BrandonR

I haven't been out to the park in a while but I would assume ground prep is going to take a majority of the ride's construction time. Then once that's done, the main structure will probably go up within a few weeks.

I'm not sure, but if I had to guess it'd be cost. Surely the stunt shows in the Texas Arena were the most expensive productions in the park, and with the budget as tight as it has been the past few years I'm not surprised they haven't had a show there in a while. Of course this is only speculation...

I've always just considered "overbanked" turns to not necessarily mean over 90 degrees, but turns that have more banking than necessary. Or maybe that's just me...

Closing Chute Out to make it HitP's Christmas tree probably didn't disappoint anyone whereas closing Skyscreamer or Superman would probably upset a lot more people, especially since Gotham is closed during the event. And I'm anxious to see what becomes of Adventure Theater. Last time I rode it, it was in horrible shape (way worse than Yosemite Sam's). It's going to take some money to get it back in decent condition (and hopefully add some theming--it's sad when you think about how much theming it had when it was the Right Stuff or Dino Island...)

I have my doubts that Iron Rattler could have kept the helix regardless. Trains with polymer wheels have greater frictional losses*, and as slow as the original Rattler toiled through that horrid element with its steel-wheeled trains, I could easily see the Iron Rattler valleying... *This is pretty evident on the New Texas Giant. Even though they raised the lift 10 feet, the midcourse brake is significantly lower (click and hover over the two aerial comparison photos I have here), and the trains seem to hit the final brake run at a considerably lower speed than the original.

I went Sunday and I can't recall the last time I saw it that crowded. I wonder if Monday was any better. Oh well, I went with the intent of only riding Chute Out and it was still only about a 10 minute line. It's odd the park wasn't running 3 trains on Giant.

No, the official announcement is tomorrow. And even if SFoT does get a Star Flyer it'd almost certainly go where Chute-Out was, which of course means they still plan on putting something in Flashback (and likely the Bumper Cars) area. I haven't heard of any demolition of the strip mall or other area yet so if I had to venture a guess it'd be a coaster in 2014. But hey, I'd be glad to be proved wrong.

It's obvious it's all-but-officially-confirmed RMC is doing a makeover. But there's nothing wrong with wanting that last bite of confirmation before getting your hopes all the way up. This is a Six Flags park we're talking about here.

Assuming it'll have trains with polymer wheels like NTG, one thing to remember is that the trains are going to lose a lot more speed a lot quicker. Despite NTG's 10 additional feet on the lift, the midcourse brake was lowered significantly and the train seems to hit the final brakes slower than the original Giant. If for some god-awful reason they decided to keep the carousel helix it'd crawl through it even slower (but probably not even make it). Also, what press release did they confirm they were doing a project for SFFT? I'd only ever heard they had one remodel planned and one original coaster planned for 2013.

The point I'm making is that they're not unique layouts, not that they're not good rides. And Texas has 3 B:TR clones. 3! It's as if the park has an identity disorder due to a distinct lack of originality. And it shouldn't matter if the clone is down the street or across the world (although it does sting a little that 4 hours away in San Antonio there are 3 of the same coasters).

NTG (should definitely not be an A in there) is a great addition to the park but what was the last major, unique coaster the park got before that? Pandemonium/Big Spin/Tony Hawk/Whatever they're calling it this year: clone. Titan is a clone of Goliath with an extra helix, so that's out... Batman: clone. Freeze: clone. Runaway Mountain: clone (essentially). So in fact it looks like Texas Giant was the park's last original coaster (along with its reborn form). Which is why if SFoT just adds another clone in Flashback/Bumper Cars/Shopping Center's place it's going to be a disappointment. And if they use all that available real estate for a wimpy Dark Knight wild mouse it's also going to be a double disappointment, because it's not like the park has similar large tracts of land to build big future attractions in (unless we get a dreaded parking lot ride). Oh, and we already have a dark indoor coaster... And if a Sky Screamer goes in Chute Out's place the park just becomes one step closer to being a clone of Fiesta Texas. How many identical rides are they going to add to the two Texas Six Flags parks? What motivation are people in the DFW area going to have to go to San Antonio when they can ride half the rides at SFoT, and vice versa? I probably sound whiny but it's out of love. Let's recall that this is the original Six Flags park and it introduced numerous firsts to the amusement park industry. It's very sad indeed to see it lose its persona and individuality little-by-little every season.

I went last Sunday and was pleasantly surprised by the crowds. I arrived around 1 and saw a moderately crowded parking lot. Got in and headed directly to Freeze, which was a walk-on. Same for Runaway Mountain, Judge Roy Scream, and a few other rides. The lines started to build up around 3 I'd say, so it would appear church and lunch have a big impact on the lines. Get there at opening and you may be able to knock out everything before the crowds arrive. The real reason for me being there was to see Aga-Boom and iLuminate, which are both good and worth seeing (especially iLuminate).

I had my first-ever visit to KBF this past Sunday (April 22). Crowds were pretty light and I had done every coaster by about 2, despite them doing single-train operations for most of the rides. I had heard Ghostrider was rough but it truthfully wasn't as bad as I expected. My girlfriend and her large boobs respectfully disagreed, however. Perhaps years of riding Rattler and the old Texas Giant have shifted my view of what's "rough"? I wasn't expecting Xcelerator's launch to be as strong as it was, but it was a pleasant surprise. Silver Bullet was nice and smooth. Some unique elements for a B&M invert. Jaguar was goofy and rampy. Same with Pony Express (I kept waiting for anal probe to be inserted). Boomerang was painful - I was hopeful they had Vekoma trains but they looked like the old Arrow ones. Am I correct? Montezuma's Revenge was a lot of fun. Last Schwarzkopf launched I had the pleasure of riding was Greezed Lightning at SFAW. Sierra Sidewinder was also enjoyable and a bit more intense than I was expecting as well. I got on the mine train ride not knowing what to expect (especially given the cars). Wow, that parks knows how to do theming (even back in the 60s apparently). Same with their log ride - very impressive. By far the longest line I waited in was for the fried chicken place outside the park, which was delicious and made me feel absolutely miserable for the drive home. Overall I really enjoyed KBF!

I got to ride Transformers this past Monday during my first visit to USH. As someone who has admittedly not seen one Transformers movie (nor did I watch the cartoon as a kid), I was glad I could hop on the ride and pick up the basic plot despite my total Transformers ignorance. The effects were crazy and I repeatedly found myself taking my glasses off and figuring out where we (the car) were and how we got there. They did a great job of disorienting you and making you feel like you're in the action. If anyone has an image showing the layout I'd love to see it and see how they did it.

I visited the park yesterday (my first visit ever to SFMM actually) and had a really good time. Everything was basically a walk-on except for X2 since they were only running one train (did it first thing and probably waited about 20 minutes). I enjoyed it, especially the first drop (we got the back row). The rest of the ride was fun, but would probably be better if they fixed the rotational swaying/rocking the seats seem to have. Speakers on the trains weren't working either, but I'm not sure how much that actually impacts the ride experience. Tatsu was a lot of fun as well. Pretzel loop was surprisingly intense and the view on the first drop doesn't get much better. Revolution seems like it'd be fun if it wasn't crippled by its OTSRs (those weren't original, right?). Makes me glad they haven't done the same to SFoT's Shockwave. Apocalypse was nice too and seemed to have the "right" amount of roughness for a wooden coaster - enough rattling that you know it's a woodie but not so much that it detracts from the ride or gives you a headache. Viper was exactly what I expected from an Arrow multilooper (weird transitions galore). Schwarzkopf managed to figure out how to properly transition into/out of turns, why couldn't Arrow? Viper was also one of the few rides that seemed to be operating more than 1 train, which was odd since 90% of the seats were empty on every train anyway. Ninja seemed to be like other Arrow suspendeds in that it has this weird front/back pumping, almost as if the train is going along and something is trying to stop it but the train breaks through it and lurches forward. Very odd that it's not more fluid. Other than that I liked it, although I always think its anticlimactic to end with a lift. I'm fairly certain Green Lantern made me sterile. Good lord, are all the seats as painful as the ones facing backward when you leave the station? I felt like every drop just meant crushing my testicles more and more. We were stuck on the brake run for a while as a mechanic came out and rotated the seats while the bar came down. Not sure what that was all about. Rattler's Revenge seems like it wouldn't be so bad if they gave your head more space in the restraints, but since they're so small your head has no choice but to bounce between the two sides. Scream was enjoyable. Really enjoyed the theme. Superman was closed (obviously) but the station for Lex Luther seems to be coming along nicely. Other observations... Holy crap this park wore me out. I had heard it was hilly but this sank in all too clear going up the Samurai Summit (or whatever the path is called to get to Ninja). Overall a good experience, but I would hate to visit the park on a crowded day after seeing the insane number of switchbacks some of the rides had.

From what I've heard, the summer's extreme heat (which can definitely extend into spring or fall) forces it to go into a spaceshot or turbo drop mode, not the combo mode that does both.

So is the consensus Universal Studios on Sunday and KBF/SFMM on Monday/Tuesday? Or is this a bad idea for some reason?

My first vacation to California (LA specifically) is this weekend and I basically have Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to visit SFMM, Universal Studios, and KBF. Any suggestions on which park to visit on which day to avoid the crowds? So far I'm thinking SFMM on one of the weekdays since it has the most coasters and I'd like to minimize the lines. Maybe Universal on Sunday since it doesn't seem to have many attractions and if I have to wait in lines there won't be many? Any other tips/suggestions for a first-time visit to California would also be welcome.

I wouldn't bat an eye if they removed Flashback. Just about every park has one so it wouldn't exactly be missed, especially since SFoT's has terrible trains. If they got new trains I would counter that with all the ways the money could have been better spent (getting Adventure Theater open again after sitting dormant for 2 years). Bumper cars building has only been used for haunted houses for the past several years so it should definitely go. Whatever they plan to eventually put in the shopping mall area, I hope it's good. Old rumors said they planned on putting a picnic/corporate event pavilion-type-thing out there.

Where's the love for SFoT? It doesn't get much more authentic than a 114-year-old steam-powered train that came from a sugar cane plantation... Plus quite a bit of the theming from the inaugural 1961 season is still up and operating, whose somewhat politically incorrectness makes me chuckle...

I did ride Goliath back in March and it didn't seem all that different to me, besides the ridiculously long ramps up to the station. The SFOT version has never seemed rough to me (but I know it affects other people more than me -- my girlfriend says she gets a lot of headbanging on it but I don't).

Poltergeist is fun, but Freeze is way better in my opinion. Poltergeist's first few inversions are great but then the train just slowly pokes around for what seems like the entire second half and the ride totally loses it's momentum. It's almost boring. Freeze comes at you fast and furious and never lets up. And other than it being newer and maybe a little smoother, I'm not sure how Goliath can be that much better than Batman over at SFoT. Given they're the exact same ride (just mirrored), at least Batman has some theming that adds to the ride. I'll agree about Superman though, it's one of my favorites as well. Although with age it has gotten some major vibration, especially on the second half, it's still a fun ride (and it's use of the quarry wall only adds to the experience). Roadrunner Express is surprisingly fast and intense for a mine train coaster too. I've had fun coercing people on that ride whose only experience with mine trains was the one at SFoT.

Here are the pictures. I didn't want to connect all the wires again (it was a pain having to do it with needle-nose pliers) so access was limited. Contact blocks for the buttons and LED lights. The Arduino microcontroller that controls everything. The breadboard connects it all together, along with some pull-up (or is it pull-down?) resistors.

The Arduino microcontroller was $30 and the enclosure was about $30 off eBay. I bought several lot auctions on eBay for the push buttons and kind of mixed and matched til I got what I liked, so maybe altogether $30-35 for the buttons (but I have a ton left over so I could make another one if I wanted to). There's several little odds and ends like the breadboard and jumper cables but those were cheap (less than $10). Somewhere around $100 for the whole thing. I probably could have done it cheaper had I used lower-quality buttons but they don't "feel" as good. By far the biggest expenses on any similar project are going to be the buttons and enclosure since they're typically made for industrial uses and extreme operating environments.

A while back I had the nerdy idea to make a ride operator control panel for my computer to do otherwise-mundane tasks, like a E-stop button to lock the computer. So after months of researching and buying stuff, I finally did it! I made a video of it in action here: In the second part of the video you can see I modified it to control trains in NoLimits. I explain how everything works in the Youtube video's description, but basically it runs off an Arduino microcontroller which makes everything simpler than you'd probably expect. I plan on posting some pictures of the inside soon but in the meantime if you have any questions or comments I'd love to hear them! Call me crazy but having a bunch of bright, blinking buttons (that are actually functional!) on your desk just looks cool.