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RandyV

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About RandyV

  • Birthday 08/27/1969

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    Colorado
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  1. I think the pessimism is because Cedar Fair is generally regarded a better operator than Six Flags and the fear is that the Cedar Fair experience will be dragged down instead of the Six Flags experience being elevated. It's far easier to go down than up. If you follow aviation - this merger reminds me of what happened to Boeing when they merged with McDonnell Douglas back in the 90s. Maybe CF/SF cultures are closer in alignment than any of us know, but it sure doesn't feel that way to me. Time will tell.
  2. Kings Island Vortex King Cobra SFGAm Shockwave Tidal Wave Turn of the Century (not technically gone, but different than the Demon) Z-Force BGT Gwazi IOA Dragon Challenge SFMM Psyclone Colossus CP Mean Streak Disaster Transport KBP Boomerang SFDK Roar CGA Invertigo Sahara LV Speed - the Ride Stratosphere Tower LV High Roller
  3. Count me in with the Arrow fans who will be sad to see Vortex go. I understand the decision to remove it and we all know a 30+ year old Arrow that tosses you around will never win against any contemporary, modern coaster. The first and only times I rode Vortex was back in 87 or 88 when it was virtually new. It really is too bad there isn't some economical way for the parks to fix the flaws in these old beasts but I am sure the cost of doing that versus building something entirely new doesn't make sense. Just booked my travel out to KI for the first time in a long time to get a last ride. Get your rides in on these old Arrows folks. Love them or hate them, they are only going to continue to disappear and probably at a faster rate than anyone thinks.
  4. I'll never grow tired of the loud CLANG ---- CLANG of the brakes on these Schwarzkopf shuttle loops. Truly awesome.
  5. Great find! It always appeared to me VIper's first drop was not a smooth, nearly constant angle sweeping curve all the way down like the ones found on on Shockwave and GASM. HD POVs of the first drop clearly show (about 1/2 of the way down) the track has a weird (but not violent) change in angle. Now it makes sense. From the videos, it appears the original design of the first drop was indeed a constant radius, consistent angle almost all the way to the bottom. I would imagine the original transition from the first drop curve in to the straight track leading up in to the first loop was one of those nasty Arrow neck snappers. To fix that, they reduced the first drop roll angle mid-way down so the transition was much flatter by the time it got to the bottom. You can really see the transition well in the second video. Mystery solved (for me, anyway)!
  6. Can you share any of those complaints or the number of them? I am purely curious how many complaints the park gets about Viper in a given day, week, month etc. I am sure there isn't. As I said, I understand it's a numbers game. Six Flags is a business, not a museum curator. You seem to be in the know here. Do you know and can you comment if the investment in Revolution this season was made based on it's historical significance or on guest input? My opinion is that Revolution was not more popular than Viper. I'd appreciate your insights in to this.
  7. Correct. All three of the Arrow triplets (Shockwave, GASM and Viper) were built without the cross ties on the tops of the loops. The tops were all replaced after a few years (1993 or 1994 as I recall) with the additional bracing due to structural fatigue. SFGAdv put one of the old pieces in the wildlife partk for the animals to play on. See the TPR thread here and scroll down about half way for the pics: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55756&start=580
  8. Clearly not much love for Viper here but I will stand with that small group people with sore necks who would hate to see it go. Viper really does have some historical significance in the world of coasters -- being the only 7 looper Arrow left in existence. I completely agree with everyone that this is a numbers game. If ridership numbers are low and maintenance is high anyone with half a business brain can figure out what the result should be. That said -- I would argue that before this season Revolution wasn't exactly setting any turnstyle records either. Six Flags just dumped a whole bunch of money into that ride to breathe some new life in to it (and I don't mean the silly VR stuff). I would bet (but have no proof) that maintenance on Revolution can't be far off from Viper (might even be higher) simply because of parts availability. Yes, Rev now has new coaches but I believe the chassis is still vintage Schwarzkopf. S&S still supplies parts for Arrows but I don't know if the same can be said of Schwarzkopf rides of an even older vintage. That means custom fabrication if you need something for Revolution versus buying spare parts off the shelf from S&S for Viper. You can probably make the case that Revolution had historical significance on its side which helped drive the decision to re-invest in the ride. I would argue Viper has a similar historical pedigree, though not going back quite as far as Viper. I also don't think a Phantom's Revenge type overhaul works for Viper. The inversions are what make Viper unique IMHO and are also it's Achilles's heel. Steel Phanton's claim to fame is the second drop in to the ravine. It was easy to keep that and then work with the open terrain to redo the second half of that ride. Viper is really pretty compact if you think about it so I don't see turning it in to some kind of airtime monster as an option. There's just not enough space. It would be interesting for someone with first-hand engineering experience to explain why Arrows go to hell over time, aside from the usual statement about the cg being the center of the coach instead of the rider, etc. Arrow track can be tamed (Tennessee Tornado) so It seems reasonable that a decent engineering firm could make the necessary tweaks to Viper's track profile to really make the ride smooth for years to come. That's probably wishful thinking on my part. I really hope Six Flags considers a Revolution-style re-enginnering on Viper. Although re-imaging a second coaster in two consecutive seasons probably wouldn't go over well with the GP. In the end -- if they do decide to scrap Viper I'll be there for the last dispatch for sure.
  9. Thumbs up for the POV on the Hollywood Tower. I love Intamin Freefalls and that one sounds particularly noisy. I loved it when the steam effect went off after the car got stuck. Kinda of added to the moment. Very cool video.
  10. Man this makes me feel old. My first official B&M (under their own banner) was Iron Wolf when it opened in 1990 at SFGAm. As part of Giovanola, it would have been Z-Force at SFGAm in 1985.
  11. GhostRider needs serious retracking - period. The ride was awesomely smooth when it was new and has just fallen apart over the years. This last week I was at the park and the ride experience significantly better than it has been in past years, but it was still a far, far cry from where it needs to be. IMHO, the the layout does not need to be changed as much as the ride itself just needs to be smoothed out and less jarring. Topper track would take care of that.
  12. Truth! The parks really were pretty identical back in the day. Gurnee is still way closer to it's original roots than Santa Clara. The California park is a shadow of it's former, original self. I hope Six Flags leaves Gurnee in tact. Those were some great pics the Tribune posted. I was just as Magic Mountain this past week and spent a lot of time on Viper reliving my younger days riding Shockwave when it was new. I really wish they could have tamed Shockwave somehow. That's still my favorite lost ride from Great America. The Edge too. Loud, noisy and pretty scary for its day. There are much taller and better drop towers of course, but I will always have a soft spot for those original Intamin Free Falls.
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