Fun Spot's White Lightning is up and running...

Bakeman31092 said:

blunt humor.

Did someone say brownies?

I'm at a loss to understand why exactly FunSpot decided to build a wooden coaster. The ride looks like a ton of fun, but with the heat and the nearby BGT running into such problems with Gwazi, does it seem to anyone else that this ride is a fun but poorly thought out addition?

You just brought up a good point. Both are GCI also, and Gwazi still wasn't smooth when it had Millenium Flyers. At least White Lightning is not super large. If it were, it might get rough.

Dania Beach Hurricane was always a solid coaster.

I was wondering if the ride was irrigated, a la Mean Streak, to keep the wood from drying out too much. People suggest it's all good because of the humidity, but seeing what the Florida sun does to wood decks, I don't think the humidity compensates for heat and sun.

Look at any southern wooden coaster. They all are too rough. Most of the best woodies are up north. The Beast, Boulder Dash, RV2, El Toro, Voyage, Shivering Timbers, Raven, Phoenix, and many others are all north. Maybe there's a reason for that.

Tyler Boes said:

You just brought up a good point. Both are GCI also, and Gwazi still wasn't smooth when it had Millenium Flyers. At least White Lightning is not super large. If it were, it might get rough.

Also remember Gwazi had years of PTC damage to the trackwork prior to the MF trains being put on. It is different when a ride has proper trains on the track from day one like White Lightning. Supposedly they have some GCI people doing the trackwork (ex-intern?) on the ride, so that should help as well keep it running well.

Um, Tyler, there is a reason they're all up north: they were built there.

There's also a number of southern wooden coasters that are quite good and some northern ones that are quite terrible.

Tyler, I'm really not trying to be a jerk and I'm not gonna lay it out harshly, but seriously, I think you probably need to dial it back a bit. You don't have to post in every thread, especially in those where you really have no experience with the topic.

Lake Winnie's Cannonball, Swamp Fox, Starliner v1.0, Starliner v2.0, DBH, and Rampage were all *great* rides in the Southeast. Never got to ride MegaZeph, but TX Cyclone was ridiculously fun.

That being said, I do think the sun is the main enemy of treated lumber. Moisture and shade help, but my experience is that heat alone isn't really that big of an issue compared to hours and hours of direct sun.

Of course, *nothing* can take the place of caring and knowledgeable wood-coaster maintenance people who do more than just check for safety concerns...those folks make the difference between a wooden coaster you ride and say "check" and those you ride and ride and ride...

Most coasters in general are up in the north. Seriously, outside of GA, TX and FL, what coasters are there in the South *at all*? The total count of wood coasters in what I would consider the south (I don't Carowinds, but that just gets you Hurler, Thunder Road, and Woodstock) includes:

Judge Roy
GASM
GA Cyclone
Swamp Fox
Cheetah
Gwazi
Coastersaurus(?)
White Lightning
Boardwalk Bullet
AK Twister
Wildcat (Frontier City)
NM Rattler
Nightmare (Joyland)

And that's it. The lack of good wood coasters is because of the lack of total wood coasters, not weather.

Coastersaurus used to be Triple Hurricane at Cypress. I've ridden it. Three great air time hills hence the name Triple Hurricane.

Triple Hurricane was actually named after the 3 hurricanes that impacted that area of Central Florida that year...Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. (Frances knocked over a tree that crashed into our house).

bunky666 said:

I'm at a loss to understand why exactly FunSpot decided to build a wooden coaster. The ride looks like a ton of fun, but with the heat and the nearby BGT running into such problems with Gwazi, does it seem to anyone else that this ride is a fun but poorly thought out addition?

I'm a little optimistic it won't get too horrible for the following reasons:

- The difference in size (much shorter in height and length, and the fact its only one coaster as opposed to two)

- The forces being exerted by the trains (smaller/lighter than the previous PTCs and current Millennium Flyers on Gwazi; plus not travelling as fast)

- Metal structure means the actual track can be the constant focal point of maintenance?

I don't know, I'm sure they'll have their hands full and after a year or two the ride will certainly not be as glass smooth as it currently is. But hopefully it will still be a solid and smooth enough ride.

rollergator said:

Triple Hurricane was actually named after the 3 hurricanes that impacted that area of Central Florida that year...Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. (Frances knocked over a tree that crashed into our house).

Hurricanes don't blow, THEY SUCK!

Megamaid does both.

I did a bunch of laps on White Lightning tonight. Even though I'm told it could use some lube (insert jokes about "Fun Spot" and "It's huge!" here), I thought it was a great little ride. So much air time on such a little ride. I was totally impressed.

And by the way, Freedom Flyer is a neat ride too. It has a very, very strong ending. Vekoma engineering has come a long way.

Sorry, I'm a dude and I can never find that gosh darn Fun Spot my wife keeps telling me is down there somewhere.

Jeff said:

And by the way, Freedom Flyer is a neat ride too. It has a very, very strong ending. Vekoma engineering has come a long way.

It is an awesome little invert, very glad it's this close to home...

Weird thing though (geek-out moment) - the manufacturer's plate said Chance, although it references Vekoma licensing and apparently the trains are Vekoma too. Nice to see another American company in the coaster business (esp. if that's their idea of a family ride - the helix finale was really quite nice - almost Batmanesque).

The trains are stamped with Vekoma all over the place. The track design (and the very elegant mag braking) isn't like anything else I've seen elsewhere.

The track design and layout is a clone of Kvasten at Grona Lund. I'm pretty sure I read a while back that Chance was doing all the fabrication and installation for Vekoma stateside. I assume they've licensed all the Vekoma stuff and they're taking care of business over here?