texcoaster

re: Boring "Believe" show at SW How long has it been since you've seen it at SWSD? After that trainer was killed by a whale a couple years ago, SW has been forbidden to allow people in the water with the whales. They lost the appeal on that recently. Ever since, the shows have been meh.

Iron Shark. Sooooooo much better than I expected.

I'm not going to base my rating on reliability, since I'd need actual statistics and not just a "B&Ms are always running and Intamins are usually closed when I go to a park" anecdotes. I'll instead just think back to the rides themselves and in that frame of mind I'd say that I would've given the nod to B&M ten years ago, but not today. B&M is still a quality product, producing well-regarded coasters with massive crowd appeal and high ridership. They used to be innovators, bringing us the inverted coaster, floorless coaster, diving loop, immelman, etc etc... oh, and lets not forget Hulk's launch lift and Dueling Dragons' .. err, dueling. Amazing stuff. These days, however, it's difficult for me to get excited about a new B&M coaster, even a 300ft tall one. The forces seem to be engineered to non-existence, the layouts lack originality (except for X-flight), and I get off them thinking, "well that was fun, but I'm in no hurry to get back in line to do it again." Intamins, on the other hand, get me geeked. Positive Gs, laterals, massive amounts of airtime, interesting layouts... all things I like in a coaster. If I were to rattle off some of my all-time favorite steel coaster moments, most of them are Intamin (Expedition GeForce's first drop, SFNE's Bizarro second hill, the back spike on an impulse coaster, the Stengel curve on Goliath in Holland) and only one is B&M (the rollover above the station on Nemesis). Oddly, one other one is neither (the whole second half of The Ultimate), but that's for another thread.

There were FIVE rides closed today... the ferris wheel and Star Flyer were obvious, as they're in the construction zone. But the log flume is still not working, Revolution (KMG Afterburner-type ride) is still not working, the Fireball super loop was down, and the Sky Shooter had two vehicles roped off, as did the himalaya. The Sea Dragon's back seat was open today (it was roped off on my last visit), but when we rode it, a panel from the back of the seat in front of us fell off and landed on our feet(!) We held it down with our feet until the ride was over so it wouldn't fly out of the car. None of these rides are used and moved here, as far as I know. All of them are brand new and they should work properly. I'm pretty sure the majority of them are Chance rides... what does this say about their quality? If I were the manager of this place, I'd be pretty ticked right now. At least the coaster is running.

I'm not sure that I'd have put "more realistic flanges and track connectors" on my wish list, but according to the update on the site today, they've sure done that. The Kumba shot looks amazing. http://www.nolimitscoaster.de/index.php?page=news&newsentry=20120606002050#news20120606002050

There are two piers, one on top of the other. The lower pier has the footings for the rides like Iron Shark. Those are connected together with a framework of beams that hold the uprights in their proper places, so it's one giant latticework frame resting on the footers. It's (of course) insanely heavy and it would take more than a hurricane to move it. Even so, there is a second pier sandwiching that frame between them. The upper pier is the one you walk on and is the only one visible, usually. Iron Shark's uprights that hold the rollover aloft can be seen going right down through the decking of the upper pier and disappearing below. Edited to add: Also, there isn't much on Iron Shark that offers a lot of wind resistance. The track's design allows air to pass through it and the large uprights are all cylindrical, so the wind will slip around them easily. There are little or no flat surfaces to catch a gale wind. Even Boardwalk Bullet, with its flat-sided wood beams fared just fine during Hurricane Ike, even though pretty much everything else on the boardwalk was heavily damaged or destroyed, because the wind and water just passed through the structure with very little resistance.

It isn't up to par with places like Morey's, but it could hold its own against any of the smaller piers along the Jersey shore.... with the added bonus that it's NOT in Jersey.

Not only do they look good, but the cars on Iron Shark are comfortable and the lack of OTSRs make the beyond-vertical drop a serious OMFG moment. There are signs on the pier saying "no profanity allowed" but those were installed before the coaster opened. Stand in the queue under that drop and you'll learn all kinds of new words!

After sampling the nighttime pier last night (photos in the other Pier thread), I decided to head back down there today so I could get pics of the Iron Shark in the daytime. Oh, and a few more rides, of course! The closest free spot I could get on the seawall was a 25 minute walk to the pier. It was a nice day, so I didn't mind taking in the sunshine instead of paying for the premium lot. Besides, the people watching was pretty good today. Iron Shark beckons from behind a food stand The carousel isn't the eye candy during the day that it is at night, although there are some interesting animals on it including a Bald Eagle, a sea dragon, a shark, a dolphin, and a lion. The teacups are nicely done, although not many people rode them. I'd bet that this is one of the first to go if there's a swap-out for a different ride in the future. The Himalaya is themed well, with 50's music playing during the ride. We got "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay" and "Chantilly Lace" during the ride. The bumper cars finally got up and running this afternoon. Nice that they have both sports cars and jalopies to choose from. It's an electric floor model as opposed to the electric overhead chicken wire kind. A look down the boardwalk. The main thing is rides, although there are a few midway games, an antique photo stand, and a couple of minor food stands. The food (I haven't tried Bubba Gump yet, as there's always at least a 30min wait for a table) is the weak link of the pier experience. Below-average stuff, even for "park food," and way overpriced. Cyclone makes the rounds Iron Shark is currently the last ride you can get to on the pier. Just past the entrance is the construction barrier. The Whack-a-Mole loop is the last thing before the brake run A guy from Gerstlauer was on site today making adjustments. I saw him on the pier later and congratulated him/Gerstlauer on a very good ride. I asked if they planned to put the new OTSR-less cars on all the future Eurofighters and he said, "I hope so!" So do I. I can't emphasize enough how much more comfortable and thrilling that drop is in these cars-without-the-bars. The whole layout can be seen here. The brake run actually hangs off the edge of the pier a bit. The crew was running all three cars today and there was never a line. They have about 57 seconds from the dispatch of one car to advance the next car, unload, open the gates, collect loose articles, load the next riders, check the restraints, do a "visual scan", and dispatch the car if they want to run it without stacking. Last night and today, they were pulling this off really well. The coaster sits on blocks and rubber mats, but isn't bolted down. Instead, the grid work of beams sits between an upper and lower pier. The lower pier is what all the rides' foundations sit on. The upper pier sandwiches all those foundations and provides the walkway. Pirate's Plunge began testing just before I left. For a small drop with an empty boat, that's a pretty good splash! There is a "splash zone" waiting area if you want to get REALLY wet and an 8ft high wall to shield unsuspecting pedestrians from the wall of water The wall doesn't stop ALL the water, though. There's still a pretty substantial shower in store for those who aren't paying attention. It will be interesting to see if the splash is bigger with a boatload of riders. According to the sign at the entrance, they allow up to 5 riders per boat.

It is, and it isn't. The engineering is good, there are no jolts or anything, but you bottom out pretty hard in a few spots due to high levels of positive Gs. The edge seats seem to pull more forces than the center ones. The left side seats are the most forceful... enough to give me a nasty headache after a few rides. I actually prefer the center-left seat for multiple ride sessions. Oddly, the back row seems to be a bit less forceful in general than the front row. You wouldn't think so with a single-car ride, but it's true. OH... forgot to mention: if the crowds are light, you queue for whichever row you want, although you will be asked to file all the way to the right to fill in the seats. If you want a left-edge seat, you'll have to do some counting to make sure you're the fourth person in. When there's a queue line long enough to get to the stairs (about 3 cars' worth), an attendant will assign you a row based on the number in your group, trying to make sure every seat is filled. I should mention that the ride ops were doing a fantastic job last night, especially considering that the ride had only been open a few hours. They were running two cars and even with a total ride time of about 60 seconds, they rarely stacked up. It was rare to wait on the brake run for the loading car to leave the station. Impressive. The ops on all the rides were friendly and seemed genuinely excited to have guests coming to ride their rides. Most rides had at least one op from a foreign country (I was told that this was intentional). The Jamaican girl on the Sea Dragon was having a ball tryin' to get da paarty goin' and the Andrii from Ukraine would speak to folks in Russian from time to time. He gave me a pretty hard stapling with the lap bar on one ride and the next time around I asked him to "please don't do that again" and he smiled and said, "first day, sorry!" He didn't do it again. We asked him to say, "In Russia, shark ride you!" and he did.... although he had no idea what it meant.

Went down to the GIHPP last night after work to try out the Iron Shark and have a look around. First impression: NICE. Everything is all new and shiny, the staff is excited, and it's SUCH an improvement over the old beat up Flagship Hotel eyesore. Parking in the paid premium lot is across the street behind Fish Tales restaurant and is hourly. If you stay awhile, you'll rack up the $ pretty quickly. We were there about 4 hours and it cost $12. Free parking is available along the seawall, but expect a long walk on crowded weekends. Signage is good and the logos for the rides are well done. Everything (except Iron Shark, which was dark) has a great light package, especially the ferris wheel. It was running a nice show of lights, even though the ride is not yet open. Several rides were down: Revolution, Pirate's Plunge, Star Flyer (not built yet), Ferris Wheel (in the construction zone, so inaccessible), Wave Swinger, and even the adult bumper cars. Except for the bumper cars, which broke after we arrived, the other closures were clearly stated at the ticket window, so no saying you weren't warned. Iron Shark is very, very, very short. From top of lift to brakes takes just 19.9 seconds. It is, however, ridiculously intense for its size and offers perhaps the highest thrill-per-foot-of-track ratio of any coaster I've ever ridden. The cars are comfy and the lap bar system is similar to Big Spin/Tony Hawk/Whatever it's Called This Week. The grab bars are perfectly located as well, but without OTSRs, it's just as comfortable not to use them and stick your arms up. A short trip out of the station lines you up for the lift. The car situates itself, the chain motor kicks in, and suddenly you're staring at the stars. Looking back at this point is surreal: the angle seems all wrong, like you shouldn't be in this position at this height, on this little stick of track. Soon, thought, you crest the top and the field of stars begins to move. Just before the horizontal point, the lift nearly stops, giving you an "I think I can, I think I can" moment where you aren't entirely sure if you'll actually get over the top. You do, though, and there's just a split second of "OOOOO, Gulf of Mexico" and a glimpse of the ferris wheel and Star Flyer construction, before all of it goes from OOOOO to OMFG. The drop is really, really good. Not having shoulder harnesses is the key factor here. In fact, I think every owner of every park that has a Eurofighter should be required to come ride this and then go back to their own parks and work out a plan to get new trains for theirs. I've always kinda hated the drops on these things because they are so uncomfortable on my chest and collar bone. Not so here. Ejector air (even with a tight lap bar) and having your body lean forward at the same time (especially with your arms up) makes this drop pack a serious punch. I'm looking forward to riding it in the daytime (the entire ride was dark last night) to get the visuals as well. That can only make it better! After the drop, you rise up into a half loop followed by a rollover. This is a similar move to the heart shaped inversion on an SLC. The left-side riders get a wicked little lean off the side of the car during the rollover, which is disorienting and fun. Dropping out of this, there's a quick zig-zag through the supports where the nearly-silent road wheel hum is accented with loud screeches from the upstops making contact. It sounds a bit like a car running over bubble wrap, if the bubble wrap was made of rats. Or not. An over banked turn follows that, pointing you back at the island, which goes right into something like a banked loop, which ends in the brake run. It's all pretty much a blur, actually, even after nearly 30 rides. On the brake run, right-side riders are treated to a nifty sight. Looking over the edge of the car gives you nothing but water, as the brake run hangs out over the edge of the pier. Is it good? Hell yeah. Is it top ten? Well, no... it's a 20 second ride. It's one of those things that you ride a couple of times, then go to other stuff... and while you're waiting to do the other stuff, you think, "damn, I gotta go back and do that again!" The last half hour of operation was dead and the ops let you stay on as long as nobody was waiting for your seat. Most of our rides were done in that time period, like a mini-ERT. Since it was dark, the pics are few. I'll be heading down today to take more. Welcome to GIHPP! The Sky Shooter. There's a button that supposedly helps the car swing out higher. It takes impeccable timing to make it happen and the result is meh. Doesn't get close enough to the edge to provide much thrill. This is why we came! The entrance is easy to miss, sandwiched between two buildings, but the entire queue is under the track. Pretty cool. Look ma, no OTSRs! Since the ride wasn't lit, this was really the only place where you could get a picture. I'll take more today during daylight hours. Not sure if they're going to install a lighting package on the ride or not. Goodbye, GIHPP! See you tomorrow!

Of the three, Freeze is BY FAR the slower line. I'd hit NG first and get a few rides in before the line gets crazy. Titan's line gets long, but it really moves well so that's not as much of an issue. Save Freeze for last when the park starts to thin out - or depending on how well you can take Texas heat, do it right in the middle of the day. Lots of folks will be cooling off at a lunch spot or hitting the water rides, not remembering that Freeze's queue is mostly indoors and cool, too.

Some parks have these policies to avoid lawsuits. Yes, you read that right. Astroworld adopted a policy on their coasters that there must alway be two riders in the back seat. When I asked what was so different about the back seat vs the next-to-last seat (where you could ride solo), the response was that if a rider were to get injured or do something stupid that caused someone else to get injured, there would be witnesses. In the back row, since nobody is behind you, the witness would have to be in the seat next to you. Considering how easy it would be for a rider to be dragging his hand in the water on a log flume, then get it caught between the boat and the flume wall, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason for their "no singles" policy there, too.

I probably wouldn't boycott a park if its parent company did something I disagreed with, simply because my dollars going into that one location suddenly drying up is likely to go completely unnoticed by the company. The larger the company, the less of an impact a boycott would make anyway. The end result is that I'd deny myself some fun while the company would go about its business totally unaware that there were any repercussions from their business decisions. I also realize that a boycott is much more likely to hurt the local park in that chain, which is probably run by folks who dislike the parent company's crap as much as I do. They suffer while the parent company barely notices. What I'm much more likely to do is write a letter to the company explaining my opinion and distaste at their actions. If I do this (as well as the other members of the group that supports a boycott), then the company IS likely to notice that their customers aren't happy. This all changes, of course, if the offending business practice is done at the local level. Let's say, for instance, that Cliff's in New Mexico does something heinous with their money and I'm appalled. Now it's the actual park that's pulling the strings and making the decisions and a boycott will make a much bigger difference, due to the smaller scale. I'd likely support such a boycott, since it could be effective. I'd STILL write the letter as well, though. The catalyst to this kind of thinking is the Chick-Fil-A problem. The parent company gives money to organizations that are very anti-gay, but my local restaurant is filled with nice folks who aren't anti-gay at all and who don't agree with what corporate does. Still, they need their jobs, they're nice folks, and they serve great food. I'll admit that I don't go there very often any more, but I don't avoid it entirely.

You can only see a tiny portion of it from the road. You're going to be amazed at how big it is.

They said that they expect to announce "something" about Iron Shark this week on FB. I'm guessing they'll give the opening date. A friend of mine went down there and watched a bunch of test runs. He says iShark is really, really quiet.

Apparently, SCX is going to span both the New Braunfels park and the South Padre Island park. No solid details yet, though.

Just got home from SchlitterCon IX at Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, the world's best water park. It's no wonder they obliterate their competition for that title every year... SchlitterCon is quickly becoming known as a premier must-do event with a boatload of offerings for a ridiculously low registration. Two days at the park, early/late ERT sessions, games, meals, hot tub parties (with free booze), a live steel drum band, t-shirt, more food (it IS an ACE event after all!), and a 25% discount on lodging... all for $25. Seriously. Many kudos to Jeffrey Siebert (who turned 40 on Sunday, Happy Birthday!) and the fine crew at Schlitterbahn for putting on a fantastic event! Got to the room around noon. Yes, this is the "resort" - but it's clean and the beds were comfy and the A/C worked really well. What more do you need after all day in the park? This was the view. Nice. You can almost see a water park amidst the greenery! Some of the rooms are really close to the attractions! Some parks require that you rent their tubes and have a deposit as well. This forces you to keep up with it all day, even when you might want to do body slides or other non-tube stuff. SB offers free tubes, so when you need one, you just get one from the huge stash (see left of pic) New Braunfels has long been known for "toobing" down the Comal River. Many of SB's tube chutes recreate that with their periods of calm interspersed with rapids. Some of the flumes can take a half hour or more to complete. a few of the chutes are chock full of rapids, though, some of them fairly intense. Note that these flumes in the old section are filled with water from the river - no chlorine-faded suits here! It's spring-fed and ice cold. A few slides empty into the million-gallon swimmin' hole, also filled with river water. To combat the icy depths, there's a giant hot tub with a swim-up bar. For SchlitterCon, there were two private after-hours hot tub parties. Beer/wine/snacks/etc were included in the registration fee. After a few rides and slides, it was time to head to the registration area and get some grub. The catering department outdid themselves, truly. Foods like beef tenderloin stuffed with crab and goat cheese, chipotle butter shrimp, maple sweet potatoes, homemade apple and cherry pies, and a "baked french toast" for breakfast that was worth the trip by itself. back to the rides... many of the tube chutes have forks that let you choose your own adventure. This fork is in the Cliffhanger Chute; the right fork goes on for another 10 minutes or so with rapids and a tunnel. The left side ends in a looooong steep drop into a pool. Not all the flumes stick with the rustic look the entire way. This portion of the Raging River flume scoots along in a more traditional trough. Another plus for SB is that it doesn't even look like a water park, at least in the original section. Landscaping, shade, trees, the river alongside, it all looks like it belongs. The tube chute in the previous picture has a section that runs through the l0cker area before dumping into the lagoon There are non-tube attractions as well, including this very aggressive body slide. By the last two turns, you'll probably have flipped onto your face once or twice. Good thing the flumes are padded! The Downhill Racers are fun, especially when you can cream an innocent tuber (between the lanes) with a wall of water. And YES, if you get a good push at the top, you will become airborne on that second drop. By mid-afternoon, I hopped the free tram to Schlitterbahn East, home of Surfenburg, Tubenbach, and Blastenhof (shown here). This is where the more high-tech rides live. Master Blaster was a (ahem) BLAST. As much as I love Wildebeest, there's just something extra-special about getting freaking blasted up a hill on a huge water rush that just doesn't happen when you're being propelled up by other means. Master Blaster wins this one, I'm afraid. I should mention that registration also included a free SkyCoaster ride (until all the ride times were filled, anyway) Dragon's Revenge is a Master Blaster slide with special effects and is "dedicated to the American Coaster Enthusiasts" according to a sign near the entrance. Good ride and plenty of fun. Nighttime ERT on it was c-c-c-c-c-cold, though! After all the ups and downs of Dragon's Revenge, it ends with a long drop into a long downhill run back to the bottom. BoogieBahn surf simulator is one of those things that I love, even though I completely suck at it. On the left is the upper part of The Falls, the world's longest water ride. It's intentionally tame in several places, allowing you the ability to get in or out of the water easily. The lower portion (unseen here) is almost all rapids and swift water. The right side of the pic is the Comal River with folks "toobing" - not part of SB. At the lower end of The Falls, there's a giant Aquaveyor to take you back up top. You can ride around all day if you like, each circuit taking about a half hour. I probably did 10 or more laps over the weekend. Loved it! This horseshoe turn around the new Treehaus lodging takes you from the calmer top portion of The Falls to the swift rapids in the lower part. I almost always got knocked off my tube at the bottom of this, but that's half the fun. Sunday evening ended with an hour of ERT at Blastenhof, followed by a nighttime float down the Hillside Tube Chute in glow gear. Gotta love ERT... where else could you see folks floating down a water park ride with a beer in their hand?

I'm doing Europa and Disney in July, plus the two big Alpine coasters. Been to both parks before, but it's been a lot of years. At Disney, DO NOT MISS Big Thunder Mtn RR. Easily the best version and way more fun than it ought to be. Space Mountain was supposed to be getting a big makeover or something. Dunno much more, but I hope it's improved over the head banging craptastic thing it was back in 2005. Europa is, as everyone else has said, a must-do. The surprise hit for me was EuroSat, although the other attractions are really good as well. If you get to Heide Park, check out the wicked little bobsled there. Holy crap.

Lots of times. It was coaster-like, but electrically powered through most of the ride. There was a long climb through the mountain and across a bridge near the waterfall. At the highest point, you exited a tunnel at the back of the mountain and the power cut out and the cars coasted a bit down some shallow drops and turns. The highlight was the "echo tunnel" where the car (powered) travelled through a flat track inside a cave. Above the entrance to the tunnel were the words, "Echo tunnel: Yodel something!" Everyone would yell or whistle or whatever, but there was no discernible echo. First-time riders were always a bit confused by this... at the end of the tunnel, the power cut out again, there was a short dip and turn outside, then you entered another flat, powered tunnel. At this point, some system played back all the stuff you yelled in the Echo Tunnel a few seconds before. The end of the ride had some more coasting sections inside the mountain, including a drop into a left turn that was pretty fun. Early on, there was an abominable snowman just past the corner, but in later years it was removed. I seem to remember some scenes of mining for gold and jewels as well, but it's been a LONG time since I rode it, so I don't remember where it came in the ride. The ride was a maintenance nightmare and was often down for most or all the day. I'm sure that led to the decision to gut the ride from the mountain and turn it into the bat cave portion of the queue for Batman.

I don't think I've ever seen "more freedom of movement" equated with OTSRs before. Wow. My biggest beef with past-vertical drops has been the discomfort of all my weight resting on my shoulders in those damn harnesses. Yes, it's just for a split second, but it still kinda ruins the experience for me. I'm really looking forward to riding this one!

Worst: Adventure Express. There is no reason to mention any other ride here, as their suckage doesn't even compare to this. Best: Excalibur (Astroworld) - long bit of lameness, then a tiny little dip, then OMFG diving helix at ground level. Rampage - tasty full-sized drop that happened between the brake run and the station Thunderbolt (Kennywood) - the granddaddy of "saving the best for last"

Ditto with me and that little beach house nestled in the crook of Boardwalk Bullet.

WHAT???? The time I rode it, it ran just like Greezed Lightnin' did: with no brakes on the way back AT ALL. That was the main reason that those two models were so much better than the others IMHO. I'm completely bummed to hear that they were braking it when you rode it and I hope that there are no plans to ever do that again.

Hey, Fire, long time no see... anyway, if you have fond memories of Greezed Lightnin's final spike, then the reversal of the trains on Freeze is sorta a big deal. Not big enough to make a special trip out there, but certainly big enough to give it a re-ride or three if you're at the park anyway. While you don't get GL's delicious weightless feeling on the spike, you DO get a mind-altering backward trip up the spike that (due to the extra boost) feels like gravity has been reversed and "OMFG, we should've gone back down by now", plus a wicked 200ft vertical drop with just lap bars. So, yeah. Big difference.