neil009

I like to think a lot about this, and I've refined my ideas over the years. I'd like to think, given the trajectory of places like Holiday World, this plan is reasonably realistic given a long enough time frame. Coaster line-up in order of construction: 1. Gravity Group woodie: 90 ft tall, 3500 ft long. Traditional out and back design, built to be highly visible from the midway. I would try hard to get traditional PTCs with buzz bar restraints. 2. Gravity Group larger woodie: 120 ft tall, 4200 ft long. This one would have Timberliner trains. It would be a freeform terrain design, faster, more aggressive, with heavy sustained laterals. 3. RMC woodie: 160 ft tall, 3200 feet long. This would be the first looping coaster for the park. Stats would be subject to change, I would love to work with them on any new ideas they had as long as it included inversions and lots of fast-paced directional changes. I would really want to push the limits of intensity with this. 4. B&M launched invert: Top speed of 65 mph, 3500 ft long. Terrain coaster with lots of tunnels. If I built a steel roller coaster, I would want it to be B&M for their expertise and comfortable trains, but only if they agreed to make a coaster with lightning fast pacing from beginning to end. If they gave me a layout that was too slow I'd take my business elsewhere. Specifically I would demand no vertical loops, no high swooping turns, no inline twist, lots of quick directional changes, and at least one solid pop of air. Then, if my park did insanely well and we started playing in the big leagues: 5. Hyper GT-X coaster: 205 feet, 5,300 ft long. I would have Chance build me their first hyper coaster. I would want to work closely with them to make the most of every inch of track. 5. Pneumatic launched coaster: Top speed of 115 mph, 5,000 ft long. I would want to beat Dodonpa's acceleration record, and have a more interesting layout. I know I would need a lot of space but I would love to try building this without a single trim brake. I would work with S&S only to build the launching mechanism, then work with someone else on the layout, probably Ride Centerline. I have other, crazier ideas I'd investigate, like a much taller tilt coaster, a terrain 4D coaster, and an intense pitch-black indoor coaster, but the ones I've listed are the ones I'm reasonably sure could be built at an actual park.

Most people are just talking about Skyrush, which is a ride that's already open. Hopefully you're right and Flying Aces will be better. Why don't you explain exactly what you're seeing in that picture that makes you so sure they've made improvements? If anything, this is the only thing that looks like it *might* be different, but from the angle of the photo it's really hard to tell. It makes sense for that to change since it seems like an easy and cheap thing to do, you're not changing how the bar is attached to the train, all you're doing is swapping out a single piece for one that's shaped slightly different. If that is the only change, I would love for that to fix all the problems however... I'm a little doubtful. I seriously think they need to go back to the drawing board. EDIT Sorry I thought you were talking about the bar, not the seat. You're right, the seat also looks different. But I'm willing to say now the bar looks like it curves more, which is what I thought you were referring to.

^Hey, I didn't think it was THAT bad a ride. ...Let's say I thought it had a lot of potential.

Looks like that would be another example. I just went with Thunderbolt because that's the one I've ridden.

Ok then, describe exactly the changes you're seeing. It's very hard to tell anything from that single blurry picture and I've yet to get the video to load. There's no reason to assume I didn't look plenty closely, trust me, I WANT those restraints to be better. Thunderbolt tracked terribly but I thought the restraints were perfect. Sure they were hard plastic, but they didn't dig into your body painfully and they weren't very restrictive. They're good to contrast with Skyrush because there aren't many lap bars that come from above and behind you like those two do, and to me Thunderbolt's is easily the better design. It's subjective, I also had a problem with Impulse's restraints when no one else did.

I don't think they're different at all. From off ride Skyrush looks like it sits at the correct position as well: I'm telling you, it's not just where it sits on the leg, it's the angle and width of contact between the bar and your leg. Do you see how the part that hits your leg is rounded, and not flat? That's why it digs in so painfully. It's the difference between someone pressing on your leg with an open palm versus their elbow. See how Thunderbolt has the flat part of the restraint holding you down, instead of the edge? That's how it should be. Intamin screwed up bad.

Very slight differences, but likely helpful. Maybe if Flying Aces is well-received they'll replace the ones on Skyrush, but that's solely on Hersheypark. ?? I see no difference. If they didn't significantly change those restraints, and it doesn't look to me like they did, then they made a serious mistake. Sure we enthusiasts all love Skyrush, but I honestly can not imagine a park owner, with all kinds of guests to worry about, riding one of these rides and saying "Gee I really need to have one of these in my park!" It's not just where the lap bar falls, it's all that crunching action being concentrated in such a narrow area.

I wonder which will win, the first big airtime hill on Lightning Run or the first one on this. I can't wait to make the comparison. Anyone placing any bets?

Ohhhh goodness, on one of my night rides on Boulderdash I decided, right before the gates closed and without asking if it was ok first, to sit down next to the young attractive woman in front of me, who looked like she really would rather I hadn't, because the lady behind me was trying to ride at the same time as the rest of her group and me riding alone would've messed that up. I had to put my bag on the other side of the station platform and ended up stepping on her flip-flop-clad feet as I did so. Pretty sure I had a slight end-of-long-summer-day-funk going on too. She assured her friends behind her she had no problem with it but I felt so stupid about the whole thing. Shame shame shame!

The combination of form and function in Goliath SFGAm's lift hill/zero g stall structure is, to me, one of the most emotionally evocative and ingenious designs to come out of the amusement industry. It looks like a railroad bridge from Alice in Wonderland. I can't wait to see it in person sometime. Here's a funny example: I actually thought the rotating bins on Skyrush were a very clever and simple solution to the single-sided station dilemma. You put your stuff in when you're waiting in line, it's there for you when you get off the train, minimizing risk of theft in the meantime. A great idea on paper... too bad the IQ of the general populace just wasn't up to snuff.

Yeah Thunderbird is most definitely not forceless. I mean it might feel a little forceless if you're just coming off of the Voyage, but honestly in terms of excitement I'd put it up there with the best of the B&Ms, at least in the outer seats at the extreme ends of the train.

^Wrong, Talon is still one of the more intense inverts. It came before the true advent of "Modern B&M", somewhere in between but still packing a pretty good punch.

How about the most forceless woodie? My vote goes to Mean Streak. Basically. I still say the Wacky Worm is unbeatable but if it has to be an adult coaster I'll say Farenheit just to annoy the Intamin fanboys. It's just as forceless as any forceless B&M you can name but much like the forceless B&M's I still enjoy it and see no reason to complain about it. I strongly disagree, the corkscrews have that "snap" you get on good B&Ms, but that's completely absent from lame B&Ms. I would put those corkscrews against the corkscrews on any floorless and they'd win every time. Also, the turnaround into the pop of airtime at the end is much stronger and faster-paced than practically any floorless. In fact I'd say the only weak parts of that ride are the Norwegian loop and the cobra roll. I actually really hate the term "forceless" because it's simple inaccurate. It's really that modern B&Ms engineer the forces to be so consistent and smooth, you don't get any of that "out of control" feeling like you get on better coasters.

The problem comes when Holiday World announces they're building a B&M wing coaster and somebody says they're less than thrilled with that and you explode at them like they insulted your mother. I don't believe I've ever done that. Sorry I was just commenting on fanboyism in general

The problem comes when Holiday World announces they're building a B&M wing coaster and somebody says they're less than thrilled with that and you explode at them like they insulted your mother.

Does this mean any real changes for the park as far as management/staff/etc?

RMCs actually lose speed quicker than traditional wood coasters. All of the conversions have shorter track lengths compared to the originals.

The wooden coaster formula is very simple: a mix of laterals and negative Gs. This is basically what defines the wooden coaster genre. Most non-hyper steel coasters focus on positives, with a few negatives thrown in as an afterthought and no laterals at all. Wooden coasters don't need anything added to them, there simply needs to be more of them, more good ones that are maintained well. RMC hasn't redefined the wooden coaster genre, they're on the outer fringes, experimenting. They're like what Death Grips are to hip hop, taking elements of the genre and distorting it, making it more twisted and intense. GCI and TGG are the ones carrying on true traditional wood coaster design. That doesn't mean there isn't any room for innovation, but the core experience, an almost equal parts mix of laterals and airtime, remains the same.

The Legend was basically my second favorite coaster of all time when I rode it this past season. I liked it better than the Voyage. PLEASE just be retracking, and not reprofiling. PLEASE. I would seriously be heartbroken if they do anything to that drop. It's perfect the way it is.

Ditto. Sure other parks might have better operations, shorter lines and better theming, but unfortunately there's only one Dodonpa and Eejanaika and I would travel all the way to Japan just to ride them. If I'm going somewhere to look at amazing stuff I want to look at actual historical temples, artwork, and landscapes, not fake stuff at Universal.

Flame throwers on Thunderbird's pre-show. Called it.

Wow wow wow wow. I can't wait to check this out in person. It doesn't even look like the same ride.

The Legend backwards... I think my spine just twitched a little.

That off-axis airtime hill does NOT look real. It looks like it's made out of wax and was left in the sun too long.

It may be something small and simple, but you can bet there'll be something that qualifies as a "new element" (like possibly a little extra scenery/theming on one of the rides). They wouldn't basically straight-up say they're getting a new element and then not deliver on that.