El Toro_Ryan

The water rides do have a high capacity. A conveyor belt style loading system was added to Congo Rapids this season where the boats never stop moving basically. It works well the line never gets above like 20 minutes as already said. The Log Flume with a full quene line is about a 45 to one hour wait. It definitely gets more crowded than Congo Rapids but it still has good capacity. And here's a video of Ka running with people while Zumanjaro was testing from last Friday. Take a look. I don't see a problem here State Inspector. haha

User by the name of Kaiser at gadv.com just posted this about today. "Media day was postponed, along with the opening. The inspector was supposed to come at midnight, but never showed. Because of that, they couldn't let anyone on the ride. The Lt. Governor then ordered the inspector to come by noon (the time the media event was supposed to start), and again he didn't show then. The event was canceled a little after 10am, though. We'll see what happens in terms of rescheduling." I also heard the inspector was originally supposed to come on Sunday too. I think it's time us coaster enthusiasts form an angry mob and find this inspector.

Here's a news report Fox did on the delay for Zumanjaro. I like how they completely blamed it on NJ for being lame. haha http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3655425031001/another-delay-for-six-flags-zumanjaro-drop-of-doom/#sp=show-clips

As far as I know, Millennium Force is one of the few coasters that does that.

Now if only Six Flags would staff their rides this well. haha I know El Toro could definitely use this many people working. Having only 2 people check the long train and then having to go back and jam people in who don't fit takes a toll on interval times.

You'll probably be able to ride everything in one day without the Flash Pass but the Flash Pass will make your day a whole lot better. If you want to ride Zumanjaro I'd suggest getting whatever level of Flash Pass they make you get to ride it... Flash Pass is also a good idea if you want to do the Safari as you'll have less time for everything else and it usually has a long line. If you're credit whoring I always suggest riding Kingda Ka first because it's the most likely ride to break down, but since you already have the credit I'd go to Nitro, Batman and Batman the Dark Knight first as they'll all be walk ons - 5 minute waits. Remember not to ride Nitro's C Train... let it go empty if you have to or let someone go ahead of you. Usually we follow that path and end up re-riding Nitro and Batman for awhile since it takes them awhile to build up lines. After that the best thing to do is probably to take the Skyride over to Bizarro as it won't have a line. Feel free to ride Skull Mountain or the Mine Train if you want as they're near the skyride stations. Once you get off Bizarro everything will have a line so you can really just do whatever you're in the mood for. That being said if you want to ride Safari and don't want a Flash Pass forget all that and go to Safari immediately. If Zumanjaro is open you could go there too but so will everyone else. Oh... and a random tip but if you've never ridden Houdini's Great Escape I'd suggest riding it. It's the most unique flat ride in the park and no matter how many times I ride it I still can't completely figure out how it works. Edit: Ryan said the opposite of what I did and he works there so maybe you should listen to him. lol I've done your plan before and mine and they both work. haha Just ride rides while you are there! All of the rides at GADV are easily doable in one day

Actually, the brakes will probably need the least maintenance since they're non contact magnetic brakes like on most drop towers. If they were friction brakes, it would be a different story. I don't know how crowds will be but probably nothing crazy. If you want the most rides possible, definitely get a flash pass. I hear Zumanjaro will be available on gold so I'd go for that. Definitely start off with Ka and Zumanjaro and then head over to Toro before the lines get to long, then I'd hit Bizarro, Nitro, Batman, Skyscreamer and the other smaller rides in between. I'd save Green Lantern and Superman for last since they get long lines in the morning.

Okay so the big question is with this thing sitting there ready to operate and construction finished is Kingda Ka now open all day everyday (with the exception of it's usual frequent breakdowns)? It makes no sense to wait for Zumanjaro to get permits to open Kingda Ka. If construction is done and Kingda Ka can operate with riders with Zumanjaro open then it should be open with Zumanjaro closed. Right? Agreed. And the rumor according to gadv.com is that a state inspector was supposed to inspect Zumanjaro last night but never showed up. They were then supposed to come today at 12 PM to do their inspection and the goal is to still have the ride ready for tomorrow. Also the b-roll footage of Zumanjaro was just released by Six Flags.

The entrance path is actually almost directly next to Kingda Ka's entrance. The two rides share Kingda Ka's lockers even. I don't know if the park plans to reopen the connecting path but hopefully they do. They are supposed to add a baboon exhibit and using that path with the existing infrastructure where guests used to view Tigers back in the day would be a perfect spot for that so hopefully. Philadelphia is 80 miles away from Six Flags. No, you can't. Not even on the clearest day. Have you ridden Zumanjaro yet? I don't think so. My statement was coming from people who have ridden the ride and they said they could see the Philadelphia skyline even during the daytime. It's not even fair to say that until you have ridden the ride yourself. Most likely none, the ride is at Six Flags Great Adventure so it's a guarantee that the ride will have no lights on it at all (they have a faint blue light they may use for a few weeks but it will never last and even that's no guarantee). I was actually surprised to see that they had a few lights in the queue line. I think I saw two in the last picture they posted. I expected them to just use moonlight and the lights from El Toro's station and the queue building a few hundred feet away for ambient light like they do with Kingda Ka's queue. This is completely stupid and ridiculous but they don't really believe in lights at Great Adventure, especially in the Golden Kingdom. Your statement is biased. Zumanjaro does actually have plenty of lights and from what I've seen leaving work at night time, the lighting around the station area of Zumanjaro is enough to light up over a third of the Ka tower and the blue light on Ka is also back this year. The quene line is also very well lit for Zumanjaro. The only area of GADV that isn't well lit is Kingda Ka's line and the path leading towards Ka. The rest of the park is pretty well lit. Look at all the Boardwalk rides (including Superman and Green Lantern) and Skyscreamer and the Ferris Wheel. To say that GADV doesn't believe in lightning is completely false. It could be much worse.

Ryan, is this the queue line or is there a closer viewing section for GP to go to down this path? It is the quene line but the exit path also lets out here as well. I don't know if there is an official viewing platform but you could always walk down the exit or get some good views while you're in line. Not to mention that the parking lot is directly next to the ride so you can get some good views from there as well.

I've heard look to the right of Nitro's second hill and you can kind of see the Philadelphia skyline.

I probably won't get a chance to ride Zumanjaro until the 5th after work. Hopefully the line isn't too long. And for those who are thinking about riding or aren't sure, I just say go for it. I've heard Lex Luther was rather tame for its size so I'm expecting the same from Zumanjaro. It should definitely be a fun rush though none the less.

The entrance sign is up. Picture taken by my area supervisor.

The helicopter the park was using to film the commercial. haha

There's room behind Green Lantern for that to actually happen but I don't think the money exists. The ride already cost $25 million to build in 2005. And here's some more Zumanjaro videos from the commercial shoot.

Millennium Force is set up the same way. The waiting/holding brake is also the coaster's safety break. Overshooting that waiting/holding/safety brake would be a major issue. I know overshoots at Toro cause a trouble light and that shuts the ride down. Luckily it almost never happens. Millennium Force and Toro have weird blocking setups for sure but they're definitely better than the SROS's. Atleast with Millennium and Toro, there are two brake areas to slow the train down while the SROS's only have their one short brake area that acts as the safety and holding brake and it's literally feet before the train waiting in the station. Not to mention that all of the brakes in the SROS's brake run are not permanent but moveable which led to this http://www.rideaccidents.com/2001.html#aug6. Luckily magnets are strong and reliable most of the time. lol Intamin was definitely like this when they designed that. It seems they learned their lesson after that accident though because they haven't designed a brake run like the ones found on the SROS's since. All their new mega coasters basically have two brake areas in one where the first half is only fixed, permanent brakes and the second half are the moveable ones. Not to mention the brake runs themselves are a hell of a lot longer. It just seems so odd to stop such a heavy train traveling over 40 mph in such a short distance. (Photo from coasterbuzz.com)

In my opinion, it would look cooler if all coasters did that all the time (the train in the station and the one behind it starting moving simultaneously) and maybe it would increase dispatch times by a few seconds. It would totally increase dispatch times. (Luckily at Toro, our drive motors are like the fastest I've ever seen so we don't lose too much time between trains even with one train moving at a time.) A lot of rides already have systems like this implemented like Maverick and Millennium Force. They're called rolling blocks. I don't know why more rides are built with this. It may be do to costs because I'm sure many more proxy sensors have to be installed and the ride's program probably becomes more complicated.

Exactly. I think the best way to group is just to allow a certain amount of people into the station for one or two trains worth. This way everyone is happy and they can pick their rows. Intimidator at Carowinds was doing this last time I was there.

I know the answer to this one, so I will answer. New Jersey has a law banning the T-bars, so they can't use them on Kingda Ka. El Toro doesn't have the either. This just seems like a weird law. By the way, those videos of Kingda Ka and Zumanjaro running together makes me want to get out there as soon as it opens - the structure will probably shake a lot while the gondolas are waiting to drop. Also, the gondolas appear to be going faster than Kingda Ka when they fall! It's probably just due to deceleration of speed on Ka, though (Hasn't reached top speed on the descent until later) I don't know if NJ has a law banning t-bars. I'm pretty sure Nitro's lapbars are considered t-bars as well. I know Massachusetts does since someone was ejected from SROS. I've heard GADV was responsible for the OTSRs on Ka as they chose them to boost capacity. OTSR are much more accommodating for all guests and almost no on gets kicked off Ka. People not fitting in the lapbars at El Toro is the soul reason for it's capacity issues. Also the breaks at the top of Ka were implented into the design by Intamin. Ka is actually designed to over speed the top hat to try and prevent roll backs. That's why the breaks are there to control the descent. However, the ride doesn't actually run fast enough in my opinion to necessitate them on most days.

The catch car is tested by itself in manual mode. It's the first thing that gets tested when the ride gets started up in the morning. Also, El Toro has the ability to hide a train from the block system. When the train is parked right outside the station, the lift block still registers as empty and the station does as well. We can also advance both trains at the same time forwards or backwards at high speeds in manual mode. It's cool because the two trains will literally be inches apart from eachother.

That's very interesting that you bring that up. El Toro can be a pain to time dispatches properly. The proper interval is right as a train is hitting the first break run. Anything earlier than that and we run the risk of a train stopping on the lift, not that it's a big deal but it shouldn't have to happen at all. El Toro isn't the only ride like that and actually most Intamins have the minimum amount of blocks necessary to run multiple trains. Millennium Force for example has 4 blocks for 3 trains. The Superman Ride of Steels don't even have two seperate break areas and only have that one break run that acts as the waiting break and actual break run. This is completely the opposite of how B&M does things with their long break runs. I know that Bizarro has 5 blocks which makes it much more easier and potentially efficient to run 3 trains. However, the way Intamin designs their short break runs makes it much more efficient to run 2 trains since you don't have to wait 10 years for a train to roll through the break run like on a B&M. Combine that with a quick cable lift and you can have a ride that can do 1,300 people an hour (About El Toro's max capacity) Another fun fact about El Toro is that there are 2 drive tires on the break run right before the transfer track. When switched in manual mode, trains can be stopped before the transfer track and that actually leaves the back two cars of the train still on the incline down from the first break area. This is where we park the train that isn't on the transfer track at the end of the night. In addition, El Toro can not fully operate in manual mode. In order for the train to engage the lift hill, the ride needs to be in auto mode. (One more fact, when doing a transfer on or off, we also have the option to park a train at the base of the lift instead of on the lift hill. In cold weather, this is preferred because the trains get cold when they're suspended high up for so long which leads to valleying issues. I have seen a train valley because of this.)

I don't believe so. As awesome as that would be, I think it was just for filming purposes today. It makes sense from a filming viewpoint cause the footage would suck to watch if the train was crawling over the top like it can some days.

Opening procedures at GADV require us to test the rides with all available trains and then once tests are done, trains can be transferred off for maintenance or due to low attendance. This way, when a train needs to be transferred back on for whatever reason, block and safety checks are already done for said amount of trains so there isn't too long a hold up in operations. We always do morning checks at El Toro with two trains and then if necessary, one train is transferred of and then later transferred it back on in the day if necessary. If you have ever noticed that we load people onto a train as soon as it is transferred on, it's because that train has already been through its safety checks.

Haha thank you! Hopefully I'm not at Tango during your visit. NoLoops over at greatadventurehistory.com just posted this video of Ka and Zumanjaro running together. It's a little shaky but it seems that they figured out a method to have Ka and the gondolas drop at the same time. (Ka was absolutely flying over the tower to keep up haha)

Nevermind this is not true. haha One big thing to remember is that Kingda Ka breaks down constantly. Anything that makes the systems of a ride that already goes down multiple times on an average day more complicated than they already are should be avoided at all costs. From the sounds of things though it seems like it will operate independently. Ryan seems to be a great source for info like that. The two ride programs are completely independent of each other. The only two rides I know of at GADV that basically shared a program was The Chiller where due to power constraints, both rides were basically blocked together so that the two sides were never in a launch area at the same time. This is not the case with Zumanjaro and Ka. The only way they will run together is if timing works in that favor.