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PortAventura Discussion Thread


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Finally we've got the chance to see all the new area at night. Shambhala train has orange LEDs in the front, plus the white ligths from the ridercam. Also the sides of the trains have lights, but they're not working yet. Source: pa-community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now... the splash!!

 

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Howdy folks,

 

 

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Have mooched about these forums a tad bit when Google often redirects me here. I won't lie and pretend I'm the biggest roller coaster fanatic in the world (I do like them, of course, who doesn't, but I wouldn't be the type who'd travel the world for them.. though I'm in Ireland, if I were in the US I'd probably be a fair bit more determined).

 

Anyway, skip to the end, I'm going on a holiday with a group of friends in September, to Salou. Will be a typical lazy holiday, but we all plan to visit Port Aventura, as some of us were there in 2010 and enjoyed it.

 

I was just reading about Shambhala on here (there's a thread about it I know, but I didn't want to bump a month old thread) and it seems that a lot of users have had trouble with it, due to them having 'big thighs'? I Googled further, and came across a rollercoaster themed facebook page where someone was reviewing the ride and said that Port Aventura had said they'd look into changing the seats (apparently it was affecting 2-3 people per ride, but I've no legitimate source for that, so take it with a grain of salt, as they say).

 

One of the guys that'll be coming with is us is a big guy. Now, he's not massive, but he'd be about 15-16 stone if I had to guess, but he does have a lot of weight in his thighs. He was with us last time (2010) and had no problem going on anything at all (he actually commented how comfortable most of the rides were) so I'm just wondering if anyone has any update regarding Shambhala at all, as I've googled a fair bit and have come across nothing at all really.

 

 

I'd just be a bit worried that we're all gonna be banging on about how Shambala's gonna be great, it's gonna be this, that, etc. and then he sits down and gets told to get off the ride (though judging from the stories I've read, it could be the smallest person in the group that gets kicked off for having awkward thighs).

 

 

Does anyone know if they've altered or changed the seats, or if the overweigth crowd are still doomed to be laughed off the ride?

 

 

Cheers

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Where did you find these reports? I'd like to look at them myself. I had a quick google search and couldn't find anything.

 

I do find B&Ms usually tighter on the thighs than most other manufacturers, but it does seem unlikely that a man weighing 15-16 stone would have trouble getting on B&M hyper. Even if he has unusually big thighs for a man.

 

I can't see B&M making smaller seats than the ones found on their inverted, hyper and wing models. I find inverted the tightest fit tbh, but it really does depend on your dimensions. You're never going to get a definite answer until you go though.

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Hi RubySparkles,

 

 

Well it's mentioned on Facebook here;

 

 

(and after reading that guy Xavi's comments, I took a flick through his photos on his FB page, and he doesn't seem like any kind of a big guy at all, to me).

 

 

And a little closer to home, there's this thread on this forum of the opening day:

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=62622

 

 

In which he says (under a photo of the seat):

 

"Apparently, those noodles are very restrictive. In fact I saw lots of riders being turned away because of the size of their thighs. Is this also usual in other B&M hyper models?"

 

(a few people reply, no in depth discussion takes place)

 

 

Then, lastly, a forum called CoasterForce as a thread on it, too;

 

http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=29863&start=1540&reset-settings

 

Where a user called oriolat starts a discussion on it;

 

"Seems that Shambhala is not "fat-friendly"...

 

I have seen a lot of people get kicked out of the ride because the restraint was not as far down as required to dispatch the train.

 

It seems weird because other B&M hypers operate just fine (even the American ones, with more overweight population!). How come?

 

Does anybody know if B&M have changed their standards in terms of restraints? Silver Star is also from B&M and doesn't have this problem and even people that has a "normal" weight and fitted in the test seat have been kicked of Shambhala because of the size of their thighs..."

 

 

 

So there definitely seems to be an issue, but I'm not sure if the Facebook guy was correct in stating that the park actually looked at it. I'd send them along an email only I assume it'd be completely ignored or I'd get generic spam in return? Are Port Aventura good with emailing people back?

 

 

As I say now though, this guy, and myself aswell (I'm not the smallest in the world, either) had no problem with Furius Baco, Dragon Khan or any other roller coaster/ride in Port Aventura, so it'd be very disappointing/embarrassing for any one to be kicked off (not just in our group, but in general, could kill someone's confidence being kicked off a rollercoaster in front of that many people, and potentially ruin a day/holiday. Especially seen as the test seat doesn't seem to be accurate.

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I'm going next week, so I'll let you know what I think. It makes sense that it's the seatbelt portion rather than the actual seats.

 

I would just bear in mind I read the same things about The Swarm when it opened, however it seemed to be the same as all B&Ms in the park.

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I'm going next week, so I'll let you know what I think. It makes sense that it's the seatbelt portion rather than the actual seats.

 

Does Shambhala have a seatbelt portion? I've never seen a B&M hyper with a seatbelt - only the clamshells.

 

I'm just going on one of those facebook comments so probably not. Maybe they didn't mean seatbelt.

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No it doesn't have seatbelts, it just has the usual clamshell restraint. I went back in May and I was with someone that weights around 16-17 stone and he got on once and not the second time. In the end we put the reason why he didn't get on the second time down to him having his hat in one pocket and glasses in the other - even the first time around he had to have a ride host push down on the clamshell to get it to close. He has got quiet big legs though but was fine. You're friend might find it a tight fit but hopefully should get on.

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Cheers for the replies. I do find it a strange occurrence though.

 

From the looks of the seat, it's just a thin narrow bar that goes down between the legs, and then the console sits above the waist (thus holding your stomache/upper thighs in place)? Surely that seat design should theoretically work with anyone, regardless of how big or small they are?

 

Surely if the seats didn't need to lock to a certain point, but instead just as far as they can on an individual, then the person is stuck in the seat anyway, regardless (that is, once it's locked on a particular person, that person has the console jammed on top of them anyway?) (excluding people who may be dangerously large, or spilling out of the seat or such, but to be fair, people of such size would generally have issue riding any coaster).

 

Obviously there must be a reason why this isn't feasible, or they'd have done it that way in the first place, but I (again, theoretically) can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.

 

I'd be very curious to hear how you get on Ruby.

 

Rollercoasters4life; that's a strange one, alright. Seems like a pretty poor issue, to me (I don't think it'll affect me, personally, though who knows, but I just think that it's a strange thing to have to deal with. If they knew it was going to be an issue (and even if they didn't, surely they do now) you'd think they'd make a little press release with suggested guidelines on people's sizes or such to fit the coaster (or switch out the seats as, apparently, they said they were gonna consider).

 

(that said, I'd be against changing the seats altogether, as the current setup obviously contributes to the 'free falling' aspect of the ride. Wouldn't be fair to ruin the coaster because of the minority, but surely going a little easier on the restraints would be possible, no? If it's actually affecting 2 people per ride, as has been said by that guy on facebook, then surely it's a fairly serious problem, or an issue that was overlooked by B&M and needs to be taken into account now).

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Surely if the seats didn't need to lock to a certain point, but instead just as far as they can on an individual, then the person is stuck in the seat anyway, regardless.

 

But the seats do have to lock to a certain point. Just because there aren't ratcheting bars that only have particular places at which they lock doesn't mean that there isn't a certain place that the restraints have to hit before the train can be sent out. The computer won't let a train leave the station until all the restraints are pushed down to a certain place, and that goes for any ride with pneumatic restraints. You can't just send a train on El Toro out because the lapbar is touching the rider, that doesn't guarantee that his body is safely in the train as designed. And I guarantee without the lapbar being in the right place you'd be out of there in a hot second.

 

Really, if someone can't ride a roller coaster because of their weight...either lose the weight, or realize that this is something you're going to have to deal with.

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Whilst I do agree with you in theory, Coasterfreak, that people should just lose the weight, I don't think it's as simple for a lot of people.

 

I'm not one to go on saying that it's a medical condition or such, I do believe that most people are overweight through inactivity or over-eating (not all, of course, but most). As someone who has been fairly large before, myself, I can safely say that weight loss is a much more demanding task mentally rather than physically. I think a theme park is a place were most people go to have a break and enjoy themselves.

 

I understand, again, that if someone is coming in at a size that is just dangerous, then it should be necessary to remove them, for everyone's safety, but Shambhala's seats just seem to randomly picking people to have a problem with. It seems to be that the average weight person can be kicked off because they carry weight in their thighs. This is just madness, to me, personally, and surely something that could/should be easily fixed (a seatbelt on the user or restraint seems like a quick fix that would work wonders?).

 

I just find it strange, and armed with this information before hand, I feel dreadful thinking of 10 of us getting onto a roller coaster, and only 8 or 9 of us experiencing it, while one of the group gets embarrassed in front of all their friends (and a bunch of strangers) and gets told to get off. If my friend was 30 stone, then I'd expect it (and I'm sure he would too) but 16-17 stone and after having successfully rode every other coaster in the park.. It just seems odd.

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Yeah, I don't really understand why someone who's 160-170 pounds isn't fitting correctly on the ride. I've actually never seen someone kicked off a B&M hyper, and I've been on a few of them, and on multiple occasions. Interesting that this one is having so many problems with normal-sized people (I didn't really catch that part before, sorry!) since 160-170 pounds seems like the average weight for any given person, give or take.

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Yeah, I don't really understand why someone who's 160-170 pounds isn't fitting correctly on the ride. I've actually never seen someone kicked off a B&M hyper, and I've been on a few of them, and on multiple occasions. Interesting that this one is having so many problems with normal-sized people (I didn't really catch that part before, sorry!) since 160-170 pounds seems like the average weight for any given person, give or take.

 

16-17 stone isn't 160-170lbs, it's more than that. I didn't know there was a "normal weight", do you mean normal BMI, because then 50% or more would be turned away in most Western countries. We're talking about dimensions here rather than weight anyway. The problem appears to be the difference between the inches you can be on your top half compared to the inches they allow you to have on your bottom half on B&Ms. And it's the same with their OTSR (Inverts, Dive Machines, etc. luckily a lot of them have "Big Boy Seats"). Their seats are brutal on anyone who is pear shaped.

 

As someone who has lost weight recently because I didn't like how tight some restraints were getting, I still know any B&M will be a squeeze because of where I carry my weight. Part of that is just bad luck on my part, but Shambhala seems to have a huge amount of people turned away. It's especially weird to people who are fine on every other type of coaster. They can't adjust everything though, I'm sure people with larger chests have problems on other manufacturers seats. Maybe these reports are OTT, it could have just been a few unlucky trains of people with unusually large measurements in that area.

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That's a fair point, but as I say, if you go back a page to the Facebook link I posted and take a look at the guy (Xavi, I think his name was) who got kicked off, and take a quick flick through his photos, he looks about as average a weight as you can get. He doesn't look to have very big thighs at all (to me) so I find it very strange.

 

 

I really must email Port Aventura. Wonder would they bother to reply though. I'll take a wander off to their site and look for an email address.

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^^Sorry, when I said "normal" I meant "average." And yeah, it's more about weight distribution than the weight itself, or at least a combination of the two. Typically the problem is around the stomach, most pneumatic lapbars have to press firmly against the thigh to be considered safely lowered. But what I was saying was that I've never seen a person kicked off a B&M hyper. An Intamin, sure, but those restraints are a whole different story. People at Great Adventure are booted from El Toro all the time, but I've never seen someone ousted from Nitro in all of the dozens of times I've ridden. Same for the multiple times I've ridden Diamondback and Apollo's Chariot. That's why I find it interesting that Shambhala is giving people, especially those that aren't particularly overweight, such problems, because I've seen plenty of larger people on those other hypers without a problem. So it must be weight distribution, but even then...or it's some sort of problem with the ride itself.

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Well CoasterFreak, you seem to fairly know your way around a roller coaster (it seems you've ridden a fair few), would I not be right in saying that this issue could be easily resolved (for all users) if the restraint was just fitted with a seatbelt?

 

One that was attached to the actual bar of the restraint itself, and that clipped into the chair at the sides (thus, once tightened, the user would be completely locked in?). Doesn't Furius Baco have a similar thing where the restraint comes over your head and locks in place, but the restraint, despite it already being locked mechanically, also has a seatbelt at the front of it that locks into the seat (therefore running from the harness to the seat, through the middle of your legs).

 

 

 

I've emailed Port Aventura asking them if they have any information on the issue or if they even have a measurements guide or such that could be used to figure out if you'll be allowed on or kicked off.

 

(I know I'm probably banging on about this a little more than is necessary, but it's me that's pretty much in charge of booking the holiday for the 10-12 of us that will be going. I used to be fairly heavy myself and if it was me that was the heaviest of the group and I got kicked off whilst everyone else went on about what a great time they had, I'd feel humiliated and embarrassed. I imagine the other guy would feel the same, so I just want to be as sure as I can of all that I can before we head over, so, even if I know it's highly possible he'll be kicked off, I can somewhat downplay the importance or interest in Shambhala beforehand).

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The seat belts that attach to roller coaster restraints are more or less failsafes, in the sense that, if your restraint were to fail, they would hold it down (unless they, too, came undone). There are plenty of rides that don't have seatbelts, and in reality they're probably just as safe as those that do have them - seeing a seatbelt does make one feel safer, though, regardless of how good of a job it really does.

 

In the case of a B&M invert, or one with shoulder restraints, a seatbelt also runs between the legs, probably helping somewhat to prevent someone from slipping underneath the restraint (though that's unlikely to begin with, if you're riding the ride properly). B&M hypers don't have any use for a seatbelt, and that wouldn't solve this problem - adding a seatbelt wouldn't make it so that the restraint has to go down any less, and it wouldn't make it any easier for someone with different dimensions to fit the ride "properly," i.e. so that the system will dispatch the train. The seatbelt on Furius Baco doesn't make it any more likely for one to fit the ride - if anything, people typically have a lot more problems with those Intamin restraints than they do a clamshell. That's why it's odd that there are so many problems on Shambhala, if there really are as many as are being reported.

 

But it could also just be chance, that you or the people reporting on Facebook just happened to be there in the right place at the right time to see people getting kicked off or something, and the issue isn't as big as it's being made out to be.

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I'm 6' 2, 275lbs, with a 56in chest. I wear size 36 jeans. I have no belly the overhangs my waist. Wildfire at SDC is a chore. It's due to my chest. The over the head restraints are fine till the buckle needs to snap. They have to push down on the over the head. To say its snug is an understatement and that's in the 'big' seats. No other coaster is such a pain than B&Ms with the over the shoulder/buckle combo. A simple fix would be an adjustable belt on the buckle for those with thick chests.

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Hi everyones,

 

Back from PortAventura, where there on June the 24th for my birthday , and I enjoyed a LOT Shambhala, that is a very nice coaster. I get almost 10 rides in 2 days (cant do better due to long queue line) so I ride in almost each wagon, unfortunately the operators show you where to sit so you can't choose. The only way to be sure to ride in the first raw is to buy a PortAventura's express pass with a front ride to choose between Furius Baco - Dragon Khan and Shambhala. You can get those next to Furius Baco entrance. Anyway if you are in the head of the train you'll gonna have a LOOOOT of air, strong negative g's on every hills and that during a very long time, you get back to your seat close to the ground and the very fast hill produce ejector, that was very surprising and pleasant. I loved it.

I bring back a full HD off ride and a ridercam for you.

Enjoy;

Fabien

 

 

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Hey fdelhomez,

 

Great to hear you had a good time and enjoyed the park (though 10 times in 2 days seems like overkill... Surely it can't be THAT good!?). Is the POV video from your first ride?

 

Also, seen as you have current-day experience with the coaster, would you care to give an opinion on the current discussion regarding seating? Did you see m/any people getting removed from the ride, or hear anything in relation to this (apparent) thigh/restraint issue?

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Just the other day while at Canada's Wonderland, my friend got kicked off Leviathan and Behemoth for size. She carries her weight through the hip and thigh area. I noticed that the seats slant backwards raising your thighs up past the hip so that the seat cradles you. The clamshells must lower down into the hip, but because of the position that the seat puts you in (thighs higher than hips) if your thighs are bigger the clamshell cannot be pushed down past the thighs becuase they are higher than the hip. I'll draw it up and post it in about an hour to give a visual of what I'm talking about.

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