FoF96"

KY Kingdom just announced via Facebook live, they will be investing $25 Million in new rides & attractions over the next two years. It seems like they are going to start what we have all been waiting for.

Vekoma madhouse is outdated at this point. Give us one of those intamin dynamic motion stages. It looks like the one that just opened is very neat and it would be a standout attraction while also being family thrill.

It has been confirmed TT2 will not reopen this season

I haven’t ever operated a monster or spider so don’t know how strict the manufacturer is with balance, but usually for circular rides, it’s pretty important. Most complex I’ve done is Giant Wheel at KK. It allows a tolerance of +\- 2 gondolas on each side. So at any given time other than when stationary for load/unload you must always be within 2 gondolas loaded on side. First thing in morning for first riders we were able to load 2 gondolas (12 people max) then move wheel to exact opposite side. At this point, we could now load 4 gondolas (24 max) for a maximum first ride capability of 36 people (assuming every group had 6 people). You had to watch the line to make sure you had enough people to replenish whatever you loaded so that it never got out of tolerance or the ride would fault and motors unlock until heaviest weight settles at bottom. Had to be very careful if loading multiple “sets” (more than 10 gondolas per cycle) as it would be very easy to go out of balance if line didn’t support it.

There isn’t a way to load 4 arms with 2 stops and have the load evenly distributed. It would be lopsided and have the weight uneven.

Nothing to do with speed. But it is about balance. If they were to only load two, it is doable, but the operator would have to move the opposite station which takes time and then go back to their main station, all while loading less seats. They are loading one side of each set in order to allow the operator to walk up and load the same side and quickly get back. Look at an overhead shot of the ride and you’ll see. There are 6 total arms. When it comes down into the loading position, they are going to either be loading all of the right arms or all of the left arms each time. This could be due to short lines in order to ensure the ride is balanced. As far as the speed I don’t know. I haven’t been in a while.

Yes it goes into the main show building and through it. The props are still there, but have been painted black so it is hard to see much.

Worlds tallest boat racing water ride 420ft splashdown.

This is surprisingly common on new coaster installs. It never made the news, but lightning run was involved in a minor rear end collision in its opening year. The head of maintenance had concerns that the transfer track area was controlled only by drive tires. Chance disagreed. There was a day in its opening season where it started raining and both trains were on the track. The purple train rear ended the green train. Both trains had minor damage, the greens damage was limited to the electronic control box on the back but the purple one cracked the fiberglass front on the lead car leading to repairs being needed. You probably can’t see it anymore but when it happened you could tell the repair spot due to the mismatched purple color. Pinch brakes were installed afterwards and if the coaster had two trains on they would call it down in the rain rather than transfer it off like they do in many other parks

Cedar Point has made the announcement of the announcement 8/1/23

I’m not sure what Cedar Fair does, but at a park I worked at, the only coasters that got an entire DAILY track walk were the woodies, as they had the highest potential for failure or debris. The steel coasters were walked at the end of the day, but this was to collect lost articles, not inspect the track or supports (it was dark anyways). It’s not reasonable to suspect a full track walk of a steel coaster daily as to do so properly would take HOURS with assistive machinery needed to help. The drone solution is likely the only easy way to ensure it could be looked out without having to add and remove a device onto the tracks.

No, it is the station music from Top Thrill Dragster at the end. It is very faint but it is there

Falcons Fury is also down. Was very disappointed to not be able to ride it during my first and only visit last month. Iron Gwazi was very fun though!

Dododo-dragster 0-135 in 2.1 seconds!

It’s similar to a virtual Queue. A member of the party goes up the exit ramp, the operator will give a time based on the approximate wait time. You show up and get right on

IOE did the controls for Lightning Run at KK. no one got a picture of it so it is all hearsay but I worked there at the time. When it first opened, the transfer track area used only friction wheels to stop and start a train waiting to enter the station. When it was first opening the head of maintenance was discussing with the ride’s manufacturer his concern for the need of at least 1 skid break in the transfer area. Long story short, it was a very hot day (running quite fast) and a sudden downpour came across the park while LR had two trains running and one actively on the course when the storm started. The purple train came around the u turn towards the transfer area, the friction wheels stopped but the train did not. The purple train had a low speed collision with the back of the green train and both trains did have damage. The purple trains front decorative piece was cracked and broken and one of the controls of the restraints on the back of the green train were damaged from the impact. The green train was able to be repaired quicker and placed back into service. The purple train at least directly after the accident had a noticeable color difference on parts of the front car from the repair. A pinch break was added to the transfer area after this.

No it wouldn’t. The reason they are such low capacity is not because they can’t hold a lot of people. I’ve operated the wheel that’s at Kentucky kingdom which is similar to CPs. If you were to fill the entire wheel up, the capacity would be quite high. The reason you can’t is due to the balancing of the wheel. If you fill it up, you need a continuous flow of people to keep it full, otherwise the wheel falls out of balance and will essentially “free spin” and the motors will error out as the weight is out of tolerance. This continues until the heaviest part settles at the bottom. In the 6 passenger gondolas like the 150ft Giant Wheel at KK. The standard operating tolerance was +\- 2 gondolas. So for example the loading platform had room to load 5 gondolas at once. If you were just starting the day, you could only load 2 gondolas. Once those got to the top you could load 4 and so on and so on. The caveat though was you could never let it get out of tolerance so if the line died suddenly and you had 5 gondolas unloading you would have to stop it in a position to where only 2 gondolas could unload and the other 3 would have to go around again while you unloaded 4 and then again for the 3 and again for the 1. That’s 3 extra rotations on a cycle to unload if no one is there to replenish. Now imagine if all 4 sets of 10 were loaded. A nightmare. That’s why the giant wheels are never used to their full capacity. You’d need thousands and thousands of people to be able to maintain it

They actually had a “star’s projector” one year. I can’t remember what year but they had some type of laser right in front of the steps that looked like dots of light and they also did a similar effect in the launch tunnel. I only remember these effects lasting one year and it was definitely before they replaced the lights in the spaghetti bowl with LEDs.

But different braking system. Skid vs magnet. One is adjustable, the other is not without physically adding material.

And yet I think the checkerboard paint job for Delirium looked way better than it does now. It literally looks like a faded pencil including the eraser on the top.

So I guess that is confirmation we are keeping the same paint job, including the checkers

Even though it was just done in 2014, I think Delirium looks like it needs another repaint worse than Drop Tower. Maybe it’s just because I liked it’s old paint job better though.

Is anyone up at the park I’m on the way and it’s showing Beast as closed? Does anyone know if it been open today? This will be my only opportunity for a night ride

So what mazes did we lose this year? Blackout, Wolfpack, Board to Death, Urgent Scare. The location where sorority house was, is anything there? Carn Evil? I haven’t been to haunt in a couple of years so some of my maze locations are fuzzy.

Woah now. Approaching 30? I’ve still got 5 years left before that. Don’t age us like that