SFWoA 9/14/01

After what turned out to be a bad week for really everybody, I really needed to ride. Six Flags Worlds of Adventure had coupons for season pass holders to bring in a friend, so Steph and I brought in Old Timer Tim/One And Only Coaster God and his wife Lois (a.k.a., Oceana Forever).

This was Oktoberfest, which has been going on since the Geauga Lake days. They more or less keep their own food stands closed and bring in the fair vendors and beer stands. It was fairly crowded, and pretty much everyone who was old enough had a beer in hand. Clearly, people needed this.

That left relatively few people riding, and that turned out to be a good thing since the park was, as usual, running as few trains as possible. Waits on Villain and Batman were about 20 minutes, 15 for Superman and 45 for X-Flight (running a pair). It could have been near ERT conditions, and that's frustrating, by reality led me to believe there were other things to worry about.

What I did gain is insight into why they were running only one train. Waiting for the front on Batman (Tim and Lo were floorless virgins), the ride op asked if I thought they should run more than one train. Duh, of course. I asked him why he wasn't. He said it was up to maintenance. So there you have it. Unlike the competition in Sandusky, where ride ops make the call as to number of trains, this park is run by the mechanics. Not a good way to operate.

Villain was the first thing we rode, and it really hand't warmed up. After raving about to Tim for a year, I was disappointed he didn't get the great ride I was used to.

On to Batman where we could see half-empty trains from Villain's lift. Again, they had never been on a floorless, so this was a new experience for them. We waited for the front because I largely feel the experience is lost in other seats. Now I remember why my opinion of the ride was so much higher the first time I rode it, in the front. The track offers a better sense of speed, and you're often hanging on the drop and inversions. You even get pops of air off the mid-course and into the final brake run. I still think Medusa (east) is the better ride, but I'm glad we've got the ride here in Ohio.

Two spins on Superman, one near the front, one near the back. I really hope this thing becomes the modern boomerang, because it is such a fun ride. I don't approach it with the same amount of enthusiasm that some SFGAm fans do, but I love that acceleration through the station.

This would be my second lap on X-Flight. My second only because it was the first time I've been there with more than one train operating and a reasonable line. I was a little disappointed that they're still reclining in the station, but I'll get over it. The good news is that they're loading more efficiently than before, though they're sometimes waiting longer than they have to dispatch the next train.

X-Flight at night is a much better ride. I still find it to be very physical, but not uncomfortable. While the train design is too complex (not that I'd know how to simplify it), the one thing I would change is to angle the seats with your head up more in the flying position, because you're basically just forced to look at the ground. A good ride overall, but I'm interested to see what B&M comes up with.

Overall the park did a good job, as it generally does under lighter load. If only they could be like this when the park is busy.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

Great TR Jeff! I went to PGA this weekend for pretty much the same reasons.

I like your idea to change the angle for the flying dutchmans, I thought of similar ideas. I was thinking to make it recline further back(you would have to raise the hinge-end a bit) so you would be looking slightly forwards while you rode. Although in that case it should probably recline on the lift and upright immediately in the unloading station, as that position could be extremely uncomfortable since your legs would be far above your head while reclining. Is this the angle you meant? I am also looking forwards to B&M's model because, well I hate to say it since I like rough coasters and smooth coasters the same, but I think flying dutchman-type coasters need to be smooth to get a better sense of flying. When it becomes too rough the effect is lost, and becomes some type of torture device because of the way you are strapped in.

Yep, exactly what I was thinking about the angle. And you're right about the reclining, because as it stands now you're already angled a bit head first on horizontal track as it is (not comfortable).

I think overall Vekoma did a decent job creating the experience, I really do. It's just that the trains are so complex and that seems to be the core of all the problems.

One other thing I think I'd change is to make the rolls so that your center axis is you, not the track spine. This way, you're really rolling over in a "pipe" of sorts, and not being pulled around the outside of a pipe.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

I work X-Flight but I wasnt there Friday since I had a football game to go too. But I just wanted to say the ride is blocked to where we cant send the next train till the first is completely out of the loop. So usually you can send one. wait till the loop send the second but still end up having 2 in the station to reload. It gets frustrating.
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Don't mess with the X in 01
X-Flight team member 2001!

Hmm.... Stealth does very tight corkscrews which certainly puts the center of gravity near you, but they are also quite rough. I am doing a midwest coaster trip next season, so then I will have a chance to try out X-Flight, among other coasters I am dying to try out. I assume that the inline twists would be almost as smooth as the half-inline twists both coasters have, so I only have a general idea of what they would be like.

Of course AIR seems to have solved most of these problems, from what I've seen the cars are also angled this way. Since it remains inverted most of the time there shouldn't be too much discomfort, but the restraint system will make all the difference(is it a smaller version of the 'vest' of the Vekoma? it looks almost like tiny straps)

 

-djansi

XFlight: That sounds right to me, but some of your team mates were messing around a bit, because it wasn't uncommon for the other train to hit the brake run before they dispatched another train. No worries in this case, as the waits weren't too long.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
"From the global village... in the age of communication!"
Watch the grass grow!

I am not trying to bash on anyone(I think), but aren't we nagging a bit?  I don't see where X-Flight is rough to the point where it dampers the ride experience Djansi.  Well, X-Flight has been reclining in the station for the whole season now, so what do you expect?  Would it really help dispatch times at all if they reclined on the station.  What is the big deal with having to look at the ground?  Honestly, does it really make a difference?  If you are confused or mad, just look at the sig.
At least the one train op mystery is solved, thanks for that one. 

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Please disregard anything said by me that is incomprehensible, incoherent, or just dumb. I am and will be drained from the arduous school year, thank you!