Airgates at CP.

Still, guests don't realize the "6 in. drop," and on floorlesses, the floor is folded under and there, literally IS NO FLOOR.

And Wicked Twister has airgates, and definatly needs them. Even Op's have to lock themselves in a cage while the ride is operating.

-----------------
Why do they report power outages on TV?

I don't think anyone would argue that Wicked Twister needs gates. :) It would be impossible to stop a train coming through at that speed. I also agree that they are a good idea on a floorless where someone can fall a pretty good distance. Also, they are a good idea in any type of case where it is easy to fall through the track (it isn't very easy to fall completely through the track on CP coasters because they have metal "walkways" in the track inside the stations).

However, on other rides, the train comes in slow and can pretty much be stopped on a dime. The gates injure people too. For someone to fall into the track and get hit by the train, three things must happen: first, they must step way over the yellow line, getting past all the ops (usually at least 2 or 3 on a side at CP); second, they must either fall or step down into the track; third, the control op and others must be paying absolutely no attention and allow the train to run the person over. The chances of all three of these things happening are extremely tiny.

If they are going to mandate gates on the load side, then they should on the unload side too (or at least something at the top of the exit ramp to keep people from walking onto the platform). We didn't allow anyone to wait on the exit ramp because not only do they block it from wheelchairs, but we also didn't want a little kid running up to greet mommy on the incoming train. An incident is just as likely to happen on the unload side in my opinion. Having said that, I don't believe an exit turnstyle (or even two) is the solution because it slows the flow of traffic too much. Perhaps a bigger type of gate that could open and close with the other gates or even a chain that could be buckled across to discourage people from coming onto the platform from the exit side.

I guess the point is that rides can be (and have been) safely operated without the use of gates. I don't really care one way or another if a ride has them or not. Thankfully, the gates at CP have not impacted capacity in a negative way. When they are implemented and operated properly (opening up as soon as the train stops to allow people to board as others are exiting), they are perfectly fine with me and really have zero affect on my liking of a ride. It just bothers me when people say that it is not safe to operate without them.

-----------------
-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

---

MDOmnis said:

If they are going to mandate gates on the load side, then they should on the unload side too (or at least something at the top of the exit ramp to keep people from walking onto the platform).

---

They do this on Apollo's Chariot. And it really doesn't hurt the flow of things (it takes a well trained crew who knows what they are doing, though, with the common sense to coordinate gate openings and closings. If this were tried on, say, Alpengeist, who knows what would happen....you know what happens when you forget to complete your exit paths in Rollercoaster Tycoon?? People just keep piling up and piling up....I can just picture the Alppie crew now - "what'll we do, what'll we do......help me help me help me...!??!??!??!") .

---

---

I forgot that Raptor doesn't have them. I would think CP would put them on there. I do have to say I think CP ride ops do a good job without them. I don't care with them or without them. My home park PKI has them and I have never cared that they were there. Sometimes they seem to take a while to open but they are fine. I would think with what a person could do sueing wise that they would just put them up on all the rides. With the gemini what if they were to flatten the station out where you enter the train so there is no steps. There would seem to be more room in there. They would just have to make the ramp up there go a little bit higher.

Geez, I can think of some rides at the Point that could have used pnuematic gates thirty years ago. During my tenure there in the 1970's there were problems at times with the gp rushing some of the rides. It was especially bad during the UAW picnics. The Blue Streak was prone to this as I recall, being the "big" ride at that time.