[ThrillSeeker]

I want a launch coaster so bad . I guess i should just forget about it carowinds never gives us what we ask for.

[Dukeis#1]

I'd personally like something similar to <a href='http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery474.htm?Picture=6' target='_blank'>Volcano</a> at Kings Dominion. Maybe if it was just a little longer and had better capacity though.

Unfortunatly, we've already got a good sized invert, so I don't see one in the future. (Although an Impulse is always welcome!)

[Cephas]

The premier rides mad cobras are the coolest things since B&M and Intamin Gigas. I've been on the poltergeist at SF Fiesta Texas.

[Trev32]

i can't wait to ride a mad cobra(it won't be for w while but i still can't wait),they look awsome



about white lightning i wish i could've ridden it,i made a little thing with paint shop pro 8 about white lightning,

[AMartin777]

I rode white lightning multiple times in the last part of, I believe 1988. It was a fantastic machine and certainly a major ride at the time. I can recall the enormous amount of noise it made both when raising the weight and during the launch. The ride Op would wait for the bogey to attach then would say, "Lightning strikes NOW!" and the launce would kick in. Certainly not as powerful as the new impulse models, the train would scream from the station house (which was covered as I recall) and hurtle down the track as you were slammed into your seat. The transition into the loop was certainly "G-ridden" but smooth. You could enjoy a fantastic side view as you rolled inverted through the loop. After coming out of the bottom of the loop you again made the climb and shot straight up. It seemed 90 degrees though it was not. The stopper at the top of the track growing closer as your train reached the inevitable point of gravity's demand. A quick second, maybe 2, of weightlessness and backwards through the same amazing experience. After rolling back through the station another brief moment of 0G and then back into the station with a rather heavy stop.

The new impulse coasters are not the same experience for me. They are a different ride experience alltogether. The design elements of modern impulses were unthinkable when White Lightning was having it's day. I agree that an impulse would be a fantastic addition to Carowinds and are great crowd pleasers. They could even theme/sell it as the return of a bigger, better White Lightning type ride. I can see the headline now,

"Lightning Strikes again at Paramount's Carowinds!"
and this time, the storms not letting up....

[Cephas]

I got the same experience on the Viper at SFOG and I will never forget it. It was one of the best rides ever!

[mattam102]

Does anyone know of any shuttle launch incidents (white lightning or other) where the coaster failed to gain enough speed, thus stalling the train between the loop and the hill?
I ask this as newer launch coasters do not have the same design (areas where the train could stall)
Do you think the "premature" removal of these type coasters is a result of this design flaw? I always hear the maintenance excuse, but I really question that.

[Dukeis#1]

Does anyone know of any shuttle launch incidents (white lightning or other) where the coaster failed to gain enough speed, thus stalling the train between the loop and the hill?

Do you think the "premature" removal of these type coasters is a result of this design flaw?  I always hear the maintenance excuse, but I really question that.

Does anyone know of any shuttle launch incidents (white lightning or other) where the coaster failed to gain enough speed, thus stalling the train between the loop and the hill?

I understand that happened so often that A. Schwarzkoph began putting electric winches on the top of the first spike so that if the train did get stuck between the loop and spike they could haul it up to to the top and drop it back down to get it through the loop.

Do you think the "premature" removal of these type coasters is a result of this design flaw? I always hear the maintenance excuse, but I really question that.

I've always heard that the flywheel models are easier to maintain than the weight-drop models. Maybe that's why more of them are still operating in their original location.

[wrbcltnc]

I've always heard that the flywheel models are easier to maintain than the weight-drop models.  Maybe that's why more of them are still operating in their original location.

If that's the case can a drop weight model be refurbished into a flywheel model?

Was King Kobra at PKI a drop weight model? If so then send that bad boy to PC, refurbish it and locate it in thrill zone but enclose the entire ride except for the two spikes (to tall) and theme it like giant gears or a turbine engine. The roar in an enclosure, a sweet loop and then bang out into the sun weightlessness and back into the dark. I'd ride it in a heart beat.

[Dukeis#1]

I'm not sure about your first question.

But, King Kobra at Kings Dominion was a weight drop model. It was White Lightnin's mechanical twin. They were the first shuttle coasters A.S. built.

According to RCDB.com, after being removed from KD in '86, it traveled to Jolly Rodger Park and stayed there for 2 seasons, then it was bought by Alton Towers and renamed Thunderlooper. After living at Alton Towers from 1990-1996, it was sold to Hopi Hari in Brazil and it continues to operate there as <a href='http://rcdb.com/installationdetail1152.htm' target='_blank'>Katapult</a>. (Gosh, these foreign parks are willing to pay for the things US parks won't!)

[Cephas]

B&M should come out with a Boomerang type ride. It obviously would be easy to maintain and cheap to run and have relatively high ride capacity.

B&M should also come out with a coaster where you are in a flying position over the track (As opposed to under. The floorless "footchopper effect" would seem like child's play with the "bodychopper effect." That would be so cool! The could theme it to sledding or something where you are going really fast close to the ground. The train would be loaded in the standing coaster position and then the floor would drop out and the train would tilt down so the people are facing the track. I assume the chalenge would be giving people a view of things besides the track under them looming to close for comfort...

This "sledding ride could be themed to a mountain region in carowinds, it would make a good theme and it is part of the Carolinas, this would satisfy people's lust for interesting themeing and be fathful to carowinds' origional vision of showing off the "best of the carolinas".

I would ride the above coaster in a instant!

The cars could also turn over half-way though the ride to a traditional flying position. It could be a B&M 4-dimensional coaster! Way out of carowinds' buget but I wold go somewhere else to ride it.

[Trev32]

refurbish it and locate it in thrill zone but enclose the entire ride except for the two spikes (to tall) and theme it like giant gears or a turbine engine.

ooo coool you mean like they did with <a href='http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery921.htm?Picture=4' target='_blank'>TURBINE</a> at Six Flags belgium? that'd be cool

B&M should come out with a Boomerang type ride. It obviously would be easy to maintain and cheap to run and have relatively high ride capacity.

B&M should also come out with a coaster where you are in a flying position over the track (As opposed to under.) The floorless "footchopper effect" would seem like child's play with the "bodychopper effect." That would be so cool! The could theme it to sledding or something where you are going really fast close to the ground. The train would be loaded in the standing coaster position and then the floor would drop out and the train would tilt down so the people are facing the track. I assume the chalenge would be giving people a view of things besides the track under them looming to close for comfort...

This "sledding ride could be themed to a mountain region in carowinds, it would make a good theme and it is part of the Carolinas, this would satisfy people's lust for interesting themeing and be fathful to carowinds' origional vision of showing off the "best of the carolinas".

I would ride the above coaster in a instant!

The cars could also turn over half-way though the ride to a traditional flying position. It could be a B&M 4-dimensional coaster! Way out of carowinds' buget but I wold go somewhere else to ride it.

i like that boomerang idea.


bodychopper?? OMG! i don't think i'd ride it until i turn about 30 lol.

[Cephas]

The "Footchopper" effect is only an illusion you get on the front row of floorless coasters. It looks like your feet are going to get chopped off by the track at certain points on the ride where the train starts going up a hill or hits the top of a loop or exits a corkscrew. Your body would never really get chopped up, only look like it will be. It would be a nightmare for the park with liability.

[Trev32]

i know that but i don't think'd i be brave enough to ride it.

[carowindsfreak13]

I think that would be a scray ride with your head laying down facing the track. I would like to have a coaster like that. I still not to shure if I am going to ride it or not