singemfrc

Interesting! That would definitely explain every ride I've had on X2. My last two rides were by myself on the outside, and it just about killed me. Next time I gotta bring a dumb heavy patsy to ride on the outer seat

I think smooth is all relative. I can tell you with great certainty that there is no way X was ever "smooth" in 2007. And I'm talking in a technical term like putting an accelerator on the ride and measuring forces and lateral movements. Maybe it was smooth "to you", but there is no way that ride ran smooth in 2007. Yeah for sure. Maybe instead of "smooth" I should just say "not painful"

^ To be fair he said the jury is still out on Dinoconda because it's smooth now but it's brand new, we have to wait and see if it degenerates like the other two. 4D is still an amazing ride..I wish other designers like B&M would attempt it and try to improve...but 4D are so ridiculously expensive to build and maintain I can see why theyd rather focus on wingriders.

^ Actually I could just have been lucky but my rides on X (all in 2007) were smoother than most of my rides on X2.

It probably won't be half as busy, and considering you also won't care about the rides with the longest lines, I don't think you'll need a flash pass if you aren't going on the holiday, you should be fine.

This coming monday being a holiday is probably going to be pretty busy. You might want to consider even a regular flash pass if you will be doing any amount of rides. The only decent food inside the park is the Mooseburger Lodge, but if you don't mind leaving the park for lunch, you can just take Magic Mtn Pkwy about 3 minutes down the road to the Town Center mall, there are several good options over there.

^ Do you remember which train you were on? The one that beat the hell out of me (twice) was train 3. I had tried to get on the inside but both times the inside restraint was stuck in little person mode and wouldnt move up and I had to switch to an outside seat. Maybe train 3 is overdue for rehab.

You're on the right track, but you have to put them in the right place, if theyre too far down you end up just punching yourself in the head If you put your hands up on the top of the OTSR high enough that its actually closer to your neck, so your head isnt free to move back and forth, it all but eliminates the ear banging. It looks ridiculous (and it is ridiculous) but it eliminates the pain. I was thinking the same thing..I don't think it would 100% solve the problem but it would certainly help..of course this shouldn't be happening in the first place.

^^^^ True re: sound, but most newer coasters still have some power while in or near the station, for example to lock and release restraints or run diagnostics..it could be something similar. You can also see electronic boxes similar to the ones X2 have on the back of Dinoconda's cars. ^ You must not have experienced the same pain on X2 that I did, cause it was far more violent and painful than Revolution, but I completely agree with you.. head trauma like you get on Revolution and Kong is intolerable. I've found a way to ride both (The Kong strategy works on multiple coasters but Revolution is different) without getting it, but I wish I didn't have to.

It's not impossible that there's a mechanism in the train or car that causes it at that point, in fact I'd say it has to be, only because both X2 and Dinoconda do the exact same thing at the exact same place while Eejanaika having different cars does not do it. (Its also worth noting that Eejanaika's station is unique - the floor falls away like an invert/floorless instead of having the seats rotate back upon dispatch) Except Dinoconda does the same thing and it's brand new, so it's definitely intentional. What we don't know is how and why.

^ My completely uneducated guess is maybe it's something like how race car drivers rapidly steer left and right to heat up the tires..perhaps the cars rock back and forth to make sure they move easier somehow? It sure seems to be intentional since the two newer of the four sets of trains have the behavior and the two older ones don't/didn't.

What's interesting to me is, looking at Robb's Dinoconda video, the trains are still rocking. Those trains are practically identical to the trains on X2 (they were built about 3 years apart) and that was filmed when Dinoconda was 6 months old so I dont think it's caused by wear and tear. Eejanaika however, doesn't rock. Eejanaika's trains were built by S&S, but they are much closer to the original Arrow trains. The seats rotate slowly about 90 degrees and then back. (I included a different vid of Eejanaika only because Robb's picks up with the cars already on the lift) On the original X, the seats did not move coming out of the station around the corner, they rocked back as soon as you hit the lift..this basically confirms there's no change in the rail (Since different cars are behaving differently on the same track). For whatever reason, I think the rocking on the newer S&S trains is intentional and caused by the trains not the track. I wish I could ask someone at S&S, because although it doesnt affect me in any way, I'm extremely fascinated

^ It doesnt change the point of your post, but X2's trains were built by S&S Power. You'll hate the pain, but hopefully you'll still love the rest of the ride. For me that first drop is so great it gets me on the ride in spite of the pain, I just can't ride it repeatedly.

^ I don't think that could cause the super violent movement though, its not a shaking or a general discomfort throughout the ride. Also I could be wrong but I don't think it's accurate that there's no variance in the rails there..I dont think the small amount of variance needed would be too obvious to the naked eye, and as far back as I can remember the cars have always done that, so it wouldn't be a loosening over time kind of thing.

Newsletter just came out saying that There will be shows on Friday the 24th for SP holders only.

^^ Oh yeah, I forgot about that I think my Monday ride on X2 was more painful than that..I was sure uttering a similar amount of curse words. I would hope that Dinoconda, being newer, would be better.

For me, it's the bashing of my calves that hurts. I literally can't ride it without lifting up my legs and putting my heels hard against the seat. But that's just me and my size. Other than that, the ride isn't too rough for me. There are definitely a lot more that are worse. Yes..just so others are clear, the restraints don't have anything to do with the pain. The problem is how (mainly in the final raven turn) the seat kicks your legs out hard and then immediately slams them violently back into the car, causing a lot of pain to your calves. It's significantly worse on the outside. I've tried crossing my feet or putting my heels up, but the movement is so forceful it throws my feet forward and back no matter what I do. Both of my rides this weekend were on the outside because both times I tried to sit on the inside the seat wouldn't move up and I had to switch to the outside. I still love this ride for what it is supposed to be, and that first drop is still my favorite, but my last ride on Monday was definitely the most painful coaster ride I've ever had..it's really getting to the point where they need to address the issue. I was thinking about why this might be happening, because I sure never had this happen on the old Arrow trains (they had other issues), and I didn't experience it back in October either. Considering it's the rotation that's the issue, it has to be something with either the train coming through that section too fast making the seat rotate too quickly or possibly there's an issue with the rack gear (pardon me if I got the term wrong, I cant remember the proper name for it) that is sticking and isn't rotating smoothly. Robb, since you're the only person I know who's ridden X2 and Dinoconda (and I think Eejanaika?) how do the other two compare pain-wise? I think the next time I trek down to SFMM I'm going to bring some soccer shin guards and wear them backwards.

^ ^^ Yep, through thursday it should be pretty dead. Once friday hits you have the Memorial day weekend and then schools getting out.

These shows are not "made for enthusiasts", they are made more for your average park general public. The audience for a show like this, and even theme parks in general is NOT the person that scours the internet looking for nerdy details about theme parks and roller coasters. We make up a VERY VERY small percentage of people that go to the parks. So keep that in mind before you complain about the shows. I thought this was one of the better ones and DID touch upon things that some of the other shows don't mention. We should be happy that there are shows being made again on this subject matter. You do remember years going by with a void of any theme park or coaster shows, don't you? Sorry for the mini quote tunnel, agree with your post entirely, but I read his post differently..I think he was just impressed that this show was more interesting to enthusiasts than most are. I certainly found it more interesting than most of them, even though I'd seen most of the info thanks to your updates I really loved seeing Fred and Alan ride Outlaw Run

^ No, but I wasn't looking for it. Didnt see the posts saying it was there until I got back to the hotel tonight. I walked past the tunnel a few times and did look that way once but I didnt realize the train was in there or I would have craned myself up and/or tried to get a photo. When you're just walking by you can only really see the top of the tunnel.

Just got back from two full days at the park. Sunday started out looking pretty busy when I got there at noon, but it ended up being very manageable. I skipped Apocalypse due to the one train operation and caught it at the beginning of the day Monday when it was no wait even with one train. There was one other ride on one train operation that usually isn't, Ninja. I waited about 30 minutes for it since I skipped it last time I was here. The line in the late afternoon was actually up to the upper building, granted the lower switchbacks werent being used. The line was 30-50 mins pretty much all day. Tatsu crews were terrible Sunday, they seemed to be intentionally running as slow as they could..and the dispatching operator was too busy flirting with guests. Monday was much better. On the flip side I would like to do something that isn't done much in this thread - praise SFMM operations for doing something right! Riddler's was a complete 180 from the last time I was here in oct. The broken machine that was previously screeching had been fixed, the music was working, all the lasers were on, it looked like someone had actually cleaned in the station, and the crew was operating two trains efficiently, with no wait all day. I actually took the time to walk into guest relations and let them know how great that was. I still love X2, but oh my god is it getting rough. Particularly the last raven turn before the brakes..it throws your legs out and then slams them back violently into the car, very rough on the calves. First half of the ride still makes it worth it for me. X2 was definitely the most painful ride, Viper closely behind. Et tu, Arrow? I did have some unexpectedly awesome rides as well. Colossus blew me away..I rode the front row left side on train 2 (red) on the left side and it was far and away the smoothest ride I've ever gotten. Next ride in the back row was pretty rough, so I may stick to the front row on Colossus from now on. Scream was also surprisingly smooth for once. This is only the second time Ive been able to get down here since Green Lantern opened, and last time I was here it had a 2 hr wait and flash pass wasnt being used on it so I skipped it. This time I was alone and used the single rider line (LOVE these - saved me a ton of time on GL and LLDOD, need more of them!) and rode twice, one on each side. I can definitely see why a lot of people dislike the ride, but I loved it..the first ride was on the side facing away from the lift which was good, but the second ride facing the lift was just crazy intense. I got flipped on both rides and on the second ride it felt like it tried to rip my face apart. Definitely a unique feeling..not pleasant in itself, but I liked the intensity nonetheless..just don't think I'll be marathoning it any time soon. Monday was a very calm (though very hot) day. Practically everything was a walk on except Superman and X2, but even that was only 20-30 and not all day. Goldrusher was closed today so Im glad I got that ride in Sunday. There seemed to be quite a bit of activity in the construction site today. I did have photos to post a Photo TR, but Im still in the hotel with no photoshop on my laptop so I dont want to post them full size and stretch out the board...oh well. Did you happen to ride the second to last row on Colossus at like 1:30 or so? I saw someone sit in front of me who just looked like he might be from TPR, and he had a flash pass.

The theme is just anything "YOLO"...skulls, flames, anything cheesy. Reminds me of the old "No Fear" shirts in the 90s. Agree with AllenA07, I don't care for the theme, but the ride does look fun, and that's really all that matters to me.

We just had about 7 days of basically ERT on Gold Striker It doesnt feel like a Bay Area Bash is likely (though I hope IM wrong), so I hope SCBB does something similar when Undertow is ready.

^ Yeah I found out that one time that I was there with my mom that Pirates can get huge handicap lines. The line for hc that day was even longer than the general line. Indy was the other one with no advantage, you can only go so far before joining the general line. For me on most days FastPass is enough of an advantage.

^ I mean is the difference between inside and outside bigger in the back than it is in the front?