TombRaiderFTW

I love the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. It's slightly cheesy and a bit of a tourist trap, but it's endearing. I'm incredibly jealous that you got to ride the Ober Gatlinbug alpine slide--it was closed in December, and I didn't get the chance to visit OG during my spring break trip. What'd you think of it?

Hey guys, I just heard they're going to retrack Son of Beast with a steel blue track for 2013! I don't usually get that excited about the souvenier cups each season, but this one looks really nice. Might have to pick one up sometime.

The uploader removed the video, then reuploaded it. Here's a (as well as an embed, in case any forum users here still want to see it):<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ovtqvptM3J4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> On that note, only 4 weeks and 4 days until Holiday World opens!

^ I know I've heard something similar, but I don't remember if that was enthusiast conjecture or something someone interpreted from something Holiday World has said.

Based on personal preference on the ones I've been alive for, I prefer Paramount. But really, that's due to my own skewed experiences and knowledge of the park at the time. I didn't really care much about ride locations or removals until Cedar Fair. Realistically, Taft probably did it best. They pretty much made the park into what it is with the individually themed areas and rides like Racer.

^ Depending on your tastes, I'd say Thunderhead stands its own against Holiday World's woodies. If you're into pure intensity, I'd say the only ride that might compare to Thunderhead is The Voyage, as Thunderhead pretty much throws everything it's got at you from the first drop to the final brakes. While I love Thunderhead, I like creative changes in pacing a little more, so that's why I rank HW's coasters slightly higher.

Ugh why would you downgrade like that? It looked like it would have been more exciting than Adventure Express. I just watched a POV though, and I do have to agree with you. Try riding it. Adventure Express blows Cedar Creek Mine Ride out of the water. (As one rider the last time I rode CCMR put it: "Hold on, everyone! Looks like we're going to break 7 miles per hour!") For me, the biggest interest I have in CCMR is experiencing one of Arrow's earliest rides... and that's just about it.

As previously suggested, Firehawk for Volcano. If Invertigo for KD's Dominator counts as a fair trade, I'd also take that. Same goes for (at least KD's) Hurler for Vortex, Michigan's Adventure's old Shooting Star for our Dodgems, KD's Flight of Fear for our FoF, KD's Ghoster Coaster for our Woodstock Express, and Magnum for Diamondback.

Having ridden Wild Eagle, let me say that the ride's getting a little underestimated here. I do my best to not fall into the typical over-praising that most coasters, particularly B&M's, get just after opening. To be quite frank, I tend to be underwhelmed by B&M's, especially those where I can see der Point (to paraphrase the Interpreter.) The only ones, prior to last weekend, that I was genuinely excited by were Dominator at Kings Dominion and Great Bear at Hersheypark, and I've ridden at least three others that come to mind at the moment. (I realize that's not exactly a diverse sample, but it does include a mix of several models, for what that's worth. In general, I find them unpleasantly slow-paced, and the older ones aren't very nice to your head.) Wild Eagle is very forceful. I'm not saying it has the mythical ejector airtime that newly opened B&M's tend to have attributed to them by enthusiasts on their opening days and forgotten immediately afterward. The minimal airtime it has is the same light floater you'd find on Diamondback. It's when you're coming back up from a drop that the thing pulls serious G's. The signs advertise 4.5 G's, and I'd believe it. What surprises me--and I'm very curious to see how the ride wears over the course of this season because of it--is the lack of vibration in the outside seats. The zero-G roll following the loop spreads its rotation over the whole element, but you're sitting so far away from the track that the seat kinda drops out from under you before you yourself actually start rotating. Combined with the fact that the pacing is greatly improved (it seriously flies through the elements unlike any other B&M I've been on, save for the second half of Great Bear), it's awesome. So, in other words... If any park around here, especially KI, is up for a B&M Wing Rider, I'm all for it!

Invertigo, by far. I must have oddly shaped shoulders/collarbones, because that ride, Drop Tower, and Dollywood's Wild Eagle all eat at my shoulders/collarbone area like there's no tomorrow. It's not something I hear other people mention, so it must just be me, but still.

Yeah, I think Regular pass admission ended on Labor Day last year, too.

That's a very interesting picture. I think that's the only close-up of SoB's loop I've ever seen. I never rode it with the loop, but I always imagined the way the wood connected to the loop backbone would look more like RMC's topper track, for some reason.

^ Fair enough, Terp... I don't. My point was more that, if something major was announced about the ride, it'd more than likely earn its own thread. But since I goofed on the context of Gordon Bombay's post, I felt a little silly leaving that up there.

EDIT: Derp, nevermind. Misunderstood someone's comments, so this post is now irrelevant. Never post while half-asleep, guys.

Love your pictures, Ty!

We have a new McSalsa, everyone.

The quote in question from Facebook: Am I a little bummed? Sure. Was I hoping this wouldn't be the case? Very much so. But it is what it is, and it's just one more thing to look forward to in 2013. (A trip to Holiday World to experience the Timberliners may now be how I celebrate graduating college. Ironically, experiencing The Voyage for the first time--and believing I'd lucked out to catch it in the weekend or two in 2010 in which it would still run PTCs--was how I celebrated graduating high school. Go figure!) The Voyage with PTCs, in my opinion, anyway, is still the best wooden coaster I've ever been on (especially in the back seat.) Some of its roughest parts have been completely rebuilt for this season. People like to attribute their distaste for PTC trains to this ride, but it's so insane that PTC cars literally can't handle it. 2012 will be a fantastic year for the ride, and I'd say that, if you want to experience The Voyage in its "original" magnitude before the Timberliners make their debut, this is the year to do it. Get there early, and get there often. (I've heard the coasters run best early in the season, before the new wood has worn... I can't say either way myself, as the latest I've gone in the season is July.)

Am I really the only one here who still enjoys both KI's and CP's Starlight Spectaculars?

Inside the park? Outer Hank's, bar none. I could really go for some of those fries right now. Outside the park? I usually end up eating at the McDonald's at the end of Kings Island Drive, but I love Chipotle. I'll have to try the new one on KI Drive sometime this season.

As always, I love seeing your collection, standbyme. Thanks for sharing it with us!

^ That's very interesting. Can't wait for the details to finally be released.

Noticed these about a week ago--they're awesome. I didn't know POV video of the Thunderbolt existed online, and I certainly never expected POV video of the Bobs to have even been filmed, let alone made available! Thanks for sharing them here, McSalsa.

I'd LOVE to have seen that. I wonder how much of that was used in the ride (like the car) and how much was saved, if any.

^ (Not meaning to sound like a know-it-all, but...) Unless you're joking, there's more to it than that. By your logic, feathers and falling stars fall at the same "rate". Maybe it's me, but I find this sort of thing absolutely terrifying. I've always disliked Drop Towers (with the exception of Demon Drop, for some reason), and the idea of falling out of one is got to be one of the scariest things imaginable. In this case, it seems like Hopi Hari is at fault for improperly maintaining the ride, as many articles point out that this specific seat hadn't been used for something around a decade because they couldn't get it to work properly. Something changed, and someone was allowed to ride... Kinda makes you appreciate Cedar Fair's seatbelts after all that.

Great pictures, TOPGUN! These are all very awesome. And thanks for that fact, Don--never knew that. I noticed The Racer trains got longer at some point, but I never knew when or why.