Maverick Lift

+1 for threads where I learn something new.

Interesting fact about Avalanche Run. When it was enclosed and themed, I guess they decided they really didn't need to dual load? Or it just so happened that way because of the planned theme?

Little of both. The whole "Welcome to Alaska" made sense to separate them but also the control booth was moved from the front of station front to the location between both stations because of the needs of the building.

KHTOExtreme noted:

Here is another Blue Streak memory anybody remember the operator that moved the big stick to control the brakes?

Look closer at the video. You can see the load operator manning the brake lever. And all that buzzing and clicking happens when he pushes a button mounted on the brake lever to lock the lap bars.

As for Avalanche/Disaster...
Avalanche Run was built for the 1985 season and it used dual station loading as Maverick does, for much the same reason.

When the ride was enclosed in 1990, they added a whole storyline to it. Initially (and I think by the end of the 1990 season they weren't doing this anymore...) when the ride opened there was a 45-minute wait to get on the ride. They admitted enough people to completely fill the ticket lobby, performed a pre-show, then moved everybody into the Control Room. There was more performance in there, complete with actors interacting with video, then they shuffled everybody into the Repair Bay, where you got to stand around and listen to FRANC complain. Small groups were sent from the Repair Bay on up the stairs to the boarding platform. The idea was that the pre-shows would regulate the rate at which people arrived at the platform, so between the performances and shifting people between rooms, they could take up the time. The capacity was actually limited more by the preshows than by the ride itself.

That kind of operation didn't last long. By the end of the season, I think, they had switched to just letting people walk through the building. I don't think I ever got to see the whole preshow.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.