KevinM

I think it's really intriguing how the world records have slowly decoupled. Think of all the record breakers of the 70's, 80's, and 90's... most of them were "Tallest, longest, and fastest steel" and also had the longest drop. Those started to break up with Ultimate, S:EFK, Dodonpa, TTD/Ka, and Formula Rossa. Now we have the world's tallest coaster without the world's longest drop: So now Skyscraper, Steel Dragon 2000, Formula Rossa, and Kingda Ka top out each of the four individual categories. I'll be interested to see if this trend continues in the future.

I operated Cedar Point's Skyscraper for a summer which uses a very similar restraint. These restraints are fastened in three or four places (four on newer models). The first two are very similar to the shoulder/lap belt you'll find in your car, one overlapping the other. These two straps are tightened in such a way that a rider cannot slide out upwards. (The manual actually suggests that riders with "sloped shoulders" wearing a "slick jacket" should remove their jacket. This kid is definitely "sloped" but not tall enough to where the shoulder straps would slide down to his arms.) The only possible way out at this point would be sliding downward, which should be stopped by the seat. As a redundant measure, one or two "crotch straps" (actual name!) are connected from beneath the seat to the rider's, well... crotch. On a one-strap model, the strap is connected where the shoulder straps cross (I think, our's was a two-strap). On a two-strap, each strap connects at one hip, where the lap/shoulder belt is also fastened. In summary, unless the rider is extremely round and large, there is no risk of sliding out. This kid is fine, in my season I never encountered anyone that would be remotely at risk. (Such a rider should be filtered out via the weight limit.) I hope you find this enlightening!

After visiting SFA and King's Dominion this weekend, I have a new worst coaster! And the award goes to ... SFA Mind Eraser! Now it's been a while since I've ridden an SLC, and I have gotten a bit larger since then, but I don't remember the SLC restraints being as relentlessly painful as they are on that mind eraser. I know Vekoma suspendeds have some problems with riders being able to reach up and touch the wheels, so they use various tatics to restrict arms movements... but the shoulder braces on Mind Eraser were just absolutely digging into me before it even left the station. I was screaming in pain for the entire ride. I don't really mind the roughness, but I can't stand for getting stabbed by shoulder restraints.

Does anyone have experience using a biometric season pass at SFA? I've been Googling around and it looks like SFA is one of the parks that did not get biometrics this year. (And considering that SFA was the last to get Q-Bots, I'm not surprised.) I'll be in DC for business in a few weeks and I'd like to visit, but I have a biometric (no photo) pass from SFStL. I assume that this could be a hassle considering SF's minimal training of its employees. Based on the language on the back of the pass, I may be asked to present a photo ID matching the name that I wrote on the back of the pass. Anybody have any insight on this?

Let's be honest here, Timberliner retrofits don't have a very good track record. Hades 360 is rough as ever, and Holiday World completely cancelled their retrofit after almost five years of work. Even the millennium flyer retrofit to Gwazi has not helped. Additionally, Six Flags St. Louis has a huge stockpile of Gerstlaur train parts from Twisted Twins and Mega Zeph. Re-tracking and re-conditioning of the trains would be a more sensible fix. A full topper-track replacement could also be a good option.

It definitely does, but I've only seen it a handful of times in a similar number of years because it requires that: a) two trains are running; and b) the crew is hitting interval. When I noted that the crew was "extremely close" to interval, I didn't mean that they were just waiting for the transfer table. They were just arriving to their positions when the returning train started sliding back over. Honestly, if they were in position and waiting for the table to clear, I would still call that "hitting interval". As someone with degrees in Electrical/Computer Engineering, I totally understand why the system would be finicky moving both tables at once. I would guess that such process requires a number of position sensors to be working in concert. Those sensors tend to get erratic later in their lives, and if the computer has any doubt about the positioning, the safe thing to do is to shut down. It was a cool effect that saved a few seconds, but I'd rather the ride not e-stop unnecessarily.

I happened to be heading back to STL on I44 with some hours to spare, so I paid SFStL a "drop-in visit" which is my favorite way to enjoy this park. (It's just so close to the highway, I can hardly resist.) The park was pretty packed for a Sunday, but I managed to ride 4 coasters including Boomerang in about 90 minutes. My first stop was Boss which was running on two trains, zero stacking. Next up was boomerang which was running pretty nicely, I think I waited about twenty minutes. I love that this coaster always has a grouper. (I know it's safety related, but it's still nice have a station that's not flooded.) Next I headed towards Freeze, which was down. I moved on to American Thunder which had two trains, zero wait. By the time I was done with Thunder, Mr. Freeze was back up. They were running two trains today (yes!) and coming extremely close to hitting interval. All in all, the operations I saw today were exemplary. It's days like these that make drop-in visits worth it.

Now, I'm not saying that I endorse the Loose Article Program, but I can explain the reasoning here. (LAP is actually an old SF policy that was abandoned at the corporate level, but SFStL continues to abide by it.) One of the problems LAP is supposed to fix is theft. Since River King Mine Train usually runs with more than one train, leaving your items on the platform makes it very easy for riders on another train to take your things. Since Mr. Freeze is a shuttle, no one has access to your items while you are out on the track, therefore the theft risk is minimal. Loose Article Program caused a ton of problems, mainly upset guests. People just won't learn that you don't NEED a bag while you're in the park. (Medically necessary items can be marked by Guest Relations and are allowed in the lines.) If everyone ditched their loose items, theft would be reduced and rides would load faster.

This looks astounding. But I have one massive question. This cannot be real. Is this just a limitation of their early rendering? I know coasters like I305 support themselves in a similar manner, but I have serious doubts that topper track could support itself like that. I know it's been said that an updated rendering is coming, so I'm assuming that this element must have some additional support over it that isn't rendered here.

I'm just going to file my random last minute guess: wooden invert. It seems that no guess is too crazy for this project.

For some more detail on the Bluetooth radio in the MagicBand (which necessitates the battery), check out this video from AllThingsD. http://allthingsd.com/video/?video_id=528B4FF7-C8CA-42B4-AF89-59DCE53C18F1

^Actually, accredited scientists say it. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/4436934/Snow-is-consistent-with-global-warming-say-scientists.html I love snowy coasters. This is perhaps the only time we will see a white X2.

I would rather see tables for loose articles like the ones I have seen at Worlds of Fun. It's much faster to put something on/take something off of a table vs. reaching into the bin. Also, since they feel less secure, people would be discouraged from having loose articles in the first place. Now the FFBFWMAG policy was intended to boost capacity but I'm not sure that it helped all that much. Look at any loose shoe ride. Batman the Ride, Raging Bull, V2, and Superman all have loose shoe cubby on the platform, so that steals about as much time as storage bins, especially when it was required that all shoes had to be in/on the (rather small) cubby. I don't think the capacity hit will be that bad.

Trash can stocks just took a dive.

^You make a good point, but a flat clothoid would still make a difference. If I recall correctly, Schwarzkopf got the idea from German exit ramps. It would not decrease the maximum force, but it would lower the forces in and out of the turnaround, leaving a intense but short section of force in the middle. I think the problem wasn't the magnitude of the force, it was the duration over which the force was sustained. I think they could design a turn that pulls the same (or just slightly higher) magnitude of force as before for a short segment and rider discomfort would not be too much of a factor. I don't think it's the optimal solution, but it just came to mind because it seems like it could solve the space issue. I would personally prefer an overbank, but that seems too complicated to substitute in.

The turnaround doesn't have to be circular. It could be clothoid (like a loop) which would make the forces more tolerable and probably pose less of a challenge to reconnect. If they do keep it as a circle, I'm going to guess that they would increase the radius by a third. If it's currently pulling 4 G's (just a guess), than a simple circular motion kinematics calculation would say that a one third larger radius would reduce the force to 3 G's. Interested to see what happens.

Is it this thread?

Praise Desmond, I won the bag of feces! Now it involved watching all 6 videos in their entirety (and then some more), and posting for about three hours but it was worth it! The IAAPA coverage was awesome. Hope I get some nice IAAPA feces!

^^^I got that Dale Earnhardt answer by Googling "last won in 1994". Who would have thought that it would have come up TWICE but still be wrong.

^^^Woohooo! This was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone else who played, couldn't have done it without you guys. PM Sent.

1. S&S Air Race Part 4 12:40 2. 13 Times 3. Part 1 7:33, In the background *4. Video 5, New York Rangers 9:54 "New York City" 5. Tranan Part 3 13:04-13:37 6. Part 5 13:45- 14:49 7. "Drink Responsibly and only if you're over 21" Part 6 5:46-5:51 8. 4 Times 9. Part 2 5:43-5:48 Formula Rossa 10. Part 4 "KMG XXL" 3:00-3:03

1. S&S Air Race Part 4 12:40 2. 13 Times 3. Part 1 7:33, In the background *4. Video 1, beginning, texas giant, RANGERS 5. Tranan Part 3 13:04-13:37 6. Part 5 13:45- 14:49 7. "Drink Responsibly and only if you're over 21" Part 6 5:46-5:51 8. 4 Times 9. Part 2 5:43-5:48 Formula Rossa 10. Part 4 "KMG XXL" 3:00-3:03

1. S&S Air Race Part 4 12:40 2. 13 Times 3. Part 1 7:33, In the background 4. Video 4 0:24 "Rockets" 5. Tranan Part 3 13:04-13:37 6. Part 5 13:45- 14:49 7. "Drink Responsibly and only if you're over 21" Part 6 5:46-5:51 8. 4 Times 9. Part 2 5:43-5:48 Formula Rossa 10. Part 4 "KMG XXL" 3:00-3:03

#1 video 3 12:40 S&S Air Race #2 13 #3 Video 1 7:33 Behind Dippin' Dots Guy #4 Video 4 0:24 "Rockets" #5 Video 5 11:26 "Crane" #6 Video 5 13:45 Frog Hopper #7 Video #6 5:47 "Drink Responsibly" #8 4 #9 Video #2 5:40 Formula Rossa #10 Video #4 3:00 "KMG XXL"

#1 video 3 12:40 S&S Air Race #2 13 #3 Video 1 7:33 Behind Dippin' Dots Guy #4 Video 4 5:00 "Dale Earnhardt" #5 Video 4 1:30 "Crane" #6 Video 5 13:45 Frog Hopper #7 Video #6 5:47 "Drink Responsibly" #8 4 #9 Video #2 5:40 Formula Rossa #10 Video #4 3:00 "KMG XXL"