Grab handles are gone again

Does anyone know why the grab handles are gone again from the Steel Vengeance trains?

I rode yesterday and discovered this. I actually prefer the ride without them. I frequently am a single rider because of parent swap, and I had found it awkward to grab the handles and then continually mash my hand into a stranger's hand during the ride.

Originally added for cell phone storage, the park has determined that their useful life has been reached.

Twisted Timbers had its grab handles removed AND a new cell phone pouch system was implemented where riders put their stuff in a pouch behind your legs (on the front of the seat), making it rather inaccessible during the ride, thus preventing both the "stuff came out of a pocket on accident" and "guest unzips a secured pocket, starts recording, and drops phone" situations. Hopefully this is coming to SV soon!

I’m anxious to see how this will impact load and unload times. It’s better than platform bins though I guess.

Must work okay on Twisted Timbers to implement. Curious as to how often riders forget their cell phone and what happens due to that.

That would be great if the pouches come. Load times would be the main worry for sure. The wonderful SV crew has it down very well right now and there is usually a good amount of seconds to spare per interval.

WIth the current setup with midcourse seeming to be not active as a block (given how the ride behaves with the variable speed lift timing, etc.), the crew seems to be hitting 10-20 seconds faster than interval, so until the midcourse block is activated they will have time for loading pouches.

Once the midcourse is activated as a block, interval would become a bit more dicey. Apparently Twisted Timbers is working fine and they repeatedly tell guests to use the pouches, but TT had slower operations to start with when I went to KD in June. I certainly hope they can manage to get the information across to guests, as that will make or break capacity with pouches.

It's certainly possible to quickly dispatch with pouches though. Disney does it. This ain't a Disney ride, but the concept of "pouch on the train" is the same other than the slightly awkward position of the TT pouches.

Maybe it the guests are jacking around with the pouches, they'll be less likely to pull down their own lapbars. :)

Twisted Colossus got pouches not too long ago (I visited Jan 4). They are on the seatback in front of you, and seem just big enough for phones and keys.

My worry is when sitting in the front of a car, your pouch is still on the seat in front...I’d be nervous that I’d drop my stuff down into no mans land between the cars when getting on/off.

Would it be worth having pouches for a possible slower line pace... Yes for me. That said I have seen plenty of time leftover after the crew checks seats for pouches to be used.

For the 2019 season, the MCBR could be in use as a block, which would shorten the interval. Still, I’m inclined to consider pouches worth it, especially if they re-allow zippered/secured pockets, thus reducing the number of people that have to use the pouches slowing things down. I hope it happens.
If I were to set this up, I would make sure to pack the loading gate area with signs explaining where the pouches are.

^^Twisted Timbers’ pouches are not on the seat in front of you, but behind your legs on the “front” of the seat. If SV gets pouches I’d presume it would get this type too.

^ That makes more sense. Once the restraint is closed you can’t get to the zippered pouch. Hoping SV gets these pouches, too.

^You could IIRC, at least when I tried touching that part of the seat, but it’s awkward (probably more so for somebody taller than me) and less tempting than a pouch in front of the rider. And the position also means that if some moron does somehow liberate items from the pouch, they’ll hit the rider’s legs and be deflected from flying straight up and into somebody’s face.

Also, I think that there should be signage explaining where the pouches are (perhaps by every queue gate) and also state in no unclear terms that removing items from the pouch at any time between dispatch and the brake run is grounds for removal from the park. You might call this too intimidating, but it’s no different than the park’s current strategy of making a special sign emphasizing that violating the current policy is a misdemeanor.

Some more interesting news - I’ve heard a few people say TT re-allowed riders to use secured pockets when they started doing the pouches. Hopefully SV does this too if it gets pouches - it’d reduce the amount of people who need to use pouches, especially in winter when a lot of people wear jackets with zipped pockets.

I saw an insane amount of phones in SV line during the colder October days in HalloWeekends last year, they are so easily concealed in thick jackets/coats.

But yeah I would of course love zippered pockets allowed again myself, I always bring one of my pair of shorts with fantastic zippered pockets.

^Yeah,I think some of the temp workers weren't too up to speed on the policy, and that led to a lot of guests being let in only to get yelled at up at the station.

I really hope this policy was just a stopgap and they're currently implementing a permanent solution. To not allow phones in line in any way ignores the realities of modern society.

When I told my buddy (who comes with me to CoasterMania every year, that’s his only time in a park) about the no phones deal last year, his response was “F that. Guess I’m not riding Steel Vengeance again!” Yeah, god forbid you have to talk to your friends or other people in line.

He’s not going to CoasterMania this year.

Mmm... it's easy to pin things like that on overdependence on phones, but see, I go to the park alone so I don't have friends with me to talk to, and I'm kind of introverted so it's not easy for me to strike up conversations with strangers face to face. I can get by without a phone, it's just a nice way to pass the time, especially in very long lines.

^Yeah, there's more to it than "Those millennials and their phones need to get off my lawn", but that seems to be the reply I get whenever I mention my opposition to the policy on the basis of wanting to use my phone in line.

I'm the say way Sollybeast. I was very upset when I first learned of the rule and I will be disappointed if it's the same thing next season (not getting pouches). I have managed to get by alone without a phone in line without having conversations as it is also very difficult for me to make conversation with random people.

If they do allow phones in line again, I hope the wi-fi is better in the tunnel segment, I often resorted to using data there.

Ok but yous guys didn’t completely write off riding Steel Vengeance because you couldn’t have your phone in line. And also, yous guys all mentioned being a solo rider and not talking to strangers. Good, your parents raised you right, stranger danger. But this guy was going with friends and said he wouldn’t ride if he couldn’t have his phone in line. Then he said he’s not even gonna go to CoasterMania (which had become tradition) because of it. And he wonders why we call him Pout-Pout Fish...

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=pout-pout+fish&index=aps...4536963990