Gazza

It's hard to tell from the pic, are those bricks 3D or is it a printed flat?

Yes that is one sure fire way to help with capacity issues, just deny large numbers of people from riding, thereby reducing demand on the attractions.

So, would you die of exhaustion after pedalling all the way up?

What's that single rail thing?

Here's how the lineups compare now, they are pretty neck and neck these days Type WnW WWW Body Slides Whitewater Mountain Fully 6 Tornado Tornado Green Room Raft Slides Black Hole Temple of Huey Thrill Slides Aqualoop Wedgie Waves Giant Wave Pool Cave of Waves Lazy River Calypso Beach - Twin Kamikaze Little Rippers Launched Surfrider Supertubes Multi Person Mammoth Falls RIP Gimmicky Constrictor Triple Vortex Racer Super 8 BRO Kids Play Structure/ WnW Junior Wiggle Bay / Pipeline Plunge

Big facts. The line I always use is that you don't need a straw for cold beer, no matter what vessel it comes in, so why for any other soft drink? I can understand if its thickshake/smoothie/slurpee, but even for the former i will just drink it.

https://www.phantasialand.de/en/park/attractions-overview/talocan/ Talocan appears to be 1.40m-1.95m https://www.kingsdominion.com/play/rides/the-crypt Crypt is min 54" (1.37m)

When I was in Minneapolis earlier this year I checked out Valleyfair. My time in the park was cut short, because picking up my car rental turned out to be a 2 hour ordeal because my emergency replacement credit card was not processing correctly (wallet stolen earlier in trip!) See all photos here https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/park-188-Valleyfair or scroll through the whole gallery using your arrows https://www.parkz.com.au/photo/20755-Valleyfair/gallery/sort/newest/location/park-188-Valleyfair/offset/0 Nethertheless, the park wasn't too busy, so it didn't take that long to see what i wanted to see. The park is nice enough, it sits in the average tier of Cedar Fair parks with the likes of Worlds of Fun and Dorney Park...In other words, the rides are alright, the park is clean and the operations are good, it's just a bit pedestrian feeling. I recall a comment in my trip previous trip report about the condition of La Ronde being excused because its under snow for half the year...But wouldn't that apply here too? Granted they rely on a lot of flat concrete, but the park still looked very presentable. I started off with Steel Venom, an impulse coaster, which is a lot of fun with the alternation between briskly launching and floater airtime as you spiral upwards. This was my first time riding one with the holding brake still installed. Basically, on one of the launches up the straight spire, there is a set of vertical lims that work in reverse to stop the train right at the top. Its a bit sudden, so you go from floating out of your seat to suddenly dropping downwards into your restraint, a bit of a fright. Next was Corkscrew , so it's sort of like the next model up from what Sea Viper was...For your money you get an extra hill and a helix. Nice. I took a spin on the Ferris Wheel given it was midday, which is the best time for elevated rides because the sun doesn't get in the way of your photos. Not particularly tall but some great pics of Corkscrew can be had. Continuing my loop around the park I stopped in at Snoopys Rocket Express, for even more elevated pics. Right next to this, with its entrance in the middle of Planet Snoopy was High Roller, an ageing wooden coaster with a fairly simple out and back layout, decent enough though perhaps a bit unmemorable....just straight drops and hills, and flat turns...Very Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 style. The longest wait was for Mad Mouse, a wild mouse built by arrow. They had heaps of cars on, but only 1 or 2 out on the layout, so there was like 7 cars permanently stacked in the brake run and station....Most of your ride was spent waiting to leave the station, and waiting to get off. Also, screw you for not having shade. It was interesting for having banked turns and way more dips than usually seen. Green Lantern called, it wants its supports back. Pushing to the back of the park was the other woodie, Renegade, which is much more interesting, it has all the GCI trademarks, big fan turns, quick transitions, loud and fast paced, just a bugger to get pics of because most of the ride goes out past the back of house area, so the only bit you can see is the last part that comes around the station and queue. Also at the back of the park is Excalibur, which was one of my favourites and a sleeper hit. It was like if Arrow designed a mega lite, it has quite decently steep hills interspersed with ground hugging turns, that all interlocked and passed over and under each other in an interesting manner. All done with arrow track of course, so it did have bumps, but was quite exciting. One of arrows best rides IMO. The final coaster was Wild Thing, a hypercoaster which seems like a cross between the other morgans at Dorney and Worlds of fun, but with a turnaround sequence that Steel Dragon 2000 seems to borrow from. Yeah pretty good, again, with DC rivals down the road, you see how much better hypercoasters have become, this seemed to have quite shallow hills and the turnaround sequence was fairly drawn out. What did impress me was the way the final hills were enclosed by a huge tunnel that went all the way to the ground...kudos to them for building that! I got plenty of photos, the park is well and truly sorted for flat rides, and they had a decent sized water park included in admission, though it seemed quite heavily body slide focused. I was still a bit frazzled by my experience with the car rental that morning, since my whole itinerary was hinging on it and had been stressing , so i called it a day for some zen time cruising on the interstate down to Iowa. As for the park? I don't think id go to Minneapolis just for it, but if you are in the city, check it out. It's respectable, but well and truly overdue for a new signature coaster, since their family offerings and flat rides well established.

Yes i know its a dry mat slide I ask because i never noticed in the pics above the obvious repainting...normally you expect the slide pieces to just be one colour....I mean would it work to use a water slide as a dry slide if you got rid of the flat sections between the dips?

So, was the racer just the old super 8 from WnW but with two lanes removed?

Yeah i know, hence the open pathway next to Lex Luthors substation.

It's the Wonderland thing, it was basically to get everyone passing in and out through the shop.

The next park on my hitlist was 40 min further south. Moreys Piers, a collection of three amusement piers with water parks spaced out along a 1.2k stretch of boardwalk along the Wildwoods Boardwalk in NJ (Right near the bottom of Cape May) https://www.parkz.com.au/search/photos/location/park-291-Moreys_Piers (Click through here to see about 170 pics) Various concession stands, chain fast food joints, places which sell “3 t shirts for x dollars”, gift shops, fake tattoos, game parlours and the like line the boardwalk. An ever present trackless tram trundles along, with a very irritating “watch the tramcar please” played whenever someone strolls slightly too close to its path. The park is generally pretty well presented, yes it’s a seaside type park, but its quite flashy and smart looking, doesn’t feel daggy. Perhaps the only exception is there are a few flat rides which are obviously carnival models with temp barricades around them. There are two water parks on the piers as well, Ocean Oasis and Raging Waters . The slides were all pretty 80s serpentine slides and freefall slides (None of the new Whitewater or Proslide stuff), though there was one interesting one that consisted of interconnected slides with intermediate basins. https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Wildwood/Ocean_Oasis_Water_Park_Beach_Club/ https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Wildwood/Raging_Waters_Water_Park/ The first pier is Adventure pier, which is the weakest of the bunch, and not really the best first impression, but you can tell they have made an effort to give it a look, so it probably was a bit worse in prior years. They seem to have gone for a urban Venice Beach style, with painted murals, shipping containers and chainlink fences. It’s fairly sparse with rides, and there are mostly upcharges in this bit, such as a skycoaster, booster, screamin swing, go karts etc, but the main thing is Great White, a wooden coaster which actually travels out over the sand. I liked this one, starts off with a tunnel under the boardwalk, then some good dipping out and back turns like Ghost Rider, and concluding with a run of airtime hills. There was an interesting looking ride where you were in boats that could shoot balls, but I didn’t get time for it. I then headed through to the far end for Surfside Pier, where several coasters are located Great Nor Easter This is an SLC, with some modifications to have the station where the maintenance bay sits on the regular model, and some modified supports that allow the flume ride and water slides to snake through. This would also be the first time I’ve done an SLC with Vekomas new trains with vest restraints (Ok Battlestar has them, but that was a new build) . I think they ran a bit better than the KumbaK ones, but you still get thrown around a bit in parts because of how Vekoma shapes their transitions, eg as you come into the inline twists. The ride has a no loose items policy, enforced by metal detectors, but the storage system was so easy. Free lockers and you scanned your ride wristband to lock and unlock. Simple. Zoom Phloom A nice flume ride, which got really close to Great Nor Easter! Typical formula, with a bunch of high up elevated turns, and a couple of drops, but it also had a tunnel of love type section that went under the boardwalk. Also on this pier was Runaway Tram, which didn’t open till a couple of weeks after my visit. Looked like a fun family coaster. Dantes Dungeon An average ghost train. I usually do any dark ride religiously when at a park or a fair, but these days the are beginning to feel a bit samey samey. Doo Wopper This was another Zamperla wild mouse, like the one at La Ronde, with a nifty 1950s burger drive thru theme, with Cadillac themed cars. The ending is a bit lame because it lacks the nice big drops you get on the Mack Mouse. Rollies Coaster It wasn’t cigarette themed as I expected. It was however the first Galaxi coaster I have ridden in YEARS, and it was good fun. Decent drops at the start and a helix of death…. It had OTSRs though, which was strange. Upon arrival at Mariner’s Pier I took advantage of the last remaining sunlight to get some pics from Giant Wheel, again, playing the “I’m a solo traveller from Australia” card to get around the single rider restrictions. Very high so excellent views . You can get a sense of how spaced out the piers are. Wild Whizzer Another one of those bloody Figure 8 spinning coasters, that’s what 5 for me now? Sea Serpent The last coaster to do was Sea Serpent, a very smartly presented Vekoma Boomerang, with an indoor queue with windows that looked into the equipment rooms and winch area for the ride. The coaster ran decently well. I ended up leaving then because I had to return to Newark, and at least get say 4 hrs sleep before my flight in the morning, so I passed up Ghost Ship (But hey, ive done plenty of horror walk throughs too) If I hadn’t gone to SFGAdv in the morning, I probably could have checked out Casino Pier and Steel Piee as well. If you are in this part of the country, you could easily do all the Jersey Shore parks in one long day. If you were with a family, or wanted to do lots of flat rides or water slides, you could spend a bit time at Morey’s Alone. I’ll conclude with a few more key pics.

I think you are being disingenuous. Obviously a lot of people don't wear shoes because that's the default when you go swimming. On the other hand, it would be unusual to visit a dry park without shoes, and in any case you don't get let on rides barefoot. Its a pain in the arse to have to leave them by the pool and at each ride and hope they don't get stolen, and it's just something else to get forgotten. Its entirety possible to have walkways that are comfortable, eg by having plenty of shade trees, and choosing surfaces that aren't rough and don't absorb as much heat. Doing this is a better guest experience. It's probably a bit safer because you're not inducing people to run around. I think it's a reasonable expectation for irregular guests that a water park would be comfortable to walk around barefoot, like any swimming facility. Not all guests will arrive with thongs either. I personally like a nice light coloured concrete, it can get warm, but not to the point of being burny. Stuff like LifeFlor is good too since it's soft as well.

Yeah but you have to anticipate that large numbers of guests will.

It might be better if you repost the Fully 6 pics in the relevant thread, so we get a good chronology of the project.

As of this morning the two freefall slides have been installed. Blue white and yellow.

The vibrant colours are probably worth it, even if it requires more maintenance because it would attract more drive by interest.

I regret posting this the same night TOT closed.

I think Intamin are pretty receptive when it comes to retrofitting and doing out there projects

It probably needs to be open to provide enough capacity within the park.

Coke Freestyle machines!

Lame

When I was planning my trip to the US, I set aside a day, hopeful that Nickelodeon Universe at American Dream mall in NJ would be open/ But as everyone has seen, it only just opened a few days ago.....so much for that plan. This meant I had a whole extra day with a hire car, with the only requirement being returning to Newark airport early the next morning. Originally I considered going to Coney Island, but I figured it would be a waste given I’ll probably return to NYC one day in the future. I opted to make the most of my wheels, and drive down to the Jersey Shore instead, but also stop in at Six Flags Great Adventure to try a couple of new rides I was interested in. https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Jackson/Six_Flags_Great_Adventure/ I’ve already been to SFGAdv a few years ago, so didn’t really need to do the whole park again, just favourites/new stuff. Opressive heat due to a heatwave in that part of the country meant the park was dead so no waits. Nitro In an act of silliness last time, I did two rides on my previous visit, but got distracted and did them both in the front instead of one front and one back. I took the opportunity to right that wrong. Cyborg Cyber Spin A heavy motivation for this visit was to try a Tourbillon, a ride that resembles a gyroscope, and one we all probably dreamed up as a kid. So how is it? A little repetitive feeling to be honest, like if you are on doomsday but spinning around. The seats basically loop in one direction, with the outer rings also rotating at a fairly steady pace, so it’s a sensation of continuously looping and corkscrewing. Im not sure if this has the potential to run a more varied program with directional changes and so forth, that would really make it interesting. The most impressive thing was the structure rotating around you…It was like being in Mr Manhattans machine in Watchmen. Justice League Battle for Metropolis Still one of the most polished attractions SF have done, and it’s good to know they have a decent calibre dark ride in most of their parks now. For those of you unfamilar, Joker and Lex Luthor have kidnapped members of the Justice League, so you have to race around the city and into Lexcorp HQ to free them. The ride vehicles can spin and tilt, so that alone adds a lot of enjoyment. The sets are well done as well, but the grand finale chase sequence (viewed on a curved screen) feels a little fast and chaotic so you lose some immersion. Plenty of good practical effects throughout the ride, such as oil drums tumbling towards you, fire effects, smoke etc. I was the only one onboard, so i just sat back and didn’t really shoot to take it all in. I opted to skip over Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth Joker My 2nd time trying one of the S&S Freespins (I rode the original one at Fiesta Texas, but despite riding twice, didn’t get much flipping) This one was much better, with several unexpected full somersaults along the course which really catch you off guard. I had a few goes, trying a both the backwards and fowards sides. The ride has a strict no loose items policy, but its very annoying how the locker area only has a single console. I was waiting ages for the person ahead of me to discuss every rental option with their group. Meanwhile, I was done with the transaction in like 20 secs. Ferris Wheel Had a spin on this one, playing the “im an Aussie tourist” card to get around the fact the ride doesnt allow single riders (Apparently New Jersey doesn’t allow single riders on ferris wheels due to incidents of singles jumping off and killing themselves) Got some nice pics of Nitro anyhow. Sky Ride More or less did this one to quickly get to the other side of the park and grab a few more aerial pics. Zumanjaro This one was closed on my last visit, so I was finally able to take a ride on the worlds tallest drop tower. How is it? I reckon both GD and Lex Luthor at SFMM are much better. This one has you walking ages to the end of the Kingda Ka launch track to get to the actual boarding area, and the queue area is ugly AF, and they seem to have these odd mechanical canopy type things that sit over the station and tilt up when the ride needs to run...Are they there to protect people in the boarding area from falling objects from Kingda Ka? The drop i felt wasn’t as good because you are kind of enveloped a bit by the Kingda Ka structure and track either side...less exposed basically. Still, a good few seconds of weightlessness! Kingda Ka Man, what a shadow of its former self. It was running ONE train, which thankfully wasnt too bad due to the lack of crowds, but I’d hate to come on a moderately busy day! They also cant run it when Zumanjaro is running, which further cuts capacity. The launch is spectacular and its very rough now. A stark contrast to Top Thrill Dragsters smoothness and well tuned operations from just a few days ago. El Toro I concluded my visit with El Toro, which is always a thrill due to it’s out of control airtime. A bit rougher than last time, but still a spectacular ride. I jumped in the car for the 90 min drive across New Jersey to Ocean City for Playlands Castaway Cove. https://www.parkz.com.au/parks/US/Ocean_City/Playlands_Castaway_Cove/ It’s a compact park bung right on the boardwalk and surrounded by holiday resort complexes and apartment buildings. Easy enough to get a metered spot on the street for a couple of hours. The park has 4 coasters crammed in, plus a bunch of flat rides. The one flat ride I was interested in (Squadron 33....A Technical Park Aerobat) wasn’t ready yet, and the others I have done before, so I just purchased enough tickets for the coasters. GaleForce is of course the main reason for visiting. It’s a compact launch coaster that looks like something you’d design when pushing the boundaries in No Limits, with a 12 seater train (like Green Lantern with an extra row) negotiating some ridiculously tight turns. If it were any slower it wouldn’t clear a couple of them. If it were any faster you’d likely be launched into orbit. I guess to keep running costs low they’ll only cycle it every 15 min or so if its part loaded, but i think thats counter productive because it makes people think its not open. I took a front row seat. A first sudden launch gets you partway up the first incline, a 2nd launch propels you back the way you came and partially up a half loop, and the one final launch really kicks and gets you up onto this crazy looking top hat thing with an apex that is just like abyss, leading into a beyond vertical drop. Coming off that is this wierd upwards twist that leads into an outward banked drop, then comes a non inverted immelmann and a non inverted dive loop back into the station. You shoot through the station, go partially back up the first hill, then stall and are slowed down as you reverse back into the station. This thing was crazy and had me holding one, and half wondering if it might derail! I went back later for a ride in the back row. Next i did Wild Waves , which evokes memories of Thrillseeker at SW. This one loops around gale force a couple of times and was built by Miller, so not the most finnessed coaster out there. It felt a bit RCT, with a small lift out of the station, turn, then another lift. The ride itself felt a lot like a galaxi coaster, with family sized straight drops and wide turns. The other two coasters were Pirates Gold Rush, a simple oval shape kiddy coaster…. ...And Whirwind, one of those figure 8 spinning coasters like Speedy Beetle at LPM I circled the park for a few pics. Then I ducked a few hundred meters up the boardwalk to ride the Wacky Worm coaster at Gillians Wonderland (A competitor park), and then headed back to my car for the final target of the day.

I was hoping we'd say farewell to the cardboard cut out tower.