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Six Flags Great Adventure (SFGAdv) Discussion Thread


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  • 2 months later...

http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23183

 

Following a major lightning storm which rolled through Six Flags Great Adventure on Sunday, El Toro was closed on Monday with ride operators saying they were hoping for having the coaster operating later in the day.

 

El Toro never reopened.

 

CF's own Jerry (East Coast(er) General) decided to investigate the scene to see what exactly was the cause for El Toro's unusual downtime.

 

After getting in contact with a senior engineer at the park, Jerry reports that during the lightning storm, El Toro was struck at the very top of its lift hill at the top most sensor. This wild electric current then traveled down the entire lift hill, wiping out all of the electrical system.

 

“When you go up there you see smoldering cables & electronics that extends the length of the lift. It took out everything. It’s a real mess.”

 

The engineer continued to explain that they are now waiting for replacement components and are hoping for a Friday reopening, in time for Saturday's Rise & Scream ERT.

 

Given the magnitude of the damage though, El Toro could be closed for longer, as Rolling Thunder's staff has been put on notice for Saturday's Rise & Scream ERT in the event El Toro cannot reopen.

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Given the magnitude of the damage though, El Toro could be closed for longer, as Rolling Thunder's staff has been put on notice for Saturday's Rise & Scream ERT in the event El Toro cannot reopen.

 

D'oh! That'd be like driving a KIA while your Ferrari is in the shop.

 

 

EDIT: It's also funny that the 456ft. lightning rod next to it got nothing.

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On the TPR Midwest trip, Avalanche at Timber Falls was struck by lightining the night before we were supposed to have ERT on it, again compromising the electrical system. It took something like 6 electricians, 10 hours, and having to scrap parts off of their log flume to get it up and running for us, but they did.

 

Granted, El Toro is much bigger and I doubt SFGAD is looking to scrap from other rides, hence why we are waiting for components. That being said, once they do come in, it wont be too long before the ride is up.

 

 

 

 

Which is good because I'll be on it in a few weeks.

 

-Jahan

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It better be ready when we go for the East Coast Trip. I've been on it a bunch of times but I was looking forward to the hour of ERT we are getting on it. Oh yeah I was there on Monday & Nitro broke down & never reopened as well as Kingda Ka, but that was only down for awhile. I am not happy with GADV right now.

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CF's own Jerry (East Coast(er) General) decided to investigate the scene

First off, no offense to CF's "East Coaster General" but I'm not going to take some forum guy's hersay information as any kind of factual infomation.

 

I can tell you that in my experience WORKING at parks, that sometimes the head engineer may not have the correct answer you're looking for.

 

How about using some common sense? El Toro is the #1 ride in that park and the #2 wood coaster in the world (even though it should be #1).

 

I have seen first hand that a wood coaster that has been struck by lightning can re-open THE VERY NEXT DAY. I would have to assume that Six Flags would be doing everything they can to get it open.

 

For those of you on the East Coast Tour, please keep up with the trip forum. We have a call into SFGadv and we will update you as soon as we hear something, but I will be the first to tell you that if the ride is not open, there isn't really much we can do about it, so please don't be upset or roll your eyes at Elissa or I.

 

--Robb

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I really hope its open in time for everyone going on the TPR trip, but as long as its open in 2 weeks when I drive up there I'll be extremely happy.

 

I had a bad enough trip up there last season, I would hate to have my favorite coaster down for the day again.

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First off, no offense to CF's "East Coaster General" but I'm not going to take some forum guy's hersay information as any kind of factual infomation.

 

Rob,

No offense taken, I was only trying to pass along what I had heard & never claimed it to be factual.

I found out today that the gentleman that gave me the information I posted on CF was not a ride engineer (that was the term I used to differentiate him from ride operations staff), but part of the ride maintenance team (the guys that actually do the work on the coasters).

As you know all too well, the park will not give out any information other than saying that rides are closed from time to time for maintenance, that is why I tried to find out more. It was never my intention to cause a stir, rather just to inform people who were thinking of going to the park that the coaster is closed for an unknown period of time.

Today I did find out that El Toro is still closed, but I also got 'official' confirmation that the park hopes to have it opened by the weekend. I will be attending Saturday's Rise & Scream, so hopefully El Toro will be back up and running for the event. Even if it is not open by the weekend, I am sure they will have it fixed long before the TPR event.

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^ I do appreciate you telling us what you know. Just want to make sure people understand that in cases like this no one person really knows for sure how long something will take.

 

And if anything, I think it was more how VerticalZero quoted you and the topic title that created the stir.

 

I've been in touch with the park as well and without really getting anyone's hopes up one way or the other, they don't seem that worried about it which make me not that worried about it.

 

But that's all I say....

 

--Robb

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There is no need to worry about El Toro being down for much longer. I was informed today by one of the higher-ups in rides that the ride should be operational this weekend, if not tomorrow. It just needed some parts to get replaced after a severe thunderstorm blew through the area.

 

Everybody happy!

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Well that stinks and I'm glad it didn't catch fire either. That would have been terrible! I hope it gets back up tomorrow.

I would think that every coaster at Great Adventure is grounded very well, they're not going to catch fire.

 

It is kind of funny though that people are saying "x coaster was hit by lightning and it took this long to fix". When something is hit by lightning it's very random what components it takes out and what components it doesn't. Even if you surge protect them, if it hits the component itself or anything after the surge protection box it might blow out anyway. I'm sure no 2 lightning - coaster incidents are alike.

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