Delirium_Guy

Well, I think you'll enjoy your visit to SeaWorld. Manta truly is a wonderful, wonderful ride....and I'm not being biased because I work there. It turned out to be far better than I expected, mostly due to the gorgeous theming and detail that they actually put into it. HRRR is a fun ride, I'd recommend a trip to Universal as well if possible....especially if you've never been. They say that when Rockit is at capacity, with the conveyor system function, a train will dispatch every 23 seconds. I seem to recall them stating around 1800 per hour, but that may not be correct. Information seemed to just trickle out since they announced the ride last year. Right now, imagine Italian Job. 12 person trains that have to stop, unload and load. I think Rockit will be a ride that grows on me the more I ride. If I hadn't got a headache right at the beginning, I may have enjoyed it more. I'm gonna go try to catch a ride or two on Saturday to see if its any different. - Todd

I headed over after work on Saturday, after hearing it'd be opening at 6PM. I'm in the middle on the ride. I was told prior to my ride, from friends who had already ridden, that the backseat was rough and shaky. Well, as luck would have it, my first ride was in the backseat. Lets break this down: Pros: * Restraints were VERY comfortable for me * 30 songs to choose from, however if you can get into the easter eggs you'll have 969 other songs to choose from. The difference is all the hidden tracks will NOT take your video if you choose to play them. * Songs seem to be very well synced to ride. I chose Bring Me To Life by Evanescence. It was perfect. The soft ballad portion at the beginning of the song played during the QUICK climb up the lift before cranking up into the rest of the song as we crested the lift. * The Non-Inverting Loop is hella fun! Its very smooth, graceful. You just roll right over the top. * Drop into the firehouse facade was GREAT and the headchopper seems almost impossible * The Treble Clef element was incredibly fun and very fast paced. * LED lights on the trains look far better in person than in the videos that have surfaced on the internet. * The conveyor systems used to get guests on the trains and to keep trains moving at all times looks like it'll be awesome when they get it functioning. Cons: * The portion of the ride that heads back towards City Walk, such as the Crowd Surfer, was very dull. Pacing was good, but the ride just didn't do anything for me. * I was forewarned that the backseat was rough, I wasn't lied to. I had a headache by the time we reached the first block brake, so the remainder of my ride was very unpleasant....could have also affected my opinion on the last half as well. It seems like the train was hitting a speed bump at 65MPH. The jolt was quick but very painful. The train also shook pretty violently during a few transitions. I'm still scratching my head over why Universal went with Maurer..... * Capacity is nightmarish right now, I'm not sure how it'll be effected when they run 5 trains.....they were running 3 trains on Saturday. * Queue is a standard queue. No extensive theming really, but some fun videos that explain to guests how to select their soundtrack as well as available options. Overall, its a nice addition for Universal. Least its something new to tide the crowds over until Wizard World of Harry Potter makes its debut sometime in 2010. The ride is fun, for sure, but its not a top 10 ride or anything of the such. The soundtrack DEFINITELY adds to the experience, as standing by itself the ride wouldn't be all that terriffic. Now that Universal has officially dropped the soft opening and announced that the ride is OPEN to ALL guests everyday now, I'm planning to go back and try it out again. I'm told there are some trains that are worse than others for the roughness, so perhaps I got one of the bad ones. I can definitely say that SeaWorld took the win for the best new ride in Orlando this year, no question about it HRRR is NO Manta. -Todd

Incredibly shocking way to wake up this morning and even more surreal to see in person as I cut through property on the way to work this morning. As someone who hits the Parks, and monorail up weekly, I've seen this young man on plenty of occassions and had a few conversations while waiting to board. Incredibly, incredibly sad. Regarding the system being overridden, it IS possible for this to occurr. As its been told to me by those who work there, when they are removing a monorail train from service the anti-collision system is manually DISABLED in order to make the switch to the maintanance track. One big problem that I'm seeing out of all of this that I never realized is that Monorail Central, which is located in the Transportation and Ticket Center, has NO visuals on where the trains are at any given point and purely rely on radio communication. Pilots report their position along the track by reading off a number that is located on every support beam along the entire track. If the pilot of monorail pink had incorrectly reported their position, Monorail Central wouldn't have know what was about to happen. Its speculated, and I stress speculated, that at minimum the impact speed could have been 15mph.....but likely not greater than 30mph. While impact speed may not seem so fast, the fact that the pilot cabin is composed of fiberglass, plastic and foam insulation is where the problem comes into play. It is designed to absorb the impact in the event of the collision, where as the passenger cabins are very much reinforced with solid steel. It is so very difficult to even imagine this happening, but like others have said it can happen anywhere.

They have more to offer than Kings Island, personally I think its KI that needs to step it up in that department. Chaos rides have been disappearing quickly ever since the accident at Michigan's Adventure, so no surprises here. For me the rides are rather dull so I'm not too upset seeing them go.

After such a bad experience at WoF, we were quick to get out of bed Tuesday morning and get the heck outta there. The drive from Kansas City to Branson wasn't bad at all, we made it in just under 3 hours. I've heard many comparisons between Branson and Pigeon Forge, so thats what I was sort of expecting on our drive in. While in Pigeon Forge you are situated down in the valleys, Branson is nestled among the mountain tops. Likewise, this becomes the major difference between Dollywood and Silver Dollar City. I've wanted to visit Silver Dollar City for many years, but just have never been able to make the trek out to Branson. The first thing that caught our attention while pulling in was FREE PARKING. The lots were some distance away from the gate, but the Park had tons of shuttles running guests to the entrance. The view from SDC's location is just beautiful, I was really amazed by it actually. We made our way to the entrance to pick up our ticket and soon began to explore the Park. Having visited Dollywood numerous times when I lived in Cincinnati, there was a familiar feeling while strolling through the midways of SDC. The food was outstanding, no surprise there, and the midways are lined with various crafts and such. As I mentioned earlier, the big difference between the two parks is that SDC is situated high on top of a mountain and Dollywood is situated in the valleys of the Smokey's. We decided to make our way down the hill, first coming to Thunderation Thunderation - I may possibly have a new favorite mine ride now. Definitely a close cousin to Adventure Express as it heavily utilizes the terrain it sits on. We ended up skipping due to the fact that they were running one train! Whats up with one train operations? Especially here because, like Mamba, it is a fairly lengthy ride! We eventually made our way back over later in the day. Glad we did. Thunderation is unique in that every other car is turned around backwards. I'm not really sure what prompted the park to do this, but I have to say it makes the ride hella fun! Our first ride was in the next to last car, which meant we rode the first time backwards! The ride starts out very similiar to Adventure Express as it winds its way over the hill side. You make two U-turns, of sorts, with each one dropping further over the mountain. About midway down the ride enters a pretty big double helix, with the last part of the helix diving steeply within itself through a tunnel. At this point the train is moving along at a darn quick pace when it exits the tunnel. It rises a bit but then suddenly dives once again into a swooping turn and up into the brakes. At this point, you are around 90 feet below where you started in the station, so there is a fairly large lift hill to get you back to the top. I thought the ride ended here, so I was quite surprised to find one more drop over the mountain before the train finally reached the station. GREAT ride and definitley a surprise for me! Rode 3 times. Flooded Mine - Great little dark ride, I remember when Dollywood still had their version. I was surprised to find this one with guns installed to shoot targets through out the ride. Even though a lot of it was dated, I was still surprised by how indepth some of the ride was and how it was themed. We continued on down and made our way to Wilson's Farm, home of The Giant Swing. Giant Swing is just a standard S&S Screamin' Swing, but has some fun theming by way of being housed within a giant barn. Theming is just wacky, but cool :-) Continued to wind our way down the hill and passed the Parks 3 water rides (water toboggan, rapids and flume) until we found ourselves at a crossroads.....Wildfire to the left and Powderkeg to the right. So we went to Wildfire. Wildfire - This is perhaps the most beautiful coaster I've ever seen in my life. The way the the park has positioned the ride is absolutely perfect. This has to be one of my favorite views from any lift hill, even over that of Cedar Point. The lift stands about 120 feet and turns to point riders towards the mountain side below before dropping 155 feet over the side of the mountain and straight into the Immelman. Following the Immelman comes the vertical loop, a fast past highbanked turned that hugs the mountainside, an unusually large Cobra Roll, flat spin, and a ground hugging helix that leads to a nice pop of airtime as you hit the brakes. The ride was fantastic, especially in the back where you get some serious ejector air time during the first drop.....easily the best first drop on any B&M for me and yes that includes the hyper coasters.....Diamondback can't hold a candle to it. The theming, again, is wacky but such is Silver Dollar City. An inventor has created a flying machine and Wildfire is the fuel he created to propel it. As the train is dispatched, you are misted from over head with this Wildfire. Nice little touch. Great ride! Powerkeg - Since it is conveniently located next door. I never really paid much attention to this ride. I knew its history as the Premier Liquid Coaster and knew it now had a launch, but that was about it. WOW, what another great surprise! The trains themselves are weird and feature the exact same restraints that the Screamin' Swings do. They are very roomy. Once dispatched out of the station, the train makes a slight jog to the right and comes to a stop. At this point, a transfer track slides you up the hillside and into the launch shed. The launch itself uses compressed air, just like Hypersonic, so its a quick burst of speed. It launches straight into a large camelback hill which provides some fantastic airtime and the same gorgeous view that Wildfire does. From here the ride drops over the mountain and curves up into another air filled camelback, an overbanked turn, another camelback which twists over the top of it and crosses through the lift hill. After this particular hill, the ride is so interesting to me. Its where the S&S track ends and the old Premier track begins. The transition is pretty seamless and this final turn before the lift is fast and furious with quite a bit of lateral kick. The train is moving at a good pace as it glides into the mag brakes and friction brakes leading up into the lift hill. Again, great views to be had before the train crests and drops into the the final hill and helix before hitting the brakes. Powderkeg was a blast, certainly one of the biggest surprises of the trips for me and I actually do prefer it to Wildfire. Lots of remains from Buzzsaw Falls exists. Many portions of the trough are still there, in which the park still fills with water and and rapids. The station for Powderkeg is new, however I believe its maintanance shed is the former station for Buzzsaw. The Park did a great job with this one, I could see Dollywood getting something along this lines in the future. It was extremely popular with the guests when we were there. Having ridden the major coasters, we set out to explore the rest of the park. Of course, it was mandatory that we ride Fire In The Hole. Just a tad different than Dollywood's Blazing Fury, especially the trains as they were 2 car trains and not 3 like at Dollywood. Good times. Next up was perhaps the highlight of SDC...the tours of Marvel Cave. Free of charge, its an hour or more tour of the caves the exists under Silver Dollar City. The Cathedral Room, which is the first room you climb down into, is big enough to house 2 football fields they say. It was quite amazing to see how deep you climb down into this room and even further to get to the rest of the caves. The tour ends by riding a cable car back up to the top of the mountain and into the Park. Certainly unique to Silver Dollar City and is just something else that makes the park stand out for me. With just about 2 hours left, we decided to check out all 3 water rides. We began with American Plunge, the parks log flume. This is one of my favorite flumes I've been on! In addition to being pretty darn soaking on the final drop, the ride has a fantastic tunnel that is very long....much longer than the one found on the flume at Holiday World. There are lanterns scattered through out it, very dimly lit. The rest of the ride features a ton of theming actually, probably one of the most heavily themed flumes I've encountered outside of Disney. Lost River of the Ozarks was OK for a rapids ride. Ride itself wasn't that thrilling, but the setting was nice and the tunnel at the end was pretty cool. We ended by riding the Whitewater Toboggan, which is essentially the same as the Mountain Slidewinder at Dollywood. God. Soaking Wet. Awesome! :-) We only had an hour or so left, so it was time for some power riding between Powderkeg and Wildfire. Ended up with a final front seat ride on Wildfire, terrific way to end a great day! Final thoughts on SDC: Park absolutely lived up to the expectations I had built up in my mind over the past few years. Very similiar to Dollywood, which of course I adore. Great collection of coasters and a very well rounded assortment of flat rides and water rides also. The Marvel Cave tour is NOT to be missed, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Like Dollywood, food is outstanding!!! Employees were very friendly and VERY efficient. I will make a better effort to get back to SDC, I fell in love with the place. Herschends never fails to disappoint me with Park visits. Now I'm just wanting to get to Dollywood ASAP. Final thoughts on Branson: Branson SUCKS :-) In no way is it anywhere near to being similiar to Pigeon Forge to me. I know in Pigeon Forge when I leave Dollywood at 9PM, there are still many other forms of entertainment to keep me busy until the late hours in the night. SDC closed at 7PM and by 8PM the entire town was almost shut down, including many restaurants. Now I understand why Celebration City was an epic fail. Sad, Ozark Wildcat looks like a tremendous ride! I hope they find a way to save it. - Todd

Got a little busy, hopefully can get it posted soon. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to SDC though! -Todd

Its not that I hated Excalibur, in fact, it was a pretty intense ride....it just made me a bit dizzy and feeling sick. It looks fantastic though, certainly better than its dormant days at SFGAdventure as you will most certainly recall. I missed the Candy Apples :-( You definitely have a lot to look forward again, I'm still in shock over how great Evil Knievel was. - Todd

Yes, this was after Park close and the Park had already been cleared by security for the night. I'm VERY happy to hear Timberwolf got some TLC. As I said, I used to absolutely love the thing! I do actually enjoy the Park, its a nice little Park. Unfortunately, just plagued by crappy operations as I stated. Yes, Terpy, one train Mamba and heavy mid course blocking. Ironically enough, through the second half I felt like I was on Diamondback ;-) - Todd

Our original intentions were to leave Six Flags St. Louis and drive about halfway to Des Moines, IA to hit up Adventureland. This is one small park that has eluded me for years and I'm determined to make it there!! Unfortunately, I partied a bit to hard the night before we left, got little sleep, flew out of Orlando at 7AM, drove 3 hours to St. Louis, spent 12 hours of marathoning on Boss and Knievel, so I was spent. We only made it about 80 miles out of St. Louis and found a motel in Hannibal, MO. The plan was to get up around 6AM and make the trek to Adventureland. We wanted to have a few hours there before we drove to WoF. We wanted to have at least 5 or 6 hours at WoF to soak in Prowler. Sadly, that 6AM wake up call just wasn't enough to get us out of bed so we ended up sleeping until 10AM. Not wanting to compromise any Prowler time, we decided to scrap Adventureland this trip and head on to Kansas City. What a mistake this would turn out to be. I've been to Worlds of Fun several times now. I've always enjoyed the Park. Its small, but it never screamed Cedar Fair as it had a lot of charm left to it. Lots of trees and shady areas. Just a nice little Park. The coaster collection is pretty mediocre, I hadn't ridden Patriot before this visit. I always use to enjoy Orient Express and was sad to see it removed. We arrived to the park around 230PM and decided that since we didn't spend the extra money to drive up and hit Adventureland we'd rent a cottage at Worlds of Fun Village. $119 for the cottage, which was actually quite nice. I think I'd prefer this set up at Cedar Point's Lighthouse Point, which offers some beautiful views and scenary. There is no such view or scenary at WoF.

Our original intentions were to leave Six Flags St. Louis and drive about halfway to Des Moines, IA to hit up Adventureland. This is one small park that has eluded me for years and I'm determined to make it there!! Unfortunately, I partied a bit to hard the night before we left, got little sleep, flew out of Orlando at 7AM, drove 3 hours to St. Louis, spent 12 hours of marathoning on Boss and Knievel, so I was spent. We only made it about 80 miles out of St. Louis and found a motel in Hannibal, MO. The plan was to get up around 6AM and make the trek to Adventureland. We wanted to have a few hours there before we drove to WoF. We wanted to have at least 5 or 6 hours at WoF to soak in Prowler. Sadly, that 6AM wake up call just wasn't enough to get us out of bed so we ended up sleeping until 10AM. Not wanting to compromise any Prowler time, we decided to scrap Adventureland this trip and head on to Kansas City. What a mistake this would turn out to be. I've been to Worlds of Fun several times now. I've always enjoyed the Park. Its small, but it never screamed Cedar Fair as it had a lot of charm left to it. Lots of trees and shady areas. Just a nice little Park. The coaster collection is pretty mediocre, I hadn't ridden Patriot before this visit. I always use to enjoy Orient Express and was sad to see it removed. We arrived to the park around 230PM and decided that since we didn't spend the extra money to drive up and hit Adventureland we'd rent a cottage at Worlds of Fun Village. $119 for the cottage, which was actually quite nice. I think I'd prefer this set up at Cedar Point's Lighthouse Point, which offers some beautiful views and scenary. There is no such view or scenary at WoF. Highway to the front and a few trees to the back. All we got was the obnoxiously loud sounds of Mamba's lift hill and overkill block brake! Waited till 4PM to take advantage of the $21.95 Twilight Ticket. As we were walking to the back entrance at Oceans of Fun, I couldn't help but notice the lack of Mamba trains we'd see run. Sure enough, upon closer inspection, ONE train. Already off to a bad start, as we could see the line snaking out of the station, stairs and out of the queue line. Ugh. We made it in the Park and started to explore, skipping Mamba for obvious reasons yet trying to figure out the justification for ONE freakin' train on a 3 minute ride with a queue full of people. We headed over to Timberwolf, only to find it closed. I saw some guys out on the track, not sure what the issue was, but it would be down the remainder of the day. I'm hearing its seen better days, so not sure we missed out on much. I used to love it though! Next up: Patriot -- What a visually stunning ride this is. Its placement on top of the hill really makes it stand out on the Parks skyline and it has a killer lighting package on the lift hill at night. Unfortunately, thats about where it stops. The layout is unique, but its just another B&M as of lately.....fun but nothing exciting. Its pretty forceless, actually, with no real intensity to be found anywhere on the ride. Kinda has a peppy ending with the large drop into the flatspin, but other than that Patriot was a snoozer. Shockingly enough, ONE train as well. ONE train would be the theme of Worlds of Fun as we'd soon find out EVERY coaster was a one train operation. We skipped Spinning Dragons, as I had ridden before and the fact that they were running TWO out of I believe SEVEN cars that they have. Such a far contrast from the prior day where the same ride at Six Flags was at MAX capacity. So we moved on and took at spin on Boomerang since it was a walk on. Finally..... Prowler - Well, when they announced Prowler I became very fascinated with this ride. The layout looked promising, especially given some of the winners GCI has cranked out in the last few years, and the thought of the use of terrain certainly caught my attention. Making our way to Prowler, we were both already incredibly frustrated in the Park Operations so our mood was pretty sour. It got worse when we waited an HOUR for Prowler due to, say it with me, ONE TRAIN OPERATION. Brand new marquee attraction, single train operation. You're the best, CF! Ok, ok, enough ranting, the ride. WOW. I don't think I liked it as well as Evil Knievel, but its an awesome ride! The first drop is just so so, but where Prowler shines is from the second drop on. From there it becomes just an insane mess of quick jogs to the left and right, very abrupt bunny hops and drops that keep the train screamin' along the outbound run. The turnaround was pretty intense with laterals before sending the train heading back toward the station. The last third of the ride is really a blur, the train just jumps up and down in very quick successions before making a serious agressive upward turn to the right to bring the train into a final S-Curve back into the brakes. We wanted a re-ride but didn't want to wait again given the operation of the ride. Well, at this point, we had been in the Park just under 2 hours and were done. Had no desire to do anything else. We knew we wanted a night ride on Prowler, but the thought of staying in the Park for 3 more hours was a nightmare for us. So we left the Park and found a grocery store since we decided to grill out at the cottage that evening. Around 730, we decided to head back into the Park. Brandon wanted to ride Mamba. The line wasn't as bad, but we still waited 25 minutes for it. The out bound run is decent and the helix is actually pretty fun, unfortunately by the time you make it to the block brake they practically bring the train to a crawl. The result is an uneventful run home that does absolutely nothing. Oh well, I warned Brandon as thats how it rode my last time, but at least he got his credit :-) We made our way over to Prowler where thankfully the line was just down the station stairs. Still a 20 minute wait, but it was getting dark. We were able to ride 3 more times, including one front seat ride. The front is where the ride shines. Its not really so much about the airtime, but just the crazy lateral kicks that the ride delivers. Night rides are fantastic, on par with Voyage in that there are absolutely NO lights ANYWHERE on the course. Its just a fantastic ride all around and really delivers, props to GCI for another great ride! Our visit to WoF was incredibly frustrating. In addition to one train operations on every coaster, employees were lethargic and truly didn't seem to care. Only the Prowler crew was having fun doing what they were doing. I felt sorry for the guy operating Prowler as he was getting *****ed out practically every train that dispatched by regular guests wondering what the deal with one train was. I was so frustrated, I decided to go to Guest Relations. I wasn't wanting anything in return, just to document what a terribly bad time we had at the Park due to crappy operations. I know sometimes we tend to be more critical of Parks than others, but we heard a lot of GP making similiar comments. They aren't stupid, they know when things are bad or out of the ordinary. We were then escorted back through the Park with security, since we were staying at WoF Village and had to exit through the Oceans of Fun gate. WoF is a nice park, it really is, unfortunately they are plagued with bad operations.....some of which are their fault and some are policies that are CF. My visit to KI back in May yielded some similiar experiences. Sad to see. While I understand the need to save on expenses, staffing, etc, there comes a point where you have to stop cutting. When the guest experience begins to be compromised, its time to stop and I feel that so far on my two experiences at CF parks this year its at that point. KI was much better than WoF, don't take me the wrong way, but seeing one train operation on Beast and Vortex both was very hard for me to wrap my head around. Six Flags learned the hard way, I think its going to take the same for CF. Hopefully not. We left the Park had our cookout and headed to bed. We were bound for Branson the next morning for some Silver Dollar City! - Todd

After a relatively quiet year last year and no major trips, my buddy Brandon and I decided this summer we needed to resume our travels once again and hit up some parks. It was a refreshing change to get out of the theme park mecca known as Orlando and hit some smaller parks for a change. So we found round trip airfare to Springfield, MO for less than $100 on Allegiant Air. It was settled. Rent a car and hit some Missouri parks. Day 1: We left Orlando at 7AM and arrived in Springfield by 9AM CST. After picking up the rental car, which was a Prius that we absolutely fell in love with, we hit the highway bound for Six Flags St. Louis. When we first arrived at the Park, everything was shut down due to some inclement weather that we had just driven through. I picked up my 2009 Season Pass and we went on our way to explore the Park. I hadn't been to the Park in several years and my typical visits there are very brief. This was the first day that I was truly able to explore all aspects of the Park. The Park is really a gem the way that its nestled on the hillside and in the trees. It really does have a lot of personality and charm, not unlike SFoG and SFoT. While we were waiting on the weather to clear, we took a few spins on the Park's Scooby-Doo dark ride. I've said it before and I'll say it again, HANDS DOWN the best version of this ride out there. The targets are far easier to hit and the guns are far more sensitive than the KI version. After hitting the target, it will re-light as a different color. Depending on the color of the target, points will vary. What i like most about this version is how immersive it really is. Hitting each target almost always triggers something to pop out or sound off at you. Too bad KI got the shaft and such a crummy version :-( Within about an hour, the weather cleared out and the fun began. Crowds were very light due to the weather, however the rides ran at capacity allowing us the opportunity for MANY MANY rides. As we made our way through the Park, even from the moment we walked through security, the employees were incredibly polite and friendly. We also noticed a big emphasis on efficiency at all the rides, in particular the Evil Knievel crew were absolutely outstanding and incredibly quick. Park was incredibly clean. Also, despite what some may say about food prices (hello, have you taken a look at the menu's at KI?) Very reasonable deals are to be found for food. The Park offers a lot of after 4PM specials for dinner. For example, we ate at Johnny Rockets. For $9, we got the chicken strip basket which included fries, onion rings AND the drink! So dinner was very reasonable and we noted these specials at most of the other restaurants throughout the Park. Anyway on to the rides... Evil Knievel - Heard many good things prior to arriving, holy cow did this baby deliver. It will most likely crack my top ten wood, just haven't figured out where. Upon seeing it for the first time, the ride is very small....standing at just 80 feet. In typical GCI fashion though, the layout is chocked full of hidden twists, mini bunny hops, and more. While the first drop and first turn were fun, the real fun begins with the second drop as the ride performs a sort of double down as it rips its way to the other end of the site. From there, the turns are fast and furious. All get progressively quicker and tighter as you wind your way down to the ground. Its got some great airtime, for sure, but the ride's crowning moment are the last 30 seconds of the ride. We ended up with 18 rides and I'm still wanting more! Boss - I've always loved the Boss. Some complain that its rough, but I dont' find this to be the case at all. Intense? Yes. VERY intense. Those trains always make me nervous my first ride as you never know what kind of ride you are going to get. I'm happy to say Boss is kicking serious ass these days. I am incredibly impressed with the upkeep the Park has performed on the ride, its very noticeable the attention that they have paid to it and they seem to have keeping it smooth down to a science now. The first drop is, perhaps, one of the craziest moments on any wooden coaster that I've been on......the only other moment more intense that I can think of is the former one-two punch combo that was delivered by the Six Flags New England Cyclone. Serious ejector air in the back seat on all the drops, great laterals in the ending helix. Still in my top 5 wood coasters. I also enjoy the fact that the ride offers an incredibly long ride time as well. Two trains running, minimal wait, rode 11 times. Tony Hawk's Big Spin - I had ridden the one at Fiesta Texas, plus versions at WoF, Mall of America and SFNE. Glass smooth, freakishly smooth actually. Great placement in the Park, with parts of the ride being placed in a dug out section of hillside. They were running all cars, which is a far contrast from the TWO cars running on WoF's version the next day.. Mr. Freeze - Love. This. Ride. Forgot how intense it is. They were only running one side, but the line was only about 10 minutes. Crew was very speedy and quick and getting the trains loaded and dispatched. Still engrossed in watching the transfer track move back and forth, such a clever design. The ride is non-stop and really can leave a person breathless. Its spectacular at night. Ninja - Wrecking ball, please. Got the crap beat out of us, I will never ride again (though I recall saying that LAST time too :-)). Mine Train - Meh, not the best of the genre but still has that fun ending. Batman - Another beauty. Aside from the obnoxiously long queue that offers NO shortcuts (actually, long queues seem to be the theme as Boss, Knievel and Freeze all have terribly long queues and NO shortcuts. Like all the other BTR's, ride is nothing short of amazing and is a reminder of what B&M are truly capable of producing in a ride. Screamin' Eagle - Had my best rides I've ever had on it. Still nothing to write home about, but very fun and you just can't beat the setting. Superman Tower of Power - had ridden at Astroworld during the Dungeon Drop days, took at spin for the heck of it. GREAT placement in the Park, right on top of the hill. View from 230 feet is absolutely gorgeous. Perfect addition to the Park. Also took a spin on Xcablibur, formerly known as Evolution from SFGadv. Never again. Interesting design, yes, but not the msot comfortable for myself and it actually made me pretty sick. We also took the time to ride their Ferris Wheel which offers some great views and the train even. I was only able to catch the end of the Glow-In-The-Park parade, but I gotta say from what little I was able to catch I'm quite impressed! Overall, we spent 12 hours in the Park and honestly could have spent 12 hours more. Had we known of the miserable experience we were to have at WoF the following day, we probably would have stayed. We were both very impressed with the level of service found at SFSt. Louis. While I know times are tough at Flags right now, I have faith in them. The changes that have happened at the Parks over the last several years have mostly been positive and I do think they know what they need to do. I'll probably get around to posting some pictures soon enough. Day 2 coming shortly. - Todd,

Yet..... No ride is ever guaranteed to stay.....regardless of popularity. So I wouldn't rule anything out because anything is possible. Regarding the rumor of the flyer, given how successful Manta has been it wouldnt surprise me to see another pop up within the chain.

SeaWorld held its official Media Day for Manta yesterday, despite the incredible amounts of rainfall we have received the last week. Avatar, you definitely wanna check out the video, some more detailed information in it. Ride is officially open as of today, though storms kept both it and Kraken grounded for most of the day. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewt...&start=1860

No wonder we traveled so well together :-) I absolutely loved Canyon Blaster and couldn't ride enough, hoping to go back out in the fall. Manhattan Express would be more useful as scrap metal. Georgia Cyclone = coaster bliss......Son of Beast can burn and yeah Millennium Force is a snoozefest :-) If only I could get you to come to your senses about Nitro!!! ;-) Oh, but you'll never find me hanging out the side of a h.........better stay quiet hehe

I wanted to get around to trying that seat actually, especially after my front seat ride, but I decided to give the back one more shot. Doesnt surprise to hear your statement though, that is the case many times....one great example is seat 1-3 on Magnum. I'd like to make it back and ride a few more times. Its not a terrible ride, didn't mean to imply that if I did, its just really missing something for me and I think a lot of it has to do with the second half of the ride. After some of the pops of air that I got in the front seat though, it cetainly leaves me curious about your seat. I'm interested in seeing how ejector like it is.

Well, I moved to Florida in February of 2008 so last season was the first season that I hadn't been to Kings Island pretty much my entire life. With the announcement of Diamondback, I definitely knew I needed to visit the Park while I was also in to visit my family. Anyone who knows me at all knows I tend to be a bit critical of Kings Island. For starters, I've grown up with the park. I've seen many many different changes throughout the years and more recently the changes haven't been all that positive. I'm not going to go into much detail with this, just a few random thoughts from my visit last night. * Park is the cleanest I have seen it in several years, definitely a positive. I think the front gate area and new Guest Relations window look great and is much more inviting to guests. * Diamondback looks great in the Park, it just seems weird that after so many years without it that KI finally has a ride of that stature. May be 10 years or so behind the rest of the industry, but better late than never I suppose :-) * For the most part, I noticed a definite improvement in ride crews and the efficiency at which they get the trains loaded and out of the station (with the exception of Diamondback, which for some reason was stacking almost everytime and it was only a 2 train operation). As for the ride on Diamondback.... * The ride was just OK for me. I went with low expectations, as I've ridden all the other B&M Hypers in this country, it rode about like I expected. Actually, my first ride left me underwhelmed even. I was told that its quite moody, which would prove true as the last two rides I took were significantly different and better than the first. * Front seat as my favorite. The night rides provided some stronger pops of air going over the tops of the hills, that is until you get to the third hill which is watered down to the brake....me thinks that third hill without the brake would probably give the Intamin's a run for their money in the airtime department * Back seat was excellent for the second drop, block drop and splashdown drop. First drop was surprisingly quite disappointing for me in this seat. * Love climbing the lift, nice different perspective of seeing the Park * Whoever said that the braking on the ride is minimal and has no effect on the ride, I beg to differ. The 3rd hill brake was grabbin significantly last night and killed what would have been a wonderful hill. Braking on the midcourse absolutely kills the second half, dullsville and the helix is probably one of the lamest I've encountered with little force or much of anything happening. * Two nice surprises.....the hammerhead turn is the best I've experienced on the B&M hypers and the splashdown drop in the backseat was OUTSTANDING. * Night rides are fantastic and IMHO far superior to The Beast due to the lack of lights. * Its a great addition to Kings Island and a ride that is about 10 years overdue.....better late than never I suppose. Its great to finally see a B&M running at the Park. The ride is fun, but certainly not even close to being a top ten contender for me. * GREAT merchandise location for the ride and an excellent assortment of goodies * Park operations were absolutely HORRIBLE yesterday, perhaps its just because of my first time encountering them. The weather policy regarding rain seems a tad silly and over exaggerated. I realize the blame falls on Magnum's little bump a few years ago, but truth be told, there's always more to the story to tell.....its not like Magnum hadn't operated 15 years prior to that in the rain without incident * This non-sense of taking everything down to one train after rain, what a way to make the guest experience enjoyable. I don't think I've ever encountered Beast running one train until last night. Vortex was one train, with a 6-7 train wait in the station. Firehawk was one train. Not sure about Flight Deck, Adventure Express or SOB, as I didn't make it back to that side of the Park. It was nice to go back to KI after a not going at all last season. Somethings improved, but somethings not so much. They will enjoy a successful season with Diamondback, no doubt, and I'm glad to see the ride there. The best thing about the entire visit, despite not really riding all that many things, was seeing old friends.....and meeting new ones! Avatar, it was a pleasure and I look forward to you visiting Orlando in the Fall.....Ryan you had better be joining because you don't know what you are missing down here!

Before the InBev buyout, they were strongly rumored to be receiving a B&M Speed Coaster along the lines of Apollo....more or less an out-n-back in a pretty narrow strip of land. Who knows now. Thats a ride that is very much needed there though, as most of the big steel coasters are loop so it'd be something a bit different. Sheikra is a lot of fun, no doubt, but its not the end all be all either. To me, it rides about like the Nitro's, Apollos and Raging Bulls do.....super smooth, pretty forceless. It was a great addition for them though, the Park gets a TON of attention down here with that ride because the unique nature of it. Although not as detailed as Manta, they did a tremendous job with the placement and theming of the area....I love the interaction the ride has with the walkways, especially the splashdown, and how it interacts with the Smokehouse.

Haha you wanna talk about a ride that had people's hopes up high look at KI and Diamondback. While I would not consider it anywhere near a flop, it for me at least was a bit of a letdown, Manta however looks like a winner just based on its spectacular theming alone. If you take away Diamondbacks theming your left with.........well wait there isn't much theming to begin with is there Wow, an honest opinion from someone, thank you. I've ridden all the B&M hypers, I have my expectations for Diamondback, which aren't much. The B&M hypers are a bit too smooth and controlled for my taste.....fun but nothing spectacular for me. With that said, I'm not judging D-back, am very excited to try it out Friday and always ride with an open mind. I'll get back to ya with my opinion :-) Likewise, I had my expectations for Manta too. I figured it'd be a fun ride, better than Superman, but still just the gimmicky flyer. Certainly got way more than that, exceeded expectations in absolutely EVERY aspect. That seems to be the general opinion so far is that no one expected it to turn out *this* well. BEC parks have always been held to a higher standard and people know it, but they've raised the bar for themselves with this one.

Haha you wanna talk about a ride that had people's hopes up high look at KI and Diamondback. While I would not consider it anywhere near a flop, it for me at least was a bit of a letdown, Manta however looks like a winner just based on its spectacular theming alone. If you take away Diamondbacks theming your left with.........well wait there isn't much theming to begin with is there Wow, an honest opinion from someone, thank you. I've ridden all the B&M hypers, I have my expectations for Diamondback, which aren't much. The B&M hypers are a bit too smooth and controlled for my taste.....fun but nothing spectacular for me. With that said, I'm not judging D-back, am very excited to try it out Friday and always ride with an open mind. I'll get back to ya with my opinion :-) Likewise, I had my expectations for Manta too. I figured it'd be a fun ride, better than Superman, but still just the gimmicky flyer. Certainly got way more than that, exceeded expectations in absolutely EVERY aspect. That seems to be the general opinion so far is that no one expected it to turn out *this* well. BEC parks have always been held to a higher standard and people know it, but they've raised the bar for themselves with this one.

The queue begins outside, actually the entrance is the rock formation that houses the fly-by waterfall. You enter through the rocks, with the waterfall crashing on the otherside. As you wait there, the train does cause water from the waterfall to come through the cave and spray those queued up. When you leave the cave, you cross a small wooden bridge over the lagoon that immediately leads to the aquarium building. From there, you are inside all the way until you board the ride. The entire queue is completely immersive. As it begins, you are treated to small glimpses of the aquarium however as you progress through the queue the windows become larger.....ultimately leading to the big viewing window.. Aside from the main tank, there are 4 other aquariums in the rider's side of the queue that are unique and specific to the rider side ONLY. Likewise, there are special features on the non-rider side such as the overhead viewing area of the rays and the cool aquarium with the octopus, which allows it to travel through a tube to a second adjoining tank. Yes Avatar, I enjoy a good thrill ride like you do.....Maverick, Superman @ SFNE, El Toro, some of my favorites. To be honest, Manta is going to find a home in my top 10 steel coasters, just haven't figured out exactly where. If the ride were standing alone, it'd be great and a ton of fun. However, the way that the coaster is worked into the Park and how it plays with the existing surroundings and water really do put it over the top. Combine that with the absolutely beautiful queue, surrounding village area, and an amazing soundtrack that the Park has sprung for makes it, hands down, my favorite coaster in Florida. There isn't anything even close to it in the state or anywhere really. Rockit is sure to be a fun ride when it opens, but don't expect much theming with it. What you've seen so far is pretty much it. Rockit, also, was due to open Memorial Day the same time as Manta's Grand Opening. As I understand it though, Universal is dropping a pretty penny in the X-Car trains and Maurer is having very little to do with them other than providing the basic hardware. Universal is creating customized headrests, etc for it in house. They were able to finally finish completing the track, so a good sign that the issue they had has been solved.

Avatar, Not sure if you follow TPR, but some excellent pictures have been posted showcasing more of the theming and the queue with aquarium. Right up your alley! http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewt...&start=1780 The park held a small media event this morning, video from WESH can be found here www.wesh.com/video/19377568/index.html And of course the Orlando Sentinel http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_orlando/manta/ Non-Rider side of aquarium to open sometime this week!

Based upon the initial reactions from guests at the Park, the readers over at TPR, and the various newspaper articles that have surfaced since it had its soft opening Saturday, so far that is not being the case at all....in fact for the most part the attraction has exceeded people's expectations.....it certainly did mine and that doesn't happen very often. For a change, essentially everything in the artist renderings actually came to reality in the final product. The entire thing is absolutely stunning. As for the landscaping issue, of course Kings Island can't hold a candle to the Florida parks and I don't expect them too.....but once upon a time they did. Its just sad that since Backlot Stunt Coaster, or whatever the hell its called these days, went in that entire half of the Park has been gutted of pretty much any beauty and all trees. That part of the Park was always so gorgeous. But oh well. Yes, SeaWorld has the Mouse to contend with......but what excuse does Busch Gardens Williamsburg have? Its one of the most beautiful parks in the country and the same quality that SeaWorld has put forth in Manta is also evident in Williamsburg....and they have no Mouse to compete with. Discussing the splashdown on Manta wasn't meant to start a debate, it was a simple statement. I agree with you, Nemo, that the splashdowns on Diamondback, Sheikra and Griffon do nothing to enhance the rider experience. Thus the reason I pointed it out on Manta, because this is the first one that I've ridden that actually *does* enhance the rider experience and serve a purpose. It continues the theme and story behind the entire attraction and is just another way of tieing it all together.

Indeed they do and its even MORE effective on the ride. I hadn't been able to ride the right side of the train as when we were riding during employee rides the water wasn't there, so I kept riding left side for the rockwork :-) Rode the right side of the train today, HOLY cow it looks like you are literally just inches from the water during the splashdown....and you DO get wet during the splashdown on that side of the train. The entire splash area is also very engaging for guests. Thats the thing I dont' understand about Diamondbacks splash down....its perhaps the most pointless one created as it does nothing to intereact with guests and I'm sure you barely notice it on the ride itself.....cause you don't notice it on Sheikra or Griffon. Hmmmmm, correct me if I am wrong, but right there you said they indeed do touch the water. I was just replying to the answer you told someone else in this topic. I see what you are referencing, but that is not what I was saying. The person was talking about what a great job the Park does on syncing the splash to the trains pasing by, to which I responded indeed they do. Doesn't matter. Trains don't touch the water. Splash is simulated. I think everything is clear now.

Ahhhh, but remember that Kings Island *originated* as a theme park and all the way through the CF purchase theming was a factor. With that said, I don't think anyone expected theming with Diamondback....I know I didnt. A tree would have been nice at least D-back is definitely a much needed ride at KI and I'm very glad to see it there....even more excited to ride on Friday. Definitely a good year for B&M!

No where did I ever state that the trains DO touch the water, as its been stated by the Park numerous times that the splash is simulated....likewise the Park is fully able to control it. There is a difference between today and yesterday's splash....todays is noticeable larger and you get more wet today. You are right though, its amazing to see how the splash is timed perfectly to the train. Thats just one little detail of the ride, overall the amount of detail is fantastic.....its a Disney caliber attraction. I stand firmly by that statement, and people who know me know how much I adore Disney. A closer viewing area for Diamondback would have been wonderful. Guests are actually quite close to Manta's and that splash IS capable of soaking those just viewing it. As it is now, the train whips water from the splash and sprays onlookers a bit. It also sprays those queued up on the bridge behind the waterfall. But my bad, I forgot, its just like Backlot Stunt Coaster