coasterbill Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Yeah, if they opened it at 34 degrees I'm thinking it's pretty much just open now. lol What's crazy is that unlike it's counterparts there are no wheel heaters to speak of on Flashback. Apparently that ride's just a bad a**. I have a weird, new-found appreciation for Flashback for some reason so I'm sort of liking this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steamedturtle Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 I absolutely share your enthusiasm. It's so great to see Holiday in the Park on the east coast succeeding for so many reasons. It's just a win win win win win. The parks are crowded and lively, and even the worst line isn't bad at all. Hopefully they'll continue to invest in and expand this event. Obviously, riding coasters in the cold and dark is an awesome experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 By not heating the wheels, I guess it shows the 3 valleys in April probably weren't related to the cold then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDarkMaxim Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Will everything still be going in today's snow? I imagine it would make it even cooler looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 I fully expect them to close today, though if I'm wrong and people actually show up that would be amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted December 10, 2017 Share Posted December 10, 2017 Anyone head to the park today? Would love to see some shots with the snow and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice1972 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Hi guys I have been a fan of TPR YouTube videos for a while and just signed up here as my interest in theme parks and especially coasters continues to grow.....we have been members now at SFNE for 2 seasons now and it has been so great to come here and be able to ride one of the truly special coasters ever built - Superman.....solid shout to Wicked Cyclone too....Inhave always loved roller coasters but there was a while there for many years I did not ride one.....then we got the SFNE membership and I’ve gotten back into it.....anyway here’s my topic..... We are season pass holders and have enjoyed the inaugural Holiday in the Park here......a good portion of the park is closed - like the whole lower area where Superman is and then the north end of the park where Wicked Cyclone is - but the rest is open and they are operating Batman, Mid Eraser, Thunderbolt, and Joker......question is how the hell are they doing this when the temp was at 30 maybe a tick lower......I love all the roller coasters here and while Batman has gotten a bad rap it’s not a bad coaster IMO and I rode it 3 times tonight.....last row then front row then right in the middle.....it seemed to run fine but I was reading up on coasters in cold weather and the general theme was that under 40 the ususal practice is to close..... it was easily below freezing tonight.....as well as last Sunday night when I rode Batman twice.....I will note that Batman did speed check itself at the bottom of the dive right before the picture is taken.... so IDK, if slow speeds are a worry during cold weather Batman seemed to be going fast enough that it needed to be speed checked during the ride..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 under 40 the ususal practice is to close..... it was easily below freezing tonight question is how the hell are they doing this when the temp was at 30 maybe a tick lower How the hell are you using your GPS when the car is in motion? The instructions totally said not to. I don't work in maintenance and don't claim to be an expert, but there are a few factors at play here. 1) This is America, the most sue-happy country on the face of the earth. I'm NOT speaking from authority and I am completely speculating but my gut tells me that the manufacturers came up with these recommendations to cover themselves from liability (if... let's say a coaster saddles in a place where riders are stuck for hours and then they turn around and sue the park), and the parks obey these recommendations so if something does happen and someone tries to hold them liable they can turn around and pass that liability on to the manufacturer. If they didn't follow these recommendations, the manufacturer would likely tell them to go screw (sorry, that's a bit of complex legal jargon) and be absolved from liability. I pulled that COMPLETELY out of my a**, but I feel like that's very likely what's going on here, especially because other countries who aren't as sue happy seem to have no issue running coasters in the dead of winter (hi, Japan!). From what I can tell, the coasters can run fine if you don't mind a few close calls in morning testing, and the park thinks that the risk/reward is worth it if it means they can stay open 2 extra months and make a notable profit in November and December for (likely) the first time in their history. They likely don't think the event would be nearly as profitable without their coasters, and they're likely correct. Other parks have different philosophies but also appeal to different demographics and/or invest more heavily in non coaster related holiday offerings like shows / ice skating rinks / animal encounters / snow slides and things of that nature. 2) Unlike at Great Adventure, Six Flags New England's plan for running coasters in the winter is more involved than just hitting the dispatch button and hoping for the best. In addition to likely using harder / faster wheels, they use wheel heaters on all of their coasters for the event. I went into a little bit of detail elsewhere so I'll just quote my previous post in a different thread. Joker and Mind Eraser had heat lamps in their stations. They weren't right on the wheels, but they warmed the temperature of the station overall which was nice for the riders, the people in the queue and for the train (as they were pointed at the train, just backed off 5 to 10 feet). Batman (their floorless coaster) had tons of huge lamps under the track pointed up at the floor mechanism and the wheels. On a more interesting note, they brought out the heavy artillery on Thunderbolt (their classic, valley-prone wood coaster). They had an enormous (and I mean enormous) propane heater attached to a tube and a sheet metal vent system they built under the station that absolutely blasted the wheels with heat to the point that even sitting on the train waiting to dispatch was awesome since you were nice and toasty warm just sitting in the train despite the 31 degree temperature. They were monitoring the speed and if it ever ran slow they just waited a few extra minutes to send it while they blasted the entire thing with heat. It ran great. Also, once a coaster gets warmed up it runs faster. There's a big difference between cold starting a coaster on a 27 degree night with a test run of an empty train and starting it with the sun out at 2 in the afternoon when it's likely 15 degrees warmer, running it all day which gets the wheels warmed up and causes it to speed up and then having it drop down to 27 degrees later on at which point the coasters has been running for 6 hours already... especially since it's running 1 train which means it's never parked on the block brake. It's ALWAYS either moving or sitting over heat lamps in the station so the wheels stay warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice1972 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Anyone head to the park today? Would love to see some shots with the snow and all. I just saw your post today but we were there last Sunday the 10th and the park looked great with all the snow......I was nice how they cleared it too by actually hauling it away rather than push it to the side.....they left landscaping untouched so the lights buried under the snow really made it look good.....we went back yesterday and they had lost some of it but it still looks good.....probably the only SF doing HITP with actual snow? IDK maybe Great Escape.... Carousel as you enter the park...... Cool ornament with Fireball in the back..... In the kiddie area with Superman lit up in the back..... Another view of cool ornament looking back the other way with Scream and Goliath in the back.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice1972 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Awesome thanks....the legal stuff wasn't nearly as interesting as the technical coaster stuff.....on a side note when I rode Batman yesterday for the third time in a row - there was no line - I noticed that it speed checked itself right before the entry into that cool roll it does after the pic is taken.....Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think.....I also have a lot of coasters to ride too lol.... How the hell are you using your GPS when the car is in motion? The instructions totally said not to. I don't work in maintenance and don't claim to be an expert, but there are a few factors at play here. 1) This is America, the most sue-happy country on the face of the earth. I'm NOT speaking from authority and I am completely speculating but my gut tells me that the manufacturers came up with these recommendations to cover themselves from liability (if... let's say a coaster saddles in a place where riders are stuck for hours and then they turn around and sue the park), and the parks obey these recommendations so if something does happen and someone tries to hold them liable they can turn around and pass that liability on to the manufacturer. If they didn't follow these recommendations, the manufacturer would likely tell them to go screw (sorry, that's a bit of complex legal jargon) and be absolved from liability. I pulled that COMPLETELY out of my a**, but I feel like that's very likely what's going on here, especially because other countries who aren't as sue happy seem to have no issue running coasters in the dead of winter (hi, Japan!). From what I can tell, the coasters can run fine if you don't mind a few close calls in morning testing, and the park thinks that the risk/reward is worth it if it means they can stay open 2 extra months and make a notable profit in November and December for (likely) the first time in their history. They likely don't think the event would be nearly as profitable without their coasters, and they're likely correct. Other parks have different philosophies but also appeal to different demographics and/or invest more heavily in non coaster related holiday offerings like shows / ice skating rinks / animal encounters / snow slides and things of that nature. 2) Unlike at Great Adventure, Six Flags New England's plan for running coasters in the winter is more involved than just hitting the dispatch button and hoping for the best. In addition to likely using harder / faster wheels, they use wheel heaters on all of their coasters for the event. I went into a little bit of detail elsewhere so I'll just quote my previous post in a different thread. Joker and Mind Eraser had heat lamps in their stations. They weren't right on the wheels, but they warmed the temperature of the station overall which was nice for the riders, the people in the queue and for the train (as they were pointed at the train, just backed off 5 to 10 feet). Batman (their floorless coaster) had tons of huge lamps under the track pointed up at the floor mechanism and the wheels. On a more interesting note, they brought out the heavy artillery on Thunderbolt (their classic, valley-prone wood coaster). They had an enormous (and I mean enormous) propane heater attached to a tube and a sheet metal vent system they built under the station that absolutely blasted the wheels with heat to the point that even sitting on the train waiting to dispatch was awesome since you were nice and toasty warm just sitting in the train despite the 31 degree temperature. They were monitoring the speed and if it ever ran slow they just waited a few extra minutes to send it while they blasted the entire thing with heat. It ran great. Also, once a coaster gets warmed up it runs faster. There's a big difference between cold starting a coaster on a 27 degree night with a test run of an empty train and starting it with the sun out at 2 in the afternoon when it's likely 15 degrees warmer, running it all day which gets the wheels warmed up and causes it to speed up and then having it drop down to 27 degrees later on at which point the coasters has been running for 6 hours already... especially since it's running 1 train which means it's never parked on the block brake. It's ALWAYS either moving or sitting over heat lamps in the station so the wheels stay warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Great pictures! probably the only SF doing HITP with actual snow? New Jersey is currently snow covered also. [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Awesome thanks....the legal stuff wasn't nearly as interesting as the technical coaster stuff.....on a side note when I rode Batman yesterday for the third time in a row - there was no line - I noticed that it speed checked itself right before the entry into that cool roll it does after the pic is taken.....Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think.....I also have a lot of coasters to ride too lol.... What is with all the .... in your posts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice1972 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Awesome thanks....the legal stuff wasn't nearly as interesting as the technical coaster stuff.....on a side note when I rode Batman yesterday for the third time in a row - there was no line - I noticed that it speed checked itself right before the entry into that cool roll it does after the pic is taken.....Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think.....I also have a lot of coasters to ride too lol.... What is with all the .... in your posts? Sorry. I read and post on a weather board and have for a long time and over time my posting style has evolved into a very loose conversational style. The ellipsis are just where my thought changes or where I think I need them to convey my point. I'll work on it lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think Who hates Batman? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think Who hates Batman? The Riddler, and maybe Ben Affleck......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Maier Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Great pictures! probably the only SF doing HITP with actual snow? New Jersey is currently snow covered also. [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] Cold and snowy coastering . . . . sure beats getting scorched coastering in July/August Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 We were actually talking about this when we visited Holiday in the Park in New England a few weeks ago. I'm not a fan of winter, but I'd MUCH rather walk around a theme park with snow on the ground and temps in the 30's than on some of those 98 degree, 100% humidity theme park days from this past June in Florida. It keeps your beer cold at least and you can dress for it. You can't dress for oppressive heat and humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice1972 Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 We were actually talking about this when we visited Holiday in the Park in New England a few weeks ago. I'm not a fan of winter, but I'd MUCH rather walk around a theme park with snow on the ground and temps in the 30's than on some of those 98 degree, 100% humidity theme park days from this past June in Florida. It keeps your beer cold at least and you can dress for it. You can't dress for oppressive heat and humidity. Dude I know. It can be extremely difficult during those deep summer months like July and August. Certainly SFGA and SF Georgia are worse but still I can't even. We went to SFGA in 2016 and I was dripping waiting for Kingda Ka to take off. But man what a ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ytterbiumanalyst Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 Batman is a nice ride....it gets a lot of hate I think Who hates Batman? The Riddler, and maybe Ben Affleck......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 Thanks for the pictures. It definitely seemed like Batman was using harder wheels. It sounded louder than it usually does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 ^ I'm glad someone else thought Batman was running louder too. I was trying to remember if it had always been that loud or if I had just been oblivious. It makes sense they'd do what New Jersey did for their B&Ms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sluggo77 Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 ^Good it wasn’t just me either LOL. When I was in the South End it just hit me that it doesn’t normally roar like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesman Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 ^ Also noticed this, glad it was the wheels. My thought was that it gained the B&M roar with age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coasterbill Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 The park is going to get killed next week with temperatures struggling to get out of the teens basically all week if the forecast doesn't change (which it very well may). Anyone looking to get one last ride in on the coasters should probably go Tuesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canobie Coaster Posted December 23, 2017 Share Posted December 23, 2017 Has Great Adventure ever closed due to cold? I know when they're open everything seems to run. Thankfully it looks like the only day of consistent snow is Christmas itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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