pkdcoaster

I am counting the days till my little one can ride (hoping for Taxi Jam this year) Brings a smile to my face every time he sees a coaster he says "Coo Coo's" dont know why he calls them that but it is cute. THE cutest thing is when he is in his stroller under Drop Zone and it comes down and he backs away and "ducks" in his stroller, Cracks me up. JEFF That is him watching Drop Zone going up

BUMP for new pics found (last 3 are new) JEFF

Due to the sad news yesterday I thought I would post pics that I have of this great little park in the heart of the Grand Strand. I defintely plan on going this year now...great atmosphere especially at night. Enjoy, JEFF Their Mad Mouse Storm is Coming check out the odd structure This ride did have a really awesome sign but this pic does not show it well Their old Corkscrew coaster Postcard from 1991 (park is double this size now)

I love Alpengeist too.....but I am Very spoiled by how it ran its first year. I am making a video now for Alp and I have footage from 1997 and you can see how much faster it was. it is my #2 invert now, Funny how well they made that huge coaster fit in so well in that park you should have seen it under construction. I did not think they could get that area back to beautiful again but leave it to BGW. JEFF

BGW wanted it in 1992 and B&M could not meet their deadline. BGW was not the powerhouse tourist attraction then that they are now. all the awards and exposure they have got over the years were not there in 1991 and they were competing with PKD at the time for LOCAL tourists. It is kinda funny that they got alot of national exposure from Drachen fire with the Coaster Specials starting around then and after Alpengeist, DF was certainly doomed it seemed. JEFF

I am pretty surprised at the response that riddler got. I was very unimpressed by it. I have been on them all except Vortex at PGA and I thought the inclined loop on Chang and Mantis was awesome and I am disapointed that B&M has not put them in anything else except the big standups. I though that riddler had a nice 1st drop and loop but after that it was slow, forceless and boring (except the hill before the MCBR but it paled in comparison to Mantis & Chang's) My order 1. Chang 2. Mantis 3. GA Scorcher 4. Iron Wolf 5. Riddler 6. Vortex (PC) JEFF

so sad...I will have to make one more trip this summer. (here is my video of the 2 coasters from 2000 I recently made in case anybody wants to see it) http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23103 JEFF

You keep looking at those photos of the lift and say to yourself "that looks nothing like a B&M structure" the proof of INFLUENCE is there. I did not say they teamed up to build DF. AND FYI Six Flags Great America got the first inverted in 1992 not Great Adventure (theirs was 1993) The design IS ARROW but it was INFLUENCED by B&M. JEFF

Ah, yet another meaningless TPR "poll." I know it's a hopeless case, but... I've only ridden 3 on the list. How do I know whether RR (my favorite of the 3) is "better" than Scorcher, which I haven't ridden? And the guy who only rode Mantis? It's not only his favorite B&M standup, it's his least favorite, too. Right? I mean, I have nothing against discussing the pros and cons of various B&Ms but why this "poll" nonsense, anyway? End of curmudgeonly rant... If it is meaningless you do not have to participate or respond IT IS JUST FOR FUN! I do not understand, if you do not like polls and think they are all meaningless why did you even bother reading it? your Curious?...right? If I am sick and tired of people talking and speculating about Tatsu, I am not going to go in a Tatsu thread. JEFF

Cool... then you can keep pointing that out and I can keep being Interested in the results. I know what your saying but I like Polls about the hobby I love and hearing other people's opinion on Roller coasters. I never said this was the definitive once and for all BEST american inverted coaster poll. It is just fun to me. Keep on peeing JEFF

As long as it is not a LAUNCHED COASTER!!!!! JEFF

Well.... your ears would not be banging directly into the harness like these unsuspecting minors http://members.tripod.com/~jmbagb/images/drachenfire97.gif JEFF

I used to think Arrows were alot worse (roughness) when I was a kid and I believe it is your heads position at that age in relation to the harness. Perhaps you would have felt differently if you were an adult (body) when you rode it. JEFF

Nah.. would have been happy to get the coasters running in the pics and besides I made it a point to not go in 2002 Because of Drachen Fire and their increasingly bad operations (compared to 1999 and previous years). As a matter of fact I live about 50 mins. away and have been twice since 2001. and that is plenty for me. (now a new coaster just might change all that) JEFF

At my old Job I used to climb Cell towers and measure them up for other carriers and as luck would have it, I got to climb BGWs tower across the street. So I thought I would share the pics I got to take. Sadly it was a weekday in October 2002 and the park was closed. Enjoy, JEFF Apollo Helix and parking lot entrance Wide view Apollo's Chariot 1st hill Apollo's Chariot and Alpengeist parking lot Alpengeist Apollo's Chariot and Alpengeist Overall shot -Apollo, Alpengeist, Pompei and the Brewery

How Sad, I never got to ride it but from all the old footage I have of it (4-bench PTCs) it looked incredible. A very good thing indeed that the original Cyclone was not moved here, that would have been tragic. For thoses that do not know Astroworld wanted to move the Original Coney Island Cyclone here but opted to build a replica. JEFF

ugghhh I knew I was forgetting one (or 2) I might just delete this one and repost JEFF

Yes another B&M poll My Fav. is Chang Anybody else find it weird that there are no B&M Stand-ups outside of the USA? JEFF

I am interested in these results My Fav. is Raptor (If Alpengeist ran like it did in 1997 it would be my Fav.) JEFF

The 300' Skycoaster is definetly the scariest I have been on...but I would have to say almost anything on the Stratosphere Tower is...Especially Insanity (I think that is what it is called) JEFF

Another article on the subject http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-84183sy0mar09,0,7272095.story?coll=dp-business-localheads JEFF

Some people say no on the Kumba thing and I think they are crazy LOOK at the lift structure....It Screams "look at me I was supposed to be a B&M" 2. Zero g camelback hump (not an inversion but Arrow was not gonna attempt that) 3. Cobra roll 4. Interlocking corkscrews (originally) 5. Helix at the end I am pretty sure the story was like this, BGW wanted a new big coaster for 1992 (PKD just built Anaconda in 1991) They hired B&M but were busy with the inverted coaster (Batman 1992). B&M could not deliver it for the 1992 season so the basic layout was shown to Arrow, they slapped something together in 6 months and it was DF (Remember Arrow was the KING back then and they had had 2 big hits previously with them in LNM and BBW) Kumba was built for BGT instead in 1993. Drachen Fire was a HUGE hit in 1992 but after the Ads stopped nobody knew it was there (location,location,location). JEFF Check out the B&M lift structure! (Don't tell me there was not a B&M influence on the ride) Another better shot of the lift

uugghh.. Why does everybody like this ride?!?!? Worst drop ride ever!! it crushed my nuts and they hurt like hell for the rest of the day. Damn miracle I was able to father a child after that!! JEFF

My experience is that this is far worse on single car coasters like Wild Mice, Galaxies and wildcats. JEFF

Funny you mention that, as many times as I rode it (alot) I remember it being down like once for 10 min. The lights were a great touch but also awkward for the park cause there was NO lighting for the ride what so ever (my guess is to exemplify the train lights) and once again made a hard to find ride even more difficult to find. Always a walk on a night. JEFF