Dragon Challenge=duel less

When I was at ioa Friday I noticed Ice wasn't running. Ride op told me it was down all day mechanical..yet I saw no one checking anything. Later in the day another ride op told me it's a good chance they will never duel again cause some guest got hit with some aholes sunglasses.
Naturally I thought will never happen...
On way 2 work today on the news its official...the dragons r 2 duel no more

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 3050 :)

Something tells me this wouldn't have been the first and only time that thats happened to cause this change. Got a link to the paper article?

So the 8 people in the front seats (4 people on each train) won't get the dueling effect. The people on the rest of the train won't notice that much difference considering all they can see is the back of the seat in front of them.

While I liked the coasters (when they were Dueling Dragons), it was for the coasters themselves, not the dueling which is lost on everyone who does not have a front row seat. The lack of visuals on seats 2 to the back are the reasons why I'll take a floorless anyday over an invert.

99.9% of the time I ride an invert, it's in the front seat. Of all the dueling coasters, this is the one that should never not duel. Pardon the double negative.

Lame.

You could definitely notice the duel on all but the corks. You just had to be looking for it. Also, sitting in an outside seat and looking around the side of the train helped.

Freak accidents should not cause policy changes. I hope IoA comes forward with the details of why this change was made.

And ride ops are always the first, most trustworthy source of information. (/me rolls eyes)

I do not have a link to the story I heard it on the radio on way in to wor. Even the news reporter said "those coasters have been running like that fine for how many years and this happens and that's it?"

They are real careful about loose articles n bags on that ride I say enforce glass straps don't stop the dueling!!

Although I do agree they are both awesome rides on their own the dueling just made it that much more fun :)

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 3050 :)

clickorlando.com story

I don't like glasses straps. I won't wear my sunglasses on a ride that makes you wear them. That being said, I've been going strapless for as long as I can remember going to amusement parks, and I've never lost a pair of glasses yet.

I would hardly call someone who loses their sunglasses an A-hole. That's a bit different than a camera or phone.

Uncle Coaster said:
clickorlando.com story

From the story:

"'As we continue to study these incidents, we will operate both coasters as separate experiences...' Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in a written statement."

Those of you formerly counting this as one credit can officially count it as two now! ;)

I read somewhere that the park is keeping secret the fact that they believe that foul play is involved. That is somewhat insinuated in the story that Uncle Coaster posted above.

If this was, in fact, a freak accident, then IOA was right to not have made changes to the ride after the first time. That this is the second time this has happened in a month, not dueling the ride is a pretty good idea.

And if someone is responsible for these incidents, by purposefully throwing an object or something like that, he/she should be ashamed of him/herself.

Dueling is/was a big part of the ride. I enjoyed the experience even when not riding the front seat.

I was there Wednesday and Friday. I THINK I rode it dueling and non-dueling on Friday although honestly the week (trip report coming soon) is a bit of a blur as we did all four Disneys and both Universal parks (two days at each company, parkhopping) in four days, staying on site at Universal.

I know Ice was down Friday night and I rode Fire. Kinda cool that we got one of the very last dueling rides possibly ever.

I was there last Thursday and Saturday. Rode the fire side on Thursday night. They were only running the fire side, but it was a walk up so I thought maybe they just ran one side or the other during slow traffic times. Rode ice on Saturday during the day. Both sides were running but no dueling. Rode ice again at night. It was a walk up then too but both sides were running but still no dueling. Seemed odd because they were not running very far off from each other in terms of timing. One train waiting 10-15 seconds or so would have allowed them to duel. Makes sense though based on that article. Impact of dueling definitely would have been greatest in the front row (bummed out they were not dueling as we entered the loop) but it still appeared that it would be noticeable if you payed attention in other rows. Son and I both preferred the ice side over fire.

Saturday night the place cleared out. My son and I went back for the last 2 hours before close and rode Hulk 5 times, Spiderman twice and Fearfall, Potter and Dragons each once. Everything other than Spiderman and Potter were walk ups. Potter and Spiderman were less than 30 mins (though Express Plus made Spiderman a walk up). Not sure if that is typical.

Lord Gonchar said:

From the story:

"'As we continue to study these incidents, we will operate both coasters as separate experiences...' Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in a written statement."

Those of you formerly counting this as one credit can officially count it as two now! ;)

Moosh would have gotten quite the kick out of that, Gonch.

Exactly who I had in mind. :)

Lord Gonchar said:

From the story:

"'As we continue to study these incidents, we will operate both coasters as separate experiences...' Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in a written statement."

is it just me, or are they not Dueling until the investigation is over...

Pretty much, they wont Duel for a few days, then they pick it back up. Sucks for those going during the investigation....

So no more Loch Ness interlocking loops, no more racer racing, .... come on.

sealedseven said:

is it just me, or are they not Dueling until the investigation is over...

Pretty much, they wont Duel for a few days, then they pick it back up. Sucks for those going during the investigation....

That is what I gleaned as well. They may just get a stricter on the loose items policy and then start dueling again. I think the near miss sections, while more apparent in the front seat, is fun for all seats. Not to mention its visually appealing for those watching the ride (there are always quite a bit of spectators)

I just tried to post a trip report about central florida, keeps coming up blank. We were at IOA the day the last "accident" happened. There was security in the que area watching the coaster the entire week before this last "accident" happened. I dont think loose sunglasses caused the injury. I think it was adults tossing pennies at each other.