The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[rcdude]

Does the park have a schedule for when Superman will be down during the construction of YOLOcoaster? When I go out there (sometime between April 1 and 9) I will probably only get one day and wanted to get a ride on it.

 

Since they have finished construction in that area of the park, I'm guessing Superman will be running regularly from now on. Note that it is one of the more operationally inconsistent coasters at the park, however, so it tends to be closed at random with no warning. While the ride is certainly unique, it's not a huge loss if you miss it.

 

Full Throttle's backwards launch is one of those things that I think will be pretty fun, but I wouldn't mind if it was absent. The reality is that the backwards launch probably only adds 10 seconds to the ride time and they could only do maybe one more train per hour without it as the coaster couldn't launch the next train until the previous train reached the station (pretty much like Xcelerator). If the second launch was just a boost, it likely couldn't act as a block as the track doesn't appear long enough to accelerate the train to the required speed without the backwards launch. Besides, having the longer ride time due to the backward launch will hopefully mean no stacking will occur on the ride and the park will be able to get close to the theoretical 800 riders per hour.

[alilstronger]

^ Thank you!

[willthethrill]

Let's all be honest, there's no way another train is launching that quickly; they could rock you back and forth a few times and it still wouldn't matter cause the track length is so short... hmm that just gave me a nice idea. They should have used that tunnel launch to rock the train a few times before boosting totally over the top-hat. We'd get some nice fall back airtime a-la Montezuma's revenge.

[gisco]

^ I'm with you on them being able to launch another train in such a short time. This is SFMM after all. I can see them stacking with just two trains.

[Manic Monte]

I say bring on the backwards launch. The more forces they can squeeze out of this short layout, the better!

[TyRush]

I think the backwards launch will be fine. I think an extra launch, and some hang-time is better than not.

I agree it seems pointless, but hey, it just adds to the YOLO experience

[rustyinpeace]

The backwards launch on Mr Freeze reverse blast is by far more intense than its former forward facing one, however I feel that Yolo's backwards launch is going to be weak considering it only sends you halfway into the half loop. (I wonder how tall the half loop is). The backward launch would have been much better if it sent the train all the way through the half loop dive back, through the twist turn and half way up the giant loop instead. Then fall forward and blast through the tunnel.

 

The laws of physics kinda prevent this from being a realistic scenario. When the train falls from 160 feet, it has enough energy to make it to the second launch. If you cut that height in half, there's no guarantee the train can make it back to the launch again considering that entire section is at an upward slope. Honestly that's just asking for a train to get valleyed.

 

What's more concerning me in this ideo is the curve at the top of the snake dive. It seems way to small for the manufacturer to allow trains to be flying through it at a high speed to make it reach the loop and roll back to it, It create forces exceeding 5g's.

[CPFanBoy]

When is this thing gonna open? Before June 20?

[EastCoastn07]

^ I'm with you on them being able to launch another train in such a short time. This is SFMM after all. I can see them stacking with just two trains.

 

There's also a limit to how quickly you can launch a train to prevent the LSMs from heating up too quickly and potentially overheating. So regardless of how quickly the ops can load/unload the train there's always going to a maximum capacity due to this timer, even if they chose to eliminate the backwards launch.

[Sir Clinksalot]

What's more concerning me in this ideo is the curve at the top of the snake dive. It seems way to small for the manufacturer to allow trains to be flying through it at a high speed to make it reach the loop and roll back to it, It create forces exceeding 5g's.

 

You honestly don't think they don't know exactly what forces this ride is going to pull?

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^LOL

[TyRush]

What's more concerning me in this ideo is the curve at the top of the snake dive. It seems way to small for the manufacturer to allow trains to be flying through it at a high speed to make it reach the loop and roll back to it, It create forces exceeding 5g's.

 

You honestly don't think they don't know exactly what forces this ride is going to pull?

Exactly, they know what the forces will be. I honestly don't think it will be I305 intense G's, but it should nice! And i would think that with premier's train type it can make a sharp inversion like this one

[vacoaster09]

Since they technically will only be able to have one train on the course at a time.. and considering this is SFMM with large attendance, it would've been nice to see Six Flags opt to have the sliding stations (a la Mr. Freeze) so they could load two trains at a time allowing room for 4 trains vs. 3.

[EastCoastn07]

What's more concerning me in this ideo is the curve at the top of the snake dive. It seems way to small for the manufacturer to allow trains to be flying through it at a high speed to make it reach the loop and roll back to it, It create forces exceeding 5g's.

 

You honestly don't think they don't know exactly what forces this ride is going to pull?

 

I believe he was saying that if they launched it any faster in reverse than it is supposed to go to make OP's scenario realistic, that it would exceed g-forces that probably wouldn't be acceptable to the manufacturer. Which he is absolutely correct. Because if the dive loop is designed to have a certain allowable g-force and you increase the speed the train goes through it to roll back all the way to the loop again, then you're exceeding those allowable g-forces that the ride was designed for. Everything he said is completely reasonable.

[DJeXeL]

What's more concerning me in this ideo is the curve at the top of the snake dive. It seems way to small for the manufacturer to allow trains to be flying through it at a high speed to make it reach the loop and roll back to it, It create forces exceeding 5g's.

 

You honestly don't think they don't know exactly what forces this ride is going to pull?

 

Premier has no idea what they're are doing. He and ^ have valid points.........

[COASTER FREAK 11]

Since they technically will only be able to have one train on the course at a time.. and considering this is SFMM with large attendance, it would've been nice to see Six Flags opt to have the sliding stations (a la Mr. Freeze) so they could load two trains at a time allowing room for 4 trains vs. 3.

 

I don't think that would work here. The sliding stations only work with a shuttle style coaster, when the train is going through the station again after it launches. But the way its designed, it cant ever have more then 2 trains out on the course at once anyways (One at Launch 1, and one cresting the top hat) So even if they had a giant station with 10 trains it would not increase capacity, the rains would just be stacking.

 

Were we ever told how many trains the park bought? And how many they 'plan' to run on a regular basis?

[DJeXeL]

^Robb confirmed via the park that they will only have 2.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

LOL, that's terrible.

[DJeXeL]

Yea it is. But hey, YOLO!

[Wes]

YOLO, so spend a lot of that time queued up for YOLOcoaster because it has terrible capacity!

[bostonlva]

could the two trains be larger then normal (hold more people) to compensate only having two?

[vacoaster09]

I don't think that would work here. The sliding stations only work with a shuttle style coaster, when the train is going through the station again after it launches. But the way its designed, it cant ever have more then 2 trains out on the course at once anyways (One at Launch 1, and one cresting the top hat) So even if they had a giant station with 10 trains it would not increase capacity, the rains would just be stacking.

 

Were we ever told how many trains the park bought? And how many they 'plan' to run on a regular basis?

 

The sliding station system would work for a continuous circuit coaster as well. However, I agree that it would not alleviate stacking... I was more concerned with the ability to have more trains.

 

Also I can't even see SFMM having 2 trains on the course at a time. Realistically, the green light to launch a train would only come after the train has cleared the crest of the top hat which is pretty much when the train has started to enter the magnetic breaks that slow it down during the descent (thus the ride is practically over before the next launch begins). Yes, the concept video shows one train in the loop as the train is going over the top hat... but such a case is completely un-realistic because in the worst case scenario if the train did not clear the top hat it would roll back to the tunnel which is short while the other train is heading into it.

 

2 trains is terrible (even though 3 cars for a total of 18 each). However they can only dispatch a train once the other is done with the entire course. Yolocoaster will be the number most hated line at SFMM. With a sliding station they could have 3. Sliding stations would work because you can still achieve a launch from the station whereas the only other option would be to have a double long station but with the space constraints that's difficult.

 

Jim seay in an interview when asked about the possibility of doing sliding stations for S:UF at SFDK he said they could do that if the customer wanted... so I can only assume that Six Flags (for whatever reason *cough - to minimize costs - cough*) only wanted 2 trains. Lines are going to be atrocious!

[SoCalCoasters]

YOLO, so spend a lot of that time queued up for YOLOcoaster because it has terrible capacity!

 

Compared to Green Lantern and Superman w one side running, Full_Throttle will probably have better capacity.

[vacoaster09]

That's with Superman not running at full capacity though... Which is not its full capability... Yolo at its full capability will be worst (especially if you anticipate stacking... Superman can't stack).

 

I guess this will give you plenty of time to gulp down your coke freestyle drink in line while you eat your "Yolo"Wings and your "Cray Cray" Burgers, and Sweet Brown "Ain't nobody got time fo' dat" fries.

[rcjp]

could the two trains be larger then normal (hold more people) to compensate only having two?

 

Yeah, why not? If they can only have two trains running it would seem reasonable if they were larger 'cause, let's face it, 18 riders is not very impressive (some B&M hypers can carry the double).