Intamin haters...

Could someone please explain to me the reason why there is so much negativity directed towards Intamin coasters or Intamin in general. As I read through posts I have noticed that Intamin does not appear to be a majority fan favorite. I am familiar with some of the problems that their coasters have been known for, most notably TTD, but what about MF. It would seem that the good ultimately out-weighs the bad.

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Where did you see all that negativity?
I think Intamin is a favourite of most coaster fans (next to B&M).
They have firm spots in the favourite coasters of the world, and hold quite a lot of world records as well, plus have participated in quite a few groundbreaking coaster developments.
What people in past have complained about is the cumbersome loading/restraint system (lapbar AND seatbelt that need to be checked for each rider) the generally lower capacity of their hypercoasters (28 riders per train vs. 36 riders on B&M hypers).
Sometimes TTD and KdK have downtime, but these rides are record breakers pushed to the limit, so I'm not surprised.
In terms of riding excitement and innvation, Intamin's got its nose ahead - virtually all their rides are hailed as being excellent.

klynn, I don't think what your seeing is really hatred of Intamin but rather frustation with Intamin's reliability and safety problems. They just seem to be more prone to breakdowns than other coasters (see B&M) and it's sort of just become a joke within the enthusiast community. So you'll see people ripping on that from time to time (sometimes serious, sometimes not). Also, most of their trains are not really "big boy" friendly so people have a lot of problems with that.

As far as their designs/layouts go I think most people can agree that they create some pretty awesome coasters.

I only hate Intamin because of there seatbelt policies

I have heard my share of complaints about Intamin on and off the boards. I just don't take it seriously. I am an Intamin "lover" but I am not going to get into arguments about it. There are certainly a LOT of coasters, like overly rough woodies and old Arrows, that I don't like but I am not going to stress out about it.

Like I said, it's JUST a hobby. ;)

-Tina

*** Edited 7/2/2006 12:35:27 PM UTC by coasterqueenTRN***

Yea...I love Millennium Force, I just haven't been able to ride it after 2004. Thanks Intamin. Will I be able to ride the 2007 project? That remains to be seen.

You open a company, put out products which look amazing, have amazing reputations from those who have used them, and are by appearances, the top of the industry ... then have them never work correctly. Repeat your same mistakes. Consistantly have your products break down because of "safety" issues which have a lot more to do with overly-complex computer systems than "safety" and see how popular your products are ...

The only reason I don't like Intamin is because they seemingly refuse to fix their control system issues, it has nothing to do with the quality of ride their attractions give.

Edit: changed my wording to make more sense ... *** Edited 7/2/2006 1:52:01 PM UTC by Impulse-ive***

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klynn said:
It would seem that the good ultimately out-weighs the bad.

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According to Mitch's steel coaster poll, Intamin has the top 3 steel coasters in the world.

*shrug*

No problem with Intamin per say, but I'm not a fan of their trains. Nice looking, horrible to ride in.

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superman said:
the generally lower capacity of their hypercoasters (28 riders per train vs. 36 riders on B&M hypers).

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Isn't EGF the only one that runs a 7 car train? I know S:RoS SFA and DL and Goliath WW run 8 cars, and SFNE's and MF run 9 cars.

Thunder Dolphin on the other hand runs 6. ;)

And it's much rarer to find empty seats on the 2 across Intamins than the 4 across B&M's. But they have longer trains and redundant seat belts...

So overall I don't think capacity is really that big an issue (well, I should say, it's totally dependant on the operators, not the ride). *** Edited 7/2/2006 3:09:07 PM UTC by ApolloAndy***

Obviously my screen name would indicate that I'm not an Intamin hater, but I'm also not a Intamin apologist. I came up my screen name after riding Volcano at KD. One of the problems with Intamin is their bad reputation. We enthusiasts get very excited when we see some of the extreme designs that they've built, but then the bad stuff happens:

1) Kid falls out of Drop Zone at PGA

2) Guy falls out of S:ROS at SFDL pre-seatbelts

3) Woman dies on Perilous Plunge in front of her children

4) Two trains collide on S:ROS at SFNE

5) Young girl dies on Hydro

6) Man falls out and dies on S:ROS at SFNE

7) Two trains collide on California Screamin'

There have been large amounts of downtime on some of their rides. There have been major malfunctions, the most recent being Volcano. So this is where some of the hate and distrust comes from.

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Two trains collide on California Screamin'

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I *think* this one is WDI's fault. My recollection is that the failed valve was spec'd by WDI, because they were the ones who designed the blocking system (and hence brake placement/design) for Screamin'. I could be wrong about this, though; this is just from memory.

^^ true, and sad!
I wonder if Intamin really ranks higher in the ride/accident ratio than other manufacturers though - they really have a lot of rides out there.
But it reminds that ride safety is something that still needs improvement, especially with the recent accidents that keep on happening.

In steel, it's Anton/Intamin for me, no one else need apply. Their RIDES are "that good". Intense ejector airtime is what steel is made for... ;)

That being said, their flaws are WELL-KNOWN, well-documented, and, this is the part that gets me, PERSISTENT. Anyone heard of any of their hydraulic launches going down, or their cable lift mechanisms? Restraint problems? No?

I was actually thinking about starting a thread recently, just to inquire as to how many times people had seen an Intamin 2nd-gen drop ride running EVERY side...I've seen TONS of them running, and can't think of once offhand that they were ALL running...

Thanks guys. I haven't had the opportunity yet to travel to some of the parks listed here, but I see the point. My point of reference is mostly Cedar Point, although I have been to alot of parks in between including SFOG. I guess I kind of have come to accept TTD's downtime as a necessary evil when it comes to rides of that caliber. Whether that's good or bad I don't know.

I don't hate Intamin, but it's looking like Cedar Point is getting another Intamin for 2007 and I wonder ... is there nothing else? ...
- J
p.s. I cannot believe there is a roller coaster called Thunder Dolphin. *** Edited 7/2/2006 11:58:22 PM UTC by ErinGoBraugh***

'gator - last time I saw Pitt Fall at Kennywood running all-out was probably 4-5 years ago. Never seen one not at Kennywood running all-out. My favorite Intamin problem? They can't get a WOODEN COASTER to run correctly ... yes folks, that's the kind of coaster that's been running since the 20s and before, and Intamin can't get their first state-side wooden creation to actually run like it's supposed to. At what point do you get rid of your control manufacturer/contractor and try someone else?! Or more interestingly (and for those that like conspiracies) what does the control system manufacturer have on Intamin?

What's been the issues with El Toro lately? Haven't heard.

LOL Brett....first time I saw PittFall, riders were stuck *at the top* for about 15 minutes. Not being experienced at that point, I decided against riding it that trip. (At least I did get in a requisite bunch of laps on Steel Phantom, since it was gone on my next visit.)

I didn't even list control systems among the flaws...but they SURE belong there.

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matt. said:
What's been the issues with El Toro lately? Haven't heard.

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There haven't really been that many problems with ET. But it's at a Six Flags park so...

Basically they took quite a while to get the 2nd train running, but it is running 2 trains now. Also, there has been a few problems with the lift hill. Not sure if it's sensor related or cable related or what, but that seems to be the ONLY problem with the ride.