TombRaiderFTW

Why not go big and have a Barbara Walters-themed house instead?

Thank you so much for the hard work! It's appreciated!

They actually do train everyone on lockout-tagout (LOTO) in Rides these days.

I understand the spirit of the original post, but I have to passionately disagree with this portion. As someone with mental illnesses who has seen multiple counselors in his life, the quality of care you receive can be just as good as in face-to-face meetings. And for some folks, online counseling/therapy is their only option. I would be a SIGNIFICANTLY unhealthier, unhappier, and more anxious person without my online therapist. I can fully understand someone preferring face-to-face time with a therapist, and I think that's very valid, but the virtual option can be just as successful if it works for you. And I don't think it working out is the exception or a given; it's just a matter of what works for each individual. For me, it works. I only speak up on this because I know I'm feeling an emotional burden from social distancing that is not doing my mental health any favors. Online counseling seems to be the only way of seeing a counselor at the moment, if I'm not mistaken, and I know it's doing me a lot of good. I just don't want anyone to have the impression that trying therapy online is a waste of time and money, because for a lot of people it isn't. And I would offer that anyone who wants to try therapy online should do so if they're able, but I'd remind them that it's not THE way to do it, and it's okay if online isn't your thing.

^ That's the best thing I've ever seen.

I've been on them all, but it's been years since I last rode Skyflyer, Slingshot, Congo Falls, Monster, or White Water Canyon. I don't love being dizzy/nauseous, and I have to be in the mood to ride the water rides.

To be fair, the disease can have a two-week incubation period. We couldn't start to show signs of flattening the curve until this week. And we've seen a slight tightening of restrictions over the last two weeks, which means that we won't have an accurate sense of how current social distancing measures are helping the curve for another week or two. To @Hawaiian Coasters 325's point, though, I do feel like too much speculation, positive or negative, does drag down the already tense and dreary mood. This coaster season might be a wash, or it might not be. A second wave might come, or it might not. Optimism might let you down, or it might not. Treating anything not in the immediate future as a given is a bit overzealous--no one in the world knows exactly how the next several months are going to go. All we can do is keep our distance and wash our hands and keep making the best of where we're at right now.

I don't remember coaster ages and could be completely wrong on this one, but I think Verbolten reused footers from Big Bad Wolf.

Honestly... I think Action Theater's original placement was okay but very missable. When WindSeeker replaced its entry plaza, that building became barely usable, even with lots of signage pointing to Urgent Scare during Haunt. It's like they went out of their way to make it as inaccessible as possible when they decided to put WindSeeker there. I don't know what they could put back there that would fix the flow issues. In my wildest pipe dreams, that building would go away, and that space would be used for a show building for a terrain launched coaster (a la Verbolten) located in Vortex's spot. It would wrap its way around Red Racer's turnaround. All building faces visible from Beast would be painted Go-Away Green. I don't know offhand what the theme would be--maybe something mining-related, if the entrance was in Rivertown.

*The Eleventh Commandment eyes you suspiciously*

Good morning, everyone. You woke up to a world where the sun came up again today, where flowers are starting to bud, where blue skies are either in your present or in your near future, and where you are loved and understood by people who love and understand you. You woke up to a world that contains the sounds of laughing babies and orchestras and big crowds laughing or singing or cheering together. You woke up to a world full of color and life. You woke up to a world where Kings Island and other amusement parks exist, where people have made and someday will continue to make memories and stories together. You woke up to a world where, someday soon, Dollywood will make cinnamon bread, Carowinds will start testing Fury 325, Busch Gardens Williamsburg will be full of flowers, and Magic Kingdom will be full of those Mickey's-head-shaped-balloons-inside-a-giant-clear-balloon balloons. You woke up to a world where yourself and others are working to make the world a better place, even if not everyone necessarily agrees on how to do it or what that looks like. You woke up to a world where people create stories for the purpose of igniting imaginations, and people create poetry to help express feelings we didn't know we had and imagine experiences we've never experienced, and people create art to help us notice the beauty in things we didn't know had beauty. You woke up to a world full of both people very like you and people not like you at all, and doesn't that make things so much more interesting? Have a great day.

^ No "if." You did. Now you will pay.

Engineer here. What is a "romantic partner?" Is that a kind of calculator?

I'm stretching the definition of "brighten" a bit here, but something that's brought some light into my life lately is meditation. It feels really nice to set time aside for calming my mind and releasing tension in my body. Especially as someone with anxiety, being intentional about meditating will likely have some really great benefits for me. There are some useful apps like Headspace that offer guided meditations, if you're wanting to give it a shot but don't know what to do. It's okay and natural to feel kinda silly the first couple times, but hang with it.

Comcast is doing something mildly classy and customer service-oriented? This really is the apocalypse.

But not if they try to modernize it with screens, unless done well. *reaches over and recracks your knuckles, but, like, while scowling*

That is correct. *cracks knuckles threateningly*

Uh, RMCing Adventure Express definitely qualifies as messing with it, which most definitely breaks the Eleventh Commandment.

*checks calendar* It's not Christmas yet...

Sure. Trying to replicate perfection isn't the same as changing perfection.

Google Fi user here. Originally had a moto X4, now have a Pixel 3a XL. Fi uses T-Mobile's and Sprint's networks, and there's a way you can force your phone to use one or the other. On T-Mobile, unless the park is super busy, I have great coverage and data speeds. On Sprint, I have similar coverage, but almost never any data. But, that's also an issue outside the park as well, and I think that's more of a Fi issue than a Sprint issue.

I'm intrigued to read, but I think the link is broken.

Maybe putting the trains back on the track?

Yeah! I dunno if you've ever ridden another Top Spin, but they're very different ride experiences from what ours did. They're very disorienting and noticeably faster. They're worth a try, though I think the only one left in the U.S. at this point is at Six Flags Great Adventure. All the Cedar Fair ones are gone now.

^ I wouldn't say "misused." It was the only ride of its size and type, and the Ohio ride licensing department (Department of Agriculture) doesn't allow rides to operate outside of manufacturer recommendations. It's more that the design itself was safe, but it wasn't a great concept for a ride system for how big it was. Standard HUSS Top Spin models (Top Spin, Top Spin 2, Suspended Top Spin) are much smaller and more nimble with how they move. Ours was the only Giant Top Spin ever made, and its movements felt very... I guess the word I'd use is clunky? It was just very obvious how much power was going into moving the very heavy components. Like, I have no doubts that figuring out how to power the thing was a big hurdle for the park. You know how giants in movies are characterized by how slowly they talk and move because of how big they are, and they can accidentally punt normal-sized people into the next country with how grand and sweeping and powerful their movements are? It was like that, except for a ride. So when they started running the intense first cycle as The Crypt, the clunks got clunkier. It wasn't anything unsafe, but it just felt like the whole system was being strained more. (The fact that they removed an entire row of seats from the gondola before that cycle was implemented does give the impression that the whole thing was too heavy to do the intense cycle as it was originally built.) And apparently it was being strained more, because its final ride cycle was incredibly tame--the ride spun like a ferris wheel, rotating forward twice (and locking the gondola once so you'd flip once), then rotating backward twice (again locking once so you'd flip once.) It was a gentler cycle, and again, you could kinda get the vibe that it was easier on the ride, too.