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TPR Valleyfair Meet THIS SUNDAY!!!


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I'd really try to get one of the last runs of the day if you can. It warms up REAL good! Also, FYI - do NOT go into it expecting an "ejector airtime machine." It's got good floater air in many spots, but it's not an extreme airtime kind of ride.

 

--Robb

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I'm so bummed I can't be there this weekend. I'm going home to visit my family in St. Paul in 2 weeks, (and of course to ride Renegade). I hope you guys have a blast at my ex-home park and former part-time employer.

 

And to add fuel to the Wild Thing fire, I have to admit that it's the tamest of all the hypers I've ridden, but at least it's not painful or low capacity. Tame isn't necessarily bad. If you want to, you can ride it over and over. My only complaint are the HUGE cars Morgan built for it. Small kids, (or small adults for that matter), can hardly see over the sides. Check out my Valleyfair (called Beautiful Day) video in the forum here, (or you can stream it on my websight). My sister is short, (I think like 5-2"), and you can see how high the side of the car is in relation to her.

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Robb,

 

It looks like I will be getting there earlier then I expected. I am being dropped off right around 10 AM. (Going to early church service.) Then I have to leave around 1:30 PM to go out to eat for mothers day.

 

BTW, this is Alan

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Well, I was at VF today and managed to get the first ride of the day on Renegade, and another ride shortly thereafter. The first was near the front, the 2nd near the back. It was pretty fun either way. There was little, to no airtime, but lots of swerves, curves, turns, etc. So all those that ride, I think they will enjoy. Most others on the coaster seemed to think it was a great ride as well.

 

I did notice one major flaw on the ride though.. they had a seat belt, but the lap bars were really what was holding people in. If the person had thick legs, or a slightly thick stomach, they weren't able to make it on the ride because the lap bar couldn't come down enough. I personally thought the lap bar had to come down way too far, probably a design flaw more than a safety thing. The people I saw that didn't fit on this ride could probably make it on nearly every other ride in the park, so it wasn't like they were gigantic. I think the design also looked that if you were taller, you might not get the lap bar on either unless you really crossed your legs.

 

If they don't give the lap bar a little more leeway, they're going to have to put a "test seat" out in front of the ride for people to sit in, like they have for Steel Venom and the big swing. I can see the huge disappointment of waiting in line for quite a while, only finding after you're in the car that you don't fit.

 

Well, see everyone tomorrow!

 

-Trent

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I personally thought the lap bar had to come down way too far, probably a design flaw more than a safety thing.

 

The "highest" that the lapbar can be is where there is no gap between the lapbar and the seatside. So it is a safety thing. Sorry it is causing problems, though...

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I think it could still be higher and still be lower than the side of the car though. Or the side could have been designed slightly different.. so it's only a safety concern due to the design.

 

Personally, I fit and had no problem.. just sad to see a good coaster designed to handle mostly smaller people, with not much thought to any bigger clients. (And the ones I saw that couldn't fit weren't that big!)

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Millennium Flyers do have two flaws: first they can staple you mid-ride, and second they do reject a lot more riders for size. While on many steel coasters your butt and legs are the issue being more unfriendly to women, MF's is more of a gut issue being more unfriendly to men.

 

Second, I thought this ride had a lot of airtime. I have not been on Rumbler so I cannot compare it, but just picture a lot of light floater air throughout. It is enough to come off your seat but certainly not ejector or even "stand up" air. There is plenty of it however and it should get stronger as the season goes on. Keep in mind this coaster has only been rolling 8 days and some woodies that open with no air become airtime machines later so we will have to wait and see.

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Odd, there was quite a bit of floater airtime when we rode it on Thursday. Now, keep in mind we also did not start riding it until 4pm on Thursday. And what was the piece of advice I offered?

 

"Ride at close to the end of the night (or end of the day) as possible."

 

Wood coasters do tend to warm up throughout the day, and I'm going to take a guess that the two rides you took right at park opening probably wasn't running at optimal performance.

 

It's like going to see a show on it's first night performance. The actors need a few run throughs to really warm up.

 

A wood coaster is no different.

 

I *KNOW* there was airtime on the ride, hell you can HEAR it in the POV we shot! (when you go over the floater hills - the one right after the first drop and the one right after the turn around you can hear the coaster sound shift).

 

Anyway, we'll be out there tomorrow morning and I'll be able tell you guys if it is in fact running much slower in the morning.

 

Again, my advice to you all.....

 

RIDE AS CLOSE TO THE END OF THE OPERATING DAY AS POSSIBLE!

 

Then I'm sure you'll get the best ride the coaster has to offer.

 

--Robb

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As a person who did not fit Renegade, yet had no issues on Thunderhead last fall I do see a problem for VF this coming summer.

 

There does appear to be some differences from seat to seat, as I was able to get the top of the lapbar down lower than the person next to me. Not sure about where it was in reference to the side of the seat though, something to look at on my next attempt in a different seat.

 

Also it was suggested that being the seat cushions are new and need to be broken in with time.

 

So now Steel Venom is no longer the tightest fitting ride in the park!

 

At least I have Voyage to look forward to at the end of the week!

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Well, there might be some air time on Renegade, but it's minimal compared to other coasters in the park like Wild Thing or even High Roller. It certainly wasn't enough to go "wow" or make me think about it. Maybe after a few more rides I'll have time to notice it more instead of just noticing the thrill of it. I'll catch your ride count on it yet Robb!

 

Wild Thing was giving some incredible air time yesterday, and the front of the train might have been slightly better than the back for airtime actually.

 

It seems like VF might have trimmed Wild Thing a little, and potentially High Roller a little as well over last year. Or maybe that's just my perception.

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I just got back from the meetup and had a really great time! Thanks TPR, Robb and Elissa for putting this together, you guys are great. Good meeting the locals too, if any of you want to meet-up again shoot me an email. I'll be at the park for certain next Sunday where our local meetup.com dining-out group will be gathering. If anyone's interested in joining us you can get the details here:

 

http://diningout.meetup.com/224/calendar/5679557/

 

It's free to join, we've tried some great restaurants too around the cities.

 

Mark

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Well I left at 1:30 PM but was there at 10. Renegade was awsome just like yesterday. It was geat hangiout will all of you that were the. It was also cool to meet Robb and Elissa. I wish I could have came to MOA wih you guys. I will just have to wait and see the trip report for that part. I hope you guys got it to spin like hell.

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Thanks to everyone who was there today!

 

Due to some early morning lapbar locking point checks by the group we now know where some correctly aligned seats are located and I was able to ride multiple times towards the back and front. The row I attempted yesterday is defiantly 2-3" lower than the seats I rode in.

 

Overall I had a much better time at VF today than yesterday.

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Great to meet everyone today too.. (And some of you yesterday as well!) Sorry I had to leave early.. Hope you stuck around and had a great time in a nearly empty park!

 

After much testing in the morning, I have to admit that I DID find some airtime on Renegade. It seemed more noteworthy toward the front than the rear, possibly because it hadn't "warmed up" when I was on it? But it was there.. and row 4 and 5 seemed to do best at it. (Row 5 on the right side had the most forgiving lapbar for size that I found on the train as well.) The lapbars definitely were not created equal, and most clicked/locked the first time several inches below the side of the car, not equal to the side of the car. Some bars seemed to lock up to 5 or 6 inches below the side of the car, so it can definitely matter where you sit.

(Another good spot is the row in front of the back row, left side.)

 

But anyway, after about 10 rides on it so far, all were very fun and didn't seem to lose any of the pizzazz that some coasters seem to lose after a few rides. Odd that VF only rated it a 4 of 5 as far as how extreme the ride is. What's up with that!?!?!?

 

Another fun ride today was the Extreme Swing.... definitely check it out if you go to the park. Did anyone compare the back side to the front side as to which was better? The back side was definitely good, but I never made it to the front side.

 

-Trent

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But anyway, after about 10 rides on it so far, all were very fun and didn't seem to lose any of the pizzazz that some coasters seem to lose after a few rides. Odd that VF only rated it a 4 of 5 as far as how extreme the ride is. What's up with that!?!?!?

 

I was going over the Rider Safety Guide last night and it seems that they've made some changes this year. Excalibur is also a '4', which I believe, along with Renegade, should be a '5'. Mad Mouse used to be a '5', but is now a '4' and I can agree with that. I guess my concern lies in the fact that with both Ex. and Renegade you can't see a bulk of the track from the walkways in the park. People who are "on the fence" about riding might see that it is a '4', on par with MM, and think that it is as tame as MM (which I think we'll all agree, isn't the case). If a person in that situation were to ride based on their ratings and have medical issues or get injured in some way, it could generate some negative press for the park.

 

Maybe I'm just looking into this too deeply.

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Anyone on from VF know how they figure out those ratings? To rate Renegade the same thrill rating as Mad Mouse is insane.

 

What we really need for rides is an "Enjoyability Rating", where fans can walk off the ride and push a button and give it a rating as to how much they enjoyed it.

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Just wanted to say that I also had a really great time yesterday as well. Renegade is a pretty terrific ride, you guys are really lucky to have it.

 

You guys all rock, and it was fun meeting "Spencer For Hire", and especially another Cameron ... The only other Camerons I ever see are little kids getting yelled at by their parents (which of course never happened to me, I was an angel!).

 

Cameron.

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