willski

Yeah, just look at the weather, right now it's says it'll be pretty ugly (at least here in Athens) on Saturday. You could always take a chance (we did last Saturday, it was pouring here when we left, but everything ended up being okay).

As for #1, I didn't realize it was the entrance and that it was leaving a curve. Otherwise, yeah, that would be a pretty sketchy transition. I still don't think it looks exactly right, but it is hand built on-site. http://www.thegravitygroup.com/voyage/03-06/pages/21.htm As for #2, you just confused me on the layout. The ride goes out on the left side (at least from the POV on that picture) and comes back on the right. I was saying that the turn just before the tunnel entry to go up into the MCBR looked like it lacked a lead-out, it just turns and levels. It looked pretty abrupt from the photo, but whatever. http://www.thegravitygroup.com/voyage/03-06/pages/28.htm It looks like the very last turn before you head up the hill toward the photographer is abruptly ended (has no lead-out). It might be just the camera angle, but it looks weird to me.

Yeesh, I would expect more from the GG, some of those transitions look awful and are going to be really rough at high speeds. The transition out of the first overbank (where it never really unbanks) looks pretty sketchy. The worst is the last turn out of the turnaround, it looks like they were building it and realized, "Hey, we have to make it turn more sharply or else it will go under the outbound track". That abrupt turn is either giong to provide some nice lats or be reall painful (or both). Other than those 2 transitions, this ride is going to be an airtime BEAST! That triple down looks so awesome, especially since it will be in a tunnel for the entire thing.

Well Duane gets all his info from the ride manufactuer, so if they say it's 114ft it is! So JO has the 3rd biggest loop in the world! I heard that it was going to be 290ft but local residents put paid to that! Yeah, but look at pictures of it, the lift is supposedly 168/170 ft. That loop is not 60 feet shorter than the lift; it is almost the same height as the pre-drop, making it way more than 114 ft. Also, several other B&M coasters have loops larger than JO (Superman in Madrid, maybe Kraken, maybe Wildfire, maybe Riddler). Anyway, it's not the height of the loop that matters, as evidenced by the fact that Nemesis owns JO.

The owners of Fantasy Island are absolute idiots. They spend $35+ million dollars on two Vekomas instead of, say, an Intamin Mega coaster and a GG woodie. Fools. I might add that JO was originally supposed to be 250+ feet tall and go nearly 100 mph, but it was "not feasible", so the park spent $25 million on one of the worst coasters ever (excepting maybe Goudurix). Also, that loop is certainly not the biggest in the world. Off the top of my head, both S:KC's loop, Dragon Kahn's loop, and Dominator's loop are bigger than 124 ft. (more like 135-140 ft. for each-even though RCDB lists S:KC's as 114 feet, that is a bunch of crap).

^Lack of blood flow to the brain/optical nerve. At first, your vision narrows (sometimes called tube or tunnel vision). then, you begin to grey out (your vision flashes, like it does sometimes when you stand up too quickly). Then, you black out, which means you are recieving no or very little blood flow in your brain/optical nerve. It's not a problem for short periods of time at relatively low g-forces (as in Goliath at SFMMs helix), but if it is prolonged at high g forces, the effects can be dangerous and even deadly (say, a fighter jet pulling 8 Gs for 20 seconds during a pullout). However, fighter pilots wear G-suits, which pump air into special bladders when high g-forces are encountered. This helps prevent the blood from pooling in the lower body and therefore helps to continue blood flow to the brain/optical nerve. Also, tightening your leg muscles is supposed to help, though I'm not sure on that one (I do use it on B:TRs helix after the second loop when riding in the back, it helps to keep me from greying out. The opposite of all this is excessive negative Gs, which is called a red-out. I'm not sure, but I would guess that it is called a red-out due to an excess of blood in the upper body caused by the negative forces. This would flood the capillaries in the brain and especially the optical nerve, causing red vision. That is just a guess though.

^^ Over 150 isn't overweight, I'm just insanely skinny. You shouldn't have troubey on any of those rides that I named. However, someone who is 300 pounds will have trouble boarding those rides, but once again, it is all about body proportions. If you have massive legs but a relatively small upper body, you can probably ride B:TR and Scorcher, but Goliath will be ruled out and vice versa. And Doug, I still doubt a 4 hour wait. TTD was 6-7 hours the first day, my friend waited in line from noon to 6:30 for one ride. If the line does stretch to 4 hours, it will be a testament to SFoG's terribly slow operations, and nothing more. All the ride-ops have to do is check one restraint, there are no seatbelts or anything. Boarding should be ultra-fast and the line should move pretty quickly.

Hey, Wild Adventures looked fun, I'm glad you guys were able to get (most of) the credits. Oh and FYI, CedarPoint6 is totally in my Calulus class and goes to my high school. Small world, huh? How was SFoG Tom? I was there the same day, but I didn't see you .

^Except normally it only takes a month. It's been down since mid-October and shows few signs of re-opening soon.

Ninja will jnot open till May, as already stated. They have a long way to go with the painting (the supports aren't even close to halfway). Mindbender is more around 4 Gs, but much more sustained than your average coaster. I would say that your largest relatives would not be able to fit on Mindbender anyway, but they shouldn't worry about blacking out; it's not a big deal at all and I personally have never experienced it on Mindbender. They might be able to fit into: Goliath GASM (depends b/c of the seat divider) Cyclone (depends for the same reason as ^) Splashwater Falls Thunder River Log Jamboree And that really is about it. Even with the large rider seats on the B&Ms (I know B:TR has them, but what about Scorcher?), they probably won't fit. They won't fit on Mindbender, as the restraint wouldn't hold them in properly. Mine train also won't work, and neither will Canyon Blaster, as I have trouble fitting in the trains (6'1" and only 135 lbs.). Superman will probably not work either, nor will Acrophobia. It all depends on the way their weight is distributed. You can try on all of the rides, but I have a feeling that your relatives will not fit on most of them. Also, the power did not go out last weekend, as I went on Sunday and had friends there on Saturday. If the power does go out, the generators (assuming they have them) for each rides would give the rides enough power to get all riders off. Since power failures aren't a regular occurance (I don't even think the park has had one for a few years-I remember the one when Acro got stuck), I wouldn't worry too much about one. Oh, and for opening day, I'm predicting 2+ hr. lines for Goliath, but none of this 4-5 hours garbage; that's almost as long as TTD's line was for the first day! Goliath isn't that popular. Just get a Q-bot and you'll be fine. Plus, with most of the guests riding Goliath, the lines for other rides should be pretty short.

^Well, I've already been to both parks, I just need a few credits there (both at USF, and Pteranodon Flyers). Plus, it's already paid for by AAA. I really hope they don't mess with Ripsaw Falls, it was fantastic last time I rode it. DD is going to be down from April 23rd to June 4th; this is from the DD webpage on the IoA website. I'm guessing that they are painting it or doing some sort of train rehab. http://www.universalorlando.com/ioa_attr_dd.html

Speaking of being disappointed about IoA, I just found out that DD will be closed when I am there later this year (May 13-16), as will Ripsaw Falls, which has been closed for a loooong time. I would change the date, but since everything (airfare, meals, tickets, hotel) is being paid for by AAA, I can't change the dates. I guess all I can do is hope that the painting goes super fast.

Thank you to haux (or should I say Chip?) for backing me up on this one. Also, I don't believe Arrow would have seen concept plans for Kumba. Let's look at it this way: mid-1990: Busch comes up with a coaster design/concept for DF late-1990: After approaching B&M and being turned down, Busch signs with Arrow for DF. early-1991: DF's design is finalized by Arrow mid-1991: Kumba concept is sketched by Busch artists, too late for Arrow to use these concept sketches, as the plans for DF are already finalized late-1991: B&M awarded contract for Kumba, footers are poured for DF, DF track and support fabrication begins early-1992: Kumba's design finalized, DF opens to the public mid to late-1992: Kumba's footers are poured and track/support fabrication begins. early-1993: Kumba opens. Does that illustrate the approx. timeline well enough? Unless the two concepts were developed simultaneously (which I doubt), the concept ideas for Kumba would have been non-exsistant/too vague at the point in time for Arrow to use in DF's design. Once the Kumba concept was finalized, DF's design was finished and track fabrication was probably underway. Anyway, it would be nice for BGW to get a new coaster, but they won't get it in the old DF plot for two reasons: 1. It's too remote. 2. The residents of Kingsmill complained about the excessive noise of DF, which wasn't a particularly loud ride. No woodie or non-silenced coaster could go there, and even if the track was filled with sand, the screaming riders might still elicit complaints.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, and more no. B&M had nothing (and I do mean nothing) to do with the Arrow design of Drachen Fire. DF was solely an Arrow project, designed by the master of pain himself, Ron Toomer. In 1992, B&M was working on perfecting their Inverted coaster (which debuted that year as B:TR at SFGAdv). Originally, Arrow was contracted to build two looping coasters for the Busch parks. However, Busch wanted a looping coaster with a loop around the lift hill, and as Arrow was unable to offer that, they went with B&M instead of Arrow for Kumba. Once again, B&M never had any affiliation with Drachen Fire, as witnessed by the awful transitions that only Arrow and Toomer could provide.

There are no seatbelts, though B&M experimented with rudimentary seatbelts on Nitro several years ago. Their use was discontinued as no one even bothered to hook them to the restraint and also they lowered capacity quite a bit. The good thing about no seatbelts is it provides maximum freedom (what an awesome feeling) and speeds capacity, which is just what this ride needs with only 2 trains. Your friend may be able to fit, it just depends on how his weight is distributed. If he has maasive thighs, the answer is probably no. Most clamshells (at least on the two B&M Mega coasters I've ridden) have a bit of red tape around the shaft of the restraint that indicates to ride ops whether the restraint is far enough down or not. Usually it is around 3 clicks, but it may be different on Goliath.

Actually, it would probably be more likely that the ride would get new trains, as Shapiro is reported to have said something to the effect of, "People don't want to pay $50 to get beat up". He would be in favor of the necessary upgrades/rehabs to make any coaster smoother. Althought, to be honest with you, I find no reason to get new trains, unless they have spring-loaded suspension and are very smooth (which I doubt since Vekoma's poor engineering leaves large wheel gaps on the upstop and guide wheels). Just ride it in the back car, first row and you should be fine for one or two rides, since all you need is the credit .

Nemesis just didn't do it for me, it's not even in my top 10 as of now (it might be close though). I really didn't see what all the hype was about (but probably because I hyped it up in my head throughout my 3 week visit to Great Britain). I found it to be much less intense than Mindbender (Edmonton Mall), which is by far the most intense ride I've experienced. Montu (sans trims)>Alpie>Raptor (sans MCBR)>DD (combined)>Nemesis/Top Gun (PC)>B:TR>SB Nemesis is still a great coaster and I really look forward to riding it (and EGF) in 2007.

Yeah, Kumba was about to go down for painting when we were there a few weeks ago. I think Kumba has the best 0-g roll that I've experienced, but Kraken's is also really good. Looks like an awesome trip!

Ummm......the more I hear about Snyder/Shapiro, the more I start to hate it. Let's face it, Six Flags does not market to families (at least not in the same manner as Disney, Busch, etc.). Selling land and reducing the number of major rides built is not a good idea when your main market is teens and young adults. I'm afraid that if they attempt to change their market, attendance will crash, as all of their parks currently are way more focused on thrills than families.

^ Isn't AP US just so fun?!?!?!?! Not. If you think those DBQ's are hard, they are tons harder in AP Euro sinc they are a different format (if you take it). Ugh, I hate DBQ's!

No, no, no, no, no, no, and more no. You cannot, I mean cannot, use the SpongeBob versions of Kraft's Mac & Cheese. The noodles taste funny and the texture is just....wrong. Either normal noodles or I'm with Elissa.

Wow, I feel for all you guys that are on normal schedules. We operate on the block schedule, so we only have 4 exams, but the classes are 100 min. long. I got: AP Bio-99 (w00t! My first time actually studying for this class paid off) AP Calc-96 (eh, this was way too easy when compared with some of our recent tests) AP Euro-90 (I didn't really study at all, so I guess I deserved it) Mechanical Drafting- Exempted with a 100.

I had an 1120 (560 M and V) on the SAT back in 7th grade (Duke TIP, for anyone who knows what that is). I had a 208 out of 240 (99th percentile) on the PSAT and I'm taking the new SAT in January for dual-enrollment as a senior.

Liek if you hold your breath over a bunny hill, your head will a-splode!1111!!!111

A new coaster back where DF was would be nice, but it won't happen, because Kingsmill (upper-scale resort/golf course/neighborhood) complained aobut the noise from DF, which wasn't even that loud. Also, for the thousandth time, B&M was not involved with DF. The transitions, elements, and everything about the ride screams Arrow. Plus, B&M has confirmed on numerous occasions that they were never involved with DF. Busch considered going with Arrow for BGT's Kumba, but they wanted a loop around the lift, which Arrow could not do. Instead, BGT went with B&M, ushering in a new age of looping coasters.