zjohn1988
Posts: 1390
Registered: 6/8/2003
Rank: SFGAm Critic
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 1/4/2004 12:13:00 AM
Quote:
Black7 said:
Usually it is to reduce maintaince costs. By slowing the ride down it reduces the wear and tear on the track. The trains are very heavy and cause a lot of damage, expecally on wooden coasters. |
isnt it also to keep down the G Forces?
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SFGAm Opening Day: MAY 1st, 2004!!! 
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adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
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1/4/2004 7:54:00 PM
Quote:
larrygator said:
I never heard of any coaster being haunted. I'll ask around with some of the older people who knew Coney Island better |
Hey, larrygator - the only thing I've read of the Thunderbolt that would relate to being haunted was that it was lived in until very close to the demolition. The Kensington Hotel was located beneath it, and Mae Timpano lived there for years, maintaining rose bushes in the lot, alongside the house.
Now, the Tornado, on the other hand, was rumored to have been haunted - people swore that they could see Fred Church in the tower, for years after his death.
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adriahna
Posts: 4692
Registered: 6/4/2003
Rank: Site Moderator
Skooter Junkie
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1/4/2004 7:55:00 PM
Quote:
Black7 said:
Those are some of my top ride's as well, plus the Bobs at Riverview and the Thunderbolt at Coney. A little insider info, you may be able to ride the Aeroplane sometime in the nearer future. |
Hoopla, Black7 - what have you heard???
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BobFunland
Posts: 7962
Registered: 8/9/2001
Rank: Site Moderator
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8/26/2005 4:24:44 PM
Quote:
Cyclonic said:
...A little insider info, you may be able to ride the Aeroplane sometime in the nearer future. |
Wow, Nathan was on top of things two and a half years ago. Then again, he does hang around Knoebels..
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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10/18/2005 11:23:54 PM
of all of the traver coasters, the "zip" at oak park in portland, OR looks like the most diabolical and bizarre. it seems like the riverside cyclone was a motherf***er before it was bonsai'd and humiliated by it's current benefactors. bill cobb seems a man after my own heart and i don't think any of his coasters went for long without reprofiling and brakes. so that right there gets the mind waxing nostalgic. there's more of course but i can't think of them. i guess the last one i'll mention is the bat at kings island. that was a weird one! does anyone know if the schwarzkopf movable coaster with the lift that goes up a spiral is around anywhere? that seems like a coaster worth a spin.
i should say that drachen fire and steel phantom don't seem like something i would like. they DO seem unique for arrow loopers, but OTSRS and loopy loops just don't catch my fancy.
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Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt. Qui annus est?
= I was abducted by aliens. What year is it?
Message updated 10/18/2005 11:25:23 PM by hrrytraver
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Hercules
Posts: 4037
Registered: 10/13/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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10/19/2005 12:00:43 AM
Glad to see this one back and in action 
My top ones are bascially Drachen Fire and the Crystal Beach Cyclone (any ride with a nurse in the station is good in my book). Steel Dragon 2000 is one too considering we don't know the fate of that. I would also have to say any Summers/Dinn Corporation coaster before the trims (except Hercules because I rode that before the trims were in place, barely before). And Superman Ride of Steel before it was "nuetered". I can't imagine what it was like back then, especially since these New Englanders are complaining about just about nothing from my experience with the ride.
Man, there were a few people that actually wanted to ride Hercules. If there were people that wanted to ride the ride back when it was still around maybe it would still be here. Tonight I could use a good ass kicking from that ride. If only I had come to this school when I could have instead of going somewhere else and transferring in  I could have gotten some good quality ride time in on that beast before they tore it down.
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hrrytraver
Posts: 1270
Registered: 7/16/2005
Rank: Platinum Critic
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10/19/2005 10:12:12 AM
i fantasize about the defunct coasters of yesterday often, because in my bit of experience with rides like those at kennywood or the coney cyclone that run old trains and that haven't undergone the pruning and taming process, is that they are more intense and fun than modern coasters. i would love to ride just about any coaster that ran before 1975. i LOVE the old wood coaster train - undivided bench and single position bar. it's a lot more fun to ride. the stapling of the overbearing restraints of today reflect the general paranoia of today and the loss of a certain freespiritedness of the past. i just don't like feeling like i'm in an animal trap while i'm experiencing something unique like the winds and gravities of a roller coaster. that's why i usually don't go in for the shoulder bar loopers that began in the late 70s. on the classic arrow trains the shoulder restraints actually make it very difficult to even put your hands all the way up. that's just not right!
this weekend i was enjoying the roar at six flags MD and i was thinking about it relative to the coasters it was influenced by, like the riverview bobs, which half the people on this thread named as their "wish list" coaster. i guess that it falls short of it's predecessors because it is TOO well engineered. i love, say, the cyclone, because it seems they did the best that they could with pen and paper and their imaginations (keenan, baker, fuecht). it is just right, because people have fun, it's extremely thrilling and it's not at all unridable. it's perfect in otherwords. people long for the airplane and the CB cyclone because they know after tasting a few classics, that these coaster would have some bite to them and be an unforgettable thrill.
as a modern people our tolerance is lower and our society much more complex. the games and crazy legal stuff that parks go through is nuts compared to the old days. i'm almost glad the crystal beach CYC or the idora wildcat are gone because if they were here they'd probably get reprofiled becuase a corporation probably would no doubt have bought idora and crystal beach by now redid everything so their lawyers could sleep at night.
i don't know, i'm an anachronist i guess. i like a lot of modern rides so i'm not complaining, but rather lamenting. it is undeniable that the innocence of amusement parks and the rides they contained is long gone. i don't think we will ever see the whimsy of the crystal beach cyclone again, because it was the embodiment of a reckless abandon and childlike experimentation that would never see the light of day today.
i guess one could argue that X or kingda ka is the modern equivelent. ok, i grant that these rides are indeed the product of great imagination. nevertheless they are still nurtured in a paranoid enviroment and their creativity is on the endangered species list as far as i can tell. for instance, dragster and KK are unreliable so parks will be VERY leery of trying such a ride again. in another thread on this board BOBF brought to light the plans of the redskins owner who wishes to buy out six flags, clean it up, and make it more family oriented - spend less on expensive roller coasters that don't work! of course a coaster should work, but i fear that we're headed more into a future with "mummy" coasters and "italian job" family/theme coasters as opposed to, "i got the crazy idea for a sick thrill ride" type thing. i think this six flags revamp, which is just a possibility right now, is a harbinger of things to come. i don't even LIKE six flags, but consider that there may be an even MORE overbearing and corporate alternative to them in the future. old(ish) guys like me would rather just ride good thrill rides then be in a "themed area" looking at a cable internet vendor's kiosk. BUT I KNOW PARKS DON'T EXIST TO CATER TO ME SO DON'T ANY OF YOU GUYS RESPOND TO THAT COMMENT!!
who knows? perhaps when everything goes over to slick dorky theme<
Message updated 10/19/2005 10:30:16 AM by hrrytraver
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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10/20/2005 5:09:23 PM
Mountain Flyer at Moutain park Holyoke MA. i woudl have also like to have been able to ride the Lincoln park Comet.
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Alfungus
Posts: 1678
Registered: 7/12/2001
Rank: Platinum Critic
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10/21/2005 9:43:25 AM
I know its not really a coaster but the thing called the "switchback express" I heard it was this mine cart track that ran down a hill for miles and they let people ride on it and I heard it hit 100+ mph. I could be wrong though.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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10/21/2005 4:13:14 PM
I've heard abotu this thing also. it was only like a nickle to ride.
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RCGenius
Posts: 1180
Registered: 12/23/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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11/23/2005 8:23:03 PM
Texas Cyclone at SFAW b/c I think that it would've been a great woody & I would've loved it.
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viking78
Posts: 162
Registered: 6/16/2005
Rank: Bronze Critic
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3/1/2006 5:58:40 PM
Drachen Fire seems to be the popular choice. Let me just say Drachen Fire was AWESOME!!!!! But alas leave it to the greedy slobs of america to sue Busch causing a virtual rebuild than tear down! The person who sued Busch over that ride better hope I never find them. Because if I do.....
There was absolutely nothing wrong with Drachen Fire, it rocked!
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Hercules
Posts: 4037
Registered: 10/13/2004
Rank: Platinum Critic
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3/1/2006 11:13:52 PM
I love how all of your statements and reviews turn opinion into fact.
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viking78
Posts: 162
Registered: 6/16/2005
Rank: Bronze Critic
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3/2/2006 12:39:20 AM
Ok I thought it went without saying that it is my opinion since this is an opinion board. From now on when I say something I'll finish with IMO, ok. That goes for everything I have ever written, IMO.
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mrceagle
Posts: 13804
Registered: 6/9/2001
Rank: TPC News Minister
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3/3/2006 12:55:16 AM
Lets not try to turn everything into a fight.
Drachon fire is a missed coaster and BGW lost a major atraction when they took it out that hasn't fully been replaced you.
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coasterwom
Posts: 1446
Registered: 3/23/2001
Rank: Platinum Critic
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4/20/2006 3:31:20 AM
I wish I could ride all the coasters that have been torn down over the years just to see what they are like.
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