Kemah Boardwalk and Bullet Discussion Thread

I just rode Boardwalk Bullet for the first time last weekend since I'm in Texas for a few months and I loved it. The first drop and turn were fantastic and the overall ride was plain fun. It just kept going, it's insane how much track they fit into such a small area. All of the boardwalk was a lot of fun and the Bullet is definitely worth a ride if you are in the area.

It's too bad they couldn't combine the pop with smooth. It would be one of the best rides if they couldn't kept all the extreme elements and just made it smoother, but that's how it is with a lot of the wooden coasters.

It's too bad they couldn't combine the pop with smooth. It would be one of the best rides if they couldn't kept all the extreme elements and just made it smoother, but that's how it is with a lot of the wooden coasters.

The reality, at least with the Bullet, is that the more intense elements that some people miss where never part of the design of the coaster. From the insane ejector on the first drop, to the pop, to the intense laterals at the end of the first drop, they were all results of construction defects.

Rode the coaster this week, its riding the same as it did the day they re-opened it which is good. It is butter smooth on the parts that the new construction company worked on. Its clear to me that all the problems the coaster has had is indeed due to a result of bad construction, not bad or too aggressive design. After one more round of major constructions I think it will be 90% of what Gravity Group originally intended.

-GG

Does anyone know the operating hours for the Boardwalk Bullet? i have an option to go to Houston for work March 18-21, and honestly the only reason i would go is if this coaster is open. I have looked at the website and it has a very generic Sun-Sat hours with the Bullets Hours subject to change. I know this coaster just went through a rehab, so would it be a good chance that the coaster would be open these days? Can anyone give me any heads up on this?

Unless something comes up, the coaster opens around noonish and stays open till 10pm. I think it runs till 11pm on Fri-Sat.

Best bet is to avoid mealtimes. Go between lunch and dinner crowds and you should be able to get multiple rides with no waiting. After dinner, you can get a 2-3 train wait sometimes.

Ok Thanks,

Also I get done with my conference around 11AM Sunday, and i'm going to book my flight home for Monday. Would SFFT be open this early in the year? I figure i could be there by 3 at the latest and as long as it closes after 7 i could get most of the credits in. I was there in 08 and only got 4 coasters in in 7 hours, so not a very productive trip.

Thanks for the info guys, hopefully it should be a good trip.

^ They actually opening on March 6th 2010!

Unless something comes up, the coaster opens around noonish and stays open till 10pm. I think it runs till 11pm on Fri-Sat.

 

Best bet is to avoid mealtimes. Go between lunch and dinner crowds and you should be able to get multiple rides with no waiting. After dinner, you can get a 2-3 train wait sometimes.

Actually, they have new off-season hours this year. The Kemah Boardwalk now closes at 9pm on weekdays.

The Boardwalk Bullet may not open until 5pm on weekdays, but will usually open around noon - safest bet is to call before going. It still opens around 12 on weekends.

There is a chance it will be closed a few weeks preceding Spring Break for some more fixes, but that is speculative at this point.

-GG

After being closed for most of the month the latest round of improvements to the Bullet have been finished. The Bullet re-opens tomorrow after having had the track from the second drop, around the lower bay turn, and up to the hill that goes over the entrance queue completely rebuilt.

The ride now tracks smooth through 90% of its track, it is fast all the way through the end and doesn't slow down on the last few hills and turns at all. For those who have not ridden it since the past few rounds of maintenance, you are in for a totally different ride. Rerides and ERTing at this point will be extremely tolerable, the shuffling is gone. This is probably the last round of major work we will see for a long time, I think most of the problems are now fixed and the coaster is performing at a level where most will be very happy with.

-GG

^Well that's fantastic news! Too bad I already took my Texas trip this past year and probably won't be back any time in the near future.

Thank God Bullet wasn't damaged in the recent restaurant fires.

I'm curious with the improvements made what the ride time is now? Under 60 secs or still over?

I rode Boardwalk Bullet in April of 2008, and I thought it felt fine. Infact it's one of my favorite woodies. I can't even imagine how great it must be now!

Yesterday, it was my goal was to re-ride the Bullet after all the improvements made on it, but I did not get to. From loop 610 to just pass B-8 it was a bottleneck not to mention road construction all the way to League City. Don't forget the 2 separate Oversized Loaded Trucks fighting with the rest of us over lane choice. If you travel through League City the traffic was okay. All together it was a 2 hour trip to get to Kemah. There was like this 1.5 hour wait to ride the Bullet even with both trains operating. The ticket booth line was just as a bad. I headed back home without getting to ride my fun coaster. I have to go back on a non-spring holiday event to enjoy it.

Spring break is THE busiest time of year for Kemah Boardwalk.

When Bullet was being built, I questioned one of the managers about the looooooooooooooong queue being constructed for a coaster at such a small park. I asked if he thought such a queue would ever get used. His response, "it will during spring break!"

That's when I made a mental note never to go during spring break. I'm way too spoiled being able to just walk up and ride with only a one-train wait. Two or maybe three train wait if I want the front seat.

It was a beautiful cool windy day at Kemah Boardwalk. I rode Bullet finally, and I was very pleased with the ride! I was impressed how adaptable the trains were able to keep with direction changes and maintain fast momentum throughout the entire ride. The bayturn is superfast, don't blink LOL. The 2 big drops in the back seat were amazing! After that its almost like a magic carpet ride. Even the drop underneath the station was full of speed and airtime! It's an entirely different feeling now; pain free and re-rideable. Enjoy : )

It was a beautiful cool windy day at Kemah Boardwalk. I rode Bullet finally, and I was very pleased with the ride! I was impressed how adaptable the trains were able to keep with direction changes and maintain fast momentum throughout the entire ride. The bayturn is superfast, don't blink LOL. The 2 big drops in the back seat were amazing! After that its almost like a magic carpet ride. Even the drop underneath the station was full of speed and airtime! It's an entirely different feeling now; pain free and re-rideable. Enjoy : )

Very good to hear, especially coming from an older rider! Our night time ERT was pretty rough, but the morning ERT was very good...I was one of the few who stayed the whole hour! This ride is very unique, and if everything I hear about the improvements are right...then this should be a very good ride.

^^That sounds like just about the worst day ever. Bad traffic and crazy long waits for rides.

^That sounds like just about the worst day ever. Bad traffic and crazy long waits for rides.

Actually it took a while for the giant TPR bus to navigate its way to a parking spot in Kemah's crowded marina. Oh yeah the wait times were craaaazy

i'm with Luko...I'll never vote to leave a park early!

I went on Sunday...and the park was pretty quiet! Bullet opened around 12 and all the way up to 4 (when I left) the ride was a walk-on for every row except the front (1 or 2 train wait).

I showed up the last Sunday of Spring Break last year and it was the same, much slower than the rest of spring break and actually a good time to ride with full trains and little wait.

They were also running 2 trains, but every time one train stopped on the lift while one crawled back from the brake run...they really need to fix that now, they could do damage to the chain and what not (more on this when I do my Photo TR).

The lift hill shakes pretty bad when the train connects with the lift chain even on one train operation. They'll probably have to look at the timing of the lift chain at some point to minimize this effect. I doubt that the brake issue will be fixed anytime soon, it would require a new magnetic braking system. Kemah is done putting major money into the Bullet for now and the next time they do it will probably go to a final round of track work.

Anyways, it was running super smooth and fast without full trains and there was airtime places there wasn't before...and the 2 big drops in the back seat were completely awesome

I rode today and agree it is running great. I still love the front seat above the back these days, so much more airtime in places there never used to be. Its nice to see that several months after the major track work it is still running just as smooth as the day they finished that work. It has NEVER held up this well after any of the track reworkings - great news for riders and even better for Kemah Maintenance staff!

-GG

Glad to hear it's running pretty smooth. It was pretty rough during the trip last year. I would love to try it again.

I took friends visiting from New York to have a go on the Bullet and they told me it was a way better ride than the Cyclone at Coney Island. They especially enjoyed the degree and speed of the first drop.

I read somewhere that Tillman wants to expand the rides section of the park. Is this true? If so, what plans are there for new rides?

Screamscape has reported new rides coming to Kemah Boardwalk this year.

www.screamscape.com/html/smaller_parks.htm#KemahBoardwalk