Thunderhead seats

Was planning a trip to Dollywood next weekend and was wondering with all this talk about restraint devices, what the situation with Thunderdead was? Should a slightly bigger than average person be worried about being able to ride Thunderhead? I've never had a problem about being denied a ride on a roller coaster, but I have had close calls on the Mine Train and Wicked Twister at CP.

If you've ridden Lightning Racer, Ozark Wildcar, or SFMW's Roar you'll definitely be OK....same trains.

I've ridden Gwazi before. Are they the same trains too?

They are not the same trains as Gwazi. I actually could not ride the Mine Train at CP, but fit fine and dandy on Lightning Racer, so you should be ok.

k.

mmmm, Gwazi with MFlyer trains....:)

You will almost certainly be able to ride Thunderhead, Dollywood even has the *seatbelt extender* things in case they're needed. Any park that feeds you THAT well should be prepared...;)

Agreed. I haven't seen anyone have problems yet, even after a nice juicy barbecue meal, some kettle corn, and some of those amazing gyros. :-P

Hmm.....time for lunch!

-Tina

Don't feel bad, Coaster Kikky- CP's mine train has had some pretty nasty mods done to the seat padding that make it difficult for a lot of folks to fit. I've got a 36" waist and have a hard time fitting comfortably.

I really whish Gwazi would get the "flyer" trains they are so nice.......mmmmmm(homer gurgle)

Quite the contrary to the above post-every time I ride Thunderhead, someone has to get off due to the lap bar not going down. The recycling of the lapbars usually leads to the ride being stacked, which the ride crew can do on their own, and often does. (I love DW, but TH's crews are aweful and slow, TT's crew will have you packed, sacked, and out of the station in about 20 secs tops-TH about 1 min).

You are entitled to your opinion coastermanx.

DollywoodRideOp

I think the seatbelts really slow down loading for Thunderhead. Some guests don't relize there are seatbelts and sit down on them, then the ride ops also have to check to make sure all of them are secured and untangled.

IMO Blazing Fury has the fastest crew in the park. On that ride, from what I understand, the trains can't stay in the station longer than 25 seconds or the computer will act as if it's an emergency and shut the ride down.

People are being turned away quite a bit on Thunderhead. Everything is the same as on the other trains.

Fitting in the trains all depends on the way your built. I've seen some people about the same size and weight get on and others turned away.

I'd say if you can get on the Mine Train at Cedar Point you should be able to get on Thunderhead. I'd say if you can get on all the flat rides at a park and especially the mine train you should be good to go for Thunderhead.

I'd say the main reason people were having so many problems fitting in the seats earlier was the fact that the trains and seats were brand new and only the front two, back two and two middle seats were being used on 1 train for testing. The seats were rather hard for the first few hours of testing until a few butts were in them breaking the seats in.

I don't think it's as big of an issue as it was for the first week or so. *** Edited 5/20/2004 11:12:57 PM UTC by coasterpunk***

Thunderhead has lapbars AND seatbelts. Tornado has only the horse collars. There's your reason for the quicker dispatch on TT trains.

Be advised that ride ops can't push on a lap bar if it won't close for a larger person. The rider has to be able to get at least one click by pulling the bar down themselves.

The point I was trying to make was that the current TH crew, despite their duties for dispatching the train, are older people (TT has young people) and are still quite slow. But DollywoodRideOp (above ^) is joining the Thunderhead crew before long.

P.S. Just a question-Why do MFlyers have both perfectly good lap bars AND seat belts? *** Edited 5/21/2004 12:02:52 AM UTC by CoastermanX***

LOL....I'd say c-punk knows more about those trains than probably anyone else on Earth...;)

Thunderhead ROCKS!!1!!

xrae, LOVE the sig...:)

yep...he would.

When we were there opening day, a woman who we didn't think would have any problems couldn't fit on TH. I think the man she was with was just as large and was able to ride. A shape thing I guess.

*** Edited 5/21/2004 7:07:29 PM UTC by Raptor Pilot***

It's very odd.

Like Raptor Pilot said it is "A shape thing" a lot of times.
Over weight males have a better chance of fitting because they can get their bellys up out of the way of the lap bar where as over weight females tend to carry the weight in their thighs.

JW of the OW

---

coasterpunk said:
People are being turned away quite a bit on Thunderhead. Everything is the same as on the other trains.

Fitting in the trains all depends on the way your built. I've seen some people about the same size and weight get on and others turned away./

---

I have a pretty big belly, and I fit well in the seats. Good ride, too. *** Edited 5/23/2004 11:30:15 PM UTC by BigCal***

---

---