Kemah Boardwalk and Bullet Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

Funland in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware just removed theirs, I wouldn't be surprised if it was that one.

[DBru]

So many have been removed lately, this could be from anywhere...

 

I can't believe Cedar Point's is still there!

[ghost007jas]

I can't believe Cedar Point's is still there!

 

Are you kidding? Cedar Point thrives on unreliable attractions!

[GuruGuys]

Apparently the Chaos ride will be installed and even possibly open by next weekend!

 

In other news, I was out there today and just when I thought about buying a single ticket ride I heard the announcement that they were removing one of the trains (which then would make it a 40-50 minutes wait).

 

I also saw crew from Martin & Vleminckx back. I sure hope they eventually get this Bullet's problems solved. I was told that the Bullet will likely be closed Mon-Friday for the next several weeks.

 

-GG

[GuruGuys]

If you are planning a trip to ride the Bullet in the next few weeks I would check with the park before arriving. The last I heard is that the Bullet will be down for the next 3-4 weeks, possibly opening on weekends only.

 

-GG

[mcjaco]

I'm going to merge this with the previous Bullet thread, since that seemed to be doing a good job of updates.

 

~Matt

[GuruGuys]

No problem, I couldn't change the first post subject on this thread to update about the closing so started a new one just in case people would overlook it.

 

-GG

 

EDIT: Title changed!

[GuruGuys]

The entire first drop is being torn out, completly, not just a few layers. It appears they are tearing up rail all the way around to the upper bay turn, I'm not sure how far down they will go on those.

 

One of the trains still rests on the lift hill, and it will obviously remain there until construction is done.

 

There were about 20-25 people working on it, the most I've ever seen at once, and I was told that they are going to try to get the coaster back up by Memorial day, but nothing is official. Personally I would be skeptical of that date going by previous 'maintenance' time lines in the past. It will not be open this weekend.

 

On my way in I passed an 18 wheeler carrying the new Chance Chaos ride and by the time I left they were in the process of unloading it and setting it up. It should be open by the weekend.

 

Here are some pics, albeit incredibly poor as I only had my cell phone with me. I'll get some better ones tomorrow.

 

EDIT: http://www.boardwalkbullet.com now states the Bullet will be closed May 12-16th, however, it will be closed longer than that.

Backing Chaos into its new home.

About an hour later, the track now ends here, about 7 feet further up the drop.

A piece of rail lays on the ground. Elsewhere there are tons of small pieces of track wood spread about.

Look closely (my cell phone camera is really bad) and you can see the track just ends here.

[almightyfire]

Do you know why they are tearing the track up and what they plan on doing differently than the track was before?

[almightyfire]

By the By, I rode the chaos once at Cedar Point and really enjoyed it. Now bring on the log flume and the eurofighter hahaha

[lorddoonga]

I hope its to correct and achieve max speed down the first drop and who knows maybe make it a few degrees steeper ???

[Rastuso]

Here's a couple tidbits from my TR from opening day:

 

"The drop is not very long at all, and you quickly got into

a hard right and tunnel through the structure. This section was very

wild, and a bit jerky already. I have a bad feeling about the future

state of this section of track, it could easily get brutally rough

very fast. "

 

"The front is very smooth, but the back is a bit

rough, and I fear this ride is not going to age well, like Voyage, but

we'll see. "

 

Gravity Group make insane rides, but they hardly make rides that age well.

 

This sounds like some serious rework this time around. And for them to be doing it and endangering having the coaster open for Memorial Day Weekend is shocking. Obviously, something was deemed seriously wrong on that first drop.

 

-RO

[SharkTums]

^Yeah, something happened which pretty much MADE them close it!

[pgathriller]

I'm not surprised that the Bullet is already having track issues. It's such a compact coaster and the speed it has it's only common sense that it's going to tear itself up. I'm going this summer and I can't wait to ride the Bullet and I am also very much looking forward to riding Chaos. Although they are maintenance nightmares, they are one of my favorite flats

[GuruGuys]

^Yeah, something happened which pretty much MADE them close it!

 

They already had wood on site and plans to close Monday regardless of them having to close it Sunday night. I think they were originally going to try to do work in bits so it could be open on weekends, but I am pretty sure it will be closed at least this weekend, and probably next. Ill post some better pictures of the work being done tonight.

 

Ironically, the work they did to the first drop and turn in December made it to where it was no longer rough on the riders, but it was apparently rougher on the track as it held together for a shorter amount of time than the original build.

 

Even with Gravity Group's reputation of making agressive coasters, this is not an 'aging well' problem, the coaster hasn't aged at all! The rest of the track has not been touched. The problem area seems to be isolated to the first part of the ride, the first drop and turn up to the bay side, now mainly the first drop and 'zig zag' before the bay turn. Too bad the city can't give Kemah back the area they took away at the last minute so TGG can build the drop the way it was originally designed. It is clear from some of the early drawings and models we have seen posted that the drop was originally not as agressive, stuck out more to the parking lot side and seemed to go under the water tower (which the queue now winds through).

 

I can't imagine how bad it would be if Kemah was a 7 day a week summer park that had full trains running non-stop like the big parks.

 

-GG

[Rastuso]

Kemah WILL be a Summer park in about 3 weeks.

 

RO

[texcoaster]

Talking with the Gravity Group guys (well, two of them, anyway), it was mentioned that the original design sat on a larger piece of land. The city and their build-line restrictions caused that original design to be modified, and most of what changed was the bottom of the first drop, the ground-level turn, and the zig-zag.

 

I must admit that when I saw the construction going up and I saw that section of track, my first thought was "that doesn't look like the drawings I've seen" and my second thought was "holy shizz, that's INSANE!"

 

It turns out that I was pretty much right on both counts. It was different than the original drawings showed, and it was insane. In fact, I've often referred to the drop, turn, zig-zag, and the next two big turns as "the most intense 15 seconds of any wooden coaster running today."

 

After the first major reprofiling, that statement probably wasn't true, as the Bullet lost a lot of its "teeth". I remember riding with Almightyfire on her first post-work ride and she kept saying "oh, NOOOO, NOOO" in remorse of the loss of the once-insane trackage. In fact, she was pretty pissed.

 

Now, with even more reprofiling, it may be that the section will be even tamer than before. It sounds like it will HAVE to be, if they want it to run reliably for more than a few months. But you know what? If (and this is a big IF) it causes the ride that comes after that section to run like it was designed to run, then I'll just deal with it.

 

Unless you were on one of the infamous "rain rides" at the very end of opening night, you probably have never experienced the back two-thirds of the ride being run at its intended speed. It has run that fast a time or two since (almost always right after a rain), but it's rare. Case in point: when rain clouds come, employees of the boardwalk start planning their breaks. If rain falls, they go on break and head right for the Bullet... and so does the management. They all want to get in a rain ride, even if it's not quite as wild as those on opening night, it's still a zillion times better than a regular ride.

 

Folks, the back side of that ride, at designed speeds, is WICKED. It's actually as good as the old pre-mod zig-zag in terms of intensity and mayhem. There is airtime, there are laterals, there are sick directional changes, and it hits the brake run with a pop of ejector air... not with the "I think I can, I think I can" crawl that barely gets the back car into the brakes when it's running dry.

 

This is a Jeckyll and Hyde coaster if there ever was one.

 

So if they finally ever get that first bit fixed, whatever they might have to change to do it, and it makes the last 2/3 of the ride the bomb, then I'm good with that. I still have my memories of when it had the most intense 15 seconds of any wood coaster on earth.

[ParkTrips]

What a waste of money, it will probably end up costing them more than a GCI would have real quick...

[Rastuso]

^^I was one of the rain riders on opening night. It was truly a night to remember for me and my son. Our second hard core coastering together after the first Rumblefest. Those rides were truly for the ages, just as I expected as we were walking up to the station in the rain.

 

I'm almost afraid to go ride the Bullet again. I really think maybe I should just stick with that opening day as my memory of the Bullet.

 

The speed definitely helped it. I think much of the roughness is the train simply not going fast enough to track properly, and it ends up banging down on the side rails on banked turns.

 

I think the space redesign hurt, but GG try to make thier coasters do too much. THey never have simple swooping turns and hills. THere always has to be a kink in it somewhere. A dogleg, a twist, a weird change in banking. It's just too much, imho. If the coaster fights the track every time, the track will eventually lose.

 

Texas just seems to be THE place for insanely aggressive coasters that end up a shell of their former selves, unless they are moved to Pennsylvannia.

 

RO

[almightyfire]

What I hope is that it doesnt come to a crawl after the bay turn. if they tame the first drop and it glides over the hump after the bay , then i will be kool with it. Yes Jim, those rain rides were the best of my life. I hope that they fix it.

[GuruGuys]

I hope its to correct and achieve max speed down the first drop and who knows maybe make it a few degrees steeper ???

 

I seriously doubt it will be steeper, if we are lucky it will loose less speed to track shifting and go faster.

 

I'm almost afraid to go ride the Bullet again. I really think maybe I should just stick with that opening day as my memory of the Bullet.

 

While you will be a bit disappointed in comparison, the ride has been running very well since the Nov-Dec construction. It has been running in the mid to low 60's and providing nice, albeit brief, airtime on hills past the water cooler drop. It was a lot smoother as well. Its still a fun ride but the back 15% needs to be faster.

 

What a waste of money, it will probably end up costing them more than a GCI would have real quick... Rolls Eyes

 

Don't know which 'they' you are referring to is, but I would find it hard to believe that Kemah is paying for any of this. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't paid anything yet in fact. The coaster should be under warranty, and I would think that both TGG and M&V would probably extend that warranty once the coaster does run consistently. I have no doubt it is costing M&V and TGG a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to figure out who is going to pay. I have no idea if the problems are due to design, construction, perhaps both. I can just speculate as they keep all that very hush hush, and even if I did know I probably wouldn't be able to tell.

 

Kemah WILL be a Summer park in about 3 weeks.

 

Yes, but I don't see them having near the crowds, especially on weekdays, that a major park has. I know the Bullet didn't open until after school was back in last year, but I hung out there quite a but during construction when school was out and was not terribly busy on weekdays. I'd love to be proved wrong, but I don't see them getting the same volume as say, a Six Flags. That being said, it doesn't matter, the coaster should run more than a month without requiring downtime and track work.

 

After the first major reprofiling, that statement probably wasn't true, as the Bullet lost a lot of its "teeth". I remember riding with Almightyfire on her first post-work ride and she kept saying "oh, NOOOO, NOOO" in remorse of the loss of the once-insane trackage. In fact, she was pretty pissed.

 

I don't entirely agree here. The bottom of the first drop was missing some lateral force, but I do believe it gained speed and the zig-zag was even better than before, ESPECIALLY in the front. Furthermore, it gave us consistent run times and you got air on the hill before the pop, and the train always sped fast into the under station flyby. You also got ejector going into the water tower turn in the front (one of my favorite parts now). I think Allmightyfire rode right after the work was done, but it actually gained some of the laterals back a month in. Its been a much better coaster IMO after the Nov/Dec work, and I still rode with coaster enthusiasts who thought the first 15 seconds were unreal (ie. CoasterJoe).

 

What I hope is that it doesnt come to a crawl after the bay turn.

 

It hasn't come to a crawl after the bay turn for a long time, especially since they changed to that new oil for the track lubricant. It doesn't slow down until the turn after the under station fly-by, mainly the last two hills (double up?) and turn before the brake run.

 

 

 

Here are some pictures of the construction progress. Again, not the best quality shots (someone wasn't paying attention and the camera was set to low resolution, but better than yesterday's.)

Workers starting to remove the rail on the upper part of the drop. Not sure how many layers will be removed from here.

You can see a clamp holding this ledger in place, you can also see a block of wood, about 2", holding it up more. This section of the track will be banked more. It appeared a few ledgers above this were being banked more, and moved in as well which would make the turn tighter at this point.

They are using a thin and long piece of wood to help line up and measure for the new track to go on these ledgers. Canadian also tries to cope with the Houston humidity by going shirtless.

I don't know how many layers they removed on the section of the turn behind the queue, the valley of the first drop, but it appears they have already added several layers back on. They are working quick, you can see tons of wood laying on the ground there.

They have torn off only a few layers near the zig-zag portion after the first drop before the bay turn. Workers appeared to be re-gauging this section. This was one of the first sections of track that was worked on by Kemah maintenance after the Nov-Dec work. They put a layer of plastic behind the guide rail.

It wouldn't be long before this...

If someone turned on the lift hill chain...

Workers are still tearing off track and rail towards the middle and top of the first drop.

[angryemobeaver]

Hopefully the ride will be smoother now, it was pretty rough for a new Gravity Group coaster.

[ScubaSteve442]

Suddenly, I want Memorial Day to get here slower.

 

(That's the day I had planned to ride BB.)

[ParkTrips]

Don't know which 'they' you are referring to is, but I would find it hard to believe that Kemah is paying for any of this. I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't paid anything yet in fact. The coaster should be under warranty, and I would think that both TGG and M&V would probably extend that warranty once the coaster does run consistently. I have no doubt it is costing M&V and TGG a lot, I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to figure out who is going to pay. I have no idea if the problems are due to design, construction, perhaps both. I can just speculate as they keep all that very hush hush, and even if I did know I probably wouldn't be able to tell.

I imagine that a lot of the work being done could be categorized as "expected wear and tear" and be charged to the operator.

[Wes]

Too bad there's no "Lemon Law" on coasters, Kemah could have traded this in by now!