SFMM Lex Luthor Drop of Doom Construction Video

Here is a video showing the new gondola and parts of the new SFMM ride.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86FNPZZCKIE

Fascinating. I'd like those 3 minutes back now, please.

Vater said:
Fascinating. I'd like those 3 minutes back now, please.

You made it that far? I got exactly this much into the video:

"Hey guys, I just got back from Six Fla..." and closed it.

Yeah, not sure why. I kept skipping forward to see if there was actually something to see. There wasn't.

Reminds me of when I watch Keeping up with the Kardashians. If it wasn't for their giant brother Khloe, the show would be so boring.

I don't watch the show, but I do like Kim's giant twins.

Hey now, you leave my Sasqua...er,... I mean...Khloe alone!

There are apparently clearance issues with the existing emergency stairs, and no real work can begin until the whole thing is shifted in 4 feet. Good 'ol Intamin!

/m

Because, they knew they were going to be building a drop tower on the side of the structure when they built it 16 years ago?? That's a stretch if I've ever seen one.

The clearance issue was known from the beginning and has been dealt with, so this was not a "construction" faux pas.
Construction is in full swing, as you can see here by the picture SFMM twittert yesterday
http://www.thecoasterguy.com/index.php/2012/04/12/lex-luthor-drop-o...elicopter/

It's official: Lex Luther Drop of Doom will open June 30th!

New construction update can be found here> http://www.thecoasterguy.com/index.php/2012/06/01/lex-luthor-drop-o...-update-4/

There are not a lot of rides in the World that scare me, but this drop tower will cost me some nerves...

The only thing that would scare me about this ride is the long line. :D

Did they only install it on one side of the tower? I assumed they'd put in 2 cars because 8 people per cycle, even with a 2 minute cycle (which is generous) is 240 pph which is miserable.

I'm almost positive that a ride vehicle runs down two sides of the tower, so with you generous calculation, this ride will be giving approximately 480 per hour. Keep in mind that SFMM doesn't have another drop ride. This is a new ride, first of all, and second, it is record-breaker. It will probably be very popular.

Vater said:

Yeah, not sure why. I kept skipping forward to see if there was actually something to see. There wasn't.

Construction pictures of dirt and footers curing are a thing of the past.

480 isn't terrible. Though I seriously doubt they'll get there. But some popular coasters are in the same ballpark.

I don't think it's that bad either. I think some people are confusing this (flat ride) with a roller coaster. That said, I'm sure the lines for this will be insane opening year.

I dont understand Lost Kause problem here, so what should the alternative be? Parks should not build rides unless they have a certain capacity? It makes no sense.

Of course the ride will be popular, but this is also one of these very intimidating rides that a lot of people rather look at than ride.

Again, people asked SFMM for years to build a new dropride. Now they are building the biggest in the World....and some are still complaining.Geez...

The alternative is to make a special effort to ensure capacity is decent. Things like B&M's vertical coaster going from 2 rows of 8 (Oblivion) to 3 rows of 8 (Sheikra) to 3 rows of 10 (Griffon) don't seem out of the realm of possibility on other ride styles. Multiple stations, bigger trains, better policies (free lockers outside the queue, etc.) better station design can all contribute to capacity and don't cost *that* much after the initial outlay for the ride.

High capacity rides at very busy parks makes very good sense, Alexatucla. Making sure that a new attraction doesn't have a consistently long line should be the number one aspect of any new attraction, unless, of course, they have a reason to want to make the lines long. Perhaps longer lines benefit the parks bottom line in some way?

Look at Disney. They know that their parks are heavy in traffic, so they normally build with capacity in mind to handle that traffic.

Look at it outside of the amusement park industry for a second. If a new grocery store is built in a busy area where there are very few grocery stores stores, and they expect to be quite busy, it would probably be a good idea to design the store to have more than a few checkout lanes.

If designing a new toll booth on a very busy toll road, it would probably be a good idea to take into consideration how many cars will pass through to plan how many booths to build.

I mean, it's common sense, isn't it?