rcjp

I think OTSR would be necessary. But then, I do not think the ride needs that sort of alteration as it's all about the launch (which backwards would feel awkward) and the speed/height sensation.

Have you ever experienced a greyout or even a full blackout? If so, which were the rides that gave you one. I've had two, the first one was when I was riding nitro for the first time. I was sitting in the third row and during the helix I got a slight greyout. The second one was on one of my rides on skyrush, on the turn after the first airtime hill, I was sitting somewhere in the middle. What about you?

Drunk

^Exactly! Although the comparison between cable lifts and accelerator rides might not be the best as one uses an electric motor while the other one uses a hydraulic system I totally agree with you. Maybe if we take the case of all the coasters where the lift consists in tyres we could then say that, if it were just a matter of speed, they would be all slow drive tyre launches.

^I think the question is why don't their floorless coasters (at least most of them) have the same intensity as their sitting ones? Obviously, if they did, then they would be perfect as they're essentially sitting coasters with no floor (which should only enhance the ride experience). In that case, they would be all we needed as what we really want (I think) is the intensity of their older models and not the sitdown trains themselves.

^Better than me. The 3 closest decent parks from where I live are Isla Magica, Parque de Atracciones Madrid and Warner Madrid, all 5 hours away and not even in the same country!

Lock

^I guess it is normal that the drop is usually slightly shorter than the overall height. Still, I like when that difference is kept to a minimum, unlike Kingda Ka which, after the top hat, comes nowhere near the ground. Although it might not make much of a difference given that this ride will have the tallest drop I think it is undeniable that the "tallest overall" record has a bigger impact, especially with the GP.

^I don't know. I think there are different theories concerning this. Even if B&M isn't yet comfortable with featuring lap bars to a looping ride I don't really see why they couldn't use OTSR. I've mentioned this plenty of times before but during 2012 IAAPA when Robb asked us to write what we would like him to ask each manufacturer my question was why they hadn't done that before (a looping hyper/giga). It was actually selected but Walter Bolliger said he didn't want to answer that question. Now I guess that could either mean that he just isn't comfortable at all with the idea or (hopefully) that they have a similar future project. But then it was over an year ago and I think we would already know if it was the case, right? I'm not entirely sure how long it takes from the moment a manufacturer is contacted until the ride opens.

SLC

I have to say I don't really understand why maverick's lift isn't a lift. Sure, LSMs are mostly used for launches but, to me, it can also be just another type of lift: we have chain lift hills, cables, drive tyres so why can't we have LSMs? Given that other types (such as drive tyres) are also used for launches (like incredible hulk's) I don't really see why LSM's can't be used for both launches and lifts and, therefore, are excluded from the "lift hill" category.

Dragon Khan was the first B&M where the main drop was a straight one (as long as you don't count that little dip before Nemesis's first corkscrew a drop).

^Well, I've just been to their website and couldn't find the opening day, all they said was "We'll see you in April 2014". As to kingda ka being closed or not, I don't know but I'm sure someone else here will know. About the flash pass, there are 3 levels: regular, gold and platinum. As they explain on the site, the regular one will allow you to wait the same time as everyone else but without having to be in the queue, so you can do something else. Gold gives you a 50 % reduction on waiting times (and you still don't have to queue) and platinum provides a 90% reduction (not only that, they give you a bracelet which allows people to ride twice in a row without leaving their seats.) Platinum will guarantee that get plenty of rides everywhere although it's not always necessary (that depends on how crowded it is). Last summer me and my dad had platinum flash pass and we paid 214 dollars. I think for one person it is 120 and gets cheaper as you add more people all the way up to six. Again, I'm not sure how crowded it will be (assuming it is open) but someone will be able to tell you.

^Granted, your bathtub would be. I wish a giga looping coaster was built.

^You're probably right, and I have no problem with how it is now.

How would a coaster that doesn't turn duel? I remember the president of intamin saying, during some IAAPA interview, that they could feature turns and twists.

Fantasy Island (the one in the UK)

^Maybe. But that would grant the record for tallest loop and could be a big step towards breaking the number of inversions record too.

^I went for two days and the ticked for both of them included Soak city but I didn't even consider going there. The park itself is just too good.

^Yeah but when I said floorless I wasn't just talking about the trains, I was talking about the "model" which includes several inversions. And that's something we've never seen on a giga before.

Voyage

I thought there was nothing special about shambhala. It is the perfect GP ride: they can say they've been on Europe's tallest coaster yet it is very forceless and pretty non-breathtaking which makes it very re ridable for most guests. I've only been on two B&M hypers: Shambhala and Nitro and I thought the latter was better: more forceful, more consistent airtime, a much better ending (shambhala's is ridiculous), it has that G pulling helix and, in my opinion, the trains are better. I ended up riding shambhala 8 times but, closer to the end, apart from the drop, I would get slightly bored. I liked what they did with nitro: as many airtime hills as possible, it just lacks some intensity when it comes to negatives.

Skyrush is definitely the fastest I've been on. Not only is it quick, but once the entire train is "in the lift" itself it accelerates reasonably hard for a bit. And we shouldn't forget that it is pretty steep (around 50 degrees, think) and that the trains weigh a lot (approximately 13 tons). As to chains, I don't know although Leviathan's is pretty fast (at least the fastest B&M).

Assuming the picture is accurate, it could be a Tatsu style brake run, with two separate sets or brakes. Well, given that the last B&M flyer built in china apparently is pretty good, I'll be looking forward to this one.

^And they seem to be working pretty hard: second half of the batwing on the way!