This update is written on 5/13/2011 but the pictures were actually taken 5/6/2011 the day of my test ride. About one week from today the Bay Beach Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster opens to the public, I hope to make one final visit to the construction site next Friday to get some final shots of the coaster on the eve of it's public opening. Continue reading below to see the final touches that are being completed to make the coaster ready for the general public.
Just before my final of six test rides it started raining so these pictures were all taken under a moderate rainfall. The first thing I noticed was the roof of the motor house has been completed.
All of the concrete in the queue area has been poured and is ready for the large crowds I expect to see May 21st. From this view you can see the entrance and the exit of the ride. The entrance is to the right and the exit is the ramp on the left. The brake run at the end of the ride can be seen in the background.
The pictures below shows the view as you are exiting the exit ramp. The first picture is looking back up the exit ramp and the second one is as you are leaving the ramp.
The curb in the picture below shows the dividing line between the future parking lot and the grassy area around the coaster. The parking lot would be to the right, the grassy area around the coaster to the left.
The two construction sawhorses in the pictures below show the location of a future additional ticket booth near the coaster so patrons won't have to walk all the way back to the main entrance to get tickets to ride the Pippin again.
Today I was honored with an early ride of the new Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster at Bay Beach Amusement park before it's official public opening in about two weeks, actually, to be more accurate, 6 rides. I have a new POV video from one of the rides, see the link below. Here is a hill by hill turn by turn description of the ride. I also got some pictures of the latest finishing touches of the construction going on around the coaster and grounds. I'll write a separate post in a few days to review those details.
The back six seats were open for riders during these tests so all of these impressions and the video is from the perspective of riding in the last car of the train. The front 24 seats were weighted down with sand bags. The trains sit two across, there is a small panel separating the two seats. They are a bit tight with two full grown adults, but squeeze in it's worth the effort! Each seat has it's own seat belt and padded lap bar.
After the brakes release you head immediately down a small incline and into turn 1 which is inside of the structure for turn 3, you quickly head around this turn and after 180 degrees you start up the lift hill. The trip up the lift hill is very quick, be sure to look over you right shoulder as you near the top for a beautiful view of the Bay. At the top of the lift hill there is a quick 180 degree turn as you line up for the first drop.
In the back car the front of the train starts accelerating down the hill while you are still completing turn 2 so you get a good burst of speed as you are coming out of the turn and are then quickly pulled down the first drop. The first drop is nice and smooth and quickly bottoms out and heads uphill into turn 3. Turn 3 is another 180 degree turn and the train carries plenty of momentum around this turn and you are again pulled around the last bit of the turn as the first cars of the train start down the second drop before you complete the turn, this is a great crack the whip sensation. When I have the chance I'll ride the first car of the train but all things considered I think the best ride on this coaster is going to be in the back.
At this point you are travelling alongside the lift hill and quickly complete the drop, head up another hill and move through part of the lift hill structure. Just as you crest the next hill there are a couple of structural beams that seem very close to your reach (assuming your hands are up), it's a great illusion but I'm 6'3" tall and reached as high as I could and wasn't in any danger of coming into contact with these beams.
After this hill you are heading into the out and back with two quick bunny hills that both have some good airtime. One more uphill and you are into the turn around. Coming out of the turn around you head into another uphill with a nice little banked turn to the left.
On the last bunny hill before you head uphill and into the station there is a great little surprise, at this point the train still has a lot of momentum and this last small hill has some great abrupt airtime. If you watch the video you can see how quickly the cars in front are snapped downward at this point. This tends to launch the riders against their seat belt and lap bar when they least expect it. It's a great surprise and everyone I rode with on the rides I took really liked that last little surprise. Then it's up one small hill and the brakes catch and the ride is over. Trains were completing the circuit in a pretty consistent 1 minute 30 seconds.
All things considered I have to say the ride exceeded my expectations. It's pretty incredible to think this coaster was designed in 1912. John Miller designed a great ride that holds up very well nearly a century later. The ride is a perfect fit for Bay Beach. It's a fun thrilling ride but not to large and intimidating so really just about anybody over 48" can ride it, young and old alike. I can definitely see Grandparents taking their Grandchildren on the ride once they are tall enough. It will be interesting to see what kind of reviews it gets from the people of Green Bay after it's grand opening on May 21st.
Somewhat of a random post today, I have pictures from last week I haven't gotten around to sharing and there has been another test run with passengers and a POV video to share.
Last week I took some pictures of the cars being prepped and loaded onto the track for the test run. As I arrived cars were being added to the track, prior to be placed on the track the wheels were being spun to loosen them up due to the cool temperatures.
The cars were then carefully eased into place one at a time through the opening built into the loading platform structure. The cars are then positioned directly above the small notches cut into the track allowing the up stop wheels to clear.
After all of the cars are in place and joined together to form a train (the number 2 train was being used) ballast was loaded into the seats to provide weight for testing.
Now we have a ready to test train. The video below shows the beginning of the first test run I posted video of last week, the team basically used a push start to get things rolling!
After several successful tests the team decided it was time to have someone ride the coaster. The first ride went to a manager from MVR and the person from MVR who oversaw most of the construction all winter long. Here they are waiting for the first ride.
The next ride went to the people in Green Bay who will have primary responsibility for the day to day upkeep and maintenance of the ride. Here they are waiting for their ride.
That wrapped up testing for the day. While on site a couple of other changes to the site were noted. A lot of the concrete in the queue area had been poured.
A few days after that test run there was another test run with passengers including Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt who was instrumental in bringing the Zippin Pippin to Bay Beach. One of the riders shot a point of view video of the ride, you can see it below.
The weather for Green Bay is looking a little better for the next ten days so hopefully work can wrap up and the coaster can be opened to the public. I'll try to make another site visit sometime this week to check out the latest progress.
It was a big day at the Bay Beach Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster site today. For the first time a train was loaded onto the tracks, weighed down with ballast and completed a successful run of the track. After the first successful run several more runs were made including two with two passengers each. I was on site for the testing and was able to get some good video of the action. I'm uploading the best videos of the days activities, the first video is now on-line and linked below. Keep checking back, I will be uploading other videos and still pictures from the days testing.
A second video is now available, see it below. This video was taken from the South side of the coaster looking North, the opposite side from the first video. I believe this was the fifth dry run for the coaster.
In other news the opening date for the coaster has been pushed back two weeks. Mother nature simply threw too many turns into the testing part of the schedule, less then a week ago the Green Bay area received about 9" of fresh snow preventing a lot of the final preparation work at the site from finishing up and delaying the testing you are seeing above. To launch the coaster per the original schedule training for workers to run the coaster would have to be going on now instead of the very first initial test runs. To make matters even worse the weather for the balance of this week looks bad with rain and cool temperatures in the forecast. The new opening day is now May 21st. The countdown clock on this site has been updated with the new date.
One of the Zippin Pippin's trains have been added to the standby lane on the coaster and the automatic safety gates are partially installed. The Zippin Pippin continues to inch closer to testing and eventually rides for paying customers (now less than 20 days away). For the latest pictures keep reading below.
The big news is one of the trains is in place on the service track. Each car seats six and there are five cars per train. So there is room for up to 30 riders per train.
The other train is on site, each car on a pallet along the north end of turn 1 and 3. With the cars on the pallet it's easy to see the three sets of wheels.
It would appear we are getting close to some of the first test runs for the coaster. If I hear any details about testing I will be sure to pass them along. In other news there is a contest being run by the city to be on the first official ride of the coaster on May 7th. Children and adults are invited to submit an essay entitled "What does Bay Beach Amusement Park mean to me?". If you are interest in entering (I know my kids are!) check out the official website.
Even though testing is not yet scheduled I decided today I needed to see what was new at the Bay Beach Zippin Pippin Roller Coaster. I found some new activity and got some pictures of it. Since my last post the Green Bay area was hit with a late winter storm totaling about 17 inches of wet heavy snow. This snowfall slowed progress on the finishing touches quite a bit; however, with the major construction wrapping up well ahead of schedule everything is still in good shape for the grand opening which is now just about one month away. The latest progress is shown in the photos below.
The first thing I noticed is the operators control panel and platform is in place up on the loading platform. You can also see the layout of where the automatic gates are going to be.
As all of these final hookups are being made the two big remaining items are the automatic gates on the loading platform and the trains themselves to make their appearance and be threaded onto the track. I'll keep visiting the site and report on these activities when they happen. With all of the snow nearly gone again and a beautiful sunny day I took another north facing panorama to end my visit.
