Kingda Ka Media Day postponed.

Actually, We'd be over 700' a while ago, and none of this would have mattered if it weren't for Las Vegas' City Council, Best Tamer. And here's a Hint: The coaster was most certainly NOT Intamin.

I'll get excited when they build a coaster over 600' that isn't just launch, tophat, possible element, brakes.

Oh, and Son of Beast Sux! ;)

Unfortunately, this is the trend of the year. I was shocked that PKD didn't have Tomb Raider completely finished for opening day this year, and that Grizzly will be closed until May. Someone already mentioned the Italian Job projects.

I'm willing to accept a late opening of something, as long as it works better than it would had they opened it sooner. Just think of it like a video game or movie that you are really, really anticipating, only to have it get pushed back.

There are always exception to the rules though. Batwing opened fairly late, and it still had massive problems. Batman & Robin the Chiller, and I believe both Mr. Freeze's might have opened for a few days their debut year, and then were postponed to the following year.

One of my favorite examples though of a ride that was massively delayed was Volcano the Blast Coaster at PKD. It finally opened in August (and boy, is August a cool month in Virginia:)), and they had to run it with every other row missing (lack of power, I believe?).

Have patience. It's for the good of mankind:)

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Beast Tamer said:
b&M will not push the evelope though. If it was not for intamin we would still be in the low 200' range! They are like pki they are the innovaters!

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Claude and Walter eloped?

Whoa, for a minute there I thought I saw something but I'll just bank that on the poor spelling

So, is Kings Island really an innovator, or are the companies PKI contracts to build the rides innovators?

*** Edited 4/18/2005 1:10:39 AM UTC by RamblinWreck***

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Beast Tamer said:
...They are like pki they are the innovaters!

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Lol. You don't even TRY to be funny and I think you are the funniest poster ever.

And yes, SOB sucks.

I'll wait until KK opens, and then I will make plans to ride it. I'm not going to cry because it's not opening on time. Just don't go to SFGAdv until it's open-Go to another park instead. No big deal.

About Batman being innovative, I thought I was hallucinating the first time I saw it Back in 1993. I cursed in front of my Mom saying "wtf?"

The only reason I can come up with that Intamin can continue with these roller coasters is demand.

If I was in the shoes of one of the "big boys" at one of the big parks I would be looking for three things: Return on Investment, Return on Investment, Return on Investment.

They don't get the results they are looking for in a average ride. Big parks are looking for the best ride they can get from the lowest bidder.

Intamin manages to outbid other manufacturers. They have an advantage over others because they design their own control systems. They also manage to use much less steel when not needed and usually don't have any more cracking problems. Of the two Giga coasters, only one of them are still running. Both have had similar failures, one still runs and the other hasn't for nearly 2 years.

The hydraulic launch has been quite a mess. (sometimes even literally) They've had many failures and problems. Despite high maintenance costs and high rates of downtime, when they run they deliver.

I think the reason they don't get sued is in the contract they sign with the parks. I wish I knew what the agreements are like. I'm pretty sure the agreement between Arrow and Magic Mountain had something in terms of downtime. Look at Superman The Ride, it opened a year late. Arrow, admittedly was barely staying in the black at the time was taken under with the project.

I presume that Intamin is crazy enough to build anything as long as their contract doesn't bind them too tightly. Looking at their current site, they have a wide array of products. From what I've seen, they don't lack in the ambition department.

Why did you have to bring up that Arrow pile of crap. It would have been a complete eyesore and would have nothing on a drop ride. Ghetto 1st generation Intamin freefalls are more of a coaster than that pile.

Stand ups had been done before B&M, their first product line that was worth anything was the inverted coaster. It has been one of the greatest coasters, but it's becoming chopped liver now. Floorless is simply a spinoff of inverts. The flyers have one exceptional element, the dive loop. The rest of the ride is mediocre at best.

Intamin has done much more for the industry as of late than any other company.

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SteelMonsters said:
They have an advantage over others because they design their own control systems.

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That's an advantage? Every person I know that has personally dealt with these systems compares them to an overly complex train wreck. Any ride with a thousand switches has a horrible control system, as far as I'm concerned. No amusement ride should be that complex.

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Earnhardt2 said:And since the media day event got moved back I may have an open spot... lol I let you know

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Sweet!

Keep me posted if anyone can't make it. :D

Oh, did they tell you when the new date is or are they just going to let you know when they figure one out? *** Edited 4/18/2005 3:42:03 AM UTC by MrX***

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Jeff said:
Any ride with a thousand switches has a horrible control system, as far as I'm concerned.

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That's the first thing I thought when I first saw Dragster! :) Just look at all the things that have to be working perfectly in order for that ride to run. There are so many things that can go wrong from proximity switches to drive tires, to the things that lower and raise the brakes, etc. That doesn't even address the coding which is probably a sloppy wreck if their hardware design is any indication or the launch which I really don't know enough about to comment on its design.

I'm amazed someone else bought anything from Intamin, let alone another rocket/strata coaster. Between the uptime issues and the accidents, why would anyone take that chance?

Two words: INTAMIN HAPPENS.

Thank you.

-CO

You're right Jeff... the Intamin I dealt with as an operator (the little Intamin Looper at DLP, Indiana Jones) was an absolute mess when it came to the ride control system. So many switches and sensors... and when you look at Space Mountain across the park, a Vekoma ride that is a lot more complicated, you have to wonder what Intamin was thinking.

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Jeff said:
That's an advantage? Every person I know that has personally dealt with these systems compares them to an overly complex train wreck. Any ride with a thousand switches has a horrible control system, as far as I'm concerned. No amusement ride should be that complex.

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Advantage as in lowered cost for the same control system developed by an ouside company. I never said they made particularly good control systems overall. There are some pretty impressive things done in the program by Intamin's engineers. They tend to make them more complicated than they need to be however.

TTD could get away with 1 pair of block reset sensors per block. Right now they have around 20 pair per block. From the looks of it, Kingda Ka doesn't have nearly the sensors that TTD has.

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SteelMonsters said:
Of the two Giga coasters, only one of them are still running. Both have had similar failures, one still runs and the other hasn't for nearly 2 years.

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Not true. Steel Dragon 2000 lost a wheel, and someone was killed when the wheel hit them. For whatever reason, the coaster never operated after that, even though the wheel failure can be fixed or re-engineered.

MF has not has any failures like that. The only major failure was a lift cable failure, which is not really a safety issue.

NOt true. THe wheel from SD2K killed nobody. Just injured them. It continues to be SBNO due to their superstitious nature, but will open again.

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Jeff said:
Between the accidental deaths and unreliability of their rides in recent years, I have no idea how they continue to operate or how parks continue to buy product from them. It defies logic.

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The only (legal) method that could be accounted for is an *UNBELIEVABLE* sales force convincing people to continue to buy Intamin products...downtime/maintenance aside, wouldn't the parks' liability carriers have something to say about the park acquiring an Intamin product? Like "Hey, buy from them and your rates will *rocket* upward"? ;)

Nonetheless, Intamin continues to build, and presumably make money....which I *hope* they're spending in R&D to make their rides safer and more reliable...

False, while MF hasn't had a wheel fall off, it's had failures of the guide wheel assembly. The reason the wheel didn't fall off is simular to the skids in the following photo (simular design, different ride). The assembly cracked severely but the backup skids prevented catastrophic failure.

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=1312

Preventative maintenance failed in both cases. One ride had a catastrophic failure, the other was simply a 30 minute fix.

If you get a good look at the guide wheel assemblies and compare them to 2000, you will notice that they are much thicker now and not welded either. TTD had the thick ones from the start.

Rhino - it's (most likely) an attempt to keep temperatures down. Asphalt/blacktop absorbs a LOT of solar radiation making the areas hotter.

There have been studies that show that lighter/more reflective colors for paved surfaces keep the temperatures down.

the park called me today... to get my credit card info.. and they said that the new media day should be in a week or two..

My thought is in 2 weeks because they are open all next week... SHe also said that they have to reinvite the media again... She said taht she would call me as soon as she finds out, becasue I told her I am in the navy and need the time to put in a leave chit.

NOTE: I get 1st and 4th seat choice... WOOT!!

SO I am sitting in frount and my friend is sititng back! *** Edited 4/18/2005 9:23:08 PM UTC by Earnhardt2***

SteelMonsters: According to? And what's a simular?

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Jeff said:
Any ride with a thousand switches has a horrible control system, as far as I'm concerned.

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Try operating a reactor!! ;)

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UBRhino said:
I'm really excited for you Earnhardt2! Please let us know how it went when you get back!

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lol I plan to... I will also have lots of pics and video of it all... just need a place to post it all...

any ideas any one? *** Edited 4/18/2005 9:30:44 PM UTC by Earnhardt2***