HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: bchoplic@pixmap.seas.upenn.edu (Brian Choplick)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Conneaut Blue Streak News
Date: 12 Oct 92 03:24:26 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

Hi!

I've just returned from the Phoenix Phall Phunfest, and picked up some news
regarding the SBNO Conneaut Lake Blue Streak.

Apparently, Knoebel's ownership was somewhat interested in purchasing the Blue
Streak for installation at their Elysburg, PA location. So, as an interested 
party, they travelled to Northwestern Pennsylvania to participate in Conneaut's
ride auction. It turns out that the Blue Streak was not one of the rides being
auctioned; only the flat rides were.

However, the Knoebel party did walk the track to inspect the coaster's 
condition, in case Conneaut was willing to sell. They found the condition to be
decent, but not suitable enough for dismantling, shipment, and reconstruction
at Knoebel's.  (And the Knoebels have experience here. The Phoenix was another 
coaster preservation effort from San Antonio.) Much of the wood had 
deterioration, and would have to be replaced. I guess the cost/effort would 
have been too high, as the Knoebel family is no longer interested in the Blue 
Streak at this time. :( If anyone would have moved this excellent coaster, 
Knoebel's would have been one of the few do it.

Hopefully, this will confirm/deny any rumors you may have heard.

The source of this information is a close friend of the Knoebel family, who 
helped coordinate the dismantling of the Rocket in San Antonio. From what I 
understand, the Phoenix (as the San Antonio Rocket) originally had a set of 
trim brakes along the second turn. When rebuilding the ride in Elysburg, they
apparently almost forgot to include them. (All the trackwork was new wood.) 
When Charlie Dinn was asked about the brakes, he said not to worry about them,
this ride isn't going to go that fast. If they wanted, they could install them
in a few years. Happily they never have!! Another cheer for Knoebels and Dinn 
(who said he was so bad, anyway?)!! Now Knoebels has a top ten coaster!

My $.02

Brian, who grew with Knoebels and the Phoenix in his backyard :-)
bchoplic@eniac.seas.upenn.edu





Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: bdimond@osprey.lerc.nasa.gov (Bob Dimond)
Subject: Re: Seats: you choose vs. they choose (Re: 2nd BATMAN!! - was Re: SHOCKWVAE heads south!)
Reply-To: bdimond@osprey.lerc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA- Lewis Research Center
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 20:31:22 GMT

In article <1bk9olINNmoc@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, pab@po.CWRU.Edu (Pete Babic) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> Geauga Lake lets you choose on all four coasters and Cedar Point lets you 
|> choose on everything except the Blue Streak (yes, they even let you choose
|> any seat on the Mean Streak this year).
|> 
|> -- 
|> Pete Babic  -  pab@po.cwru.edu          ///
|> LIVE TO PARTY, SKI TO DIE!!!           ///  /\
|> Member of A.C.E                  \\\  ///  /--\MIGA  
|> (American Coaster Enthusiasts)    \\\/// MS-DOS or a Mac? What's that?

I had thought they did let you choose your own seat on the B.S. ;>)
From: Ray.Moody@Cray.Com
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Kings Island expected to formally announce new ride soon
Date: 12 Oct 92 17:47:31 GMT
Organization: Cray Research field support at General Electric in Cincinnati
Originator: moody@pittpa

I heard from a reliable source (read: anonymous park employee) that
Kings Island will formally announce their long-rumored new coaster
sometime this week.

I really wonder what they are trying to accomplish by timing the
announcement like they are....  I bet there is something up...

								Ray
From: Tom_-_Obszanski@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Conneaut Blue Streak News
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 19:43:54 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <1992Oct12.133357.2079@engage.pko.dec.com>

>I'll have to check my sources on this one to see just how
>"non interested" they are at this point.  I heard they are still
>very interested in the ride.  As far as lumber goes, much of the
>lumber on the Rocket (Phoenix) had to be replaced when the ride
>was shipped from San Antonio.  It wasn't a problem then with
>Knoebels owning a lumber company, so I don't see why it would
>be such a problem now?  Also, Conneaut PA is MUCH closer than
>San Antonio, TX!!  I just don't see why this would cost so damn
>much?!  Yes, I do know the condition of the BLUE STREAK, and agree
>it's not great, but it's not THAT bad.

In a brief talk with Dick Knoebel on Sunday, Oct 11th, another coaster is a
distinct possibility at Knoebel's Amusement Resort, but it probably
won't be BLUE STREAK.  A few of the people that I was with, including myself,
offered our shopping list of possible coasters.

Tom "Having the BLUE STREAK only two hours away would be great" Obszanski
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com ()
Subject: Re: Conneaut Blue Streak News
Reply-To: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 13:33:57 GMT

First off, anyone wishing to RIDE the Conneaut 
Blue Streak can do so this coming weekend!

The park is running the ride, and charging
$5.00 per ride to help raise money for it's
maintanence.  Just FYI if someone out there
is absolutly dying to ride the Conneanut
BLUE STREAK.


Now, onto rumors...

>Apparently, Knoebel's ownership was somewhat interested in 
>purchasing the Blue Streak for installation at their Elysburg, 
>PA location. So, as an interested party, they travelled to 
>Northwestern Pennsylvania to participate in Conneaut's ride auction. 
>It turns out that the Blue Streak was not one of the rides being
>auctioned; only the flat rides were.

Well, Knoebels knew ahead of time that the BLUE STREAK was
not included in the rides being auction off at Conneaut.
They went in spite of that info.


>However, the Knoebel party did walk the track to inspect the 
>coaster's condition, in case Conneaut was willing to sell. They 
>found the condition to be decent, but not suitable enough for 
>dismantling, shipment, and reconstruction at Knoebel's.  (And 
>the Knoebels have experience here. The Phoenix was another coaster 
>preservation effort from San Antonio.) Much of the wood had 
>deterioration, and would have to be replaced. I guess the cost/effort 
>would have been too high, as the Knoebel family is no longer 
>interested in the Blue Streak at this time.

I'll have to check my sources on this one to see just how
"non interested" they are at this point.  I heard they are still
very interested in the ride.  As far as lumber goes, much of the
lumber on the Rocket (Phoenix) had to be replaced when the ride
was shipped from San Antonio.  It wasn't a problem then with
Knoebels owning a lumber company, so I don't see why it would
be such a problem now?  Also, Conneaut PA is MUCH closer than
San Antonio, TX!!  I just don't see why this would cost so damn
much?!  Yes, I do know the condition of the BLUE STREAK, and agree
it's not great, but it's not THAT bad.
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 15:04:38 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Coaster Cloning (was Re: Six Flags Policies)
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

maglione@media.mit.edu (Tom Maglione) writes:
>Mike, feel free to flame as much as you want, that's how we get the
>news out, and maybe even effect some changes, too. I certainly agree
>with you about the clones of same rides throughout the SF chain; it
>may be (again) due to financial considerations: they only pay Arrow
>to produce one design (known as Non-recurring Engineering costs) and
>then pay only to make slight variations of the design and for the
>cost of the actual construction.

I don't see what the problem is with this.  How many people will ever go
to more than one Six Flags park?  The globetrotting ACEer is the
exception, not the rule.  Why does every park have to have an
``original'' coaster.  Isn't having *good* coasters enough?

And if Six Flags saves on the development coasts, that means they'll
have *more* profit.  And we want the parks to profit, do we not?  That's
how they stay in business, is it not?  Some of that extra profit might
be invested in the *next* ride, so why complain?

And how come ACEers complain about Arrow clones, but then lament the
fact that there are only three Schwarzkopf shuttle loops in the country?

Several of Traver's coasters look pretty darn similar to me.  Why wasn't
that a problem?  And why aren't all those old coasters named ``Cyclone''
or ``Bobs'' or ``Airplane'' a problem? ;^)

Just some food for thought.

Geoff ``Living in a coaster wasteland'' Allen

--
Geoff Allen          \  Please remain seated and keep your hands and arms
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  above your head at all times.  Enjoy your ride.
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Organization: Mausnet
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 22:57:00 +0000

Hey Robert,

Robert W Mangum II wrote on Tue. 13th of October 1992 at 19:40 in
rec.roller-coaster:

RI> The best simulator has to be Back to the Future at Universal Studios,
RI> Florida.  It is much smoother than Questor, Body Wars, and Star Wars.
RI> It also fills up your entire field of vision with the huge screen.  A
RI> truly great ride.

With long lines. I have waited there for about one hour, but it was worth
waiting. IMHO it is the only attraction?at Universal Studios Florida worth to
go and worth to wait for.

Universal Studios  ---  you have never waited longer in a line

Bye for now,

Thorsten.
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: mapike@sei.cmu.edu (Mary Ann Pike)
Subject: Knoebel's Phall Phunfest comments
Organization: Software Engineering Institute
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 20:19:38 GMT

I enjoyed my first visit to this park last weekend, but there were a couple
of things that would have made it better:

1. I would have appreciated them notifying people that they were closing the
   Carousel (which they did before 8 o'clock, when I went over to try to
   ride it). Now I have to make another trip there *just* to ride a carousel
   that has a brass ring :-)

2. I wish they had given out name tags, or at least suggested that people
   bring their own. I'm sure that there were a number of people there who
   I've met electronically and I would have liked to have met them in person.

3. I would have liked better indications of where to park. I followed the
   parking signs on the road, and parked in the field beyond the crafts
   festival. There were lots of cars when I came, but when I left, it was
   a different story. First I had to walk (alone) through the unlit part
   of the park, trying to find my way back to the road. Then, I had to walk
   through the woods at the edge of the field, to my car (one of about 5
   left) in the fog. I kept thinking, no one will pay any attention if I
   scream in the middle of an amusement park! (Perhaps I'm just paranoid
   from living in a big city...nothing bad happened.)

Of course, they did open the Jet Star, which didn't appear to be on the
original list of rides operating for the day, so I can't complain too much
(this was the first time I'd ever ridden one of these, and I can't
understand why ACE doesn't allow them as coasters).

The haunted house was great, and I told my husband that he has to go to
the park with me sometime just to see it (one of the few things he will
ride).

Considering I had to be in State College the next day anyway for a meeting,
it was well worth the 5 hour trip by myself (great foliage colors in the
mountains, too).

Mary Ann Pike   (mapike@sei.cmu.edu)    
Software Engineering Institute          
Carnegie-Mellon University              
Pittsburgh PA
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Coaster Names
Date: 12 Oct 1992 20:44:34 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


How many of you are sick of stupid coater names?  I am.  I've
been thinking of cool coaster names, and I figured if we posted
cool names here, someone close to the industry could compile them
and help new coasters get REAL names and not the recylcled ones

My $.02

The Jersey Devil - For SFGAd BATMAN style ride
The SwampThing - A suspended ride over water and or swamp
Big Yellow Banana - A big yellow ride
e
Asmodius - For the Devil of a ride
? - for a ride so wierd it can't be explained
Basilisk - for the ride so scary it turns you to stone
Lurker Above - for the ride that just sweeps over the people 
               walking in the park.

That's all for now

Mike Cornell
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Six Flags Policies (was Re: Coaster Names)
Date: 15 Oct 1992 04:42:54 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


Tom...
	the rebel yell does have those gates now.  I think it's
had them for the past couple years.  And to boot they have a person
man the entrance way into the station to make it less crowded.
They run it well, but I still don't like the fact that they don't 
let you choose.  My brother and I got yelled at for waiting for 
the back, even though they hadn't let enough people in to fill
all of the gates.  Oh well.  I still can usually get the back car,
if not that the second to last car.

As for SF....
	IN the parking lot for Shockwave.  Wow I've have seen
intelligence in my day, but THIS takes the Nobel Prize.  What a
place..you get maintence in with no problem..PLUS the riders
can make sure no one stole their car!  BONUS! 
	Ok I'll give SF credit for one thing.  They make sure
the park is secure.  They make sure no one comes in with a knife
on gun at SFGAd by using metal detectors and other high tech stuff.
This is a necessity for the crowds that come there.  It's 
annoying, but I feel safe.  I mean with all the problems they
had at that park, with the Haunted House burning down and
the accident on Lighning Loops, they sure have gotten their act
together on security and safety. 
	One thing I would like to see more of at SFGAd is theming.
They only had 1 themed area, the Indian villiage part w/the
Log Flume and Runaway Train about 10 years ago.  Now they have
3, the indian, Coney Island w/ the GASM and the Parachute Ride,
and now the Water Area.  With the BATMAN addition, will there
be a fourth themed area centered around Gotham City?  It's
just a hope, if they call it BATMAN, it would be cool to center
a whole area around BATMAN stuff. With like Catwoman rides and
other stuff.  That would make the idea a lot more original. It
would also follow a trend that has worked at other parks like,
Disneyland, Busch Gardens, KI, and KD.  It would be a good move.
	BTW, is there ANY SF park that is designed well, or are
they all just a collage of rides placed in no particular order?

Mike "SF has $, they just gotta spend it right" Cornell
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: xor@acm.acm.rpi.edu (Joe Schwartz)
Subject: Re: Walt Disney World coming attractions
Organization: The Voice of Fate
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 04:14:21 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.170655.26315@pmafire.inel.gov> geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) writes:
>p.s. The ``Tower of Terror'' is the 13-story free fall that Disney is
>     building.

What the world needs is a 300' FreeFall.  Hell, make it 500'.
-- 
Joe Schwartz (xor@acm.rpi.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: Re: 2nd BATMAN!! - was Re: SH
Organization: Mausnet
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 23:06:00 +0000

Hey Michael,

Michael A. Cornell schreibt am Mi. 14.10.1992 01:09 in rec.roller-coaster:

MC> Six Flags should try catering to the public, and build a station
MC> where you can actually choose where you want to sit.  The other
MC> way may make the line move faster, but I'll take that extra time to
MC> sit where I want to.

I had no problems with this at Magic Mountain. Instead at Disney World
it was ver annoying, that you can't choose where to sit. Normally it
doesn't matter so much, but at Magic Mountain I would ever recommend
to sit in the front, because the "surprise effect" is a lot bigger there.
When you sit in the back, you can see where the cars go, but you see
nothing in the front.

Bye for now,

Thorsten.
From: paul@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Coaster Names & Park names
Date: 16 Oct 92 11:59:01 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1bldmoINN4l6@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell) writes:
> 
> Hey just wondering...but in Nat'l Lampoon's Vacation, what was the
> name of the Revolution changed to in Wally World?
> 
> Mike Cornell

Never mind the coaster - what was the park whose name was changed to Wally
World?  I've only ever seen the film on UK TV, and they have a habit of ending
the transmission before the credits, so any acknowledgement to a park gets
omitted.

I'm sure this is a dumb question to anyone on the other side of the Atlantic,
but ...

Thanks,

Paul
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: cheri@decoy.uucp (24481-stead)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Unique Amusement Rides (old ones)
Date: 15 Oct 92 14:10:31 GMT
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ

This series of posts got me thinking about rides last night, so here are my
random musings:

Re:  rides that you control

	Teacups jump to mind in this category!!  You can sit back and twirl
	gently, or give yourself a workout and twirl madly!!  A variation
	on teacups is the "ferris wheel" at HersheyPark, in which you can
	spin the cars similar to how teacups spin.

	There are also those ferris wheel looking things with the car in
	line with the circumference so that you head straight down then
	straight up as the wheel spins.  I think there's a wheel inside
	that allows you to spin the car so that you can be upside-down as you
	go over the top or past the bottom.  These always seemed to be a lot 
	of work to me!

Re:  Unique rides

	There's a ride at Whalom Park (MA) that I've never seen elsewhere.
	Our impression was that it was an ancestor of the spider/octopus
	rides.  However, the arms are straight, and there's only one car 
	at the end of the arms (unlike the spider, whose arms are curved
	and there are either 2 or 4 cars per arm).  The cars spin freely.
	Similar to the spider, there's a mechanism that causes the arms to
	move up and down as the ride spins.  The cars end up spinning madly,
	and the up and down motion is intense (there was even air time!!!).
	I loved the ride, but my friend (who is my cohort on most of these
	coaster trips, and who can usually ride anything) was nauseous when
	we got off (I, of course, wanted to ride it again!!!).

	On a slightly different note, there are the soap box derby racers
	at Knott's Berry Farm.

	There's a carousel type ride at Rye Playland.  It's different in that
	it goes *really* fast (and the horses are in racing poses instead of
	trotting poses).  The attendant was leaning in at about a 60 degree
	angle as the ride spun.  We studied him for a while, trying to find 
	what was supporting him, but we finally realized that it was just 
	physics!

Well, that's all I came up with.  Any others??

-- Cheri
cheri@decoy.cc.bellcore.com
From: pab@po.CWRU.Edu (Pete Babic)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Seats: you choose vs. they choose (Re: 2nd BATMAN!! - was Re: SHOCKWVAE heads south!)
Date: 15 Oct 1992 17:28:53 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: pab@po.CWRU.Edu (Pete Babic)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc5.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen) says:
>
>I don't remember Opryland completely.  I know I *didn't* get a choice on
>Chaos or the Screamin' Delta Demon.  They might have let us choose on
>the Rock-n-Roller Coaster (Arrow mine train) and the Wabash Cannonball
>(standard Arrow Corkscrew).
>
>Disneyland doesn't let you choose.
>
>Others?

Geauga Lake lets you choose on all four coasters and Cedar Point lets you 
choose on everything except the Blue Streak (yes, they even let you choose
any seat on the Mean Streak this year).

-- 
Pete Babic  -  pab@po.cwru.edu          ///
LIVE TO PARTY, SKI TO DIE!!!           ///  /\
Member of A.C.E                  \\\  ///  /--\MIGA  
(American Coaster Enthusiasts)    \\\/// MS-DOS or a Mac? What's that?
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 15:06:50 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Re: Kings Island vs. Cedar Poi
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz) writes:
>Hey there,

Guten Tag, Thorsten!  Ich hab' ein bisschen Deutsch, aber ich wird auf
English schreiben, weil ich hab' *nur* ein bisschen Deutsch. ;^)

Besides, most readers of rec.roller-coaster wouldn't understand it if I
wrote in German.  Thorsten might not even be able to understand my
German! :^)

>unfortunatly as a German coaster enthusiast I have never been to Kings Island
>or Cedar Point,

Yeah, but as a German coaster enthusiast, you have access to all those
wonderful creations of Herr Schwarzkopf that we Amerikaners only dream
about, like the Thriller and the Olympia Looping.....

>but as I read in "Guide to Ride" Cedar Point should be the
>"theme-park coaster capital of the world". They shall have 9 coasters against
>6 at Kings Island, one rated as "Coaster Classic" (Blue Streak).

They have more, but several coaster enthusiasts would argue that more
does not necessarily equal better.  Others who've been around more than
I could fill you in on details.  Buck?  Tom?  Bill?

And actually, Cedar Point has 10 coasters, but one of them, an Anton
Schwarzkopf Wildcat, doesn't count in ACE's view, for some reason.

>By the way, two weeks ago, I have been to "Six Flags Magic Mountain". It was
>really great. I like the Revelution. It is a really nice ride, not too smooth,

Designed by Anton Schwarzkopf!

>They didn't operate
>"Flashback", but I didn't mind, cause I have been on "Z-Force" at "SF over
>Georgia" last year (is it the same coaster, or a twin ?). 

Same coaster.

>It was a bit
>irritating for me, that "Z-Force" is a different ride there. 

The American parks, especially those owned by Six Flags, have an
annoying tendency to use the same names over and over again.  Other
overused names include ``Ninja'' and ``Viper.''

Geoff ``Golly, it's been 11 years since I've been to Magic Mountain!'' Allen

--
Geoff Allen          \  Please remain seated and keep your hands and arms
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  above your head at all times.  Enjoy your ride.
geoff@pmafire.inel.gov \
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: Re: Kings Island vs. Cedar Poi
Organization: Mausnet
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 08:56:00 +0000

Hey there,

unfortunatly as a German coaster enthusiast I have never been to Kings Island
or Cedar Point, but as I read in "Guide to Ride" Cedar Point should be the
"theme-park coaster capital of the world". They shall have 9 coasters against
6 at Kings Island, one rated as "Coaster Classic" (Blue Streak).

Maybe next year, I will go to Ohio (the land of the great coasters :-)).

By the way, two weeks ago, I have been to "Six Flags Magic Mountain". It was
really great. I like the Revelution. It is a really nice ride, not too smooth,
but not so hard as the ride on the Viper (but it was worth 30 minutes waiting
time). I have been there on Sunday (they do not open weekdays during the
winter) and it was medium-crowded I would say. They didn't operate
"Flashback", but I didn't mind, cause I have been on "Z-Force" at "SF over
Georgia" last year (is it the same coaster, or a twin ?). It was a bit
irritating for me, that "Z-Force" is a different ride there. Ninja was great,
too, although it isn't a real coaster ride IMHO, cause there are the typical
coaster things missing (negative G's, hard curves, large drops etc.).

Bye for now,

Thorsten (hoping to be back in the states next year).