homestar92

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.

Stepping aside from the discussion of ride safety for a moment. Keep in mind, Mt Olympus is a small(ish) park. SFGAm is a HUGE park with a HUGE company to support it. To the average parkgoer, that's probably true. But not necessarily for everyone. Think of it like if someone at Kings Island told you that a trip to Holiday World isn't worth your time or money. Probably a true statement for the average parkgoer, but I know lots of people who like Holiday World as much as, if not more than, Kings Island. Not saying that KI is any better or worse than SFGAm or that Holiday World is any better or worse than Mt Olympus, I was just trying to come up with an example in this region where the distance between the parks is similar and the size of the parks is comparable. See also me with Kentucky Kingdom. Many would believe that a trip to KK isn't worth the time or money when I live so close to KI, but it all comes down to what you like. Personally, you can keep your Beast night rides. I'll just as happily marathon the heck out of Thunder Run even during the day, thank you very much.

To my knowledge, SFStL is tied with SFA for the cheapest season passes in the chain right now, so my recommendation would be to buy a Gold Pass there. That way, you get it at the cheapest price you can, and if you happen to end up at another SIX park, it's like you get to go for free. Also, I believe that you can then renew your pass year after year without needing to return to SFStL to process again, so if you were to make a trip next year to, say, SFGAm (one of the more pricey parks in the chain) then you could get your pass cheaper without having to process at another park. Membership passes are also a great way to make your initial investment smaller, just be aware that by buying it, you are committing to paying for 12 months. I went with the membership for my SFGAm pass because a membership is good as long as you are paying, while a pass expires at the end of the season. So, I pay my 12 months and that's good through next July, whereas buying a normal pass would have been the same total cost, but expired in December.

I don't recall which park it was (almost want to say Cedar Point, but not sure) but I distinctly remember hearing "Centerfold" by the J. Geils Band right next to a childrens' area. As I said already, Cedar Point seems correct. I want to say it was right near the Magnum exit (which is very close to the Gemini childrens' area).

As the crow flies, KI is just under 200 miles from Cedar Point. If what I've heard is true, then that is why we didn't have a B&M Invert until Cedar Fair owned the park.

As can eating a burger on a poppyseed bun.

And if we can get rid of cell phones at concerts, that would be great. I love watching my favorite bands through someone else's phone...

But also considerably more expensive. Does make one wonder, though, what will be the first B&M to be retired (not relocated, actually retired and never giving another ride anywhere)

Perhaps they're building something that needs to be where the coaster currently is. A ProSlide Tornado takes almost exactly the same amount of land area as Thunder Road's turnaround. - homestar92, who has no insider knowledge, but would be quite pleased if this "prediction" is correct.

This is just a guess based on a similar thing that occurred on YouTube a while ago. I don't know if this is how this forum works, just speculating. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone can hit that Report button on any post, even if it does not in any way violate TOS. A couple years back, there was a group of no-goodniks who were flagging videos on peoples' YouTube channels for "copyright violations" (though there were none) so that they could get prominent accounts banned. Of course, the issue was resolved eventually, accounts were reinstated, and the reporting system dramatically changed. Any old punk with an internet connection could anonymously troll websites and just start reporting content for the laughs. This site would be no different I assume. Not saying that that's what happened, just recalling a similar event on a different site.

Maybe they'll put in a Setpoint single-rail inverted coaster with water elements! Wouldn't that be the bees knees?!

I enjoyed Carolina Cobra much more than I thought I would, TBH.

It is certainly not unenjoyable. I've ridden worse SLCs. I've also ridden better ones. It's pretty average as SLCs go. If you know how it feels to be driving and have your car downshift suddenly, causing you to jerk forward a bit, that's the sort of roughness it has. The OTSRs (if that's even what you would call them... They're different) even resemble a car seatbelt. The roughness is mildly annoying, but entirely bearable. Much better than the constant headbanging you get on a normal SLC.

I hope to all things holy that in 20 years, there will be no more demand for a Vekoma Hang 'N Bang and all of them will just be footnotes in the annals of history. Sorry, just dreaming out loud... (Though I have no doubts that many feel the same about my beloved Arrow Loopers...)

I certainly hope so. It needs it. Also, there are random buttons on the hand grips. I don't know what they're for, but they make me feel like a fighter pilot. Maybe Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland could be improved by those trains. Goodness knows they can't do much to make that infernal machine any worse...

Oh, one thing about T3 that I forgot to mention. It needs a second train. BADLY. That line crawls, especially once you get to the station and line up in the rows for a particular seat.

Just rode T3. It's rough, but not in the same ways as a typical SLC... Like, it violently throws your entire upper body around. It almost rides like a woodie, as weird as it is to say.

There are decent shoot-em-up dark rides out there. Den of Lost Thieves was certainly... different. "Different" is a recurring theme at that park, but I digress...

Vortex had its queues filled AND spilling into the midway! I was on the ride within 20 minutes.

What is the cheapest way for an Ohio resident to get a ticket? I'm guessing a Kroger near the park? With this news, I'll be going Sunday and a couple of friends want to go too.

Everyone who complains about Boo Blasters needs to keep ONE thing in mind. Just one thing. At least we don't have Garfield's Nightmare. I weep for the people of West Mifflin and the tragic loss that they suffered in 2004. EDIT: I did not see TombRaiderFTW's footnote prior to posting this, but wow, great minds DO think alike!

Wait, 3 million? So we're in like, the estimated attendance figures of long-established parks like KI or Cedar Point, and they were expecting to get those numbers in year 1 with high ticket prices and no advertising?

Sigh... even the rides at Hartland aren't free from the tyranny of the GP adding superfluous articles. I wouldn't be surprised to see an announcement this weekend. Major announcements often occur on holiday weekends. Then again, Hartland has shown no evidence that they like to follow typical industry trends...