zachclarke2

Tempesto is GREAT! Very intense and without a doubt the strongest airtime in the park. The airtime over the first hill in the front row is ridiculous. The line for each individual row moves rather slowly but I imagine the queue out of the station won't be horrible. The ops were hauling. The time it took for a train to come in and then be sent out again was less than a minute on most dispatches. I would definitely prefer the ride just have lapbars but the harnesses are not bad at all.

Seems like I'm a bit late to the testing footage party but here you go anyway. I took plenty of photos at the park so maybe I'll put those up once I've got them sorted out. It looks like it absolutely hauls over the first hill; hopefully that's how it will always run and not just stress testing or something.

New dive coaster, with inspiration from Baron 1898, Oblivion Black Hole and Krake.

I posted this in the game thread, but I recreated Silver Bullet using Coasterdynamix and to some extent I think I did a pretty good job. Definitely better than my Patriot model. If anyone is interested:

Thanks. I do reuse all of my pieces; don't think I've ever had 2 models up at once. I have no idea where to buy any kits, perhaps just do a round on Ebay every so often? Stuff pops up there occasionally, albeit way overpriced. I completely lucked out last fall because the KD merchandise department agreed to sell me their ages old Scorpion model that was on display in an International Street shop. I don't expect that to happen to me again though.

I recreated Silver Bullet -

Kentucky Kingdom just reopened with several of their old rides as well as new ones, including a new coaster, this year they are opening their SLC, and next year Twisted Twins. It doesn't seem like a Premier Clone would be on their investment radar.

To my knowledge they are now halting any work on it until spring, so when they pick it up they will still have the station, queue, and testing among other things to complete. I'd not plan on an opening-day opening but I would be surprised if it is not open by spring break/April.

Who even follows laws anymore

It's been a long time but for some reason I just got around to filming and photographing the model I've had up. I got the idea from Intamin's now defunct Euro Star that operated in Russia's Gorky Park, after serving as a German fair coaster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojH2WTLgTE Source I tried to make the ride as compact as possible while keeping a significant amount of length.

Perhaps opening day will come and the ride will be gone, and the park in fact spent millions of dollars only to flick bgwfans in the balls.

As of today all that's left are the two inline roll pieces, which given my basic knowledge of physics would have to go up at the same time. The loop and the rest of the track and supports are all complete. Obviously it's anybody's guess as to how far along the station, queue, etc are.

Not a lot of progress since Friday but here's a few pictures from today (31st), the last day of the season. I might try to head to Williamsburg and take some pictures from Highway 60 when the structure is complete or there is confirmed testing, but for the most part this should be the end of my updates until March when the park reopens. I went out into the preferred parking lot for some pictures. I think this gives a good idea of how massive the ride actually is. Apollo is about 170 feet from ground level (the drop goes into a ravine and is 210 feet), so Tempesto is only roughly 20 feet shorter than the lift. However, Tempesto is all right there while Apollo is just the lift in that spot. Tempesto also has the huge scaffolding structure, perhaps making it appear even larger than it is. The only progress on the ride since last week is the addition of the extended structure off of the support tower and one piece of track. This should be somewhat close to the view looking into the ride plaza when it is completed. That's it. Happy new year!

Lots of pictures from today. The ride is starting to look more like it will in its final form, all that's left is the zero-g and first half of the loop. The trim and a very small amount of the heartline are up, but I imagine the heartline will be the last thing completed on the ride. Someone from BGWfans was caught taking pictures in the employee area, and now there is a gate. No additional work has been done on the bottom of the loop. As far as I can tell the third support structure has not been started, and if it has it hasn't gotten far. But, significant work has been done on the back (front/whatever your preference) tower. The ride can be seen from many places in the park, obviously being so tall and with its contrasting colors. This was taken next to Pompeii. From the Festa Italia bridge. I really like the way the loop looks from this angle. From Da Vinci Gardens. It's very visible from Verbolten's line as well, but by the time I got there it was dark so I don't have a picture. Thanks for looking at the update. Hopefully I'll have one more posted before the park closes for the season.

Honestly neither of those scenarios sound ideal.

I didn't notice this when I posted the pictures Friday but if you look closely you can see some track has been installed on the back (launch) side.

Looks to be a clone of the Busch Gardens kiddie coasters: Must say I like those colors better than the Alpine Express colors. Nothing against pink though.

In addition to the Tempesto photos I also filmed footage for this video. It's a bit out of my comfort zone so any feedback/suggestions will be appreciated.

Pictures!

To be honest I don't think I want either the cobra roll or the bank into the mcbr to be any snappier than they are. But I'd be more than happy to take a faster second half of the ride if the mcbr engaged a little less. Wishful thinking, though.

Everyone is posting their thoughts on this thing so I figure I might as well do the same. I'll start off by saying that this is definitely a strange move by the park. Comparable to their other coasters (and others across the chain), it seems like a cheap impulse buy. Whether it be to draw in some attendance, boost pass sales, or for some other unforeseen reason, I do not know. I stand firm in my belief that Festa Italia always has been, and probably always will be the bastard child of Busch Gardens. This ride seems to be taking that one step further. I do not have a problem with the coaster in itself. Superman and Sky Scream are very well received rides so I don't at all doubt its ability to deliver as a coaster. Dare I go as far as say it might be the best coaster in the park. My main concern with it is capacity. Given the train size it will have an output comparable to that of Alpine Express. Granted, the ride ops at BGW are more than capable of sending a train out in a timely manner, and granted, the park does not get very busy during most days in the summer. Yet, compared to rides in the park like Griffon, Verbolten, Apollo, etc, it doesn't quite match up. And of course there is always the option of not getting in line if it is too long. A lot of people don't understand that it seems. At the moment it is obviously unclear to judge how the ride will impact the area visually when finished. I must say I'm not the biggest fan of the orange, but so be it. I do like the track color a lot. It was my hope that the ride would include an overhaul and upgrade of Festa Italia (think Pantopia), but I'm not clinging to that idea so much anymore. In short, people should be grateful that the park is getting a ride at all, and a decent looking one at that. If you are going to hold it over for the park, don't ride it. It's that simple. And honestly, if they're going to add an eyesore of a ride (which it may end up not being even), Festa is exactly where I want it.

^As far as we know, it might not even be a coaster.

Some pictures from today: Somehow on my stroll to Festa Italia I ended up behind Carl Lum and someone else (I do not know his name but I imagine he is management of some kind). Another piece of track has been added to what was there the past 2 weeks, plus part of the drop is now in place. Ride placement in reference to Apollo's entrance. It is not far away. This is where the track ends. This is also where the track ends.

Not much progress since last weekend but here's some pictures of the site. It looks like some additional supports are the only change. No more track has been added.

As of Sunday there was little development. No more track or supports installed, but I wouldn't expect them to have done much in 2 days. I got a few different angles of the project and the beginning of what looks like will be the queue building. This is where the Splashus Maximus water balloon game was located.