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Episode 149 - IAAPA '23
18 Plays1 year ago
This week on the premier comedy roller coaster podcast Ben and Zach discuss several of the exciting developments and announcements from IAAPA 2023 and much more!
Actually, we're the worst roller coaster podcast!
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Transcript
Introduction and Humorous Anecdotes
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm Zach and I'm kind of like if Alfred Hitchcock was actually Alfred shitcock. I'm Ben and I don't even know how to respond to that. I guess I took a shit earlier. I was laughing about shitcock earlier. What is, what is that from? I don't know.
00:01:06
Speaker
Like several years ago, I thought of shit dick as an insult, and that's always kind of made me giggle. But then I was like expanding on that because I unfortunately got into a shouting match with a motorist. Now, I was a pedestrian crossing at a crosswalk with a sign and the motorist stopped for me, but then proceeded to roll their window down and call me an asshole and a motherfucker for crossing. Oh, classic.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So I was still kind of heated and I was like thinking of like what have been what would have been other funny things I could have said to him besides learn to read a sign you shithead, which is what I ultimately went with. So shit that came up and then I was like shit takes a pretty good one. Where can we go with that? And it went to shit cock, which is just like funny, just saying it. Yeah.
00:02:05
Speaker
And then it's like, it sounds kind of like Hitchcock. And then I'm like, well, what if Alfred Hitchcock was Alfred Chitcock? That's good. Well, what happened? Did he respond to it? No, he drove off. But that's a classy Chicago shit for you. That's some Chicago shit.
00:02:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, I feel like anywhere east of Denver, in any major city, if there's some sort of pedestrian crossing and like a car interaction in that way, it's gonna go that way. Oh, for sure.
00:03:02
Speaker
Actually, I saw some movie that took place in Boston the other day and there were a couple of interactions where people were like, just saying, fuck you to strangers in public. And I was like, this is pretty realistic, I guess. I mean, yeah, I don't know. Like you and I both are urban dwellers. So like,
00:03:27
Speaker
I don't know. I was watching a video about urbanism because I'm that motherfucker now earlier, and they were saying that the benefits of urbanism include socializing, and I'm like, bullshit.
Urban Life and Social Interactions
00:03:38
Speaker
I've never seen two city dwellers talk to each other. Well, it depends. I wouldn't say that people in major cities don't talk to each other. I think they talk with purpose. Yeah, it's like, watch where the fuck you're walking, asshole.
00:03:59
Speaker
Not quite. Or like learn to read a sign, you shithead. Yeah. Well. No, or it's like ventilate. Or like, hey, any spare change? That's city dwellers talking to each other.
00:04:28
Speaker
I guess the other thing that always weirded me out was like neighbors that don't interact with each other. Like you live in a building and there's just neighbors you see all the time and you just never had a conversation with them. I have only seen a couple of my neighbors and I try to at least be like, Hey, how's it going? So I don't look like a sulky fucking weirdo, you know?
00:04:59
Speaker
but yeah, just a general like, Hey, like cool. You're alive. Nice. Uh, cool. Yeah. I always thought it would be cool. Like if I met new neighbors to like bring them a six or something. Yeah. I've never really met new neighbors that seemed cool like that though. Only time I ever met neighbors moving in, like they were moving in, they seem super uptight.
00:05:34
Speaker
My neighbor, uh, brought me a box of beer cause he worked at Coors. That's pretty awesome. Good old Carol. Oh, shots to Carol. So I guess it's kind of a transphobe, but Oh, well fuck that then I'll take the beer, but fuck you.
00:06:00
Speaker
but he's like such a friendly guy. Like every time I've, like literally every single time I've like been carrying something into the house. Yes. If I needed help. So he's just like, it's like, uh, you're probably one of those church folk. That's so weird. Like, why can't you be more open-minded?
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, we heard this to another neighbor. They were talking and he was saying that something along the lines of like, yeah, I don't know about all this trans stuff going on. And my neighbor's like, uh, uh, what do you mean? I don't know about that. Yeah. Um, how can I most gracefully distance myself from this conversation? Yeah. That's a yikes.
00:06:58
Speaker
Just like PSA from us. Don't be that guy. Or non-binary person. Or lady. But don't be that person. Ideally, non-binary people wouldn't be transphobic, but... You'd hope not. Yeah, stranger things have happened, so...
00:07:26
Speaker
Like I said, don't be that person.
Roller Coasters and Gaming Adventures
00:07:30
Speaker
Anyway, this isn't all roller coaster podcasts all about roller coasters. And so if you happen to hear anything that's not about roller coasters, your ears are broken. Speaking of roller coasters, I'm getting, I'm getting really into open RCT right now. Like, I don't know why I haven't done this earlier. Is that a kink?
00:07:57
Speaker
Open RCT. I'm sorry, I forgot to. Classic. No, I just. I don't know. It was my old porn laptop. Like there's a laptop. It's not a no.
00:08:23
Speaker
No, it's like more like there's a laptop that that's only purpose is pretty much the only purpose it served is porn like in the last couple of years. How much is they drill into you, Ben? But it's. Well, like, whatever, it's just like the junk laptop. Anyway,
00:08:54
Speaker
So what kind of rides have you built? So I built two RMCs in a mock coaster and I'm talking like full size and the new track pieces. Here's the thing. Like I've seen kids, like there's a lot of people out there, especially on YouTube where their first exposure to this game is the open RCT version. And that makes total sense because we're old men. Yeah.
00:09:22
Speaker
But like this stuff you can do now, like as far as track layouts and stuff is insane. Like, I mean, you know, like the, the problem with it is you'd make this like super huge terrain coaster, but then you only have those tiny loops to work with, especially on the steel coaster. Yeah. And now there's small, medium and large loops and the quarter loops and
00:09:50
Speaker
It's a, the super wide bank turns are probably the best. That actually sounds fantastic. I thought one of the best improvements in RCT two with those like large loops, like half loops. Yeah. Well, also the banked, um, not, I don't know how to call them. What would you call them? Like the,
00:10:16
Speaker
Yeah. Like the bank upward downward helix. Yeah. That was a big deal because before that all your turns were flat so you can make a wooden coaster. If you ever made something compact, it would have all laterals and then suddenly you couldn't bank on sloped up or down track. It had to be up or down or sloped.
00:10:43
Speaker
Except couldn't the B and M track and it was just one kind of B and M track that was like the only one that could do that? No, I don't think any of them could. Really? Shit. Yeah. And that was always because even in the even in roller coaster, even in one, it wasn't even a B and M. It was. It still had like a two across train.
00:11:10
Speaker
OK, I think that's because the first time I played one, it was with both expansion packs. OK, yeah. I mean, they came out pretty similar. I mean, I guess they weren't that far apart. I think we're like close to tycoon two came out in like 2002, and most people probably started playing it in what, ninety nine? I legit remember me remember pre-ordering RCT two from like GameStop.
00:11:41
Speaker
and getting some some sort of bonus DLC that I can't remember. It was crap, obviously, because it was RCT two. Like whatever the DLC was, wasn't it was like the song or so. You know what I mean? Oh, OK. It wasn't like, oh, a new coaster type. It wasn't something exciting like that. You know what? That's actually that actually sounds really familiar.
00:12:10
Speaker
I did the same thing for like RCT3 too. What did that one come with? That was, I think it was like special outfits for the guests or something or like a special entertainer outfit or maybe that one, that one was like maybe that was a particular coaster maybe. Okay.
00:12:42
Speaker
But like later on it was added as one of the expansion pack ones anyway. Right. Sure. I mean, that one, did that one come out with the expansion pack right out of the store or no? No, it took a little bit for that to roll out. Yeah. Cause the first one was the water park one, which was awesome. Always. Yeah, that was, yeah, that was great. I actually kind of like building the water parks more than the theme parks.
00:13:12
Speaker
Well, I thought I always thought like that was the best RCT. Like in terms of like really making realistic parks. At least at that time, I always thought that was the best. Yeah, because you could do a realistic water park. And a fairly realistic park. The only problem is, unless you were some rich kid, you're fucking.
00:13:40
Speaker
The graphics card would fucking flame up in a second. Yeah, those. It would run. I remember my shit would run at like fucking. Six frames per second.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah. For some reason, the, uh, the master blaster water coaster, you could build them in your water parks. For some reason, that frame rate was awful. Like it would just fuck up the computer. Yeah. Well, I'm sure like, cause I remember they were partnered with like, what was it? ATI, I think. Uh, manufacturer. I mean that, that sounds right. Yeah.
00:14:24
Speaker
They had like a partnership with them. And it was like, I remember because my dad is a, you know, I.T. guy and I was like, oh, yeah, they have this thing. And he's like, uh, well, we better be careful playing that game on our computer. Because like, yeah, that was a pricey graphics card unless you were a real serious gamer back then at that time.
00:14:48
Speaker
Oh, for sure. Yeah, I remember playing it on like some shitty Vista computer at a neighbor's house and it sucked like it could do most things OK, but then suddenly you build. It was literally just the war, like if you did a POV of the water slide, and I think it was because it's trying to draw like all those water droplets. You know, it's probably like millions of textures or some shit in a second. There's a splash. It just goes to like one frame a second.
00:15:18
Speaker
Yep. It was really bad. And like, I remember that being so tremendously disappointing because it'd be like, Oh my God, you can see a POV of your RCT rides. No fucking way. And like you would click on it to do it.
00:15:45
Speaker
And first of all, the POV camera sucked because it would always like turn a little bit in anticipation of the turns. Oh, so you know how you lock that? You hold the left and right click at the same time and it locks it. Oh, OK. No, but that was super frustrating until I learned that, though, that shit was super frustrating.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, here I am at 34 years old learning that for the first time. But yeah, I fucking remember that was always disappointing and that would increase how long it would take to render the shit. Mm hmm. Because it would be anticipating, but then also like, because, you know, even if you put like a carousel
00:16:34
Speaker
it would suddenly go to night mode and all the lights would be on. And you're like, fuck. Oh, that's what it was. It was the, it was the night modes that were, that were the worst part about it. I think I'm pretty sure. Yeah. The night mode rendering was bad because it like the lights look great. Like I played that on one of my recent laptops and it it's smooth as butter. It's great. It's awesome. You know,
00:17:05
Speaker
Revisiting that, you know, 15, 20 years in the future was awesome. It was everything I wanted that game to be back when I was 15 or whatever. Because like I remember I was playing it. I don't remember a couple of years back and like I was doing the fireworks shows and like really doing well with the levels and everything and like, man, this is cool.
00:17:33
Speaker
Oh my God, those fireworks shows. It was just a game over. Yeah, because you can import your own music. And as soon as I found out you could do a fireworks show to fuck the shit, it was over. Nice. I had to play that today for my wife because she had never heard it. Not only had she never heard it, she's never heard of it.
00:18:04
Speaker
So I was like, oh, you're in for a treat. And then after the first part, she's like, yeah, I get it. And I kept rocking out because, you know. Classic. It's hard to find the original video for that on YouTube now, by the way, you can find the song, but that original video. It wasn't showing up.
00:18:32
Speaker
Um, is it, can you look on like Vimeo? It's, it's probably somewhere now that I'm on my laptop. It's probably a lot easier to find. Yeah. I mean, that's a classic, by the way. Um, if you haven't seen it, what are you doing with your life? Sons of butcher. Fuck the shit. Yeah. Here we go. I found it.
00:18:59
Speaker
Basically it's like Steel Panther before Steel Panther, right? Um, I don't know who Steel Panther is. Um. Remind me. Okay. All right.
00:19:16
Speaker
Well, uh, they did a song called, um, what, what shows up. Let me check here. What shows up on their YouTube when, on YouTube, when I can't type in Steel Panther. And also, you know what? If you haven't heard Steel Panther, go ahead. Check them out. You're going to love them. How about, uh, here we go. I'm not going to tell you the title of the song. You'll see it when I send you the link, but
00:19:47
Speaker
Just check it out and, and, and it's called glory hole. So like, there we go. Boom. It's in the chat. Yeah. Glory holds a funny one. I got a gun ad. Oh, nice. That's a first.
00:20:12
Speaker
What did Siri hear you saying? I don't know. Interesting. Wow, that was wild. I'm sure as YouTube allows gun ads. I'm not surprised because like that probably comes right before like why libs are making your kids gay in school.
00:20:41
Speaker
Yeah. Well, yeah, I would say that's pretty close to Sons of Butcher. Well, you know, you're probably not too far off. And honestly, from the the probably the general Steel Panther fan base that doesn't understand that it's satire. Because these dudes are all definitely wearing wigs and in on the joke. Yeah.
00:21:11
Speaker
What's that other one? There's some other band I'm trying to think of. You know, look it up. So, I mean. Fucking what was it another like 80s rock type of one?
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. I guess there's probably, there's probably quite a bit of these. It's an easy genre to parody, I think. Yeah. You really only need like some session musicians or like a good guitar player and bassist and drummer.
00:22:09
Speaker
But anyway, um, fucking, you want to keep going down the music rabbit hole. They announced the, uh, when we were young lineup for next year.
Music Festivals and Nostalgia
00:22:21
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. What's that look like? All right. So it's bands playing full albums and here's the bands and what albums they are playing. It is, uh, my chemical romance playing the black parade.
00:22:38
Speaker
it's fall out boy they will not be playing an album unlike every other band apparently because they don't do that we're a day to remember homesick jimmy eat world bleed american kind of there for that pierce the veil collide with the sky dashboard confessional
00:23:03
Speaker
dusk and summer. Simple plan. No pads, no helmets, just balls. I'm there for that. The used. In Love and Death. I wish that would have been their self-titled album. That one hits so hard for me. And like with My Chemical Romance, I wish it was Three Cheers. Cause yo, that one really hits. Were you an MCR fan at all?
00:23:33
Speaker
Um, not really. I mean, like it was a part of what would you call it? Like the, the culture at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Like I, I know every, I wouldn't say I know every song. I know a lot of songs. Well, what would you pick then? If you were, if you were to pick a full album of any band of, uh, any of the bands that would fit like, you know, emo pop punk mid two thousands.
00:24:05
Speaker
Um, I don't know. I guess I really don't like the album concept or like, I mean, did any of the bands do that, uh, at the show? No, because other than like from the couple of headliners, everybody only had like a 30 minute set. Okay. But like, I kind of agree.
00:24:34
Speaker
because like they didn't really pick the albums I wanted to hear. That's fine. A lot of people like that stuff, but I'm just like, I'm not, I'm not buying tickets on the presale. I'll put it that way. Yeah.
00:24:53
Speaker
Well, it just seems really limiting, especially a year in advance. It's like, here, here's the exact you're basically announcing your whole set list before. OK, hold on. Coheating Cambria. Good Apollo. I'm running star. For the All-American Rejects, All-American Rejects. Not a bad one. Yo, newfound glory sticks and stones. That almost seems worth it to hear.
00:25:22
Speaker
That actually, yeah. Like that one almost seems worth the entire admission to be honest with you. Cause like, you were the one who turned me on to, it's been a summer and that's such a fucking jam still, but that allowed me. Yeah. Um, Silverstein.
00:25:46
Speaker
discovering the waterfront, their first one, that's good. Yo, Chiodos, all's well that ends well. That's probably gonna be pretty dope. It's the first time Chiodos has played in like, I don't know, 15 years or whatever. Maybe there's somebody who's like screaming at their microphone and how wrong I am. It's been a while though. Hopefully. I hope so. I want some angry corrections.
00:26:15
Speaker
The starting line, say it like you mean it. That's a good one. Thursday, full collapse. Hawthorne Heights, the silence of black and white. Cartel, chroma. Okay, the red jumpsuit apparatus, don't you fake it. Really? Didn't they have one song? Yeah. No, they literally did. They're playing the whole Hess album.
00:26:37
Speaker
You know 303 way. No, come on. Well, why would they? You know, say anything is a real boy. That's pretty dope. Story of the year, Page Avenue. OK, you know what? I'm going to try to get tickets on the second hand market, but I think that's that's going to be.
00:27:05
Speaker
There's enough there to keep me entertained for a full day. How much is that ticket? Well, as it's going on pre-sale, tweet 325, but there was shit at half price on the day of the festival this year. I was pretty salty about that.
00:27:30
Speaker
There's tickets on StubHub for under 200 bucks the day of when I was there. I was like motherfucker. I mean, yeah, it's usually how it goes. Yeah. So I'm a, I'm a hold off on putting any money down on those bad boys. The issue is though, those hotels get the filled the fuck up. Oh, sure. Yeah.
00:27:58
Speaker
I do like the, I mean, the circus circus idea. How much do you think that would have went tonight? Let me look it up right now. Like checking in Friday and leaving out like Monday, right? Yeah, it sounds about right. Yo, they're going to have a new fucking SpongeBob dark ride at circus circus.
00:28:29
Speaker
Really? It looks amazing, dude. Sally's making them a new Spongebob dark ride. Oh, wait, did they have an original? No, it's brand fucking new, dude. OK. Brand new Sally dark ride a fucking adventure dome. How awesome is that? It's pretty cool, I guess.
00:28:54
Speaker
I mean, look, dude, new brand new Sally dark ride. Well, okay. First of all, something new at the adventure dome, bro. It's what I was saying. Like it seems very odd to have, uh, I don't know. It's interesting. Yeah. Circus, circus is two 24 for a king room, two 33 for a double queen per night.
00:29:25
Speaker
I wonder if that's something where it actually go down in the future. Like if you got it at just the right time. Possibly. Or also like, cause if there's a lot of people booking hotels right now, I bet some people are getting a headstart. The other idea is Sahara cause that's across the street there too. Yeah. Sahara would be good.
00:29:52
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. We go check out where they used to have the coaster. Oh my God. It's like double the fucking cost there. It's 479 for that Friday and fucking 589 for that Saturday.
00:30:17
Speaker
See, I bet it'll go down. I have a feeling they're just jacking the rates right now because they just announced it. Yeah, possibly. But the thing is, those those places are really close. So what about the strat? The strat can be some. The only weird thing about the strat
00:30:47
Speaker
that's kind of disappointing is that the hotel is separate towers. What do you mean? Like staying in the actual stratosphere tower, you know? Oh, right. Yeah. It's kind of like, what's the point of even calling it that then? Yeah. Like you're not in the same building. Well,
00:31:18
Speaker
Anyway, I don't know. You know what would have been awesome? What if they had that fish hook coaster? Yeah, every time I see that video, though, I bet that thing would have ran like two times and then it would have got shut down. It was probably I also don't see Arrow being able to figure out how to design a wheel assembly that can handle that kind of speed.
00:31:54
Speaker
I mean, they had Alan Chilke on staff at that point. So they were past their first, uh, degreed engineer. Yeah, that's true. The other thing that I wasn't sure of was in, I want to say in one of the concept that showed a train that stayed level,
00:32:20
Speaker
So basically like you'd stay horizontal the whole time. You didn't actually like go upside down. I, I thought it like face downwards, but yeah, you never really actually got all the way upside down. Let's see. Fish hook coast.
00:32:50
Speaker
So there's a, oh wait, was it supposed to come from the center of the tower? Also like the height of the drop is taller than the fish hook, which is kind of terrifying if you think about it, because those wouldn't have been magnetic brakes. No, they would not have been. That had been friction brakes for sure.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm guessing it just works like a shuttle coaster. You just get pulled up and then drop. Yeah. I just found fucking. Some mind blowing, no limits to shit. Is there are no limits of the of the hook coaster? Close.
00:33:50
Speaker
Try the project that killed Arrow, not one that was in development when they died. I put it in the chat. I've got a, it's not mine, obviously, but I found an incredibly realistic recreation of X at Magic Mountain.
00:34:22
Speaker
Oh, it's a no limits coaster about. OK, gotcha. Yeah, it's a recreation of acts. Holy shit, they got the queue and everything. You know, I want to fucking play with this thing. That's what she said. Yeah, it's pretty good. You also kind of get a better idea of the terrain that the ride was on.
00:34:56
Speaker
You also, this soundtrack slaps. The original color scheme looked way better than the new one. I don't care if that's a hot take. I mean, you could tell it was just on the tail end of the 90s. Basically, it worked for the year that it opened, but it immediately became outdated.
00:35:28
Speaker
It's kind of like Magnum XL 200. It's almost like a little too futuristic or retro future. Because it was 89, so it made sense. And then right in the 90s, it was kind of like, oh. Yeah. Like, oh, very 80s. Whereas like, yeah. But I think the whole idea of like X as a coaster is super
00:35:55
Speaker
early 2000s anyway. Yeah. I mean, the motions seem pretty, yeah, everything, everything is exact. Yeah, this is awesome. Except the shower. The seats aren't shaking or wobbling though. They're a little bit.
00:36:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah, the POV. Yeah, it's shaking a bit. But also, I think in no limits, these are going to be the SNF style trains. You know what I mean? Right. Did you hear that Alan Chilke quote thrown in there? Yeah, it just got to it.
00:36:55
Speaker
I want to say this was the old X station music. Yo, it slaps. Did you ever ride original X? No. Yeah, me neither. It was closed the one time I went to magic mountain when they existed.
00:37:24
Speaker
I remember being very excited the first time I read it though. Same. And it blew my fucking mind. I still don't know how to properly rank that as a coaster, you know? Yeah. Did you ever get to write it in the very back row? No, I'm going to do that next time I'm there when it's open. OK.
00:37:51
Speaker
That's a, I don't know. I always thought that's a completely different ride because especially in the last Raven turn, because you're getting ejector airtime, but the way that you're positioned, it's not natural. And you're going like around this, like, you know, outward bank turn time thing. It's weird. But every time I ride it, I like literally like my dick lands on the seat divider.
00:38:23
Speaker
like every time.
Realistic Roller Coaster Creations
00:38:29
Speaker
Okay, that was coaster mind, by the way, if you're looking it up, that's coaster mind and shouts to them for an awesome recreation of X. Yeah, that was really good. Like, I don't think there's a single thing to nitpick.
00:38:50
Speaker
Normally with a recreation, there's like a couple things, but you try not to be a dick. Yeah, but I can't. That's like, you remember way back there was that dude real and he made the top thrill dragster recreation. Yeah. Yep. And he had, I think he had, uh, he had another one too. Did he have 3d objects for the launch track and stuff?
00:39:20
Speaker
Yeah, he had 3D objects for the lights on the tower and everything. Oh, that's right. Yeah. It was all a 3D environment. It was insane. The whole queue line and everything. That reminded me of Reel's top total dragster. And honestly, I'd say shout out to Reel for that, but also
00:39:48
Speaker
Real made themselves completely un-Googleable in 2023. What about like in a, where did he post his tracks? Was it theme park review? Somebody posted it there, but the thing is like a lot of the original No Limit stuff is all gone now. Oh, there's no file share or anything. Well, it's all like mainly on, you know,
00:40:18
Speaker
No limits too. And I don't know if it reads the 3d files the same way or anything. Yeah. See, I think no limits too is a really good tool and uh, I don't know. It's the problem though is like, it's almost too realistic to have fun with it.
00:40:46
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. You play it and you're like, I'm a ride operator now. Yeah. Or like, oh, I can walk all the way up the catwalk. Give me one second. I need a little more water. All right. Ben's getting some water. We've been talking about some no limits.
00:41:18
Speaker
And I'll be honest, if you got a good No Limits recreation, send it to us. I'd love to see a video or even play through one myself.
00:43:59
Speaker
Um
Nostalgic Pop Culture Moments
00:44:30
Speaker
Can you hear me now? Are you still here? Yeah, I'm here. Okay. I got caught up in the Twitter feed and re realized I was watching a clip of John Cena wrestling like 20 years ago before he was in WWE. Unimportant. There we go. So, uh,
00:44:59
Speaker
What, what's going on in the theme park world outside IAPA is the question. Outside of IAPA? I don't think much. Is there a scream escape rundown? Well, here's, here's the thing we got to figure out, right? And I'll, I'll introduce it by saying this. The good gravy trains were revealed at IAPA. Fantastic. Yes.
Amusement Park Events and Concerns
00:45:28
Speaker
Also,
00:45:30
Speaker
Um, Hollywood nights was announced for, what is it? The 20th first tickets. Correct. Those tickets are coming out the day after Thanksgiving, black Friday. So don't fuck it up for me. Oh no. Um, we got to figure out, are we going to try to do a meetup there? I mean, first we should probably just see who gets tickets. Like,
00:46:00
Speaker
Well, I guess first of all, are we trying to, are we all, are we trying to get tickets collectively? Um, I figured, I mean, I figured I might as well at least try. I don't know. All right. Well then I'll give it a good faith effort. Cause I think that you can transfer them. I mean, no one, it's not like they checked your driver's license.
00:46:30
Speaker
I don't think so. Hold on. Let's see. They put up the post. I'm checking it now. That's 2023. That's not helpful.
00:47:09
Speaker
It's like not coming up on their website. Here we go. All right, it's on their blog. Now it's themed to the Hunger Games, which is hilarious. It kind of is.
00:47:34
Speaker
I mean, is there any better way to describe the taken by in process? Also, the irony of a coaster enthusiast event with the name with the word hunger in the name is hilarious. Is it a little distasteful considering. You know, their history with events.
00:48:05
Speaker
I mean, I don't think it's that bad and then those turn out. If you interfere with a ride restraint, expect a lifetime ban. Read our on-ride camera policy if you can't follow it. Maybe this event isn't for you. I don't think they allow GoPros, right? No.
00:48:32
Speaker
We love it when you have fun and get creative with the event. However, please be courteous to your fellow attendees and make sure it's not affecting their fun. I wonder what they mean by that one.
00:48:58
Speaker
Oh, our ride times may close before ERT officially ends. That's not the sad part. Our team members working the event are awesome and asked to get scheduled for Hollywood nights and they still deserve to go home at a reasonable time. Yeah, that's fair.
00:49:20
Speaker
Let's see here, the other stuff, tickets available at a certain date and time. I'm not going to give them here. You can go find that information for yourself. And if you don't, maybe we won't see you there. It's hard to find the information this year, apparently. So don't just Google Hollywood nights, 2024 and expect it to just show up on your Google. Um,
00:49:52
Speaker
OK. A one person in the group must be a partner coaster club member and may purchase up to four tickets. See, why do they do that shit? Just one attendee per membership. Or like one guest.
00:50:19
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, it's not like, I don't know. Although maybe after the last two years of the ticket fiasco, I mean, maybe it'll kind of taper off, I guess. Possibly. I don't know.
00:50:56
Speaker
It's like there's so much hype built up around it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Well, it is the only time you can ride. Um, and even that though, like I understand, like a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on that, but it's not really any different than normal voyage at nighttime, but
00:51:25
Speaker
Cause there are, there are periods of the season you can go and ride voyage at night. Um, there's not many, but there are a couple and I mean the trimless ride isn't really that much different. Yeah. I mean,
00:51:52
Speaker
It's a great ride experience, but I feel like, yeah, the nighttime part is more impactful than the trimless part. Yeah. Other than the triple down. But hey, they're going to have a family boomerang for Hollywood nights, so that's pretty cool. Mm-hmm.
00:52:20
Speaker
I wonder if their game gave everybody a plate of Thanksgiving. It's like here all this gravy boat on the ride. If you were just spilling gravy all over themselves. Instead of the water cup challenge, it'll be the, the gravy boat challenge.
00:52:49
Speaker
And it's like steaming hot gravy. It's going to be gross. You're going to be so sticky all day. Hey, it's for a good cause. And what's the good cause? Ace, the National Roller Coaster Museum. So they can put their plaque on a roller coaster and say, hey, you better try not to tear this down or else you're going to get some. We're going to get a couple of annoying overweight people showing up to your place every single day with a camera.
00:53:20
Speaker
Well, and like that's the thing is like, OK, so Wildcat at Hershey. No, not Wildcat Comet is getting the new trains with the individual lap bars. So now it's not an Ace Coaster classic anymore. Man, I'm sure the park is. Is just heartbroken about that. Yeah, he says like we want our sign back.
00:53:49
Speaker
We want the old trains for the museum. Do you think there is a process that like that they have to follow? Like, uh, yeah, they're like, they're like, hi, this is, uh, this is the national roller coaster museum calling. Can we please have the trains? Thanks. Bye.
00:54:18
Speaker
and then like, next message. Hey, yeah, I'm just calling back from the National Roller Coaster Museum. I was just wondering, are those trains still sitting there? Because we really like them, thanks. And hey, please? All right, talk to you later, bye. And it's just messages on messages stacked up that way, and they finally wear them down.
00:54:48
Speaker
Do you think the park it's, uh, any kind of write off or donating stuff to that museum? Oh yeah, totally. Huh. Which kind of brings me to a question of like, I mean,
00:55:12
Speaker
How many parks do you think have good tax incentives like that? They've gotten some kind of benefit that far exceeds what they probably should have just because they donated that to that museum. I mean, depending on how the park spins it and how creative their lawyers are,
00:55:36
Speaker
Hosting like an ace event could be a write-off, you know? Hosting a preservation conference? Yeah. You know, depending on how good their fucking tax attorneys are, there's a lot of ways you can spin work with a nonprofit into a tax write-off.
00:56:04
Speaker
Which means the whole thing is a money laundering scam. It might be. Remember, Ben, let's not get sued for making statements instead of phrasing things as questions. So to reiterate, it's highly possible
00:56:37
Speaker
that the National Roller Coaster Museum is a scam. But I'm not going to say that it actually is because I don't need to get a call from some other person's legal representation. Or should I say some other entity's legal representation? I think we can talk about that now. It's been almost a year. Yeah.
00:57:07
Speaker
I was going to say, though, they're they were criticizing this logo. No, no, no, no. Hold on. Warner Brother owns the trademark for that. No, I know. But doesn't that put them in water? No, they have some sort of arrangement to use that phrase because they would have been sued out of existence if they didn't. Maybe maybe it's just not big enough for them to go after.
00:57:41
Speaker
I can almost guarantee that there's nothing. It's just, it's too small of a fish for one or brother to care. Possibly, but also like those signs are displayed at a lot of amusement parks pretty prominently. Yeah. So it'd be a shame if one or brothers find out.
00:58:08
Speaker
What I'm saying is there's no way they got to this point without legal clearance on that. But, but I will say this, it's pretty easy to profit off of a logo that looks kind of similar to theirs.
00:58:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure. And to do so undetected, I'd imagine is incredibly easy. It's like some sort of derivative of their graphic. You could probably slap it on some cheap ass podcast and make some money. Sell shirts.
00:59:04
Speaker
Lighters. You know, I never ended up receiving my golden ticket ballot. Oh, really? This year. Did you get asked for one? No. Oh. How does that work? Do you get one every year? I kind of thought so. I voted in 2020.
00:59:35
Speaker
or 2021. But then I think once they, you know, weren't friends with us anymore, they uninvited me from voting. You should ask where your ballot is with the same email and everything.
01:00:02
Speaker
And that's the funny part is I sent it from the, uh, our Gmail account. Classic. I mean, Hey, I, uh, you can't say I'm trying to hide anything. That's for sure.
01:00:38
Speaker
So I'm trying to think if there's any other IAPA shit that happened. I don't really think so. Yeah, you heard it right. Six Flags Great America still not doing holiday in the park. I mean, I'm not surprised. I don't think that's ever coming back.
01:01:02
Speaker
No, it definitely isn't. But the fact that they replaced it with a drive through that they're charging $40 for in the parking lot. I mean, that's pretty funny. Come drive through our parking lot for 40 bucks. But then they're adding insult to injury by having like Carousel Plaza and Orleans place open to.
01:01:29
Speaker
Um, to drive through or? I don't think so, but maybe. Yeah. I guess like, what are they going to do to sell merchant food? Yeah, that's kind of what it sounds like. Okay. Sounds like they're going to sell hot cocoa and have pictures with Santa and, but it's,
01:01:54
Speaker
Kind of hilarious because all of the comments on fucking every social media channel are like, bring back holiday in the park. Come on, Salim. I mean. Here's my big concern, right? I think maybe here at Great America,
01:02:24
Speaker
Salim's decisions might have burnt a big percentage of the audience Yeah, I mean I wouldn't be surprised That's what I'm saying. It's like Okay, we haven't had an addition since 2019. They've been taking shit away including holiday in the park and other rides and shit and
01:02:49
Speaker
Like they jacked the prices up and attendance has been shit at the park. I haven't gone a single time and it's felt crowded. One time during Fright Fest since the pandemic has it ever felt crowded to me just once. And so like. And I'm talking like
01:03:19
Speaker
Yes, like full crowd crowded, like second parking lot. But that's only come up like one time ever in a couple of years. So I'm kind of concerned, especially after knowing Cedar Fair already sold California's Great America's land.
01:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of I guarantee you that. I would almost say that. We're going to lose four parks. And so I'm saying, I think they fucked Great America. And then now after next year, when they don't see any big ROI on adding a goddamn fucking frisbee ride,
01:04:17
Speaker
the attendance is going to be down for like six years straight and it's going to spell trouble for great America. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it'll close, but it's definitely going to be like that, um, the period between. Well, like, I guess, okay. The hurricane harbor was a pretty big addition, but I mean, from like what? Oh seven, oh eight, oh nine.
01:04:46
Speaker
2010, there really wasn't much. Oh, it was Dark Knight. And then, uh, but I mean, that was I remember like being excited because there's a new coaster and then showing up and riding it. I'm like, uh, this doesn't. And then I was like, 2010 was a little dipper. And then fucking 2012 was ex flight. Yeah, I mean, but it wasn't until ex flight we got like a big coast.
01:05:16
Speaker
But that's what I'm saying, though, is like, OK, even if Dark Knight's not like that big of a coaster, quote unquote, and same with Little Dipper, Little Dipper was significant. Dark Knight did replace Raging Cajun ultimately, and it does serve a place in the park as being another family coaster. Aside from just wizard. Yeah, I mean, I think it's a good addition to the park, but.
01:05:43
Speaker
I, uh, I just meant that good addition to the park ship. Ben, I just mean as an enthusiast, as like a teenager enthusiast who's spending, you know, spending like what little money I had. Um, there was nothing to bring me back to the park other than, you know, people.
01:06:05
Speaker
Yeah, but like think about that though. 08 Dark Knight 2010 Lil Dipper 2012 X-Flight 2014 Fucking Goliath Like that's a streak man every other year And then what 2016 was Justice League 2017 was Joker 2019 Max Force
01:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty good, I suppose. That's what I'm saying, dude. And then it's like 2020 above kiss 2021 was an addition that was scheduled for 2020, but that was in the water park. 2022 minus holiday in the park. 2023 minus. Buccaneer battle minus daredevil dive.
01:07:09
Speaker
Twenty twenty four plus Sky Stryker, I guess. Which one is Sky Stryker? Fucking Giga Discovery. Oh, I forgot also minus this year minus revolution minus Mardi Gras hangover. Demon narrowly escaped. I bet that one's going to close for a while.
01:07:37
Speaker
It already did. They tore the rocks out of the loop. Maybe they'll send it to Geauga Lake. Fuck you, man. You can't take away the only park we have here.
01:08:03
Speaker
I can't physically handle driving all the way to fucking Mount Olympus. I could go for a while without ever going to that park again. That's pretty much how I feel. I don't need to go back to the Dells. I don't know, ever? Yeah, pretty much.
01:08:26
Speaker
Even if like, I mean, I'll go if they have a new coaster, but I don't see them really building anything new or substantial in a really long time. I think they're, they're set when they, when they started off with that plot of dirt, they were like, one day we'll have three wooden coasters and that'll be it. And some really dangerous, shitty go-kart tracks. One day, son, this will all be yours.
01:08:57
Speaker
Do I have to? Yes. But we're, um, we just sent an offer to a house in Duluth. So no theme parks there. There's an alpine coaster. Congratulations. Hope it goes well. Thanks. Yeah, hopefully it, uh, it's a really weird time to buy a house.
01:09:28
Speaker
Um, so we'll see what happens. Um, it's also weird because we're not going to see it in person before sending set offers. So like that's the other hard print thing about it. That's a little strange. Yeah, for sure. Uh, well,
01:09:55
Speaker
Okay, if we're going there, then full disclosure, Rhiannon, I for the fun of it, we booked a walkthrough of one of the Disney cotino houses. We're which we're at. Out near the Coachella Valley in California. Okay, nice.
01:10:21
Speaker
Are those, uh, how are those beam or like, are those built yet or not yet? Uh, they're, they're offering the first like 300. Okay. But the, the smallest ones start in the low, um, millions. So we're not going to buy, you know,
01:10:48
Speaker
We may not even go, but we booked the appointment anyway. I want to see what these look like. What's the, uh, what's the name of it? Uh, story living by Disney, cotino, C O T I N O. Hey, I'll be right back. I got to run into the restroom. Boom. Boom.
01:11:15
Speaker
Well, that's awesome. You guys put in an offer. You're feeling pretty confident about the place. Um, I mean, it looks pretty good. I think it's, it's a slow point in the, uh, it's just like a slow market because no one's really buying much because interest rates are all fucked up. So it's kind of like, yeah, we just don't really have to deal with a lot of competition. So I think it's, I think it's all good.
01:11:44
Speaker
Well, good luck, man. I hope it's... I hope it is good. Yeah, hopefully. We'll see. I mean, I'm sure if you guys want it, you're gonna end up getting it, so... You fucking bought a house in Denver.
01:12:12
Speaker
at like the worst time possible. Yeah. Yeah. That sucked. It was like a good year of trying. So I can't imagine this will be tougher than that. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a small market. So we'll see. I'm not too concerned. Like, I don't know. It feels fine. I'm not that nervous.
01:12:43
Speaker
Good. I hope it goes well. I had to have to try to come up and see you there. Yeah, it's more than halfway or no. It's would that be two hours past Valley Fair? Jesus Christ, that's like a fucking 10 hour drive, dude. It's like it'd be like seven. Valley Fair is like seven.
01:13:14
Speaker
Is it from Chicago? Yeah. Okay. I guess it sounds right. Well, it's, it's exactly five from Milwaukee. So I guess so. Well, I mean, and yeah, I guess we're about like an hour and a half from Milwaukee. So maybe less. Yeah.
01:13:43
Speaker
I'll try to come out and see it. You know, once, once you get it all set up and you have a house warming, you gotta let me know. Yeah. I mean, it'll take a while. So it'll probably be like a summer thing. Also, you'll have to let me crash there. Yeah. I mean, if it's seven hours away,
01:14:07
Speaker
Well, also if you're two hours away from Valley Fair, I assume it's not proximity the best to like try to drive to fucking Minneapolis or something. I mean, it's not that bad. You could do it in a day. It's just not practical from Chicago because. No, I mean, staying wise. Oh, yeah. Because I probably would have too much to drink to be able to drive safely.
01:14:37
Speaker
Sure, yeah. Because I feel like that's just what happens if you're hosting a party or I end up in Minneapolis for some reason. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. I guess we're going to have to try to figure out what the what the word is on Hollywood Nights this year.
01:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, so try it and we'll see what happens. I'm guessing tickets are probably going to be the same as they were last year. Yeah, probably. But if I can get them, then I'll get them. Should I get one for Craig? No, he probably wouldn't go. All right. Well, then I'll figure out who the fourth one is going to go to if I get him.
01:15:38
Speaker
And if you happen to get them, then put me down for two and I'll get you back. And then we'll have to figure out a cabin and stuff. Yeah, I mean, I think. I wonder if you have to. You have to claim the guest as you buy the ticket. I wonder. No, it says you don't have to fill out the info. OK. OK, that's good, then.
01:16:11
Speaker
Yeah, and it says you actually get like, if you put the tickets in your cart, they'll actually stay there for 10 minutes. OK, cool. Like, holy shit. That was the part I couldn't believe. You get to actually buy the tickets. Yeah, because like I had it in the shopping cart and everything and then like it was like Aaron and Aaron Aaron. What can I say, Aaron out?
01:16:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had the same issue, which is bullshit. And then it was like sold out. So I'll try for him. That is Wednesday, the 29th that they go on sale. It's almost a whole week after Thanksgiving. Oh, it's a 30th. OK.
01:17:17
Speaker
Something like that. But yo, uh, we got anything else to cover? Um, not really. Strange time of year. Yeah, I mean, and also IAPA was slow as fuck. Some trains. Ooh.
01:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I didn't really see. I mean, everything was it. Nothing was a surprise. Everything was pretty anticipated. That's what I'm saying. It's like it's all trains and shit like, OK, there's nothing. The only mildly interesting new concept was that Intamin hubless ferris wheel. You look that up.
01:18:09
Speaker
It looked cool because the like the gondolas were on the inside of the rails or the tracks. And there was one that was shaped like a fucking. Like a. What's it called? Hourglass.
01:18:45
Speaker
All right, I see. I wonder if we oversee like I always thought it'd be cool to have like a full like gyro ferris wheel, like a kind of like a like a tracked ferris wheel that could go side to side.
01:19:12
Speaker
What do you mean side to side? Well, like. I don't know, it could just do other stuff instead of a circle, which I understand that's what a wheel is, but like. Like a wheel that's like crooked or something. You know, the music they used for this fucking
01:19:45
Speaker
Video is horrible. What kind of like Imagine Dragons reject song was this? Yeah, why are they all bad like that? Or like, like Imagine Dragons rejected it and 21 Pilots rejected it. And they're like, well, we can put it on YouTube.
01:20:16
Speaker
layouts, oval figure, eight circle. Although it's pretty cool though, you know, I was like promo stuff like that is annoying. And also movie trailers nowadays, they all have like,
01:20:40
Speaker
movie trailers have that like slow music. That's like vapor wave and echo. Yeah. Yep. With long fades and pauses. Fucking also movie trailers be like, wow. Or like that's like the suspense thriller ones. And the other one is like action movies.
01:21:13
Speaker
And then drama movies got to be like piano and acoustic guitar. Yeah. And like, obviously, comedies don't exist anymore. You know, remember when they used to make comedy movies? Yeah, that's not a thing anymore. Yeah, I remember like when we were kids, they had like fucking Team America and like Harold and Kumar and like
01:21:43
Speaker
Well, super bad and like, well, apparently, well, yeah, I mean, apparently, though, like young people just don't go, go to see movies. Oh, I thought it was more about like all the movies now just go directly to China. Yeah. Well, that's who the comedy doesn't translate. The way that like explosions do.
01:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, comedy doesn't seem very popular over there. Yeah, I don't think so. Who's got time to be happy? Here's the thing, right? Like every time a comedian gets popular over there, they make a joke that somehow references Winnie the Pooh. And they're never heard from again.
01:22:45
Speaker
How many actually did that? I don't know if any have actually done that, but I know that like that meme got banned. Oh, right. Because they say. You say it. Say what? The reason that Winnie the Pooh got banned in China. Oh, because
01:23:15
Speaker
gee or whatever looks like him. Yeah, I'm like, I'm just tired of saying all the bad stuff on this podcast. Let me let you take half of the heat sometimes. I'm not worried about that one. Well, I'm never going to China. So yeah, I guess me neither.
01:23:38
Speaker
I'll be happily put into the database with my face. So if I do ever go there, they know who I am immediately. They'll be like, Oh, then from your favorite coaster sucks. You're like, Oh shit. Yeah. All right. Well,
01:24:03
Speaker
fucking China, Saudi Arabia, Dubai. You like roller coasters? Better get ready to move there.
01:24:14
Speaker
Now hasn't opened, but I do remember like a lot of people were questioning whether or not this would actually happen. And so I am glad we are seeing live photos of it being built. And even like the IAPA promo, the fact that that exists is pretty amazing. Well, here's the deal. It's like, it was a little questionable to start off with.
01:24:41
Speaker
But like at a certain point, it's like, yeah, of course it's going to happen. Yeah. And I saw someone suggesting that it won't run more than like twice. And I don't see that being the case either. I mean, unless Intamin makes some big mistake, they didn't account for like,
01:25:11
Speaker
That's what you mean. Saudi Arabia is in a desert. Well, I was going to just say like this downward LSM stuff. Like, I mean, these are like brand new speeds that they're testing. I'm sure that obviously like they know what they're doing, but I don't know. Like this is a new area of roller coaster physics. You know, we've never done this before. That's a good point.
01:25:41
Speaker
And so like in the design, like I don't see any like backup. So like, if let's say it doesn't get enough speed after that downward LSM launch, like what then are you going to like rebuild the top hat or are you going to add LSM to it? Like you're going to add a little chain lift, the roller coaster, tycoon style. Just like, yeah, there's going to be anti rollbacks at the very top. So you got to get evac'd from up there. Yeah.
01:26:11
Speaker
Well, cause I saw that like what happens in a rollback because it doesn't, there's no breaks or anything at the bottom of the valley. And I'm assuming that it sure, it would break on the downward LSM section, but is it going to be like, are they just going to be able to relaunch it from there? I have a lot of questions.
01:26:34
Speaker
I feel like it could probably do that purposeful valleying thing to get over that hill. Yeah. But if it's a, if it's assuming that there's going to be that first gravity drop, you know what I mean? It's only going to be able to go so fast backwards to where it actually goes like completely back up.
01:27:03
Speaker
I don't know. I'm curious, but also to like the first couple of times you send a train, like it has to warm up. So it happens when it's cold or like a wind gust hits it at the right time. Yeah, they'll probably have to disassemble the train. Yeah. That's a shitty valley spot because you're pretty far from the station.
01:27:33
Speaker
Right. We need a new walk back. I mean, they'll be able to free the gas because it's like in terms of getting the train back over to the station area. Shit, dude, I'm gonna I get a piss so bad. All right. Well, hey, let's just wrap it up then. All right.
01:27:57
Speaker
We've covered plenty of ground, so thanks for listening. We'll be back very soon with another new episode for you. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time, your favorite coaster.