400th trip on Boardwalk Bullet

[GuruGuys]

I think everyone should hold off on speculation until this coaster is built to spec. As we know, the coaster was supposed to be open by the summer of 2007. The massive amount of rain and extremely hot summer we had delayed and delayed the coaster. Everyone was in a rush to get it done with some summer left. The workers labored extreme hours in heat indexs above 110 degrees when it wasn't raining. When the coaster opened everyone involved knew it was not running to spec. The coaster was fun and ridable, not near as rough as it is now, but even before it opened they knew they would have to do more work on it this winter.

 

While I am sure there are many excuses floating around as to why measurements are off here and there, nobody is blaming anyone. Everyone involved worked their butts off to get it done and everyone involved wants the coaster to run the way it has been deisnged to run. The park, construction company and designers have all be working together to ensure this happens.

 

Right now it is running as much as 71.5 seconds from end of lift hill to first brake. The simulation of the coaster, which I am pretty sure is scale speed, runs 54 seconds. The train should go 15 MPH at the second big drop, right now it is lucky to go half that speed. This being said I would assume they will have to rework the track from the bottom of the first drop on to the second big drop since this seems to be the where most of the speed is lost, and it is the roughest part as well. Before everyone starts blaming Gravity Group, M&V, and everyone involved and speculating bad design etc, lets give them a chance to get it right. Had it not been delayed so long they would have likely been able to fix all this to begin with but the decision was made to salvage some of the summer and open it. As it is now, its still ridable and fun, not near as bad as something like the Texas Giant, its just much harder to ride it consecutively.

 

Anyway, thats my stab at it from information I have gathered here and there.

-GG

[texcoaster]

I'd blame location.

I'd blame a crappy Gravity Group design with PTC tracking and a poor construction contractor.. and I haven't even ridden it!

 

"and I haven't even ridden it"

 

'nuff said. NEXT!

[texcoaster]

Jim congrats...Are you married?! How they hell can you get 400 rides? I'm only at 82 and have to shuffle and trick my gf into thinking i'm staying late at work!

 

I'm gay, so there's no wife. The boyfriend doesn't mind me riding as much as I want. He's only got 19 rides so far. He used to be a fighter pilot, so 50mph on a coaster just isn't much of a thrill for him...

[airforcekid]

Im not gay and done my 750th ride on Texas Giant last saturday!

My answer? Im 13 and have to much time on my hands.

[texcoaster]

I guess in other words I'd rather have a really good coaster that didn't give me offseason headaches rather than a great one that needed constant TLC.

 

Not me. I'll go with the great coaster every time.

[mcjaco]

No idea. Both Hades and Voyage were home made coasters, I think. You get what you pay for. Though Knoebels seems to do well enough with doing their tinkering in house.

 

Hades is by Gravity Group. I thought Robb had said something about them possibly retracking the whole ride this winter, or most of it.

 

Even after a rainy week, Hades rode incredibly rough when I was on it in August.

[ginzo]

No idea. Both Hades and Voyage were home made coasters, I think. You get what you pay for. Though Knoebels seems to do well enough with doing their tinkering in house.

 

Hades is by Gravity Group. I thought Robb had said something about them possibly retracking the whole ride this winter, or most of it.

 

Even after a rainy week, Hades rode incredibly rough when I was on it in August.

 

Gravity Group is a design firm. Both Hades and Voyage were built in-house by Mt. O and HW respectively. The greatest of designs are no match for shoddy construction.

 

Just another reason why Intamin woodies > *. The quality of your ride doesn't depend as much on how much beer the carpenters had over the weekend.

[ParkTrips]

"and I haven't even ridden it"

 

'nuff said. NEXT!

yeah... because I have to ride it to know that PTCs track like crap, and I have to ride it to know that nobody is happy with the job M&V did

[ginzo]

yeah... because I have to ride it to know that PTCs track like crap, and I have to ride it to know that nobody is happy with the job M&V did

 

It's too bad that the 1-bench PTCs weren't available for this project. This would be a great test for them.

[ParkTrips]

yeah, definitely! It really does look GCI-ish, and god knows the GCIs with single bench flyers do better than those with PTCs

[almightyfire]

I just don't understand the roughness debate at all. I rode Texas Giant this summer and to ME, it isn't any rougher than when I first rode it the opening year. Every coaster that was wood has beat the crap out of me if I rode it over and over in one sitting. I have a sister that will not ride any woodie because it is too rough for her. Me, on the other hand, wont be thrilled if I am not slammed around a little. Steel coasters just don't do it for me. Nitro is about the only steelie I have ridden that made me smile with glee. X is another but I don't put X in any category with any ride in the US. I will have to go tomorrow and ride The Bullet because of this thread. I am a person who will ride it a few times and walk around and ride other stuff then come back and ride a few more times then take my arse home. Texcoaster will sit there all night and of course he is gonna get more beaten up than me or someone who isn't really a coaster junkie.

[kraken613]

Every woodie needs track replaced from time to time....

 

Tell that to GCI.

 

From what I understand Thunderhead has had next to no track replaced since it opened.

 

Seems pretty obvious to me that GG are getting a repuation for making aggressive rides, that need alot of work to keep them from tearing themselves apart.

Its had less than 100 feet replaced last I heard!

[IggyACE]

When I was there on Oct 25, they said it will be shut down in January for 2 to 3 weeks and getting work done on the bottom of the drop and bay turn. They said it should speed up the ride by 15 seconds.

 

Craig

[almightyfire]

Ok, just got home from the Bullet. I rode it 7 times and I didn't see any difference in it at all from the day it opened. I ran the same to ME. The ride design is awesome. Now I don't know anything about ride design but every woodie i have ridden is rough and this one is no rougher, again to ME.

[texcoaster]

I'm only working a half day on the Fri after turkey...

 

Almighty, wanna meet me down there that afternoon?

 

Guru?

 

Coasterphotos?

 

Gotta work off all that stuffing, right?

[PURE]

When I saw the POV (which was awesome and really made this ride look like fun) with the ride next to the water, that was the first thing that popped into my head which would be a long term problem.

 

Really? I watched the POV and thought, "This ride is a mess. You can tell it's rough as heck, and it just opened."

 

As for the original post, seriously, how can you proclaim the ride's greatness while describing how it's rougher than all get out the previous paragraph? Makes no sense.

 

From the video I couldn't tell its rough.

 

When the video was posted Elissa specifically mentioned on the thread that Robb's video made the ride look much smoother than it really is. Because from the video, I couldn't tell till I heard everyone complaining about how rough it was.

 

Its become obvious to me that its difficult for any group of people to agree that a ride (specifically a woodie) is "rough" or "smooth" or "the same way it was when it opened." People that haven't ridden it make claims that are opposite of people that were just on it not too long ago. Basically every ride is different for every person that gets on it whether its Boardwalk Bullet or X.

 

There's dozens of reasons a ride could go bad or ride rough, and not only one of them will be the answer.

[almightyfire]

Awh would love to meet ya down there Tex but I have to work a full day.

[texcoaster]

As for the original post, seriously, how can you proclaim the ride's greatness while describing how it's rougher than all get out the previous paragraph? Makes no sense.

 

I could do that in exactly the same way that I did when I rode TxGiant in it's opening season. Rough, but fantastic.

 

Likewise for the Coney Cyclone. Even rougher, but a seriously kickass ride.

 

PKD's Grizzly is another one that makes me wish there were a chiropractic booth at the exit ramp, but I love it anyway.

 

Voyage? Hell yeah! Rode it 35 times in a row.

 

 

I don't see the problem, honestly. Some rides incorporate their rough-n-tumble attitude into the overall experience. If a ride is really good, I will tolerate quite a bit of roughness. Roughness caused by an intense, aggressive layout isn't something that bothers me.

 

On the other hand, roughness caused by poor maintenance or rides that ride rough for other reasons fall way down in my list. Some rides are rougher than they need to be.

At the last Lone Star Coasterthon, Giant was unridable. The "good roughness" of its aggressive layout was combined with the "not good roughness" of neglect. Even Judge Roy Scream was rougher than it should've been. It bottomed out HARD on the drops. Is it any wonder that the t-shirt for the event proclaimed "What a STEEL!" and listed all the steelies at the park?

 

Son of Beast? Worst wood coaster experience of my life. Straight track should not beat a person to a pulp.

 

So I suppose it's just a matter of preference. Boardwalk Bullet is a very intense, aggressive ride. Even if it were retrofitted with Intamin track, it would still be so, because of the wild direction changes, the violent ejector air, and the speed at which all of it happens. You just don't have time to prepare for some of those turns. However, putting butter-smooth track on it would take away from some of it's intensity. That first 15 seconds is the most intense wood coaster experience on earth right now, and part of it is BECAUSE it's not smooth. While I agree that it would be nice if that part wasn't brutal (and it's not... yet), I don't want it to ever be steelie-like.

 

In fact, on opening weekend I mentioned to Guru that the layout would be pretty damn boring as a steelie. He agreed.

[ginzo]

That first 15 seconds is the most intense wood coaster experience on earth right now, and part of it is BECAUSE it's not smooth.

 

Is it more intense than El Toro's camelback? I can't think of anything more intense on a woodie than being nearly thrown to my doom over those two insanely oversized hills.

[mcjaco]

On the other hand, roughness caused by poor maintenance or rides that ride rough for other reasons fall way down in my list. Some rides are rougher than they need to be.

 

Which is my argument. It was poorly built, thus according to you, should fall down on your list, and yet you're proclaiming it's greatness. Makes no sense.

[GuruGuys]

On the other hand, roughness caused by poor maintenance or rides that ride rough for other reasons fall way down in my list. Some rides are rougher than they need to be.

 

Which is my argument. It was poorly built, thus according to you, should fall down on your list, and yet you're proclaiming it's greatness. Makes no sense.

 

To Texcoaster's defense, aside from the three jerks into the rail while the train shuffles on the upper bay turn there are still no real "rough without reward" parts. There are no straightaways or non-aggressive elements that pound you, which seems to be the case with coasters that are neglected. While I prefer not to ride the bullet as many times consecutively as I did when it first opened, it doesn't hurt to ride it once or twice. The fact that it is only going to get a lot better is really exciting. I can not imagine how nice the Bullet is going to be when it runs in the mid 50's. The fastest it has ever run while I was on it was 59 seconds in the rain on opening night and it was a totally different ride then. It was so much faster you got ejector on the little hill going into the station and "the pop" had some floater!

 

-GG

[coastercrazy216]

Kemah is NOT cash rich...Look at Landry's earning and LOSS this past quarter.

 

I agree completely because look at their other rides. Fortunately, The Boardwalk Bullet is a really good design, but this ride made me feel like they wanted to package me up. Still, great job Gravity Group!

[texcoaster]

On the other hand, roughness caused by poor maintenance or rides that ride rough for other reasons fall way down in my list. Some rides are rougher than they need to be.

 

Which is my argument. It was poorly built, thus according to you, should fall down on your list, and yet you're proclaiming it's greatness. Makes no sense.

 

OK, I'll try to help you out, then:

 

Rides which are rough because of a very aggressive layout are fine. Boardwalk Bullet absolutely fits into this category. It is IMHO, a great ride.

 

Rides which are rough >>>ONLY<<< because they are poorly maintained or don't offer any reward for their brutality are not fine. Those slide down on my faves list.

 

So even though Bullet is a bit rougher now than it might be after some work is done on the track, that does NOT mean that it's not a great ride. It also gets props from me for being totally unique among wood coasters. There is simply no other woodie experience like it. The compact layout, the incredible sensation of speed, the wild and wicked direction changes, being buried inside the dense structure for most of the ride, the close clearances, and the "15 seconds of insanity" that opens it create something unlike anything you've ever done on a coaster.

 

If the upcoming trackwork takes a bit of the edge off the roughness, then even better. It's not ever going to be smooth, though, simply because of the layout. That's OK by me.

[BeemerBoy]

I'm glad we had this thread. This is why I love TPR. Between Robb's great report of the video shoot and the honest opinions of the locals, I can now close the book on this one.

 

I was intrigued with this project from the start, but in conclusion I now believe:

 

A) The location is great.

B) The trains are really cool.

C) If I'm ever in the region (i.e. Dallas or San Antonio), it's hardly worthy of a side trip. Robb's video will do just fine.

[coaster05]

^I am in total agreement. After the constant reports of causing headaches and back problems, poor tracking and rougness. Followed by "it is still better then sex" comments, I will go with the opinion of the non local.

 

Please don't respond with the "good" roughness comments, because Voyage is aggressive but I didn't get headaches, same with Cyclone although I didn't even find that rough at all. To be honest only Wolverine Wildcat causes me real, actual pain like you described and that is with 102 woodies to my credit. The bullet can definately stay on my "no time soon" list.