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Too bad Silverwood didn't take Flashback off our hands!

 

But that ended up appropriately---as scrap.

 

I, too, have wondered where Georgia's ride will end up. Apparently, SFMM is keeping theirs...for now...

 

Eric

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Glad to see it official, I guess.

 

Anyone feel kind of sorry for Silverwood?

 

I mean, this is what it would be like if Holiday World got a Deja Vu as their first big steel coaster!

 

I'm totally with you on this. There are countless better coasters they could have purchased.

 

Does anyone know how much it cost them?If I ran a park and got a decent price on it, I'd probably jump on it. A new massive roller coaster that is high on thrills generally runs $10 million-$20 million, so they might've got a good value if some of it's problems have been solved.

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One thing I heard during the construction of SFMM's is that Vekoma built all the rides electrical systems with parts approved in Europe, but not for the U.S., so everything had to be redone using parts approved for use here.

 

I wonder if that is part of the reason why Spanish Deja Vu runs better?

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That makes a lot more sense than timers being the major cause of downtime. The train would have to run exactly the same speed every single cycle, which is totally impossible, for the timers to work. With proximity switches, its the position of things, not the speed or timing that matters which allows for the variance in speed the train might have each cycle. Its because of this that I highly doubt they would have designed timers instead of prox switches into it. That being said, the root of the problems could very easily be the way the electrical system was designed as was mentioned.

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^I believe there are "timers" built in. If the train doesn't clear a block by a certain time, it assumes something is wrong. I would guess that this time is based on the longest possible time it could take for a train to make it up the tower/back through the station/etc.

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I don't have much experience with these monsters, but they DO look nice. I think a small park would profit from something like this as it is a landmark attraction. Good on them for buying it and taking a risk.

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^^That totally makes sense as a secondary or backup to the prox switches. But if it was confirmed that the timers were shutting it down because the train was consistently late and it wasnt because of a mechanical issue on the train, then couldnt the timers be adjusted to allow for that or is it locked in forever and cannot be changed? Sounds like a simple solution but something is missing here and I would think they would have tried that. Not an expert but doesnt seem too complicated. I did want to say glad a removed Vu has found a home. I really like these, wish there were more, and would like to see 300ft. towers.

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Yeah this is awesome news, the more of these that they keep around the better!

 

A big problem with Deja Vu is that its concept is a difficult one to begin with. Vertically catching a moving 4+ ton 8 car train with 32 riders on it, its a sketchy task in general-one you basically never see. Especially the way Vekoma did it, with the cables and catch car. If you watch the cart it speeds up with the train to catch up to it on the 2nd and 1st spike, pretty amazing it works at all if you ask me.

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It is totally amazing. Fascinating to watch. Interesting how the Invertigos use chains and these use cables. I have always wondered what the lift motors hp rating is. Would also like to know exactly how the catch car grabs the train, I would guess it grabs one of the brake swords but how exactly? Sounds like maybe there is a hydraulic pump operating some kind of clamping device? Would really like to know.

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If Silverwood can get this thing to operate at a higher level, they may have one of the best selection of coasters for a smaller park (speaking based on what others have said about the park and deja vu). It may look kind of funny though since from what I understand Silverwood is more or less on a flat piece of land, and the tallest thing they had before was the drop tower they added i think a year or two ago.

 

I hope to get out there sometime in the near future for Deja Vu, Tremors and Timber Terror.

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The ride should run fine at Silverwood, it was fixed up a lot at SFGAm its final year and ran pretty consistently. Even if the ride runs the same at Silverwood as it did in SFGAm in 2007, the enthusiast crowd will be praising Silverwood for having it up that much.

BTW SFGAm definitley did not neglect DejaVu, that thing was babied like no ones business.

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(not neglected like when it was at Six Flags Great America)

 

Six Flags Great America neglected Deja Vu?!?!? Puh-lease You have no idea how many hours maintenence spent on that ride every single day.

I know what you're saying. People think that just because it was a maintainace nightmare that it was Great America's poor maintainance. They spent lots of time on it.

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^^^^Bahahahaha

 

My only question is what is it about GIBs that make them so prone to break downs? Is it the vertical lift mechanisms? Is it the catch-car on the reverse spike? Did Vekoma just goof on the first 3 they built and thats why Stunt Fall is good?

 

I'm sure if they just got the formula right and made these have more than >1% reliability they'd be a smash hit. When I went on one I thought it was the coolest thing!

 

Maybe Silverwood will use that magic touch and put everything together carefully so that nothing creates more problems than it needs to.

 

Nahh it's that fact that SFI was stupid enoug hto buy three of the rides & not take care of them properly from the beginning.Anyone notice that out of the three flyers vekoma designed the only one still having major downtime is the sole remaining SF ride?

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I still wonder why anyone would want on of these!

 

Because they're effin bad ass and intense as hell! Duh!

 

What other rides (besides GIB's) do you fall straight down 177 feet in inverted style trains?

 

^^Very true. It was the plain fact that it was a crapshoot when you install 3 of these that one or two of them are going to have problems. Great America just didn't have luck on its side. I mean, MM's Deja Vu could very well have had the exact same luck.

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I still wonder why anyone would want on of these!

 

Because they're effin bad a$$ and intense as hell! Duh!

 

What other rides (besides GIB's) do you fall straight down 177 feet in inverted style trains?

 

I second that. The experience on GIBs is absolutely insane and unlike any other! Just the way you slowly creep up the spike as ALL your body weight is on the restraint, is terrifying! It is one of my favorite coaster experiences.

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Silverwood needs a good steel coaster, not these crappy hand-me-downs. It's got some damn good woodies, but that's it. If they're going to acquire old steel coasters, they should get something like a Batman clone or something on that level. Come to think of it, when Astroworld closed down, how come they didn't acquire any of those coasters?

 

 

I've been there once, and a crappy Deja Vu clone is not enough to bring me back.

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Hi everyone, my brother Chris and I operate the Silverwood site Roller Coaster Alley website (www.rollercoasteralley.com) and this news broke a couple of months ago on our message boards.

 

Anyway, we have a close relationship with park management and talked to a representative briefly about the downtime of the ride. In their words, "According to Six Flags, the ride’s negative reputation was really built during its early years, but isn’t fully deserved now. They reported to us a downtime last year of 2 – 3%." Again, Silverwood's words, not mine.

 

Yes, they are having a contest to re-name the ride. And I've no doubt Silverwood will treat this thing with only the best of care. They take pride in their park and know they have a good thing going. They will do their best to keep this ride up as much as possible.

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