netdvn

I remember my school had a computer lab filled with old 80's Macintoshes that my class would go to play "learning games". Then in 1998, we got a new computer lab with iMacs and it was fun. I can actually remember visiting PGA and CP's website. Then in middle school we had a techology lab with old computers from the late-80s, early 90s that were donated to our school from William & Mary. Dan - Duck Hunt was my first video game.

1. Its a flu that we don't naturally have a defense against, but there are many strains of the flu that people don't have a defense against. This version of the flu just happens to come from pigs... Keep in mind, the regular flu constantly mutates to defy any sort of medication people throw at it. 2. I'm glad for the government's quick reactions, but the media totally took this situation and escalated it to a whole new level. Everybody claimed that this would probably be the virus to destroy the human race and as a result, pig farmers are suffering. I believe if more people died, the world would plunge into total chaos. Luckily fewer people than expected actually died from the swine flu. 3. Could the government react quickly without causing chaos? Yes. Did the government react quickly? Yes, but there was chaos as well... Dan - If sanitizer is antibacterial, how will it protect against the swine flu?

Italics are my favorite! But they're even better when you try to mess with somebody's head. Dan - Try clicking the... nah I'll let you figure it out on your own...

They've finally put the train on the track. Hopefully they'll start testing sometime soon.

Awesome LSHoF pics! I can't get enough of the facial expression shots.

SF bought land in Florida (I believe) during the early 90s but they haven't really built anything... The last time SF ever built a park in Florida was Six Flags Atlantis during the 80s, but that failed.

It would still be fairly difficult to get construction equipment up there even with chainsaws and bulldozers, if not it would be fairly expensive to bulldoze a trail through the woods. If this were true, they could've easily dug a maintenence road into the mountain. I reread Elissa's post and it seems that the ride removal is just a rumor.

What a cool looking wooden coaster... Does anybody know if the last finishing touches on the ride are finished (like the tunnels, etc)? I really can't wait til the theming comes up. I've been blown away at SF's recent attempts at theming coasters, so Terminator shouldn't be an exception... Dan - Man I'm starting to sound impatient!

Some more funny pics... New coaster for 2009 The name of KI's newest roller coaster. Spelling error

Do you like Headcheez? - Buckethead

Absolutely incredible! I can't wait to see the next update soon!

What about slowing it down to 10 mph too fast... That way the ride still feels insane, but will require less maintenence. I could be wrong about comparing EF to The Bat because technology has changed, but it seemed to me that both coasters were suffering similar wear. Both coasters seemed to take the turns at high speeds, but one was unbanked causing immense stress on the track and the other was banked causing less stress but the fact that the turns are taken at such a high speed contributes to the wear over a long period of time. Dan - I guess I can't really compare the two.

When Liseberg opened Balder as the world's first Intamin PnP Woodie Yes they are... They are technically records because they are "world's firsts". It doesn't have to be 10,000 feet tall, have 20 loops, and be 500 miles long to be a record breaker. As long as there's an innovative design that hasn't been done before, like onboard audio or extensive theming, it will be a world's first and technically a record breaker. That is unless you don't consider prototypes and innovative concepts to be record breakers... Then its a different story. Dan - Don't let me get my what is a prototype argument out!

Cradle looks a lot better this year than in the past. Did it get a repainting during the offseason?

^ He seems more of a fanboyish enthusiast than a member of the GP, but that comment was pretty funny... I normally don't eat food at parks, but the buildings don't have roaches and the passes aren't that expensive. As for the coasters 1. BBW is probably the best Arrow I've been on. 2. LNM is a boring, bumpy overbraked coaster, but it does look pretty over the water and wait times aren't that long. 3. Now that's a pretty poor excuse to bash AC. 4. Alpengeist suffers the most breakdowns of all the coasters, so I can understand where he's coming from, but it IS a B&M so it's pretty reliable. 6. Griffon is a fun ride, although I do think the park overhyped the ride in their ad campaign.

Hey Wes, nice comeback! Dan - Maybe I AM just being a little naive...

If you watch the POV (or actually rode the coaster) you can easily see how insane the swinging and the speed that the trains take those turns through. I've read reviews of KI's Bat and the swinging on that coaster is very similar to the swinging on EF, which causes me to assume that EF will eventually experience the exact same wear and tear that The Bat experienced, but it would take a little longer for the effects to occur because of the banking in the track and the improvements in the design... Even BBW experienced some wear, but BGW fixed that by placing a trim at the base of the drop to regulate the speed and reduce any wear and tear produced by the train... However I think that Everland waitied until it was too late to do anything about it.

^ That's what cameras are for

Maybe I'm just being naive, but I always thought that parks just assumed that their signature rides would experience wear and tear and had plans for the coaster in case a situation like that was occurring. I'm also assuming that the wear and tear that EF is experiencing is not something new considering its been running like KI's Bat for the past 17 years. I thought that the people working maintenence on the ride had already noticed that the coaster was tearing itself apart long ago and notified a higher up, but nothing was really done to fix it. Which is why the coaster has been at risk for demolition in recent years. I know that parks like BGW and CP have done this to some of their rides to reduce wear and tear. I also know that Disney does this constantly to make sure their rides are running in peak condition for years to come. And like I said before, this coaster has been running like KI's Bat for 17 years which allows me to assume that the coaster was already experiencing some wear and tear within the first few years of operation. And to expand on that point, KI's Bat ran for two years before KI decided to tear it out due to maintenance problems. So basically Everland technically neglected EF and allowed it to tear itself apart before even considering any sort of maintenance on the ride whatsoever. Not to mention if they converted the original construction roads into maintenance roads, nature couldn't take over them because they are so heavily used by traffic. Dan - Or maybe I'm just being naive...

BBW is the only suspended coaster I've ridden and IMO it's an amazing ride. Now that might be because I haven't been on many coasters in my lifetime (too chicken). The trims on the final drop are barely felt and the drop over the lake and it is still incredible, which makes me think that if Eagle Fortress is given trims similar to the ones on Wolf's final drop, it would still deliver an amazing ride and become less of a maintainence nightmare. I would hate to see something as incredible as Eagle Fortress close, especially since I haven't been able to experience its awesomeness. And at this rate, I'll probably never get to do so.

1. I can't get enough retro Orlando pics! Keep it up! 2. Open up the picture in Windows Picture and Fax Viewer (or any photo-viewing software if you have anything different) Press Alt+Print Screen (Prt Sc on my computer) Open up Paint and then select the dotted line square in the righthand corner of the toolbar. Right click the white window and select Paste Remove any excess around the picture by using your cursor and selecting/dragging the cursor over whatever you want to delete and hitting the Delete key on your keyboard. Move the picture into the top lefthand corner. Shrink the white window into the size of the picture by dragging the bottom righthand corner toward the picture. Save the file as a .jpg file. It takes a bit of work, but this is how I've been able to resize all my pics to fit TPR's standards without having to download any programs to my computer. I hope my instructions were clear and they helped.

^ But I was wondering why Everland didn't consider building many access roads during construction. The track had to get up onto the hill somehow. Don't parks normally consider maintainence costs when they build coasters? Especially with something as intense as Eagle Fortress. I believe it depends on the coaster and how much wear and tear it is facing. Steel Phantom and Wicked Twister had the track removed and replaced, while I believe if the wear is small enough, welding extra support to the track/supports would fix any problems. In Eagle Fortress's case, the coaster has been running like KI's Bat for almost 20 years now, so I can only imagine how much wear and tear the ride is suffering.

World's First Wooden coaster themed to a movie. World's first wooden coaster themed to the Terminator franchise World's first wooden coaster to have an onboard soundtrack World's first wooden coaster to actually have extensive theming World's first GCI to have all those things... Now you were saying??? Dan - My two cents, not sense

The train looks absolutely incredible, however knowing S&S and their prototypes, I don't really see this as the most reliable coaster in the world. The coaster also went up pretty fast. It looks like Terminator might have some competition for the fastest construction.

^^ Yes but how did the trims affect the final drop and the turn into the woods? Was that part of the ride "neutered"? I know when I first rode it (and subsequent rides afterward) that part felt pretty insane compared to the other coasters at BGW. Now I just watched the POV, and it seems that a large portion of the coaster WOULD have to be retracked in order to decrease maintainence costs. It also seems that some parts of the ride seem to be difficult to access, while other parts of the ride seem to be in a fairly open space... Personally I think the park should've added a few more maintainence roads around the layout when it was first built to allow easier access in case something like a retracking had to occur.