Ride On_17

I'm guessing within a week or two, but I don't think anyone knows.

So in addition to Dollywood's Firechase Express, resort, and general $300 million decade long improvement announcement, Heide Park officially announced their new wing coaster. I haven't found a name released, but I have seen a rendering of the layout. It looks to be a fairly short ride but it looks pretty fun. It includes an airtime hill following the wing over drop, a near miss element under the shop, an immelman, and what Lance on Screamscape calls an "Inclined Norwegian-Pretzel Loop." I'm glad to see a B&M getting a new type of inversions and it looks cool. http://www.radiohamburg.de/Nachrichten/Deutschland-und-die-Welt/Norddeutschland-kompakt/2013/August/Neue-Achterbahn-Hier-entsteht-ein-Wing-Coaster/achterbahn01a The site is in German so I'd recommend using Google Translate (unless you can speak German).

Something else on my bucket list is to do an overnight ghost investigation at a famous haunted location. I'm not sure if I believe in that stuff, but I'd like to see whether or not I experience something first hand before jumping to conclusions.

Very cool and I never knew that. I love learning all the "secrets" behind amuement parks, especially Disney.

Nope! But not that you'd want to see it...

I've seen employee only areas in Disney when my band had to go and get ready to perform in the Electric Lights Parade over spring break. I'm not allowed to say what I saw or tell anything else about it, but it was cool seeing what most guests never get to see. If I ever get to go in the tunnels, then I'd be able to say I've seen behind the scenes/backstage Disney as well as underground Disney! That would be pretty cool.

If you don't mind sharing, how did you get to go in them?

I never knew these existed until recently. It was before my spring break band trip to Disney/Universal and my grandparents told me about this. I find it very interesting how much could be going on under your feet.

Probably unknown to many guests there are underground tunnels spanning the property. They are actually at ground level, with the park built over them. It's on my bucket list to go inside them even though they're nothing fancy. http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/wdw/magickingdom/Secrets/General/Underground.html

I love this idea, and I think it would be especially useful for passholders like myself.

Does SFGAmerica even have terrain to work with or is it a pretty flat park?

Just found this thread so I thought I'd chime in. I absolutely love Gatekeeper and believe it was the perfect addition for the park at the perfect time. It provides a completely different experience (or should I say 4 different experiences? front, back, left right) than already offered at the park. With a park as big as CP and with as many coasters as it has, it can be difficult to add a new ride without it seeming just like any other ride there. That's what I love so much about CP, they have so many different ride experiences and no 2 of their coasters give the same experience. With the past several coaster intallations at the Point, guests have been able to go on forceful, quick flips and turns of Raptor, a launch and vertical spirals on Wicked Twister, high speed and height on Millennium Force, sudden acceleration on Dragster, and airtime and wild maneuvers on Maverick. What better way to balance the recent coasters than to add a more gentle experience that guests could take a break from extreme thrills. Gatekeeper does exactly this. The park yet again added another unique experience to the park and somehow managed to fill another gap in its coaster lineup, allowing their newest creation to take on its own identity without resembling any other ride experience currently at the park. It has transformed the park, and for years and years to come visitors will have their first impressions of the park with "that coaster that flies over the entrance!" On no other ride at the park do you feel like you are truly gracefully soaring and flying with series of fun, thrilling inversions and elements. Plus in the evening when the line for this ride dies down I can ride it multiple times while getting away from the heart pounding adrenaline rushes of many of the other coasters. Also, I believe there are many more kids who would rather ride Gatekeeper than Dragster or Millennium. I have yet seen someone on the verge of crying due to being afraid to ride it--unlike on MF or Dragster. It is a more family friendly ride, and I still can't stress enough how much I love this ride. Not only for how much I personally enjoy it, but also for how much the park has benefited from it, both aesthetically and in its ride lineup.

I love Diamondback for its smooth ride and intense floater air. I love Magnum for that classic coaster ride and extreme ejector air. They're both so different but I also love them both.

I think it would be cool to have a launching woodie. There ya go, YoungStud. You should start your own roller coaster design company so you can create as many launching giga monsters as you want.

I wish Intamin could have the reliability of B&M. That would be the perfect combination.

Is it possible this new coaster will have an underground tunnel? Maybe the height above ground is 165 feet but the drop could go under ground, allowing the train to gain enough momentum to surpass the current record. Seriously, SFGAmerica has never intrigued me up until now.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130817/news/708179826/ What intrigues me is the statement that the ride might be the fastest wooden coaster. With a rumored height of only 165 feet I'm not sure how this would allow it to gain enough speed to beat the current record, but we'll just have to wait and see. If this rumor is true, I might just have to add this park to my list of ones to visit. This sounds like it could be very interesting.

I forgot to mention this in the report, but I saw the Segway man. While riding Dodgems we saw the Segway man and he pulled up behind the ride, got off the Segway, and just watched for the ride cycle I was on. Once it was over, he left. Then while in line for Cedar Downs I saw him again, except this time he was just riding down the midway. For those of you who don't know, he's an older man who dresses in suits, sometimes nice vests, and a top hot and rides around the park on a Segway.

Uh, no. Just no.

One could hope...

I forget where I read but, but it might have been PB. I saw someone post something saying that while riding Magnum they reached out and tried to see if they could touch the supports. 1) Yes, this is a very stupid, idiotic thing to do, but 2) Their fingers actually hit the supports. I think they said they were ok but that it still hurt. So apparently it's possible to do. I never try to let my hands go out the side of the car in fear that something like this will happen. If sudden the car jolts and my arms fly out to the side, I don't want to end up hitting the supports.

I think it catches many people off guard when they ride it for the 1st time. It's funny riding it and as soon as it speeds up the lift I always hear people explaiming, "Man! This thing goes fast!" I feel like most of the GP associate wooden coasters will slow chain lifts, so they don't expect one to have such a quick ascent.

He said I'd get free Dippin' Dots.

The park is getting a 500 foot, triple inversion, 90 mph wooden roller coaster in 2015 that will go under the fountain in a glass tunnel. It's station will be the old SOB station and it will interact with Banshee, Flight Deck, and Adventure Express before travelling over the midway to the fountain. It will then feature a flyover over the main entrance before heading back toward the station. It will be built by Intamin and the track and wooden supports will be green. It will be the longest wooden coaster in the world, claiming The Beast's spot so that way the park can say they have the two longest wooden coasters in the world. Construction will start for this new ride before Banshee is completed. This is 100% true information. Everything I just told you is a complete fact, since I heard it from the Dippin' Dots guy.