PKD Opening day

Pretty much all of what I was going to say is in Intamin Fan's trip report. I was there for the Drop Zone walk back. The surprise was the media kit. Not all that exciting. My first Intamin 3rd Gen and a totally sweet ride. It is a really long way up and is one of the few rides that have ever intimidated me (MF, Hypersonic). Everytime I got off (rode 8 times) I was unsure whether or not I wanted to get back on, because it was that breathtaking/scary. The capacity is also incredible. Never waited for more than 2 cycles. The dots would be much better if they were numbered so you could figure out exactly which seat to be in. It would also be great if all the seats were modified so you don't have check restraint four times while people swap seats (or if ops checked to see if people were going to fit (by looking around) before starting the restraint check). In any case, it still devoured people with the relatively short ride time and the large number of seats. A great ride. Anyone know how much it cost?

I did get a chance to meet and ride with Cernelli and Black 7, which was good. Hoping to meet more folks at SFGAdv. opening and SFA's openings.

We were waiting for Hypersonic for a bit and decided to wait for front. Halfway through the queue, one of the front row restraints died so they ended up running one seat on single train operation. Needless to say, that wasn't fun. Total of about 2 hrs wait. But I totally forgot how awesome that thing is. GREAT air on both hills, awesome vertical dive and the launch blows Xcelerators out of the water. Too bad the capacity is so bad. On my second trip after I had lost everyone else somehow, I waited about 20 minutes in the outside line (which apparently is so people who get frustrated can leave easier) and got a single seat bump up into the next dispatch once inside the station. That was really good and the ride was much better having only waited 20 minutes instead of 2 hrs. Everything else was one or two trains (wait), save V:TBC which was about 20 minutes all day.

One time at night, while waiting for Drop Zone, Volcano's flame spurt went off and kept flaming for a good 30 seconds. It shut off about 5 seconds before a train came flying through. Is that normal operation? Seems like it's cutting it pretty close and I thought the flame spurt usually comes pretty far away from the trains and is much shorter.

I also got my missing credits on Scooby, Taxi Jam, Ricochet, and Avalanche (which was a lot more fun than I thought it would be).
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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

*** This post was edited by ApolloAndy 3/23/2003 6:49:06 PM ***

We were wondering about the flame also on Volcano. Go With Gravity thought he saw the flame go out as we were being launched skywards.
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If you have a problem with clones, the solution is real simple—Stop traveling.

Nice Trip Report Andy. I would love to go down to PKD this year but with SRM and So.Cal I would doubt it.
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Sean Newman

Nice TR Andy, it was nice meeting you. Sorry about leaving in such a hurry, but I think my friend was a little frustrated about waiting so long for Hypersonic and then not being able to ride it, so we went to eat and left around 7. My TR will be up later this evening.

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Joe Cernelli
Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
Phantom's Revenge Count: 104

He couldn't ride Hypersonic either!?!? WTF?

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

Yeah it really sucked. I didn't see how close they were to getting the restraint closed, I just turned around and some him getting off.

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Joe Cernelli
Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
Phantom's Revenge Count: 104

Had planned to be there opening day, but because of a bad week(lost a friend in a car accident/ended up having to work/lots of other crap), missed it, but would love to have been there for DZ and to finally ride Hypersonic, since it was closed when I went last year. Glad You had fun, Andy!

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Yeah, if coasters WEREN'T men we'd have Raging Cow instead!;)

They barely even checked the restaint. I think he was pretty steamed about it, I know I would be.

I also noticed how odd Volcano's flames looked. Opening day glitch maybe?

BTW, nice meeting you guys, and I'd see you Andy at SFGAdv opening day :)

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"If you make it too smooth, it'll be like sitting in your living room."
-Bill Cobb - Designer, Texas Cyclone

What did y'all think of hypersonic?

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Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

Pure insanity, I loved it. :)

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Joe Cernelli
Webmaster, Kennywood Boulevard
Phantom's Revenge Count: 104

I felt it was short but sweet. The launch was fanominal, as was the airtime at the top of the hill. The drop was awesome as well. I just am not sure it was really worth the wait myself. I think the front seat wait was worth it, considering there is no way you can see anything from any other seat with those seat backs. I think the long wait due to the single eight passenger train opperation really made it more of a downer for me. I am glad to hear you went back and had just a 20 minute wait.

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"If you make it too smooth, it'll be like sitting in your living room."
-Bill Cobb - Designer, Texas Cyclone