fraroc Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) Hey guys. I'm back with another RCT3 creation! This time, it's not going to be a long winded timeline park starting from 40 years ago to the present. It's just going to be a quick presentation of what I managed to create in a matter of a few days. I'm not going to do another full scale story park until Theme Park Studio fully comes out. I really hope you guys like this and without further ado, I'd like to present to you..... (Segment from fictional Wikipedia article, circa 2006) Gateway Park is an amusement park owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The park features seven major roller coasters and other rides for adults and children. The park features several prominent attractions, including Golden Lion, which at the time it opened in 1995, was the tallest roller coaster in New England and currently the tenth longest steel roller coaster in the world at 5,495 feet; and Valkyrie which currently is the tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster in New England and the only one with a Sea Serpent inversion. In the summer of 2006, a blogger named Ellen Merridew published a guide on how to visit and get the most out of Gateway Park with photographs and detailed stats for all the coasters. HOW TO GET THE MOST WHEN YOU COAST AT GATEWAY PARK! Hi there! so, you're planning a trip to Gateway Park in Bridgeport, CT? Awesome! Gateway Park is a very thrilling, clean, easy to get to, and family friendly park. However, there are some tips that you should know in order to really get your money's worth when you visit. I think I should introduce myself first, my name is Ellen Merridew, I'm 22 years old and my family and I have been going to this park since I was just a little girl! First of all, the park doesn't open completely until 10:30, but Gateway Park does this pre-opening thing with season pass holders where they can go inside the park at 8:00 and get a head start on riding roller coasters. Four out of the eight coasters are open during pre-opening and it varies every year. This year, I believe it's King Kobra, Mad Mouse, Rumbler, and Valkyrie. The oldest roller coaster in the park is....well.....Roller Coaster! (I'm not kidding you, that's the name.) It was built by William Cobb in 1972 (The same builder who built Judge Roy Scream at Six Flags Over Texas and the smaller Screamin' Eagle at Tennessee's Great America.) The layout is very similar to JRS at SFOT and is VERY fun to ride and isn't that rough at all! Name: Roller Coaster Built: 1972 Manufacturer: William Cobb Type: Wood track Out and Back Height: 85 feet Length: 1,991 feet Top Speed: 48mph Height Requirement: 40 inches Inversions: None Right next door to Roller Coaster is Mad Mouse, a normal, everyday MACK Wild Mouse coaster. I'm not a big fan of Wild Mice. They usually give me major whiplash and the lines are always long for this one, but I know a lot of kids like this coaster, so who am I to judge? To each his own, I guess. Name: Mad Mouse Built: 2000 Manufacturer: MACK Type: Steel track Wild Mouse Height: 50 feet Length: 1,230 feet Top Speed: 28mph Height Requirement: 40 inches Inversions: None Just a quick pro-tip, ride these roller coasters last in your day at the park. The lines for these coasters are always ASTRONOMICAL in the mornings, especially if Roller Coaster is only operation one train, but they dwindle as the day goes on. Gateway Park is not just roller coasters! They have some VERY good flats too, like the critically acclaimed Pirate Ship and the exhilarating and terrifying MaxAIR, both manufactured by Huss of Bremen, Germany. (Fun Fact: MaxAIR was built a year before the ride of the same name and same make at Cedar Point.) Next on the coaster agenda is King Kobra, a small to medium-sized Arrow Dynamics looping coaster! Unlike most Arrows which have become rough and unbearable in their later years, King Kobra is as smooth as an Intamin! (Fun Fact: King Kobra wasn't named King Kobra until this year actually. From when it was built in 1982 to 2006, it was known as Rattlesnake. It wasn't until Cedar Fair acquired Paramount Parks that it was named what it is today.) King Kobra has four inversions which give plenty of hang-time and is an all-around good ride! Name: King Kobra Built: 1982 Manufacturer: Arrow Dynamics Type: Steel track Looping Height: 85 feet Length: 2,684 feet Top Speed: 48mph Height Requirement: 48 inches Inversions: Two loops, two corkscrews However, with some good flat rides, there are also some not-so-good ones. This being one of them. This is Fear-The Ride, the new ride for 2006 along with the rebranding of Rattlesnake to King Kobra. It is a Huss Topple Tower, which after riding, is an INCREDIBLY overrated ride. I found it to be incredibly boring and forceless. The gondola spins at a snail's pace, the toppling of the tower does not give me a sense of impending danger whatsoever and I just think it falls flat compared to the other spinning rides in the park. Also the horror theming of Fear-The Ride is just cheesy as all hell. I wouldn't mind the ride if it was advertised to kids and the schmaltzy "Fear" moniker was removed. The ride that was once in this spot, a Huss Condor that was removed in 2004, was MUCH better than the Topple Tower. Now THIS is a good ride! This is The Wasp, a Schwarzkopf Looping Star model roller coaster and it's just plain fun! In 1988, this ride replaced an old Pinfari "ZT-42" looping coaster with a much better looping coaster! The loop is a perfect circle which makes for a very forceful inversion and the twisty helixes just wrap the ride up nicely! This is perfect for a kid who is too old for kiddie coasters, but is not ready to brave the really big ones! Name: The Wasp Built: 1988 Manufacturer: Anton Schwarzkopf Type: Steel track Twisting/Looping Height: 80 feet Length: 1,942 feet Top Speed: 45mph Height Requirement: 40 inches Inversions: One loop AVOID THIS ROLLER COASTER LIKE THE PLAUGE. This is Rumbler, the second wooden roller coaster at Gateway Park and it's probably the worst roller coaster you can ever hope to ride. When it opened in 1990, it was critically acclaimed to have the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster and at the time, it was probably a good ride, but it DEFINITLEY hasn't aged well. How bad is it? Lets just say that this coaster makes Manhattan Express, Viper at SFAGDV and Gouderix at Parc Asterix seem smooth. Hell, I'd even go as far as to say that Roar at Tennessee's Great America is smooth in comparison to Rumbler! After the first drop, you get jackhammered so badly in your back and your sides throughout the entire ride, and the lack of any MCBR or trims give you worse whiplash than ANY Wild Mouse can give you. I would not be surprised if this coaster gets removed someday and replaced with something better. Just please, do your self a favor, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COASTER! Name: Rumbler Built: 1990 Manufacturer: Charles Dinn Type: Wood track Twister/Oval Height: 130 feet Length: 2,949 feet Top Speed: 58mph Height Requirement: 40 inches Inversions: None This is Valkyrie (not "Valerie", Valkyrie lol ), the park's only B&M coaster and it's a damn good one too! It's the tallest and fastest inverted roller coaster in New England and it's the only one to have a Sea Serpent inversion. The first half of Valkyrie is very forceful with a near-vertical first drop and four inversions right off the starting gun. Speeding through the Sea Serpent! The supports were built specifically so no extra support was needed to hold up the half-corkscrew parts of the ride! The second half, however is a lot less forceful and kind of slow paced. It's still fun, nonetheless! (Fun Fact: Valkyrie is the third coaster at Gateway Park to have a "Figure Eight Helix" The others being King Kobra and Rumbler.) Name: Valkyrie Built: 2002 Manufacturer: Bolliger and Mabillard Type: Steel track Inverted Height: 140 feet Length: 4,045 feet Top Speed: 63mph Height Requirement: 54 inches Inversions: One Loop, one Zero-G Roll, one Sea Serpent inversion, one corkscrew This is it. The pinnacle. The baddest of the bad when it comes to coasters at Gateway Park. Golden Lion, a D.H Morgan hypercoaster. When it opened in 1995, it was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in New England. (Only to have that accolade taken away five years later by Superman- Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England.) The ride layout is very similar to Steel Force at Dorney Park with a 200 foot first drop with speeds reaching 72mph! Unlike Steel Force, the helix turns to the left, not the right. But both coasters have similar endings with a series of airtime-filled bunny hops! Name: Golden Lion Built: 1995 Manufacturer: D.H Morgan Type: Steel Track Hypercoaster Height: 202 feet Length: 5,945 feet Top Speed: 72mph Height Requirement: 48 inches Inversions: None This is an S&S Drop Tower named Dynamite. I'm not a huge fan of drop towers, but it's a popular and thrilling enough attraction to be worthy of a mention. And this is the children's area. Camp Snoopy, themed after Charles' M. Schultz's famous comic strip (and my favorite comic strip) The Peanuts! Kids will love the fact that the area has rides themed after their favorite characters like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, and Peppermint Patty! Camp Snoopy also has a Zamperla kiddie coaster named Woodstock's Express. Name: Woodstock's Express Built: 1999 Manufacturer: Zamperla Type: Steel Track Kiddie Height: 20 feet Length: 1,302 feet Top Speed: 18mph Height Requirement: Maximum Height 60 inches Inversions: None Gateway Park also has means of cooling you off during the dog days of summer with the Gateway Falls Intamin "Shoot The Chutes"! WARNING: Lines can get pretty long on this, usually longer than most the coasters. The stately Giant Wheel truly lives up to it's name! It's actually the largest Ferris Wheel on the entire East Coast of the U.S! It was erected in 1980 to replace an aging Ferris Wheel that was built in the '50s (Gateway Park was founded in 1956, btw.) And that's pretty much all you need to know about my home park, Gateway Park! If you're planning a long term stay in the area around the park, then you're in luck! Choice Hotels Inc. and Hilton have many of their hotels strewn throughout Bridgeport! This includes Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Clarion Inn, Cambria Suites, Mainstay Suites, EconoLodge, Rodeway Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Inn, and Homewood Suites. There isn't any Marriott or Best Westerns, though... Have a nice trip! (I'm planning on doing one more update. What you see here is the park in 2006, the next and final update will be the park in the present day, 2014. I hope you like! PS, some of the pictures are smaller than others. Just click on them for full resolution.) Edited August 16, 2014 by fraroc
fraroc Posted July 12, 2014 Author Posted July 12, 2014 Here are some pictures from the 2006 season of Gateway Park that Ellen left out of her blog, all in the proper resolution! Valkyrie and Golden Lion.... Fear-The Ride: The most overrated and overhyped flat ride. Beautiful shot of MaxAIR and The Wasp. DiscoBall, a Zamperla Disko that was built in 2004. Another shot of Golden Lion. The loop of The Wasp. Roller Coaster's lift hill. One of The Rumbler's hills....those poor peeps didn't know what they were getting themselves into... King Kobra's double corkscrew element. Arial view of Gateway Park from atop the Giant Wheel.... A similar view from atop Observation Point, Gateway Park's Intamin A.G Gyro Tower.
fraroc Posted July 23, 2014 Author Posted July 23, 2014 Still no feedback? Anyways.... GATEWAY PARK: THE SAGA CONTINUES In June of 2006, I posted a blog containing details, pictures, and visiting tips on my home park, Gateway Falls in Bridgeport, CT. Eight years later, I realize that so much has changed since then.....And where else should I start other than the beginning? About a week after I posted my blog, I was shocked to find out about the confirmation that The Wasp was going to be removed by the end of the 2006 season. Supposedly, Gateway Park has been trying to sell The Wasp since 2004 for some unforeseen reason and two years later, a deal was finally made. Dismantling of the coaster began in October and was completed by November. According to RCDB; as of 2009, The Wasp continues to operate in a small park in Russia where it is known as Циклы звезды (Russian for "Looping Star", which incidentally, was the coaster's original name when it was operation the German funfair circuit from 1980 to 1988 when it was relocated to Gateway Park.) Come 2007, I realized what a big void that the removal of The Wasp left in all of us parkgoers. Me and many other coaster enthusiasts I know all agreed that The Wasp was the perfect starter coaster for young kids that don't find kiddie coasters exciting but are too frightened or not tall enough to ride the big guns. While King Kobra isn't too extreme, The Wasp just seemed perfect for that role...Also, halfway through the season, Discoball, the Zamperla Disko was removed. After a period of mourning was a period of excitement. Gateway Park confirmed that they are going to be building a new themed area for the park with a new steel roller coaster for 2008. The steel coaster was advertised to be a "Vertical-diving looping coaster" which set off TONS of speculation that the new coaster was going to be a B&M Diving Coaster like Sheikra or Griffon..... The brand new themed area was a complete revitalization of Thrill Summit, the area where The Wasp once stood. Thrill Summit was now known as Rock Star Plaza and included one brand new attraction and two re-themed old attractions. Fear: The Ride was repainted and renamed Revolution. THANK GOD. No more of that cheesy "scary" haunted house fear shtick and no more of that uber-misleading "scariest ride in the world" crap! Discoball was relocated within the park and moved to the new Rock Star Plaza area. But the MAIN attraction of the new area was a brand new Gerstlauer Eurofighter! The full name for the new coaster was "THE WARRIORS: Rock and Roll Express" but is very commonly known as just "Rock and Roll Express" It is an extensively themed roller coaster based on a rock concert. The queue of the ride is divided into three separate areas, The first is themed after waiting in line for the show. The whole time, a lighted marquee will loop the same message over and over again. "Tonight's Show: THE WARRIORS LIVE!" While blasting classic hard rock and heavy metal hits from the loudspeakers. The second area of the queue is..."The Show"! This area is especially cool at night when they do a rock n' roll themed laser light show on the stage. I've always loved how the laser lights and the lights from the Giant Wheel almost "combat" each other. The third and final area of the queue is "backstage" where riders will meet two Arabian Warrior statues that are, in fact the "singer" and "lead guitarist" of the fictional rock band, The Warriors which the ride is themed after. "The Warriors" will then deem you worthy to ride on their patented "Rock and Roll Express"! Upon further examination, you will notice that the station for Rock and Roll Express is actually a gigantic Marshall amplifier! In terms of the roller coaster itself, Rock and Roll Express is a direct clone of Speed: No Limits at Oakwood Theme Park in Pembrokeshire, Wales but with different cars. I was a little disappointed to find out that the new coaster for 2008 was a clone and not an original design, but the ride itself is a lot of fun! That camelback after the beyond vertical drop gives you so much airtime and the heartline twist after the brake run gives you a healthy dosage of hangtime! Name: The Warriors: Rock and Roll Express Built: 2008 Manufacturer: Gerstlauer Type: Steel Track Vertical Drop Twisting/Looping Height: 115 feet Length: 2,000 feet Top Speed: 60mph Height Requirement: 52 inches Inversions: One loop, one heartline roll The ride has one more trick up it's sleeve...Every half-hour, a shower of pyrotechnics erupts from the top of the amplifier station! Next post: Another major coaster bites the dust, another new area and a new coaster that rivals the biggest and baddest coasters in not just Gateway Park, but in the entire northeast....
fraroc Posted August 16, 2014 Author Posted August 16, 2014 I guess it's time for.... GATEWAY PARK- WRAPPING THINGS UP As predicted, 2008 was a very successful year for Gateway Park with the addition of Rock Star Plaza and the Rock and Roll Express roller coaster. Coaster critics held the new Gerstlauer Eurofighter in very high regard, despite the fact that it's a clone of Speed-No Limits at Oakwood Theme Park. Mainly due to a combination of the ride experience and the extensive theming. However the following year, 2009, did not go as well for Gateway Park as it was in the news two separate times for a negative reason. The first reason was around July of 2009 when a case of both physical and verbal child abuse took place on Golden Lion's station. Many details came from multiple eyewitness reports. Rebecca Parsons said this in her affidavit. "On July 7th, 2009, I visited Gateway Park with a few close friends of mine. I was in Golden Lion's station awaiting my turn to ride Golden Lion when I noticed a commotion happening a few rows up from me. A young boy was screaming that he didn't want to ride and his father was yelling at the child, saying he will go on or face severe consequences. As me and my best friend got into the car and pulled our lap bars down, I noticed a man violently grabbing his crying young boy by his torso and literally THROWING him into one of the seats of the third car. The man then proceeded to scream "NOW YOU SIT THERE AND YOU SHUT THE **** UP!" as he slapped the child with all of his force across the head. Everybody in the station was in shock. Almost immediately afterwards, I saw three people on their cell phones trying to call the local authorities on the man. Minutes later, three police officers entered the station via the exit and arrested the father. Another police officer comforted the little boy asked the child if he still wanted to ride the coaster (The cop probably didn't know all the details of what happened.). The child said no (obviously) and he was let out of the ride." The man was arrested for child abuse and is currently doing 8 years in prison. Reportedly, the child is currently in the legal custody of his mother. The second incident occurred later in the season around Labor Day weekend when a sudden power failure occurred in the chain lift of King Kobra just as the train was about to go over the first hill. Riders were stuck on the ride for an hour before riders were let off. However, as soon as the restraints were disabled to let the riders off car-by-car. However, as soon as the third car was let off, a ride operator accidentally pushed the train....Well, you know what happens next...gravity took over and the coaster began to operate with the restraints open and eight people still on the ride....Without brakes to stop the train, the King Kobra's train went through the entire circuit, blasting through the brake run and station and eventually stopped on the chain lift. Thankfully, no one fell out or was injured. King Kobra was SBNO for the rest of the season, inducing Halloween Haunt. In the beginning of the 2010 season, an announcement was made that on July 30th, 2010, The Rumbler (AKA Pain Express) was slated to permanently close. For the first time, I was actually really freakin' HAPPY to see a roller coaster get shut down! On July 31st, The Rumbler was imploded with dynamite early in the morning before the park opened. However, with the destruction of The Rumbler, the entire left corner of the Midway Americana area of the park began to fall apart. With only one ride (Big Squid) and a snack bar, foot traffic was almost non existent. No Entry signs and security guards were put in place in the area when two teenagers were caught doing a little bit of "urban exploration" in Rumbler's abandoned station. In 2011, the entire area of the park cordoned off and removed from the park map. However, the closure of the area was not permanent. That year, it was announced that it would reopen with new rides and a completely different theme. A theme that was "out of this world". (Gee, I guess what THAT means....) Pretty soon, the new space-age area was revealed, named "Sector Zero". This area featured a re-themed Big Squid, two new exciting flat rides and a 4D theatre. The first of the new rides is an S&S Rides large Screaming Swing, named "Firehawk" after the Vekoma Flying Dutchman coaster at Kings Island, another Cedar Fair property. The second of the new rides, "The Weapon", is a really unique one. The only adequate way I can describe this ride is what would happen if a HUSS Enterprise, a HUSS Giant Frisbee and an Inverting Pirate Ship had a love child. This flat ride was built and constructed by Fabbri and it's model is called "Evolution". Of course, this is Big Squid. Repainted, rethemed, and renamed (Hey, alliteration!) to "ALIEN INVASION". This is Outer Space, the 4D theatre that opened in the area. It's essentially a 4D IMAX planetarium movie. It was a pretty cool little thing, with the special glasses, you almost felt like you were soaring through space exploring the planets.... In addition to Sector Zero, the rest of the park got some upgrades as well. For example, Valkyrie got a brand new white and sky blue paint job. Also, the old Observation Point tower ride was removed and was replaced with a brand new and more thrilling observation experience....The Windseeker! Overall, when it opened in 2012, Sector Zero was a huge success for the park. The two new flat rides, Firehawk and The Weapon were ranked very high among the flat ride selection in the park and the space-age props in the area were praised, with people saying that they were "cheesy, but charming" Late in the 2012 season however, the higher ups at Cedar Fair and the general manager of Gateway Park began to research the market demand for a new roller coaster in Gateway Park. By the middle of the 2012 season, it was pretty much all but confirmed that a new steel roller coaster would be put in the new Sector Zero area. Teaser ads were then placed around the park using terms like "Taking Flight". Of course, for coaster enthusiasts, it only meant one thing. Gateway Park was getting a B&M flying coaster for 2013.... You could understand our shock in December of 2012 when Outer Space was removed from the park without any formal warning and a massive plot of land was cleared. That wasn't what shocked us, though. What shocked us was the pieces of INTAMIN track on the cleared land. We were all prepared for it to be a B&M Flying roller coaster, only for Gateway Park to throw us a curveball and build Intamin A.G coaster! By March of 2013, construction was complete and "Sanctum.exe" was slated to open that May! Sanctum.exe is an Intamin A.G Accelerator coaster with three inversions, a top hat element, an overbanked turn and two airtime hills that are packed with ejector air! The name "Sanctum.exe" comes from the central theme of the ride. You are an ultra-powerful computer virus who's mission is to get inside and infect an extremely secure mainframe. The coaster begins with an immediate swooping helix out of the station and into the underground! Originally, Sanctum.exe was planned to have a "freefall drop" element similar to Verbolten and Thirteen immediately after you leave the station before you go into the hydraulic launch. The idea was scrapped after they found that the hydraulic mechanism took up too much room and there simply wasn't enough space for an effective freefall drop mechanism. It's a shame, because that would have been just freakin' AWESOME!!!!! Immediately after the first helix, the train slows down to an absolute halt as the catch car latches onto the train. The "event tunnel" shows a series of green ones and zeros travelling across the screen in a normal fashion. Suddenly the green numbers flash a bright red and the train pulls back...an alarm sounds, signaling the beginning of the swift and powerful 0-78MPH launch! Immediately after the launch, you bust right into the first inversion, a 120 foot tall Immelmann inversion! The second element that the train goes through is a 140 foot tall top-hat that is just packed with floater airtime! After the top hat is the most unique element that Sanctum.exe has to offer. A gigantic 132 foot tall cobra roll. This is also the tallest cobra roll of any roller coaster! The high speed in which these trains go through these small hills will deliver some absolutely killer ejector airtime! This overbank hill is actually a lot more forceful than you would think. A second airtime hill, a brake run and a helix wrap up this awesome Intamin rocket coaster! Name: Sanctum.exe Built: 2013 Manufacturer: Intamin A.G Type: Steel Track Hydraulic-Launched twisting/looping coaster Height: 140 feet Length: 3,864 feet Top Speed: 78mph Height Requirement: 54 inches Inversions: One Immelmann, one giant cobra roll As expected, Sanctum.exe became a massive hit with the general public when it opened in May of 2013. Some people going as far as to say it's one of the best steel roller coasters in the entire country! I love this shot that I took during my latest trip to Gateway Park. Rock and Roll Express' vertical lift and beyond vertical drop paired with Sanctum.exe's cobra roll makes for an awesome Kodak moment! Want some proof that Sanctum.exe is immensely popular? Just take a look at this line. When I went to Gateway Park, I waited an hour and 45 minutes to go on Sanctum.exe. And that was with two six-car trains running! Even now in 2014, it's still debated whether or whether not Sanctum.exe dethroned Golden Lion as the king of all coasters in Gateway Park. One side says that because Sanctum.exe is launched and it's top speed is faster than Golden Lion means that Sanctum.exe overthrew Golden Lion. The other side says that even though Sanctum.exe is faster, Golden Lion is still the tallest roller coaster in the park at 202 feet tall and has more airtime hills. In my opinion however, they're both still amazing roller coasters. Albeit in different ways. It's almost scary to see how much a park can change in a period of eight years....I mean, look at the aerial shot of Gateway Park when I made my park guide back in 2006.... And this is what the park looks like NOW in 2014.... Creator Comments: Well, this is it. The end of the Gateway Park updates. Overall, I'm proud of the coasters I've made in the park. I'm very satisfied with how Golden Lion, Valkyrie, and Sanctum.exe came out. I think they look pretty damn realistic if I say so myself. The child abuse incident on Golden Lion was very sadly based on a real life event that I witnessed on Dominator at Kings Dominion when a quote-unquote "father" called his son a pussy because he didn't want to go on. Also, the incident on King Kobra was based on the incident on Python at Efteling where the ride restarted as passengers were being let off.
RollingCoasting Posted August 16, 2014 Posted August 16, 2014 I enjoyed this park, but I feel like everything went by too fast
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