Dollywood Discussion Thread

[Djwadeknox]

^ could be adding or taking off a train. Also if someone gets sick they do that as well. It opened back with in 20 minutes

[DoinItForTheFame]

And there's the TC in the app. Fingers crossed it's something minor like adding a train.

 

I knew it was too good to be true!!!

[Djwadeknox]

And there's the TC in the app. Fingers crossed it's something minor like adding a train.

 

I knew it was too good to be true!!!

 

It back up....

[dstephe9]

^ could be adding or taking off a train. Also if someone gets sick they do that as well. It opened back with in 20 minutes

This is true, someone puked on Wild Eagle once when I was next to get on it. They cleaned the train which took about 10 mins because the ops couldn't do it.. they called someone in to do it, after they cleaned it they ran it once or twice to "dry it off" is what we where told.. I'm sure it was just a test run. Entire process took 15 - 20 mins and the app had it TC the entire time

 

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[LukeFlynn]

The tool a fellow member created will be very useful in the coming days...

 

http://dw.jonstoddart.com/ride.php?ride=Lightning%20Rod&day=2017-06-16

[DoinItForTheFame]

It back up....

 

That's what she said...

 

On a serious note. Glad to see that it was nothing major. Hopefully they have most of the kinks worked out!!

[coasterbill]

Hopefully they have most of the kinks worked out!!

 

Hopefully but this is the first day it's operated in months so I think we should probably curb our excitement

[LukeFlynn]

It's been exactly a month.

[coasterbill]

Okay... my point still stands.

[LukeFlynn]

Okay... my point still stands.

 

Yes, it does.

[Jccoasterfan]

Glad to hear the ride has finally reopened! Hopefully it will stay more consistent in terms of operation.

 

WBIR-TV wrote yet another article talking about the coaster's downtime and some of the gp comments on their facebook page about it are nearly unbearable. Not able to post a link to that article but it doesn't really discuss too much, other than talking about how many days the coaster has been closed, etc.. It's more of a follow-up to last month's article.

[Dollywoodlover20]

So on Facebook in the Dollywood comments, a Dollywood ride op said LR was pulling 90 and they couldn't figure out why? As much as I doubt that a bit of me thinks...could this thing do 90 and that would be kick ass. But still.

[LukeFlynn]

So on Facebook in the Dollywood comments, a Dollywood ride op said LR was pulling 90 and they couldn't figure out why? As much as I doubt that a bit of me thinks...could this thing do 90 and that would be kick A$$. But still.

 

Pffft, that rumor again!? That' so 2016.

 

LSMs require such ridiculous precision and control that there is quite literally no way that would be able to happen. Also, the company that designed and programmed the ride control system (Irvine Ondrey Engineering) confirmed this rumor to be false when it was first circulating in June of 2016.

[Jccoasterfan]

Pffft, that rumor again!? That' so 2016.

 

I think I need some ibuprofen. I'm just glad to see the coaster back up and running. I will be visiting in a few weeks so hopefully it stays open and doesn't have any more hiccups in between now and then!

[Dollywoodlover20]

So on Facebook in the Dollywood comments, a Dollywood ride op said LR was pulling 90 and they couldn't figure out why? As much as I doubt that a bit of me thinks...could this thing do 90 and that would be kick A$$. But still.

 

Pffft, that rumor again!? That' so 2016.

 

LSMs require such ridiculous precision and control that there is quite literally no way that would be able to happen. Also, the company that designed and programmed the ride control system (Irvine Ondrey Engineering) confirmed this rumor to be false when it was first circulating in June of 2016.

Hahahaha I know I was just saying what the ride op said on Facebook. Doesn't DW have some kind of rumor/confidentiality policy with its employees?

[Jccoasterfan]

^Haha. These rumors have been all over the place with this coaster from the beginning (even with the GP). It's hard to believe anything as we keep hearing so many different things about what could've been wrong. But as I said before, let's just be glad the coaster is finally open again and hope it stays like that for as long as possible.

[dstephe9]

So on Facebook in the Dollywood comments, a Dollywood ride op said LR was pulling 90 and they couldn't figure out why? As much as I doubt that a bit of me thinks...could this thing do 90 and that would be kick A$$. But still.

 

Pffft, that rumor again!? That' so 2016.

 

LSMs require such ridiculous precision and control that there is quite literally no way that would be able to happen. Also, the company that designed and programmed the ride control system (Irvine Ondrey Engineering) confirmed this rumor to be false when it was first circulating in June of 2016.

 

Now I'm not saying that the ride is going 90 and don't believe so, but last year's rumors had more to do with the ride reaching 90+ MPH sometime during the course of the ride.. While the LSM require precision, they are definitely not launching the train at 90.. With that being said, a lot of other factors could cause the train to reach 90 during the course of the ride, such as train weight, rider weight, type of wheels (also why Dollywood changes wheels during the winter) and so on.. With them testing the ride with various different weights, that could suggest that on some rides the train was going to fast.. 90, probably not but over speed yes.. Also, if their is a failsafe to shut the ride down if it gets to those speeds, that could also suggest this might be happening. The control system company just said the launch wasn't causing those speeds and couldn't.

 

Again though, you can't really trust ride ops with anything lol

 

Also, with Dollywoods confidential agreements, that's up to the employees to actually keep those.. we have seen employees post here then quickly delete, meaning they probably had a slip in their mind and did it on accident.. Also, it's hard to prove someone "really" said something on the internet from an HR standpoint. My HR team at work hears "I was hacked" at least once a year. Even though TN is a "At Will" state when it comes to jobs, as soon as the HR team hears that, it gets very complicated and normally the complaint against whoever ends up having to be dropped.

 

With that being said, sensors could also be reading the wrong speeds, which is very possible.. so while I personally don't feel the train is doing 90, it is a possibility that this might be the issue, just like all the other possible issues we have heard..

 

Rumors are rumors though and you can't trust employees with anything (this is true with any job).. just yesterday the clerk at Best Buy told me all video games where going up to $89.99 this Christmas and that Nintendo had discontinued the Switch (which is why it's out of stock) when I went in to buy Arms.. I know that's not true but hey an employee said so lol

 

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[SFOGdude25]

Even if the ride's speed varied a little here and there, there's no way it could reach 90 mph. That's almost 20 mph over the ride's designated top speed of 73. The whole over-speed theory is just ridiculous and needs to be buried immediately. IOE (the suppliers of the PLC system) said it themselves last season.

[dstephe9]

Blame it on the park, both reports came from supposedly ride ops..

 

With that being said, last season I said someone should take a GPS on the ride and see the readings when this rumor came about, I actually did that and I don't believe I ever posted the results (maybe I did, I can't remember)

 

Disclaimer: Consumer GPS should never be considered a scientific way to measure speeds.. I know that. I used 3 devices to test, but still not scientific! All devices other than the watch where in zipped cargo pockets for safety!

 

1.) Outdoor GPS (Highend Consumer model that cost about $400)

 

2.) Nexus 6P with a speed tracking app (I'd post the screenshot of the app, but unfortunately that phone has shattered and expanded due to a bad battery)(in my car this app always reported 2 - 3 mph higher than my cars speedometer)

 

3.) And a GPS enabled watch with on board GPS and speed app (Used as a control device that had direct access to the sky while the other two devices where secured in sealed cargo pockets which could possibly interfere with readings)

 

All devices had max speed within 3MPH of each other

 

Over 10 test showed max speed of around 73 - 76 MPH, so give or take the margin of error, that's 72 - 73 HOWEVER two test did show a Max speed of nearly 80.. Never over 80 as far as I can remember though, not an official test so I wrote those off as "Flukes".. take the 3mph margin of error and the rides max speed was well under 80.

 

Again, not an official test but interesting readings nonetheless.. Keep in mind, this was after the first closure and took place during late summer/early fall.. the rumor was well before that time so any issues could very well have been fixed at that time.

 

I in no way every think the coaster can reach 90! Lol.. if anything, given my phone always reported 3 MPH faster than my cars speedometer, the ride might actually be slow at times clocking only 71 - 72

 

Also keep in mind, the vertical movements could also interfere with GPS speed, so this is definitely not a speed gun test my any means

 

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[LukeFlynn]

Even if the ride's speed varied a little here and there, there's no way it could reach 90 mph. That's almost 20 mph over the ride's designated top speed of 73. The whole over-speed theory is just ridiculous and needs to be buried immediately. IOE (the suppliers of the PLC system) said it themselves last season.

 

+1

 

All coasters are designed to operate within a certain margin, it's almost impossible to stay at or under the specified speed every time based on train weight (which is different every time).

[Jccoasterfan]

Even if the ride's speed varied a little here and there, there's no way it could reach 90 mph. That's almost 20 mph over the ride's designated top speed of 73. The whole over-speed theory is just ridiculous and needs to be buried immediately. IOE (the suppliers of the PLC system) said it themselves last season.

 

+1

 

All coasters are designed to operate within a certain margin, it's almost impossible to stay at or under the specified speed every time based on train weight (which is different every time).

This.

 

That rumor should've never started in the first place last year.

 

Anyways, I'm just gonna post this here just to show how stupid people are these days. This was found in the comments of the WBIR post on facebook from last night:

[LukeFlynn]

Even if the ride's speed varied a little here and there, there's no way it could reach 90 mph. That's almost 20 mph over the ride's designated top speed of 73. The whole over-speed theory is just ridiculous and needs to be buried immediately. IOE (the suppliers of the PLC system) said it themselves last season.

 

+1

 

All coasters are designed to operate within a certain margin, it's almost impossible to stay at or under the specified speed every time based on train weight (which is different every time).

This.

 

That rumor should've never started in the first place last year.

 

Anyways, I'm just gonna post this here just to show how stupid people are these days. This was found in the comments of the WBIR post on facebook from last night:

 

This is hilarious. It's even better that he's acting arrogant about his ignorance.

 

Can I please buy some proper grammar?

[BrianGC]

Good lord....if he's actually a contractor, I definitely would like to avoid his business at all costs.

[Djwadeknox]

I heard the reason for the closing was the coaster was run on unicorn farts and someone left the valve open on the container the farts were stored in and they had to wait on a new shipment from never never land. I know this because I'm a contractor that specializes in unicorn fart structures.

[Vonni]

I heard the reason for the closing was the coaster was run on unicorn farts and someone left the valve open on the container the farts were stored in and they had to wait on a new shipment from never never land. I know this because I'm a contractor that specializes in unicorn fart structures.