0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Kemah Boardwalk building wooden coaster (DEC 7, 2006) The much-anticipated news is finally official. Amusement Today has confirmed that The Landry's Restaurant's-owned Kemah (Texas) Boardwalk is building a wooden coaster for the 2007 season.The coaster will be located on a tight footprint next to the Saltgrass Steak House. Kemah plans for a late spring or early summer 2007 opening.The contractor overseeing the complete project is Martin & Vleminckx Rides, LLC based in Haines City, Fla. The design of the ride was completed by Cincinnati, Ohio based-The Gravity Group. The yet to be named coaster will feature two, six-car trains (800 pph capacity) from Philadelphia Toboggan Coaster Co. The ride's safety system will be provided by Orlando's Entech. Bullock Smith & Partners in Knoxville, Tenn. provided Kemah with conceptual and other thematic drawings for the ride.Concrete work for the ride's footings is underway and was contracted to Houston-based Bobcat Concrete. Erection of the ride's wooden structure by M&V is schedlued to begin next week.The western-themed coaster will stand 96 feet tall, feature a first drop of 92 feet, reach speeds of 51 miles per hour and travel a track layout of 3,236. But the most impressive fact the coaster has is a result of its less than one-acre footprint that results in the most number of track crossovers ever designed into a wooden coaster. It will also feature several themed tunneled sections."The design team has developed a plan to give the Kemah Boardwalk a great wood coaster experience in a very tight footprint. The design incorporates countless crossovers, direction changes, and several tunnels. Tim Anderson, general manager at the Kemah Boardwalk told AT. "In addition, the coaster is being constructed within a few feet of Galveston Bay providing a great seaside view. I believe that this will be the coolest coaster on the coast and will be an exciting feature for our 3 million visitors per year.?See the complete story in the Jan. issue of AT.
AIRPLANE COASTER I have to give credit to the Airplane for creating a monster. This classic ride stood at Rye Playland in Westchester County, NY from 1928 through 1957. It is generally considered the greatest wooden coaster ever built, and although it has been gone for a longer period of time than it existed, it is still thought of as the ONE ride that has never been topped. My mother rode this ride in 1951, was traumatized for life, and listening to her stories about her experience throughout my entire childhood no doubt created the fascination I've always had for these wondrous machines. Therefore, not only do I really want this ride back in action for the park's sake, I want it there to ride for myself, so I can fully realize the conjurings I had as a child listening to those terrifying stories. To me, this ride was a legend before I even realized just how much of a legend it was to everyone else. The park has the blueprints, and doesn't use the space the ride resided in for much of anything that can't be relocated, so let's do it and return this masterpiece to the audience that it deserves.
I'm already prepared with a back-up plan if this ride doesn't open. It does suck since the trip was planned around this coaster, but it's ok, there's always DING deals to Houston. We're still getting to SFOT, SFFT Sea World and possibly a couple of kiddie credits.
Topic: New Gravity Group woodie in Texas... (Read 5658 times)
