Hercules at Dorney Park

Thrillerman - the only exception to you CF Woodie Rule is Ghostrider. With the exception of a slight reprofile of the helix due to excessive wear the coaster has ran trim-free from day one. Plus, the park takes excellent care of the ride, performing bi-annual maintenance and continually rotating trains so that while two are running one is undergoing rehab.

mOOSH

------------------
A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Flabbergasted [adj.] Appalled over how much weight you've gained.

I rode Herc back in 89. It was only a few weeks after it opened. I remember being blown away by the ride. It was fast thru the entire course!

Although the trims destroy the thrill of the ride I think they are needed more so for the rides matainance concerns more so than the riders. After all that is alot of force on the wood turning at 65 mph.

It's opening year I believe it had trailered PTC's instead of it's current ones as well. Although that had to be an improvement for handling for the ride.

I think to improve the ride Dorney should reprofile the rest of the ride to make up for the use of the trims on the first drop. Get ride of the rest of the double up and make it a double down instead. Lower the turn after the station fly thru, and lower the final turn before the brakes. Doing that should make the ride faster paced.

Doing that would also require alot more money than the park wants to dump into an existing ride. They could just go out a build a new wooden coaster for a little more money. Afterall when was the last time a park advertised : "Reprofiled for the 2004 Season, Hercules, Better than before" It if isn't broke and people still ride don't fix it seems to be most parks mottos.

------------------
Signature will be closed today. Sorry for the inconveinance.

Yeh Moosh, that one and Shivering Timbers. But those coasters are engineered better than the Summers designs that are plagued with issues. I will say, when I rode Ghostrider a couple years ago, I did find it rough. But I like them a little rough and playful. I couldn't help to think though when I was riding, how everyone would badmouth that ride if it had the G-trains like Villain. But Ghostrider does suffer from orange track syndrome and have a trim above the station that was on slighly when I was there. I also was told about the maintenance costs and procedures by my buddy that works for a certain Group. So it would seem that for now, Ghostrider and Shivering Timbers are OK. But I always worry about what's down that road.Cross your fingers and say a prayer, I never thought the Blue Streak would suffer either.

Wood - anything else is an imitation

---

Thrillerman said:
But Ghostrider does suffer from orange track syndrome and have a trim above the station that was on slighly when I was there.

---

Wha????

"But Ghostrider does suffer from orange track syndrome and have a trim above the station that was on slighly when I was there."

Absolutely not. That break has *never* been used as a trim...EVER! It only works as a block brake and, as such, opens and closes as a trains pass. Because GR only runs two trains there is never a reason to trim speed at that point.

If you're standing in the area you can hear the brakes open as a train releases from the lift chain and close again after a train has gone down "the drop" [drop 5]. Occasionally, if there is a slight misalignment in the brake, brake fins, or track you can hear the fin scrape the brake as trains pass thru the block. Perhaps you mistook that as the sound of a functioning trim break?

mOOSH

------------------
A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Flabbergasted [adj.] Appalled over how much weight you've gained.

Rob Ascough said:
Thrillerman: Yes, there are indeed trims on the drop/turn out of the station. You know things are bad when the ride is trimmed BEFORE it starts!

*cough Back on topic. Rob don't make Herc out to be any worse than everyone already does. You can't possibly believe they are used to slow the ride down. Well, if ya don't know what they are used for, I'll tell ya. Have you ever seen a train transfered onto the track on Hercules. Well, maybe you haven't. Well when there is already a train on the track and they want to add a second, they use that area in front of the station with the trim brakes to hold the train until they successfully transfer the 2nd train onto the tracks. I believe they implemented this as a safety precaution after the two trains collided back in '93.

------------------
"You know its a good ride when you come into the final brake run wiping tears from your eyes."
*** This post was edited by DorneyDante 7/14/2003 6:38:14 PM ***

Ok, I just went to look at my on-ride photos that I took in 2000. Yep, first drop....orange track. As far as the block/trim that might have been a scrape of the fin, BUT, I seem to remember hearing that little release of air up there. Anyways, I've only been to the park once and only got to ride the coaster 4-5 times that day. I loved Ghostrider and can't wait to get back to the west coast again. I'm not trying to knock Knott's. I thought it was a great park with excellent atmosphere and rides. The whole day we were there, I kept thinking that I didn't feel like I was at Cedar Point except for the employee uniforms and getting stapled to my seat on Ghostrider.

The whole point of my orignal post refered to Hercules, Blue Streak, and the other Summers' woodies in this parks chain. NOT the CCI's which seem to be holding there own right now. I HAVE heard that Ghostrider runs with no trim brake. That's why I remember when we went thru I distinctly heard the sound of air and figured it was just my dumb luck. It was nothing to get worked up about for me because it was so slight anyways. I remember saying to my buddy, "They know we're here." and we all got a big laugh out of it.

We had a good time at Knott's. A little crowded, but not bad either. Excellent chicken dinners filled us up so much we couldn't ride for awhile after eating. Man that was good!!

Wood - anything else is an imitation

No worries, I didn't take your comment as a knock towards Knotts. Even when riding you can hear the brakes close as the train goes down Drop 5. You're not the first person to mistake that as trimming.

BTW...orange track? Do you mean rust?

mOOSH

------------------
A random Mooshter's Dawntionary listing: Flabbergasted [adj.] Appalled over how much weight you've gained.

Uh huh, steel on steel= rust?!!!!

Wood - anything else is an imitation

Classic Hercules line from the movie "Nutty Professor" (where Eddie Murphy is dressed up as Prof. Clump's mother):

"HERCALEEZ, HERCALEEZ, HERCALEEZ!!!"

I just thought this would be an enlightening quote for everybody.
------------------
"That's DOCTOR Evil. I didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called 'Mr. Thank You Very Much.'"

Thanks...I needed that !!! ( insert smiley face here)

Wood - anything else is an imitation