coasterlover420

Um...it is a vertical drop. According to the laws of physics, that's negative g's right there. Plus on days when it is cresting quickly...WHOA BOY

This is going to be an added water splash, just like Diamondback!

^Please post some screenshots of what you're talking about so we can help as best as we can.

You need to find a new hobby.

This is getting repetitive.

They use any combination of the urethane (orange slower wheels) and nylon (white faster wheels) in order to get the train to travel the exact speed they want it to. The nylon damage the track a bit more than the urethane, so it's rare that the nylon are the only ones used.

^You have to hold the lap bar up the whole time, so as to not get stapled. Then the seat belt prevents you from hitting the lap bar.

I feel like if there was a coaster that combined the risk of Intamin and the comfort of B&m, it would easily be top of the charts. I do love the technology B&M offers to smooth their coasters (comfortable seats, comfortable restraints, shock absorbers, reliable wheels, upkeep of the track, etc...) but it just doesn't live up to the ballsy layouts Intamin offers. The old layouts B&M had were just the best, but I feel like they tried to keep that alive, and the result was too many clones and cookie-cutter layouts. The new actually unique layouts B&M offers are just lame. For those who don't know, the shock absorbers on B&M's can be seen here The large black ring inside the axle is actually made of rubber, and absorbs a lot of shock from the track. Photo credit to Skycoastin' Steve.

^He is saying he hopes it is put on fastlane PLUS. Everything, including Fastlane, depends on when you go. I worked at Millennium Force, arguably the most popular coaster at the park (behind possibly Dragster). Some days we'd have no line at all...some days we'd have a line 3 hours long. There were actually times when fastlane was over 1.5 hours. This was full operation with no down time. Any weekdays in June are not bad at all, especially early June. I would not get fastlane in June except on a Saturday. It just doesn't seem worth it. Gatekeeper can be ridden fine during ERT, but also late. Nobody rode it late this past year. The line, even on days in late July, was no more than a 5-10 minute wait after around 8. That's how I got so many rides in on it. Dragster is sometimes the same way in June. Late, there might just be a 5-10 minute wait, depending on down time. Mostly you can actually use down time to your advantage. The line will empty out when it goes down, and if you can time it right, the line is short right when it reopens. It takes some know how about the ride to know when it might reopen, but it always works!

He speaks the truth. I still don't understand many B&M fans today. I know so many people who swear up and down that B&M is the premier company today, and I just ask...name one B&M coaster built in the past few years that was actually mind-blowing! I guess Gatekeeper was kind of a "step in the right direction," but I just look at the last half of the coaster and think..what's the point? I'd rather ride a Batman clone all day long than ride Gatekeeper once. I seriously rode Gatekeeper many times all summer long, trying my hardest to appreciate it, but it was too difficult, especially since it started tearing itself up so badly. When I visited SFGAm, I rode X-Flight once, decided it wasn't worth it, then just marathoned on Raging Bull all night. Not the best B&M hyper, but still better than what B&M is dishing out nowadays. I also visited Canada's Wonderland a year later...what is Leviathan? Like seriously...the ride is over after the first airtime hill. Come on! A really good first drop is just not worth a terrible ending. I wish B&M would take a hard look at Magnum or I305 and take some ideas...

Not the longest, but definitely the slowest I have ever encountered: Skyrush. 1 train dispatch every 5 minutes...not good.

^I believe Ouimet said this will be a goal for the coming seasons. Stay tuned! What a lot of employees do is chip in together to get an apartment in Sandusky. If you're interested in applying, definitely be in contact with some other employees and look for someone who's interested in a roommate!

I agree, but just to add to this: There has also been a large revolution in the maneuvers wooden coasters are capable of. In the words of Robb, they're becoming more "Twisty." This is quite evident just by looking at the previous titan of wood coasters, CCI. If you look at any wood coaster by CCI, you can tell the banking is much more gradual, often resulting in odd laterals, but still offering a type of track that PTC trains are much more capable of. Once GCI and GG started making coasters that made quicker banks and turns and pulled higher g forces, we started to see these coasters get torn up much more quickly than previous woodies. Articulating trains were the answer. In your own words. PTC DID have a monopoly. Not anymore. Wooden coasters started evolving. PTC trains did not. I really don't predict any new wooden coasters being manufactured with them, at least in the US. RMC has their trains, GCI has Millennium Flyers, GG has Timberliners, Intamin has their trains... Mean Streak is heavily trimmed (as though nobody has noticed). With a smooth track, the trims could easily be removed and the coaster would be way more fun. I speak from experience, having ridden Mean Streak trimless many times. It's way more fun, despite the spinal readjustment.

^Three words: P-T-C I assume you are talking about Roar at SFA not at SFDK. Roar and Gwazi operated with PTC trains and it's been mentioned several times by park owners and manufacturers that these types of trains absolutely destroy wooden coaster track. The reason GCI coasters age well now are the Millennium Flyers (same for GG's new trains). They are designed to compliment the wooden structure and to have less wear and tear over time. There's definitely an effect that any train will have on wood track, but PTC trains are absolutely terrible. Re-tracking can only go so far if a coaster still operates PTC trains, because in the long run, they'll just destroy the track all over again. That's why Holiday World experimented extensively with new timberliner trains for Voyage, but I guess for some reason they decided it wouldn't work. I personally think if Mean Streak was re-tracked the way Voyage was (with the minuscule adjustments mentioned by Chad Miller in this video) and redone with timberliner or millennium flyer trains, it would be a wonderful experience.

^Proof that B&M's were designed to be capacity machines. Right after the incident and before it was announced that the restraint did not malfunction, we at Cedar Point had to come in earlier every day in order to buckle/rebuckle/buckle every seat belt, then close/release/close every lap bar to check for any type of malfunctions. It is literally the exact thing that maintenance does every single night, so it was just total redundancy, especially since checking a seat with a guest includes pulling the seat belt and the lap bar to check for malfunction anyway. Can't be too careful.

Commence the computer upgrading!

Capacity is very important. It may not be important to some parks, but most consider this greatly; especially parks that draw huge crowds.

^HUGE SUPER LIKE! I have been wondering for a while, will there be multi-move capabilities between blocks a la Top Thrill Dragster?

Works for me!

That drop can't wait to see it go up! (Well, down ) You do realize you're on a forum of coaster dorks, right?

Your no.2 is spot on. This is the sound you'll hear on Gatekeeper, Diamondback, and basically any new B&M coaster. As for the speculation about inverts, this is false. As far as I know, inverts do not have chain dog sensors since they are spring loaded rather than suspended down. The clang noise as trains traverse the station is the drive wheels. They are not fixed to the track, rather they are suspended and they swing freely back and forth. This is so they don't break off the track if the train is slightly off place. There is a point between cars where there aren't any copper plates for the drive wheels, and this is where the banging noise comes from. The drive wheels bang in and out of the joints on the train. This is very prominent at Raptor (a ride I had worked for 3 years), which has neither chain dog sensors (i.e. Dive Coaster) nor retractable contact pins (i.e. Gatekeeper or newest B&M coasters). Remember, I am only talking about inverts! Other coasters are obviously different, and each invert is different from its other invert brothers. It's up to the park's maintenance how much they want them to move, and I guess Cedar Point prefers them rather loose. I have found some pictures to prove my point. As you can see here, there is a piece of metal wrapping over the top of the lip in the spine, and underneath that is a rubber stopper which prevents them from moving too much. Look all the way to the right just above the wheel cover. Here you can see that both wheels are tied together with a connector that obviously rotates with the movement of the motors, and this keeps them at a fixed distance apart for the train. Also, here you can see all the way to the right of the photo a groove at the joint where the cars twist from. This is what the wheels bang on when moving. Also, just to add speculation, since this is the first invert to use the electronic locking hydraulic restraints, I imagine you'll get a bit of both sounds. Hmmm...just food for thought.

I've got one of my own!

The only thing that worked when I had this problem was to re-install Windows. I don't really see anything wrong with your specs. Maybe try running it in compatibility mode for XP.

I305. While this coaster is "decent" I find the layout lacking a good variety. The whole coaster is about quick transitions, and while one or two of them are great, I don't like having my neck readjusted 5 or 6 times on a coaster. I am also against the restraints because of the unfortunate stapling I experience from being thin. And yes I know there are hills on it too, but that's even still a downside for me because the negative g's only mean more pain for my thighs. It's just an overall uncomfortable experience to me. I'm sure other people have better experiences on this coaster.

^^Gatekeeper was $25m. If this does happen to be a B&M, I just hope they think the whole coaster through a bit better. It seems like lately B&M is really bad at "finishing" hyper coasters. Shambhala after the mid course is just kind of a joke, it would probably be a better coaster if the mid course was earlier. Leviathan is basically over after the first airtime hill. Diamondback after the mid course, in any seat, is like "weee" "awww" "weee" "awww"...even the hill just before the mid course is just dumb. I'd love to see an ending like Nitro or Raging Bull, with something quick happening over and over, either bunny hops or twists and turns, not the same boring "floater" hills. One or two of those are great, just not over and over and over and over...there's no efficiency of speed. Even Millennium which is apparently "forceless" is better with that, because each hill has progressively greater air and the turns are lower to the ground as the speed is depleted. It shouldn't be the opposite.