Roller Coaster Tycoon
March 5, 2015 5:45 PM Subscribe
Carowinds Amusement Park just released a video of the very first test run of their brand new "Fury 325" roller coaster, which they claim is the biggest and fastest in the world. The initial hill rises to a height of 325 feet and the first drop is 81 degrees. Top speed is 95 MPH. The video was shot by a camera mounted on the front of the train.
That tallest has an addendum to it: Tallest giga coaster.
This is still the tallest according to wiki.
posted by Ferreous at 6:32 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is still the tallest according to wiki.
posted by Ferreous at 6:32 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Kingda Ka is an insane ride. I was screaming like a small child on that one from start to finish.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 6:35 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by A Bad Catholic at 6:35 PM on March 5, 2015
Despite having lived in Jackson NJ, working at great adventure when I was a teen, and being in the area multiple times since, I still haven't gotten to go on it.
Shame, seems fun.
posted by Ferreous at 6:37 PM on March 5, 2015
Shame, seems fun.
posted by Ferreous at 6:37 PM on March 5, 2015
I'm too old and my inner ear fluid is too thick.
posted by notyou at 6:42 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by notyou at 6:42 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
El Toro > Kingda Ka. This one looks good though.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:45 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]
Looks fun! Still not as fun as the beast though. When I saw the first hill I was thinking oh good god. But when it got to the top of the hill and looked over, it was kind of a let down. This looks like it'd be a nice fun afternoon once they get the surrounding area nice and built up. Some fun swooshes and a little bit of speed and you get off of it.
The beast is terrifying. This video of it is old, but it still looks just like that. Wooden and deathly and and that raw primitive from days gone by that reminds you of impossibly large and long extinct animals whose silhouettes we stand in and marvel at at museums.
Fury's got this cute little turquoise track and it's white stabilizing beams and the beast is rolling you down moldy beams chopped apart by some worker who died installing it and now haunts the tracks. On Fury, you can see where you're going and tell what's happening and know you're coming into what part of it.
Get on the beast (watch that video), and there are long periods of time where you can't tell where you're going or if you're coming back. Plunge into the black of the beast's covered double helix and if you look back you might just see the headless horseman throwing a flaming jack-o-lantern at your face. Fury looks neat, but the beast is still the best roller coaster around.
posted by cashman at 6:46 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
The beast is terrifying. This video of it is old, but it still looks just like that. Wooden and deathly and and that raw primitive from days gone by that reminds you of impossibly large and long extinct animals whose silhouettes we stand in and marvel at at museums.
Fury's got this cute little turquoise track and it's white stabilizing beams and the beast is rolling you down moldy beams chopped apart by some worker who died installing it and now haunts the tracks. On Fury, you can see where you're going and tell what's happening and know you're coming into what part of it.
Get on the beast (watch that video), and there are long periods of time where you can't tell where you're going or if you're coming back. Plunge into the black of the beast's covered double helix and if you look back you might just see the headless horseman throwing a flaming jack-o-lantern at your face. Fury looks neat, but the beast is still the best roller coaster around.
posted by cashman at 6:46 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
Nope. Not ever.
posted by vac2003 at 7:13 PM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by vac2003 at 7:13 PM on March 5, 2015 [4 favorites]
Now that we're talking about roller coasters, Why is Kingda Ka called Kingda Ka? I can't find any explanation of the name. Is it just someone trying to say "kingdom come" but being so gobsmacked by the ride that they can't close their mouth?
posted by lumensimus at 7:38 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by lumensimus at 7:38 PM on March 5, 2015
"Kingda Ka is themed as a mythical tiger, named for the 500 lb (230 kg) Golden Tabby Bengal tiger who lived in an adjacent exhibit before moving to the park's safari."
No indication of why the tiger was named that.
posted by Etrigan at 7:55 PM on March 5, 2015
No indication of why the tiger was named that.
posted by Etrigan at 7:55 PM on March 5, 2015
The first time I rode Kingda Ka, the moment it took off my initial thoughts were, "Something's very wrong, and we're all going to die."
Just an awesome ride.
posted by aturoff at 8:38 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Just an awesome ride.
posted by aturoff at 8:38 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
I would ride the shit out of this but come the hell on, no inversions?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:58 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:58 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Everything but that first horrific drop looks like a lot of fun. But that first drop...that was just nonstop NO NO NO in my head. Though I guess all the best roller coasters have that "I regret every decision in my life that has led me to this moment" factor.
posted by yasaman at 10:03 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 10:03 PM on March 5, 2015 [6 favorites]
I wonder, on average, what percentage of riders experience heart attacks while on that thing? Does the park have a huge line of ambulances to rush those unfortunates to the local hospital?
When I was 18? Certainly. Now? Hell no!
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:12 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I was 18? Certainly. Now? Hell no!
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 10:12 PM on March 5, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yes, please. The most mind-blowing coasters for me are the compressed-air acceleration ones. The Dodonpa at Fuji-Q Highland made me temporarily insane--that acceleration is intense. Apparently still the world's fastest acceleration. It's a short ride, and the 90-degree vertical up and down is almost anticlimactic after that initial boost.
posted by zardoz at 11:06 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by zardoz at 11:06 PM on March 5, 2015
The most mind-blowing coasters for me are inverted coasters where you begin laying on your back, and after the train leaves the station it turns over and you're hanging under the train with nothing between you and the ground except the bars that are holding you in place.
No, I've never ridden on one. I don't do roller coasters. But just watching film of one of those makes the palms of my hands sweat.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:30 PM on March 5, 2015
No, I've never ridden on one. I don't do roller coasters. But just watching film of one of those makes the palms of my hands sweat.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:30 PM on March 5, 2015
That seemed much less impressive than I expected. The tension from the ride to the top of the lift hill led me to expect something more in the big drop. Maybe if the drop were 95 degrees like Maverick at Cedar Point, or better yet a nice twist part way down.
posted by wierdo at 11:43 PM on March 5, 2015
posted by wierdo at 11:43 PM on March 5, 2015
The first hill was definitely as written on the tin, but after that, it really didn't live up to expectations. If you're going to design a pants-shittingly-terrifying roller coaster, you can't let up like that, you've got to keep it all out for the whole ride. Otherwise, the riders are just sitting there wondering what they're going to ride next.
posted by Ghidorah at 12:39 AM on March 6, 2015
posted by Ghidorah at 12:39 AM on March 6, 2015
Gravity is a hell of a drug.
I would *SO* ride this thing all day, if I could. I just love coaters. Sadly, there's a 6" scar down the middle of my back that says my coaster days are over.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:30 AM on March 6, 2015
I would *SO* ride this thing all day, if I could. I just love coaters. Sadly, there's a 6" scar down the middle of my back that says my coaster days are over.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:30 AM on March 6, 2015
That cross bar at 1:27 seems dangerously close to the ride vehicle. Not that I ever, ever, ever intend to ride this thing to find out. And I'll agree that everything after the first drop looks like the kind of coaster I would be comfortable with, it wouldn't matter as I'm fairly sure I would already be unconscious by that point anyway.
posted by dances with hamsters at 4:44 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by dances with hamsters at 4:44 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Just drove past Carowinds a couple of weeks ago and we thought there was a new coaster there! Last time we went my daughter wasn't big enough to ride the bigger coasters but now she can. Here is the coasters official website; here is where you can bid to become one of the first riders.
posted by TedW at 5:10 AM on March 6, 2015
posted by TedW at 5:10 AM on March 6, 2015
I would ride the shit out of this but come the hell on, no inversions
I suppose the right person could convince me to ride this, but my dream coaster is nothing but inversion, like a few minutes of going 'round and 'round on the loop of the old Revolution.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:50 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I suppose the right person could convince me to ride this, but my dream coaster is nothing but inversion, like a few minutes of going 'round and 'round on the loop of the old Revolution.
posted by Room 641-A at 5:50 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
My stomach turned a little just watching the video. No way in hell I ever get on that thing.
posted by COD at 6:20 AM on March 6, 2015
posted by COD at 6:20 AM on March 6, 2015
Oh hey, a relevant Kate Beaton comic: it is merely a circle of violence and then you retch.
posted by yasaman at 2:05 PM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 2:05 PM on March 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
I drive by this thing every day, to and from work, and let me tell you that the 81 degree drop is one of the scariest friggin' things I've ever seen in my life. I'm in the HELL TO THE NOPE category.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:56 PM on March 6, 2015
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:56 PM on March 6, 2015
Four words: vertically looping water slide.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:54 AM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Room 641-A at 6:54 AM on March 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
\o/ wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo....
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 6:40 PM on March 7, 2015
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo....
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 6:40 PM on March 7, 2015
The first time I rode Kingda Ka, the moment it took off my initial thoughts were, "Something's very wrong, and we're all going to die."
Just an awesome ride.
I love roller coasters for much the same reason that I like cycling fast on busy roads, abseiling (in a fashion that safety instructors explicitly tell you not to, rock climbing, and heights in general.
"hahah I'm going to die this is so awesome!"
Yes, some of my friends do think I'm insane.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 7:11 PM on March 7, 2015
Just an awesome ride.
I love roller coasters for much the same reason that I like cycling fast on busy roads, abseiling (in a fashion that safety instructors explicitly tell you not to, rock climbing, and heights in general.
"hahah I'm going to die this is so awesome!"
Yes, some of my friends do think I'm insane.
posted by Hello, I'm David McGahan at 7:11 PM on March 7, 2015
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Actually a bit like the rides I designed in Disney's Coaster in the 90s that were high on the "chunder" scale.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:04 PM on March 5, 2015 [1 favorite]