The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Mr. Starr]

"first aid room credit"..

 

Ooooohh. Those are fun.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I can still tough out rough coasters, but I get headaches a LOT easier these days. The heat and how much I've eaten also have a lot to do with that as well. I did a 25 cycle Rampage marathon this summer on an empty stomach when it was a few degrees below 100 and I felt like I was going to die.

[billyb67]

Yeha I was getting a few headaches last week, it depends on alot of things you are right, how much you hve eaten, how hot it is, how much sleep you had the night before, how rough the ride is... many things really...

 

Well I am back in Australia so no more Six Flags fun for me for a while.. I think 6 days in a row was enough anyway ..

 

I will probably be at Universal Studios Singapore next year before I get back to magic Mountain

[BeachKidBoy]

I have ridden everything at SFMM but the problems I had were: 1. The restraints on Revolution bust my ears and head. 2. The helix on Goliath 'greys' me out. 3. The loop on Viper causes extreme neck and upper back pain until I knew to sit all the way back against the rest. Also one of the later loops on X2 killed my neck and back until I rode it with Jay and he told me of his favorite seat, after that, no problem.

[atem122]

^When riding Viper, alllways ride in car 5 row 1. The Arrow magic seat!

[BeachKidBoy]

^When riding Viper, alllways ride in car 5 row 1. The Arrow magic seat!

Driver or passenger side?

[atem122]

It doesnt matter, but apparently that's the seat the forces are designed for (I heard this from creditcrazy), I tried it last time and the ride was as smooth as it's ever gonna be! Not a single headbang!

[coasterking2981]

Just to let you all who are going to SFMM anytime soon, Goliath's reopening has been delayed to December 19th.

[Calicoasters]

It doesnt matter, but apparently that's the seat the forces are designed for (I heard this from creditcrazy), I tried it last time and the ride was as smooth as it's ever gonna be! Not a single headbang!

 

Sarah and I tried that row just a couple weeks ago and totally got beat up!

[atem122]

^haha that's odd, IDK, I make sure to hold myself in place on Viper and I manage to do fine at it, its roughness hasnt been a problem for me this whole year! Which is great because it has such an amazing layout.

[billyb67]

my main problem with Viper lately - apart from the general roughness is the last two corkscrews are so slow ALL of your weight is on the harness, it is PAINFUL .

[ebl]

^ Yeah, I agree with that. In its original form, Viper didn't have that trim between the boomerang and corkscrews, so you took the latter a bit faster. It also didn't have that trim after the first loop.

 

Eric

[coasterking2981]

^When were the trims added and why?

[jray21]

I rode it without the trims, but it was so long ago that I don't remember if it was better. I know I think it is much more rough now, but that could be because of my bad memory, the ride getting old, or the trim brakes.

[Jew]

It doesnt matter, but apparently that's the seat the forces are designed for (I heard this from creditcrazy), I tried it last time and the ride was as smooth as it's ever gonna be! Not a single headbang!

 

Considering the fact Ron Toomer was famous for designing rides by bending the wire found on coat hangers you get from dry cleaners...I highly doubt that much thought went into Viper.

[jray21]

^That really does explain everything!

[atem122]

It doesnt matter, but apparently that's the seat the forces are designed for (I heard this from creditcrazy), I tried it last time and the ride was as smooth as it's ever gonna be! Not a single headbang!

Considering the fact Ron Toomer was famous for designing rides by bending the wire found on coat hangers you get from dry cleaners...I highly doubt that much thought went into Viper.

LOL!!!!, true. It could be just a coincidence or something to do with the speed of the ride from car 5...but it seemed to work, for me at least...

[ebl]

"When were the trims added and why?" (coasterking2981)

 

I think it was within a year of the ride opening; not exactly sure. As for "why," the only thing I can think of is to keep the speed down.

 

Also, back during its first few seasons, the track on the big turnaround after the first loop swayed very noticeably. That's why those big horizontal cross members were added to the vertical poles.

 

And for the record, Toomer bent coat hangers to see how new inversion elements would look, not to design the rides themselves.

 

Eric

[Rotura Violenta]

I remember riding Viper in its first season when the lines were massive. It had some pretty crazy air in the front seat, right before the MCBR. But even back then it was a rough ride.

 

Like Colossus, Revolution and Goliath, the brakes have been cranked WAY up over the years, presumably to relieve some mechanical stress on the trains. I've got some video footage somewhere of it flying through that MCBR and hammering down into the boomerang and corkscrews. There was always hang-time on that last cork, but now it crawls through. They should totally stick a flamethrower right there.

 

I still ride it if there is no line. I think it's one of the better drops in the park. But like Revolution, it's a balancing act to keep your ears from getting bashed-in between the restraints.

 

Speaking of ear-bashing, I was a big fan of Flashback -- I always found that layout to be super-weird and really fun. I know everyone hated it, but there was really nothing like else like trying to peer over the top of the train to prepare yourself for the next dive and ensuing head-bashing.

[Troy98]

What exactly are trims on a roller coaster? just wondering because I have heard that term a lot

[atem122]

^They're brakes that slow the ride down, but don't necessarily count as a block section I believe, idk, they might count as a block section in some cases, but their main purpose is to slow a ride down that travels too fast.

[Blythy]

What exactly are trims on a roller coaster? just wondering because I have heard that term a lot

 

they're usually single unit brake runs to slow a coaster that are too fast. Usually to keep the maintenance required on a track down, as well as preventing too much airtime.

 

http://www.rcdb.com/1414.htm?p=12867 here's the trims on silverstar.

 

Generally they wouldn't be block brakes, as block brakes are required to stop a train entering the next block. If trims could stop a train, which they probably wouldn't be able to as they're located on fast sections, then there'd be a hell of an effort to get the train back to the station.

[haiderodes]

^Just to add to that...

 

On some rides, brake units on brake runs pull dual duty as trims as well. Many MCBRs function in this way. If a ride vehicle exceeds a certain speed, it will slow it down. It all comes down to programming, some rides are set up in unique ways. For example on some B&Ms, they allot a certain number of cycles without the trims functioning to account for a "warm up" period. This can work to your advantage if you manage to get the last cycle before the period expires...a trimless ride. I have experienced this on the first train of the day on Superman: Kryton Coaster as well as Riddler's Revenge.

 

With the addition of magnetic brakes, some manufacturers and parks have put in a combination of traditional friction and magnetic brakes on brake runs. In these cases the magnetic brake serves to trim the speed regardless of if the friction brake will need to stop it or not.

 

B&M does this on many rides particularly Silver Bullet and Tatsu as well as GCI on rides such as Prowler, Terminator, etc. This helps cut down on wear and tear on the mechanical friction brakes as the train would be moving at a lower rate of speed through them.

 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg, there's tons of things manufacturers and parks do in regards to braking - some exciting, others not so much.

[FrightFest1408]

What is the color of Tatsu train.I really want to know!

[atem122]

These.