Recapping Our Experience at Arie Force One Closing Weekend

Transcript

Speaker: You are listening to the Inverted Creative Podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Jen. I'm Brian. I'm Mikhail. And I'm Nate.

Speaker: So I'm going to really hope that Jen does not lose power slash internet because she's on location in Florida right now and there is a very bad storm outside that we can see.

Speaker: Yeah, the storm outside my window. I'm staying on a Disney property right now. I'm like the storm outside my window is kind of crazy. So, but I'm on a Disney property right now. So hopefully they have their stuff together enough that.

Speaker: That's like one of the best places to be like during a hurricane. Exactly. So I think that maybe they'll have their stuff together enough. i can I can actually confirm. I have gone through a hurricane at Disney.

Speaker: Oh, really? Yes. yeah Did you ever lose power or internet? No, we never lost power. um We, I think we were staying at Yacht and Beach.

Speaker: It was weird because we went into the, like the day of the hurricane. It wasn't hit until like late at night. Parks were open for resort guests. But you're walking through and they had all these anchors in the ground. Like the popcorn carts were strapped, like ratchet strapped to the ground.

Speaker: Benches were ratchet strapped to the ground. Like all these different stands were strapped down. The stores were all empty. Weird. It was very weird.

Speaker: i years ago after Hurricane Irma, I was like one of the first flights to land after the hurricane. Um...

Speaker: And the parks the next like two days were the emptiest I have ever seen Disney. I'm sure. and it was like eerie. Yeah, I was like walking through Epcot the first day after. like I literally walking through Epcot and do not see a single other person. like All the way up into the showcase from the main entrance. Like, crazy.

Speaker: All of Disney World, just for me. i don' know i don't remember what hurricane that was. Oh, by the way, Mike's with us on the podcast today. Yeah, welcome Mike, guys.

Speaker: I feel like they should know his voice at this point, but maybe it is. Yeah, probably. Basically, he's a guest. And also, you know, I used a picture of him in our call for questions for today. Questions, comments. Which picture did you use?

Speaker: ah The one that Sloan took. Okay. It was cute one. Yeah?

Speaker: I agree. It was cute, guys. Thanks. So, yeah. um Somewhat of a bittersweet episode. um The three of us were down in Atlanta this past weekend for the closing day of Airy Force and Fun Spot.

Speaker: Yeah. It's very bittersweet. I can't believe, like, a ah three-year-old coaster I know. three-year-old RMC at that yeah is,

Speaker: yeah hopefully not closing for good, but like as of right now closing. Yeah, we have no idea what's gonna happen to it right now. Yeah. i think I think they were cycling it yesterday.

Speaker: That's what I heard. Somebody posted a picture of the webcam, which I think the webcam supposedly is shut down now. But ah you could see two trains were actually were on the track.

Speaker: So they didn't have like one sitting on the transfer track like normally would store. Yeah. so Maybe showing up to potential buyers? It could be.

Speaker: Or interested parties? Yeah, it looks like they took the webcam down. Maybe they realized people were still watching it. yeah You go to open, it says, the media could not be loaded either because the server or network failed.

Speaker: Maybe they shut off their internet already. Yeah, that could be too. Yeah, or they pulled the website. The website still exists. Oh, okay. When you go on to it, it just has like a thank you message saying that it's permanently closed. Dang.

Speaker: thing There's bunch of old pictures from the park. the instagram The Instagram page is gone. That's not surprising, I guess. I'm kind of shocked by that. I feel like Instagram usually takes people longer to... or at least At least the link on their website does not work.

Speaker: Yeah, because usually people will still tag them and stuff. for yeah I feel like Instagrams usually survive a little bit longer.

Speaker: but Like opening day of Air Force was my 34th birthday. And it was also the day before I moved to Ohio, which is kind of wild.

Speaker: Yeah, that is crazy. And to think that I'm only 37 now and it's closed. Like that's such a short lifespan. That is a crazy short lifespan. And oh my gosh, and for such a good coaster.

Speaker: like I feel like the only coaster I know to have a shorter lifespan is those kid flash coasters in over Georgia. We got those too.

Speaker: I did not get those. We somehow managed to get those, but not the ones in Texas. I know of one coaster that has a shorter lifespan. Operating lifespan. Ring Racer. Ring Racer.

Speaker: don't even know what that is. It operated for like four days. Yeah, it ah it was at the Nürburgring in Germany. um the turn It had like a weird... Like, you know Shambhala has like that like weird figure eight turnaround?

Speaker: Yeah. It literally launched you into that and then you went back to the station. Okay. But like that turnaround is still sitting there. but That's why you want to go there.

Speaker: Um, it opened on Halloween in 2013 and permanently closed November 4th, 2013. Crazy. How does it even happen? Like what? Um, I don't know what actually caused the final closure,

Speaker: but the ride was delayed multiple times. Um, Because was supposed to open back in like 09. And

Speaker: and like it was, I think it only ended up reaching 100 mile an hour, but it was supposed to do like 135 miles an hour in like two and a half seconds. um But then during testing 09,

Speaker: and o nine They attempted to raise the speed all the way up to what the top speed was supposed to be because they'd been testing it at lower speed. And it caused a series of explosions in the pneumatic system and injured seven people.

Speaker: Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Speaker: I mean, you gotta think. it's It's all pneumatic. It's tanks full of compressed air. It's basically the same system like Max... What it? Max Force? Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, same kind of system. Sounds like a cannon in itself. Yeah, so...

Speaker: I mean, the the hydraulic launches aren't much safer. Yeah. Don't say that. They're gonna get ideas to start closing them all. They at least, like, that's all confined to one space.

Speaker: Yeah. Like, that's why, like, when you're, they have, like, ah observation rooms for those hydraulic launch systems. They all have, like, super thick glass and brick walls. Like, you are very isolated from the system. Yeah.

Speaker: Which makes sense. Yeah.

Speaker: Well, I kind of see this episode as being like part trip recap, part coaster focused episode on Air Force. um I know we can also mention Kumba closed the same day, but none of us were able to be there for that one.

Speaker: There were a couple people that ah we saw at Fun Spot that did manage to get back to ride it before it Michael was one, right? Yeah, Michael Troy.

Speaker: Yeah, he flew back and got to Kumba in like the last half hour. yeah So his... I saw his story. He landed at... His flight was supposed to get in a lot earlier, but it got delayed out of Atlanta. He landed, I believe, ah like 8.30.

Speaker: And ah he landed at 8.30, was able to convince the flight attendants to let him walk to the front of the plane when they got to the gate before everybody else.

Speaker: Sprinted to his car. And I think he said he like he got to he got to the park at like 8.53. Oh my god. And sprinted.

Speaker: Sprinted to Kumba and got in like right before they closed it. Heck yeah. That's impressive. I didn't see that. Yeah. There were other people that like did the Ace event in the morning and then got in their car and drove to Tampa.

Speaker: Yeah. I guess it's not terrible from Atlanta. Yeah. It's not terrible. Six and a half hours. Something like that. It's literally just straight down I-75. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. One of the easiest drives you could probably ever do. Yeah. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a bad drive for them. Um, I wish I could have gone to Kumba. actually, when i I was going live on Monday and um when I woke up for like when I booked my flight on Sunday night, it was only um like the 5 a.m. m flight available, which is crazy. So I was like, okay, well, maybe I'll take that 5 a.m. flight. And I was like, or maybe I can leave early and go to Tampa. And I'm sure someone in Tampa will be able to drive me to Orlando. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, I mean, there were surely people from Orlando drove to Tampa for the last day. Yeah, I knew like 10 or 15 people there. I think Austin was down there. Yeah. um I'm sure there were a bunch of other people.

Speaker: i would I looked, but they also didn't have any flights to Tampa. Shockingly, not Mark Martinez. Yeah, shockingly. Who knows? He was probably working. He was at Cedar Point.

Speaker: Oh, I did know that. I saw his pictures. Yeah. Yeah. I wish I could have gotten on Kumba for a final ride. Kumba is one of my favorite B&Ms. As if anyone saw my my post, I um went to Air Force One dressed in full Kumba goodbye.

Speaker: Kumba, I think, might have been my first B&M. Really? We went to Buschgart. So my grandparents used to always go to Clearwater.

Speaker: So there were a couple times we went on vacation and went down to Clearwater with them. And I know it at least a couple times we went over to Busch Gardens.

Speaker: I know I rode Kumba early on. I don't know how early on, but I also know I got Python, which is kind of a rare one to have. Yeah, I don't have Python. Their arrow loop screw or corkscrew. don't remember which one it is. It's an arrow.

Speaker: I don't even remember the last time I rode Kumba. Do we ride it together at all? I don't believe so.

Speaker: Hmm. Maybe it was before Velocistumble I rode it? That's crazy. I feel like it's been a while for me. Yeah. Definitely. My one little personal connection to Kumba is ah one of my cats that I had in high school.

Speaker: I named Kumba, so he was my first coaster cat. um And we I lost him pretty, he was pretty young. I lost him to diabetes. And ah so I have a little Kumba tattoo on my rib cage that not many people know about.

Speaker: Well, i they didn't until I posted on my Instagram the other day. My last ride on Kumba. was ah july 6th 2024 approximately 1 p.m so then we would have done it together or no no you were at your uh publishing convention yep and i went to bush gardens by myself heck yeah and then proceeded i think that might have been was that the same day That was the day when i drove all i drove all the way over to Clearwater get Skyline.

Speaker: You have a problem, sir. And that was also the day we saw Felicity. Yeah. Which we could have seen them again this weekend. yeah Yeah. One of the bands that I have a tattoo for was playing a show in Atlanta.

Speaker: Oh, we should have gone. ah they It wouldn't have worked out because we were coming back from Alabama. Oh, okay. Yeah, we didn't get back. Like, we didn't get to the Airbnb until 11. And I think they went on at like nine.

Speaker: Oh, yeah. So. Which, side note, we can talk about Alabama real quick. Yeah. Yeah. It was certainly. It was a park all the time.

Speaker: That park sucks. I hadn't been there in 20 years. um So what we did is we did a quick little weekend trip to Atlanta. um Flew down Saturday morning. Flew back Sunday night.

Speaker: um Yeah, went out to Alabama Adventure. I hadn't been since 2007. So I got a plus one. Because I already had Rampage.

Speaker: it it It was not worth the drive over there. I... If the operations were a little bit better, it would have been worth it.

Speaker: Yeah, if we'd gotten more than one ride on Rampage. i absolutely, I loved Rampage. That thing was so good.

Speaker: i've heard on that I don't know about your thoughts on it, Allison, but i i love a good janky CCI. Yeah, I know. I definitely slammed into you at one point.

Speaker: Oh, yeah. That was right before we dove off the hill right there, and I was literally standing up. I had a lot of room until my bar came down on me.

Speaker: No.

Speaker: That honestly might be one of my favorite CCIs in the U.S. But like we did the Wacky Worm, um four rows were open, and the op was not caring about how many people he let through.

Speaker: So a lot of people had to go back through the gate every time. So I got to ride it ah by myself. Or not by myself, but not with my group. um So they took a selfie me the background. As said, we got that sweet selfie of us standing by the turnaround and you riding by.

Speaker: Yeah. um We did the wild mouse, which was also not new for me because I rode it at Lake Winnie. That was also terrifying. Not in a good way. um That car was falling apart.

Speaker: And then we did Rampage, which had like eight minute dispatches. Yeah. It was really bad. So we only rode it once. Man, that stinks. And then came home to Atlanta.

Speaker: Oh, and I got Village Burger and Pontoon again because those are necessities when I go to Atlanta. mess I had a necessity when I went to Atlanta. Sorry not to cut you off. No, you're good.

Speaker: I have beef. All I wanted was to go to the Luau Chick-fil-A. All I wanted. And i'm I'm looking. I convince everyone to go or like whatever they're asking about the menu. I go to look up the menu. Temporarily closed. It had closed like right before this weekend for maintenance. They're like remodeling the whole place.

Speaker: I was so mad. Good to know because we I had said something about maybe trying to go there. But yeah we realized we wouldn't have really had time to until Sunday. And then it's like, oh wait, it's Sunday. And I don't think it's going to be open on Sunday. um So we did. we were trying to go Saturday night. So then we ended up going to the Dwarf House, which still more beef with Chick-fil-A.

Speaker: The Dwarf House all on the website said they close at 10. We get there and the actual like special side with the full menu, like the diner side closes at nine.

Speaker: It's ironic that you have beef with Chick-fil-A. I know. Well, I want to say that it does serve beef, so it's allowed. Would you believe I lived in Atlanta for 20 years and I have never been to Truett's L'Ou or the Dorf House? i i think that's a crime. I'm sorry.

Speaker: i also just didn't live on that area of the city. I lived very far north from that. But you could have driven there. That would require me to drive through Atlanta, and I don't even like driving on a good day. I don't like being in Atlanta, so I don't blame you.

Speaker: I also do not like being in Atlanta. Yeah, it's not my favorite place. um I love Atlanta. So we landed and got a rental car and then got on the highway and like immediately hit traffic. I'm like, yep, don't miss this.

Speaker: Yeah. Oh, we went up to the new ah f FEC um that opened like two weeks ago. Yeah. Thrills with a Z um to go get their visa spinner. Because it's edgy and cool. Of course you stopped for a visa spinner.

Speaker: So it was not like crazy. It was busy when we were there. It was not like crazy busy. Like later in the day, we have another friend who tried to go there and it was like,

Speaker: four hour reservation wait or something like that and the line was wrapped around the building and cops were having to direct traffic also jen if you don't stop for visa spinners then how do you make number go up i don't focus on making number go up but make number go up having fun and enjoying the rides i like You'd be so mad at me at Over Georgia. I literally was like, if all I ride in this park is the Schwarzkopf and Monster Mansion, I'm happy. I'm good. I don't need to ride anything I'm good with that.

Speaker: We didn't even make it to Over Georgia. so Well, I had never been to that park. Wait, that was your first time? That was my first time at that park. and I was did not realize that. it was two credits And then I'm good. like I don't need anything else. You're not going to get to 500 with that attitude.

Speaker: um Yeah, but I'm going to ride Velocicoaster like 400 times or Iron Gwazi like 300 times. Mid-Locicoaster? Shut up. That was stupid.

Speaker: Not even top 10. Okay, well, you can get off now. Okay, bye. Goodbye. It's not even the best roller coaster that starts with a V in the Oh my gosh, we're not talking about this right now, Mike. I've got to fly to Ohio. Luckily, I'm in Orlando. I can hop on a flight direct. It doesn't take us three hours. Yeah, we have direct flights. There's probably a flight leaving in like an hour and a half.

Speaker: Yeah, so I can come fly and beat you up. It's

Speaker: Sorry. And come cuddle the cats, too, because that's important. Yeah, I will come cuddle the cats. Um... Yeah, and I'm going to sleep in the cat room so then the the cat can parkour on my whole body.

Speaker: We don't normally let the cats sleep in our room at night. um We usually kick them out because they're annoying. Because they parkour over your entire body in the middle of the night? No, it's because they jump on the on my dresser and knock things off in the middle of the night.

Speaker: That checks out. um But they've been we've been letting them in our room the past couple nights and they've been well behaved. And by they, I mean Nemi. Yeah, it's definitely the black cat. Oh, sorry, Jen. The flight leaves in eight minutes.

Speaker: Oh, you're going to miss it. Yeah. yeah My Uber wouldn't even make it. Maybe next time. It's fine. All right. I feel like... Do you guys have any more about your trip? um No, because then we get to Atlanta and then we got to the house with you. guess can quick over Georgia. I did just mention it.

Speaker: um Not that we spent... We didn't spend a whole day there. We got there pretty late. Our flights our flights came in around 12, but then our rental car got delayed. We didn't actually leave the airport until...

Speaker: past one. was going say, your flight got delayed on your way in, didn't it? Yeah, my flight got delayed. I literally, i took a an hour and a half train ride to the Philly airport. I got the first train of the day at six o'clock in the morning. Oof.

Speaker: And literally I get down there, make my transfer in Philly, get on the airport line, show up, walk through security, get a text that my flight is delayed an hour. And I was like, you mean I could have slept an extra hour? I was so mad.

Speaker: So um yeah, I was delayed. So then we got there and we did, we didn't do everything. We did Goliath,

Speaker: Twisted Cyclone. Curious about your thoughts on Goliath.

Speaker: It was like definitely rattly like it's definitely not the smoothest. um But man, that Helix, that might be one of the most intense moments I've ever experienced on a Hyper.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I was like my I like couldn't see like I I grayed out really intensely in that. i was like, wow, I'm I'm impressed. Like my my feet were tingling.

Speaker: Speaking of Goliath, did you have you guys seen the video going around Instagram of the girl? This girl loses her shoe. She's in the front row. Loses her shoe at think like at the crest of like the entry into that helix. And somebody in the back row catches it.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah, I did see that. It was pretty cool. absolutely hilarious because then you see her sitting on like standing on the platform all sad and then the guy walks up is this your shoe and they just start yelling and screaming oh I've caught somebody's keys on Goliath too like they were chilling on on like the car in front of us or something on the floor and then we went over a hill and they just like floated in the air and I'm like I'm just gonna grab those and I think I was in the back row too so if I didn't get them they wouldn't have gotten them

Speaker: I remember going on roller coaster. I know you rode Monster Mansion. I did. i loved... knew you would love it. First and foremost, the first thing I did when I entered the park, someone in our group that I wanted to say hello to was in this candy shop. I walk into the candy shop and what do I see? a toy corgi. So, first thing I did in the park... You got a corgi. is a toy A toy corgi.

Speaker: um so absolute first thing I did. um Then we rode Monster Mansion. Monster Mansion might be the cutest attraction. It's really cool. like It is up there, i think, for one of my favorite dark rides. It's adorable.

Speaker: And they put a lot of work into it the past few years, too. Yeah, they've, I mean, even throughout the season, apparently they've been putting little bits of work in. Yeah, so they had apparently had just added in, they found like some concept art about this bathtub monster, and they added... Yeah, I saw that. Like, a week or two ago.

Speaker: um i mean, even like earlier this year, i don't know if you saw about this, Allison, you know where like you're going in and like you take the left turn you're not supposed to take to go into the marsh.

Speaker: There's now a boat sitting there that looks like it has people in it, That you're coming up behind and then all of a sudden you take the left. Yeah, that kind of tripped me up. Like the fake out boat.

Speaker: I was like, what is happening? Why is this boat stopped here? And then I realized it was mannequins. Yeah. That was something I think that they just added this year maybe.

Speaker: But they've been going through. They've been adding new costumes. they've They've been doing just a lot of general upkeep and just repairs. Yeah. Just to to keep it looking good.

Speaker: It looks incredible. i was Which is but not a very Six Flags thing either. No. It's really not. You can tell how how much they take care of that attraction and how like it truly loved it is.

Speaker: I, hands down, I would go back to that park for that attraction. Like if nothing else existed. um

Speaker: What else? i Twisted Cyclone. That was a pretty fun um RMC. um However, my favorite part about it was that i so I rode with Sarah's mom, Jackie. And Jackie had never ridden it and no one told her like what it entailed or anything. So I'm riding and all of a sudden, like we go down the first lift and she's behind me and she's screaming at the top of her lungs, yelling at me because apparently I was supposed to warn her that this was an intense roller coaster. I was like, I just happened to be sitting in front of you. I had no idea. You didn't know what it the whole ride. She was screaming at me. It was so funny. That's funny.

Speaker: Um, But that one was really fun. um The Schwarzkopf was fun. It definitely was a little more tame than I would have wanted, but you can't beat those loops on a Schwarzkopf. They have extremely... Yeah, it neutered that thing.

Speaker: Yeah, that's really sad because I was expecting like a ah more intense version. However, i would still trade every single new B&M for a Schwarzkopf to exist. so the The old trains...

Speaker: I think rode very similar, not as good, but very similar to how shockwave is. Yeah. So that's what I heard that it was similar to shockwave and shockwave. I miss shockwave and we may never ride it again. i know.

Speaker: Yeah, I did. i did also, um i had heard that over Georgia's Batman was a very good one. Um, It is indeed.

Speaker: Yeah. So I only have two Batmans under my belt. Like i I grew up at Great Adventure and that one, in my opinion, isn't a terrible one. um And then I went to Over Texas and that one for I really thought ruined Batman clones for me because that one was really, really bad.

Speaker: um But this one kind of redeemed it. i was really impressed.

Speaker: I like that one a ton. What else did I even ride there? I don't even know. I rode the mine train. That's a fun little mine train. It's fun. It has like 600 million lift hills. I couldn't stop laughing. I was like, we do like we're on like lift hill number 10.

Speaker: It also has the lap bars that I absolutely despise because they're just like the Cedar Creek mine ride ones.

Speaker: Oh, yeah. i Where it's all one linked bar? Yeah, I think my issue with them was just that I have long legs. So I kind of forgot about this until you just mentioned it but but because I have long legs, they were so painful. Like I could, in order to get the restraints to go down, I had to like tuck my legs up under me. And it was very not comfortable.

Speaker: Yeah, it's rough.

Speaker: Yeah. um I feel like that maybe is all I did. Because it also was so disgustingly hot that I was like, I don't want to be walking around this park.

Speaker: um It was no better in Alabama. Yeah, it was. It was worse in Alabama, I feel like. Like, we had been in and out of the car in Atlanta. And then we took the, you know, what was it? Like,

Speaker: two and a half hour drive to Alabama and like we get out of the car and I'm like, I just get out. I think I literally looked at you said, you, yeah, because it just felt so disgusting out.

Speaker: I looked at the, the weather and it said 88 feels like a hundred. Yeah. It did not approve. No, it was not good weather for me. So i think that's all we ended up riding because of that. Because I was kind of like, I'm good. I did what I had to do. It's a really hot. I would love a shower.

Speaker: um and I wanted to go to Chick-fil-A. So I was like, let's let's just leave. So... Yeah, but it still was a good day. i think that park, I really love how everything in that park, like all of the coasters interact with like all the walkways and each other. it a really pretty park.

Speaker: ah Has that park always been a Six Flags park or did it start off like independent? I think it was it's always been Six Flags. Okay. It's kind of shocking to me that it's Six Flags. Yeah, there's a lot of things with that park that do not feel like Six Flags.

Speaker: Yeah, I agree. it was Six Flags' as second park. Okay. Yeah, that's what im I was looking up right now. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's, it really does not feel like a Six Flags park.

Speaker: Yeah. Very good. Yeah, I agree. i enjoyed it a lot. But yeah, so I went there, and then we all went to Airy Force One. yeah Well, we went a little sooner. um Yeah, you guys went earlier. Also, yeah fun side fun fact, a former guest of this podcast is the park president.

Speaker: that's true. Who is the park president? of Over Georgia. Over Georgia. Richard Pretlow from ah Morgan's Wonderland. Morgan's Wonderland is the new over Georgia park president.

Speaker: I completely missed that piece of note news. That's really interesting. Yeah. We were, they put out the list when they announced that. Was that earlier this year? or Was that end of last year?

Speaker: Yeah, I think that I probably just overlooked Georgia because I didn't. I don't really have any ties to that part. I was just kind of reading through, looking at the names, seeing if there were any that I recognized. I'm like, that name sounds really familiar. And I Google it. I'm like, oh, that's the guy from Morgan's Wonderland that you had on.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, that's interesting. Very interesting. side note I really wish we could make it to Morgan's when we're in Texas this year, but we're doing too much else, too. I want to go to that park so bad.

Speaker: We need to make a special podcast field trip. Yeah, we do. Maybe one day.

Speaker: Yeah. Okay, so next morning, you guys went... Yeah, we we got up nice and early. um We did the ACE event um that they were putting on there. um I got to see some people who I hadn't seen in years since you know I got started in the hobby in the ACE Southeast region.

Speaker: So I'm like, I know a good chunk of these people.

Speaker: um but they had a really They had a really good crowd for that event, too. Yeah, I think we maxed it out, too. Yeah, they maxed it out at 300 people. I was going to say, I heard 300 people signed up. That is a crazy number.

Speaker: But I love that for them. Complete side note, Jen, that picture that you posted on the Instagram stories and I shared it, um Liam responded to it and just now and said, your husband needs to put his laundry away.

Speaker: So, Mike, even Liam is calling you out for it. I thought that like the second I got on camera. Quiet, Liam. Quiet. It's okay. He doesn't listen to the podcast.

Speaker: um Sorry. Yeah, that ASMR is crazy, though. um So, we got like a little mini walk back. We got to go... Like on the gravel path, all like under the stall and all the way to the back of the ah Raven dive, Raven trust, whatever it's called. um So I've got some really cool pictures.

Speaker: Yeah. We got some really different angles that unless you're there for an event like this, you were not going to get. That's nice. I guess nobody's really getting them anymore.

Speaker: Yeah. um But yeah, like the Ary family was all riding before our ERT. And ah Joe Draves and Ellen Schilke were there as well. Getting some rides in while we were all taking pictures.

Speaker: Okay. um And then we got our ERT, which we got three rides during that time. That's not bad. I mean, it's kind of bad for ERT, but it's not bad considering they had 300 people. yeah um yeah i better than or Later in day. Yeah. No kidding.

Speaker: So yeah, we got our three rides and Energy was very high. um Yeah. i'm swear I will say I think my favorite thing about the entire day was the energy. Like the energy was just really special.

Speaker: Yeah. It was a very weird feeling. Yeah. i don't know how to describe it. It's just so bittersweet because you have so many people that are like excited to ride it for your first time. Like...

Speaker: Then you have other people who like are locals and are there all the time. So they're heartbroken over it. It's, it's a very, it's, it's a hard vibe because there's so many different emotions around. it And it, it felt so different than like, like I've been to a few different rides. Like when they're closing, like I was there, I think the year fire, like the night firehawk closed at Kings Island.

Speaker: yeah.

Speaker: I don't remember what else I've done. I feel like this one. was at Wicked Twister. um But like this one felt even so much weirder because not only was it just the ride closing, but the whole park was just ceasing to exist after that night. Yeah. So soon after Air Force was built. It's not like something was being removed to add something else new. It's just like everything's gone.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like, like Allison said, because Air Force was so new, it also made it like, yeah and it's like,

Speaker: I don't know. i know there's like a handful of like ground up RMCs, but I feel like that's like their biggest scaled one. There's only... There's only a couple. Yeah, but still, this one I feel like is the biggest scale. Like when I think ground up RMCs, I think Airy Force 1. Zadra.

Speaker: Yeah, i think Zadra. I honestly didn't know until right now that Zadra was a hybrid. And also... um It is a hybrid, but it wasn't.

Speaker: it was built. Yeah. partial Well, because it was a hybrid, i assumed that it was converted.

Speaker: All right. Well, Zadra.

Speaker: Okay. I'll give it that then. All right. But I didn't know that because like it's a hybrid. So I assumed that it was ground up. Yeah. Or no, I assumed it was a conversion.

Speaker: And I don't know enough. really you're ah Yeah, you're only two ground up RMCs of that. Like any kind of. Actually, of just the IBOX in general are Zadra.

Speaker: i guess. ah I can't i think of it.

Speaker: You have two of them. The two topper tracks. I can't think of the name. Lightning Rod. Three topper tracks. Lightning Rod. What's the one at Silver Dollar City?

Speaker: don't know. Outlaw Run. Outlaw Run, Goliath. and yeah those are really I think those are the only ground up ones. Wildfire?

Speaker: That's right. Wildfire is one too. Well, I guess there's more than I thought. Yeah, there's six ground ups out of the 30 or 31 coasters they've built, something like that.

Speaker: Okay, so I guess there's more than I thought. Yeah. um But still, I think air Force 1 when I think ground up. So I think that it being like a brand new ground up RMC that is being potentially, we you know, we don't know what's happening to it. um It's just kind of like it makes the vibes really weird.

Speaker: And it's also just weird like just the location of the park. um Like I've been there Oh, gosh, like 2007 or something when it was a Dixieland Fun Park or something like that before Fun Spot even bought it.

Speaker: um And it's it's just such a weird park for that coaster to be at. Just, you know, yeah going down a random road and then suddenly RMC.

Speaker: I feel like that model park needs to be close to tourists and Fayetteville is kind of out there. Yeah. It needs to be more touristy areas.

Speaker: There's a lot of people like you would talk to in Atlanta and mention that and they didn't even know that park existed or that that ride existed. Yeah. and like you know You live 20 minutes away from it.

Speaker: 30 minutes away from it. like Yeah. It's very unfortunate. I was like on the other side of the city. It was like an hour for us to get down there. Which we definitely went down there like The day after opening day was literally the day I moved to Ohio. But you know what we did before we loaded the van?

Speaker: We went down to Fun Spot and got a few rides. As you should. Yeah. It's a... it It was... I feel like that park just was like not set up for... Success.

Speaker: Success. It's meant to be more of a park for you know kids' birthday parties. you know Taking the kids there for a couple hours on a weekend or something. Yeah.

Speaker: It's not in like a setting where it makes sense to have something of that scale. like I respect my respect the ambition to try and make it happen.

Speaker: They have a ton of land. Yeah. Yeah. So if it would have been successful, that park could have become massive. Yeah. yeah And ah John Aery Jr. was talking about that.

Speaker: Was it during the closing space? Yeah, like after the last ride. Yeah. He was talking about just all the plans he had. Yeah, like on the other, a little bit like behind the Raven turn. I think he said they owned part of that property too. And he was planning eventually to do a water park. Yeah, and more coasters. Yeah, just...

Speaker: It's sad. Because there's a rumor that they had gotten a quote from um GCI. Yeah, I remember that rumor. Kind of back behind the where the turnaround was behind the arcade to build another coaster back there.

Speaker: I'd also heard about them getting a drop tower. Yeah, that would have been nice. Yeah. Wow. Google Maps is so updated. Air Force One has been removed already.

Speaker: That's sad. The mini golf course is still there.

Speaker: Did you guys... did you guys After the Ace Venture, no, you came to breakfast. so Yeah, we did. we didn't, my group didn't go until after breakfast. Our first ride we waited like over two hours for.

Speaker: Jeez. Yeah, because they went down to one train for like over half of life. Yeah, that's right. and that's part of why we went back and took a nap The blue train... mike did it once during ERT.

Speaker: The blue train kept overshooting the station. yeah so that Not a lot, but like no just enough that it was throwing it off. Yeah, so I think that it's had that ah issue those issues since it opened. yeah It's had all kinds of issues.

Speaker: We had friends who got evac'd off the lift couple weeks ago. Because how short that brake run is, because of how short that break run is It had over speed issues all the time where it would overshoot the brakes.

Speaker: Yeah. It was always crazy to me that they went for a quad down in such a short brake run instead of a triple down and extending that brake run. Cause that, that ride really moves.

Speaker: um That's, that's been the thing that I said about it since it opened. I'm shocked that they went for the quad down straight into the world's smallest brake run. um The quad down is also just not a good part of the ride. I have a feeling whoever buys it... i think they're going to do triple down and extend the break run. like i feel like you're gonna There's going to be some sort of extension of the layout.

Speaker: You think so? An extension? like Some kind of modification of the layout. yeah know that means extension too i mean Depending on where it goes, there is it hits that break run with so much speed...

Speaker: They could potentially add some track beyond it and maybe try and add another block maybe. Yeah. Who knows? So that they could see them at the very least making that change to make it a a longer break, because it's like since opening day, the train is overshooting the brake runs like it's a clear issue.

Speaker: um But yeah, that um i I figured that's what happened because the train was off the track for like maybe an hour and then they popped it back on. So I think they just needed it to cool down.

Speaker: Because my one of my buddies was also at the park and he texted me as soon as they put the second train back on. And I think that was about the time that we were getting ready to head back to the park too.

Speaker: trying to remember the order that we did things because we went back to the park for a little bit but we didn't go in we were just hanging out with friends in the parking lot yeah that's when we went over to the tailgate and yeah um that was where we met alan shilke and joe draves um One my old friends from Coaster Force, Jerry, was there.

Speaker: And I hadn't seen him in probably a decade. um But he was excited to introduce us to them. You got introduced as his her personal friend. Yeah.

Speaker: I'm like, okay, Jerry. it was cool. um Just hanging out with everybody out there. um we did like a champagne send-off to Air Force.

Speaker: um I got attacked by ah want a champagne bottle. by that I forgot about that. There was a bottle sitting on the ground, but like they they had taken like the wrapper off, but they just like set it down while they were taking the wrapper off the other one.

Speaker: it like I'm standing right above it. Cork just pops off out of nowhere and hits my stomach. That's actually so crazy. like Everyone was terrified that it hit me in the face or something. I'm like, no, just my stomach. It's fine. Yeah, I thought when I heard it, i saw you standing right in front of them while they were trying to get the wrapper off the one. I'm like...

Speaker: i thought the they just blast you in the face with that? No. It was the one laying on the ground. I'm like, wait, what? Yeah, that nobody touched. That was the ah the evil spirits that Gabby brought back from the lake.

Speaker: ah i I forgot about that. Yeah. Which I did not know that lake is apparently haunted. Apparently. didn't know that either. Is that Lake Lanier? Yeah.

Speaker: that lakelin here yeah

Speaker: Interesting. Yeah, that was my one weird moment of that tailgate. It was fun. It was very hot out. We moved to the shade for our champagne toast. Yeah, I'm sure. it was disgusting in that line. Disgusting. I was sweating like... i was literally sweating like down my back. like yeah It was so gross. Oh, God. Everybody I hugged at the tailgate, I'm like, wow, you are disgusting.

Speaker: Yeah, it was... really insanely gross um yeah but the rides were worth it i ended up getting two rides in i skipped out on like a last ride because it was too hot um that and i really wanted food so wanted to leave and get food yeah i know like we were hanging out in the diner area um like with a few of the people like i know i was with jackie and um

Speaker: Who was it? Harry's Julie. There we go. So we were hanging out with them. And then I think you told us about the ah they were giving out tickets for the last ride. Yeah. Because you're like, whenever they run out of tickets, they're out of tickets. Like it's closed.

Speaker: Yeah. So the girl had said to us, like, literally that she was like, no, we're we're closing the line once I make it to the end. Because Taylor's, like, a couple of the plans were to get a ticket and then get out of line and come back at 7 when they were going to close it So they could, like, go take pictures and stuff. But the girl was like, no it's not going to be open until 7. Like, we're closing it once I get to the end of the line.

Speaker: So that's why I came to you. go And that is when the fun began. Because we got tickets. And there were about 20 people behind us, I think, at that point.

Speaker: Oh, no, were people fighting for the slide? But then they weren't enforcing the, oh, we're closing the line when we're out. Because all of a sudden we start moving up and all of a sudden there's like 40 people behind us.

Speaker: Oh, man. They did enforce the, like, you had to have a ticket get an operator. Yeah, I heard that, apparently a ride off the bench or something and someone got arrested. dude got arrested because I guess he didn't have a ticket to ride.

Speaker: That's what it sounded like anyway. but Apparently, like, his kids had tickets and he didn't. And he was, like, yelling about how he wanted to ride with his kids. And some people were saying they think the ride-op just got emotional because the man was threatening him. And other people said the ride-op got punched in the face. There there were two ride-ops that came off crying.

Speaker: That's insane. Like, with these people, it's their last day at their job, the very end their day. Like, what kind of messed up person do you have to be to ruin their day like that? Like, their day is already not good. The one person that came down crying, we had seen earlier, like, so she was kind of kind of being like a grouper. Yeah. Standing at the top of the steps. Yeah.

Speaker: If you have ever gone to Kings Island at the end of the night, if you've ever seen the pissing match that these Thusies will get into to be the last ones in line for the Beast, this put that to shame.

Speaker: There was probably, until they started making people move, there was probably hour line for the front and back row.

Speaker: Yeah, that's because we got like we got in. We went from, you know, by the the line we when we got in, started by the transfer track, went up to where you cross under and then back up and then through the little queue under the station and up.

Speaker: We get up there and like, why? why are there two lines? If you took the normal way, that was just for any of the rows. The other queue that was people lined up around the wall and around the outside of the steps, then did a U-turn, went back along the steps and into the little open area of the queue on the right before you like where you would turn left to go to the steps.

Speaker: That was all for the front and the back row.

Speaker: Like to the point, it was long enough to the point, unfortunately, we missed it by one train. When we got off of our ride, they had said the the ride op announced, okay, anybody that's in any of the rows other than row one and, was it row 12?

Speaker: Anybody in any of those other rows? you got to ride You get to ride twice. Everybody in the front and the back row, you only get one ride.

Speaker: Until we get to the Yeah, it literally right after we got off. Yeah, it was right after we got off. that like it is It was the... Yeah, it made the what people go through to try and get the last... Just the last train of the night for the Beast

Speaker: look like child's play. It was ridiculous. Yeah. And that was the one girl that we saw that came off crying. All she was doing was standing near the top of the steps like, hey, we've got we've only got one group of people in row two, row three, row four. Come on.

Speaker: Come on. Let's fill these rows. We can't run this thing all night. Yeah. Like –

Speaker: It gets to a point where like they have to stop. and Yeah, at a point they need to tell them, like you need to tell people, okay, either you're going to come up here and pick a freaking row or get out a line.

Speaker: like yeah It was very much a situation where you needed like an actual person grouping and assigning rows. yeah like that I don't get why they didn't have that.

Speaker: Especially when they had her basically standing there not doing that, but in a position where she should have. i feel She was doing her best with what she had. Yeah.

Speaker: She was not told to do it, so she wasn't actually grouping. Yeah. Knowing how Thusies are on days like this, not that they would have listened.

Speaker: Yeah. And also, like I feel like... until the end of the day, i feel like you didn't need groupers. I feel like that station did so well of people being like, who's riding together. Like, cause people were just trying to get as many rides as they could.

Speaker: Exactly. and And like, even like single riders were doing a really good job of like finding other single riders and yeah they popped in with them. Um, I had one ride alone as a single rider, but, um,

Speaker: Other than that, like everyone found each other. so it was at one point there was somebody calling for a single rider. And I guess somebody in the front row in the row for the front, like the line for the front and back.

Speaker: Oh, is it, is it a single rider for the front? No, I don't care. i like i Like, okay, then why did you say anything? like I do feel like they could have had a better system for planning out the last train so it wasn't people just like waiting around.

Speaker: Like some kind of like fundraiser for a local charity or something. Yeah. I feel like I'm shocked they didn't do that because I feel like even when things like this happen and people fight for the last ride, it still is usually like, oh, but actually that was fake last ride. It technically it was not the last ride.

Speaker: the The family did ride it again after. and so enough or to i think yeah because ah i think it was Scott posted a video.

Speaker: at like It came from 9.45 that night of the train the last actual train pulling in. yeah Even as we were driving out, like we saw employees in the station. Yeah, we saw the employees going in. and yeah Which is the way you should do it. yeah Yeah, they should definitely get to have the last rides. Like, like yeah, i definitely do, you know, your last public ride for the guests.

Speaker: And then you got you got to give your your people that, you know, make the park what it is. You got to give them their last ride. Yeah. um But after all the last rides... um yeah we kind everybody kind of met in like that plaza area. They had a big ah banner set up and everybody was signing it saying like thank you to Fun Spot and the family and RMC and stuff. It was really cool.

Speaker: um But John Airy Jr. went up and gave a speech from there. um it was very heartfelt talking about just you know the history of the park, the plans they had, how grateful they are for everybody being there to support And like you can see just how much like some of these rides mean to these, like even just like the designers of them.

Speaker: Yeah, like we were standing right by Joe Draves. Yeah, and as that final train pulled in, like the dude was just bawling his eyes out. like um And like watching John speak and like I just saw like his chin quivering just yeah trying to keep it in. Seeing videos of his speech, I felt awful. I was like, man, this this is heartbreaking for this person. And it was like a gorgeous sunset during that whole time too.

Speaker: Yeah. Oh, it's such a sad. Yeah. I respect the, like, clearly the park, the other parks are still going to live on, but I respect the guy for, you know, saying, screw it. Let's, let's see what we can do here.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah. I can't say, can't say he didn't try. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, try. a He for sure tried. Like, the getting a park like Fun Spot and then caring about it enough to do a, what was it, a $14 million investment in Air Force One? It was like $14 or $18 million. Yeah, like, you could tell that it's a big number.

Speaker: And that, I feel like it was just the location. Like, that ride should have brought in more people. RCDB says $13 Okay. so yeah i think And I think the actual cost was higher because of the whole... they had a lot of ground issues, right?

Speaker: I think they had some ground issues. They had a lot of issues permitting. Okay. Yeah. clearly put in a huge investment that he thought was going to bring in numbers. And honestly... He planned on making that their flagship park. Yeah.

Speaker: their flagship park yeah

Speaker: It's so sad. I feel like it could have too. like It just... the It really hurt from not being close enough to the tourists.

Speaker: yeah Yeah, exactly. Because that's what makes the... like In my opinion, that's what makes the Orlando parks so successful. is that like They're in the thick of it.

Speaker: They're in the thick of it, and then it's also like open later than the other parks for the most part, so... Yeah, because like if you go, especially like Fun Spot or Orlando, if you go there before like seven or eight o'clock at night, the place is dead. It's a ghost town.

Speaker: Yeah, it's like and then it gets crazy. Yeah, if you go there like nine or ten, like that place is absolutely packed because all the other parks are closed.

Speaker: Yeah, it's they do really like, in in my opinion, they do really good in those time periods. And that's what Atlanta was missing. Yeah. very able like People will go there to hang out, go on a few rides, especially if you're like Kissimmee, you go have a few drinks in Old Town or you have a few drinks at Fun Spot because the beer is dirt cheap.

Speaker: yeah Or you throw a tailgate in the parking lot and then that's where you meet ah two of your co-hosts for the first time. Fun fact. But like, what was it? I think I paid $9.99 for that, like their souvenir refillable cup. Oh yeah. And then it's like $3.99 a beer after that. Like where else can you buy alcohol that cheap?

Speaker: You can't. I remember one time at the Orlando one, I bought a round of shots for like a group of way too many people. Like I had no business buying round of shots and it cost me like 50 bucks.

Speaker: I was like, I thought it was probably $150 worth yeah anywhere else. Yeah. It was far too many people and it was 50 bucks. And I was like, thank goodness, because I did not have the money for this many people to get shot. Yeah.

Speaker: It's a shame it was not able to get the the success that the other two parks have had. But... Yeah. yeah Yeah.

Speaker: But I am happy that they got to have the send-off that they did. um yeah at least At least they announced it. You know, look at you, Great Adventure. For real.

Speaker: I... Though, like... I know you're saying, look at you, Great Adventure, but like, Busch Gardens Tampa announcing Kumba on the same day after Airy Force announced it. mean, yeah they still announced it, though.

Speaker: They did announce it, and so like, that's not... level zero but like you're still pretty low because why would you do that and it was like a week or two after airy force one so like of course people planned their trips to say goodbye to airy force one and now you can't go to kumba like that made me so mad i was like you couldn't give me another week like you had to choose the same exact day

Speaker: What a Busch Gardens Tampa thing to do. That's why Kumba was dead that day and Airy Force was packed. Yeah. Like, I truly believe that Kumba was dead that day while Airy Force was packed because everyone had planned their trips to Airy Force already. Yeah, I even said to Allison, like, if they had announced that sooner, 100% would have gone to Kumba over I would have as well.

Speaker: I just went where my friends went, to be fair. Yeah, I i love Airy Force and I really do enjoy that ride. But like sure for me, Kumba is like one of my favorite B&Ms. Like I would have gone to Kumba a hundred times over. Anything else at Busch Gardens Tampa? Probably not. But for Kumba? Absolutely.

Speaker: Yeah, I was never like Air Force was never my favorite RMC. I'm a notorious RMC not fan. um I will say probably after the rides I had this weekend, it did go up in my rankings a little bit.

Speaker: I don't know where, but it I finally saw the light little bit with it, I guess.

Speaker: Yeah, no, I get that. Mike is sending memes. Oh, I know. oh I sent the same one to Allison. Okay, I'm like, I can't help myself. And now it's now I answered and he's giggling to himself. I know. I just responded and said, bruh.

Speaker: We're professional podcasters here, guys. We are, guys. Yeah, no. It...

Speaker: I'm glad I got on it again because I do think my rides this weekend were better than my rides when I originally rode it. um When I originally rode it, it was like almost an empty train the whole time. And then also it was like, it was still kind of new. So the seatbelts really hurt during that quad down at the beginning. And i I heard some people still complaining about them, but now they're broken in enough that they felt a lot better. I just don't like that quad down.

Speaker: I... quad down It's like so little change in elevation. It's just like there to hurt you. Yeah, I think that the only reason the only reason I didn't like it at the beginning is because of the seatbelts. The seatbelts like re you dug into those seatbelts so hard.

Speaker: um I just don't like how intense the quad down is going into the break run. That's my only beef. But it's still a fantastic ride. The stall into the overbank is like an incredible one, two punch of elements.

Speaker: And the Raven Trust dive too. Yeah. The elements on that ride are great.

Speaker: I love a stall, so. Who do I? love good stall. The arcade roll.

Speaker: that I love the arcade roll. but i like The overbank is just the most intense airtime you can get on an RMC. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah, that one was good.

Speaker: um One other thing I noticed about the ride during the weekend is like the music that they play in the um in the plaza. The whole thing is like flight space themed. i don't even know exactly. It's space themed.

Speaker: Is it space? I don't know. Whatever. Yeah, that's true. One of the things that Laurel said our comments said, rest in peace, my second favorite rocket ship ride. That's a very Laurel thing to say. But like the music in the plaza, it just made, it kept making me think of the Project Hail Mary soundtrack. And I love the Project Hail Mary soundtrack.

Speaker: So it was giving me happy vibes. I could see that.

Speaker: Yeah, I could see that. I also didn't notice until a couple of rides, but is there there was music in the station too. Right? I think it was the same music.

Speaker: Okay. might have been, yeah. I feel like after, like on my second ride, I was like, oh, the music's a nice touch in the station. I think the first ride, it was so loud in the station that I couldn't hear Yeah.

Speaker: um

Speaker: Yeah. like there's There's some theming. um I know they had some in the queue and I think I heard that people were taking some of the theming during the last few days. Like there were hard hats on the wall that people took from what I heard. Yeah.

Speaker: my my ah I know I put a little thing about it on Instagram, but like they have like four banners that were hanging up in the station, like pennant banners, and it had like certain dates in the ride's history. And one of them said March 31st for the opening date. And I'm like, I want this banner so bad. Mike, stop sending memes while we're recording.

Speaker: Anyway, I want that banner so bad. And if anyone can make it happen, i will i want make a good home for it. Yes. Get Alice in the banner. Especially because me and Mike are laughing. I know.

Speaker: I'm just trying to fill the ah canures the dead space while y'all are just giggling over there.

Speaker: No, the banner sounds very cool. It sounds like you need it in your house. I do. I want to put it in the wall, in the wall, on the wall, in the living room. was going say, shouldn't put it in the wall because then you won't be able to see it.

Speaker: Or we can put it up on the wall in our bedroom. We have like a yeah giant blank wall in here that I need to do something with at some point. So let's put an Airy Force banner. Yes, do it. Do it.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Anything else about the ride that stands out for y'all creative-wise since this is technically a creative podcast? I know we talked about like the feeling of that the park that day.

Speaker: it was much it was a very nice change of pace from when we went to Great Adventure in 24. Oh, yeah.

Speaker: least people knew what was happening with this. yeah When we went for what we weren't sure if it could have been King to cause last weekend, which ended up, I think you were there on the actual last weekend, right? Jen. Yeah. I was there. We there the weekend before. Yeah. Cause you were there the weekend before too.

Speaker: Yeah. I went both. forgot you went both weekends. Yeah. Like had just such like, it had like so such a nervous energy. Yeah. Yeah. It was nobody, nobody knew if it was their last ride.

Speaker: Yeah, and I also, and I think because this is just a guess, but i I feel like the Thuzi scene in the Northeast is a little more condensed. Like, I think Great Adventure is accessible to, like, a larger area of Thuzis than somewhere like Fun Spot. Yeah.

Speaker: So I think that what made that one so different is that there were so many people like sobbing and like Airy 4 still had this energy that was high, even though there was like this support for people who cared for the ride so much.

Speaker: But at Kingda Ka, there was no like in the station a bit, but like outside of the station, there was no high energy. Everyone was crying and everyone was beside themselves. It was like,

Speaker: And also I feel like that's that's also because this was so many people's dream roller coaster. like I feel like it's hard to compare those two. Yeah. And also with... People stared at King to Kyle their whole entire life wanting to ride it.

Speaker: And like Airy Force only had three years. It never really got that status. And with like Airy Force, other than like, you know, overshooting the station from time to time and overspeeding, never really had any mechanical issues.

Speaker: No. Whereas, you know, Kingdaka was always just such a ticking time bomb. And you never knew if something was going to break and it was something bad enough that, oh, hey, it broke and we're not going to reopen it ever again.

Speaker: Yeah. So. Depressing. Yeah. I know because they kept going up and down from one train to two trains to one train because they kept having issues and just seeing the one train for that just sitting in the unload or in the second station just in pieces. Yeah.

Speaker: Like just so weird. It was such a weird vibe. like I know we kind of talked about, ironically, hurricanes earlier. um That weekend can kind of felt akin to living in Florida and seeing a hurricane approaching and you don't know when it's going to hit or how bad, but you know something's going to happen. Yeah. yeah It kind of felt like that in a weird way.

Speaker: Yeah, like you know there's impending doom, but you don't know when it's coming. Yeah. Like you can see it on the horizon. hear everybody talking about it.

Speaker: But you don't know for sure what's going to happen. You don't know when the Gargantuan Vertical Vengeance is coming. Gargantuan Vertical Vengeance. Yeah. It's very different vibes. But the vibes I did really enjoy. The vibes at Airy Force...

Speaker: um A little bit reminded me of the vibes at Six Flags America during the day. During the day at Six Flags America, I feel like people were really high energy and trying to make the most of their day. And then all of a sudden in the last like two hours, all of the locals were just like sobbing. And then it was like King to Ka vibes where everyone was crying. but And then you had Superman leave with a whimper.

Speaker: yeah broke on the lift. Yeah, but it was like, it was a, it reminded me of that closing weekend because until those last couple of hours where it turned sad, it was a really high energy day of people just trying to make the most of their last day. And that was really beautiful to see.

Speaker: um And then seeing those vibes also brought here. um i really enjoyed that. It was crazy like how much of the community came together that closing weekend.

Speaker: Like I saw so many people I know. um Like after um after our last ride during ERT, they had opened up the regular line to just the public. And we were just going down the line saying hi to friends we knew. yeah Ran into like Marty, talked to him for a while, ran into Sean and Angela, talked to them for a little bit.

Speaker: Yeah. if everyone It kind of felt like Hollywood Nights. It was like just the family reunion aspect of it. Yeah. Yeah, I could see that.

Speaker: I think we can probably get into some listener comments because we'll probably chit-chat a little bit. Yeah, holy crap, we're already over an hour. Yeah, I'm sure we'll chit-chat more off of these. Don't we always?

Speaker: We do. um We're good at yapping. Yes, we love yapping. We did kind of tackle one of them. Yeah. Parker asked about the drama with The Last Train.

Speaker: Yep. Yeah, that was... Yes, there was. Chaotic. All right, I'm going to mark that one as red. i can read off solar coasters. Yeah. SolarCoaster said, i took a day trip down from Philly to ride this and it was awesome. The airtime is phenomenal. It feels like if you were to take the best elements from coasters and put them together, such as Zadra's stall, steal Steel Vengeance's outer bank, El Toro's camelback, Bluefire's barrel roll, and Lightning Rod's quad down. It is a shame to see it go, but if it gets relocated, I think RMC should slightly change the layout and definitely change the awful color scheme. um So it oh changed the awful color scheme so it has its own energy. I had an amazing visit meeting Thusies from around the world and it will truly be missed.

Speaker: P.S. Hurricane was also really fun. And then um the question that he has for us as well is where does this land in everyone's RMC rankings?

Speaker: We'll get to to the color comment in a minute because Brambo also had a question yeah related to color scheme. um I don't think it's an awful color scheme.

Speaker: But we'll get into that. I just think red, white, and blue is like so overused. Like, we get it. We're in America. It's American flag colors. It's patriotic. Like, let's chill with the red, white, and blue. Yeah. But also, like, the two-tone track.

Speaker: I do love the two-tone track. Same with Joker. was going to say, I think Joker's the only other RMC like that. Yeah. I really want more have two-tone track.

Speaker: Yeah, we literally just said we'll get to this in a second. All right, we're going to go ahead and get in into Brambo's question too. And then we'll talk about RMC rankings. Brambo said, if Air Force 1 is to be relocated, what color scheme would you love for the ride to have?

Speaker: It depends on the park. Yeah, I think it depends on the park and the theming. However, I would love to see some like lavender RMC. But that's just because i'm Basic and I love... i I really like the bright color track on the white supports.

Speaker: Yeah. But i would I would change the colors, but i don't know what. I don't know. Pick my wedding colors. Lavender and navy. yeah i think it would just depend on where it goes. Yeah. for me to say without knowing. Like, are we going in the middle all of the woods? Do we need a color if that like sticks out against trees? Are we going...

Speaker: You know what really pretty is take the colors of Fury's two-tone track and do one of each. At Carowinds? But isn't there already, I mean, the Dueling Coasters are usually blue and green, right?

Speaker: feel like there's too much blue and green. I don't know. I just think that would look really cool together. I want it to be hot pink. Speaking of your pink and your purple that you spoke of,

Speaker: There is a... thinking in your person it just a look that said I remember the one at Wallaby, Belgium is going to be two-tone track based off their renderings. It's like a pinkish purple and a yellow.

Speaker: yeah so because it's like It's like Mardi Gras themed. Oh, that'll be cool. I as i happen to remember that when we were talking about two-tone. I'm excited for another two-tone.

Speaker: I like the two-tones. They're so pretty. I don't know what color I would want it to be. I'm standing by my fury colors. I just feel like everyone goes for blue and green.

Speaker: but it's but It's like teal and lime green, though. Yeah, that's true. It is different tones. I'm just tired of looking at blue and green coasters.

Speaker: And red. like let's Let's move on. Blue, green, and red have been done too much. Molly orange? Molly orange. I'm here for it. Just for Laurel. Everything is Molly Orange.

Speaker: Anyway, back to Solar Coaster's question about where does it land in everyone's RMC rankings. i Okay, I'm looking at my list and I don't know offhand where it's going to go. um I also rank my RMCs very weirdly compared to other people.

Speaker: um Like going through my list, I have in order, but not I'm not going to mention numbers and everything else in between them, but Zadra, Twisted Timbers, Iron Rattler, Wildcat, Iron Gwazi, Untamed, and Fire Runner, and then I had Airyforce.

Speaker: And then I have Steel Vengeance, one below Airyforce. Fun fact. that That is good. The lower down, the better. for um

Speaker: I don't know. It's one of those things I kind of want to move it up, but I don't know what I would put it above. Yeah. I get that. Like, do I want to put it above Mystic Timbers?

Speaker: Even though I love Mystic Timbers?

Speaker: It's like seven behind Mystic Timbers right now.

Speaker: That is ah bit.

Speaker: That's bit. I love Mystic Timbers and I'm not afraid to show it.

Speaker: I also have Taron at four, so you can't trust my opinions.

Speaker: We're only ranking it against RMCs though, right? Yeah.

Speaker: I just have like my no man's land of RMCs where I have like four in a row because I just don't know where to rank these. Yeah. I feel like the RMCs really, like, depend on my day and my mood. So, like, because, like, Wildcats Revenge, some days I love it.

Speaker: And, like, I could ride it over and over and it's pretty high for me. But other days I'm like, i don't know i don't know if I could handle that. And then it feels a lot lower. Yeah.

Speaker: For me, I think it's definitely, I don't really rank my coasters very well. I'm very indecisive. I do think that I have a couple over it when it comes to RMCs. Probably, for sure, Iron Glossy, Twisted Timbers, Untamed.

Speaker: um and We have like similar thoughts of RMCs. I like this. Yeah, our RMCs are very similar. um And then i think Wildcats I'd probably put above it too.

Speaker: And then probably Airy Force. It's not the lowest RMC I have at all, but it's probably pretty like higher mid for me. Yeah. I would have to like go through and rank all the rest of my RMCs.

Speaker: It is my number four RMC.

Speaker: But I kind of have kind of like what you were saying, where I've kind of got like a No Man's Land and kind like the bottom of my top 25. I have Gwazi, Airy Force, and Wildcat's Revenge all back-to-backto- back back to back.

Speaker: Yeah. I kind of feel the same way, Jen, where like i think any day those could flip-flop between where they're at right now.

Speaker: Depending on the day. Yeah, I feel like it depends on the day and depends on the mood. Like my biggest one that I feel like that on is Wildcats. Like Wildcats revenge is so beautifully done, but the profiling is so weird that if you're not- Let me guess that flat, the flat turn- Yes. I love it.

Speaker: I love it. I don't need to slam into my rib cage every ride. Yeah. it's There's a couple elements on that that it's like, this is giving me bruises. and i rampage Rampage had that same turn.

Speaker: Just to the other direction. That's the one you slammed into me on. Yeah. Approved. It's really intense and I love it. But it's like some days, like on a really hot Hershey day...

Speaker: I'm like, i I don't think I can do this. Like, I don't think I can do dehydration roller coasters and getting completely beat up by the roller coaster. Like, that is a little too much for me.

Speaker: But, yeah. Mike,

Speaker: where do you mike where do you have Air Force ranked overall? Let me pull that back up. It is ranked overall 18. Okay. Okay. okay Gwazi is 17, it's 18, and Wildcat is 19. Okay.

Speaker: okay Those are the lowest RMCs in my top 25. Yeah, Airyforce, as of, you know, before possibly moving things around, Airyforce is not in my top 25.

Speaker: But I also don't have any RMCs in my top 10, so... I have two. warmrham season That might change because I might kind of want to bring Skyrush and Fury down. They just haven't been like hitting as much for me lately. so if i'm Depending on where I move those, Zadra could end up in my top 10. I don't know. My rides on Fury last year were really good.

Speaker: Fury's good, but it's no Copperhead Strike. Oh, God. We're not going to get into into that right now. But but Voyage. Oh my goodness. Now we're not getting it out. Alright.

Speaker: um We have a comment from Ethan next. This is a good one. um Where do you think Air Force 1 will be relocated and which park do you want it to be relocated to? What's your favorite memory? And then, sorry, separate question. What's your favorite memory from Koomba and Air Force 1?

Speaker: I know my favorite memory from Air Force 1.

Speaker: Let me your birthday. Yes, that was it was my birth name. My very first ride was a night ride in the front row. i had candles that said 34, and I took my picture with that. And then um everybody in the station sang happy birthday to me.

Speaker: Oh, that's cute.

Speaker: um

Speaker: I'm going to say a memory. in The park is closed, so I feel like I could talk about this now. My first rides on Air Force One, i was in the station. And um the, like, supervisor at the time, someone had, like, lost their phone in the train. and They were on one train. The train wasn't in the station. And the supervisor got approached by someone who had lost their phone. She looks. The phone is sitting on the track. Like, she can reach it. Oh.

Speaker: Perfect. So she literally is, I'm standing waiting for the back row and she's talking to the ride up in the back and she's like, where's the train right now? I'm just going to reach in and get it. And the ride up is like, I know you shouldn't do that. Like you need to call maintenance and they need to shut down the ride. And she's like, but what do you mean? Like the the train's going to be on the brake run. I could just reach in and get it. And they argued for like three minutes over whether or not she should reach her hand into the right area and retrieve the phone.

Speaker: I was like, what an experience. In the time you argued, just do it. Yeah, but also, or don't do it because it's not safe. Like, shut down the ride, please.

Speaker: this was like on like one of the running rails? or Yeah, it was on one of the running rails in the station. If she hadn't noticed it, man, thing would have gotten crushed. Yeah, and I don't... I think they ended up grabbing it, which is just crazy to me to reach her hand. like She had to like lie down on the floor of the station and like reach her hand in and grab it from the rail.

Speaker: Jeez. No, you have to shut down the ride for this. It's so unsafe. I saw a video from that Thrills f FEC this weekend where i guess they're having an issue with... Or maybe it was last weekend.

Speaker: where they were having an issue with one of the trains or with something on the ride, not one of the trains because they only have one train. They were cycling the ride and you see one of the managers hop over the track and run to the inner, like the infield to check. i don't know if he was checking the compressor or what. It's crazy.

Speaker: Yeah, that was my favorite Air Force One memory. My favorite Kumba memory. i rode i rode with Taylor and Sarah and they were getting a POV. um and we had ridden it a few times, but we go and we get on and we start riding it. And there was this girl.

Speaker: i think she was behind us. I think we might have been in front row. And she screamed at the top of her lungs like she was being murdered the entire ride. Like, And it wasn't in this way that it was, like, super annoying. but It was so consistent that it was, like, not and not that annoying. But we were all, like, genuinely, like, is this girl cool? Like, is she okay? And then we get off and Taylor turns to her and is like, are you okay? Like, like genuinely, are you okay? And she was just like, yeah, why? And then just walked away. She was just like, yeah.

Speaker: Jeez. Their POV they posted, you can hear her screaming the entire duration. not sure. i kind of want to go look that up. Yeah, it's a very good one. It made me giggle. Makes me think of my ride on Katoon where I don't have memory of that ride because all I remember is screaming.

Speaker: Heck yeah.

Speaker: I actually don't know of any like particular Kumba memories outside of my cat.

Speaker: She's just playing memes now. Yeah, pretty much. running No, I've seen if I could find that POV. Yeah, they did lower her voice so she's not nearly as loud in the POV, but when you listen, she's definitely screaming in the POV.

Speaker: um Yeah, my memories, like both of my memories of these rides are kind of lower. I don't have too many. Yeah. do you have any good ones, Mike, before we move on to the other question?

Speaker: What? Do you have any good memories at Air Force 1? I really don't. Okay. I mean, um that was cool going on opening day. And closing day.

Speaker: Yeah, opening and closing The, um, okay, so then the other question, where do you think Area Force One will be re like relocated, and which park would you like it to be relocated to?

Speaker: You have trouble saying the word relocated. I know, I'm really It's Kings Island. I honestly think it's going to go to Carowinds. Um, Bryant posted, did you see Bryant's story yeah today?

Speaker: He was thinking of, like, where it would fit really well at Lake Compounds. oh Oh, I saw... I did see him post something about Lake Compounds, but i I had, like... I could see Compounds.

Speaker: Like, there was one spot where he's, like... Oh, yeah, it's, like, right around... That would... Where it's, like, no man's land in the park, right? Yeah, it is. It's, like, literally in this one... That would be pretty cool.

Speaker: What's even there? Nothing. I'm curious. But, I mean, like... Trees and a road. That honestly wouldn't be bad.

Speaker: That would be a really good location for it. I selfishly would love to see it go to Thorny Park. I know it never will because an RMC is far too loud. don't where it would fit in terms of elevation. It's also just way out there.

Speaker: Also, I didn't realize they had a rapid... That is such a long walk to that Rapids ride. Yep. What else is that down there? There's something else down there, too.

Speaker: Mike is learning things about Lake Compounds today today. I didn't even... i mean, we went in October, so the Rapids ride was closed. I've heard Brian talk about it a lot. Oh, it's there's a chairlift down there, too.

Speaker: Interesting. Where does that go? What? No, like if you look on Google Maps, you'll see like where Boulder Dash turns around down there.

Speaker: You can see there's something there. It's a chairlift. Yeah. I guess goes up to the top of the mountain.

Speaker: Yeah, Lake Compounds would be a good fit for it. um Michigan's Adventure Valley Fair would be great just to get a coaster. I would love to see it go to one of these smaller parks that like could really use a good addition. Yeah.

Speaker: um But realistically, I feel like if it goes to like if it if Six Flags buys it, it's going to go to a bigger park that needs some help.

Speaker: Like I could see it going to Great Adventure with all space. I know a lot of people think if Enchanted buys it, they'd put it at like St. Louis, but I honestly don't know where they'd put it.

Speaker: Yeah, I think that's also what makes it a little harder, too, because you need to go to a park that's going have enough of a footprint to get it to fit. There might be an L-shaped footprint, too. there might be There could be some room behind Batman.

Speaker: Talon at Dorney Park.

Speaker: whatever ah arch talent or whatever you want to call St. Louis. I don't remember what I call St. Louis. I don't either. have to make these down eventually. There is some space where they could probably, was like behind Batman, you have like train tracks.

Speaker: You could potentially go on the other side of the train tracks.

Speaker: At St. Louis. I don't know. I don't think there's a simple answer to where that will be going. I'm very curious where it'll end up.

Speaker: Yeah, me too.

Speaker: And then our last comment was from Airtime Mike, who I missed meeting once again. Still have not met him in person. um We just keep crossing paths without actually seeing each other.

Speaker: but say me As he said, you're just AI. Yeah, he claims I'm AI.

Speaker: I mean, honestly, you might be. I had a whole fun conversation with him about that.

Speaker: ah see if i got find error yeah About me being AI. Yeah.

Speaker: Why don't we just talk to him? Where is it?

Speaker: well Maybe AI deleted it. I don't know.

Speaker: Oh, there we go. Man, I've talked to a lot of people recently. Oh, yeah, because i was he was saying that he might be coming to Kings Island at some point. And i he's like, I'm sure you won't be there. I'm like, yeah, you know, probably.

Speaker: Probably not. I said, this is us, a solid chance of it. He's like, are you AI?

Speaker: said something stupid. He said, I'm dead. And I said, AI can never die. AI can never die. hell like And then put a little robot emoji. Anyway, something Mike said, I thought the park handled the entire experience very well.

Speaker: Very well thought out and professional. He was missing a comma in there. ah Getting my last ride with Alan Shilke and Joe Draves sitting directly behind me was thrilling.

Speaker: That'd be a cool experience, too. Yeah. Like, it was cool to meet them and, like, see them basically doing an informal photo shoot with everybody. Yeah, like i just disagree they were there just there to hang out.

Speaker: It was yeah neat. People are lining up to say hi and get their picture with them. Yeah. It's like Comic-Con. Yeah. It was different.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, I thought it was really cool seeing them there. I was kind of shocked. I like got off the ride the first time and I was like, oh. Even though I'd seen like a million people post pictures with them, I was still like, how cool.

Speaker: and like I don't know how long Alan was there for, but it seemed like Joe was there like all week. Yeah, like there were pictures of them popping up.

Speaker: Especially because I think they had a few ah few people that are looking at ah buying coming to visit, so I'm assuming he was probably there to kind of sit in on those meetings as well.

Speaker: Probably. But it was neat. It was a weird weekend.

Speaker: Very weird. Yeah, it That's really the only way to describe it. It was a bit of a weird weekend. Yeah. It's good to see people. Good to see friends.

Speaker: Don't necessarily like the reason behind why we saw everybody. Yeah. But it was really fun. Yeah. We had a group of like... at the When we waited two hours in line, we had a group of like 35 people.

Speaker: Which was great because we waited over two hours in line. So it was like... You didn't get bored because you had 35 people.

Speaker: Yeah. it was It was a good time. Yeah. I think so too. It was a good send off. Yeah. I'm really, I'm really, really happy for the park that that turnout was as large as it was. Oh yeah. That if only they had been able to get that turnout the whole time.

Speaker: Yeah. It's just hard to get people there because of the location. Yeah, it really, i feel like it really is just the location. Like it's not like I hop off the plane real quick.

Speaker: If like Marta ran down that far, it'd be a completely different story. Even if Marta ran within like five, 10 minutes of it and you could get on a quick Uber over there. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: It's just a little too far. Yeah. no Yeah. Like I had to Uber to the airport and it was and early in the morning, but it cost me like $35. Like that's kind of far to have to go. And I'm curious how hard you would have had a time like getting and Uber. Did you schedule it?

Speaker: I had to schedule it. Cause I went working in the morning, right? If you didn't schedule one, like just, I mean, I guess not necessarily that early, but just any time of day, if you didn't schedule it,

Speaker: I don't know if you would have been able to get an Uber down there. Yeah, that's what my Uber that morning was like. You were smart for scheduling. And he's like, because i am willing to bet that you would not have found an Uber here. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, it's so far out of the way. Yeah.

Speaker: all right. One last thing. What do we think is going to be the next coaster to close to cause this? Cause us all to get back together.

Speaker: I'm wondering about X2. Oh, no. i was I don't think it's going to be X2. They literally just got one of the trains back after a full rebuild.

Speaker: I could see it being on the chopping block soon. I think so. i think I guess the question is, too, is will the park announce it ahead of time, whatever the next one is?

Speaker: Well, I kind of think the next one is really Shockwave, except we don't. It's never. Shockwave. Everybody that I hear talking about it is saying Shockwave is dead.

Speaker: I know. Like they didn't announce it. No one gets to say goodbye. Wasn't it like something caused by the flooding? think something. i think it may have been flooding. i think something broke.

Speaker: I think something broke and then they've realized that it's going to cost a lot more to fix than it's really that's so sad worth trying to fix.

Speaker: yeah i yeah That ride was so good. I don't know what ride I think would close next. I really hope nothing. i

Speaker: I'm wondering if it's Kraken. It's going to be one of the next ones. Oh, good riddance. It's probably not, yeah, not necessarily, like, get us all together for it.

Speaker: I think. Yeah. I think it's going to be the B&M's. I feel like wouldn't be Kraken because they just painted it and, like, got it. I feel like it wouldn't be Kraken. It might not.

Speaker: That's one I would go down for a closing day for because I worked at SeaWorld and worked at Kraken a lot. So I have a lot of memories of that ride. That makes sense. But when you start looking at it, so obviously Kumba closed.

Speaker: That opened in what, 93?

Speaker: Like when you look at RCDB, like the entire first page is all stuff that opened in the ninety s

Speaker: They're all starting to close in. If they're not already past it, they're closing in on that 30-year mark. Yeah. Yeah, but I feel like the difference is, like, are they taken care of or are they not?

Speaker: Like...

Speaker: I mean, no matter how well you take care of a ride, steel is still steel. It's still got a lifespan. Yeah. I mean, I... And Kuma was starting to get holes in the track I saw, like in the spine.

Speaker: Yeah, but wasn't that happening when they wasn't that happening when they shut it down for months? like didn't Wasn't that all caused from damage from them shutting it down and leaving it SBNO for two Could be as well.

Speaker: Yeah, like that's what I mean. Like I don't, I think, I truly think that if they did not leave it sitting with zero maintenance and zero like anything and it didn't like literally rust holes in itself and shit, I truly think that if it wasn't sitting for like that year to two years and it didn't like completely fall apart during that time and have zero maintenance, like I truly think that it would still be operating to this day.

Speaker: To this day, as if it's only it's only two days past the death. But like I truly think that we'd be saying something completely different. I think those... all like Look at arrows. like Yeah, steel has an age, but like arrows are still kicking.

Speaker: Yeah, arrows are a little bit easier to maintain. i don't know if you saw the pictures a couple weeks ago. They just... Magnum had an issue. They just went out there with the saws all chopped a rail off.

Speaker: It's back open. Love that for them.

Speaker: But also like there's a reason. of Gwazi a couple of weeks ago I believe had just like an indefinite closure for maintenance. Because they just like you said they don't know how to do maintenance.

Speaker: Yeah, it's like, if if ah I truly believe that if a really old, like, 90s B&M is in the right place, it it will survive a good amount longer. there

Speaker: It's just like, those B&Ms are built, like, the quality of the build of those B&Ms is insanely good. In my opinion. Like, I think they're some of the best coasters on the market. Oh, they're very well done. Yeah.

Speaker: um

Speaker: Yeah, i just I feel like those early 90s to mid-90s ones, I'm never disappointed in one of them.

Speaker: But i like just looking at it, like

Speaker: Batman at Great America is 92. Great Adventures Batman is 93.

Speaker: Magic mountains is 94. Like those Raptor was 94. I think Raptor could be one of the next ones on the chopping block. I could see Raptor, but not because it's falling apart or doing bad, but I think like Cedar points kind of running out of space.

Speaker: I think it's going to be because of a combination. Like it's getting old. It's kind of getting worn down and they can do something different with the space. Yeah, i think that I think that's also going to be a big thing that parks are going to have to consider. Like, yeah, you got to eventually think about the space that you have, too. So, like, I see a park, like, I don't even know, like a park that has a ton of space keeping their B&Ms as long as they can because they don't need the space.

Speaker: But, yeah.

Speaker: All right. Well, I think maybe this brings us to the end of the episode. Yeah. Hour 45 later. Yeah, that was a little bit longer episode than I thought it would be. i really thought we were going to be done by 10. Yeah. In 40.

Speaker: Well, before we wrap up, want to give a big shout out to our Patreon members, which I'm sorry we're bad at posting on Patreon. We need to get better about that. But anyway, thank you to Chris and Jeff and Alexander for all of your continued support.

Speaker: Yes, we really appreciate it. I'm going to upload a video soon. I have it exported. I just got to upload it. Hopefully I'll do that soon. Maybe before this episode drops. Who knows? Yeah, and any of our Patreon members, remember there's also a chat.

Speaker: We have like a chat with the three of them in there. So you guys can also chat with us at any time and we will be better about chatting. I just need to be better about posting in general. Yeah. we ah we're We're learning. We're getting there. Tell us what you want to see. And we will happily least provide.

Speaker: That's something different, Mike. It's fine.

Speaker: um But until next time, the next episode that I'll post will be a fun one. I'm very excited for that. um But until then, hashtag keep thinking inverted.

Speaker: And we'll see y'all next time. Bye, guys. Bye.