texcoaster

It might be that one ride upset your inner ear, and then every ride after that just aggravated it. So perhaps, it's just one type of ride that you need to avoid, then the rest will be fine. For me, I have to avoid any ride that has strong G-forces in the same direction for a length of time. This means that spinning rides that don't also go in other directions while they spin are off my ride list. I do OK on a Frisbee, for example, because it goes up and down while it spins. Gravitron, though? Forget it. The reason is that the fluid in the inner ear which controls balance gets slung to one side for awhile, causing dizziness and then nausea. After that ride, I'm pretty much done riding for a few hours until things in my ear go back to normal. If I keep riding anyway, then even the rides which don't normally upset me will still make me sick. If it's stomach-churning nausea instead of light-headed queasy nausea, then your solution is to make sure not to ride on an empty stomach, and try to cut down on the greasy foods and dairy products. A few saltine crackers or a couple slices of plain bread before heading to the park will help soak up stomach acids and make you better able to get by. Greasy foods are better than nothing, but they don't help with the stomach acids as much. Dairy products can actually curdle inside you if the weather is hot. Not only does that not help your nausea, but you REALLY don't want to taste that stuff coming back if you DO get sick.

Maybe the Gravity Group should brag about that on their website. TGG Coasters: Not For Little Girls! I told the GM at Kemah that before the changes to the Bullet, I wouldn't have recommended it to someone who had never been on a coaster before (which happens a lot, since Astroworld has been gone for two years now). Now, I think that even though the ride is still intense and fast, it's not so aggressive as to scare away first-time coaster riders into never wanting to get on another one.

^^ They retracked everything from the middle of the first drop to the end of the big turn by the bay. I notice in your post that you said you rode it five times with a mostly empty train. I also notice that you aren't complaining that your ribs, neck, or back are in pain. So YEAH, it's smoother than before! Seriously, even though it was rougher before, it still wasn't half as bad as some of the wusses on this site might have you believe. Some of the folks who went to the TPR video shoot only rode about a dozen times and then posted about how much pain they were in the next day. Maybe they weren't ready for an adult coaster... The Giant (SFOT) and Rattler (SFFT) are far, far worse now than the Bullet ever was.

I was next in line for the front seat of a Vekoma SLC when I the rides ops told me that I'd have to wait an extra train because there was a kid in a wheelchair who was going to ride. He also told this to the folks in line for rows 2-4, since the kid's whole family was riding. No prob. But when they rolled the kid up to the train, I couldn't believe it. This kid wasn't "just" in a wheelchair, he was really, REALLY bad off. His face was contorted, he couldn't hold his head upright without the brace on the chair, and his legs were like jelly. When they picked him up to put him in the front seat, it was like they were picking up a rag doll. The ride op told them that because of the nature of the ride, he would need to be able to hold his head upright on his own to ride safely. The dad pointed at the OTSRs and said "those will hold his head right." The ride op didn't even hesitate and added "but there's nothing to hold his legs. I'm sorry, but he can't ride." The dad went apeshiz on the ride op. He screamed and cursed and said that he wouldn't tolerate discrimination because his son was "special". The more he ranted, the more obvious it became that he was more interested in using his handicapped son to skip the wait in line for the other SEVEN PEOPLE in his party than he was actually letting his kid ride the ride. This was made even more obvious when he finally took his kid out of the seat, put him back in the chair, then tried to sit down on the coaster anyway. The ride op told him that he and his party would have to wait in line. The ride op took a lot of abuse from the guy, and deserved none of it. That kid would've been seriously injured if allowed to ride. I got his name and went right to the customer service building after I rode and told the park manager what had happened, that I thought the ride op handled it very well and was very professional about it, and that he could probably expect a raving idiot to come in and complain. I told him that I wanted him to hear what REALLY happened before that azzhole got there.

^^ I agree. While the Bullet's temperamental nature is a downside for folks who travel to ride it (it didn't run very well for the TPR shoot), it does provide us frequent riders some changing experiences to keep the ride from getting boring. One of the things that's fun is to find the best seat on the train for that day. It changes every day, and sometimes it will change several times per day. The front seat is usually consistently decent, but is almost never the best seat. Seat 2R is perhaps the most wildly variant. Some days, it's insane with airtime and smooth. Other days, there's no air and it's brutal. Catch a day when the coaster is running fast, and 10R is wicked. Slower days are meh. The back seat is usually pretty good, but sometimes the seat right in front is even better. New Year's Day, seat 7R gave me a fantastic ride. I mentioned it to Guru. He rode 7R a couple of hours later and wasn't impressed at all... but Almightyfire sat next to him in 7L and was very surprised at how good it was. Go figger.

[1] Do I support Disney on this? ABSOLUTELY! Disney is quite often visited by people without kids, by adults on romantic getaways, by older people who have done the "kid thing", thank you, and they like a break from the noise. [2] Do I wish that MOST upscale restaurants (even outside Disney) adopt this rule? ABSOLUTELY! Kids under 10 (I'd up it to 18) have no business in the sort of place that costs $100+ per person and features live harp music. [3] Would I eat there? I would certainly eat there just to support their decision. However, since I read in a previous post that there's a 3 month reservation list, I don't appear to need to spend my money there to keep them in business. I'll instead just post my "BRAVO!!!" and eat someplace cheaper.

The funny part is that you've probably spent a lot more time at Dollywood to get those 200 rides than I've spent at Kemah for my 500. Bullet is in a unique setting. The rest of the rides are basically kiddie rides (except for Inverter) and are separated from the coaster by two or three large restaurants and a Starbucks. Thus, you have to make an extra effort to walk over there to ride it (luckily, there is a ticket window next to the coaster, so you don't have to go to the other section at all). What this usually means is that the crowds that gather at the rides usually stay over there. If someone in the family wants to ride the coaster, the family will be seen coming over to it, the person or two in the family who wants to ride will ride it, then they family goes back over to the clump of other rides. This keeps most folks down to one or two rides per visit, even with a wristband. The other group of riders are adults who came to eat at one of the restaurants and decide to ride the coaster while they are there. Usually, they buy single tickets and ride once or twice and go home (it's funny to see people waiting in line with their "to go" boxes). This "ride once or twice and leave" pattern means that there is almost NEVER a long queue. You'll see a few adults and some older teens who will buy a wristband and ride multiple times, but there aren't enough of them at any one time to fill a train. About the only time the ride isn't a walk-on is dinnertime on weekends when folks take a spin either before or after going to eat. Even then, you'll wait 2 or 3 trains max unless you want the front seat. I've got 500 rides in three months. At this rate, I'll hit 10,000 rides in 5 years. It took me over 25 years to hit that on the Texas Cyclone...

Well, it's a good coaster and worth several repeat rides, plus you get the aviator, inverter, swinging ship, etc....

OMG, at $20 per ride, I'd have spent $10,000 already!!! It's really cheap for me. I spend my $20 and usually get around 40 rides every time I go there. That's just $0.50 per ride... way cheaper than a ghetto fair. Best value so far was one day last November when I rode 88 times. That's just $0.22 per ride!

They should ugly up the trains and dub it "Warthog"--the nickname of those tank-killing planes. My boyfriend was a fighter pilot. They used to call the A7-Corsair a "SLUF" It stood for "Short Little Ugly F**ker" Probably wouldn't work for the coaster, though.

While "Flight Deck" is pathetic, I wasn't fond of "Top Gun: The Jet Coaster" either. BOTH of those names are just lame. Call it "Top Gun" or call it "Jet Coaster" but slapping them both together with a colon is just dumb. Same goes for "Superman: Ride of Steel" and "Batman: The Escape" and "Two Face: The Flip Side" -- sheesh, pick ONE name and be done with it. "Flight Deck" really does reek, though. I think I'll call it "Poop Deck"

Maybe WE don't but perhaps lorddoonga was planning to go out there and ride. Given the temperamental nature of the Bullet, it's not a bad idea to find out how well it's running before driving down there. Besides, you don't have to read this thread if you don't want to.

I hate to scare you, but that ride doesn't run on steel track, it runs on freakin PVC pipe. Seriously. If it's anything like the one I rode in Ohio, the sleds make a full circuit, but the riders have to climb stairs and load at the top of the hill. If THAT counts, then an Alpine Coaster certainly should. I rode two Alpine Slides in Austria, but counted neither of them, even though one of them had you ride the sled for the whole circuit, including the lift. Perhaps I should rethink that decision... if I could remember the name and town!

It's not the USA. I was on Mexico's La Montana Rusa (now renamed) several years ago in the front seat. Those of you familiar with that ride before the reprofiling will remember the insanity of the ejector air on nearly every hill.... On the first camelback, my riding partner (a local) and I launched into the buzzbar, which came up and LOCKED in the loading position. Going around the first big turn, we tried with no avail to lower the bar. The local kid was getting pretty pale and I was wondering if either of us would still be in the train after the next set of hills. We both grabbed the bar as tightly as possible and tried to wedge ourselves against the back of the seat with our legs. We survived, and the train pulled into the station, lapbar STILL locked in the loading position. The kid was screaming to the attendant, but I don't speak Spanish, so I have no idea what he was saying. I'm sure it was close to what I was thinking, though. The ride op shrugged. The next group of riders got in, the ride op stomped on the bar release, lowered the bar, and off it went. That was my last ride of any coaster in Mexico.

I teared up several times, not from joy but from cold, salty air slamming me in the face when the wind kicked up. Those with contacts seemed to get teary almost every time! I got there before they opened the coaster, and after walking around a bit, I headed for Target to buy a knit beanie cap and some gloves. I'm really glad I did, since I *HATE* cold weather and would've most likely left much earlier than I did. Still, after my 500th ride, I called it quits, even though there was still almost an hour of ride time left. Brrrr!

Voyage is my #1 coaster, and I'm really sorta afraid to ride it again. I got nothing but fantastic (although a bit brutal) rides on it, airtime everywhere, never trimmed, triple-down delivering on ever ride. From what I read about its temperamental nature, though, I'm afraid to spend the money to go back and chance getting crap rides on it. I can imagine it would be like someone who rode Texas Giant in 1990 and putting it as their #1, then coming down here to ride it now. What a shocker that would be!

Better yet, give it away like Holiday World (even though it's Pepsi) Um... I know what comes to MY mind when I see "S+M"... is that what you were referring to? Most people these days use BDSM instead of S+M or S/m. What rides would they put in that section (other than a Whip, LOL)

Ok, I just took my 500th ride on Boardwalk Bullet at a few minutes after 9pm tonight. In spite of my meh review from the test rides last night, I must say that a day's worth of running circuits around the track has done wonders for the ride. The new track sections just needed to break in a bit, I suppose, since the ride got progressively more intense as the day went on. By the late afternoon rides, the first drop and zig-zag were almost back up to their previous intensity in the back half of the train. The hard slam coming out of the first drop is gone and the brutality of the turn is gone, but the intensity of the right-left-right in the zig-zag is back and so is the airtime in there. WOO HOO! The upper bay turn still has the one-two-three kicks, but has lost almost all of the shuffle that made it so rough before. It doesn't lose much speed through there now, making the front two cars get wicked air going into the water tower turn. The second big drop has some nice yank in the back cars, the bunnyhop has floaters, and the Saltgrass turn was tracking nicely today. The queue line flyover was even getting air in the front of the train. The pop is BACK. Hell yeah! Last night's sluggish rides had tamed it a bit, and while the sharp, painful spike you used to get on the pop has been removed, you STILL get an evil little burst of quick ejector air seemingly out of nowhere. It still takes people by surprise and makes them scream and/or laugh. The back third of the ride, from the station drop to the brakes feels a bit slower and has some nasty shimmy around the final two turns. In my opinion, the next time it has off-season trackwork, they should look at the final two turns and the turn between the pop and the station drop. That turn is REALLY sucking the speed out of the train and has some pretty bad shuffle in it. Verdict? The Bullet is back! Yes, some of the aggressiveness (or roughness, if you prefer) has been tamed. I'd argue, though, that the ride is still as intense as it was before, it's just more comfortable to ride now. Several of today's riders had been on it before (employees of the restaurants were allowed to ride today) and I overheard a lot of "oh yeah, that's a lot better now!" from many of them. I rode all day with Guru, and Almightyfire showed up later, followed by NHolt. I'll let them post their own reviews. I was hoping that the trackwork would pull the cycle time down to around 62 seconds, which would've given it a shot at moving up to my #1 coaster. It ran at 68 seconds most of the day, which isn't too bad considering that it was c-c-c-c-cold today and quite windy. The Texas summer heat should speed it up a bit. Still, I don't expect that it will replace Voyage as my #1 coaster.... but it's not going to drop any spots on my list, either. Oh, and those of you who were there for the TPR shoot will be happy to hear this: even after 59 rides today, mostly in the back of the train, I'm not sore at all. There is no way I could've done that many in the back before...

after about 25 more rides, many with a full train, I can say that it's breaking in nicely. Some of the intensity is back in the zig zag and parts of the ride are a lot better than last night. I'll post a full report tonight.

Well, crap. Sorry, hyyyper - I was going by the subheading of this post that asked about the last 30 years, and the first post which said 30-40 years, but upon re-reading it, I see that he really didn't know what he wanted. The way it's worded, you could also include designers farther back than then. My bad. Well, that upsets my list, too. I had toomer, B&M, Stengel, Cobb, and Knoebel on my list. If we're going back farther, that changes everything. [1] LaMarcus Thompson - his Switchback Railway was the father of the modern coaster. 'nuff said. [2] John Miller - his inventions made safe, fast, and wicked layouts possible [3] Harry Traver - pushed the envelope of what a coaster could do. His design influence is still seen today [4] Ron Toomer - steel coasters wouldn't be what they are today without his tubular steel track and inversion design [5] B&M - changed the way we think about how a person rides a coaster - upped the bar on smoothness and reliability

The subject was designers of the last 30-40 years. Both Traver and Miller (who would absolutely be included on any list of the most influential designers of all time) died before the 1968 cutoff period of this thread. Wanna pick two more?

I can't tell whether or not you'll like it, but I can PROMISE you that you'll notice the difference. The first drop, zig-zag, and upper bay turn are pretty family-friendly now, and not rough at all. TOTALLY different than before.

[1] Ron Toomer - since you're only going back 40 yrs, leaving out John Miller and Harry Traver in the process, the most influential person has to be Toomer. The success of using tubular steel track is the single reason that we have the steelies we have now. Without that, none of the rest would've happened. Add to that the suspended coaster, the mine train, corkscrews, etc... yeah, like him or not, Toomer is the guy. [2] Bolliger and Mabillard - rather than trying to go higher and faster for thrills, they engineered new ways for us to ride. The invention of the inverted coaster will be the thing they're most remembered for, but the heavy use of heartlining and ridiculously exact engineering on their rides caused riders all over the world to expect not only thrills, but comfort. [3] Warner Stengel - his coasters not only push the envelope of thrills, but they are as beautiful to look at as they are fun to ride. Graceful, elegant, and sexy. [4] Bill Cobb - when Astroworld was unable to move the Coney Cyclone to Houston, Bill Cobb cloned it... with improvements. It was for that time a radical idea to intentionally copy a wood coaster design, but for many years, his Texas Cyclone was the undisputed #1 coaster on earth. Only Six Flags neutering could tame it. [5] Dick Knoebel - while not really a coaster designer, he deserves to be on this list. He had the crazy idea to dismantle a SBNO coaster in San Antonio, truck it to Pennsylvania, and reassemble it. Everyone thought he was nuts, but he's got the last laugh. Not only is his Phoenix a fantastic ride, but his example quite possibly saved some coasters from the wrecking ball by proving that a small park could get a world-class coaster for a fraction of a new one by saving one that had closed. It was a paradigm shift in the thinking of an industry, and for that he should be included here.

OK, after a dozen rides tonight, here are my first impressions of Bullet 2.0 Before I get into it, let me say that the train was empty except for Guru and myself, it hadn't cycled very much and still had some breaking in to do, and the temps were dropping quickly, making the ride even more sluggish. Point-by-point, here are the changes: Station to first drop: no change First drop: violent ejector air in the back is gone. There is still good air, but not the thigh-bruising slam there used to be. You pretty much have to be in the back 3 rows to get air at all, but that's not much different than before. Bottom of drop and zig-zag: this is the biggie. What was once some of the most intense, aggressive wood coaster track on earth is now faster, smoother, much less aggressive, and not nearly as intense as before. People will still have their hands raised through this section now. Folks like me who LOVED the aggressiveness there are going to be a bit disappointed, feeling that the ride has lost its teeth. The airtime on the zig-zag hump isn't as pronounced any more, but there is still some there. It has NEVER been that smooth there before. It's actually one of the smoothest parts of the ride now. The general public, the average coaster rider, and a handful of TPR wusses are going to like this ride A LOT more now. The rest of us will talk about that section in the past tense, the same way we talk about other coasters that got tamed. Upper bay turn: one word -- FAST. Not brutal at all, even with a hint of the "triple slam" that used to keep the intensity going. This section is significantly improved. Second big hill: much more airtime for the front cars going into the water tower turn. Early test runs (with a trainload of loaded water dummies) were zipping over this hill pretty quickly. The empty train (except for the two riders) wasn't much faster here than before. Anxious to ride with a full train tomorrow! Second drop into middle bay turn: some nice yank in the back car coming into the drop. Floater air in the front cars on the bunny hop. Middle bay turn feels a smidge faster, but not really noticable until you get to... Queue line flyover: this was the hill that I really looked forward to when I watched it being built, but it never really delivered. It almost does now, and in the front seat it actually does. Sideways banked floater air. Neato. "The pop": isn't quite as sharp as before, but it's STILL THERE All of the surprise with none of the pain. This is a good thing. The rest of the ride (station drop, photo turn, lower bay turn, brake run hop, final turns): largely the same as before. Once the ride breaks in again, this may improve. Brake run: still crawls back to the station at 0.0004 mph. Sigh. The mag brakes actually stop the train before the squeeze brake now. Bottom line: for me personally, I think the ride will probably drop a notch or two on my list now. I'll know better after a full day of riding tomorrow with more people on the train. For *MOST* people, however, the ride will be better. It's smoother, less aggressive, and FAR more re-ridable than before. You aren't going to hear any complaints about sore necks, ribs, etc from this ride now. Even the back seat is smooth enough to marathon on now. Hell, even the middle seats, which I would avoid like the plague before, were not only ridable, but FUN. This was a good move on the Boardwalk's part to make the ride better for 99% of the people who will be buying tickets. For the other 1% like myself, I'll just enjoy it for what it is now (which is still a really good ride), and fondly remember when it had "the most intense 15 seconds of any wood coaster on earth."

Making the lift taller WOULD make it faster, yes. But if the track is "off" and causing the train to violently bang back and forth on turns and shuffle a lot, that causes a great deal of energy loss. Fixing and smoothing those sections would cause an overall increase in speed.