S:UE Welding and More SFWoA Rides Status

Hello Coaster Fans Who Are Now Bathing in Aloe After Hitting The Ohio Parks For Two Straight Sunfilled Days In Ohio (of which I now think, makes a total of 6 days this year it hasn't rained) ;)

A lof of people have been asking for updates of what's been going on at SFWoA, here's the low down Good AND Bad:

First the Good:

The Park HAS recieved an INCREASE in height last week it is now up to 242ft. Hmmmm ;)

If you get to the park early on WEEKDAYS Q-bots are ONLY $5 per person. It might seem strange very first thing since you can walk right on the rides but after 1pm the lines can grow very quickly as everyone shows up. Along with othered lowered prices it's now only $5 for two people in the Water Baloon Wars :)

Big Dipper is CONSTANTLY running two trains now.

X-Flight is constantly running two trains smoothly...I think they could even run 3 trains now if they wanted.

Villain two trains running at all times now.
Double Loop will put two trains on if the line reaches the midway.

Hurricane Harbor is up and running in VERY full force. You should see the massive amounts of people lining up for this thing!

The park has been PACKED this past week (with the weather being good). During weekdays they lately have been only filling the Wild Rides Parkinglot up. But this past week they have been SOOoo crowded they have been filling up the Rides side then opening up the Wild Life Side Parking lot around noon due to the amount of people coming in. The Shows have been Sooo packed that people have been standing also (ie, Shouka and Sea Lion Stadium). Those BOGO free coupons are RAKING in the people...almost too much.

Now the Bad:

S:UE It has been reported last week that something did happen to S:UE. This week they have a crane up there on the straight spike and are doing A LOT of welding.
Picture Shown HERE

Here's an overhead view No word on when it will be back open.

According to the Shannon Pack, Silver Bullet was just down DDM. According to MANY park employees Silver Bullet is as good as gone now. It is not being moved, it is being totally taken out. Time will tell on this but Here is what it looks like now

Texas Twister is suppose to be up and running any day now, but it doesn't look like it will be. The seats are disconnected from the arms and are sitting Back/Down/and off on some wood blocks. The end of the seats are covered and tarp, along with something else behind the ride. Picture Shown HERE

With the MASSES pouring in, I think they need to add WAYY more seating for the Dolphin Show. SOOOo many people have been wanting to see that but it gets filled up at least 15 minutes before the show starts. I think the new seats they added this year seat 300 or so.

Well, that's it for now. With the exeption of those above rides, the park is in EXCELLENT shape and is handling the crowds very well this year. Definetly worth a stop. Oh, and here is another cool pic I just thought I'd throw in ;)

Great Way To Have Some Summer Fun

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"The Future of Roller Coasters"
-RollerCoasterGod
OhioThemeParks.com
*** This post was edited by RollerCoasterGod 7/31/2003 8:49:06 AM ***

Talk about timing! I was going to just head over for a few quick spins on S:UE this evening - guess I'll wait til repairs are done. Thanks for the update! Hope the sunburn heals fast! ;) (I think its actually 7 days, but eh, who's counting - gotta love that Ohio valley weather!)

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

I wouldn't be surprised if they are adding supports to it like CP did for Cedar Point this year. I can email you a picture showing you what I mean if you like.

Thanks,

Dug

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My signature was more than three lines so it got edited by a moderator.

I wonder if all the intamin impulse's are going to need work...

good to hear xflight is running 2 trains now, i was not going to wait the 2 hours underneath that circus tent to ride it.

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http://www.eightdotthree.net

When I was at CP last year waiting for Raptor cause it was staying open late. I sparked uup a convo with a ride host and he was telling me that maintance is so over budget cause Wicked Twsiter is ripping itself apart. They weld it every night and thats why the crane was there. Its not there anymore and thee are new support beams at the top.

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My signature was more than three lines so it got edited by a moderator.

Yes, but there's a large difference between what like 110' of unsupported track and 75' (WT vs. S:UE). The holding brake is a lot of weight, so I wouldn't be surprised if that might require addition of supports, but the front spike shouldn't need them. Personally, I say ditch the holding brake a.k.a. manhood-crushing-painful-nearly-ruins-the-experience-device ;) So I'm in the minority - it would solve the problem though!

Perhaps there is some truth to the rumor of them moving Texas Twister and Silver Bullet to the other side, perhaps for a station to utilize that increased height limit?

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

Either way, I think that the length of unsupported track on all of the impulses was not a great idea. Long pieces of box track unsupported (MF, Xcelerator) are fine I think if the forces acting on them are generally in the same direction of the track itself, but the problem with the Impulses is that the track is being twisted, in my opinion. In my non-engineering view I can see the diagonal ties being pushed more in the direction of travel, and their contact area at the weld is too small to hold. That's why I suspect they were replaced with much larger ties on Wicked Twister (then given the added braces).

On the back spike of the standard ones, I just don't see how supporting a train like that stopped on supported track was ever a good idea.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I think it was more of a safety factor thing Jeff. Steel design and the like is all done with factors, either divided by 3 or multiplied by 0.9 depending on how modern a design technique you're using, etc. I think the problem there was that the folks at Intamin thought they had a better grip on how that steel would perform sticking up in the air like that than they did. Probably used a safety factor that was just too small, which is why the problems are popping up now, instead of immediately. The steel fatigues and gets weaker the more times the trains travel over it, and factors of safety drop exponentially towards 1 where the steel can only (theoretically) barely support train plus environmental factors.

I think they were so pumped about the visuals and aesthetic value of the unsupported track that it was sort of "brushed aside" that the fatigue would cause future problems. Neat idea, wrong execution.

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

It looks like Steel Venom at VF is having the same kind of problems. It flexes like crazy, and they have a portable lift next to it, and it is parked in a different spot every day.

Dave in MN

To bad about the Sliver Bullet, that was the best enterprise I had ridden on (they must have ran it at beserk speed because the gs you felt when the ride started was insane). Oh well if they trade for a coaster youll here no complaints from me :)

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Summer 03-CP, HP, SFDL, SFNE, SFWOA, and SFGAm.

What's your point Brett... you're using engineering terms but saying the same thing: It was a poor design.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

I'm saying in smaller prototypes and computer models, it probably works great and has a long life. Put it in the field and it goes to hell. That's all. Trying to defend the design in some way ...

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Formerly PittDesigner (graduating soon!)
Lifelong fan of all Impulses!
--Brett

Wow, guess we hit WoA on a good day (Monday 7/28). The Wild Rides parking lot wasn't close to being full and the lines were pretty much non-existent for all the rides. There did seem to be a lot of people on the Wild Life side however.

I don't know what the problem is with S:UE but I do know that I've been there 3 times this year and that ride has yet to be open. It's one of the few reasons why I make multiple trips to WoA and I haven't even got to ride it this year. Arg!

One day I will learn to keep my mouth shut...

Overheard at the Thunder Alley SpeedWay: "Say Mark, What's that sound?

Why, it sounds like coins dropping from Superman. Really Big coins."

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Jes
Jes's Roller Coasters DJ Jes
Six Flags Worlds Of Adventure Ride-Ops Crew 2002-2003(Find Me, Win a prize!)

The other thing which I find interesting about the design of the Intamin rides is that there were four flanges that didn't match up during construction on S;UE. I also was told by the same source that when they inquired to CP about how MF construction was proceeding, Monty told him that they had 120 flanges that wouldn't align properly. It's scary to think of those unsupported towers swaying back and forth on rewelded flanges.

On the Discovery channel, I mentioned this phenomena. But, they deleted my second comment about how I always wonder about metal fatigue. Oh well, I was only trying to build the ride up more for everyone.

Wood - anything else is an imitation
*** This post was edited by Thrillerman 8/1/2003 4:22:59 PM ***

I'm almost happy my impulse is shorter... it never has structual problems. :-P

Well I bet you guys don't get to use your holding brake at full force anymore.

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www.CaliforniaCoasterNews.com
www.SFMWZone.com
*** This post was edited by GoliathKills 8/1/2003 5:08:52 PM ***

ive heard they got the height raised for a Intamin Gyro drop....and Ive also heard that the empty space left from Silver bullet will be used to make a bigger a Midway.....None of the Employees can tell me about the Hyper except that it will be (quote un quote "BIG")....or the status on S:UF (When it will open and stuff like that).......I have also heard that they may get a alligator Exibit and Oscar(a new whale for shouka)....this is all ive heard..and i hope its all true!......

Have a Lovely Day!

So what were those additional struts on WT for, anyway?

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Is that a Q-bot in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?