deguy123 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Here is a sad report from another source - an ACE event. The lift motor for El Toro has blown! They are going to try to rebuild it, but if unsuccessful the ride is done for the season. If they're able to rebuild it may only be a few weeks that it's down. I know they'll (6 Flags) do their best. I just wanted to share this bit of bad news this morning. I really hope they are able to get it back up and running! Sept 7 is Gay Day and I always look forward to riding thing at midnight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Does anyone have any ideas on how much a lift motor costs? If it wasn't too astronomical, I would think they may want to have a spare in house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkeyman18 Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Here is a sad report from another source - an ACE event. The lift motor for El Toro has blown! They are going to try to rebuild it, but if unsuccessful the ride is done for the season. If they're able to rebuild it may only be a few weeks that it's down. I know they'll (6 Flags) do their best. I just wanted to share this bit of bad news this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Idiot God Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Goddamn it. I'm going there in about a week and I'm gonna be pissed if El Toro is still out by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted August 15, 2013 Share Posted August 15, 2013 Ouch. Good thing it happened towards the end of the season. A lift motor isn't normally something that's kept in stock however some parks have spares and swap them out every year during the rides rehab. IE: KBF has 2 motors for Zoom's flywheel. While 1 is in operation the other is being rebuilt and they are swapped during rehab. Problem with GAdv is that they most likely only see the need for the 1 motor and rebuild it during the off-season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenbowl Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 This is not a good summer for the amazing US coasters. NTag, iRat, I305, and now El Toro!? I really hope this isn't a lengthy downtime for the sake of all the visitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. M Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 I was really looking forward to my trip in September. Definitely won't bother if El Toro's down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UrbanLegend Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Man, that ride really tied the park together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 How long was X2 closed when its lift motor died? A LONG TIME! I hope they can get it back working for the rest of the season, it's a great ride. Oh Six Flags... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 (edited) Anyone locals what day the motor blew? I rode it the morning of Saturday the 10th. Edited August 16, 2013 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biker7766 Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 I rode it Saturday the 10th and again Sunday the 11th, so I really don't see how the ride could've been closed for a week or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonni Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 How long was X2 closed when its lift motor died? A LONG TIME! I hope they can get it back working for the rest of the season, it's a great ride. Oh Six Flags... Hopefully that was jus MM operations and doesnt reflect how GA will take care of the problem....but we shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoasterFEV Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Does anyone have any ideas on how much a lift motor costs? If it wasn't too astronomical, I would think they may want to have a spare in house. Lift motors for large coasters like this are pretty unique due to the amount of torque needed to get a train up the lift hill quickly. Buying one new could be upwards of $150,000. The other challenge is that these things usually have a really long lead time of 20 to 30 weeks once you place an order. For marquee rides, it's really not all that unusual for a park to keep a spare one in inventory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazywolf88 Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Here is a sad report from another source - an ACE event. The lift motor for El Toro has blown! Of course the ACErs break the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 How long was X2 closed when its lift motor died? A LONG TIME! Yea it was closed about 8-10 weeks if I remember correctly. X2's issue was the gear box I believe which has even longer lead time than a motor. Does anyone have any ideas on how much a lift motor costs? If it wasn't too astronomical, I would think they may want to have a spare in house. Lift motors for large coasters like this are pretty unique due to the amount of torque needed to get a train up the lift hill quickly. Buying one new could be upwards of $150,000. The other challenge is that these things usually have a really long lead time of 20 to 30 weeks once you place an order. For marquee rides, it's really not all that unusual for a park to keep a spare one in inventory. You're right, parks usually keep spares so when one is in operation the other is being rebuilt. My thinking was that GAdv may not keep a spare as they have an off-season to rebuild the motor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RideofSteel Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 I rode SORA for the first time today. The line was 80 minutes long (we got in line a little before noon), and the ride was 45 minutes long (We didn't get off at Camp Aventura.) I was really pleased by the ride. We were on a road most of the time, and the driving through water was very gimmicky, but seeing tons of animals made up for it. Our guide knew a lot about the animals and seemed very passionate about her job. Our driver did not stop at all though. It would have been nice to stop for a couple seconds when they were pointing out animals so we could take pictures. I also think they should have given out tickets that said come back at a certain time instead of having everyone wait in line. Overall a great addition, but it could use some more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanM64 Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 The year I worked at SFGAm the lift motor for Batman the Ride blew during Fright Fest, and they had a spare motor for it, so they just swapped the bad one out with the spare. I can't remember what day it actually broke, but I know it was out of service only 1 operating day, so they do have spares for at least some coasters. I would think El Toro will be down only a week tops if they keep a spare. I know BTR is a chain lift and El Toro is a cable, but assuming the gears are fine I doubt El Toro's motor is any more complicated. Keep in mind that BTR's lift motor is by no means easy to change, as it is mounted out top of the track, and squeezed in between the top of the track and the ceiling of the station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonni Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I'm assuming El Toro is still sitting idle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biker7766 Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 Yes El Toro is still down for the count. I'm going to probably start a new sort of daily thing that ill do to give brief updates on the park! Ryan's Semi-Daily Diaries I went to the park yesterday, Saturday, and I picked up a Gold Flash Pass. It was quite crowded and I was only at the park for a few hours, so I was only able to ride 5 rides. Dark Knight x1 Nitro x2 Skull Mountain x1 Kingda Ka x1 I had a nice day considering that I was only there for 3 hours, but on a crowded day, in my opinion, that is quite a good selection of rides conquered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biker7766 Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 Ryan's Semi-Daily Diaries. I went to the park today for a few hours, the crowds were kind of heavy for a Monday. Skyscreamer had about a 40-45 minute wait all day long or at least until 4. The Ferris Wheel's line started at about 5 minutes, but by the time I left it had become a 20 minute wait. One thing that I noticed about the Skyscreamer queue line that I had never really seen, was that ever so often people would jump into the Flash Pass line and then meet up attempt to meet up with family or just to simply get on the ride quicker. I noticed Batman The Ride had about an hour or so line and Dark Knight seemed to have a 25 minute line. Rolling Thunder had a 25 minute line around 12:15. Safari had a long 2 hours and 30 minute wait, and then died down a little as the day went on. Also something that shocked me today, was how Skull Mountain had a 30 minute wait within a half an hour of opening! Thats very rare! Also, unfortunate news, El Toro is still closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted August 20, 2013 Share Posted August 20, 2013 I was there from 5 to 10 and I also thought it was very crowded. Kingda Ka had the switchbacks full and part of the overflow queue was full too. The person at the entrance said it was a 2 hour wait but I don't think it was that bad because the person at Nitro said it was 90 minutes and took only 35 minutes. Even Rolling Thunder had a line almost to the entrance but no switchbacks were being used. In the 5 hours I managed to ride Nitro twice, The Dark Knight, Tango, Bizarro, Skyway, Skull Mountain and The Log Flume once each and Rolling Thunder 3 times (I waited until 9:20 when it was a 2 train wait and then a walk on) and Runaway Mine Train twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonni Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Do you think the employees telling people longer wait times than they actually are is a ploy to sell more Flash Passes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biker7766 Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Yes and no. Sometimes I think they just don't know and sometime to sell more Flash Pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastCoastKid Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 Usually the employees aren't very reliable and neither are those signs in the queues. (Nitro's signs are almost double the actual wait time!) So I pretty much just get in line, and if it's moving then I'm content. If they really tell the employees to lie to the general public, that's soooo shady. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parallax Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 It depends on the ride. Green Lantern and Superman are the two that the employees are usually spot on with. Everything else is always shorter than they say it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now