Krypton Coaster press release way off
"The SUPERMAN coaster will initially take you up a 168-foot lift hill (nearly 16 stories) and in an instant you will plummet at the rate of 70 mph as you careen alongside and dramatically supercede the quarry walls twice. When the thrills begin, you will burst through an overwhelmingly large 114-foot vertical loop, leading into a 96-foot dive loop and followed by an intense heartline camelback creating the effect of zero-gravity. In your weightless state you will be suctioned into a cobra roll (two inversions) at 78-feet above the ground. Next you will drop straight down, rush into a sharp turn and plunge down once again into a 90-degree accelerated helix. You will experience a sharp turn and finally arrive back in the station. The SUPERMAN coaster will last three minutes and twenty seconds, three times as long as the average coaster. Faster than a speeding bullet, red and blue in color; It's a bird, It's a plane, It's SUPERMAN! and you will not soon forget this ride!"
They mention a dive loop, and they don't mention the double corkscrew, thought that was kinda weird.
Almost out of the offseason...
13 Boomerang, 9 SLC, and 8 B-TR clones
Other than the inverts, that thing roXors...nevermind the hype...;)
gator, doesn't typically *get* floorlessness...
Much like concept art, this description is a fair enough account of what to expect the feeling will be from riding the coaster.
Pass da' sizzrup, bro!
Superman: repainted (new wheels maybe)
Frissbee: repainted
area: landscaping
german area: painted
boomerang: lights
wipeout: maybe reopen
dertwister: major maintenance and upgraiding (what i hear)
overall they are doing a lot of work that they usualy don't
cofan101 said:
I needs a major retracking or new wheels.
Major retracking huh..... I didn't realize that steel coasters could be retracked. That must be a pain in the arse. ;)
~josh
And I remember reading somewhere that they removed the dive loop because it was high in G's and it was going to be more expensive removing even more of the wall.
-Cal
13 Boomerang, 9 SLC, and 8 B-TR clones
sirloindude said:
I was at SFFT late last summer and I found the ride to be quite smooth.
Me too, it's as smooth as glass.
In my top 5 favorite all time coasters.
I make a trip to FT every year.
SMKC has never once been rough.
If you want a rough coaster, ride Rattler.
S:KC - Smooth.
Major retracking huh..... I didn't realize that steel coasters could be retracked. That must be a pain in the arse.
Well, actually, they can, at least to some degree. Shock Wave, at SFGAm, opened with the second two loops identical to an ordinary, ground-level Arrow loop. Some time in the mid-nineties the top halves of both loops were removed and replaced with tops containing the diagonal ties that had always been found on the first loop and all three loops on Viper (SFMM). In a ddition, it has been reported that the infamous "Dead Man's Curve" into the mid-course brake run was removed and reprofiled before the 1999 season, though if so, there was little improvement.
It had been asserted by some that nearly all, or even all, of the Pepsi Max Big One in Blackpool has actually been replaced over the years. Frankly, I wouldn't be too surprised: The original track was manufactured in vague curves and bent to fit the layout on-site, which doesn't sound like the formula for a sooth ride to me. Still, I can't recall having ever seen any proof of this.
I would assume that is a pain in the arse to do, however.
(SF)Great American said:
Some time in the mid-nineties the top halves of both loops were removed and replaced with tops containing the diagonal ties that had always been found on the first loop and all three loops on Viper (SFMM).
Not that I don't believe you, but that seems very costly considering that they could probably just weld the diagonal ties on during the offseason and not have to replace the entire top of a loop. I don't think that Viper has always had the braces on it. In this pic here dated from 1990 they are not there.
~josh
About Shock Wave, however, I'm pretty sure that I've seen pictures of the ride with just the tops of those loops off, when the braces were put on. So, even if they just modified the old track, the procedure was such that they could have put new track up. It's late though, and I can't think of where I saw this, so I don't fully expect to convince you at the moment. Keep in mind, though, that Great America regularly uses various cranes during the off season, and with the thin diameter of Arrow rails, it wouldn't actually be that big a deal to cut some off and weld it (or new track) back on later. At least not when you compare it to several days of welding outside, in Winter, on cherry pickers 100 feet+ off the ground. Just something to consider.
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