Knott's 12/10/04 - Silver Bullet

I had the afternoon off of work today, so I decided to drive out to Knott's. Beautiful day for it too, such a nice thing after the bad weather of last weekend.

I bought my annual pass using a $40 off coupon from entertainment.com (you can use the 10-day free trial even). My picture was taken and I was in the park. I made a beeline for Silver Bullet.

The line was at the bottom of the stairs, about a 10 minute wait. They were assigning rows and only letting a train full of people into the station at a time. I'm not sure of the reason for this. Problem was the fact that they weren't letting the next group in until the train was leaving, meaning it was taking forever to load. Empty rows waiting for people to enter the station. Shouldn't air gates be enough of a safeguard to let the station fill at least partway during the loading process. Combine this with the fact they're making everyone remove all earrings (again not sure why, no headbanging on SB whatsoever), and we were looking at 4-5 minute dispatches.

As for the ride itself, I'm not sure why everyone's bashing it so much. It's a very solid ride. Is it the best inverted out there, NO. But it's very disorienting and very re-ridable. If I had to make a list of the inverteds I've been on it would be:
1. Raptor
2. Montu
3. DD-Fire
4. Batman(s)
5. Silver Bullet
6. DD-Ice
Considering they all make my top 40, it's definitely a solid ride, and from the reaction of the GP, a great addition for Knott's.

The elements come at you one after another (sort of like Batman), the thing is they're more drawn out and taken a little bit slower. None of the elements really take your breath away, but the combination makes for a very good ride.

First drop is better than I expected it to be. The pull out of the curve still got my stomach (all inverteds do). First loop was pretty standard. Then comes what I deem the best element on the ride...the overbank. It feels different depending where you ride. If you ride up front, it gives a little pop of air as you exit. The middle is more of a weightlessness feeling. This element works the best in the back, it almost feels like an inversion with the way it yanks you out of the overbanked position. Cobra roll was very smooth, no head slamming like on Raptor.

The zero-g and wingovers are what makes this coaster feel so much different than all the other inverts. The transitions are butter smooth, which is why I think a lot of people don't like this one as much. There's no "whip" no matter where you sit. You lose a lot of the disorientation factor of these elements because of it. Now I did say that the coaster was disorienting, but it's more because you're being flipped and spun in circles for the entire duration, it doesn't let up. The elements themselves don't perform as well as on the other inverts. The overbank really is the shining feature.

Now it was also 86 at the park today rather than the low 60s it was on Tuesday. Maybe that's why it gave such a solid ride today. It definitely doesn't feel slow.

As for the rest of the park. I had a very bad experience on Xcelerator. Someone puked on our train as we were boarding. They cleaned it up and had us get on. I was a bit leary, but since they work the ride, I figured they'd know that it was ok. Well, they may have gotten all they could see, but as we went over the tophat, some more puke from under the seat and the panelling came flying up into the air and onto everyone in the back half of the train (including me). They gave us some towelettes with disinfectant on them and showed us to the bathroom. They offered us another ride, but I really wasn't in the mood. I talked to a rides supervisor about it too (especially since we all questioned getting in before it had cycled after the cleanup), but they didn't seem to think it was a very big deal. It kind of ruined my mood for the rest of the day.

Ghostrider was as intense as ever. There seemed to be a bit more shuffling than I remembered. Didn't it just come out of rehab? One ride was all I was in the mood for. That was all I hit today.

I grabbed some Chicken-to-Go and took off for home. I was in the park from 1:30 to 4:45. That includes the 40 minutes spent at the Xcelerator incident.

The park was pretty busy, but the coaster lines were short. A lot of people were in Ghost Town looking at all the craft booths, and the line for the log flume was almost full (decorated for xmas too).

I'm glad I didn't go on Sunday as I originally planned last weekend. Toys for Tots day as well as the Firefighters admission deal. It shall be busy.

Great report. It sucks about your Xcellerator experience. Was the ride still decent otherwise?

I think Silver Bullet was a great ride to round off the variety of coasters at Knotts. They have a launched, they have a great woodie, but they were missing some kind of great looper and from what I hear I think they've done it.

I was just wonderin, does anyone know why it's called Silver Bullet if its red and orange?

The launch on Xcelerator was good, and it had great air on the tophat, that's also when the puke flew up in the air. I don't even remember the rest of the ride.

Not sure why they chose the red & orange paint scheme (it does look nice), but they do have a story posted behind the Silver Bullet (they're stretching for it though).

The residents of Calico used silver bullets to fight off the demons that would come to haunt the town. The demons eventually started coming in bigger numbers and the only way to get more silver from the Calico Mines was on an ore car that floated from a track above it, with miners sitting on it's benches to ward off the demons during transport. Something of that nature. Like I said, a stretch, but at least it has a story.

At least no one puked during the ride, or else you might have gotten hit worse.

Speaking of that, I wonder how it would feel if you puked on TTD or KK, wouldn't puke hit you in the face at 120 mph or faster?

No it wouldn't Kyle, because the puke would be moving that fast too. That is if the person that puked was on the ride.

Blaster, I think that SB is a fun ride and a great addition to the park, but I also think it is just about the worst invert I have ridden. It also looks like you agree by placing it at the bottom of your list.

I think I'll be taking physics in High School. This stuff sounds interesting.

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Blaster_1578 said:

Combine this with the fact they're making everyone remove all earrings (again not sure why, no headbanging on SB whatsoever), and we were looking at 4-5 minute dispatches.

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Are you serious? They were making everyone remove earrings? I have yet to encounter getting on a ride and being told to remove my ear jewelry.

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Blaster_1578 said:
1. Raptor
2. Montu
3. DD-Fire
4. Batman(s)
5. Silver Bullet
6. DD-Ice

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So, is Raptor ahead of Montu because you worked there or because you find it to be a far superior ride (which I would disagree with, but Im a sucker for themeing)

Yes Scott, they are relentless on the earings for that ride. The best thing is that they didn't make anyone take them off on Boomerang when we were there. Still don't get that.

Good trip report. That's too bad about the lack of snapping on Silver Bullet. I'm a big fan of the snap. I guess B&M changed some things in their recent corkscrews and elements. Talon doesn't have the snap in the corkscrew either, but it is a really fluid roll.

Xcelerator. Yuck. That's so nasty. I wonder if they'll think to cycle the train empty this time. Haha.

Have fun at SFMM with Anne. ;)

Ramblin, I actually think it's a superior ride. I found Montu too drawn out between elements, although the batwing is probably my favorite element on any invert. Theming doesn't really do much for me on coasters unless it's like Mummy, Rock 'n Rollercoaster, Space Mountain, something where it's totally immersive.

Raptor and Montu are very close on my list. Montu is better than Raptor if you ride in the front seat of both in my opinion. But in every other seat, I prefer Raptor. It may that I've ridden it so much more, but even then I've never gotten a bad ride. My first trips on Montu left me very disappointed. It was duller than I expected. Then I rode in the front, and could see why everyone else loves it. Raptor 8-4 still provides my favorite ride of all the inverts.

That sucks...personally I wouldn't have boarded and waited for the next train...and if their was only one train running at least waited a train or two.

When I worked at Dorney on Steel Force when ever we had a puking we wouldn't load load that train for a few cycles. Since we always ran two train...only when it was really busy would we board the train after two cycles. We would put down the kitty litter and send it out so we could then get the riders on the other train off. Then once it came back and if go it all cleaned up we'd send it to let it "air out". And only if it was busy would we load it.

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Kyle Fobe said:
I think I'll be taking physics in High School. This stuff sounds interesting.

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I'm a sophomore, I'm assuming you are a freshman (your pro says 1990)

I haven't taken it yet, and although physics is interesting when you apply it to something you love like coasters, it's a b*tch unless you are good at math (which I am NOT). I'm sticking with AP Biology.

No offense, but putting your full name out on the internet isn't always the best idea. It may not seem like much but if you do that and start giving other info away you could put yourself at risk. But don't worry we are all friendly here ;) right guys?..

*GASP* You mean your first name isn't 'Ride' and your last name 'Steel'? ;)

Physics was interesting. I'm a whiz at Math. Yet I still found Chemistry more interesting and easier to learn. Actually, the basics of physics aren't bad. It's actually calculating the coefficient of friction that's a pain in the butt.

Yeah, that's why I opted for Computer Engineering over Structural Engineering :-D (and yet I'm currently using neither on my website.. go figure.. well, maybe a little bit of the CSC programming angle)

Fric = (mu)N

Where your Friction is the force, N being the normal force exerted, and finally mu as your coefficient of friction. Nothin to it. :-p

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No offense, but putting your full name out on the internet isn't always the best idea.

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Nonsense. Just remember never to say anyhting you'll regret in 20 years. I still have some embarrassing USENET posts floating around old archives of rec.sports.football.college :)

Edit: Actually, for minors, there may be some issues. But, once you're of age, you may as well forget about anonymity on the net. A motivated individual can figure out who you are given enough time. *** Edited 12/17/2004 3:57:57 AM UTC by Brian Noble***

Yeah the formulae were the easy part.. now try applying them to a full system of 4 blocks sitting on top of each other, and you exert h pounds of force on the top block, causing the 4 blocks to respond with velocities v1, v2, v3, v4.

Yeah, I didn't like that too much. I'll figure out the molarity and pH of adding 4 unknowns one at a time to a single solution any day, as I toss the blocks on the fire and get enough joules of energy to heat the room in the winter. :)

Oh! And everyone (who's been through freshman chem) remembers the good ol' identify-your-unknown-substance-from-a-group-of-12-possibilities lab. That one was quite fun :-D