bf9

Having lived in all three (San Diego inland, SE Texas and PHX), Phoenix wins by far for the worst summer heat I've ever experienced. It's a dry heat sometimes, but when it's 115-120F outside your door (sometimes more with tarmac, concrete, rock landscaping reflection)...there's just very few places on Earth like it. You can basically cross the entire summer season off for an outdoor park unless it was open from 9pm-5am lol. To put it in perspective, the AZ state fair runs through October and most people I know won't attend because it's still far too hot. Even at 10pm. Short of something like a Ferrari World, it's just not feasable financially. Not to mention we have a terrible average income per household, very high amount of certain demographics that simply wouldn't pay nor attend both culturally and financially...it would be a very hard sell to investors.

I have to wonder, hypothetically, if they could have kept the profiling extremely close to the original with topper track...and maybe increase that lift hill speed a few mph... Still quite excited to check this out in July when I stop by for a few hours. Honestly Ghostrider is only thing that would get me back to Knotts after my awful two experiences last year and it looks pretty cool now. The biggest problem with this park is that it really doesn't have that "big KO coaster". Totally on board with a re-imagined Xcelerator because honestly the ride is pretty weak except for the launch and I'd argue the top hat could even be hit a lot faster too- my handful of rides got floater air at best all over the train- no excuse for less than Intamin ejector on a 200ft hill. I continue walking away from that ride thinking "man, it would be so much more badass with even a Storm Runner like layout after the top hat". Throw three extreme airtime hills, maybe a roll if necessary, you've got California's best coaster.

Two things here; A) I still think this may become #1 overall, steel or wood. The limited video so far is only solidifying my opinion. B) The ride looks f-ing AWESOME. I am very very jealous of you Scandinavian folk, and I still don't think the GP is prepared for what kind of coaster this is. It's going to blow people's minds. My only RMC experience is Twisted Colossus but holy frack there's no way this ride is less than a unanimous top three at least.

*Edit double post, sorry*

That looks really awesome, clean/tidy but not too little detail. I think the black-red-goldish works excellent for the scenery and surrounding theming.

The only legitimately painful experiences I've had were Alton Towers' Corckscrew, Windjammer, Manhattan Express or whatever it's called now, and Psyclone and Flashback at SFMM. All of these rides went over the line of bearable to horrible and headache inducing and I'm glad almost all of them are dead.

Ah, I assumed they were going to put three signs up there, I suppose it could though, the drop tower wouldn't be all that tall though. I'm very interested in this coaster as I'm very curious how this magnetic launch compares to the hydraulic system...and that awfully wobbly looking break run lol. At least they got rid of the heartline spiral coming down as I thought TTD would be much better without it and make the drop seem much bigger.

Isn't that just the elevator up to the top hat that TTD and Kinda Ka have?

You Swedes are so lucky and the general public has absolutely no idea what they're in for. Like has been said a few times by the looks of it Wildfire may end up becoming the best roller coaster in the world. It's is going to be absolutely beautiful when it's done, it already is quite frankly. It's literally like a Nolimits dream coaster made reality.

On that note, Hypersonic is mine too. Always wanted to be shot off an aircraft carrier, and the launch is most of the way there. Personally no interest in going to Japan so Dodonpa is not on my list. Montezooma's Revenge at Knott's uses an actual aircraft carrier catapult. Aircraft carriers use steam, much like S&S's compressed air launch systems and the G's/forces pulled far exceed any coaster's launch. I thought that was a flywheel unless I've been horribly misinformed.

On that note, Hypersonic is mine too. Always wanted to be shot off an aircraft carrier, and the launch is most of the way there. Personally no interest in going to Japan so Dodonpa is not on my list.

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Alright, regular skydiver here... Skydiving from a plane is absolutely "forceless" until you throw your main parachute due to the fact you're traveling at a speed greater than terminal velocity, horizontally, which then translates to vertical freefall over like 8-10 seconds. In other words you're extremely close to a perfect 1G until that point. This experience is more intense than all but two coasters I've ever ridden and for the vast majority of people will far eclipse even something like Intimidator 305 due to the fact that it's skydiving (which for the record I thought I305 was much more "intense"). While a ride may not have quite as much "force" it can still be extremely engaging and be better than rides that have much more force. A perfect example of this is Twisted Colossus which I rode in October. IMO, this ride kicked the living crap out of say...Batman...in that very same park which is way more forceful and honestly more "intense" at least to me. Where I'm going with this is that while a ride should certainly be partially judged on how "extreme" the forces are if that's what you're looking for, that's only one criteria of a the whole experience. Most people would rank skydiving above every single roller coaster in existence in terms of an "intense experience" but by this definition and argument is more force-less than 95% of all the roller coasters on Earth and therefore "worse". This is simply not reality. EDIT: Basically what coasterbill said in so many words:

Revolution looks so good painted...just like Yolo when it opened...

Being a local in Phoenix, I wouldn't exactly say that Desert Storm is smooth...the lap bars do help a little bit and the front seat is tolerable. I had smoother rides on Viper at SFMM in early October than most of my rides on Desert Storm anywhere but the front row over the years. Maybe you caught it on a good day or something. Plan to be there two to three hours at the most, it can be fun, but don't expect much. Drop tower is better than Lex Luthor though, those Moser(pretty sure Skydiver is)/ARM style towers are no joke.

Looks like it is in fact a wing coaster...this thing is going to be insane. Be right back, I need 15 minutes and some tissues. So many great coasters opening next year, RMC and Intamin are kings of the hill right now at least for my preferences.

Those pictures are great! I don't think this has wingrider trains, seems to be too long considering the drag with the wide trains...mght even be better in this instance honestly as this thing looks like it's going to haul absolute ass. I know never to judge a ride before it's open, but the profiling and trackwork make this look like an I305/Skyrush baby. And if that's the case I think we may be looking at a new number one contender. And the airtime looks ridiculous.

So does anyone know what kind of trains it'll have? I don't recall it ever being announced, but if this is a wing coaster I'd probably have to say this coaster looks like it's going to be nuts. Intamin is going to strike back next year it seems!

It's very rare that pictures, let alone construction pictures, of coasters have my mouth literally agape. Might be time to put Germany on the itinerary very soon. The theming is absolutely epic... and some of that track work suggests this thing is a balls to the wall Intamin.

Alright, so Twisted Colossus has basically pushed me over the edge to go back to the park for the first time since ~2007 I believe, X was still pink and yellow. I'll be hitting the Haunt the following night over at KBF as well and I need me some Intamin love with Xcelerator! I have a couple of questions, as I haven't been able to reach customer service all day by phone after several attempts (already screwing up, SFMM). I intend to go to the park Friday, October 2nd as that's the only day in my schedule I can go; -Is there some special event going on that day, as the park is open until 1AM? It seems suspicious but I couldn't find any events listed. -My strategy is to get there an hour before gates open and absolutely book it full sprint to Colossus first, and then do a general counter clockwise circle as I used to do in years past. Aiming to hit X2's 3:30-5 dead time if that still happens. Is this still the optimal way to do things? -Along with that my absolute priorities are the new rides I haven't ridden yet which are (in order) TC, Lex Luthor, Yolo, Superman, and Apocalypse if I can get a front seat without much wait, and right behind those are Goliath, Tatsu, Batman, Scream, maybe Riddler and Viper should be like a walk on so I guess that too. Thanks for the help in advance, I'm excited to see what these RMC's are all about and if it's back up the new Superman/LL:DOD combo. I've wondered for years if they would ever attempt a drop ride on Superman and is probably one of a few rides in the world that actually intimidates me a bit!

I'd imagine it really comes down to cost more than anything. Being in a desert climate, any other color would rapidly fade with the relentless sunlight/dust storms etc and add a considerable amount of maintenance if they want it to look good.

If one has a medical condition they don't know about, say an unknown brain tumor or a heart issue, or hell if someone has something like heat stroke in the California summer heat + drought then it's not ultimately the ride's fault. Even if it may have theoretically initiated a process that ended up killing someone it's unfortunately a fact of life that these things happen, that's why there are warnings and the requirement that you're in good health before doing anything like riding a roller coaster, white water rafting, skydiving, whatever. Especially with someone like a ten year old child- often times things aren't diagnosed or caught due to appearing otherwise healthy at that age range, and if I was a betting man I'd say it's the likely cause as that happens infinitely more frequently than a regular accident.

The way I see it after the last few years Gerstlauer just seems to have too many issues with their products. If I were a park, I would not invest another penny in anything from them. The liability is just too great. This is going to cost Merlin/Alton Towers a PR nightmare, potentially a massive insurance payout, likely a major hit to this attractions popularity/attendance and possibly the entire park. This looks like (speculation) SOMETHING LIKE a situation of multiple backups failing including a blocking system breakdown. This is coming from someone who regularly skydives, it's very important that machines and systems work right every time when there is potentially life on the line. Of course this doesn't happens in reality but I've seen WAY too many Gerstlauer-involved incidents. I personally would still feel totally safe on the ride but from an investment POV, you'd have a hard time convincing me to make that decision. One could argue "Intamin", and I'd counter with their rides are in an entirely different league if one wants them to be- they can make a top 5 coaster if they have the budget, I don't think Gerstlauer can. Didn't the Smiler also chuck a wheel ala Steel Dragon not that long ago, or does my memory fail me? Positive vibes to those on the train, and their friends and families.

I keep coming back to things like this, and others such as "if you're only going to use one station why not have a TTD/Maverick style system where you send out two trains at once?" Then I remember one thing. Six Flags.........Magic Mountain. And then I proceed to move on to what I'm going to eat for lunch.