pkdcoaster

False! I was there on Thurs & Fri and NO changes to the ride since the 28th of May. JEFF

Very good video dude! did you get any other angles from the waterpark? (I assume that shot was from the wavepool area) JEFF

I went today and got about 20 rides in on I305,5 on Volcano,3 on Dominator (twice in a row in the front) and 1 on FOF in 3.5 hours, so yea the park was dead but VERY HOT & Humid! Nothing new about I305 since last week It is funny to me that the GP comments are Unchanged since it opened! Top 3 are 1. WOW that was fast! 2. I Blacked out!! 3. It hurt my neck/jaw. If KD has a concern about the Blacking out these trims do nothing for that. The only purpose the trims are serving is saving the wheels. The Blacking out is the same to me as it was when it opened and the problem is that you are in the same G pull for sooooo long. Starting with the pullout of the first drop and ending when you hit the straight track on the 2nd hill. The G's are not stronger than what you feel on any other coaster, it is just the amount of time spent in the G's allowing the blood to be pulled from your brain causing the grey/blackout. (if you care) IMO the only way to fix that is to reprofile that turn (making it a rising overbank or something) The ride is very good but not every enthusiasts (or GP's) cup of tea mind you. IMO even before the trims(were moved to the drop) it would have never contended with MF,Bizarro,EGF in the rankings but a solid top ten coaster it is. Another interesting thing about I305 that not many people talk about is the HUGE difference between the left side of the train and the right side. The left side is WAY better IMO The first 2 "S" turns fling you up and out of your seat and probably the best airtime on the ride is now coming into the Brakes on the left side. After the initial "shock" of a slower I305 has worn off to me it is still a great fast ride but just has some issues that need to be worked on. I believe the ride will stay the same way it is now till at least Labor day. None of us have any idea what is being worked on now (if anything) between Intamin & CF/KD. So for now this is the ride love it or hate it. JEFF Am I missing a tooth?

on top of the normal rumors of the flyer a few of the old dudes that talk on the tram said that BBW would be replaced with a flying coaster but management put an end to that. Jeff

This is roughly the distance of the new brakes on the right side of the track. All the trims you see in this pic were located on the left side of the track. Plus all Brakes were removed from the Airtime hill that was previously covered in them. JEFF best i can do on short notice

one of the Worst coaster collections pre 2008? thats a little over dramatic. Rebel yell had some hard times but has always delivered a fun ride and is running better than ever this year Grizzly, IMO is one of the most underated woodies ever. Grizzly has very fast hills wth good curves/laterals and airtime. Hurler- used to be good '94-'99 XLC- what a mess Shockwave-meh Volcano- still considered by many as one of the best inverteds (a great experience but repetitive design) Avalance- Great family/date coaster and the only one of its kind built in the USA Ghoster coaster- Still the best junior woodie with alot of Air for a kiddie coaster Anaconda- typical Arrow with nice slow corkscrews over water Flight of fear- many people love it, good indoor coaster Ricochet & BLSC are nice family coasters IMO KD has a Solid collection but no where near one of the worst. as for the question about pics of the new trims they are impossible to get a photograph of them without taking an onride pic (maybe from the top of pipeline peak) Basically they are about 15ft in length parallel to the ones on the left side at the bottom/end of the mid drop brake run (MDBR) JEFF

It is not out of the question though Robb.....I watched it test Friday morning with an empty train and it barely cleared the 2nd hill (150ft). Now lets look at Magnum's Top speed of 72mph and it barely clears its 157ft 2nd hill. IMO (sadly) 80mph sounds about right now They did add the last of the bunny hill trims to the 1st drop since last weekend (near the bottom on the right side) The ride is always very low to the ground so it is still perceived as fast by the public. on the plus side it never went down for a wheel change. After spending some time with what I think is the final version of it till the off season I would easily give the edge back to MF as my #2 JEFF

I was there on Saturday 5-29-10 and they were still the same. Interesting about RCDB speed listing...what is their source on that? cause KD sure as hell is not releasing its current speed. JEFF

WOW that little coaster looks awesome!I love all the history aspects of the ride. IMO this is easily one of the best things Six Flags has EVER done! JEFF

Drachen fire comes to mind. In fairness I305 was getting those trains out good (2 trains and 4 employees checking restraints) Dominator only had 2 trains and 2 checkers. in other news Dominator and BLSC got their 3rd trains back this week (not sure about Volcano & FOF) I will probably take the kids up tonight for fireworks & Aidan (my son) is dying to ride Rebel Yell when it is racing. JEFF

I rode 5 times today again and think the moving of the trims on the bunny hill to the drop is an improvement over last week. The 1st half feels the same to me as last week ( It did look a little slower during morning testing over the 2nd hill) But the bunny hills under the lift hill are much better now, the 75ft hill is running like it should with no slowdown and great airtime. I have to believe that during October and April they will have to remove some trims cause it will be a matter of time before it rolls back in cold weather. Everything had huge lines when we left at 1pm (loads of school buses) except I305 had a 1-3 train wait. (FOF,Volcano,Dominator all had full ques) I do not get why nobody is riding it. JEFF

You gotta remember too, that Charlotte NC is considered THE Nascar capital of the world for most. Plus the Nascar Hall of fame just opened there. The Nascar presence is always gonna be greater there. John Pagel (KD PR man) did say that the I305 mechandise was selling above expectations. JEFF

Yea KD's got seatbelts too (BLSC) The cars look stupid with the windshield bar on them with no windshield too. It amazes me how much this ride has changed in just 4 years (5 for KI) The only effect that still works at KD is the fire blast before the tunnel. Great pics BTW, what camera are you using? (Love the close ups) JEFF Just so you know KD has the worlds first LIM coaster (KI's opened 2 days after KD's)

Cool looking train (yay for lap bars on a zero g roll) Headrest looks like it was designed for Beetlejuice though JEFF

I cannot wait for this to open. I have to get up there this year, I have not been to Kennywood since 1999. The layout looks very good for its size. JEFF

It's funny that even though the coaster is huge, it is in a very hard to find secluded area (similar to Drachen Fire) and for people that have never been to KD, they have a hard time finding it. I have seen people stand right by the pizza stand next to Anaconda and wonder how to get to it cause that path looks like it just leads to FOF. Most people just wander the midway and ride whatever ride they stumble upon which makes the placement for I-232 & Diamondback really good. At KD you have to make it a mission to ride I305 and make the effort to find it. It is crazy that walking through Congo it is very hard to see especially with the trees full. JEFF

Montu also, cause the batwing was so powerful. IMO there is a big difference in B&M's from the 90's & 00's. Now every major B&M has trims EVERYWHERE in case their calculations were wrong. JEFF

Once again the 2nd hill IMO is THE biggest difference between trims and no trims. I rode 2 weeks ago and was against the bar the whole time over the arc of the hill in every seat and it is gone now. I think MF's big hill after the 1st tunnel is better than I305's 2nd in it's current state. JEFF

Went today and got some pics & video I went w/ my Sister who is not a very big coaster rider but she likes them. She rode I305 last month and did not like the blackout or the transitions very much at all. She really did not want to ride it again ( I told her they changed something on the ride and you should give it a second chance) She thought it was much smoother and better but she still blacked out. She did not notice a difference in speed or the slower first drop. It is odd as coaster fans that we are so sensitive to these things but about 99% of people who rode it before in after will probably never know anything has been done to the ride. I found the ride more enjoyable today and I did get air in the back on the small hop before the twisty's and the 75ft hill is very good now but sadly the 2nd hill is just too drawn out to get anything more than mild floater in the front. JEFF [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=trim305_n9z8[/coastertube] [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=VID00022_1noh[/coastertube] Here are some pics from doswell road of the trims. they span a long distance I wonder if different colors mean different strengths much less trims here make for a better ending some happy pics

I will try to make it up there today before work and get some good pics of the trims and some video. Nothing can prepare you for how bad it will look, the brakes easily cover 2/3-1/2 of the drop I was also thinking about a good solution although very expensive. just put a big overbank turn like MF's after the first drop. The roughness really is not the big concern with the park. it is the Grey/blacking out. and these trims do not solve that problem. JEFF

I got 5 rides in today and it is a bummer that the best part of the ride is gone. Luckily you still get thrown off the top so there is still airtime on the hill but you fall into the harness on the way down. I did not grey out every time but 2 of the rides I started to before the rise. The 2nd hill is the biggest loser of this event, you do get a little floater in the front but nothing like it was The rise before the turns only gave me airtime in the front "Twistys" were still good just a little slower Now for the GOOD news! Almost all the trims have been removed off of the 75ft hill (2 small ones still at the top) so there is much more airtime on this hill and the following hill and the back half is actually faster now. MORE good news they did some tests with the new Strap restraints with maint. and Intamin engineers and KD decided to switch to them and my reliable source said both trains should be upgraded within the next 2 weeks. I did love the intensity of old I305 and the insane speed but it is nice to have a more re-ridable ride now. Plus all my rides were pretty much in the morning so the trains had not been warmed up fully yet but usually it gets faster as the day moves on. It is still a world class ride and most of the comments I overheard from the GP were the same "that was really fast but it hurt my neck" They ran the red train 10 times before switching it out due to a bad wheel but after that there were a lot of minor downtime with the cable and the staging of the train (only running 1 on Friday) I left at 1pm I hope this clears up some of the speculation. JEFF

Safe to say KD will get a new coaster this weekend The only good thing that could come out of this is they remove the trims from the 75ft hill. I wonder if there is gonna be a sale on all the merch. that says 90+ mph It was a fun 2 months while it lasted. JEFF

I think switching to the straps would be a good move. Usually this is what you hear at the exit "That was Awesome!, I blacked out but It hurt my neck" Man, look at how much drama has surrounded the ride this weekend when nothing physically has been done to it. JEFF

Thank YOU Chuck! This has always annoyed me as well along with to,too,& two and their, there and they're As for the recent news, I am gonna hold judgement till riding again. To tell you the truth it it keeps the airtime and ditches the Blackout then I am all for it. JEFF

I think Rebel Yell (both sides) are running awesome this year! This year it has run better than it has in the last 15 years. Hurler still sucks sadly, but I have much better rides to ride at KD. JEFF