aCoasterStory
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Posts posted by aCoasterStory
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I know we're in the middle of discussing the cable issue and all, but I'm planning to be at the park over Labor Day weekend. I've been on weekends in late July the last few years and they haven't been too insane, but I'm guessing the crowds Labor Day weekend will be ridiculous, right? I'd probably be getting to the park around 5pm on Saturday and be there from opening (ERT) till dinnertime on Sunday. I'm planning to get FLP for Sunday, but what are the chances I could live without it Saturday night? (Maybe just try playing plinko?) Any tips to maximize my riding efficiency for Saturday night? I'm also likely going to have a CP newbie with me, so I want to make sure he gets the full Cedar Point experience. Thanks!
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So I'm going to be in the area the weekend of 8/16-17, and I was looking at visiting the park on Saturday the 16th. I probably wouldn't be able to get there until the evening (6-7), but the rides are open till 11, so I figure I should be able to have enough time to enjoy everything, right? What kinds of crowds/wait times should I expect given that it'll be a Saturday night? I'm not huge on most flats, but I figure I'd like to get several rides in on the coasters. Is a wristband my best bet? Any other must-ride attractions? And are there any special deals/tips/tricks/etc I should know about? Thanks!
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Since there's not really an official Gilroy Gardens thread, I figured I should post here. I'm going to be in the Bay area the weekend of 8/16-17 and may have some time Saturday afternoon to visit the park (I have a CF Platinum Pass). I'm an adult male, so I'm not really planning on doing a ton of rides--I'd really just like to ride the 2 coasters, plus whatever I need to ride to see the gardens (I believe there's an antique cars ride and a monorail that go through gardens, right?). I also want to have some time to just walk around and appreciate the scenery. How much time should I budget, given that it'll be a Saturday afternoon? This will likely be my only visit ever to the park, but I'll also be trying to hit CGA in the same day, so I don't want to cut out too much time from there. Suggestions?
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Looking to be at the park on Saturday 8/16 for the first (and likely only) time. Any tips? I've seen on here that I can get in an hour early with my platinum pass. My thoughts were to go hit Gold Striker as many times as I can during that hour & then head over to hit Flight Deck right before opening so I can be on my way to Vortex when they start letting people in. I figure I can then work my way around to the back of the park and be on the front edge of the wave of guests. If I can stay ahead of the crowds, it shouldn't take too long to hit all the coasters (plus the drop ride), right? Anything that's definitely worth planning on re-riding (other than Gold Striker)?
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About the legend? You know we made it up, right? (Although researching history is always a good thing, so don't stop looking on my account.) I enjoyed the heck out of researching the Pilgrims' experience on board Mayflower. It was harrowing and Thanksgiving will never, ever mean the same to me.
The challenge of the Thanksgiving holiday is that architecture of the time is just not pretty, interesting, or exciting. So we didn't stay in 1620.
If you remember back on May 15, we hosted a free day for coaster enthusiasts. During our Voyage walkback, a little boy noticed an old wooden box poking out of the dirt near an access road. We dug it out, opened it, and found an old diary.
That diary was the journal kept by our 66 Days at Sea mother back in 1620. It was preserved for generations by her descendants, one of whom eventually settled in southern Indiana, circa 1820. The farmer reaped the rewards of bountiful crops some seasons but also suffered the results of extreme weather, including lightning strikes to his barn and outbuildings and strong winds knocking over corn, wheat and other grain crops, rendering them nothing more than cattle feed.
This farmer knew well his family's stories of a shadowy creature of the skies. Although skeptical at first, he sensed this moody creature was somehow connected with his ancestor's journal and in his old age buried it in the earth to protect future generations from the unbridled energy of this Thunderbird.
When we opened that wooden box on May 15, Thunderbird's powers were again unleashed.
Those photos posted on Day 65 and Day 66? They were taken by different staff members this summer.
Thunderbird is back.
That's brilliant and so perfectly ties in the 66 Days at Sea with the actual ride theming. I was beginning to wonder, but this answers all my theming-related questions.
I had Holiday World on my list of parks I wanted to revisit at some point in the future, and now I'm *definitely* going to find a way to make that trip from Atlanta next year.
I visited in 2012, and while I loved the waterpark & really enjoyed Raven and Legend, Voyage beat me up a good bit. I'm excited to ride Thunderbird (and hoping Voyage is playing a little nicer) next year when I return.
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I just wanted to weigh in with a guess as to why they are employing a flywheel. (I have an electrical engineering degree, so it's at least an educated guess.) As most of us know, any sort of magnetic launch requires a very large amount of power in a very short amount of time. I suspect that Santa Claus Indiana's connection to the power grid might not have enough capacity to safely accommodate the spike that Thunderbird will require. (The park has to account for a worst case scenario. If they were to create a spike when the rest of the area was already drawing a lot of current, they could cause a blackout.) Many parks build their own power substations, but Santa Claus is relatively far from a major city, which would make the cost of running extra power lines to the closest power plant(s) VERY expensive. ($1 million might get you 2-3 miles of line) The flywheel gets "charged up" at a relatively constant rate, and is able to release its energy into the LSMs very quickly, creating the necessary spike without greatly affecting the grid.
And I must say, I got a little teary-eyed at the "Will power" bit.
That being said, Paula did mention on the podcast tonight that they paid for a new power substation to be installed across the street from the park & thought it was interesting that none of the enthusiasts noticed it with as anal as they were being with investigating the footers.
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Live podcast with Paula going on now: http://www.coasterradio.com/live.html
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Flywheels can store energy for an electric (LIM/LSM launch.) The animation looked like LIM/LSM launch.
Wonder if she misspoke about the flywheel or if the animation wasn't accurate?
EDIT: this is from the FACTS page: Launch, using LSM technology
DESCRIPTION:
Thunderbird is the nation’s first launched wing coaster. It is Holiday World’s first major
steel roller coaster, with a 0-60mph launch in 3.5 seconds, followed by multiple inversions – including a
14-story Immelmann loop, Zero-g roll, barrel roll, and loop. Continuing Holiday World’s tradition of sending roller coasters through thickly wooded and hilly terrain, Thunderbird at first soars and loops high in the air and then hugs the ground, surprising riders with rapid-fire “near misses” such as keyholes, themed elements, other rides, trees, and even the ground.
TRACK LENGTH: 3,035 feet
RIDE HEIGHT: 140 feet at Immelmann loop’s peak
RIDE ELEMENTS:
From start to finish:
Launch, using LSM technology
Immelmann loop
Loop
Horseshoe
Elevated Spiral
Zero-G roll
S curve
2 “headchopper” keyholes
Carousel
360 in-line twist (barrel roll)
2 Crossovers with The Voyage
SPEED: Thunderbird’s top speed is 60 miles per hour
RIDE TIME: 1 minute, 18 seconds (station to station)
RIDE VIDEO: http://HolidayWorld2015.com
TRAINS: Two trains, each with five four-person coaches
CAPACITY: 1,140 Guests per hour
HEIGHT LIMIT: Riders must be at least 52 inches tall
INVESTMENT: $22 million
RIDE DESIGNER: Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), Switzerland
LEGEND: In 1620, as the Mayflower neared the end of its 66 days at sea, a mighty storm nearly capsized
the ship, taking it hundreds of miles off course. As passengers and crew feared all was lost, an immense bird appeared in the sky. The thunderbird, whose wings created the thunder and eyes flashed the lightning of the powerful storm, rescued the ship by launching it through the sky to the New World.
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Wait, did she say flywheel????
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Launched Wing Coaster, Baby!
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Stream is back working in Safari, but Chrome is still very choppy. IE is still rock solid.
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This third question (If it's a steel coaster, will it turn me upside down, launch me in the air, or be terrain all the way?) has me hoping it's actually all 3!
I think it will be.
Sounds like the local crowd isn't exactly enthused about it launching or being a terrain coaster. Lol.
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This third question (If it's a steel coaster, will it turn me upside down, launch me in the air, or be terrain all the way?) has me hoping it's actually all 3!
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My best-functioning stream is in IE on my PC. It's glitchy in Chrome & non-functional still in Safari on my Mac (though it did just start to try to come back up).
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It's coming back up for me.
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I got a couple seconds of audio/video and then it just stopped. Got a couple shots from what looked like a video and then just black. I've got 2 diff devices going w/ diff browsers & they're doing the same thing!!
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I am pretty sure the "Bellyaching and Moaning" comment is a hint towards B&M, as is the final hint by Leah.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Brilliant catch. I missed that one on the first go-around.
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So most of those clues are fairly straightforward. I think it's safe to say at this point that it's a $22M B&M steel coaster with inversions. All the 'Birds of Prey' references seem to indicate a wing coaster (though a flyer could also be possible).
“One mammoth of an announcement.” The longest magnetically-launched coaster? I know Cheetah Hunt is pushing 4500ft. Is any magnetically-launched coaster longer than that?
“I always wanted a younger brother.” No idea. To me this would imply that it's not the biggest/baddest/awesomest new thing. Unless it's talking about a younger brother to Hulk?
“Bellyaching and moaning won’t get you any closer to announcement time” Thoughts? Maybe the restraints will put you face-down? That could speak to a flyer or a 4D wing coaster IMHO.
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I'm going to go with it being the first 4D B&M coaster.
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The only downside is the water-park where they have rides designed for 3 or more peeps......can't go on those.
Or you very awkwardly ask or are grouped with strangers...BTDT
Second time, got paired with a random father and his kid... my new policy is: unless it has a single rider line or I can bump into someone else looking for a single rider, skip it.
I generally agree, but then I went to Wet'n'Wild, and most of their slides (especially the cool ones) are group only (and I didn't do enough research beforehand to know this), so I had to suck it up and ride with people. There are few things more awkward than riding a water slide with girls that are half your age.
When I went to Splashin' Safari at HW, I did the single-rider lines for Wildebeest and Mammoth. Mammoth wasn't too awkward, but I ended up with this family on Wildebeest, and the design of those rafts makes it interesting riding with random people...you have to get a little friendly with them. But of course I did it (because I really didn't know any better beforehand and also because it's one heck of a water coaster).
Suffice it to say, I really need to stop going to waterparks by myself.
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I don't understand what Six Flags is going for.
-Worst customer service in the business.
-Highest Parking Fees by far.
-Higher than average food prices. Miserable food quality across the board.
-Ignoring families and family attractions for the last two decades.
-At least half of the parks have horrible ride operations.
-Abysmal fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo Policies.
-Penny squeezing gimmicks that other parks don't necessarily use, like tube rentals.
-Cheap advertising gimmicks everywhere. Like, setting a global standard for as bad and cheap as advertising gimmicks can possibly get.
Do they expect good things to happen with all of those things in tandem?
Look at the employees Six Flags hires, and then look at basically any other quality theme park and tell me if you can't see why customer service, operations, etc. suffer at Six Flags parks. The parks with the best operations don't hire high school kids (who really don't want to be there but their mama made them get a job) to run the entire park--and then pay them jack diddly. But Six Flags is desperate for cheap labor; they think that if they spend more money on quality employees that it will cost them (which it will upfront, but it will pay dividends in the long-run as customer service and operations improve accordingly).
I worked for a Six Flags-owned water park for 2 summers in HS, and it was something I looked forward to and actually cared about. Many of my coworkers hated having to show up to work. The supervisor of my restaurant was younger than I was, often talked about drinking and partying, and showed up hung over a few times. His best friend worked in our restaurant until the day he got selected for a random drug test & quit rather than pee in the cup. Several of the employees would whine and complain about having to do the most basic and necessary of tasks, and most liked to hide behind the shelving (instead of being at the registers ready to serve customers) so they could text (and this was before *everyone* texted all the time). I know it was a small sample size, but I do believe my experience is fairly consistent with the general Six Flags experience.
Another anecdote unrelated to my employment: I was at a park one time queueing for a coaster when one ride op announced they were going on break. Everyone else seemed cool with it until one kid piped up and said, "Wait! You can't go on break--you're the only one that's 18!"
I've never heard of another park that would operate a major coaster with only a single 18yo op and the rest 16/17. Granted, I've also seen this park operate several coasters with only a single ride op, so really nothing should shock me at this point.
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Put me in the "Gwazi is cooked" camp. One side is completely closed, efforts to save the coaster with new trains were mixed, and it's still a terrible design for a ride that is quite rough even with new trains. And the way it's been managed doesn't indicate that the park is happy with what they have there.
The sucky thing is that a quality wooden coaster is really what the park needs to have (keep) its rounded coaster lineup. Think about it--how many major coaster parks do you know of that don't have a single wooden roller coaster but have 7+ steel coasters? And a huge number of parks have multiple wooden coasters for that many steel ones. The biggest park I can think of without a wooden coaster is BGW with 6 steel coasters. (I'm not counting SFFT or SFM here, even though IRAT & Medusa are technically hybrid coasters, and for the same reason I wouldn't mind if Gwazi got the Iron Horse treatment).
Once you get beyond all that, though, the next major deficiency in BGT's lineup is the airtime hyper, but I have absolutely no idea where on earth you'd put one.
While it'd be really cool to run out along/through the Serengeti plain, there are a few major challenges with doing that 1) I don't know how the animals would react to a coaster that close to them, 2) I don't know how they'd be able to effectively do construction through a populated animal area, and 3) I don't know where they could put the station that would make sense.
Jungala is really the only major section of the park without a coaster, and I think they could probably expand to the north but I'm still not sure how they'd do it to make it make the most sense for a hyper.
I really can't see them putting in any other type of coaster in the next 3-5 years except maybe if they did a Gatekeeper and re-did the entrance with a wing coaster.
Highly doubt we'd see a stand-up or flying coaster from B&M. If they did anything else from Intamin, I'd think they'd go big & intense, but that hasn't really been their MO. I don't see an El Loco or a Eurofighter being the right fit for the park either.
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x1 Georgia Cyclone- I rode the Coney Island Cyclone and I expected this to be a lot better but boy was I wrong. My body slammed against the harness on the airtime hills and it vibrates until you can't feel your legs anymore. If you keep your back off of the seat it won't be as bad. Never again will I ride this. 2/10
This is actually really surprising to hear. By all accounts, it's been running really well of late. It's been a month or two since I've ridden it myself, but I've never enjoyed the GA Cyclone until riding it this year. Every time before that I'd get off with basically the same thoughts you had, but this year it's been brilliant and dare I say it, fun.
Where did you sit?
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The only downside is the water-park where they have rides designed for 3 or more peeps......can't go on those.
Or you very awkwardly ask or are grouped with strangers...BTDT
Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Planning to be at the park the Friday (all day) and Saturday (morning only) of Labor Day weekend (8/29-30). What kinds of crowds should I expect Friday? And how do people flow at park open now that Banshee is open? Any reason I should plan to need fastlane (other than if I wanted to leave for a few hours in the afternoon to go check out the Beach waterpark and still wanted to be able to ride everything as much as possible)?
I always love to hit the Beast at night, but how is the Banshee night ride?
Also, is Banshee included in morning ERT? If so, I figure I'll do that (and maybe Bat) during ERT on Saturday, then quickly head to Beast for a ride or two before the line gets too long, and then utilize the Diamondback SR line for a few rides before heading out (and up to Cedar Point!). Is that a sold plan?
Any other tips? Thanks!