Blue Fire Guy

^ Apparently, the Star Tower will be guarding the Gold Striker construction area just like it did during Haunt. Anyone who ventures too close will be fried with red lasers. Watch out!

Just finished watching the first video, and I must say my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as I was in awe at how the seats of the Free Fly + 4D were being whipped around. I'm excited for more! EDIT: Just looked at the most recent pictures, and I nearly died laughing at Proslide's "SharkTums Regurgitation TornadoWAVE"!

Loving the coverage so far! I'm eager for the videos to come in, it'll be very interesting to see how the interviews are different this time around with all the questions coming from us curious nerds. I'll be following along closely!

Bump. I visited the 'walk with my family today to spend some time at the beach and hit up a few rides (today was only limited operation). We had a very nice day! Crowds were just right, not too dead, and not insane either. As for Hurricane, it's completely gone. I wanted to nab some shots of the site, but low and behold, there was a hard hat sign in the way, so the only way I could get a good look was with Double Shot. From the top of the tower, I saw nothing but concrete and some rusted metal lying around, nothing significant in terms of seeing parts of Undertow, but still an interesting sight. Heres how the day was ridewise: Giant Dipper: Running awesome as usual. Extreme laterals on the 2nd and 3rd turnarounds, and good airtime on just about every hill. Rode it several times in the back seat, and keeping my A$$ connected to the seat was borderline impossible. Double Shot: Provided an excellent view of the Hurricane/Undertow deck and of course some ejector air at the top. Other rides that were open: Pirate Ship, ringy dingy ding-a-ling ding Carousel, Haunted Castle, Speed Bumps, and a special surprise you'll see in the upcoming photos. I also put together a compilation of offride shots of the Giant Dipper. There are so many angles you can shoot the coaster from, both in and out of the park, so I had a lot of fun making this. Photos follow the video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rCCdtr0btI We've arrived! And something is VERY different... Yep. Hurricane is all gone to make way for some Maurer-Soehne goodness. NOTED! Due to this, I could only take good pictures of this with my naked eye at the top of Double Shot. Bare Hurricane/Undertow deck from another angle. Double Shot beckons. Mm-hmm. S&S goodness. NERD SHOT! Sign of quality. More signs of quality. Sea Swings takes a nice long rest. NOTED! Though you can take some good pictures from this point. OH NO! One of my favorite rider-controlled flats is getting dismantled?!? Oh, phew...it's all good. The "eggs" are getting some TLC this winter. The Santa Cruz river was really full... Artsy shot. Another artsy shot. We can't forget you Giant Dipper! XTREME CLOSE-UP! Fireball, with the seats off and...rusting? This thing really needs some TLC! Hope they give it a fresh coat of paint for 2013. I can't believe that I have one of the only remaining ringy dingy ding-a-ling ding carousels less than 50 miles away from me. Truly surreal! The ringy dingy ding-a-ling ding dispenser. GRRRR! I'm a CRAAAZY clown monster!!! Gimme some rings! To conclude this update...what's this you may ask? Yes, it's true. Speedway LIVES!

Let's see...I am currently wearing a pair of size-12 Ecco Colorado shoes. They have the "cheater's lace", where you basically pull up on a plastic piece that surrounds the lace to tighten it, it's quite simple.

Zamperla: Would you ever think of designing an enlarged, taller version of the Disk'O coaster with a larger disk?

Gerstlauer: With you guys helping out with the maintenance of Schwarzkopf coasters, do you also help out with the maintenance of Schwarzkopf flat rides such as the Enterprise, Bayern Kurve, and Calypso?

Giant Dipper (SCBB). Very well-maintained for its age!

The IAAPA questions thread inspires me to ask this... Pax: How much vodka do your engineers drink before designing coasters?

Gerstlauer: Some of my favorite flat rides are ones where the intensity is controlled by the rider, and your Sky Roller and Sky Fly rides look really fun in that respect! At which parks can we expect to see more of these things installed in the coming years?

All I have to say at these photos is "EIGHTY DEGREES!"

To Mack: I went to Europa Park the past two summers and fell in love with Blue Fire's trains. Is it possible to put these trains on rougher looping coasters to allow a more comfortable ride, or are they exclusive to Mack's megacoasters?

GG: This may sound quite insane, but is it possible for you guys to design outside banked curves into your coasters?

Gold Striker and Undertow. Even after seeing GS's construction with my own eyes multiple times, it's still hard to believe that it's finally going to happen at last. As for Undertow, I am looking forward to some insane unbalanced rides. Overall, I'm just really happy that two of my home parks are getting new coasters, and good ones too!

To Proslide: Have you ever thought of or are in the process of making funnel and/or bowl slides that use the HydroMAGNETIC technology?

To S&S: It has been proven by the El Loco, Free Fly, and 4D coasters that you are capable of designing some really crazy track elements. Are there even crazier, more mind-bogglingly bizarre (in a good way!) track elements that you are thinking of or are in the process of designing?

I'll be spending this off-season: 1.) Playing my copy of Pokemon White 2. It's a very good game that has kept me occupied in my free time, and it will keep on doing that all the way 'til spring. 2.) Looking back on the CGA thread to stare in awe at all of the Gold Striker porn that has been shot over the past few months, but not without taking a cold shower afterwards. 3.) Visiting Global Winter Wonderland when it opens later this month. Now I'm really looking forward to this! 4.) Can't forget to check TPR frequently!

To RMC: Do you have any plans to re-track and/or re-profile some more wooden coasters that have gotten rough over the years (i.e those made by Curtis D. Summers/Dinn Corp, Custom Coasters, etc.) and if so, then which ones?

To GCI: Will Gold Striker's trains run using traditional steel wheels or instead use polyurethane wheels like Wodan does?

^ Combining that with the fact that the airtime on that speed hill is lifting you up towards those beams, I'd probably lower my raised hands the first time around when that occurs. It should be nicknamed "Chopper: The Ride" lol!

That could be very possible if it uses steel wheels. My personal guess is that Gold Striker will use polyurethane wheels like Wodan: Timbur Coaster at Europa Park does. The advantage of PU wheels is that the coaster will be quieter, but the disadvantage is that it'll start off the season running somewhat sluggish, taking more time to break in than if it has steel wheels. If the animation (no tunnels there) is correct, then I'm guessing it'll use polyurethane wheels. The tunnels could be a surprise that the animation doesn't reveal, given that the ride is themed to gold-mining. 'Tis quite a debatable question indeed, and even with my guess that it'll use PU wheels, I still am not too sure how everything is going to work out.

If CGA does get a Windseeker to put in the Invertigarden, they'll have to shorten it to meet the height limits due to nearby SJC. I'd want it to at least be taller than Drop Tower (225' tall), maybe in a 240-270ish range. I don't know what the exact height limits are for the park though...anyone know?

-Losing my Haunt virginity at CGA. -Meeting other TPR members (can't go wrong with that!) -Clench-n-squish Logger's rides, NOT Dan-friendly but completely insane and fun nonetheless -Gold Striker construction, need I say more? Most memorably, the local TPR members and I learned how to snap a set of flyers! The two videos below are proof that CGA's flyers (Larson) are very snappable given the rider turns the sail with good timing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dE-i5XgUPA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qTIlqKJm2k

Wow, this thing is getting massive! Those last two photos before the final one with Star Tower are really awesome.

I'm also quite curious about how they'll run these flyers, and I wonder if Larson changed anything about their flyers after they built the prototype for CGA. I still find flyers to be very fun, them being a controllable flat. Even without snapping, getting big swooping dives is an art in and of itself.