King

I was too stuffed to try to all of the new additions this year, but the griddled cheesecake sandwich is still my favorite so far. I think I'm going back this weekend after seeing pictures...Yum, minus the goat cheese. Griddled Cheesecake Sandwich

I grew up in Dallas and would always bother my mom until she drove me down to Astroworld. This was taken in '88, obvious by the gentleman's attire in the background, on one of those trips. It was really sad to see the park be torn down especially since the land isn't used for anything. I don't think we can count on Grand Texas being more the a sports complex at this point, but it would fill the theme park void in Houston. I'm on the left.

Large park: Hershey Park Small park: SFFT

Boardwalk Bullet at Kemah! I heard about it being rough so I was not expecting much. I purchased 1 ticket but ended up riding it 4 more times. I underrated this one.

That's a great question. I'm curious too.

No. I didn't want to make it sound as if it did either, so if that was how you read it, I apologize. If you go uphill and turn hard to the right, the train doesn't merely run on the top wheels. Those side wheels - the ones that if not making good contact with the side rails produce the infamous "PTC shuffle" - are taking the brunt of it. And depending on the angle at which the train is headed and at what speed, it may indeed be running on underwheels in most of the train. Remember, a train is made of multiple linked cars with vehicles at the back being "pulled" to some degree by those to which it is attached ahead of it. The surface *definitely* makes a difference. Otherwise, why would retracking on wood coasters ever matter? That's not the only way to do it, and in many cases may not be the most effective due to the way something like a non-articulating train moves through curves or traverses hills. Changing banking, the radius of turns, drops, or pull outs - they can all make significant differences to the amount and location of stress that a ride takes from operation. Got you. I was referring to the steel rails as the running surface. Yes, the track condition does make a big difference. I just can't get with your explanation on the side friction wheels bearing most of the weight though. The main wheels are still carrying most of the load in a flat turn and definitely in a banked turn. If you change banking, turn radiuses, and drops that would be re-profiling and automatically includes structural changes so that wouldn't apply. If you're given the same track conditions, what I said before still applies. The Rattler, The Texas Cyclone, Riverside Cyclone and others were all re-profiled. Some coasters have cable supports to bear some of the structural load (The Beast, The Grizzly (KD), Wild One) to name a few, and this is the structural support I'm talking about without changing the ride. Most of these also include trims and/or hard mid-course brakes. Articulating training are pretty standard now. Even the PTCs articulate. The Millennium Flyer and Timberliner trains have individual cars which is why they are more agile along the track. I also believe they are lighter, but I'm not 100% sure.

I understand physics extremely well. I don't need to read any article on how physics works. My profession provides enough experience to speak these basic laws. And your comment about newtons first law is correct.It's inertia and that's what I what I am attempting to explain to you two (since you jumped in). Without getting into vectors, an object in forward motion remains in forward motion. So a train traveling down a straight piece of track will continue to do that until fraction, gravity, wind, etc. take over. Of course,no roller coaster is in a constant flat surface, so when the track the train is traveling on ascends uphill or into a loop, the train wants to the continue the previous forward motion which why you're forced into you seat creating positive G force. The intensity of that force depends on the speed and angle of the incline. Soooo...I'm not sure what your argument is here...Should I continue to explain inertia to a "coaster enthusiast"? Or are we going to keep debating about this Moon Coaster that floats along the track on it's up-stops?

It will ride on underwheels as long as the forces on the train are trying to move it up against gravitational force. This can happen on a flat surface or a parabolic one depending on how the fast the train approaches it going uphill. Additionally, you'll see trains that primarily end up running on side wheels depending on the surface. It is my understanding that many of the changes made to Voyage since opening year were to make those sorts of transitions move more fluidly by reducing stress points on the ride. My belief is that a lot of this has been done to MS, but that the manner in which it is operated negates those gains. There's a much, much better description of what I'm saying that was done by Dave Altoff and can be found with a fairly quick google search. He's fairly well educated on the topic and is a certified ride inspector. But basically the argument that "trims will save maintenance cost" is largely theoretical and flawed. Maybe I'm a slight bit slow, but I don't think any coaster runs primarily on it's upstops or side frictions. The main wheels carry most of the load which is why they are the largest. The forces your talking about don't happen going uphill. It happens when the track direction changes and Newton's first law is applied creating positive, negative, or lateral gs or any combination of the three. The surface has nothing to do with it, especially since all coasters run on a steel surface.The only way to reduce stress on a structure/point is increasing support and/or decreasing the amount of force applied to that point, which is what trims are doing by slowing the train.

That all depends on the size of the pot hole, so yes and no depending. And if there's a long run of pot holes that causes all four wheels to be on varying uneven surfaces at the same time, what happens? What you're saying about riding on the up stop wheels defies the laws of gravity. The only time the train would do that is during negative g moments which won't happen going uphill...Well...perhaps...if roller coasters had wings to create lift , but even then the transition from forward motion to vertical motion would create a positive g forcing the main wheels onto the track.

I'd feel them more at 25 because of the intensity. They probably aren't noticeable at 5. Mean Streak's trims are all about the structure and reducing track wear, but they also saved my back at the bottom of the first drop lol. It didn't seem as bad during my last visit in '13. It definitely needs track work. It may be next after Ghost Rider.

I get what you're saying but I disagree. Slowing down any thing is going to decrease the intensity along with frequency. If you were to drive over a speed bump at 5 mph verses 25 mph, which is going to be more intense?

^ Seemed like that yesterday too except Gate Keeper. It's the end of the season. Maverick and Millienum Force were still great. TTD was down for winds the majority of the day, ran about 30 mins, and went down for maintenance. You won't hear this often but I was thankful for Mean Streak's trims on the first drop. That ride has so much potential and I hope something is being planned to improve it.

Is anyone going to Cedar Point today? Im on a solo trip with fast lane plus.

Obvious troll is obvious. Ok if that's your interpretation of whats going on here then more power to you, but honestly this looks like a boring ride. So does TTD if you're looking at a picture.

LMAO...Hilarious! The ride looks great. I'll take the airtime hill over the splash. Sheikra's first drop is awesome and it doesn't have a tunnel. Griffon's single load station is efficient enough (remember Mantis). If not, go on a Wednesday. 24 vs 30 person trains...who cares. Stop complaining. Dive Machines are awesome, even when they do the exact same thing twice like Griffon.

lmao! Sounds like Wipe Out.

Yay!!! Themed Go-Karts!

I have such a soft spot for Stanley Falls!! I love old school flume rides, and the foliage around this one is beautiful. I'd much rather see Tidal Wave go - the half assed theming on the river portion is not representative of the brand. That said, if they decided to knock the flume down for an Aquatrax or a Mack water-anything - I wouldn't complain! I water coaster would be nice. I agree Tidal Wave can go. I also think Tidal Wave's location is better for a new coaster instead of right next to Montu and Cheetah Hunt. Python was in that area before and it would put a little space between the water rides, but it's nothing I'm expecting to see. Behold Tut's Fury, the first launched spinning coaster

Steel Boss - Rocky Mountain's first LIM Iron Horse

I wish B&M would clone Kumba...Please clone Kumba!

Long-term maintenance will be the real test. Here's a quick video of how the Joker animatronic will move in a few years, ignore the triangle staying on the screen the video is actually playing

I don't think anyone has mentioned that you have to push the gates open. I agree that Dorney lacks character.

I was also there today. Rode it 6 times today, with 5 of them being when it just opened. We literally walked off, went through the queue line, and were back on the next ride. Went back and rode it for the 6th time and then the storms rolled in waiting for out seventh time. I was there yesterday too. I got 3 rides before the storm shut everything down. How do y'all feel about Falcon's Fury?

^I don't see it happening either, but there is space along the western to northern corner of the park for an L-shape out and back hyper.

This is refreshing to hear. I was worried about Rockville being over Gotham'd and Poltergeist painted green and purple or blue to become Freeze the Joker's Jinx. I have this feeling that Rockville will be Gotham'd more than what has been announced so far. Hopefully not though. I don't think I'd like to see Poltergeist turned into Joker's Jinx.......but on the other hand it's Six Flags. I wouldn't be surprised if they did rethemed Poltergeist and used the Joker's Revenge theme again.(again, it's Six Flags) If you're going to do BTR theme, might as well retheme the area to fit. Considering they announced an "Urban Renewal Project" I'm still thinking there will still be more theming than just that Theatre front for the coaster and the Batmobile. Maybe SKC will get a fresh coat of paint for it's 15th birthday. (yes I know SKC is not in Rockville) Since B:TR isn't the standard B&M we know they'd probably rename Poltergeist to Mr. Freeze and completely confuse everyone in Texas. You're right about the Gotham theme going past the store front. That entire street up to Rockville high will mostly like be Gotham with Rockville High becoming Gotham City Hall. I would've felt much better about re-theming portions of Spassburg to a D.C. Comic area (since Superman isn't German) and placing the entrance on that side of the tracks. S:KC could use some love. Paint and better maintenance is a dire need. During my last visit on July 26th, my restraint released at the bottom of the lift in the back right seat (not sure which train). Of course the seat belt caught it and it relocked once I pulled it down...I didn't enjoy the ride very much after that. I quietly told the ride op after getting off and they shut down but imagine if that was GP.