Ride Review: Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park
May 17, 2008

I believe I first heard about the Ravine Flyer II project around 1993.
15 years ago. Today I pulled out a copy of a 1995 ACE News with the
original CCI layout. 13 years have passed since I saw the original
layout and The Gravity Group took over where CCI left off. Needless to
say I was just a little excited to finally ride Ravine Flyer II for
the first time yesterday. I'm happy to report that the ride ended up
being just about what I was expecting it to be like.

The ride was delayed in opening to the public for a while as the
various groups of first riders from charities and radio stations
funneled through. Only the red train was running on Saturday. A
maintenance guy said the crew was not certified to run the blue train
but it should be running by the end of May.

I was a bit worried about the station entry procedure. They have a
ticket taker in the station who controls the flow of the crowd into
the queue area. They were doing a count 24 system where they'd try...

2007 benchmarking reports featuring KPIs and performance data
http://www.taotui0105.cn

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There are as many lanyard styles available and there are many uses for
them. People who like to differentiate themselves from the “norm” can
have a lanyard custom printed or personalized. A lanyard can be as
simple and inexpensive as a 3/8” shoelace style cord or as extravagant
as a wire strung with expensive crystals and gemstones.

Firefall opened to the public today. Some photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezeiza/tags/20080517/

Steven GREAT AMERICA parks.
ezeiza@yahoo.com http://www.greatamericaparks.com/
Sky Wheels -- http://www.flickr.com/groups/skywheels/pool/

Now watch all the trial lawyers come scurrying out from under their rocks...

Video & pix:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=6148659

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=42079

http://cbs5.com/local/carnival.ride.collapse.2.726268.html

18 hurt in county fair carnival ride collapse
San Francisco Chronicle
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, May 17, 2008

(05-16) 23:07 PDT ANGELS CAMP --

Eighteen people were injured - three of them seriously - Friday night when a
carnival ride collapsed at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog
Jubilee in Angels Camp in the Gold Country, authorities said.

About 23 people, including many children, were riding the Yo-Yo, a ride in
which swings are attached by chains to a metal structure in the center. As
the ride spins, the force sends the swings sideways so that riders are
spinning almost parallel to the ground.

Our updates from Simpsons Ride on both coasts -

Hollywood:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43710

Orlando:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43691

Enjoy!

Only one week to go till I get to ride my favorite coaster again.
The Voyage....I rode it at Holliwood Nites in 2006 and later in July
of the same year. Quite a long trip from Minnesota, but well worth the
effort. My wife and kids all love it too. Wasn't able to make it there
in 2007 and I read that they reprofiled a small part of it and that it
had roughened up considerably. I'm not at all surprised cause it ran
like a "bat out of hell" and it seemed like it could possibly rip
itself due to the intensity.
So my question is... have they done any work on the off season to
tame the beast? I haven't read anything yet but I don't get on here
too often so I might have missed it. Let me know if you can and I hope
to see you at Holliwood Nights 2008. Till then......Tony

Pics and video

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/05/thunderhawk_opens_to_raves_mda.html

May 16, 2008

Six Flags opens indoor Batman-themed roller coaster

By BRAD HAYNES
Associated Press

JACKSON -- With crazed laughter ringing in their ears, Gotham's first
visitors gathered on a vandalized subway platform to board a runaway
car.

With Batman on the lookout, they had nothing to fear -- or maybe just
enough to make it fun.

Six Flags Great Adventure unveiled its new Batman-themed indoor roller
coaster to the public Thursday.

The Dark Knight ride features hairpin turns, sudden drops into
darkness and video from the latest Batman movie, set for release in
July.

Riders reach up to 30 miles per hour on the "wild mouse"-style ride,
housed in a 70-foot building.

"That was better than Nitro," said Austin Reess, 10, comparing the
ride to the park's 230-foot roller coaster. "You go up and down more.
And there's no light to see where you're going."

With the cutting of the ribbon and the of jumbo, black and
yellow party favors SFGrAdv opened Dark Knight yesterday.
A pre-show room opens the ride experience with what seems like a
normal Gotham City press conference that it soon taken over by the
Joker.
Out of this room and on the way to the ride vehicles, guests get to
see themselves on a TV monitor before the Jokers white clown faces are
superimposed on their own.
(this is a really cool effect that everyone seemed to like )
At first view the ride vehicles seemed rather large and heavy for a
wild mouse type coaster and this seemed to make front row seating more
desireable.
Now the first GREAT thing GrAdv has done w/ this ride.... the
cars don't stop at the loading area... they just slow way down so
riders can get out and in. This REALLY keeps things moving
Up a fairly steep, dimly lit lift hill, fairly quickly, the car
just has time to get off of the chain before making a 90 degree right to
start the series of straights and 180 flat turns that wild mice are
known for.
Some of this is dimy lit and other spots are in complete darkness ...