Double0Kevin

SFDK got a new train on V2 this last off season. They didn't market it at all. It's not unheard of to get new trains and not market it. Understandably it's different to buy 3 trains from a completely different manufacturer than built the ride. I could see that being an investment on a year between major installs. Just wishful thinking here. I think Lex Luthor being a 400' drop ride that's taller than any other in the world, it wouldn't get overshadowed by some concept art of a future ride. Look at Disney announcing all the DCA changes. The excitement and news of Cars Land didn't take away interest of Mermaid or World of Color.

The 27th makes sense as an announcement date, that conveniently allows the media to talk about it when they are at the park 2 days later for Lex Luthor's opening. They may have intended to do July 4th but with LL opening right before, they could have moved it up. Kill's 2 birds with one stone, it also gets around the news not wanting to cover a second SFMM story only a week after they did all the LL coverage. I really hope it's not something like Kingda Ka, it would be cooler to see something unique. Maybe something that makes me want to visit them. Also, if it is that big, the launch could go through the tunnel and then OVER the mountain; I mean if it's as fast as people seem to think, it could easily coast over that hill.

I'm generally pretty nervous on drop towers. I'm not really afraid, but my heart beats a little faster waiting for that drop. Lex Luthor will likely scare me to death though... that thing is massive. The last time I rode X-Scream on the Stratosphere, I was definitely ready to get off by the end. I'm not usually bad with heights, but when you're 950 feet up, it gets to you a little bit. Also, every time I ride Big Thunder at Disneyland I can't help but think about that crash when you go into that tunnel. That gets me a little nervous.

If I learned one thing from this TR, is that black and brown don't go together. That's good to know. But seriously, awesome report.

I have to say, those trains are ugly. The ride looks great and seems fun, but those trains are hideous. Good thing the look of the train has nothing to do with a ride being good.

Don't you mean Saturday the 23rd and Friday the 22nd? Haha... dammit. That is now fixed. I was thinking the old dates.

Well, seeing as you exit under/over where you entered the towers, theoretically it has to be 90degrees at one point. I doubt you will notice it anyways when you're riding. The ride looks like it will be a lot of fun.

The park had media out today to watch them place the ride's Superman Shield. Check out the update over at NewsPlusNotes. The ride looks amazing (that support is now fixed). Can't wait to ride it in 2 weeks. NewsPlusNotes: A Western View - Superman's Shield

Bye bye big screen?

I was at the park that day. We had just gotten in when the power was out. Park-wide power failures suck, especially for the employees who have to evacuate all the rides. Worst day I've had at a theme park is every time I've gone to SFMM... nuff said.

These photos were taken yesterday. When I left they had 3 (maybe 4) pieces to go and they were prepping one for that night so today they just had to put up the two(or 3) pieces to form the barrel roll. It was rainy and windy in the bay area today so they have not put them up but tomorrow's weather looks good. As far as the shield, I saw no trace of it, but that doesn't mean it's not there. I imagine they could put that up whenever and the ride doesn't need to wait to to test. I'de imagine testing would start next week(assuming the electrical work is where we all hope it is), there is still a lot of scaffolding around the launch tunnel as they are finishing it up, I doubt that will be down before the weekend but here's hoping.

Just posted an updated of Superman over at NPN. Check out the progress, the ride looks awesome! The Man of Steel Rises

So much wrong with this. Making a modification to a coaster is expensive and very hard to advertise or make any money off of unless it's a huge mod that promises something new like NTAG. The V2 mod was in excess of a 1 million and attendance plummeted from '01 to '02. V2 is an exciting ride and well liked by most who ride. There is no reason to modify it. As for Kong... Obviously you haven't been on many SLCs, and while Kong is a piece of crap, it's easily the best SLC I've been on. It's also well liked by the GP, which is where money comes from. The park has no reason to modify or remove it other than maybe new trains eventually. Finally, Medusa's parking lot. I agree that it's hideous, but people still love the ride so there is no reason for the park to worry about it.

CGA does seem to have been on a restraint rampage, but I didn't notice any difference in the belts of Flight Deck. They felt like regular B&M length to me when I rode earlier this season. Even though I'm a bit more chubby than I'de like, I've never had to worry about belt length though so I could easily have not noticed. Changing topics, the conversation being had about SFDK's late construction times on that thread made me think about how nice it is to see CGA acting like a normal theme park and getting the new coaster going already. I think the last time I've seen a park open a major ride on opening day in the bay area had to have been Stealth. Going to be a fun year watching this thing go up.

The city knew the ride's height from the get go. The story I've always heard was that it was built tall off of a technicality that was later proven not to apply so they had to modify. The reason they promoted it as 150ft was more for the neighbors to avoid complaints, not to hide from the city. People caught on that it was 186ft almost immediately.

In DK's defense, they were pretty focused on the station and electrical for a while there and really just recently restarted with the vertical construction full force. Hopefully that bodes well for the ride when the track work is done, maybe the test/adjust will start right away.

Yeah, the V2 wheel covers where removed after 2001. They were a bad design, the wheels rubbed on them and tore up the fiberglass, plus they rattled. They were in the backstage area for years, they were pretty ripped up on the inside. I think 2002 was the year all the impulses did away with the covers.

^ Yeah that's true, the harnesses weren't Anton. However the reason for the change was because of the constant issue of the accordions clicking down more during the ride from the ridiculous G's. From what I hear it was pretty awesomely painful. The original restraints Premiere sent out where hard and hurt like hell, that's why the park got the much softer black ones the ride opened with. I'm not sure why people complained so much, they weren't that bad. The issue was that they just didn't allow you to put up your hands, which was by design since the modifications greatly reduced clearances in some places.

Those beautiful trains were all Anton. Loved those things.

I think that's a safe assumption seeing as there is only one train for the ride.

My thoughts on Superman, is yes it will get long lines at first, but what if it gets the V2 effect. People are intimidated by V2 which leads to more people choosing just to watch, not ride. V2 never really has a long ride, and that's definitely not an effect of high capacity, because it doesn't have it. With Superman, maybe down the road we'll see manageable crows based on people being afraid to ride. Switching gears to construction, I drove by Saturday and the ride hasn't risen at all over the last 2 weeks... I'm not sure if I should be concerned or if maybe they are focusing all attention on the station/launch while it's easier to access. The electrical for the launch as well as the station seem like they would be more time consuming so maybe that's getting priority, but I still would hope to have seen some more steel put in place. I seem to recall V2 having the same thing happened, The launch and station were put up and worked on for a while prior to the towers ever going up.

1. Raptor 2. Flight Deck (CGA) 3. Alpengeist 4. Batman (any) 5. Silver Bullet

The height limit is because of how the land was originally zoned prior to the park ever being there. Nothing to do with an airport. It's remained enforced because of neighbor complaints.

I'm pretty sure they closed Crypt because the ride was dead, or at least on very costly life support. I wouldn't expect to see that think rise again.

Tallest Steel = TTD Tallest Wood = Son of Beast Highest = High Roller at Stratosphere