Apollo's Chariot

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Unagi said:
Hilarious article from Esquire.com commemorating Fabio's Fowl play on AC!

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a43436/fabio-busch-gardens-goose-killer/
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A moment of silence for the unfortunate goose, please.

...♫ Goodbye Williamsburg's Rose, may you ever honk in our hearts ♫...
 
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Amazing how the one time a goose hits the train of a rollercoaster it happens on an opening day and it hit the one celebrity on the ride. Ive heard that this incident made lots of headlines( as i wasnt even born when this happened)
 
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it was not an accident that it did not happen again. For a great deal of time a person was assigned to sit in a boat in the water by Apollo to keep the geese away. Since then they have done something (I don't recall what) to deter the birds.
 
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Zimmy said:
it was not an accident that it did not happen again.  For a great deal of time a person was assigned to sit in a boat in the water by Apollo to keep the geese away.  Since then they have done something (I don't recall what) to deter the birds.
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I believe they put some kind of netting just under the surface of the water which deters birds from landing in it. I think.
 
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MAZ said:
Zimmy said:
it was not an accident that it did not happen again.  For a great deal of time a person was assigned to sit in a boat in the water by Apollo to keep the geese away.  Since then they have done something (I don't recall what) to deter the birds.
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I believe they put some kind of netting just under the surface of the water which deters birds from landing in it. I think.
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There were actually bunch of geese nesting in that area so the nets were added to prevent them from doing that. I rode AC the weekend before this incident happened and I remember seeing a lot of them in the water around the first and sixth drop.
 
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Okay, well I'm just gonna come out and say it if no one else is. Apollo didn't have a chariot. Helios, the god of the Sun, did.
 
Merboy said:
Okay, well I'm just gonna come out and say it if no one else is. Apollo didn't have a chariot. Helios, the god of the Sun, did.
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Wiki seems to think he had one....
"Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, twin brother of Artemis. He was the god of music, and he is often depicted playing a golden lyre. He was also known as the Archer, far shooting with a silver bow; the god of healing, giving the science of medicine to man; the god of light; and the god of truth. One of Apollo's most important daily tasks was to harness his four-horse chariot, in order to move the Sun across the sky."
 
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Maybe they wanted to avoid the pronunciation nightmare that is "Helios' Chariot." Something tells me the general public would mispronounce that out the wazoo... Although the park did name a coaster "Alpengeist."
 
phareous said:
I believe it was water guns, based on articles i read
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I don't know if it's accurate or not, but FWIW that's what my group was told on the coaster tour years ago. A water jet sprays just before the trains go through to clear the area of birds. Doesn't seem intuitive and I wouldn't doubt netting in the area is also used, but anyway that's what I learned, also.
 
Well fine. But I'm SO writing a strongly-worded letter to my 4th grade English teacher about this. Take THAT Mrs. Easleberry!
 
BBW said:
and I wouldn't doubt netting in the area is also used,
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No need to doubt.

Here's your proof.

This is a screenshot taken from a HD video of the train coming off the 6th drop. You can clearly see the netting about 15-20 feet to the left this drop and more to the right of the first drop.

SpEv2Op.jpg
 
I Don't know if this is because the coaster is twenty years old or because of another factor but today I was caught by surprise when Apollo's actually had a steady rattle all throughout the ride. The rattle was actually bad enough that I was tossed side to side a bit during the later part of the ride and coming from a coaster known for its smoothness it was a complete stunner.
 
Where were you sitting in the train?

I only ever ride Apollo in the backseat, but I didn't notice any rattle during multiple rides this week. I might have gotten the same train over and over due to random chance, while you got another...?
 
halfabee said:
Where were you sitting in the train?

I only ever ride Apollo in the backseat, but I didn't notice any rattle during multiple rides this week.  I might have gotten the same train over and over due to random chance, while you got another...?
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I rode in the third row.
 
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