BGT's brand new Intamin product - looking great so far!

We now have an "official" opening date - May 27th, 9am.

I'm happy to have another big new coaster....honestly, BGT now has a steel line-up that is quite impressive (from someone who remembers them having just the Anton/Arrow combination). I won't know how I personally feel about C-Hunt until....hmmm, prob. post-HWN - although if the opportunity arises, I might be able to give a review before leaving for Indiana... ;)

I read that phonetically and came away with a totally different meaning.

Not sure if this has been addressed already...but does anyone know if the park plans to rename their Cheetah Chase mouse coaster? Seems like it would be confusing to have two coasters named after Cheetahs.

I saw on one of the Busch Garden fansites a scan of a brochure, that said Sand Serpent is it's new name.

No more confusing than having Batman The Ride and Batman & Robin, I'd figure.

That must be the real reason they got rid of Chiller.

I'm still bitter about that removal. Reverse 'kumbathingy' with lap bars was one of the single most thrilling experiences I have had on a coaster. What were we talking about again?

^Whatever we were talking about....I agree completely about Chiller. Most terrifying moment I've ever had on any coaster, wood or steel. I was very happy to arrive back at the station in one piece, LOL.

Cheetah Hunt's trains are now on site. Pics are available on another site. Didn't know if I could paste them here without them being deleted.

You can't paste the pics here, but you should offer a link...

Here's the link that I saw the photos on.

Why does Intamin keep shipping coasters with those hard restraints when the ones they use on Zacspins (and i305 now) are quite a bit more comfortable?

This coaster has a lot of twisting elements ala i305 but I guess they won't be anywhere near as violent on the neck.

RollrCoastrCrazy said:
Why does Intamin keep shipping coasters with those hard restraints...?

Because they work, and I'd say about 99% of people who ride the coasters don't have a problem with them. (Count me in that 99%, by the way, they've never bothered me)

Just because they don't "bother" anyone doesn't mean the other version isn't better. The soft version just seems superior in every way, it's odd that the foam ones continue existing, especially after I saw how people were taking foam chunks out of the ones on 305.

OK, I will rephrase. The hard ones still work just fine at doing the job they're supposed to do. It doesn't matter which is "better", because the hard ones, which are probably easier/faster/cheaper to mold are 100% suitable for the application.

A tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny percentage of riders with nothing better to do than complain, does not make for an accurate sample size when determining whether or not a restraint "sucks" because it's "too hard".

More fuel for the sample size argument. :) Count me in the 99% sample size as well. I never once had an issue with the restraints on Storm Runner, Kingda Ka, or I305. These are probably among the best-designed OTSRs; a far cry from those on SLCs and Premier launch coasters.

I didn't have a problem with Kingda Ka, since it doesn't really do much laterally, but on I-305 the hard restraints were a total deal-breaker for me. I spent the entire ride in pain, even though I rode it 'defensively' like I do Maverick and tried to brace myself for the curves ahead. Incidentally, Maverick is ranked as my #3 favorite coaster, so I'm not opposed to these OTSRs outright; but both my friend and I felt they were atrocious on I-305. We had early entry with our Platinum Passes, so we got on the ride right away, and while there was maybe a 20 minute line by the time we got off, neither of us wanted to go again because our necks and thighs were still recovering.

But, I don't want to prejudge Chunt. Like I said, I'm fine with Maverick. My only reason for surprise in seeing the hard OTSRs here is because I-305's got replaced mid-season, which I assumed was due to customer complaints. I thought maybe that spelled the end of that style of harness, but I guess not.

I'm not saying you all are wrong re: the I-305 restraints....

I am saying that apparently the park felt it was necessary to change the restraints...so if I were to guess, I'd say with reagrds to I-305, 99% satisfaction with the initial OTSRs might be a bit high.

I remember reading somewhere that the Chunt restraints are completely new and have not been used before. They're supposed to be rubbery foam all the way through.

The person running the official BGT facebook page said,

Actually, guys, according to our VP of Design & Engineering during the recent media hard-hat tour, Cheetah Hunt's harnesses are not what were on Maverick - they are, in fact, a new restraint that Cheetah Hunt will be the first to have!

They look the same as Maverick's in the pictures I compared, but if the difference is the type of material that would make sense.

The annoying thing about that restraint is that the shoulder component is largely decoration, unless it's intended to keep people inside of a reach envelope.