Coaster Myths and Misconceptions

"i heard v2 exploded!"

haha

Fabio did get hit by a bird (I have a video of a new report of it). It's hard to conceive of how people are that far off on Nitro when it says on the side of the lift hill as you're going up (well, more or less...), but I also have seen people mistake it's height.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

according to a recent ed marky article "Nitro is a suspended coaster taht pulls over 6 g's"

damn! a 200+ foot suspended coaster! no way!

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And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes.
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

I love it when people say:

"The car thingy flew off the track like five times."

That always cracks me up.

How could someone not have said this one before this,

"Oh my God the lift of (insert coaster name here) just stopped working the ride could fall back down the hill at any second!!!!"

You would not believe how many times I have heard that one.

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Summer 03-CP, HP, Canobie, SFNE, SFWOA, and SFGAm.

It just cracks me up that any sane, logical, intelligent person becomes so gullible within an amusement park. How can they really believe that a ride would continue to operate if the train had flown off the track five times or whatever?

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

Its either that since they enter a park to 'escape' real life, they lose rational thought

-or-

They find it hard to believe these machines are being operated by teenagers ;)

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2002/2003
KW Old Mill/T-Pike Crew

My all-time favorite (well, in a way, least favorite) GP miscinception? Steel roller coasters are inherently better (more fun to ride) than wooden ones.

There are also a few people in my old youth group that are convinced a girl died on Raging Bull.

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I hear America screaming...

beeman65 said:
Its either that since they enter a park to 'escape' real life, they lose rational thought
-or-
They find it hard to believe these machines are being operated by teenagers ;)
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2002/2003
KW Old Mill/T-Pike Crew

Or maybe they've eaten too much park food...

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Backhand, who thinks signatures like this are redundant

This is an old one from my days as a kid. At Euclid Beach Park, the cables broke on one of the Silver Spaceships and the ship went flying thru the air into Lake Erie, nobody survived. Never could get my younger brother to ride it again after he heard that!!! Kept telling me the only reason I still rode it was because I could swim!!

Although one rumor that I found out was actually true about the Flying Turns at Euclid Beach was after hours cleaning up, walked the track and did indeed find a set of dentures someone had lost during the ride.

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Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today. "James Dean"

Redneck at CP: ''Lets go ride that Millennium Four!"

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Well, I used to be able to see TTD from my house, then I moved.
Life's not fair.

I have heard many a people say this at SFGAm: "Where's that Virtual Velocity ride?" It crack's me up everytime. ;)

Just thought of another one, well sort of, its more of an action but here it goes.

After walking through a queue with at least 3 different signs telling you to place your feet fermly on the floor in a standup and then hearing it said at least 5 times in the station a GP will jump up at the last second thus making the operator have to reset. Oh I hate these people, idiots of the world unite!!!!

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Summer 03-CP, HP, Canobie, SFNE, SFWOA, and SFGAm.

"Noah's Ark is a real boat that landed there during the flood of 1936, because thats when the great flood ended"

That is always a classic at Kennywood. One time the lift stopped on PR and the person behind me said that the train was going to crash into the station and kill everyone. I nicely explained that it couldn't roll into the station because of the anti-rollbacks on the lift hill

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My mind works in strange ways. Yeah with a chain driven lift hill and gravity.

Rather than statements of fact, my all time favorites are half hour debates during long lines :

l. Which is faster, a train going 60 mph down a wooden coaster hill or a train going 60 mph down a steel coaster hill ?

2. Is a train going faster at 60 mph down the hill or 60 mph around a bend ?

3. Is the force of gravity stronger at the top of the hill or at the bottom of the hill ?

4. Are the g forces stronger in padded seats or wooden or plastic seats ?

I have found it especially entertaining to listen to these people using various formulas from math and physics to decide these questions.

Did they actually listen? It's funny when I'll hear other coaster enthusiasts explain something to their GP friends, and they just don't seem to understand.

I was waiting in line for Wicked Twister at Cedar Point when I hear a conversation behind me:

GIRL: "This is just like that one ride at the other park."

OBVIOUS COASTER ENTHUSIAST: "Wicked Twister is taller and faster than Superman: Ultimate Escape, and has a twisted back spike instead of a straight one."

GIRL: "That doesn't matter, its still the same."

I turned to my brother, who isn't a coaster enthusiast and had also been listening, looked at me and said, "Just don't say anything." It was funny because the OBVIOUS COASTER ENTHUSIAST was right, but the GIRL didn't want to listen.

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

I am also always amazed at how much control people think the ops have. Almost all accidents (most of which are made up anyway) seem to occur because the operator didn't press the 'brake button' at the right time.

I was also amazed at how many people had no idea what they were getting into when they got on X. In my 5 or so rides not sitting with my friend, I sat next to someone who had absolutely no idea what X did and just assumed it went backwards.

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

I prefer to start the myths myself :)

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Please visit the small parks. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes
Woodencoaster.com

When I was in line for Millennium Force some lady in front of me was worried that there was corkscrews and asked me how many there were.