Reuschini

Just because the GP has not seen testing during regular park hours doesn't mean it hasn't been happening.

And of course living in Staten Island, New York, who would be more capable of making that judgement than you?

^^Station looks great, thanks for the update photos Sir Clinksalot. I haven't had a chance to make it out to the park recently, so its nice to get a set of quality photos to see what's actually going on! Yup!

Does anyone else have a hard time believing this is gonna be open in 3 weeks?

Um..False. There are 2 cars needed to operate this ride. The catch car, and the rider car. The catch car is what is going to connect to the rider car to bring it all the way up to the top of the tower (this is circled green below). This is going to release the rider car and let it fall towards the ground. Right now you can clearly see this is NOT installed on the ride. What you are looking at in the newest released photos is the rider car and the rider car only. For a comparison, check out the photo below of the rider car when the park received them. It's the SAME car that's on the track now. Notice the same piece circled in yellow in the second photo below. Also, check out the blue circle in the first photo. You can see the welded supports connecting the upper part of the car to the seats. So this means the rider car that is currently on the tracks is ONE BIG piece. That entire part (including riders) is going to be freefalling from the top of the ride. Once the catch car (circled in green in the first photo) is connected to the rider car, it will pull it all the way to the top of the tower, and upon reaching maximum height, is going to release the rider car (as well as that big purple portion of the car) and let it fall some 400 feet. Meanwhile the catch car will stay at the top of the tower, waiting until it is dispatched to slowly come back down the tower to connect to the rider car and start the process all over again. It is interesting, but lets keep in mind, these are literally the first initial tests to make sure the rider car runs smoothly along the track. Maybe the park hasn't received the catch car yet, so they're doing what they can at this point. They will probably do the same thing with the catch car (manually winch it up and down the tower while observing the way it rides the track) before they attach it to the permanent cables, and before they do any normal operating tests (like actually let the rider car freefall from the top of the tower).

What they're doing right now in the pictures is not a "normal operation test" procedure. It's a slow manual pull through to check clearances and make sure there's no irregularities in the track. Initial installation testing, if you will. It looks like they're using the same cable mechanisms they used to construct the track, to make sure the cart rides along it properly. Once they see that both sides track are up to spec and operate with the rider cart correctly, they'll move on to adding the final normal operating mechanisms. And soon after that, all the extraneous messes of cable we see right now will be gone for good. To be honest, I think it's pretty amazing this is happening. It's gonna be quite a wild drop tower.

Nope. What you are looking at is the rider cart only. It looks like right now they are "pulling through" the rider cart to make sure everything rides smoothly on the track. There is a catch car ABOVE the rider cart (circled in yellow below). This is what is connected to the cables, what pulls you up, releases from the rider cart and lets you go. I assume after this initial testing is done, we will see both the catch car installed, and the large pulley wheel which will have the 2 lift cables run through it. It appears what is being used right now is for construction and pull-through testing purposes only.

The ride is not even done being worked on yet. Those extra cables hanging randomly from the tower, the scaffolding platforms still up, and the awkward braces that hang over the sides at the top of the tower will be gone when they get closer to opening the ride. It still looks like it has a ways to go. They haven't even installed the pulley mechanism at the top of the tower, or the upper-clamp mechanism that pulls the cart up the tower. Considering this was formally a non-planned attraction to be built off the side of an existing structure that wasn't originally created for this purpose, I think the final product will look just fine.

Man I can't WAIT to have a seat on the end! Well, we know the addition was unplanned when Superman was built, so in some shape or form they had to compensate the cosmetics of the ride purely for function on an existing structure. Considering we don't see these kinds of installations very often, I really have little issue with how odd it looks, as long as it works and is dependable. Personally the make-shift style kinda makes it even scarier IMO.

Funny, I don't recall this type of response to the ride back when Green Lantern was first announced. Hindsight is 20/20

^I believe it went from $750 to $850.

^^Are we sure ride-ops are covered legally or are given permission to "right" a car while it is still technically cycling? Maybe only maintenance and mechanics are allowed to do such things. Kinda like if you're a ride op at Viper, you don't want to be walking around the station, and touching the train and stuff when a train is moving into the station. You're supposed to stay put in your "yellow box" until the train comes to a complete stop. It maybe be the same kind of restrictions for ride ops on this ride. Regulations that don't apply or are not enforced in Sweden where Insane is.

Very reasonable analysis. And that's why from a business perspective nobody should really be surprised by this move. And if it does become an issue they'd essentially lower the prices a little to get the make or break people back in, it's not like everybody's going to stop going to the park anyway. Quite frankly I've thought for a while that $500 for a Premium Pass is a steal. The increase in price to $650 is large, but the product and value a passholder gets from both parks come Summer 2012 now appears to be more in line with the practicality of what it actually costs to provide that type of value for the customer.

It seems to me the ride hits a slow pace in the building after the launch, kinda killing the momentum of the ride. I think the idea was great to use the building as a prop, but I even found myself thinking "how long are they gonna meander in the building before the drop actually happens?" The ride does look great though, I love the concept and wide variety of elements.

What kind of drugs were these people on when they OK'd the costumes for the Mad T Party? It boggles the mind.

This looks to be one of the best mega-coasters B&M has done in a while. Love taking those hills at high speeds, and that turnaround is awesome! And even though the overall track length is shorter, the ride time seems MUCH longer than Leviathan, and barely appears to fizzle out towards the end. I suppose I prefer a coaster which is not as tall but provides a longer ride, over a taller coaster which provides a ride that seems to end fast and in a way feels incomplete. Can we replace Goliath @ Magic Mountain with this?

Fact. I can't remember the last time I even bothered going to the park on a Saturday. I believe I recommended underwater basket weaving instead and everyone in my group was thankful.

Based on the photos it looks like the track on LL:DoD doesn't go all the way to the top of the tower, and with a 415 foot tower it means riders may not be hitting that 400 foot mark before it drops. I may be wrong but it looks like it's gonna peak at about the half-way point of the magnets at the top of the tower.

^Maybe, but this ride looks all-around better than any Superman flying coaster. Love the layout and Six Flags has done about as well as they can with the standards they set. It has those kind of "holey cow" looking elements like that flip right after the lifthill, and from the POVs it has an intensity no other wing rider before has achieved. I also like those helixes, they really help give the ride a "complete" experience, and actually add to the ride time without kinda tailing off the speed at the end. I could very easily see this becoming a staple throughout the chain. It has that kind of universal appeal IMO.

^Nice vid! Look at how fast the lift chain was going as it pushed the car over the top of the hill, it's hard for me to remember if I ever got on the ride being pushed over that fast. As far as I remember there's always been that slow, creep as you get up to the top. It's also crazy how much faster it took the rest of the ride, those last dips that are pretty mediocre were flying, I bet that double down at that speed was downright insane. And those turn-arounds that are long and mundayne now probably built anticipation as the car got faster and faster as it turned around. I can imagine the ride was pretty thrilling when it ran the way it did before all the block brakes.

I'm surprised they're not holding hands and skipping to the park entrance.

"It doesn't matter" would be a perfect motto for Six Flags. I think we all know from walking around some of the parks that it pretty much already is.

Cars Land looks unbelievable. Can't wait!

After spending $20+ Million on a coaster I'd say that's as ghetto as it gets.