Premier Rides + Unique Lift = Trouble! (MaxRPM)

Looks like they've pretty much got it

Looks like a nice first drop...followed by a few hundred feet of boring.

Yikes. I wonder if the load cycle or the lift block will be the bottleneck on this one. Either way, 6 people at a time is going to be miserable.

Do they load all four spots on the wheel or just two?

I'm going to guess that they load one car, cycle it to the top of the ferris wheel and while it is rolling out down the drop a car at the bottom is rolling in. But I guess we will just have to wait and see if that is how they actually do it.

I agree with Mamoosh. It looks like a neat experience riding up in the lift and then a fun drop only to be followed by I can't believe I waited in line that long for this.

Wow, that is a painfully slow lift system.

TAER IT DOWN!!!!!!!

(someone had to say it!)

^ You forgot "111".

^ROFL. At least wait until July. I'll be there for the event the day after con, which happens to be my birthday. I can't remember the last time I went to a new park on my birthday. Probably never.

BTW, Gonch, it looks like Amnesiac beat ya by 4 seconds. :)

1. car 1 loads, rotates 1/4 to side position

2. car 2 loads, rotates 1/4 to side position, car 1 rotates 1/4 to top position and releases

3. car 3 loads, rotates 1/4 to side position, car 2 rotates 1/4 to top position and releases

Since the car at the bottom loads as the car at the top releases and there's another car in between them, there will never be more than two cars on the wheel at once. And there will never be a car in the side position on the way down - hence the balance problem. Cars only ever move upward and don't ever occupy the downward side of the wheel.

So why don't they just use halves instead of quarters? I would bet it would increase capacity and decrease maintenance.

Max RPM has opened!

http://thesunnews.typepad.com/tourism/2008/06/ride-opened-gm.html

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Mamoosh said:
All he/she needed to do was talk to parks that own rides made by Premier. I'm sure SFGAdv would tell her how happy they were with Batman/Robin Chiller...or how happy SFOT and SFStL were with the delays opening their Chiller shuttles, or [P]KD and [P]KI about how they tortured guests on FoF until forces to redesign the train's restraints.

This isn't a mistake. A mistake is when you fall down an elevator shaft. Or when you skinny-dip in a school of piranha. Or when you accidentally douche with Drano! No, MaxRPM was no mistake...it's a WTF were they thinking!?!?!

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So, they changed the restraints for the better now, and the rides are pretty much working at all those parks except for Batman and Robin. LIMs were brand new things when Mr. Freeze came about so I expect it to have delays. Isn't it obvious with new systems and designs comes new problems.

It's yet another system and design, and you have more problems. If they would have stuck with another Joker's Jinx, or Mr. Freeze, it would be running now. Techinically, it is working now but it would've been open a lot longer.

I understand that not every ride they've created has had problems and that many of those that did (FOF, the Freezes for example) have had fixes and are running more reliably. And I also applaud both Premier and HRP for trying something exciting and unique.

But let's move out of the world of coasters for a moment. Think about when you're in the market for a new car, or TV, or cell phone. Would you rather buy from a company that is known for quality products or from one with a reputation for putting out products that are problematic or need excessive maintenance?

Or, say you're booking a flight and you can choose from two flights at the same price and schedule but one of the airlines is known for constant delays or lost luggage, the other has a good on-time record. Which will you choose?

Or, back to the world of coasters. Let's pretend that TOGO, the maker of such neck-jarring gems as Windjammer and Manhattan Express, was still in business. If you're still playing along you also need to imagine that Windjammer is still operating. Kennywood announces their new-for-2009 coaster: a TOGO looper. Can you imagine the uproar from enthusiasts in forums from shore to shore? People would be asking, "WTF was Kennywood thinking? Did no one from Kennywood ride Windjammer or Man-Exp before buying? Did they bother to talk to Knotts and NYNY Casino?"

I'm all for innovation, unique, and never-been-seen. Just make sure it works, lol. ;)

EDIT - ...and as long as I'm asking to make sure it works I might as well ask that it be a fun and pain-free experience when riding, lol

*** Edited 6/17/2008 5:16:08 PM UTC by Mamoosh***

I don't think this ride looks this great, but I didn't think that the Backlot Stunt Coaster was going to be as awesome as it was. The only problem I see with Premier is that they don't like to have a lot of people per train. Mr. Freeze is only 20, and Stunt coaster is 12 people. The most is Joker's Jinx and Speed with 24 that I can think.

I think that at least for only single train operations, they should boost the number of people even if they would have to put more LIMs on the ride. Mr. Freeze has two sides, but it costs more money to operate 2 sides instead of one.

IIRC, Freeze runs trains of 24. I think chiller ran trains of 20...

When considering bids for new ride projects one of the things a park considers is capacity. Actually at that stage in the process I would think it is projected capacity based on the ride's design and computer simulations. Additionally I would suspect that more often then not actual capacity turns out to be less than what is projected, even on rides that operate as planned.

I'm not sure I'd be willing to concede that Premier Rides is just a company of failures. The launched rides have been running pretty reliably since they retrofitted the trains with lap bars (and comfortably too), and the Italian Job coasters, while not awe-inspiring, have run pretty well. The Mummy rides are sweet and I haven't encountered any down time that I can think of.

^^^http://rcdb.com/id281.htm

^^I know that those capacities are also so bad as what they say they are.

To me, what's interesting is that you have parks like Busch Gardens, and you have parks like Six Flags. A bigger Six Flags has more coasters than Busch Gardens does. Six Flags Over Georgia has 10 coasters while Busch Gardens Tampa has 6.

I have heard people say that Batman, and Superman are short rides. Maybe, they might say that Scorcher is a short ride too. At Busch Gardens, I think they would say that Montu, Kumba, and Sheikra are pretty long rides.

Busch Gardens has a higher capacity for those rides than Six Flags Over Georgia, and has longer rides. The point I'm trying to make is to smarter for Six Flags Over Georgia to get rid of Superman, and Batman, and just have a Montu to replace 2 coasters, or something like that?

They aren't really going to replace those coasters, but I'm talking in the future that they buy less coasters, and make them longer. Instead of quantity that Six Flags buys, should they buy longer coasters, and have less coasters?

To me, I rather have Batman, and Superman over one Kumba, but would people other than me like a Kumba over those two rides considering they are saying that those two rides are too short? *** Edited 6/17/2008 8:26:47 PM UTC by Spinout***

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Jeff said:I'm not sure I'd be willing to concede that Premier Rides is just a company of failures. The launched rides have been running pretty reliably since they retrofitted the trains with lap bars (and comfortably too), and the Italian Job coasters, while not awe-inspiring, have run pretty well. The Mummy rides are sweet and I haven't encountered any down time that I can think of.

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I'm a big fan of Premier. Sure, they had a few *issues*, but consider that the company is willing to ADMIT its faults (at least to themsleves, LOL). Then they proceeded to make better rides based on the lessons they learned from previous failures.

Contrast with, say, Intamin....they've never made a mistake they had to learn from. ;)

Jeff - both Mr. Freeze shuttles opened a year later than planned. Chiller as well IIRC.

That being said, I'm not labelling Premier or their rides as failures. My apologies if I gave that impression. Other than one lap on (P)KI's FOF pre-retrofit to lapbars I can't think of a single ride of their I didn't enjoy and hesitate to ride a second time.