MF Blocks and Capacity

I can vouch for waiting with thumbs up until the train clears the bunny hop, normally this last about 50 or so sec with all ops clear. Also I believe the first two years the train couldnt be dispatched on Millenium until it hit the last bank. Becuase of that delay the problems the GP have with seatbelt is almost negated, but often you will get a guest who is too large and that can throw the interval way the hell of, and of course the odd balling child, or teenage girl, and as you all know CP does not allow ditraught children to ride the ride even if there parents say other wise.

Matt: For clarity, yes, when I clock a ride, I'm typically clocking seats dispatched, not riders riding. The idea is to see how close the crew is coming to hitting their posts.

On Magnum, you could dispatch a train as soon as the lift is clear, but if you do that you'll have a long delay after the third train goes before the first one comes back. Waiting for the train to crest the second hill evens out the timing.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So theoretically Intamin knew that the bottle neck block was going to be the main course, right? And theoretically CP's ops can push the train over the lift just as the previous train enters unload, right? So why are the theoretical and actual caps so different?

------------------
Be polite and ignore the idiots. - rollergator
"faster, cheaper, and more often" that's somebody's new sig -UpsideDawnGrrrl
My shirt in my photo seems to be for "Aging Bull"

I think you can chalk Millennium Force's timing problems to a good old fashioned screw-up. You may recall that when the ride was announced, it was supposed to have a ride time of 2:45, when in fact it isn't even close unless you count the time you spend waiting to leave the station.

It appears to me that the precise dynamics of the ride timing on Millennium Force didn't quite work out as planned...the ride is faster and shorter than it was expected to be, for one thing, and I suspect that when Intamin was working out the details of the ride timing, they might have been planning on a much faster station approach, as we see on Darien Lake's Superman: Ride of Steel. Combine all the things that might have changed in the planning stages, and you can see how the planned timing could get knocked way out of whack.

Which brings up an interesting question: Did they get the details right for Dragster?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Why would there be such a major difference in ride time? Were there design changes ( layout, length, height, lift speed, lift angle, etc. ) or simply miscalculations?
------------------
Intelligence is a God given gift: Know how to use it.

---

RideMan said:
Combine all the things that might have changed in the planning stages, and you can see how the planned timing could get knocked way out of whack.

Which brings up an interesting question: Did they get the details right for Dragster?

---

Very interesting points. Thinking about it all like that makes very good sense, too.

Here's to hoping the Swiss guys used TI-89s instead of slide-rules this time!

------------------
- John
Dag, yo
Support Rob in the Great DDR Challenge!

CoasterKrazy, have you noticed how much variation there is in the ride cycle time now that the ride is built? Remember, when Millennium Force was being designed and built, there were NO coasters operating with that track, train, and wheel configuration (planning for Millennium Force goes back to before Superman opened...). So everything was theoretical. Sure, there is a lot that is known. But the exact efficiency of a new train design, a new track configuration, a new wheel design, and an 80-degree 300-foot drop that nobody had ever tried before probably could not have been known or tested precisely until the ride was built.

Intamin may have screwed up the timing calcs on Millennium Force, but given the circumstances I'm willing to give them a pass for that one. After all, the ride *does* work!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.