homestar92

Already leaving. Park is overcrowded and understaffed. I'll come back in September when they aren't, assuming that they are still here.

Looks like they missed some SIX leftovers...

T3 is not running today. Hoping this is so they can put another train on the track, but I'd not hold my breath. Food at Taco Tequila is a joke. Meat is very dry, portions are small. The chips and queso are good, but it's darn near identical to what they have at Hank's.

May head down to the Hartland today... Could go for a few rounds on The Runs. Likely will skip T3. It's mediocre at best and capacity is atrocious with one train.

I've said in a few other threads that I worry about that coaster. For the current moment, its blue side is used to advertise the Blue Man Group - heavily. Train wraps (the only ones in the entirety of SFGAm, I might add) and banners advertising Blue Man Group all along the entrance and exit paths. For now, it is valuable because advertising partnerships bring in money. Once that advertising partnership expires, I fear for that coaster. Seeing the condition of that coaster made me very sad. It runs well, but its paint situation is, to put it kindly, shameful. My father grew up in Milwaukee. In his youth, that ride was to him what Vortex is to me. Following my most recent ride, I immediately called him and urged him to make a trip up there ASAP to ride it one last time while he can because I do not have a good feeling about its future. And given that SFGAm already has an RMC, I don't think that one would see a second life in spirit via an RMC transformation. Methinks that once American Eagle is done... It's done.

The park's lineup of rides is beginning to look a lot like what you might find in a SIX park... Surely Hart isn't thinking he could sell to them again...

Wow, I had no idea that there were this many people on this site who like to be wrong

I don't think this constitutes a one-word post:

And then there are infinitely more arguments I've seen as to what counts as a coaster and what doesn't. Are Mantis and Rougarou two coasters or one? Do conceptually similar, but less drastic modifications count as one coaster or two? (IE, Vampire at Chessington before and after getting Vekoma trains, or Steel Dragon 2000 before and after getting B&M trains) Is Son of Beast one coaster or two (with loop and without loop). What about Hades? What about more drastic modifications like Steel Phantom/Phantom's Revenge, or RMC Iron Horse treatments? Is Thunder Run (Canada's Wonderland) a coaster or not? Is Surf Dog a coaster? What about Cosmic Chaos? Does a coaster count as two if you ride it backwards (Backwards Racer, Batman backwards, etc.)? Where does that leave Invertigo or Impulse coasters? Do relocations count a second time? What if the experience appreciably changes (such as Head Spin getting new trains when it moved to Carowinds) Ask those questions to a large group of coaster fans, and you'll probably get a huge number of different answers for all of them. That's why there's really no definite way of answering these questions. I tend to be very conservative in my counting. If there is any doubt as to whether it should count, I don't count it. Others will see it differently. Fortunately, it's not a competition, so we don't really need one unified means of counting. Count your coasters in whatever way seems most appropriate to you. Or not at all, if you don't want to.

Coaster-count.com also says that the Kennywood Racer is two coasters. It is definitely NOT. Of course, you are welcome to classify KI's Racer however you want, and I know many people on both sides of that argument, but coaster-count (and by extension, RCDB, since that's where their data comes from) is not the be-all and end-all of coaster classification. I mean, neither of them count Devil's Den at Conneaut Lake Park or Haunted House at Camden Park as coasters, and they definitely are by every definition of a roller coaster.

I like Dinns... I'm weird like that. Predator at Darien Lake is another of my favorite woodies. Plus, the worst ride I've ever had on Mean Streak was infinitely less rough than my worst rides on Beast. Beast has on more than one occasion left me unable to get out of bed comfortably the following day. Mean Streak has never done that. Granted, I've taken A LOT more rides on Beast than Mean Streak.

Better candidates? Maybe. Good candidates? No.Well, MAYBE the KD Hurler. It's the only woodie in the Cedar Fair chain that I've ridden that I'd be hesitant to ride again. Don't forget the streak in Sandusky that's mean on your body You mean my second favorite woodie in Ohio?They can leave that coaster well alone.

Better candidates? Maybe. Good candidates? No. Well, MAYBE the KD Hurler. It's the only woodie in the Cedar Fair chain that I've ridden that I'd be hesitant to ride again.

Better question, and a more important question: How many typical Cincinnati families will go to Holiday World or Kentucky Kingdom INSTEAD of Kings Island. I'd reckon most, if not all, of the people from Cincinnati likely to visit either park are likely also the type to have a Kings Island season pass. The "one park visit a year" crowd will probably spend that day at KI, or maybe Cedar Point... But would certainly not trek 2-3 hours for a park as small as Kentucky Kingdom or Holiday World. Heck, when it comes to a certain portion of the Kings Island clientele (people like me), it's probably technically better for KI that I go to Kentucky Kingdom. Because when I go to KI, I park for free, enter for free, and eat for free (well, paid in advance, but at this point they have the cash whether I go or not). If I go to HW or KK, then I'm not at Kings Island using their resources without spending money. Flip side to that, of course, is that if I go to a different park, I'm likely to tell my friends what a great time I had there and advertise them for free (unless that park is Mt. Olympus, in which case I'll tell all my friends to STAY AWAY).

Platform appears near old 'Tiques location. Begin speculating that we're getting new 'Tiques. Platform's actual purpose is found to not be for any announcement. Continue talking about possibility of new antique cars. I love this site sometimes [emoji14] (only teasing, I've taken part in similar conversations here before)

Sometimes the Sky's the limit with where discussions can go on this forum.

No plastic on Blue Streak except the bumpers... Now, when it comes to Vueronica (which is now in my phone's autocorrect dictionary, sadly) my body panels will never dent, though [emoji14] Or rust, quite unlike the body panels from another car company that Has Only Normal, Dull Attributes.

I decided to cut my second day at SFGAm short so that I could visit Little Amerricka. I wanted so badly to love this park. But unfortunately, a few things happened that wouldn't allow me to do that. All will be explained, don't worry. So, when I got to the park, I went straight to the first coaster I saw, the Toboggan. I had never ridden a Chance Toboggan before. I probably never will again. The experience was, to put it kindly, awkward for a 6'1" adult. To put it less kindly, but more accurately, it was unpleasant. You are basically pinned into a small, cramped car with a cage around it. Then, you're awkwardly hoisted up a vertical lift and you go back down a long helix, followed by some rather painful bunny hills. While the ride was awful, I can't hold that against the park. The ride op on this ride was great. I wish I'd gotten his name. He was enforcing anti-line jumping policies well and doing his best to keep capacity up. No complaints with the way Toboggan was operated. Unfortunately, it started to go downhill after this. Next I went to Mad Mouse, It's an old Allan Herschel wild mouse coaster. All the brakes are manual, which is fine, but it runs multiple cars. This leads to grievance number one. There was some kind of spill in one of the cars (don't think it was a protein spill, but it isn't relevant to the story anyway) and one of the ride attendants moved to clean it. This left nobody on the brakes... I kind of saw where the cars were on the cycle, and I anticipated it before it happened, but sure enough, lo and behold, I witnessed a coaster collision for the first, and hopefully last time. It wasn't serious, as the cars were moving slowly... But if you must leave your post at the brakes to clean up a spill, it really should only be done when all cars have been brought to a safe stop. On a coaster with manual brakes, the brakes should always be manned if there is a train in motion. Period. Part of me wanted to leave right then, right there. But I stuck around. I even rode the Mad Mouse after seeing this (admittedly, not one of my better ideas... I know better than to ride after seeing things that are that concerning. But I did it. And I'm still here, so it didn't end badly). It was alright. I appreciate historic coasters, but what I had seen really soured me to the ride. Its complete lack of any restraints at all was also disconcerting, and the ride felt very... unstable... in the final bunny hills. After this, I rode the train. This is the best part of the park. Their train is stellar. It has a very, very long cycle time (right around 15 minutes!) and you go out into the woods and you get to see some livestock before returning to the station. There's even a llama back there. Apparently they even swap out the engines from time to time to keep the experience changing, and I've heard that they have a variety of different types of engines, too (some steam, some diesel, etc.). The train at this park is highly recommended. After getting off their train, I noticed the Kiddie coaster, The Little Dipper. The attendant allowed me to ride it, so I did. It's just an old Herschel kiddie coaster. Not much to say about it. If you're into getting "coaster credits" I guess it's worth it, but honestly, it's less exciting than the Great Pumpkin Coaster. Points for being "historic" but not much else. I also rode their monorail, which runs on two rails and is therefore NOT a monorail, but that's what they call it, so that's what I'll call it. It's a fun little ride. The ride vehicle looks like the front car of an Arrow Looper, which made me chuckle. I enjoyed it for what it is. Not much to say about it though. It slowly moves around the park, giving you a nice little aerial tour of the place. Next up was Meteor. Meteor is a classic Schmeck/PTC Junior coaster that Little Amerricka relocated to their park in 2007. It is similar in concept to Woodstock Express, just a standard figure-8 junior coaster layout. Riders get to go around the cycle three times, which makes for a pretty lengthy ride cycle. The ride itself is great (though unpainted and unstained, which worries me for its longevity) but again, operations were appalling. The attendant on this one would load the train as normal. Then, he asked everyone on board if they were ready to ride. Then without locking the restraints, he would release the train to go just a little bit (maybe a foot or so) and then stop it again, saying he felt like he'd forgotten something and asked the kids on board if they knew what it was. Of course, they all pointed to the bars. At this point, he locked and checked the bars and then actually dispatched the train. But here's the thing... Maybe I'm just on my enthusiast high horse, but you absolutely should not ever ever EVER under any circumstances even PRETEND that you're going to dispatch a train without locking restraints. I was shocked and appalled when I saw this. Safety is such an enormously important thing on roller coasters. It really isn't something to be take lightly, and these antics reflect incredibly poorly on the park. Following this, I promptly left the park and decided to drive to Milwaukee to see the Brewers game, which they won. I will add to this the general observation that excluding the Toboggan, line jumping was running rampant (most of the offenders were small children, so I didn't say anything, however, the park employees or the parents of the children should have). This annoyed me, but is far from my biggest grievance, as you can see from the above. I wanted so badly to love this park. I really enjoyed Camden Park. I LOVE Stricker's Grove. I can be endlessly entertained at small parks. But there's a difference between a small park and a sketchy park, and I fear that this one crossed that line. How unfortunate. Overall, I would recommend this park to a fan of trains. Their train is spectacular, and is enough on its own to justify a visit to the park if (and only if) you happen to already be in the area. I wish so badly I could recommend it outright. I love small parks. Walking in, the atmosphere was certainly there. But alas, there were just too many problems for my satisfaction. And frankly, between this park and the incidents the last two years at Mt. Olympus, it does not lead me to believe that the state of Wisconsin regulates amusement rides very well...

If not for Goliath already existing, I would be so, so scared for the American Eagle... When your paint situation makes Racer look good, you have a very serious problem...

All this talk of the disappearing airtime on Hurler... If you want to know what Hurler would be like with great airtime, there's a park in Louisville that can demonstrate a pretty darn good facsimile of that experience. You could go check that out. Ed Hart will thank you. Especially if you're from the Carolinas (or anywhere that could be described as "not Kentucky", for that matter...)

If FoF can perform inversions with out the OTS Restraints. Then SO CAN Vortex. Grr Am I not the only one that speaks of behalf of Vortex, that the ride would be MUCH more enjoyable with different restraints Or Vortex can stay just like it is because there are plenty of people who like it just fine with the current restraints..

People from ACE will tell you it was good, because the ACE code of conduct (specifically, section C, number 4) prohibits them from saying otherwise. One of many reasons I am not a member of ACE.

It had a fair bit of downtime on opening day as well. Keep in mind, the ride now has one additional moving part (the floor) that has to remain functional for the ride to run. With Banshee, B&M appears to have moved away from dropping floors on their Inverts, but for a floorless, you really don't have a choice.

NOOOO!!!! Taco Tequila is one of the better food stands in the park, and it only just opened! Also, the buttons on T3's handles are DEFINITELY actually there for me to press during the ride while going "pew pew pew" and pretending to be a fighter pilot. I don't care if that isn't what the manufacturer says. I reject their reality, and substitute my own! I recall my seatbelt releasing itself upon return to the station... But it is also possible that I still hadn't quite finished playing with the buttons and I did, in fact, release it myself by pressing the buttons. Rest assured, though, that much like Firehawk, the buttons do NOT release the seat belt if the ride is not stopped in the station.

People are inherently nostalgic creatures. That which you grew up with is always the best. Even if it isn't. Think of it from the park's perspective. The reason they give is that they just decided to make both sides go forward again. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that PTC does not approve their trains to go backwards. In this case, it would be true that KI, being in Ohio, could not allow them to run backwards. But if this were true and you allow it to be known that this is why the trains were turned forward, then people would think that the ride wasn't safe before (after all, there had to be some reason that PTC would make this recommendation). So from the park's perspective, it makes more sense to tell people it was a decision that was made by the park. It's easier to deal with peoples' nostalgic yearnings for the older days than it is to quell concerns that a ride had been operating in an unsafe way. Another example, I had always heard that the loop on SoB was removed because Gerstlauer would not give approval for their trains to go upside-down. Whether there is any truth to that, who knows? Regardless, that's not the official reason the park gives (if they ever gave one...) so that's not the information that they would want being spread on social media. You have to keep control of the information (or possibly misinformation) being spread in order to maintain a good reputation for your brand. All that really matters is that both sides on Racer go forwards now, so you're riding it forwards. This comes with the added benefit, too, of being able to close one side on less crowded days and few guests will be upset that the experience they deem superior is unavailable to them.