Bolliger&Mabillard

Mon Dieu! Ce sont deux couleurs différentes! Ils doivent être différents!

First Le Monstre is the best thing out since sliced bread, now the park is gonna boast this thing like its the greatest thing on God's green earth...

^If memory serves me correctly, every SF park except TGE has at least either a Batman clone or an off the shelf SLC.

Wow! that was the crew I was with back in 2006! I remember when that film crew was there! I got pulled to Flippin' Bullet that day! Angel (the ride op interviewed, probably why they picked him to be interviewed) was the best dispatcher that ride ever had...memories...

^^Don't be so sure. Intamin can always pull a card from Togo's playbook.

^It didn't. Reports claim that it slammed to a stop right in front of the photo booth. If you look at the video, you can see the roof of the station in the background, indicating the train stopped on the launch.

^True, in either mine or your photo the train didn't stop at that moment, but if you freeze RIGHT when it stops, that wouldn't be an accurate measure of what happened, as the force could have jolted the seat forward but snapped back into place, whereas a stationary picture would show the seat SHIFTED. And I think that's what you and I did. (of course we're not experts, but obsevers) And it was those observations that seem like this seat somehow came undone. Now with this in mind, the cable cutting this kids leg, the cable possibly dragging under/entering the train, all supports my original hypothesis that this train (red I believe it was) is screwed and will either need SEVERE work or maybe even replaced.

Yes, I freeze framed the video at two key moments to clear up that this kids seat in fact shifted... 0:30 into the video, when the train slammed to a stop, notice the seats are no longer paralell 0:02 in to the video, right before the train launches, notice the seats are paralell to each other...

^^Hmm...If Intamin is anything like the actual theme park industry ethics wise, I could see them being fine with selling out a few bucks to keep these issues off the radar, much like places such as amusement parks and department stores (*cough*Knott's*cough) (*ah-choo*Wal-Mart*ah-choo*) have no problem whatsoever paying THOUSANDS of dollars in fines and penalties for screwing over there employees to save MILLIONS in operating expenses. ^I've said that the train ran over something at least twice. And if you look at about 11 seconds into the video you can clearly see that the seat moves forward and stays in its new position, rather than just lunging forward and snapping back. As I've said at least twice, the cable wasn't the only thing damaged on the ride...

Four feet is going to keep it out of SFDK. The bay area keeps strict height limits on SF and CF, restricting all of there rides to a max of 150 ft.

^^Technically you've ridden a relocated coaster, and in it's first home. Sorry.

^A controlled scare yes. A "sorry folks...it's never done that before" scare not so much. However I do agree with you. I think in situations like these medical bills and maybe lost wages should be about it. If there were no severe injuries, maybe a couple of free tickets back...if they'd go. On a "non-Xcelerator" topic, I went to the park today to pick up my Haunt Shirt, and saw the progress of Ghostrider. New wood on the airtime hill and High-Beach. Should provide a noticable difference. Hope it's ready by Thursday.

Had this happened in say...July, with a fully loade train, I'm sure the results may have been more severe, and thank God they weren't.

So... let me get this straight...Six Flags doesn't hold there end of the bargain, yet operates the park...Montreal doesn't give two sh!ts because the city faces "other problems", yet New Orlens tried to sue Six Flags for a park that sat submerged in water for 3 years and in a city that was destroyed and still in a rebuilding phase? What is this...Bizarro World? Ray Nagin, you are officially The number one "Douche of the 21st Century", for making the French look sensible.

You can't really cover the catch car trough, because then there'd be no way for it to connect to the train...and even so, with the force the cable has on it mid launch, it would just shred through te covering anyway... ^I can't say that's truly what happened, but I used to work that ride. The launch is at an upward angle which is designed for rollback situations-for the rollback to return to the station. The magnetic brake fins do not have enough polarity to stop a train. Eddy current brakes, which is what Xcelerator uses, CANNOT stop a train ANYWHERE (including the station) on the ride. Even in the brake block towards the end of the ride, the brakes slow the train to the drive tires, which serve as skid brakes. Why this train stopped outside the station is a perplexing mystery, but I assure whatever DID stop this train was also the cause of the smoke, and the reason I believe more than just the cable was damaged and why this ride won't be operational for some time.

I can tell just from this video alone that major damage was sustained to the launch. The brake fins on the launch are not designed to stop a train even in an emergency situation. They are designed to slow a train to return it to the station. The fact that the train not only stopped outside the station, but SLAMMED to a stop outside the station is inclination that more than just the cable was affected. I can't say much about this incident, but I can tell you that if the DOSH report ever becomes public record, it'll be a very interesting story to tell...

Seems like all that hype for being the winning park of the "Holy Rail" is starting to pay off...

I am going to tell you as I tell anyone...the only day worth paying for is OPENING DAY!!! The monsters are not worn out yet, the Haunt crew is fully staffed, and there is no one there, so the mazes have the most "scare-time" (pun intended). If that's not enough to convince you, opening day is the cheapest time to go. If you can't make it on the 24th, I wouldn't bother going...

Sure...don't trust the guy who was certified for the ride and read the Service Manual directly from Intamin, who would have absolutely no idea what he's talking about...Now seeing as how I have no idea what I read in clear print from the manufacturer the EXACT reason Xcelerator does not allow glasses, would you like to make more guesses? EDIT:Not trying to be a dick, but I KNOW that's why you can't take glasses on THIS ride, Pony Express is not the ride in question and is irrealevent. I offered fact. If someone disregards it for speculation, so be it, but don't automatically dismiss it because YOU YOURSELF didn't see it. Tons of people here have worked on rides and know what they're talking about.

Unless Vampire is being sent elsewhere..... RIDE TRADE IS BACK!!!!

^Yes, you could do that...but then the park would end up looking like this...

^Excellent point, but it doesn't help the kid's alleged leg injury, which from the video only recordes riders from the lapbar up...so it does get kinda tricky @natatomic... I misworded what I wanted to say and apologize for the confusion...I still believe jobs of this nature should be restricted to a 21-and-up basis, as yes, there are people in their 50's who still act like irresponsible teenagers, but the ratio of adults who act like teens is alot smaller when compared to the ratio of teens who act like teens. And no. the operators have no access to the onride photos or video, but can be requested by rides management should an incident occur...However I doubt highly this would have been how the video ended up on youtube. As for the question of glasses...believe it or not, it was Intamin who banned eyewear from the ride, not the park. People find it hard to believe since Dragster has more lehweigh when it comes to such matters, but since Xcel was a prototype, much harsher restrictions were put in place than any of it predesessors, restriction which have not been revised, meaning the park still has to honor them.

6 you say??? well that shut me up then...

^^All the more reason to my claim that most jobs requiring you to work around heavy machinary (even rollercoasters) should require you to be 21 and up I can't wait for the DOSH report...I really would like to know what the cause of this was, whether Intamin, Knott's, or God not liking these two to blame.

^What's wrong with that? Cedar Point has 5 Arrow Dynamic coasters, and 5 Intamin coasters, so why can't GrAm have 5 beemers?