LuminousAphid

It was "Wild Thing" here at Wild Waves, a 1984 Arrow loop/double screw, and I went back and rode it today... My god that thing is relentless- it goes about 10mph faster than it needs to to clear the loop/corkscrews, so even in the back seat you get positive G's at the top of the loop, then it all goes sideways (literally) when your head bangs on the restraints through the weird, circular-profile corkscrews. Why Arrow seemingly understood the concept of a colloid loop, but made these corkscrews perfectly cylindrical, is beyond me. The only part I really liked was the air time on the first drop- back seat only. I have video, I will post when it's edited

That's too bad! You can totally lose that much though, one thing I have been doing recently that's helped immensely; check your sugar intake. I was blissfully unaware of how much sugar I was eating--so much sugar, every day--even in stuff you wouldn't think is full of sugar (yogurt, bread, etc.) It may not be this way north of the border, but here everyone is so addicted to the stuff, it's hard to get away from it in normal grocery stores Anyway, sorry it wasn't a great opening day for you. I wish I could say "off to the next park" like those east coasters can do, but we don't have that luxury over here My next closest park is you, then Idaho (7 hours away)

So, no new posts since last year... Sad that this place is so under-appreciated I am still planning on heading over there August this year, crossing my fingers that there will still be some surprise new attraction that is unveiled but it doesn't look like the long-rumored 'huge expansion' for 2015 is coming to fruition. Roller Coaster Alley had a few posts regarding seeing cranes on the weather cam, and a couple of buildings under construction, but nothing indicating any new real attractions. Oh well, it will mostly all be new to me, the last time I was there I was pretty young and I don't feel like I had a proper appreciation for theme parks... My parents made the most of it though, I think my mom rode Timber Terror like 4 or 5 times if I remember right! Also it was probably half the size, so it will be fun. Anyone planning on being there early August PM me or reply and maybe we can have a mini-meetup!

That was my initial gut feeling, as it retains good speed throughout- I would think the ~5 seconds spent slowed down at the top of KK or TTD would bring the average way down. But, I completely forgot about Furius Baco... dat corkscrew!

So, I was looking around for any information about this, but there doesn't seem to be much. I realized partway through looking that it is probably because ride times are variable (duh), but it's still an interesting topic. I am not a roller coaster expert, and some of you might qualify as just that, so I thought I would come here and ask you folks- very sorry if this is already a topic, but a quick search didn't bring anything relevant up Which roller coaster achieves the highest average speed? For extra fun, break it down for each basic 'type' of coaster; traditional lift, launched, shuttle, etc. I'm assuming launched will be the fastest overall; are there any traditional gravity coasters that would exceed that if you subtracted the time it takes to get to the top of the lift hill?

Here's something to bide your time with, these certainly have that 'Made in China' look to them so I suppose it fits here if anywhere. Really I just found the first Disney thread to post this in because it's hilarious

Sorry if this is a repost, but is there more than one of these? Anything else groundbreaking more recently?

Happy Birthday to this amazing coaster! March 16th is its big 30th birthday Anyone planning on going on a ride to celebrate? I wish I could go, because I never have, but I live across the continent and an international border, and I just realized this today!

Yeah, so I have to change the title, because there isn't anything coaster related still there, what I saw was a bunch of boat dock parts. It's cool to just stumble across a piece of amusement park history like that though, I had no idea there were parks outside the downtown core.

Also thanks for this info, this is definitely the coaster on the info thing. I didn't know there was ever a "playland" in that neighborhood, I thought they meant the "Fun Forest" down in Seattle Center. Funny, my dad always talks about how there was forest everywhere back in the day, and it's all developed now.... I guess this works opposite for amusement parks

I think it was "The Dipper," from Playland when it was in the Bitter Lake neighborhood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Lake,_Seattle I will get back down there tomorrow and take some pics, it didn't look like there was much of a view but I've done my fair share of harmless trespassing, and there wasn't any barbed wire edit: looking at the pic from street view, it might not actually be there anymore, that looks like a stock yard for some sort of industry. I thought I saw some curved pieces when I was there today, but have no idea if it was part of the coaster. In fact, they probably aren't because they were red metal pices. This may all be a false alarm due to the sign haha (also there is barbed wire in that pic hmmm)

So I was driving down to the Northgate Mall to get a camera, taking backroads, and I stumbled across a back lot with a sign with the name of a coaster--something with 'dipper' in it-- and I think I saw it was from Playland park. I don't know if this was Seattle's 'Playland' or Playland PNE in Vancouver, BC. I was going to go back and look once I got a new camera to take pictures, but sadly I forgot to look whether Talls Camera was still in the mall.. It isn't. Anyone know anything about this, or any of you know where I can find information on this? It was just East of Hwy 99 on N 125th st, about 1 block over there is a lot with signs on the fence, one of them was definitely history about this coaster. I will have to go back soon with my crappy camera and check it out, probably can do it tomorrow. I will update this tomorrow with more info

I will try to get some pics, I broke my good camera recently... I really want to buy myself an Olympus TG-3 but can't justify it to myself quite yet. Waiting for snowboarding season, but maybe I will pick one up tomorrow...

I decided to go tomorrow pending weather, pm me if anyone would like to meet up

Bringing this back from the dead because this is bugging me I found a coaster a week or so ago on some thread that was definitely one-of-a-kind, if you can call it a coaster. It consisted of a vertical loop + a 360 degree banked turn back to the beginning of the loop, and that was it. Basically it was a flat ride footprint, about 30' x 30' with friction wheels providing power, rocking the train back and forth to get the thing going fast enough to eventually make the loop. The one I saw a video of was painted a teal color. Anyone know what I'm thinking of? It's like a super-loop but on actual steel track, and instead of just an enclosed loop it has a ground-level turn straight back to the start of the loop. Pretty much a powered figure-8 but one half is a vertical loop. I have a feeling it's defunct. Anyone?

Hey Zamperlafan, thanks for the response. I think I am definitely going to head down there at some time this season, it seems like it's the right time to go since I don't care for water slides anyway- the river rapids ride is fun, but that and the rest of the mediocre rides are not worth the high price during the summer. Let me know via pm if you are up to having a third person when you go, it's likely that I will be working but possible that I can ask for the day off if I know in advance. I will probably just end up going spur of the moment when the weather cooperates, though.

I work at a hotel in the U.S... it makes me very sad that I can't say the same for our staff Looks like a nice hotel, though the room in the Venetian was obviously much more luxurious. I bet Disney's rooms were more expensive, right?

Reminds me of a little snippet in An Idiot Abroad where Karl Pilkington is in China and they have begging black bears, I think it was these ones

Hey all you park-starved Pacific Northwesterners, I was just looking over the websites of our (few) area parks, and saw this little teaser on the PNE website: That made me do a quick search, and it looks like it might be a flat from KMG (who I have never heard of), similar to Silverwood's Spin Cycle, but doesn't go upside-down. So, like a giant frisbee, but facing inward, I guess? This is what's rumored, anyway. http://www.kmg.nl/kmg/factory/xxl_en.html This is disappointing, because from the "beast" line on the website, I was expecting something more... beastly. I really wish there was any hope of a park around here investing in a world-class coaster, but it doesn't seem likely. The sad part is, there is so much money in the Seattle/Vancouver area, but no one wants to risk investing with a park only to have it fail. Therefore no one tries, and we continue to be bored every summer, even though I feel like an indoor park would do really well around here. (credit to screamscape.com for the rumor)

Check this out, you guys: http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080819/156570/ I actually thought about this last week when radio newscasters were talking about the WSDOT getting a trebuchet to launch cars across the lake and a giant net to catch them on the other side. (Lake Washington, in the Seattle area) Obviously that wouldn't work, but it made me immediately think of other ways to get across the lake... ROLLER COASTERS!! Of course I am not the first one to think of it, and it looks like good ol' Japan has already been working on it. In Seattle, the problem I immediately thought of was track supports across the lake- there's not really a good way to do this. We could also claim a world first by making a coaster supported by floating pontoon footers! But in all honesty, a gravity-powered mass transit system sounds like a great thing, but there are downsides I am probably not thinking of (and those obvious ones I am, like getting the vehicle back to the top of the hill) What are your thoughts? Could we be riding a roller coaster to work in the future?

Oh you'll be crying alright, if you ever ride it again... Whoever installed it here made sure it was extra-special rough for us Washingtonians. Or Arrow made it that bad, I don't know. All I know is that it's not the best in WA, unless by 'the best' you actually mean 'most painful.' I have only been on coasters in 3 states actually, and CA was long long ago when I was ~10, but here are mine; Idaho - Timber Terror, Silverwood Washington - Coaster Thrill Ride, Puyallup State Fairgrounds California - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Disneyland

I'm sure this is just an illusion, but it looks like the cars come extremely close to the arm when they rotate upside-down, seemingly close enough to get your hands smacked if you reached above your head. It also, as mentioned above, looks extremely vomit-inducing. Never been on this, but definitely gives me flashbacks of riding the orbiter at Seattle's defunct Fun Fair or the Tivoli remix at the Yakima county fair... my least favorite rides I have ever been on. So much spinning...

So I didn't end up making it to my local amusement park, Wild Waves, this October for the Halloween event like I wanted to, so I am thinking about going for their Holiday event sometime this December/January. It looks like discount tickets are only 10 dollars, which is a great deal if they have a decent amount of stuff operating... The problem is that the info page on their website is a 404 not found. I can't tell if there will just be flats operating, or if the 3 non-kiddie coasters will also be running. I don't really care about the Wild Thing, which is way past its prime and super rough, but would like to go on Timberhawk and their wild mouse, Klondike Gold Rusher, again to see if they are any good. The last time I was there, all I remember was waiting in ridiculous lines for slides with my (now ex) girlfriend, and we went on Timberhawk once. I don't remember it being particularly thrilling, but I would like to try re-riding in different seats and see if there is more air time in the back, etc. Does anyone know whether the coasters will be operating during the Holiday with Lights event? The only clue is that their schedule lists 'rides only' for the event, but doesn't specifically say which rides. https://www.wildwaves.com/park-info/operating-hours/ Also, if anyone is in the area and wants to make plans to check it out, let me know. I don't have any friends who would really want to go, I think I would just be dragging them along so I have someone to wait in line with haha

First 2 years of the scenario went well, with a couple of hitches- people couldn't find bathrooms for some reason, and the 2 food courts were hard for guests to find, so I spread out some other food and drink thorughout. Also, one of the entrances was somehow not connected via path to my park, so for a while I had a 300 rating due to everyone wanting to go home but not being able to leave. At October, year 2 there were about 1,100 guests in the park and I didn't put the loan through the roof, which is good. The park got 2 wooden and 2 steel coasters; First a full-size traditional woodie imaginatively called 'Compact Woodie,' then a short-but-intense wooden wild mouse named 'Mighty Mouse.' The first steel coaster was a mine ride with several intense helixes, then came 'Doppelschliefe,' previewed earlier, a double-looping customer Schwarzkopf. Here's an overview of the park, then some close-up shots.

So, I recently started my own custom scenario for the first time, and after working through some bugs on my own--which were all my own fault due to inexperience-- I am still having a slight problem. I have themed all of the areas where I am going to be putting bathrooms/info/food/souvenirs, and it seems like either the themeing or placement is making it hard for people to find. They all need to go to the bathroom and are hungry/thirsty until I started placing shops outside themed buildings. I think part of it is the placement of buildings, but I am curious, can surrounding a stall with themeing cause people to miss it? I know that the food issue was due to placement... because when I put stalls on the main pathways instead of the spurs into the buildings, they start finding them ok. I am wondering though, do these themeing elements prevent people from finding bathrooms, even on main pathways? People had a hard time finding the 10+ bathrooms I had until I started placing some without theming.