homestar92

I never thought of it before, but Tower Gardens is pretty close to the carousel isn't it?

GM obviously had commitment problems when they made the EV-1. It's actually funny just how true that statement is.

If I had that kind of money, I wouldn't be spending it on silly things like a Disney Monorail. I'd be spending it on silly things like buying one of every Saturn model ever made... Sadly, I think that $260,000 would probably be plenty for that, with cash to spare, especially considering I'm already 20% of the way there... As long as we aren't counting the EV-1... GM tried to scapegoat that... thing... on Saturn by putting it in their dealerships, but it clearly is not a Saturn because GM did not like it enough to put a ring on it.

Perhaps the structure is to remain and the petting zoo to be inside it?

Each campsite holds up to 4 people. $50/person is very reasonable for all you get, and all the money is going to a very good cause. This event was a lot of fun last year. My Carowinds/BGW/KD trip has four people splitting the cost of hotel rooms that are 50 a night. My goal is usually to spend as little time as possible in the hotel, so as long as there aren't bedbugs and I'm not in too shady of a neighborhood, I've got no qualms with going cheap for my lodging.

Are the paper passes allowed to be laminated? That might be a workaround.

In coasters, I think color scheme matters to a degree, but is rarely make-or-break. In my humble opinion, upkeep of the colors matters more than what they are. For example, I liked Invertigo's red and yellow color scheme better than the current one. But I think the ride looks better now in 2015 than it did in 2011 (or 2010, I don't remember which was its last year as McDonald's: The Ride) because the colors are vibrant and the coaster has a nice shine. It looks loved. See also Mantis / Rougarou. I liked the Mantis color scheme better, but I think the ride itself looks better now because the paint is fresh.

There is an Ecotec car meet that I was planning on possibly going to this coming summer in Baltimore. (Ecotec is the branding of the engines used in certain GM vehicles, such as the Saturn Sky, Pontiac Solstice, Chevy Cobalt, and quite a few others). At first, I was going to combine it with a trip to SFA. Then I remembered, if I'm at an Ecotec meet, I'll be driving a vehicle that I care about. Like, a lot. And I promptly decided to skip that. For me to skip an amusement park when I'm going to be in that area anyway says a lot about the reputation of that park. I'm a guy who loves him some roller coasters. Fortunately, Kennywood isn't terribly out of the way on my trip home, so there's always a silver lining. And absolutely any excuse to visit Kennywood is a good one.

Why not a kiosk that can print cards? IKEA has them for their IKEA Family rewards card, so they obviously exist.

More parks could move to biometric passes and nobody would ever need a replacement pass (except in extremely rare, extremely unfortunate cases, that is). And getting everyone through the gates quickly would probably be at least SIX times more efficient...

Where's the Dr Pepper season pass?

They could call it Snack Lane.

"Hearing things" and rumors are not the same. And things heard do not become a rumor until those who hear them decide to listen. Homestar92, also choosing words carefully...

I used mine on a cold, rainy October Saturday. The Fast Lane lines were, in many cases, LONGER than the regular line. That said, neither was ever more than 5 minutes that day on most rides... That was the day of my 17-ride Vortex marathon. The most useful thing about Fast Lane that day was dramatically reducing the amount of walking needed to get back in line on Vortex.

Carowinds! Great park, and going to be even better in 2015! I've been to four, which are (from favorite to least favorite) Carowinds, Kings Island, Cedar Point, and Canada's Wonderland.

Not to mention, if Fury is anything like Leviathan, it will be a bit of a sleeper. From POVs, Leviathan looked like just a taller B&M Hyper. After riding it, the experience was SO different.

I just saw someone comment online that Dragster is taller, faster, and more fun than Fury. I'm jealous. If this guy knows that Fury is less fun, then he mush have ridden it. I wish they would have let me ride it early, too...

It was not on the 2014 map. It was said that it would return to the map for Haunt due to there being a Haunt attraction in that building, but it actually didn't end up being on that map.

I get what you're saying as for the mine theme. But if I were to play devil's advocate here, how is the transitions on Adventure Express any different than the ones people find as "rough" on The Vortex? (Another Arrow coaster from the same time period.) I think the difference, as the general public would see it, is that Vortex appears to be (rather ironically) a more "modern" coaster. Someone sees a giant steel beast with lots of loops and in their mind, it fits right in with the new coasters they see on TV or the internet being built today. Then they ride it, expecting an experience on par with a newer B&M looper, and they get something totally different. They have no idea what "Arrow Dynamics" means or who Ron Toomer is, nor do they know that they are riding a nearly 30-year-old machine. They just know that they've ridden other loopers, and that they felt smoother than this one. Despite actually being newer, Adventure Express doesn't feel as modern. It has wooden supports. The track is painted a color similar to that of rust. The trains look very boxy, almost like your traditional PTC coaster train (something that a lot of people would recognize as familiar even if they couldn't give a name to it). They see all these things, and their first thought is that it's older, and because the human mind is a funny thing, they become a bit more forgiving on it. Or turn away immediately. Now don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying the "older=rougher" argument is correct at all. Compare the Kennywood Jackrabbit to Mean Streak (which I'm told is apparently supposed to be rough...). But, Adventure Express looks old, run down, and rickety (largely because it was designed to look that way, I'm not at all claiming that it is any of those things). And I think people see that, and they go in with lower, more realistic expectations. Plus, Vortex has OTSRs. It isn't an issue for me because I'm tall enough that my head is above them. While I don't agree with the claims that it is unenjoyably rough, I do get why someone would feel that way. I can imagine that if I were 6 inches shorter, my opinions on Vortex might be entirely different. Now as for Vekoma... No. Just no. I don't see them refurbishing an old Arrow any time soon, and I don't want them to. I LIKE rough coasters, but the ONE coaster I've ever ridden that was so unenjoyably rough that I refuse to ride it again happened to be a Vekoma...

Adventure Express never has been, and never tried to be "smooth". It's a mine train coaster. It is supposed to emulate the experience of an out-of-control minecart. The "roughness" comes not from any flaws in the ride, but from the very design of the ride itself. A lot of what I've seen people refer to as "rough" on that ride pertains to things like sudden transitions and underbanked turns. It's not that the track has warped over time and become less smooth - that happens to a degree with wood, but not so much with steel. No, the ride runs exactly as it was designed to run: wild, crazy, and seemingly out-of-control. To change it and make it smoother by altering these elements may or may not make for a more enjoyable ride. I would personally find it less enjoyable, but I can't speak for everybody. But it wouldn't come without cost. It would fundamentally change the identity of the ride. I'd compare it to the old and new Texas Giants. Same footprint, same name, and a lot of the same structure, but completely and undeniably a different ride. Or for a better example, Steel Phantom to Phantom's Revenge. You have an old Arrow that a lot of people see as rough, so another company (D.H. Morgan) was called in to modify the elements of the ride that people found to be unenjoyable. The end result was a ride that shared some of the most recognizable elements of its former self, but was almost entirely a new experience. Now that I've brought up that example, I've realized that it is very possible to modify an Arrow and end up with something I like, as Phantom is my favorite Hypercoaster (a classification which is itself debated for that ride... I consider it to be one due to its having a 200+ foot drop). So MAYBE a modification to AE wouldn't be THE WORST thing, but I'd certainly be reluctant to welcome the idea, and if Vekoma were involved, I would almost CERTAINLY not like the idea. But being that it's in Ohio, I assume that S&S would have to give the OK for any such modifications to occur regardless.

The topic of Blackfish came up at work today. So I turned up the volume on my headphones and enjoyed some Zeppelin. Not feeling like getting in an argument with my coworkers today.

I hope for the latter (obviously, it would ideally NOT close, but sometimes the ideal is not the reality...). As long as they stay open long enough for me to meet Stella and Lola, I'm happy with that...

And in a frictionless vacuum, nobody in the workforce would ever have to stop to take a breather.

Well, if we were in a high school physics class word problem, that train would ALWAYS be accelerating at a rate of (-9.8 m/s2 * sin(Ө)) (where Ө is the angle of the slope) no matter what kind of wheels are used. Fortunately, real life is not similar to high school physics word problems, or we would constantly find ourselves in very bizarre, contrived situations. And then we'd all die because we'd be living in a frictionless vacuum. (I hope my formula is actually right... It's admittedly been a while since I was in a physics classroom...)

I take it you aren't a fan of Leap the Dips, Avalanche, or Flying Turns? I can relate to that. I have a friend who adores Milennium Force and thinks it the most exciting thing since sliced bread, while I think it's about as exciting as a slice of bread. Like I learned from TV, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum, what might be right for you might not be right for some. The difference, of course, is that MY drum is the one that sounds correct (JK, of course)