Hades @ Big Chiefs

Moosh, I think that the fact that this coaster HAS a short train is why it is so awesome. There is not a bad seat anywhere on that ride. The train just flies through the course. I was in awe watching it before riding it the first time. I was genuinely scared to board the ride it was so fast. There were a lot of naysayers about this ride in general. I would be as bold to say it is in my top three woodies. With wooden coasters like Legend, Raven, Ghostrider, The Beast, and Viper in my top five, thats a pretty strong statement.

If anyone is coming to the Dells to ride it, give me a shout out. It will be a good excuse for me to go back!!!

I agree that the short train does help that ride. I just can't see a long train moving that fast on that course. I have never been on Ghostrider, but it is certainly better than Viper, and I love Viper. Right now I have it 5th behind Thunderhead, Shivering Timbers, Raven, and Legend; but maybe after I have more time to digest it, it will move up a bit. It has pretty much everything a good woodie needs. It is fast from start to finish (very hard break at the end). It has a few good laterals. It has one decent headchopper. And it is loaded with airtime. Even though it is a bit far, I finally have a great woodie that I can make a day trip out of. If I am not back this month, I bet I will be early next month. Now all we need are season passes. :)

Raven TTD: You not only have one decent woodie, there are two other very good woodies down the road from there and next year there will be three.

Your mention of hitting the brakes at the end of the ride reminded me of something I forgot to say in my analysis of the ride. This is the only ride I have been on where you are OFF your seat when you hit the brakes. The ride basically comes up to the brake run and when you come to the level brake run you are in the middle of another dose of airtime. Just shows you how great this ride is...

As for Avalanche, I'm guessing "TF add on day" for the Con....or perhaps something like Adventure City (and Golf-N-Stuff) did for Solace this year, putting a *special* into attendees packets. I'm also "guessing" that I'll BE one of those attending next year's Con...;)

Bob, one other rides that LEAPS onto the brakes....Knoebels' Twister...:)

Another REALLY great coaster with a short train...PNE's Coaster!

I wonder if Little A-Merrick-A will have a chance to be added on or if they will offer discounts. The park is only a few miles out of they way when you are heading to the Dells from Gurnee so it would make a nice pit stop along the way. Next year the park is opening the moved Little Dipper from Hillcrest Park and is trying to relocate the Comet from Lincoln Park, so the money from this could really help speed up the process.

Avalanche does look really cool. After experiencing my first top ten wooden coaster (phoenix) this weekend I am drooling at the chance for more good wood.

Wow, Moosh; you must have caught Cyclops on a bad day. Both times I'm visited which were in the afternoon mind you--I've still not caught any night rides, Clops was exciting all the way through with back seat air on every hill, a couple of which were very intense, not even counting THE Drop which IS scary the first few times I ride it, but once I get used to it again, it's almost scary. :)

But I totally understand how your experience could be different. I for one have never found Zeus to be all that exciting, but everyone seems to think it's better than Cyclops during optimal conditions. Just wish I could have experience Cyclops before tbey shortened the train. That extra leverage must have been something.

Man, I'm getting really excited about Hades. I didn't expect much until the construction pics started popping up. This is gonna be THE coaster to keep tabs on this coming off-season.

As for Avalanche, it sounds like it has really broken in as early reports claimed it was pretty average in the airtime department, but now it sounds like Cornball-esque. *** Edited 7/19/2004 7:12:37 AM UTC by Matt Scott***

Zeus was a let-down as well. I was hoping for a coaster more along the lines of Timber Terror. Don't get me wrong, Zues and 'Clops were fun alright...it's just that neither lived up to the hype.

Why do they only run one train?????
Is the ride too short too run two trains or why else would they only want one train??

None of Mt Olympus' coasters have transfer tracks. Can't run two trains unless you have a place to store the second when crowds are low or maintenance is needed.

Bob O: I really don't think they need more than that little train. The ride gets through the course pretty quickly and with the train so small, they manage to cycle it pretty quickly. Considering I was there on one of the busiest Saturday's they have had this season in the Dells and there wasn't a wait, I don't think they need more then they got right now.

As for the Mount Olympus coasters, they used to run them for two laps when the rides were pay per ride. Kinda hard to do on a track that has two trains on it. All of the Mount Olympus woodies are extremely short and don't get very big lines, if ever. I can't remember ever seeing a full train on any of the coasters there, even with the POP admission.

Thanks for the info!!

The one thing that is bad about Big Chiefs now is that with the new POP they no longer allow any re-rides even if you are the only one there. Anyone who has been there knows that walking around, especially on Zeus, can be a real work out. They are really cool about re-rides on Avalanche, and though they don't like you switching seats without walking around, they have even let me do that when there are not many people there. On top of that, they always have at least 3 (if not more) ride ops which is better than many other larger parks with full length trains. Timber Falls not only has a great coaster, they know how to run it.

I have never had longer than a one train wait for any of the coasters at either park (aside from Dive to Atlantis) so one train per track is plenty.

Does Avalanche have enough room in the station for more cars to be added to the train if the crowds dictate that more capacity is needed in the future, or is the park pretty much stuck with what they have?

Also, I desparately need photos of Avalanche, so if anyone has any that they are willing to share, please feel free to PM me!

Can't wait to check out avalanche this weekend. Should be a blast!!

The park will not be able to expand the station. On one side is a drop that leads to the lift and on the other side is a small brake run. I dont think there was much extra room in the station, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time and you arent in the station very long. *** Edited 1/16/2005 1:42:53 AM UTC by irish monkey***

I hope they don't expand the train. In my opinion, the short train is what makes Avalanche so good. You have to see it in action and ride it to understand. I bet they might be able to add a 4th car, but the break is so hard, I'd hate to see it with more inertia. If the 4th car slowed it down enough to make the break run work, I would go disconnect it myself. ;) They don't need more capacity though. I have never had more than a one train wait, and even if did wait for a special seat during a busy moment, it would be 2...3 trains at most. There is no need for that though since every seat is good, and the small "rushes" they get are ticket holders that will only ride once.

(There are pics of Avalanche in several places including RCDB, which is why I did not take any.) *** Edited 7/20/2004 7:21:10 PM UTC by RavenTTD***

I agree with RavenTTD, the short train is what makes the ride so much fun. The brake run isn't that bad. I was in the front seat and barely even felt it. *** Edited 1/16/2005 1:44:35 AM UTC by irish monkey***

Here is a link to a slide show of the pics I took of Hades yesterday (7/24/2004). If someone can upload these pics to another site so they can be enlarged let me know and I will send them too you! http://www.photoshow.net/redir_main.php?show=gfiidxGwd

Yeah Baby is right!!!!

WOW...I liked what I saw in that little presentation!!

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