Déjà Vu problems

Does anyone know exactly what all the problems that Déjà Vu was having at SF: Great America and other parks. Also who exactly is to blame?

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Riding the Bull anywhere but the back is merely going for a walk.

The rides design has many flaws in it. It cannot operate in cold temperatures. The even added a platform in case it rolls back. Sometimes it got stuxk at the top of one of the towers. I really would have Vekoma make the lay-out less problematic. Also customers are unhappy when it breaks down and the line is usually very long.

Edit: How do you make the two lines over Deja?

*** This post was edited by SFgadvMAN on 1/18/2003. ***

I think the problems with the DeJa Vu's was the cable lift system. I think the second tower cable lift was especially bad. I think it would always let the train down early or it would hold the train and stop it.

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Restraining orders are just another way of saying I love you.

Well Great America's Deja Vu has been working really good. On the last blast in November it was pretty cold and it was working. And this season every time I went the ride was open. Also, why would anyone wanna tear down Deja Vu Its a great ride, in fact its my #2 ride. SFgadvMAN, you've probably have not been on it if you want it torn down.

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Top Three
1.X
2.Deja Vu
3.SFGAm's V2

Thought the capacity is very low, the rides themselves more than make up for it all. The Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs are the best shuttle coatsers I've experienced out of - Intamin Reverse Freefall, Schwartzkopft Shuttle Loop, Intamin 2nd Generation Impulse, Intamin 3rd Generation Impulse, Vekoma Invertigo, Vekoma Boomerang, and Premier.

Everytime I went to Great America, Déjà Vu either broke down every 5 min, or wasnt up at all.

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kRaXLeRidAh said:
Thought the capacity is very low, the rides themselves more than make up for it all. The Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs are the best shuttle coatsers I've experienced out of - Intamin Reverse Freefall, Schwartzkopft Shuttle Loop, Intamin 2nd Generation Impulse, Intamin 3rd Generation Impulse, Vekoma Invertigo, Vekoma Boomerang, and Premier.

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I had forgotten that Intamin currently has three ( possibly four if you count modifications to V2 at Six Flags Marine World ) different Impulse desgins.

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Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

During Last Blast, all problems with Deja Vu seemed to be fixed. It was running awesome in cold weather, and in the 2 days I was there I only remember seeing it break down once.

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Final Deja Vu Count for the 2002 Season: 52
http://www.SFGAmWorld.com

*** This post was edited by CoasterDude316 on 1/18/2003. ***

Uhhh... Friday night during last blast it broke down on both occasions when I was in line, though it was up in 5 minutes both times.

I would also like to make another comment about this ride. Some have commented about how the first lift is a bit frightening. I finally got to ride it in the front row, and wow...it's much more intense in the front with absolutely nothing between you and the ground! I expected the height in the back to make it seem more intense, but that was not the case! If the ride was significantly higher, that front seat would be petrifying!

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SFGAm: 1)DV 2)V2 3)AE Blue 4)Viper 5)Bull

I think the low capacity has more to do with lazy ride ops. If the ride was like at Disneyland or CP it could get a much higher capacity, much closer to what Vekoma's #s are. I mean, DL ride ops don't yak on the phone for 10 minutes before putting the person on hold to dispatch the train.

...and im sure you have proof to back that claim up.

I remember reading through an older topic here about how Six Flags was hurrying Vekoma along to get the rides up in time. There is another vertical boomerang in europe that is working with hardly any flaws...mainly because Vekoma had all the kinks worked out of the design before their's went public.

These rides were problematic when they first opened. But now that they have been in operation for over a year, they run rather well.

Those who claim that the GIB has "design flaws" are full of it. When the train is released from where it was designed to be released from, it makes it through the course just fine.

Will Deja Vu valley some day? Yes. All coasters will valley sometime or another, even ***gasp*** Intamins.

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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!

Speedy said:
I think the low capacity has more to do with lazy ride ops. If the ride was like at Disneyland or CP it could get a much higher capacity

Have you been on one of these? If you have, than you would know that the loading procedure is time consuming. The other thing is the confusion for the guests when taking a spot on one of the outside seats. You actually have to cross in front or behind the inside seats to get to the outside. Its a design nightmare by Vekoma.

So in conclusion, it has nothing to do with your perceived notion of SF employees being lazy. Put this coaster in its current form on CF or Disney property and the result would be the same.

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2 superheroes in Gurnee next season? Oh the humanity.

*** This post was edited by Chitown on 1/19/2003. ***

The Deja Vu problems. Well, there have been many, and I only know what Vekoma had to say about them.

First there's the temperature problems. The GIB cannot operate in extreme high or low temperatures, mainly due to the fact that the CPU's cannot stand such excesses of mother nature. As well in the US as in Spain there have been temperature problems. I will deal with the problems in Spain, because I don't know the exact details of the US temperature problems. Stunt Fall, the Spanish GIB, is located in the middle of the desert, where it can get as hot as 50 degrees Celsius. A common CPU can handle a temperature of about 60 to 80 degrees Celsius, so there's no problem. But Six Flags located the mainframes in a closed and unventilated steal container. Temperatures in this container could go way past 90 degrees Celsius. As a result, the mainframes would crash or "explode".

At first, everything was going well with the construction of the GIB's, until the Six Flags brass started to mangle with things. They insisted Vekoma would have the GIB's up and running way before they where supposed to be up and running, or Six Flags wouldn't pay their bills, and would sue Vekoma for mal-practise. So the two Deja Vu's where constructed in a great hurry, which led to some minor malfunctioning, which has been fixed in the last year.

People always tend to complain about GIB's stalling, and not making it through the entire track because of design flaws. This is absolute bull****! The GIB was designed carefully, and worked perfect, until Six Flags decided they wanted trim brakes. So Vekoma installed trimbrakes between the large boomerang and the small(er) loop. So the train would be braked there, no matter of the direction it was in. So the train on a return run would fall down, go through the loop, be braked, and therefore no longer has enough speed to get through the larger boomerang. Good thinking Six Flags! After this incident, Six Flags decided they didn't need to pay Vekoma any more..

Vekoma thus went bankrupt because of the many millions Six Flags refused to pay. Stunt Fall was then constructed by Intamin, and didn't operate the first 4 months MovieWorld Madrid was open. The official reason was that it hadn't been completed yet. Test-reports of Vekoma confirmed however that the ride was fully operatable. The reason the ride didn't open yet was because it kept stalling, and Six Flags had to restore the GIB in it's original shape, thus removing the trim brakes. Stunt Fall now runs relatively smooth.

Sources: Vekoma and Six Flags / MovieWorld Madrid staff.

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Dutch Coastin' :: European coasters, thrills and theming!

I don't remember being "trimmed" between the loop and the roll.

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SFGAm: 1)DV 2)V2 3)AE Blue 4)Viper 5)Bull

Neither do I.

Surley, if blame lies with Six Flags alone, why aren't the B&Ms and Intamins valleying and breaking down to the point that the manufacturer is getting a bad reputation?

You can't deny that the absolutely terrible capacity is down to Vekoma, though. The staff at Movie World in Madrid seemed very efficient making announcements before the gates opened etc, but the terrible train layout and poor restraint design seemed to ruin throughput.

Regards, Marcus
Coaster Kingdom: Tidal Wave review

There are no trim brakes on the entire ride. The brakes you see are only there in case of a valley.

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Final Deja Vu Count for the 2002 Season: 52
http://www.SFGAmWorld.com

I have ridden all three US DejaVu's many times and not once have I felt those brakes...

The brakes between the loop and the roll (as well as the ones between the loop and tower #2) are there to stop the train if it valleys. If they did not have brakes there, it would just sway back and forth slowing down gradually...it would take a while for it to come to a complete stop without brakes at either location.

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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...

Yes, those brakes are there to keep the train from stopping in a bad loading position. They are there to try to keep the train from gettting in a bad situation. For instance, the brakes on the back half of the loop are to stop the train in the loop if it has dropped too early from Tower 2. The train can then be realeased and will rest at the bottom of Tower 2 where it can be re-attached to the pulley cart easily. The brakes in the entry point of the boomerang are if the same thing happens on Tower 1. It its to prevent the train from stopping in the boomerang or in between the boomerang and the loop. I trust you, this is the ONLY reason for these brakes. While working at that ride, I have never once heard those brakes applied in normal operation.

*** This post was edited by Chris the Coaster Freak on 1/19/2003. ***

It's quite obvious you don't feel the trimming if there is no trimming. If the train would be trimmed, it would stall..

And I don't see why low capacity is suddenly Vekoma's fault. If you see the design, and look at the specs you know capacity is low. If this is an objection to you, don't buy the ride! Don't go complaining about something you already knew before you purchased the ride, that's just sad..

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Dutch Coastin' :: European coasters, thrills and theming!