silver2005

The giga I envision would indeed start in X-base, but with how spread out they are, I could see the far turn around all the way by Bat/Timberwolf or even as far out as the parking lot exit, maybe some direct interaction with Banshee. Those big loops in addition with the surrounding space are ideal for threading. Imagine screaming through those at 80+ mph. Also, something along the color scheme as Behemoth and Talon.

How hilly are Dorney, Waldameer, and Knoebels? (I know the terrain of the ever hilly HP and NJFTP).

You know, a lot of the questions you guys are asking would only take a quick search on Google or RCDB.... The internet is your friend. Most of the time at least.

Also, Gerstlauer is still building plenty of rides and are doing all the right things. Heck, Knott's new ride, HangTime, is the same make and model as Smiler. I have no problems with Smiler or Gerstlauer. Hopefully, Gerstlauer has stopped making wooden coaster trains.

Their hotel resort in Corpus Christi is filing for bankruptcy and is auctioning off the hotel and parking lot. https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2018/02/07/here-bankruptcy-sale-details-schlitterbahn-corpus-christi/315211002/

^The coaster industry doesn't revolve entirely around the wants on enthusiasts.

^Intamin, as of late with their overseas builds, have almost exclusively been using cable lifts, including on their smaller coasters like their 10 inversion coaster and megalites. Also, Intamin has only built 1 Aqua Trax, as in it never caught on. Mack has built quite a few water coasters.

Mack was big on developing spinning coasters and water coasters (water coasters as in ones with actual cars, not the kind Pro-Slide builds). The trains they use for their hyper coasters are also more accommodating to larger guests than Intamin's. Their hypers also don't use cable lifts, which, the ones installed on Intamin's have had a history of snapping. They've recently created a launched water coaster which goes back and forth along a shuttle course and on the last time through, the splash track lowers to create the splash that lowers the speed as it goes back into the station. Their first such ride was built at Walibi Belgium by the name, Pulsar. https://mack-rides.com/products/water-rides/powersplash/

Heck, KI itself back in the Paramount days is responsible for 2 pretty big rides that went down due to cutting corners- Son of Beast and Tomb Raider: The Ride/Crypt.

I would say it might even be closer to $50 million. Steel Dragon 2000 cost that much, mostly due to earthquake proofing, however, the cost of steel has gone up (along with inflation) to the point where that figure wouldn't be out of the question for such a project today.

Now if only we can get the park to prepare LaRosa's properly and add on their hoagies and calzones, we'd be set. I really hope the food department gets a good overhaul on how it operates this season.

I don't think KI's location works in line to make it more of a resort like Cedar Point. KI is in a much more urbanized area than Cedar Point and there's way more to do within, say, a 20 mile radius of Kings Island than a similar radius around Cedar Point.

^I'm well aware of those incidents as well as the forensics report from the 2006 accident. I did a whole article on SOB as a staff member for another coaster fan site (that's since been deleted), including what you just posted. IIRC, those kinds of incidents didn't really start occurring until about 2-3 years in. I can't site anything because every website I used for information for that article is gone.

You know, there is a real easy way they could have fixed this- get rid of that smaller hill and add some heavy duty magnets at the end. Bam, problem solved.

Also- not colored red, or any kind of shade of red.

As under-engineered as SOB was, it didn't have any glaring safety problems as Verruckt had, like, you know, launching off the slide. SOB's problems were things that had to occur over time.

There's also a whole chain of these parks (4 more in fact). This might have quite the ripple effect. https://www.schlitterbahn.com/

^Well, unlike most parks, Schlitterbahn often makes their slides in-house. No third party designers like Pro-Slide, so they have no one to scapegoat.

Soak City is included with admission. You don't pay separately for the water park. You can use either entrance, at least as long as SC remains open.

Alright, elephant question in the room time concerning admissions. What's my best option for Six Flags Great Adventure? Buy a ticket and parking separate or go with a season pass?

In food, they used to not be able to print receipts unless customers used a credit card during the late Paramount era. And even then, the printers didn't exactly work well. You'd be surprised how people react to that. I imagine it was the case in merch. as well.

So I've been tinkering with an itinerary lately, and I'm starting to piece stuff together. I plan on doing Dorney, Hershey and SFGAdv during the week. I've been told Sundays are the best days to visit Knoebels, so that's what I'm likely to do. Since I'm likely staying a night near Waldameer now (doing it on the way), I'll likely be doing that on a Friday. So it'll boil down to something like this- Friday- leave Cincinnati, get a speed run through Waldameer (I plan on leaving super early) Saturday- travel from NW PA to a hotel likely to be somewhere around Dorney Sunday- Knoebels Monday- Hershey Tuesday- Off Day Wednesday- Dorney Thursday- SFGAdv Note- I would ideally save SFGAdv till last, but it'll be heavily dependent on weather. I may tinker around with my off days since Dorney and Knoebels are smaller parks. Like, I may do Dorney on that Saturday (I don't know how Dorney fares on weekends). Hershey and SFGAdv are parks I'd like to keep on the weekdays. I would like to keep one day as a total R&R day though. This is just an early draft. Going by credit count (will be at 86 before this trip), it'll be likely that #100 will either be at Dorney or SFGAdv.

Backlot at least has some shade for its queue. Firehawk's queue is the worst, IMO.

So, I may have lucked out on lodging...maybe. My parents are visiting a relative in Philly this summer, and depending on the timing, I may score free lodging. I usually do my trips so they don't interfere with UC Community Band concerts, so we'll have to see. My dad gets nifty hotel discounts being a former P&G employee that I can use, too.

I've been to USF twice, actually. The year before we as a family went, my dad took me down to see a space shuttle launch during spring break and we shoehorned in USF. Fun fact, the shuttle launch I went to was Columbia's last successful mission. Lately, I've been meaning to get back to some of those parks and pick up the stuff they've added since as well as adding in other parks. I do like doing other things on these kinds of trips, too. I like a bit of variety and spontaneity. I'm dying to get back to Dollywood.