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SteVeUrkle

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  1. No, I'm acting like this is the exact same ride I can go on in many different parks throughout the US or North America, or the World: hell, even pretty much in the exact same park, which is why there's no incentive to visit once this ride opens. You know it, I know it, Robb Alvey knows it, people who consistently ride coasters know it. Hell, even my family and friends know this B&M cookie cutter crap just does not cut it or warrants additional visits to the park. Orion is a Mako, Diamondback, Fury, Leviathon, Behemoth, blah blah blah all the same. Trim brakes on airtime hills, blah blah blah all the same. This is the same crap B&M has been doing for about 20 years now. Enough is enough. Parks dropping $20+ Million on coasters need to do better than this, because it's a joke, and I don't know why that is a problem for some of you "enthusiasts" to hope for instead of applauding the next turd they crap out. And I don't know why wanting parks to create better rides than this is frowned upon. Yeah I'm critical of ride additions at times, I think Kings Island could have created a much better ride experience than this for the money, and I think they should have instead of just bending over to the constituency! I don't see why there's anything wrong with having that opinion.
  2. People on here will give countless reasons, but until B&M comes out and explicitly states why, nobody will ever know. I'm not going to lie, when B&M does this absurd final brake run shit, it looks like absolute garbage. There's no practical reason for a 100 foot tall brake run that's 1000 feet long when you have plenty of open space underneath, surrounding the ride, and enough train speed to make the overall ride experience that much better for another 10-15 seconds. It's a literal waste of track and space. Orion is not getting me out to Kings Island next year. I'm so fed up with cookie cutter B&M infiltrating the US/North American market with lackluster coasters when spectacular rides like DC Rivals & Helix by Mack or Taron by Intamin produce much better roller coaster experiences you can't find anywhere else. I really wish they'd stop buying these B&M coasters and have some balls to go for the good stuff.
  3. You gotta understand, it's A LOT of work for the already overworked mechanics at the park to take a train apart like X2, haul it to the complete other corner of the park (where the refurb shed is), have the entire train refurbished, then hauled all the way back to the other side of the park to be placed back on the track. This isn't Disney efficiency we're talking about, it's a tough job! And they're dealing with very heavy cars that they have to be extremely careful with! One thing about Magic Mountain (Six Flags) most people don't get, is they keep adding coasters and rides that need daily maintenance, but they DON'T increase the number of mechanics needed to operate all the coasters proportionately. So, they do what they can with what they have, and the spaces they have to work backstage with are literally the same they've been for decades. When a ride like X2 goes down for parts, or Apocalypse goes down due to a new ride addition, the mechanics take a sigh of relief as that is a LITERAL break from having to inspect/upkeep the ride for a couple weeks/months/years. This is not a Magic Mountain specific issue, this really is corporate decisions squeezing everything they can out of the personnel who IMO really are already underpaid and work their butts off. As shared NUMEROUS times in this thread over countless years, the park/Six Flags needs to drop this coaster/ride addition crap like 10 years ago, and really focus on what they have and maintaining THAT up to quality standards. The park/corporate refuses to do so and therefore things fall behind, get delayed and half assed, and you see the same issues repeating themselves and snowballing into a lot of what we see at the park today.
  4. I hope this isn't the same playlist that includes songs with such classy titles including "We want some p*ssy" or "Bi*ch better have my money." Am I searching Spotify incorrectly? Excited for tomorrow, crossing my fingers for a height record as this is one of those parks I can actually make it to every couple years without really going out of my way to travel!
  5. Um. Link for proof please? This 1994 LA Times article cites quite the opposite: "None of the more than 100 rides at the park suffered any mechanical breakdown or structural damage in the Jan. 17 quake." https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-06-me-19851-story.html The roller coasters, the Sky Tower, none of it is going to go anywhere pending human cause. Rides aren't going to "topple over" in an earthquake. They're not going to "suddenly derail" either. Most especially in the United States, there is so much over-engineering and safety precautions taken into these rides beyond an earthquake occurring, even if a world apocalypse were to happen tomorrow, these things would most likely be standing long after you and I we gone. Even for West Coast Racers, footers are 30-40 feet in the ground! Batman in SFNO survived one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in modern day, and continues to operate to this day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas as Goliath. If that doesn't make you feel safe I don't know what does! I lived in the Southern Califonia / Los Angeles area for 30+ years, 1985 through 2016, so yes, I have been through several substantial earthquakes. After a while you become numb to them, not that scary, most everything is safe. I remember during college some time in 2010 when I was taking a nap we had a 4.0+ hit, and I remember thinking “oh jeez please stop shaking, I really am not in the mood to get up right now…” Huh? If anything this PROVES that rides are precisely designed with earthquakes in mind! They took into account the strength of earthquake variance in Japan as opposed to the United States, and designed the ride accordingly! Sure the park has some say, but it's the ride designers and manufacturers that decide which structurally sound measures need to be taken if the ride is operating during an earthquake. They most definitely put this in mind. Weeks ago there was a 7.0+ earthquake. Anyone hear of roller coasters malfunctioning because of it? Absolutely not. They were up an running an hour later. I am shocked by the misinformation and lack of logic being shared in this thread! If a roller coaster hits I want to be on a roller coaster! No safer place to be!
  6. How bizarre, my experience at the park earlier this week was great! I went with my brother on Monday July 15th, we showed up around 2pm and there were practically no lines. Every ride was operating except for Kong. Stupid Harley Quinn and stupid Daredevil were closed but seriously who gives two craps about those hunk of junk eyesores? Joker had 2 trains. Medusa had 2 trains. Superman had 2 trains**. Batman ran all cars. Would go down, but then be right back up, and was operating flawlessly with great dispatches no line. I think we rode Batman about 5 times and we started to learn how to influence the spinning with our leg movements, and we started to get really good at providing some really wild rides! Such an improvement over the Intamin Zac-Spins; my brother loved Insane @ Grono & Green Lantern @ SFMM because of the intensity, but admitted this was much more fun, and much more re-rideable! I rode Wonder Woman and it was pretty fun, much more extreme than I’m used to for a flat ride! My first time on a Frisbee Pendulum so extraordinary in scope, had a really good long ride cycle too. For the first time ever I took the walk of shame (arrrrgh!!), at The Flash ride. I don’t know if the restraints are different because I’ve ridden it before, and rode Wicked Twister @ CP several times, but those restraints are probably the tightest most restrictive things I have ever experienced. I’m not even that big of a guy, I get on everything else just fine, so I was pretty shocked when I couldn’t ride. Bummer! I love the front spike on this Intamin Shuttle! The last ride of the day was Joker and at about 7:50pm (10 minutes before the park closed) Joker went down. They evacuated the train back to the loading side, and said we could wait. Being the roller coaster veteran I am, and judging by the ride-ops posture, I figured this would be a pretty quick fix. After 5 minutes I asked “Did you call a mechanic” and he said yup. I asked “how long does it usually take them to get here?” and he said it depends. Mechanic showed up pretty quick. Didn’t even run 1 test circuit. Put his magic key in the control panel, and we literally got in our seats just as the park closed. Great ride to end the night, and has got to be my favorite ride at the park. I just love how it does so much in such a small space, and it really gets you close to the ground! So I wonder if that’s the Joker train that was giving them trouble because they were running test cycles at least an hour or so after park closing. I could see the trains running while we exited the park and waited for our Lyft. I’m surprised they got the train off the track so quickly, seems as if it happened overnight! **I know Superman only has 1 train I was just joking around.
  7. Nah brah. Your politically correct reasoning is why the worlds logic has gone to shit. I won't ride a roller coaster in India for the same reason I won't ride one in Tijuana. That's not xenophobic stuff, that's practical reasoning. Women raped in streets visible to the public isn't "eww" to you? Unfathomable to even consider any other reaction.
  8. Wow. Great post! You know I gotta applaud the guys at S&S, I really appreciate the "paused" but straight sections of this coaster, I think it really adds a level of fun and anticipation while riding. Probably my favorite parts of this coaster are the ones where it doesn't do too much, just lets you appreciate the speed while doing some flat track or little bunny hop. Overall, Steel Curtain looks like a hell of a lot of fun! I hope to see more S&S's like this around the country although I have to admit, some of their supports look SUPER funky! Which I guess when you're not a cookie cutter coaster manufacturer like B&M, that's going to happen! The official animation for this ride was not done with No Limits. Right. Which in the quote he specifically says NOT No Limits, but a "souped-up version of No Limits..." We've got a vibration tattletale in the mix! I get it, some of us are loyal. I like Viper @ MM better than Fulll Throttle. But come on, a Morgan reboot? Ugh. Steel Curtain has got to be better! But I love the dissenting opinion! Is there a go-to seat you prefer on Phantom which would lead you to this kind of opinion?
  9. So amazing the difference of opinion. If a quake were to start, there's no place I'd feel safer than being on a roller coaster. They're ridiculously over-designed for safety. You're strapped in to a device with no loose falling objects around you. Yeah you'll be shaking real good, but you're SO safe. These things withstand hurricanes (Batman SFNO). They're going nowhere and you're strapped in to save your life just while riding. An earthquake might scare over-dramatic young folks because a big one hasn't happened in 20 years, but people really are safe.
  10. I have not yet ridden an air-launched coaster, but undoubtedly the force based on the speed to second ratio means the launch is just as, if not more aggressive than the hydraulic launches. I could understand the parks having that warning just to save their butts if a dislocated shoulder from a rider were to happen. I'm a pretty tough guy but as I'm getting older injuries suck. I imagine they have that policy just to cover their butts if someone does hurt themselves while riding. I keep my hands down on most launches these days, and honestly it does not affect the ride experience at all. I still have not seen a response to the question about that little bump after the launch, does it give a pop of air at all?
  11. I think the Hagrid family coaster is an appropriate addition for its audience. Based off what I've seen, do I think the park could have done quite a bit better with immersing the riders into a story? Absolutely. But think about the story-line the ride before it had... That being said, has ANYONE considered the Jurassic Park coaster being a B&M Flying Dinosaur like the one in Japan? IMO that would make up BIG TIME for the removal of Dueling Dragons and satisfy those who don't find the Hagrid coaster a valid replacement.
  12. I agree. I give those folks A LOT of credit. You don't really think about it but Cedar Point is actually pretty huge! Doing a lap around the park is quite a trek, or trying to hustle over to Millenium Force from SteeVe for a last minute ride is not for the faint of heart! And I'm in pretty good shape! It's a big reason why a trip to Cedar Point for me just automatically assumes a Breakers reservation for a 1 or 2 night stay. It's just so worth it to have a place for me and my buddies/family to chill for an hour or two whenever you need to, even if it's at different times of the day.
  13. lol blaming an entire country for one parks loose article policy. Way to go! Why parks continue to keep getting cookie cutter lame-o forceless B&M dives and hypers/gigas while this thing clearly exemplifies what they could have instead boggles my mind. Maybe it's just a location in the country thing, but an i305 clone/replica would literally have the longest line at SFMM for a decade. Fantastic reports, love your photos and down to earth commentary. Well done and keep it up!
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