Maverick ... What the heck was CP and IntaRide thinking?

coolkid2345 said:
Gemini: 2400 riders
Iron Dragon: 2000
Magnum-XL-2000
Mantis: 1800
Raptor: 1800
Corkscrew: 1800
Disaster Transport: 1800 (i really think it is lower)
Mean Streak: 1600
Cedar Creek Mine Ride: 1600 with 2 trains 2400 with 3
Millennium Force: 1600
Top Thrill Dragster: 1500
Blue Streak: 1300
Wicked Twister 1210
Maverick: 1200
Wildcat: 900

All these numbers are far lower in practice. I might be off by a little, but I remember the numbers being more like this.

Magnum - Max: 1500-1600; Normal: 1300-1400
Top Thrill Dragster - Max: 1100-1200; Normal: 800-900
Maverick - Max: 1100-1200; Normal 900-1000

Corkscrew changed a lot since I worked the ride due to changes in the seatbelts, but it probably hits 1200-1300 max. Gemini still pulls through the most riders every hour when it runs all four trains. I'm not sure about the others. Raptor and Millennium Force usually get more riders per day than Magnum, but this all depends on the crowds. Magnum has the higher capacity, but the ride doesn't open until 10 o'clock and the trains don't fill completely until 11 o'clock even when the park is busy.

As for Maverick. The ride does have low capacity, but I feel this is more of a result with the small trains than the actual block system.

The thing you have to remember about capacity is that the size of the train is a factor, but interval is equally important. For example, with a two-minute interval (which was faster than normal a couple of years ago) and a 36-passenger train, Millennium Force can move 1,080 PPH. Meanwhile, Sky Ride carries four passengers per vehicle, but with an interval of 13 seconds, that works out to 1,107 PPH.

When you're looking at real-world ride capacity numbers, the park obviously has the best actual numbers with turnstile counts. But if you are trying to figure out how efficiently a ride is running, you need to take the empty seats out of the equation. Whenever I calculate a capacity, I use the assumption that every seat is full, even though that is clearly not the case. That way, you get a number that is reasonably consistent and reflects how the ride is running rather than how busy the park is.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^^ Magnum hits at least 1800 riders per hour. A train is launched out of the station about every 80 seconds. 60/1.20=50*36=1800 riders per hour. It is in that stream. It might be about 90 seconds now because of the seat belts. If it had retractable seat belts, it would probably be in the 1900 range.

I can tell you that most of the time the reason for missing interval and therefore lower numbers usually has nothing to do with the employees. When i worked at DT it took all the energy in the world to hit 900 RPH. A usual hour was around 750-800 but some of us were capable of hitting higher numbers. I don't think we ever hit 1,000 in the 2 months i was there but i can't be sure. With all of the basketballs(on DT at least), loose articles, measuring guests, and anything else that happens it is impossible to hit the theoretical capacities. Now if every guest ran to there seat and properly fastened their seat belt and restraint then its a different story, but then i wouldn't have my summer job!

Corkscrewchanged a lot since I worked the ride due to changes in the seatbelts,but it probably hits 1200-1300 max. Gemini still pulls through the mostriders every hour when it runs all four trains. I'm not sure about theothers. Raptor and Millennium Force usually get more riders per daythan Magnum, but this all depends on the crowds. Magnum has the highercapacity, but the ride doesn't open until 10 o'clock and the trainsdon't fill completely until 11 o'clock even when the park is busy.

Definitely not my friend. The true RPH may be lower than actual statistics that are published by the manufacturer, but some of your estimates are off. MF is lucky to hit 1200. I was timing trains as well, and it was a miracle if a train made a lap in 1:50. If you do the math, that's less than 1200, and most trains averaged around 2:00. TTD was launching trains every 50-60 seconds, and since the trains are 1.5x as "large" as Maverick, with trains being dispatched as often, if not faster, TTD definitely has better capacity than Maverick. Doing the math out, TTD has 1100-1200 RPH. Maverick is lucky to be at 1000.

Regarding DT .. yea, that ride must have one of the worst capacity at CP.

Dragster can't do 1100 an hour let alone 1200 actual riders. On interval with full trains capacity is 1,000 something. However the DOR's might show 11-1200 because CP doesn't count riders in the trains it counts riders passed the turnstile. I believe Maverick does about the same number of people Dragster does in a season, but they're also Joe Cool. Also counting trains is only partially accurate unless you account for the 1-4 sometimes 5 or more empty seats.

Keep in mind that the intervals of the dragster trains might be slower cause of the cold weather...idk for sure if they wait longer in the cold cause iv'e never worked the ride but im pretty sure that 1200 is well in reach.

Just multiply out the numbers if you're on interval every dispatch 18 people per train you can dispatch ("move trains") 59 times an hour, (the manual says 58.4), it comes out to 1051.2. Now keep in mind, that even the best robotic crew is not going to have full trains every dispatch, and try as they might being on interval for a solid hour is tough with rotation, special access, parent-swaps, fat people, bags brought in the queue, glasses without a strap, lapbar releases, guest illnesses, anything you can think of to take a crew off interval. If the most you can dispatch limited by the safety and technological limitations of the ride is 59 cycles an hour, the highest you're going to get is 1051.2.

Also, I believe the 59 cycles per hour is calculated in multi-move and dry mode, so if it's rained at all that day you can scratch dry mode, and if the ride's history can tell us anything that's that multi-move isn't guaranteed, because just putting the ride into multi-move can cause a trouble light.

Coolkid, your calculation on Magnum is a little off. 80 seconds is not 1.2 minutes. It's 1.33 minutes. Therefore you have 60/1.33 = 45*36=1620. In the past, the lift has been a little faster at times, giving us an interval of 75 seconds which would mean 60/1.25=48*36=1728. Anything above that would just be either your read the turnstile a bit late or you had more people up on the platform at the end of the hour than at the beginning. Usually an hour with a big number is followed by one with a bit of a low number.

In '04, the interval was just over 80 seconds because of the lift being slower and we would routinely get between 19,000 and 20,000 riders in a 13 hour day and that includes sending mostly empty trains for the first hour of the day and not having a steady flow of people the last hour, so we were coming pretty close to maximum capacity for the hours in between.

Disagree a little with Dave about the empty seats because filling the seats is part of running the ride efficiently. We used to try hard to pair people up and call for single riders to fill the empties. And we still hit interval every time. Don't see them doing either of these things anymore though at Magnum.

Matt, it's all a matter of what you're trying to measure. :)

Magnum has an interval of about 75 seconds, and it hits that interval with amazing regularity. First, the headway is very short, only about 20 seconds in the station. Second, the ride has been running long enough that people are familiar with it, and the trains are built to accommodate just about anybody with very little trouble. The result is that the train is usually ready to go at about the 70-second mark. meaning only about 45-50 seconds after it stops to unload. Most of the time, the train is ready to go before the train ahead hits the top of the second hill. If your platform operation is fast enough that you're routinely waiting for the ride to be ready for dispatch, hitting interval becomes pretty easy.

Add to that the nasty consequences for missing interval, and you see why Magnum performs so well. :)

--Dave Althoff, Jr.