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They really could sell both Quick Queue and tell the ride's story on the video monitors. With Invadr, they didn't even bother producing a video at all to tell the rides story. I would like to point out that Verbolten still plays it's original queue story video (even though the volume is so low you can't hear it) and they don't play any in park ad videos on this ride, though they are much smaller televisions. It would have been nice if they played a queue video on Invadr. I wonder if Alpengiest even plays any video at all on its monitors, I haven't gone into the switchback portion of the queue in years. In regards to Apollo, I don't ever recall a story video, if there was one I definitely don't remember it.
 
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Another, simpler option could be signage placed throughout the queue to explain the story. Even Twisted Timbers has a handful of signs spaced throughout the line, each with a paragraph-long explanation of Hanover Hill Orchard's backstory that literally came straight from the ride's press release. I would totally accept BGW simply printing out Invadr's story from its old marketing material and posting it on signs throughout the queue. Better yet, they could break the story down across several signs and have the single story unfold throughout the entirety of the queue, leading up to the station.

I also wouldn't complain about a few educational signs in the queue, with information about Scandinavian culture. With just a little research and a few pictures, BGW could produce an educational experience that highlights Invadr's theme at a very low cost.
 
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Maybe they don't want to remind everyone about how absurd the back story is? It certainly would be hypocritical, in my opinion, to weave a tale of Vikings somehow attacking a village in Quebec, and then share real facts about Scandinavian culture and history.

One could argue that everyone is better off forgetting about the Vikings who could apparently travel through time and sail through the land.
 
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When I was at the park yesterday (Saturday, 10/13) they were only running one train (Dragon). It was one of the busiest days of the year, at least with the amount of traffic to get into the park. Granted more people do the mazes during HoS than coasters, I thought it was odd they were running an already seemingly low-capacity ride at one train. From what one of the ride ops told me, the other train has been having issues lately, so they took it out of service. I know this is not exactly groundbreaking, but I wonder when they will have it fixed and back up and running. Has anyone noticed the same lately, and have there been very slow lines because of this? Also, here is a cool photo I was able to get of the Bear train in the service bay.

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When I was at the park yesterday (Saturday, 10/13) they were only running one train (Dragon). It was one of the busiest days of the year, at least with the amount of traffic to get into the park. Granted more people do the mazes during HoS than coasters, I thought it was odd they were running an already seemingly low-capacity ride at one train. From what one of the ride ops told me, the other train has been having issues lately, so they took it out of service. I know this is not exactly groundbreaking, but I wonder when they will have it fixed and back up and running. Has anyone noticed the same lately, and have there been very slow lines because of this? Also, here is a cool photo I was able to get of the Bear train in the service bay.

My friend told me that at 10:30 InvadR hadn't opened yet. Later on, and I can't remember the exact time, they were evacuating the bear train from the lift hill. It was down for a little bit, which we assumed was to get the bear train off the course. The line was a nightmare (predictably) the rest of the day.
 
Yeah, InvadR was down a LOT of the day on Saturday. Got in line around 1:45, and when we were at the top of the stairs it went down. Thought we'd wait it out, and we got to the platform (~2:30) when the bear train got stuck on the lift hill. Gave up after that, but luckily it was running both trains beautifully on Sunday. Got a few redemption rides in!
 
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Oh awesome! Glad to hear it's back up and running like normal. They almost made it out to sound like it would take a while to get both running again.
 
Do you guys generally like Invadr or eh?

It didn't think it was great, but it's nice to have something very different to the rest of the parks rides?

I dunno.

I also wouldn't complain about a few educational signs in the queue, with information about Scandinavian culture. With just a little research and a few pictures, BGW could produce an educational experience that highlights Invadr's theme at a very low cost.
I'd much rather this than awkward forcing of backstory! This is a great idea. Little "Did you know?" signs or quizzes where the answer is places further down. What a great way to entertain people!

Imo, most coasters should use themes and narratives abstractly, not as absolutes.
 
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Do you guys generally like Invadr or eh?

It didn't think it was great, but it's nice to have something very different to the rest of the parks rides?

I dunno.

InvadR is usually how I sandwich my day at Busch Gardens. A warm up coaster to get my blood running in the morning (while the line is short), and then at night when it's dark, it's much more intense!

I'm definitely a fan!
 
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I love Invadr. I know it's not the biggest, fastest, more relentless coaster out there. But what Invadr lacks in all of those departments, it makes up with pacing, combination of elements, and 'surprises'. I never get bored riding Invadr because of that. I could be happy spending an entire day in New France and just re-ride Invadr as much as they would let me.

I'm going to be bold here: Though it's much longer, Invadr gives me the same feeling as Boulder Dash. Something that's low to the terrain, moves with purpose, and 'tosses you around' with 'throwing like a rag doll'.
 
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Believe it or not, I had never ridden a GCI until the season before Invadr opened while at Hersheypark. Say what you want about their GCI's, I was quite impressed by them, especially because most of my wooden coaster experiences were on Dinn rides (yuck!). When Invadr opened, I really liked it and still enjoy it every time I get to the park. Yeah, it is not the fastest, tallest, whatever, but it is definitely a Great Coaster (Pun Intended), filling in a gap that BGW really needed. GCI did a great job working with Busch to create a ride that is intense enough to satisfy quite a lot of folks, without being so intense that smaller kids and timid adults couldn't ride it. I do wish they had left more trees (Wooden coasters in the woods are the best!) but hopefully, they will plant more around the ride and it will become a little more secluded like it used to be, but they did pretty well for fitting it in as small of an area as they did. Jeff Pike said in the Coaster Build-Off episode of "Build It Bigger" that the layout is so important on rides and often gets overlooked by inversions, height, speed, etc. I agree with him and am very pleased by what the park has done with adding this ride. As a controls nut, I love the new tech they have added to the ride (and to a lot of their other rides btw) to assist the ops as well as that sexy control panel from Consign (quick plug for the Control Panels thread over in "Everything Else").
 
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I love Invadr. I know it's not the biggest, fastest, more relentless coaster out there. But what Invadr lacks in all of those departments, it makes up with pacing, combination of elements, and 'surprises'. I never get bored riding Invadr because of that. I could be happy spending an entire day in New France and just re-ride Invadr as much as they would let me.

I'm going to be bold here: Though it's much longer, Invadr gives me the same feeling as Boulder Dash. Something that's low to the terrain, moves with purpose, and 'tosses you around' with 'throwing like a rag doll'.
I agree! And being somewhere with the likes of Mako, Manta, Kumba, and Cheetah Hunt, I personally look forward to riding the most while at the park.

Also, since many folks compare them, I prefer the pacing and layout of Invadr over White Lightning.
 
I like riding Invadr because it's a simple, sweet ride that works as a beautiful warm-up coaster.

I just wish that It had some more foliage or theming around it because it feels kind of bare tbh.
 
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