How Bad Was The Great Escape Comet Butchered?
What was done to the Comet was *minor* work which amounted to little more than a simple retracking. If it weren't for the new wood and the now smoother ride in that spot, nobody would even realize any work was done. I rode the Comet many, many times this summer. The forces remain the same.
People like Rob Ascough continue to claim the park has plans to reprofile the entire ride, or that much more work was done this year than actually was. The facts remain, however, that the work was minor, and that there is no confirmation that more work is planned. People are rumor-mongering about this issue like no other, and it's getting ridiculous. You can thank ACE for that, and for ruining reputations and relationships with parks by printing flat-out lies.
-Nate
Although the Comet has been changed it has not been major. Nothing that should SERIOUSLY change the way the original ride was run. Nothing along the lines of the way Wild One had been butchered (see pics above).
I'm like greatwhitenorth. The laterals aren't all that great to me. The new wood cures that for ME. In terms of shortening drops then yes, that sucks. For what's been done thus far though, the ride just as good if not better (for those who think laterals are a pain in the side... LITERALLY!)
*** Edited 10/28/2004 5:19:01 AM UTC by rentzy17***
coasterdude318 said:
People like Rob Ascough continue to claim the park has plans to reprofile the entire ride, or that much more work was done this year than actually was.
Well, since Nate says that the changes were minor and really don't affect the ride, it must be true!
You've got your head so far up Six Flags' rear end that you're going to defend whatever they do. That comes as no surprise to me... the only thing that surprises me is how long it took you to jump into this conversation and start looking for holes in my argument. You're entitled to your own opinion but don't discount the opinions of people other than yourself that are familiar with the ride, have been on it this year and notice a huge change in the quality of the ride. Am I to assume that the dozen or so people that I've spoken to about the ride are all lying and just making up stories to get people like you all worked up? Somehow I doubt that.
Have you ridden the ride before and after the reprofile? Have you seen it for yourself? No, you haven't. You don't have an argument. Chalk my arguments up to "Six Flags fanboy-ism" if it makes you feel better and helps justify your incessant whining, but wait until I post to the SFKK thread before you do so. I call each situation as I see it. In this case (as usual), enthusiasts are running around screaming about something they know nothing about.
Go on, continue to claim everyone is on your side while blatently ignoring the opinions of everyone else in this thread who HAS ridden the ride and says the effect is minor to non-existent.
-Nate
*** Edited 10/28/2004 6:59:20 AM UTC by coasterdude318***
And BTW: when you said in the other thread "190 feet of the ride were reprofiled and changed so minorly you couldn't even tell if the welds weren't visible." you discounted the opinions of people who thought the 'changes' caused an alteration of ride experience.
lata, jeremy
--who really doesnt give a rat's azz about the Comet
A funny thing about it is that I had once seen something similar from TSC's 2nd lift earlier this year....it actually appeared that there once was some track that ran somewhere between 5 & perhaps 10 feet below the current track,good thing I got to experience it before it was re-profiled & I'd have to say the pre-SF layout was much better than it is today.
Now lets not forget that the GE Comet was re-profiled back in it's original location way before SF even existed....let alone before it was relocated to the states,as we all know it was the last of Traver's infamous cyclone models & had it not been for the re-profiling work done back then to make it a ridable triple out & back it certainly wouldn't be standing today.
I could care less about the statistics of the change. Whether it was 190' of track or 1900' of track, 5 degrees of banking or 25 degrees of banking makes absolutely no difference whatsoever when a ride is judged by "seat of the pants" experience. There have been changes made to coasters even more *minor* than the ones made to the Comet and have severely affected the ride experience. You're telling people that they are wrong for their negative opinions, whether you admit that or not.
Yeah, I haven't been up to TGE to ride the Comet and experience the ride firsthand, but that doesn't mean I can't say something about this. I would hardly define my comments as "whining", as I was merely answering a question asked by someone else. If you think I'm whining, you really need to toughen up a little.
Don't blame people for thinking this is a big deal. What do you expect of them? They can either believe:
1) The opinions of well-traveled enthusiasts that have experienced the modified Comet and can attest to the way the changes hurt the ride, not to mention the published words of ACE- an organization that is expected to know quite a bit about what is going on with the coaster since many members took part in getting the Comet reconstructed at TGE back in 1994; or
2) The words of coasterdude318.
Come on, be a little realistic for once... or at least don't insult people for having an opinion. That puts you in a small & elite group of ignorant people on this site and believe it or not, I don't thin you belong there.
All of this really amounts to people complaining about a retracking, and that's ridiculous. People practically scream for certain rides to be retracked, but when it's done to the Comet, it's suddenly a bad thing. The only thing that *feels* any different is that it's smooth. It hasn't negatively affected ride time. It hasn't affected the forces in that part of the ride.
The most ridiculous thing at all is people like Rob continue to claim they have an opinion, yet they haven't even ridden the Comet his year if at all! How can you have an opinion about how negative a change is if you haven't even experienced it?
If you really believe ACE members have a handle on what's going on, that's laughable at best, not to mention the fact I've seen plenty of knowledgable, well-traveled enthusiasts say there is no effect whatsoever. But I guess it's okay for you to discount their opinions, right?
-Nate
Changing one part of a ride in the middle by either raising or lowering a hill or even a banking change can affect the rest of the ride. It can make it a better ride or a sleeper.
I guess I need to make it to Great Escape next year and see for myself. I just hope they don't do what Absolutely Reliable is saying and make it all flat with no hills! :(
"Your favorite coaster sucks."
Hobbes: "What's the point of attaching a number to everything you do?"
Calvin: "If your numbers go up, it means you're having more fun."
You must be pretty dense (or are just selective when it comes to what you read and interpret) because I never discounted the opinions of the people that say the changes don't harm the quality of the ride. You're just pissed because I don't assume your take on the situation to be the final word. What your saying is that everyone that agrees with you is right and everyone else that doesn't (including ACE and all of its members that have a negative opinion of the changes) is wrong! You want to talk about ridiculous? Let's talk about that mentality of yours. You have an ego that fits in perfectly around here.
Calling the change a mere retracking is idiotic. A change in banking is not retracking, it is a change in the ride's profile. That's like calling the lowering of part of Holiday World's Legend's helix a retracking! Furthermore, changing the material that is used is going to result in a change in feel, if not immediately then definitely over time. Or are you going to dispute what has been proven numerous times in the past that Yellow Pine is inferior to Douglas Fir?
That thing is a killer on my ribs. I know a lot of people love it but to me that's brutal. I would LOVE it if the changed it to a swooping curve rather than the flat, lightly banked turn it is now.
If anyone's ever ridden Silver Comet at Martin's Fantasy Island they know what I mean. This coaster has a swooping curve near the end.
Yes I know. I'm being rediculous. Plus, I know if I were the GM I would probably never change something like that. I can imagine though. ;)
coasterpunk said:
Changing one part of a ride in the middle by either raising or lowering a hill or even a banking change can affect the rest of the ride. It can make it a better ride or a sleeper.
The Comet is just over 4,000' long. That means less than 5% of the ride was altered, and just barely. I've already stated what the effect is on the rest of the ride - it runs faster than it ever has. The only time I would buy that this "reprofile" has severely affected the ride experience was if that dogleg was the only good part of the ride, except I've never heard anyone mention that part of the ride until after this reprofile. Then it suddenly became the former "best part."
Rob Ascough said:
I don't claim to have an opinion, I do have an opinion.
Fine, but it's pretty ignorant to have an opinion about something you've never experienced for yourself.
You must be pretty dense (or are just selective when it comes to what you read and interpret) because I never discounted the opinions of the people that say the changes don't harm the quality of the ride.
No, you're the one who is being selective. You came into this thread with your mind made up that the change was horrible, has ruined the ride, and that's all there is to it. Everyone in this thread who has ridden the ride has said it did not ruin the ride at all. Yet you continue to just claim "I've heard the ride quality has suffered because of the changes" while ignoring all the people who say it hasn't, especially people who have ridden the ride a lot and who have ridden it before and after the change.
Calling the change a mere retracking is idiotic.
No, because that's essentially what it is. Most of the work that was done was retracking on a 190' section because it had gotten rough. The banking change was, for the hundredth time, less than 5% and does not cover the whole 190' section. That's barely visible! The idiotic thing would be calling that a major or severe change, or even suggesting that could destroy the ride.
Is Yellow Pine inferior to Douglas Fir? Sure, but that doesn't mean a ride made of Yellow Pine is going to be rough provided it's taken care of. The Comet is one of the most comfortable wooden coasters I've ever experienced. TGE takes impeccable care of it. Just because the wood has changed doesn't mean they're going to let it get rough (and really, if they bothered to retrack it to fix roughness, do you really think they're just going to let it go bad again?).
-Nate
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