rcjp

Well... it certainly looks good. But will it be any good? . .

On shambhala's tunnel at the bottom of the first drop (in Portaventura) I always have my hands up and my friends think I'm insane but what I really am slightly afraid to try is sitting on an outside seat and twisting my body to the side (which you can do since it has lap bars only) while holding my hands up.

Superman at Warner Madrid although I don't really know how many times I've ridden it. Quite a few

^It does look like there is a high speed hill with a twisted entrance after the turn followed by a traditional big airtime will with a twisted hill right after. Interesting

True. I'm slightly sad it won't be quite as fast, tall and quick to accelerate as KK or TTD but I can't really complain as I thought I'd never see a ride of this type in Europe.

This video shows some faster test runs with the trains reaching the vertical section of the top hat.

^Wow that's amazing to hear! I assume this is still a very early stage and I don't know what you can or can't tell us exactly about the project but is there anything more specific we could count on (for now)?

Nice! Can't wait for a full speed run

The thing I wonder about those launches is if the G force number they give is just in terms of acceleration or what you really feel. Let me explain: if you had a vertical launch with the same acceleration as Kingda Ka (more or less 1.7Gs) you would actually feel 2.7 Gs because you'd have to add 1 G for being vertical. So I wonder if that 1G for lightning rod (for instance) is the "total" or just for the acceleration itself (which would be more impressive). Anyway, back on topic: weren't they going to begin testing quite a while ago?

omg the wood - steel debate on goliath is back!

This is a good point. I feel that sometimes parks feel free to "cut" a coaster's layout because it has a launch (and is, therefore, supposedly more exiting and a more complete experience than a lift). For instance, I can't imagine someone building a ride like TTD or Kingda Ka but with the lift instead - sending you straight into the brakes. Ok, to be fair in that case you'd have the lift, drop and then the top hat (for it to be a "true" replacement) but even still.. I also don't really see or don't remember any ride where the first drop ends with heavy trimming like formula rossa after the launch (even though that is a special case due to the limits the park has and their desire to break that record)

It really depends as you have several types of lifts (the speed is what makes a difference for me) and several types of launches. If it is a slow/not forceful launch I'd rather have a lift hill unless it is used in the middle of the ride. I'm thinking about helix, which I really like, but has weak launches. For me it'd be perfect if the first was replaced with a lift. Then you have launches like the intamin accelerator coasters which is the type I'm more familiar with. Those (just like lifts) do create anticipation as you sit there for a while before the car accelerates but I find this feeling a lot more intense and short than that of the lift hills. This is the reason I don't think they'd work in the middle of a ride as opposed to LSMs (or whatever it uses) even if they may be not so forceful (it would be an award break in the pacing). I don't think I could pick between these and traditional lifts as they both offer very distinct and unique feelings. And even though I find cable lifts pretty fun I'd prefer to have normal ones and launches if I had to choose only two as they almost feel like a bit of a mix and having only the two "opposites" would create more variety. So, all in all, I can't answer and I hope we continue to get the two.

^Maybe. I just don't know how far back they can have the train go from the station so maybe yes maybe not.

Well those towers went up fairly quickly. Looking forward to testing footage of the intamin

Maybe they do but wouldn't it also be nice for them if they could break a record like that without building an entirely new coaster? Anyway, I'm really curious to see how it turn out.

Still no testing news?

Which B&M hyper? (I totally lose count of these rides getting built in China). It's also a bit of a shame that this already built ride will just stand there until the park opens (whenever that happens)

Master Of Puppets

Even though I do feel quite a lot of pain while riding it (I always have my hands up which doesn't help) I keep doing it. It's one of those rides that makes me want to go back in line again. And I do agree that even after all the coasters I've been on this is special as it always makes me feel a bit anxious/nervous. It's just a shame that my legs get destroyed after a couple of consecutive rides. This ride + plus storm runner makes Hershey one of my favorite if not my favorite park.

When I went to the US for the first time I was still GPish and we visited great adventure. It was awfully packed and we only got one ride on each coaster except el toro because we left it for last. It was only when I came back that I realized what I had done (as I started looking more into this subject and even joined TPR). I was so traumatized that I had loads of dreams with it and when I returned to the US two years later I went to great adventure almost only because of el toro. This time we didn't make the same mistake and bought the top flash pass. I kept thinking about how I was going to ride it until I became sick of it but when we arrived it was closed----- After that I still had a lot of dreams of me riding it and I still wonder when I'll have the chance to finally try it.

The ones intamin uses have always made a different sound for some reason, I personally prefer this to the usual "whistle"

^It surely does

I guess that depends on the acceleration you want, no? Most/many intamin accelerator coasters have five car trains with FB being the only one with six (if I'm not mistaken) and there are many LSM launched rides with 5 cars too. The thing is that hydraulic launches seem to be more forceful/faster overall. By the way, has there been any testing?

Wow, that's interesting. It's actually my favorite invert and for me it's exactly the other way round. I find the first half great and the second not so good but overall not a dull ride at all.

I don't believe it either. Only if it had a double station (which would be odd since there are only three trains). I wouldn't be so sure. I mean, I assume that a lot of people will only (or almost only) go there for this ride, no?