Pilgrims Plunge testing starts today

I am guessing the most "unnerving" part of the ride will be when the elevator "leans" in after the "passing" of cars. Leaning in towards the structure not so bad...leaning away from the structure, I am guessing will encourage a few "squeals" from the riders.

I wonder if they are still working on the water level, the splash didn't look as big as I thought it would.

In answer to the "where's the splash" questions - I could be wrong, but it looks to me like an empty boat (without weight of riders or sacks of corn) skims more than it dives...carries a ton of speed through the trough, whereas a heavier boat should hit the water a little differently. ;)

edit: messed up by post-times.

Re: Plunge splash...see Paula's comments here.

^There goes my theory, LOL...Didn't realize HW was using a smaller boat until now.

I just got back from the Twitter event. The splash may not be as big, but it is a spectacular splash that gets everyone in the boat soaked. Everyone in the boat will get drenched from head to toe. :)

It is a refreshingly wet, fun ride with a very cool lift. It is really fast.

Paula's screams are loud as ever on this ride. She was screaming even before we left the station.I had to check my hearing after riding with her. ;)

I am in the back of the boat in a green shirting laughing it up with Rob Burtz at the end of this news clip. http://tr.im/ka9q

The lack of splash is very disappointing. I hope they can figure out a way to make it work with a splash in the future.

I wonder how much of an issue of perception with riders it is when there isn't a huge splash on one of these rides.

Sure, you still get all wet, but man...that visual is much of the attraction, isn't it?

Thanks, Intamin.

It is! The proof are the crowds of people that stand around to watch a splash. But I'm sure HW knows that.

To be honest, the current splash is more than enough to get you soaked. And as far as visuals go... http://www.holidayworld.com/holiblog/uploaded_images/43009splash-793753.JPG

That looks pretty spectacular, don't you think? :) That is only the initial splash of the splashdown, not the final scoop.

Wow...even Pat Kock took a ride. You go girl! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uWkSpo0LJg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthemep...r_embedded

Yeah, for the "world's tallest water ride," that is an awfully dinky splash.

It's even smaller than Perilous Plunge's splash (which I thought was small until I saw the Pilgrim's Plunge splash) after Knott's put those new boats in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mja_Ji1ujdY

Yeah, the defective splash looks like it makes no difference for the riders themselves as they still get wet. And it looks like it's a lot of water coming up and around them.

But, as Neuski points out, the visual attraction for non-riders is lost. It's really anti-climatic. You see this monstrosity of a hill and as the boats come barreling down with speed you expect a BOOM and instead you get a pffft.

LOL, that zoomed-in pic looks like a good log flume splash. ;)

Please find it in your hearts to be patient ... we're working on increasing the size of the splash. At this point the focus was on getting the ride built and open. Now the fine-tuning begins...

Thanks, Paula

Wow Paula. You've had an awful long day. Must have been fun though. Bet the current splash isn't a drop in the bucket compared to what it will be when you guys get it tuned.

Judging by the new video posted on the HW blog, Intamin seems to have greatly overestimated the amount of runway needed to stop the boat. Instead of sliding into the deeper channel, the boat almost comes to a stop while it crawls off the end of the track. I wonder if this is why the splash is so small... in order to get the boat as far down the track as possible, they might have needed to trade a fast deceleration and large splash for a slower deceleration and smaller splash, but one that gets the boat closer to the channel. I know this ride is a prototype, but honestly, is it that hard to calculate the amount of runway needed at the end of the hill?

^^^I didn't figure you all would settle with all this complaining. ;)

The ride looks terrific with the water running down the chute. I look at it this way, regardless of what happens after the drop, the lift and the drop are two HUGE ride elements in themselves and really stand out from any other water attraction. I just wish I was able to go to HW this year to try this out, but I'll have to wait until next year. :/

How much can you mess with the level of the water and would it do anything?

I was hoping to hear that Paula. :)