TombRaiderFTW

Right name, wrong ride... I do wish Six Flags would give me a reason to want to go to SFA.

Ah. Yeah, I have no clue. Next time I'm there, I'll be sure to check.

I didn't. (I feel like I haven't really seen them at the park since 2010 or 2011. I know for a fact they were there in 2010, as that's when I bought mine.) I did notice then that the signature appeared to be sunk into the page (the way your handwriting would be if you wrote on the page at the top of a stack of paper) because I looked at it at an angle to check--I was surprised to see it and wondered if it was a stamp or part of the printed page. It looked to be the real thing.

If it's true that she's no longer welcome at the park, it makes me uncomfortable and somewhat incredulous that they're still selling those "historical picture" books of Holiday World that feature her handwritten signature in the front and picture in the back. I witnessed them myself in Voyage's gift shop last weekend.

I don't know why, but it's really striking to me how different the capacities of those rides are compared to Banshee. Of course, these numbers are rounded one way or another and don't truly take into account all of the riders for this year, but I think it's accurate enough to get the point across: In 43 years, Woodstock Express has averaged 1,046,512 riders a year. In 33 years, Viking Fury has averaged 909,091 riders a year, and Character Carousel has averaged 363,636 riders a year. In 20 years, Xtreme Skyflier has averaged 50,000 riders a year. In 19 years, Flight of Fear has averaged 789,474 riders a year. In 16 years, Invertigo has averaged 625,000 riders a year. In 8 years, Firehawk has also averaged 625,000 riders a year. And in one year, Banshee thrilled 2,000,000 riders. That's almost as much as the total average ridership per year of Flight of Fear, Invertigo, and Firehawk combined. I guess I never really perceived the capacities of those rides as being as low as they are, but then again, that's why people around here tell you not to base a ride's popularity on the length of the line. I mean, I knew Invertigo and Firehawk especially don't have great capacities, but this just kinda put it in perspective for me.

It really floors me that this happens, it closes, they replace the cable and reopen in the same day, then close to do an investigation. What on earth was the train of thought there? Your ride just failed with riders on it... and you try to just play it off and hope no one noticed? Did they close when they realized a news station had picked up the story? Did the state of Wisconsin step in and force them to shut it down? Was there seriously no concern about why it happened? I seriously can't think of a well-intentioned and logical reason as to why it reopened in the same day. If the incident happened unexpectedly, then the operator appears very apathetic about safety. If it was expected, then that is neglectful. It is extremely, extremely difficult for me to believe that the failure was analyzed and remedied and the ride was legally approved for reopening in the course of an afternoon. It makes me sad when people are cynical about parks' safety. It makes me even more sad when events like this justify it.

On the subject of St. Louis: I really can't describe how much I love and recommend the City Museum. It's really a one-of-a-kind place that kinda defies explanation, except to say that it is most definitely NOT what you're picturing in your head when you read the words "City Museum." Think museum meets Chuck E. Cheese (but appropriate for grown-ups) meets a repurposed industrial factory meets a lawyer's ultimate nightmare. If you can swing it, I implore you to spend an afternoon there. It's so worth it. For example: The building it's in used to house a shoe manufacturer, and instead of tearing out the spiral chutes that shoes would slide down from the top floor down 10 stories, they added a cage over top of it and turned it into an endless spiral slide that you can ride. The outside of the place has the craziest metal structures for people to explore, and the only way I can think to describe it to people is to say, "It looks like someone's mom told them that they can't go to welding school, and so they decided to spite her and go to welding school and weld every piece of scrap metal they ever found afterwards to each other. And then they called it the City Museum and started charging admission to climb all over it."

^^ Racer is decent, but I've never really noticed a strong difference between day and night or red and blue, personally.

Mandatory suggestion: The Beast. It matters. It might not seem like nighttime would matter, but it does, moreso than any other ride I've ever ridden at night. It feels so much faster than it does during the daytime, and the darkness of the helix swallowing you may give you goosebumps. If you can only ride one at night, make it The Beast. That being said, I personally think Adventure Express is an under-appreciated night ride, especially when its theatrical lights are functioning and turned on (although the second-to-last tunnel can be really disorienting when the lights aren't on.) It too feels faster and more forceful at night. Banshee has some nice lighting at night, from its signage to the queue to the station to the ride itself. For me, the ride itself feels pretty consistent between day and night... which isn't a bad thing by any means, as Banshee's a great ride! Certainly something worth experiencing more than once. I personally don't get it, but there are folks here who love Diamondback at night. Then again, I'm not much of a Diamondback fan during the day, either. I'm certainly not going to discourage you from trying it out--for as many people as there are that like it, there's obviously something there I'm missing. It's all in what you like in coasters!

Wow. You did an incredible job. It sounds wonderful! I listened to your clips all afternoon while I was working. Out of curiosity, how on earth did you get so good at working on Wurlitzer band organs? Do you own one?

The only place I've ever heard of getting tickets for SFStL is at the park or online (online being usually a better deal.) As with many Six Flags parks, a season pass is usually very comparable to any multi-day ticket deal, so if you are planning a multi-day trip or a trip to another Six Flags (e.g. Great America, which is only around five hours away), you may want to consider a pass. Whichever way you do it, I hope you have a great time. I personally love Six Flags St. Louis (so much so that someone is probably groaning while reading that I am once again talking about how much I love the place) and especially The Boss, Mr. Freeze, and American Thunder. The new dark ride looks pretty dang good, too. You should post a TR!

You know you've been around here a while when Terp posts things like that and there's still this really small voice in your head that goes, "Was that a hint?"

I've actually been dealing with a hacking issue with my email since around the time all this started. I wonder if my account here was affected. Someone was attempting to use my email for spam--I got oodles of "failed email" emails from my email provider saying that I was trying to email people all over the world.

Awesome. You're the best. Thanks again!

There's one at Kennywood, if that's any closer for you.

^ I did last weekend, as a matter of fact.There are, figuratively speaking, a handful of red track pieces out front. That's the only color track there--unless you count the unpainted pieces, in which case, there are rust-colored pieces there, too.

^ Didn't know that--thanks! The last time I was at a Disney park, I was in a stroller, haha. I need to get to one soon!

^^ I actually have ridden a Triotech dark ride that used the iLLUSIO effects, and, while neat, I feel like it's underutilized in a shooter dark ride. If you're really into shooter dark rides, you'll probably think it's awesome that your target is an actual three-dimensional real-life object instead of a target or digital creature/object on a video screen. I'm not that into that variation of dark ride, so, while I can appreciate the imagination that went into it, it didn't do a whole lot for me. It kinda felt like someone just sat something in the way of the screen. There was a prop in the window by the front gate at Kings Island a few Haunts back that projected a statue face onto a rounded, nondescript bust, and every so many minutes, the face on the bust would suddenly become animated and scream or cackle or something similar. And it actually looked like the bust was moving. That, to me, seems like a more effective use of that sort of idea--you could have an entire room of a dark ride that seems innocuous and quiet, but on a cue, every object in that room can become lively and animated or frightening and make you want to get away. Seriously, imagine a variation of that part of Ghostwood Estates at Kennywood where you run into the "dead end" where everything is quiet, a little confusing... and then imagine the portraits glaring and shrieking, the helmets of the suits of armor opening to reveal yellowed, snarling teeth, and nearby pottery shattering simultaneously. The projection quality is high enough that you wouldn't necessarily see it coming. (Granted, that's not the most family-friendly idea, but you get where I'm going with this.) Personally, I'd rather that sort of projection be used that way. But I'm also not going to complain, period, if KI were to get something in the vein of a dark ride. A new dark ride of any sort* is much better than no dark ride at all. *Garfield's Nightmare excepted.

Bumping this topic because I now actually know what everyone's talking about: I borrowed the "Goodbye, Coney Island, Goodbye" book the other day from the library. It's good, but I feel like some of the impact was lost on me--neither I nor my family (that I know of) ever visited Coney before Kings Island. I also didn't know much about Coney's history, layout, or rides, so it was difficult for me to understand what I was (or wasn't) seeing in the pictures. Which is why I was really pleased to find Charles Jacques's book in Coney Island's gift shop yesterday. I haven't finished it yet, but what I have read is extremely interesting. It's an engrossing read on the history of the park and, to a lesser extent, the history of Cincinnati during and after the Civil War. If you have any inkling of an interest in the history of everything leading up to the creation of Kings Island (and the history of Coney after Kings Island opened), I really can't recommend this book enough. I too am dying to read Charles's book on Kings Island, but I haven't found anything indicating that it was ever completed. Does anyone here know anything about the status of the book?

I have a hunch I know what Terp's cooking up in his post. Either that, or I'm worlds away from the truth because he's kidding with us. I'm curious to see what this August brings...

By the by, SLC is how many folks abbreviate Suspended Looping Coaster, which is what Vekoma's official name is for their inverted coasters. Here's the link to the SLC page on Vekoma's website. Vekoma's the only one who refers to their inverted coasters as Suspended Looping Coasters, so "SLC" is a title that's usually only applied to Vekoma's inverted coasters in the same style as T3. See also Thunderhawk at Michigan's Adventure, Mind Eraser at Six Flags America, and so on. Invertigo (and the handful of copies of it that exist in the world) are called, coincidentally enough, a Vekoma Invertigo. Curiously enough, it seems to have disappeared from Vekoma's website. I wonder if the apparent issues with Stinger at Dorney Park have anything to do with that.

You don't base your first impression of a ride on how much it weighs? And you say you like roller coasters...

Agreed. Y'all should read the rules page on Kennywood's website. It's huge, and you can tell from the wording that they've had people trying to work around their rules in just about every manner possible. (Don't bring dead animals to Kennywood? Seriously?)

The bench by Mean Streak is my #2 bench, just behind Cowboy Joe's bench at Kennywood. It could be #1, but it needs retracked pretty badly. Hopefully they bring in RMC.

Agreed.Carowinds' Hurler is a fast, fun (if jolting) coaster that has enough airtime and laterals in it to keep it interesting the whole ride. It's not for everyone, but there's something worth trying there. It's probably my favorite coaster there, and it's definitely the one I've ridden the most. Kings Dominion's is... not. Trims, and then endless, airtimeless shuffling. Once you've ridden Carowinds' version, it's also pretty disappointing. I wish Carowinds wasn't removing any wooden coasters, but if either Thunder Road or Hurler had to go... I'd choose Thunder Road. But like many have pointed out, it's odd that the park didn't just put a path under it... I have to imagine it's for something big, or else there was an unexpected reason that required Thunder Road to go. Given how they mentioned the 2016 announcement as part of the 2015 announcement, I'm betting they've got something good up their sleeves.