the bat at PKI
Raven-Phile said:
I believe the Bat had the brake fins on the bottom of the trains, instead of up above where they are today, too.That was pretty dumb, but hey, it was the first one...
BINGO! We have a winner!
Peabody said:
Come on...someone argue with me on my long post from the first page! :)
You're an idiot!
(How's that? ;) )
So Far WOF guy is winning. Come on people. I want a solid argument! Prove me wrong! :)
I was a teen of about 16 at the time THE BAT debut and rode it several times in it's limited operations. One was Sr Skip day of 83 of which I was a Jr. but skipped anyway to be with friends.
The ride swung pretty fiercly but was never as fast as it looks from pics and video. Matter of fact the first half was taken at a leisurely pace much like Iron Dragon but swung much more violently. It didnt bottom the shocks out except in one spot. The second hill was basically a long helix down and about halfway down it swung off the helix in the other direction. At this point the shocks went BAM and often you got your head bashed on the OTSR unless you were prepared for it. It then made a couple left rights and then the upward helix exactly where Vortex's upward helix is to slow it.
To a teen as I was, the ride wasn't that THRILLING, Kinda neat and different but not the HOLY BLEEP that say someone never riding a ride the caliber of THE BEAST or something before. I do remember the ride was very tall, Much higher than Top Gun or any other suspended I've ridden and it was nice to look out with nothing under you. It also came close to the ground in spots which was neat but not awesome.
Nothring about the ride really struck me as GREAT other than the theming and trains. Still probably the neatest coaster train I've ever seen.
I also remember huge waits for this coaster. The Vortex probably cycles three times as many PPH. The Q line used to use both the bottom and top of the station house. If you look, THE BASEMENT is still there but not Q line. The entrance to the basement was at the bottom of the entrance crossover stairs and the Q line came back up on the Front of the train side of the station.
I gotta thank Ted and Coasterdad for that video posting. Brings back a lot of memories from almost 25 years ago. WOW, Im getting old.
It was a good ride, Not fantastic, It was saddning to show up and see it closed most of the time and then just like many other KI closures it was allowed to sit for over a season before something was done to remove or replace it.
Chuck, who also got first night rides on Papa Beast but that reports out there all over the place including Rollercoaster Magazine a couple years back
Come on people. I want a solid argument! Prove me wrong!
Perhaps one of the engineering explanations on the Arrow coasters is that Arrow was the most innovative manufacturer on the market. Parks were constantly coming to Arrow to push the limits and develop designs that had never been tried this results in less than perfect on engineering.
Schwarzkoph's coasters on the other hand stayed relativlely similar in size and shape. Rarely pushing the limits. One of the exceptions being Thriller. Six Flags has owned it less than 10 years, invested a lot of money into it at two different parks and they're ready to get rid of it.
Prowler. Opens May,2 2009.
I agree that Arrow was seemingly encouraged by the wishes of parks to push the limits of # of inversions and size. BUT....that doesn't explain their unwillingness or inability to engineer their elements for those rides appropriately. It doesn't seem like the calculations would be horribly difficult, even before CAD. (Again...Anton built variable sized loops)
The best answer to the above might have been alluded to both by Jeff earlier and you above....it could have been cost driven. They could have taken the "cheap and easy way" and built RCT style on the cheap, as opposed to Anton, who seemingly took the time and expense to "fully enginneer" each ride.
While I do agree with you to an extent about Anton, he did push the limits more than he often gets credit for, in rides like Thriller and Olympia looping, and especially in many of his designs which were never sold/built (His 300 foot coaster he designed on paper before MF and his mind blowing figure 8 looping coaster come to mind...remember Schwarzhopf get's credit for Big Bad Wolf in addition). In fairness to your comment on Thriller, it's problems are more in the trains/restaints it was never intended to have (more like Revolution). In it's original, unaltered state, it was brilliant (and not painful).
Can you use a different format and shrink em under a hundred megabites and post em to Utube or something?
Chuck
Charles Nungester said:
How large of files?Can you use a different format and shrink em under a hundred megabites and post em to Utube or something?
Chuck
The .dv file is over 500MB but I could edit it & or compress it. The video belongs to a friend of mine (he took) which I copied onto my HD from a VHS tape. It's raw video, no editing has been done (yet). Never tried the Utube thing. I'd prefer to host it on a coaster related site but I'll look into that.
I did my whole four hour video in HD and unless you got a newer DVD player with progressive scan, It freezes and skips bad.
Chuck, who has a good puter, Just the DVD isn't up to speed and neither are his other DVD players :)
Strangely, I agree with Jeffery R Smith.
I'm a bit like a fungus. I just keep growing on you. Welcome to the club Charles... :-)
Still probably the neatest coaster train I've ever seen.
There is no doubt this is true.
Charles...do you remember a banging (left side) of the train as it engaged the 2nd lift? I always thought it was the brake fins on the train bottoms which were basically funneled into a trough for guidance. I remember this...but I may be getting old and crazy too. Great description of the ride.
*** Edited 7/26/2006 3:26:03 AM UTC by Jeffrey R Smith***
I won't take you on because I agree 100% Eighties Arrows are the epitome of laziness combined with incompetence.
A little off subject...and indeed discussed before...but I also feel that B&M's are nearing the laziness territory in terms of track layout (only)! However, I like B&M's transitions and still have not been on an inverted or non-looper I have not enjoyed. None of this is true with Arrow sans Tornado.
I would agree that many B&Ms are seeming a little "familiar". I guess that's the price we pay for having so many B&M's out there :)
swampfoxer said:
The .dv file is over 500MB but I could edit it & or compress it.
500MB of DV works out to about 2 1/2 minutes. You could easily compress that to useable levels and maintain a pretty high resolution and quality and keeping it under 100MB for You Tube would be a snap.
Looking forward to seeing it. :)
It was showed at shows like IAAPA I believe, but no one ever bought. It was after most of his big guns were on the fair circuit, I believe, so most of people who might have bought it already owned an Anton monster. *** Edited 7/26/2006 4:44:07 AM UTC by Peabody***
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