robbalvey Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 If they need 18 people on the ride to run it safely, then how do they do test runs? With 18 water dummies or employees? Just curious. This is more about risk management. They can run it empty or with fewer people but if a ride has a history of vallying due to a lack of weight, they are not going to take a risk of sending the train out without a certain number of rides and then having to evac potentially creating a safety hazard. It's far less of a risk to run a coaster without people than to have your paying customers stranded somewhere in an uncomfortable situation. It really is a bitch to evac a ride if it valleys, especially if it ends up coming to a stop where it's not easy to evac riders. So asking for a specific number of riders kind of kills to birds with one stone. 1. You have a better guarantee that the train will in fact come back to the station. 2. You avoid the risk of having to evac a train in an not-so-convenient spot (may even have to require cherry pickers or even worse the local fire department) and avoid having to dis-assemble the train, winch it back, or remove a piece of track in order to take the train off. (One of those three usually has to happen.) They normally figure out how much weight the train needs to make it around, let's say 2,000 pounds, and do an average weight per rider, let's say 175 and that would be 12 riders needed. Sometimes this number can change due to weather conditions. Perhaps on a day where the winds are above 20 MPH they may need 16 or 18 riders. (I'm just making these stats up as examples, I know nothing about the operations of El Toro, but I do know in general the operations of a coaster that needs x amount of weight to run.) Hope this helps explain things. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrtotheargh Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 (I'm just making these stats up as examples, I know nothing about the operations of El Toro, but I do know in general the operations of a coaster that needs x amount of weight to run.) Can they just put a bunch of cheese on the train to substitute the weight of riders? Maybe that is where all the cheese was and thats why Johnny Rockets didn't have any cheese. Its all easily explained. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coastersrule85 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Just let the riders eat a bunch of cheese before they board the trains. That solves the weight problem with the added benefit of the excess cheese helping to cut down on potty breaks. Ooh! Then Carnegie Deli could sell Laxative Lattes with their Ex-Lax Tiramisu or maybe Cold Stone could serve mineral oil malts. This would help Six Flags to further an increase in revenue, saving the company from ruin! Cheese never felt so good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrtotheargh Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 ^ That may work as well. But what if everyone gets too heavy and then the train valleys because of too much weight. Then I guess they'll have to place a maximum on the amount of riders. Such a vicious cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 This thread inspired me to order pizza for lunch. What was the rest of it about though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 What was the rest of it about though? Something about all the remaining monorails in the world getting dismantled...nothing important! --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrtotheargh Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Something about all the remaining monorails in the world getting dismantled...nothing important! But never disneys surely. It would be the end of the world as we know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Ummm....maybe they should just not even make any attempt to open the park in April because the weather in the East ya know...most always sucks this time of year? Kinda like why CP does not open until the second week of May because it is usually either raining or snowing. I never plan a trip to CP in May because I know that it will always rain on the day I plan on going - Murphy's Law. Save yourself the frustration and go on a day when there is like zero chance of precip. Still not sure why I have such a hard time finding cheese on a stick with cheese dipping sauce anymore at CF parks? How could one resist cheese on a stick w/cheese dipping sauce along with some Happy Friar fries w/more cheese sauce??? Where'd the mf'in cheese go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Something about all the remaining monorails in the world getting dismantled...nothing important! LOL. Is this something I can bring up to guest relations? I mean, this was NOT in the weather forecast. But then again, as long as the cheese doesn't run out, I can live with it, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 we decided to pay the $15 and head to our parking spot to be greeted by no more than 20 cars. Ummm...this was your second visit to the park this season alone, and you obviously have a season pass and plan to keep coming to the park (and probably SFNE since you're midway between them), why do you keep paying $15 to park each time instead of just paying $45 once and being able to park all year at all SF parks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 The last time I went to GADV it rained so badly that everything shut down. But one thing that did not shut down was the safari. It was a ton of fun and it made the boyfriend not hate me as much after he rode El Toro. I highly suggest avoiding feeding your extra cheese to the Ostriches. Those birds are vicious. I am not sure what type a cheese the car in front of us fed the damn thing (swiss? american? or my favorite.. cheddar) but the bird would not leave them alone and followed them for quite some time, pecking at their car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Not as good as the entire version on the EP - but still rocks. This song was supposedly going to be used for Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust pizza, but PH failed and went with something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacups Make Me Sick Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 How could one resist cheese on a stick w/cheese dipping sauce along with some Happy Friar fries w/more cheese sauce??? So there is such a thing as cheese on a stick. I went to Cedar Point a few years back with my brother and I told him that I want to get a cheese on a stick b/c I heard that they are really good. So, I went up to one of the food stands....asked the girl for a cheese on a stick...and she looked at me funny and asked if I wanted a mozzarella stick. I tried explaining, no...there is a snack with cheese---and its on a stick. She still gave me a blank stare, I didn't want to argue with her and got the mozzarella sticks anyway. And my brother laughed at me the whole trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiderodes Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 ^Perhaps you went to the wrong stand? BTW...you can get "Cheese on a Stick" at any Hot Dog on a Stick location...in Cheddar or Pepper Jack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacups Make Me Sick Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 ^Man, they had pepper jack??! Gotta go back there just for that. I think I went to the stand next to the Ninja looking ride...across from the mouse coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netdvn Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I had some cheese in my lasagna yesterday. I love eating swiss and pepper jack cheese the best, American cheese and cheddar cheese follows closely behind. My brother hates cheese for some reason though. I have no idea why he does, but he used to like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 BTW...you can get "Cheese on a Stick" at any Hot Dog on a Stick location...in Cheddar or Pepper Jack Pepper Jack Cheese-On-A-Stick? Man, I must have been looking in all the wrong places! Used to be that CP had seperate "Cheese-On-A-Stick" stands, but I had noticed that they took them all out a few years back - what I thought was an obvious "health choice" PR move made by the park. Guess that I will have to put on my Magnum PI cap and investigate this cheesy scene a bit more! Thanks! Due to all this cheese related goodness and cheesy fanboiz, maybe we should post a cheese lovers thread in the random section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 ^Never mind - I already found this gem... http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39592&highlight=cheese Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrtotheargh Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 hmmm considering this topic is like 90% cheese it may eventually make sense to merge this forum into the one linked above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenaapple1974 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 So students, the moral of this story is to not drive 3.5 hours to a park when it is expected to rain - even if it is a little, that there must be a certain amount of riders/weight on coaster so we do not valley and have to be dismantled in uncomfortable situations, and Oh yes, and every park must have cheese...on a stick! (yummy yummy!) Really, I can not believe that this went on for about 17 pages now. I also cannot believe I have read 17 pages of this! I guess there is entertainment in misery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawrtotheargh Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 ^ We should make this forum into a childrens book. With pop ups and everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxnation Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 If they need 18 people on the ride to run it safely, then how do they do test runs? With 18 water dummies or employees? Just curious. This is more about risk management. They can run it empty or with fewer people but if a ride has a history of vallying due to a lack of weight, they are not going to take a risk of sending the train out without a certain number of rides and then having to evac potentially creating a safety hazard. It's far less of a risk to run a coaster without people than to have your paying customers stranded somewhere in an uncomfortable situation. It really is a bitch to evac a ride if it valleys, especially if it ends up coming to a stop where it's not easy to evac riders. So asking for a specific number of riders kind of kills to birds with one stone. 1. You have a better guarantee that the train will in fact come back to the station. 2. You avoid the risk of having to evac a train in an not-so-convenient spot (may even have to require cherry pickers or even worse the local fire department) and avoid having to dis-assemble the train, winch it back, or remove a piece of track in order to take the train off. (One of those three usually has to happen.) They normally figure out how much weight the train needs to make it around, let's say 2,000 pounds, and do an average weight per rider, let's say 175 and that would be 12 riders needed. Sometimes this number can change due to weather conditions. Perhaps on a day where the winds are above 20 MPH they may need 16 or 18 riders. (I'm just making these stats up as examples, I know nothing about the operations of El Toro, but I do know in general the operations of a coaster that needs x amount of weight to run.) Hope this helps explain things. --Robb Very true Robb, never been to SFGADV but I went to Vegas in January this year, pretty much entirely to hit Desperado, and that thing can be shut down at the drop of a hat, for any reason. It took a lot of careful planning, but it worked out great even got a bunch of solo rides and the ride ops were telling us that the last time it was open which was two days earlier it required 17 people, before it would leave the station due to wind. I'm not sure how many of you have been out to State Line to ride it, but there are certain days were they wont have 17 patrons buy tickets to ride desperado, in an entire day. You have to really plan, sometimes you also just have to get a little lucky too, especially when it comes to wind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 They closed yesterday and today at 2:00 because of the weather. I don't blame them, it has been in the low 40s all day with rain. I have been to parks in bad weather before but even that is too much for me plus they say the wind chill is 35. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Being that it's always fun to try and play God (or...theme park president) every now and again... If it were up to me, I would offer a soft (or better yet - a partially limp) type of opening in April on weekends only. The hours would be from noon to 6:00 PM with a discounted admission price of $19.95 (with a weather asterix prominently noted, of course). I would offer a smattering of coasters and rides such as Batman, Nitro (if it doesn't valley), Toro, GASM, Skull Mountain and perhaps some flats. Save the more problematic rides like Ka, Viper, Lightnin' Loops and Batman/Robin - Chiller for opening day in May. If it rained, I would personally stand out in the rain at the exit gate with (Mr. Six, of course) handing out refunds to the parents and balloon animals to the kiddies - perhaps even dole out various slices of cheese if I were in an extremely stellar mood! Why, I could be the new Roy Wally of the East Coast!!! Yessiree, I could! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsoxnation Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Being that it's always fun to try and play God (or...theme park president) every now and again... If it were up to me, I would offer a soft (or better yet - a partially limp) type of opening in April on weekends only. The hours would be from noon to 6:00 PM with a discounted admission price of $19.95 (with a weather asterix prominently noted, of course). I would offer a smattering of coasters and rides such as Batman, Nitro (if it doesn't valley), Toro, GASM, Skull Mountain and perhaps some flats. Save the more problematic rides like Ka, Viper, Lightnin' Loops and Batman/Robin - Chiller for opening day in May. If it rained, I would personally stand out in the rain at the exit gate with (Mr. Six, of course) handing out refunds to the parents and balloon animals to the kiddies - perhaps even dole out various slices of cheese if I were in an extremely stellar mood! Why, I could be the new Roy Wally of the East Coast!!! Yessiree, I could! Nah, Roy Wally would just have the Moose out front take care of everybody! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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