Airboss

Accidental post

All the ride animations we've seen so far definitely have 12 seats per train. However, at No Coaster Con, their slides said that they would have riders 16 per train: See here. Of course it's possible that it's a simple typo, but it's also possible that they've decided to add an extra car. Guess we'll find out when the trains arrive. Either way, I'd expect the capacity to be pretty low. The extra car would be nice, but then it would mean that they have to check 4 more seats per train. Just to provide a comparison: From my experience, Raging Bull dispatches a train every 100 seconds. Using the formula Capacity = (3600 / Seconds Per Dispatch) * Riders Per Train, this gives Raging Bull a capacity of 1,296 people. For Maxx Force to hit 1,296 people per hour, it would need a dispatch every 44 seconds. I think we can agree that won't ever happen. Prepare for a long line!

Hi all! I took a picture of Maxx Force's construction site last Friday and photoshopped in an image from my NL2 Maxx Force recreation. It's going to look awesome, can't wait to see it in real life!

Just watched a video on instagram of Steel Vengeance flying through the mid-course, not getting trimmed at all. The user reported that every single run was like that, the trims have never activated. The video was on @mac.rides instagram story if you'd like to see it for yourself.

Accidental post

A reddit user is reporting that Steel Vengeance is a walk on right now! And it's only running one train - looks like the rain really scared people away.

Quick question, when does Knott's normally release their hours for next year? Or at least the first few months of next year?

For Steel Vengeance to hit the advertised 1,200 riders per hour, they would need to dispatch a train every 72 seconds. Based on James C's POV, 72 seconds after dispatch you enter the outward banked turn, meaning they would need to consistently dispatch when the train ahead hits the outward. The only issue with this is that from the outward, it takes 70 more seconds to reach the final brake run, while from dispatch, it only takes 50-60 seconds for the train to reach the top of the lift. This means that they simply cannot dispatch at this interval unless the mid-course is a functioning block.

^ Yeah, that's what I meant. I mean that the park has pretty much done whatever they could to keep it open daily, and yesterday was the first day the park was closed since May, meaning it is their first opportunity to work on Steel Vengeance without having to worry about keeping it open. I'm guessing most of the progress will be done during the days where the park is closed.

Or even better, if it's a variable lift motor, then can dispatch almost whenever and the lift hill will adjust the speed until it clears the block, or worst case scenario, stop the lift until it clears the first block. The run time from the top of the lift to the first set of brakes is about 1:25, so 1:45 dispatches are probably the best case scenario, meaning about 800 pph (if in fact the mid-course brake isn't a block). But has that been confirmed by anyone at CP or RMC that the mid-course cannot be a block (it appears to have two different sets of brakes on it)? I am confused why it wouldn't be designed to be a block? Indeed, the theoretical capacity advertised by CP is 1,200 pph and that number wouldn't make sense -- even if those numbers are frequently perfect-case aspirational figures that are rarely (if ever) hit, I think they usually don't list impossible numbers, and anything north of 800-ish pph would indeed be impossible without that mid-course block. It is a variable lift motor. When I was there, the train on the lift sped up considerably the second the other train cleared the final brake run. This obviously confirms that the mid course isn't a block, although the park has never mentioned it. If you take a look at the official POV, you are correct, there are two sets of brakes. The first set is magnetic brakes, which trim the train, but they're unable to stop them. I noticed that when we got trimmed, we were trimmed at the start of the mid course, where the magnetic brakes are. The second set of brakes are the friction brakes, which can stop the train. These brakes would define a block section. Neither RMC or CP have spoke of the Mid Course, they generally stay quiet about the specific issues they're facing with a ride. If I had to speculate, I'd assume that either they ran into a programming issue while trying to program the mid-course, or they're just afraid that the train simply won't have enough speed were it to stop on the mid course, and they simply don't want to risk it. Either way, we're looking from the outside in, there's no way for us to know what's going on. If anyone is heading to the park this weekend, please keep us updated on the status of the ride. Today was the first day since May that Steel Vengeance hasn't operated (excluding the day before CoasterMania), and they still have the rest of the week. I hope they're able to get this thing up to full capacity soon, it's my #1 coaster and I hope more people can experience it.

Speaking of restraints, can we just talk about how quick the SV crew is at checking them? Their procedure is so quick, and it means that not only one, but TWO employees check your restraint in a timeframe of less than a minute. I was extremely impressed at how quickly the line moved, considering only two trains were running.

Today is the last day of daily operations, Dinosaurs Alive, and Witches Wheel. A lot to say goodbye to.

I hit my hands on the side of the train 2-3 times every time I rode SV, but I had been waiting to ride it for so long, so I was too pumped to even care. Definitely a hands-up ride for me, I just let the ride throw me around. I could see how somehow wouldn't like that though. I wonder if it's possible that the reason the MCBR has been trimming is because too many people complained about the ride being too intense and painful?

During my visit a month ago, with two trains, dispatches were on average every 2 minutes and 15 seconds, leading to a capacity of 640 pph. I timed about 10 dispatches using the live camera today, and it was an average of 1 minute 50 seconds per dispatch, which leads to a capacity of 785 people per hour. Not THAT much of a difference, but any little increase in capacity would help. While adding a third train won't lower the dispatch interval, it means that they will be able to hit the dispatch interval more frequently. The downtime between a train being dispatched and the next train entering the station is now eliminated, giving the crew more time to board a train, while still hitting a higher capacity than before.

^ Yes, Steel Vengeance is finally running all three trains! Very exciting.

I was there two weeks ago. While in line for Valravn, it broke down. But what was strange is that they announced that it was down while there was literally a train going through the course. It re-opened rather quickly afterwards, but it was odd that they announced it like that. Imagine being a non-enthusiast on that train and hearing that the ride is broken while you're still going through the course, how scary would that be?

In response to another tweet she clarifies that she *almost* fell into the toilet..

They don't allow you to drive back to that lot in the mornings but you can park in the regular parking lot and take the new boardwalk path that the entrance is located near Gatekeeper in the parking lot and that will take you along the beach to the Breakers entrance and yes that is the closest entrance to Steel Vengeance. Since when don't they allow you to drive back there in the morning? I did it every time I went but once (when I chose to park up front) this year. Plus, if you're staying in The Breakers JJLehto, you'll be allowed to park there anyway, and go in that entrance. I went two weeks ago, can confirm this. You drive down the Perimeter road, and you'll come up to a booth with someone checking for Breakers reservations. If you don't have one, you're told to turn left into the Soak City lot, from which you can just walk to the Magnum entrance.

Wanted to give an update on SV operation. As I stated before, prior to opening they were testing with all three trains. Before Early Entry they took one off. They were consistently dispatching when the other train hit the third inversion. This seemed to be the dispatch interval, as even if the train was secure and checked, they would wait for the train to hit the third inversion to dispatch. The lift hill would start slow and speed up when the other train cleared the FBR, which confirms that the Mid Course is not a block. The Mid Course trim hit at different levels all day. I don't see why the coaster can't run three trains right now. They could run it like Magnum, consistently dispatching at the dispatch interval, stacking 1 train for a short period of time. There was so much downtime between dispatches, which would be solved with the third train. The crew is quick, but not quick enough to require the Mid Course to be a block, from what I observed. My guess for why they aren't running three trains currently is that they haven't gotten certification to run all three trains yet, since it's been open daily for the last 2-3 months. The regular line moves quick as it is, the third train will be a game changer. Once there's no downtime between dispatches, the grouper will be constantly assigning rows, and fhe line will fly. Can't wait for that

At the park now. Milennium Force has been closed all day. When I drove around the park to go to Running of the Bulls, SV was testing with three trains, however they removed one at opening. The MCBR trim is hitting really lightly - much better than it was yesterday. The crew for Steel Vengeance is awesome; when they start operating three trains the line will fly. The locker policy isn't that inconvenient, although the 1hr 27m I spent waiting for it yesterday would have been better with my phone.. Many rides have been closed throughout today, and it's crazy crowded. Hopefully I can get some more rides on SV in, but the FL line is all the way to the entrance..

The only issue with a bin system is that your stuff can be stolen. I'm on a Fan Forum for Six Flags Great America (Great America has bins on *every* *single* *ride*) and I've seen tons of posts about items that were left in the bins/cup holders being stolen. I don't know about you, but I trust my cargo shorts' pockets more than a bin that anyone getting off the ride could access. I'm fine putting a bag with a water bottle in a bin, but I'd NEVER put my phone in a bin. As Robb mentioned, it is absolutely possible to have a high throughput even with bins. As mentioned above, every ride here at Great America has bins, but operations are absolutely fantastic. Obviously not Cedar Point level, but lines move very quick here. It's clear to me that rides can dispatch quickly with bins, as long as the park and its employees are quick. Confused guests are rarely the reason for a slow dispatch here. I'd just prefer if we didn't have to put our phones, or anything that could fit in a secure pocket, in a bin if we don't want to.

Why do some coasters still have bins then? According to their policies page, these rides have bins: Most of those are flat rides, where bins make sense, but a few of them stand out: mainly Raptor, Maverick, and Wicked Twister. These are all high demand rides that all have decent lines throughout the day, and could benefit from removing bins. I personally don't mind the bins, I'm fine waiting longer if it means I can bring my stuff. But the inconsistency seems strange. Of course rides with unloading stations have to be bin-less, but there seems to be inconsistency across rides without an unloading station.

That must have been so much fun! I can't imagine getting that many SV rides.. I wonder of one of you set the record for the most times ridden In other news, according to Queue Times, Milennium Force is closed again, and has been for the majority of the past 24 hours :/ Let's hope they can get it up as quickly as they did last time.

Tony replied to a tweet asking about the status of Milennium Force with "workin on it". Obviously this doesn't tell us much, but if it was going to be down for a while I doubt he'd reply to the tweet like that.

How were Gatekeeper and Valravn's lines their respective opening years? Were they consistently 2 hours long as well?