On the final night of the Haunt on October 31, i managed to snap some pics of the Yukon Striker....on Monday, I will shoot some more photos of the amount of track that's been constructed.

 

 

In these photos, you can see that the first drop has been constructed.

Looks great!

I honestly wonder if Dive Coasters are becoming the new Invert because it seems like Cedar Fair is showing some interest in them. We have 4 in North America; 5 if you count Hangtime. It makes you wonder if Cedar Fair will be adding any more of these and if so where?

I was recently thinking that the Cincinnati Zoo could pull a Kolmarden and install a Dive Coaster away from all the animal exhibits (near the Picnic Grove).

But then again, while it would be great for coaster enthusiasts like myself, it could take away from the zoo experience.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Yukon Striker looks great! I'm amazed that the drop is already done; that Prospector will be diving for gold in no time!

16 hours ago, MDMC01 said:

I was recently thinking that the Cincinnati Zoo could pull a Kolmarden and install a Dive Coaster away from all the animal exhibits (near the Picnic Grove).

The zoo actually had a coaster at one point

Two parks come to mind when I think of potential Dive Coasters- California's Great America and strangely enough World's of Fun.

I'm still shocked that we haven't seen a dive coaster come to a single Six park.

That is correct; I do remember seeing a coaster on a really old zoo map.

And yeah, re: Dive coaster at Six Flags... I remember SFMM being rumored to get one some time ago.

As promised, I did a drive by on my way to the subway station, here’s what I took, it’s the best I could do.

It’s quite rare around these parts to have accumulated snow at this point of the year but it happens occasionally.

Approaching from Hwy 400 north, I had phone attached to dashboard

 

Looking south from various points on Major Mack over the bridge that crosses Hwy 400. We can clearly see there’s an inversion already finished.

I’m somewhat of a road geek so I decided to take pics where we can see the 400 as well as the park.

 

From this angle, you can see it’s quite small compared to the mighty Leviathan.

 

There's something awesome about seeing a bunch of B&M track shapes in the distance that make park skylines look awesome. 

Maybe its just me but these dive machines are just meh.

The real excitement factor in dive machines is the vertical drops.  (And the hang time at the top).  After that, it is just like a standard floorless.  

I personally enjoy dive coasters.  I have been on Valravn, Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, and SheiKra at Busch Gardens Tampa.  My least favorite of the three is likely Shiekra.  Partly because it was the first one I rode.  Also, it seems to have less elements compared to the other two.

That being said, I would love to get up to Canada`s Wonderland next year and ride Yukon Striker.  I just don`t think I will make it up there.  Canada`s Wonderland is a fantastic park, and well worth a trip up there if you have never been there.

1 hour ago, CoastersRZ said:

The real excitement factor in dive machines is the vertical drops.  (And the hang time at the top).  After that, it is just like a standard floorless.  

You hit the nail on the head. Dive Coasters are compact and usually consist of large immalmans and slight variations in elements depending on what park you go to. Give a standard floorless like Hydra, Scream, Kraken, or Medusa a dive machine drop and trains and you'd have a winner. 

The newer B&M restraints really hinder the newer dive coasters IMO.  They staple you to the seat regardless of anything you try and Valravn has no airtime except for the 3rd row.  

I will take being stapled in over the inevitable headbang on those aweful restraints.  

Given how tame B&M dive coasters are, I doubt headbanging would be that big an issue. 

You may have a point there Silver.   BTW are you allowed to wear a helmet on a coaster, not sure if it would help or make it worse.  

There are some rides that could benefit from vest restraints: Vortex, Invertigo, Raptor, Rougarou. I think there was a specific reason why Rougarou wasn't given vest restraints but I can't remember why. 

Personally, I like Valravn (the only Dive coaster I've been on thus far) as it has personality, such as the way it "shuffles" and shakes towards the lift like its waking up, or how it stops before dropping as if it's hesitant/scared to fall. I've heard Sheikra and Griffon are way better, but I'll find out eventually. Also, upon looking at these pictures on my desktop, I noticed that the Dive Loop is already done; impressive! Finally, from afar, Leviathan looks like a cross between Millennium Force and Lightning Run (Kentucky Kingdom).

I've ridden both Sheikra and Valravn in my lifetime. Sheikra was my first 200+ft coaster and my first "oh sh*t" coaster I've ever ridden. I honestly prefer Valravn because of the two additional inversions and the brief yet picturesque views of the rest of the park. The one thing that Sheikra is superior in is the splashdown just because its so unique. 

We need more dive coasters with more elements.

 

10 hours ago, CoastersRZ said:

The real excitement factor in dive machines is the vertical drops.  (And the hang time at the top).  After that, it is just like a standard floorless.  

 

 

9 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

You hit the nail on the head. Dive Coasters are compact and usually consist of large immalmans and slight variations in elements depending on what park you go to. Give a standard floorless like Hydra, Scream, Kraken, or Medusa a dive machine drop and trains and you'd have a winner. 

For a park with such a poor selection of inversions, this will be a 5 star hit with the average park goer... Remember that the coaster lineup heads downhill pretty fast after Behemoth & Leviathan... All they have to do is beat the Arrow Suspended to coast into the top 3 coasters at the park...

I like how some of these renderings use crowd sounds that mimic the first POV that was released of Valravn, with what I assume are park employees.

The ride has really taken shape!! The track work is completed. Now to wait for testing as well as other construction to do list items.

With Yukon Striker, they are supposed to be theming the land it's around including their Vortex....has anyone heard anything about the retheming of Vortex? I know the trains got a new look, but haven't heard of a new name or colors of the track. 

Anyone coming up for a first rider event???

Yukon Striker Sinking?  No, I really did not think it was sinking like The Vortex (haha) but this video has an engineering student explain a couple of (non) issues we see with supports.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting so decided to share.

 

I see they edited the video... The teaser image for it used to have a giant DANGER on it to try to generate more clicks...