dakota2112

I have home movies from KI circa 2005, involving a loved one who is no longer with us (RIP). On those home movies, these songs were playing in the background, so these will forever be tied to KI for me: by The Miracles

Are you talking about a list of rides for your first visit of the year? For 99% of my visits, I go in a counter-clockwise loop around the park and hit the same stops every time, so unless I change things up this year then it will be: DB Beast Shake Rattle & Roll Vortex Action Theater? Zephyr Flight of Fear Racer (occasional visit to Outer Hanks) AE Flight Deck Drop Tower Delirium Invertigo

They probably do not apply grease "on", but rather "in", via grease fittings. But where there are grease fittings, there will often be excess grease/grime to be found accidentally. I can say this from experience!

One and only one answer: Flight Deck

If the rails were completely ice covered, the coefficient of friction between the wheels and the rails is reduced. If anything, the wheels would be sliding along instead of spinning like they're supposed to, at least in certain places. This means less kinetic energy is lost to friction and heat in the wheel bearings. But there are probably other factors as well. Wheel bearings sometimes have more rotational resistance when they run cooler, so that may act as a braking factor in places where sufficient friction is available between the wheel and the rail. I'd be surprised if there's much difference either way, but it's an interesting question!

Completely unrelated to the topic at hand, but: great avatar, TB!

I'm petrified of heights, but it's part of the thrill. Drop Tower has all the elements for me... hundreds of feet off the ground, completely open-air environment with "nothing" underneath you, and an agonizingly slow ascent. Maybe I'm sadistic, but I enjoy testing/torturing myself by riding it. At one point in time, my fear of heights did actually prevent me from riding Drop Tower frequently. But I've overcome that to the point that it's a fear-induced adrenaline rush now. What scares the daylights out of me? The thought of riding that Drop Tower ride in Las Vegas - the one which STARTS about 900 feet off the ground...

Of course I joined that group! That group needs a new tagline. Their current one - "Save the good quality Wood Coasters of America" - is not applicable towards SOB.

A link to the state engineer's inspection report is in here somewhere in a fairly recent post. It has very detailed information about what happened, including pictures of the failed components.

In order to effectively use that, they'd have to run both sides. At least on my visits, seeing both sides running (much less racing) is the exception, not the rule. ...and, a fancy laser lightshow would detract from the "nostalgia" associated with The Racer. (I'm being both sarcastic and serious at the same time )

I would pay like $3-$5 for a block of SoB wood with the name stamped on it. It's a huge markup by the park, most customers would find that to be a reasonable price, AND it costs almost nothing for the park to make. (and it's cheaper than most park souveniers!) Assuming a nice down-payment on a roller coaster is $1M, then all it would take is you, plus only 199,999 more people willing to buy a $5 chunk of wood.

The answer to your first question almost certainly is yes, of course someone on the "inside" knows. But generally speaking, those who know don't talk, and vice versa. Having said that however, there was one comment in particular which was posted in this thread somewhere which, to me, strongly suggests one way or the other. You figure out the rest

I suspect a lot of enthusiasts would buy into that, but would the general public be interested? And who knows, maybe there are liability issues. Someone might get a splinter in their finger from handling their little piece of SoB.

As for Son of Beast, I think you all would agree with me... "it is what it is."

What is missing from all this, or at least in my mind, is... what's been done to the ride since 2006 and now. The state engineer who prepared the 2006 report and was mentioned in the article clearly said that without computer analysis, the net effect of a localized band-aid fix would be unpredictable. Reinforcing the point of failure would transfer the excessive load to the surrounding structure, and so on. Between that, and things like finding loose bolts elsewhere on the ride... what's been done since 2006? Did they do an overall finite element or other computer analysis on the structure? Did they reinforce the entire helix?

That is a great article by the way. Thanks for posting that.

I think the gist of what people are saying is that bigger is not always better. And in some ways, SOB has proven that to be true, has it not? A balance must be struck between quality (ride experience) and quantity (physical dimensions of the ride).

LOL. Way to make me laugh right as I get out of bed! You read the KIC forums while you're getting out of bed?

If it's crowded, you should plan on saving a large chunk of time for FOF if you intend to ride it. Both times I've ridden that thing this year, the line has moved......... very.................... slowly.

Well I'm not making up my story. My restraint did indeed open up "one click" after starting up the lift hill. I am paranoid about restraints opening mid-ride, so I habitually push forcefully against the restraint numerous times after it's been checked by the ride op, to convince myself that it's secure. But this last time, once the train started going up the lift hill, the restraint suddenly gave me a couple extra inches of clearance, after it had passed my own personal push-test. I was facing downhill, so my weight was against the restraint when it loosened up, and that's what got my attention. However I dismissed it afterwards as just an anomaly, or maybe even my paranoid imagination. But then when leaving the park that day, I overheard someone else say, quote, "my restraint started to come open on Invertigo when I rode it!". That tells me it wasn't just my imagination.

That looks exactly like what it did when I saw it get stuck that time.

On my last two visits to the park, Invertigo seems to have been having some issues. Two visits ago, the train came to a stop before it was back in the station for unloading, and the people were stuck on it for what seemed like forever (45 mins to an hour perhaps? I didn't time it, but it was a long time as I was next in line, after having waited in a relatively long line). Then on the last visit, my restraint loosened up one-click during the lift hill. I thought it was just my imagination, but I heard someone else mention the same thing while exiting the park. Hearing someone else mention their restraint loosened up kind of alarmed me, as I then knew it wasn't just my imagination. I'm one who, by nature, has some amount of distrust in restraint mechanisms, especially those that do not have a safety belt. And this is exactly why. Of course this one has a safety belt, so I didn't feel in that much danger, but still, I don't think it should've loosened up any... Anyone notice anything abnormal going on with Invertigo? Just curious as this is becoming a favorite for my son, and if it's being plagued by gremlins, I'd like to know about it.

Bingo That's exactly what I'm talking about - the distinct difference between the sensation felt on the 1st drop compared to the (lack of) sensation felt on the subsequent "airtime" hills. I'm curious as to why that is. As for the mentality - yes, the first ride of the day is usually best. It's like you forgot how intense it was, even though it's only been a few days or weeks since you last rode it. I also have another trick: don't look down the hill, but rather, keep your eyes focused on the crest of an upcoming hill as the drop begins. This somehow makes the 1st drop even more intense. Not really necessary on DB, but it does help amplify Racer's 1st drop, for me anyways.

I still don't understand how I can float up out of my seat on DB's second hill, yet not experience any sort of "weightlessness" sensation whatsoever. Maybe I'm not experiencing the same sensations as some other people are, but except for that wicked 1st drop, I feel no remarkable vertical G-force sensations at all on DB, despite the massive amount of float-out-of-my-seat airtime. That really perplexes me, and is somewhat of a let-down. A few other people cited similar experiences in that other thread, so I know I'm not the only one. I'm just trying to understand the physics of it. By comparison, when I ride Racer, there are several midcourse hills which provide the float-out-of-my-seat airtime AND the weightless sensation that I crave. What I don't get is, why does Racer's airtime hills do this, but DB's do not.

Ok so DB 2nd hill is "ejector air", and the intense 1st hill stomach-floating sensation is "floating air"? What then differentiates an ejector air hill from a floating air hill? I understand the basics about a projectile object in free-fall following a parabolic arc and all that, and I know airplanes that fly in a parabolic arc inducing simulated weightlessness are affectionately known as "vomit comet" etc. Yet on DB's parabolic-looking 2nd hill, there is no sensation induced at all. Why?