Knott's Coaster Question

In regards to Knott's "big" coasters (Montezooma's Revenge, Boomerang, Ghostrider, and Xcelerator) only one has a lift hill (Ghostrider) while the others are either launched or catapults. As I can remember, the only steel coaster with a lift hill was Corkscrew. Can anyone tell me why most of Knott's coasters do not have lift hills and aren't mainly full circuit? Is it due to the size of land that the park is built on or is it that Knott's prefers these types of rides? Don't think I'm insulting the quality or quantity, I'm just curious about this as other parks seem to mix it up a bit more.

-Adam

Yep, you answered your own question. Because Knott's occupies such a small area, lift hills are tougher for this park because they take up so much space. To launch a coaster at immediate speed obviously will eliminate the need for any lift hill. Jaguar's awkward placement in the park should give you some idea of Knott's space situation.

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Have you ever considered that maybe it's not the park that's the problem, but YOU?

DWeaver pretty much has the right idea here.

There is not a whole lot of room in the current park area. However. there is a LOT of room directly adjacent to the current park area which is now taken up by administration and warehouse buildings. Adding this area, and the Supreme Scream parking lot could almost double the size of the current park.

And by the way, the Soapbox Derby (and the cyle chase) were steel coasters with a lifthill. Four lift hills in fact!

And how soon you forget about Windjammer. That had two lifthills...

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

but Jaguar! makes better use of the park than ANY coaster....reminds me of the WEDway people-mover, only more exciting!

Here you all go:

Knott's overhead view

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Its all gonna change in 2004 anyway ;-) Does anyone else see a cable lift in Knott's future?

CoasterFanMatt: Actually, Soapbox Racers had eight lifthills. Each of the four tracks had two!

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

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AdamFrank said:

In regards to Knott's "big" coasters (Montezooma's Revenge, Boomerang, Ghostrider, and Xcelerator) only one has a lift hill (Ghostrider) while the others are either launched or catapults. As I can remember, the only steel coaster with a lift hill was Corkscrew. Can anyone tell me why most of Knott's coasters do not have lift hills and aren't mainly full circuit? Is it due to the size of land that the park is built on or is it that Knott's prefers these types of rides? Don't think I'm insulting the quality or quantity, I'm just curious about this as other parks seem to mix it up a bit more.

-Adam

Windjammer had TWO lift hills (side by side of course), Timberline Twister (although a kid's coaster), and the Wacky Soap Box Derby Racers had FOUR lift hills (again, side by side). All those had lifts, with addition of GhostRider...

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Maybe I wasn't clear enough. I'm only interested in the "big rides." Soapbox, Timberline Twister, and Windjammer are/were coasters with lifts, but I was really focusing on the big guys. Regardless, thanks for the info.

-Adam

PKD seems to have an abscence of lift hills too. Well, considering their 3 biggest coasters are launched...

And I know that's not a space concern...

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The legend lives!

Dude....Soapbox WAS a big guy.