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"Trust me: They're NOT the same!"
When I got up this morning, I looked out the window and wondered if I really wanted to do this. I decided I did. I got into the car and drove down IR-71. The weather, to put it bluntly, sucked. Massive downpours all the way down the freeway. Three or four vehicles skidded off the road. It was a long, slow trip. I passed the park at 9:00am, but I had to collect Dave Bowers. I guess I'm too late for the walkback today, but at least I made it.
We entered the park right at 10:00am, and headed straight for The Beast. The coaster wasn't quite awake yet, with a large group of Guys in Blue Shirts standing around on the platform. As we were waiting in the queue under the last arbor leading up to the platform, the rain started...but it was only a light rain. In other words, we were getting what last year would have been perfect riding conditions for The Beast. I looked around and noticed the apparent lack of coaster nuts and concluded that this morning's walkback had been to either Son of Beast or to Tomb Raider.
Two trains were running on The Beast, and we queued up for the front seat. One of the front seat lap bars had trapped a mechanic and so that seat was roped off, so we waited an extra cycle and got on about the third train out.
We started out of the station in more or less the usual way. Thanks to the rain, the wheels were squealing around the initial curve. Between the curve and the transfer switch, I got my first look at the gauging bolt situation. I've talked about this before: The Beast has...or rather, had...gauging bolts that held the track together at high-stress curves, and I noted that these would have to be removed because the brake fins would hang up on these bolts. I speculated that the park would install steel gauging ties bolted to the track ties to accomplish the same thing, as seen on Mean Streak...heck as seen on on the Racer and Son of Beast. Turns out I was wrong...instead, each gauge bolt has been replaced with two gauge bolts which are connected together where the brake fin goes through by a special connecting link that looks a little like a C-clamp with a little tab on it so that it can be attached to a board to hold it with the right side pointing down. It makes perfect sense to me; I just hadn't thought of it.
The entire lift hill has been re-capped. We proceeded slowly up the lift, then more quickly, then we crawled over the top. It's such a refreshing sight to see the first drop with no brakes on it! It's also a neat trip down there, with a faster pull-out than ever. Finally, The Beast gives us something to smile about as we pass the camera! The train rockets down the drop, around the curve, and up to the top of the second hill. As the train nears the top of the second hill, it encounters a very long magnetic caliper which quashes the speed very quickly, very suddenly. I had hoped for less braking here, but this hill is followed by a drop and a very tight turnaround that leads to the infamous brake shed.
I'm reasonably certain that when the ride was built, this mid-course brake shed was an actual block brake, which would allow the ride to handle four trains. It hasn't been used as a block brake in years, and accordingly, it now contains no friction brakes at all...in fact, most of its length is now completely brakeless. But at the downtrack end, just before the shed ends, there is another magnetic caliper, and again, it bleeds off speed rapidly. Immediately following this brake is a pair of prox switches presumably set up for monitoring train speed as it comes out of the brake...which is interesting, as there doesn't appear to be any adjustment mechanism on the brake; a worker would have to go out there with a wrench and manually reset the caliper as nearly as I can tell (at not-enough MPH).
Coming out of this brake, the train cruises through the long tunnels on its way to what is supposed to be the fastest part of the ride...but today it was kind of crawling through the tunnels. I can't imagine that these tunnels are the reason they want the train to go so slowly; I had hoped that the shed brakes would be eliminated in place of a brake placed closer to the trouble spot...which I guess to be the curve immediately following the long tunnel. The train cruises through the low curves, then climbs the second lift.
Coming off the second lift, the train starts down that long shallow drop into the helix, again passing through a single magnetic caliper near the top of the drop. This is the least noticeable brake of the brakes on the ride, and like the shed brake, it is followed by a pair of switches partway down the drop to check the train speed. Again, I don't see any adjustment mechanism. I rode the coaster several times, and it took them until late afternoon before they finally turned off the lights in the helix tunnel. The train rockets out of the helix and cruises down the brake run, bleeding off most of its speed on a final magnetic brake in the middle of the old final brake run. This is followed by a block brake, a safety brake, another block brake, another safety brake, and then into the station. The position of the second block brake is such that it should dramatically reduce the time needed to bring a stopped train into the station. Previously I predicted that this would easily allow for 1,200 PPH operation (an increase of about 300 PPH); I guess we'll find out when the third train comes back.
Jacob asked yesterday about the ride's blocking. The way it is now set up, the first block is from the station to the top of the first lift, the second block is from the top of the first lift to the top of the second lift, the third block is from the top of the second lift to the first block brake on the brake run, the fourth block is the second half of the brake run, and the fifth block runs through the station. That means that there are still more than enough blocks on the ride to operate three trains, more or less with the same limits as in years past.
Personally, I am hoping that the brakes are still being tweaked. The effectiveness of skid brakes is related to the weight of the train, which is kind of nice since the train's total energy is also related to the weight of the train. Friction fin brakes operate independent of train weight, applying a braking force proportional to the braking pressure. Magnetic fin brakes supply a braking force proportional to the speed of the fin, which means that the exit speed from the brakes should be more-or-less consistent. But the rate of braking will vary with the train's momentum, meaning that the braking action will be more sudden with a lightly loaded train than with a fully loaded one. The braking being used at the moment is very strong on the second hill and third hill (shed), so the speeds at these points haven't changed much. The brake shed is slightly more fun now because so much of it contains no brakes, and the first drop is markedly improved. The gentle braking action of the magnetic trims is far superior to what you get from friction brakes, and where the braking is light...on the drop into the helix...you can barely feel the brake when the train goes through. That's not the case for the second hill and the mid-course, though, and if anything the braking is more noticeable with the new brakes than with the old ones because it takes place over a much shorter distance.
We rode a couple of times. I think the best ride now is in the back of the train; the braking seems to be the most natural feeling back there.
After morning rides on The Beast, we tried out Tomb Raider: The Big Secret again. This time we sat in the front row of the ride. The ride cycle has been tweaked a bit, but it's still far too much time spent dangling face-down/head-down from the shoulder bars (I counted out nearly 30 seconds of a 150-second ride cycle for just one scene!). Some lighting has been changed...the quartz lights were out in the queue, the preshow room doesn't go black anymore, and the loading lights are brighter. There seems to be slighty more action in the ride cycle as well, but it still doesn't have much of an ending. Another effect has been added at the end of the show, but the voice-over should still be, "NOW YOU WILL PAY!!!". Oh, I timed the cycle this time. It's 2:30 from bridges-up to bridges-down, and another 20 seconds after the bridges come down before the shoulder bars release. What I don't understand is the very long time the ride spends doing nothing at the end, when the ride is parked and effects are going, but the bridges aren't coming down. Why not drop the bridges then, if they're not going to use that time to do some artful backflips...
Over on Flight of Fear we learned a few things. It seems that the even-numbered rows are the most accommodating to large-footed or long-legged riders, and the least footroom can be found in the odd-numbered rows. Furthermore, the right-hand seats in the odd-numbered rows have less footroom than the left-hand seats. The ride itself is still running very nicely.
I'm about to write off the Racer until they gut and rebuild the trains. I'm sick of getting smashed on that ride because the park can't manage reasonable lap bar adjustments. It simply isn't any fun to ride this thing.
The recaR opened this weekend; it's running nice and smooth, and for some reason I don't have the same lap bar problems on this one that I have on the Racer. Something about the geometry of the ride. Pity I also don't care much for going backwards.
This week on the Flying Scooters, I had one of my most impressive/frightening experiences ever when I managed to bounce the tub in such a way that both cables went slack. That doesn't happen very often! It's a little rough on the back when that happens!
It took a couple of tries to finally ride Vortex because of a weather-related shutdown. But Vortex was running all three trains this week.
This week I managed to round out my coaster count at Kings Island for the season by getting rides on Scooby Doo's Ghoster Coaster, and Rugrats Runaway Reptar Roller Coaster. I'm also happy I didn't pass up a ride on the Beastie, as this week, for the first time in recent memory, Beastie's trim brake was shut off! That ride is quite good when you don't get your knees clobbered into the front of the telescoping train when it hits the trim brake. Why as this ride got a trim brake, anyway? Is it not bad enough that it lost its final dip? When does the Sea Dragon open for the season?
The rain finally cleared up, but it was too late to save the park operating day. A small crowd had showed, and park management opted to close two hours early. Funny, I don't think I have ever known Kings Island to shut down early. Dave and I got some dinner, I took him home then went home myself, and actually got my trip report written before I went to bed!
From my point of view, it was really a good day in the park. I was able to stay mostly dry, I got to ride the rides that were not operating last week, and I had a chance to try out the "improved" Beast. The Beast is an interesting situation because some parts are better, and some parts are worse. I'm going to have to keep watching this one.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
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