Coast2coaster.com update

I don't know when it happened but Coast2Coaster.com has a spiffy new update. It's a great site for planning road trips and such.

See that empty hole surrounding Camden Park on the West Virginia/Ohio/Kentucky boarder? It surrounds me too. Poo-poo padooo.

Coll website, Andy. Thanks for sharing it.

LostKause said:

See that empty hole surrounding Camden Park on the West Virginia/Ohio/Kentucky boarder? It surrounds me too. Poo-poo padooo.

I thought that was the future site for the building of Travis-land!

In all seriousness, it has been a fantasy of mine to at least have some part in the building of an amusement park between Huntington and Charleston, WV for decades now.

You should apply for a Pepsi Challenge grant.

Oh nice. The site was down for a long time, almost a year ago. I started using coast2coaster.eu instead, which includes the entire world rather than just North America. It appears now both sites are the same. Neat.

(Edit: Looking at the domain name registration, it appears the .eu guy just acquired the .com this past May.)

Wow. Was just flipping around in the Asian parks. Lots of stuff I had no idea was being built. S&S seems to be doing pretty well with Powder Keg like launch coasters in the Happy Valley Chain in China and Vekoma has a half pipe style ride called Big Air. There's also quite a few Intamin Mega-lites and Victory Kingdom is building an Intamin "Fly Rider" whatever that is. And of course there are a handful of B&M dive coasters and the other S&S/Arrow 4D.

Paging Mr. Bannister. You're needed at the "Asian clueless about Asia" desk.

Pssst....

http://www.bannister.org/coasters/countries.htm

ApolloAndy said:

Paging Mr. Bannister. You're needed at the "Asian clueless about Asia" desk.

Was gonna say something about this last night (all in good fun) in another topic, but I thought I would get kicked out of CB. Hehehehehe...

Isn't anyone ever concerned about going to these foreign parks? Don't some foreign countries have less safety regulations than we do? I went to a park in Costa Rica, and they had a roller coaster where the loop was so small and close that the front of the train could high five the back of the train while doing the loop. Plus, there was the train that derailed at...Tivoli Pier I wanna say a few years ago, and it was BRAND NEW. Fujin Raijin with the derailing because they couldn't AFFORD to inspect and replace parts. Had someone been on Battlestar Galactica when the seat came off, that would likely been catastrophic.

I understand we have accidents in the US as well, but it seems like most of ours are rider or operator error/stupidity. Not all, but most. I also imagine that to avoid lawsuits, reputable designers would not sell to a park with no legal monitoring and safety checks in place, but I could be wrong.

Don't get me wrong: I would LOVE to ride some of these coasters Intamin and B&M have started putting up, as well as riding some GG coasters over there. Foreign coasters could be MORE regulated. I'm envious of people's rides on Expedition GeForce, Nemesis, Oblivion, etc. I just sometimes wonder about the safety of it all, especially since I'm planning a Europe trip in the next five years or so, and my husband wants to go to some Asian countries as well at some point.

And on a different note: What is an Intamin MegaLite? It always sounds like people really like them.

Based on the pics at rcdb, it looks like a Megalite is a "lite" version of Maverick.

http://www.rcdb.com/3799.htm?p=24331

http://www.rcdb.com/4038.htm?p=36541

http://www.rcdb.com/4225.htm?p=30944

http://www.rcdb.com/4220.htm?p=30867

They have lift hills. I always thought Mega-Lites were kind of miniature hyper coasters.

Isn't anyone ever concerned about going to these foreign parks? Don't some foreign countries have less safety regulations than we do?

That depends on the country. In Europe most rides end up passing TUV certification, which is as stringent as it gets and sets the standard that the rest of the world follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technischer_Überwachungsverein

I went to a park in Costa Rica, and they had a roller coaster where the loop was so small and close that the front of the train could high five the back of the train while doing the loop.

I guess you're referring to the now-defunct Pax Magic Steed named Huracán. It's worth saying here that Pax (Russia) make some of the most intense coasters out there, with forces that are far more aggressive than what would be normal from other manufacturers, *but* if they didn't pass safety certification they would not be able to open. They've a few rides in France, Germany, and Switzerland -- all of which are ridiculously intense for what they are but have passed certification.

They've a truly amazing shopping mall coaster in Bahrain that's no more than 40ft high, but is probably the single most airtime filled credit I've ridden in my entire life. It opens with a ridiculously steep curved lift hill that I doubt any other manufacturer would even attempt. There's a very shaky POV video here that gives an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu85fAxKQao

Here's a photo too:

http://www.themeparks.ie/asia/chaka/junglestorm1.htm

I also imagine that to avoid lawsuits, reputable designers would not sell to a park with no legal monitoring and safety checks in place, but I could be wrong.

You're wrong. Ride manufacturers are businesses; they sell a product, and it's up to the buyer to operate and maintain it according to manufacturer specifications. Think about the incident at Kentucky Kingdom with the drop tower; that's a classic case of the ride not being maintained properly (and, admittedly, some shoddy design that the machine didn't e-stop itself).

Listen to Vater... ;~)

Intamins with lifthills and no inversions - all I ever wanted (just not where I wanted them).

Richard Bannister said:

I went to a park in Costa Rica, and they had a roller coaster where the loop was so small and close that the front of the train could high five the back of the train while doing the loop.

I guess you're referring to the now-defunct Pax Magic Steed named Huracán.

Just like to point out that I think the Pinfari Looping Star looks to me like it has an even smaller loop than the Pax. Lift hill is about 3 feet shorter as well.

Richard Bannister, you are freakishly well-informed on this. Hehehe...but it is a good thing.

I do not know what coaster it was that was in Costa Rica, but considering there is only one amusing park in CR, I would imagine Huracan was it. It looked so shady that I didn't ride it.

Ah, yes, I forgot about the Kentucky Kingdom event. They DID determine that was a combination of poor maintenance and the EStop being hit too late to be effective, but ultimately, it was Six Flags at fault. I guess ride manufacturers can't really be held accountable for something like that where they had no control over the maintenance of the ride. Ugh...that one still gives me the chills.

Thank you for all the info!

He is freakishly well informed because he has ridden a freakish number of coasters. I would be stunned if he hasn't ridden more than everyone else on this board combined (in terms of unique coasters). 1700+ at this point. Check the link above to his website to see.

I wasn't aware of any of those other rides being built. I'm a crappy enthusiast.

Oh yeah, Jeff. You moderate an entire site devoted to the amusement world. You suck as an enthusiast. You should ban yourself. ;)

I looked up Mega Lites on the Intamin site. They still don't really clarify, but what I gathered was they're coasters like Skyrush with its small footprint and many twists, turns, and bunny hops, along with a traditional lift hill. However, the coaster would be under 200 feet. That's the type of coaster I'm understanding a mega lite to be.

And Maverick.

So far Intamin has only built one model of Megalite (cloned 4 times). If you ever look at the name plate on the S:RoS coasters it says "Mega Coaster" (as opposed to our parlance of hyper), so a Megalite is just that. A coaster designer to perform like an S:RoS type coaster (or Skyrush) but that tops out at around 100'.

That's one tall designer. Does he help with construction too? Because that would save money on cranes.