haiderodes

This year I spoiled myself with a lot of small trips throughout the south and midwest, but with the EuroTrip in 2010 I will have to cut back. Other than that, I am trying to get to Cedar Point (finally) and BGW as well as my usual SoCal trips.

^I can and have done Mission: Space multiple times in a row. Tatsu back row, however, twice in row and I'm good for at least a couple hours. The trick I have found to eliminate that discomfort in the pretzel is to avoid tensing up and just breathe through it. Speaking of G's, I have noticed in the past year, I have started to grey out in Goliath's helix, parts of Batman and even once at the bottom of the first loop on Riddler. It kinda shocks me as it never happened before this year. Granted I am a lot smaller this year compared to the past, so maybe that has something to do with it.

haha, I was wondering that as well I believe it would be where the station is but i don't know. When entering the queue the left side is for the left side and the right is the right. The only crossover is after the first set of brakes on the brake run. The right side dives down over the left to get back to its side of the station.

^The LED sign on I-15 has Mandarin on the 4th and Aria on the 16th...just saying. Oh and Cirque's Viva Elvis previews start the 17th

I think they were advertising because they installed the magnetic braking systems along with the new trains.

^Actually there aren't brakes all over Colossus...the only brakes besides the saftey and ready brakes (located before the station) are at the MCBR. While the slowing on the midcourse can be harsher on some days more than others, there are no extra brakes out on the course. Considering the rattle those Morgans provide in regular operation, I don't think I necessarily want a faster ride on the thing.

Thanks for the photos...wish I was down at the convention center instead of here at work all week. Its right down the street too!

I like the new station area and lime accents. I'm most excited, however, of the possibility of the stand by line actually being inside the building. It would irk me greatly to stand outside in the heat only to be "flushed" through the building and see all those switchbacks empty. I am pretty interested to see if they try to do any suprise updates with lighting the outside of the mountain. That seems like a relatively inexpensive addition. I see there is a wall up blocking the little garden area between the old Skyway building and Space. I hope they open that back up. I loved sitting back there in the shade to take a break from the heat.

Also a note on parking at the Southern California parks... SFMM, Disneyland and USH let you leave and return same day with your parking receipt Knotts forces you to pay again...unless of course you are utilizing a platinum pass.

Its not new...its the sound of the chassis pins unlocking/unscrewing. It makes that noise after the seats raise (before leaving) and before the seats lower. In fact, all the B&M flyers make this same noise. Whether or not you hear it depends on the ambient noise in the station.

I worked in the Vampire maze at Fright Dome last year. It was good fun

There weren't any new swings added then...the Waveswinger had been there since at least the mid to late 80s. Hammerhead opened in the midst of the retheming of Roarin' 20s to The Boardwalk in the 90s. The other new rides that would eventually open were Windjammer and Wipeout (then located under Windjammer). They also moved the Scrambler outdoors, renamed it and placed it under Windjammer as well.

In fairness our park admission tickets/annual passes will not lose any value because of this development. Screamin' Swing is an upcharge so we are not losing something that was already included. When you think about it that way (instead of a pure construction standpoint), the ride still is an addition...Demon Drop will be something extra to ride thats included with your park admission. And they could have just as easily said forget it, scrapping the ride and putting a store, eatery or worse yet, nothing at all.

Mine shaft theme would be logical considering it will sit directly across from Calico Mine Ride. They could still keep the name and just paint it brown/black/whatever. Perhaps do a little something special with the station and entrance. Oh well. Look at it this way, another ride! Better than one less ride in my book.

I was told on the Texas Trip that Titan isn't braked as hard as Goliath is. I'm not sure, but Titan never come to a full stop on the MCBR. Yeah, after watching vids; Titan doesn't come to a complete stop like Goliath does. But those who rode both can speak on the intensity of the two. I rode Titan back in March and to me it comes much closer to a complete stop than Goliath. On Goliath you have the abrupt deceleration and then the train continues. On Titan, however, you have the abrupt deceleration followed by another hard squeeze of the brake as the train leaves the MCBR. Its almost as if there is an extra brake caliper just before the dive down into the helix. The final brakes on Titan also have a nasty suprise as well...a very hard complete stop after the initial deceleration, something I've never experienced in all my rides on Goliath (save for a multi-train stack).

not including the vegas area stuff... california sfmm x8 ush disneyland x3 dca x3 knotts x3 seaworld san diego belmont park adventure city castle park x2 scandia x2 pacific park x3 texas sfot sfft seaworld san antonio illinois sfgam wisconsin timber falls mt olympus knuckleheads missouri sfstl worlds of fun kansas zonkers georgia sfog florida magic kingdom dak epcot dhs usf ioa old town bgt seaworld orlando i have to say i spoiled myself this year

^The op working unload on the backwards side kept telling the controls op to hold up and start dispatching at the same time as the other side, but she wasnt having it. Honestly they were having such a difficult time getting people on and off the ride, it wasnt worth the extra hassle. All the denied boardings due to height checks, baby swaps, and people not following the yellow and black tape on the platform made for lots of stacking (at least while we were over there). Oh yeah, and suprisingly X2 had one of the shortest waits I have seen (save for the morning of WCB and the Terminator Pre Opening Party). In fact you could pick which side you wanted to wait for and thats where the line began...no more than 10-15 minutes.

It actually opened at 5p on Sunday 10/4. Funny thing is, in the morning it valleyed/got stuck at the midcourse. So both sides were closed initially. When we arrived in the parking lot around 1130a they had a bunch of engineers getting ready to winch/pull it up on to the brake run enough to send it the rest of the way. It was really windy and chilly in the morning hours, so I have a feeling that was a contributing factor for empty testings gone wrong. The front side opened around 2p. When rode a little after 3p we asked an op what time the other side would open, she said 5p. Despite the various announcements that it was opening at 6p, it opened at 5p as she said...we boarded a little before 530p. I had only done it backwards once before (back in 2002) and I have to say the ride is definately rougher backwards, but not too bad. I had forgotten just how roomy those trains were too!

I was very surprised to see this when I was at the park yesterday. It seems like a good move though, so many parks have BBQ places. The smell is great! Too bad its not up in Rapids Camp Crossing, but oh well. I do have to say I'll miss the burritos...pretty good deal at about $7.

When BTR first opened @ SFGAM it had 3 trains , very rarely did the third train run. Most of the time the 3rd train just sat at the back of the transfer track. After the 4th or 5th season the 3rd train was scraped for parts, I'm not even sure if the third train lasted that long. All the other SF parks that had received BTR clones only came with 2 trains. You know I remember hearing this from some friends during my visit to SFGAm back in May. Makes sense with it having such a long brake run consisting of two blocks.

^While it doesnt seem to have enough room to support three trains, it does have four blocks...station>lift>course>transfer table/ready brakes. Technically a train is able to be stopped by the trim/saftey brakes before the transfer.

^In fairness to... Batman - When I was there a few weekends ago the second train was missing, I imagine this is still the case...this is rehab season afterall. Riddler - People being in comfortable positions is mostly due to people not standing up straight or bouncing before the seats lock. They do their best to ensure people are propertly positioned, they cant catch everyone AND considering the tricky nature of the restraints it usually isnt worth it to keep unlocking rows to ensure people are standing correctly. ALSO, those folks who assumed they were too special to put their stuff in a loocker or took their shoes off (still dont understand that on a standing coaster) also hold things up. As far as three trains, this time of year right before Fright Fest usually doesnt warrant it. Even in the heat of summer, sometimes they can push the lines through faster with two trains...especially when staffing is low. Just saying...

^That Jack Skellington head is pretty creepy. Can't wait to see this on Saturday

^A "himalaya" involves a circular ride path with two "hills" to the left and right (if looking from dead center). Usually the back end is behind some kind of false wall or tunnel and is elevated higher than the front. Its cars are all linked together and are attached to a center post with the main support wheels running along the outer left edge in between each car. Himalayas have been made by a few companies such as Bertazzon and Wisdom (under the name Music Express). A "bayern kurve" has the only "hill" being at the back center of the ride path. The track tends to be highly banked toward the inside of the structure. Its cars form more of a train. Bayern Kurves are classic Schwarzkopf attractions. As for operation, a himalaya stays level in relation to the track so it produces extreme lateral forces. A bayern kurve train starts the cycle right side up, but then due to the magic of a motor under the train, lowers toward the center of the structure so that the entire train is banked through the high speed turns. As the cycle ends, the cars lift back up to the horizontal position.

I think its interesting that they have completely removed all mentions of anything alluding to an exploding shack. I guess it would be a difficult effect to maintain back in 1999/2000, but you would think technology has progressed enough by now to make it more efficient/viable.