Extended Closure

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was a brand-new, never done before kind of ride. That truly required cutting edge technology and one could have naturally expect lots of real-world testing pains.

Rise of the Resistance: same thing (although frankly used more established ride technology than Forbidden Journey).

Superman at Magic Mountain (and the Aussie counterpart) and then Xcelerator and TTD: all relatively brand new things.

TTD (the ride) is NOT a never done before kind of thing in terms of the underlying technology, the speeds or the ride forces. The first launch is to 72 mph and and the second builds off that 102-ish MPH. Red Force at Porta Aventura has been launching straight to 112 mph with zero train issues.

The only truly innovative thing on TTD 2 are the Zamperla-designed trains. And they didn't last a week. That's NOT because they have been subjected to some never-been-seen before forces, speeds, or launches. It's because they apparently messed up the wheel bogie design. But it's not like B&M and Intamin haven't designed trains for years that have withstood similar speeds and forces.

Is anyone really going to claim that launching backward at sub-Red Force speeds and then forwards at TTD original speeds, but albeit for about 15-20 seconds longer duration at high speed is material difference that would have blown Intamin (or B&M's design)?

(And BTW this is not an Intamin vs. Zamperla point: Intamin and TTD were an unmitigated disaster, and I wouldn't argue otherwise. This is simply a point about train design and engineering. This wasn't a big ask to get this right.)

Pointless to keep arguing, especially online but every manufacturer has had issues with rides. To sit back and say anyone but Zamperla would have gotten this correct right out of the gate is a stretch. But, I digress. Everything is relative and therefore relatively soon when TT2 re-opens and even more folks are able to ride it and see what an incredible ride it is I wonder what everyone will say then?

Anywho, finally made it back to the park today after a week plus hiatus. Really hot so we just hung out by the beach and the Grand Pavilion. Still a good day at the park, but nothing really looked different at TT2. For now at least.

Jeff:

Wait... who has proven they can build a ride with three LSM launches on the same track to send a train over a 420-foot tophat?

Anyone? Anyone?

Nobody. But what Zamperla is proving is that their LSM installations coupled with their train design results in the most friction available on the market today. It’s an innovation in a technology that all the other manufacturers were frankly using too predictably for the past 20 years.

I’m starting to get worried it won’t be open for my august trip.

Well, Tony said it wasn't a "whole summer thing...."

He of the "lagoon maintenance....." ;)

(I'm teasing -- I believe he believes it will not be the whole summer, but that depends on how the re-engineering and testing is going.....)

Frog Hopper King:

You are not going to believe this, but about 20 years ago, intamin made two rollercoasters pretty similar to TT2. I know crazy right. And then a decade later they built another one. But yeah you're right, no one has ever built anything like this.

No one has ever designed bogies that can endure high speeds, that's unheard of.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "endure high speeds", but just because Intamin could propel trains via the hydraulic launch system doesn't mean they, or anyone else, could easily propel trains via LSM, as the latter technology presumably requires far greater tolerance control between the stators and train than was necessary for the relatively-simple mechanical link of the former.

Also, it's worth pointing out that Intamin's Forumla Rossa has been SBNO going on 6 months now.

That's interesting about Formula Rossa. I hadn't heart about the shutdown. Any scoop on what the issue is? Lame ride IMHO. I rode it in 2015. You hit trims immediately after the launch that slow it way down, and the rest of the ride is boring.

B&M wouldn't have had these issues.

B&M also would’ve added an Immelmann

Mack would’ve added a crazy outer banked turn that stalls.

Small update. Saw a report from someone in the park that they're now cleaning the entrance lockers. Again, could just be that they simply needed to be cleaned after sitting unused for over a month.

But the conspiracy nut in me thinks it means something more......

^Until we see relentless testing, we aren’t anywhere close to a resolution.

@CoasterHawk, please keep us informed when the relentless testing begins as seen on the webcams.

TTD 120mph:

But the conspiracy nut in me...

Adam G- The OG Dragster nut

I am seeing a theme here

TTD 120mph:

Saw a report from someone in the park...

I like how you have agents working for you gathering intel.

One can gain valuable insider information with the right listening device

"I know nothing!"

djDaemon:

'm not exactly sure what you mean by "endure high speeds", but just because Intamin could propel trains via the hydraulic launch system doesn't mean they, or anyone else, could easily propel trains via LSM, as the latter technology presumably requires far greater tolerance control between the stators and train than was necessary for the relatively-simple mechanical link of the former.

psssttt..... yes, you.... hey, come over here .....

I'd like to introduce myself. I have been launching to 112 mph reliably for the past seven years. No, not on those crappy hydraulic launch systems. Are you crazy? I've got the new sh*t: that LSM technology you talk about. You know, the one requiring far greater tolerance controls that would make it really hard to easily propel trains to high speeds or for which to design a reliable train, cause of stator clearance and all that stuff.

Yeah, man, my designer figured it out. Who is it? Well, look, keep this on the lowdown because I don't want to ruin its reputation as an unreliable, thieving, even murderous bunch, but it's [whispers]: Intamin.

Best wishes,

Red Force

Cool story, but two things:

First, I was responding to a post referencing TTD and Kingda Ka as proof that this is a solved issue.

And second, physics. TT2 is launching at a faster velocity than Red Force, and as such, the trains are likely to have a significantly higher amount of kinetic energy, because KE = 1/2*m*v^2. Any weight savings of the Lightning Train's aluminum chassis is likely more than made up for by the fact that TT2's trains carry 20 people versus RF's 12. So assuming trains of equal mass (a big assumption given the difference in capacity), a ~11MPH difference in velocity results in a ~20% increase in kinetic energy. That is not a trivial difference.