Skycoastin Steve

That's what my money is on and will continue to be on until they announce whatever the new ride is.

^I can deal with some neck chopping. Hell, I305 and Maverick are #2 and 3 on my steel list, so that just goes to show how little it bothers me. I come to expect at least some discomfort with any OTSRs (yes, even B&M's) because of my height, so it's never a surprise when it happens. -Steve "I blame genetics" Burant

^^Yes, it looks as if the rumored new restraints are in fact the ones from that picture. The only problem I ever had with the Maverick-style restraints is neck banging, but it really doesn't bother me that much. I know shorter people had trouble with their ears getting beaten up, but I'm not short. Once again, it's just a "wait and see" situation.

^Cedar Fair food prices + bottles of moonshine? Empty your bank accounts in preparation!

I'm glad to say that I'll be able to report on just how bad the trim truly is in a week. I'll be there next Tuesday thanks to KD going daily a week earlier than scheduled. If the rumors of the restraints changing prove to be true, then the new ride experience will be pretty interesting.

I expected a pitiful meltdown from the GP-infested craphouse that is kdfansite, but this is most troublesome to see it at a site where I thought there was an overtone of maturity. Everyone who is upset over this, just get over it. It doesn't matter whose fault it is, it doesn't matter why the park put the trims on there, and it doesn't matter if it makes it the worst ride EVAR now. The park is going to look out for #1, that's the long and the short of it. I'm as much of a coaster enthusiast as anyone else, but ya know what? This isn't life and death, it's theme parks and thrill rides. I could sit here and type out the things that are more important than theme parks and thrill rides, but I don't have that kind of time. Just get over it.

I gotta ask about Wildebeest, how are tall people going to fare on that thing? I'm 6'5, and shudder at the thought of my face smacking into the top edge of a tunnel after one of those launches. Is there enough clearance for the freaks of nature such as myself? By the way, those are some fantastic pictures!

I agree! I mean, I'm always up for a new ride, but I have to say that STR really just feels like a longer snake river falls. I don't get the point, either. Maybe they want to remove Snake River Falls in the some what nearish future? That was the original plan, but for whatever reason they kept SRF around to splash another day.

Quoted for absolute truth. I'm sure this ride is still heinous, just to a more bearable level for John and Jane Q. park goer. Not to mention the potential maintenance benefits.

What? I've not ever heard of any coaster that requires three operators in order to run a 2-train operation. In fact, I've actually seen a 2-train operation on a B&M Floorless run by a SINGLE operator once! --Robb Rampage required at least 3 for a two-train operation (per the manual) so there would be one person at the driver's booth, and one person on each side checking restraints. However, two-train operation was so infrequent that we rarely had to worry about it.

^Oh, I don't know, the fact that it was taken during media day and Robb was in a restricted area that no guests are allowed to enter during a regular operating day?

^So multiple reports from people who have ridden it and said that they saw and felt the trims isn't enough proof for you? Have you been to the park since I305 was built? Do you realize that there are precisely ZERO places to photograph that side of the first drop from inside the park (unless you illegally take on ride photo/video)? Denial is an ugly thing.....

^From reports that people gave over the last week or so prior to the trim being installed, they already tried a slower lift hill. I have to imagine it wasn't getting them the results they wanted. I'm pretty sure the people in charge of all this are smart enough to pick the best course of action, all things considered. If it's something that a bunch of Joe Blow regulars on a website could come up with, don't you think it's something that experienced engineers could come up with?

^I'm about 99.9% sure that's just a cropped version of the picture I posted earlier in this thread. It's a picture of the bracket before the trim was installed, screen capped from a youtube video. That's not the trim.

Wow, when I go in two weeks (and also again the week after that), I could be riding essentially a completely different ride than what I rode in April. New credit!!!!

^If the trims on the first drop are like the trims later in the ride, they're fixed magnets that are always on (much like the brakes at the end of TTD and KK). Unfortunately, the only way to "turn them off" is to remove them from the track.

Well if someone else with an "outside, non KD regular" point of view can't provide insight in the next week or so, I'll be at the park on June 1 and can report back how much differently the ride feels from when I rode it opening weekend. It's a bit disappointing to see a 300 foot drop get neutered a bit, but it's certainly for the best. As many have said already, this could just be one of several "phases" of attempting to limit the forces on this ride, so I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is a permanent change.

Believe me when I say this, trims are almost ALWAYS put into place to save the park on maintenance costs and to prevent unnecessary long-term damage to the track/train/structure. While they surely can neuter a ride, it's better than the ride falling apart, being down all the time, and/or getting torn down. So they're a necessary evil, if you will.

To be even more fair, if it wasn't in their budget 8 months ago and they didn't have the paint yet, there was no way they were going to paint it.

^What he said.

What's this "Millie" ride that everyone keeps referring to?

The zero car on the Timberliners being out in front of the front seat is kinda odd. I wonder if they tried to figure out a good way to get the zero car with seats on it or if they just wanted it that way all along.

^^Trains still tend to run slower with water dummies in them, and as the previous poster said, it's still going to take a bit for the trains to get "broken in" and running at full speed. Every coaster is like that.

^Last time I checked, it has the most consistently full queue in the park on a daily basis.

^The speed/pain factor is why they don't run it in the rain. I've ridden it in a light drizzle before, and it hurt BAD.