HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mapike@sei.cmu.edu (Mary Ann Pike)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:27:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: sei.1992Oct8.182727.15657
Organization: Software Engineering Institute

In article <1992Oct8.113756.7144@ccd.harris.com> wjf@controls.ccd.harris.com (Bill Figie) writes:
***all of the quite thorough discussion deleted***
>simulator on the market.  Just like the Yogo was consider inexpensive
                                         ^^^^ (Yugo)
>   Bill "this sure did take up a lot of my time editing this" Figie
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
And you still managed to miss one ;-) No offense intended, I'm a
writer/editor by trade, and I still can't seem to proofread my own material.

Seriously, I much appreciated all of the simulator discussion. I didn't
realize there were so many different types. The only one I have seen is
this portable one they bring to the malls. Where are all of these good
simulators that you're talking about? I've never seen one in any of the
amusement parks in the North/East.

Even though it is not too highly thought of, I'll probably try this one
next time I see it, but only if they're running the Beast. At least I can
compare their film footage to my memory of the ride. But I can't imagine
that the helix is anywhere near as fun in a simulator.

Mary Ann Pike   (mapike@sei.cmu.edu)    
Software Engineering Institute          
Carnegie-Mellon University              
Pittsburgh PA
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Original names for coasters
Date: 12 Oct 92 21:30:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: usenet.1bcqq5INNcas
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


I'm really sick of BORING coaster names that are used over and
over and over, like an Energiser commercial.  How many of you
have some Really COOL names that you have thought of.  Maybe if
we post them here, one of our freinds who has ties into the 
industry could bring them to places so we could get some 
interesting names.

Here's my $.02

The Jersey Devil- For SFGAd's BATMAN style ride
SwampThing - Just sounds like a suspended ride
Big Yellow Banana - For a big yellow ride
Dive Bomber - A ride with a really STEEP drop
The Cheesehead - Perfect for Wisconsin parks
? - for a ride so messed up, it needs no REAL name
THING - for a ride that is a THING
Pigslayer - A super violent ride
Asmodeus - For the Devil of a ride
Basilisk - For a ride that makes you turn to stone from fright
Lurker Above - For the ride that sweeps over the crowd of people

That's all 4 now...Lets hear some of your cool ride names

Mike Cornell
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Seats: you choose vs. they choose (Re: 2nd BATMAN!! - was Re: SHOCKWVAE heads south!)
Date: 15 Oct 1992 15:32:32 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


Disney World - No choice
Universal - BTTF choice of seat in the car - argue amongst your
	    friends. Most other rides, choose, but make sure you're
	    first in line.
Busch Gardens Willamsburg - Choice on every ride - although the lines
for front and back are much longer on the rides - esp. the front

KD - Choice on Avalanche, Anaconda, grizzly, and Shockwave. No choice
     in so far as it is first come first serve, on Rebel Yell.

SFGAd - Choice on all except GASM - same as Rebel Yell.

All the other parks I've been to, my info wouldn't be current, so
I'll not feed you possible false info

Mike "Jersey Devil..Jersey Devil..Jersey Devil" Cornell
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Date: 16 Oct 1992 16:51:39 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


I may have never waited in a longer line than in universal, but
I have seen longer lines, like 4hrs for the GASM at SFGAd!  Didn't
see any 4 hour ones at Universal.  

They KEY to getting thorugh Univeral in one day, when it's busy, is
to have a preson in a wheelchair.  When I went last time, I went
with my neighbor who was injured.  We go through all the good stuff,
and even some of the bad.  We didn't see EVERYTHING, but we did ride
BTTF 3 times, and had to wait a total of 10 mins each time.  The one
yhing bad abou this, is for instance on Kongfrontation, you miss the
wondefully doe subway queue line, but I saw it on my Senior Class trip
so it wasn't all that bad.

Mike
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: rhb@ucs.usl.edu (Bird Rendell H.)
Subject: Re: Great Adventure
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 21:04:29 GMT

(Michael A. Cornell) writes:
>
>I want to know what the Batman
>ride is.  Who designed it, Arrow?  Is it a suspended standup,
>that's the impression I got from someone who told me about
>the one currently running near Chicago.

Well, here is the review posted by our very own Randy Vose back when
he rode it...and can anyone confirm the rumor that Batman is getting
faster?  A friend of mine rode it about two weeks ago, and said it
was even shorter!   VERY high G forces on the loops, he said.

(whatever happened to Randy, I haven't seen him here in a LONG time)...



-----------begin Randy---------------------------------------------------

Well, about a month ago I said I'd eat my words, and I was right.  Over
the weekend I was at Six Flags Great America and rode BATMAN.  I can sum it
up in one word:

RADICAL!

The theming is the best I've seen since the Demon opened there back in 1980.
In fact, it's better.  There's no big sign that says "BATMAN, The RIDE" but
I'd swear Time Warner is going to change Yankee Harbor into Gotham City
sooner or later.  You enter the ride via "Gotham City Park."  A nice fake-
stone entrance with trees and a fountain scattered amonts the queue lines.
Then you get to "the other side" of the where there is a wrecked police
car, garbage and graffitti painted all over everything.  The line leading
to the station is completely coverd, as if you were walking through a sewer
system.  Like I said, I don't know who was responsible for the theming, but
they've REALLY done an excellent job.

As for the ride, I don't know how to best to describe it, but here goes:

The care are 4 seats wide-- literally.  Your feet just hang there as if you
were sitting on the edge of a table or something.  The track layout is 
difficult to describe as well, since much of it is interleaved with the
support structure, much like Iron Wolf.   The most uniqe thing about it had
to be the inverted loops-- by that, I mean the track was going around the
OUTSIDE of the loop, rather than the inside.  There are two of these as well
as the usual assortment of B & M twists in the trackage.  The ride is fast...
as I said, I was too busy being impressed with the whole thing to notice 
exactly where I was going on it.

Bottom line: it's definitely worth trip if you can go and it's more evidence
to support my notion that B&M is going to smoke Arrow within the next couple
of years.

We arrived when the park opened and ended up standing in line for about
an hours and a half.  Later in the day, the wait was 3+ hours, so if you're
going there to ride it, get on ASAP.

I still think the name is cheesy, but WOW! did they do it right....

Randy
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: maglione@media.mit.edu (Tom Maglione)
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Summary: More on Back to the Future simulator.
Organization: MIT Media Laboratory
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 01:37:39 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.115411.7426@ccd.harris.com> wjf@controls.ccd.harris.com (Bill Figie) writes:
> (much stuff deleted)
>Also Back to the Future (I haven't gotten over to
>Universal in over a year so I haven't ridden it yet) is supposed
>to be *excellent*.  I had
>plans on going soon but we might wait till spring.
>
>    Bill "make mine a wood coaster please" Figie 

For Bill and others, I was able to ride the Back to the Future simulator
long before it ever debuted in Florida. This was about two years ago
(during the Gulf war) when some of us at the MIT Media Lab took a car
trip to Western Massachusetts to visit Berkshire Movie Productions where
the simulator for BTTF was designed, debugged and prototyped. We all got
to try a ride in the DeLorean and check out the simulator. I thought it
was alright for a simulator. I much more enjoyed the tour through their
facilities where we saw the equipment and sets made for this project:
it was pretty awesome as far as production value is concerned. The sets
were built in miniature and special film techniques were used to create the
feeling of realism evident in the final product.
I have never been to Universal in Florida or Califormia to try the thing
in its ultimate home, but I still prefer real coasters anyday, and I still
prefer wood over steel anyday, too.

Tom "My thesis is nearly done with 131 pages!" Maglione
From: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Rockaway's Coaster -- Trains for Sale
Keywords: For Sale
Date: 7 Oct 92 19:25:01 GMT
Article-I.D.: engage.1992Oct7.192501.22854
Reply-To: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation

>I must have had a momentary lapse of memory. The Atom Smasher was at
>Rockaway's Playland NOT Rye. Rockaway was torn down some years ago.
>Does anyone have any interesting war stories about the park or the
>coaster???

The coaster itself was a triple layer twister that was built on 
top of the buildings and attractions on that side of the park. It 
was for that reason that the coaster was mostly considered unmovable 
as it was integrated with its surroundings. And of course it wasn't 
nearly as famous as the Coney Island coasters about eight miles down 
the coast. The big claim to fame of this coaster was its use in the 
1950's movie "This is Cinerama". The promotional posters for this movie 
was a view out the front seat of the coaster. The Rockaways's Coaster 
was actually called the "Cinerama Coaster" for a while, but the name 
that it used that I liked best was ATOM SMASHER for it's uniqueness.
     
Rockaways coaster was using post-Century Flyer NAD trains. I remember 
the green train as being operational the latter years ('88 I think) 
and possible the red as well.  The coaster had three trains altogether 
-- a red train, a blue train, and a green train.  All trains were made 
up of 5, 2-seat cars.  IN FACT, I know where ALL THREE of these trains 
are currently for sale if anyone on this net is interested?! The seller
*was* asking $1000.00/train, but I got him down to $1500. for all three.  
(methinks this guy really wants to move them, so some deals may be had!)
The Red and Green trains are located off RT 2 in Erving, MA, and the 
Blue train is just down the road 2 miles in Orange, MA.  All three trains
are missing their wheels, but are otherwise in tact.  They're in 
moderate condition considering their time in the open elements.  They
could be restored pretty easily if you wanted to --- the lap bar system
still works (I was playing with it -- I juts love to open locked NAD
lap bars from inside the seat!!)  ];^>

    
From the business card:
        
Erving Center Antiques
       
Antique Co-op        
Indoor-Outdoor        
Flea Market        
Consignments
        
Jeff Dubay
5 East Main Street
Erving, MA  01344

508.544.7205


PS -- They also had a lot of stuff at this place from the 
      (now defunct) Mounatin Park in Holyoke, MA!!!


Have fun...
Buck
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Coaster Names
Date: 14 Oct 1992 01:06:20 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


You know..I remember that stupid contest to name the, now gone,
thankfully, Shockwave.  My brother and I put in names like the
Deathmaster and stuff like that.  Of course it NEVER would have 
lived up to those names, just as it didn't live up to Shockwave.

Well if SF is owned by WBros, yeah I shoulda know that, then they
should just go right ahead and do what's right.  I mean they
obviously have THE BEST parks in the country.  I mean King's
parks PALE in comparison.  So let them keep making stupid names,
because, hey stupidity is what draws in the crouds.

Mike "Call the Batman ride, "The Jersey Devil" Cornell
From: foo@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Dream Roller Coaster Trip Report
Date: 13 Oct 92 11:59:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: drycas.1992Oct13.165956.2245
Organization: Carnegie Mellon Computer Club

Ok you guys.. a trip of a lifetime....

Just got back yesterday from a weeklong work/fun trip to Chicago.
At the end of my trip I had a stupendous afternoon evening at 6F Great
America in Gurnee followed up on our ride back to Texas with a 3 hour
stopover at 6F Mid America.  Rode Batman, Rolling Thunder, the American
Eagle and the Screaming Eagle (MA), and also the GA Shockwave and various
sundry other rides.  Great America was AWSOME!!  Batman is simply un-
believable!!!  The blood rushes to your feet as you are whipped around
upside down and over..  I used to live nearby but had missed it the last
couple of years.  I was not as enthusiastic about Mid America.. but it had
a few nice rides.. also its alot smaller than Great America.  GA went all
out to decorate for FRIGHT NIGHTS and even had the main reflecting pool
full of orange water and skeletons and had the normal fountain pipes
spewing flames!!  They did a more thorough job than here at my normal
6F over Texas.  Well... those season passes worked like a charm.  Only had
to split 5.00 parking fees with my 2 other companions.. so the actual
visits were reasonable..  that makes 4 6F parks this year..  Hoping that
NEXT year I can make MORE of the parks...  

Wanted to relate my views on my DREAM trip.. roller coasters gallore!!
Thanks for listening..  Until Later....

foo@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu

HE who turns down season passes to ANY 6 FLAGS park is a fool.

							foo
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: Thorsten_Kitz@mk.maus.de (Thorsten Kitz)
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Organization: Mausnet
X-Gateway: MausGate/Mail 1.14
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 09:11:00 +0000

Hey Brian,

Brian Choplick wrote on Wed. 07th of October 1992 at 04:05 in
rec.roller-coaster:

BC> I paid the bucks to ride this contraption, and it's definitely sub-par. I
BC> don't know if you ever ridden a quality simulator like those the Disney
BC> parks or Busch Gardens, but this was the lowest common denominator of
BC> those.

Have you been to "Back to Future" at Universal Studios Florida (they are
building the same one in California, shall be open next summer) ? I think,
this one was the best I went on (the other ones were "Star Tours" at
Disneyland and "I don't remember the name" at the Pier 39 in San Francisco).
You have a 180 degree screen and you are sitting in 12 (?) passenger cars (the
one from the movie). The cars are able to simulate each direction (up, down,
left, right) and have some ordinary special effects. It was quite good,
because you have the feeling, as if the car would really move, but no
comparrison to a real ride.

Bye for now,

Thorsten.
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: palmer@hsi.com (Mike Palmer)
Subject: Re: Kings Dominion, and any hope for Florida?
Organization: 3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford CT
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 15:36:27 GMT

In article <1687AB945.DHBHM@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu> DHBHM@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu (Bruce H. McIntosh) writes:
>Two questions:
>1.  I've not seen any mention of Kings Dominion in r.r-c.  I have several
>fond memories of the place (my first-ever coaster ride was the Rebel Yell
>on a rainy day).  Is it still in business, and what is the scream-ride
>quotient these days?

A bunch of just took a trip from Conn. to Virginia/Penn. for some coastering
(Sept 10 - 13).  We hit Busch Gardens, Kings Dominion, and Hershey Park.

Out of the 13 coasters ridden (14 if you count racer's twice, I don't) the
best by far was the Rebel Yell with the train going backwards.  Definately
in my top five (I've been on 56 coasters).

I wasn't too impressed with the Grizzly.  It lost all it's speed on the turn
around after the first hill and never recovered.  The Anaconda is just another
looping steel coaster, ho-hum.  Shockwave (the stand-up at Kings Dominion)
was good, but I am definatly the wrong size for the restraints.  unlike
Shockwave at Great Adventure (more on this one below), the distance from the
seat thing to the shoulder restraints is fixed.  The top of the shoulder
restraints on the Kings Dominion Shockwave is about 1/2 inch too short for my
body, ouch.  I really liked the Scooby Doo Coaster.  As for Busch Gardens,
the Loch Ness Monster has a great first drop,  Drachen Fyre was good.  the
new Arrow cars are cool, very low profile.  I was able to ride it three times
in a row by asking the attendent if I could jump back into an empty seat.
 The Big Bad Wolf ranks up there with the Ninja at Magic Mountain as far as
suspended coasters go.  Hershy Park was nice, unfortunetly, It had the biggest
crowds as well.

As a side note, I just got back from Great Adventure.  Lightning Loops is
partially disasembled.  It looks like the new Batman coaster will go in there.

Shockwave was also closed.  According to a park worker (take it for what it's
worth), shockwave will be "sent back to" the Sixs flags Corp. as collateral
for the new Batman coaster.  If this is true, It'll probably be rotated to
a new Six Flags park.

-- 
======= Mike Palmer			     {uunet,yale}!hsi!palmer =======
======= 3M Health Information Systems	              palmer@hsi.com =======
======= Wallingford, Connecticut  06492                 203 949-6454 =======
From: mac18@po.CWRU.Edu (Michael A. Cornell)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Disney stuff (was Re: A simulated coaster ride)
Date: 10 Oct 1992 15:34:49 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


Well it would be good if they were to put in either ride...or 
even BOTH...but Both will never happen.  Does anyone know what 
either ride will have on it?  I have never been to Disneyland, so
I don't know what the Matterhorn is like, although I have heard
it's good.  What would Mt Fiji be, it would HAVE to be steel, 
since all of Japan's rides are.  Would Disney actually thing about
putting in a ride with inversion elements?  Or a ride with a lift
of over 125 feet?  It would be really cool if they would.

Mike Cornell
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
From: wjf@controls.ccd.harris.com (Bill Figie)
Subject: Re: A simulated coaster ride
Originator: wjf@rs2
Organization: Harris Controls
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 11:54:11 GMT


In article <1992Oct8.005542.14772@news.media.mit.edu>,
|> maglione@media.mit.edu (Tom Maglione) writes:
|> A major concern of mine involves the eventual replacement
|> of real coaster rides with simulators like this; the reason
|> is financial: the simulators represent only a fraction of
|> the cost of building and maintaining a real
|> coaster ride. And, the simulator vendors always underscore
|> the point that repeat rides are always possible because once
|> the program is changed, the simulation is brand new all over
|> again. Basically, this is a hardware/software issue: once you
|> purchase the hardware (the simulator
|> machinery), you can always change the software (the computer
|> program and film that accompany a particular simulation) for
|> a smaller amount of $ than it would have cost for more new
|> hardware, etc.
|> I'd like to think that simulation will remain an interesting
|> technology, but will never replace the real thing!
|> 
|> Tom "There's nothing like the real thing" Maglione.

AMEN Tom.  Good point.  I worry about that around here in Central
Florida.  With several attractions parks like Disney, Busch,
Universal, and Sea World, no one wants to put in any thrill rides
like coasters and such (I realize Busch is about the only one but
it has been 12 years or longer since the Scorpion).  There seems
to be a simulators war around here (not a coaster war
like CP and KI have been doing for the last few years).  I can
only hope that a park will put in one or two simulators at most
and then go back to putting in more thrill rides like coasters. 
By the way, I forgot to post that the Hanna Barbara (sp?) ride at
Universal as being an excellent "simulator?".  It is quite a
good ride.  Also Back to the Future (I haven't gotten over to
Universal in over a year so I haven't ridden it yet) is supposed
to be *excellent*.  I had
plans on going soon but we might wait till spring.

    Bill "make mine a wood coaster please" Figie
From: betsey@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth Fike)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Unique Amusement Rides (old ones)
Date: 16 Oct 92 22:01:57 GMT
Reply-To: betsey@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth Fike)
Organization: Columbia University

In article <1992Oct15.141031.29961@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> cheri@decoy.uucp (24481-stead) writes:
>Re:  Unique rides
>
>	There's a carousel type ride at Rye Playland.  It's different in that
>	it goes *really* fast (and the horses are in racing poses instead of
>	trotting poses).  The attendant was leaning in at about a 60 degree
>	angle as the ride spun.  We studied him for a while, trying to find 
>	what was supporting him, but we finally realized that it was just 
>	physics!
>

Sorry, Cheri, but there is one of these at Cedar Point as well --
it's my favorite!

betsey


*******************************************************************************
Betsey Fike <betsey@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
CC '94/SEAS '94, Computer Science/Electrical Engineering
From: bchoplic@pixmap.seas.upenn.edu (Brian Choplick)
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster
Subject: Re: Knoebel's Phall Phunfest comments
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:03:44 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1992Oct13.201938.2542@sei.cmu.edu> mapike@sei.cmu.edu 
(Mary Ann Pike) writes:
>I enjoyed my first visit to this park last weekend, but there were a couple
>of things that would have made it better:
>
>1. I would have appreciated them notifying people that they were closing the
>   Carousel (which they did before 8 o'clock, when I went over to try to
>   ride it). Now I have to make another trip there *just* to ride a carousel
>   that has a brass ring :-)

The Phoenix operator (Dave???) briefly announced this fairly early into the
event, but if you weren't in the station at the time, you didn't hear him. Too
bad you missed out. I *love* catching the rings!

>3. I would have liked better indications of where to park. I followed the
>   parking signs on the road, and parked in the field beyond the crafts
>   festival. There were lots of cars when I came, but when I left, it was
>   a different story. First I had to walk (alone) through the unlit part
>   of the park, trying to find my way back to the road. Then, I had to walk
>   through the woods at the edge of the field, to my car (one of about 5
>   left) in the fog. I kept thinking, no one will pay any attention if I
>   scream in the middle of an amusement park! (Perhaps I'm just paranoid
>   from living in a big city...nothing bad happened.)

That was poor planning, but if you noticed, there were few (if any) signs
directing enthusiasts to the Phunfest. I guess the intention was to keep
the general public away, as no membership is really required for the event.

All the signs you DID see (including the ones for parking) were for the 
Crafts/Covered Bridge Festival, which is heavily advertised to the GP.

BTW, the best place to park when you are planning to ride the Phoenix is in the
parking lot right next to it. If you enter the park by the main, upper 
entrance, this is the first parking lot on your left. It may look full, but
there is almost always a space (except on Holidays)!

>Mary Ann Pike   (mapike@sei.cmu.edu)    
>Software Engineering Institute          
>Carnegie-Mellon University              
>Pittsburgh PA                                   

Brian Choplick
bchoplic@eniac.seas.upenn.edu