[Edwardo]

The positives:

Looks like a Megalite with a 300' drop and Maverick Turns.
Has a steep, tall drop.
Is a new coaster.

The Negatives:

Branding. Heck, how long till the Chevy sign comes off?
It's not a farking Giga, it's a supertall Mega-Lite
They didn't even put the best parts of Maverick in

I'll ride it and reserve judgement, but I'm less than impressed.

[KenB]

From what I'm reading elsewhere, the restraints sound to be like those on Pilgrim's Plunge and not an OTSR.

From what I've read on those, it sounds like something vaguely similar to the restraints on Saturator here at Carowinds, which I always thought were among the best restraints around. Looking at a pic of PP, the restraint looks somewhat different than those on FSS but looks to function similarly.

I'm still finding the layout "MEH" to the extreme, but I'm one of those that isn't a big fan of Millennium Force(less) and Intimidator looks quite similar with all the low-to-the-ground stuff, only somewhat worse in that area. Yes, I'm an airtime ho, give me airtime hills! The really sad thing to me is that KD has a ton of land right behind where this ride is located. You build 305 feet high, which gives you a lot of potential energy, you have a lot of land in which to use said energy, and you build this?

My overall impression has improved somewhat vs. my initial thoughts about how much OTSRs would suck on a ride like this. I'm still underwhelmed but that's an improvement over my original "WTF?"

[coasteraddict02]

Whether it has OTS's or not, Those transitions from curve to curve look painful! My head hurts just watching the POV

[Sokeman]

I think some people need to just wait until they are able to ride it before they completely rule it out as being a good roller coaster.

I believe there's a misunderstanding here. I doubt anyone here is gonna state that Intimidator 305 doesn't dish out positive & negative g-forces in spades. But an enjoyable experience doesn't obscure the fact that it's a bland design with a questionable trademark. Perhaps less waves would've been made if a copy of the launched steely being erected over at Ferrari Experience was presented instead since the lift is the biggest gripe over it's gimmickry. Far as I'm concerned...I just don't wanna feel like I'm visiting Lenin's Tomb whilst standing in queue.

You build 305 feet high, which gives you a lot of potential energy, you have a lot of land in which to use said energy, and you build this?

You've hit the nail on the head. Pretty much all the hoopla was over the great expectations that were implied from the word "giga" which ended in the eventual letdown en masse upon learning the details. Like so many have mentioned before...bigger isn't always better.

[charlotteguy02]

Has anyone seen stats on capacity? With only two trains this could be a queuing nightmare.

[Sokeman]

Has anyone seen the stats on capacity? With only two trains this could be a queuing nightmare.

1350 riders per hour in comparison to the Mega-Lite model which has an hourly capacity of 810.

[Jambo]

Oh boy.... Man i hope CF has enough sence to not name our coaster after some dead guy. I mean i really don't care what it's called but can't CF think of something better. How about useing the money they took to buy the dale rights and do something usefull like renew Nickelodeon.

I just hope we don't get the same lame name.

[swampfox43]

From what I'm reading elsewhere, the restraints sound to be like those on Pilgrim's Plunge and not an OTSR.

I was talking with a friend today who spoke face to face with Richard Zimmerman today about the new coaster. He specifically asked him about the OTSR and he told me Zimmerman said they were back & forth with the idea of what type of restraint they would use on this coaster. He said for a time there, they had decided against the overhead lap restraint in favor of the conventional lap restraint, but at the last minute decided to add the overhead type.

Now, as to exactly the type of OSTR, I didn't get into that with him, but KD did struggle with this decision according to Zimmerman.

[bgwfreak]

Nevermind.

[WindsWaker]

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet (I've actually seen posts to the contrary), so forgive me if it has.

Intimidator 305's website states that it is the BIGGEST and BADDEST steel coaster in the mid-atlantic and on the east coast. So... Yeah.

[Mountain3307]

Well, Ive seen the website,movies, stats, etc.. time for my $.01

Themeing; Cool name.. I like the renderings of the plaza areas and such. If ours is "Intimidator", I just hope ours is catered more to NASCAR in general..

Ride; Looks like a Mega-lite on steroids. That first drop into that turn is going to be intense. I'm not crazy about the side to side transitions with the OTS. I just think those transitions at 60-70+ mph will hurt! It just might be the video. We'll find out..

Trains; The black cars are OK I guess. Silver accents would have been nice..

All in all.. I think it'll be a unique and good ride..


BTW, Those folks at KD site are HARSH!. I'm glad our group isnt like that.... They should be happy they're getting something 'new'. Yeah its just a few bad apples, but good grief kids..

[carowindsgirl1972]

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet (I've actually seen posts to the contrary), so forgive me if it has.

Intimidator 305's website states that it is the BIGGEST and BADDEST steel coaster in the mid-atlantic and on the east coast. So... Yeah.

Well, it just says "biggest and baddest", not "best". Ours will hopefully be better, even though it will probably not be as tall. So technichally it's true that it is the "biggest". And maybe even the "baddest". Whatever you take that to mean...

Although theres one problem with that phrase. The Kingda Ka is taller, which is in New Jersey, which is on the east coast... Maybe theyre considering KK a "coaster-based thrill ride", as someone called it in the Track Arrival thread.

[WindsWaker]

I haven't seen anyone point this out yet (I've actually seen posts to the contrary), so forgive me if it has.

Intimidator 305's website states that it is the BIGGEST and BADDEST steel coaster in the mid-atlantic and on the east coast. So... Yeah.

Well, it just says "biggest and baddest", not "best". Ours will hopefully be better, even though it will probably not be as tall. So technichally it's true that it is the "biggest". And maybe even the "baddest". Whatever you take that to mean...

Although theres one problem with that phrase. The Kingda Ka is taller, which is in New Jersey, which is on the east coast... Maybe theyre considering KK a "coaster-based thrill ride", as someone called it in the Track Arrival thread.

I'm thoroughly convinced that our coaster will be better- but hey, I'm a fanboy at heart. In all honesty, I don't know how to feel about I305 just yet. It looks almost painful. I can imagine that going through those ground huggers at speeds in excess of 90MPH will generate some serious gravitational force. Me and G-Forces don't get along very well...

[KenB]

Somewhere or another I remember seeing the phrase "gravity-based" used along with the biggest, baddest stuff. That of course is the key to excluding Ka. It would also rule out Carowinds' ride being bigger, but I think that was a given anyway. Even if B&M were to build a 300-footer I think it's obvious that Kinzel is going to keep everything not in Sandusky shorter than Millennium Force.

The really creative marketing bit was about "Giga coasters are in the Guinness Book of World Records...", which kinda implies this Giga breaks some record, which it doesn't. Ok, tallest Mega-Lite, maybe.

[chknwing]

reading this, http://www.intimidator305.com/public/latest/ it says this is only the 2nd giga coaster buiilt in North America? no way thats accurate.