silver2005

^Are you seriously comparing Wikipedia/Screamscape and their obvious tendencies to have false and inconsistent information to something that is a proven fact? What loopholes? What is this I don't even.

I have to go with GCI. I have yet to ride one that's disappointed me and they also build the best wooden coaster trains in existence. I hope that Kings Island is lucky enough to get one someday.

^Do you realize how many countless times Banshee (or any other ride) has probably gotten stuck on the lift hill this year and was never reported?

Must be a reeaaallly slow news day if this is what they're reporting on.

I used to have a love/hate relationship with Drop Tower as I wasn't a fan of free fall. I've gotten used to it over many re-rides, and its probably the only ride in the park that still gives me a true adrenalin rush.

I'd design a GCI twister, between 110 and 125 ft, that also takes advantage of the terrain, much like Thunderhead. If I were really ambitious, it would be a dueling coaster.

Honestly, I don't have issues with Diamondback being a regular Fast Lane ride. I do have issues with how many people Diamondback is putting through on an hourly basis this year. There are some crews that are exceptions to this, but the load/interval times this year on Diamondback have not been good. I'd MUCH rather Kings Island do away with the (completely unnecessary) seat belts and focus on better capacity than move Diamondback to Fast Lane Plus. I can't imagine too many people buying regular Fast Lane if Banshee, Diamondback, FOF and Firehawk were all only on Plus. The seat belts aren't the issue. When I last went, the crews checked everything quickly like they should, but then stood around doing nothing. It felt like the guy in the drive box was waiting for the trains to stack before dispatching.

I have a question regarding the ride. Why did they change the program from the original Tomb Raider program in the first place?

I've given this some thought and did a LOT of research and just looking at how the trains attach to the Topper Track. I'm in the middle of flip flopping and saying Topper Track rides are steel coasters, and here's why. While there is wood in the track portion, the actual wheels don't touch any wood. The lower layers of wood serve really serve no purpose except perhaps to make the construction cheaper than if it were entirely steel a la Iron Horse. The layer of steel on the top is the only thing the wheels are touching. While wood coasters do have steel plates where all the wheels make contact, they are thin and the wood bending and warping from the weather, wear and tear, etc. still has an affect on the ride experience. That probably is less the case, if at all, with the Topper Track (just guessing here). I've heard recent, although unconfirmed, reports that Guinness is not giving records for the wooden category to Goliath (I have yet to find a source, only going by hearsay at the moment). I guess the confusion stems from the fact that some existing woodies have had Topper Track renovations which only replaced portions of the track. The one I know for sure is Tremors at Silverwood, which in its current state, most would be still more apt to calling a wooden coaster than the likes of Outlaw Run and Goliath.

Well, you might want to talk to RMC about it as they consider Goliath's track wood (as do I). http://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/topper-track.php

^I've raised that question as well. The big thing I see is that the gap between family friendly coasters and the huge thrill rides is starting to widen a great deal. However, I see a few contenders. Mack has a train design which is family friendly but isn't afraid to do inversions. Those also only have a height requirement of 1.3 meters (4.2 ft) which could easily fill in for an Arrow or Schwarzkopf. Gerstlauer has made trains for Sooperdooperlooper at Hersheypark, which they could probably design something to use those trains themselves. They certainly aren't afraid of inversions seeing they have a coaster which holds the inversion record. Zeirer and Zamperla are kind of unknowns to me. Premier probably could if they made something with a launch that isn't too intense. B&M is starting to delve into family coasters now. They also have trains for Steel Dragon 2000 with a height requirement of only 122 cm (4 ft). They might be able to pull that off. You could bring RMC into the equation as well. Either the Topper Track or the Iron Horse would be ideal and I'm guessing it wouldn't be too hard to ask them to tone down the intensity a tad. As of right now, I wouldn't trust Intamin with building a merry-go-round as they are seemingly finding ways to screw up rides (Shoot the Rapids for instance, how do you screw up a log flume?!) Vekoma has kind of fallen of the face of the Earth. I haven't seen any new rides from them in quite a while aside from a few of their new family Boomerangs popping up. They're supposed to have new train designs as seen on their Battlestar Galactica ride (which is now SBNO). Their other standard looping models are pretty rough from what I hear. S&S would probably be a no-go, mainly because other than a sub-par capacity El Loco model, their rides are are all super intense launchers or 4D coasters (I'm surprised they didn't pick up on Arrow's other designs).

Silver Dollar City would like to disagree.

Two things to add to the thread. First, I need some people familiar with The Beach to advise me on how long it would take to get through all the attractions there in a single visit or anything else I should do while I'm there. I'm planning on going towards the end of June. Second, I'll be back at Coney Island on the 3rd with the UC Jazz Band for the Balloon Glow.

Trip report from 6/3/14 The day started a little slow for me. I woke up feeling a little weary, so I took a few meds to help me out and I mostly felt okay through the day. Arrived too late for ERT, thus I decided to skip Banshee in the morning as I had my Soak City clothes with me. I managed to ride Racer, Vortex, Beast and Woodstock Express before Soak City opened. Diamondback was down the first few hours with trains stuck on the lift and the mid course brakes. Met up with malem en route. We pretty much did everything in the water park minus the kids areas, but including the Pipeline Paradise body surfing ride. Crowds were pretty light in the water park. Aside from 5 minute waits for Mondo Monsoon (the Tornado) and Zoom Flume (the multi-person raft), sildes were walk on. Waits for the whole park didn't exceed 30 minutes, at least for the rides we went on (didn't do Delirium or Firehawk due to personal preferences). We got to a large amount of the rides in the park throughout the day. Managed to squeeze in a viewing of the Cirque Imagine show around dinner. I really liked it. It had a bit of an abstract aura to it and at a few points it kind of seemed like the performers were ad libbing (making a few things up) in their routines, at least early in the show. Felt like it had a certain bit of sophistication to it, but I can't exactly pinpoint why that is. Its refreshing to see something like that at a seasonal chain amusement park. Stayed until closing where we got a few Banshee night rides in before close. It only had a 5 minute wait or even walk on waits that night. The crew was really working fast. I figured they'd take it down a little bit with the lack of line. They need to turn down the volume of the speakers and talk slower as I had a hard time understanding what they were saying. On the other hand, Diamondback was stacking really bad. I'm not normally one to complain about stacking, and if it were about spending more time checking restraints, I wouldn't mind. But half the time they were standing around doing nothing. The seat belts or bins weren't the reasons. They could have dispatched trains much faster than what they were, but for some reason, they were holding back. I don't understand it. Diamondback actually had the longest wait for that, and it could have been half or a third of what they were doing if they were dispatching in timely intervals. Ugh. Oh, and during our dusk ride, we heard there was a fight in the station which held things up a bit. Kind of odd. I do admit, I pushed myself a bit much towards the end of the day. 3 in a row on Banshee really got to me with all that balls-to-the-wall intensity. But in the end, I had a fun day.

So I slightly overtaxed myself today. It was warmer than I expected and might have pushed myself a little too hard. Had fun no matter how you slice it though. Will post a TR tomorrow.

Harsh much? You're allowed to feel sympathy for the victims while also wondering when the ride will open. Wondering about one doesn't negate the other.

The rumor is it will be the next coaster up for a RMC re-tracking.

Does Kings Island have spare motors at the park or do they have to call up Premier and order one?

Do we even know RMC is actually refurbishing Twisted Twins? I haven't heard or read anything about it. I would honestly expect them to have Gravity Group do that before RMC, seeing that the former Gravity Group team, once known as Custom Coasters International, designed it. This is a ride I would love to see a set of Timberliners on, which have worked on smaller wooden coasters not unlike Twisted Twins.

Love that storm shot of Banshee. Now someone get a storm photo with the station.

Six Flags considers Goliath wood. http://content.sixflags.com/comingin2014/greatamerica/goliath/ I consider it wood as well. The Topper Track system uses a similar system to wood coasters, only replacing the top two wood layers with steel. Wood still has an affect on the ride experience. The ride's structure doesn't play a factor into the type it is. For example, Gemini has a wood structure, but it a steel coaster due to the actual track being steel. Voyage is a wood coaster despite having a steel structure. Here is Goliath's track. Yeah, I see a few layers of wood there.

On a similar note, I believe The Beast was marketed at 70 mph.

You must have missed this one then. Photo courtesy of RCDB. Also, whenever someone has brought up Intamin's reliability record, I have yet to hear someone try to defend them for it. Just sayin'.

I prefer wooden coasters to steel coasters any day of the week.

Well, for all you Intamin fans, why can't you have a thrilling and reliable ride from them? Is that too hard to ask from them? If you want any indication of how they're viewed, look at how their American projects have waned, almost exponentially over the last 5 years. Look how long its taken them to fix our very own Drop Tower. I've said this many times, but if you really want something from Intamin, Mack has a lot of the same things and they have a better track record when it comes to reliability.