AnEscapeArtist

HAHA! Oh Wes you're so funny. From what it sounds like, they're having to do to a lot of "accommodating" to this show, which may end up outweighing the actual value of the show itself? Maybe this park is just destined to forever be a major thorn in Disney's side, as it really seems like Disney usually has this stuff worked out beforehand.

The train may not have derailed, but one of the cars most certainly did. ^^It will be interesting to learn if there were, in fact, any odd signs that something wasn't right with the train before this happened, as maybe there were some tell-tale signs that the ride ops didn't react to? We'll probably never get the full story, but will have to wait and see as the facts unfold.

I kinda wish they would change the colors on Xcelerator. I'm not going to complain if they don't as a fresh coat would look awesome regardless. But the coral and aquamarine was always quite an eyesore to me.

^^Yeah, in the scope of things this event is rather insignificant. Yeah sure, on paper half the debt is gone, and its probably good to get the word out regarding the company image especially with all the bad press this financial stuff got in the past. But the company has a LONG way to go before everything is as it should be, before things like long-term park improvements (ones people will physically see) will come to fruition. In fact, who's to say that will ever actually happen? Gonna have to hope for the best, and wait and see.

^Well isn't the pond at Epcot a lot bigger? So perhaps they had a lot more room to work with. To me it seems they've spent a lot of time and effort on this, as almost any update i've seen there are people in wetsuits or on boats adjusting things and working on things basically since day one. And there are a lot of cool water effects that appeal to me, even if theres a limit to what you can do with water. Dut I do wish they didn't expand the viewing area as it seems it took a lot of the size of the pond away (which is something I liked). I do like the videos I've been seeing though, and while they might not be consistent from show to show (as Jew stated earlier, its seems weather is going to play a big part on whether projections are clear, or if the entire boardwalk viewing gets soaked!) I think its very cool that DCA is getting something like this, something that's so close to home! It may not be the best, but then I have something to look forward to in going to WDW- Epcot! Plus there's a lot of other cool things going on around the park too, cars land looks like its going to be cool, and Hollywood Studios and everything is going to be getting a facelift. So this may be a "main attraction" for now, but in a couple years its just going to be the icing on the cake! Or the cake. Whichever way you want to look at it. I'm going to wait until I see it in person, but I haven't seen a lot of these water/light shows so I don't have anything to say "this sucks because the one at ________ is so much better." So that might sway my opinion. Who knows, I'm going in with an open mind regardless of what videos I've seen!

^I'm not sure the material, but whatever it was didn't last long. Kinda like the speakers *ducks* What I don't get, are guests ripping them apart? Or is it maintenence not being carefull when they inspect the ride in the morning? I do remember touching those when they were brand new (as I do with new rides at the park, just to see if they'll stand the test of time), and they seemed rather solid...not metal or anything, but they felt like fibreglass, not styrofoam. It didn't feel like I could just "rip" a piece off or anything. Maybe I don't remember correctly. But it seems there'd have to be some serious scrapping or hitting to get them to look that bad. Sigh, sometimes it seems like there's nobody at the park that walks around on a daily basis and just "looks" at things to make sure stuff is staying clean, fresh, and new when it comes to themeing. And if they are, boy they miss a lot of stuff we all seem to notice!

Hmmm...I really don't get why you're having such an aggressive stance against what I said, and I don't think its very fair to have my opinion deleted . I'm sorry if it came off that way but I actually love Intamins they are my favoirte coasters and I prefer them to any other rides as they tend to all be different in design, including this one, and rides like Dragster and Intimidator are at the top of my list, so I was just making a point. I don't see how what I said makes my knowledge of engineering or the theme park industry any more invalid than anyone else on here talking about the incident. I think we can all admit we don't know what really went wrong, and that the park and Intamin are very lucky there were no fatalitys. But my point was that you can't deny the fact that things go wrong on Intamin roller coasters that don't go wrong on B&M's, and it doesn't really matter who's to blame. If lack of maintenence could be blamed for a majority of coaster accidents, why don't maintenence ignored coasters from B&M have similar problems? There have to be some B&M's out there that aren't maintained by the owners as best as they could be and yet even those B&M's don't ever have problems. And it goes both ways. B&M is a company that most would claim are the most reliable and best built in the world. Why is that? Does the credit go to the maintenence crews of those rides that have kept the rides that way? Not neccesarilly, as B&M is credited with being the most reliable. Essentially maintenence should be the only reason why the rides have no problems after 20 years. But no, most of the credit goes to B&M, they get a title of "most reliable coaster company" because they built a ride that was reliable and a well-built machine to begin with. So in the same basic way, saying Intamin isn't at fault even if maintenence "technically" screwed something up is like saying B&M isn't responsible for their coasters that are reliable. B&M's that are 20 years old and have no problems are associated with both how the ride is maintained, and who originally built the equipment. It might be a coincidence, it might just be dumb luck, but either way whenever something like this happens its not good for the coaster company, or its business, no matter who is at fault. That's inevitable. Regardless if it was a maintenence issue, entire wheel assemblies shouldn't fly off a coaster. I think coasters that never have problems say a lot about the manufacturers regardless of their maintenence (B&M), more so than coasters that have issues whether they be minor or large regardless if its at the fault of maintenence. That was my point.

Regardless if maintenance or Intamin is at fault, something must have gone seriously wrong as the wheel assemblies should NEVER come off the track like that. I can understand companies with not much experience, but this is Intamin we're talking about here, imagine if something like this happened on TTD, or i305? You'd probably have a full train of dead people. Intamin and the riders are VERY lucky they were on the upcrest of the hill where they were going slower than full speed, because something like this at the end of the drop would just crunch the cars together and there would probably have been fatality's. Whether this is Intamin's fault or the parks, you can't ignore the fact that A LOT of recent incidents have had the name INTAMIN associated with them, while B&M's record remains crystal clear. That can't be good for business.

Hmmm so I guess the question is why are there bolts on top of the track that appear would get in the way of the ride wheels? Unless they plan on the wheels going between them? Kinda odd.

(I'm sorry admins if this post is a bit long as I just wanted to address an issue I've been hearing regarding SRL's lately.) So if me and a friend walk through the single rider line and 2 seats next to each other are available, we're not allowed to sit next to each other because we "know" each other? Because to me its seems like it doesn't even matter. Things are probably different at a company like Disney because I know the have their set ways, but I have had the blessing of working single rider lines in my day, and I never had an issue letting 2 people stand at the SRL and wait until 2 seats opened up next to each other. Sometimes it took 2 minutes, sometimes it took 15, sometimes they were better off waiting in the regular line, either way it was a risk on their part and I had no problem with it. This relates to other threads where discussions regarding ride ops these days have a problem with crowd control/moving things along efficiently. As long as you communicate with guests and let them know whats going on, a SRL can be run efficiently and believe it or not even more effectively if a good ride op is staying busy and filling available seats in any way. This doesn't seem to be the case with ride-ops these days whether it be KD and other parks where this is a constant issue. Because it doesn't matter if theres a group of 4 waiting for a B&M row to open up, or a group of 2. Let them stand there and wait as long as they want, while pulling single riders in from behind them in filling in spots. Its not that complicated. Most of the time from my experiences both working and visiting parks, some SRL groupers (and ride ops in general) are too busy riding their "high horse" of authority, and therefore restrict these practices instead of offering good "customer service," filling up trains as much as possible. In fact it I found it took less time going the extra mile and providing guests with these opportunities when it doesn't make a difference either way. Eventually, (like you said SouthPuddle) for some waiting in the SRL, if the wait begins to get too long, they just split up and ride alone anyway, but in my experience it's always nice (and not hard) to give them the OPTION of trying their luck. I wish it was this easy for all the other parks too!

^^Oh yeah, I totally agree, I don't have a problem with informative or professional microphone handling either (though that seems to be far and few between). Talking about the ride, saying to get loose articles ready for cubbies (I actually like these kinds of comments from ride ops), maybe even talking to guests is fine with me. My issue is the 3 minute long, dabbling, unprofessional songs or inappropriate remarks through the speakers that are usually way too loud, as I've heard way too many of them while waiting in lines for rides at CF parks. But I do stand by my "silence is golden" statement. Seriously, usually theme parks are already loud as it is, it doesn't kill anyone if the station is quiet for a couple minutes! In fact, its actually nice sometimes!

I don't understand how management would condone it, either. How embarrassing for all parties involved. If I was standing there I'd have to get out of line and maybe come back later. If I can't take 15 seconds of it on video (I had to stop it before I threw my moniter out the window), there's no way i'd be able to last standing there for TWO MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS. Dear Knott's operators with those stupid mics: Believe it or not, ITS OKAY FOR THE STATION TO BE QUIET FOR 2 MINUTES DURING A CYCLE!! You CAN shut off the mic! In fact, its nice to have some quiet time at a theme park! Please, for the love of God, stop.

Has anyone figured out the last week before summer that the high schools get out? I usually like to make a trip down during the week before they're out, but I've heard some schools are cutting out a week early because of budgets, so i lose a week. Is this true? ^^Yeah you gotta watch out for that stuff if you're ever getting a pass from Magic Mountain, they overlook stuff like that ALL the time. Then if you lose your receipt, you're screwed. I don't know what's so hard about the Season Pass photo booth verifying whether the receipt of a PURCHASED pass is an Extreme or a Regular, its not rocket science. I make it a point to watch them insert the correct pass I PAID FOR whenever I renew or purchase. Much like the coaster operations as mentioned previously in this thread, its not uncommon to find an employee that doesn't run on all cylinders. ^I have gotten all mine pretty quickly too, I remember I checked my email at the Cyber Cafe before I left the park later in the day, and the first one was already sent to me.

^You should try signing up for Funatics again, and make sure that the name and email address you provide to the program corresponds with the name and email address that you provided when you bought your pass. I was worried about that too when I had problems with my pass and had to get it replaced, but GR was able to look up my information and I have since been receiving the rewards.

Yeah. Like for instance, you can make out on KOD. Wait, scratch that. Oh man! Talk about the good 'ol days, you totally took me back right there! This was mightilly hilarious , that last line was the kicker. Thanks for the laugh! On topic: I like the trains, don't ask me why as I don't have any in-depth reasoning, I just think they look cool and am glad there's only a seatbelt!

I ONLY ride Ghostrider in the very back seat. Yeah, it'll re-align your spine and I wouldn't advise doing more than 2 rides in a row, but jesus, its ONE HELL OF A RIDE back there! Always thought the front seat was for wusses, what's to see up there?

Hmmm well I'd hate to break it to some of you checking out the trains in that sweet Revolution collage, but it looks like because of the photos being "joined" its inconsistent with an actual running ride, as I count 6 trains on the track (not counting if one is in the station) and some appear to be within blocks of each other which would never really happen. One starting up the lift, one at the bottom of the first drop, one at the bottom of the second drop, one clearing the blocks before the loop, one just entering the final helix, and one right before the station entrance. The photo is bigger and you can see it better here: http://www.rcdb.com/130.htm?p=5485 ^You definitely make a point about the "employee effort" and you just beat me to one of my points! 3 train operation IS BETTER than 2 operation, employees and ride-ops just don't know how to get their asses in gear anymore! And to respond to your point about Viper I have seen 3 train operation on it recently, on very busy days when the trains are available. But I do see them stack pretty consistently. However, I do remember the good 'ol days of 3 train operation on the rides that had it available, and I do remember there being very little if any stacking, especially on the big rides like Revolution, Ninja, Viper and Colossus (Too young to have seen a 5 train operation Revolution which just seems out of this world). I remember my dad timing Viper dispatches on busy days waiting in that line, and from station entrance to restraint check to dispatch would be less than a minute--NO stacking. Now THAT was impressive! Those ops FLEW threw trains like it was nobody's business. This can happen on Viper on some days now, but it just seems as times gone on the employees aren't as motivated as they used to be and I really think it just has to do with the new times of the generation: they really don't have a sense of urgency. Kids running rides now just don't get satisfaction out of hustling through trains, and dispatching them at impressive paces. I'll never forget watching them on all the rides at Magic Moutnain when I was younger thinking "Wow! These guys KNOW how to run this ride right, and they get a kick out of doing it well!" I'd pay good money to see that old Viper crew run X2, as even if they couldn't avoid blocking, they sure as hell would try!

Wow, thanks for the photos! Looks (and sounds) like they got their work cut out for them. I've always been fascinated with coaster relocations as I would guess the support system has to be modified somewhat as all terrain is going to be different. I never knew there was a clone of Raptor at any other park, guess you learn something new everyday!

I think if the audio ends up being permanently scrapped they should remove the computer box that is in place of the last cars bogies, and put seats back there for a row 12 (with no loading gate for that row, just line up 4 people in loading row 11 for both cars). I typically prefer the very last row on a lot of coasters as the train whips and pulls you over drops, and since this ride opened I thought the ride in that back seat might be a little better than row 11, and hell, it might not increase capacity that much but at least you'd get a true "back seat" ride. However, like most things with the park, I'd wager it'll stay the same and that audio box will just be a memory, and a waste of space for years to come. And herein lies one of the many differences in quality between SF and Disney: no motivation or desire to uphold the standards of the original product. Sad, really. A for effort though, I must say.

For some reason, call me optimistic, but I think Disney has it all figured out. I can't believe everyones getting all worked up over nothing.

^You misunderstood my post. Parenthesis contain material that could be omitted without destroying or altering the meaning of a sentence. Ignoring the parenthesis: I didn't say it was the fault of WCB for the breaking of the audio, I said I'm starting to believe that its permanently broken due to the fact that there has been no progress on the audio for a month now. Especially after what I heard.

Friends went to Magic Mountain today and said the lines were long everywhere. They asked me yesturday if I wanted to go, and I responded "On a Saturday? You're crazy. No, thanks." Has it not had audio since West Coast Bash weekend now? That's been a month! Word on the street is that the audio is permanently damaged and will most likely never return (not sure if its related to WCB). And the fact that its been a month with little to no progress is starting to make me believe it.

Wow. This is the best they could come up with? No thanks.

This ride looks AMAZING i can't believe all the good reviews and coverage this looks like it may be in the runnings for one of the best steel coasters in the country!!! Buh Bye Millennium Forceless!! I neglect to see how comparing, and proving, that the noses of the Intimidator coaster trains are nearly identical makes anyone a pathetic Carowinds fanboy. Either way, I'm not influenced by the opinions of others, and its such a lame complaint for 2 such cool rides. I think both of the trains look awesome with the stickers and logos! That's because they pretty much are. Even the stickers are identical as the same brands are in the same layout!

Well it doesn't necessarily have to be night, but I think from what I've experienced rides run fast at 2 times of the day: When its hot out and the lube and oil is nice and slippery, and at night, when the rails shrink with the cool weather and the rides running lean from being broken in after running all day. I've also always had a special place in my heart for Scream, its a good ride in my opinion.