silver2005

Well, the obvious bad news is I'm cancelling this trip this summer. Depending on how soon I get back to work, I may either keep this trip and actually add SFGAm and a Chicago venture to it, or I may go back to the southeast trip I was planning to KD, BGW, Carowinds and Dollywood with a good helping of Gatlinburg in there.

I heard a really great argument on how things like sports and amusement parks should open back up and the pressure they're under. Not only do they have the pressure of re-opening, but they're essentially hoping for a silver bullet of a situation. They have to do it the right way, a way where they won't get scrutiny for a bad decision which leads to more people getting sick. The consequences of getting their re-opens wrong is actually being without them until next year/whenever the virus subsides. I for one hope all these entities take their time re-opening, do it right, and make sure the decision to open back up is the right one. Whatever form that takes, I'm game.

Ski ride? What?

Sorry, but this comment calls for this. You may continue with your regularly scheduled discussion.

The CCI fan in me wishes the woodie alleged to go where DB is now came to fruition.

How about Six Flags Great America's? Iron Wolf- B&M's first coaster Shockwave- once one of the tallest coasters in the world and tied for most inversions at 7 for a bit Deja Vu- One of a handful of Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs ever built Rolling Thunder, Tidal Wave and Z-Force- part of SIX's infamous ride rotation Or Six Flags Great Adventure- Great American Scream Machine- one of the tallest coasters in the world and first to 7 inversions Viper- First heartline coaster Ultra Twister- the only one of its kind in the US Batman and Robin: The Chiller- first racing/dueling LIM coasters Rolling Thunder- one of the racing coasters built in the 70s along side the likes of Racer, Racer 75, etc. Lightning Loops- only pair of interlocking Arrow shuttle looping coasters

Racer has been getting subsequently better over the last few seasons with each bit of re-tracking. I expect the same this season (or whenever we get to ride it again). I know they probably won't repaint it to its original patriotic colors, but at least put some new chaser lights all the way down, too.

In terms of defunct rides I didn't get to ride when I visited and they were operating (and I was able to ride through being tall enough)- Ghoster Coaster, the helicopter tour, the tallest of the FastTrak slides (the slides at the tower before the mat racers) and Flight Commander. In terms of currently operating rides- Sling Shot.

All the S&S towers and Skyhawk would like to disagree with the notion of CF not working with S&S.

On the whole launch coaster discussion, I hope KI's next launch coaster is more of a flashy coaster with something like a 75-90 mph launch and elements above 200 ft.

^Maverick had an inline roll removed, Wicked Twister needed new supports, I-305 needed its 2nd hill re-profiled, Xcelerator had its launch cable snap with park guests on the ride, I believe Millennium Force also had its lift cable snap.

IIRC, Vortex even reused steel supports of the original Bat as well. The first lifts of both are in the same place.

^That made more sense back then because 1) Bat only was around a few years and 2) OG Bat and Vortex were by the same designer. Doesn't make any sense to re-use 30+ year old footers.

I have used to have a medical condition where I had to battle my own immune system as what I had was considered an auto-immune disorder. While I had surgery to remove said condition, building back your immune system takes tons of time, even if you're active in doing it plus your body doesn't store Vitamin C. While mine is more functional than what it used to be, I still don't trust my immune system even well after what they say is a good time to relieve social distancing practices. I'm going to continue to be strict in my own way until the 18 month time frame when there will allegedly be a vaccine. I have to actively take steps past what people consider to be healthy practices, even when there wasn't a virus spreading. If it means not going to parks, sporting events and the like, so be it. I also spent more time in a hospital than anyone should- I get how to handle social isolation and the level of patience and persistence needed to power through it. I anticipate several more spikes when between social distancing being relaxed and when the vaccine arrives.

I'm honestly thinking of just sitting out 2020 for park visits and just wait until 2021 even if parks open up, or at the very least wait until Haunt season to see if things aren't as hard pressed in terms of social distancing. Already cancelled my CP/MIA trip. Just thinking of all the hassles just to go isn't worth it to me. And yes, I'm okay with biting the $200 bullet of purchasing a Platinum Pass for this year and not using it.

Did no one see what happened with Hong Kong going back to 'normal' too quickly and the 2nd wave they're going through?

^Are you suggesting the S&S version is bad? Because I'd argue the S&S version is more intense than what B&M would come up with. The thing that makes 4D coasters work a la X2 are 2 extra rails below the running rails (the 4 in 4D is a reference that there are 4 rails, at least when it was coined when X came into being) that are connected to a mechanism that spins the seats. The only other option would be to have a computer mounted on the trains control the spinning. Both versions require a ton of extra engineering that I'm not sure even B&M could overcome with downtime. That's why I think the Intamin/S&S version is the way to go in making them free-spinning. Also, the S&S version does surprisingly well with capacity for its size and the single cars.

Another thing to consider is what the park experience will be like in getting return visitors/new pass holders. I imagine the park won't open at full operations, whether it'd be opening less rides, rides having less capacity (if they go by the Japanese examples brought up here- we're talking half or less capacity on everything) to try and fit in social distancing, etc. A lot of that will be a turn off along with the word of mouth of those happenings.

^Paramount was probably making the park look pretty as it was put up for sale.

Update on anti-vaxer friend- she is now seriously asking someone infect her own family with COVID-19 so they develop a natural immunity as opposed to a vaccinated immunity. My head hurts.

^I also why its mostly limited to autism when there are a myriad of conditions that you can get a childbirth. Heck, the one I had is one of them and I've met parents at group meetings, and that kind of thinking is never brought up (well, only to laugh it out of the room). And yes, my support group, both the one I see as well as the national group that its under, is very anti-anti-vaxer.

^I have a friend who's an anti-vaxer and its kinda scary how seriously she takes that position.

The problem is with the lack of testing, there isn't a way to track where the virus is spreading, and thus we don't know where it may be concentrated and where it has the potential to be spreading faster, and the CDC can't respond by doing more detailed work. I expect that curve to be going nowhere but up for a while. And then you have situations like in Florida where the curve is no doubt going up.

Not just CP and KI, the entire chain. All the parks' Facebook pages have this. Here's Carowinds', but its a copy/paste memo seen on all the pages. Link

All the CF parks via Facebook released what I think is a copy/paste memo. This is Dorney's version, but they all read the same. Link