Hurricane at Myrtle Beach Pavilion

Rollergator, yeah there was an event scheduled for last year that I helped plan with the park but it didn't draw enough guests to go ahead with plans. It was probably due to the selection of the date, which happened to be the same weekend as an ACE weekend event. I still thought it was an unbelievable deal but I would probably choose the ACE event over a park with two coasters too. No events are planned for this year. -Allan

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Allan Hamby - FLCC Member.

The wife & I go at least twice every two weeks, & including three holiday weekends, & many busy weekends this past season & they NEVER ran the second train. I've been unfortunate enough to only go through one train operation time after time. To see the second train running is almost like a goal of mine. All the wasted time & money standing there waiting on all those trains & those slow people, all the riding that could have been had. Maybe they pull her out for the Fourth. But as far as my comment about them being trained, the op at the panel is famous for SLEEPING, or some other head down, not watching the ride in the least activity between rides.

.....and I'm sure they can be nice if they want to, but they are clueless as far as employees in a park go. They want to talk to each other, & if they do pay attention to you, it's to staple you in. They move so slow, & you can't say anything to them, you know? What they'll do is just look at you. The Pavilion operated MUCH better before the Hurricane. I know they're working, the public's not always the most friendly bunch, but that place operates fairly poorly. Nobody can smile. It would make their days go by so much faster, I tell you.

They're not a safe crew, either. They let people walk across the track in the station all the time, something I think I shouldn't see.

They're going to have to take care of the Hurricane, too. It's obvious they haven't taken the best care of it these last two years. Even in its' first year, every time I went, there were seats always roped off. A brand new coaster, brand new train, with four rows roped off because they're "not working"? I can't wait for a ride in ten years.

Oh, well. I just hope they start doing a better volume of business. The people come, things move, all-happy situations for everyone:). I understand the new admissions policy cuts out loitering, but they confuse people & it's a little deterring. If anything, it makes the place look expensive.

I don't understand at all what you mean. I've been four times in the past two summers and have yet to see any cars on the Hurricane roped off or anyone walking across the station track. And who cares what the ops are doing between rides, if something goes wrong the computer will take care of it. The bottom line is the place needs hundreds of employees and is drawing from a very small area. Yeah, Myrtle Beach is fairly big, but most of the people there are tourists or old people. They have all the rides staffed every day of the week and that is all that matters. I've seen crews at SF running just as ineffeciently as the Pavilion's, but the SF crew has a ten times longer line to deal with and they can't even staff the whole park. And the Pavilion is taking care of the Hurricane just fine, just remember it is a tough task given its magnitude. The only problems I have encountered with maintenance is subpar tracking in the helices near the end of the season. Other than that, it is fine. Seems like you have a grudge against the park!

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Allan Hamby - FLCC Member.

Allan,

That, or p_c_r is looking at the park with open eyes and not with some sort of bias and making excuses for the park. Who the heck cares what SF is doing in the first place, that has no bearing on the debate at hand.

Just because they draw from a small base of people, the employees are allowed to act like a-holes? That doesn't sit well with me, sorry.

I have never been to Myrtle Beach. I am very much hoping to get there this year because I think the Hurricane looks like a great coaster. However, I am not going to make excuses for the park if it is lackluster.

Hopefully I will enjoy my visit this year and won't have anything to complain about!

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"Look for the big black sack of Mofuggin Nuts at your local grocery store". -- Radio ad in FL

Legendary, I really have no problem with the park being condemned if it is for good reason. HE is the only one looking at the park in a biased manner. He is making a mountain out of a mole hill here; the employees are not the greatest but they are certainly nothing to complain about either. Go to Myrtle Beach and see for yourself.

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Allan Hamby - FLCC Member.

I may get an event scheduled late this summer at either Family Kingdom or the Pavilion for the Carolina Coaster Enthusiasts (www.carolinacoasters.tk). Since the club is so new, I'm waiting to see how the Carowinds event plays out before I plan another event.

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|| Jonathan Hawkins ||
http://www.starcoasters.com
http://www.thrillspot.com

Just my two cents. I've been to the Pavillion twice in five years, and I've seen most everything that p_c_r has seen. (except for crossing the track) This isn't the safest crew, nor is it the tightest park. A new level of safety enforcement is needed because what the ops do is bogus. If I go to a SF or CP park, I see ops who aren't dead, I see trains with FULL capacity, and if anyone attempted to cross tracks, I'm sure they'd be dealt with. Heck, some SF parks even run 2/3 train operation when needed. The way things are run over at the Pavillion are ridiculous. This park could be a nice little park, but that is ruined by the shabby appearence.

Note: I'm not only talking about the Hurricane Crew.

Ozz-Who will continue going to the Pav. twice every five years, regardless of the recoculous ride ops.

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R.I.P Fear Factory 1990-2002. You will be missed.

*** This post was edited by Ozzyhead on 3/16/2002. ***

Hmmm, I guess in my sixteen years of attending regularly I've never seen any of this. -Allan

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Allan Hamby - FLCC Member.

I always defend the Hurricane. Topics come up all the time about the ride, & disscussion turns to about how "rough" it is. It usually turns to they need to take better care of it or something along those lines. I love riding that coaster, & it's especially good when it's wet, but the place operates strangely. I'm not too pickey, I don't ask for much.

For riders at night, when the Scrambler's running, & you come into the second helix, watch the Scrambler, it's great if it's running! Nothing beats standing next to the Hurricane & watching it rock through the helix. Night rides are fun, there's not much light out there. People say the helices are rough, I never hold on through them, & they fell rough to me if I hold onto the train. Yeah, they may have been smoother. They were real intense for a while when it first opened, it'd make your face wabble almost like an astronaut. But now, everybody says they need to work on it:(. Not that I find it excessively rough IMO, but maybe it's true.

Allan, you know if they did any work on Hurricane this year? Previous post said something about the workers? Maybe it wasn't too routine of work, & involved some WORK...and where's that Max Cannon? He seems to be on-point with MB info.

No idea what they did on the Hurricane this year. I do know that the park was aware of a few complaints about the roughness during the helices and was going to do something about it during the off season. Whether they did anything or not, I'm not sure. Last year I really didn't find it that rough either. There was a real nasty jolt about 3/4 of the way through the final double helix that was obviously a botched retracking attempt by the park. That will definitely be fixed this year. There was also some shuffling over the speed hill immediately following the first drop. That was noted by the park as well. It will be interesting to see what was done to it, but I do know the park was aware of all of this so something was probably done. -Allan

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Allan Hamby - FLCC Member.

Lurch mode on

You rang, p_c_r?

Lurch mode off

I've been having 'puter probs so I haven't been online much. But, I've been following this discussion. Let me throw a few things into the fire.

When I was last down there a few weeks ago, it looked to me from what I could tell from the road, that any retracking hadn't been done. Hopefully, like Allan said, they will do something about that jolt in the last helix during the offseason. I couldn't see the last helix that well. I have a friend who is heading down there this weekend to ride it so I'll see what she says when she gets back. .

From past experiences at the Pavilion, and I go alot-it helps having parents living at MB- I've seen one train operations before mainly when it hasn't been busy or in the afternoons before the nightly crowds get there. During the week, when they do have one train op, they'll rotate the trains each night. Red one night. Blue the next night. They will add the second train if the crowd warrants it. I've seen that happen many times too.

As for the employees, most of them seem so uninterested in working its not even funny. Maybe its that breeze from the Atlantic that is so distracting. It is to me on a hot summer night :) Like other parks, you have your good employees and your bad ones. There is this black guy who works at the 'cane who is a total coaster buff. He loves to talk coasters and he loves Volcano. There was one guy last year who worked the 'cane who was from Europe. He didn't say a whole lot but his whole demeanor was very polite.

I feel sorry for the poor person who has to check handstamps and take tickets. That admission policy needs to go just pay one price and be done with. I'm not complaining and wanting special treatment for season pass holders but its annoying to have to wait in the lines to get to the ticket booth. Why? Because you have several families and/or individuals trying to make up their mind about the ticket pricing.

I probably won't get down there untl April. Even with its rough spots, the Hurricane is still a very fun ride and one of my favourites.

Max

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Max Cannon
TomServoMC@aol.com or gwazi@carolina.rr.com

"open your heart and push the limits"-Enigma

*** This post was edited by MB Hurricane on 3/19/2002. ***

I hate to say this, but things get so confusing at the booth getting in, that I'm not afraid to be rude, walk in front of some people, & get my transaction out of the way. The admissions policy does help on one aspect, there's not people following you into the bathrooms trying to get you to pay $20 because they thought you were in there changing clothes:).

The one dude you speak of, I miss him every time, he's good enough that I forgot about him. I did not see him a single time last year. Other than that, there's a couple of girls, but not too many repeat employees. I think many are foreign exchange workers, I forgot about that. No wonder that guy wasn't too talkative or really into what I was saying, he probaly couldn't understand me!

Man, that breeze is nice. I only sometimes wonder why they give us so much room to unload, with such a crowded quee area. But, I really hold nothing against the Pavilion. I wish they would open for Halloween or something, & their problems, it's a small park, I enjoy the place over & over. I just HOPE to get in on this two train job. I'm stopping this weekday & Sundays business, lol.

They had a Halloween thing last year, Ocean Boo-levard, but I don't know if it was centred around the Pavilion itself or spread out all over the Blvd. I just saw the dates listed on the Pavilion sign next to the road last fall.

If the entrance over at the Hurricane's first drop is open, I usually go in there. I was told that there was going to be an entrance just for the season pass holders and haven't seen it yet. The ladies at the season pass processing aren't exactly helpful. You'd think they would give you a pass but the only time they do it is when you get a pass for the first time!

Going along with Allan's pier project, the biggest rumour that I heard was that they were going to build a second level about the ground floor and put rides up there. That was suppose to be why the Hurricane's station is so high up. I mentioned this to Alan Kanter and he chuckled. I just wish they'd kill half the queue lines under the station. Between Legend Leg (pre PTC trains) and Hurricane Hamstring, my legs take a beating!

Max

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Max Cannon
TomServoMC@aol.com or gwazi@carolina.rr.com

"open your heart and push the limits"-Enigma