BGW Pantheon POV posted

Sorry for the double-post, but I went back and watched both Hagrid's and Pantheon POVs again at quarter speed. The best places to freeze the videos are at 1:39 and :21, respectively for the best stills. As I suspected, both systems seem very similar. The track shuttles back and forth along multiple steel beams and has hard stops on either end.

In the Hagrid's video, you can see that the track is driven by servo motors turning belts that pull the track to its different positions. The encoder in the motors would crosscheck its position value with the PLC, and confirm its location with additional position sensors. Rewatching Hagrids, I found it interesting that there's a brake and then tire-drive section just before the switch track to ensure a consistent speed every time, something that Pantheon doesn't have.

I was unable to see the servo motors or belts in the Pantheon video. It's hard to decipher but it honestly looks like it may be using a rack and pinion system from what you can see on the last transfer beam.

ApolloAndy said:

Also, the whole theme feels extremely forced...

If you go to the BGW forums, it is littered with complaints about the "utter lack of theme" to the ride. To some degree I get that argument, as I have always considered BGW as a balance between Cedar Point and Disney with regards to atmosphere and theme. Loch Ness, Alpengeist, Big Bad Wolf (RIP), and Verbolten...they all have good-to-great theming with varying degrees of a storyline, and the park overall has wonderful tales to tell and things to discover in the countries.

But when I think about two of their larger more successful installations, Apollo's Chariot and Griffon...they line up with the current supposed level of theming for Pantheon, and I don't recall anyone complaining about those.

Except Fabio.

I'm just laughing on the inside because we had hopes that it would open on our trip to the park this past June.

One FB fellow’s take, in doing a side by side comparison with Velocicoaster, was that Pantheon clearly marks the difference between a ride found at an Amusement Park and one found at a Theme Park. My question to him was in what world is BGW not a Theme Park. I think the heaviest themed rides (as in the actual ride, not just the station and some paint) rightfully appear at the parks with the absolute deepest corporate pockets that are open year round. Like Velocicoaster and Hagrids.
Oh, anyway, please join me in prayer that on my ride the switch knows when the coast is clear and flips over in time for my backwards launch. Please.
I can’t help but think the little lumpy hill during that launch has something to do with the blocking sections and what might happen during a rollback/fail.

It’s like a Six Flags parking lot coaster but instead of a parking lot it’s a field for grazing. Looks really fun though.

cmwein said:

In the Hagrid's video, you can see that the track is driven by servo motors turning belts that pull the track to its different positions. The encoder in the motors would crosscheck its position value with the PLC, and confirm its location with additional position sensors.

I suspect that it's not just that, but also confirmation that the locking pins between the switch and stationary tracks has engaged.

OhioStater said:

ApolloAndy said:

Also, the whole theme feels extremely forced...

If you go to the BGW forums, it is littered with complaints about the "utter lack of theme" to the ride. To some degree I get that argument, as I have always considered BGW as a balance between Cedar Point and Disney with regards to atmosphere and theme. Loch Ness, Alpengeist, Big Bad Wolf (RIP), and Verbolten...they all have good-to-great theming with varying degrees of a storyline, and the park overall has wonderful tales to tell and things to discover in the countries.

But when I think about two of their larger more successful installations, Apollo's Chariot and Griffon...they line up with the current supposed level of theming for Pantheon, and I don't recall anyone complaining about those.

Except Fabio.

I'm just laughing on the inside because we had hopes that it would open on our trip to the park this past June.

Those previously better themed rides were installed when SEAS ran high quality, fully operational parks. Now SEAS runs nickel-and-dime cut-budget, staggered opening, partially closed parks. The park quality has been in a slow decline over the past several years.

Pantheons station looks like the least structure that they could build . It’s 6 supports and a roof. No theming.

At least Griffon has a gorgeous station, queue and the bridgework. Apollos station matches the lackluster Festa tent theming. They didn’t even give that to Pantheons station Or any shade in the queue

What I don’t understand is why the crammed the entrance over the train station in a one-way-in-and-out area that already has 2 coasters. There is room by Davincis Cradle where they could have built the entrance and skipped crossing the RR tracks.

Did y'all see the Emperor dive coaster in San Diego? It doesn't really even have a station.

Yeah, but, to be fair I've never seen an Emperor Penguin kicking it in the shade.

That could be more of a Southern California thing than anything else. A bunch of Disneyland rides don't have a station either.

The first high-speed track switch Intamin did was on Hagrid, which was then followed by the signing of Toutatis at Parc Asterix in 2018. That project was to open in 2021, but delayed to 2023 due to environmental permit issues. While it may look dangerous, if you look carefully at the track beyond the high speed track switch, you will see the additional retracted brakes and in Hagrid's case, drive tires to stop the train. On Toutatis and Pantheon, the speed hill act as the way to prevent a train from reaching the track switch that is not in position.

This is not the first time a coaster has "broken" track sections while trains are in movement. Take Winja's at Phantasialand: each track has its own "trick" halfway through, such as the teeter-toter block brake on Fear while Force moves sideway. A funny ending is on the ending brake run: one track section bounces up and down as the car rolls over it.

Vekoma and Intamin have been working for years on various tricks on roller coasters for years. Everest main technological challenge was to create high-speed track switches that can safely move in a few seconds. This was then further eleborated on Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars at Hong Kong Disneyland, where the second "lift" is in fact a carefully hidden cable lift that move the train up while a track switch at the bottom quickly moves over to send the train that will soon fall backward toward another section of track.

Intamin mastered the freefall track sections, something that Zierer later copied for Verbolten and a roller coaster at Legoland Billund. Those are basically giant steel structures that slide up and down and use magnetic brakes and pneumatic cylinders like the Intamin giant drop and later drop towers.

eightdotthree said:

That could be more of a Southern California thing than anything else. A bunch of Disneyland rides don't have a station either.

It’s a most of the rest of the world thing too apparently.