R.I.P:. Ghostrider...

^Whats DOSH?

^Division of Occupational Safety and Health, California's state OSHA.

Dutchman said:
As far as GR is concerned, I would surmise that the state of CA is at least partially, if not wholly responsible for the changes. The number of incidents that had to be reported to DOSH while seemingly insignificant in comparison to the parks atttendence, are considered high for a single attraction.

Before or after it got rough? Earlier trips, while wild, did not result in bruised ribs the way my last ride did. Man. It's a bummer! And bring back the volcano and devil while you're at it. :)

My thoughts *exactly*, Eric. Ghostrider in its heyday was a very wild ride, one of the most intense, and FUN, wooden coasters in the entire US. My last couple trips there, I believe I got in a total of 4 or 5 laps....then went over to ride whatever steel suited me at the time. Such an incredible shame...what was once up there with Texas Giant had become an absolute waste of wood. This train, that train, ride this way, ride that way...pile of rubbish, IMO.

As we all know, the CCI mega woodies don't age well, and this one just reinforces that fact. It is a shame as my wife and I rode it starting in it's second year, and it was one heck of a ride. It gradually got rougher and rougher and no amount of re tracking corrected the problem for more than a month or two and it would return to it's bone rattling ways. We would continue to ride it at least once a year until it got to the point that we couldn't take the abuse anymore. That was about a year ago. Now apparently it's getting the Mean Streak treatment.

I've never understood the headrests on PTCs in the US, we have none on our rides running PTCs.

Neither does Holiday World. But I guess that's because their woodies aren't very intense.

(... ;) )

^ +1

I'm pretty sure the headrest thing is to prevent whiplash if another train hits you from behind. But I think the first woodie with headrests (Colossus c. 1979, after the re-profile and new new PTC trains) had them for different reasons. They were the Intamin first generation head rest, the kind that had the slight lean forward to them. Strange on a woodie!

"become an absolute waste of wood"

That perfectly sums my thoughts of Sunday's rides. How long did this thing run good? I know I rode it a lot the first 3 years (passes). Then it was hit and miss. I swear 2-3 years ago it was STILL fun. I never got beat up in a bad way. It was kick ass aggressive, but it was always like that.

I guess I don't understand how track work could not restore this thing. Wasn't this built with extra support for earthquakes? I would guess that supports meant to survive earthquakes should tolerate normal coaster jarring better than those without...? You would think they could do routine maintenance to keep it in near original condition.

Instead they chose to STOP the damn train mid-ride. A ride that seemed to run fine for nearly a decade (at least). I personally would rather them junk it than do this. It literally went from the best ride in California to the second worst coaster in the park (behind that ride the horsey fiasco...).

"Absolute waste of wood" indeed. I think a mercy burning is in order.

I was over it. Now I'm mad again. Night rides on GR are some of the funnest moments in my life. There is no reason it should not still be a great ride except those in charge are not willing to do the proper maintenance/restorative work.

Not that guys like me are important to KBF's bottom line (I don't go enough). But I'll stick to Disney for the next decade unless they build something special. The cool log ride and Montezuma are not enough. GR was my reason for going.

I last rode it in 2009 at Solace and it was running as good as ever for me (much better than at Solace 2006) and on par with my first rides in the spring of 2001. Such a fantastic coaster when it's running well. Hopefully this is just a temporary setback.

I totally agree with you. As a die hard fan of what you explained as "ejector airtime" I was extremely disappointed after riding GR today at Knotts. I was with a friend who was at Knott's for the first time and I got him all pumped up when i knew the second half was coming and the stop totally caught me off guard. He was like "Uh is that supposed to happen?" Total ride killer, the second half was mediocre of what it used to be. I still got some decent airtime on the first half but i'll never forget that glorious second half. RIP.