Calculations Possible

Go look at the latest video at Virtual Midway. Today's (12/14).

MrScott

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"
*** This post was edited by MrScott 12/14/2002 1:28:36 PM ***

i was just doing some little inaccurate measuring with a ruler on the screen and set up a ratio to get somewhat of an idea of how tall the tower may be. i got it to be about 380 ft. however, distance could affect this a bit, so it's only a "guesstimate."

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If life is full of ups and down, you better make sure your safety restraint is locked and ENJOY the ride.

After looking at the latest pictures from virtual midway, I've done some calculations of my own and come up with the 420 foot height of the tower.

Using the map scale shown on mapquest to show the distance from the mainland to the park, I estimated that the pictures showing #16's tower behind MF's first hill(the first 2 pictures from the 12-14 update) were taken roughly 7200 feet from MF and 8500 feet from #16.

The pictures show the top of MF to be just about even with the top catwalk level but since we know the tower is farther away, we can calculate how much taller #16 actually is.

Using the distances I estimated above, it is possible to calculate the height of the top catwalk to be 365 feet... adding the 8th level of the tower and the height of the track puts the top of the track in the 420 foot range...

If all of the doubters out there would just sit down and do some calculations of their own, they would realize that the distance between the 2 rides greatly affects the apparent height of #16.

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probie

I'm an engineer and if you print out pic attraction501.jpg from virtual midways site you will notice that the Millenium is scaled at 1"-100'. With depth of field taken in to accout your looking at about 420'. Try it yourself and see.

424'

MrScott

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

Ok, if we go by what we've been thinking for the past three months that each catwalk equals 55 ft., then since there are 8 catwalks, it must be at least 440 ft.

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(Insert something clever here)

Hey Ryan W. Staab, are you a roller coaster engineer, cuz I want to be a roller coaster engineer too.

So how did you all get 420 ft? I still dont get it.

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Life is a rollercoaster... ride it.
~*kP

coasterfreak... it's really pretty simple... If you are 1000 feet away from a tower that is 100 feet tall, 1500 feet from a tower that is 150 feet tall, and 2000 feet away from a tower that is 200 feet tall, they will all appear to reach the same spot in the sky. (ignoring the fact that your eyes are 5-6 feet from the ground of course)

My exact calculations were based on uncertain distances but they work pretty well to get a ballpark estimate for the height(assuming you are standing on ground that is the same level as the object you are observing and your eye level is 5 feet up)

MF = 305 feet above eye level, 7200 feet away

#16 = 1.18 times as far away as MF (8500/7200)

Therefore, the part of #16 that appears level with the top of MF is actually 1.18 * 305 feet = 360 feet above eye level, which puts it at roughly 365 feet to the 7th catwalk.

Even if my distance estimates are way off... say MF is really 10,000 feet away and #16 is only 1000 feet farther away, that would still mean that the 7th catwalk would be 340 feet up.

I hope this explanation helped.

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probie

Probie,

I'm impressed. That was a very ingenius way to figure the height (my Calculus prof would be proud!). If they announce it at exactly 420', I owe you pizza and a beer :-)

probie, I did a similar, but different calculation in the Final Stats thread and got the same result as you. There was also an estimate by another poster in that thread that put it at about 52 feet per level. Also, my horizon analysis of the beach cam and Mach1's of the Power Tower cam put each level at about that height. In addition, the second catwalk of #16 appears to be just over the height of the 2nd overbanked turn of MF on MI that is 100 feet per the MF press release. You can see that from both the beach cam (with #16 closer) and some VM photos with that turn in the pic (with the overbank closer). There is just so much confirmation that each level is about 52 feet. Of course the lowest level is a bit higher because of the footers and the top level is higher too, but we should be very close to the final numbers. BTW, which photo did you use?

I used www.virtualmidway.com/mystery/attraction501.jpg for my comparison and got my very rough distance estimates from mapquest.com

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probie

One thing that hasn't ben mentioned is that the first catwalk on the bottom is higher than 55ft off the ground.

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magnumdan
magnum count: 2233
www.cpthrillology.com

I tried doing somthing and I got 470ft. But I'm probably wrong.

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Life is a rollercoaster... ride it.
~*kP

Remember, we're dealing with the Swiss....and that means we're dealing with meters. Taking what Dan said above into consideration, along with the whole "55 feet per section" theory, but only applying it to the first level, I guestimated this: Level 1, 17 meters, or aprox 55.8 feet tall. Levels 2-8, assuming they're equidistant; 16 meters each, or aprox 367.5 feet total. Those combined heights would equal approximately 423.3 feet, to the top of the support. Add aproximately another 4 feet due to the height of the track above the tallest support, and I'm guessing 427'

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Michael McCormack CP '02: 54
Magnum XL 200: 507
Millennium Force: 12
Wicked Twister: 34

2+2=4 :)

I'm confused, But if you compare it to the 3rd hill of the MF or the maggie, you can get a more accurate answer. I dont see why they would build it 380 and not add just 40 feet to get 420'.

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- Dennis

BirdOfPrey00, you are forgetting that the top level is also bigger than 2-7. Look at photo from the front. You can measure on your screen or notice that the diagonal supports are not parallel to the ones on the level below. By the way, was MF and WT done in metric?

You cannot accurately measure the new ride using photos, (not the ground photos). Take for example the photo with the light post in the foreground, it looks as tall as power tower, which is not accurate at all, it all depends on where the picture is taken from. If taken from the same level height as power tower/ millenium force, the measurements would be more accurate, but not 100% accurate.

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"What is it?"
"I heard it was the worlds largest revolving restauraunt"
"Oh Yeah, well I heard that they melted down wicked twister to make it"

Sure you can accurately measure the new ride using photos, only variable is that you need to know how far away you are from the object in question.

I'm sure someone could pull out a local map and measure the distance from the location Walt took the pictures and calculate all this...

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Tommy Penner - Variable X @ vxtc.blinkspot.com
Cedar Point FanBoy since 2001

BirdOfPrey00 said:
Remember, we're dealing with the Swiss....and that means we're dealing with meters.

We're also dealing with an American park who will market the ride to an American audience that thinks a meter is just the thing you put quarters in to avoid a parking ticket.

Suffice it to say that this ride will be the tallest roller coaster in the world.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED!

*Bowing motion as if I am worshiping*

Excellent reply Jeff. As for you, BirdOfPray00, do us a favor and please remember that this the United States. It may be hard for you, but it's pretty easy for everyone else, and I don't want you to be looked at as an idiot.

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(Insert something clever here)