natatomic

Eh, they could just add ten feet then to keep the drop the same height as it is now. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

No, no, no. You're all wrong. It's an outline of the Loch Ness Monster It's not a coaster sketch

You know, I tried unscrambling the /themtravelled.thru, but despite the fact that it's already in URL form, I didn't even think to try to keep it as such. *slaps self on forehead* Duh. So, I just kept getting "The Truth Marvelled," which never really got me anywhere. Good job figuring that out! I tried.

As the quote goes, "There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't."

^I mean "real" as in if this site is legitimately involved in Hershey's 2008 project or if it's just some pre-pubescent computer nerd with no life making all of this up and wasting our time trying to figure out all of Nantimi's secrets.

^I guess. No idea really. Just e-mail the guy some random message, and I'm sure you'll be added to his inner circle, or whatever his "ckret" e-mail list is.

^I agree with you. That drop is clearly pre-dropless.

I wrote an e-mail to ckret@nantimi.com (get it? "secret") a day or two ago after figuring out the binary thing. All I said was "Who are you?" I got a response earlier today, and it said this: Now is not the time for formal contact and there IS more to come. For them 9.27, you 9.26. more later. I don't care if it's real or not - this website has got my attention, and I love the mystery of it all!

Here's my thinking. The XI in the e-mail address (XI@nantimi.com) on the site is 11 in Roman Numerals. Plus, there are 11 i's in that hidden url, http://www.nantimi.com/iiiiiiiiiii.html Which, to me, implies that this will be their 11th coaster and it will have 11 inversions. At the same time, I think that seems a bit much for Hersheypark. I always considered it more of a family park, and I can't imagine them geared on having that kind of record-breaker. Plus, the entire Nantimi website seems to have clues that are waaaaay too obvious, such as Nantimi being an anagram for Intamin. I mean, it wasn't exactly an unbreakable government code. Does anyone think it's possible that maybe B&M might be the ACTUAL builders of the coaster (especially since they have that 2-coaster deal with the park), and they're the real ones behind the website? Maybe they're just trying to throw us off, you know, REALLY elaborately? It fits into the "Thing are not what they seem" message. Either way, whoever is behind that website is genius. I think they've more than met their goal of getting us all completely confused.

Sure, it IS possible that this guy just has bad coaster-restraint karma, but the odds of the ONLY two instances of this particular malfunction happening to the same guy on the same ride in the same seat must be astronomical. So long as they have proven that he did indeed tamper with the restraints (and the article claimed that they had the ride inspected by the experts who confirmed that theory), then I don't think the punishment was too harsh. It's called Destruction of Property, and last time I checked, that was a no-no according to our legal system.

According to screamscape (read: take it with grain o' salt) Tivoli Friheden in Denmark is supposed to be using Ride Tek for their new coaster next year. Wonder which one of these weirdo layouts they're going with...

^I don't think the purpose is necessarily to "increase the speed" on the drop, per se; it just prevents the front half from inching its way down the first hill while the back half is still climbing the lift. By the time the last cars clear the apex, the front cars have already gone down a quarter of the drop at the same slow speed that back cars were climbing the hill. Am I explaining this well?

The second one seems more of an extended and elaborate boomerang, and if the track is anywhere near as rough as those things then LENGTHENING the boomerang concept is NOT the smart way to go. *shudders* Oh, the pain... Plus, it doesn't look like the train would have enough momentum to make it through the entire backwards portion. Of course, it could just be because the way it looks in the video, but if boomerangs can stall in the middle of its cobra roll, then this thing here can easily stall somewhere in all that mess.

^True, but if having no pre-drop will increase tension and strain on the lift hill and on the trains, then wouldn't the cost of needed repairs eventually match the cost of what a pre-drop would have cost? Maybe? I think Apollo's Chariot at BGE and Goliath at SFoG both cost approximately $20,000,000.00 each, and the former has a pre-drop while the latter does not, so maybe the difference in cost wouldn't be that great? I know there are a LOT of other factors that go into the cost (terrain, layout, and the like), but just thought I'd throw that example out there anyway.

This may have been discussed before, but I did a search and didn't find the answer. Anyway, I was just wondering what ever happened to the B&M pre-drop? It seems they're on most B&M coasters made before 2004 or so (with a few exceptions), but they don't seem to be on any newer models, except for the inverts. The pre-drop is supposed to help alleviate the stress on the lift chains and/or trains, correct? Plus, it prevents the front of the train from crawling down the beginning of the first drop as it waits for the back to clear the lift hill? Seems like a sound concept, so why do away with it?

Yeah, I did that once about 21.5 years ago. Pretty overrated, if you ask me. I mean, talk about no rerideablility.

^No, you've got it right now. Lake Win-ah-pah-soak-ah. That's how you say it.

No, THIS is phallic: Kirnu, on the other hand - DEFINITELY female

Hasn't the story of Prince Pondicherry taught them ANYTHING?

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like dive machines are more of a gimmick than a brilliant coaster idea. Sure, they're fun the first time, but I think - similar to rides like TTD and KK - they focus way too much on one element and the rest of the ride (or lack there of, since these coasters are some of the shortest out there) greatly suffers. Unless they add on a LOT more to the dive machine concept and make an attempt for a better all-around coaster, I will be a bit disappointed if it's just another dive machine. I mean, we've already got two on the east coast, and I don't think 5 degrees beyond vertical is a big enough improvement when the ride lacks, IMHO, length, variety, and rerideability (sp? Is that even a word?).

Wow, congratulations! But I just recently hit my 100th coaster, so thanks for making it seem so puny.

Holy crap, that's my home town! And usually when I say Athens, people are always like, "Georgia?" "No..." "Ohio?" "Getting colder." "Greece?" "Now you're just being smart." And who can deny that Mayfield's has got some of the best ice cream in the US? Only Ben&Jerry's beats them in my book most of the time.

Dominator is about 50ft shy of being a hyper last time I checked...

^^I agree, but at least there's Apollo's Chariot at BGE.

No. Do you like pineapples on your pizza?