Let's Learn about the Matterhorn!

[Alpenguy]

Not many coasters have 42 block sections, 20 trains, direct water splashdowns, skid plate mid-course brakes only occasionally on top of hills, sophisticated seat belt restraint systems, free-throw basketball courts above, or manually controlled transfer tables regularly used with rider-filled trains on them. Come to think of it, I'm quite sure there's only one. It's the oldest of Arrows, retrofitted countless times to push safety compliance and capacity to the limit for almost 50 years, and I call it home.

 

Disclaimer: I won't excessively "ruin magic" with this, and don't plan on saying much on anything an informed observer couldn't see by standing around the Matterhorn attraction for a few days, and won't post any backstage pictures of things that aren't easily viewable already from various online sources. I love my job and want to keep it! I do however think this ride is a crazy hodgepodge of about 40 years of coaster technology, and it is operationally more complex and interesting in my opinion than any other coaster I've seen. We just manage to hide that fact pretty well. Any question is fair game.

 

 

First: Yes, there is a free-throw area marked out on the 5th floor, the level right above the ride. If you ride B side during fireworks and the work lights are on, you can see the floor of it right after the lift if you look up.

 

Second: Yes I know the deal with the new trains. That is all on that I'm afraid.

 

 

 

 

The RCDB facts don't say much, just twin tracks, 80' tall. Here are some more detailed statistics:

 

Track A: 2,037ft, average 1:10 ride time from lift to station hold brakes.

Track B: 2,134 ft, average 1:20 ride time from lift to station hold brakes.

Top speed is ~22 mph.

Dispatch interval: 10 train/track minimum is 24 seconds. B side runs at 25 seconds to keep the station moving consistently since the ride time is slightly longer. 9 train operation goes to 28s/29s officially, but is often run at 26 seconds with less consistent spacing in the station. There is actually a lot more time to check seatbelts with 10 sleds at 24 than 9 sleds at 26. The ride can run with as little as 20 second dispatch, but gets very dicey with block spacing in the holding zones since one of them takes almost 20 seconds to clear and uneven weights will quickly cause a backup. Until after the splashdown there is still plenty of block spacing on the gravity section like that.

 

 

Today's main rambling topic:

Block section history

When the ride opened in 1959, there weren't PLC controlled brakes and block zones and all those fancy things. To keep unevenly weighted bobsleds from getting too close to each other, Arrow put about 25 "boosters" along the track, mostly in strategic spots like the big up-hill spot in the middle of the mountain and after the splashdown at the end. Each one is a ~5hp motor spinning a flywheeled tire that contacts the bottom of a sled going by. Set to the ideal mean velocity of a train at that point, each one would slow really heavy sleds or overgreased sleds, and give a bit more speed to light or otherwise slower sleds to keep things even.

 

There were a few large skid pads that could deploy along the track for an emergency stop, but nothing like a modern brake system. In the station the operators manually controlled the brakes for each section until the sleds reached the tunnel entrance and an automatic timed brake dispatched them into the ride. Because this was all hardly fail-safe, the original bobsled nose wasn't hollow like the current ones are- it was 2 feet of impact foam.

 

When 1978 rolls around and it's time to upgrade the Matterhorn, Disney pretty much copied the new block system on Space Mountain in Orlando. There were some huge problems though. Space Mountain was designed from the ground up to incorporate a modern mid-course braking system, with tons of straight sections of track on high sections of the track profile. Matterhorn has about 25 feet of straight track 1/3 of the way through the ride, and that's it. It also meanders along at near top speed the whole way through, with very few spots high enough to allow a gravity start at that point to make it through the rest of the ride. The engineering team did their best to calculate safe spots to add mid-course brake sections for emergency stops, but had to use skid brakes rather than the standard caliper/fin brakes on Space to work with the curves of the Matterhorn.

 

Here is a nice picture of one of the skid-brake mid course spots. Specifically that one is B-10, which is the worse to evacuate or reset. That picture is facing forward, with the splashdown being right after the dip ahead. The 4 plates with rubber circles on them are the skid brakes, with an anti-rollback on the right between the 2nd and 3rd brakes. There are then 2 more safety brakes right on the other side of the dip. That zone is actually skipped if trains start backing up in the station and have to stop mid-course just because it is a direct uphill push to get a train out, and is the only zone precarious enough that ride operators can't evacuate guests from it themselves.

The eventual result was 11 mid course brake sections on each track, with each one having 3-5 primary skid brakes and 2 extra safety brakes after those. The boosters of the original version are still there, with some new ones in the station holding zones too. Because of the placement, starting a sled after it stops in a zone requires 2 to 4 operators pushing it up to speed along that area of track. Some zones are easy and work just through gravity and the boosters, some requiring pulling a sled backwards uphill slightly to get enough run-up space. The other main disadvantage to the skid brakes is that they cannot act as trim brakes- if they're ever used, they're used to completely stop a sled.

 

Here are the brake zone locations, in my words. Following along with

you can pick them out pretty easily.

 

A track

[Tunnel] Right before the lift in the darkness, this lets dispatch happen before the lift is totally clear.

[Lift] Just what it sounds like, it's one zone. Space in Florida has I think 4 zones of lift, still one chain but more precise computer control.

[Zone 1] This stops right next to the ice crystals.

[Zone 2] Right after the really wild turning drop to the right next to the first full bodied snowman, when the track turns left and joins up with B-side.

[Zone 3] In the one straight section of track where A and B are parallel.

[Zone 4] Right after the biggest uphill in the ride where several boosters and an anti-rollback are.

[Zone 5] This one stops really hard, it's right past the next full bodied snowman (did I just call him fat?) during the fastest point of this track.

[Zone 6] Just a little bit further along, right after B side joins up parallel again.

[Zone 7] Right before the really sharp drop. The two safety brakes are actually on the slope down.

[Zone 8] Circling back around the mountain, this is one you can see when walking from in front of the castle over.

[Zone 9] This one sucks. It's the worst one that commonly has loaded sleds in it from a backup stop (cascade). That means since the ride stays powered up, the guests stay in it. You have to pull the sled back up the hill and then really push hard to get it up and over the next hill before the splashdown, and it's very common for a sled to not make it and get e-stopped on the next brakes.

[Zone 10] Right at the crest of the hill before the splashdown.

[Zone 11] The right turn after the splashdown.

[Hold 4,3,2] There are then 3 trains of holding brakes before the station. The left curve into the straight part of the station is hold 2, which is the first place a sled actually stops unless the station is backed up.

 

Ok, that's definitely enough written for today if not this week or lifetime. Like most of us I could ramble on forever about this stuff so toss out any specific old, old, incredibly old school Arrow questions or your own pictures or whatever!

 

Some possible future topics include: Avoiding backups with 8 parking slots, 10 trains and a complete on the spot seatbelt replacement at dispatch; B-side brake zones; Control consoles and panels; Resetting from a complete loss of power; General wacky stories; Similarities to Space and other DLR attractions.

 

Auf wiedersehen!

(That means "Dear God I'm a nerd." in Switzish or whatever. This still only took like 30 minutes to write, I swear.)

[SharkTums]

Somewhere, Jahan just exploded!

[devol4]

^Lol to that

 

^^And to the Matterhorn post.. wow....... Didn't realize something that appeared so simple was so complex..

[Alpenguy]

Addition to disclaimer: I shall not be held accountable in any way for explosions of Jahan or nearby collateral damage due to such explosions.

[devol4]

Addition to disclaimer: I shall not be held accountable in any way for explosions of Jahan or nearby collateral damage due to such explosions.

Lol!

One of the funniest posts I've seen on here... well funny to me at the moment...

 

How long have you been working at Disney?

[ginzo]

Damn dude. Nice post!

[dougr]

I remember those "boosters" when I was a kid. Similar idea to the drive system on PeopleMover.

Any chance of PeopleMover coming back as transportation, maybe between Tomorrowland and Paradise Pier?

[RIP Psyclone]

Watch this clip from "40 Pounds Of Trouble" for some great (the old) Matterhorn footage, both on and off ride, circa 1962. (Approx. 4:53 to 6:37). Especially note the panoramic view of Main Street from the top of the lift hill.

 

 

And Werner Weiss of www.yesterland.com posted these great pics of the inside of the "Old Matterhorn."

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[ghost007jas]

Wow, great post! I had no idea the system was so complicated.

[Jew]

At the end of the day, the ride still sucks. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But it's definitely cool of you to share that information.

[RCFreak]

^ just cause you're too short to ride doesn't make it a bad ride.

 

 

Thanks for sharing that with us, it definitely makes me appreciate modern PLCs on coasters more.

[ebl]

Thank you so much for sharing all of this information about a ride that I once feared, but now enjoy despite being rather rough.

 

Do you, Alpenguy (or anyone) have a good track plan? In all of the times I've ridden, I still can't figure out the layout of this thing.

 

I well remember when the mountain was "hollow" inside and you could see the then single-car bobsleds rolling around the tracks. Those pictures brought back some memories. I think my first ride was about 1966 or 1967.

 

Eric

[mattnz]

Wow that clip of Disneyland was cool ('40 Pounds of Trouble'). Kind of an extended commercial for Disneyland - with a great cast to boot.

 

The Matterhorn looks fun despite those bad Arrow transitions - never their strong point...

[rosscoe]

This thread is one of the main reason i love Theme Park Review.

[Mechanic]

I remember riding the Matterhorn back when the interior structure was all visible. Nice original post and a great you tube video link. Watching that old school look at Disneyland really reminds me of so many things that haven't changed and why I still like the place so much.

[WillMontu]

I thought the video was pretty cool, but I don't understand how they get out of the Mark II (?) monorail and somehow end up on Main Street. I'm also assuming that that train ride was the original mine train ride before Thunder came in.

[DBru]

Wow, that is all pretty amazing. Thank you for sharing all this with us!

[RIP Psyclone]

Thank you so much for sharing all of this information about a ride that I once feared, but now enjoy despite being rather rough.

 

Do you, Alpenguy (or anyone) have a good track plan? In all of the times I've ridden, I still can't figure out the layout of this thing.

 

I well remember when the mountain was "hollow" inside and you could see the then single-car bobsleds rolling around the tracks. Those pictures brought back some memories. I think my first ride was about 1966 or 1967.

 

Eric

 

If only this were currently alongside the model of Space Mountain:

Walt and his model.

[Guy T. Koepp]

This is one of the greatest threads ever. I have such fond memmories of the Matterhorn as it was my very first "big boy" rollercoaster. I still love it! My kids love it! It is timeless.

 

I noticed Jahan hasn't posted here yet. He probably got two sentences into the first post and had a coronary. Can someone go to his house to see if he's still alive.

[RIP Psyclone]

^I agree, Guy.

 

As for EBL, I've seen a handdrawn layout of the Matterhorn tracks. They're probably not perfect, but if I had found them I would have posted it here.

[Alpenguy]

The official Disney overhead layout is extremely hard to follow. I'll whip up a multi-layer simple path drawing soon that makes it pretty simple. If you don't divide it up into at least 3 levels it's a tangled mess of spaghetti. Even standing in the middle of the mountain inside it's really hard to figure out what sections you're looking at above.

 

I also have some physical pictures of the 1978 transformation that I've never seen on the internet, once I get the ghetto scanner (camera) configured I'll post them all.

 

 

The most incredible thing about the cavern transformation is the tiny space where the lift passes through the center cavern, underneath the Skyway ride path. When you see it from outside it just doesn't seem spatially possible.

 

Glad to see the interest in this thread, seems like the layout should be the first general question to answer right now.

 

The second general question appears to be Jahan's current well-being, someone else will have to look into that.

[Mr Stratosphere]

Thanks for the post! Its extremely interesting to me!

I love posts that are like this!

 

John

[DCody]

Amazing thread! I've always been intrigued by Matterhorn and reading the specs is fascinating.

[arrowfanman]

Somewhere, Jahan just exploded!

 

Alright, I steam-cleaned everything and now I'm back!

 

 

 

The Matterhorn is still my favorite Arrow coaster. Really is the most unique thing ever! I remember Lou and I getting pulled from the main line last August and getting a reride. Such a fun little bout of chance! Thanks for posting.

 

-Jahan

[downunder]

^You guys were at Disney the same day I was (Robb told me), the Tuesday after the midwest trip if I remember correctly, I was so tired from the midwest trip, and I was pretty not amused all day.

 

Matterhorn is a fun and a ride with a bit of adventure to it, and it's so old but so good.