TombRaiderFTW

I think there's something important to consider here: location. For a large number of the major cities at or below Boston's latitude in the country, you can name a large park (either a chain park or a park with about 3 or more coasters) that's within a 3- to 5-hour drive. Literally the only exception that comes to mind is New Orleans, and that's only been the exception since 2005. Situations like Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens Williamsburg, where two major parks are an hour or less apart, rarely seems to work outside of Orlando or Los Angeles. Which makes sense--both of those cities are major vacation spots. If there's going to be a new park outside of Orlando or LA, I think it'll fall within a few hours' drive of New Orleans. If Alabama Splash Adventure takes off, I can see it filling that niche. If there are any new parks in the next 10 years, I look for them to either be Disney theme parks added to existing resorts or small, family-owned amusement parks around the size of Stricker's Grove. Sometime around 2012, I think Ouimet made the comment that the amusement park market is saturated in the U.S., and I think I agree--I just don't think there are any other major cities who aren't already taken care of for the type of weather they experience.

From what I found on YouTube using Shazam, the track for the Cyr Wheel act--at least for last year's Cirque--is Smokin' Ace by Liquid Cinema. So far, the only site I've found where you can listen to it is a random German production music library site. Not sure how trustworthy it is (it's not the most flashy site on the internet), so proceed at your own risk here. I've only seen Cirque once this year and can't remember: do they still use that track for the Cyr Wheel act?

The show Terp mentioned is another show by the same production company (Les Productions Haut-Vol), I think. Regardless, I believe I've read before that some of the performers have worked/also work for companies like Cirque du Soleil.

They did that last year, too, quite frequently. I always assumed that there aren't cameras on Racer's lifts, so they were doing that as a safety precaution during the busy season. I could very well be wrong, though--I always forget to look for cameras when I ride, and I don't have any inside information about ride operations at the park.

Congratulations on your engagement! Any plans to get married on The Beast, by chance? Thanks for the great TR!

Except in the case of Space Mountain at Disneyland. (It's kinda fun to do the impossible, as Walt Disney would say.)

Maybe they're reinstalling the Festhaus clock...? FTW, occasional optimist.

You guys are killing me with this discussion of USF/IOA. The wands and spell locations are one of my favorite things in any park ever. I've been counting down the days till my next visit there from the moment I last left.

When guests start saying the darnest things again...

^^ She was. Sophie Bolliger is the name you're looking for.

Cedar Fair's thrill rating system lost all meaning to me when I saw that Kings Dominion's Blue Ridge Tollway (their antique cars) has a rating of 3. Out of five?! By that logic, a nearby bench ought to be a 2, breathing ought to be 1, Cirque Imagine should be a 5, and Intimidator 305 should fall somewhere in the range of 20 to 40.

Sea Viper was an Arrow looping coaster, though, and not an SLC...?

Have fun! Please do let those of us who can't be there tonight how it is!

A roller coaster. A date. (Not the fruit.) The feeling of disappointment when a ride I liked is removed. The feeling of apathy when a ride I disliked is removed. If I had to guess, I probably rode a steam train the first time there. The weird feeling that comes with visiting multiple parks in one day. New ride announcements. An acrobatics-/cirque-type show. (And what a show! Y'all need to post reviews of this year's Cirque Imagine on here.) Blue ice cream!

I did: Le sigh.

I'll be honest... I really don't know why, but I thoroughly enjoyed the dino boat ride at the Columbus Zoo. I can't say I have an objective reason for why I thought it was cool--Dinosaurs Alive doesn't do much for me. I'm a little bummed it's changing. I guess I'm weird like that. (Maybe it's the boat? I thought Paddlewheel Excursions was pretty neat, too. I'll have to test that theory out at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, despite the lack of animatronics.) As far as the future of Dinosaurs Alive goes... I dunno. It doesn't bother me that it's there, and it seems to be fairly popular with the kiddos. It's not unusual to overhear younger kids at the park talking about it. I don't feel a pressing need to go through it (I've probably been through three times, at most, since it was installed) but it's not aimed at me. As long as someone's enjoying it, it can keep on keepin' on, as far as I'm concerned.

They did this last year, too. One of a couple reasons I don't feel particularly attracted to the place this year.

Right, but it seems like everything (apart from trains and electricity-related components) with a lifespan has been replaced. Unless I misunderstood something, it's basically a new coaster...? Or are you referring to popularity/ridership when you say lifespan?

On Thunder Road: With how recent that rebuild was, I have a really hard time believing the Screamscape rumor that it will be torn down after this season. The only thing that gives it any credit in my mind is that--if I remember correctly, and I very well could be mistaken--it hasn't had any work done since Ouimet replaced Kinzel. I went to Carowinds in March of last year, and the last two bunny hills or so hadn't been redone (to comedic effect--up till that point, it was glass smooth. It then began jackhammering like you wouldn't believe.) It makes me wonder if the brakes were put on that project as soon as possible. But it still seems like a huge waste of investment to tear it down with as much work as it has been given. On Shockwave: I really don't know what could replace it in the footprint that it has. It's not a particularly big ride. The first thing that comes to mind is a small Gerstlauer Eurofighter, but I think that thing would have just as bad a people capacity as Shockwave, if not worse.

Welcome to KIC, JoeKD! Not meaning for this to sound like I'm attacking you: outside of the nonexistent promotion of Tempesto during its construction, how has it been a failure?

Have any of you gotten any emails about this event? It seems strange that I haven't received a "be at the front gate at such-and-such time" email at this point. Hopefully my registration went through okay. Perhaps it will be sent out this week.

^ The important question here, though: are more rides operational today than were yesterday? The widespread downtime was more than enough to convince me to head to Waldameer for the day. (Ravine Flyer II's running great!)

Hey, have you all heard about Dinosaurs Alive? I hear Thrill_Biscuit thinks it's pretty great. There's some good advice here, and I really don't have anything new to add. I do echo the advice to head to Flight of Fear and Firehawk first--they're just about guaranteed to be nasty waits most weekends, if you do visit on a weekend. I hope you have a great time!

Surprised I haven't seen more/any reviews of Rougarou pop up around here. Guess I'll start it off: I was extremely impressed with it. There were one or two moments where my head met the restraint, but overall, the headbanging is DRASTICALLY reduced. It may be me wanting to imagine it so, but the ride seems noticeably faster--if true, it doesn't seem to make the ride worse the way the stand-up trains would make you expect. Everything after the MCBR used to pass by in a blur while I attempted to avoid brain damage; now you can actually focus on it. And it's actually quite good! The quick transitions, which made the stand-up experience really unpleasant, makes the ride one of the more enjoyably aggressive floorless coasters I've ridden. I will actually attempt to make that ride one of my stops during my CP visits now. In my opinion, they've hit the ball out of the park with Rougarou! (The only thing I can possibly critique: it would have been so neat to see the queue enclosed in a bayou-esque cabin with subtle references to the legend of the rougarou inside. But that's me. Banshee, Thunderbird, and BGW have spoiled me in the theming department.)

I've been to several coaster fan sites as well as anything else KK related and there is absolutely nothing yet concerning the whereabouts of T3's trains. I seem to recall Vekoma having quite a hard time installing new trains on Goliath at SFNE... Those new trains were from Premier, as I understand it. Still doesn't explain why Kentucky Kingdom's keeping so quiet about T3.