bill_s

Coasters that it helps to know some tricks to ride is so common, however, that it cannot be ignored. It could even be argued that's all of them, although certainly some more than others. On PTC-trained woodies, that's mostly "don't sit in the wheel seat." You could say such flawed rides can never be considered truly great, but it doesn't mean they can't be great for you. I'm not sure it really affects Shockwave though. That one's more just can you handle it, and the restraints, or not, except for needing to use the headrest right coming out of the helix. Unlike many coasters with some roughness, I think most of Shockwave's is by design. It's too overbuilt to have changed much with age. You're standing up and it uses, in a calculated way, simplistic track geometries to make it feel like you're going to be thrown off. BTW, I rode Hurler. Front row was somewhat fun. Fortunately and unfortunately they've made progress towards it becoming a mild family ride. No I'm not trying a wheel seat, but otherwise it's quite smooth. My problem with it is I preferred the fire-breathing monster it was before the trim brake. Everyone complained about it and unfortunately, the park listened.

People are more willing to spend money on fast food outside the park too, as much as a proper restaurant but more convenient. Still, it seems a simple formula, make it reasonable and will sell more. But too many seem to be willing to pay any price. It makes some sense among vacationers where the cost to be there is high in the first place. There also seems to be a generation of kids that don't seem to worry about money. And there is perhaps too big a gap between what they charge and what will substantially increase sales. But I don't know -- I definitely went to BGW some times not planning to eat anything, and between the wonderful smell and almost reasonable prices did anyway. That requires actual hunger at KD. I do prefer they make as much as possible off optional purchases, making the cost flexible. Those that can afford more spend more. There is perhaps an element of providing a public service -- they make money off of almost everyone, even me, but more off the extras. What really crosses the line, to me, is when not only is the price absurd, you have to wait too long for it. That violates a rule of business: to make the money, you have to have people to take the money. As to buffets at theme parks, I did that once, and regretted it about 30 minutes. Not only was I too full to ride anything, at first I wasn't sure I could make it out of the park! Was good though.

The worst was waiting in line for Fahrenheit for an hour with a group of kids behind me that seemed to think by crowding me very close they'd get to ride sooner. It almost did get them to ride one person sooner but it would have been to keep from punching someone. I let the one that wasn't being loud and obnoxious ride with me in the front row.

1 G is normal gravity, 0 G is floating. "Extreme ejector air" is still lower magnitude than -1, probably less than -0.5 . Limits are mainly restraint comfort, and the physics that limit total airtime when not inverted. Rides that do hang you upside down never increase forces substantially above that of gravity.

I don't know if it's the same level of work, but RY has been being retracked since 2009. In 2008 is was very rough, at the rise into the turnaround was like spinal roulette, you never knew how it would shake you. I stopped riding it for a while until I resolved to learn the exact timed foot push to help deal with it. In '09 that spot was stood out in its smoothness. Since then they have added more retracking, but some rough valleys on the return and some of the older retracking is getting rough again. RE: BGW vs. KD, they each have their unique features and cannot substitute for one another. I find KD much better for going to often, having less I want to do at BGW makes me get tired of it sooner, and it really doesn't look that great either if you go too often. I strongly disagree they have more great coasters at BGW (although it was true for a short time). Doms vs. 'Geist, and Volcano vs. Griffon is pretty equal. I305 vs. Apollo is not, but they're both great. I personally find FoF kills Verbolten, Scooby plus Anaconda is a match for Loch Ness, and that leaves 3 major wood coasters, at least one of which is great, Shockwave, Avalanche, Rico, Taxi and Backlot, Vs. Grover ... I do like Apollo a lot .. at night. It's a little underwhelming during the day. I actually think Dominator is a better coaster than Alpengeist as well, has some airtime. The invert is eerily quiet and has a smoother surface but the floorless has a much smoother cobra roll. They are both great seating arrangements, front row on the invert is ecstatic but it has about 10 inner seats that are awful. It has been said the kink in Dominator's loop goes back to its Geauga Lake days.

I would suggest taking your time on opening day ... about 24 hours to be exact. The simple rule is figure out what other people do, and then do the opposite.

This set might be the closest together Trio anywhere, although Dominator instead of FoF would be a better answer for the original question. But for a question of best "Coaster Row" that could be it.

If they're working on Hurler, could they be experimenting with removing the brakes for its final season? Wouldn't need to preserve it anymore. Back when it opened, I was disappointed too, but I think it was more that it didn't seem like what they needed to be doing at the time. Also too long lines for what it was. I got into it more after it was "worse". Actually really first discovered the ride during my one Carowinds visit -- for a short time it was the best coaster in the park.

That (see OP) is clearly a coaster-related ride. If the spikes at the ends were more fully developed with very noticeable airtime, I might give it the benefit of the doubt. I managed to sneak on the kiddie version of that at KD and it was a very interesting sensation. As an aside regarding powered coasters, I was thinking if a coaster had some means of adding a constant small powering force, it could feel like a coaster, but not quite, just enough different to be "wrong" in an interesting way... Like a coaster pushed by tiny demons. This could even be done so the driving force only offsets friction. Other possibilities include improvement of existing rides, for example a coaster with a rough spot could use motors acting as generators to slow it down, and then later put the energy back in the train.

I think the next coaster will go where Hurler is. It's not just that it's the least popular coaster in the park currently, or the reasons that is so, but that it's the best location of the older coasters to build something else, quite large. I also don't think they'll expand the park to add a new coaster. They could have done something different with I305 if they wanted to put something else over there, instead it seems to define a sort of rectangular park border. Plus there's already a lot of coasters in and off the Congo area and they are on record as saying it's not cost-effective to put in another bathroom over there. The walking in the park is about max. for having no supplemental transportation, and this is a park that never had any useful in-park transpo or even a tram system type parking lot. Regarding B&M airtime, I305's ejector air is crazy fun but floater air is different and actually makes me tense up more. However, while there's no concentration of floater air like a B&M hyper, there's plenty or airtime distributed through the park.

I haven't tried the Timberliners but I would agree that seemed to be the case with Wildcat's Millenium Flyers. PTCs seem to have this thing going on that the front row of each car is smoother because the back takes all the punishment. Once they're abused the track, going for trains that treat everyone equally doesn't work. I don't see any solution not involving major rework except let the kids and newbs ride the wheel seats. I rode Grizzly ONCE last year in a wheel seat (otherwise love it), needed to be reminded that yes, it can be that bad. --- As to the Hurler's, I didn't really have a problem (OK, in the good rows) until they added that trim brake, yawn. But they were having to work on them often just to keep them in such marginal condition.

One example of perceptions was KD ... they had so many more coasters than BGW, and yet it took I305 to make it actually clear they're a better coaster park, because it was too much a quantity vs. quality thing ... weird math. And making that clear was essential. But uniqueness is important too ... KD may be better but hitting BGW occasionally still expands your variety significantly. SFA also expands your variety in this region, but not as notably. Even though they can't become the first park of these 3 to go to, they need a little more that says you need to get there eventually. Or just make it more pleasant so it doesn't matter. They're small, they need to make it an advantage. Make it less walking by opening connecting paths and fixing the layout, and also some form of shade or other way to cool off in the back other than buying a drink or standing in line for a wet ride. A good new attraction might be a unique launcher, e.g. Kennywood's Sky Rocket... something full circuit with a spike. If I had to trade a ride, Batwing. Despite is uniqueness, I think they would have been better off in the long run with a more basic fun, reridable coaster. Mind Eraser just needs new wheels more often, so it doesn't get so loose on the track. I don't know if it would be practical to RMC-inversion Roar. I thought Roar was one the best in this region when it was fresh and new, but it's never been that big a draw to the masses.

While Arrow welded several pieces together, this looks like the ties are cut from a single piece of thick sheet metal. Smoother and, in this case, curvier. The upstop wheel assemblies are either smaller or have less room to spare. It is still "C" form track rather than "T" like most modern steel coasters.

Every drop tower should be called The Tower of Doom.

Well "blackout" is still stronger than "greyout" ... there should be a term for complete loss of consciousness. In all 3 cases I cited in my previous post, the persons claimed to regain consciousness before the end of the ride and remember nothing in between, plus in 2 cases the person lost their sunglasses. What I call blackout seems more a lack of preparation, because it can be almost instantaneous. My close call with it I pulled myself out, was a different sensation, and I went on to experience the normal level of greyout during the rest of the ride.

I was bored this afternoon, so I took some valuable time out of my nap schedule to watch this video. A quick bit of research doesn't give me hardly any recent reputable source that truly falsifies what has been put out about secondhand by several reputable sources. So I really hope you just caused me to waste my time and posted that video as a joke as it did a wonderful "Blackfish" job of using bits and pieces that lack context to make an argument. Did you watch the same video I did there? While the whole show was longer than necessary, the essential point was the paper that most cite as evidence against smoke was discredited by the court as a politically motivated rewrite contrary to the report it claimed to be based on. Besides, it only takes one drag to make it obvious (cough cough) that the claim that secondhand is just as bad is laughably inaccurate. I find diesel fumes far more nauseating and common, and parks should make sure no buses are allowed to idle upwind of the park.

Los Endos ?

There's people who say it helps your body to hang upside down, so weightlessness etc. shouldn't be bad. I know I've gotten on Dominator with my back hurting and got off feeling much better, although tight restraints kind of help too. But then FoF sometimes manages the exact right bit of chiropraction. "Blacking out" is real but the common thing is to confuse it with greying out. In my experience, blacking out can happen right when first hitting high G, while greyout tends to happen after sustained forces. The one time I felt like I was going to black out it was like that and one friend who actually blacked out on JJinx reported that; both cases heat was a factor. OTOH my friend that twice blacked out on I305 (lost his sunglasses both times) said it was late in the first curve -- and he's younger and otherwise in better shape than I am....

Are there any coasters over even 200 ft. with inversions, other than dive machines? There doesn't seem to be a record entry for tallest inverting coaster. I believe your experience of Hurler is with the trim brake (2010-present). Before it was: Good drop -- shuffley extreme turn -- 3 wonderful bunny hops -- slightly less extreme shuffley turn -- another nice hop -- slowed elevated turn, not bad -- nicely profiled final big turn (maybe the new turn will be more like?). Really only those first 2 turns need work, fix suddenly have a very decent coaster. I LOVED it before the trim was added, but knew where*/how to ride (expensively gained experience) and it was admittedly still brutal. But even keeping it in that marginal condition took more work than other coasters. *avoid wheel seats, but this goes for Grizzly and Rebel Yell too.

Really doing a "B&M" on an Arrow would be a complete rebuild, but great improvements are possible. If you compare to something like the I305 curve rebuild, it could be done for a fraction of the steel budget, but the park would have to pay all of it and still not be able to expect a full coaster lifetime for the improvements. One aspect of RMC I think applies is having design information to work with. They have to be doing some good measuring of the existing ride, maybe with lasers and computers. Maybe better would be a the "Premier Treatment", where they discerned that the best way to stop headbanging is remove the thing the head bangs against. Or at least the "Vekoma Treatment" (?) where at least the new trains are better looking and more and comfy. But then B&M could make some nicer trains for it too. More open would be good. Example Anaconda, I think it would help to have a little trim at the last moment before the first loop, get a hangtime on the back row and less brutal as it goes. "The Spot" must be rebuilt of course. Needs a water-hugging banked curve.

I'm extremely impressed! I was tempted to say that KD rebuilt the 2nd curve of Hurler last year and the first curve in 2010, but this far different. I don't know of any case of ride improvement at a CF park that can match it, that was seeming to be Six Flag's (and Kentucky Kingdom's now) thing. It's not RMC -- and simply Topper tracking the first 2 turns would have been a great improvement -- but I approve . While it took some painful trail and error to learn a few things, I used to really like the Hurler(s) until the trim brake. The brakes only help slightly, though making a bigger difference because of being at the threshold of bodily damage, but make it too boring to matter; I really think they're more about reducing maintenance than improving rider experience. If this is a success, it might come to KD, but with Anaconda being painted this year so it's not going anywhere yet, and the park filling up, I think it's more likely KD's Hurler will be the site of the next new coaster.

I've definitely ridden in the rain. I even sometimes take in a pair of old glasses if I'm expecting rain. Something different, one night at KD there was low cloud cover and Drop Tower's lights were projecting its shadow on the low clouds. When it dropped, it looked like standing right under it, it got bigger until it covered the whole sky. Was like that most of the night, very cool when sitting back going up the lift of the coasters.

I like this aspect of them -- if it wasn't for Dodgem there I would have no idea where this picture was taken, looks so much different. Well we're getting mushrooms, now need something meatier!

In terms of peak forces and height, perhaps. Such record setters are rare and even the larger non-record coasters such as gigas are few. There are some records that could still be broken, for example I don't even see tallest coaster with inversions in any lists, and that definitely ought to be pushed further. I think there are still frontiers as to design. There are many unexplored combinations. As to simulators, some are interesting but even a basic kiddie coaster is more satisfying as a coaster experience. Another possibility would be going taller and faster and staying small. Imagine a one-wide seating coaster like the Jet Star taken to 300' ... that would be crazy; it would have poor capacity but be relatively cheap. I came up with a lot of ideas inspired by the replacement of Big Bad Wolf, but what they did only shares a small aspect. One idea was to use the terrain and LIMs: start off from a high point and first propel with gravity. Once that reaches the bottom, use LIMs to get back up the hill, boost again and put the fastest parts last -- basically use LIMs to avoid the pacing issues caused by the original's multiple lifts. That's a new combination. Another idea was to simulate the motions of a suspended with a conventional track and its greater flexibility and suitability for forces. To some extent RMC is doing similar with elements that throw you up and float you sideways. I think there is more that can be done with advanced design software to create coasters that look much the same, but ride totally different. This is more subtle than record-breaking but just as significant.

Really! REALLY?!?