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Best ride alterations


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Since there is a topic about ride "neuters", I felt that one on the best alterations was in order.

 

 

For me it would have to be: Runaway Mine Train at SFGAdv, new lap bars that lock at different levels vs the one size squeezes all among other changes. Small changes that added up to make the ride a better experience for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Edit: Changed two words because I only had one example)

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I never rode BuzzSaw Falls at Silver Dollar City, but since Powder Keg: A Blast in the Wilderness is one of the best, and most underrated rides out there, I'd certainly say the alterations were a success.

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This is going off stuff that happened before I was born.

 

Historically speaking when SFGAdv opened their rapids ride, people did not get properly wet, so they had to go and basically rebuild the entire ride to make sure people got truly soaked, sadly this also added a small problem with the wave machines being rendered less effective since they also put in planks to keep the boats going the right way. This all happened within 4 years of the ride opening in 1981. You still get extremely wet, but the ride has less rapids than it used to.

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Definitely any Vekoma boomerang that got the new trains.

 

Also, somehow SFGA's extreme cheapness actually made the Dark Knight a better coaster. When I rode last fall many of the effects were turned off, making the ride much darker; some stretches were in total darkness. A huge improvement over my first ride, where you could see every turn coming. Yes it's just a wild mouse in a box, but as wild mice go it's actually fairly intense (unbraked and in the dark), I enjoyed my ride pretty well and will definitely make a point of getting on it when there's no line (as long as they keep those lame effects turned off).

 

(Keep in mind that by "effects" I just mean "colored spot lights on flat, toy store window display-quality scenery. Let's not give them too much credit here.)

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Any water ride that adds water cannons to the splash zone, extra soaking potential.

 

One ride improvement I would love to see, log flumes where they can add extra weight if the passengers are light, or if asked. Helps front load a boat full of light people for that extra large splash.

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Definitely any Vekoma boomerang that got the new trains.

 

This, was going to say Sidewinder at hershey. Also, the millennium flyers on Lightning Racer. Unfortunately IMO they waited too long to replace the PTCs on wildcat, it needs some TLC or major retracing.

 

edit: I misremembered, oh well. Still a great ride now, guess i didn't know when a millennium flyer train was years ago.

Edited by Vtafro
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lap bars replacing the OTSRs on Flight of Fear is easily the greatest ride alteration i've ever personally experienced. that coaster was quite a headbanger pre-change.

 

now the only thing to complain about is the MCBR that brings the train to a near-complete stop. (it didn't used to slow the train down at all, and that was back when it had OTSRs!)

 

i feel like KD's over-aggressive use of the MCBR on FoF and Anaconda actually make the coasters ROUGHER because they are crawling through sections of track that are banked and engineered for much higher speed, causing the trains to slam around more than they would at a higher speed.

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Also, the millennium flyers on Lightning Racer. Unfortunately IMO they waited too long to replace the PTCs on wildcat, it needs some TLC or major retracking.

Lightning Racer has had Millennium Flyers since it opened in 1999.

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Adding the lap bars to Flight of Fear made a coaster that was unbearably bad one of the best rides in the park (at both KD and KI).

 

Agreed--it was a huge improvement (although the ride can still give you a beating from time to time).

Edited by cfc
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This is going off stuff that happened before I was born.

 

Historically speaking when SFGAdv opened their rapids ride, people did not get properly wet.

 

True about the rapids/waves not being too intense. However, when the ride opened there was no wooden barrier blocking rafts from going "under" the waterfall. And when this happened water would pour into one side of the and the raft would be trapped under the onslaught of water for minutes at a time. I was never in a raft stuck in this predicament but saw it happen quite a few times.

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