Jon Sabo

WHOO! Thanks! Great photo's. Most peeps on here love their loops and lifthills, but for me, I LOVE(!!!!!) wheels/wheel carriers and rollback dogs...lol

The guy on the left (in video) appears upset because he didn't have his daily dose of TPR-sponsored cup of Rodent Java. Was it just me or did anyone else notice that some of the music was from 'Revenge of the Mummy'?..lol Anyone ride this version yet? Which one (JP) is better of all the Universal Parks?

Would this be including ride quality and/or a combination of: 1. Ride quality (cycles). 2. Theming 3. Program intensity

^ I hope they changed the story on the Alpengeist "Zero-car"..lol

Did anyone see this post (or posted) that occured (June 3rd)?? http://www.gainsider.com/ This is official information from the park regarding the incident and status of Chiller. QUOTE At approximately 12:15 p.m., a train on one of our coasters stopped during its cycle. The train was 8-10 feet above the ground with 20 passengers on board. Maintenance and safety personnel immediately responded. Within 15 min. all guests were unloaded from the ride. Our maintenance and engineering teams will conduct a thorough investigation to determine exactly what caused the coaster to stop. All safety systems functioned properly. Has this ever happened before - No The train sustained some damage, but our engineers are out there as we speak conducting an investigation to determine exactly what caused the coaster to stop. The ride will remain shut down, we've notified the state and will keep the ride closed until they have inspected the ride and cleared it to open. We wanted to get the official word out to try and curb crazy speculation. We will post any further information as we receive it.

The BEST submission so far..LOL

^ I agree. That semi-turnaround part after the lift is classic-Twister design as the original ride from its previous park. But this wasn't the original ride-correct? It was a re-make of the classic version (and tamed down alot..lol).

K R A K E N!

That is a great accomplishment considering how many forum sites are coming online. In fact, looking at that list, TPR is the only forum-site within the top 10. So in essence, it is #1..lol

Ride designers and park owners are starting to have issues in designing new(er) rides because of situations regarding people's size/weight/height. Look at some of the park policies regarding these issues. Also, most parks are even taking a "dummy" seat assembly for riders in question to pre-test the unit before they even ride (or enter the que-line). When I was a ride operator/manager in the 80's and 90's these issues were almost non-existant. Nowadays, these instances are increasingly becoming more common and park managers are begining to incorporate safety parameters to offset any potential lawsuits. It certainly is a sensitive issue that is being addressed, but they (designers) also must conform to current ASTM standards. I believe park managers/owners and ride designers are seeing a trend, but the overall consumer-base still conforms to the current standards in harness and train-coach designs. We may in fact see a change in certain seat combinations, but overall, the current design systems are based on the "average" consumer based on height/weight and size/girth. In this case, the passenger(s) with more girth or weigth are considered the minority, but, with the US leading the world in obesity, watch for this to change the design of many coaches and harness systems within the next 3 yrs (or less). We are already seeing some of those changes on certain coasters today.

Do the rodents come in waffle-flavor or cornbread-flavor? Count me in..lol

I honestly believe it depends on the park maintenance/operations. One reason is because the labor manpower (and cost) can be quite high in just lubricating the track while inspecting it. The priority is, of course, safety, but it generally takes a couple of hours just to inspect/walk the track (and even up to 3-4 hours on large woodies). Lubrication of the track is time consuming, but I believe the chain section and channel is performed frequently. I believe most parks lubricate the wheels and undercarriage components daily, but track lubrication could vary between 1 per month or even every 3 months (or longer). Steel coasters is a different story, of course. BG parks perform parts lubrication every day (preventative maintenance as well as mfg. requirements). I worked on all of the BGE coasters and that was a standard policy and still in use today. But, I am not sure on the BGT-Gwazi maintenance.

It's becoming a real fine line between themepark owners and residential protests in finding common ground when it comes to new installations (especially rollercoasters). I believe the technology has advanced enough to help "muffle" some of the ride noises created, but residents still have alot of political clout in shooting down projects. Example-DP Talon. B&M has greatly modified the wheel material, the gearbox (sound), the sand within the track, and especially the new nylon/polyeurethane material for the chain dog and rollback dogs. All to satisfy the nearby neighbors. When I worked for BGE, I recall how many times I have attended public round-table forums when the park wished to install a new ride (and rollercoasters). One hot-debate was the DF installation, which ALMOST never happened. I can see both sides of the issue, but in defense of the park(s), I often wonder the mental status of the residents who continue to build houses almost DIRECTLY in the path of a potential sound-zone conflit. And, especially here on Maui, why the hell do people STILL complain about golf courses (damage from the players golf balls) when residents continue to build houses ALONG the golf course (as well as those who build houses within the sound-confines of a local amusement park). Will the madness ever end? lol

^Although not officially confirmed, but those may be the projected colors from reports of track sightings on the B&M factory (Ohio) lot. The beige-orange color(s) track appear a bit faded, but I think that could be a primer-coat or that the sun has faded it a bit. There are 2 color combinations floating around on the support color. One color was a dark-blue color scheme and the other was a silver-grey color, but that pic look like it was a primer-coat (and final painting is underway). The reason why I believe this is for the BGE project is based on the time-scale for delivery of the track/supports and the production schedule. It "could" also be the possible Valleyfair coaster, but the track does not appear to be an Inverted-type coaster.

^Thanks!! I give you compliments for taking care of the issue. It's water under the bridge. I asked (the author of the pic), not to do anything about it and just said it was a mistake and it won't happen again. If I am sounding like a jerk about it, I am not trying to be. But, it can become a serious mess if another person (or even an author of the work in question) would get a hold of it (which they did). Also, I'm not picking on your age(s), but if this happened in the real-working world, it would be a legal matter-unfortunately as it happens everyday. I have seen one guy go bankrupt on a mistake they did and it cost them the whole company. It's not all about this incident, it happens often (especially other sites) and just needed to be addressed. Think how Rob/you would feel if someone took credit for your work? A couple of people on the site emailed me about it and wasn't too happy either, but I told them to give the original person on this post to have a chance to explain/take care of it and its done. I felt it was a mistake here and needed to address it, therefore I didn't take it to the site owner(s) or really made a big stink out of it as I felt I could have. I believe there was a statement in the general rules forum and this would apply to not just pictures, but to videos as well. I even asked the site owner about it and I'm sure he would take matters into their own hands. To put it into perspective, wouldn't (any of the posters^/^^/^^^ above here) feel quite angry if another person took credit for what you had done? It's all been cleared up now and water under the bridge. It's a "mistake" and the person took care of it and its finished now and he will learn from it as we all have. In response to the few posts above, it doesn't matter if a person states that he/she drawn the pic or not. It's time we all have fun now and it's forgotten! Have a good one.

This will sound off-the-wall, but I have never tried Dip-n-Dots yet...lol I think I have seen a sample of what that is about on the History Channel (Sweets-n-treats) show.

That was a good video moment. It was funny to decipher what she was "thinking" because she really didn't scream or yell, but just had those facial expressions. At one moment she looked like the girl from the Exorcist (eyes) and the next moment she had her tongue hanging out and smiling...lol

Whooowheee the "actual author" of that drawing is not very happy. 1. You have it on your "own" site 2. There is no credit given to the author or where you got the pic from. It would only be fair that any pic (or video for that matter) is given proper credit to those original author(s) that did the actual work and not other(s) taking credit for that. This is the pic I am referring too: http://img290.imageshack.us/img290/1127/bgedmsmall1ih.jpg

I may have asked this question before (on another post/site), but isn't El Toro constructed similar to the ride they (Intamin) did in the Germany park (Colossus?)? Didn't it have pre-fabricated sections and so on? Intamin is the mfg. correct?

Screamscape has reported the rumor was a B&M Invert slated for Valleyfair for '07. But, the report was dated back in '04 and that was over 2 yrs ago. http://www.screamscape.com/html/valleyfair.htm It would make some sense if that is the case, but I'm wondering if it could be another attraction (flat ride) and the coaster idea is now pushed back to '08 (perhaps it may afffect attention away from CP new "ride/coaster" as well as park attendance. Unless plans are already in place for the mega-pass on the Paramount/CF aquisition).

Ok, B-M (from B&M..lol) has now opened and quite a few reports have been floating around. Now is the time to compare which do you prefer the best Black Mamba or Nemesis? Try to think about overall aspects of each ride including: 1. Ride quality 2. Theming. 3. Re-ridership ability and so on.

^you're about the 5 different person that said that. It "has?" been retracked, but only around the helix-sections right? I would wonder if they take away two cars from the train it would have a different result too.

^^ yes, I posted those comments/track-color on the BAZ site. But, I am only making the assumption for the BGE ride. It could be for another park, but based on the timing on the Busch ride (to begin construction) it kind-of makes sense at this point that some track/supports are already in production. I also stated there were a set of dark-blue supports on that (Ohio) site as well, but not sure if that is the color-scheme. The orange-beige track color(s) appear a bit faded, so I can't be sure if that is the final color-coat or a primer-base (and the final color is similar).

Be sure they check the mounting brackets for the brake runs!...lol

I didn't even see this thread. By FAR I will say BBW @ BGE. I worked this ride (operator) when it opened in '84-'88 and worked maintenance in '89+ and I must say it surpasses all of the other suspended's (even with Arrow's improvements over the years in design/layouts). BBW is truly the one "original" that the terrain was used to the maximum effect. With recent "upgrades" and modifications, it still is a good "starter" ride for the younger kids. Most of you (unless you rode it in 84-86) probably won't rate it that high, but during these years (84-86) it was simply amazing. Especially at nite (w/out the trim brakes on) and during the March-April months (this is because all of the parts are still new and breaking in). When we installed the trims (after #2 lift) it was designed to slow down the ride and not to keep welding the track sections on the final s-turn and the round-a-bout turn before the brake run. I DO NOT like the new travel-limiter (shock packages)! Around 90-92-ish we modified the "village" and last turn sections with new track (notice the bolted sections). It actually smoothed out the transitions between the track and the wheel carriers, but it definately "tamed" the beast somewhat (but much less maintenance welding=downtime). I believe in 08 a new chassis/train carriers will be coming online for the ride and a couple of other modifications will be incorporated and a new shock-package as well.