Twisted Colossus - Can Six Flags Magic Mountain get it together?

The us I meant was us, of course.

And I'm not in favor of "rushing" guests, especially if safety is compromised. But there is (will be) things they figure out (or already have) to make the load/unload proceed as intended. And maybe some of that will fall to the rider, even if it's in the form of lockers, or an announcement to encourage them to enter quickly and carefully.

It is southern California, after all...
:-)

I'd just like to point out that Cedar Point didn't seem to care about syncing Gemini up all weekend. Why does everyone always want to point out SF's 'flaws' but no one ever bothers to see if CF is doing the same thing?

I could have sworn we got rid of that dead horse, but apparently I was wrong.

Well, Gemini is how old now? Nobody is marketing that thing for it's dueling aspect. Twisted Colossus is missing the duel right out of the gate. That's a different story. I mean nobody is complaining about Dragon Challenge not dueling because we've already done that a million times. Apples to apples.

The original Colossus didn't duel, so I don't know why people were so determined that this one would as well...But that's just me.

"Leave Six Flags alone!"®

Tekwardo said:

I could have sworn we got rid of that dead horse, but apparently I was wrong.

So who exactly is beating the dead horse?

The same tired people salivating at the chance to be negative. It's early in the season and school isn't out yet but we're complaining that the ride is 'only' running 2 trains. Just like the 4 parks I went to on Memorial Day weekend (Including CP), since running max trains would be pointless.

I don't get the logic that because someone brings up an issue with a new ride that it somehow equates to apathy about criticizing another ride 3,000 miles away that is almost 50-years-old.

One persons on an enthusiast board makes a complaint that according to them was fixed about the ride dueling. Others come in raving about the ride and saying that the park is (imagine this) running three trains on busier days early in the season.

But the same people always seem to jump at the chance to rant about the same things for a decade. Ridiculous. My point was that as enthusiasts, regardless of how other rides may now be operated, especially early in the season when staffing levels are lower, as is park attendance, maybe it's a little too early to raise the I told you so flag based on one persons half experience?

If that was your point, why did you drag Gemini into it?

Because a park notorious for always racing a particular coaster wasn't doing it all weekend. For probably the same reasons.

I think we'd all prefer racing / dueling coasters to race / duel all the time. But the racing / dueling aspect seems like a pretty key part of the TC experience, and it's a brand new ride, so I think some mild annoyance if they're not even trying to sync the trains isn't that crazy. If they ARE doing a good job of trying though, with the trains they have, then that's another matter. Even at the most efficient parks there are going to be delays in the station from time to time.

Speaking of Dueling Dragons, I wonder how long it will take the dueling aspect on TC to be dropped if some knucklehead loses a loose article that lands in the other train's trajectory. Of course I hope it never happens but parts where one train is hovering over the other makes me a little nervous. *debbie downer sound*

Lord Gonchar said:

"Welcome to Twisted Colossus! For the courtesy of other guests and ensuring the best ride experience please don't be overweight, handicapped or otherwise restricted in your boarding capabilities."

This concept shouldn't be limited to just TC or even amusement parks in general. It should apply pretty much everywhere. Store checkout lines, ticket windows, airport screening, highways, etc. If you are going to show other people down, stay home. :)

Where did this notion come from that the park isn't even trying to synch the TC trains? I was at the park yesterday all day and rode TC 4 times. I observed the ops and leads working their busts off to get trains out in time to duel. They was even a look of disappointment when they missed a duel because there was an error with the restraints. Even still, they made sure one of the two laps raced.

The ride's design just isn't going to allow for constant racing, period. There is no possible way.

Makes me wonder why they didn't program the lift to slow down or even stop and wait for the other train. I know, I know..more money!! But like Matt said this is a major selling point of the ride. Six Flags has great ideas, but their implementation of these ideas are consistently C-rated.

The lifts do change speed to try to sync the trains. But from what I've read elsewhere they are trying to balance dueling every cycle (stopping and waiting on the green lift) with capacity (finish the course faster to get more trains out).

So you mean the negativity is misplaced based on one person's early experience that changed later in the day?

You don't say!

And guys, please. Remember that this is a brand new ride, complete with hiccups and quirts that the park will have to work out over time. The green lift slows considerably to allow the approaching train to catch up and race. But on one of my rides the time was missed anyway because the computer sensors on the ride kept saying there was a problem with the restraints.

Yes, people that post on message boards love to immediately start lashing out at the park when things don't go their way. But from what I saw yesterday, people were absolutely loving this ride, and were perfectly fine with one of their laps racing.

Rushing, in an industry where safety is paramount and errors can be very easily made, is NEVER a good thing.

I agree that they should do everything in their power to make TC duel, but delays caused by some things (handicapped / overweight pax, people who try to sneak cameras on, etc) are somewhat out of their hands.

As to the above comment about NTG only running 2 trains, we waited in a relatively short line for well over an hour because of the 2 train operation. I can't say for certain, but it sure felt like the line should have moved a lot faster than it did, and that 3 trains would have helped.