GuruGuys

There was one lady working mainly the left side when I was there who stapled pretty well. You could always use the leg/push out fat gut (I'm also an Acer, so this works well for me trick to keep it from going down too hard (I want to clarify, this is to prevent STAPLING, not space between the lap bar and you). The other ride ops were VERY lax on stapling, but they got to know us riding and probably trusted our judgement. Thats also a great thing with ERT and groups like TPR, the know we are not going to be idiots and give us a little more flexibility. The signs did mention some strict guidelines about where the restraints had to fit and where your legs had to be (I think Robb posted a pic of the sign in the Media Day Thread - which mentions you need TWO OR MORE legs). I did see one guy unable to ride because he was apparently too long and skinny. The ejector air on this thing is VERY strong, the saddle horns on the seats are appropriate, it feels like you are being bucked off a horse over and over! Without a seatbeat as a backup, I would imagine the ride ops will be trained to push down pretty hard on the GP. The sign states that if you try to prevent the restraints from touching where they should you will be ejected from the park... Another reason they may press down harder is because the hydraulics on these restraints require a bit more force than others, the ride ops often had to change position and use their legs to pull them down when a passenger hadn't already. I heard one op state that they were sore after the first day of operating it. -GG P.S. I just realized I repeated a lot of what Texcoaster said, someohow I missed his post earlier. Oh well

So those who are at the park today, how are the lines? Was the overflow queue needed? They were planning to try to push over 1000 per hour though the lines. Was the fog working in the tunnels? I bet it makes the lights look even better. -GG

It was rather hectic with all the media, there would not be time to allow anyone to record their own POV with their own equipment. I think the edited POV was more due to the fact that they were trying to take all the views and edit them into something like: NBC 5 Dallas On Ride to supply to the stations quickly and easily. I've seen very similar versions of that one all over the place. It would have been nice if they could have given out full POV, but there will be other chances hopefully (on much sunnier days too, nobody seems to have mentioned we had several RAIN rides!) -GG

Up over 36 hours now (probably more, I've lost count!). Grueling two days but worth it to ride NTAG, and 30 times at that! I've not much to say that the others haven't already stated. I agree with Robb, the Black train really kicked butt this evening and I had three of my best rides on it. The last three rows are the best IMO, but all the seats deliver a great ride. I noticed the right seats were better than the left and I also overheard two other riders come to the same conclusion independent of me. The fog in the tunnels was not working but should be tomorrow. The fire canon still has a few obstacles to overcome and will be up hopefully in a week. I agree with Texcoasters long review, he was spot on. With having the mindset that NTAG is a new coaster, a steel one at that, I will be in disbelief if anyone comes to the conclusion that NTAG is not a great success for SFOT and all the parties involved in creating it. It was a blast riding with Robb and others, loved seeing their reactions after the first back seat rides. -GG P.S. I think NTAG is B.Y.O.H.R.

That's an understatement! Hopefully with all the extra weight we will send the NTG on some record breaking speed times! Can' wait to see everyone there!

I guess I'll let him know. That video was posted 3 pages and 6 hours ago. But thanks (no sarcasm intended). I do agree with you, it looks fantastic. Really looking forward to doing this (or will it be doing me?) coaster. Peace! That was the third or fourth person to post the link, they probably didn't notice because took awhile for the thread subtitle to mention the video. Speaking of which, it currently points to pg. 198 but the first mention of the video and conversation of the video actually started on pg. 197 when rolercstrluvr posted the link. I thought it would be front page news as past photo updates of the Giant have made it there faster. Someone quoted the facebook page where they stated this earlier, that is where I got the information from. I also believe that over a month should be plenty to open in time, but I guess they already know of some obstacles that will slow it down. We will definitely have to meet up and ride when it opens. -Brian

Originally they were hoping to open with the park on March 5th but it won't be open by then. They just say later in spring.

I showed up the last Sunday of Spring Break last year and it was the same, much slower than the rest of spring break and actually a good time to ride with full trains and little wait. The lift hill shakes pretty bad when the train connects with the lift chain even on one train operation. They'll probably have to look at the timing of the lift chain at some point to minimize this effect. I doubt that the brake issue will be fixed anytime soon, it would require a new magnetic braking system. Kemah is done putting major money into the Bullet for now and the next time they do it will probably go to a final round of track work. I rode today and agree it is running great. I still love the front seat above the back these days, so much more airtime in places there never used to be. Its nice to see that several months after the major track work it is still running just as smooth as the day they finished that work. It has NEVER held up this well after any of the track reworkings - great news for riders and even better for Kemah Maintenance staff! -GG

After being closed for most of the month the latest round of improvements to the Bullet have been finished. The Bullet re-opens tomorrow after having had the track from the second drop, around the lower bay turn, and up to the hill that goes over the entrance queue completely rebuilt. The ride now tracks smooth through 90% of its track, it is fast all the way through the end and doesn't slow down on the last few hills and turns at all. For those who have not ridden it since the past few rounds of maintenance, you are in for a totally different ride. Rerides and ERTing at this point will be extremely tolerable, the shuffling is gone. This is probably the last round of major work we will see for a long time, I think most of the problems are now fixed and the coaster is performing at a level where most will be very happy with. -GG

Actually, they have new off-season hours this year. The Kemah Boardwalk now closes at 9pm on weekdays. The Boardwalk Bullet may not open until 5pm on weekdays, but will usually open around noon - safest bet is to call before going. It still opens around 12 on weekends. There is a chance it will be closed a few weeks preceding Spring Break for some more fixes, but that is speculative at this point. -GG

The reality, at least with the Bullet, is that the more intense elements that some people miss where never part of the design of the coaster. From the insane ejector on the first drop, to the pop, to the intense laterals at the end of the first drop, they were all results of construction defects. Rode the coaster this week, its riding the same as it did the day they re-opened it which is good. It is butter smooth on the parts that the new construction company worked on. Its clear to me that all the problems the coaster has had is indeed due to a result of bad construction, not bad or too aggressive design. After one more round of major constructions I think it will be 90% of what Gravity Group originally intended. -GG

The work they did on the first drop and zig zag has remained as smooth as when they first did it last off season. The work done now is even smoother than what they did on the first drop which leads me to believe that it too will last. I'd guess 65% of the coaster is now running how it was designed to run. I am quite confident that Kemah Boardwalk will have another round of major work during the next off season, probably rebuilding the track below the upper bay turn which is now the part that shuffles the most, getting the coaster to around 90% of what it should have been to begin with... -GG

Bullet re-opened tonight after some major track work. The ride is now smoother, and I mean CONSIDERABLY smoother, than ever. There is still one part of track that shuffled a bit, the part under the upper bay turn, but the upper bay turn and other problem areas are glass smooth. This will be a welcome to most, but others will not like the fact that the coaster has lost some intensity with the fixes. Here are my experiences riding tonight. The first drop is the same as when TPR rode, its still very smooth and fun, but as you head into the zig zag it is less intense as you no longer had lateral action thrown you left as you hit the upper bay turn. The upper bay turn, which used to have three very big slams, is super fast and glides amazingly smooth all the way around up until the second drop. No changes were made after the second drop, which has always been one of the smoothest parts of the ride... it now seems rough in comparison. Work was done on the next two hills, the over station flyby and the pop hill. These hills are fast and smooth, THERE IS NO MORE POP, it is replaced with a tiny but of airtime. The turn going into the under station fly-by was also redone and is now glass smooth. Track going into the double up was not changed but half of the valley afterwords was worked on and you can instantly tell when you enter the new trackwork, it becomes so glass smooth again. The last turn into the brake run is the same but you enter it much faster. Train still stops on mag breaks and crawls in. It is a totally different coaster that will no longer hurt anyone. The first third is no longer as intense as the zig zag coming out of the first drop doesn't throw you around as much, but it is still very fun and you get a good amount of positive g's. I can only imagine how fast the coaster would be if all the track was as smooth as the new work. Again, no part of the Bullet has ever run EVEN CLOSE to as smooth as the newly worked on parts. I've ridden the Bullet immediately (usually the same day it tested and opened) after all the major work, and this is by far the most effective and noticeable work ever done to it with the first drop work a close second. I was shocked as my expectations were blown away going around the upper bay turn, its was a bit eerie as the Bullet has never ran like this over that section, or that smooth anywhere. The changes are not going to make The Bullet jump up to your new favorite coaster, but it will allow much easier ERT and a more pleasant ride to most guests at the Kemah Boardwalk. For those who asked earlier, the new work was done by a local contractor, not M&V. -GG

I used to see B&M and think I was seeing BSDM. -GG

At Ace's Lone Star Coasterthon we learned a few tidbits about the future overhaul. They say that it will be only a few weeks before an official press release comes out with most all of the details but what is for sure is that this is not going to be your ordinary coaster track re-working (If the $10million wasn't indication enough . Here are some of the facts we were told either by the park operations president or an engineer who gave a presentation on coaster design. Obviously they were very vague about specifics and stats. We were told that new engineering, which involved many new patents, is going to be used in constructing the new track. An engineer with Six Flags said they borrowed technology from B&M's steel coaster design, mainly the square base track design, and have adapted it for woodies. He said it had something to do with allowing them to be much more accurate in bending the wood and creating turns. The Giant will be the first to implement it. We were told that the coaster will have several wood coaster firsts. We were told it will be taller, steeper, faster and over 100% smoother. They said that you will still be able to recognize it as the Texas Giant layout overall, they don't want to deviate too much from the once award winning design. It will of course feature new trains, they would not confirm or deny if the trains were of a new technology or not. They stated that it costs over $200k a year to currently maintain the Giant, and this update will cut that down into something much more feasible. They said one of the main goals is to bring it up to date with the most state of the art modern woodies. The 50th Anniversary of SFOT, and Six Flags, will be celebrated at every park. There were a few more things I will post later when I find my notes. -GG

It was bound to appear sooner or later. It is complex since the relationship with TGG and M&V is seems to be good one, yet I think its likely TGG will have to aid Landry's in proving the poor workmanship against M&V. It will be interesting to see if M&V is coming out to do the work on Sept 9th when it goes down for maintenance again. The sad thing is that if this coaster was built to design (like the first drop currently is at) it would have been an awesome coaster. I doubt it will ever be 50% as good as its potential. -GG

That can happen when posts are deleted with little explanation, then other posts are left behind which then don't follow the thread properly. The post right above yours had my original question in it, so when I saw the ^^ I thought it was leading back to my post. It really wasn't your fault, no reason to apologize. Sorry I misunderstood! -GG

It should be open until September 8th if it doesn't have unplanned problems. I think they want to get that weekend in. The first drop was worked on last off season about the same time as this years scheduled work. They totally tore out the entire first drop, ledgers and all, and rebuilt it to original design specifications (that area for the first time ever are currently at original design spec for my understanding). I guess you can call this re-profiling, but usually when I hear that term used it means 'redesigned'. In that sense it was not re-profiled. That has, by far, been the most successful work done to the coaster out of all the maintenance and track work that has been done (and there has been A LOT). Its still smooth and fun there and I think most TPR'ers enjoyed that part of the ride. If the rest of the coaster ran that way it would be a totally different ride. It will take years but slowly they are working to make it run as designed. The next part of the track to be worked on will have the same goal, get it to the original design specification, from what I have been told. The will be working on the upper bay turn which is the highest turn by the water right after the first drop and zig zag, the train is shuffling bad there an always has - it should have more than enough speed to stick to the outside rail here. I have little doubt that they won't work on the area before the last turn as well, it was hurting pretty bad there lately. -GG

I asked what I thought to be a legit question and I get sarcasm (like I don't already get enough of that) and yelled at for 'rushing trip reports'. Its like I have a target on my back. So... First, I never singled out Jizzman for not updating his Trip Report, my original post said 'NONE of the trip reports made it much past Kemah'. While it never made TPR's front page, the one that did is even less thorough: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=781556#781556 Second, while I don't post to a lot to other threads on TPR, I do read them and I rarely see it take a month for at least one person who went on the trip to at least post some comments or pictures which cover the entire trip. With that knowledge it made me question if it rained the last day or something came up which caused the last day of the trip to be bad. With that series of thought known, is this not feasible question to ask? Thanks to Ginzo who at least provides a mature response: I know how hard it is to post trip reports, I have posted a few myself, one I spent MANY hours writing as it was a text based report. I can see how motivation for such things wear off when the adrenaline is gone and real life returns. As I stated above, I was just wondering if something happened (again, perhaps horrid Texas weather, bus problems, who knows?) which would attribute to slower reports because it seemed more than coincidental that the last day wasn't really mentioned any of the threads covering the trips. And thanks to Jizzman for not taking offense: Yes, I thought more would pop up too. In conclusion, I meant no disrespect, I was not trying to 'rush the trip reporters' or single out Jizz Man. For unintentionally doing so I apologize and will be more clear in future posts. -GG

Bullet will be down after the first week in September through early to mid October while they re-track. Hopefully the work they do will be as successful as the work they did on the first drop as that is still nice and shuffle free. They really need to work on the area right before the last turn into the breaks, it slams horribly. -GG

What I should have posted originally... Did rain or any other unforeseen events put a damper on the rest of the trip past Kemah? I've not seen any other Texas Trip reports which make it past this point.... Sorry to everyone, AGAIN, for the confusion. -GG

The Bullet is just plain temperamental. I thought it ran much better the night before the morning, others thought it ran better in the morning. I think the only thing that can be agreed on is that the front seat is your safest bet, and the back three rows are less painful than the middle rows. I rarely sit in the middle rows anymore. The drop tower is just awesome, a great addition to the park. Very nice pics in this trip report, and yes it did run under 70 seconds the entire time TPR was there -GG

Was fun meeting up with everyone out there! I'm glad the weather passed the first night and the wet track made from some decent speeds on the Bullet; it much better than the last time TPR visited. Hope you have a great day in San Antonio and New Braunfels, really wish I could have visited Schlitterbahn with you guys! -GG

TPR only 24 hours away from visiting the Texas heat! Dallas Friday High of 102 with humidity making the heat index 106! Houston Saturday/Sunday High of only 95 but don't let that fool you as our humidity is worse down south which will bring the heat index to 102! San Antonio 100 degrees without the heat index! New Braunfels is projecting 104 with the heat index on Monday but at least you'll be in the water - perfect planning for TPR to visit there last and cool off! Wear lots of SPF, the UV index is 10+ lately!! This is one of the hottest summers we have had in a long time! PLEASE drink lots and lots of water, I had the displeasure of being with someone who experienced heat exhaustion at the Kemah Boardwalk recently, it is no fun. Can't wait to chill with TPR Sunday! -GG

Apparently Texas Giant re-opened this week. Sounds like a guide rail or something came off and caused one of the trains to drag down the track. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/070609dnprosixflags.1458b656.html Hopefully it is still running for the TPR Texas trip report. You guys are going to be in almost uninhabitable heat! This is one of the hottest summers I recall and Ive lived here for 34 years! -GG