GigaG

Wait - a massive Premier LSM coaster costs LESS than a cliche Boomerang, has a more flexible layout, and can be adapted into compact spaces (see Superman at SFDK)... why is the Boomerang more popular? If the GP like going backwards, Premier has proven themselves to be able to do that. Maybe electricity costs? On another note, Superman at SFDK's layout could probably be easily jammed into Greezed Lightnin's olf plot... just saying

Now, why would a ride with a system that is unable to right the cars have rules on the ride ops NOT to right the cars?

I liked GL if only for how unique it was. It beats you up, yes, and it doesn't flip much, but it is still the only one of its kind in the States. Do any of the European Zacspins spin normally these days? The ride op at SFMM also told me the equal balance loading is required because if the train comes into the brakes inverted or highly tilted and they can't rotate it, they need to stop it and call maintenance. I think he told me that the righting system in the station does not always work properl. Honestly, why is it balanced? Is it the brake dillema, or the fear of a lawsuit (for running the ride the way it was manufactured to do so????)

Well, considering it just came up from a pretty decent refurb with the station getting new airgates, the train getting new seats, paint, and a re-branded logo, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Does anybody know if Montezooma's Revenge is open? When I went earlier in the summer, it was closed. The train was parked just in front of the station, and there was a bucket behind the blocked entrance. Probably a bit of renovation, is this what Robb is talking about? I've been thinking that too. It'd be great to see the shuttle loop concept be brought back to life with modern technology. How would a park market it though? As for marketing, there are some world records. Some tougher to market, some not. If somebody could launch the train to top speed safely and quickly to the extent where it beats Dodonpa, there could be a fastest acceleration. However, the launch couldn't come on too fast (it would feel like a "giant semi truck ramming you in the behind "), so by the time the train gets to 50 or 60 or whatever mph, it couldn't have been at peak launch acceleration for that long. Dodonpa goes practically twice as fast, therefore the same buildup of force gets you to a longer stretch of peak force. Of course, Dodonpa seems perfectly fine with going at high speeds. However, I've never been on it (or any other coaster outside of North America), but videos seem to show a rapid buildup to maximum launch acceleration. Maybe g-force, but that Tower of Terror coaster (in the same park as the weight-drop Shuttle Loop already mentioned) has 6.3 Gs, and that is borderline unsafe in my personal opinion. Finally, if you had a long enough land plot, the easiest of these (well, S&S could probably pull off the acceleration, but if I recall, they haven't built any compressed air inverting or shuttle coasters) would be to beat YOLOCoaster for the largest loop. Or maybe just tell the GP that size isn't everything and that you can be perfectly satisfied with a Mega-Lite or Maverick sized coaster. (The CP GP seem to love Maverick, but it still has the easily marketable 95-degree drop and double launch)

South Africa, actually, not Australia. Gold Reef City. I seem to get those confused too - maybe Great Barrier Reef combined with Gold Coast? http://rcdb.com/1168.htm

Some guy posted on KK's Facebook - Never been on a Shuttle Loop, but I hear they are good. GP at work?

I wish they could. I mean, why not? The slides are designed professionally and are not unsafe. Well, maybe a little, but still probably safer than driving in a car. For this, we KNOW the stats, but nobody seems to have found this- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CE8QFjAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wycokck.org%2FWorkArea%2FDownloadAsset.aspx%3Fid%3D36615&ei=5ZndUb61KqmOygGRgoHACg&usg=AFQjCNHkTfr6g4KGQaYQcx8r98jmyPy4Sw&sig2=X-fMRClZDOVUqkBXHq1NgA&bvm=bv.48705608,d.aWc It speaks of a zipline, but what we want to see is that 184 foot tall, 600 foot long speed slide mentioned. Along with detailed diagrams. Hopefully they got permission to construct to 184 feet!

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed earlier today on approach to San Francisco. Fatalities and injuries not confirmed, but I heard about 2 unconfirmed fatalities- http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/06/us/california-plane-incident/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

My test video contains several (presumably on purpose) rollbacks.

MF can run fast, and it's first drop is insane in the back on pretty much any ride.

I seriously think that somebody should save what they can of Big Dipper. Of course, sitting for over 5 years without any maintenance work isn't very good.

I have a thing for you all to ponder over - why have two Intamin hypercoasters had 3 ejections resulting in 2 deaths (SFNE & Darien Lake), but one of the largest rides with that type of restraint, without any modifications, over a long, fast circuit, has a perfect safety record? I am talking about the original giga-coaster, Millenium Force, which, to my knowledge, has a sparkling safety record. And yes, I can ride it with a loose lapbar. It still feels like you will be tossed out to Canada over the first drop in the back. Not to mention Dragster, Xcelerator, Formula Rossa, the mega-lites, and other Intamin coasters with a T-bar restraint. Is it a Six Flags (or in the case of the most recent one, PARC) issue? Or is it just bad luck? At least two of the incidents were caused by error on the part of the operator, allowing someboy who couldn't properly use the restraints to ride - the Bizarro ejection involved a man with medical conditions including cerebal palsy and was likely too large to properly fit in, while the more recent Darien Lake ejection involved a man that had no legs (a war veteran) being ejected, not to mention a second, near-fatal ejection before that on Darien Lake's ride. Note that the first ejection (Darien lake, near-fatal) caused the restriction to be raised to 54"from 48", and considering all 3 were owned by the Six Flags at the time, I would imagine the others were. MF went the opposite way, from 54" to 48" soon after opening if I have my facts right. So is this a Six Flags/PARC, Intamin, or guest problem, or just bad luck? I'll leave you all to decide.

And another I thought was funny: >Implying people leaving stupid comments are site members What does being rude have to do with video quality? Besides, Robb's videos can be hilarious - "TWISTY!"

What is a "box seat"? Wheel seat? By the way, isn't Magnum seat car 1- row-3 considered to be the WTF AIRTIME seat?

I'm just going to post about coaster sounds in general- Loudest coaster - Superman - Escape from Krypton, folllowed by old B&Ms (Raptor and Mantis.) Intamin hydraulic launch coasters (Dragster and Xcelerator) also can be loud. Quietest - Probably Silver Bullet, don't know about Talon, but isn't it filled with sand also? Not counting tiny kiddie-esque coasters. Loudest lift - Firehawk, but this is sort of cheating due to the fact that you are very close to the anti-rollbacks. So besides that, there are several - Batman @ SFMM sounded horrible, squealing and banging up the lift hill. Arrows can also be loud - the one coaster that comes to mind is Magnum. Quietest lift - Millie bangs just a little as it goes up the lift now, but still pretty quiet and I forgot about I305's sounds (Timmy ). Maverick doesn't have any anti-rollbacks to make noise. Just some brief (kinda loud) whooshing as the magnets begin to speed up the train and then slow it down. I think some new B&M lifts are kind of quiet - I don't remember much sound from Tatsu. If this counts - not a coaster, but using coaster-style track - Shoot the Rapids also doesn't much anti-rollback clacking. Weirdest sound - Zamplerla Motocoaster launch. That weird buzzing as the train accelerates is just weird and kinda creepy. Other sounds to note is the rhythmic B&M thumping heard on Gatekeeper. I do not know what causes this, besides that the anti-rollbacks seem to not be involved.

^I never said he thought Boomerangs have airtime, I said he thinks Invertigo makes his stomach drop more than any airtime hill he's been on. He knows more than your average GP, but he has some weird ways to rate coasters.

^He doesn't give a crud about the coaster's elements as long as his stomach drops, and he thinks Invertigo does that more than any airtime hill that he's been on.

I have a friend who is a coaster enthusiast, but refuses to identify as such because he thinks coaster enthusiasts are nerds. He associates Robb with a fat loser who only enjoys airtime and hates inversions. Anyways, we go to Kings Island and he loves Invertigo and Flight of Fear more than Diamondback. We are talking about a remixed Boomerang (though I will admit it is better than a typical Boomerang) and a bumpy, jerky coaster that is trimmed to death.

I do remember reading that, and I was just there on the 19th and they all work great now! Re: Gatekeeper's lights. Keep in mind that the mechanics at Cedar Point probably start their work days in the very early morning, I'm guessing around 4-6am. They have to inspect and check all the rides to make sure they are in safe working order...all before the park opens. That's a lot of work alone, let alone if something actually does need fixed. Working at night would probably call for a 20+ hour work day. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather the coaster I'm riding be inspected for flaws by a well-rested mechanic, rather than one running on 1 hour of sleep. I'm sure the lights will get fixed, but I doubt a cosmetic issue is currently top priority. Mechanics are on the clock 24 hours a day. There are 3 main shifts, therefore three sets of mechanics for the park; one of which goes from park closing at night to park opening in the morning. It takes a lot of night work to get the rides in shape for each day. Every single bolt, seat belt, restraint, etc...must be checked. It's a lot of work. There's no time for lights when that kind of stuff goes on. Also on the subject of Gatekeeper's lights...who cares?? Lights go on and off all the time. It's not like the lights are permanently broken just because you saw a few of them off one time. I've been on nights when they're not working, then the next night they're all just fine. It's not fair to accuse Cedar Point just because these things happen. Roller Coasters are machines, there are things that malfunction. It's like complaining if a ride breaks down for some other mechanical problem. Just be understanding of the situation and get over it. I go to CP a lot, I guess I'm just jealous that Swarm gets all the good lights. I honestly hope they can fix them, they are kind of an eyesore when they are all weird like that. Again, do they have more time during HalloWeekends?

For GK's lights, I would think they would have more time to work on them during HalloWeekends. That would be good, because that is when the lights will look the best - when the park is open late.

I respectfully disagree, I feel CP is a park with very good matinence and getting the small things running. Its a new ride with new systems which equal new flaws. They will figure it out, im sure they are more worried with having 3 up and running trains than putting them out of order to fix lights on it. I know Thorpe has less coasters to work on, but I'm going to use the Swarm example again. More effects, more lights, running when the ride is older in a video. And as a warning, Gatie (I'm too attached) will run 2 trains a lot during ERT. Can't they do any work at night on the lights? Or at least I hope they do it in the offseason. I did report the top two lights on Dragster's giant "Christmas Tree" on the tower were off a while ago, they fixed them now, I think.

Do they still make tilt coasters or not? Could they maybe be integrated into their looper category? This would probably destroy the website and turn away anybody who read it, but what if the filter replaced "tilt" with "S@!T" and "drop" with "OH S@!T". It sounds like they are open to more tilters but nobody knows about it.

Do they still make tilt coasters or not? Could they maybe be integrated into their looper category? This would probably destroy the website and turn away anybody who read it, but what if the filter replaced "tilt" with "S@!T" and "drop" with "OH S@!T".

Delete this, double post.

My last trip to CP for the recent MF ride night brought some good news and bad news. Bad news - GateKeeper's lights may be worse. I gave the trains nicknames - "Whitey", "Failey", and "Winky". Explanations- "Whitey" has most of his white wing lights running than the others. Only two or so sets were out. (No glowing eyes.) "Failey" was the opposite - all but 2 or so sets of his wing lights were out. (No glowing eyes, but note that I am using "him" instead of "it"... am I getting too attached to Gatie - I mean GateKeeper? (Yes, I got the "Gatie" thing from some other enthusiast)) "Winky" had one eye on. As for his wing lights, every other row was on, except that the last two rows were both running. (As previously mentioned, only one eye running) I hope whatever money isn't being put into lights is going towards working on the restraints (all B&M wing coasters should need this, because all of them should have locking vests, right?) or fixing the slightly bumpy ride. That's another thing, my friend claims Griffon was butter-smooth, but GateKeeper is too bumpy (never been on Griffon to confirm this). He also says that GateKeeper's keyhole spotlights only shine blue now instead of other colors now. Are either of these true? Good news - Millennium "Forceless" isn't always forceless! Well, at least last night for ride night, it seemed to be running insanely quickly. More airtime, etc. That's the latest news!