I really miss these original airtime hills! They were pretty much the essence/purpose of the entire ride. The first hill after the drop is still decent as it was never touched, but the following newer hill is just downright awful. However, considering this alteration was made during Paramount’s ownership, I’m not entirely surprised by the decision. They really should consider reconstructing the original 3 hills back in while doing retracking; it would definitely help make the ride more enjoyable again. Thanks for the great upload as it’s rare to find any available footage of it in it’s untouched state!
The more i ride The Minebuster the more i realize it is on borrowed time. It is a historical favorite, and really was better with a bar restraint, shared bench seatbelt, no seat divider and 3 glorious camel hills after the drop instead of 2. Today it is obviously blocking expansion and development of splashworks. In order to fit a second pool or fast river ride or water coaster....The Minebuster must sadly go :( Hopefully a new woodie is built prior to its end. Enjoy it in 2025, i believe the clock may be ticking on this ride for the development reasons above.
When I worked there (many years ago) the official reasoning given was for (waterpark expansion), however from what I heard from the ride operators at the time as well as one of the inspectors, was due to the excessive wear on the trains, and also considering the coaster was built in house (contrary to the plaque in the queue stating otherwise) so it was really for safety.
