Skycoastin Steve

Do the cheetahs have large talons?

^You could always stick with the simple: the original top of one of the loops from GASM serves as a jungle gym for monkeys down in the field next to El Toro!

^They might be testing the new layout both with and without trims to see what the difference in forces is between the two, just for future reference.

^Is the rest of the first turn done, or have they just put the 2nd hill back up?

I can't imagine going up in a building that massive. I thought going up in the Gateway Arch was cool enough, but the observation deck is over twice as high as that! It's crazy what modern engineering is capable of creating. Now let's build a coaster track that drops the entire length of the building.

^Beast has always had brakes in those places, they were just skid brakes instead of magnetic. They probably didn't slow the ride down quite as much, but they were always there. Even in the old Kings Island documentary, they said they rode the ride once without the skid brakes and immediately added them afterward because they knew it was going way too fast. You can see them in this POV.

^Well poo. That's definitely right around where it happened, though. Too bad we don't have that "X marks the spot" to pin it down.

The final remaining footer from the old Carowinds monorail used to be right next to the first drop of Vortex up until the middle of the season last year, then they tore it out. You can also still see parts of the old track that the boat ran on in the lagoon before Borghawk was installed. Just ride the Sky Tower and look down, it's really easy to spot. If you go to Cedar Point, the blue building between RipCord and SkyScraper is the old electrical/air building from VertiGo, now used as a storage building for towels and other stuff. Also, you can still see the old attachments where the track sat on the supports from the original layout of Magnum before the reprofile in 1990 (from the 3rd hill to the pretzel). A lot of people already know this, but the 5th and 6th trains of each side of Gemini now reside in the infield of Mean Streak (along with a lot of other used junk). EDIT: Another one, the Outer Hanks restaurant at Carowinds is below the old Sky Ride station. EDIT 2: I've thought of a ton more since posting this. - You can still see the "TG" logo for Top Gun on the outside of Afterburn's station just after the batwing. - You have to be on the ground for this, but all the old footers of Thunder Road are still there from before the GCI rebuild. - The old entrance/exits of Carolina Cyclone and Hurler are still visible if you know where to look for them. Hurler's is the sidewalk that walks right in front of the Skycoaster, and Cyclone's is behind the perimeter fence off to the left of the loops. - When you ride Phantom's Revenge, some of the old footers from the original ravine drop are still visible to the left of the new drop. - At Dorney, the footers from Hercules' turn over the water are still visible from the turn-around on Steel Force.

I don't recall anyone saying it wouldn't ride well because of how it looked. Sorta the same situation as people hating on the stickers on Intimidator last spring, people hating on the SF wrapped trains at all their properties, and rides that need repainting. Doesn't really affect the ride, but it still makes you chuckle on the inside.

^Obviously I've never been around these people when it happens, but how does one not realize a coaster train is coming? Scream isn't exactly the quietest ride around, nor is Batman at SFOG. Even if the deceased weren't expecting a train, you would think they heard/saw it coming. Especially with Scream, it's coming off the block brakes so she would have had some extra time to react. Then again, they could have been completely oblivious and never knew what hit them.

Pretty sure there was a lot of grusome 'dragging' involved. Yeah that's pretty similar to the story we were told. If only these ops would figure out that physics always wins, they wouldn't be archived articles and bleach stains.

Right after the MCBR, it drops off and starts the low helix along the ground. Right as you enter the helix look on the ground to the right and you'll see a large splatter of white on the pavement. And there's your stain.

^What exactly were the "massive injuries" to the girl that was killed at Revolution? I only ask because I was told a story about it way back in 2006 during my first rides orientation at Carowinds and I'd love to know if it were true.

Well if that's the case then yes, everything I said before now is thrown out. I'm glad that it was already built like that, so at least we know this wasn't an "oh crap, it's not strong enough so let's throw up some steel columns" situation. However, it still looks silly.

^That's all well and good, BUT, I still said the ride would probably be good. And I still think it looks cheap and hilarious. And seriously, if they thought there was any chance of structural failure (even 0.1%), do you really think they would have risked sending a train through it? I know there's been a definite "wait and see" aspect with a lot of this ride, but I would be completely and utterly stunned if that were the case. Do bridge builders send traffic over a bridge before its structure is done? Hell, maybe it was all part of their grandiose plan for the ride. Maybe they wanted to see if it would fall over, thereby wasting over a year of work. Maybe Intamin should launch a train through Cheetah Hunt before all the supports are up, see if the track can hold itself up. Why not? They're only test runs! The silver lining is they figured out the problem before putting any people on it. Still looks cheap and hilarious, in a point and laugh at how dumb it looks kind of way. It'll be a few years before I can get out to Arlington to ride Frankencoaster, hopefully it's still standing by then.

Probably the winningest post in TPR history.

^I'm really not bitching, I've said twice already it won't affect the ride. I just think it's hilarious in a point and laugh at how dumb it looks kind of way.

I honestly wish they hadn't recycled the Manta name, simply because it's going to be a pain in the arse to specify from now on which Manta I'm referring to. Regardless, neat looking ride, and a great addition for the park.

^I might believe that if anyone can come up with a previous project that involved testing trains before the planned ride structure was finished. I realize that supports get added/modified all the time (Xcelerator, WT, MF come to mind immediately), but why would they test the trains before the structure was finished? Basically, that would mean that they knew the structure wasn't sound and sent the trains anyway. Seems a bit reckless to me. As I said before, the ride is presumably still going to be good, and it really doesn't matter what's holding the ride up in the long run. Still doesn't make it look any less cheap or bush league. The back yard roller coaster works and stands on its own, but that doesn't make it impressive.

^Somehow I knew someone was going to mention ledgers on a traditional woodie. Spare me. There's a huge difference in a steel crossbeam as part of the structure, and large steel column supports being added post-test runs to hold up the structure because it wasn't sound enough. Like I said before, it's steel supports holding wooden supports holding steel track. Might as well have gone with all steel.

^Hence why one of the words I used to describe it was cheap. Spend the money and do it right rather than having it end up looking like it was built out of Knex.

So can we just drop the name and call it Frankencoaster?

^Paramount installed Delirium.

So I guess I'll say it. If they ended up needing steel supports anyway, why didn't they just tear it completely down and build a steel coaster? They could have designed the layout the same way with steel supports. Now it's just starting to look silly, cheap, and almost even like a hack job. I'm sure the ride will still be fun, no matter how ridiculous steel supports holding up wooden supports holding up steel track looks.

^Hmmmmm.....maybe I'll create some modern art. I can't possibly make anything less interesting than you see at modern art exhibits these days, and those guys make millions!