The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread

[Tmcdllr]

^ Yeah that would totally not make sense. Why engineer two different cars when one design will work just fine on both rides?

 

I was just thinking, I have never experienced the emergency brakes behind the station . With the cars being turned around running into those would be very interesting.

[Sir Clinksalot]

^ Good point. Something tells me they are going to have to remove the tarp type thing between the launch and the emergency brakes. It's one thing to crash into that going backwards but quite another to crash into it face first. Plus, the new cars don't have that high back, so even if it was a regular launch, it it would probably still hurt.

[Gigalyte]

LOL talk about rubber necking, that lady in the video head/neck looks like it should be on stretch Armstrong.

 

I was wondering something TOT and S:TE are both 415 feet tall, SFMM sits atleast I'm guessing 35 to 50 feet off the ground does TOT sit that high off the ground also?

 

In one of the reviews for TOT2 it was said the car is comming to about 10 feet or so from the top of the tower, So what I'm trying to get at, is what is the total vertical drop of these rides? How tall is the tower itself? and if it's getting pretty close to the brakes at the top then how much drop footage can one expect.

 

 

I've never ridden S:TE and seam to get anywhere near those brakes at the top, so if the upgraded S:TE get anywhere near that high this should be one amazing freefall drop.

[vacoaster09]

Forward to 35 sec.

 

[ScottBrown]

The Tower of Terror's car didn't get the stadium seating, but is it possible that between now and when Superman reopens, Intamin could design the new vehicle that way?

I'm going to assume that all of the trains will pretty much be the same. I can't imagine all that design and engineering going into this to only make three cars total, and two of them being different than the first.

 

--Robb

 

Are they going to have both tracks running these trains or one forward and one backwards

[Hydraglow]

Man, those videos look great! I can't wait to see if Superman turns out similar!

 

I think that is really going to improve the ride. Backwards on Superman is going to be amazing! Can't wait!

[ebl]

"I can't imagine all that design and engineering going into this to only make three cars total..." (Robb)

 

That's my thinking as well, to be honest. There are times when similar rides get an update, and one of them gets "Version 2.0" for a valid reason (like the new X2 trains vs. the ones on Eejanaika in Japan).

 

About the emergency brake run behind Superman, they will likely remove the plastic curtains for the reason stated above, but build a cover over the brakes to darken that area and "hide" it from view. Or put some theming back there and let it tie into the ride somehow. Other rides don't hide their transfer tracks, so having it open wouldn't be an issue.

 

Eric

[wados]

the ToT looks good will have to ride it in the next few weeks...and will be over in LA just after christmas so if this is what they are doing to superman and it is finished by then i will be able to compare the 2.

[Gmaster562]

Is there a date that says STE should be coming out around?

[ebl]

^ The sign said "Spring 2011," which could be as late as early to mid-June. But no specific date.

 

Eric

[stricklandCC]

Wow!, I never knew superman looked so...super? I guess a few anatomical oddities are nothing he can't handle. I'm not sure if they should change this, or keep it for nostalgic factors!

[KDcoasterMAN]

Here's another of those Australian news stories...

 

I love the title...

 

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/theme-park-battle-heats-up/x50hxeq

[gisco]

Here's another of those Australian news stories...

 

I love the title...

 

http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/theme-park-battle-heats-up/x50hxeq

 

After watching that video, I want to eat at Hungry Jacks

[nagro5]

^^^They could put him up in the museum in the tower. That would be cool.

[thrillgeek]

I think the transformation of Superman will be cool and all but I think a lot of people will still be disappointed if the ride doesn't go back to 100 MPH. We've heard before that it cant, simply because of the cost and the energy it takes to do it. Oh well.

[Calicoasters]

I think the transformation of Superman will be cool and all but I think a lot of people will still be disappointed if the ride doesn't go back to 100 MPH. We've heard before that it cant, simply because of the cost and the energy it takes to do it. Oh well.

 

It has nothing to do with the Cost of Energy. They don't run Superman at 100 MPH because it burns out ride components (I don't know what they are called) causing the downtime to increase tremendously.

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

^With that said, I'm hoping the idea of launching backwards is enticing enough to bring back some of the rides old novelty. But I guess only time will tell if it does.

 

As for the statue...Pretty funny how the one for the Super Store in front of Ninja looks better than the one mounted on the tower... I say they just take the one from the Loney Tunes Super Store and mount that one on the tower

[sixflagsguy5]

The backwards launch looks really cool. I'm interested to see how the airtime compares while dropping face-first. I know on backwards wood coasters, the airtime was better while facing backwards, but that's not a vertical drop. I also think it would be cool to move the superman figure down about 30 feet, so you pass him on the way up.

[Mechanic]

I also think it would be cool to move the superman figure down about 30 feet, so you pass him on the way up.

The way the ride was running before this makeover started, you'd have had to move him down about 150 feet to have any chance of passing him on the way up.

[Tmcdllr]

I think the transformation of Superman will be cool and all but I think a lot of people will still be disappointed if the ride doesn't go back to 100 MPH. We've heard before that it cant, simply because of the cost and the energy it takes to do it. Oh well.

 

Lighter cars will make a big difference, I don't think this will be a problem.

[ebl]

Does anyone know how high the cars get on Tower of Terror? That would be a good indication of what we can expect.

 

Eric

[triggernel]

^10 feet from the top.

[ebl]

^ Thanks for the info.

 

One other thing to consider---from the pictures I've seen, the Tower of Terror's horizontal track is at near ground level, while Superman's is on top of the mountain. So really, the Superman cars don't have to climb vertically as far because of what I estimate to be about a 60- to 70-foot difference in height from the base of the tower.

 

Eric

[kf2010]

It has nothing to do with the Cost of Energy. They don't run Superman at 100 MPH because it burns out ride components (I don't know what they are called) causing the downtime to increase tremendously.

 

Burns out ride components? As far as I understand as the car moves faster down the track, the timing between the firing of the track magnets gets exponentially quicker, and the 1996 computer system currently in place just can't handle it at those speeds. The computer loses the placement of the car on the track, and the ride shuts down. When they slow the launch down, the firing is slower, the computers can handle it, and it allows the ride to run much more consistently. There were electrical problems regarding the power cables with Superman at first, pulling too much power through cables that couldn't handle the capacity, but they were replaced long ago, and it has nothing to do with the ride not going 100mph.

 

^10 feet from the top.

 

I believe a reviewer said that but I have yet to see a video of the ride actually going that high. I grabbed a shot of the video posted a page or two back where the ride was being launched, and the video cuts away just a second before the car comes to a complete stop. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see brakes which leads me to believe it might not go as high as previously mentioned by that reviewer. In this image, just the distance between the car and where the image cuts off is about 25 feet or so, not to mention the distance to the brakes. So for Superman, I think we're going to have to wait, PRAY, and see.

 

One other thing to consider---from the pictures I've seen, the Tower of Terror's horizontal track is at near ground level, while Superman's is on top of the mountain. So really, the Superman cars don't have to climb vertically as far because of what I estimate to be about a 60- to 70-foot difference in height from the base of the tower.

 

Eric

 

Whether the ride is on a mountain or on flat ground, a car moving 100 mph will still reach the same height up identical towers, so the height distance between the launch track and top of the tower are probably very similar, its just that one of them is on a mountain. According to RCDB ToT is 377 feet tall, and Superman is 415 feet tall, which means Superman gained the height record just by being on top of a hill. Basically, it "lifted" the station and launch track, also lifting the overall height of the ride from the top of the tower to the ground.

 

It also means the distance above your head when the car zooms over is about 40 feet. If you took ToT, lifted it, and put it where Superman is now, you'd have to extend the base of the tower support by 40 feet so it could reach the ground, and the height of the tower would probably also be in the 415 feet tall range. The car would go just as high, therefore both Superman and Tower of Terror climb vertically about the same height. Although on Superman you're 40 feet higher from the ground than you are on Tower of Terror.

 

I drew this, hope it clears things up.

 

[fatdaddy]

^During Q and A at West Coast Bash they said that some ride component was burning out on the return, maybe resistors or something I can't remember and I don't know enough about the ride to speculate. But it was indeed ride components that being burned out the was preventing the ride from running at top speed.