jeffdavis wrote:I have absolutely no doubt that this ride will not be open by media day, so that's not why I'm asking.
Why so many negatives? It hurt my head... And what you said is that you are sure it will
not be open on 3/25, but you're asking in spite of this. I think you meant you're sure it will be open, so it doesn't affect your feelings on whether or not it will be open by then?
Once the track installation is complete, they will have to run the ride envelope around the track (once the bridge is complete) to ensure no one/part of the train will run into anything over the course of the ride, install the chain, and go over the whole coaster
again to ensure the bolts are still torqued properly. I say 'again' because if I remember correctly, they said they were only about ten feet back from the track being installed for re-torqueing (during winter warm up). And the track installation itself involves welding each track piece together and then sanding them down to ensure a smooth ride, followed by paint touch ups. After all this, B&M will come in to send cycles before handing it over to Carowinds maintenance, who will then pass it along to Carowinds full-time, then supervisors, then ride operators. Each stage in this process involves a pre-defined amount of cycles per stage, and at least one test-rider (an actual person, not a dummy) before anyone can be officially certified to operate the coaster with guests on it.
Jarsh wrote:Oh my God you guys. A construction truck safely navigated around a support column! Alert the media!!! :lol
Yeah, I mean, it's an access road, it's only going to be for park employees to get through the park. They're not going to be driving 80km/h through there, and certainly not with massive vehicles that could damage a coaster track. Even if they lost control of the vehicle, it would bump into the support causing at most some scratched paint and maybe a dent in the bumper. Access roads under coaster tracks are nothing new (Wonderland has four coasters over access roads, Carowinds at least three from what I can see: Intimidator, Thunder Road, and Afterburn) and everyone who works at the park knows to be careful.