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BSBMX

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Everything posted by BSBMX

  1. Sometime last week I saw a post on Reddit as well as some comments on Discord about some construction going on behind Kentucky Flyer and DWD. Nobody had any clear pics but few comments were made about footers being poured. I live in Louisville, so I stopped by today to check it out. You can see pretty well from the Comfort Inn's parking lot that they're only adding sewer drainage to this area. From the looks of it, this will be a paved parking lot at some point. Perhaps this is a sign that a second entrance to the park will be added, one that's right by the waterpark. Though I'm not really sure where the actual entrance would go since the lazy river, Kentucky Flyer, and DWD all block access into the park... In my satellite pic, the bulk of the drainage was in the red circle (I'm guessing the land slopes towards this corner), but there was drainage all the way up to the yellow circle too, so this new parking lot will take up essentially this entire area. The green circle was some manholes that was also recently added.
  2. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Diamondback #longerthanPolaris
  3. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    WGT's 10th update just went live. Video shows the drilling machine still parked, and zooms in on the drop backbone piers, which have rebar sticking out. These two piers are the furthest per the blueprints, so I'll say all piers are complete for the brake, station, lift, and drop. Video also comments on some footings for the end of the ride (like the helix), but that is not accurate. All footings/piers so far are per the original set of blueprints, which does not cover anything outside of the brakes/station/lift/drop. I suspect another set of blueprints/plans will need to be submitted prior to any vertical construction. The existing blueprints do not cover anything vertical. Anyone in the Mason area up for stopping by and checking for any new blueprints/plans? I find them fascinating from an engineering standpoint. Large footings for the turnaround are being worked on right now. Station's look nearly compete. Last to finish will be the upper portion of the lift and drop. http://www.wildgravitytravels.com/kings-island-2020-update-10/
  4. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    I doubt it'll happen, but there is a precedent already... what if the supports are two-toned like Diamondback? DB has yellow supports for the lift, and a beige-ish for the rest of the layout.
  5. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Happy Diamondback page everyone (230' tall).
  6. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Does this scratch paint?
  7. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    This may not mean anything, but a piece of Fury was placed inside of CW for the announcement. They might do something similar with this coaster. EDIT: specifically, it was this piece below. If you go back thru the speculation thread for Fury, this piece appeared on webcam a few days prior to the announcement and was placed inside the park (image is from Carowinds Connection's construction album). The KIga equivalent of this piece has already been produced and painted, seen in the latest aerial images over CSF. This is a great piece to show off because it doesn't have any support mounts, so it'll sit relatively flat on the ground.
  8. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    WGT's 9th update for the construction site. Not much different than the recent aerial images we've seen, but his video does show some active concrete pouring for one of the footings (if you're into that kind of thing). I'm guessing all piers for this area are done being drilled (the drilling machine has been parked off to the side for a while now). From the video, you can see rebar sticking out of the drop's main backbone piers, but cannot tell if concrete has been poured into those piers yet. http://www.wildgravitytravels.com/kings-island-2020-update-9/
  9. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    That's what I figured, I just want to see if the zoom is good enough to actually show what it says. Yes the existing steps will remain, but they're not for the exit of the new coaster's exit. Instead, they lead to the maintenance area of the new coaster (my image below doesn't fully show it, but the path with steps leads directly to the maintenance steps coming from the coaster's station). The foundation wall (in yellow below) is a bit misleading, but the exit path will go right over it while remaining fairly level (for wheelchairs). Note how the entrance queue go right over the foundation wall as well. This is just a sub-surface retaining wall I'm guessing.
  10. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Going here. Red outline is for the main queue, and the green outline is either single-rider or Fast Lane/Pass/whatever it's called. Both queues will pass thru the quonset hut. The main queue has multiple misty fans and FUN TVs (seriously, it's in the blueprints).
  11. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Found some interesting similarities between yesterday's overhead images and what's currently on Google Maps. Based on what I'm seeing now, I don't think those pieces are for the new Mako, and I don't think the purple piece is for anything new, either. I have no idea when these Google images were taken, but there appears to be a lot of purple and yellow track pieces in the front parking lot, so perhaps someone could narrow down the time frame. That purple in the front parking lot looks like the same purple piece in the rear lot. That same purple piece in yesterday's image (and pile of curved tubes next to it) circled in red is the same and unmoved compared to Google's older image. Also, the 'Mako' track and several piles of junk near it (circled in yellow) all appears to be the same and unmoved in yesterday's image versus Google's older image. The color of the track appears to be off a bit, but they're laying exactly the same way, same shape, same support mounts. They gotta be the same. I don't think either of these track pieces are new. Guessing they're just scrapped pieces for some reason.
  12. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Let's see how close your zoom can go. Are you able to read anything in the white wordings on these steel sheets from any of your pics? I expect it'll say what thickness, grade of steel, where it's from, etc. Just curious what kind of information is on there. Thanks!
  13. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    There's also some Kumba-looking track in image 5. What's weird is that all those supports in that area appear to be staged to be banded in groups and loaded onto trucks, as if they're complete (as in, that dark flat gray is the final color). I had thought that was just primer, but now I'm thinking otherwise. Hmmm...
  14. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Any chance you can upload all those photos somewhere? I'd love to see more of CSF and more angles of the construction site. Your images are very clear and clean looking. Thanks! Here's a breakdown of how I use this site. There's probably several ways going about it, but this works for me. I haven't tried it on mobile, but it's likely very similar to the below. Click on the above quoted link and then go to TESS. Click on this search function option. The other options here probably work too, I just haven't messed with them. Here are the search fields. The green highlighted one is your main search--you will primarily fill this one out. The magenta box can stay as-is if you're only searching for one term (i.e., "Cedar Fair"). If you want to search for two different terms (i.e., "Cedar Fair" & "GateKeeper"), then change the magenta field to AND and type in the two different terms in the two different search fields. I primarily search for "amusement park rides", review, then shorten my search to "amusement park", review, and finally just search for "amusement". This seems to capture anything we would be interested in plus lots of stuff you probably don't care about, so you do have to sift thru things. The results are listed by date I believe (top ones are newest). Not necessarily by the date filed though--best I can tell, it's whenever something happens during the application process, its date gets 'reset', and it'll move back to the top of the list...if that makes sense. As an example, here are the results of "amusement park rides". You can click on any of these links, some have more info than others (usually, the further along an application is, the more information will be in here). For example, Hershey's new Candymonium doesn't really offer much, but their Whitecap Racer has more information, including actual logos. Clicking on Whitecap Racer, and then clicking the TSDR button, and then clicking Documents takes you to another page. From here, anything that says "Specimen" usually has images of product related to the patent (usually hats, t-shirts, cups, etc.... gift shop stuff). In this case, looks like we're seeing cup lids or poker chips, but it's got a logo on it, so that's cool! If you look up Fury's, you'll see keychains, shot glasses, all kinds of stuff. Keeping our eyes on this prior the announcement may give us the official name and logo, but at the same time, this kind of information could also come after we already know that stuff.
  15. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    I reviewed the current piers/footings and this is what I've come up with. The green is what I'll call done (both pier and footing), yellow is pier-only complete, magenta is not started, and no-highlight is either not visible, not clear enough, or not started. Out of the ~75 piers/footings in this area, about 40% are complete, about 45% just have the piers complete, and the remaining is either hard/impossible to see or not started yet. Pretty solid numbers so far! Definitely agree with you. Those are 2 different grays. Glossy concrete gray for the supports. That particular piece is the very bottom of the main drop backbone support piece. The shear key on the very left of that piece mounts into the footing on the ground. Just for discussion, Copperhead Strike was announced 8/30/18 but the trademark was filed 4/9/18. Valravn was announced 9/9/15 (originally intended for 8/18/15) but the trademark was filed 4/17/15. Meanwhile, GateKeeper had its trademark filed AND was announced on the same day, 8/13/12. Steel Vengeance had its trademark filed on 8/15/17 and was officially announced the following day, on 8/16/17. 'Polaris' and 'Orion' were filed around the 'early' trademark filing date, but there are past examples out there that they may just file a new trademark the day of the announcement. I do not believe they're filing trademarks for names they never intend to use--they're just keeping their options open. As another user mentioned, these are just newer pipes with oil still fresh on the exterior. Here's a closeup image of several newer steel pipes versus the one on the bottom that's been sitting out for a while. Last, for any remaining naysayers out there saying the blueprints are fake, or this blue track is not KI's, I offer the below. These 3 pieces of track match identically to the existing blueprints in the turnaround area. Note where the support mounts are, which match where the footings are on the blueprints. Carowinds brought in Fury's equivalent piece of the EL.3 piece (shown below) into the park, prior to their announcement, as part of a show piece for the big announcement, so maybe we'll see something similar with KI.
  16. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    The electrical plans indicate DMX lighting will be used. I'm not an expert, but DMX lighting is far from being simple, 'dumb' lights. These are lights that I believe the color can be changed in an instant and can easily accomplish fades, chasing effects, lighting changing to the seasons, etc. (so, "fun stuff" for lights). KCL Engineering designed and installed the lighting package for Hangtime at KBF, while TPR provided the physical DMX lighting/hardware. KCL seems to have more of a relationship with Gerstlauer than CF, but they've at least worked with CF before (on Hangtime), so perhaps there's some precedent there that they'll work with CF again, possibly on KI's giga. The Drunk Rider's February 9, 2019 podcast has some more info there, as well as the sites below. I don't think KI's giga will get a light package as extensive as Hangtime's, but I think something like Fury's is certainly a possibility. https://www.kclengineering.com/lighting-theme-and-thrill https://tprlights.com/
  17. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Seeing your images made me wonder how large the quonset hut will be. Adjusting the overhead electrical plans to proper scale to match where the foundation plans have the footings, the quonset hut is right at 30'x40', which appears to be a fairly standard size for huts after a quick search. Not quite as large as the ones you have imaged, but still cool! After all, the quonset will only hold 3 main queue rows according to below, with perhaps some decor between the two sets, so it won't be a huge hut. I'm sure it'll be cool nonetheless. The electrical plans show an extensive light package will be underneath all high points of the coaster. Not sure how that'll compare to what Fury has, but I'm sure it'll look quite good. Page 0-E7.4 with keynotes ES30 and ES34 of the electrical plans detail this. I detailed this many, many posts ago if you feel like digging thru old posts. Use the keynotes to find where they're located along the track's path.
  18. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    I reached out to Mason's Eng/Building Dept. via email and received confirmation from them that no new additional plans/blueprints have been submitted yet. Also confirmed that the foundation plans and electrical plans that we have already seen are the only ones that exist so far. Because of this, I do not expect to see any additional footings/piers to be drilled anytime 'soon' that are beyond the lift/station/transfer/brake area, but electrical work can still commence in all areas detailed by the electrical plans. I say 'soon' because, even though no new plans have been submitted yet, it only took the original foundation plans a total of 2 days to get approved...so new work beyond what's shown on the existing foundation plans may still happen soon, but the plans just haven't been submitted to the city yet.
  19. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    I agree it's not part of the chain lift portion of the lifthill, but it has the larger box spine seen in the lift/crest/drop, not part of the brake section. The ties in this piece are different than their standard track ties. I'd guess that this piece is the piece at the crest just after the chain stops. In the blueprint, you can see a dashed circular outline in the very top piece (yellow circle below). This is the return gear wheel for the chain. I'm guessing the piece of track we're talking about is the piece just beyond this, circled in red, or the piece just beyond that. Below is basically the same piece on Fury. You can see there's no chain through in the previous piece. From below: https://www.coaster101.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Fury19.jpg
  20. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    In the link quoted above, some of the images show new clearing down towards Racer's turnaround. This clearing is near an overhead electrical line. Per the electrical blueprints, this area is marked with an ES28 tag, which explains that the overhead lines will be replaced by an underground conduit. With the electrical blueprints already being released, I'd expect this will occur before any bigger construction goes on in this area, meaning that the additional clearing we see going on in this area may just be for this move of electrical service.
  21. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Hah! He is The Beast. It looks like he's removing the protector end plates that keep the edges of the rail from damage prior to assembly. Here's a closeup image of those plates and a footing. Pic from here: http://newsplusnotes.blogspot.com/2013/10/scott-and-carol-present-kings-island_28.html
  22. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Yes. They want the track pieces to bolt together squarely without 'fighting' any resistance from the supports where they meet the ground, so they will keep the support-footing connections 'loose' until the track in the vicinity is bolted tight. If it weren't for this small bit of float, then the track pieces may not bolt together as they're intended and could leave a noticeable kink in the track connection. They can also manually adjust these areas too. Here's an image from Banshee's construction where you can see two hydraulic jacks (beefier version of what you'd use to lift up your car). They may have used these to lift the supports another inch or two to meet up with the track at top. Image is from KIC's construction pics of Banshee.
  23. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    It is all interesting stuff, that's for sure. Here is a very short video explaining the grout used under the footings. The video isn't for a coaster, but similar in idea. In the video, you saw him make a wooden frame 'dam' around the support that the grout is poured into. You'll see similar wooden frame dams on KI's coaster too, but some of these support grout fillings won't be completed until the track has been bolted together. Here are some related images from GateKeeper's construction. All pics are from: https://cpfansite.com/2013/01/GateKeeper-construction-update/
  24. BSBMX

    Decoding 2020

    Nice! Can you link to where those pics came from? Looks interesting. So the pink stuff looks like normal pink foam insulation, which is fairly rigid but lightweight, cheap, and easy to cut. They're using it to create forms, or essentially negative molds, to create the grout pockets in the tops of the footings. The steel plate and the bar directly underneath it (laying on top of the pink foam) is there while the concrete cures to keep the pink foam from floating upwards and around as well as keeping the rebar suspended within the concrete until it is cured enough. That steel plate (and bars and pink foam) would be removed prior to the actual support being placed. On the bottom of these supports, there is a "shear key", which is a small protrusion that loosely fits into the grout pocket (what the pink foam 'molded'). The shear key can be used as a last resort of keeping the support from sliding off the footing until everything is tightened, cured, etc. It also can be used to poka-yoke the support to its footing so that it can only go one way. Once the support is installed, you'd still see a small gap between the footing and the support. This gap is later filled with concrete grout, which fills in the grout pocket, around the shear key, and fully fills beneath the support (in theory) so there are no gaps or air pockets. There are way better pics out there, but I remember seeing this one yesterday, so I included it below. This is an example of a shear key on one of Hershey's pieces. This is a low-to-the-ground piece where there's no separate support, but same idea here. That shear key would fit into a grout pocket on a footing. The blueprints also give an example of a top view and side view of the grout pocket and shear key. Note in the top view, you can see the elongated octagon shape of the grout pocket form, similar to what you show in your pics.
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