silver2005

Just landed back in Cincinnati, probably going to relax all day Saturday. Might finish the trip report and post pictures either late tomorrow or Sunday. I'm pretty tired right now. Those long flights and early departures really drags on me.

For anyone waiting on what day 3 was like, I'll be posting that as soon as I get back to Cincinnati. Currently gearing up for the 4 hour flight home plus the jet lag (ugh). It may not be until Saturday until it's posted.

To be honest, I hope no one reveals the lighting package of Banshee. I want it revealed in its full glory at the end of opening day.

Just got back from the AFB gig. gobearcats.com already has the photo gallery up from the trip. http://www.gobearcats.com/view.gal?id=157594 We got to tour a bit of Fairchild AFB, including an up close look at a KC-135. We got a pizza buffet for lunch and played for AF service members as well as the elementary school on the base who were observing one of their own with bone marrow problems. I have to admit, this trip has a bit of a Blues Brothers' 'mission from God' type vibes to it. Its been a very interesting and rewarding trip. Gotta be up by 8:45 to head to the arena.

Thanks for clearing that up. I just wanted to double check. EDIT: So here's my day 1 report from Spokane. Had an early morning meeting before setting off. Not much to it as Tuesday was uneventful in terms of performing. We did learn we have a gig Wednesday morning at Fairchild AFB, with a possible tour in there. We'll see how that goes. So we split up and my group found a French-esque diner a few blocks from the hotel. It's likely to be our go-to breakfast spot as there isn't much to choose from within a reasonable walking distance. Afterwards, we just walked around aimlessly for the most part. We checked out the Spokane River with a few water falls and we partook in some shenanigans along the banks. Then we headed back into town and hopped around between shops, 2 of which we spent a few hours in looking at some rather interesting books. About 4 pm, we headed back to hotel and grabbed a bite at a local Chili's. A lot of us were still tired from the flight, so we decided to call it a day. I didn't get any pictures due to that fact as well, making sure to take it tomorrow though. Gotta be up at 9 tomorrow for the gig. Probably an early report time Thursday as its a 11:20 tip off, but we are within walking distance of the arena (known as Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, capacity 14,000). Saw a few fans from other teams, including Harvard and Michigan State. The Oklahoma team/band/fan buses pulled into our hotel as we came back.

Just to give you guys the kind of confidence behind the minds at B&M, when Nemesis opened at Alton Towers, John Wardley, a major concept designer in the industry and the creative mind behind AT's more infamous rides, infamously asked Walter Bolliger up front "What if the ride stalls? How will we get trains back to the station?" and Walter replied "Our coasters never stall. They always work perfectly the first time."

B&M coasters are pretty reliable. Diamondback operated with little problem during its first year. I would expect the same with Banshee. A big problem with Paramount-era rides were a lot of them were prototype rides, thus more suspect to downtime. Banshee is a relatively tried and true design with slight tinkers here and there, shouldn't be much problem.

thedevariouseffect might be happy to know we're playing a gig at Fairchild AFB tomorrow morning, apparently with a small tour as well. To alleviate multi-posting, I'll do one big edited post until someone replies.

Just landed safely in Spokane (which I've heard about 3 different pronunciations, I believe its Spo-Can, not Spo-Cane). We're at a hotel called the Double Tree by Hilton. A 4 star-ish hotel. Got $90 in allotment money, which is a tad low as it used to be $45 a day, but I'm told the pricing for food and such is fair. Got 2 days to kill before game time on Thursday. As I'm told, we leave on the day we lose or finish, so if we lose Thursday, we leave Thursday. After that 4 hour flight, I'm dreading the jet-lag coming back. My body doesn't like long flights. Might check out a distillery. We also were invited by Harvard's band to have dinner with them, which we're taking them up on. As for transportation, we took a chartered 737 out of CVG. There was an AWESOME full moon at our back, the clouds illuminated at night looked spectacular! EDIT: I do apologize for quadruple posting.

This is how to explain Son of Beast.

Leaving at 7:30 today! WOOT!

So yeah, UC is going to Spokane, Washington. If by some off chance anyone has been there, I'm open to tips (keep in mind- college students, limited transportation, etc). Weather is looking to be in the mid-40's with lots and lots of rain. As said, I will be posting a trip report with pictures, possibly from the hotel each night. A lot of 'experts' are picking UC to lose, but hey, that's why you play the game, so to speak. I like our chances to at least make it to the round of 32. It'll get interesting from there. LET'S GO BEARCATS!!!

Wow, it really burned momentum really quick. A result of the un-banked track perhaps?

So if the brakes were under the cars, how did they slow down before engaging lift #2? Did trains just fly up the lift? How was it slowed at the end?

I happen to know that the person which you speak is a staff member and mod on another coaster forum which might add even more to that aspect. He also doesn't speak like that at said site. Speaking of that other coaster forum, its one I was once very active on (spent 8 years on, was a mod, a few other roles), but it changed much in the way you're describing devarious; stricter mods and rules, admins trying to do too much, etc. Its now a shadow of its former self with admins desperately trying to saturate it with material in order to get members. I may be a newer member here, but I know and have seen the effects of such change and would hate for this site to go down the same path.

Well, I'm only at Cincinnati State through the end of this semester. I transferred from UC as I had a lot of medical issues (which I may go into that here, but at another time, its a LONG story) interfere with my studies to the point where UC had to take time to clear my grades as I'm a fairly unique case, not to mention a LOT of red tape to go through. During that time, starting last year, I wanted to keep up my studies and switched to Cincinnati State to accomplish that end. I just got things cleared at UC over this past winter break, but I wanted to get a fresh start in the fall, so that's how that ended up (I'm at a point where I have the luxury to be patient about things). I can't stay at CS anyhow as I'm majoring in psychology (which CS doesn't offer). Despite all the crap that goes on in Clifton like the crime and so forth, I'm very happy being up there. I'm really excited about how the area is growing off of campus, like along Calhoun/McMillan Streets. Of course, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, I've been able to remain a member of the UC band during all this crazy stuff which has been invaluable in helping me get back on my feet from the medical stuff.

I'm glad I don't fly a lot, I'd hate having to sort through these TSA regulations all the time. At least NCAA trips are charter flights so I don't have to waltz through normal airport security (which is nice). The last few trips we flew out of Lunken (once in a 737, we needed the entire runway to take off and land). Right now, doing some initial research on each possible city. I may be asking for pointers since I get the feeling that most of you have been around more than me (especially because I've never been to any of the cities on the list). We'll find out more come 7 pm tomorrow. I could really, really use a bit of time away, March has been dreadful for me.

Looks like they've been taking Drop Tower through its paces.

This new show is actually kind refreshing to see. I can't recall the last time Kings Island had a show like this (at least during my years of going).

Is anyone else hoping the queue gets really close to those gates, right up close to the track?

The problem I had with Mr 300 for The Beast spiel-er was on a few nights, the crew would have all 3 trains stacked, which, on Beast, you almost have to try to get that to occur. I would say that most of the Coney Mall flats have pretty good spiel-ers.

I think Twisted Twins had its trains moved to Six Flags St Louis just before Six Flags moved out of Kentucky Kingdom.

I'd love to have Phantom Theater back out of the two. It kept things really original with the different characters, the visualizations really immersed you into the atmosphere it presented, and for me, the part that really sold me was the use of the music. The way it built things up introducing the characters to the fun bits in the 'backstage' area and that wonderful climax in the stage scene. It reminded me a lot of Phantom of the Opera, Beetlejuice and Nightmare Before Christmas wrapped up in one amazing piece of ear candy. It really sucked you into the ride experience. Heck, even the queue was entertaining.

Wait...how can you bring back SDatHC and Phantom Theater when they occupied the same building? silver2005, asking questions.

I'm hoping this means they'll bring back the colored lights it used to have during the first few years it opened.