Flight of Fear: One of my new favorites

Flight of Fear, IMO is one of the smoothest coasters at PKI now! Who would have thought I`d ever say that?

Glad to hear the positive feedback. I said that I would never ride it again after feeling as though my ears were going fall off from all the headbanging. I'll give it another shot this year.

Ok, so if the train actually tracks smoothly, what caused the head-knocker effect? (Don't just say because of the OSTR, smarty pants.) I ask because B&M loopers track smoothly, but you don't (for the most part) bang your head against the OSTR.
Was it the quick transitions of the tightly wound design?
Was it something else?
Was it bad voodoo ju-ju?
I don't get it.

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"X" marks the spot in 2001!

I believe it was because of the sudden movements that the track makes, your head didn`t have enough room to move with the train as it went around a sudden bend so it hit the OTSR. With the lap bar, your head has all the room it needs to transition into the next element. I`m not sure if that`s right but that`s what I think .

Mow all they need is higher cpacity and this will be one of the top rated steel coaster experiences anywhere!

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Coasters- a little slice of heaven

I haven't been to PKD yet this year (I'm waiting for Hypersonic to be dependable), but I've been hearing very good things about FOF. I was hoping that with Premier Rides only 30 minutes down the road we would also get the lapbar treatment on Joker's Jinx. Of course we didn't, but there's always next year.

That's awesome! I'm gonna love it.

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The Jet Coaster ROARS!

Soggy: I think your body has to be allowed to absorb some of the direction changes, instead of the head-swallowing OTSR. I did notice, especially with the mid-course wide open, that the transitions are very quick. They're not uncomfortable, but they do toss you around a little.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

After riding FOF at PKD I have a whole new look at this ride. Withiut the OTSR this ride is awesome. Also does FOF and JJ at SFA share the same layout?

Flight of Fear is a violent ride. VILLAIN DUDE, it is pretty much the same layout as Joker's Jinx but Flight of Fear has a mid-course brake; my guess is that what is straight track for the brake run on Flight of Fear is curved track on Joker's Jinx, Mad Cobra, and Poltergeist.

Anyway, the ride is a violent ride, and it does tend to throw you around a bit. But the locus of the force is at or near your center of gravity, a point which was entirely unsecured with the shoulder bars, allowing your entire body to flop around in the seat. Particularly near the end of the ride where the train was going too slow. That was part of the problem. Another part of the problem is that a slight movement of the unsecured upper body can translate into quite a large motion out from the point of rotation, so any minor shaking of your upper body induced by the ride transitions is amplified by the time it gets to your head, which is the only part of your body that was secured with the old shoulder bars. No wonder it hurt!

The new arrangement is far more effective at securing the body about its center of mass, which in turn reduces the amount of bouncing around you have to contend with in the first place. Then much of that force is dissapated by banging your upper body into the side of the seat or into the person sitting next to you...but it is NOT taken up by your head banging against a shoulder bar.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.
(Missed a tag.)
*** This post was edited by RideMan on 4/17/2001. ***

I loved the modifications, although I felt like I was going to accidentally punch out my riding partner the whole time due to upper body movement. Some people are never satisfied. ;) It is 100% better than in previous years.

*** This post was edited by Camel@Work on 4/17/2001. ***

Let's face it -- I'm a nut for great theming, and this was very well done. Isn't it/wasn't it The Outer Limits: Flight of Fear? Was it really renamed, or just re-nicknamed?

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Whatever goes up, must come down, preferably at a speed over 60 mph and leaning into a flying turn

I think Paramount lost the license to the Outer Limits show. I am not positive though. Anybody else know?

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Coasters- a little slice of heaven

I think Outer Limits was sold to another network not owned by Paramount(I think it was Showtime). Do they still run new episodes for this? It may have been cancelled. I always liked the OL name and I hope they get a new movie and improve the theming a little. That will really pack a punch and push it up the top coaster lists(usually at very, very bottom).

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PKI-Wooden and Kiddie Coaster Capital of the World!
The First and Only Gigabuzzer bigger than Millie, rising Faster than Maggie, and pulls more BS than MS ever will!!!
You are the Weakest Link! Goodbye!!!

Shivering Tim: I rode FOF at PKD. I rode both last year and PKD back then ran a lot more brake than PKI.

In general, I find that Premier's rides seem to have a lot of sharp lateral jerks. I not convinced that this is just the track.

Batman and Robin, The Chiller at SFGAdv has a fair amount of straight track. When I rode last summer the Robin side had these lateral jerks even on the straight track well away from the turns. For some reason the Batman side was much smoother.

I doubt that there are misalignments or gage errors sufficient to cause this effect on the straights. I think that some of the problem must lie in the trains themselves.

Isn't Showtime owned by Viacom, like Paramount? If not, it must be AOL/Time/Warner or Disney/CapCities/ABC or Westinghouse/CBS or Sony... uh, nevermind.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I meant Outer Limits used to be on Showtime. Sorry. I worded it in an odd way.

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PKI-Wooden and Kiddie Coaster Capital of the World!
The First and Only Gigabuzzer bigger than Millie, rising Faster than Maggie, and pulls more BS than MS ever will!!!
You are the Weakest Link! Goodbye!!!

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RideMan said:
"Flight of Fear is a violent ride. VILLAIN DUDE, it is pretty much the same layout as Joker's Jinx but Flight of Fear has a mid-course brake; my guess is that what is straight track for the brake run on Flight of Fear is curved track on Joker's Jinx, Mad Cobra, and Poltergeist."

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Actually, it is a piece of straight track on JJ as well. If you've ever ridden or seen pics of JJ, that piece of track with the rings around it corresponds to the FOF brake run.
jeremy

If it wasn't for those rings, I probably wouldn't have realized it was the same ride.

I can't help but wonder why the rings are there though. Seems kind of silly to be purely cosmetic. No matter, I still dig that ride (and will more if they retrofit the trains).

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

When I first rode FoF, I absolutly loved it. As my Favorite Ride at PKD, I don't think so, since HyperSonic blows all competion away.

I loved every minute of the ride, and I can't wait to ride it again. Once two trains are running, the Queue won't be so long, so I can ride it even more times.

The S curve always catches me by surprise. 2Hostyl knows this well. We rode it together, and it totally caught me of guard, and would have been a head injury acted right there if the OTSR were still there.

Overall, I really enjoyed FoF, and will be riding this Coaster many more times in the future.

For those who aren't sure, the Inversions are:

1. Cobra Roll
2. Sidewinder
3. Corkscrew

9/10 Stars if you ask me!
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"Lets shot Spitballs at Al Gore and make him all Confused!"-Brain

Favorite Park: Paramount's Kings Dominion!

Favorite Coaster: HyperSonic XLC!