sfmman2000

Here is a rare shot of inside the Matterhorn's control tower: Picture found on the Arrow Development blog: http://arrowdevelopment.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-matterhorn-under-hood.html It's a really fascinating blog. Definitely worth taking some time to read.

Sure, and feel free to ask any other Boardwalk/Santa Cruz questions. True, by theme park standards it's a low price. But for people (like me) who hate paying for parking and don't mind walking a little more, free parking is always nice to know about.

I don't know if I could rate one over the other. They are both good for different reasons. Hurricane was intense, thrilling, and rough. Undertow is modern, smooth, and not quite as thrilling. It made good business sense for the Boardwalk to put something in the whole family will ride. Weekends during the off-season can be moderately busy depending on weather, although ride lines shouldn't be more than 10-15 minutes max. Looks like that info isn't released yet. Historically, Mon-Tues after 5pm all rides are $1. Wed-Thurs is Pepsi night -- bring a PepsiCo can for a ~$15 wristband. Although if you're going anytime, Costco has a good deal: http://beachboardwalk.com/discounts/costco-locations.html This is my area of expertise! 10 minute walk: Bay St between Laguna and Lighthouse (park on street). Google map: http://goo.gl/SR3RYm 10 minute walk: Park anywhere north of the intersection of Washington and Center St all the way up to Laurel. Parking is limited to 2 hours on weekdays before 8pm (although it will rarely if ever be enforced that late). Weekends have no time restrictions. Google map: http://goo.gl/aNNj6u 5 minute walk: *Off-season only* From the intersection of 2nd and Cliff St, take Cliff north. Street parking in this neighborhood is free before May 15 and after Sept 30 (permit required during Summer months). Google map: http://goo.gl/YXQJik I will agree with you that the ride has a lot of issues, but it's worth a ride if you've never been on it. Have you ridden it recently? They've gradually been making a lot of changes. Here are a few: better, darker lighting. New gags with more of a surprise factor. Not exactly a good thing, but they removed the ramp in the swamp area. However, they did add some new gags in that area, so I guess that makes up for it.

Top Thrill Dragster has a Turbo Mode that is used in the morning to launch the trains at a faster speed than usual. I believe that speed is ~137mph.

I'm not sure.. maybe someone else knows? However, if you watch an POV from ~2001, compared to a newer POV, it's easily noticeable. Wasn't it only the rear car that was designed to have this fishtail effect? Anyone know more?

One of the supports on Millennium Force's first overbanked turn was modified because the clearance was not great enough and riders could reach out and hit it. See picture: http://rcdb.com/594.htm#p=14958 Also, I believe California Screamin's loop was modified to be taller and more oval-shaped.

I, also, was surprised with how small the cars are, and how little leg room there is. I noticed that every block brake was being used when I rode yesterday. Maybe if they open the brakes, the ride would feel less tame.

Just got off Undertow. Fun ride! I've never been on a Maurer mouse before, so I didn't really know what to expect. The ride was extremely smooth, with gentle spinning. The first drop felt fast, but the rest of the ride was fairly tame (every block brake was on). Overall, I think the Boardwalk has a solid ride should appeal to a wide range of guests, and should only get more fun as the ride breaks in and the weather heats up! One new thing I noticed is a turnstile with a barcode reader at the ride station (non-operational). It looks like the Boardwalk is finally going to convert to a virtual-type ticketing system! Here's some video I shot of Undertow: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] Also, photos:

^ Seems to be going strong still. It's always really busy on band review day every year.

I'm here right now, and Undertow is open. The line is over an hour long. Operations seem fairly smooth. I imagine the line will get shorter later once most of the band review kids leave.

Rumor is that Undertow will open tomorrow (Saturday). Obviously no guarantees, but I trust this rumor enough that I will show up tomorrow!

Every few years (or sometimes sooner), maintenance replaces Double Shot's belts, and they always come out a different size. Sometimes, some belts are longer than others. At one point a few years ago, they all became uniformly shorter, which is about how they are today. I think they are getting better about cutting the belts consistent with each other, but unfortunately they are shorter now than other S&S towers.

^^Interesting perspective about Knoebel's carousel... I do like how they run their carousel (and Knoebel's operations in general). The Boardwalk did try the brass ring game one year, but it didn't last...

I think it's about time SCBB's carousel outranks Knoebel's carousel. While they are both great, the SCBB carousel has an automatic ring machine (that does work some of the time!) as well as outside horses that go up and down.

^ I love all those things about LL:DOD, too! It's just that the drop itself doesn't feel like as much of a freefall as Intamin 1st or 2nd gen towers, or ARM towers as others mentioned. Heck, even a Moser Spring ride gets my stomach more than LL:DOD! Don't get me wrong, the whole package still makes for an excellent ride. I just think it's funny that the world's tallest drop tower has one of the worst freefall sensations.

On a different subject... I rode LL:DOD for the first time at West Coast Bash. While the height and swaying was incredible, I couldn't help but think the actual drop felt like an elevator that quickly picked up speed. While LL:DOD is taller, I didn't get nearly the same the freefall sensation one normally feels from a Giant Drop. Anyone else notice this? Don't get me wrong, it's still a fun ride, but the drop isn't nearly as crazy as other Intamin towers.

I was shocked to discover this as well.. I asked the employee stationed at the top of the Sky Tower about it and he gave me an interesting answer (which I'm not sure I believe). He said that guests were vandalizing as well as taking the old costumes on display and wearing them. He also said guests were throwing things off the tower from the lower, open-air deck. How guests got down there I have no idea.. but I didn't press for details. He did say that the park planned to recreate the museum in the near future.

Still Knott's Hotel deals to be found on Hotwire: For Saturday and Sunday night a total of $152 - $10 coupon (find on Hotwire homepage) = $141. Use a cashback site to save even more.

^ That's true, and I would love it if they were able to get it open! Although, if they chose to open it on such a busy day and there is a breakdown with long delays, they are going to have a lot of angry guests (who have maybe bought tickets just for Undertow). Might be wiser from their standpoint to open for the first time on a less busy day. I guess it really depends on how reliable the ride is. UPDATE: The Boardwalk posted this in response to a question on Facebook asking if Undertow will open this weekend:

I'll take Apocalypse over X2 any day! Although for those coming out to SFMM to ride X2 for the first time, I do feel bad about that. It took many years after X was built that I finally got to ride it due to to closures.

Just an FYI for anyone looking for a hotel deal for WCB: Hotwire's secret rate hotels now clearly show amenities such as free internet, free breakfast and free parking. With help of a Hotwire/Priceline hotel list site like betterbidding.com, it's very easy to narrow down which hotel you're actually booking. I'm not a shill for Hotwire -- their taxes and fees often make the deals not so hot... but I've found some good deals before, especially when comparing Hotwire with the best rate at Kayak. Also, on the main page you'll often see a coupon sign-up for $10 off any booking, which can make a deal even hotter.

Undertow didn't open today. Word is that it may open early next week. Although it may be ready sooner, they aren’t sure if they want to open it for the crazy busy Labor Day weekend. I was out at the Boardwalk today and Undertow was testing just after noon, but later in the afternoon testing stopped, although a coaster mechanic was still on the platform working on things. For what it’s worth, the queue hasn’t even started to be built yet. I do have some information as to why the ride was so far behind schedule. I don’t know how big of a contribution this made, but here it is: Maurer didn’t ship the ride pieces how the Boardwalk thought they would. It apparently shipped in much smaller parts than anticipated, which left maintenance with the tasks of putting everything together with limited knowledge of the ride. General update: Some of these things might be months old – sorry if you are already aware of these changes. I don’t go to the park very often anymore. Haunted Castle changes: - The raised deck area when you enter the swamp is completely gone. The swamp now is at the same level as the rest of the ride. - The swamp monster gag has been greatly enhanced and pops up very quickly and bounces around a bit. -There is a brand new gag in the swamp – a giant spider! It’s a great gag. Very surprising and well-designed. The spider’s legs get closer to your car than just about anything else on the ride. - There is something that looks like a snake in the bushes right in the same area as the dinosaur. - The tree falling gag is still too late (has been like that forever) - Overall, the ride keeps getting better and better as they tweak things. It’s still far from a world-class dark ride, but is heading in the right direction with each change and addition. - Giant Dipper is running great. - All rides are open (excluding Undertow). - Fireball got a refurb last winter, and it’s running like the day it opened! It’s once again, smooth, forceful, and FULL of airtime. It needed some TLC and boy did it get it. The lighting package has changed also, for better/worse. The new lights only cover the ride carriage. The ride structure and pendulum are without lights. The lights the ride does have, however, are the modern color-changing type, and are neat to watch. - Two politically-correct cavepeople (a caveman and cavewoman) have been placed on park benches so that guests can sit next to and pose with them. - Marini’s has a permanent, new taffy/candy stand open, located across from the Merry-Go-Round. - A lot of Cave Train's gags are either not functioning or partially working with respect to both the motion of the figures and sound effects. The ride could really use some TLC. - That’s about all I can think of!

Undertow may open tomorrow, depending on if the ride passes the DOSH inspection.

The "cheese" factor of the video doesn't really surprise me. Tony has done videos on the OnPoint blog with the same sort of style for some time.

^ I think they're using sensors on the trains to check speeds, forces, etc. I heard that Undertow is ready for the DOSH inspection, and if that goes well, the ride could open later this week. They really want it open for Labor Day weekend.