Great Adventure Outpost
Industry => Industry News => Topic started by: PcMan on June 26, 2007, 10:11:09 PM
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First there was Hades,then The Voyage...
NOW the Ravine Flyer II a Gravity Group coaster now being built at Waldameer Park
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2900 + feet of track
3 giant drops (115?, 80?+, 60?+)
60 degrees first drop
Extreme track banking
Speed over 57 MPH
10 spots of airtime
Wood track with steel supports
Beautiful Views of Lake Erie
Crossover over Peninsula Drive on a 165? arched bridge
6 Tunnels
10 Cross overs
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The site of the Ravine Flyer II is the same as the Ravine Flyer I Coaster of the early 1900?s (The Lakeview Picnic Shelter was the original station!
see some Pics here http://tmcgill1.photosite.com/RavineFlyerII (http://tmcgill1.photosite.com/RavineFlyerII)
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This ride looks like it will be a real winner
(http://rayp.smugmug.com/photos/154486948-L.jpg)
I've also been told that this ride will carry PTC's "new trains". Apparently PTC created a train very similar to the GCI Millennium Flyer trains.
"Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters introduces new single-seat train (JUNE 20, 2007) Amusement Today has learned that Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, the world?s leading supplier of wooden roller coaster trains, is introducing a revolutionary new single-seat train system to its range of rolling stock and other coaster-related products.
The rollout customer for the new train will be Pennsylvania?s Waldameer Park and its highly anticipated Ravine Flyer II, which is being designed and built by The Gravity Group for the 2008 season.
PTC president Tom Rebbie is quick to point out that his company?s new train will not be a conventional trailer-style set-up. Instead, each of the twelve cars will seat two riders and feature four weight-bearing road wheels per coach. While Waldameer?s new coaster will be the first to use the new trains, PTC is actively marketing this attractive rolling stock for new wooden coaster projects as well as replacement trains for existing rides."
http://www.amusementtoday.com/ (http://www.amusementtoday.com/)
I keep hearing more and more good news about this ride. I still don't know where the 6 tunnels will be.
Construction has also already started, footers are in place along the hillsides for the first drop.
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PTC has a new train design? Hey, just a brain fart here but if we all chipped in, would it be possible to get 2 sets for Toro? and would GADV have a problem with that? ;D
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Layout of the New coaster
Looks Like a reason to visit next year
(http://www.techhi.net/images/COASTER/New_Folder/RV2.jpg)
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Some updated pics of the New Gravity group coaster
www.flickr.com/photos/rsscbell
Ok when are we going next year
Looks like a Good Kennywood,Waldameer,CP road trip next year.
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Update: this coaster is looking sweet
Morey build one of these
(http://www.techhi.net/images/COASTER/Ravine-flyer/RavineFlyer.jpg)
more updated pics here www.waldameer.com/RavineFlyer2.html
and here
www.flickr.com/photos/rsscbell/
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Morey build one of these
It looks like Clementon already did?
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sorta... but I don't see the helix of death on RF
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lol
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Looks nice, but I don't see all the big fuss about it honestly....
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It looks really good I think. Most of it seems to be low to the ground so I'm sure most of the course will be taken at full or high speeds. I can't wait to get to this park next year to ride this and their Spinning Coaster.
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i agree it looks very fast and the elevation changes and tunnels
Hades little brother
Kennywood etc. Next spring 8)
NL Video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QONVsgTAIw
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Some Photo updates
www.flickr.com/photos/rsscbell/
Hmm
www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1760077917&size=l
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It looks Boulderdashy
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Nov . Pics
here are some great Pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/Waldameer/RavineFlyerIIConstructionPhotos
www.flickr.com/photos/17342644@N08/?saved=1
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New Video POV
http://216.128.12.36/sites/waldameer
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Looks like a sweet day trip next year, lol
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How long does it take to get there?
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Too long. Haha. My GPS says 7 hours 12 minutes. Erie is so out in left field. But I will get out there eventually.
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Yea I figured it would be since it is on Lake Erie. If I were to take that long of a trip, i would go to Cedar Point instead, although I have to get on a Gravity Group creation asap.
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^^ Exactly 7 hrs away is the perfect day trip for me.
My day trips over the last two years include...
Darien lake, Martins Fantasy Island, Seabreeze, Niagara Falls 23 hour trip.
Cedar Point, Three rides 22 hour trip.
Kennywood, Idlewild, 19 hr trip.
Clementon park, SFGADV, Coney Island, 18 hour trip.
Great Escape, Hoffman's 18 hour trip.
Lakemont, DelGrosso's 15 hour trip
Lake Compounce, Rye Playland 13 hour day trip.
Last but not least, 5 hours to get out of NJ to Lake Compounce. 2 Rides, 12 hour trip.
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Wow those trips got to be some kind of records
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Some photos Updates dated 1-12-08
http://picasaweb.google.com/Waldameer/RavineFlyerIIRollerCoaster
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^ This coaster looks insane. I wish they'd reschedule their ERT event to a different weekend than Holiwood Nights... I would really like to get night rides on this coaster and I'm not sure if that park stays open long enough to do that.
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^ Never mind that... they are open until 10 basically every night in the summer. I'm sure there could be a nice trip out there on a dead weekday to get some night ERT.
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they have the Same night at Holiwood
not good
But this does look like a nice trip along with Kennywood
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There's like 3 or 4 events the weekend of Memorial Day... Bubba knows what they are, I just remember Waldameer standing out in my mind the most because I wanted to go to that.
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Saturday, May 24 will be at Waldameer with an all-you-can-eat picnic dinner and free soft drinks all day, and evening ERT on Gravity Group's new and much-anticipated wooden coaster Ravine Flyer II and Steel Dragon, their spinning mouse.
At Kennywood on Sunday, May 25 there will be morning ERT on the Jack Rabbit, an all-you-can-eat picnic lunch (with free refreshments one hour before and one hour after the picnic), and evening ERT on the Racer. These two wooden coasters are among the best!
Monday, May 26 at Idlewild will feature morning ERT on the Ace Coaster Classic PTC/Herb Schmeck Rollo Coaster and Wild Mouse (which originated in Alton Towers in England) . It's the 70th and 15th birthdays of these two fun coasters, so come help celebrate with either a continental breakfast or birthday cake and refreshments.
Details and pricing will be on flyers at www.wnycc.org , available in January. Check out the website for the link to Ravine Flyer II photos.
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Yep Holiwood Nights
May 23-24, 2008, at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari (Santa Claus, IN).
this stinks since the Waldameer and Kennywood event looks good
following weekend 5-31-08
Coaster Celebration
Six Flags Great Adventure
Week after that
CoasterMania 6-6-08
2 weeks later 6-21-08 - ACE Day at Hard Rock Park
6-21-08 - ACE Day at Ghost Town in the Sky
3 weeks Later Coastin' By The Ocean Moreys
July 12th 13th
I may have a House a stones throw away from the Hunts pier if anyone wants to go in
still working on it
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http://picasaweb.google.com/Waldameer/RavineFlyerIIRollerCoaster/photo#5120881156924501458
This picture is awesome. I didn't realize how close the coaster was to the water. The water is beautiful, it looks like the water in the Caribbean.
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Hmmm, If erie is in NY, technically I can drive there with somebody in the car....Hmmmm :P
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Hmmm
Erie PA.
about 432 miles ? about 7 hours 12 mins
from Staten Island to Erie PA
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=Waldameer+Park:+Ofc&fb=1&cid=0,0,1183280614619982257&near=Erie,+PA&cd=1&z=16&iwloc=A&om=1
http://tinyurl.com/yppx97
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Update with Video
www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801150368
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Some more pics
http://picasaweb.google.com/kenjones08/RavineFlyer2
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sweet pics
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Updates up to 3-21-07
http://picasaweb.google.com/Waldameer/RavineFlyerIIRollerCoaster
Love the 90 degree going down the hill
(http://lh5.google.com/Waldameer/R902vyw4TzI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/bk05nNxoR4Y/DSCN23910015.JPG.jpg?imgmax=800)
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I dunno about that 90 degree bank. I think it will kill the backseat airtime going down that last big drop. I wish they'd level out the track before dropping. As is, it's too GCI for me, but I hope I'm wrong. One final killer drop down the hillside with ejector air in the backseat would give this ride a great finale.
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Very true Matt but I still think it will be a great finale, that bunny hill going into the 90 degree turn looks sweet, and the turn should pull some strong G's... it looks very similar to the 3rd 90 degree on that other woodie out in Indiana. The speed that it will have coming out of it should be awesome.
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What you are saying Matt is very true, about how there probably won't be insane ejector on that drop because of the 90 degree bank, but I also think it will be a fun part of the ride. The fact that the 90 degree bank turns into an 80 foot drop or so just sounds really awesome.
I can't wait to ride this in August!
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It's a little give and take, but I am an air-ho and amateur coaster designer, and the main difference between GCI's and CCI/TGG's for me is how GCIs blend their banking into their drops which eliminates the uplift forces, where as CCIs/TGGs usually transition their banking before the drops to provide strong pops of air.
I think it's going to be a fantastic coaster; I just live for backseat airtime going down big drops more than anything else in coastrerdom. And THAT is why I love Shivering Timbers so much with its seven large, straight drops.
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Backseat airtime is always a plus, but the front seat quick slams are sometimes just as good, if not better.. for example.. Phoenix's "toaster" finale...
I'm also a big airtime fan, like Matt, but I think for me, I really enjoy the speed/intensity that certain woodies provide. Sure we both LOVE Voyage, J2, Avalance among others, but the main difference with me is that a coaster needs to have a really high maintained speed throughout the ride with lots of quick direction changes and a "kick your ass" effect more than just killer airtime.
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And then there are those of us who like violence (not roughness) and sudden and quick changes of direction, strong laterals and rapid shifts in speed.
The Georgia Cyclone/Tremors would be among my favorite wooden coasters...with Avalanche (but NOT Hades) coming close behind, along with J2, Tsunami, Puma or Merry Meow or whatever it is called now....(assuming they ain't tamed it too much). Count in Rolling Thunder, yes Rolling Thunder, too.
The Riverside Cyclone, pre the taming, was among my very favorite rides....
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Hmmm
I remember reading about the Riverside Cyclone it was a big deal when it was built.
I was dieing to ride it since it was compared to the Harry Traver Cyclone with it first drop and such.
But when I rode it 2 years ago the drop was raised and had more trim then ____.
it a dam shame they cut its B_alls off :'(
so the best advice I can give is ride any new Wooden coaster as soon as it comes out before they trim them ( Tsunami , Beast etc etc. )
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Thank you, oh wise one :)
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Riverside Cyclone was in my top ten in 2001. It was amazing, but last year nowhere near as good. I love Georgia Cyclone. I have never been so terrified by ejector airtime as on a certain drop of that ride (don't want to spoil it for Bubba), the first time I rode it (and in the last row of course). Tremors is great too. I don't get Hades. It's fun, but leaves much to be desired...way too slow over the top of the two tall hills after the lift. And Texas Giant can be marvelous, but unfortunately it wasn't up to par when Rob and Chuck rode it with me last summer. And I love The Boss, which most enthusiasts hate.
But again, I much prefer getting kicked out of the back seat when dropping than getting popped up over the tops of bunny hills up front. The sense of free falling is what I live for.
(http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c352/matt515o/Matt/SkyMatt.jpg)
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I totally understand, though Shivering Timbers leaves me cold...as it has since my first ride on it the first day it was open.....I was more the Rampage fan...though it hasn't aged well, to put it mildly.
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Nice pink jump suit :)
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I totally understand, though Shivering Timbers leaves me cold...as it has since my first ride on it the first day it was open.....I was more the Rampage fan...though it hasn't aged well, to put it mildly.
Wow, I was absolutely blown away by Timbers when it was brand new. The airtime at noon was unreal. I can see how some would be bored of all the bunny hops on the way back, but that out run has always been amazing for me and the finale helix just sucks you down into your seat and then the last car would always pop up on its upstop wheels when the train slammed into the brakes. And then the car would drop back down onto the track when the brakes were released. Delicious!
I couldn't wait to ride Rampage as that was the big argument the summer of '98 (Timbers vs. Rampage), and when I finally did at RRR '06, I was very disappointed. It's condition was slowing it down and killing a lot of the forces it had previously. Still fun, but not "A List" material for me.
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Nice pink jump suit :)
It was totally the new black at the time!
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That's what makes all this so interesting. Just a couple of years before Shivering Timbers opened, the Wolverine Wildcat was, in my humble opinion, a far superior coaster to its near twin, Phoenix at Knoebel's. By the time Shivering Timbers debuted, the Wolverine Wildcat was a painful mess.
Rampage is not even a shadow of its former self. One reason I love Rolling Thunder so much is it still teaches me and reminds me of what John Allen's Racer was like in Cincinnati, before it was reprofiled, braked and the trains modified into what they are today.
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I wish I could add to this "debate"... I've yet to ride ST and Rampage... they are both either too far out of the way or in a part of the country I've yet to explore, much like those other 2 fantastic looking woodies in Idaho!
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Last Time I was on the Georgia Cyclone was the Year it opened 1990
I drove there in a Geo Metro I rented.
I have Pictures (film) somewhere I got to did them out and scan them.
I rode the kamikaze here in Wildwood before thy moved it to Georgia
I also have many pics of it
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Nice pink jump suit :)
It was totally the new black at the time!
That was short lived ;)
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The Georgia Cyclone is a far more faithful rendition of the coaster it was in 1990 than are most theme park woodies....
Wonder what El Toro will be like in the year 2023?
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El Toro is great from the drop to the RT Pop
but just slows to quick afterwards its like riding a mine train near the end.
and much to smooth but that may be a good thing as it may feel more like a "regular Wooden coaster" when it breaks in more.
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I wish I could add to this "debate"... I've yet to ride ST and Rampage...
Doesn't seem to be stopping you from upping your post count! lol
Wow, I can't imagine Wolverine Wildcat ever holding a candle to Phoenix. I have never gotten much out of it, but '98 was the first year I visited Michigan's Adventure.
Rob, I would focus on getting to Idaho before Michigan. Nasai says the Silverwoodies are insane now since Jeff Hammersley (former Holiday World and CCI coaster carpenter for those than don't know) started maintaining them. I really hope Coaster Alley Convergence makes a comeback this year!
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El Toro is great from the drop to the RT Pop
but just slows to quick afterwards its like riding a mine train near the end.
and much to smooth but that may be a good thing as it may feel more like a "regular Wooden coaster" when it breaks in more.
I don't think it will ever feel like a "normal" woodie because of the trains/wheel and the way the track is set up... just a hunch though.
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Rob you need one more for 1000 posts
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Yeah, the polyurethane wheels will always make the ride feel like steel no matter how bad the track gets. At worst it will feel like Magnum or Gemini.
I love El Toro's layout. I just hate the smoothness and the dead hills and how the banking virtually eliminates the laterals. The first three drops are great, the drop into Rolling Thunder is great, the zig zagging is fun despite being lateral-less, but those other hills are duds. So I love half of the ride and find the other half dull, so that results in my low ranking of the ride overall. But it's definitely very fun; just not the whole package I look for in a ride. :)
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At worst it will feel like Magnum
Ok, first you knock Hades.
Then you take a shot at Maverick.
Would you like to stomp on the rest of my park?
Remember I have pictures of you in a pool. >:(
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At worst it will feel like Magnum
Ok, first you knock Hades.
Then you take a shot at Maverick.
Would you like to stomp on the rest of my park?
Remember I have pictures of you in a pool. >:(
Damn, I knew that skinny dipping would come back and bite me in the bum.
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I love El Toro's layout. I just hate the smoothness and the dead hills and how the banking virtually eliminates the laterals. The first three drops are great, the drop into Rolling Thunder is great, the zig zagging is fun despite being lateral-less, but those other hills are duds.
Very true. Too bad that one hill before the turn into the RT crossover wasn't more parabolic like the 2 hills after the first drop because it would have provided some serious airtime.
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I don't know too much about engineering but I think that hill is designed to be low as it is to keep the momentum up so that the train will fly over the hill at RT.
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I don't know too much about engineering but I think that hill is designed to be low as it is to keep the momentum up so that the train will fly over the hill at RT.
Yea I was also thinking that too.
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From an engineering/physics aspect, the height doesn't really affect the speed/momentum on successive hills too much as long as the train can make it over the top. The shape of the hill is what matters most in producing airtime.
But the real puzzler for me about El Toro is those last two S-curve bunny hops. When the ride was announced, I was very excited about those. I figured Intamin knew what they were doing and those two hills would provide a killer finale to the ride which looked over all fantastic to me--ironically, I was one of ET's biggest optimists from the beginning. But the three days I've ridden it since opening year, the train just crawls after the flat zig-zag section. I wonder if Intamin anticipated much more speed through that section, but I can't imagine going over the top of that last big drop any faster, as it's already the strongest moment of ejector air in existence. And Rob A has told me on some days, those hills do deliver air, so it's a real puzzler to me.
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From an engineering/physics aspect, the height doesn't really affect the speed/momentum on successive hills too much as long as the train can make it over the top. The shape of the hill is what matters most in producing airtime.
Same thing, different words, Mr. Engineer. ::)
And Rob A has told me on some days, those hills do deliver air, so it's a real puzzler to me.
Then it must be true. :D
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Those rerides we had after midnight last summer provided quite a bit of airtime. If I recall, I remember actually thrusting forward upon hitting the brake. Much like Nitro, I think toro is moody to NJ weather. Matt, when was the last time you rode? The last 2 months of 2007 I thought it was really breaking in finally.
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Matt, If it was Frissbeking ... I would have believed you but not Rob A !
I'd agree, anything after park closing on El Toro Is amazing . Re-rides are also a plus!
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Last time I rode ET was the Saturday after PPP '07. Prior to that, I rode it on a Sunday and the following Tuesday in late July, 2006.
I am anxious to catch it on a good day! Having air on those last two hills would make a world of difference to change my lackluster opinion of the ride.
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some comments at screamscape
"From the comment?s I?ve been hearing lately, this coaster may very well be the best yet by The Gravity Group. Yes? some say its even better than The Voyage." ::)
here some good pics and Video from TPR
www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=161&linkid=2619
I like this pic \/ courtesy of TPR
I think I see Coasten Steve ?
(http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/pimages/Waldameer_Amusement_Park/Ravine_Flyer_II_Film_Shoot/ravineflyer2_138.jpg)
and this one \/
(http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/pimages/Waldameer_Amusement_Park/Ravine_Flyer_II_Film_Shoot/ravineflyer2_01_90.jpg)
Yes it is Steve \/
Great pics TPR
(http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/pimages/Waldameer_Amusement_Park/Ravine_Flyer_II_Film_Shoot/ravineflyer2_62.jpg)
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I'm not too sure anything can be better than the Voyage, IMO, but I'm more than willing to try to find a ride that is! I can't wait to get on this coaster, but I'm going to wait a month or two to let it break in some more.
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Yes? some say its even better than The Voyage."
Yeah.. cause Voyage beats "them" up. I can't reride...whaaa