bradb055

I think a Bat themed ride would be fun, but is probley unlikely. Its still fun to read about the orginal and see the changes that have been made to the new suspended and inverted coasters. Here is a great site I found on The Bat. The Bat

I have seen the shows that are directed to just one park, but the show that I mentioned above showcases all of the featured rides that year. I believe the show is called Thrills, Chills, and Spills. I have not seen the show on in several months. If you go to Discovery Channel.com you can do a search for this show or others similar. Also, I found a fun little coaster builder here. Coaster Builder

PKIJake, Ok this might be a bit extravigant, but if you want to build a working model you could steal a stearing servo out of a remote controll car and use it to power your model. This would make your model actualy funtion with use of the matching controller to the car. Like I said before it might be a bit much but if you could pull it off it would be fun to play with!! You may be able to pick a servo or a small motor at Radio Shack.

Im not too sure how tracks are measured specificly. I assume that the measurment would come from the middle of the track in order to be accuate. I do konw that the computer programs that are used to design the tracks on modern coasters will do all of the calcuations as far as length. My best guess, and I do emphisize GUESS, is that a wheel is attached to each side of the track (left and right) and the average between the two lengths is calculated. Good luck in actually finding out.

Try this link... Sorry still a Newbie Coaster History

If any one is interested I found a small bit of roller coaster history in general. It does mention the genious John Allen and The Racer. Here is the link Coaster History. I may have some more info later on the history of PKI especialy the coasters. I did a ten page report on rollercoasters for an English class.

What kind of Model are you talking about? Computer generated or phisical model? If your making a computer generated model I would suggest a program called soild edge. Its what a lot of engineering copanies are starting to use to design parts and systems. Auto-cad will also work but I believe you would need to find the mechaincal desktop add on. As far as a phiscal model is conserned... hummm. Ill have to get back to you on that one. Ill look in my engineering books and see what might be easy to shape. Wood is the first thing that comes to mind because it is easy to cut and shape. Sorry I just dont have all the info you need right now.

Yes, a small bit of the tunnel still exists. I have seen it I believe near the second entrance to HBBL. And like TheRickster mentioned I believe it is covering the tables. That used to be one of the main hilights of my trip to the park as a kid. Sometimes I wish it was still there so I could enjoy a nice cool spot on a hot summers day. O well such is life. I cant say that I dont enjoy the "new" HHBL. Maybe too much LOL.

I have seen PKI on the discovery channel when they did a special on 03 rides. Delium was on first, and had about a 10 min slot. It was quite interesting. Also, when discovery, tlc, or histoy channel does there theme park episodes they frequently vist PKI. Sometimes its just a clip from a coster or ride and sometimes they do a whole 5-10 min segment on it. Unfortunatly they dont show these episodes very often. Keep your eyes open for any episodes on one of these channels and I'll bet you'll be suprised on how many clips of PKI are shown. Although, somtimes they could be showing clips from sister parks, coasters, or rides.

Adding tunnels to SoB is a must! One of the defining features of The Beast is the tunnels so why not SoB? I guess the argument could be made that SoB is trying to be orginal. Tunnels, in my mind, seem to an easy feature to add without changing the rides characteristics and track layout. If it was my desision, which it is not, I would add tunnels for 04.

I was also there Saturday the 11th... It was a bit crowded! I only rode 3 rides in about 2.5 hours. I gave up on waiting for the haunted house lines. Psycho Path was out near the games. Too much for me. O well, at least it was free!!! I'll Try again next weekend and the weekend after that. Also, for those of you looking for the review on the haunted house on Harrison ave, I hopfully will attend that soon (yes, Im a West sider). The only news I have now is that in years past it was just alright. The good news is, that it is cheep!