This was brought up in another thread and I thought that I would create this one to answer some questions directly about what was happening this season without getting the other one completely off topic, and I know there has been a lot of confusion about it.
Once Q-Bots got handed out, every ride with Fast Pass got a SOP concerning how to handle Fast Pass guests. The most practical way to get the Fast Pass guests to the front of the line on Cyclone was to hold everyone else in the building at the bottom of the ramp, and allow the Fast Pass customers to go on up the ramp. Then, with every train dispatched, send up another group of customers in the standby line. It wouldn't work to send people up the exit like on many rides because the exit is so far from the entrance, and would just cause confusion.
The seats were not roped off because of malfunctioning bars, but because of speed issues. For quite an extended period of time, in August if I remember, Cyclone was closed completely while the park took very drastic actions to allow the train to make the course in the morning, and not go completely hell bent at night. One of those actions was to rope off the back car, and then rope off another car towards the middle of the train. Mantinence told all Cyclone workers to not load the cars that were tied off, and didn't tell them much more than that. Also, all operators were told that if the coaster ran faster than X number of seconds, to call their supervisor and notify them. If the coaster ran faster than N seconds, then the operator was to stop dispatching immediately and notify their supervisor and wait for instructions.
If anybody has any questions about Cyclone I haven't answered, or any questions about SFNE's operations in general, I'll be happy to answer to the best of my ability.
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
I'm not sure if this information was posted partially because of criticisms I recently made regarding SFNE in another post, but whatever the reason, I appreciate the explanation. What you described about some of the Cyclone's cars being roped off was one of the things I was complaining about. My question now is: Why does the park feel the need to ensure that a circuit takes a certain amount time, and why only recently? Actually, I understand that all coasters have to operate within certain time guidelines, but why now and not since the PTCs were added in 2000?
I didn't mean to trash the park, if that is what you feel that I was doing. Its just that, all along, I hear people trash Six Flags parks and up until my visit at SFNE, I didn't see why. At SFNE, I was shocked that the HUGE crowds in the park that day did not warrant adding a second train to both Batman and Mind Eraser. I'm also curious as to why the park doesn't take the neccessary steps to fix Thunderbolt so that it can run two trains. Its about time they did so. Considering that SF is more than willing to spend the money to add OTS restraints to coasters that don't need them, I think they should spend the money to fix whatever has to be "fixed" on Thunderbolt.
I understand that the park is a work in progress, and that transformations do not happen overnight. It just seemed that the park was not making an effort to increase capacity on a day that was clearly NOT part of the off-season, and has not made seeingly-simply changes (more restrooms, second train on Thunderbolt) to better accomodate the crowds that have been flocking to the park for the past three years.
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-Rob
Don't forget to vote for your favorite wooden coasters @ http://www.geocities.com/wcoasterpoll - the polls are open until November 30th!
In October, it seemed to be running much slower, with full trains again. Maybe it's the heat that has it running so fast, although the trims were applied quite heavily, ruining the last turn of the ride. Not a major complaint though, it's still one of the more unique and quite frankly more terrifying woodies (watch the train climb the second hill from the queue line - the ENTIRE TRACK shifts with the weight of the train!).
Here's to another season of Cyclone goodness!
~me
*** This post was edited by nelson324 on 11/13/2002. ***
Yeah Rob, I'm mainly posting this from the questions you had but I know there are quite a few other people here that were wondering the same thing at all. And I didn't take what you were saying personally as bashing the park, you just stated your opinions on things that needed to be worked on, and I'm never going to take that the wrong way, even if you had said "SFNE SUXORS OMG TAER IT DOWN!!!1" ;)
As for the time issues on Cyclone, its just a matter of safety. When you have a number of people coming off the ride and filing complaints at guest services, and many people DID have legitimate complaints (you can email me at mystery4637@yahoo.com if you want details) then you don't have any choice but to either close the ride down, or do your best in the middle of the season to slow it down. (Not easy.)
As for Thunderbolt, it would be a huge undertaking. I'm sure all of you that have ridden have noticed it has skid brakes, which are operated manually with levers on the control panel. The train skids a lot on those brakes, and in the summer, or in wet conditions, it just wouldn't be safe to run 2 trains, unless they did a lot of very expensive work to completely overhaul the entire ride. It could be done, but management hasn't decided to do it, and I have no idea if they ever will. You would have to ask them on that one.
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
Cyclone was flying this summer, and the ejector air was as intense as ever, it's like Cyclone is taking it personally that they have tried to kill it. But I will say that the last trim they added in September has totally neutered the final turn/slam, which was one of my favorite parts of the ride.
As for the capacity issues, for whatever reasons, and I am sure they are many, SFNE is totally incapable of handling any kind of crowd over 3,000-4000 with any kind of comfort, and I doubt it ever will be able to. The Q-bot helps a little if you are from out of town, but otherwise go on an off day or forget it.
JDB said:SFNE is totally incapable of handling any kind of crowd over 3,000-4000 with any kind of comfort, and I doubt it ever will be able to.
Just so you know, that number is way, way low. The water park's maximum capacity is 3000 people alone. You are right though, the park definately has issues with handling large crowds.
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
*** This post was edited by ravenguy98 on 11/14/2002. ***
ravenguy98 said:
Just so you know, that number is way, way low. The water park's maximum capacity is 3000 people alone.I don't know about theoretical capacity, but I do know when the lot gets filled more than 1,000 cars and you add a few buses that is about "maximum capacity" for a comfortable day.
The Riverside Cyclone is *not* rough, at least not nearly as rough as many of the woodies in the chain, it's just a flat out insane ride. The more I see Six Flags doing things to kill the ride, the more I wish they'd never bought Riverside, even if it did mean SROS was never built, at least the Cyclone would still be running all out *like it was meant to and should continue to do*.
1000 curses on the GP and Enthusiasts who don't like wild rides and then see fit to bitch to the park about it... (ie: Lost Coaster, Legend with G-Trains, and so forth)
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If the shoe fits, find another one.
I took my first ride on Cyclone in August abd can say that the rude really did bash me to the point it was not enjoyable. I tried it again and again and I kept on getting the same painful ride, during my visit no rows were roped off. I kept on getting slammed into the lab-bar which was rock solid, so on my next ride I tried putting the lap-bar all the way down to my lap, but it didn't come close to reaching. Maybe if they put just a little padding around the restraints it would be a better ride. Hopefully next time I ride the Cyclone it will be a better ride.
Matt, that's the same reason Excalibur has trims on the first drop. As is people complain that Ex is rough, but before those trims were installed people were coming off with bumps and bruises from Ex flying something fierce.
Its an awesome ride when the trims are on let alone off, but the guests complaints that compile about getting jerked around on it led VF maint. to slow it down a touch while still trying to maintain its coolness.
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Fav Steel: Millenium Force Fav Wood: Viper
Cyclone isnt painful....its an AWSOME Ride and i Love it....The restraints are a little painful but you have to leave a little space...my friend put it all the way dont and he said it hurt his stomach but it was still an awsome fun ride in the back seat....
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Im the #1 Canobie Lake Park Fan!!!These are my top 3 coasters:
1. S:RoS @ SFNE 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Cyclone/B:TDK
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SFNE Central- Online Six Flags New England Resource
http://sfne.com
Devoted Intamin Lover for Life!
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