texcoaster

You're kidding, right? Having an Easter section with bunny and colored egg theming is no more religious than having a Christmas section with Santa and elves. Let's not forget that the WHOLE PARK used to be Christmas-themed...

Just got to Germany yesterday and spent the afternoon at Europa. Crowds were fairly heavy, but this park moves people through rides like CP does, so even massive queues were under an hour wait. Blue Fire was better than expected and Wodan was MUCH better than expected. Yes, there's very little airtime, but that doesn't take away from how much FUN that ride is. Even Silver Star, which had disappointed me its opening season, was giving great rides. Wasn't planning to go to Europa yesterday after the long drive from Paris, was just going to wait till today, but I needed some good park feelings after the crap that is Disney Paris. That is one really sub-standard park by Disney standards and Disney Studios is just crap, even by non-Disney standards. At least Space Mountain didn't beat me up this time, and RnRC was actually pretty good.

Of all the terms I've seen so far, "the OMGWTF element" seems to fit best.

Disney Paris, then Europa Park, followed by two Alpine Coasters (yes, one of them is "that one" in Mieders in the infamous "no brakes" video), then Wiener Prater

Everyone who's worried about this ride being a "one trick pony" seems to have forgotten those pics of the first drop. Wood coasters are very, very rarely one-trick ponies, as even the later bits can be loads of fun with little airtime hills, surprise turns, and the like. Steel coasters are usually the culprits in the one-trick pony arena, in my experience. And since this is a wood coaster we're talking about here... oh, wait.

All we know is that RMC said that they had a project at FT. Now we know that Rattler is done as of next month. Everything beyond that is merely speculation, but it seems a safe bet to say that the two items are related. Now... will it be a makeover with topper track (and seeing the SDC monster going up, that wouldn't be a bad thing), a makeover with Iron Horse track (NTGiant turned out great, after all), or will they just TAER IT DOWN and build something new there? Let the speculation begin.

^ lol. A friend of mine rode it during a Coaster Con ERT session. It was his 300th coaster. He pulled into the station, got out of the train, smiled broadly and said, "THREE HUNDRED! WOOOO!" I said, "did you like it?" and he said, "no, it sucked."

LAST CHANCE TO RIDE THE RATTLER Get out to Six Flags Fiesta Texas to experience the classic wooden coaster through nearly a mile of high-speed turns, looping twists and breathtaking drops as The Ratter prepares for last riders on Sunday, August 5!

Actually, that's why I get upset at incorrect information about that kind of thing in these shows. Tons of folks watch shows like this and (unfortunately) when they hear something on TV, they just believe it. This is the entire premise behind Fox News, by the way... but I digress. Since you've got the audience's attention, why not teach them something as well as entertain them? I'd love to see an expanded roller coaster edition of "How It's Made", for example. They could cover mag brakes, launch systems, track construction, etc etc etc... I remember when Steel Phantom was in the planning stages, Arrow was worried that the glue that holds the polyurethane "tire" to the steel wheels would break down at those speeds. This is the sort of stuff that most folks don't even think about and could make for fascinating TV.

Two very different situations. For one, it's the same track all the way through, as opposed to RCCA using Premier track for the loop. For another, RMC is going into this fresh off of NTAG. RCCA can never make such a claim even if they tried. Considering that the loop was the only part of that ride that didn't make me want to punch babies or strangle kittens due to the insufferable pain in my skull from my brain bouncing around, I'd say that using Premier track for the loop was the only thing they got right on that ride.

This is an ideology with which I disagree. As long as it's not blatantly stupid or flame war inducing, why should we frown upon speculation? It builds the anticipation. It's fun to predict what they are going to call it. It's not harmful, so why should it be something that we should not do? I for one would have named this the Switchback Roll. Because of the likelihood that TPR will have already decided what to call it by the time the official moniker is revealed and the wrong name will stick... or just be stupid. Like NTAG. Sorry, but I hate "NTAG" as much as I love the actual ride. "Sharktopus" is freaking awesome as a concept, but sucks balls as the name of this element. IMHO, the element name should at least give you some kind of clue as to what it does. Sharktopus makes me expect something with legs sticking out or something. To that effect, "Inverted Camel" or "Inverted Camelback" fit the bill even though they don't have the pizazz of sharktopus or even super Stengel.

Or we could just wait until we see what it's officially called... just sayin'. Personally, I'd name it the "0h Sh!t" element, because that's what you're likely to hear a lot of from every train as it goes through there.

Big difference, though... The legless guy on Superman could've easily gotten on that ride and not thought that he was in any danger. That the attendants didn't prevent him from riding probably assured him that his assumption was correct that he could still ride the coaster. That's fairly easy to say, "it's probably not a suicide, I can see where he might not predict the outcome of his decision to ride." However, we're dealing with someone who worked at the park. He wasn't some GP without knowledge of things, he was a guy who [1] was aware of the strict procedures in place regarding the restricted areas, [2] went against those policies, [3] unlocked a secure area while the ride was in operation, and [4] didn't inform the ride operators of his actions. Thus, he knew that what he was doing was dangerous and he intentionally ignored multiple safety mechanisms (locks, procedures, notifications) that were in place. This is far, far different than some guy who thought he could ride a coaster without falling out. Besides, this sort of thing has happened before. Astroworld had a suicide-by-coaster several years ago where a maintenance worker intentionally stepped in front of a moving train on the Excalibur coaster. That one was a mine train, so it wasn't like he didn't see the overhead cars coming, he had to climb onto the tracks to get hit by that one.

They don't seem to be paying attention to their wording, either. One report (which is copied verbatim on multiple sites) mentions that the worker "strayed" into a restricted area, then several sentences later mention that the area was "locked" and/ or "secure." Unlocking and then entering an area is not "straying" into the area, it's deliberate and intentional. I hate to say it, but if this gets ruled a suicide, I won't be at all surprised.

They put up a wall behind the soak zone to keep the tidal wave off the main part of the pier... and to make sure that those IN the soak zone get the initial wave plus the ricochet from the wall. Some of the water goes over the wall(!) as well, dousing folks on the main walkway. The cleverest bit, though, is the little bench on the walkway, several feet away from the soak zone and the blocking wall. You'd think that you'd be safe to sit and have a bit of a rest there, right? Wrong. Anyone who sits down without wondering why the bench is wet probably deserves what they get... That hair won't be standing up for long!

^ oh you know how the news media is.... Being accurate is far less important than being timely. Hell, you can practically get away with any misinformation as long as you can precede it with "you're hearing it here first!" The first reports said the guy was 31 yrs old. Then they said 50-60 yrs old. Now they're saying 67yrs old. Also, most of the photos with the stories show a coaster other than Vampire.

According to CBC, the worker was 67yrs old and entered the area contrary to established safety procedures.

I went down to the pier on July 4. Surprisingly, the queues were short - at most you had to wait one cycle for the flats and two cars for the coaster. The longest line (by far) was for the log flume and even it was only about 10min. While I'm grateful that there have been short waits (or walk-ons) every time I've been down there, it worries me about the future of the place. That said, they should make it up in PARKING. The lot was completely full and it costs $16 if you spend much time there at all. Free parking along the seawall was nonexistent, this being the 4th and all. Anyway, all rides were running except for the Star Flyer. It's up with chairs attached, but the queue area is still under construction. Revolution (afterburner) was even running, but it has the tamest ride cycle of any that I've ever been on. The pendulum motion was good and it went well past 90deg on the swings, but it rotates very slowly and stops spinning completely every other swing. Pirate's Plunge was the surprise hit of the day. The logs are designed to push a LOT of water out to the sides. While this makes for endless entertainment watching unsuspecting folks get wet (surprisingly, a huge "SOAK ZONE" sign goes unnoticed by many) from the big drop, it's the smaller drop at the front that gets the riders, thanks to a wall on the right side of the channel. It keeps the ride ops from getting soaked, but the water ricochets off the wall right back into the log. It's evil and very effective. Galaxy Wheel has a nice location out at the end of the pier with full views of the pier and the beach looking north and nothing but water out to the horizon to the south, dotted with lines of tankers heading out to sea, having just left the Port of Houston. Iron Shark riders just about to experience 20 seconds of utter mayhem. Pic taken from the Galaxy Wheel There's a live music stage at the wheel. Not sure what the schedule will be for bands there, but we saw at least two different groups this day. The wheel has a great computerized light package. Iron Shark had lights attached to it (finally) but they weren't working yet. Perhaps Revolution is set to spin so slowly so you'll have time to notice you're swinging out over the water. A busy but not overly crowded 4th of July at the pier. Some people learn the hard way what "Soak Zone" means.

There is an offshoot to the east at the end of the pier behind the ferris wheel. Currently, it's just the base of the original pier sticking out there, but theoretically they could build on it. The bad news is that there isn't much room on the offshoot... maybe a food stand or something, but the only ride I could even imagine fitting on that little nub is a drop tower, maybe. That would be cool.

OK, let's dream a bit, shall we? Iron Horse makeover on Rattler.... Raise the lift hill to 200ft. That's their building height limit, isn't it? Drop it over the cliff in a near-vertical dive all the way to the bottom like it used to. Leave the top of the second hill at the same height, but over bank it. The horseshoe bend could then be banked at nearly 90deg.... ==> They will need to seriously reinforce the structure here. Iron Horse track isn't very flexible and they simply can't allow the "wave" any more. The entrance to the helix could be considerably raised, probably even a camelback hill with airtime. The helix itself could get really bizarre with odd angles and wicked bunny hops. It could even become the ride's signature moment. MCBR? There for safety blocking only. Not used otherwise. Insane, twisting dive off the cliff... but not into the tunnel. Instead, drop it forward, then curve it up toward the station fly-by. Round the helix next to the station, toss in a zig-zag, then enter the tunnel from the opposite end so that you're turning and dropping in the dark. The tunnel drop leads to a ground-hugging 180, then up to the final brake run. Yeah, that bit after the MCBR ain't gonna happen, but I can fantasize, can't I?

I don't think that phrase means what you think it means. Looking at the rest of your post, I think the phrase you meant is "inclined to believe."

I ride Rattler once a year on my first visit. I queue for the front seat. They aren't assigned seats (at least not when I've been there), they just have an attendant counting how many people go in to the seat lanes and shutting off the line when it's full. It's not uncommon to see a 2-3 train wait for the front. It's possible they've changed the policy since I was there last month, though. Anyway, I thought it was actually running much smoother this year, mainly because of the topper track on the horseshoe cliff turn. It used to have some naaaaaaasty lateral jackhammering there in addition to the regular jackhammering. There needs to be an Iron Horse makeover on it. Bigtime. As I read the description of your ride on Rattler, I thought, "wow, that's how I felt on Son of Beast!" (except for the dreading it going up the lift... I was actually looking forward to SOB until about halfway down the first drop)

I didn't like the Nacho Picoso flavor at all.... but these are freakin' awesome! Lime fire disguised as flute-shaped Doritos

I don't know which coaster was the first with an underground tunnel, but I do know that The Beast predates Hades by a few decades. As for wood/steel and topper track... the track rests on stacked lumber, just like a woodie. The top layer of the stack isn't wood. That to me isn't THAT different than a stack of lumber with a steel rail on top, like a regular woodie. Just my $0.02

Sorry to hear that Wonderland has gotten that bad. I visited three years ago (Tx Tornado was my 500th coaster) and had a blast. The mouse was good and the Galaxi was awesome in the back seat. The Rainbow was the highlight of the park, though. They had it on some kind of "psycho crazy bitch" setting and I kept thinking that if those restraints failed, I'd probably land on the moon. Too bad you skipped Joyland in Lubbock. The little mouse coaster there is terrifying.