This was supposed to be a nice easy vacation where we could all relax, but i stayed at the park each day from 10am to 10pm. We bought the two day pass so we got a great value. On monday morning it was misting out, and i was scared it would rain hard and they'd close the rides. But, it didnt! On to the rides.
Apollo's Chariot - This is a fantastic hyper coaster. I rode it once before but i wasnt an enthusiest so i didnt remember. I still have to agree that Nitro is way better, but the signature B&M dip has its effect in the back seat. The lines were extremely long the whole day, so i rode 2 times on monday and 1 time on tuesday. Back 2 times, Front once. I also enjoyed the mist at the bottom of the hill.
Alpengeist - Wow! This ride was totally different then i expected. It was closed when i came 3 years ago so it was my first time. It was great, but the cobra roll could use a trim before it to weaken the body-banging on the first inversion. The mid-course was on pretty hard too, but it made the zero-G roll more "Zero-G" instead of the usual "3-G roll" like found on a batman. The front seat was killer, with all the footchopping. I dont get why that weird wheel assembly is onthe front of the train, is it supposed to immitate apollos train header? I rode this an unbelievable 24 times! I was by myself, so as soon as i got off i ran to an empty seat. hehehe...
Big Bad Wolf - This is a really fun suspended coaster. I love the voyage through the town, and the quick swing over the river. I also saw poor drachen fire:(:(. Ill get to that later... Its not that rough, although i didnt like the sound or looks of those wheel assemblys, they looked and sounded loose. I hit this 4 times, as it usually gets a long line.
Loch Ness Monster - This is an ok looper. Its not that rough, except in the back seat. But where the roughness is, it is made up for by the incredible airtime!! It was fun, especially when the trains met up in the loops!! It was so cool. I didnt like all the breaks and the second chain lift, but whatta ya gonna do? The tunnel was cool as well.
I didnt ride Wild Maus!!!:(
Escape from pompeii was a cool ride, literally! It cooled us off from the hot sun.
The new simulator, Corkscrew hill was really good! Im glad busch gardens is adding good rides instead of "space takers", which just clutter up the joint.
Skyride, Roman Rapids, The train, and the river cruise were other rides we hit. I give anheuser-busch a sincere thanks and congradulations for this park. It is beautiful, clean, and had someting for everyone (the exact opposite of most six flags parks). Now................
I was on the train that passes right by drachen fire(tuesday) I looked closely at the station, and noticed three very exciting things about it - 1)- 4 or 5 of the ceiling fans were on in the station.
2)- A truck was driving around, and stopped. Two men in suites(not to dressy, but they might have been execs) and a mechanic exited and were talking and pointing to the eagles nest on the top. One of them was talking and pointing and the mechanic was writing things down.
3)- After the nest inspection, the mechanic traveled to the trim break before the bizare corkscrew-wingover thing. It looked like he was checking bolts and small things.
Could this be a positive outcome for this ride after all? By the looks, it must be a vicious ride. If it was equipped with smoother turns or new trains, it could totally open again!! LONG LIVE DRACHEN FIRE!!!
if I'm not mistaken the front car on alpengiest was never installed for some reason.if you look at all of the other B&M inverted coasters like raptor,montu,top gun etc. you would notice that they all have the seats directly in the front there is no header wheel assembly like on thier stand-ups as well as thier standard loopers.plus it's only one train that has that the other two have full seating units installed,it is rather strange though why they never installed it.maybe that was one of the reasons why I wouldn't ride it back in 97 when I was there.and I've been kicking myself in the rear end ever since.
*** This post was edited by BATWING FAN SFA on 8/2/2001. ***
You're right, This does look like a better turn for the Fire. After all, they are loosing money every day it's not open.
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24 times in one day!? That's awesome!
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I love roller coasters
Im sorry ApolloAndVolcano, but it was 13 times on monday and 11 times on tuesday. In total, it was 24. My Mistake!!:)
BATWING FAN SFA said:
"if I'm not mistaken the front car on alpengiest was never installed for some reason."
I'm going to have to disagree. What you are seeing is called the 'zero-car'. It seems to be a bit longer/bigger than others, but maybe it had to. Fun ride non-the-less :)
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