Kemah Boardwalk and Bullet Discussion Thread

http://www.screamscape.com/html/kemah_boardwalk.html

 

News - (12/17/07) I haven’t found any photos yet, but I’ve been told that construction crews are crawling all over the Boardwalk Bullet these days, taking sections of the ride down to rebuild it. Now I had heard over the summer that there were solid plans in place to do just this over the winter due to the rushed construction timetable. However, other sources tell me that the rougher portions of the ride have apparently caused a few individuals to file “whiplash” lawsuits so sections of the ride will be tamed down a bit when it reopens.

 

I hope this doesn't equate to trims. Does anyone know what's going on?

First of all, I myself don't see how it is any rougher then a lot of other coasters...

I've ridden every car and it tosses you around a bit, but it's no where near whiplash. But, I suppose if you went through the ride limp, and did not know when to expect G-forces(The bottom of the first drop has some good laterals that 1st time riders don't expect), then maybe you could end up with problems.

As far as trims, I don't think it will happen. The first part of the ride is crazy fast, but the ending half almost crawls over the hills. If they add a trim, it would not have near enough speed to make it over the last hills.

I bet Kemah is just going to retrack BB to get it riding how it was supposed to, and then they will see if it's still rough after that.

Wow. Expect the worst and hope for the best. Jmaclip is right. The turn out of the first drop can be deceiving if you're not prepared for it.

http://www.screamscape.com/html/kemah_boardwalk.html

 

News - (12/17/07) I haven’t found any photos yet, but I’ve been told that construction crews are crawling all over the Boardwalk Bullet these days, taking sections of the ride down to rebuild it. Now I had heard over the summer that there were solid plans in place to do just this over the winter due to the rushed construction timetable. However, other sources tell me that the rougher portions of the ride have apparently caused a few individuals to file “whiplash” lawsuits so sections of the ride will be tamed down a bit when it reopens.

 

I hope this doesn't equate to trims. Does anyone know what's going on?

Wow, I missed these posts somehow. Let me try to clear some things up.

There are no trims being added, I don't think there is a part of track straight enough which would allow for trims to being with.

They are not "tearing sections of the ride down".

I have been visiting the Bullet several times a week since they started construction. There are NO MAJOR changes to the ride. I don't know anything about 'whiplash' claims. Those that have stated they are taming the first drop because 'whiplash claims' must know more than I do. Their goal was to get it constructed as it was designed, this is all they are doing as far as I know.

I do know they have done/are doing the following:

Re tracking a section of track from midway down the first drop all the way around the upper bay turn. They currently have the last half of this almost ready for rails.

They have removed what we called "The pop" located about halfway through the ride.

Today they were re-tracking the second big drop which was said to be gaged too tight.

They have made some adjustments on several ledgers, none any more than a few inches, which has straightened out the first drop to make it much smoother.

They have fixed the magnetic brakes and track on the brake run - no more train stalling upon station re-entry on the brake runs.

Right now they are trying to finish by the Friday the 28th in time for New Years, however weather and other factors will determine if that date is met. IMO, I think it will take a little longer than that.

So, in summary, I think that article from the other forum is mainly BS. They are not redesigning the ride cause people are complaining of whiplash, just getting it right, which will make it smoother and faster.

-GK

Sounds like its gonna be a smoother experience but not taking away from its aggressive nature.

Sounds like its gonna be a smoother experience but not taking away from its aggressive nature.

I was lucky enough to get a few rain rides when the cycle time was around 62 seconds. This is just a tad slower than the cycle time they're hoping to achieve after this work has been done.

I can tell you that when it's running that fast, it is quite a bit smoother, it doesn't "hunt for center" on the turns, and most of the shuffle is gone... that said, it's not less aggressive at those speeds, it's MORE aggressive. The ride (even the back half) is basically just a blur. There is airtime all over the place, laterals that pin you to the side of the train, and the sensation of sustained speed is just wicked.

I'm going to say this cautiously... if they get the Bullet to run every day like it ran on those rain rides, I might just have a new #1 coaster. I'm not going to say that for certain until I ride it, but I remember thinking "OMFG, could this be my new #1 coaster?" after those rain rides.... the next day, when it ran more sluggishly, I had dropped it several spots. Time will tell. All I can say is that I'm cautiously optimistic about the trackwork. While I am enthusiastic about it being smoother and faster, I'm going to miss "the pop" and any of the other quirky things they might take out of it.

Im going to be in Texas Jan 1-5. Will it be open by then? I wont be in Huston but my parents said we could go there if it was open. I hope its open!

I don't know what they do for new years' down there.

It would be cool to be ON the Bullet at midnight, but the local restrictions on running it at night would prevent it.

I'm heading down in a bit to see how the progress is coming. I haven't seen it since they started work, so I'll take a few pics and post them when I get back.

Went down to Kemah this afternoon and got to chat with a couple of the crew during their break. There are three main points that seemed to run constantly throughout the conversation:

[1] Work is progressing nicely due to the good weather, and they are hoping to have it running by new year's eve

[2] Even though a rather long section of track is being reworked, the issue is tweaking it (a few inches here, a few there) to get it exactly right. It is not an issue of repairing anything.

[3] It's going to be "a lot faster" (!)

Here are some pictures:

Trackwork begins right where that steel crossbeam is.

Lotsa wood on site

Working on the zig-zag

more pics

The zig-zag. This part is taken at more than 50mph

Continuing around the turn

Beginning the curve after the drop

Bottom of the first drop

Midway down the first drop: You can see the old hole compared to where the brace is now.

Thanks! It's like watching the construction updates all over again.

Hope to be there on the 1st. I got some fireworks to set off on new years.

still more pics

Coming out from under the station. No trackwork was needed here.

Looking back from the top of the bay turn

The infamous "triple slam" of the upper bay turn has been smoothed out

The train used to slam this pretty hard and lose a lot of speed. It's got all new track now, moved nearly 6 inches to one side from where it was before

Heading back into the daylight

even more pics!

He was right!

"Wait... you want a cool picture? Stand over here and point up"

Custom-built track bender designed by M&V

mag brakes have all been adjusted. No more stopping, then crawling to the station.

No more "the pop". It's all smoothed out and rounded now. They promise floater air here, so maybe I won't miss the pop much!

waiting for the steel rails

Woo! No more POP! I hated it my cousin and i called it the "nut chopper" As skinny as we are we'd have to adjust out self without getting our pelvis smashed! Great pics though, Can't wait to ride it some more

Nice pics anc excellent update TC! The M&V crew have always been very nice to the coaster enthusiasts throughout this entire project. I can't wait for new years eve to see how their work has paid off!

-GG

Beautiful pics Tex. I can't wait. I don't know if it is gonna do anything but it is still exciting. Maybe I can catch it on a day when it is warm in January. For all of the people who think that is a joke, it isn't. This is Houston, Texas and we get warm weather in the winter a lot.

Beautiful pics Tex. I can't wait. I don't know if it is gonna do anything but it is still exciting. Maybe I can catch it on a day when it is warm in January. For all of the people who think that is a joke, it isn't. This is Houston, Texas and we get warm weather in the winter a lot.

...as is evidenced by the next-to-last shot of the worker in the sleeveless shirt.

No offense the the GG Guys or anything..

But shouldn't this sorta thing not happen? To have to do so much work on a brand new ride seems kinda dodgy.

One more time, in case you haven't seen it posted before...

Bullet was a problem child during construction due to a seriously rainy spring/summer. The opening was delayed by MONTHS. When the track was laid down, some things weren't right. The structure had gotten wet/dry/wet numerous times and some things had shifted as construction crawled along at a snail's pace. The first few test runs didn't even complete the course (which isn't unusual for a woodie, but nobody expected this one to valley).

Once it was running without stalling, it was already Labor Day weekend. The summer had pretty much been lost. It was decided that even though it wasn't running as designed yet, they would open it and salvage what warm weather was left, and schedule the tweaking to the track in the off season. That's what's happening now.

The trackwork isn't being done to repair worn sections, it's being retrofitted to bring it to the original specs so it will run as it was designed to.

Once it's done, it should be smoother and quite a bit faster.

So the opening was delayed by months, and they didn't get it right? I really don't think there is an excuse for opening a ride half-done. It just looks bad now that it needs work done to those who don't know all this 'amazing' information about the (long) consruction problems.

Even though the ride was running well below what it was designed to do, and even though it didn't open until September, it still managed to rank #21 in the world on Mitch Hawker's poll.

It was a good ride... it's going to be a great ride (hopefully).

^Yeah but it does not deserve that ranking. One of the reasons it ranked so high is due to the number of Texans that rode it, and not so much else!

^Yeah but it does not deserve that ranking. One of the reasons it ranked so high is due to the number of Texans that rode it, and not so much else!

Yeah, I think that was the reason...

With AW closed, BB is the only coaster in the Houston area, so it gets an unfair advantage. People are always going to be a little more biased to their home park though.

^Yeah but it does not deserve that ranking. One of the reasons it ranked so high is due to the number of Texans that rode it, and not so much else!

Exactly, I mean my back still gives me nightly pain from riding it. It's just ranked above the Rattler for me (that means that it is a very bad ride).

^Yeah but it does not deserve that ranking. One of the reasons it ranked so high is due to the number of Texans that rode it, and not so much else!

 

Exactly, I mean my back still gives me nightly pain from riding it. It's just ranked above the Rattler for me (that means that it is a very bad ride).

How could you still have pain from it? You must have had some problems before...

The only thing I(Or anyone else I rode with) came off with was a headache.

Even though the ride was running well below what it was designed to do, and even though it didn't open until September, it still managed to rank #21 in the world on Mitch Hawker's poll.

 

It was a good ride... it's going to be a great ride (hopefully).

I do agree that there is a great ride in there somewhere, but I don't think it's worthy of a top 20 (or 21) ranking. The first 15 seconds of the ride were amazing...too brutal for my tastes, but still amazing.

The rest of the ride felt like it was trying SO HARD to be good, but instead felt like it was almost going to roll back.

If they could "fix it" and have it give the ride it was designed to give, I think they could have a top 20 coaster in there, and for some it might even be a top 10.

I do agree with Ed, though. What's happening with the ride shouldn't have happened. I also feel it would have been better for them to wait until all the problems were sorted out before opening it, but I'm sure the accountants felt differently.

I've worked on many projects that were released "half-done" because of financial reasons so I can understand why they did what they did.

I just hope they can fix it!

--Robb