Deja Vu Valleys Again @ SFMM 3/17

The Edge is a god. I swear that the opening guitar riff to "Where The Streets Have No Name" is the sound on your way up to heaven.

*** This post was edited by teemu on 3/19/2002. ***

I also forgot to mention that the trauma the train load feels is usually calmed with some complimentary park passes. :)

I think that all the valleying that may happen this season will lead to some very bad publicity for all Six Flags parks. Sooner or later some media person is going to figure out that this same ride keeps valleying, and make a big fuss about it.

Sooner rather than later, they had better solve this problem!

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

Soggy,

That is why I said if it keeps on happening. I'm not saying this one time is going to make the coaster look dangerous, but if it keeps on happening it will. A lot of people are afraid to ride coasters in the first place, and if one stalls than they get freaked. Whereas a enthusiasts wouldn't care. You didn't read my first post very clearly did you?

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teemu said:
The Edge is a god. I swear that the opening guitar riff to "Where The Streets Have No Name" is the sound on your way up to heaven.

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You speak the truth, good sir.

Anyway! I don't see this as a large problem for Vu's ridership but of course it is a big problem. Obviously, it is a major design flaw, and I would certainly be pissed if I had purchased a coaster that I could only run when it was above 65 degrees.

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If the shoe fits, find another one.

How often is Deja Vu experiencing this problem. Didn't this also happen the other day? If this happens too often, then the park will either reprofile or remove the ride. I wouldn't expect to see anymore rides of this type next year.

Ravenguy, you've got it right... this valleying problem reeks of bad design. If the cutoff temp. really is 65 (of even 50) the Deja Vu at SFGAm will be down more than it is running.

Some sort of tire drive in the cobra roll or a winch that could pull the train back when it stalls would seem to be better than a walkdown... but since it would go through a loop very slowly, someone would surely get hurt because they were "hanging upside down forever..."

Just reprofile the cobra roll and be done with it.

2Hostyl, your example of The Edge vs. this occurance of DV is not really on the mark. In your example, people did actually get hurt, so far DV has not hurt, maimed or killed anyone. It makes me a little dizzy & a tad disoriented, but that's a good thing in my book. ;)

I agree that if a ride valleys consistantly than there might be a problem there. But so far, the DV's have not been in operation for a full summer season yet. Give the new design a chance to prove its strength or weakness for a year before you start reprofiling. I think that for the bulk of the summer season temperatures will be more than adaquate to run the ride. (if temperature is the true culprit) Something tells me that the average summer temperature in Chicago, LA and Atlanta is higher than 65!

Rubber Ducky: I read your posts just fine. I am saying that the actual danger involved with valleying in the cobra roll is zero. It is just annoying for others who will be denied a ride due to the downdime caused by the valley.

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

An operating temperature of 65 degrees on a coaster is terrible. Most coasters can run deep down in the 30 degree mark. That obviously is a sign of the bad design engineering. Valleying is not the only problem these things are having. The one at SFOG crashed on the cable lift mechanism. Luckily, no one was hurt. One thing you also must remember, GAm's version was only open 6 days in the 2001 season. I predict these things will be down at least 30 Percent of this upcoming season unless something is done. Temperature is not the main issue. These things have crashed and valleyed in warm weather as well. I als predict that the WBMW version will not open at all this year. SF has a tendency of cutting of payment to companies that don't live up to their contract. If vekoma doesnt get paid, I wouldnt look to see them make any changes to these things any time soon. If I was SF, I wouldnt risk the chance of bad publicity, especially in a new park.I would push it back to 2003 and use it as the "new for 2003" attraction.

From a design engineering standpoint, these things are a nightmare. The cable lift is flawed and the overall design has issues. The trains also have an aerodynamic or weight issue also. Vekoma's fight to stay alive is looking bleaker and bleaker every time one of these things valley.

*** This post was edited by Chris Godsey on 3/19/2002. ***