Intamin Rapids Ride

[SoCalJasonland]

Do Intamin round rapids boat rides have a high and low setting for getting you wetter on hot days? I rode Bigfoot Rapids at Knott's on April 26th, a cool day and again on August 26th, that was warmer.

 

On April 26th, I was hesitant to ride because it was colder but the seats looked dry in the raft so I chanced it. I think during the entire ride that water splashed over the side twice and all three guests were relatively dry. On August 26th, the summer day, water splashed over the edge most of the ride and all three of us had wet shorts and shorts. We didn't hit any geysers or waterfalls during the ride but the rapids splashed more water into the boat in August.

 

I thought we had low raft pressure and we were riding low until I noticed that everyone getting off the ride was wet. When I walked up the exit ramp, I noticed only half the pumps were running as water was only coming out of one of the outlet pipes. For some reason, I had an early picture from April and both of the outlet pipes had water coming out of them. It would seam that the lower water lever from running one pump during the summer would make the rapids more turbulent from the submerged fake logs / pipes. If the water was higher, the rafts could glide better over the top without tipping as much.

 

Is this intentional to make the ride splashier or does Knott's just run it with one pump down sometimes?

April 26th, water outlet pipes of Bigfoot Rapids

August 26th, with one pump off

[coasterbill]

While I have absolutely no idea, I'm not incredibly interested to know. That's a pretty cool observation.

[Spideyfreak]

The following is based on Thunder Canyon at CP.

 

There are two pumps on each side of the lift conveyor, so in your pictures you're only seeing half of the total pumps. The ride only needs 3 pumps on to run. Thunder Canyon only uses 3 and they rotate which ones are on day by day. If you turned on all 4 at the same time the river would just flow faster because you're trying to push a higher volume of water through the same space. That doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get wetter though. It's also a waste of energy to run all 4 if the ride only needs 3 to run with proper water levels.

 

The likely scenario in your first pic is that the pump not being used that day was on the other side of the lift and not visible. On the other day in your second pic the pump not being used was on the side closest to the queue, and therefore visible.

[BigBad]

I'd imagine that it's intentional. Mack's website remarks that they can vary the splash size for their Super Splash. Intamin's people have probably had the same idea that most people would like to stay somewhat dry when it's cold out.

[SoCalJasonland]

The following is based on Thunder Canyon at CP.

 

There are two pumps on each side of the lift conveyor, so in your pictures you're only seeing half of the total pumps. The ride only needs 3 pumps on to run. Thunder Canyon only uses 3 and they rotate which ones are on day by day. If you turned on all 4 at the same time the river would just flow faster because you're trying to push a higher volume of water through the same space. That doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get wetter though. It's also a waste of energy to run all 4 if the ride only needs 3 to run with proper water levels.

 

The likely scenario in your first pic is that the pump not being used that day was on the other side of the lift and not visible. On the other day in your second pic the pump not being used was on the side closest to the queue, and therefore visible.

 

I checked Google Maps and found the other two pumps that I couldn't see on the other side. The image isn't that great but it seams to support that one pump off is normal. I guess I will ask next time if there is something that makes you get wetter in the summer.

[Jew]

Sounds like it's just how your boat was loaded and drifted through the trough...luck of the draw

[Coastinmiller]

This thread reminded me of another question long forgotten. I remember somewhere that you could actually spin the raft, i cant remember the park. I remember fighting for the spin to try and get the others wet under falls and other features. I've tried researching it and have found nothing. Anyone know of a rapids ride with a manual spinning raft or am i just going crazy in old age?