Windjammer POV Video - Knott's Berry Farm

[robbalvey]

Just posted a Windjammer POV in the Members Only Forum:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=155831

 

Someone asked me for this over the weekend, so now you can enjoy a new video of an old Knott's coaster!

 

--Robb

[Hercules]

I've actually been waiting for one of these for a long time.

 

Thanks a lot Robb!

[MrMorgan]

Thanks for posting, Robb. I've always been really curious about this ride. Funny, without hearing you scream obsenities the whole time, it almost looks smooth!

[kenshinmac]

Yeah after all that I have heard about it that was kinda anti-climatic... I was expecting something that looked like it would crush your skull. I mean that just looked like turns without enough banking and maybe upstop wheels that were a little too far from the track... Maybe I'm interpreting things wrong but it didn't seem too bad. Oh and the sounds kinda seemed more like the car skipping instead of running on the track... Not ideal but hardly deadly...

 

Anyway to see the yellow track as it kinda looked more extreme?

[robbalvey]

The yellow track was pretty much exactly the same other than they two sides split off after the turn following the loop where they "dueled" for one turn and then went back to racing.

 

Having been on both sides many times they both equally sucked!

 

Oddly enough, though, my daughter LOVED the ride!

 

--Robb

[ebl]

If I recall, they stopped running the yellow track for awhile before closing the entire ride altogether. Someone told me that it was more prone to valleying than the red side.

 

I rode both sides. They both sucked equally.

 

Eric

[waterviper]

I being the masocist that I am liked it! Also I liked the yellow side better!! Personally to me it was a bit more agressive then the red side. At one point they had to reprofile one of the turns on the yellow track. I dont really know the reason but I do remember it!

[robbalvey]

Seriously, how was the yellow side better? Other than that one turn (which was a mirror image of the same turn on the red side) both were exactly the same. I rode both several times (at least 50 rides on each side) and I could never really tell the difference.

 

They did have to reprofile one of the turns on the yellow side, but that was because during the part where they split in two, the yellow side used to hit the oncoming wind and valley. I thought it was funny how a ride called "Windjammer" used to basically get stuck if the wind was higher than 5mph. It litterally was a "windjammer!"

 

Here's some pretty good shots where you can tell, other than that one turn, both sides are the same:

[Rusty Nail]

What date was the video taken? I'm guessing Dec 1999

[robbalvey]

It was shot about a week before the ride closed. I'm guessing March 2000, although I don't remember for sure.

 

--Robb

[Hercules]

Did the ride close out of nowhere or was the closing announced? Just want to know a little more about the history of the ride, that's all.

[waterviper]

Seriously, how was the yellow side better? Other than that one turn (which was a mirror image of the same turn on the red side) both were exactly the same. I rode both several times (at least 50 rides on each side) and I could never really tell the difference.

Ok, saying that the yellow track was more agressive wasn't really a good discription of what I meant.

 

But here is a good discription as to why I liked the yellow track better. There were subtle differences that I liked. First was the small drop turn that was reprofiled. ( I liked it better before it was reprofiled). Second was right after the identical opposite turns it did some funky weird jot that for some reason I just liked a lot. Third I liked the tight right hand turn after the brake run. Fourth it had a tighter helix at the end. But the one thing that I did like about the red track better then the yellow was the very last turn where you made that horrific grunting sound on! I guess I like tighter turns according to some of the things I said.

So for me the subtle differences made a big difference to me!

[CoasterCrazy88]

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

I miss WindJammer.

----Antonio"But, Xcellerator is WAY better!"G.

[robbalvey]

Did the ride close out of nowhere or was the closing announced? Just want to know a little more about the history of the ride, that's all.

It basically just closed out of nowhere. It was only by complete accident that I went down and shot the POV a week before it closed. Good thing I made it!

 

--Robb