peteb

I think SFGADV thinks they can just keep attracting people by adding a huge ride every so often and adding kiddie sections. And the big rides they can't maintain they just tear down or let fall apart; the Chiller was a really good ride after the trains were modified.

Since many manufacturers work with Stengel for their design, I wonder if they will make this track system available to anyone interested (new design or re-tracking).

I'm a big fan of Arrow suspended coasters especially Top Gun and Big Bad Wolf which are still good rides to this day. And Loch Ness Monster with the interlocking loops has got to be one of the best looking coasters ever built. And it's close to 30 years old.

It's possible Intamin does not have exclusive rights to the pre-fab track system. Werner Stengel holds the patents and Holzbau Cordes fabricates the track; Intamin just developed the trains.

I can't stand all the drama. If you think the scariest thing that can happen to you in your life is getting stuck on a rollercoaster where nobody gets injured you are pathetic. Sure it would add a little excitement in your day, but in the end all the safety devices worked and everyone went home and has a good story to tell. Perhaps every drama king and queen needs to serve a tour in Iraq to understand how fortunate we are and to stop thinking that every time something in our lives is not perfect that somehow we are a victim.

I've ridden Lightning Racer almost every year since it opened and it's just as smooth and fast as when new. I really don't think Wildcat has aged badly either; in my opinion it's always been just as aggressive. I've always thought that maybe GCI learned and applied some new design or construction methods on the newer coasters that make them a lot smoother. Just look at the track on LR vs. Wildcat and the way the trackwork flows and looks right. I think Wildcat is a better ride with the Flyers, but agree with others about the lapbar problem (which I've never had a problem with on any other GCI). It self staples during the ride which makes it painful by the end. The bar needs a heavier counter spring to resist the forces due to it's own mass that makes it continue ratcheting down or should lock at the height set at the station. I wish GCI would fix this; I think Wildcat is potentially a much better ride.

I've never been on a vertical lift/beyone vertical drop coaster (none on the East Coast) so I'm not going to complain; I'm sure it will be a cool experience. This combo makes some sense in that it saves a lot of space (can't get more compact for a lift hill than straight up and straight down) and keeps the costs down by minimizing the use of steel which isn't cheap now and doesn't use a spendy launch system. Call it what you want, but in the end it's going to be a great addition to the park. Now if only it had an old fashioned vertical loop......

I have to say the Chiller was a pretty good ride after they modified the trains and removed the OTSR's (this is my opinion on most of the Premier coasters). Maybe Premier was just a little ahead of themselves building these rides, but unfortunately in this business you don't seem to get a second chance when things go badly, just look at Arrow. You have to give SFGADV some of the blame however, they have a history of giving up on rides or just letting the fall apart. It's probably the best park to test out the long term reliablility of any ride and the worst to test out any new concept or one of a kind. Removing the Chiller will certainly quiet down this part of the park; maybe they have a plan for this area since there's a lot of empty real estate in this area; Free Fall, Enterprise, Frisbee, Chiller, all gone.

I totally agree about BTR. I'm always impressed how well the B&M's at SFGADV have held up over time. Other rides there haven't fared as well given the lackluster maintenance efforts over the years, but the B&M coasters almost ride as well as when new. You really have to give credit to B&M for quality of design and construction of their rides. I don't believe you can say the same about any other coaster manufacturer out there. I've stayed away for some years as well, but the park has improved tremendously. I just hope they can maintain this level; we've seen this before.

Please not a multi looper Intamin head banger like Colossus ! If it's gotta be Intamin something like Expedition GeForce would do just fine. And no OTSR's !

So the restraint got stuck and maintenance had help someone get out. These two idiots thought this was such an incredible event that they needed to get it captured on video and posted on YouTube. Are they going to get lawyers and sue next? Things break, rides get stuck, and guess what everything isn't perfect in this world. Doesn't mean we need to chronicle all of it and post it everywhere for the world to see. They just did this because they could and all this great technology allows us to do it without thinking whether or not we should do it.

Kingda Ka cost SFGADV 25 million which is at least what it will cost to equal or better that; I'm sure it's a money pit with all the maintenance costs, downtime, and energy it takes to run it. Nobody has that kind of money to spend these days and I bet Six Flags wishes they had spent the money on a pile of flat rides and a smaller coaster (or two). It would have improved the park over the long term, not just for the bragging rights the year it opens.

The price of structural steel and metals has gone up considerably in the past few years, mainly due to massive consumption (China especially) which is making metal fabricated items really expensive and a 400 footer cost prohibitive. Wood coasters right now are much cheaper to build (except for Intamin woodies, all that prefab track is really expensive to make). I also think parks sense there's more growth opportunity in families with young kids so building huge rides doesn't bring that money into the park. Teens and college age kids don't spend money like families do.

I'm sure this is a fun coaster, but I've never been on a coaster with a twisted layout using PTC's that's anything close to smooth like a GCI with the Flyers. The trains always seem to bang their way through the turns and lose speed. There's a rumored new PTC train in the works, maybe this would be a good coaster to use them on.

The question is if Mauer Sohne offers a system for dealing with these problems, is it in fact installed and didn't work( due to training ?) or is it optional and the park chose not to install it. The worst thing a manufacturer can do is allow improper installation/implemenation of their product since the liability can always fall back to them.

The old Chance Toboggan cars were more comfortable than the X-car. The engineers are probably congratulating themselves how nobody fell out due to the superior design of their restraint. Maybe they'll come up with an inverted launched lift hill next as another way to torture riders and prove how robust the restraint is. It has never been and never will be fun to hanging upside down with blood trying to make your head explode.

GCI's have got to be the most beautifully constructed coasters out there without a doubt. And they ride as smooth as they look. Absolutely first rate work.

I generally prefer the front for all the visuals, the back for a killer forceful ride. Can't wait to ride some of the new coasters like Griffon and Furious Baco with wide wingspans; now we'll have to compare where you are in the row in what car.

El Toro reminds me of what it felt like riding Batman at SFGADV for the first time in the early 90's. Here was something completely different that brought steel coasters two a new level of excellence we hadn't seen before. And look how steel coasters from just about every manufacturer have improved since then. I think the Intamin wooden coasters are just as significant in coaster design evolution, and we'll just see better, more refined designs from all the wood coaster designers because of it. I still love hammer and nail woodies, and I don't think the new Intamin design means the end of them, we just have more variety now.

Great video; really love the reverse POV. It really shows off the speed and excellent track work on this ride. GCI coasters just seem to keep getting better one after another.

Great pictures of Top Gun; there's just no other experience like the old Arrow supended coasters out there. I've been in the back car and that last turn into the brakes is crazy with the cars swinging seemingly way past horizontal. Such a great ride hidden in the corner of KI.

Intamin's track technology (which is really Werner Stengel's technology; they own the patent and Holzbau Cordes is the company that actually knows how to make the track) could be applied to any wood coaster and I'm sure GG and GCI have thought about it (there are companies in the US and Canada that know how to make laminated beams, it's nothing new) but it's really expensive. . El Toro's price tag is almost double The Voyage. It's possible Holiday World could never afford an Intamin version of The Voyage. And to retrofit and old coaster with new track isn't that simple; the structure has to be re-built to handle the pre fab track and it's precision. The problem with a lot of bad woodies (like SOB) is not just the track, it's the structure supporting it. Look at how many woodies have crooked lift hills, not to mention how the rest of the ride has been twisted up over years of operation. With that said, I'd really like to see someone try a retrofit, especially on a coaster layout that's worth saving.

Not everything is or can be foreseen by engineers, even if there is an area of concern, that's why there's real life testing. In rides (or any engineered system) that push engineering limits or envelopes, the problem is typically unknowns often discovered during testing, or in the case of a prototype rideslike Intamin accelerators) over some period of time operating. It's not always conspiracy or something being hidden when things don't quite work as planned.

Making modifications and design changes after construction are nothing new to any coaster manufacturer, although a lot less frequent these days with the ability to test everything on a computer before construction. No need to bash anyone, especially Intamin with all the expertise they have along with Werner Stengel engineering these projects. At least they didn't wait until after the ride opens and problems and downtime occur. There's an awful lot of steel coasters constructed over the years that weren't fixed until they caused trouble or injury. If Maverick turns out to be a great for years to come nobody will even remember this. And I'm not going to get into this whole Intamin vs. B&M debate; everyone should know by now both engineer excellent rides with different design philosophies.

Wildcat may be rougher than other GCI coasters, but it' still a fun, powerful ride. I was on it this past Sunday(last day of the season) and it was running fast and fairly smooth for Wildcat, just a furious ride from start to finish. As for Lightning Racer (yes, the chain lift is noisey, but its' a rollercoaster, not an escalator) it was running extremely fast giving airtime in the back seat on a few hills which is rare. As for the B&M's , I don't get the Great Bear criticism either; it's really amazing how they fit this thing into the park built above and around all the existing rides in a maze of support columns, plus the views from this ride are fantastic. I have been on this ride dozens of times, but Sunday night it was absolutely flying and would quiet any critic who thinks this is a boring ride.