GigaG

I've never felt so confused as I do reading this. He probably means that the batwing is higher above the local ground level than the lift. Lower than the lift relative to the whole coaster, higher than the lift relative to the ground. But that is unlikely - the hill isn't very steep, so it isn't that much lower. On the other hand, it should reach its top speed in the batwing, so either the batwing is taller than the dive loop or similar-sized and very intense.

^LOL. I've never been on T2, but isn't it quite crappy even for an SLC? I'd actually want to ride it because it's one of only two prototypes, but still.

Hmm... well, a Mega-Lite would be fun, but the GP would call it a kiddie coaster because it is slightly small, not gimmicky, and has no inversions. That's personally why I think Maverick is such a success - it has the unusual launches, inversions, and 95-degree drop. A Mega-Lite has none of that. Although it might fit in this park now that Chang is gone, I would imagine that the GP still would flock to T2 first. I hope not, but still.

Anyone that complains about Maverick being painful is a complete pussy. It's people like you who will make it so that awesome coasters like a Mega-Lite are never built in America. Honestly, Carowinds should just build a boring B&M giga and save the awesome Intamins for Europe, China, or Japan in a culture where people can appreciate them and not complain like spoiled babies. --Robb Maverick kicks your ass, but in a good way.

By the way, are the MLs (Mega-Lites) more intense than Maverick? That is the closest analogue I'm familiar with - I've been on trimmed I305, but that was a few years ago. I'm mainly focusing on the airtime - is the "first" airtime hill (not the twisty one) similar to Maverick's first (awesome) hill, and are the final hops similar to Maverick's final hop?

The more I see this, the more I wish there was a Mega-Lite in the States so I could compare it to Maveshark and I305 (once I someday get the untrimmed 305 credit.) Could one of these successfully open in America with no trimming/neutering or OTSRs?

Are the upgraded restraints limiting the airtime at all? And would you say the new restraints are better or worse than El Toro when it comes to walks of shame? Also, do you think the stapling rule will spread to other SF parks?

While I am a younger person and therefore this may not apply always, at pretty much every Cedar Fair and Six Flags I've been to recently the rule was (at most places) that you can get a free cup of water if you ask. Panda Express near Viper does it too, they even have blue cups with the Chinese 水 (water) written on them.

I didn't think Poccy was that bad, but I did think Colossus was surprisingly smooth.

OK, so recently I noticed something in the Zumanjaro: Drop of Doom (which I will refer to as ZDoD or Z:DoD) interview, which can be found here. Six Flags said the ride would have a freefall of 10 seconds. Naturally, I was suspicious, so I decided to do some online calculations. I didn't use the air resistance because I don't know how that works and the calculator (I'm just using a "punch in the numbers and go" online calculator) wants the mass for that.Here are my conclusions- -To go 90mph, you must freefall 270.77723789469 feet. I'll just round this to 271. -A freefall from 271 feet takes 4.1043726674109 seconds (4.1 seconds) So obviously, they must be including the time of slowing down. Maybe the time from drop to stop is 10 seconds. Even if the freefall lasted the whole tower, it would not be 10 seconds- -A 415-foot fall accelerates to 111.4193141698 mph and lasts 5.0790932893973 seconds. So how big is a 10-second freefall? 1,608.7024278215 feet, and hitting 219.36851288475 mph. While I'm no expert (and certainly can't prove this, not knowing the density and/or mass of the ride vehicle), I think terminal velocity is going to come into play soon. So, I would like to know, wouldn't it be fun to know the exact statistics of a coaster? If TTD/KK launches any faster or slower on average, Formula Rossa's launch and trims (the only source I know says 65mph post-trim), etc... wouldn't it be fun to know? The issue with doing these calculations on an average coaster is taking into account friction, slope, mass, lift speed, trims, etc... at this point, NoLimits is easier .

I'm at the park. GateKeeper's vests on many seats have been unlocked. We rode 3 times in 2 or 3 of the trains (I think) and got unlocked rides. A ride op said after the first ride that all seats are unlocked.

What camera did you use?

Suspended:Iron Dragon Mine Train: Runaway Mine Train at SFOT or Mini Mine Train (probably the former, I think, but I don't really know. Hyper - Magnum Looping - Cedar Point Corkscrew, probably 4D - X2

I've been on several Vekomas. Here is my opnion- SLCs - I've been on Thunderhawk and Flight Deck. I only rode Flight Deck once in the front to avoid bumpiness, so that's out of the question. Thunderhawk was OK the last time I rode it, although by no means perfectly smooth. Verdict - An intense ride with a nice ending (the double roll), but has the potential to be bumpy. Invertigos - The ones at Kings Island and Dorney are fairly smooth. Verdict - A surprising lack of headbanging and an intense layout - however, I would imagine that these are vomit factories. Boomerangs - These are actually decent. They are headbangers, but they never have a line and I have re-ridden several. I guess it all depends where you sit. Verdict - Bumpier than the Invertigos, and I would imagine it requires a bit of trial and error to figure out the best seat. Again, these are probably vomit factories, though less so than Invertigos. Roller Skaters - OK, really? Loopers - Never experienced one. When I went to SFOG, Ninja was closed. And based on what I've heard, this is a good thing. Giant Inverted Boomerang - Never been on one.

China loves smaller, yet insane intamin Mega coasters. America loves SLCs and Boomerangs.

They still could, at some point! I doubt they ever would - there's no record to be broken! If they could build to the tippy-top, 420 (or even 416) is bigger than 415 for this new one. However, I'd have to say that unless it is built on the back, that would get too close to the track. And if it was built on the back, TTD would have to be dismantled a lot more than KK would for the front (I would imagine), especially if it was built on the tower's "spine" (they would have to fork the spine up vertical where it bends back towards the tower, and then strengthen the spine.)

Unfortunately, having been on the ones at KBF and Michigan's Adventure, I don't think the newer ones are nearly as "snappy" as the old ones for some reason. However,maybe its similar to Carowinds' and KD's scooters and I'm overreacting. Still a cool ride, though!

Is Voyage really such a piece of crap or is it a "love it or hate it" thing?

Hopefully, if they do this, they remove the trims atop the tower. However, Intamin's OTSRs don't touch your shoulders much, right?

Though the ride did have three trains when X Flight first opened in 2001 it never ran three. They eventually cannibalized the third train for parts but I will agree that when SFWoA/GL ran two stations it was relatively efficient. Even without FL I hate how Kings Island has Firehawk set up. It isn't efficient at all which is why I very, very rarely take a ride on it. Firehawk should be the first thing you ride before the GP gets there because its a very slow line. FoF is kinda slow too (I think, but I'm not totally sure.) Diamondback (and hopefully Banshee) are people-eating machines like most B&Ms.

So they devote the whole station to Fast Lane, meaning every other ride on a given train is Fast Lane only? That makes no sense and would seem to reduce the capacity more than if they just merged Fastlaners in. Or just pull a Six Flags and don't use the second side - this would have been good when the ride had 3 trains as X-Flight (I believe it did, right?), but now it serves absolutely no purpose at all.

And I thought Gatekeeper went up fast...

What are the most annoying things about the GP? Personally, I think it is that we have to either have record-breaking or inversions for the GP to not think it is a kiddie coaster. Why don't we have a Mega-Lite? Exactly. Why do we get SLCs and Boomerangs? Double-exactly.

Screamscape has posted the layout plans of the woodie. This appears to have some sort of Immelmann inversion. Also, the drop heights (posted on Screamscape, I'll quote them at the end of the post), are weird. Screamscape suggested a possible booster section. Rumor has it they're suggesting the name "Goliath" for the hints, but in reality, Screamscape says the name could be unique. I seriously hope that it woodies in the near future will not have to feature inversions or gimmicks to get the GP to ride them. Not saying its a bad thing, but I don't want to fuel the GP's obsessions. Ignoring woodies and just talking about the GP in general, when I went to SFGAdv, there were times when Toro (no inversions, records not publicized quite as much as KK) had a short line. I never saw KK with as short as a line as Toro. Just a thought. I really want to get the GP off of the inversion-happy thing so we can get something like a Mega-Lite here. Unfortunately, the GP have spoken - the only Mega-Lite we can have has to be oversized just to get people to ride it. While the Mega-Lite, the more economical choice that provides a similarly intense ride experience, would be shunned by the GP as a kiddie ride, and when a park needs a compact coaster, they rush towards the twisty SLC GP magnet. Rant over... for now.

What is QDC? Quick directional changes?