4 Inlines, and I never threw up!
Just back from my road trip down the South of the UK, Colossus is excellent, ...on one ride. Second ride left me feeling a bit queezy, so didn't bother with a 3rd untill the following day.
The 4 inlines is alright, but not necessary, it is a cheap way of getting attention to a ride. The final inline is the best as it brings your head very close to the ground below. The airtime hill is dissapointing though, you don't feel the airtime at all, front, back or middle. Seats are neat, although overheads do not fully raise, making climbing in & out the trains awkward for taller guests.
The best thing about this ride is that you can get all around it, you can stand right underneath the 4 inlines as there's a safety net between the track and the ground, if there wasn't you'd be able to climb on the tracks! As you can get all around every support, I have some excellent footage, from lots of different angles, I'm just sorry I can only do VHS at mo...
The seats are comfortable, but being quite low to the floor of the trains, anyone approaching 6 ft will find their knees quite close to their face...(sorry, have to find faults in everything!) The 4 inlines could easily be 2 and the ride would still be good. Opening day, I rode twice, but any more would have made me uncomfortable-I love coasters, but not the spin'n'spews.
Sat went to Chessington to be horrified that Vamp will not be open untill 8th April. Gutted I couldn't ride, I thought at least I'll explore...however, I got arrested by Park securituy taking pictures of the newly delivered crates with Vekoma tape on them! Didn't see trains, but have a 6 inch stretch of Vekoma wrapping tape as a souvenir! Getting arrested was a good thing though, cause I got to speak to Jacqui, guest relations manager for the day, and blagged exit passes for the ride on opening day, so was not a wasted journey. As Thorpe and Chess are only 20 mins apart I then returned to Thorpe for another spin on Colossus... Thorpe Park map now has pic of B&M inverter above the construction area, foundations have been laid, and a few footers, but there are no tunnels.
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Just like perfection, floorless...needs no correction, floorless...like no other, floorless... absolutely floorless. The Ones.
www.colinm.com
*** This post was edited by colin mcwilliam on 3/24/2002. ***
Did the train crawl through the Inlines? Spin 'n' spew it is, even the NL version left me dizzy. :)
Congrats on not throwing up.
gyjdnb: Theming is a cross between Aztec & Egyptian stuff, lots of sun symbols. The buildings and the bridge are themed like stone temples, but they're neither Aztec, Egyptian, or Roman, as the name would imply. There is a nice statue which looks a bit like the SF Medusa logo beneath the cobra, but there's is no water in the ponds yet. There's sand, lots of builders' footprints and about an inch of rainwater! The final inline is over a patch of mud as the grass hasn't grown yet, and the queue has nice planting. The area beneath the loop is really nice, with the footers in the lake, and the footers are also submerged in the area where the photo is taken, on the exit from the 2nd corkscrew.
Taipan: Yeah, but you wouldn't want it any faster. I watched the preview on the telly where they measured the G's on the ride, they claim its minus 2 on the inlines, and I don't doubt it, but the harnesses do what they should, and although its sickly, its not uncomfortable, which also explains the lack of airtime, even when trying to keep the harness loose. The plus 5 as you hit the loop quickly lowers them securely!
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Just like perfection, floorless...needs no correction, floorless...like no other, floorless... absolutely floorless. The Ones.
www.colinm.com
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Rollercoasters are my life, I think about them more than I think about....wait, thats all I think about :)
Proud Owner of www.coasterkingdom.cjb.net
Taipan:
Where did you get the NL version of it? Thanks in advance. :)
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"Villain-Once You Drop, The Fun Don't Stop!"~SFWoA Rules In 2002~With SFWoA ANYTHING Is Possible!
colin, thanks for keeping us "yanks" (and others) posted on your cool new toys...wondering how similar these inversions are to those on V:TBC. I found those to be very comfortable and could see having several in succesion...(although I really wish Volcano had a better layout with some different elements as well).
I am certain theming/landscaping will "fill in", not every ride can begin as a Beast/Raven, and it seems the Europeans do a better job taking care of these kinds of details...not that I've been there....:(, so this is based solely on TV shows/videos.
Hey, that's my NL recreation. Glad to see that it still exists in the minds of others.
As for the ride, I wish I could ride it. I might be heading overseas in a year or so; might get a chance.
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--Hagerman--
Hagerman, great job! How the heck did you get your inlines perfect? Not that it matters as I *still* haven't learnt how to use the editor.
The only thing is you have 2 corkscrews in a row. I'm not too sure about them.
Colin? Are they true corkscrews or more like B&M Flat Spins with extra sharp twists when inverted? And are they directly one after the other or with a straight stretch of track inbetween?
Taipan: they're 'actual' corkscrews! A little extended maybe on the pull out of the 2nd one. I'm afraid I haven't seen the NL ride, just the RCT recreation, and 1 or 2 details were missing from that, the cobra is kind of off-set, as you climb the 1st half-loop, it bends slightlt to the left, making the 'cobra' a bit wider than on the B & M's. As you pull out of the last half-loop, the track bends slightly to the left again, as it goes back under the shop, before the corkscrews. So there's bits of track leading to the elements that RCT just cannot deal with. Sorry PC rather elderly, cannot run NL to compare...!
Rollergator: Is it possible to get pictures looking straight down the inlines of V:TBC? Reason I ask is as mentioned, Colossus you can get all around, its very photogenic. From the ground, you cannot see down the inlines, but the workmen left a ladder resting on a nearby 'temple', and you know what I'm like!, so managed to get photo's/footage looking straight down the centre of the 4 inlines. I'll let ya know as soon as I can get them online...
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Just like perfection, floorless...needs no correction, floorless...like no other, floorless... absolutely floorless. The Ones.
www.colinm.com
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