The Bull is down

Seems that El Toro has blown its lift hill motor and may be down for the rest of the season. The park as said that they have sent the motor out to see if it can be repaired in which case it will reopen, but if it needs to be replaced, it won't reopen this year.

Add to this the troubles with I-305 and Excelerator snapping another cable last week and you have a lot of major rides down.

I sure hope that El Toro does reopen this season. One of the main reasons I started running and loosing weight was so that I could ride it more comfortably.

I guess now you'll have to settle for being healthy and feeling better. ;)

Is it really that unique of a part? If so, they're doing it wrong.

DaveStroem said:

Seems that El Toro has blown its lift hill motor and may be down for the rest of the season. The park as said that they have sent the motor out to see if it can be repaired in which case it will reopen, but if it needs to be replaced, it won't reopen this year.

Hmmm... weird. If you're willing to pay for a rush job, you can have a motor completely rewound and baked in a day or two.

We missed RoS at Darien a few years ago, when it blew its lift motor. As I recall, it was down for maybe two weeks.

Bummer! Toro is the main non-KG attraction over PPP weekend...

You might have missed RoS, but have you ever had the chain break, while you were on the lift hill?

I know a guy who has.

rollergator said:

We missed RoS at Darien a few years ago, when it blew its lift motor. As I recall, it was down for maybe two weeks.

Bummer! Toro is the main non-KG attraction over PPP weekend...

Look at the bright side, Flying Turns may be open. :)

Yes the bull is down but in other news from gradv Sep. 8th is the last day of operation for rolling thunder as it will be removed in the off season :(

I'll miss the idea of Rolling Thunder much more than I'll miss the actual ride...

And yes, Turns will more than make up for the absence.

But wow, really would like to get either NTG or Toro before the end of the season...

Although I do not know the specifics of this situation, I can tell you it would not surprise me in the least if Six Flags was feeling the financial pressure to keep costs down in the final operating quarter of the year. The scramble to meet the earnings estimates starts around August each season.

I doubt very much in the overall scope of expenses that this would be huge.

It's not for Six Flags as a whole- but each park GM certainly feels the pressure to stay in line at their park. It all comes down to a decision they have to make: Is it worth it to go over budget by x with only 40 operating days left, or is it better to wait until the 2014 fiscal year to get that cost into off-season expenses?

Even as I type this I see the flaw in the logic, but again I only present this as an idea for discussion because I've heard this type of mentality from people at Six Flags before. If they are having a bad year company wide or park wide, all bets are off when it comes to common sense expenses with Six Flags.

Jeff said:

Is it really that unique of a part? If so, they're doing it wrong.

Well, El Toro is an Intamin ride.

Electric motors of this size and specifications are not kept in inventory by either the manufacturer or a dealer. They are available on order only and the lead time can take several weeks to months to fill.

kpjb doesn't seem to think it would put out a ride for weeks. He would know.

gamerguy said:

Yes the bull is down but in other news from gradv Sep. 8th is the last day of operation for rolling thunder as it will be removed in the off season :(

Confirmation? Because your track record is not so great...

Jeff said:
Is it really that unique of a part? If so, they're doing it wrong.

Unless the whole motor actually blew, I agree. One would think they'd at least keep a few key components in stock at the park. Just makes good sense.

My question is this: Who will Mike volley back and forth with now? ;)

Tekwardo said:

gamerguy said:

Yes the bull is down but in other news from gradv Sep. 8th is the last day of operation for rolling thunder as it will be removed in the off season :(

Confirmation? Because your track record is not so great...

When was i wrong about anything pertaining to Six Flags parks? I was'nt wrong about Eltoro which is why ACE contacted the park to get the info about the blown motor which i knew about the day it happened and i was the one who posted it on the FB page! https://www.facebook.com/events/324282441010929/

There's not much SF does that i don't know about ahead of time!

You were completely wrong about Banshee so that doesn't help your credibility.

And are you really trying to take credit for knowing about Toro's lift motor? Ha!

That is bad news indeed. El Toro was my 1st coaster since about 1971 or 1972 and the main reason I got a Six Flags season pass. Awfully glad I didn't go there today; spent 12 hrs. there last Saturday and the Saturday before and decided I needed a week off.

Being motivated to lose weight in order to better fit the restraints on Toro is rather unique, but whatever works, go for it and congrats. On my last visit to SFGA I saw 2 people do the walk of shame - 1 on Toro and 1 on Nitro. This was the 1st time I'd ever seen anyone turned away from Nitro for being overly large. This was surprising insofar as the restraints on Nitro are far more forgiving than those on Toro.

In a way I'll kind of miss Rolling Thunder. I'll miss the horn sounding and miss crossing over its track while on Toro.

I305 down too? From bad to worse.