Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread

[gerstlaueringvar]

I call the first drop at the back of an Arrow looper "airtime" and I identify the Mega-Lite/ Maverick type as "uplift"... But normally those two are put together as "airtime".

[CPmillenia94]

Regardless of whether seat is touching you or not the force acting on you is the same. Negative force feels like negative force.. The only case where I can argue that this isn't the case is with floater airtime, in which case the only way to really sense that the airtime is taking place is when you lift out of your seat.

[OrlandoGuy]

Regardless of whether seat is touching you or not the force acting on you is the same. Negative force feels like negative force.. The only case where I can argue that this isn't the case is with floater airtime, in which case the only way to really sense that the airtime is taking place is when you lift out of your seat.

 

Exactly. You feel "weightless" whenever experiencing 0 G's or less, regardless of if youre "floating" or not. Also, I think a lot of psychological factors play into this whole floating sensation...you may *think* youre being lifted out of your seats on certain rides, but the fact is you aren't...youre just hitting your restraint with a lot more pressure than normal.

 

Bottom line, seatbelts are not going to change the negative G's Diamondback, Behemoth, Intimidatot, etc. pulls, therefore will have no affect on the feeling of "airtime" because your body will feel the same independent of how much space is between you and the lapbar. Its all in your guys' head

[rcjp]

Exactly. You feel "weightless" whenever experiencing 0 G's or less, regardless of if youre "floating" or not.

Once again, I suppose the definition is interpreted differently by different people.

For me, it's simple:

0 G = weightlessness

<0 G = airtime

That's it.

[Anthlon]

Exactly. You feel "weightless" whenever experiencing 0 G's or less, regardless of if youre "floating" or not.

Once again, I suppose the definition is interpreted differently by different people.

For me, it's simple:

0 G = weightlessness

<0 G = airtime

That's it.

totaly agree , my opinion is when X is the "felt" force to you, then i am calling that:

-X = negative Gs

X = 0 ...weightlessness (like zero G roll )

1>X>0 ...air time

[OrlandoGuy]

Exactly. You feel "weightless" whenever experiencing 0 G's or less, regardless of if youre "floating" or not.

Once again, I suppose the definition is interpreted differently by different people.

For me, it's simple:

0 G = weightlessness

<0 G = airtime

That's it.

 

Right, but even so, a tighter lapbar or seabelts is not going to change the G-forces of the ride. If it at any point pulls less than 0 G's, no matter how tightly youre stapled into the seat youre going to feel weightless. So I think we are actually in agreement here, really. Seatbelts can not affect airtime.

[woolandmammoth]

El Toro has seat belts and the best air on any ride out there. Quite possibly the best airtime of all time. I don't see why people are suddenly so obsessed and confused with seat belts. The only down side to them is capacity takes a slight blow.

[rcjp]

Exactly. You feel "weightless" whenever experiencing 0 G's or less, regardless of if youre "floating" or not.

Once again, I suppose the definition is interpreted differently by different people.

For me, it's simple:

0 G = weightlessness

<0 G = airtime

That's it.

 

Right, but even so, a tighter lapbar or seabelts is not going to change the G-forces of the ride. If it at any point pulls less than 0 G's, no matter how tightly youre stapled into the seat youre going to feel weightless. So I think we are actually in agreement here, really. Seatbelts can not affect airtime.

It's obviously not going to change the forces on the ride, but it can change what you feel drastically. For example, on gatekeeper's big airtime hill I know that there is some floater air there (not much less than 0 G) but I couldn't really feel it because I was glued to my seat.

When it comes to ejector air, it's a smaller difference but when we're talking about floater ( 0 to -0,5 Gs, more or less) it does make a difference.

But, to me, it doesn't affect what I consider airtime, just how you feel it.

[GayCoasterGuy]

Forces (G's) are the forces you feel, regardless of whether you leave the seat or not. Airtime is a loose term for negative G's, but some of us define them different now because rides are built different now. You're body does move upward, but there isn't much "real airtime" when you are strapped tightly to your seat.

 

Until the debut of the PTC ratchet bar (Thunder Run at Kentucky Kingdom, I think), airtime was always the type where you popped out of your seat (but were held in the car safely by a higher restraint). There was never any stapling before that; restraints usually only went so far down.

 

Now we have rides were you must be stapled in for safety (Skyrush, El Toro, etc.). It's a good thing that we have those great rides, but the trade off is you have to be one with the seat. We also have plenty of coasters where you dont need to be stapled in, but are due to the newer restraints (I'm primarily thinking about the PTC ratchet bars, as well as the retractable locking seatbelts that Cedar Fair loves on their woodies. Those seat dividers restrict movement, too. But that is more about lateral forces.)

 

They're still good rides, it's just that some of us like to differentiate between the two types of airtime (or uplift force and airtime; we're not debating that the G's basically stay the same). Some people prefer to get that bounce out of the seat; some people don't care. It's all good.

[YoshiFan]

There are very low crowds today. A lot of school trips and a couple hundred cars. Most rides are a station wait.

[The49er]

There are very low crowds today. A lot of school trips and a couple hundred cars. Most rides are a station wait.

Any progress on Zumanjaro?

[coasternut]

^ I was there today and very little work on Z. They were working like crazy last Sunday. Today being (finally) a beautiful day very little progress. Maybe they were off. They were laying more cement walk paths back to the ride, but I'm sure that's not what you were asking.

[DevilsFlight]

Does anyone know when it'll be testing? It should be soon knowing that it's only a couple weeks away from opening

[El Toro_Ryan]

Slightly off topic, but here's a picture of some of the new track work done on El Toro recently.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

Does El Toro really need track work? Wasn't Plug and Play supposed to be maintenance free?

[El Toro_Ryan]

Does El Toro really need track work? Wasn't Plug and Play supposed to be maintenance free?

 

Nothing is maintenance free my friend. In my opinion, El Toro did not need any track work. The ride is still nearly as smooth as when it first opened. Sure there's a few more bumps on it here and there but it's still smoother than most steel coasters I've ridden. Whatever the case, the park or Intamin probably thought this would be the best move.

[Password121]

Does El Toro really need track work? Wasn't Plug and Play supposed to be maintenance free?

I rode El Toro opening day this year, which was probably after most of the track work was done, and it was as smooth as it's ever been, for me at least. The smoothest wooden coaster I've ever ridden by FAR and smoother than 90% of the steel coasters I've ridden. But to answer your question, to my knowledge it is meant to be very low maintenance (no coaster, especially wooden, can be 100% maintenance-free), which it seems to have been. Keep in mind though, El Toro isn't a new coaster anymore, it is quickly approaching 10 years old, and at that point, most traditional wooden coasters are not nearly as smooth as El Toro will be for quite awhile.

 

Edit: ^Beat me to it!

[schotj]

Slightly off topic, but here's a picture of some of the new track work done on El Toro recently.

 

 

I know you work the ride....is there a reason they are re-tracking the brake run first? Seems kinda interesting

[El Toro_Ryan]

Slightly off topic, but here's a picture of some of the new track work done on El Toro recently.

 

 

I know you work the ride....is there a reason they are re-tracking the brake run first? Seems kinda interesting

 

Not that I know of. My guess is that it's a test for possible retracking of higher stress points on the ride later down the road but I could be wrong. That area of track may have just needed some trackwork done. It is interesting thought. I've never heard of any of the other plug n' plays receiving track work.

[rcjp]

Well at least this mean SF is taking proper care of this coaster so that it stays in shape for a long time, rather than just letting it become rough or anything like that.

[_koppen]

It is interesting thought. I've never heard of any of the other plug n' plays receiving track work.

 

Balder still runs like a baby ass IMO, but Colossos could really use some work in the valleys between the big hills, they are starting to show there age.

[DevilsFlight]

It's good to see Toro being taken care of. But as someone said, it didn't need it. There are more rides that need work. Namely Nitro's station and the mist effects on Bizarro. Toro is almost running as smooth as it did when I rode it when it first opened. I understand it's a crowd pleaser but other rides getting the same attention from the park would make things a lot better

[El Toro_Ryan]

It's good to see Toro being taken care of. But as someone said, it didn't need it. There are more rides that need work. Namely Nitro's station and the mist effects on Bizarro. Toro is almost running as smooth as it did when I rode it when it first opened. I understand it's a crowd pleaser but other rides getting the same attention from the park would make things a lot better

 

Nitro is actually receiving work as we speak. The park recently repainted the exit ramp and entrance stairs with shiny new purple paint. Check it out. These photos are all from greatadventurehistory.com. Also, here's a good photo trip report done yesterday showing off the progress the park has made this year (including on Zumanjaro). http://www.greatadventurehistory.com/GATrips_Spring_2014_05_02.htm

[rcjp]

^Last summer when I rode nitro I found there was quite a rough spot on the bottom of the first drop. I've also heard people complaining about the overall lack of smoothness (this I can't confirm myself). I don't know exactly what can be done to improve this but it probably is more important than painting parts of the station (which is still better than nothing, though). But I'll wait to see how far they go taking care of it.

[jetsplumber]

^Last summer when I rode nitro I found there was quite a rough spot on the bottom of the first drop. I've also heard people complaining about the overall lack of smoothness (this I can't confirm myself). I don't know exactly what can be done to improve this but it probably is more important than painting parts of the station (which is still better than nothing, though). But I'll wait to see how far they go taking care of it.

 

when I rode Nitro at coasters after dark, I dodnt remember what train it was, but I was in the 2nd to last row, and had the worst ride ever. it was so bumpy, and it felt like the row was being rocked side to side, horrible. must have been something with that train and row, because the other few rides I rode, was nothing like that.