Deja Vu Lift

Wow, one of my favorite parts of that ride is the jolt on the pullout from the initial drop. I love the way it feels going from essentially a face-down freefall into the pullout.

The jolt on the second tower is hardly noticeable to me. The jolt that hurts is when the train is caught on the first tower again, just before lowering back into the station. Unlike the Boomerang (well, the KBF one, which I now know is slow ;) ), they don't turn the brakes on for the return through the station. The train just shoots through the station backwards, then is caught at the top of its trip back up the first tower.

The train starts to fall for a second before hitting the catch sled, and there's a pretty severe jolt when that happens. While it's not bad at all in half of the seats, the two center seats hurt for anyone who is at least adult sized. You're so close to the car in front of you that it's *very* easy to slam your shins into one of the relatively sharp corners on the car in front of you when it happens. I now tuck my legs back as far as I can when I know that point is coming, and I can usually save myself some pain. Had some nasty bruises from the first time that happened though.

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ShaneDenmark said:
Yeah they lift you up rather slowly. About the same speed as the regular Boomerangs, but of course you are vertical. Its really kinda scary the first time resting totally on the restraint. Of course, the closer to the front, the less you're vertical. The front car barely comes out of the pullout curve at the bottom of the spike.

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BARELY comes out of the pullout curve? Perhaps you need to take a look at this picture I nabbed right after the lift drops you on the first spike at SFoG. Hardly.. you're up there. Note the building down there, that's no little shed.

Goliathkills,

If you think Knott's boomerang's lift is bad, check out Ragin' Cajun at Dixie Landin' in Baton Rouge. Honestly here.. it's every bit of 3-4 minutes to get all the way up the hill. Worst part is, the return hill is just as slow. THEN when the ride is done, the sled has to creeeeeeeeep all the way back down the hill and engage the train so the restraints can unlock.

Plastic harness on the vekoma flyers? I don't think so.

They just put a plastic cover over the bar to cover the mechanisms & make it look more attractive & it works pretty much the same way aas the B&M's...the lap bar has locking pins that are pushed into the arm rests making for a secure & tight fit depending on how you adjust it.

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Tom Servo said:

The jolt that hurts is when the train is caught on the first tower again, just before lowering back into the station. Unlike the Boomerang (well, the KBF one, which I now know is slow ), they don't turn the brakes on for the return through the station.

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Because there are no brakes. :)

-Nate

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BATWING FAN SFA said:
Plastic harness on the vekoma flyers? I don't think so.

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I am talking about the little vest you put over your chest, they are flexible. Maybe I missed something because I was so frightened I was going to fall out. :)

That vest may not seem like much, but even without it I don't think you'd go anywhere (flop around like a ragdoll, perhaps, but you'd stay in the train).

The main restraint on that is the huge bar that gets pushed down over your lap. Once that's locked, you're confined. The chest harness is an auxilliary to keep your upper body from moving around too much.

That said, I still prefer B&M's system. Probably one of the few cases I can think of where I like an "OTSR" better than a "lap bar"!

But back on the main subject -- I found Deja Vu quite comfortable, and the lift wasn't very slow at all. It was a bit freaky, but not frightening.

The initial face-first drop off the tower on DV gave me the biggest "butterfly in my stomach" sensation I have ever felt on a thrillride. No, Millennium Force didn't give me that feeling, not Xcelerator, not Power Tower, NOT Goliath, and not even Perilous Plunge.

Homey G-

Sorry, that was worded wrong. As compared to the rear of the train, it barely comes out of the pullout. I know it still gets up there. In the rear seat though, I was terrified. Much like the debate about front vs rear on an Intamin Impulse, both seats have advantages and disadvantages. By the way, what pic?

Sorry Shane, I mean to link this earlier but forgot to paste it. Here ya go, and I agree.. the drop is arguably better in the back, but the view along with the initial fear of falling out is magnified in the front.

http://www.coasterbuzz.com/rollercoasterphoto.htm?i=461

I agree with kraxleridah, if you're lucky enough to get a seat near the back of the train, being yanked down that 20 story face first verticle drop if one of the best coaster moments out there. Not to mention the fact that you're vertically accelerating from 0-65 mph in about 2 seconds! Almost as good as X's first drop. *** Edited 2/26/2004 2:50:48 AM UTC by jomo***

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coasterdude318 said:

Because there are no brakes. :)

-Nate

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Don't they have brakes in the station? I kinda figured that they had brakes a) to keep it stationary while people get on and off the train and b) to serve a similar function as the brakes between the second tower and the loop: to prevent the train from valleying itself somewhere stupid if the catch sleds fail to grab onto the train. I've definitely seen brakes between the second tower and the loop, anyhoo.

Not that it really matters. I mentioned it because I rode Deja Vu long before I rode Boomerang, and I fully expected Boomerang to rush through the station backwards on the return trip. I felt sorta disappointed when I realized that the brakes nearly stop it on its way back.

No, there are no brakes in the Deja Vu station. There are e-brakes stretching from the front end of the station to about halfway up the boomerang (and, as you mentioned, between the loop and lift two), but there are none in the station itself. During normal operation, all of the braking on Deja Vu is done by the cable lift(s). All the friction brakes you see on the ride are e-brakes.

See: http://www.rcdb.com/installationgallery746.htm?Picture=9

-Nate

Oh yeah, now that I think about it, it's pretty easy to see the catch sled attached to the train while it sits in the station. Another fantastic episode of Brian failing to use his brain, and speaking in third person about it, to boot!

Thanks for clearing that up!

I know what you mean now Eightdotthree but the upper harness on the flyers were designed & engineered by a company that manufactures them for F1 race cars & high speed power boats so I'm quite sure they're able to take quite alot of wear & tear as well as high G's without failure.

It still is quite an uneasy experience though because you feel as though the buckle might fail at any minute or the vest itself might just fall apart on you...but trust me it probably wouldn't especially since a coaster recieves far more maintenance & inspections than either a race car or power boat ever does.