints, that sucks.

Ahh! The old truck gag. Believe it or not, this same effect has been used in Dark Rides since the 1950s (or earlier). Did some searching on DAFE and found the earliest one I could find. Wonderful website, by the way. Nice work! I knew the concept had been around for a while, but Test Track was the iteration I thought most here would be familiar with. That would be a great way, IMO, to make up for the "loss" of the splashdown.