Kenban

I suspect the comment about the picnic table is a joke referring back to a comment made by Don. During Coasterstock someone asked Don about the work being done behind the fence. His response was something like "Well it is big enough that if they put some picnic tables there it would make a good location for a break area for employees".

This is when the track bending machine showed up for Prowler. The picture is not very detailed and I cannot seem to find a picture of the machine from Prowler, I just know when it showed up.

For those who are not aware. B&M trains are not stored on the wheels used for the ride. There is a set of storage wheels either built into the storage shed or part of the train. This is so that the wheels do not develop a flat spot due to storage. For example on Banshee the wheels are on the train, they are small and just above you when you are riding. They are visible but unless you look for them you will likely not notice they are there.

It was running the entire time I was at the park. It got stuck twice while I was waiting but maintenance got it moving again quickly. Someone said it was normal in the mornings until it warms up. Sounds like it was not triggering a sensor on the MCBR.

Makes sense. It is SBNO and the park already announced it was going to get extensive renovations before reopening next year.

FYI they also confirmed it is a retrofit so it is not new construction. So not this project at all.

I circled three sections, in the two yellow areas the lines only go half way across, and they almost alternate which side they are on. Why? It seems strange unless something is going on with the ride at these points. The section I circled in red also stands out to me. The edge lines are missing. This is the only section of the ride this occurs on. Anyone know of a design element these sections might represent? I cannot think of something on a GCI coaster which would look like this. But maybe someone else has an idea.

I visited Indiana Beach on Saturday. It was the first time I have ever visited the park. The park was clean, almost everything was running at least part of the day, I ran into two of the coasters having some downtime but at least one was short. The only coaster I missed was the kiddy one, Dragon Wagon. Operations were not great but lines were not too long. The park has a lot of low capacity rides. The ride which should have the highest capacity, Hoosier Hurricane was only running one train, the second was parked on the maintence track in pieces. The log flume requires only one log on the belt leading to the drop at a time, yet the only way to make sure of this is for the operator to time the dispatches of logs, and signs warning to not slow the log. The shooting dark ride, Den of Thieves, has a scale next to the operator who then used a calculator to verify that the people in the ride were less than 300lbs total. So basically every car which has two guns was going out with only one person. Overall I enjoyed myself and could see myself visiting the park again in the future. The park could stand to do some ride upgrades to improve capacity. But overall a fun little park. If you are thinking about visiting I would give the park a shot.

To my knowledge I am not. The only two abutment which I believe I know of in the plans are not in the sections which I am discussing.

^^There are a lot of construction pictures for rides out there. I was more trying to point out that I did not feel this is something that points towards RMC because I have never seen it. But I am not convinced this points towards GCI either. Personally I have a hard time seeing a coaster just doing airtime hills over WWC. Let's assume that the orientation is correct and it passes over WWC six times. A GCI could easily have that many airtime hills but why build the coaster over another ride? What else could a GCI be doing at those moments? Assuming the orientation is correct it just seems more logical to be an RMC. Put barrel rolls over WWC, a stall over the line or water reservoir, etc. Also there are a few strange elements of the overview drawing. What the heck is going on right before the tracks splits at the start of zone 3? The edge lines disappear. Why? What is the ride doing which would cause this? In addition to this there are two locations in zone 3 which the lines which are perpendicular to the track do not continue all the way across. Both times they disappear when the ride might be over WWC. It would make sense to do a barrel roll and this might be how one appears in an overview. I have a hard time finding a logical way to explain these oddities if I assume the ride is a GCI. But I could be overlooking something.

Those are for footings that are on a grade. (Incline)It's so they don't slide down a hill. Please provide a picture of an RMC footing which has that extra concrete. Because I have never seen it, even on an incline. All of the RMC footings I have seen on inclines are just cylinders.

^Except your picture does not match that drawing. The drawing clearly shows concrete going left and right which would likely link with the next support.

All the city of Mason gets is the foundation design. The rails do not attach directly to the concrete.

The only part which needs centered is the chain itself the motor would not be. It is hard to see except in the out of focus overhead view but the gap is centered under the track.

King I was wondering how are you on the flat rides? You said that there was only one coaster you could ride but I was wondering if you found the flat rides more forgiving?

Personally I felt like the motor block looks like it is for a chain lift.

I have been sitting on these for a few weeks now but have not wanted to share because they are out of focus towards the top. I took these pictures using my cell phone then merged them into single images using Photoshop. I also should have done a better job at making sure the paper was flat. I do have some good pictures of what I felt were the important areas at the time. But these should be good enough.

This question comes up frequently and the problem is that it largely depends on where you carry the weight which is why someone asked for pictures. The park is more accommodating then most people think. But there will be rides you will not be able to ride. At the other end of the spectrum there are a number of attractions which are very forgiving. Also the park has a number of shows which are worth checking out. I am positive you will be able to find something you can do all day, you might even want to think about just getting a two day ticket and use the first day on your own before coming with your friends. That way you already have a pretty good idea of what you can ride. The only ride that jumps out at me and just says do not even try is Drop Zone. I would also try the test seat at Diamondback. On Banshee the two middle rows of the train have larger restraints, the ride has a test seat but I am uncertain if it is setup only for the regular seats or not. I suspect you will be fine in the two middle rows though. The Bat should give you no problems.

If you just use the stakes as a guide it will pass over closer to the middle of the reservoir. There was a line of stakes down one side and up the other several weeks ago. I have not been looking for them recently so no idea if they are still there. I have been trying to figure out if it is where the ride is side by side or if this is the part right after the lift hill. But the plan in question is labeled as the "North Abutment Plan" An abutment is the supports under the end of a bridge which suggests the shaded area is on the north shore of the reservoir.

There was a few of the stakes leading down one bank of the reservoir and another set leading up the opposite bank a few weeks ago. They were around the middle and somewhat hard to see from the train. Not sure if they are still there.

Wicked twister is very unforgiving, I am not even close at 220, there was a list of the hardest rides in the country to fit on and it was in the top three. I can barely ride either dragster or millennium, the problem on both is the seat belt is very short.

It is hard seeing pictures like this. You know it can happen but frankly it never should. The Daily Mail has some good pictures of the train laying on the ground. So far it appears all of the cars landed either upside down or on their side. Which for an invert is about the best you can hope for. On the bad side it looks like the train went through a chain link fence, and hit one of the rides supports. It also landed on top of a car ride for little children. No word if there was anyone on that attraction. Reports state 11 injured, but this ride only seats 10 in a single train, 5 cars of 2 each. So at least one injured must not have been riding the attraction.

It is difficult to see from that picture but it is about the same distance from The Beast. The brake shed is directly south of the clearing.

Is it strange that I actually consider it more likely if it can be done for only 2 million a mile? Total track length to circle the park would be under 2 miles. Even if you really want to make it scenic and take it down to the river you are only looking at 2.5 to 3 miles to totally circle the entire property. The problem is how much work will be needed for bridges and even then there will be areas which will likely be steeper than current grades. I remember the train wheels spinning on a slight slope the morning of Coasterstock. They almost had to back up and try again. The thing about roller coasters at Cedar Fair parks is that the projects become almost like slush funds. They end up paying for a bunch of slightly related things in the area. Not sure if this is to hide the cost of the ride, make it seem more expensive than it really is, or hide the cost of the other improvements. The coaster is likely already paying for the WWC improvements, the new funnel cake stand, etc. Moving the train tracks is doable but I was mostly just throwing out a crazy speculation to try to tie everything together. Having said that I do think a small change in the path is possible but I have my doubts. I would love to see it happen. Even just making the trip longer would be nice, it is a little short right now.

The company has even found a way around that restriction. The company built the Disney Wilderness Preserve which is currently an 11,500 acre preserve, 3,000 of which is due to the airport expansion. This is a separate piece of property which is south of the theme parks. What they did was trade development rights on land on their property for purchasing the land and turning it into a preserve back in the early 1990s. They still have some left over credit which is currently being used to expand Hollywood Studios.