Hilltopper39

Some new construction pics on RCPro show the track will actually jump over the sky-ride cables at one point, which looks very very cool to me! All the more reason I'm glad Busch Gardens never released a layout picture or clear on ride POV, I love being surprised by an attraction on my first ride which doesn't happen very often anymore.

Again this new attraction to me is about as uninteresting as it could possible be. A new movie on the old ride system is still the old ride system. I wish they would have completely gutted the building and built an all new Star Wars attraction from scratch. Use whatever cantilever coaster, launch coaster, dark ride, spiderman, harry potter, toy story mania technology you want it would have been better than whatever this turns out to be.

eh, seemed a lot cooler with just the one little train

Still doesn't tell us a whole lot about the cause of the accident other than that the park has some issues with their operations procedures. I think we've assumed that the restraints were lowered but no where that I have seen does it actually state that was the case. Mauer may or may not be off the hook ......

I don't think 'maintenance mode' has anything to do with the status of the restraints. Most coasters have mechanical (or on some B&M's and maybe some Intamin's which I think are hydraulic an electrical) connection that is made in the station and station only that allows the restraints to be unlocked and raised otherwise the restraints are always in the locked position anywhere on the track circuit but not necessarily the locked and lowered position. So while the OTSR's in Robb's picture appear to be open they are most likely in a locked position. I don't remember exactly what maintenance mode is used for on most coasters but once a train leaves the station and is dispatched into the ride circuit there usually isn't any way to alter the status of the restraints without manually opening them with some type of bar or foot pedal or something.

It can be dispatched with locked restraints that are not lowered so it's essentially the same as an unlocked restraint. When it comes to accidents like this nothing can be ruled out. Its possible the restraints were locked, lowered, visually inspected by the operator but not physically and maybe there was enough room between the rider and the restraint that he was able to wiggle out or worse 'get thrown out' by the spinning of the ride. Not that anyone would ever leave a little space between them selves and the lap bar, at least Ive never tried that to get a little more airtime You cant rule out anything in an accident like this. Until further investigation info is released I'm blaming Ice Bat.

yeah they were in the "locked" position but if the restraint is locked but not lowered then its useless. It is very necessary for an operator to check the restraint to make sure it is locked and lowered. In all reality this accident could have been an operator error where the where the operator didn't visually or manually inspect the restraint. I'm saying that restraints can be in the "locked" position but not necessarily lowered and the train can still be dispatched.

^^ Not entirely true, when I worked Everest it was very possible to dispatch the trains with the restraints raised. We often moved trains from load to the transfer track with restraints raised, and test runs were done with restraints raised if I remember correctly. Or if there was no one in line and we needed to cycle through a empty train it was with restraints up (been a few years but Im pretty sure it was possible). Another ride I used to work on was a GCI with millennium flyers, and Im pretty sure it could be dispatched with the restraints raised (the GCI guys on here can probably confirm or deny that). However the lap bars on the flyers usually fall into the locked position if they are left up anyways. The boats on Journey to Atlantis could also be dispatched with the restraints raised. It was policy to lower the restraints regardless of if anyone was in the row or not for every dispatch but you didn't have to lower the restraints to dispatch the trains. Ive never worked a B&M or an Intamin coaster but most rides Ive ever worked the trains could be dispatched with the restraints raised.

I have a real sneaking suspicion that when the investigation is completed this accident will be a result of a rider not following the rules and being dumb rather than a mechanical failure. More often than not most ride accidents are a result of human error and not mechanical failure, at least most cases that I am aware of. My thoughts and prayers do go out to the family though, but Im interested in seeing the results of the investigation.

Wow, every time I see pictures of Wild Wadi start checking prices on flights to Dubai. That is by far one of the coolest looking water parks in the world. Why cant anything new in America be half as good as everything new in Dubai/China/Europe/Japan? Beautiful looking park though, and when those new pro slide tantrum alleys open I'm sure it will be even better.

Wow, this place just looks more and more amazing after every trip report I read. Those were the first pictures of the place Ive seen taken at night and it looks beautiful at night, very very cool lighting. How is the Fiorano GT Challenge coaster compare to other coasters? I cant tell if it looks like a fun family coaster, or a dull boring ride with awesome looking trains. The concept of it is cool with the racing and crossovers and multiple launches but all the videos Ive seen it it just looks kinda boring. Anyone have a decent review of the ride or comparison for perspective on it?

I think in previous years that Holiday World offered discounted admission at various rates depending on if it was a weekday or weekend and also depending on the month of the summer, a larger discount was available on less busy days. Although ever since I have joined Club TPR I don't have to worry about discounts because my Club TPR Cards gets me the best discount possible all of the time! Thanks ROBB!!

Im pretty excited about this coaster even if the new trains are supposedly rough as hell. SFOG is one of my favorite Six Flags parks and this gives me a good excuse to go back! Hoping to make a trip in early spring sometime.

The guy in line in front of me won the prize ball that I was going to go after!!!!! Bastard !

Kraken is a very underrated coaster IMO. Every time I ride that thing it just seems to get better and better. Has a great first drop, unique layout, good pacing, decent forces (compared to most other floorless B&M's) and always seems to have short lines, thanks Manta. I haven't been on very many floorless's but think Kraken is probably pretty hard to beat.

excuse me not an "empty station" but a 3 or 4 train wait just inside the station always seems to take at least 30 minutes even with two trains on each track.

yeah I'm afraid thats a BGT policy of some kind and wont change with the new trains. Dispatch times on Gwazi have always been the slowest I have ever seen anywhere, 30 plus minute wait with an empty station

Those flyers really are some smooth looking trains, I think these on Gwazi might be the best looking flyers around! I wonder if adding the millennium flyers will improve the ride operations any from the loading and unloading standpoint. One thing I always hated about Gwazi was how freaking long it used to take the operators to dispatch a train, they would check everyones seatbelt then drop the lap bars then check everyones lap bars. Hopefully the flyers will speed up the process somewhat.

I always make an effort to stop at Boomers whenever I'm in that area. For such a crappy looking run down place it really is a great wooden coaster, which makes absolutely no sense. That thing was in my top 10 at one point. How can Cedar Point not maintain Mean Streak or Carowinds not keep up the Hurler, but Boomers keep The Hurricane running top notch, year round, in some rather extreme weather conditions? Makes no sense but thats part of what makes it so great!

Ive always though Belmont Park looked like a pretty fun place to spend a few hours. I really wish there were more Beach front amusement parks left out there in the world.

so the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride is official now ? I honestly had almost no interest in this project but now with that ride I have a little interest. We'll see how it turns out but sound like it could be a pretty interesting family attraction.

Here's my ballot for the Poll, first time Ive ever done one of these before. I just kinda ranked my top 10 or 20 favorites, then the bottom 10 or so worst and adjusted a few in the middle. Who really ranks wooden coasters 25-32 anyways? RANK THE FOLLOWING RIDING SENSATIONS <-LEAVE THIS LINE AS IS Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,2 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,6 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,3 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,4 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,5 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <--Please leave this The Beast Kings Island OH,y,n,1 Phoenix Knoebel's PA,y,n,2 My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,n,3 Raven Holiday World IN,y,n,4 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,n,5 Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend KY,y,n,6 Hades Mount Olympus WI,y,n,7 The Voyage Holiday World IN,y,n,8 Avalanche Timber Falls WI,y,n,9 Dania Bch Hurricane Dania Beach FL,y,n,10 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,n,11 Twister Knoebel's PA,y,n,12 Texas Giant SFoT TX,y,n,13 Viper SFGAm IL,y,n,14 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,15 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,16 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,n,17 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,n,18 Racer Kings Island OH,y,n,19 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,n,20 Cannonball Lake Winnepesaukah GA,y,n,21 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,n,22 Thunder Road Carowinds NC,y,n,23 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN,y,n,24 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,n,25 Jack Rabbit Kennywood PA,y,n,26 Zeus Mount Olympus WI,y,n,27 The Legend Holiday World IN,y,n,28 American Eagle SFGAm IL,y,n,29 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,30 Thunder Run Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,31 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA,y,n,32 Lost Coaster of SM Indiana Beach IN,y,n,33 Racer Kennywood PA,y,n,34 Judge Roy Scream SFoT TX,y,n,35 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,n,36 Roller Coaster Great Yarmouth UK,y,n,37 Fairly Odd Coaster Carowinds NC,y,n,38 Fairly Odd Coaster Kings Island OH,y,n,39 Little Dipper SFGAm IL,y,n,40 Hoosier Hurricane Indiana Beach IN,y,n,41 Rattler Fiesta Texas TX,y,n,42 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,43 Twisted Twins-S (S) Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,44 Twisted Twins-L (S) Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,45 Hurler Carowinds NC,y,n,46 Son of Beast (SBNO) Kings Island OH,y,n,47

^^ put train on track and press start, what else is there?

I cant wait to finally get some "human reviews" of these Timberliner trains. I hope they ride like a dream because personally i dont really like the "look" of them. I mean they look nice and all but they don't really look a wooden coaster train. Part of the reason I love the GCI Millenium Flyers is the classic single bench wooden coaster train look that they have on top of the incredibly smooth ride. The Timberliners just don't have that classic look to me, but if they ride as smooth and fast as the Flyers then eh, who cares.

Wow, those are some of the coolest promo/concept art pictures I have ever seen. Why cant any parks in America have theming this good?