Not sure if any of you knew about this. But yep. They're finally taking out disaster transport and building a wing rider. Its supposed to be the biggest wing rider yet apparently. I'm sure there is already a topic about this somewhere, but i haven't been on this site in a good 8 or so months and i'm too lazy to look.
25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
tiepilot35
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 5:58:21 PM Yeah it's really interesting to think of how the unusual g-forces play out on such a train design. I believe your statement, and I trust that the back-left is slightly better. There are some spots that the back-right looks awesome for, too.
Slightly unrelated, but I'm still disappointed and frankly surprised that B&M didn't incorporate an inline twist after the helix. They could use a second helix to get around to the brake run. It seems like such a unique opportunity for them to use such an element (on wingriders) and, though the ride is long and particularly slow near the end, I think they could have done it. Thoughts?
blackhand1001
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 4:49:28 PM That offride video makes it look really lame. I wish b&m would make an intense looper again. Their older loopers like Kumba and Chang/Green Lantern have so much better pacing.
yoshifreak
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 4:00:39 PM It's from about about 90 degrees and then until the pull up. It's actually really strong for what I was expecting. Also the rotation never feels like you're getting pushed into the seat, the rotation isn't really fast enough to feel like that. I think the airtime was greater because as the train begins to accelerate downward you're above the track at 90 degrees compared to below, therefore you travel in vertical distance a little bit longer than the right side.
tiepilot35
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 2:52:50 PM Which part of the trip gives airtime in the back left? It seems that the direction of rotation would push you into your seat and then of course the pull up of the drop would too. Is it the point at which you reach 180 and stop rotation? Because you're still kind of upsidedown at that point.
yoshifreak
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 10:48:01 AM Back left was my favorite seat on the day, you get much stronger airtime on the drop and immelmann compared to the right side.
tiepilot35
Posted - 05/10/2013 : 10:31:01 AM So having ridden it so many times, would you be able to say if back-left or back-right is better? Or both essentially equally good? Looking for a good one-time experience on my first ride in case my first trip there throws a 2 to 3 hour line at me.
coasterdave
Posted - 05/09/2013 : 10:32:31 PM I may have seen you, I was at Entrance from 3:50ish-5... Then controls and platform for the rest of the night
yoshifreak
Posted - 05/09/2013 : 10:26:12 PM I rode it once after then to get the free onride picture since it was down earlier in the day, it was next in line at the time when the "guest illness" took the ride down for about 15 min.
coasterdave
Posted - 05/09/2013 : 10:18:38 PM Did you ride after we reopened at 3:30?
yoshifreak
Posted - 05/09/2013 : 7:56:24 PM Well I just got back from Gatekeeper's media day and I've got some pictures for you guys. I'm not a photographer by any means, but until someone (Real) posts better photos these should be interesting.
As for the ride itself, it's not bad. I got about 15 rides in different spots. Front, Middle, Back, Inner, Outer, Left, and Right I think I covered most of the seats. The outer back seats are by far the best, as you really get pulled through almost every element. You really get some strong positives in the front and back, much stronger than I was expecting. There are a few good moments of airtime, specifically on the first drop in the back, as well as the airtime hill and leaving the mcbr. There's some rotational airtime too which is definitely interesting. The Keyholes are nice and seemed a lot closer than they look in pictures, and the rotation seemed really fast in the flatspin and the first zero-g roll.
Although the pacing does slow a bit towards the end of the ride, it really isn't all that bad. You get some nice hangtime through the second roll, and although the helix is slow at the top, the bottom is pretty tight with some good positive forces, and as I mentioned in the back you get a nice pop of air leaving the mcbr.
Pacing really picked up later in the day once it got warmer, and you could really feel the difference in the dive loop, which has some strong positives on the pull out.
Overall, it's certainly not as intense as Raptor, but for what it is, it's definitely worth a repeat ride. It's really fun and there's a lot of different experiences depending on where you sit. Now for some pictures.
Overview of the drop and Immelmann.
Close-up of the diving drop.
The sign at sunrise.
The station area and lift provide some nice looks.
Close up of the sign.
Shot of a train heading up the lift. It's actually quite quick.
Slob Alvey at his best. I thought this man was annoying in his videos, but when you share a train with him, it's on a whole new level.
You can really see the banking changes of the helix in this shot.
The Diveloop really hauls the back half of the train through.
Giant Flatspin.
There's good hangtime combined with head/footchoppers here.
The sign isn't too big, no worries.
Profile of the diveloop.
Everything through the flatspin.
Some action shots:
Since no one stopped me from walking behind the scenes, here's some closeup shots from under the brake run.
I've got a few videos I might upload to youtube, and if I do, I'll post some links in this thread.
Edit:
dcs221
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 1:03:02 PM Looks like the picture was taken relatively close to the sign. Guessing if you're farther away you should have a nice unimpeded view of the rolls.
hyyyper
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 12:59:18 PM What's with the oversized sign? Totally ruins the view of the double rolls.
Dumdum
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 12:56:07 PM
coasterdave
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 11:54:24 AM
GerstlCrazy
Posted - 05/08/2013 : 01:28:21 AM I have to say I agree with you^... I understand why they didn't, but if they had retained those styles up until now, the custom layouts with the classic technique would be biiiitchinnn'.
blackhand1001
Posted - 05/07/2013 : 2:40:49 PM If you want a good b&m looper these days you have to buy a mid 90's one used. The new ones they build are all forceless and boring.
tiepilot35
Posted - 05/07/2013 : 10:22:15 AM Well I know from Pointcast #2 that they've been screwing with the wheels, maybe they put a lot more of the faster wheels on it since this video was taken.
coasterdave
Posted - 05/07/2013 : 12:43:30 AM I'm not sure what I can and can't give away so i'll keep my mouth shut (But they added things to the trains). Come make your own opinion. I'm gonna ride on media day finally. I couldn't this past weekend due to some more safety testings... But I did get to run it and it's the fastest operating coaster in the park. I'm anxious and excited to she how everything will work with guests.
GerstlCrazy
Posted - 05/07/2013 : 12:26:55 AM ^^ I agree with that Jake everything after the corkscrew looks petty lame, even the Jr. Dive Loop and second roll looked boring which I thought looked like the coolest parts. The zero g roll serms so slow. I think the rest of the wing riders have pretty speedy zero gs because they are early in most of the layouts. But I guess they wanted to cram in as much rotation as possible and that might be a disadvantage. I think it will still be fun and awesome to ride but I hope it goes a little faster.
tiepilot35
Posted - 05/07/2013 : 12:19:10 AM It looked slow and boring to me too. Coasterdave says it's running faster now, so that's good. I think it'll be slightly faster even with people fully loading it.
Jakizle
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 10:24:22 PM Looks boring as hell.
coasterdave
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 6:50:13 PM This was taken a few weeks ago. I can say by watching this past weekend that there have been modifications (as every new ride) and it's running faster.
CKidd
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 6:39:53 PM it looks pretty much like the other wingriders to me, I have no real complaints only that they missed a chance of a million dollar view imo
AmatsuNL
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 6:27:33 PM ^ What? The pacing doesn't seem that much different compared to other B&M Wing Riders. Only towards the end does it appear to be slightly slower paced compared to other rides (to me), but still.
TylerE
Posted - 05/06/2013 : 6:08:31 PM Had better break in A LOT, or it looks like a total dud to me. Pacing is....snoooze
