Enthusiasts need flashy lights to enjoy ride

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_wbgnotebook_0423apr23,0,7687404.story

It makes me giggle. Yes.. Nessie growling and flashing at the tunnel was cool. But to imply (on some websites) that it ruins the ride not having it.. Eh.. thats a bit of a stretch.

Im impressed how all over the local TV/Newspapers it made it with such few signatures personally..

That's the only Loch Ness I've ever known. I haven't been to BGW in a couple of years, and I didn't even realize it was gone. I enjoyed the cheese factor in the tunnel, but it's definitely not going to ruin it for me if they're not on.

I'm not signing another petition until Vater gets his bran muffin.

:)

I loved the lights and effects in the Demon tunnel when I was a kid. Someone told me they removed the lights after a rider threw a beer bottle into them while riding, but that sounds like an urban legend. Anyone know if that was true or not? I would have thought something like that would have made the news, but I'd never heard anything (unless it happened in Chicago).

chicago demon still has its tunnel lights so I would doubt that the water fall was removed though the moisture was damaging the track

Moisture in contained spaces is rarely a good thing. (Go ahead... you know you wanna say it...)

Depends on the... space. ;)

I was going for, "That's what she said," but that will do.

Here's what I don't get...

The excuse is that the monster spit was damaging the equipment in there.

Okay, fine. So why can't the ride have the lights and sounds without the Meefog?

It seems to be an epidemic in this industry: X is causing problems so we fix it by addressing Y. Why not fix X, for crying out loud?!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

RideMan said:

It seems to be an epidemic in this industry: X is causing problems so we fix it by addressing Y. Why not fix X, for crying out loud?!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

You are also making assumptions based on little fact.

Really it all boils down to cost. Virginia is humid on its own. The humidity generated in the tunnel even without the fog was wreaking havok on the electronics. The fog only added to it. There was constant repairs in that area, and it was deemed best to salvage that expense in money and time vs not consistently taking the ride down to fix.

And beer bottle was urban legend.

I'm making assumptions based on the contents of the article.

That said, to have Nessie appear on the third revolution did break up the monotony of that helix. I'd think there would be a decidedly low-tech way to do it that would be effective, relatively cheap, and virtually maintenance free, not to mention insensitive to the environmental conditions. I mean, it's two switches and a relay...or even one switch and a timer...!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Right.. My point stands.. Not much in the article to go that length in assumptions.

Perhaps your radio shack method would work, but ive said this about numerous parks, and feel it holds true for them all.. Theres more reasons to why all parks do things than they report (and have to report), that decisions we find "unusual" may have more merit than we will ever see. Heck, we can apply that to any organization (except CB as Jeff has been into transparency :)), which is good and bad depending.

So the X to Y equation I find more often than not involves way more variables than 2. Any park would be lucky if its just 2 variables.

Again I go to my first point and really the only one I personally care about. Does this issue really make a ride that much less enjoyable as portrayed? I just dont think its that big a deal. Personally, a well running ride is a good ride. If the theme stops it from running, then that's never good.

Or worse yet, when the ride goes down because the souvenir photo camera stopped working. Ugh. Not at Busch Gardens, but I have been in parks where that happened.

Actually the one change on Nessie that actually annoys me has nothing to do with the theming, and it is a change that you'll very seldom hear about: sometime in the past decade or so, they changed out the shoulder bars on that ride. I suspect that the reason has to do with parts availability, because the new bars are a newer style than the originals...but they're wider, and in the old-style train the new-style bars are a major annoyance especially for the outboard arm. The Cedar Point Corkscrew has the same problem.

Oh, and for what its worth, I have my own pet theory for a really good reason for NOT lighting up the sea monster on the Loch Ness Monster. It makes a good third variable, it makes a lot more logical sense than any electronic issues, with a stretch it could actually be a safety issue, and it would play horribly in the press. 8-)

Hint: think scales.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I think the change you are referring to is when Busch inherited the Python trains/parts. Other than that, there havent been very many major mods to the restraints on that ride within the last few decades.

The change I am most upset about is the one where they sped up the second lift. Sure it felt pointless when the train was on 2 train operation, but it was that slow lift that allowed the trains to line up in the loops in 3 train operation. Ill never forget how cool it was to be flying down that second drop into the first loop and looking up to see a wall of people above me.

It was better then any near miss on Dueling Dragons.

Maybe they changed the lift speed after someone beaned a guest on the other looping train with a beer bottle. ;)

Im pretty sure it was changed because that thing hardy ever runs on three trains anymore and the eventually "forgot/didnt care" about the reason that 2nd lift was so slow and just changed it.

Remind me to never go to "your park" if that's what you think the mind set of a successful park is.

^I dont fault the park for that ridemcoaster I just think that in the grand scheme of things it wasnt important to have Nessie able to do that line up any more. It certainly isnt going to stop me from visiting there its just something I miss. The fact is that it used to line up in the loop on three train operation and now it doesnt, that 2nd lift used to go at a snails pace and now it goes faster. In the long run since the ride hardly ever goes into 3 train mode anymore the park figured that speeding up that lift would boost the ride throughput without a significant loss.