Blue Fire Guy

^ I think so too, LOL! I also find it funny that this is Knotts' second short-lived attraction whose name has to do with wind! (WS I think will get a new life for sure, but as for WJ, good riddance. Glad I never have to think of riding that!)

^^ Yay! Even though it's only single train for now, I'm just happy it's running again and I'll be able to ride it for the first time at WCB. Kudos to Knott's for all the hard work to get it back up as quickly as possible!

Now THIS is absolutely unacceptable. More unacceptable than any other graffiti I've seen in GS's queue, and that's already unacceptable. I consider this to be the tarnishing of sacred ground! Ugh... UUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Of the coasters I've ridden: Blue Fire, Wild Train (Erlebnispark Strasswalchen), Gold Striker, S:UF (SFDK). I'll 'splain 'em for you. Blue Fire: Cresting the MCBR in the front seat and the final inline twist as long as you sit on the right side. There, you seat is YANKED from under you forcefully, and you really feel like you're going to be ejected. The amazing trains and lap bars make that moment even better. Wild Train: OK, this thing is just ridiculous. The only thing "family coaster" about this ride is its size. The rest...is just absolutely insane, it seems as though the PAX engineers were extremely drunk when they designed it. The result is a f**ked up layout with violent ejector air all over the place. It truly deserves the name "Wild Train" as it is a WILD ride, and easily the most insane "family coaster" I know of. Gold Striker: My butt is out of the seat at least ten times on this ride. Not the most extreme airtime being a GCI, but it's packed all over the layout. S:UF: Best steel coaster in Norcal IMO. Cresting the top in the front provides extreme ejector air, and the drop after the barrel roll in the back provides equally potent airtime. For some odd reason, the airtime is sustained through the vertical twists as well.

Right now, I can tell that R.D. is bursting with orgasmic joy, even if he hasn't seen this picture yet. His SchwarzSenses let him know of every event Schwarzkopf related in the world.

That's a very good sign! Crossing my fingers and hoping it meets the end of August deadline!

It really does look like the train will take that airtime hill with enough speed to produce decent ejector (yes, I said ejector) airtime, if it's anything like Hair Raiser's hill (the rider cam footage shows ). Despite the short length, that's a very fine looking layout.

My first B&M was Top Gun (back during the PGA era), now Flight Deck. Still my favorite B&M today, as it's old-school forcefulness makes it easily better than all the other B&Ms I've ridden, which are SFDK Medusa, Silver Snooze, and CGA Vortex (which just plain sucks).

I'm glad it's testing and on its way to opening. However, considering it's already mid-August and they still haven't announced an opening date yet (plus, late August is still the target opening time), I have a feeling this could possibly to be just like Gold Striker where it soft opens without warning, and the following day has a rushed grand opening ceremony and media day.

When I rode Wodan in late July 2012, I thought it was very smooth and quick paced but didn't have much airtime. Gold Striker (which uses steel wheels) during the promo shoot gave me only slightly more intense rides than Wodan, but ever since it opened and is breaking in it has gotten much faster and crazier, stronger airtime, and though very smooth I think has a little more vibrations than Wodan had when I rode it. Wodan did feel sort of "cushy" to me, probably due to the PU wheels. I believe you posted earlier this year that Wodan is currently using plastic wheels that have made it much faster but also rough?

^ Holy crap, that day was insanely PACKED. Most of my visits to the park aren't even close to as packed as that day. Only other day it was that packed (though still not to the extent of AAA day in 2012) was the first Wednesday of April where rolercstrluvr and I waited for 45 minutes just for lunch and most queues were over a half hour long.

Anybody who's visited Knott's the past few days see anything new or got any update on Xcelerator? WCB is fast approaching and I'm still crossing my fingers they get it running by then.

Superman: Ultimate Flight at SFDK this past Sunday.

Arrow - Demon (CGA) B&M - Top Gun (now Flight Deck, CGA) GCI - Roar (SFDK) Intamin - Runaway Reptar (now Woodstock Express, CGA) Mack - Blue Fire (Europa Park) Maurer Soehne - Wilde Maus (Wiener Prater) Miler - Sea Serpent (SCBB) Morgan - Quicksilver Express (Gilroy Gardens) PAX - Wild Train (Erlebnispark Strasswalchen/Fantasiana) Pinfari - Zillerator (Z47, traveling fairs w/ Butler) Premier - Superman: Ultimate Flight (SFDK) Reverchon - Dizzy Mouse (Wiener Prater) SDC - Hurricane (SCBB) Schiff - Rainbow Chaser (Fun Forest) Vekoma - Big Thunder Mountain (DLP) Wisdom - Orient Express (my very first credit, SCBB) Zamperla - Volare (Wiener Prater) Zierer - Timber Twister (Gilroy Gardens)

^Nice "2-train op" pic of S:UF you've got there! Today managed to be very enjoyable despite the fact that every person in the crowd thought their job was to be a physical obstacle, and the fact that Roar and Kong were both insanely rough and were very painful. After the sidewinder, the shaking on Kong became violent and incessant until the brake run and beat the crap out of us, even the last little s-curve into the brakes bashed our heads! As for Roar, it basically felt like the train was running on square wheels. S:UF continues to be an awesome coaster with the ejector air and all. We've now nicknamed it "Stripperman" due to it's tendency to try to undress people during the backward's launch, lol!

^ If it were as serious, then it would already be all over the news. Hopefully, having dealt with this before, the park can get it running again by WCB. And like you said earlier, it puts me at ease to be riding on a brand new cable come WCB.

Noooo! Not the evil Intamin cable of death again! Crossing my fingers they get it running by WCB. Really hoping the insanely anal Socal OSHA doesn't keep it closed through the event.

Watching that POV, all I can say is HOLY OMFG AIRTIME BATMAN! This is EASILY top 5 material we have here. Now let's hope it's maintained properly, as that layout is very aggressive looking (not surprised considering it's a GG woodie) and those PTCs will tear it apart very quickly if it isn't retracked frequently and extensively like its relative Fireball (retracked in 2012 according to some RCDB photos). Just looked at RCDB, this coaster's name has changed to "Fjord Flying Dragon" and it opened on July 27th.

Pretty much the same way I interpret the layout. Looks very floaty, boring, and sleep-inducing in the beginning, and the zero-g roll is taken very slowly (something I find very prominent on non-Stengel "new school" B&Ms). Batwing, upward turn, and final helix look to pack a punch though!

It's opener is almost a mirror to Oz'Iris, no B&M pre-dip and the first inversion is a dive loop. Most of the TPR 2012 Europe trip participants found Oz'Iris to be a huge bore...hoping Herr Stengel (aka Mr. Forceful) has an influence on this one.

Longest B&M invert...but will it be forceful?

It's an invert alright!

Getting closer, they are now talking about 2012 (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012...)

Here it comes...

^ It feels very good to live less than a mile from Peninsula Creamery/Palo Alto Fountain Grill. Those milkshakes are OMFG amazing! My personal favorite is The Counter, with Five Guys close behind.