From: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com ()
Subject: Re: Great Adventure
Reply-To: buck@cavlry.enet.dec.com ()
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 13:48:15 GMT

Michael A. Cornell writes:

>It's too bad they had to take down lightning Loops.  If they are
>SMART, they will take one of the sections of Lightning Loops and
>save it and move it to the opposite end of the park, to where
>UltraTwister used to be. 

They're selling both rides to TIERCO, the company which
owns/operates Wild World in Largo, MD, and Frontier City
in Oklahoma City, OK.  One park will get each of the
shuttle loops.


>It would really be bad if they get what they got when the GASM 
>opened up.  4 HOUR long lines!!!!!!!!  That's crazy!  And if the 
>Batman is all it's cracked up to be, I'm sure they'll
>have 3 HOUR lines on the weekend.

The BATMAN is all it's cracked up to be.  Unfortunately, with
SHOCKWAVE gone, B--TR will be the only serious attraction in
the park ... look for 5 - 6 hour lines for this ride!!  The
only other rides will be Rolling Thunder (which noone rides
anyways), the Mine Train, and the GASM (which is boring).
What do you think everyone will be waiting for?


>I want to know what the Batman ride is.  Who designed it, Arrow?  
>Is it a suspended standup,

"BATMAN" is an Inverted Looping roller coaster, designed by
(Walter) Bollinger and (Claude) Mabillard of Switzerland.
They formerly worked for Intamin (and helped design the 
SHOCKWAVE stand-up which ran until most recently at SFGAd).
The INverted Looper feature 4-across seating, single axel
cars.  They hand from the track above, but the cars are "fixed"
in motion, and do not swing from side-side like the Arrow
suspended coasters.  They coaster is not big ... 100' tall.
ALL B&M Rides are built 90' -- 100' tall ... they work the
physics out so pesky trim brakes are not needed in the circuit.
The result is a very fast-paced ride.  Also unlike Arrow,
all of B&M's looping elements are different.  They don't use
the "Cookie cutter" looping designs like Arrow does.  The
BATMAN ride in Chicago has two verticle loops and two
Corkscrew elements ... the two verticle loops are different
in shape, and the two corkscrews are also very different in shape.


As for the future of SGFGAd??

They plan to install a B&M double looping Stand-up coaster
on the site of the former Intamin stand-up (Shockwave) for
the 1994 operating season.  The story goes...

After BATMAN -- THE RIDE started blowing the doors off attendace 
at SFGAm, Six Flags called up B&M and immediately ordered another 
for SFGAd.  Meanwhile, SF Astroworld called up B&M and ordered one 
of their double looping stand-up coasters.  Well, B&M took the order, 
but alter told SFA that they couldn't build the two steelies for Six 
Flags, as they had other contracts to fulfill in 1993 (one for KECO, 
one for Busch).  SFA told SFGAd "Since you're getting your BATMAN, we're 
taking your SHOCKWAVE!  So, SFA get's their stand-up, and SFGAd get's 
their inverted looper.  The site at SFGAd will remain empty in 1993, but 
the order for the stand-up from SFA still stands, and will be installed 
in SFGAd in 1994 (to replace the Intamin SHOCKWAVE).


Cheers,
Buck
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster