silver2005

$66 for tickets? Is that for the entire day or just the early session? Ain't bad either way.

Holy white out Batman!

Had a dream I was there for opening day this year, but waited until 5-6 pm to ride anything for some reason. Last thing I remember was entering the Banshee queue under the dive loop.

*Italicized for emphesis. So how come Hades 360 bombed? I've heard pretty terrible reviews of it. I think it comes down to the track design over trains. You can have the best wooden trains imaginable, but the way the track is designed is key. Woodies that are taller, mainly ones with higher curves taken at higher speeds tend not to do well. Wooden coaster structures (wood or steel) sway a lot with that combination of elements, creating rough spots. John Allen was a HUGE believer in this. That's why I'm pretty sure Timberliners wouldn't have saved Son of Beast and they'd probably fail on Voyage as well. Timberliners (nor Millennium Flyers for that matter) are not an instant cure for bad wooden track design. Pre-fabs like El Toro or special wooden track designs like Outlaw Run are exceptions. Reviews from who? ACErs? Take their opinion with a grain of salt. Ask the track walkers & mechanics if the Timberliners make their job easier. Trains make all the difference in the world. Retrofit some Vekoma invert trains for a B&M Batman and tell me it's not about the trains. Actually, Hades 360 placed 168 out of 183 wooden coasters on the Mitch Hawker poll. I think that's as good an indication as any that its not as good as it was intended to be. Also, comparing switching out trains on a steel coaster in comparison to a wood coaster is a bit odd. Wood coaster structures have more 'life' to them and are affected by more elements than steel coaster- weather, trains, they sway more, etc. So of course switching trains on a steel coaster don't make much difference. In reference to the Timberliners, they may do a lot of things that help alleviate maintenance, but they still have an impact on the track. They still weigh a few tons, which will still cause higher speedy turns to sway a lot and cause rough spots. That's what made rides like Son of Beast, the original Texas Giant, Mean Streak, and Rattler uncomfortable for most (I use 'for most' as some people do like those rides, I'm convinced a majority of people don't though). On something like Voyage, you have all those high speed highly banked curves which those trains would have the same effect. Before you bring up Beast, might I remind you that the only 2 drops over 100 ft are the ones coming off the chain lifts, the rest are on structures that aren't all that high off the ground. Even the helix is built pretty low, using a hillside to its advantage. Other than Hades 360, most of the Timberliner trains are being used on wooden coasters 50 ft or shorter.

My gut feeling is that circle is where the lockers will be located.

Dollywood never ceases to amaze me. This coaster epitomizes what they're all about- mixing thrills in with a family atmosphere which about any demographic can enjoy. I mean, even those not able to ride it can enjoy it as it just looks fun to watch. The more simplistic aspect of the trains is something that sticks out- proves you don't need fancy hardware to make a great ride either. I'm still always amazed at the technology they can throw on a coaster these days- the switch track synchronizing with the little show they have when it stops, the audio and visual theming, etc. I like how it backs into the station much like a firetruck would back into a firehouse; a simple little aesthetic addition that works well. Looks like a really fun little ride.

^Ah, I wasn't aware of that differentiation. silver2005, learning.

1. PST- Pacific Standard Time, EST- Eastern Standard Time 2. You have it right, the game was Thursday, the original flight was Thursday afternoon, got bumped to Friday afternoon. Yeah, I'll clear anything I may have messed up in that big post. I'm not going back and editing it.

Here are the pictures. Album- http://s515.photobucket.com/user/Strobelyte/library/NCAA%20Tournament%20Trip%202014%20Spokane?sort=3&page=1 Highlights The first bit is from the tour of Fairchild Air Force Base. The main use of this base is to house the Air Force's KC-135 fleet, which are aerial tanker aircraft. They opened up one of them so we could take a look. Now, the story of how this occurred goes like this. We found out about the base and said- 'hey, something to do'. Our athletic director got in touch with the base and got us a gig. Unfortunately, we needed someone with access to a military ID. Turned out by sheer coincidence on of our band members had a retired military dad, so just like that, we got the gig. If I make it sound like it was a last minute plan, that's because it entirely was. The KC-135 flight line. There were 9 aircraft here at the time. It was pretty cool to see them all lined up so neatly. They were very precise on what vehicles went in and out of there. They checked the buses for stoned and things in the tires so they don't make their way onto the area where the planes are kept, to keep that stuff out of the engines. Fun fact- most of these planes are pushing 50 years old. Needless to say, the personnel informed us that a replacement should be in the works. This window is for the rear person to control the fuel boom and link it up with aircraft to refuel them. Quite the tiny crawlspace. The fuel boom. Those winglets help keep it stable whilst flying. (Apologies to thedevariousaffect if I'm using the wrong terminology). Some of the main hangars. Why yes, band does indeed rock. That's UC's band director btw, Dr Terren Frenz. This was my favorite part of the trip. This pep rally at an elementary school on the base. The orange shirts were for a kid who had a bone marrow transplant. For me, who underwent my own medical troubles a few years ago, it was just so great to see kids that age support something like that. Still choked up about that gig. Ok, so back to Spokane. A small portion of the park behind our hotel. The water looks calm here, but its split off from the main river. The Spokane River is anything but tranquil. Plenty of these guys. And these guys. A little abstract artwork. Yes, this big wagon is a thing in Spokane. Yes, that is a slide, which we may or may not have had some fun with while some of us were a tad tipsy. Shenanigans ensued. Random clock tower in the park. So yeah, there was also a small amusement park in this area. A few small rides, including a small powered coaster I didn't see (RCDB confirmed there was one there). If it looks like I'm close, that's because you could get that close without trespassing. Guys, I found Kings Island's future Ferris wheel. If Spokane had an iconic structure, this would be it. I have no clue what its for other than to string lights to, and the way its tilted isn't settling. I'd guess it was about 200 ft tall, and it was connected to this rail that circled in a wave pattern around the perimeter. The powered coaster is in that large building at the bottom left portion of the picture. There was also an IMAX theater. A view of downtown Spokane. That building in the foreground houses a small carousel as well as info for the sky ride. Apparently Spokane housed a World's Fair in 1974. Might explain that weird tower structure. I wonder why this sign is here, water seems calm... Oh, that. As you can see by that bridge, most of them spanned across with no supports in the middle. A combination of the pounding water and winds made them sway a little bit. It was a tad unnerving to be right above them. And trust me, that is a LOT of water surging through. The remnants of a power station that burned down in 1889. More waterfalls. That rock formation is pretty huge. A statue of astronaut Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson. He was a Spokane native who perished on Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003. Oh, right, there was a basketball game. Inside Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Capacity approx. 14,000. Reminded me a lot of US Bank Arena. Spokane has a minor league hockey team as well as an indoor football team. Gearing up for the game. The Harvard Crimson warming up. The Harvard Crimson band. While you only see 1 tuba, they also carried 2 bari saxes on them. They sounded pretty good, though they annoyingly only played current pop charts, no classic pop/rock charts. Picture is blurry as I was taking it in between Harvard players flying around. A better looking scoreboard than most of the game. Mr. Second Team All-American and the team preparing to take the court. Ready for tip-off. Last picture I took. The 2nd half was pretty miserable. And for something completely different to end off on. Silverwood brochure!

I'm going to break this last bit up into 2 posts- this one to cover the rest of the trip and the next to share the photos (took nearly 100, will link the entire album and post highlights). Day 3- Game Day Our report time was 9 am, which I'm still unsure why. We were within walking distance of the arena, but we had this absurdly early report time and had to bus there. BTW, we scrapped meeting with Harvard's band the previous night, mostly as there isn't a lot to do nor that great of places to eat in Spokane to house two 30 piece pep bands, plus we learned they were staying on the complete opposite side of town. They had pretty sharp uniforms, crimson blazers to befit their name with black slacks, and a shirt and tie. Certainly different than the average college pep band's outfit. So we got to the arena, traded tunes with Harvard for about 45-50 minutes until the game started. The place was pretty full for the morning session, all 8 teams' fans in there somewhere (UC, OU, Harvard, MSU, NDST, SDST, Deleware, NMST), and even some Gonzaga fans (Gonzaga's campus is in Spokane). As I mentioned in the NCAA basketball thread, the ones that weren't in UC apparel were rooting for Harvard the entire time. The few, older fans we had were pretty silent. Most of the cheering came from the band and cheerleaders. The pictures I did get were a bit spontaneous as I was switching between that and playing (some may be blurry, not the best angle, etc). So yeah, the game happened, UC ran out of gas, and despair swept through Bearcat nation. Blah. Now at that point, we were under the impression we were leaving later that day. Turns out it got bumped to Friday afternoon. While it was nice to not have to go right to a 3 and 1/2 hour flight right after getting knocked out of the tournament, most of us at that point just wanted to get out of Dodge. A lot of my bandmates with stronger stomachs took to drinking. Myself, I went out and took in some more of Spokane, had a few drinks and turned in. The group I was in went back to the park to check out the sky ride. If I haven't mentioned this yet, there was a park right by the hotel which the Spokane River flowed through. Spokane is quite the hilly city, and that made for some awesome waterfalls and dam works which was awesome to look at. The sky ride takes you right over the lower part of the falls. Didn't have my camera for that part, but in any case, it was pretty awesome. We left Friday at noon (PDT), landed back at CVG at 6 (EDT). I'd also like to mention that on the trips to and from the airport, we had police escort. We probably covered that distance in less than half an hour. For plane experts on here, we took a 737 to Spokane and came back on a 757. This is team, band, mascot and cheerleaders (and school president on the way back).

Not to mention you guys will have all season and beyond to take plenty of better pictures in the park as opposed to pictures of it testing from half a mile outside the park.

This is a little more out of the box, but something I thought of would be the wooden equivalent of Maverick coming in. And by that, I mean a woodie with a lift and a launch. The launch could act as a MCBR of sorts (for more than 2 train operations), the coaster wouldn't need to be very tall (in other words, it'll be more comfortable for the long haul), and it would turn some heads as no one has attempted a launched woodie yet (launch coasters are a bit more reliable now than from the days of Flight of Fear's opening). Maybe put in 2-3 inversions, plenty of airtime, and you might have a winner.

See, I love The Gravity Group rides. I really do. The ones I've been on (Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Boardwalk Bullet) are all fantastic rides in their own way. (Boardwalk Bullet was also evil in its own way, but that's another topic for another time, after I've recovered from the traumatic brain damage.) Each of those rides has its own personality; there really is no common factor amongst any of those three rides similar to the way that B&Ms, Arrows, or even Intamins can have. The thing with Gravity Group rides, though, is that they've all only been installed at smaller parks. And I feel like the (assumed) fairly high maintenance cost has a lot to do with that. Beast and Racer both have their off years, and, dynamically, neither of those rides are too intense for the full duration of the ride. Can you imagine a large-scale corporate park trying to keep a ride like Voyage running well while balancing a maintenance budget for all the rest of the rides in the park? Holiday World seems to balance it well enough, but they're probably the biggest park out there that has a reputation for maintaining CCI/Gravity Group wooden coasters well, and that's with just three "grown-up" coasters. (I know Mt. Olympus has more than that, but I've yet to hear rave reviews for anything that park does for its coasters besides purchase them and pay once to have the biggest one retracked and get a new train.) Gravity Group rides have made this niche for themselves in the U.S. for being these showstopper rides that make small parks a big deal. I think the potentially high ongoing costs of them have kept them from becoming relevant to big parks, whereas a small park is willing to pay a lot more to maintain a ride that's going to keep them relevant versus big corporate parks. Heck, look at CCI's track record--I think the biggest parks with CCI installations are Knott's and Michigan's Adventure. That says a lot, especially when you consider when the parks added them. I know there are Timberliners to consider, but I start to wonder how Holiday World's decision to not use them and the mixed reviews of Hades 360 affected parks' perception of them. They really don't seem to be gaining traction, apart from places like Quassy and the park in New Hampshire. Then again, Mike Graham said at the ACE event at KI in December that what rough track remained on Hades 360 would be retracked this year, so who knows? First off, your assumption of GG coasters having high maintenance costs is wrong. It's actually quite the opposite when compared to other wood coasters with similar stats. Secondly, why would a small park invest heavily into a wood coaster if they know there are going to be "high maintenance costs?" Logic would tell you they would invest into a wood coaster that is the complete opposite. Going by your logic, large corporate parks would be the ones to invest in a GG coaster because they have more money to throw at it. Also, you can't compare CCI rides to GG.rides. There are/were different owners and different people making the decisions. In regards to the Timberliners not being used at HW, unless you know the whole story, which you don't, you really can't use that as an argument against the Timberliners. As for parks perception of them, I guess the perception is good considering more and more of the GG coasters have them now. The Timberliners are doing what they are advertised to do. I can promise you that *Italicized for emphesis. So how come Hades 360 bombed? I've heard pretty terrible reviews of it. I think it comes down to the track design over trains. You can have the best wooden trains imaginable, but the way the track is designed is key. Woodies that are taller, mainly ones with higher curves taken at higher speeds tend not to do well. Wooden coaster structures (wood or steel) sway a lot with that combination of elements, creating rough spots. John Allen was a HUGE believer in this. That's why I'm pretty sure Timberliners wouldn't have saved Son of Beast and they'd probably fail on Voyage as well. Timberliners (nor Millennium Flyers for that matter) are not an instant cure for bad wooden track design. Pre-fabs like El Toro or special wooden track designs like Outlaw Run are exceptions. As for the Intamin fail thing BB1 brought up, Intamin deserves some credit, their wooden coasters opened with little problems and are stellar designs. If Cedar Fair and Intamin get back on the same page, I'd be entirely happy with an Intamin wooden coaster. The problem with Kings Island getting another woodie, as many have brought up, is capacity. Then again, Kings Island does have the likes of Backlot, Firehawk and Invertigo which aren't exactly stellar in capacity either. Sometimes you have to forego capacity to add in a little variety, which for another woodie or something unique like a spinning coaster or a wild mouse, I'd be entirely okay with.

Just landed back in Cincinnati, probably going to relax all day Saturday. Might finish the trip report and post pictures either late tomorrow or Sunday. I'm pretty tired right now. Those long flights and early departures really drags on me.

For anyone waiting on what day 3 was like, I'll be posting that as soon as I get back to Cincinnati. Currently gearing up for the 4 hour flight home plus the jet lag (ugh). It may not be until Saturday until it's posted.

To be honest, I hope no one reveals the lighting package of Banshee. I want it revealed in its full glory at the end of opening day.

Just got back from the AFB gig. gobearcats.com already has the photo gallery up from the trip. http://www.gobearcats.com/view.gal?id=157594 We got to tour a bit of Fairchild AFB, including an up close look at a KC-135. We got a pizza buffet for lunch and played for AF service members as well as the elementary school on the base who were observing one of their own with bone marrow problems. I have to admit, this trip has a bit of a Blues Brothers' 'mission from God' type vibes to it. Its been a very interesting and rewarding trip. Gotta be up by 8:45 to head to the arena.

Thanks for clearing that up. I just wanted to double check. EDIT: So here's my day 1 report from Spokane. Had an early morning meeting before setting off. Not much to it as Tuesday was uneventful in terms of performing. We did learn we have a gig Wednesday morning at Fairchild AFB, with a possible tour in there. We'll see how that goes. So we split up and my group found a French-esque diner a few blocks from the hotel. It's likely to be our go-to breakfast spot as there isn't much to choose from within a reasonable walking distance. Afterwards, we just walked around aimlessly for the most part. We checked out the Spokane River with a few water falls and we partook in some shenanigans along the banks. Then we headed back into town and hopped around between shops, 2 of which we spent a few hours in looking at some rather interesting books. About 4 pm, we headed back to hotel and grabbed a bite at a local Chili's. A lot of us were still tired from the flight, so we decided to call it a day. I didn't get any pictures due to that fact as well, making sure to take it tomorrow though. Gotta be up at 9 tomorrow for the gig. Probably an early report time Thursday as its a 11:20 tip off, but we are within walking distance of the arena (known as Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, capacity 14,000). Saw a few fans from other teams, including Harvard and Michigan State. The Oklahoma team/band/fan buses pulled into our hotel as we came back.

Just to give you guys the kind of confidence behind the minds at B&M, when Nemesis opened at Alton Towers, John Wardley, a major concept designer in the industry and the creative mind behind AT's more infamous rides, infamously asked Walter Bolliger up front "What if the ride stalls? How will we get trains back to the station?" and Walter replied "Our coasters never stall. They always work perfectly the first time."

B&M coasters are pretty reliable. Diamondback operated with little problem during its first year. I would expect the same with Banshee. A big problem with Paramount-era rides were a lot of them were prototype rides, thus more suspect to downtime. Banshee is a relatively tried and true design with slight tinkers here and there, shouldn't be much problem.

thedevariouseffect might be happy to know we're playing a gig at Fairchild AFB tomorrow morning, apparently with a small tour as well. To alleviate multi-posting, I'll do one big edited post until someone replies.

Just landed safely in Spokane (which I've heard about 3 different pronunciations, I believe its Spo-Can, not Spo-Cane). We're at a hotel called the Double Tree by Hilton. A 4 star-ish hotel. Got $90 in allotment money, which is a tad low as it used to be $45 a day, but I'm told the pricing for food and such is fair. Got 2 days to kill before game time on Thursday. As I'm told, we leave on the day we lose or finish, so if we lose Thursday, we leave Thursday. After that 4 hour flight, I'm dreading the jet-lag coming back. My body doesn't like long flights. Might check out a distillery. We also were invited by Harvard's band to have dinner with them, which we're taking them up on. As for transportation, we took a chartered 737 out of CVG. There was an AWESOME full moon at our back, the clouds illuminated at night looked spectacular! EDIT: I do apologize for quadruple posting.

This is how to explain Son of Beast.

Leaving at 7:30 today! WOOT!

So yeah, UC is going to Spokane, Washington. If by some off chance anyone has been there, I'm open to tips (keep in mind- college students, limited transportation, etc). Weather is looking to be in the mid-40's with lots and lots of rain. As said, I will be posting a trip report with pictures, possibly from the hotel each night. A lot of 'experts' are picking UC to lose, but hey, that's why you play the game, so to speak. I like our chances to at least make it to the round of 32. It'll get interesting from there. LET'S GO BEARCATS!!!