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Fun Spot America Discussion Thread


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How amazing is this. Big things do come in compact packages. A new GG coaster always gets rid of any jaded feelings about this hobby. I can't wait to get back to Orlando. Fun Spot is really making Orlando a destination with great variety for adventure/ thrill seekers, as a nice complement to Disney World and Universal Simulators Orlando.

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The POV looks amazing! Still surprised how quickly this went up. I thought it was gonna open in July.

 

I'm flying into MCO tomorrow afternoon. I thought I was going to just miss riding this scrappy coaster. But I have changed my plans so I can get a few rides on it. I'll try to report back tomorrow night with a review. I hope the opening goes well so I can get my first GG woodie, and first inverting woodie.

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Was able to ride Mine Blower today. Here's some of my thoughts:

 

- Overall fun ride, super compact layout is great design

- First drop has really great airtime

- Inversion I thought could be a marketing gimmick but was the highlight- lots of airtime (throws you out going up, and you remain out of seat during upside down part)

- About halfway through ride there is a bigger hill that somewhat kills off some speed. What would've been a great double down is OK

- Timberliners... This is where I felt the ride suffered. The ride isn't rough like say Gwazi but I didn't find it smooth like Mystic Timbers or even White Lightning. It's not that it's beat you up rough, but rather the trains seem to spend a lot of the ride trying to find the track. Quite a bit of shuffling and bouncing for a brand new ride. Will average Joe notice? No - it isn't a deal breaker at all. But if you just ride Mystic Timbers or even White Lightning you can probably notice the difference. I'm not expert but if you watch the video another site posted of the wheels you can see them constantly bounce off the rails - whereas I thought Timberliners were suppose to almost hug the track.

 

Overall a great addition - just perhaps not as great as some of us built it up to be. But that's ok because it's still a fun ride.

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^Interesting you note about the Timberliners, because I was thinking the exact same thing. GCIs just seemed to be better designed in general... both the trains and the track. I see Mystic Timbers and even White Lightning staying smooth for a long time, but those Gravity Group rides with Timberliners just seem to be a rough ride waiting to happen. I don't know, just my thoughts. I know there are lots of smooth Gravity Group rides still around, but the GCIs just seem more well-built to me that can withstand their longevity.

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- Timberliners... This is where I felt the ride suffered. The ride isn't rough like say Gwazi but I didn't find it smooth like Mystic Timbers or even White Lightning. It's not that it's beat you up rough, but rather the trains seem to spend a lot of the ride trying to find the track. Quite a bit of shuffling and bouncing for a brand new ride. Will average Joe notice? No - it isn't a deal breaker at all. But if you just ride Mystic Timbers or even White Lightning you can probably notice the difference. I'm not expert but if you watch the video another site posted of the wheels you can see them constantly bounce off the rails - whereas I thought Timberliners were suppose to almost hug the track.

 

I've felt the same way about the Timberliners since I rode Cú Chulainn at Tayto Park. I had ridden Hades 360 prior to, but just attributed the rough ride to Mt. Olympus upkeep. However Cú Chulainn was brand new and I thought it had the same problems you are describing on Mine Blower.

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Here's the thing though, if it wasn't for the Timberliners, the ride couldn't do half the things it does. This is just a thought, but I wonder if it's the track work. I know that sounds crazy with it being brand new, but that's the difference between GCI and TGG. GCI has their own team that goes around does all of their track work, as where with TGG, they do the design work, and the park hires all of the workers to build the ride. So there's a pretty good chance the track was built by a crew who has never built or rebuilt coaster track before. You can probably feel those differences, as the traditional wooden coaster track has to be cut and built to precision on site and with a crew who doesn't have any experience, there's a lot more room for error. GCI's team has been doing it for years and have it down to an exact science.

Edited by ZeroGravity55
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^ The turn out of the station, the turn after the lift into the drop, the inversion, the valley turn after the inversion, the overbanked turn, ext. The Timberliners can turn on a tighter radius than almost every wooden roller coaster train out there and TGG designs their rides to take advantage of this.

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Here's the thing though, if it wasn't for the Timberliners, the ride couldn't do half the things it does. This is just a thought, but I wonder if it's the track work. I know that sounds crazy with it being brand new, but that's the difference between GCI and TGG. GCI has their own team that goes around does all of their track work, as where with TGG, they do the design work, and the park hires all of the workers to build the ride. So there's a pretty good chance the track was built by a crew who has never built or rebuilt coaster track before. You can probably feel those differences, as the traditional wooden coaster track has to be cut and built to precision on site and with a crew who doesn't have any experience, there's a lot more room for error. GCI's team has been doing it for years and have it down to an exact science.

 

That's not always the case. I think it happened in a few cases but The Gravity Group has partnered with M&V for construction for many of past projects (not Mine Blower) but they wouldn't let non experienced people build the rides.

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Here's the thing though, if it wasn't for the Timberliners, the ride couldn't do half the things it does. This is just a thought, but I wonder if it's the track work. I know that sounds crazy with it being brand new, but that's the difference between GCI and TGG. GCI has their own team that goes around does all of their track work, as where with TGG, they do the design work, and the park hires all of the workers to build the ride. So there's a pretty good chance the track was built by a crew who has never built or rebuilt coaster track before. You can probably feel those differences, as the traditional wooden coaster track has to be cut and built to precision on site and with a crew who doesn't have any experience, there's a lot more room for error. GCI's team has been doing it for years and have it down to an exact science.

 

That's so true. There's a reason why GCI gets the bulk of the work in the refurbishing/retracking market. They've mastered their craft in construction, as a matter of fact one of their engineers claimed on Reddit that their coasters don't cost any more to maintain than steel coasters of the same size. TGG seems to have less precision with their trackwork. Their Timberliners are a great design, as a matter of fact it would be interesting to see how well they'd run on a new GCI construction.

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It's just funny how the park and local news stations are saying it has 2 inversions ("goes upside down twice" in their words). I understand trying to sell it to the public, but a 115 degree over banked turn is not an inversion. They've aired a segment about it multiple times today on FOX 35 News and I shake my head each time...lol

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Got a few rides on Mine Blower today for opening day. The steep first drop and crazy barrel roll make for an awesome opening. Plenty of airtime on the hills. Didn't find it rough at all, felt smooth for a woodie. I give Mine Blower a 5/5!

Went to Sea World after fun spot and Kraken VR had a 190 min wait, compared to Mine Blower which was a near walk-on on its opening day. After riding everything at Sea World, my friend and I concluded that Mine Blower was our favorite ride of the day.

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After riding everything at Sea World, my friend and I concluded that Mine Blower was our favorite ride of the day.

 

Even though I love Sea World, and count Kraken and Manta among my favorite coasters (haven't ridden Mako yet), this doesn't surprise me in the least! Mine Blower looks SO freaking legit!

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Got a few rides on Mine Blower today for opening day. The steep first drop and crazy barrel roll make for an awesome opening. Plenty of airtime on the hills. Didn't find it rough at all, felt smooth for a woodie. I give Mine Blower a 5/5!

Went to Sea World after fun spot and Kraken VR had a 190 min wait, compared to Mine Blower which was a near walk-on on its opening day. After riding everything at Sea World, my friend and I concluded that Mine Blower was our favorite ride of the day.

 

The lines supposedly got much longer throughout the day. Several people on their Facebook page are complaining about having only one train operation and having to wait a long time to ride. I'm sure the park has a good reason for doing so.

 

Oh and a 190 minute wait is much better than the 405 minute wait I saw on Monday for Kraken Unleashed...lol

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^ The turn out of the station, the turn after the lift into the drop, the inversion, the valley turn after the inversion, the overbanked turn, ext. The Timberliners can turn on a tighter radius than almost every wooden roller coaster train out there and TGG designs their rides to take advantage of this.

 

How does GG woodie track design compare to others? It looks more traditional than RMC topper track does. How are they able to do the inversions while GCI can't. The track design looks almost the same, than say topper track does.

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^ The turn out of the station, the turn after the lift into the drop, the inversion, the valley turn after the inversion, the overbanked turn, ext. The Timberliners can turn on a tighter radius than almost every wooden roller coaster train out there and TGG designs their rides to take advantage of this.

 

How does GG woodie track design compare to others? It looks more traditional than RMC topper track does. How are they able to do the inversions while GCI can't. The track design looks almost the same, than say topper track does.

GCI's can, they just haven't yet.

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