silver2005

I'm posting this from Hartford, only a few hours after we touched down. We're in a Comfort Inn which is decent, including nice breakfast options including complimentary breakfast at the hotel and a Denny's down the street. Most of the things we can do involve historical societies and art museums. I think we're contemplating vising a mall as well, but its a nice city so far. We'll be downtown tomorrow night with some of us going to watch the USF vs UConn game to root for the Bulls since we've come to the consensus that we don't want UC playing the Huskies.

Fury 325 gave its first rides not to long ago (as of this post). From Carowinds' Facebook- ‪#‎Fury325‬ just gave its very first ride. Rave reviews and sore throats ensued. Link

Ok, most elaborate in-house steel coaster. Better?

But on rides they've done without Disney holding their hand, they've been kind if a disappointment. Also, I do believe their mine trains, at Disney parks no less, have had derailment issues.

The Crystal Beach Cyclone would be one I'd like to see a POV of, to delve deep into the mind of one Harry Traver.

^That and building rides in China is hardly a litmus test of how a company is doing. Parks are popping up like flies over there. In the States and Europe, even the GP has tastes as to which rides from what companies are good and bad. Keeping good business relations with those parks speaks a lot about the different designers. Vekoma's recent innovative endeavor, Battlestar Galactica in Universal Studios Singapore has had major delays. They've only build their bread and butter rides as of late. Their Flying Dutchman coaster never took off like it did thanks to Stealth. Their SLC's are uncomfortable compared to similar models, and nearly every park already has a Boomerang or kids coaster from them.

Outside of a park like Disney or Universal Studios, this has to be the most elaborate in-house built coaster ever.

Generally on most rides, with the exception of Firehawk and Backlot, if you ask about where to sit, they'll let you sit anywhere. It all depends on the crowds and other things of course.

At least B&M is still building rides in the major chains, in the US and in Europe.

^True, they also have a few projects in China, but elsewhere in the US they've pretty much have no work. EDIT: The projects they have in China are mostly Boomerangs and kid coasters. Hardly anything innovative.

For all of those wanting Vekoma of all companies to come in, they're kind of looked down upon anymore. They have around the same workload as Intamin right now, being around nothing.

I say start it in X-Base behind Firehawk, make it head behind AE and Banshee into the boneyard and then back. It may be enough to put restrooms back there.

Kings Island already has a nice ride behind SR&R's spot. Or rather, 2 nice rides.

With how much Kings Island and Cedar Fair probably want to forget about Son of Beast, we're probably lucky to be seeing a Son of Beast tombstone at all.

If you want an idea what the ride will look like come April, take a look at a ride at the sister park, Kings Dominion's Bad Apple. Picture courtesy of Kings Dominion. Link

I have 2 questions about Kentucky Kingdom. 1. I've been reading the thread and have constantly read that Kentucky Kingdom failed twice. I understand why it failed with Six Flags. However, through a Wiki search (don't have much else to pull from in terms of sources here, so bear with me on choosing Wiki), I saw it failed right after its first season. Why did it fail then and are any of those reasons similar to how its struggling now? Differences? 2. What will be the breaking point at which they do decide to close the Kingdom?

Here's a picture of Premier's over head restraints for reference. Notice the proximity of their heads to the black areas on the restraints.

^No- headchopper effect is having support beams and/or track come really close to you and makes it appear to hit you. Flight of Fear's restraints really limited how your head moved, and all you had was very hard rubber to bang against. With the way Flight of Fear whipped through its many s-curves, it made for one of the worst head banging experiences ever.

For those who don't know how bad the overhead restraints were, imagine being put in a rubber headlock while riding Flight of Fear and all it's quick transitions. Not fun.

And now I'm reminded of one of the most overused songs played at sporting events ever.

In other words, it'll be doing this with the hard wheels-

This looks really repetitive, like the same coaster done several times as it makes its way to ground level. I also thought the station would be at the top, not the bottom. That's a really, really long lift. I do like the setting though. Looks kind of freaky as it flies around the side of the building.

This thing looks like a pure speed demon until the far turn around and looks to have graceful pacing through the 2nd half. That 90 degree bank at the turn around looks like it will be funky in how it feels, in a good way though. Lateral air time anybody?

All the above in my opinion. The right mix of all those things listed, and more, make rides enjoyable.

@ DontWantToWait42mor0- Wait...so you'll ride Monster and SR&R, but you won't ride Scrambler? You do realize all 3 have the same counter-spinning motions to them? Its just SR&R and Monster have elevation changes and Scrambler doesn't. Also, that's kind of a mean statement you have there about people who enjoy Scrambler. Just sayin'. I do agree Kings Island needs more smaller flats. Heck, intermediate rides in general. Woodstock Gliders is a start. I think some of that empty space between Backlot and Diamondback has potential.