PREMiERdrum

Day after tomorrow, to be exact.

Hmm... "lightning strikes twYce" at the top of the page. We know pretty well that Carowinds B&M Hyper will be called "White Lightning", and I just thought the "lightning strikes twice" tagline was referencing that this will be the 2nd coaster at Carowinds with have the name. Let's look at: -the teasers for White Lightning at Carowinds were done in a checkered flag / tire marks motif -the media invite for KD's Intamin giga coaster came in the shape of a race car -now CP is teasing WhYte Lightning possibly for their new ride -Cw and KD fans have speculated a NASCAR / Racing theme for their new rides, mainly due to Nascar drivers appearing at the parks on / around the announcement dates This is getting interesting. Could CP just be promoting new rides at the other parks? Or are we going to see a multi ride / same Nascar theme deal in 2010?

One might ask whoever is behind these posts to... Get to the Point!

I just meant "yes" stating that certainly, somewhere, somebody knows what it means. In typical Interpreter fashion.

Yes. I did it, because Terpy hasn't yet.

And for those who believe that the ride's fate truly won't be decided until the offseason... I have some lakefront property in Aurora, OH I'd like to sell you.

I think that the pic, along with the rest of SF's Gotham Cities, are too gritty in detail. What I liked about SFWoA's Gotham (GL's Power City) was that it had the art deco design, deeply saturated color, and strong detail, without looking seedy or dirty. From a thematic standpoint, it was actually done pretty lightly. There wasn't much in the way of placemaking, just necessary operational structures dressed up a bit (which is more the way CF operates anyway). I wish there were some sort of thought process going on in park management to the tune of "What is Action Zone?" What does it represent? Is it a stunt zone in a studio backlot? If so, thats great, let's improve the look and dynamic of the area. Looking at the installations since the CF purchase, I have to say I'm happy. Firehawk was dressed and themed to match where it went, and Diamonback works great where it is. The problems in Action Zone stem from poor execution or funding in the planning and design stage. There were certainly "hard points" (buildings, attractions, utilities) which had to be included in the Animal Habitat to Adventure Village and the Adventure Village to Action Zone changeovers, but in both cases, especially though the latter, most of today's problems with the area could have been prevented.

The problem with Action Zone is guest flow... it's a dead end. Whereas most of the rest of the park places attractions along a path, Action Zone is a big slab of concrete with rides around the preimeter. I am not all that fond of the watertower, but is serves as a decent "weenie" for the land. The tower provides a central gathering point from which smaller paths lead to the land's attractions. Looking at the overhead, I don't see an "easy" way of fixing the flow problems. The Club Blood building blocks the chance of creating a loop around the Skycoaster, and the way that Invertigo is shoved back in the corner creates an awkward path with no workaround. Guest flow problems aside, there is no reason that some landscaping could be introduced. Big planters of bright flowers at the base of each of the poster frames that surround the tower, and some built in planter benches to break up the huge slabs of concrete would do wonders. I've always wished the area could either go back to looking more like Adventure Village, even with all the current attractions, or perhaps be turned into something like GL's Power City (which I know originated as Gotham City as SFWoA), I think some comic book style, art deco buildings could work nicely for the "thrill ride" part of the park.

I would love to see a bit more atmosphere put into Action Zone. The area needs more landscaping desperatley. It's hard to think back to what it looked like as the Wild Animal Habitat / Adventure Village. Now it's just a concrete wasteland.

Sorry to bump, but didn't think this was worthy of a new thread. I was in the park on Wednesday, and I am 100% sure that there were 2 flips in the program. We began moving forward, and did the first flip while traveling through the second (maybe third) full rotation. The flip began when the arms were at full height and continued throughout the downward fall, being back at "home" position by the time the arms were at the bottom of the path. After one more full "forward" rotation, the direction changed, and the same thing repeated while going backwards, including the flip. The soundtrack seemed to be the same as what is described here. The lighting was actually a very good program, synced to the ride very well. At 2 or 3 points in the ride, the Durga relief on the wall was illuminated, and even though it is painted black, was an obvious part of the ride. Having ridden with the first Tomb Raider program, then the Crypt of last year, and now this year, I can say that this program is not as fun as last years, but I still prefer this year's (although it does seem different than what was described earlier in the season) to the original Tomb Raider program. A few more notes: -I saw compalints on here of a strong urine odor in the queue. There was a musty smell in the queue, but nothing that smelled "bad." This must have been cleaner up. -The maintenance area is easily visible and really should be covered up. Other than this, I thought that the theme was fine. Nothing looked overtly cheap or out of place.

Could this have anything to do with the GCI that was designed for California's Great America? (or did that ride "become" Prowler at WoF?) I know that the CGA Woodie was announced, then put on indefinate hold due to the 49's stadium debate. I'm just thinking out loud here. If they contracted GCI for 3 rides (Renegade at Valeyfair!, Prowler at WoF, and the unnamed Woodie at CGA), would they have to find a home for that ride? This kind of goes along with Dick Kinzel's remarks on one of the conference call that (paraphrasing here) "we convinced a manufacturer to push back a new ride from 2009 to 2010.

Remember, these rides were designed to run with 3 trains (X-Flight was delivered with 3 trains), but the operations with 3 on were unrealistic. X-Flight's 3rd train (was it green?) was used for parts by the ride's second season.

Sadly, the Sea Dragon coaster hasn't opened yet this season. Still, it's a beautiful park!

Construction went very, very quickly... but they started very late. The building was mostly prefab off site (huge, concrete slabs trucked in). You can see in this April 10th update, they were just starting foundation work. Less than 3 months later they're doing shows in the building. http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2009/04/...009-update.html

http://www.leisuregrouptravel.com/breaking...ce-0906308.html The Wilds is a truly unique experience... I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. I was lucky enough to do some reporting from there a few years back and got a really awesome perspective on the place. I've noticed a great increase in their marketing since the partnership with the Columbus Zoo, which, by the way, was just rated #1 in the country, finally beating out San Diego after years of being #2. They produced this commercial to celebrate:

While Paramount did do a decent job themeing individual attractions... they botched the themed areas of the park. As you were walking through Action Zone did you remember the old Wild Animal Habitat / Adventure Village area? That was a cohesive, well themed, and beautiful area of the park, that now is little more than a slab of concrete and a splash of primary colors. What about the old Le Taxis area where BLSC now sits? Maybe it's me being a little older, but I will always remember Paramount as sucking the charm out of the park, and forcing their movies down my throat. I do see a glimmer of hope in Rivertown's revitalization this year. I am fine with minimally and moderately themed attractions so long as they are cohesive with the area of the park that they're in.

I remember when I would walk past their offices and when they would see me I'd wave, and they'd be happy to wave back. Then when Cedar Fair took over, employees were no longer allowed to walk by the offices, because heaven forbid the new GM Greg Scheid didn't like looking at the lowly associates walking by...What a pompous ass. I can only speak for myself but I have always found Greg Scheid to be very nice and professional. +10. He has always impressed me, and has always seemed very down to earth.

Weird. Here's a thought though... could the full circuit work lights for the whole queue be tied together? So if they were working in the (now) unused queue rooms, would that cause the worklights throughout the queue to come one? Just a guess.

I mean the work lights. The first time I rode the "new" version, all the work lights in the attraction were on. Yesterday, just one of the work lights in the Repair Bay was on, and a few were on in the stairway. Most of the ride was dark, except the main "theming" room with the helix. I'll see today if the lights are on in there. Yes, it's an exterior door. Apparently it was supposed to be open. I'm guessing someone got away with not closing their restraint? If you're referring to the red and blue chaser lights, those are still on. I got it. It doesn't sound like, at least for the ride, not too much has changed from last year. The chaser lights (what creates the "starfield" with the prismatic glasses) are still on, and the helix room with the, uhh, alien-satellite thingy in the middle still has lights (the purple and green lights still?), my only other question is in the last "room" before the brake run, where you go by a moonscape backdrop with the little rover vehicle off to the righthand side of the vehicle. Is this room still lit? I'm hoping this means a better, more permanant haunt in the old DT queue. Once they added the corregated steel walls to the queue's big room (where the animatronic used to be) the first portion of the queue became kind of a waste. I'd like to see the ride vehicle lightbox, destination posters, and maybe the "cargo" boxes mural moved into the new, abreviated queue, but I don't see that happening.

"The Ohio Department of Agriculture" I thought agriculture was for plants. I would not know this since im going into 8th grade next year. Yes, agriculture is for plants. But the way I understand it, the way the Dept. of Agriculture inherited ride inspections is this (and someone please correct me if I've been misinformed regarding the history of how the Dept. of Agriculture got ride inspection duties): There are a large number of state/county/regional fairs and festivals. Lots of these fairs and festivals are agriculturally based. So the Dept. of Agriculture has a large interest in these fairs and festivals. And what, besides cows, pigs, sheep, pumpkins, tomatoes, etc. are at fairs? Rides! So the Dept. of Agriculture was placed in charge of inspecting these rides. The inspection duties spread to cover amusement parks as well. See here for the Department of Agriculture's Amusement Ride Safety website: http://www.agri.ohio.gov/divs/rides/ Yes, the Ohio Department of Agriculture oversees the inspection of amusement devices. The division has their own building at the Dept of Ag compound near my home in Reynoldsburg, OH. The old building actually had a sign on it that said "Ferris Wheel Inspection Division," but their duties have obviously grown since then.

I'm sure it saves them a few nickles...

Wow... I really like the sign. I'm going to bet that we'll see a better, more permanent haunt in the former first queue rooms. When you say the lights were off in the repair bay, and on in the pre-stair and stairs, do you mean the UV lights or the work lights? And is it an exterior door open at the loading platform? Also, does this mean the "starfield" on the lift has been turned off?

Thanks for the confirmation. I had the pleasure of working with Dave for 4 years while I was in college and really tried to absorb some of his knowledge. Like I said before, I'm fairly sure the only reason the KI/KD towers were closed was so that the cables could be inspected and the inspection/lubrication schedules reviewed.

These changes have me puzzled. The full queue was used on hot, busy days as people were looking to get into some AC for a while. Let's combine this with some facts we already know to be true. -the other portion of the queue has been used for the Pharo's Secret Halloweekends attraction for many years. -the DT queue was used in this shortened format only during Halloweekends in past years -advertising materials for Halloweekends 2009 list one fewer haunt attraction than last year So, one could look at this a few ways. The Pharo's Secret haunt could be rennovated and plussed to compensate for the loss of another attraction (possibly Terror Island due to construction on Millenium Island?). Maybe the long rumors of DT's demise are finally coming true? Who knows, but it will be interesting to watch...

Yes, but... IIRC, the cables on the SFKK drop ride travelled along with the gondolas, right? Raising them up to the top of the tower and travelling with them through the descent. One "side" of the cables' loop was housed inside the tower, with one side travelling on the outside of the tower. When the cable snapped, there was a lot of slack left on the outside of the tower, allowing the newly broken cable to wrap itself around the girl's legs. On KI's drop, the cables are affixed only to the mechanism that raises the ride vehicle to the top of the tower. Once at the top, the vehicle is released from the carriage and is stopped by the magnetic brakes. Should the cable fail as the vehicle ascends the tower, the same type of incident is possible, but because the riders are so far from the tower (as opposed to being right up against the tower at SFKK) and the interior structure of the ride vehicle would make it more difficult for a similar incident to occur. (this is what I remember of Dave Althoff's explaination shortly after the SFKK incident)