Kentucky Kingdom (SFKK, KK) Discussion Thread

[Defcon62]

If I lived closer I'd be heading down there with a pickup truck attempting to snag myself a section or two, would make a hell of a yard sculpture. Scrap steel is only going for $220 a ton or so.

[prozach626]

So what will their opening coaster lineup be? I know this includes the mystery coaster.

[tollisal]

Judging by the age of the ride and the level of visible rust before deconstruction on all of the bolted connections, I could consider it likely that relocating this ride would have been extremely difficult. Decades of corrosion can turn a bolted connection into something equivalent to a weld.

[ernierocker]

^Not to mention the entire launch system was broken beyond repair. Gerstlauer would of had to of fabricated an entire new weight drop system and considering there are only two of these still left operating, there aren't exactly spare parts laying around. This is going to the scrapyard and anything that is actually salvageable will probably go to Brazil or Australia.

Edited July 13, 2013 by ernierocker

[fraroc]

I want to punch who ever made this decision.

[pilotgirl21]

So sad! This was my favorite roller coaster at Six Flags Great America when I was little. I was hoping to be able to ride it again someday, but I guess that day will never come.

[Angry_Gumball]

Sad, but inevitable... PRINCE DESMOND...WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?

 

(May both sister shuttle coasters rest in pieces and be together in 'coaster heaven' )

[XYZ]

This pissed me off. R.I.P. both Tidal Waves.

[John Peck]

Thank you immensely for the beautiful photos. The are quite bittersweet, but at least it's being removed for something new in the park rather than a shopping mall.

[larrygator]

Marcus, thanks for the photos.

[daveydo5172]

Perhaps they will replace it with another shuttle loop....Speed the Ride is back up for sale! Would fit well into that park!

[GigaG]

^Not to mention the entire launch system was broken beyond repair. Gerstlauer would of had to of fabricated an entire new weight drop system and considering there are only two of these still left operating, there aren't exactly spare parts laying around. This is going to the scrapyard and anything that is actually salvageable will probably go to Brazil or Australia.

 

South Africa, actually, not Australia. Gold Reef City. I seem to get those confused too - maybe Great Barrier Reef combined with Gold Coast?

 

http://rcdb.com/1168.htm

[ernierocker]

^You are right, my bad.

[megametal]

Well, I guess technically, they could have made it an LIM launch. I believe one Schwarzkopf shuttle loop has been redone that way. Still, sad to see another one go, but maybe Gerstlauer will introduce their own version with an LIM/LSM launch one day if someone asks. And I mean not as a special project, but as a catalog item.

[australianalex]

I understand that the launch system was in bad condition, but couldn't they have got Gerstlauer to give it an LSM launch system like at Walibi Belgium? Or was the track probably at the end of its life too?

[ernierocker]

^The whole ride was bad shape, not just the launch system. You can see from the photos how rusted everything on the track was.

[megametal]

Makes me wonder how much longer Knotts Montezooma's Revenge will be around.

[robbalvey]

Makes me wonder how much longer Knotts Montezooma's Revenge will be around.

Well, considering it just came up from a pretty decent refurb with the station getting new airgates, the train getting new seats, paint, and a re-branded logo, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Fat-G]

My understanding was that a majority of the track was too rusty and could not be replace. I know Six Flags had an track from another shuttle loop coaster in storage, but that track was stored outside and was probably in worse shape than GL.

[Meteornotes]

Looks like they made the right decision in getting rid of the ride, as those pieces look like they're in pretty poor shape. The amount of money they would have had to invest in this is going to be spent on a new ride, which is a much more marketable idea.

 

dt

[megametal]

Makes me wonder how much longer Knotts Montezooma's Revenge will be around.

Well, considering it just came up from a pretty decent refurb with the station getting new airgates, the train getting new seats, paint, and a re-branded logo, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

That's good news! I don't follow what goes on in the west coast parks as much as I should. Will have to finally make it out to Cali sometime, as I've never ridden a shuttle loop. (Either that or go to Brazil or South Africa to ride the ones that used to be at KD and Carowinds.)

[Jew]

The weight drop version of the ride was boring anyways...not a big loss IMO. Definitely not worth the effort to restore (Knott's spends a ton of money keeping Monte running---those parts are not cheap!)

[thrillseeker4552]

Well, I guess technically, they could have made it an LIM launch. I believe one Schwarzkopf shuttle loop has been redone that way. Still, sad to see another one go, but maybe Gerstlauer will introduce their own version with an LIM/LSM launch one day if someone asks. And I mean not as a special project, but as a catalog item.

 

I've been thinking that too. It'd be great to see the shuttle loop concept be brought back to life with modern technology. How would a park market it though?

[GigaG]

Makes me wonder how much longer Knotts Montezooma's Revenge will be around.

Well, considering it just came up from a pretty decent refurb with the station getting new airgates, the train getting new seats, paint, and a re-branded logo, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Does anybody know if Montezooma's Revenge is open? When I went earlier in the summer, it was closed. The train was parked just in front of the station, and there was a bucket behind the blocked entrance. Probably a bit of renovation, is this what Robb is talking about?

 

Well, I guess technically, they could have made it an LIM launch. I believe one Schwarzkopf shuttle loop has been redone that way. Still, sad to see another one go, but maybe Gerstlauer will introduce their own version with an LIM/LSM launch one day if someone asks. And I mean not as a special project, but as a catalog item.

 

I've been thinking that too. It'd be great to see the shuttle loop concept be brought back to life with modern technology. How would a park market it though?

 

As for marketing, there are some world records. Some tougher to market, some not.

 

If somebody could launch the train to top speed safely and quickly to the extent where it beats Dodonpa, there could be a fastest acceleration. However, the launch couldn't come on too fast (it would feel like a "giant semi truck ramming you in the behind "), so by the time the train gets to 50 or 60 or whatever mph, it couldn't have been at peak launch acceleration for that long. Dodonpa goes practically twice as fast, therefore the same buildup of force gets you to a longer stretch of peak force. Of course, Dodonpa seems perfectly fine with going at high speeds. However, I've never been on it (or any other coaster outside of North America), but videos seem to show a rapid buildup to maximum launch acceleration.

 

Maybe g-force, but that Tower of Terror coaster (in the same park as the weight-drop Shuttle Loop already mentioned) has 6.3 Gs, and that is borderline unsafe in my personal opinion.

 

Finally, if you had a long enough land plot, the easiest of these (well, S&S could probably pull off the acceleration, but if I recall, they haven't built any compressed air inverting or shuttle coasters) would be to beat YOLOCoaster for the largest loop.

 

Or maybe just tell the GP that size isn't everything and that you can be perfectly satisfied with a Mega-Lite or Maverick sized coaster. (The CP GP seem to love Maverick, but it still has the easily marketable 95-degree drop and double launch)

Edited July 14, 2013 by GigaG

[XYZ]

Makes me wonder how much longer Knotts Montezooma's Revenge will be around.

Well, considering it just came up from a pretty decent refurb with the station getting new airgates, the train getting new seats, paint, and a re-branded logo, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Does anybody know if Montezooma's Revenge is open? When I went earlier in the summer, it was closed. The train was parked just in front of the station, and there was a bucket behind the blocked entrance. Probably a bit of renovation, is this what Robb is talking about?

 

Montezooma re-opened from its renovation. You can see photos of it here:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=506&start=6817