Anac0nda

Although I only got to visit one new park, my favourite new rides of 2015 were Expedition GeForce and Junker. Mechanica gets an honorable mention as well.

I love every single piece IMAscore has made! They really have made it big in the industry after publishing major parts of Helix's soundtrack, and it's no wonder. Their complex and epic melodies paired with talented orchestras just hit the spot for me! My favourites are Helix, Colossos, Flug der Dämonen and Kärnan: (14:05 ) (1:57 sends chills down my spine every time)

As a former ride-op, I can confirm that 12 consecutive hours of just about anything can annoy you. However the king was Kotkot at Linnanmäki (yes, the egg ride). It has a theme that drills into your head around 500 times per day, but it's specialty is that it clearly has a beginning and an end. Every time it ends you silently wish it somehow didn't start again...

Expedition GeForce. In the front row it crawls over (in a good way) which enhances the steepness, but in the back it's just pure ejector all the way! However, not only is the drop very steep (82 deg) but the twist is awesome as well! In the back you're already out of your seat, but then it decides to toss you around like a ragdoll producing the best first drop I've ever had the honor to ride

- Helix's pullout from the zero-g-roll (before the helix which turns into the second launch) - Tornado's (Bakken) lift/launch !!! - Expedition GeForce's first drop in the last row (I had read praises about it but I guess one can't really prepare for it) - Juvelen's second launch (way more powerful than I thought) - Junker's final zero-g-roll

It does, because engineering (second moment of inertia among others). When building a coaster, material and manufacturing costs increase with the height since the supports are taller. However, manufacturing this kind of complex track is costly as well, so it's a balance to find the most cost-effective solution between supports and track. I'd say the closer you are to ground use less complex track that its cheaper to manufacture (no spine), and when going high use complex track that is more expensive to manufacture (double-spine) but save money on the supports you don't need to build.

My friends visited PA a while ago and they all agreed that Baco has horrible vibrations/shaking, especially in the outer seats. Everything after the launch had convinced them not to ride again. They also said that the wheels were in really bad condition and there were visible gaps between the track and upstop wheels. The train is indeed heavy so it must wear the wheels quickly, but they shouldn't have let the situation go this bad.

It was mentioned two pages ago that a Gerstlauer Sky Roller will be built.

That has to be the tightest first drop I've ever seen! This has to have single cars or very short trains, there's no way a full train could scale that with live people, think about the back seats. That'd be like astronomical airtime. I can't wait to see how this project will continue!

ZacSpin's endings is one that comes to mind. But the kings of coin dropping are HUSS Topspins and Boosters.

Yeah with those catwalks and that drop I'll place my bet on wing coaster. But think about it: a wing coaster with BlueFire restraints! This'll be interesting to follow

Most definitely: Linnanmäki Särkänniemi Power Park Choices: Hansa Park Heide Park or Gröna Lund Kolmården Liseberg I had plans to visit Hansa and Heide Park this year, but decided to do a quick trip to Holiday Park instead. I want to see Kärnan in its full glory, and I still got to ride Expedition GeForce, which stands at #2 on my top-ten list. Now I just have to try and make a decision between Kärnan/Colossos/Flug der Dämonen and Wildfire/Jetline/Helix. It's really tough!

That's the one, my bad I always seem to get them mixed. I guess I relate HUSS to quality flat rides and Schwartzkopf with quality coasters.

I rode the Gerst Polyp in Liseberg and I have to say, it comes pretty close with the HUSS one. There were some differences though but I can't quite put my finger on what they were. Anyways if HUSS doesn't make these anymore, it's good that Gerst makes these that they don't disappear completely, because they are very fun rides! I'm excited to hear that Djurs is doing well and keeps upgrading the park. I'm already looking forward to visiting Djurs again!

I just recently discovered these mini-videoclips and I really like them! They are short enough to keep the GP interested, but they have enough information to keep us enthusiasts content as well. Plus Damien seems like a cool guy who knows his stuff. It would be awesome to get a guided tour in the site with him as a guide

Here's something I've gathered: If a malfunction occurs and the automatic ride cycle stops, first objective is to slowly bring the gondola down using the same motor that brings it up (i.e. the catch car) in automatic mode. Less wait for the customers and less fuss in general as everything happens with the help of the computer and automatics. If automatics are down, then use a manual override to move the motors slowly. This usually has to be done by maintenance and thus creates wait time for the customers on board. If moving the gondola up or down isn't possible, there should always be a mechanism to drop the gondola at any height. I understand (and hope) that every drop tower uses magnetic brakes, and the (one of) the beauty of those is that they are safeproof. It doesn't matter how high the gondola is dropped, it's always brought down safely. Now how can you release the gondola from the catch car? Just mount a small hydraulics system that forces the pick-up locks to open, for example. If the whole park has no electricity, you can just include a pressurized tank in the catch car to hold up just enough power and transfer the opening command to it using batteries (data transfer doesn't require much really). If dropping the gondola isn't possible either, manually rotating the motors to lower the gondola or even cutting the cables would still be a better idea in my opinion than to bring a cherry picker next to a car that isn't fastened in place. I cannot imagine myself opening my restraints and jumping into a basket at heights.

Sorry to ask if this has been mentioned, but it kinda looks like the supports are pre-fab? Does anyone know has this been announced or does it just look like prefab in that picture? I mean it could very well be a regular old-fashioned woodie. I'm not saying it would be a good or a bad thing if it's prefab, just curious about the method. Also: it is sexy and sleeky. This beast is going to be pretty when it's completed!

I don't have an opinion about the B&M restraints since I haven't ridden any with the new ones and only two with the old OTSRs. However this is one of the most interesting things we are witnessing at the moment in my opinion. Not only are we getting smoother track profiles and more exhilirating rides due to computer designing, but I think that improving the ride feeling via restraint system is just as important. I find that it was another 'revolution' to discover that you can do safe inversions with just a lapbar. From old Schwarzkopfs to today's Maurer X-Car and MACK BlueFire coming more popular, I think even GP starts to realize that its more exciting to ride with minimal restraints in both physical sense and vision. I like lapbars more than big bulky OSTRs so I'm happy that the general consensus is what it is.

The silver one is one of the best-looking zero cars I have seen in a while. Love it!

- The water ski show "Hollywood's Walking Dead" at Holiday Park. It has burning zombies riding jetskis, and school girls in classic uniforms doing stunts! - HUSS Top Spin overspeed test. It's almost frightening to look at how fast it can spin before it reports a fault - Ride-ops at Djurs Sommerland. Just the way they interact with children is really awesome to look at. In Finland you could never get away with jokingly poking children with toy swords - Helix at night

Liseberg has struck gold with not only Helix and its magnific trains, but Mechanica has awesome LEDs as well! Hats off to you, Liseberg (once again)

Still going with Helix. Not only are they comfortable and lapbar only, the lighting package is incredible! That and they are much better for ride-ops to check restraints because they are so open and level with the station platform.

I rode GeForce in June but I didn't notice any rattle. Just smooth Intamin bliss! I hit the queue first thing when it opened and got a couple of rides while queue time was under 10 minutes. Oh, and I'd also highly recommend watching the water-stunt show. It's amazing and doesn't cost any extra!

Wow this looks really accurate! Please post more shots around the park! Liseberg is my favourite park (and I'll be visiting it in two weeks) so It'd be fun to see every ride and coaster in tiny RCT versions before visiting them in real life

I second Jetline and Twister at Gröna Lund! They are crazy close, and in fact at the beginning of Twister's lift you can easily touch the track that crosses above (I dared to touch it because the trains travels slowly). Other ones I remember are Matterhorn Blitz at Europa Park (one of the little dips in the end) and Linnunrata at Linnanmäki (although you can't see how close to the concrete pillars it goes because of darkness).