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Photo TR: The Monster - Opening Day


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Wow! I just checked out that video! What an amazing looking coaster in general (love the interaction with the Sky Ride), but that light package is on a whole different level! The light following (or leading, actually) the train through the course was fantastic! What a great little coaster! My trips through Iowa on the way to Coloroado won't be nearly so boring anymore!

 

Also, I could go off on an epic rant about this, but I'll just casually mention it instead... This sure looks like something that would be a great, lower cost investment for Michigan's Adventure, that would fit that "smaller-size" family park nicely!

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What is the ridership capacity per hour for a coaster like this?

 

When I was there today they were pushing through each train in under a minute which totals out to just under 500 an hour. For Adventureland this is fairly high though so the wait times today were never beyond half an hour.

 

Wow, that is steep. How many degrees is that drop?

 

101 but it feels like 102 and then some

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Thanks for the pictures Thad! My one visit this park was really really nice. The staff were so friendly, they ran the flat rides like deranged carneys, Outlaw was fun and I didn't die on the Dragon.

 

This looks like a wonderful fit for the park and I am so happy to see them grow.

 

D

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Does anyone have a video of the ride by nighttime? I heard it has a very nice lighting package...

 

Here is video I recorded on the first night it was open past dusk.

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

It is edited from 11 different recordings. There is another one I posted before this one that is just one camera all the way through.

 

They are not done with the light programming yet, and it will have multiple programs available for them to select (think: red, white and blue for July 4th weekend and things like that). I am returning this Saturday night to redo the video, now that I know more about what I need to get recorded.

 

And, once they are finished with the light show, I'll do a third version.

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Wow! What an intense looking adventure this ride is. That track layout is amazing.

What is the ridership capacity per hour for a coaster like this? What a great addition to this park!

 

With 2 or 3 cars running, it dispatches about every 58 seconds with an 8 passenger car. The park says 500 per hour.

 

When they first began testing it, I was timing it out and rounding to a minute per car and estimating 480 per hour, but at 58 seconds per car that's 496 so yeah, somewhere between 480-500 if they aren't delayed.

 

They have a third car, but even when it was on the track the dispatch was still every 58 seconds.

 

On opening day, the line (missing the zig zag queue they haven't installed yet) went down the fence line, and it took about 25 minutes to get to the load area all three times we rode it that day. It moves fast.

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Wow! I just checked out that video! What an amazing looking coaster in general (love the interaction with the Sky Ride), but that light package is on a whole different level! The light following (or leading, actually) the train through the course was fantastic! What a great little coaster!

 

There are 137 track mounted lights and 46 ground mounted lights in the plan. I believe not all the ground lights ended up being installed due to some construction logistics. The ground lights are made up of two panels which can be tilted separately. They hadn't yet aimed all of them, and the light show being used is still being worked on.

 

I was in the park the day they installed new LED lights on their Space Shot, and I got to meet the guy from the company doing it. He showed me a video of the first test of the Monster lights and I was blown away. With all the ground lights now installed, it's not quite as dramatic since it doesn't have the same dark/light contrast, but that's something software could tweak if they ever wanted to. I had to wait weeks to see it in person since the park was closing before dark until last Saturday.

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Love the train front. Brick station walls (fake or not) are a nice touch too.

 

Adventureland deserves this. If you overlook Dragon, it's a very nice, clean "little" park, with some of the nicest employees I've come across. Outlaw is a really good hidden gem too, IMO.

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Love the train front. Brick station walls (fake or not) are a nice touch too.

 

The castle rockwork and "Monster" name doesn't really match the "Iowa Farm" section of the park, but what can ya do. They did far worse with Knott's Berry Farm

 

I was almost expecting it to follow the weather-related theming of the nearby area ... Tornado (a big deal in Iowa) and Storm Chaser (same). I can't think of any Iowa native monsters they could have named it after.

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If they wanted to go with local lore, Dakota mythology is a rich tradition, just very obscure. It would have to be very well done, and in conjunction with the Dakota nation, so as to be educational. Otherwise it would just appear to be exploitative.

 

But "Monster" is a good name, and no one's really complaining.

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On its third Saturday open, The Monster continues to evolve. As this original trip report mentioned, there was no place to put your stuff (other than on the floor) while you ride. The Amazon boxes that were stacked up there that first week contained the storage bins, and those were installed by the time I went back on 6/11.

 

Monster storage bins

 

By the second Saturday (I wasn't there during the week so not sure when), they had put up an exit sign, and by the third Saturday they had a rules sign at the entrance. They have had a worker at the exit every time I have been by, since they do not have the exit turn style installed yet.

 

Monster Exit sign

 

Monster rules sign

 

My photos from opening day (6/4) may be found here:

 

Monster opening day photos

 

And here is a second version of my "multicam" Monster video, recorded Saturday night (6/18/2016). I still can't quite get all the shots I need to make the video flow better, and there are still gaps where I had no coverage. I'll figure it out, eventually.

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Even in its incomplete state, the light programming sure is pretty.

 

Oh, the frozen Monster alcohol drink:

 

Monster "tasty frozen adult beverage"

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^ Good updates. I was at the park yesterday, and one other thing that they've improved is having an employee making sure that there are 8 people in each car. Calling out for singles, etc. seems to have improved the efficiency since opening day.

 

Sadly, after losing 10 more pounds, I'm still "this" close to riding. They actually had it locked yesterday, but there was an issue in the 2nd row, so they released the restraints, then we couldn't get it back into the OK position. I leave for Europe in 9 days, and would like to ride The Monster before I leave town...

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^ Good updates. I was at the park yesterday, and one other thing that they've improved is having an employee making sure that there are 8 people in each car. Calling out for singles, etc. seems to have improved the efficiency since opening day.

 

Mark this one up to "good help is hard to find." They were indeed doing this on opening day when I was there (10:38 from my photo time stamp) -- me and a guy in line (both there by ourselves) got to cut through the last part of the line and board early. I'd still prefer a single rider line to fill those empty seats more efficiently

 

Sadly, after losing 10 more pounds, I'm still "this" close to riding. They actually had it locked yesterday, but there was an issue in the 2nd row, so they released the restraints, then we couldn't get it back into the OK position. I leave for Europe in 9 days, and would like to ride The Monster before I leave town...

 

!!!!! Oh man. So close, then denied. That sucks.

 

Are you local?

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Mark this one up to "good help is hard to find." They were indeed doing this on opening day when I was there (10:38 from my photo time stamp) -- me and a guy in line (both there by ourselves) got to cut through the last part of the line and board early. I'd still prefer a single rider line to fill those empty seats more efficiently

 

!!!!! Oh man. So close, then denied. That sucks.

 

Are you local?

 

Interesting. I was there right at 10 on opening day, and they weren't doing it. Glad it only took them 30 minutes to figure it out!

 

I live in Waukee. Been in the area about 20 years since I moved here for college (Simpson grad).

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