Any new 4D's sold yet???
CoasterKrazy said:
"Considering the swinging of today's suspended coasters: The Bat would often swing past 90 degrees, due to the fact the the track wasn't banked. The suspended coasters that we have today rarely go past 90 degrees when swinging."
Of course the suspended coasters of today don't rarely swing past 90 degrees. Why do you think the track is banked?
I am wasn't trying to say X was a failure earlier in the thread.
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CBCon Quote "We didn't even get wet"......30 seconds later you hear plop, then splash!!!!
*** This post was edited by lumpy72 on 12/30/2002. ***
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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.
FYI, I visited SFMM last Saturday. X ran an efficient 2-train op and the line, which stretched out of the queue and down to the bridge, was only a 2-hour wait despite the posted 3-4 hour wait time on the sign. A third train was in storage and looked to be about ready to roll.
Moosh
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Sig under construction!
Top Gun swings past 90 degrees in two places: At the turn above the station, and the final turn into the brakes.
I am almost sure that most Arrow suspendeds have at least one point where they swing past 90 degrees.
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- "I used to be in the audio/visual club, but I was kicked out because of my views on Vietnam........and I was stealing projectors" - Homer Simpson
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Peabody - dispatches were about every 2-5 minutes or so, but the crew was working hard. On more than a few occasions the train in load was dispatched in time for the train in unload to be moved forward. it was the most efficient crew I've seen.
Moosh
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Den, I can think of another place where Top Gun swings past 90. The turn that flys by the exit pathway swings past 90.
Glad to hear that the crew was working hard, Moosh! 2-5 min is long but the GP woldn't realise that. The look for the wait time not dispatch. 2 hours isn't bad either.
I will add this about The Bat. Man it was one heck of a coaster. I was sad the year they removed it, but Vortex was well worth it.
Back to X and future 4-d's.....
Have they solved the stress problems on those heavy trains completely yet?
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CBCon Quote "We didn't even get wet"......30 seconds later you hear plop, then splash!!!!
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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.
CoasterKrazy said:
And as for inversions on these coaster, as far as I know, corkscrews were the first inversions attempted. I've downloaded some video footage of a model suspended coaster with a corkscrew.
LOL, remember when I explained some time ago that the car would break off the stick thingy?
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Säubern Sie mit Milch? ;)
If X still had stress problems I highly doubt that MM would allow ridership. It would be a major liability. I also believe Arrow deserves their place in the sun with 4D. It would be great if more are sold before competition creates their versions.
Whoever is the first to open one in the midwest will get an unreal attendance spike. The best advertising is still word of mouth. If SFWOA opened one it would steal thunder from CP. Better yet if CP opened a 4D larger than MM it would really complete CP's Coaster Collection.AS much as I'm excited about 16 I doubt that it will be voted #1 due to fact that it lacks length and elements.
S00perGIR said:
LOL, remember when I explained some time ago that the car would break off the stick thingy?
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Säµ¢ern Sie mit Milch?
You had to bring up the most insane and sick thing I'd ever heard, again. Thanks for the laugh. ROTF.
CoasterKrazy said:
"What exactly is the problem with the loading system on 4th Dimensions? I don't understand why dispatch time would be so long.
In my experience, it's been due more to the way they force seat rotation rather than the restraints or anything like that.
Dunno if you've seen X in person, but assuming at least someone reading this hasn't, here's the drill.
The station is split up into two seperate sections, one for unloading, and one for loading. Obviously, since people sit outside the train on seperate sides, you can't have them crossing over the tracks, so they needed to do this, I understand that.
A train comes into the station with seats slightly reclined. Presumably this is so nobody whacks their feet coming into the station, and just to keep people's feet from hitting the floor. Eventually it comes to a stop, then these fence type dealies pop up in between the cars. Then, the pneumatics go, pushing the seats into a forward position. This can take anywhere from 5-10 seconds. Everybody gets off the train (it looks like they need to manually unlock a *lot* of restraints, I've had mine stay locked a number of times and needed an attendant to unlock the restraints. Once they're unlocked though, it's easy enough to get out. Then, the seats go back through the rotation, another 5-10 seconds, the fence-type things come down, and the train scoots forward into the loading position.
Then, the fence things again, then yet another rotation, and finally people are allowed to load. At this point, most people get the restraints alright, though a few need help. It doesn't take long though. You end up sitting there for 30 seconds or so, then the pneumatics go *yet again* to rotate the seats back, and then the ride ops check, a second time, all the restraints. I swear, it seems like you sit there, reclined, for a full minute or two before the train finally dispatches and you're on your way.
I don't think the restraints are the issue on X, they're not very difficult to deal with at all. In case you haven't seen them/had them described, they're kinda like this. There's two arm loops, almost like the loops on a backpack (except rigid, they are roller coaster restraints after all). You run your arms through them, and then you pull them together, towards your chest. Finally, you grab the entire assembly and pull it down, and it rachets down the seat mounts to try to match up to your height. I've seen it hold anybody from the minimum height (48 inches? I forget) to my roommate who is 6'4", 315lbs. They're not hard to deal with, though it takes some strength to rachet them down, so smaller/weaker folk usually need a bit of help.
The problem is all the rotations it has to go through. If the ride could just come in, unload, move to load, load, and head out, it would take at least a full minute off the procedure, if not more. Why they didn't use raising/lowering floors like Batman & Deja Vu, I'll never know. They're so fast they take no time flat to get into position, they never seem to break down, and they serve the purpose perfectly. X's pneumatics have broken down at least 3 times while I've been in the station, it seems to be the *main* problem point on the ride. If SF would take the time to retrofit the station with moving floors, I am willing to be they could get capacity up into the 800 or 900 people @ hour range easily. It'd be a lot better than the 250 or so they were doing during last summer....
Is the crew on X larger than the crew on most other roller coasters, or do the same ride-ops do both procedures of un-loading and loading riders?
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I'm just putting out some info that I thought was interesting... On Arrow's site they have four designs already made up. Out of these designs the tallest one only reaches 127 feet and 59 mph. This could be a sign that Arrow may have never planned and designed the 4d's trains to reach the speed X reaches which is 72 mph, I think; they also may not have planned for the structure of the coaster to be so tall. Just maybe this is the reason X has had so many problems, but I'm not saying this is correct.
lumpy72 said:
Have they solved the stress problems on those heavy trains completely yet?
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CBCon Quote "We didn't even get wet"......30 seconds later you hear plop, then splash!!!!
On the new 4D design they have shortened the trains and put the control rail between the running rails. The gear has been put horisontally.
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