scottm13

Older B&M's used to use a similar type of support as well (regarding the ball & socket): [attachment=0]13884.jpg[/attachment]

^ Not always. This method is actually easier/quicker: Here you can see what happens where the last video I posted left off.

Six Flags did as well. For tickets and for THE FLASH PASS.

The amphitheater is used even less and takes up much more space.

Random question- in what situation would a photoreceptor be the sensor of choice? It seems like EM sensors would be much more reliable and less prone to weather issues Just a redundancy. It is almost always used in addition to proximity switches/sensors. Some water rides and water slides use them by themselves though. Almost all older coasters have them, but most newer ones do not. SF still uses them on their control systems for whatever reason.

I don't think B&M ever used photo eyes on their lift hills. They've stopped using photo eyes entirely as a part of their control systems too. I'm really not sure why SF is still using them, let alone using them on lift hills, which is very uncommon. They use photo eyes at every block still, too.

Probably the photo eyes. [attachment=0]eXBS2mA.jpg[/attachment] All of the SF RMC's use the same type of photo eye and all of them are usually affected by rain. I don't know what they expected with the tiny photo eyes they keep using, as opposed to the giant ones that old B&M's use to use that worked fine.

Likely both. Other SF RMC's have frequent issues in both of those categories.

All RMC coasters have control systems designed by a third party. So there is no such thing as a RMC panel since RMC's at different parks will have different panels depending on what company was hired. All current RMC's have nearly identical panels, since Six Flags built them all in-house. So the above picture is what all SF RMC's look like. The only differences are the switches, because each coaster has a different amount of gates, the layout of the PanelView, a variation in the color of a button color/type for the buttons in the upper right of the Medusa panel, and for TC, there is an additional lift stop and lift start because of the second lift. Outlaw Run is the only difference, which was also built in-house. Its entirely different from the SF versions. That's actually really interesting, thank you for sharing. Thanks to livai as well for linking one! Now I'm curious to see what Outlaw Run's panel looks like though Not a great image, but you can see the general layout.[attachment=0]20140717_155030(0).jpg[/attachment]

All RMC coasters have control systems designed by a third party. So there is no such thing as a RMC panel since RMC's at different parks will have different panels depending on what company was hired. All current RMC's have nearly identical panels, since Six Flags built them all in-house. So the above picture is what all SF RMC's look like. The only differences are the switches, because each coaster has a different amount of gates, the layout of the PanelView, a variation in the color of a button color/type for the buttons in the upper right of the Medusa panel, and for TC, there is an additional lift stop and lift start because of the second lift. Outlaw Run is the only difference, which was also built in-house. Its entirely different from the SF versions.

Here's a video of how they do it in the brake run, where the supervisor sort of explains the key/unlocking process.

That would be the thought going through the back of my mind too. Even though I know it would be so very extremely unlikely, if not impossible... that wouldn't stop me from freaking out about it the entire time. Same here, although I think I'd almost be more afraid simply knowing it was an Intamin tower. I know on B&M rides, it's physically impossible for the safety bar to pop open, unless in the station/manually opened by an employee while evacuating the ride. While other manufacturers probably use a similar design, given Intamin's history of reliability issues, I'd probably begin to worry if I got stuck at the top of FF, or any of their other towers for that matter. There aren't any manufacturers that make rides where the restraints just "pop open." Intamin towers also have a manual drop mechanism on them, so if they cannot be lowered manually then that is another option. Outside of an incident similar to what happened at SFKK, I don't really see a time where a drop tower would have to be evacuated above the ground.

I'd say V2 has a longer line than X-Flight. X-Flight's line moves pretty quick when there's a good crew. Ironic that the three rides with the slowest moving lines are also the rides with the most downtime...

A few of the outer walls are going up. Not much else is going on right now.

Well... If you're complaining about empty seats how else is the park supposed to fill them without grouping riders?

That might be stretching it a bit, do you think? I mean, SFGAm capacity was once great, but... As it is now, they get about 1/2 the capacity of comparable rides at CP. Just watch the dispatch times. Sorry, thats what I was saying. That their operations used to be pretty much on par with CP. And that they are nowhere close anymore, but they are still the best in the chain. Which at this point is like being the skinniest kid at fat camp, because their numbers are pretty abysmal these days. Which just means that the other parks are doing even worse than this one.

Missing the days when Demon, Whizzer and Eagle had a train dispatch every minute. True story. As poor as the operations are (see the single register in Angelo's? There used to be 4 there), I think we still have the best Six Flags park I'll stick to weekdays before school lets out... mostly. This park has been the best park in the chain for quite a while now. Not even 5-10 years ago their (ride) operations were pretty much on par with CP and CF parks.

^You must not travel often because I can tell you that the people that visit SFA is far different from the people that visit CP or Dollywood. I don't think anyone other than you is going to make that argument. Six Flags obviously does care, because almost every year of the past five years there's been a major change in their ADA pass program. Believe it or not, but SF actually does care about the scores that they receive from the surveys they send out, which would be pretty apparent if you listened to their quarterly conference calls. Where they always bring up their Guest Satisfaction Scores. The EAP pass abuse was one of the biggest complaints year over year on those surveys which is why they're trying everything they can to cut down on the abuse. And yes, that's because when people are happier, they'll spend more money and visit more often, which will feed their "black capitalist hearts."

^Those trains are not fine. They are poorly thought out and even without seatbelts, not user friendly. The lapbars are very heavy, making them difficult to push up and down. This means that when the train parks, everyone just sits in their seats until they either realize that it's time to go, hear an attendant tell them to pull up their lapbar, or someone else does it for them. The mechanism that locks/unlocks the restraints has to actually move up and down with a cylinder, meaning that there is a delay between the train parking and the restraints unlocking, as well as a delay between when the dispatch buttons are pressed and when the train can actually begin moving. This also means that anytime there is any sort of stop or error, the restraints instantly lock. The seatbelts on the train can only be checked if the lapbar is up, and easily twist. The padding on the shoulder and back is held on by Velcro, so they can fly off if someone accidentally or purposefully detaches them. The fiberglass trains are weaker than the actual seatbelts, which causes excessive fiberglass damage from the seatbelts banging on them. And that's without mentioning that they are temperamental, so they will never run the exact same day-to-day. And that RMC still hasn't completely figured out which wheels should be running on their coasters, which is why Wicked Cyclone's trains ride so differently. There are far more frustrations with those things, but that's just off the top of my head.

What are you even arguing for/against anymore? My whole point was there is a line, a reasonable way of weeding out abuse, and an unreasonable one. Based on the image you were describing, it sounded much more like an operations/infrastructure problem on Six Flags' part rather than, uh, a moral failing on the part of all humanity? Everyone else on this thread is ready to jump on the "people are sh*t" bandwagon, but in my experience people just aren't generally dishonest to that degree unless they're practically encouraged to be. Even if Six Flags has taken the (again, reasonable) steps I've outlined, as you say they have, I still find it hard to believe there's nothing else they can do, because as I've repeatedly said, does any other park have the problem to this degree? And I mean parks on the scale of your average Six Flags park, not Disney and other heavy-hitters that draw the biggest crowds in the world every year. Does Kings Dominion see lines at the ADA entrance out the wazoo? Does Dollywood? And yes, another big reason that this is magnified at Six Flags parks is because of their poor operations and unorganized access points. Which is why they have to take more drastic measures to fix it instead of re-structuring most of their ride platforms and access points. But regardless of any justification you can name, I still don't see this measure being reasonable at all. Six Flags has to obey the same rules as any other private business. People with disabilities have the right to enjoy the same opportunities, with the same ease of access, as those without disabilities. That's the entire point of the ADA. And yes, there's a big difference between requiring you to have a note prepared before you arrive, and requiring you to walk across the park and sign a form promising you're not lying. Don't believe me, why don't you ask all those families who will show up next year without reading the new policy first. Their fault for not reading the website before they go? Do you read through the policies every year before you go, just to see if anything has changed? How often do you sign something without reading the fine print? "Scroll to the bottom to click I AGREE", sound familiar? What makes you better or more deserving than anybody else? Are you aware of your own privilege? And maybe I'd be more willing to slide Six Flags the benefit of the doubt here if they weren't such a shitty company but they are. They price gauge their costumers, half the time their employees run around like chickens with their heads cut off, the properties aren't maintained well, they buy low-capacity rides and under staff them and then pay someone to stand there and sell drinks to the people waiting in line. They represent a lot of what's wrong in the amusement industry and now, once again, they seem to have found themselves on the wrong side of an issue. The reason that this happens at Six Flags parks and not at others is because of the clientele that they attract. Believe it or not, but the people that go to Dollywood or Holiday World are a bit different than those who visit Six Flags parks. You keep saying that there's got to be another way, but all of the "other ways" that you've mentioned are already in place and obviously not helping. Did you look at the video I posted? That's what a busy day looks like for EAP pass holders at SFGAm. While yes, it will stink for those who aren't informed and are turned away because of the new policy, but in the long run, it will be better for everyone. But it seems like you've got some issues with Six Flags as a whole, so no matter what they try and do to fix this issue, it won't work for you.

That's pretty awful. That makes that crew the worst out of the four newer RMC's. 20 cycles is a low hour at Goliath and Medusa, and I assume TC as well. What are they possibly doing that they're moving so much slower than their counterparts? Are you sure you heard 20? And not 25 or 30? I agree! I was also there on Saturday and found the same results for Wicked Cyclone. It seemed to take about 2.5-3 minutes per dispatch or more! If I had been there when they made that announcement, it would have taken everything in me to not scoff at how laughable that it. It was weird though, because when I rode Mind Eraser, that crew was god damn quick. They were sending out trains every 30-45 seconds tops. I did about 5 rides within the span of 15 minutes. Well those RMC trains are the worst trains that have been designed in recent history so I can't exactly blame them for not getting very good hours but 20 is still really low. And you've got to think about how much easier it is to check restraints on mind eraser. That's why they can dispatch so much quicker.

That's pretty awful. That makes that crew the worst out of the four newer RMC's. 20 cycles is a low hour at Goliath and Medusa, and I assume TC as well. What are they possibly doing that they're moving so much slower than their counterparts? Are you sure you heard 20? And not 25 or 30?

What are you even arguing for/against anymore?

Six Flags already does something similar to what you are saying they should do. They ask you "Why do you feel you deserve this pass" and you have to sign the pass stating that you understand that if you do not actually need the pass, you are subject to civil penalties. The passes at some parks are no longer given out at the front of the park, but rather a specific location inside the park. I'll be sure to let them know that they should start handing them out in a back alley with a bodyguard guarding it though. Because asking for a Doctors note is obviously too outrageous.

Second to last weekend, specifically the second to last Saturday is always the worst.