willski

Hahaha......I'm sure there will be plenty of other credits. After all, it IS your honeymoon. So....um....Matterhorn, yeah. I'd guess with the seemingly high lats in some areas of this coaster (and maybe in the bad transitions as well), they just replace certain areas of the track. That would be a huge waste of money to replace all of it when only a little needs to be fixed.

Wow, honestly, roller coasters do not pump in theory. Maybe you think AC pumps, or Jaguar pumps, or some older wooden coaster pumps. I can assure you that, even if the pump is there, the pump was not incorporated into the design. Pumps are a result of manufacturing flaws, not design flaws. For example, an old wooden coaster is just a bunch of lines and contstant radii curves with no lead-ins as viewed from above. Now, perhaps some of those turns pump, but it is not because the designer created it that way, it is because the on site workers aren't perfect, so small track imperfections develop. Jaguar could be an imperfection is the joining of running rails to the crossties, or it could just be that the radius of the turn is tightening, which is not pumping. A fair coaster might have pumping because of its constant re/de-construction. As for the drop off the MCBR on AC, there is something wrong there. Not pumping, but I think the alignment of the rails is a bit off. The train in the back few rows does this violent vibrating thing, which also was happening on Goliath at SFoG in some of the drops when the trains were new and also later in the year when the wheels were getting worn. SFNERules, I think it's just a wheel problem really. It's very violent, but it has all of the characteristics of a lopsided or worn running wheel. For some reason, B&M Hypers get these weird vibrations at high speeds in pullouts. It seems almost as if the wheels should be reformulated to handle higher speeds. AC had it on a few drops in its 5th year (1st, 3rd a little, and definately the drop off the MCBR) and Goliath had it on the first two drops in its opening year (which never got totally better, I might add).

So you don't feel responsible for helping people in other countries? Basically, you just happened to be lucky enough to be born into a country that doesn't suck. It's not exactly like those people have a choice. Tens of thousands of people die everyday from diseases that are nothing to us, in fact, that don't even exist in a modern Western society (tuberculosis) or are somewhat manageable with modern drugs (AIDS). Honestly, if you somehow contracted TB, you'd just say, "Oh no, I have a bloody cough, go to the doctor, get some antibiotics, and be done with it." If you were born in say, Uganda and you got TB, you'd say, "I have a bloody cough, so not only am I going to die, but I'll probably infect most of my immediate family as well." Being born into a third world country should not be a death sentence. We should help others, and that's all it boils down to.

^If you look from the back of the train during the "pumping" turn, the train looks like it's pumping through the turn. It will look like it's speeding up, then slowing down, then speeding, etc. EDIT: Dammit, I'll get FRAPS out and make a video for all of you who are WTF-ing on this. Check here later.

^I think what makes it so hard to understand is that it's really hard to give any examples in terms of pictures, since it's not a desirable thing at all and every manufacturer avoids pumping. I would post an NL picture of pumping, but I don't really have any handy, so......

Okay, this really isn't a difficult concept. Pumping is what 95% of the NL coasters made by members here do. Basically, you want the radius of a hill or turn to be constant. That would be contantly getting smaller or larger or staying constant. For example, a bunny hop consists of a radius that starts large and then becomes smaller. For the top, the radius is large, then small, then large. For the pullout, the radius increases. So, to put it in math terms, you want the derivative of the graph of the radius curve (as seen in Elementary) to be a contant number (or the radius curve graph can be constant). Jaguar does not pump. Ninja does not pump. Maybe some older wooden coaster pump because they have been worn in or because the designer just winged it. Many older wooden coasters designers had nothing more than a protractor, straightedge, and a compass to design coasters. So they had no lead-ins, but they still had no pumping. If anyone is a member of Coastersims, you can see this in Red's "I'm so sick of transitions" thread. So, once again, pumping is when the radius of a turn or hill is not contant or constantly changing. It's really easy.

Nope.....you've got to be joking me if you think any modern company is going to allow pumping at all. Even coasters that are approaching 80 years of age have no pumping. There is an illusion of pumping created by the leveling off of the track. Usually, the track retains the same pullout radius as the drop and continues back up (okay, not always, but I don't really feel like going into it), which gives the correct impression of no pumping. However, AC's straight section gives the impressions that there is pumping, when in fact, it's just the track leveling off. It does feel a bit weird though. Here is a link to a page with a good picture of the flat sections between drops (1st and 2nd and then like 6th and 7th): www.freewebs.com/xcoasters/xcoasterscompics2.htm

^^Yeah, but USH got Mummy in 2004. IoA opened with its major attractions in 1999. After they finish the parkwide refurb of everything, they will need a new ride, but I think it would probably be for 2008. I also would hope to see this Jeep ride (as long as it was similar to Dinosaur, with less dark, boring parts). Also, they're going to have to build another tall, ugly wall to cover up the road if they build anything in the JP area. DD has one of these walls, which at least somewhat preserves the theming of the ride (you can see USO's backlot and the road once on the lift, but before you get on the ride, you can't tell unless you're looking for it). The JP area desperately needs another ride. JPRA is good, but that's it unless you're a kid (Camp Jurassic is awesome though for kids-my brother loved it). A very low to the ground silenced flyer would be great, then you could have P-flyers jr. and sr.

Is that a reliable rumor source? My sources seem to be pointing to beginning of Fiscal year 2007, (Jan-Feb time). I hope your sources are wrong about Summer 07! Fiscal year '07 would be end of June/beginning of July. Hopefully that's not the case, but I'm sure you know how it is with X and extended downtime.

Haha, I was about to say the same thing. Let's see, going 93 mph in a 65 mph (or less if it was a construction zone)-that's probably an automatic license revocation plus jail time. /hopes you have a radar detector......jeez!

Hurricane in the front on one of its last public rides ever. It actually didn't suck as much and was pretty fun in the helices.

Yeah, just a tip in general: Don't go to a Six Flags on a Saturday in late July-early August and don't go on a Saturday at the end of FrightFest. The only bearable way to do this would be Gold Flash Pass or VIP Pass, and even then it would suck. Usually the best days for FrightFest are Fridays-some Six Flags parks have even dropped the early October Fridays off their schedules because attendace in previous years was so low (SFNE comes to mind).

Haha, well I had to add that in the post just in case, but I'm never wrong so it's all good! And yeah, the head op was some bulky old guy (the two don't really go together, but yeah) that looked like he didn't know what he was talking about. So that was my disclaimer.

According to the head op at the Last Ride, Hurricane has been sold and will be relocated to somewhere in Brazil. And you can quote me on that, unless I'm wrong.

I've gotten very used to single train operations having SFoG as my home park for the past seven years. Basically, they realize that: A) It costs more to operate more than one train. B) The ride ops might actually have to DO something other than make personal phone calls. C) Who doesn't want to wait an hour for everything in the blazing sun, since they have provided no shade whatsoever and, in addition, have paved every surface (including walls) with asphalt. D) What in the hell is customer satisfaction? E) They can run one train on busy summer days from 10-noon, and when the line gets to over an hour, they decide to delay it even further by adding the second train, instead of being intelligent and simply adding it when the park opens. Oh yeah, and whoever designed Goliath's queue shading sucks. "Let's build umbrellas in front of the station that don't actually shade the line during the day! Also, let's force the line to begin there instead of using the well-shaded areas. On top of all that, let's only allow a max of 4 people per row in the station (of course assigned by some idiot who does not know what he is doing and sends out half of the train with 2 seats empty per row), so everyone in line swelters in the heat." Remember when Shapiro and Snyder promised more capacity and improved everything? Hah, yeah, that was a great lie. Stupid.....

Too cold to go swimming? Ha! You know nothing of my crazy swim coach then. We practiced at 9 am Saturday. Yes, that's right, the Saturday when it was 40 degrees. This was outdoors. I was taking SAT IIs though, so no awful practice for me. Tonight was very rough though. Yeah and nice uhhh.....Photo TR I guess.

So Immelmann's aren't inversions? And neither are some cobra rolls? Neither of these inversions are inverted 180 degrees-that's a poor definition of inversion. A better definition is 135 degrees, but that is still disputed by some people.

I bet you the reason for this is the failed plan for a military themed park. They were going to have a Hulk clone and call it Army. Army mad! Army crush car! Roooooarrrrrm, Army no like Islamic jihadists (launch)!

The black covers are there to prevent wear and tear. If you look at old B&Ms (or those that need an OTSR change), they have worn spots on either side of the inside of the OTSR. The black covers prevent the inside from being worn down as easily-which means the restraints don't have to be replaced as much, which equals more money for the park. I think it's a good idea, but the colors are all wrong. Alpengeist has covers similar to these (I think), but they cover the entire restraint and are the correct color. If they aren't covers, it would still be a good idea to have full restraint covers that match the underlying restraint.

^Actually, I think people recognize the JOE in the Goliath sign more than either of those. It's like, hey that guy whose name is on Goliath! Yeah, GASM in a back axle seat sucks hard (especially 3.3, which is the Q-Bot row). I used to think it was trailered, but it definately isn't-the front axle is just smoother than the back. Same goes for Cyclone as well-God bless you poor people in 6.2, that must have sucked. Now 6.1, on opening day with no trims or on a really good day, that is coaster perfection. That second drop is seriously one of the most insane parts of any coaster anywhere (the massive ejector and lats combined can nearly eject you from the ride if the lapbar is high enough). Glad you enjoyed it, you didn't miss out on much with both Vekomas down.

You do realize that your brakes rule is unrealistic, right? Brakes don't begin when the front of the train hits them. I've only seen one woodie ever do that, and that was Hurricane at the Pavilion. It feels abnormal when the coaster does that. The brakes should engage when about 33-50% of the train is in the brakes. If helices are the only thing that can be made in Elementary, then does that mean we can use HSAK? I don't understand your half-assed prohibition of Elementary-you're allowing people to do the hardest part of smoothing this type of coaster with a program. Hills are easy, so you can't tell if they were made with HSAK or not. Basically, either ban it or allow it, don't just say for x-element. Besides, if someone is a beast at hand smoothing, you can't tell anyway.

^Graphics intense? Maybe if you're running something from pre-2003 or something with a Celeron and crappy integrated stuff (in which case you're a fool for getting integrated and a Celeron). It runs fine for me: P4-HT 3.4 ghz 256MB graphics (GeForce 7600 I think? It was a hella lot-I was a gamer) 2GB RAM 120GB hardrive (though that won't matter unless you have like less than 1GB, which will slow your comp down) Also, installing RAM is a cinch. Just remember to ground yourself every once in a while, otherwise bye-bye RAM.

Viper@SFoG (relocated) High Roller Black Hole Hurricane: Category 5 (moving to Brazil according to the head op yesterday) Little Eagle Mad Mouse (Pavilion)

Uhh....95 degree drop into a dive loop into some brakes. Then some other randomness. Not saying it will suck, but best steel of '07? I doubt it.

An hour?!? The one in Athens doesn't exactly struggle, but it doesn't have that kind of business. They'll give free small samples just to get people in there to make it look like they have business. Good ice cream, but I'm glad I get an employee discount (friend is the manager-w00t!).