Park Evolutions

i almost shed a tear; this is one of the best discussions i have seen on coasterbuzz in a long time without any "noise".
just wanted to defend cedar point a little: take a walk down frontier trail. they have a museum and a fort. i really wanted to go to kennywood this year, but it looks like time is slipping away. next year for sure. kennywood, michigan adventure, six flags great america, six flags america, and kings dominion are the parks i am going to hit for sure that i have never been to next year. i could kill myself for not braving the freezing cold and downpours to get out of the car and go to sfgam. i was right in the parking lot, staring at shockwave. good discussion guys.
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48.6mi. - CP
27.2mi. - SFO
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3 MF rides:
3-2, 5-1, 9-2

I've said this before, but I'll say it again. It is ridiculous to start this nonsense about PKI not having world class rides, or not being creative enough. Check this out (Keep in mind that this list is not comparing or arguing, it is only pointing out records, former records, or firsts of a kind):

The Beast: Longest - formerly tallest, fastest.
SOB: Tallest, fastest, 2nd longest, looping.
Vortex: First coaster in N.A. with 6 loops.
OL-FOF: First LIM coaster, most indoor inversions.
King Cobra: First stand-up looper in N.A.
Drop Zone: Tallest freefall.

This doesn't take into account The Racer, which is a classic; Top Gun, which is always a favorite among suspended fans; or Face/Off, which, no matter how you count it, pulls 5 g's and flips you 6 times smooth as silk.

No doubt, CP is a great park, but it cannot be said that PKI doesn't have world class rides as well.

P.S. The Bat, first suspended. *** This post was edited by Jacob on 8/10/2000. ***

CP beats the S#%T out of PKI. What kind of record is "first coaster in NA with 6 loops." Talk about scrounging. SOB is REALLY overrated. I would have to say that the Beast is about the best they have.

CP broke records with just about every coaster they built (and Corkscrew is the only one I think is a little scrounging, although 3 is a bit more important than six...) with the exception of a few older or smaller ones (by smaller, I mean Junior Gemini and Woodstock Express) plus they have more. The park's cleaner, the ride ops friendlier, this could go on forever.....GTTP people know what I'm saying. Bottom line, you don't win the Golden Ticket Award consecutively for nothing. PKI could do a much better job.

Soggy and Intamin, I appreciate what you are saying also. In no way do I think CP is perfect. No park is perfect. As Soggy pointed out they DO need a good world class quality wooden coaster which I think is essential for any great park. Fortunately I have Shivering Timbers 45 minutes away to get my fill of a great wood coaster. I also think the initial handling of the ticket to ride situation for MF was poorly handled by CP at first (a solution to a problem that didn't exist!).
Jacob, I agree that KI has some world class coasters. I pointed two of them out on my last post. IMO SOB and the Beast are the only two world class rides they have right now (although I havent been on SOB yet). The other coasters you have listed are also very good but I don't think they would qualify as world class. IMO for a park to be a great coaster park they need at least two world class coasters and several very good coasters. So KI is a great coaster park IMO. I have always had a good time when I have been there. Although it has been a couple years since I have been there. The Beast is one of my favorite coasters just behind Milleneum Force and Shivering Timbers.

Look at the difference people. CP has good rides, but they tend to run bigger. I meen, a hyper and a giga. they please people by height. PKI pleases people by thrill and speed. The beast is amazing. Face/Off puts your head between your knees. Top Gun is great riding in the front and getting so close to SOB. The racer is decend. The backward racer rules. Vortex has a great drop and has really interesting corkscrews. I cant say much about Outer Limits b/c i dont ride it much ( hurts too much). But it is an intersting indoor ride. PKI also does a nice job bringing kiddies up to the big rides. They have 3 kid coasters. I dont think of Adven. Express as a kid ride. I always ride it when i go. Its a neet little ride and offers great views of SOB. King kobra gives a good ride for people wanting soemthing other than sitdown. This all brings me to SOB. I think its a great ride. You cant go wrong with helixes. The loop is overrated but its smooth as silk. The first drop out of the station is awesome. I was afraid tyo put my hand up feeting amputation. All arounf PKI is a great park with shorter lines and great coasters.

CP Twister;

I'm glad that we got everything straightened out and that there is no longer any confusion.

Ride 'Till you drop

DLDude, I agree with what you are saying about KI as far as the quality of there rides and that they please people by thrill. But I don't agree with you that CP pleases people by Height and size alone. Milleneum Force (Height, tremendous speed and thrill), Magnum (Height, speed and thrill). Not to mention Mantis and Raptor which are tremendous thrill rides. KI built the worlds tallest wooden coaster this year. To me that sounds like they are trying to please people by height and size?? I notice in your track record that it doesn't appear that you have been to CP. I think if you go to CP that you will find just as much thrill as KI. Hey, as I said before they are both great parks!

My bad, I started this thread and then took a mini vacation, but I have to clear some things up: First I'll start with the notion that neither SFGAm nor PKI has four world class rides.
SFGAm
Raging Bull
Viper
Batman the Ride
Shockwave; you may not agree and that is fine. But Shockwave is one of the most liked coasters in the park.

PKI
Beast
Top Gun
OL:FOF
SOB
Again, you might not agree, but ridership shows these are well liked rides.

The second comment I wish to address is the notion that all of CP's coasters were record breakers. Well SFGAm shares a similar track record for example:
Demon: First coaster with four inversions
American Eagle: Tallest and fastest wooden coaster
Shockwave: Tallest fastest most inverted (7)
Iron Wolf: Tallest fastest most inverted stand-up
Batman the Ride: First outside looping coaster
I dont really know PKI's history, but someone already mentioned a little of it above.

Thridly (and finally), I will explain why I felt that PKI and SFGAm having a hyper closes the gap with CP. To me, the hyper coaster was just a sign of a new era. All the other record breaking coasters at the time of magmun, didnt have "true" first drops (Shockwave, GASM-II, Viper). Now that each of the parks have one of these, they are similar in that respect. I already stated that from an operations stand-point, I think that the parks are virtually identical (you may disagree and that's fine). I dont try to make conversations with the ops (not often anyway). If the park is clean, no (sustained) fights w/o security, and coaster queues about an hour, I'm very content. If I can get through the park faster, I'm estatic. The only difference with most parks is the collection of rides. Each of the three parks has a similar assortment of rides. CP hs more, no doubt, but there are three coasters at CP that I have not ridden (4 if you include MF) and of those 3, I have no desir 琀漀 爀椀搀攀⸀  匀漀 琀栀攀 爀椀搀攀猀 愀爀攀 瀀爀攀琀琀礀 攀瘀攀渀⸀  䄀猀 昀漀爀 匀䘀䴀䴀Ⰰ 䤀 眀攀渀琀 琀漀 䴀䴀 漀渀挀攀Ⰰ 眀愀礀 戀愀挀欀 椀渀 ✀㠀㜀⸀  吀栀攀 瀀愀爀欀 椀猀 猀漀 搀椀昀昀攀爀攀渀琀 渀漀眀Ⰰ 䤀 挀愀渀琀 挀漀洀洀攀渀琀 漀渀 椀琀⸀  䈀甀琀 昀爀漀洀 氀漀漀欀猀Ⰰ 䤀 愀最爀攀攀 琀栀愀琀 椀琀 愀渀搀 䌀倀 愀爀攀 渀漀猀攀 琀漀 渀漀猀攀 愀猀 眀攀氀氀⸀  䤀✀氀氀 栀漀氀氀愀 㰀戀爀㸀氀愀琀愀Ⰰ 㰀戀爀㸀䨀攀爀攀洀礀