Evan1127

Think of launching a coaster as braking in reverse. Same loads, same everything, just the opposite direction. There isn't anything about what Rocky Mountain has been doing that has somehow made it possible to launch a wooden coaster. It's been possible since it was possible to launch steel coasters. Rocky Mountain may be favored to do it first, though, because of their layouts and not their track. A park that would want a Rocky Mountain layout over that of a traditional wood coaster may tend to also want a launch.

The American Concrete Institute limits the chloride ion content in concrete. A quick search led me to this discussion that helps to explain it.

Rust doesn't form in any non-negligible amount if the concrete remains uncracked. As long as the foundations don't crack, it's not a problem. And if cracks are found quickly enough, they can be sealed. Shavethewhales, I have to disagree with you on the use of epoxy-coated rebar. Most of the foundations I've seen (which, incidentally, are in the amusement industry) don't have any sort of protection on the rebar, and that's how I remember learning it. Protective coatings on rebar are generally used where there are other factors that may make rusting rebar worse, such as road salts, etc. Epoxy reduces the bonding between rebar and concrete, so it's not ideal to use. Edit: It's worth noting that uncracked concrete provides sufficient rust protection because the alkalinity of concrete helps to maintain a passive protective layer around the rebar. Cracked concrete loses that protection (and also allows water intrusion).

No.

No need to apologize for asking questions. Frankly, it's helpful to see what people are asking about. Each rider/player team pays together, so only two payments are received per game in a two-tower setup. We have a "single player" game in the case that only one team is there to play and they don't want to sit around waiting for another (like with other games). The single player game operates more like a hi-striker, in that the striker has three chances to get the rider to the top in a single strike. As for mixes of paying customers and wrist bands, it has only happened a couple times. If the paying team wins, they get a prize, otherwise no prize is given out.

We've experimented with both separately, and we are now running it as a combination of the two. A wristband will get you on to ride or you can pay like a game with the ability to win a prize. This isn't necessarily how all operators will do it, nor necessarily how we'll continue to do it at Fun Spot, but it seems to be working out well right now. In all cases, it's been very popular!

We're announcing the details of Strike-U-Up™ on Monday and I'll be doing an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") on Reddit to coincide with that. We're pretty damn excited for IAAPA! If anyone is attending, you can come try out Strike-U-Up at Booth 3278, along with another yet-to-be-announced new product.

We're ready and eager to, but decided it would be better to publicly share the technical details closer to IAAPA. We may be patent pending on it already, but a little more protection can't hurt.

Thanks for the continued support, everyone. Let me see if I can clarify anything without giving much away right now. The basic setup is that Skyline Design will own the intellectual property to and actually design the products that Skyline Attractions will manufacture and distribute. Any additional design work we do for industry customers - including Great Coasters at their request - will be done by Skyline Design. Well, there are some answers in the press release, too, and "ride" isn't the only word we use. I hope we didn't give the impression that we're limiting ourselves. If only. We played around with that a bit, but couldn't resist and ended up eating our designs.

Hi everyone -- glad to see the positive reactions to Skyline so far, and thanks for the well-wishes. We're pretty excited. I'll try to answer some of the questions.. I guess neither at the moment, but we'll be hiring eventually (sooner rather than later). Once we do, we'll be looking for passionate and creative people to help us grow. We'll be consulting with them at their request, and there are still great and talented people working there. Don't think "spin-off". Correct. We have a huge range of ideas.

Wait, did they redesign the ending for Viper or is this a different coaster altogether? What am I missing? The image shown was part of an earlier proposal. The layout remains unchanged from what was announced at IAAPA:

One adult or two children. Like Comet at Waldameer - To clarify, the Mini-llennium can seat up to two (average-size) adults per row.

If anyone is interested in more information on how this was done, this brief article was featured in Civil Engineering magazine in March.

Fall protection.

Great to hear! (I agree wholeheartedly!)