Idlewild coaster to reopen with new train two years after accident

Interesting. A 10 seat PTC train. I wonder what that will do to capacity. I also wonder if that is a misprint, as most of the PTC's I've seen on the smaller coasters always have 4 seats per car.

I wonder if it's an articulated train? They bought the rights and patterns to the Morgan Mfg Co coaster trains a while back. I know that they have been supplying parts for the existing ones, but I'm not sure if they have actually sold a complete train since the bought the line.

But.... capacity....

Hopefully the trains will be light enough so the entire structure doesn’t collapse into the hillside.

Glad to see this coaster reopening. It’s a fun little, interesting hillside ride. It was also my daughter Ava’s first woodie.

I liked it too. I’ve been to Idlewild three or four times and I thought Rollo Coaster was so unique and so super old-fashioned. And fun. With new PTC trains some of that vintage feel will be gone, but at least it’s saved.

When Boulderdash was built at Compounce I couldn’t help but think someone must have wished along with me for a similar but thrill-packed, large-sized version of Rollo Coaster.

It is a unique and charming little ride.

Idlewild showed a picture of the train at the local ACE off-season banquet. It’s an interesting configuration... the first car is 2x2 but the remaining 3 are 1x2. The seats have individual set belts and ratcheting lap bars in the same style as other PTC trains.

A joke was made about the ride collapsing, but it did have to be beefed up to support the weight of the new train.

Kind of a bummer to lose a set of the very few last remaining classic trains. The ride was one of my favorites just for being so unique. I kept wondering if it was necessary to change the trains after the ride ran for so many decades.

I mean, they haven't added air gates to the El (subway) here in Chicago after people fall on the tracks every year... but then I read the toddler had to spend 2 months in the hospital with a head injury after his fall off this coaster. That is truly horrible, but did the train switch have to happen? Sure an amusement park is supposed to be carefree, worry free.. there is that discussion. Couldn't they have just added seatbelts? Even seatbelts that can only be unlocked at the end of the ride?

How about the standard PTC junior train, the same model that runs on Little Dipper at SFGAmerica, Waldameer's Comet, etc.? That would have been a nice compromise.

It doesn't matter what anyone thinks, it got new trains. Just curious what others think.

Because insurance. Sadly.

I thought I read somewhere that Rollo was done, so I'm just very excited to hear that's not so. Shame about the new trains in a way, but if it's safer AND keeps a coaster in existence, I'm all for it.

Especially because Idlewild doesn’t have a lot of them to begin with.