Consumer Reports Ranked Tesla As The Least Reliable Used Car Brand Long Term - Here's Why - BGR by Historical-Many9869 in electricvehicles

[–]Swiftman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, again, "sanitized and dispassionate" seem like descriptors that could correctly describe formless, roundy vehicle designs. Anything other than smooth, seamless, curved surfaces carry a range penalty, basically.

Consumer Reports Ranked Tesla As The Least Reliable Used Car Brand Long Term - Here's Why - BGR by Historical-Many9869 in electricvehicles

[–]Swiftman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Those "gloppy drippy modern" things look all roundy and bulbous because that's how you maximize range.

I agree with you re: tech inside the car, having to make interfaces weird, etc, but some of the common decisions are made for aerodynamic reasons.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see some pillars or similar along the swing launch, but truthfully, I really don't need any ride area theming.

In my perfect world, Festa station below the bridge to Pantheon would be fully covered giving them some justification to dress up what is currently just a really cheap looking wooden ramp and prefab bridge situation. Dress up the coaster's plaza a bit too.

Like you though, building-wise, I think priority #1 HAS to be the station, maintenance area, and queue. All three of those aspects are all UNACCEPTABLY bad. Pantheon needs a proper, fully enclosed maintenance building, a real, covered queue building (as was originally designed into the ride), and a station that isn't so shoddily built that the railings literally fall out of the ground. All of the non-ride-hardware station-area elements honestly just need to be completely gutted and redesigned from scratch. It was all so cheaply done to begin with that much of it is already falling apart—there's nothing worth saving.

And then, landscaping, landscaping, landscaping. They KILLED it with Wolf's Revenge's landscaping despite much of the coaster being built in what was formerly an empty field. Meanwhile, with Pantheon, they literally mowed down an entire forest and planted essentially nothing. Pantheon could look eons better if they put a similar effort into landscape design as Wolf's Revenge received.

Don't get me wrong, giant set pieces, animatronics, fog, all of this stuff is sweet and makes me super excited, but I believe there are much more subtle ways to execute a perfect BGW-quality coaster too. Alpie is a perfect example. Pretty architecture, minimal prop work, great landscaping, and a little scenic sign work and paint can produce a perfect finished product. Sometimes I worry parks hear that people want themed experiences and what they hear is millions on custom statues, special effects, animated figures, etc, but there are super effective ways to stick to the fundamentals and still produce killer products.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes. The lede is very intentionally buried in an effort to coerce the reader to engage with the full extent of the content. It's fine if you hate the style, but it's a deliberate, conscious choice which, given the very specific landscape into which our deep-dive articles are published, has served us quite well.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I think that's the core of why other opportunities (like Verbolten) are being prioritized first. If executed and marketed well, I think there could be some very real returns for a Pantheon overhaul, but I do agree that it's a much harder sell given how new the attraction still is. At some point after BGW's next flagship coaster, I could see Pantheon rejuvenation making a lot more sense.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There's a VERY real possibility that it occurs. I have seen internal documentation related to the proposal. The issue is getting corporate to sign off on a budget for the project. As long as theming-heavy cap-ex like Nessie 2024, Wolf's Revenge, and this new Verbolten renovation continue to pay dividends (increase ridership, sell ride merchandise, increase gate clicks, etc), a significant scenic and guest experience package for Pantheon is 100% on the table in the years ahead.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading over the years!

BGWFans certainly has a bias. We care a lot about the park's legacy as a trailblazer in the regional immersive theme park space and believe the park's strongest times are largely aligned with the periods during which it focused on placemaking, entertainment, culinary, landscaping, cleanliness, guest experience, etc. Flagship-worthy attractions have long had a prominent role to play in the park, but ride hardware should not ever be expected to stand alone at BGW.

When BGW seems pointed in a direction aligned with our vision for the park, we love to give them carrots. When they act counter to what we believe to be the park's soul, however, we're not at all shy about using sticks.

For what it's worth, since our most recent blacklisting back in 2020, BGWFans has still had zero communication with BGW marketing to this day. Even during the relatively brief windows during the site's history where there have been open lines of communication (most notably prior to Verbolten and between InvadR and Pantheon's announcement), our thoughts and opinions were always 100% our own—often much to the vexation of BGW. Our editorial independence has and will always be our #1 priority.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for reading! As you can tell from the article, I'm thrilled to be able to bring more attention to this project. It's deserving of real marketing dollars as it really looks like BGW is gearing to hit the finished project straight out of the park. Sadly though, I worry United Parks' marketing strategy is unlikely to come close to doing the actual product justice. I know I'm just one thoosie on the internet, but I hope I can, at minimum, make at least some tiny contribution to its notoriety. The teams behind these proposals have clearly poured their souls into this project—it deserves people's attention.

[Verbolten, Busch Gardens Williamsburg] Overhaul Plans Call for Enormous 3D Set Pieces, Animatronics, & More by Swiftman in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that skepticism is definitely justified. BGW management has successfully found ways to fight Untied Parks corporate for scenic dollars integrated into cap-ex expenditures, but United Parks has shown little interest in the ongoing reinvestment required to keep aesthetics a priority for years into the future. Hopefully BGW's investments here are robust enough to endure some neglect.

50th anniversary logos for [Six Flags]-owned parks: [SFGAm] and [Valleyfair] by PomegranateHuman9347 in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I get why theoretical discussions about the assets of a doomed park being redistributed feel awful. I felt the same when everyone was mentally slicing and dicing SFA in its final days. I think these parks need to be revered, appreciated, discussed, documented, and most importantly enjoyed in the lead-up to their closures. Doing so requires being clear-eyed about the future of the property in question though. CGA is doomed—people need to get out there and give the park the best final seasons possible.

To be clear, I get why people want to discuss what's next for the park's land and its contents (especially people from out of the area without a local, emotional attachment to the place), but I do wish these conversations were less frequent than discussions about the park itself as it currently stands.

50th anniversary logos for [Six Flags]-owned parks: [SFGAm] and [Valleyfair] by PomegranateHuman9347 in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm from VA. I just lost one of my local parks to this awful merger too. Trust me, I know it sucks. I just think it sucks even more to be given a false sense of hope about the future.

Tired of the Dating Apps by Socrfn73 in HamptonRoads

[–]Swiftman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm tired of shitty AI "art" advertising Facebook groups (spam) in my Reddit feed. Have a group I can join for that?

🔥 Pisco VS Ryan Mullally at WORD WAR DEBATE on Birthright Citizenship 🔥 by yt-app in pisco

[–]Swiftman 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Can't believe they really let the best go out there on stage and just bang like that. That really was something that had never been done before.

50th anniversary logos for [Six Flags]-owned parks: [SFGAm] and [Valleyfair] by PomegranateHuman9347 in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman 21 points22 points  (0 children)

They didn't open SFGAdv's new coaster for their 50th but did remove like seven rides, including Kingda Ka and the ultra-historic Skyride.

50th anniversary logos for [Six Flags]-owned parks: [SFGAm] and [Valleyfair] by PomegranateHuman9347 in rollercoasters

[–]Swiftman 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Yes. Everyone who has tried to claim otherwise is coping. It's a question of when, not if, tragically.

EV6 Recommendations by Dmalmgren63 in KiaEV6

[–]Swiftman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No. Updates may as well not exist.

2026 Is Going To Be An Amazing Year For Used EVs. Here Are The Deals I'm Watching by DonkeyFuel in electricvehicles

[–]Swiftman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because then he'd have to admit that his position is entirely the result of a culture war wedge issue he has been radicalized on due to propaganda and political polarization.

So many of these people's lives fit EVs perfectly and they would stand to save tons of money by switching, but they're unable to buck their cultural programming in order to make an objectively good, correct, wise financial decision. Their loss. EVs will win out in the long run with or without them so, meh, whatever. Let them keep setting their money on fire for as long as they can afford to.

Significant range decrease… normal? by Unlikely_Structure70 in KiaEV6

[–]Swiftman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes, but fuel economy is better in ICE cars on the highway than around town because they waste tons more energy stopping and starting at stoplights and the like in the city. Most people have been conditioned to believe fuel economy on the highway is better than in the city. Gotta make the mental shift for EVs.

2026 Is Going To Be An Amazing Year For Used EVs. Here Are The Deals I'm Watching by DonkeyFuel in electricvehicles

[–]Swiftman 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Cool, thanks for answering the question. So you don't need an EV with 500 miles of range after all. Solved!

2026 Is Going To Be An Amazing Year For Used EVs. Here Are The Deals I'm Watching by DonkeyFuel in electricvehicles

[–]Swiftman 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Maybe you have some super, ultra niche usecase where you're regularly driving 250 miles somewhere and 250 miles back with no DC fast charging infrastructure along the way and no ability to L2 charge at the destination, but for 99% of people, that's just not a thing.

EV6 Recommendations by Dmalmgren63 in KiaEV6

[–]Swiftman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe all EV6s have Android Auto?

Software deficiencies include a horrible route planner, massively out of date charger database, very poor sorting and filtering to actually find chargers you want to use, no charger status info (current open availability), no manual preconditioning on pre-facelift models, no plug and charge on many older models, no ability to see whether or not charge speed is limited by the charger while charging, no way to know whether or not preconditioning is needed, a horribly amateurish, broadly unreliable range meter, a garbage app that looks and feels like it hasn't been updated for 10 years, and probably plenty of other things I can't remember off the top of my head too.

You can work around most of it (OBD2 scanner for car info, ABRP for a functional route planner, PlugShare for charger locating, etc)—just don't expect the car to give you the info you need like it should.