Zonga's circuit complete at Six Flags Marine World

Pressure from who? If it's not the law, then where does this mysterious pressure come from?

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

I remember reading somewhere that Jack Falfas had a very difficult time getting CalOSHA to approve the lapbars for Xcelerator. Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this please, but I believe the state really wanted to have OTSR on the ride. Thankfully Mr. Falfas stood his ground on the issue and we have a great ride with lapbars. It's CalOSHA putting the pressure on the parks, and it seems not many of them wish to fight the fight to get better restraints or they simply don't care. I'm certain that if Magic Mountain really wanted lapbars back on Revolution or if Marine World wanted only lapbars on Zonga it could be done.

For California Screamin', I think the OTSR are for multiple reasons. 1) A wider variety of guests can fit into the train whereas some would probably have problems fitting into lapbars. 2) Capacity reasons. Lapbars seem to take more time to check than OTSR and who is to say that if it did have lapbars that it wouldn't have seatbelts as well, which would throw capacity out of the window. 3) It's Disney, and many riders are probably experiencing their first loop on that ride. The OTSR generate a safe feeling for the majority of the public.

It isn't myserious at all Jeff, especially if you *live* in California. As Karl said, we almost had OTSR installed on Xcelerator, now tell me if Cedar Point is having similar issues.

Karl I left OSHA out of my post because I didn't want to get into a debate about it. But your right.

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People complain about clones, yet can't even come up with original conversation, which is ten times worse.

At this point I can only chalk it up to rumour, regarding Xcelerator. If you know someone at CalOSHA, I stand corrected, but you know how such things fester into fact in the enthusiast community.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM

I have a question about this ride. Why are the loops circular? I thought it was unsafe to have such loops (Flip-Flap) due to the speed needed to complete them lead to very high Gs. Why is this different?

Good question Etrain. Good old "Monte" how could I forget!!! Karl who I met at the Scream! media day knows much about the California coaster scene, and again the state has the stringest/toughest amusement laws and regulations because of the idiot park patrons, concering CalOSHA and other state regulatory agcencies to take action(s) on parks. I work at a small kiddie park in Fresno called Rotary Playland operating non profit since 1955 with all of our rides from the middle to late 50's. The park fell into bad shape and state inspectors almost had the park shut down because of the newer/tougher regulations. Over two years and a quarter of a million dollars later thanks to some wonderful people Rotary Playland is back with 8 of our 10 rides, better than ever. The two that are gone forever are because of wear and tear and the tough state regualtions. Yes, they are tough even on kiddie rides/parks!

"People aren't so much crushed as they are "extremely uncomfortable" or "smashed into the front of the car." I'm saying the OTSRs are they so people don't lean forward as they enter the vertical loops. The Gs from the loops (they might not be 6 Gs anymore) can push people down and it would be pretty uncomfortable."

But, what about the other Schwarzkopf loopers that pull near 6 Gs (Shockwave and Mindbender)? They do not have nor need OTSR. And I have never heard anything about people being uncomfortable or smashed into the car due to the Gs in the loops.

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Am I really that shy?

CAL OSHA's always getting a bum rap. Sad part is OSHA's not been as hard on the amusement park industry, as they are on other industries. Very interesting to see what these new regulations bring about.

Jeff:

The reason that Zonga has OTSR's is because of the support structure's layout. The problem is that there are a few supports that come extremely close to the tops of the trains, and people could seriously hurt themselves if they had their hands up with lap bars only. This is not just hear-say, but from someone directly responsible for Tornado while it was at Houston. Sean F. was there when we were told that, along with several others that are on this board. I asked him the same question, but it is because of height clearance issues.

Kevin

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"Sit down, enjoy much airtime and put your feet IN the fire!"

"He's gross,... He ain't gettin' none of this!"