imbordisux

Two things, though: 1) Premier launchers and classic Antons are high-G rides, where you are pushed INTO the seat - it's like when you spin a bucket of water around, the water stays in the bucket. If a coaster does not go through an inversion with enough force, either because it is moving too slowly, or the inversion is too large to maintain speed (such as this), then you CAN fall out. 2) Premier uses really tiny, tight, compact cars with high sides; you're more or less "stuck" in place because everything is squeezing against you.

http://www.funtime.com.au/ They look like they have some really cool "extreme" flat-rides - some are unique designs, while others are like other flat-rides, but with some sort of different feature. Anybody familiar with them?

Robb, wouldn't that basically result in the death of rough woodies? Surely you don't want ALL wooden coasters to start riding and feeling the same, do you? It'd get quite boring I'd imagine.

B&M is my favorite steelie-company, with "Batman: The Ride" being my favorite invert (because of the awesome positive-Gs) - I just thought it was really cool that they tried to do something different in having people falling out of the seats while upside-down. I know that "Hydra" is classified as a floorless because of the trains, but I really think they should refer to it, as well as any future "slow, forceless" looping coasters, as "Hang-Time" coasters.

I don't really "scream", in a terrified "AHHHHH!!!!" kinda way; I just kinda "whoo-hoo" through the thing.

And here I was, thinking Triverity was the first to do that.

I see a TON of negative reviews of the ride, and I'm just curious why; I know it's not exactly a monster coaster, but I loved it as soon as I rode it. It seems that many reviews say that it's "too slow" or "forceless", which I completely agree with, but, IMO, that was the entire POINT of the ride - instead of speeding through the inversions and getting pinned to the seat, I was under the impression that it was *designed* to take the inversions slowly and with little force, creating the sensation of negative-Gs while upside-down. It seems that most people liked the Jojo Roll, but not the rest, which is confusing to me; I thought that the entire ride as a whole was meant to create the same sensation as the Jojo Roll, namely falling out of ones seat while upside-down. I thought it was a hell of an idea, to make a coaster that basically feels like an inverting flat-ride. Then again, maybe I'm wrong, and people do "get it", and they just think it's a boring and/or uncomfortable ride anyway, which I can understand; I just think it's odd that so many reviews praise the slow, forceless Jojo Roll, and then complain about the rest of the ride being the same way.

Cool, but I can't wait for the PKD one. Paramount is working with a company called "XtremeX3", a division of "Triverity", to perfect a system whereby cameras are mounted on the trains themselves, facing the riders, so that each rider can get a video of their reactions; I'm also *pretty* sure (not 100%, though) that the video will include regular POV footage, and that the finished video will be some sort of split-screen, meaning that you can watch the POV, and see what your reaction was at the same time.

That's exactly what I was looking for when I started this topic. Thank you.

The track is what determines if a coaster is classified as wood or steel. Wood track, steel supports = Woodie Steel track, wood supports = Steelie Remember, the famous Coney Island "Cyclone" has steel supports...

No pics, but I actually own a VIRTUAL BOY!!! And I LIKE IT!!!

At first, there were only wooden coasters, most of which did not invert (the first few that tried ended-up, well, killing people), and parks wanted them. After that, there was the big steel-coaster boom, and parks wanted them. Then Arrow came along and figured-out how to safely navigate inversions, and parks wanted THEM. After that, everybody wanted an Anton lapbar-looper. After that, everybody wanted a B&M invert. After that, LIM coasters became popular. Then Hyper coasters became the "must own" item that every park wanted, with B&M and Intamin overtaking the competition. The last few years have seen the big parks try to top each other in terms of height and speed, and now, presently, everybody wants an Intamin Rocket. Quietly, woodies have been making a come-back, particularly in the form of "new-school" woodies by GCI and Gravity Group, with "Thunderhead", "Lightning Racer", and "Hades" all getting rave reviews, and it looks like next year will continue that trend: Holiday World, Beech Bend, and SFGAdv are all building new-school woodies. So, with new-school woodies looking like the new "it" item, what do you think will come after that? Will we see a rise in popularity of an existing model, or do you think we'll start seeing new innovations in ride-design? I'm going out on a limb, and predicting that the Maurer-Sohne "X-Coaster" will be he new "it" item in a few years. I've read some reviews of it being boring, but that doesn't necessarily mean much; many people find B&M's flying coasters boring, but just as many people love them, and they consistently have long lines. I think the design shows a LOT of promise, and the "hanging with only lapbars" effect (not to be confused with the high-speed, high-G inversions of Anton and Premier lapbar-loopers) will have the same effect on people that other "unique" train-designs (Inverted, Flying, B&Ms clamshell, 4D) have. I think that, if they worked out a full-sized hyper, they could really be the next big thing in the industry - imagine "Ride of Steel" with a few inversions thrown in... yeah, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. And I'm no engineer, but I don't see any reason why they couldn't either link several cars together into a full train, or at least mount the specialized seating/restraints onto cars/trains that could handle it. Also, if you remove the lift-hill, I see no reason why this couldn't be configured into a launch-coaster...

The little robot was called "R.O.B." ("Robotic Operating Buddy"), and the game was called "Gyromite". Anyone remember the "U-Force" peripheral? It looked like a laptop, and you would wave your hands in front of it in order to make your character move... yeah, it worked even worse than the Power Glove. Oh, and about the Revolution controller, WATCH THIS VIDEO!!! http://media.cube.ign.com/articles/651/651334/vid_1249127.html The look of the controller is definitely a turn-off, but seeing what you can do with it? OMFG!

I agree with you, Robb; I just couldn't think of a better word to use than "signature". I guess "Most Famous" would have been better. Can't believe I forgot S:ROS at SFNE; it's consistently rated #1 in America, so that's gotta count for something.

Just curious; I looked through the pics and DVDs, and I didn't see it listed anywhere.

Weird little question: which coasters do you think all riders should try, not so much for quality, but just out of name-value and recognition? Like, which ones do you think are the most famous in your country, that all riders should do, just to say they did it? IMO, the ones in the US that fit that description are: Cyclone (Astroland) - Most famous coaster ever. X (SFMM) - One-of-a-kind. KK/TTD (SFGAdv/CP) - Either one, either the tallest/fastest, or the smoother version with lapbars. B:TR (SFGAm) - First inverted. S:ROS (SFNE) - Consistently rated #1 in America. What else?

I ask the same question the paper did: How did this not come out earlier?

My fiancee' and I finally made the trip over to "Astroland" today, and lo and behold, "Cyclone" was closed; I asked the guy at the booth when it would reopen, and he said he wasn't sure. Any clue what happened? I'm not exactly a coaster historian, so maybe I'm wrong about this, but I thought it's been (more or less) running smoothly for 80 years; figures, we FINALLY decide to venture out there (neither of us like the city, but, ya know, it's the "Cyclone" and all) to try it for the first time, and it's closed. *sigh*

Thanks a lot, Real; that's exactly the kind of definition/description I was looking for.

Just curious, any idea why none of the Cedar Fair parks have a B&M or Intamin Hyper? I mean, I guess you can't count CP, cuz they have a giga AND a strata, but it seems odd that none of the CF parks have either of these super popular models. Might it be that some of the parks already have a hyper, and a second one would be redundant, and that the ones that don't have one don't really cater to the real thrill-seeking crowds? Any ideas?

It's fairly easy to tell a steel coaster's manufacturer by looking at the track (B&M has a box-spine, Intamin has that awesome lacework look, etc.), but is there any way to tell the manufacturer of a wooden coaster just by looking at the track? Other than Intamin's "Plug-N-Play" woodies with their massive gaps in between rungs, of course.

I've ridden "Chiller" many times. Unlike the loops where you're being pinned down into the seats, I'd say that you stay in during the roll because of the combination of the strong lateral-Gs and the high-walled deep seats; yes, your upper-body is whipped around so as to create the sensation that you're gonna go flying, but your lower-body is pretty much pinned to the sides. As for the time it's been stuck upside-down in the roll, I'd say that just has to do with Premiere having those super tiny cars where you're basically cramped into place.

Looking at the pic above, it looks like some of the supports are actually IN the road; I know the supports are super thick and strong and everything, but what happens if a car hits one? I'm not saying I think the thing would crumble, but it'd probably be an inspection nightmare; B&M's supports are thicker than most, but they're not comparable to, say, suspension-bridge supports or anything.

I'm a big fan of flats, both new and old, and was wondering what park everybody thought ran them the best. We've only been to "Playland Park" (in Rye, NY) once, but we couldn't believe how ridiculously fast they ran all of their rides; everything - EVERYTHING - was cranked up to 11. I mean, I don't know if flats are actually designed to be able to operate at different speeds, but it just seemed like every ride was running faster than either of us had ever experienced before; the Whip, the Toboggans, the Scrambler, the Gravitron... holy crap, the Gravitron, several people were complaining that they were having trouble breathing while we were riding. I just hope that, after that massive firing, the rides continue to be run as awesomely as they were when we went.

^^^ If you're talking about Schwarzkopfs and the like, I think the idea is slightly different. On Schwarzkopfs and Premieres, it's the G-forces holding you in place; you're going through the inversions at such a velocity that it's the G-forces holding you in place. Technically, the inversion themselves wouldn't even REQUIRE restraints, because you're being pushed into the seats; they're just there for whatever other elements are involved. On the flip-side, the "purpose" (for lack of a better term) of these X-Car coasters is to allow for SLOW inversions, where you can safely fall out of your seat a little; it's not G-forces that are holding you in, but the restraint itself, and, unlike the ones described above, the restraints ARE needed, as you WOULD fall out if they weren't there. These basically give riders the type of ride that B&M was shooting for with "Hydra: The Revenge"; negative-Gs while upside-down. I can't say how effective Maurer-Sohne has been with these, as I haven't ridden one, but that's definitely what they were shooting for.