DejaVu Today 10-21 (Got vallied mid ride)

Well showed up at the park near open, chugged to DejaVu and as MY LUCK seems to have it, it wasn't open. The ride ops were saying it was non weather related (It was about 60degrees). I decided to wait it out and see what happens. They repeatedly ran successfull test runs (or at least what looked like successfull runs) for three hours. Once they opened it, we were the third ride in the front row. The first half of the ride was smooth as silk, sweet ride. I knew something was wrong when we got to the second tower and I didn't feel the catch wagon. On the way back, the brakes kicked on and we were stopped right before the loop. Now I am not one to get scared on any ride, but this was different. The combination of it being my first ride, the ride being so quirky to begin with, and it not being open all morning, I saw my life flash before my eyes when I knew something was wrong on the second tower. It was pretty interesting to see first hand how they get the train back on the lift wagon. I give my props to the ride ops who were on the platform immediatly and talking to my girlfriend who was quite upset (she was unsure of the ride to begin with). Anyways, we got an extra ride out of it, no wait. Not a bad deal. Otherwise, the park was packed but it was still a great day.

Which Deja Vu are you talking about?

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"Duff Man Says... Ohhh Yeah!"
Current Favorite Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Dueling Dragons (Ice)

lol, when I went labor day weekend, it did that Every Other Train!!!! No kidding!!! It was soooo annoying.

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X is the best and it beats all da rest!...Coasterlicius!

How do they get it back on the lift wagon? I've never seen this happen.

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Drive to theme parks for the food, stay for the coasters!! Knott's Fried Chicken

When I went, they had a mechanic come ever time and press a button or something to pull the train back up the lift. It was funny though, The mechanic would leave, and then 5 minutes later it would come back, lol.

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X is the best and it beats all da rest!...Coasterlicius!

Yeah....the catch wagon is lowered down to where the train is and re attatched below the tower and then it is pulled back up so the train can complete the ride circuit(or non-circuit...lol)

So what happens if the train valleys in the boomerang?
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Beer,coasters and Hooters. Is this a great country or what?

Well, this wasn't Magic Mountain. I rode it yesterday morning without so much as a hitch...with the exception of the towers of course! ;)

By the way, intense ride! Much better than Invertigo at PGA.

His coasterlist says DejaVu atSFGAm.
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I rode "X" and never went upside down.

Right, SFGAm. First they released the brakes, and let the train settle. It rocked back and forth for a few minuts. They had a mechanic bring a cable down from one of the towers and he attached it to the fron of the car. All the while I saw a first hand view of the lift wagon slowly creeping down and stopping about five feet in front of us. They slowly pulled us up with the cable untill the catch wagon had attached. Then they put some slack in the cable, realeased us, and the catch wagon took us up and we enjoyed the second half of the ride.

Stoogemanmoe said:
So what happens if the train valleys in the boomerang?

I explained this scenario in another thread but I can do it again. There are brakes below the first tower before the boomerang and brakes below the second tower before the loop. If the train somehow misses a catch wagon it will not have enough speed and is in danger of valleying in part of the ride course that the catch wagons cannot reach. Such as the boomerang or the part of the loop that is away from tower two. The sets of brakes are in place in case the train does miss the catch wagon. This is because the strategic placement of the brakes are such that the catch wagon is able to be attatched(or reattatched) so the train can be pulled up the tower and allowed to complete the circuit. The real only way the train could possibly get stuck in the boomerang would be from lack of momentum(a big wind :-). But that really isn't feasible if the train has been lifted up the entire tower it really should have enough speed to get thru the boomerang and loop. So really the brakes are in place to stop the train before it could get in a position to be valleyed at someplace the catch wagon couldn't be reattatched. I know that's a lot, but I think it should make sense to you. Also...should the ride *somehow*(lol) get stuck in the boomerang...you did see that HUGE platform that goes all the up to the boomerang...that is what that is for. The actual process of getting upside down people out of a shoulder harness and onto the platform would be interesting to watch, to say the least. haha. Happy Coasting!

*** This post was edited by SFGRAMBoy20 on 10/22/2001. ***

Yesterday just HAD to be a bad day for Deja Vu, when I came all the way from Muskegon to get there:(. Immediately saw that sign that said Deja Vu may not be operating, but I wasn't too worried. Ran to Deja Vu, stood there for an hour while it tested, then it didn't hitch and got stuck in the loop. We decided it would probably be awhile and left to ride the other coasters. A few hours later it was testing again, so we ran back just in case, but it still did not open. Around 3 we saw it running with people on it, hurried over there, and it was already down after like 3 laps with people on it :(. Regardless, we hopped in line and stayed. An hr or so later it began to run again, and an hour and a half after that we were on. Train loading time was steady at three and a half minutes. I can't complain though, at least I got to ride it...and it was a heck of a ride! Anyway, Patrick which were you? I was one of the few there in the morning waiting it out. I guess my words of advice would be not to go to Deja Vu right away, wait until you see people on it...but it was worth the wait:).

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Kara
403 Laps

The DejaVu @ SFGam seems to be riddled with problems. I hope they get it all worked out during the off season. SFMM has not had ANY problems with Deja Vu since its opening in August that I know of.
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My other car is a Giovanola!

"riddled" with problems? Seems to me the only problem is the cold weather that neither MM nor oG have. The problem is valleying and it is caused only by the weather. Just because it keeps happening doesn't mean it is a new and different problem. Its all the same.

*** This post was edited by SFGRAMBoy20 on 10/22/2001. ***

I was there yesterday waiting in line when Deja Vu vallied and after that they closed it for about 30min, but I still waited and finally I got on.

I was in a green long sleeve shirt, blue jeans and a cubs hat. It was an incredible ride. To me, it feels almost out of controll. The towers are scary to me. Looking straight down or straight up and suddenly dropping is a sensation every enthusiast should try. For me waiting in the morning was worth it, as I got a free ride no wait at the end of the day :)

SFGRAMBoy20 said:
Yeah....the catch wagon is lowered down to where the train is and re attatched below the tower and then it is pulled back up so the train can complete the ride circuit(or non-circuit...lol)

Actually, there is a winch that they use to winch it up to the catch car, because the catch car cant reach the train when it has valleyed.

Patrick K said:
"I was in a green long sleeve shirt, blue jeans and a cubs hat."

Heh! I saw you! I remember because I really like the Cubs and the hat popped out at me;). Man, you guys need to check out the meeting calendar...I have all the buzzers I meet sign my shirt and I really want to get it filled! I was next to "vekoma sucks" in the long wait at the end, and saw Rob working(sorry Rob, I didn't want to get in the way to have you sign my shirt...I didn't think that would be the best thing with a queue full of people). Anyway, next time I guess. Glad it got running finally.

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Kara
403 Laps

is it possible to put like a chain lift or a launch when the boomerang is in the middle? So that if it goes to slow, the chain will just push it like 10 mph so it goes back down safely without everyone get ivacuated.

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X is the best and it beats all da rest!...Coasterlicius!

Coasterguy, anything is possile...but they aren't going to put a lift chain or LIMs on the boomerang. Why? More $$$$ for something that isn't likely to happen. That would be my guess.