GuruGuys

heheh! Imagine how the real construction workers felt!! Your layout is pretty close, the first big turn is not banked enough, the decline going from the lift to the first drop is a bit too much, beleive iti s 96 feet at the top of the lift and 91 feet at the drop. A few parts went into wood but that might be my no limits configuration as I am no expert on it. The first turn at the bottom of the drop happens sooner (as it is dropping) and is a bit more agressive. I'm no no limits expert, perhaps Texcoaster who has ridden it a lot more can help make it perfect? -GG

Exactly. The last part of the ride can be a bit boring when it is not flying around. Whatever they are doing lately is really increasing the speed on the back part more than the first part, but the first part is fast enough anyway. I heard more people get off the coaster yesterday stating that "it just never slows down" than I have ever heard. The reaction of the people getting off the ride completely changes this way, its really fun to watch them! The ride is MUCH smoother this way too. The back seats which most will likely prefer were a cakewalk for me while the middle seats where a bit rough due to shimmying on some of the corners. The turn before the station fly by drop glides through where in the past it seemed to really slow it down. I still say that if you want a pretty smooth ride but more small ejector air ride in row 2, although TexCoaster had a bad experience on it yesterday (probably because of the drunk sitting next to him). To answer Erin's question, apparently they are using graphite because it sticks the to track and lasts longer than the oil. -GG

As I arrived at about 6:30pm they were just finishing up putting graphite on the track. They are now using graphite on the track instead of oil and boy does it shows. The ride times were only 3 seconds slower than the RAIN rides!!! The entire back half of the ride is speeding along, you can't come even come close to counting the anti roll backs on the back hills and the train is flying past the magnets right into the station so fast that the middle train does a back wheely on the brake in the station when the train is full! I sure hope they can keep it running at this speed consistently. The ride times were consistently 64 seconds from the end of the lift to the first magnetic brake. As a comparison the ride was running 75 seconds last Thursday when I rode for the same section. The total ride time were around 114, including the exit, lift hill, to a stop on the station brake. This is almost a minute fast than the old averages when the train would take 45+ seconds to get past the magnetic brakes! The ride is totally different this way, the only time it really slows down is on the first big hill and its going over that much faster. I can only imagine how fast it will be in the rain when it is oiled, er, graphited this way! -GG

I've not posted my opinionated review of the coaster since I have not ridden enough coasters to compare it to. I may have given some experiences on the ride in different conditions, but I would never call any of my posts a review. I think the gist of Texcoasters post was that by some people saying "Thanks for an honest review finally" many people will assume that the other reviews are dishonest, which texcoaster appropriately pointed out they are not, they are just opinion. They might be biased, they might enjoy things that you don't, but I doubt they are dishonest with themselves when posting. I never try to debate opinion even though I unintentionally did in another thread by choosing the wrong words in a post. I've read some of Rastuso other reviews and after comparing them I came away with a pretty positive review of the Bullet for his style of review. I don't know where he is talking about that will allow some teenager to reach up and touch the train thus getting their hand chopped off, but otherwise I had nothing to argue with as it is all his opinion, much of it I agree with anyway. -GG

Agreed. With over 126 rides on it throughout its first weeks, aside from the middle trains, the ride has become less aggressive IMO. That doesn't mean much at the moment. There are those here worrying that it may not be maintained well. I have no doubt that Kemah will ever let this coaster degrade to the point of the Texas Giant or the like. Their target audience is families with younger children, they will keep it easily ridable for both. -GG

One thing I have noticed is how widely varied the experiences in each seat can be. The only two seats that have retained their reputation since day one are the front and back rows. The first row is smooth, I don't imagine anyone having problems re riding up there, the back is rough and wild, a lot of people will prefer this seat despite its aggressiveness due to the first drop experience payoff. The middle of the train used to be tame but now it seems to the the most aggressive with the least payoff, I avoid seat 4R and 6R like the plague. The right side of the train is rougher than the left side of the train. If you want the tamest ride sit in 1L. My favorite seat is now 2R, although 2L is quite fun too. Its drastically different from the front row, provides a bit more aggressive ride but still smooth enough and has a lot more quick ejections. Who knows if this will change next week! I remember when we used to like seats 5R and 10L, now they are nothing special. -GG

Humberto was quite humble for us as we got the clean side of the storm. I'm not certain but I would imagine the Bullet is up and running today as the weather is actually quite nice. -GG

Ah, I rode it Thurday afternoon too. It was running about as slow as I've seen it then (in fact I posted about that in the other Boardwalk thread). I hope you get to ride it again at full speed some time. The park is nice, I can't wait to see what they have in store for us next year

Hey! It was great meeting you out there tonight! I've run into a lot of TPR people in the past two weeks, we REALLY need to set a date to go out and ride together. According to the ride operators they had about a 45 minute wait at peak times this last Saturday. I'm not sure if you rode before and after they oiled the track today but it was a much better ride after. They were running 78 seconds before the oiling. After the oiling it was running probably were it should be running and at least one train I was on ran at 63 seconds. It runs MUCH smoother when it runs faster as well. I have really fallen in love with seat 2R after 121 rides. It gives the best comfort but also provides for the best ejections. Seat 4R and 6R are on my do not ride list right now, both are getting increasingly violent and don't provide much ejection etc. Of course the back train still provides the best first drop experience and is IMO more tolerable than 4R and 6R. Overall, especially after oiling, the ride is still easily re-ridable in just about any seat and you are able to re-ride about as much as you want on weekdays. At the peak of todays 'crowd' we had about 10 trains that were full or almost full. At the end of the night there were about 5 people on the train. It makes a big difference on the run time as the last train ran about 68 seconds. -GG

Nice pics! I'm not sure if you just posted the pics today or rode today but they oiled the track at about 6:30pm and the train picked up as many as 15 seconds on the circuit. Before that it was running VERY slow (hence the mid day oiling). I hope you got to ride it tonight when it had some full trains and was running faster. -GG

Griffon Does it run faster/slower/same across the scorpion strack as the stock trains? -GG P.S. Who owns the Mariner Blue 90-93 Miata? It looks just like mine! Great car.

I was told today that the bullet uses wheels that have never been used on a PTC train of this type. Apparently they are smaller than the normal wheels. I'm not sure why, or what effect it has on the ride overall, but it was an interesting tidbit of information at least. The coaster is running a little slow today, I rode in 12R and received a pretty tame ride actually. There were only 2 other rides in the front seat - the train almost came to a complete stop on the magnets. The maintenance guys were working on the other trains lapbars and wheels. Looked like there might be a cloudburst or small storm in the area, perhaps it will get wet for later! -GG

They are aware it is sometimes running much slower than it should and are still trying different things out with the track oilings, wheel greasings, etc. If we are lucky they will have it running near 'rain ride' speed on regular days once they get everything worked out and learn how to treat the new ride. I can't stand it when you can count the anti roll backs on the hills especially after knowing what this coaster is capable of. Sunday was the slowest day by far. They said it was only going about 43 mph down the hill. I think it was going close to its goal speed of 51 most of the day Monday but it did slow down considerably the last few hours. I've experienced a bit of ejector only 3 times on the last hill going into the station. I can't wait to experience that again. -GG

I completely agree as this is what I have experienced on it for the first four days. The turns are more smooth on the faster rides, especially in the rain, but the rest of the ride is rougher. Aside from the first seats on the first train there really hasn't been a consistent less rough seat on the train. I was able to sit quite comfortably in 8L for quite a few rides but there was nobody next to me so that made a big difference as well. -GG

The camera is after that drop that goes under the station, it is under the station. Safe to start your pose at the bottom of that drop. -GG

They are all training in shifts so some are just learning the rules and others are not. They'll all get the hang of it down the road. Its good they are training more, the initial crew was working their butts off, 12+ hours a day for the first few days. How was it riding compared to previous days? -GG

If you were complaining about the roughness with it dry...you probably don't want to ride it wet. I thought the turns were actually less rough wet, but the bigger elements were much more rough! After 101 rides and being very sore on Friday (which I have posted about before) I don't have any soreness at all today. Its not really that bad, and I rode in the back seat for my 13 of my last 14 in a row. Admittedly, I do fill up the seat a bit more than most! -GG

Again, my statement was worded incorrectly. I was merely trying to provide the fact that they do not live there. Whether that makes a difference to anyones opinion is up to them, but the fact should be out there for people who have fun debating over this topic. -GG

I wish people would quit saying this. The news made you think this, but nobody lives there. It is a weekend getaway and I've only seen them there this weekend throughout the past few months. It is not a live in home. -GG I need to clear something up about this statement. I was on my way out to work this morning and may not have worded it correctly. I was not arguing with Mike, or anyone, about having sympathy for the owners of the house. I was merely trying to make the point that they do not live there. All the media except channel 26 have made it sound like it is their full time residence - it is not. I've only seen them there once on one weekend for the past several months. I'm sorry to Mike, or anyone else who may have assumed I was telling them they shouldn't be sympathetic to the owners. I'm not about to tell anyone how they should feel about anything, its too subjective and that wasn't my point. -GG

I wish people would quit saying this. The news made you think this, but nobody lives there. It is a weekend getaway and I've only seen them there this weekend throughout the past few months. It is not a live in home. -GG

Same here, can't wait to get some out of state people in to ride it. I just hope they can ride it at least a dozen times. It almost takes that many times just to know the layout and be able to enjoy all the elements individually. I particularly like what I call the Boardwalk Ballbuster, or the The Pop, as some others call it. Its that part on the east end curve where the train has still yet to touch the rails (Texcoaster posted a picture of this part a few pages back), and you get a real nice, quick and nasty jolt into the lapbar. Make sure that seatbelt is not vertical and in the wrong spot at that point!! -GG

Not bad though, we need more pics like that one! I noticed the extra cars early on but for some reasons a few people debated me on that, probably for the reasons you pointed out, its odd. When we got the structure walk through they were laying right there as we walked by so that question was put to rest. If they had intentions of the trains being longer the station would have probably been designed differently as well? It was nice briefly meeting you out there and riding the Boardwalk Bounce, never new so much fun could come for a little kiddie ride! It sure killed the time and the wait was well worth it for those rain rides. Still haven't experienced that again yet, TexCoaster got one in today, but I was too late. He said it was by far his best ride and better than the ones on Friday. They had just oiled the entire track that morning so I can only wonder what it was like. It was a different coaster that way. -GG

Fair is fair I guess. Both sides should balance each other out then let the viewer decide. The articles make it sound like those folks live there, yet the first time I have seen them there was this weekend and I've been there several times for a few months on the weekends. The fact is they could have sold. If they have huge sentimental value they could have sold and MOVED the existing house to another location with the money Landry's offered. The sound on the news clips was undoubtedly amplified, I have stood there and its not THAT loud, but it IS loud. I've talked to 5 people with at least 100 credits, most with many more, who rate it in their top 10 (most closer to 10 than 1). I can only go by them since I have not ridden enough coasters. A few others were undecided and IMO, until it really breaks in I probably wouldn't rate it yet either. The fact remains however, it is in Jim's top ten, and that is what he was speaking to. Couldn't an engineer do that, why just the president, or someone at Kemah. Do you only trust presidents? -GG

What kindof mechanical problems? Lapbars wouldn't lock or something? I think they wouldn't unlock and they would have to manually go use that tool to unlock them. They fixed the other train today and should have this one done too, but honestly, they only need 1 train most days. There was a 1 train wait most of the day, at the peak around 1-2pm there was a 15 minute wait. -GG

Yeah, one guy tried and I told him they would immediately escort him out of the park if they caught him and pointed out the cameras on the lift. He immediately put it up! I was mainly concerned because I was sitting behind him and in a previous ride someones hat flew back and landed in the girls lap next to me. I found 4 phones, 1 wallet, and a cigarette lighter when entering/leavings trains today. Too easy to loose things which are unsecured. -GG