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RailBlazer

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RailBlazer last won the day on May 2 2023

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  • Birthday 01/13/1964

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  1. Zambezi Zinger made its first test run on Saturday 5/6/23. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hCGuv7PS5w8
  2. I had already seen enough changes at Worlds of Fun late last season to know the work they were doing was above and beyond anything usual. As I mentioned before, they started this makeover during last season, so it was clear this was a big project. This year is Worlds of Fun's 50th anniversary, so I imagine that played a part in the decision to put more theming and details back into Worlds of Fun. And after going to the park regularly (and that is an understatement) since 1979, I can tell you the work they have done (and is still in progress) is making Worlds of Fun look the best it has since probably the 1980's. A significant amount of work has been done in painting most of the park's buildings and the majority of them have new color schemes. They have also been adding additional details to structures with painted patterns and designs, painted signage on some structures (on sides of buildings and in addition to main signs), and some architectural embellishments as well. And signage is a huge part of the makeover with many shops, rides and even restrooms getting all new signage. Some signs haven't been put up yet, so it would make sense those will be new as well. You mentioned "a few painted railings" in your comment. WOF did one better and has painted more fencing in the park than has ever been painted. In fact, most of the wooden fences in the park were never painted, but they are now. And thank heavens, the Coasters diner in Africa which never should have been, is now getting a bit of a makeover to be the Sand Dune Diner. They even added palms to the landscaping this past week and near Mamba. On top of all that, the new Zambezi Zinger will hopefully be opening sooner than later. But at least for me, the work they have done to the park is so nice it's like seeing Worlds of Fun more like it was back in its glory days. I don't have many pictures of the new looks around the park, etc. but I will share a few and try to get more as they wrap up the work.
  3. I haven't seen anything suggesting Gold Rush Pizza is gone. The sign was off the building last weekend, but several signs were down. Europa doesn't get the traffic is used to, but it appears Forum Road is off the map this year, so maybe they will get more interest there now as people will have to go through it.
  4. It may be insane to you, but Cedar Fair apparently does care and has been doing a lot to Worlds of Fun in preparation for the 50th anniversary. It’s not an accident that a reimagined Zambezi Zinger is opening with the 50th anniversary. The park has been putting more emphasis on restoring theming to Worlds of Fun and started working on this during the summer months of 2022, in addition to any planning that was going on before that time. They’ve announced at least some of their plans at Coaster Christmas at Silver Dollar City over the weekend and it was also in an article in Amusement Today a few months ago.
  5. It will be Worlds of Fun's 50th anniversary and they have working on things over the last several months, so there is no way the ride will open that late, other than some unforeseen issue arising. I was surprised there weren't any footers, at least none that were visible, but I think the groundwork was fairly involved, as they had to remove much of the old Zinger tunnel, footings, etc. And GCI has been busy in Iowa working on The Legend at Arnold's park too. Luckily the Zambezi Zinger 2 is a relatively small ride and the lift is all steel, so I would imagine that should go up fairly quickly. And a good portion of the track is on the ground so that will likely help in getting it built more quickly. The weather is already colder than usual/normal lately, so I hope we don't have a bad winter either way.
  6. A Tale of Two Wolves (and Cats and Snakes) I took a few spins on Timber Wolf tonight and had a much different experience than I have had in a while, so I thought I would share. One thing I would like to point out, as I realized this years ago on another wooden coaster, is you can take two rides in the same row of the same train, but one time in the left seat and one time in the right and have very different rides, believe it or not. And that was definitely the case for me tonight. I nearly always ride Timber Wolf in the right seat, but tonight I rode left seat and in the front row of the last car. The last row was closed, so there was no weight in those seats, which likely added to the car being a little more bouncy in spots. But that ride was far more unpleasant than any ride I had had on Timber Wolf in recent years. It was mostly... shaky or vibrated in some areas, particularly after the first turn through the lift. It happened in a few valleys, but was not jackhammering. There was some lateral roughness in one spot which is likely due to the track's banking which seems a bit odd, so it's likely a bit worn there. There is one pretty crazy airtime hill left after the new overbanked turn and in this row and seat is just was unpleasant and slammed down on the other side. The same happened on the following hill a bit, which is still original to the ride. Some of the track in the later sections of the ride which is new in the last few years has an odd vibration which sometimes has happened on that ride when it gets new track for some reason. Then the last stretch was pretty shaky in that row too. Just the last slight s-curve of track leading to the brake. I had my friend trade seats and we rode again and the right side was noticeably less off-putting, but had a few slams on the airtime hills. So, this is one thing to remember for a lot of rides, especially woodies. And it may account for sometimes if you ride with someone and one person says something was good/smooth and the other says they had a different experience. I realized this on The Rattler when I hit a rough spot in the track on one side of the train, but you could barely feel it on the other side. You would think each row, two seats side by side would feel essentially the same thing, but that is definitely not always the case and it's easy to forget it and/or not know or experience it. But I think this explains part of why some people have had mostly smooth rides on Wolf, while others have had the opposite. Most of the rides I have had are generally pretty damn smooth for a woodie, so when people say it's rough, I am left scratching my head. But it can depend on where you ride more than any of us realize. Prowler can really be a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ride too. In some seats and perhaps depending on if the track is oiled, it can feel like you are riding a on gravel road or that the wheels have flat spots in them. But it can also feel mostly smooth and FLY like it was tonight, with the track freshly oiled. For some reason it was noticeably faster than most rides I've had in recent history tonight and it was wonderful! And speaking of wonderful, if you like airtime, come ride Mamba and ride in the front car, especially third row for more intense or second for less, on those bunny hills. WOW! That thing has been running absolutely crazy lately! Just remember, wind can kill the ride with the big fiberglass cars and how exposed the ride is to the wind. Otherwise, you won't believe it's the same ride. It's as if the ride starts at the block brake now!
  7. I really have no idea why people are saying Timber Wolf is rough as much of the ride is so tame now, it's pretty dull. It used to be a very rough ride, but the difference now is night and day. There is one airtime hill which is still the original profile and it can throw you and the train around, but that is one quick hill. The very end of the ride still needs to be retracked, but that is a very short section. Other than something being off with a train or something (I will say the last row of the train tends to shake side to side, so maybe that is part of the complaints), the rough comments just make no sense. I typically do not ride over a wheel/axel, so that may make a difference (like that last row), but with so much of the ride replaced, it's practically a new ride, other than the trains.
  8. The rebuild of Timber Wolf started in the off-season of 2014/2015 and has been an ongoing process every off-season since, except for one year around 2017. They just retracked a pretty large section of the ride after the long 180 degree turn under the first 180 turn. At this point pretty much the entire ride from the first drop to almost the end has been retracked except for two hills in the second half of the ride and a bit right before the brakes. The first half of the ride was "re-engineered" to make it smoother/maintenance friendly, but nearly all of the Wolf's original bite has been removed here, except for some of the first drop. The helix removal and its overbanked turn replacement were the silver bullet to Wolf, as that turn is smooth, but about as dull as it could be. That is at least partially due to brakes which are likely necessary for one the original hills which still remains after the new turn, as it still can deliver strong airtime, even with brakes. The remainder of the ride is mostly the same as it was from the beginning with less obvious changes and/or still the same profile. The ride is pretty much a family ride at this point, but smoother overall and less jarring for its riders.
  9. Have you ridden it this season? It has been running the fastest it probably ever has and I am not exaggerating. A new control system was put in and the chain does not slow as the train goes over the top of the lift. And the mid course brakes have been light to non exsistent. I had a ride a few weeks ago in the evening and could not believe the final hills. The reviewer here said the last stretch "wasn't that great." I usually ride in the third row or even second row and get great air on those hills. The change has made many people enjoy that ride so much more. I hope it stays that way. Two train ops started yesterday and it appears that it was still running about the same, as I saw empty trains heading back as fast as full trains used to, if not faster.
  10. I don't mean to suggest it's a GCI "issue", but it's something that I only notice on their trains and don't on PTC trains for example. I think some parks know how to avoid the issue and some don't, for lack of a better way of putting it.
  11. I definitely think that the rough riding "flat wheels" thing on Prowler is related to maintenance. It's possible that is has something to do with the wheel bearings, but I'm not sure. I have felt the same thing on a few other GCI coasters too. I don't think I have ever felt it on the fairly few rides I've taken on American Thunder and same goes for some rides I had on Renegade a few years ago. I did notice a minor version of it on Mystic Timbers when I was there recently, but it was only on one of the rides I took. It's strange how it can be bad in some seats/cars and not in others, which is why some people have have crappy rides and others aren't bad. Prowler has had A LOT of trouble with this over the years, which is a shame as when it's running fast and smooth, it's such a good ride. As for Timber Wolf, most of the trouble with it has been due to track which was in need of replacement and/or a few other things. A significant amount of the ride was re-engineered by GCI and rebuilt and/or retracked starting before the 2015 season up until before this season. The park did some of the work I believe, at least on a short section this year. Overall, the ride is FAR smoother than it was for many years. I do not like to ride in the back seats of the cars, so I can't speak for how those seats feel, but it's way smoother than it was overall. They did skip over a few sections in the last half, mostly near the end of the ride, so those may get rough again. But the work GCI smoothed out the track to make it way more rider and maintenance friendly. It also is mostly a much tamer ride. Unfortunately, there are trim brakes in three spots, though they vary as to how hard they are on. One hill in particular still gives a lot of airtime, even with the brakes, so I do not see the brakes easing up until that hill changes. And the helix was removed, so there is less track to use up the energy.
  12. I think it's likely that some cars on one or both trains have wheels which are riding rougher than others. That said, both trains have been on during all of my visits.
  13. OK, so Prowler is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde roller coaster (I've had many rides like you describe and some really great ones too) and I am still trying to figure out exactly why and how it can change, in some cases very quickly. Here are some of my experiences on it this season and a bit from last. They did some re-tracking before last season and some the year before. After that work, the track was in good shape and I had some of the best rides I'd had on it in awhile, last season. The track overall has been in good shape this season too, other than a little spot near the end of the ride, I noticed last time I was there. This season, I've had mostly "square wheel" feeling rides on the few times I was out there this summer. Then I went to the park on a Friday night for Haunt maybe three or four weekends back and... WOW! Completely different ride! It was flying and smooth! The main difference that was obvious is the track had been freshly greased. It was so good and smooth, no square wheels that is and it was excellent! People were very enthusiastic that night when the trains were coming back in. I met a friend out there late Sunday before they closed, just two days later, expecting the ride to be at least good and it was back to square wheels and average. I was amazed how different it was and my friend was skeptical that it had been so good on Friday. I went again the following two Friday nights and had mostly the same experience with greased track and fast, but a minor amount of square wheels, mostly on the final turn into the brakes. My friend met me out there on the second Friday and experienced Prowler like it CAN run, but often doesn't. We rode several times that night. And the thing just seemed to get faster, especially after the turnaround and really flew into the brakes, which was so great and like it used to do when it was new. Friday nights during Haunt *might* be the time to give it a try as that has been the time to ride lately. Of course, it's hard to say if it will be like that each time. Another odd thing, was during Winterfest the three years we had it, the ride flew around the track and was smooth, at least in the seats I rode in. I do think sometimes the square wheel thing can be worse in some seats more than others. It doesn't seem like just greasing the track would make it change so drastically, but in my experience it has. The square wheel thing is something that GCI coasters do and PTC coaster don't. I've felt it a bit on a few other GCI rides. I so wish WOF could get this figured out and get it running like that all the time as it is a great ride when it runs like that.
  14. I'm curious when you started riding Prowler as it did develop the wheel issue you describe, but it mostly didn't start doing that until roughly five seasons in, give or take. I'll comment more on a later post.
  15. I have voted for the Golden Ticket Awards and have never been instructed to vote for any specific ride or park, etc. Contrary to popular belief here, that is not how the Golden Tickets work.
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