TombRaiderFTW

Oh my gosh. I want one so bad.

In a twist (err...) today at IAAPA, Great Coasters International, Inc. announced a new model, the "Big Fun". They posted this video afterward: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Pee7s7cbWm8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I'm curious to know what everyone's thoughts are. I think it looks like a really fun layout, and you can definitely see the CCI influences (which is definitely a good thing, in my opinion--love me some CCI and GCI). I can't really see Kings Island or Cedar Point installing one, but it'd be neat if somewhere like Coney got a Big Fun. TRFTW, hoping you group will see the gravity of this announcement... and trying to make you all grona lot.

No no, it's management's secrets you're supposed to be stealing, not money...

I love the fact that there are still things like those stones that haven't changed since opening. It seems like KI's history is constantly being ignored, which is a shame. Can't wait for the next pictures!

Can't really choose one thing. I miss the park's atmosphere, but I also very much miss having the ability to spontaneously take one of my passholder friends with me to ride coasters for the heck of it. Spontaneous KI trips pretty much make my summers.

For me, not really. But given the jump in height for them, I expected something to change. I'm not disappointed or something that nothing really did on the outside, but... I dunno. I'm just kinda thinking out loud. It's like if Miler, who manufactured The Great Pumpkin Coaster and doesn't seem to make rides much over that height, produced a hypercoaster. You wouldn't really expect it to have the same track, trains, lift, etc., right? (And if it did... holy cow, that would be the scariest ride ever. Can you imagine falling +200ft. with a single-position lapbar that you barely fit under on tiny I-beam track? But I digress.) I half-expected, given Intamin's changes between their hypers and Millennium Force, to see more of a visual difference in the B&M giga model. But apparently there wasn't a need for it, so I guess I was wrong. Ho hum.

^^ Sure, because the tension in two separate, smaller chains is less than the tension in one long one. I'm not saying a cable is 100% necessary; it just seems easier to design around a cable lift than a chain in terms of weight, if I had to guess. Not to mention, like flightoffear1996 said, that it's probably cheaper as far as parts go. The motor on a regular lift has to bear the weight of the train as well as the weight of the chain; the motor on a cable lift "only" has to bear the weight of the train and the probably much lighter weight of the catch car and cable. Given B&M's reputation, I'm sure they've considered both options. I just find it interesting that nothing appears to have changed for the lift between the regular megas and the giga model--but then again, it's not like I've seen any diagrams or anything.

^ That, and a cable lift system is much lighter than a chain. The weight of Magnum's chain is why Cedar Point went with the cable for Millennium Force, as I understand it.

When I was little, the Antique Cars and the Flying Eagles were pretty much the only things I would ride, even though I was clearly tall enough to get on things like The Racer, Vortex, etc. Because of that, I've got a ton of memories of riding them both with my parents, so it's really cool seeing the comparison... even though I'm not much of a fan of the "now" shot. Oh well, life moves on. EDIT: You kinda have to wonder why Paramount got rid of the lower-left pond in your photos... It doesn't really get in the way of BLSC, and it would be nice to have now.

Nah, you definitely shouldn't have saved this for later in the off-season. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing, standbyme.

This is too cool, standbyme. Can't wait to see what's next.

Really? I didn't think opening day 2009 or 2010 went too poorly. OD 2011 was a little crazy, though... Rides were down all over the place.

^ At least in Coney Mall, they did have hot chocolate. I'm not sure if it was offered during Haunt, but there was a sign for it on closing day. EDIT: Dang, UnrealNightmare beat me to it!

^^ I honestly have no guesses. There are several things that KI's doing (or, more specifically, not doing) related to Son of Beast that I don't understand. ^ Good point, Boddah. Then again, you have to consider the context in which they bought the trains. Their choices were: 1. Run Voyage with one 7-car train, leading to longer waits and frustrated guests, both of which they strive to avoid, 2. Put the Raven train back on the track, which cuts down on The Raven's capacity (thus causing the same issues as #1) and causes them to spend more money repairing the Raven train each off-season, or 3. Buy more PTC cars to keep all HW's rides running at top capacity and to potentially be used for donor parts for the other rides' trains if the Timberliners ever get running. Since HW tries to keep customer satisfaction exceptionally high, it seems like #3 would be their obvious choice. After all, the only reason they went with #2 last year, according to one of the HoliBlogger YouTube videos, was because they only anticipated the Raven train being on The Voyage for a matter of weeks. (Hmm... Just realized how frequently I've been replying to this thread. I'm not actually this much of a Holiday World fanboy, guys. I'm just really interested in the Timberliner situation!)

This season saw several song clips being used on multiple rides. For instance, Beast's lift music switched from part of the Armageddon score to part of the Saw score, Invertigo's station played "Vertigo" by U2, and The Crypt's queue and ride both gained portions of the Inception score. Some of them were really cool, but some, like BLSC's Flight of the Valkyries in the helicopter scene, were a bit... odd, in my opinion. (Not to say that I didn't appreciate them nonetheless!) I kinda found myself wondering what song(s) I'd pick for the rides on multiple occasions, so I'm curious what you guys think. If you could pick any song to be used in any way for KI's rides (be it the clips in the station from this year, onboard audio a la Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, or even something new), what would you pick? For me, even though I love the Inception score on The Crypt, I'd love to hear this song in the line. I heard it during my music class this quarter, and it instantly made me think of the ride, for some reason. A la Tomb Raider, it'd be cooler if the music got more intense the closer you get to the ride, but I don't think getting the TR:TR score back is an option right now, haha. <iframe width="560" height="315" src=" http://www.youtube.com/embed/iLdbHl3U3pg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>On that note, I'm still a sucker for the Inception score... and like I said this spring, I'd still really love to hear "Mombasa" by Hans Zimmer featured during the ride. It doesn't have the same theatrical effect that the current song, "Dream is Collapsing" has with the fast-paced violins and the deep "bummm bummmmm," but then again, what's the point of being theatrical when there's nothing going on? <iframe width="560" height="315" src=" http://www.youtube.com/embed/RwIo_VadeFU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Finally, even though it's not at KI, I haven't been able to stop associating Muse's "Knights of Cydonia" with Maverick at Cedar Point. I feel like it'd make a really cool onride audio if it was edited just right... Can you imagine the second repetition of "you and I must fight for our rights, you and I must fight to survive" being timed with the second launch so that the dragging surviiiiiiiiive matches up right with the launch? Then the guitar solo right after that fits the rest of the ride perfectly, in my mind... Ahhhh. It's nice to dream. <iframe width="420" height="315" src=" http://www.youtube.com/embed/1mkIrvuU_zE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>I'm curious to hear what songs you guys suggest.

^ Yeah, I'd imagine Holiday World's gonna take care of the ride's worst spots this off-season. I know at the very least that they took care of the worst parts of Raven between 2010 and 2011. (That ride had a nasty jackhammering tendency in 2010 on the hill leading to the run over the lake that disappeared this year, for instance.) If I had to guess--bearing in mind that this is entirely conjecture--I'd say the Timberliners would work with topper track. Why? Because topper track wouldn't wear nearly as much with age, thus allowing a smaller range in the track gauge. A smaller range in the track gauge allows for smaller necessary tolerances in the train gauge, which means there isn't as much room for the train to shuffle between the rails. In other words: As it stands now, wooden roller coaster trains colliding with the track to go around the turns deforms the track. (Which, by design, is what happens with PTC trains. The front wheels are fixed to the chassis and do not turn unless they're being pushed sideways by the outer rail of a turn.*) Thus, while the track may be x centimeters wide in the station, the track may be x+5 centimeters leading into the spaghetti bowl. By widening with wear, there's more room for the train to bounce between the rails, which it usually does. That's sometimes how wooden coasters become rough. Since PTC trains, which collide with the outer rail in order to turn, are compatible with topper track, it makes sense that Timberliners, with their steering capabilities, would in fact work even better with the topper track. TLs would have less room to wiggle and would presumably wear less on the track since they don't collide with it to turn. Of course, the thing to bear in mind is that RMC has yet to entirely replace a coaster's track with topper track. I assume that Holiday World would have only replaced the high-wear areas of the track with topper track. But again, I really don't know. *An interesting side note: When they do, they rake the road wheel across the laminated steel on top of the track, giving rides in need of grease that lovely SCREEEEEECH sound. I've heard Beast make the sound this year in the turn out of the station, Tornado at Stricker's Grove positively scream in the turn out of the station, and The Legend screech both this year and last in the turn between the lift and the first drop. It's unnerving the first time you hear it. (I'm not sure how much sense any of this made... I'm having a hard time writing what's going on in my head today.) EDIT: This darn post just gave me the biggest hankering to visit Holiday World. Curse you, off-season!

^ You're welcome! On that note, as much as I would love to see what topper track's like, I'm kinda glad Holiday World isn't doing both topper track and Timberliners next year. I'm more curious about how Timberliners will change The Voyage, which wouldn't be as easy to tell if part of the ride had steel track. Can't wait for opening day next year!

^ Haha, sure thing. Here's a better explanation of what topper track is. (It requires Flash to view it.) The differences are kinda hard to explain... Normal wooden coaster track is made up of (approximately) seven layers of wood laid on top of each other. The top three (or so) are wider than the rest and are what the train makes contact with throughout the ride. Topper track replaces those three layers with steel but leaves the rest of the layers intact. Thus, even though the track is essentially still wooden, the ride is significantly smoother. The Texas Giant redo uses RMC's Iron Horse track, which replaces all of the layers with steel. There isn't any part of the track that's wood; thus, the ride is drastically smoother. SFOT apparently decided to take advantage of this new smoothness (as well as a few other advantages the IH track has over wooden track) by also changing the ride's profile, thus creating the crazy overbanked turns the ride has now. Does that (hopefully) make any more sense?

^ It's from Rocky Mountain Construction, who recently became known for the track renovation on SFOT's Texas Giant. It basically replaces the portion of the track in a wooden coaster that the train runs on with steel, which cuts down on maintenance, makes the ride smoother, etc. See also SFNE's Cyclone and Silverwood's Tremors, among others, including SFOG's Georgia Cyclone, next year. Apparently RMC announced at an ACE event this summer that the ride would be receiving the topper track, which Paula later denied.

Paula's mentioned on Facebook that Timberliner testing on The Voyage will continue in the spring. EDIT: Correction. Turns out it's not getting topper track. I misread a source.

The only plans I've heard that were decided against were to retheme Flight of Fear to MTV Soundwave... which, if I'm not mistaken, very nearly happened to Kings Dominion's Flight of Fear.

I want to say I remember them doing that same thing last year on closing day, but I'm not sure... I do know for sure that KI was getting a head start on shutting down on closing day this year. Halfway through the day, they were already stockpiling trashcans in The Crypt's and Drop Tower's lines. Could just be a part of that.

Welp, guess we know now: KIC Offseason Brawl, '11-'12: "Is AZ Kinda Guy a holier-than-thou elitist, or just a misunderstood expert?" Just teasin', guys. Does it really matter at all what order they do maintenance in?

If I were to guess, I'd say the advantage with the Knott's dampers is that their strength is based on the position of the seats relative to one another, not on the position of each seat relative to the red carriage. In other words, the force each damper exerts increases as the seats near each other, which is something the KI, CP, and CW models don't address. They just dampen all movement in any direction, which . I'd be willing to bet, too, that KBF's model has had fewer issues with operating in high winds.It wouldn't surprise me if both the 2012 WindSeekers and KI's, CP's, and CW's models have these dampers come next spring, either. EDIT: Just realized that jcgoble posted the same thing as the second half of my post... whoops! Great minds think alike, I guess.

^ He's like Santa Claus, except his presents are usually less exciting than toys. Or so I "think, REALLY think".