Update: August 17

http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?a=521

http://www.pointbuzz.com/project2007mv0817.htm

Wow, this is really coming together.

the more I see these pics I really hope it doesn't have OTSR's, they would kill my head

Yummy, yummy, yummy! Thanks for the update, Walt!

This ride is starting to make sense. I believe that there are going to be two phases of construction and that you are seeing the "returning" phase of the ride fast and close to the ground. It seems to me that there will be alot more height to this ride than people think and that the first phase will be intertwined throughout the higher portion of the ride which will go up later. It would be too hard to manuver the placement of track if the entire structure was to be built at once. I think the number of footers confirms this theory. Either way there is certainly going to be alot of "sidewindin" There definately seem to be alot of "headchopper" spots on this ride with close proximity to supports. Gettin excited now!

I'm thinking this ride may have OTSR's.

I'm hoping that i'm wrong though. Than again, we don't need another Intamin seatbelt nightmare.

Great pics Walt. Does anyone know approximately how fast you can go into a transition like that without getting hurt? I like speed, and I hope this doesn't mean a notch down in mph category...

Great update again. I'm just bummed out I won't be able to make it down there for another month or so. (GOCC Fall freakout event)

It's amazing how many 'updates' and pictures there are on this site from the construction. Enough to make even CP themselves envious, I'm sure.
*** Edited 8/17/2006 9:33:04 PM UTC by bholcomb***

Looks like fun to me!

I have always liked the end of the mine ride because of the helix. This is going to have the intamin smoothness coupled with the twists of a classic mine ride as well as it appears 'multiple helixes'. I could care less about height. That close to the ground is going to make you feel like you are moving twices as fast as you really are. Thanks for the updates. For us CP geeks this is the best construction coverage I have ever seen!

With this rapid pace of construction it seems the ride will be done before they even announce what it is.;)

Also just out of my curiosity, can anyone estimate how many feet of track they have up so far?

Everyday this just gets better and better!

I'm sure its just the angle of this pic (http://www.pointbuzz.com/Gallery.aspx?i=5023), but the train looks REALLY tiny here. :)

I'm starting to buy into the theories that this could be some sort of Slide coaster, or that the carts could spin in some sort of way. These transitions so close together just seem kind of odd to me unless they trigger the train on the coaster to do something unique. I'm also starting to think that this thing might be heavily themed with parts of the coaster going indoors.....just my two cents for the day.

The heart line of the transitions is not that bad.

i think it would be cool if the"whole new direction" meant it went underground

Sweet update!

This is exciting times! With the pace they´re building now, I actually hope they´ll wait a while with the announcement.

cedarpointfreak said:
the more I see these pics I really hope it doesn't have OTSR's, they would kill my head

Well, almost all Intamins have OTSR's now...even the ones that don't do vertical maneuvers. But Intamin's OTSR's don't cause headbanging because they are very thin and hug the shoulders.

For example, Rita: Queen of Speed at Alton Towers in an Intamin hydraulic launch coaster that doesn't go vertical or invert and it still uses OTSR's.

http://www.rcdb.com/ig2787.htm?picture=10

I can't believe how fast you guys keep churning out the new updates! Thanks a lot! :)

Great updates(s), Walt & company.

I think I'm REALLY gonna like this ride! More than I expected to (and that says a lot). The way these turns and transitions are looking so aggressive is really cool. The bank of the turns is telling me that the trains are going at LEAST 40 through them. Now, I'm not going to bust out the physics equations, but I'm pretty sure anything slower than that would feel a little like the very end of magnum between the brakes after the final tunnel and pre-station brakes. The train takes a very slow, banked right turn that makes you feel like you could slide out of the car due to lack of centrifugal force.

Ok, all of that said...
I think the train will probably be traveling at about 50MPH through these turns and I also believe these are the final turns of the ride or are at least on the 'back 9' If a train is going 50 towards the end of the ride that means it starts out going a WHOLE lot faster :):). MF "starts" at 93 and ends somewhere around 20-40MPH (anyone know?).

Oh, one last thing...
People concerned about taking the crazy, twisted transitions at more than 30MPH, I don't think there much need for concern. Like a few others have mentioned, these turns look to be rotating on the 'heartline' or about where the center of your body weight travels while on the ride. To help explain this concept I've drawn the following... http://ninjamuk.googlepages.com/heartline.gif

In the picture, the track shifts very abruptly from one position to another, but the riders are not thrown side to side. The riders simply rotate at their approximate center of gravity. Hope this helps anyone who didn't understand.

michigan232 said:
i think it would be cool if the"whole new direction" meant it went underground

Listen closely, closer.... closer still.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of about a dozen of us hitting our foreheads on our desks.