WWS member in the news

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 03258.html

Click "next" beside the pic of the coaster looming over the house to see me (left) in the front car.

[Dirk_Ermen]

A screen capture was enough, there ya go:

lol, thats a stupid article, if they really wanna complain about a coaster let them, but when comparing one pissed off lady who hates roller coasters, to the millions who will ride this beast, theres really nothing that lady can do. besides "get over it" or move. screw BBQ's... ride the BB

[Kev]

Well.... I can see both sides to this. Being a homeowner myself, I can't really say that I would like to own a home for many years, only to have a loud wooden rollercoaster built right next to it. Thankfully for them, the park doesn't run it 24 hours a day... but if they are like me (someone who occasionally works nights and sleeps during the day), I don't blame them for being pissed.

On the other hand, it does look like an awesome coaster. At the moment, I wish it was next to my house so I could walk over and ride it. Especially seeing how I didn't have to work last night.

[jayman]

^^sounds like fun, but having read the article it sounds like the people running the boardwalk are assholes. it isn't about a pissed off lady who hates rollercoasters, it's about a greedy tourist attraction owner ruining someone's life... that sucks ass. she built the house 45 years ago, and they didn't even so much as have a public hearing, they just took advantage of the lack of zoning laws and basically told her "chuff you"
on the other hand that ride looks like it's awesome, and to hear that from someone who loved the texas cyclone so much means alot. i dunno, maybe i'll risk texas someday....

Nice interview man.

Mini -- how many rides have you gotten in this weekend?

I agree with jayman. The coaster looks wicked, but the owner does sound like a prat. Its just a good job for kemah that the lady cant be bothered with a lawsuit, it would be like The Ropers against Alton Towers all over again...

jpecool, did you watch the video? SHe wasn't pompous at all, she was just breezy about it, she wasn't complaining or being rude! She was just giggling and laughing, it was sort of funny to her.

She just sees it as an annoyance but she seems to understand that she can get around it. This is NOTHING like the Ropers as they actually whine and complain and pull off the stupidest things.

[jayman]

hey.. as much as i love parks and rides i think she got royaly screwed..

Originally posted by jayman

hey.. as much as i love parks and rides i think she got royaly screwed..

I agree, you can hear in the video how loud it really is. She had her house there before it was big...

OK, let's clear up some stuff:

The neighbor lady doesn't live there. It's a weekend house. In all the times I went down there and took pics for the last several months, yesterday was the FIRST TIME I've seen her at home.

Secondly, the Boardwalk told her that they were building a coaster. They offered her FOUR TIMES the market value for the coaster. She refused.

It's not like her house is in a neighborhood... it's one of only two private residences in the middle of the ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT of Kemah. The house was already surrounded by shops, restaurants, night clubs, etc. The traffic there SUCKS and has for years. The water in front of their house is full of jet skis and speed boats. It's hardly "peace and quiet" around there, even before the coaster.

Could it be that we might actually have her to thank for such an amazing coaster? Maybe if they'd had that extra property certain parts might not have been as good.

^I doubt that.

Give GG an Acre - you get that.
Give GG a little more than an Acre - who knows what else they could cram into it.

[jayman]

in that case.. AWESOME weekend house.. no wonder she was laughing. i thought maybe it was her "grow old and die " house. it wasn't her home.. i get it now..

Originally posted by Real

^I doubt that.

Give GG an Acre - you get that.
Give GG a little more than an Acre - who knows what else they could cram into it.

You're right. After I typed that I realized that they probably would have done something even crazier with the extra space.

Originally posted by Real

^I doubt that.

Give GG an Acre - you get that.
Give GG a little more than an Acre - who knows what else they could cram into it.

I think you may be assuming that the budget would also go up with the amount of space available. The Kemah Boardwalk is a TINY TINY park. Tiny as in they have the following:

[1] A miniature train
[2] A kiddie "Frog Hopper" tower
[3] A kiddie circular motion ride
[4] A kiddie ferris wheel (Balloons)
[5] An Aviator
[6] Observation Tower
[7] Swinging ship ride
[8] Full-size ferris wheel

until this weekend, that was the ENTIRE PARK.

They spent $6mil on the Bullet. I know that they make a lot of money off their restaurant chains and could afford it, but seriously, that's a HUGE chunk of money to spend on one ride when most of what you have are kiddie rides. If they had been given two acres to play with, would they have built a $12mil coaster? Even a $10mil one? Probably not.

Also, I will have to agree with the statement that we have that old bitty to thank for BB's layout. The other GG coasters, while wild, aren't ANYTHING like this jumbled mess of supports and track. The tightness of the layout made the guys laying track have fits. They said it was the hardest job they've ever done. Testing took a long time and for weeks after the first train was run, they'd rip out sections of track and start over. It was a nightmare for everyone involved.

Luckily, it turned out really, REALLY well. It's gonna get BRUTAL before long, though. Even with the minimal breaking in it did this weekend, Monday's rides were considerably rougher (and faster) than Sunday's... and night&day different than Friday's.

I wasnt talking about budget at all. I was simply speaking on behalf of GG that if they HAD a little more room, they would put it too GOOD use.

Voyage cost 6.5Mil. I doubt that if they had that small bit of land the house sits on that the cost would have crested 7 mil. A TGG ride at 10 or 12 mil would be epic.

Originally posted by TConwell

Mini -- how many rides have you gotten in this weekend?

I got 97. Could've been a LOT more, but they were down to one train operation from Sun afternoon thru Monday night, I had church on Sunday, and I spent most of Sat afternoon and evening with the boyfriend. Priorities, you know.
[:D]

Originally posted by minicoopertx



Luckily, it turned out really, REALLY well. It's gonna get BRUTAL before long, though. Even with the minimal breaking in it did this weekend, Monday's rides were considerably rougher (and faster) than Sunday's... and night&day different than Friday's.

that's been my concern with these crazy high banked high speed wooden coasters all along, wont they become almost death-traps and very rough. look at some of the woodies that are considered rough as is, there mostly the high banked turns/high speed turns that get you. If you make an entire roller coaster that way....it might become painful before to long, especally for the non-enthusiast riders, or people who don't really expect a painful ride..they might not ride it again.

The thing about the brutality of this ride, though, is that it comes from the wild layout, not from poor maintenance (yet).

A lot of folks in line were saying that they weren't sure about this coaster because the Texas Cyclone (the only other woodie a lot of folks down here have ridden) was so rough. Once they rode, however, they loved it.

I don't mind getting thrown around in the car because of turns, but I can't stand that jackhammering at the bottom of a drop. I can get used to the layout and brace myself for turns, but I can't avoid jackhammering.

I just don't see any place on the Bullet where there will be a drop that bottoms out enough to hammer you. The biggest culprit for roughness right now is the transition from the first drop to the turn at the bottom. It can be really nasty in the back of the train. It's only a split second, though, and the insane zig-zag just after that doesn't hammer you at all, it only tosses you from side to side and throws in some ungodly ejector airtime.

I can live with that.

Originally posted by CalawayPark

jpecool, did you watch the video? SHe wasn't pompous at all, she was just breezy about it, she wasn't complaining or being rude! She was just giggling and laughing, it was sort of funny to her.

She just sees it as an annoyance but she seems to understand that she can get around it. This is NOTHING like the Ropers as they actually whine and complain and pull off the stupidest things.

Yes thats what i meant. Its lucky she wasnt as bothered as she could have been, because if she WAS that bothered, we may have seen something similar to the alton towers/oblivion situation. It COULD have got that far, if she wanted it too. But luckily she seems nicer and more relaxed about it. Anyway it doesnt even matter considering its not gonna happen. So, yeah. Whatever. [:p]

97 rides ... how's the body feeling after that beating?

I was pretty sore the next day, not from the ride, but from all those trips up and down the LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG entrance/exit ramps! The legs were aching pretty bad, lol.

No lap bar bruises, but they were a little sore. Everything else was fine, no problems at all. The 97th ride, I was totally into it, arms up, etc. I could've gone a lot longer.

^ Have you ridden Cheetah at Wild Adventures, because is that more intense than BB?