ECZenith

Ok, so here's what we have so far. These are the facts. 1) There's Intamin track on site (already!) It's clearly Intamin... I know there are other companies that have SIMILAR looking track but you can tell by the patterns and the rails it's Intamin. 2) Footers don't really mattter... Any new prototype could have a change in what shape of footer they use. I mean, at any given time even an older coaster style could use a different shaped footer for any given reason (terrain/soil type/over water, etc.) 3) A few pages back Elissa was surprised that a lot of people don't know CP is getting an Intamin prototype for 2007. Something along the lines of "What? We're not supposed to know it's an Intamin prototype?" I don't think it's a joke, so let's go with that. 4) What is on site at CP is not 'ball coaster' track. Ball coaster uses taller track with sharp vertical 'turns' (the drops) It's more like a Screaming Squirrel than an "X". The track at CP ha s a wide radius and is traditional style track at least ruling out the ball coaster. 5) An aqua trax is not a prototype ride as there is already one in Korea. I know a lot of people have said it so far... but my best guess is the Intamin Wing Walker-since several strongly believe it's an Intamin prototype and the ball coaster is ruled out. (the only other prototype, at least that we know about) The only thing we know about wing walkers is the style of trains (as seen in the patent illustration in this thread) and that they use linear induction motors to launch. Anything's possible with the layout... and looking at the footers on the water is definately a good sight. I would say lean with the Wing Walker concept and its safe to say IT'S NOT A B&M!!

5/7- SFNE's Cyclone, got the bruise to prove it!

Hilarious videos. I can't believe the sheer amount of people waiting in line to be dissapointed. Hehehe!

I rode the Breakdance at SFGADV that's now at SFOT and you're right. It looks a lot better in its new home.

Holy $hit. I just saw someone get booted off the wave swinger at SFNE for rocking and kicking his friend in front of him. Like, Hours ago. Weird... Crazy looking ride, stuff like this will never be seen again.

I hear ya Kumba... This is the first attention I've paid to this coaster. SHAME. Looks like ya got yourselves an awesome wooden coaster, congrats!

OoOoOo... Chang looks awesome with the "lighter blue" supports! The Medusa scheme is awful and should have never been replicated. Is this the third different paintscheme this thing's had? Anyways, cool TR. Never been to Kentucky so this is all new to me.

Six Flags New England May 7, 2006 (Sunday) My girlfriend Ali and my mother Kathy and I arrived in the parking lot about 10:15 to find it only a quarter full which is a beautiful thing. We had just gone to the park 2 weeks ago, but Catapult wasn't running and we didn't get to hit some of the coasters... so on to round 2. We immediately took the "shortcut" at the entry plaza through Crackaxle Canyon to the North End. The street performers were EVERYWHERE and the general employees were extremely friendly. All smiling faces all day-Great job here SF... Pandemonium (Gerstlauer spinning coaster) was a walkon so we took advantage... This coaster typically has one of the worst waits in the park and here we are just jumping into a waiting car. It didn't spin all that much because the weight was pretty much evenly distributed but still a fun ride. I like how it goes below ground level a few times with the last bunny hops. After riding Pandemonium for the first time since it opened last year, it was time for the new star of the show... Catapult (S&S Sky Swatter) This big, impressive-looking machine was testing with water bottle dummies when we came for spring break, so to see the entryway open was good news. We were the only three on the ride cycle so once again another walkon. This was my first time dealing with the "new style" S&S restraints that come from the side over the lap and the short OTSRs. They actually aren't too bad-not the most comfortable but not as some make them out to be. OK down to brass tacks... This ride is nuts! The cycle was a little short but it was definately a unique ride experience and worth checking out. I'm surprised this ride has received so little attention... THANK YOU TEXAS! More on Catapult(should of left the name as SWAT) later... Cyclone was closed so we headed over to Blizzard River, the Hopkins rapids ride. We walked right onto our boat and had a cool ride with a few splashes but no major soaking. I like the fact that the ride actually has some theming, but I appreciate even more that they took away the penguin/batman theme... The DC area is far from the ride and there's already Batman The Dark Knight out of place in the South End. Another walkon was Time Warp (Vekoma Air Jumper) which I haven't been on since it got its paintjob to match Pandemonium. Pandemoniums tracks twist around this floorless kamikaze-type ride and its fun watching the cars spin all around you as you make the inversions. Always a cool ride. We took the skyride (no wait of course) to the middle of the park to ride Scream!, the 3 S&S tower complex with one turbo drop and two combo towers. Only the combo towers were running... We waited about 2 cycles. Awesome as usual. Nothing like the anticipation before the blast downward. After Scream! it was time for some Intamin goodness-but not without first riding Nightwing ("RARE" Huss Fly Away) There was no wait-but I swear there is always someone throwing up on this thing. It's basically a Huss Enterprise with lay-down "flying" carriages... nothing that intense. I guess the visuals do it. Two weeks ago we left the line after waiting half an hour for two puke cleanups on two different cycles. Sure enough, as soon as our ride was over, a girl ran over to the side of the fence and launched... What is it with this thing??? Now onto Superman-ZERO wait. They were running the trains with empty cars. I only got three rides but could have gone for more. Superman was running fast and the airtime was plenty. Mist isn't on in the tunnels yet... After some overpriced food we walked over to the South End for Batman, hitting Kontiki (Chance Alpine Bob) along the way. Before we got to Batman, we noticed Splashwater Falls-the "new" spinning raft ride from Texas had no wait so I got another ride on that. Great fun, much better than the tiny log flume it replaced. Batman The Dark Knight was a walkon and I took a ride in the second row. Fun little B&M floorless, already a little rattly but still a cool ride. Mind Eraser was still closed (I actually ride SLCs...) as well as Double Trouble, and of course Chaos is gone. With nothing else to do in the South End we headed back to Crackaxle Canyon for more Huss-ification hitting the wave swinger and Twister (Top Spin) along the way.... It ran a pretty weak program. Even with no-one in the queue they run an insanely short program which rides all riders wondering why the hell they even bothered. Tomahawk! One of my favorite flat rides, the classic Huss frisbee was performing well as always with a burst of speed and intensity in the spin at the end of the ride cycle. We were going to make Tomahawk the last ride of the day until we saw that the freshly painted Cyclone was running! We waited three trains (they were running one train) to get into the station to have the ride break down on the chain lift. Minutes, and I mean mere minutes later maintenance had the thing going again. These guys are good. Kudos again to SF on the rapid service. We rode the front seat. It's still rough as all hell but I find that to be the charm of the coaster, the way old white-painted woodies are supposed to be. The retracking helps smoothen and is noticeable but like I said, don't expect the coaster to be "born again", it's still got that kick. Well, I said earlier there was more on Catapult so here it is. As soon as Cyclone was fixed and I was next in line (getting closer to the window in the station) I could see that Catapult had stalled nearly vertical! I've heard the ride does this sometimes but it looked like especially the riders on the top were stranded facing downward-looked quite uncomfortable. The ride was stuck in this position nearly 10 minutes before they were able to get it to balance out. It stood in the up but not rotating position for about another ten minutes... As our Cyclone train passed right by the raised gondolas you could see people were pretty shaken up and there was more than one person "flipping out". First aid workers were seen checking some people out but everyone seemed OK... It wasn't that big a deal and everyone looked physically healthy. It was down for a while after that but on the drive home I saw it working. (Don't know if they were just testing or if it had opened back up. So a GREAT day at SFNE, one of the best times I've been. Thanks for reading, I should have photos up soon.

Woooo... Vortex got some love. Good to see my beloved arrow suspended coasters are still cared for. Nice pics, bro.

Outstanding! God I hope you're making the efforts to design for the mouse. Keep this stuff coming!

Also, admission for the event is $25 for a season passholder in ACE, my girlfriend and her friend pay $35 as she has a season passholder but is not in ACE (guest)

Layout looks intense, I just hate the pink color.

Port Aventura's wing-walker is supposed to have inverted track and a Rita-esque layout so if it is this same style, I'd guess the layout would be similar. Ball coaster? The ball coaster is Intamin's version of the 4D. Individual cars that travel on a vertical axis similar to a S&S Screaming Squirrel. (The models I've seen only show it travelling in a vertical axis (no raven turns, just screamin squirrel style drops) The track on site rules out the ball coaster, I'd say.

Well, the only reason I even joined ACE was to attend this event. I can only go to SFMM that weekend as I have to be in LA that week. To me, it's worth it just to get the ERT done at a park I have never been to. Tatsu, X, Goliath, Scream, Revolution, etc. will have ERT both morning and night. I would offer to take you as my guest but I already have two with me. Try to find someone to get you in!

I don't think it's the end for Intamin hydraulic launches... just the 400' + models seem to not handle all that speed without destroying themselves once in a while. If the new CP Inatmin is launched, I'm sure it will be by linear induction motors, the cable is just too unreliable.

Wow, lots of footers out over the water. The sings say "We're going in a whole new direction" That is pretty interesting.

http://www.sixflags.com/parks/greatadventure/parkpress/photos.html New update today. Not much to see but the Tango ride is installed and they're working on the last bits of track.

The photos remind of how Wildwood is one of my favorite places to visit, glad to see they're improving already great rides. Weird they painted Nor Easter white, can't wait to see the thing at night.

Awesome pictures, Voyage looks INTENSE! Elissa will be pleased you got some Gobbler Getaway photos. I've never been to HW... It's on my things to do before I die list tho...

Beautiful, thanks for the answer. Too bad Ghostrider at Knott's will be down for maintenance... Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll finish up early.

Beautiful photos. What do you think of the new "Dante's Dungeon"? Is it a more fun ride experienc enow? Haven't been on it since the refurb.

Port Aventura is getting the wing-walker (spinless 4D on accelerator style track) I believe the layout on the port aventura model is going to be curvy... someone said mostly like Rita but I have no idea what this coaster type is capable of doing. Intamin's other prototype is the ball coaster-Intamin's answer to the S&S 4D. It's offered in 3 models ranging in size, only travelling on the vertical axis. (kind of like a screaming squirrel) but custom models might be available.

Awesome Tatsu photos. I love how they're still adding so much detail to the area. Does it look like they're going to paint ALL of Revolution and not just the sections visible to non-riders?

My home park (Six Flags New England) is about 100 miles (an hour and a half) from my hometown. I visit about once every two weeks... less when I visit other parks. The reason why I visit SFNE so often? (see avatar) Here is what we're looking at for visits this year. SFNE-about 10 seperate visits SFGADV-2 seperate visits (maybe more depending on el toro) SFMM-1 seperate visit (2 days) KBF-once DLR-once DCA-once La Ronde-once Canobie-once Lake Compounce-twice (once for Haunted Graveyard) IOA-once in october USF-once DAK-once Epcot-once MK-once Cypress Gardens Busch Gardens Sea World So about 18 seperate trips.

11 Days to go until my trip... Looks like I'll be missing Mulholland Madness. Ghostrider, (and obviously Flashback) One question though... and I'm sorry I have to ask this... Has Deja Vu been running at all? Or is it scheduled to open soon? Thanks! (Never been on a giant inverted boomerang)