Avalanche & Hades 1 month later (6/25/05)

Avalanche is running with a bit more air than last year, but it is amazing how rough it is getting so soon. Talking with a few others there, we agreed that is seems like it is tearing up the track pretty fast. I guess that is the price you pay for a ride that runs in super insane mode all the time. I now have about 130 laps and I still stare at it in awe as it races thru the course. This is one heck of a ride.

Hades seems to be running faster with more air than it was on Media Day. Now there is air on both the turnaround and the return hill over Zeus if you sit in the middle or front. The pop on the turnaround is a bit stronger than the hill over Zeus, but the latter is a longer float. I don’t come off my seat on that hill over Zeus sitting in the back, but imagine that a kid would.

The ride is just crazy and it gets better at night. I had ranked it below the HW coasters before, but it is clearly better than Legend, IMO. I met Scott (ACE rep) at the park (for the 3rd time) and he agreed. This is just an awesome ride. Keep in mind I am coming to this conclusion after about 60 laps and Scott is nearing 100. My opinion of the ride went way up this weekend.

The park is installing a robocoaster over near the Disk-O. No one said it was an upcharge, but I kind of hope it is. With only 2 seats, the line would be ridiculous if it was not.

The Disk-O was a major disappointment. Ride one if you get a chance, but don’t go looking for one.

Crowds are getting large in the park and the lines for Hades can get up to an hour. Keep this in mind if you are going on a weekend. You can take a break from the park and go for some nice re-rides on Avalanche mid-day, and then come back for more. That’s what I did.

The Hades crew was awesome and they allowed Scott and I to hang out in the station while we monitored the ride speed and discussed all sorts of things. Hades was running 56-57 seconds from lift to brakes, but it hit 57 on Media Day, and this felt faster with more air. They greased that track while I was there, and it was cool to see a dude walking the track during operation with a grease backpack on and stand back against the rail while the train whizzed by at top speed. I guess that settles that argument we had in the long Hades thread earlier.

So how fast are these coasters? The auto spiel on Avalanche STILL says it is the fastest coaster in Wisconsin. Funny thing is I am not so sure I doubt them. That little bad boy can move. The ride ops are now claiming Hades hits 75 MPH. Yeah right.

I am starting to see why some people stop ranking coasters. This is getting really hard. Sometimes I want to rank Hades 1, and sometimes 3. It was better than Avalanche this weekend, but I did not think that on Media Day.

If you have not made plans to visit, do it now!

Hour long!? Crap. I will be there on a Friday, seriously wasn't expecting long waits but I will deal.

I don't know if Fridays will be that bad. They said Saturday was the worst. It does not stay that long all day too. If it gets near an hour (more than half way down the sloping path before the stairs) you can try to come back later. It got shorter in the early evening and then picked up right before close. If the line is near the curve before the stairs, it probably about half an hour or maybe a bit less. Whatever you do, don't go to the line later than 9:10 or so for your last ride as they might shut the line if it is really long. *** Edited 6/28/2005 3:37:24 AM UTC by RavenTTD***