TombRaiderFTW

I'm a little dumbfounded that there is animosity between Disney fans and people who prefer non-Disney parks to the point that Disney fans are called "pixie dust snorters." We all are fans of an industry whose main purpose, outside of making money, is for people to have fun. Different people like different organizations' means of creating fun. Meanwhile, millions of people are too busy trying to not die each year from lack of clean water to argue over which park chain they like better. Have some perspective on what's worth getting that upset over. Goodness. Anyway, I'm unperturbed about a potential GotG redo on Tower of Terror. I've yet to ride a ToT, so it is what it is. I'm not particularly surprised--while I did enjoy the Disney parks I've visited, they seem to have more of a focus on their newest, most popular individual characters and properties than on unique experiences. And really, I can't fault them. How many people go to Disney with the kiddos for a ride on Haunted Mansion? Compare that to the number of people who post pictures of their kids with Elsa and/or Anna and/or Hiro (etc.) on social media. Given the crowds that Disney handles and the demand for meet-and-greet experiences, it's a matter of reputation for them to offer as many character- or film-specific experiences as possible. (And before someone accuses me of being a "pixie dust snorter" myself: Universal is just as guilty. See the Potter areas, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, the reopened Jurassic World dinosaur meet-and-greet, the rumored Nintendo area, and so on.) It's sad at times that that is the name of the game when experiences like Maelstrom and Merlin's Woods in The Lost Continent are lost in the process, but that's how it works. Guardians of the Galaxy did well at the box office, and I would assume that its characters are not available for use at Universal's parks. It only makes sense that Disney would make use of it. It's just unfortunate that an apparently beloved ride would get changed because of it.

bkroz: I have a bittersweet opinion of Tempesto. As a ride, I love it. It's the only shuttle-like coaster (although it's a complete circuit) I'd honestly wait an hour for. It's so much fun. I enjoyed the multiple launches way more than I thought I would, and there's airtime, hangtime, and quick banking. I wish Invertigo could have been something like that. As a component of Festa Italia... Nope. To me, Festa Italia was already BGW's weakest themed area, and adding a motorcycle stunt-themed coaster to it did no favors. What theming is there is brightly colored, which is what the sun-faded canopies of FI needed, but it is what it is for all the wrong reasons. Or so I think, anyway. Marco Polo didn't actually find an Italian motorcycle daredevil during his travels, right? It's been a while since I took a history class. I'd almost rather see San Marco and Festa Italia connected at the end near the bridge to Oktoberfest and have Festa Italia take on an old-world Italy look, not unlike Da Vinci's Garden of Inventions. Or make it into a Greek hamlet, even. Leave Apollo's Chariot as it is, theme Tempesto to Mercury (or Hermes), and make La Cucina into an intricate marble garden on Mount Olympus inset with hundreds of flowers, where you can taste the food of the gods (i.e., offer a variety of Greek food.) And also build a copy of Poseidon's Fury and get rid of that very out-of-place basketball game. The problem with theming an area to a party celebrating Marco Polo's return home, in my opinion, is that there has to be a party for it to seem like a party. Right now, there's an obviously Italian area (San Marco) and "that other" Italian area (Festa Italia) that is Italy but with... uh, tents and roller coasters. It feels like there could be some live entertainment aspect to the area like a parade or show that would actually be a celebration. (I don't know if that sort of thing is sustainable long-term, and Tempesto has a very different theme from the rest of the area. So, I'd rather see it get a different identity than just adding a parade to what's there.) It's not unlike trying to continually dedicate a section of a theme park to "the future"--it seems like it needs constant attention to keep its definition. But that's me. I feel like both Tempesto and Verbolten were Carl Lum's first steps in taking the park from The Old Country to something like a hip look at modern European culture. I feel towards those what I feel towards virtual reality goggles on coasters: the idea behind them is great--and I adore Verbolten--but I don't feel like they should be used where they are. Based on the fact that the park has allegedly cancelled London Rocks and planned a Three Musketeers nighttime show in France/Aquitaine, it sounds like the new park manager and entertainment manager have the right idea, as far as I'm concerned. Which does make me wonder what the final theme of this alleged wooden coaster would be. It's late enough in the game that it's obvious that this ride was planned under Carl Lum, but I don't know if it's too late to make a theme change. I suppose we'll find out this summer. Here's hoping it's not themed to Justin Trudeau eating poutine or something. Also, BGWFans has just confirmed that the new ride is, without a doubt, a Great Coasters International product. Yay!

If this is legitimate, I think Busch Gardens Williamsburg is officially officially my favorite park. The place was near perfect in my head, but it really needed a wooden coaster to contrast with all that steel. And now it will have that. The wood coaster purist in me hopes this isn't an RMC in disguise, but even then, it'll likely be a phenomenal ride. Fingers crossed for a GCI, though--I feel like they'd fit BGW's style better than any other wood coaster manufacturer out there right now. I'm hesitant to believe it will be a GCI because of the Gwazi saga, but I'm still hoping. Regardless of manufacturer, I'm especially excited to see how this ride will be themed. Of all the areas of the park to get a wooden coaster, New France is the absolute best choice, in my opinion. BGW is truly one of the only parks I've ever been to that has more or less remained true to its original vision from day one. And it's been done fairly well, too. I wish more parks were like that.

That is strange. A haunted house in May? I mean, I'll be there if I can help it. I'm definitely interested. I just wonder who they're going to get to staff it, unless there is a plan to make Blackout open year-round? Certainly they wouldn't hire scareactors for one night of the house being open for an hour and a half? They're not planning to open it without scareactors at all, right...? (This post was edited after The Interpreter quoted it. I edited unaware that he was typing a post.)

The 2016 map is now live! Check it out!

Shockwave at Kings Dominion, too. I believe it was repainted in either the off season preceding or the off season following the 2011 season.

Very interesting!Interesting, indeed! "Origins" is not the sort of name I would think to attach to a replication of Dimensions: A Cirque Experience at Canada's Wonderland, which is what I was expecting us to get. "Origins," to me, implies a story about the origin of something, which Dimensions really wasn't about, as I saw it. Actually, Dimensions didn't really have a story at all, although it was still an excellent show.And now I'm dying to see the 2016 Live E page even more!

Don't quote me on this, but I want to say I read somewhere that RMC has started having non-painted strips on their track intentionally. Something to do with friction. I wish I could remember where I read that, because it explained it better.

I'm not fully decided on what I think about the concept of VR on coasters. On one hand, I kinda get it since a roller coaster is really the ultimate motion simulator. The way the VR will apparently work on Six Flags's coasters will create an experience you're not going to get out of Oceaneering dark ride vehicles, the old Spongebob 3D motion seats, your local mall's roller coaster simulator, etc. You're actually going to get proper forces to create an experience. In that respect, I think it's a really creative use of an existing resource without pouring $20-something million on a new ride. As far as motion simulators go, I think this is "the next step." On the other hand, I echo the sentiment that I do not go to amusement parks to experience the magic of watching a video with the screen really close to my face. Part of my enjoyment at parks is the fact that I'm outside, away from (most of the) technology I'm surrounded by most days. I also am concerned about how these will affect operations--are the headsets attached to the seats? The description implies as much. So does that mean that the ride ops have to remove the unused headsets before sending a train? Sanitation matters, too, of course, but I guess I'm not clear on why this would present more of a health hazard than almost anything else you might find in an amusement park. I guess I tend to assume that most surfaces in an amusement park have probably been vomited upon at some point in their existence, so I use caution regardless of apparatus by washing my hands. There's also, as others have mentioned, the question of riders removing the headsets mid-ride... Surely the things won't be actually locked onto riders' heads? I think I would feel more positive about the idea of VR if there was a new ride that specifically was designed for VR. I feel like it's the sort of thing that an FEC would be able to do well with. I'm just not feeling it on big rides at major parks, I think. I was afraid it was going to be mandatory for all riders when I was first reading about it earlier today, and that definitely wouldn't have been okay for my first ride on Superman at SFNE. Also, can we talk about how the poor riders of Ninja at Six Flags St. Louis get to go through the beatings that ride provides while, in essence, being blindfolded?! I mean, I suppose they don't have many realistic other options (Batman: The Ride is the only other steel coaster in the park with a ride time comparable to the other parks' VR coasters) but still. You know how many people felt about Maverick's old restraints or how people sometimes feel about Vortex's restraints and transitions? It's like that, but without being able to see what's coming. Kinda brutal. But then again, I try to stay away from Ninja as much as possible, so I guess I won't find out.

Except that Voyage does have trims now. The MCBR brings you to a full stop.

Just got done watching. That was wonderful and so well done! If you haven't already watched it, do so now. On a related note, that movie gave me a new sense of how finite life is... which may sound depressing, I suppose. I moreso think of it in the sense of that you can never assume that you have tomorrow to depend on. If you have the gumption and the means to do something good, then do it! It'll be good for you and, even more importantly, it'll be good for someone else.

Just curious: When was this? I stayed there twice about seven or eight years ago and didn't think it was awful, and now I'm curious as to when in that timeline my visits were.

Fair enough! Maybe it is a basketball game after all. I'm still curious about those footer-looking things, though. I wouldn't expect that they actually are footers, so I wonder what they're for. More to be excited for opening day for, I guess!

So how do they switch out the backboards, then? The (old?) game in Rivertown didn't always have Sprite backboards. It seems like that could be as involved as installing the baskets. I don't know anything about what I'm talking about, of course. It's just fun to think out loud.

Wait a second. There's no foundation to that... whatever that is. From the perspective of that picture, there should be some sort of foundation in front of it where the ball net, game attendant, and podium where you pay go. The basketball games in Coney Mall and the basketball game in Rivertown both sit on a concrete foundation, but that picture pretty clearly shows mud and grass. "But maybe they're getting ready to pour that foundation," you offer. And yeah, sure. Maybe that's the case. Except they already hung the hoops up before pouring the foundation or assembling any of the rest of the game? Not to mention that there are three footer-like somethings behind the wood thingies at the bottom of the picture, and they don't appear to be related to Diamondback. I can't see behind the Rivertown basketball game on Google Maps/Earth, but there's no footer-like objects that I can discern behind the Coney Mall games. From the webcam, the ground behind the hoops and by The Crypt's entrance appears to be torn up, which doesn't make much sense to me if this is a basketball game. And if that actually is a basketball game, then surely someone has considered the possibility that a miscreant may be tempted to toss a ball at a passing Diamondback train? (Although netting could perhaps fix that issue.) Not to mention: have we actually seen any confirmation that the original basketball game in Rivertown is gone? I know the game building beside the old-time photos building was demolished, but I don't think I've ever seen anything that said the old basketball game was gone. The new funnel cake place sits on the land formerly used by both the game building and the adjacent smoking area. So if the original Rivertown game is still there, it seems weird to place a new one that close to it. The pictures on Kings Island's Twitter of the new funnel cake building keep the basketball game out of the frame. Coincidence? I don't know. I want to think we're being diversion-ed, but hanging basketball hoops seems like a remarkably big step to take for the sake of a PR stunt for any park. And it's not like I'm an expert in assembling amusement park games. Something about this seems strange to me, I guess. But I could be entirely wrong, too--the park did tweet #NewFor2016 on one of the initial pictures of this area. But on the other hand, a "that's interesting" caption and some slight teasing over a basketball game would be a very Tony Clark-like move from Don, who doesn't usually do that sort of thing. Except he did do that sort of thing just before the Tropical Plunge announcement. Gah, I don't know! I guess we'll know for sure/we'll know more when the 2016 map is released. (And here I told myself I wasn't going to get all overexcited about potential hints. Oh well!) EDIT: AND the caption for that picture on Instagram is "Share if you wish you were riding the tallest and fastest #rollercoaster at #KingsIsland right now, Diamondback." That one's too obvious--Don's obviously messing with some people. I don't know how far you're willing to go, but I'm on to you, Helbig.

Are we not going to consider that perhaps the original user is young and/or extremely excited for their next trip to Kings Island, so that is why he/she is asking lots of questions in lots of places? Because it kinda seems like that person isn't asking intentionally annoying questions. They're just asking the sorts of questions that we normally field here in the spring or summer. It seems like he or she has a lot of anticipation for his or her next visit to Kings Island. Which is kind of the reason sites like this exist and kind of the feeling that inspires most of us to post here in the first place, right? It seems pretty unnecessary to fault a new user for innocent questions that we've all asked before, even if they're being exceptionally eager about asking them. But that's me. I'll stop playing social justice police now. I'd add some advice here, but I think everyone else has done a great job. I hope you have a great time at the park, Blackhole6670! Be sure to swing back through here sometime and let us know how things went.

It surprises me how much my answer to this has changed between 2012 and now. Honestly, there are so few moments from that list that are still applicable. Not that they aren't good--I've just experienced more things that I love a whole lot more. In no order: -The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman at Islands of Adventure: Spiderman yelling "No!" And then the ride carriage hurtles over the edge of the building. Also, the scene with the Hobgoblin. Also, the moment when you are hit with Dr. Octopus's levitation ray. -Test Track at Epcot: When you speed for the doors, and they open right at the last second. And then the accelerations afterward. -Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg: The scene before the drop, and then the drop itself. -Curse of DarKastle at BGW: The scene when you fall from the top of the castle. -Justice League: Battle for Metropolis at Six Flags St. Louis: The scene where you speed through the subway. -I still love Volcano and its launches. -I'm surprised I didn't list Tomb Raider: The Ride's hold over the lava. -Boss's turn after the MCBR -Iron Rattler's zero-G roll and dive into the tunnel -Phantom's Revenge's bunny hops, when seated in the last row

Tony did say that the Ride Warriors Club membership would be accepted for Coastermania. He did, however, state that club membership would only be valid for Cedar Point. To my knowledge, Cedar Point does not do any events currently that feature "Ride Warriors" in the title.

Taken from the Pointbuzz live blog (live.pointbuzz.com) because they did a better job of remembering the news from Winter Chill Out than I did: -$40,000 was raised for A Kid Again. (My note: Tony did mention that Cedar Point is looking to support more local organizations. Perhaps that's why Coasting for Kids isn't happening?) -Shoot the Rapids is coming down. If you haven't already seen the pictures on Twitter, the second hill and drop are already dismantled. -Dodgems is getting new cars from Italy. -The go-karts and SkyScraper are being removed from Challenge Park. SkyScraper is already missing from the horizon, so one would assume it's already dismantled and gone. Ripcord's picture was in the presentation, but nothing was mentioned about its fate. (It's still standing.) -Similar to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Cedar Point will offer premium Sunrise Thrills tours involving climbing Valravn's lift. -Cedar Point is essentially starting a Cedar Point-only coaster club called Ride Warriors Club. Involves exclusive events, ERT, off-season tours, etc. Priced at $120/year. -Aforementioned Chik-Fil-A changes. -Hurricane Hannah's (just inside the front gate) to become a Coke Oasis, complete with bubble machine on the top of the building. Apparently someone told Tony that it would probably only last a week. -The fresh-cut fries place by Raptor will be getting redone, complete with 3D sign. Attitudes will become a Coke Freestyle stand. The other two fries places will receive the new signage. -All-Wheels Extreme will get a new stage. Luminosity will continue to evolve as an experience. It was a wonderful event, as usual. I had a great time. Thanks to Cedar Point for putting it together!

It should be noted that the Instagram caption also contains "#NewFor2016," so one would assume that this is not related to anything coming in 2017, if anything is coming in 2017 to begin with. Given the odd location and short timeline, I doubt it will be anything like a new ride, but it's fun to imagine the possibilities. Maybe a (small) new shop? Since it got posted with a teaser-y caption, it'll be something interesting. This is the level of fanfare that Cirque Imagine got before it was announced, so I'm sure it'll be something we'll talk about this season.

^ To be fair, the box was somewhat better hidden before Diamondback. At the very least, it wasn't visible from all sides like it is now. Here's what it looked like in 2007.

Wonderful article as usual, bkroz! The more parks I visit, the more Tomb Raider: The Ride stands out as an exceptional, adventurous investment for a seasonal park. I always thought it was fancy writing fluff when people talk about how unique and unusual of an addition it was for a seasonal park in Ohio, but it really was. It could quite honestly hold its own against rides in Florida. Especially remarkable to me is the budget--consider that Verbolten is rumored to have had a $50 million pricetag in 2012 and, in my opinion, doesn't exceed TRTR's level of theming. Adjusted for inflation, Verbolten would cost around $51.6 million today, but TRTR would cost around $26.3 million if it cost $20 million in 2002. If only it had lasted! Thank you so much for writing the article and sharing! It was so nice to remember that ride as it was. You've made me incredibly nostalgic. P.S. The number of people here who only experienced The Crypt or never experienced the ride at all is making me feel super old.

If I'm not mistaken, that pond is drained every fall after WWC closes. Just so you know!

They were very popular with me, a money-spending park guest! Just kidding--I know what you meant. It's just a bummer to think about them potentially leaving. They were so stinking good, much like the fries that were in Hank's Burrito Shack before Hank's Burrito Shack was Hank's Burrito Shack. I did notice that that place would shut down when the park was short-staffed. That probably says something about its popularity. The covered patio area behind it isn't the prettiest place in the park, so I suppose I'm okay with this happening if it means that the appearance of that area improves. I'm a little sad that the park is losing a unique building that (I'm pretty sure) was there in 1972, but mainly I just don't want to lose the elephant ears.

What?! No! That's the only place in the park that I know of that sold elephant ears! Tell me the elephant ears didn't get the axe, too!