Incredible Hulk Coaster Refurb

[Rhian]

The beginning area of IOA, and the areas near the water around the park, are going to be really quiet now until it's done. Hearing that roar from the entrance until you're right under it was always such a welcome sound to start the day!

 

[deano_ue]

so i take this will be down by the time i get there in october.

 

[Nick]

so i take this will be down by the time i get there in october.

Yes. Down 9/8 until next summer.

 

[MillenniumDragons]

I actually rode this twice today, both in the front row. And the employees were talking about coasters and how much they loved the Hulk and I confirmed the operator's suspicion that the Hulk was indeed a B&M, too

Anyway, I know the load/unload process on Bizarro is painfully slow. How efficient is Kraken? As amazing as it is to sit front row on a floorless coaster, i don't think its worth the drop in riders/hour, especially since the change is hardly noticeable from the other rows, imo. Also, the speakers on Bizarro never worked and, I noticed today, were finally taken out completely. Im sure Universal would take better care of theirs if they decide to add them, but perhaps on-board audio isn't B&M's strong suit.

Well Universal said the ride would feature enhancements to the ride vehicles, so I assume that those can only include new trains, LED lights, and audio. Kraken is efficient as other B&M coasters, but then again, I don't watch the loading and unloading with a suit on and a clip board and pen in hand. But, since we're talking about it, I like Kraken a little bit more than Hulk because of Hulk's roughness in the 2nd half that Kracky doesn't have.

 

[AK-Jake]

They should put this in the queue:

View attachment 1031

Isn't that from Madame Tussaud's in London? I remember seeing that 2 years ago when I was there last.

Also, the speakers on Bizarro never worked and, I noticed today, were finally taken out completely. Im sure Universal would take better care of theirs if they decide to add them, but perhaps on-board audio isn't B&M's strong suit.

I would place the blame of non-working on-ride audio on Six Flags. Under the dark and horrible reign of the former CEO (and Destroyer of Theme Parks) Mark Shapiro, Six Flags started revamping a few of its coasters as "new attractions" back in 2008/2009 by adapting new audio systems on to existing coaster trains...then they never kept up with it. Medusa/Bizarro's audio never worked on the multiple trips I made to SFGAdv during the 2009/10 seasons. The Terminator Salvation: The Ride wooden coaster (WTF? Who came up with THAT stupid idea?) at SFMM had on-ride audio built into the PTC trains for the ride's inaugural season...only to have them abandon it within 2 months of the ride's opening, because the wooden track was beating the hell out of the audio system, requiring daily repairs. Again, WTF? Who the hell came up with THAT stupid idea to put on-ride audio into a wooden coaster? And then there was the Superman/Bizarro coaster at SFNE that had working on-ride audio, but from my understanding that was also abandoned within 2 years of the ride's opening as well. I know it wasn't working when I was there a month ago, though it was working fine on my last visit in late 2010.

The Led Zeppelin/Time Machine B&M coaster at Hard Rock/Freestyle Music Park had on-ride audio that worked amazingly well. It ran the full season that Hard Rock was open, and it was running in 2009 late in the season when I revisited it as Freestyle Music Park. The budget for FMP was pretty lean, but the fact that the on-ride audio worked well tells me that it's not a B&M issue...they wouldn't approve of something that wasn't reliable (if, in fact, they DID create the systems. My guess is that they were built by a third party with B&M's blessing/involvement).

Also, Six Flags has a real knack for building a ride with cool theming and then letting that theming rot away. On-ride audio, fire effects, signs, props, you name it...they build it but then they don't maintain it. Eventually, it begins to look so bad that they remove the theming all together...many of their Batman: The Ride inverted coasters are testament to this, as is X2, Apocalypse, etc.

 

[MillenniumDragons]

The front of the Hulk train always reminded me of the front of the Grave Digger. Sort of.

You see what I'm alluding to even though I'm not an insider in any shape or form...

 

[UNIrd]

I actually love that there's two projects happening simultaneously at IOA for next year. If they want to take anything else down for upgrades, by all means, be my guest .

 

[ChristopherSE]

The Led Zeppelin/Time Machine B&M coaster at Hard Rock/Freestyle Music Park had on-ride audio that worked amazingly well.

Thank you! I couldn't think of another B&M with audio. I know quite well how six flags lets their parks rot (I live 20 minutes from Great Adventure ), but I didn't have a another B&M with audio to compare.

Though, I'm curious as to why Bizarro takes so long to load/unload. I'm sure the training and enthusiasm of the employees likely contributes, but they've never seemed particularly lazy to me. But Kraken seems to be doing fine with capacity. I assume they both have the collapsing station floor.

 

[sjago13]

I think sometimes it comes down to staffing. Like universal has 2 people each side doing restraints. I think when I was up at sfga earlier in the summer is was 1 per side so it just went slower.

 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

To put this project in perspective, Transformers was built in 11 months. This is a 10 month refurb.

Which is why I'm not understanding at all what they are doing.

 

[Teebin]

Is it even possible to have a floorless coaster on a ride that sits above the tracks? I have never seen such a thing.

 

[Brian G.]

Is it even possible to have a floorless coaster on a ride that sits above the tracks? I have never seen such a thing.

Kraken works well.

 

[JungleSkip]

Is it even possible to have a floorless coaster on a ride that sits above the tracks? I have never seen such a thing.

Floorless Coaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Teebin]

Floorless Coaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks! So it must be raised considerably above the tracks to work. Hmmm...

 

[MillenniumDragons]

Thanks! So it must be raised considerably above the tracks to work. Hmmm...

Hmmm. I'm guess I'm going to change the ride type on Hulks wiki page soon.

 

[graspthesun]

Thanks! So it must be raised considerably above the tracks to work. Hmmm...

I don't think the base of the train is raised any more than the usual roller coaster. The seats are usually elevated and a pull away floor is put over the wheels and base of the train for boarding.

 

[fryoj]

Has there been anything besides idle speculation that this going floorless? I didn't think that they could use floorless trains on a sitdown track due to the ride profile and the affect that raising the rider's center of gravity would have on G-forces. They can swap out stand up trains for Floorless as the ride was designed with your center of gravity being higher up. But, unless they really are retracking the ride to change the profile, I don't think we'll see floorless.

 

[Teebin]

I didn't think that they could use floorless trains on a sitdown track due to the ride profile and the affect that raising the rider's center of gravity would have on G-forces. They can swap out stand up trains for Floorless as the ride was designed with your center of gravity being higher up. But, unless they really are retracking the ride to change the profile, I don't think we'll see floorless.

I wondered this once I saw the wiki page JS posted... but since coaster tech ain't my thing, I abstained.

 

[Teebin]

Which is why I'm not understanding at all what they are doing.

It is probably a slightly inflated length of time. Remember that Sinbad's refurb got extended 2 or 3 times recently. They never know what gremlin mess they might find dismantling a 16 year old attraction. And we are not completely sure what they will be dismantling. The coaster supports and tracks? No more ramps in the queue? We just don't know...

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Has there been anything besides idle speculation that this going floorless? I didn't think that they could use floorless trains on a sitdown track due to the ride profile and the affect that raising the rider's center of gravity would have on G-forces. They can swap out stand up trains for Floorless as the ride was designed with your center of gravity being higher up. But, unless they really are retracking the ride to change the profile, I don't think we'll see floorless.

I have heard improved trains, but nothing specifically calling out floorless.