Scott And Carol Present - Construction is Zippin Along in Green Bay

We were on a hunt for the source of rumors coming out of Green Bay and our trek took us to Bay Beach.

Seems a lot of trees were being transformed in to lumber along the coast of Green Bay.

We found pallets of steel plates which were produced locally.

And some distinctively shaped rebar laying around.

Seems there are signs that there may be some truth to those rumors.

Vertical construction of the "new" Zippin Pippen has be begun.

On this turn some of that rebar has already been encased by concrete thus making footers

This section of track will run through the station.

This aerial view provides a better look at the progress made so far.

A step to left allows an even better looks at the construction. Those Miron guys are hard workers, vertical construction began on Thursday September 30th.


For those of you in the Bay Beach area the park is having a special event. We wish we could be there! For those of you how cannot make it to the event who would like to make a donation or purchase a very cool Zippen Pippen T-shirt check out ZippenPippen.org

The Latest On Kentucky Kingdom

Via Facebook

A new Facebook page has sprung up aimed at seeing Kentucky Kingdom reopen to the pubic in the near future.  The page, created by the Kentucky Kingdom Redevelopment Company, aims to gain public support for the park's reopening.  The KK Redevelopment Company was chosen as the investment group that will work to reopen the park, and includes former owner Ed Hart.

You can visit the page and read about the plans to reopen the park, which calls for some major expansions - doubling the size of the water park, a new coaster, and more.  The group is currently seeking a $50 million bond that will be used to get things back up and running if approved.

There are also some photos (one above) posted that show that the Road Runner Express wild mouse coaster is now being dismantled.  It will soon be transported to Massachusetts where it will reopen next year at Six Flags New England.

How Much For Round-Trip To China?

© 2010 Great Coasters Int.

Great Coasters International's latest masterpiece is making some serious progress - the above photo was posted on their Facebook and has me drooling.  The coaster, located at Knight Valley in China, stretches over 4,800' long and features a unique triple-down first drop - which you can see in the hill in the far background above. Then there are tunnels, a gazillion cross-overs, and naturally a station fly-through as well.

The company has posted other shots of the ride as well, be sure to check those out before you start researching your trip to China.

Zippin Pippin: Going Up

© The Zippin Pippin Blog

The next level of construction has been reached on Bay Beach Amusement Park's Zippin Pippin with the structure of the ride now going up.  The first section to be built was for the brake run/station area, according to the Zippin Pippin Blog.

The design of the ride has the lift and first drop wrap around the station area, so it's no surprise that they would start work there first.  Once the taller sections go up it would be difficult to maneuver inside them.

Head over to the Blog linked above for tons of recent construction photos, including a drawing of the layout and some great coaster-nerd blueprint shots!

September 2010 NPN Poll Results

Via Wikipedia

This past month's poll took a look at everyone's favorite B&M 'Mega' Coaster - basically the company's name for their line of hyper coasters.

The race was a close one, but with 24% of the votes the favorite was Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure.  Closely in second place was Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg with 23%.

Both coasters are known for their air-time filled courses and plummeting drops, and have long since been atop many fans lists.

Third place went to Diamondback at Kings Island (22%); the difference between second and third place was only two votes.  The fourth place finisher was Intimidator, a new for 2010 ride, with 8%.

Fifth place went to Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia with 7%.  The ride had some serious ballot stuffing going on, actually making it finish in first place.  But when I removed the fake votes, the ride fell to fifth.  So take that, cheaters.

Behemoth, Raging Bull, Silver Star, Goliath (Canada), and Hollywood Dream finished out the results, in the order listed.

The October Poll is now live, and asks your opinion of what has become a highly debated issue lately.  Think about it and answer honestly - I'm curious to see what you guys think on this one.

A Blast From The Past - Hersheypark Opens The World's Only Dueling/Racing Roller Coaster!

After a long, hard Pennsylvania winter of construction, spring finally arrived and on May 13th 2000 Lightning Racer made its debut! With a combined length of nearly 6800 feet, there was a heck of a storm brewing in the Midway America section of the park Lightning Racer's dual station is a beautiful structure with a massive amount of twisted wooden track just beyond. As riders walk through the entrance and up the ramp they have a several difficult decisions to make. Lightning or Thunder? Front or back? Good thing you can't go wrong either way.



Once the decisions are made you take a your seat in a new style train, that resembles a train from the "Golden Age" of roller coasters, with a lot of technology packed inside. When everyone is loaded and the safety checks complete it's time to race! Thunder and Lightning roll out of the station. Soon the trains are cresting the tops of their lifts and from there you enter the eye of the storm.


Thunder and Lightning battle it out over the rails, twisting back and forth, over and under each other and even meet head on near misses several times during this thrilling 2 minute and 20 second adventure!



While fans of the Lightning Racers may have a favorite side, both travel through the same elements, but at different times during the ride. However, rumor has it one side wins more than the other. On our visits in the past that might have had a slight ring of truth to it. But this season Thunder and Lightning seemed pretty evenly matched. We have heard that during a test run with no passengers on board either train there was once a tie.



There are 15 drops on each side of Lightning Racer, with the highest point approaching 100 feet. The ride pulls over 3.6 G forces in spots and the trains come within 6 feet of each, while traveling in excess of 40mph.There is also a spot referred to as "sideswipe alley" where the racing trains careen through two turns, passing by each other with a combined speed in excess of 70 mph.



More than a 1 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine was used and due to the rides twisted nature, more than 20 miles of lumber had to be rip cut. Approximately 185,000 bolts and 1000 boxes of nails were used to construct Lightning Racers.



More than 3800 yards of concrete were used for the foundation and there are 3300 footers. More than 187,000 feet of rebar was used to help reinforce all that concrete. In all, over 60 tons of hardware was used to build this coaster. The cost of all this fine engineering and construction added up to over $12.5 million, and that was a decade ago!


Over the past decade bigger, faster woodies have been built, but none any more impressive to look at than Lightning Racer. And, just like a good wine, the ride as aged very well. It's just as fast, smooth and fun today as it was in 2000.


Our thanks to Hersheypark, Great Coasters International, Dave B and Linda W for their contributions to our brief look back at this wonderful ride.