Alamo 2012

[Andrew Schuetze]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Thank Southwest for flying me there. It's why I picked Alamo over Smokey Mountains.

Any reason to you pick SA over any other week one event is a reason the celebrate.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Any reason to you pick SA over any other week one event is a reason the celebrate.

Dont sell yourself short... Alamo has a frightening list of teams attending this year. It may be one of the better week 1s.


Im not From SA but I am from the wonderful state that houses it,

And for any visiting teams I would recommend going to the River walk at night.

If you have Wednesday or Sunday to spare, I would also recommend going to the Alamo, its a cool piece of Texas History.

[Kevin Sevcik]

The Alamo is neat, and all, but Ripley's Believe it or Not is a lot more likely to amuse a bunch of robot nerds.

[JohnSchneider]

Those aren't just in SA though. Whereas that is the only place to see the Alamo

[Andrew Schuetze]

For the Civil Engineering nerds, the Riverwalk has a north reach that opened in recent years that has a lock system to move the barges upstream. It has some really nice walking / jogging paths and on the right Saturday morning you might find a FIRST Senior Mentor with his relay for life team. SA also has less than year old rent a bike program with bikes parked in stations ready to accept cash or credit for pay by the day/hour rental. Somewhere near the River Center Mall is a Segway self-guided tour of the downtown store. One has to pass a short safety course I think before they let you out of the shop.

[Madison]

Thanks, everyone, for the recommendations. I'm sure we'll wander around Riverwalk during the evenings -- our hotel is, I believe, right alongside it.

My Sunday will be spent at Fiesta Texas. I can't pass up a chance to ride roller coasters.

[Kevin Sevcik]

It's been a while since I've been, but the Poltergeist was good last time I was there. LIM coaster that launches you at 60 mph into, literally, a huge knot of track. Plus you can hear it sounding spooky from a quarter of the park away.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

It's been a while since I've been, but the Poltergeist was good last time I was there. LIM coaster that launches you at 60 mph into, literally, a huge knot of track. Plus you can hear it sounding spooky from a quarter of the park away.

Yeah, I am looking forward to Poltergeist; it's a clone of the Flight of Fear coasters in Virginia and Ohio and I quite liked the Virginia version when I last rode it several years ago. I'm also looking forward to Goliath, a mirror-image of the original Batman: The Ride at Great America near Chicago.

Krypton Coaster is the longest floorless coaster in the world, so that's cool; and for awhile, it had the largest vertical loop in the world. I'm also kinda curious about Rattler. It has an interesting history and has been completely neutered, so I'm interested to see what could've been there.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Madison

Yeah, I am looking forward to Poltergeist; it's a clone of the Flight of Fear coasters in Virginia and Ohio and I quite liked the Virginia version when I last rode it several years ago. I'm also looking forward to Goliath, a mirror-image of the original Batman: The Ride at Great America near Chicago.

Krypton Coaster is the longest floorless coaster in the world, so that's cool; and for awhile, it had the largest vertical loop in the world. I'm also kinda curious about Rattler. It has an interesting history and has been completely neutered, so I'm interested to see what could've been there.

What do you mean by Rattler being neutered and when did that occur? (I think you mean that it has been tamed?)

My husband still talks about the horrors of that ride after several years of trying to forget about it. And he loves roller coasters.

Jane

[Madison]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

What do you mean by Rattler being neutered and when did that occur? (I think you mean that it has been tamed?)

My husband still talks about the horrors of that ride after several years of trying to forget about it. And he loves roller coasters.

Jane

When The Rattler opened in 1992, it was the tallest, fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. It had a 166' first drop. During the park's off-season each year for the following four years, The Rattler's first drop was in some way re-profiled. The end result was a first drop that is 42' shorter today than when it was originally opened.

The ride was designed and built by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America just before computer's began to revolutionize roller coaster design and is part of a generation of wooden coasters that were, in many ways, too big for their britches. As a consequence, The Rattler was a VERY rough ride when it first opened; the changes to its first dropped were meant to lower its speed and smooth out the violent vibration that occurred at the bottom of that drop.

This video shows the original ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4YGPKbKhq0

And this shows the reprofiled drop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trDnw...feature=fvwrel

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Madison

When The Rattler opened in 1992, it was the tallest, fastest wooden roller coaster in the world. It had a 166' first drop. During the park's off-season each year for the following four years, The Rattler's first drop was in some way re-profiled. The end result was a first drop that is 42' shorter today than when it was originally opened.

The ride was designed and built by the Roller Coaster Corporation of America just before computer's began to revolutionize roller coaster design and is part of a generation of wooden coasters that were, in many ways, too big for their britches. As a consequence, The Rattler was a VERY rough ride when it first opened; the changes to its first dropped were meant to lower its speed and smooth out the violent vibration that occurred at the bottom of that drop.

This video shows the original ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4YGPKbKhq0

And this shows the reprofiled drop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trDnw...feature=fvwrel

Ok, we went a few years later which would be after the change. He said, "It was like a controlled crash the entire time." I think you're going to like it.

Jane

[Kevin Sevcik]

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming...

I've worked out a deal with my wife, so I'm actually going to be at Alamo all or most of Saturday. For research purposes. (Spying) And to check in on the various Houston area teams that are attending. So I'll see you all there on Saturday, and you'd better put on a good show, dang it. That's 6 hours round trip I'm driving for you people.

[rsisk]

Going to miss you guys this year, was already signed up to volunteer for Alamo when San Diego got bumped to week 1. Next year for sure!

[tanguma26]

Good luck to all the teams attending the Alamo Regional and a special shot out to team 3999 Shadetree Mechanics

[EricLeifermann]

Anybody know what type of ruling 118 has gotten for there hanging balancing?