Power Tower Belt Warning

On Monday it was rainy and cold and my fiancee had a big sweatshirt on and rode Power Tower without much problem. Tuesday he rode without a problem at all. But wednesday he was told he couldnt ride because they couldn't get the belt buckled. This was all on the far Tower of the drop section. So, larger riders don't ride in seats 1 or 2 of the far drop towers because the belts are shorter. Just thought I should give fellow large riders a warning.

If you sometimes have trouble getting the belt buckled on PT, ask the Ride OPs which seats have the newest belts(maintainance changes them as needed). A very helpful Ride Op told me last year that as the belts age, and are out in the sun & rain, they shrink. The newer the belt, the longer. Of course, I would think they'd all be new this time of year. The shrinkage is probably not very much, but it made the difference for me last year.

I lost about 30 pounds during the off season, and now have not had any trouble riding the Drop so far this season getting the belt buckled by myself. I was kicked off of one of my three rides last Wednesday, when the overhead collar wasn't pulled down enough over my 54" chest to satisfy the Op in the control room. A Ride Op came over to 'Staple' me in, but an Op named Matthew told him not to, that I had to pull it down more by myself, which I could not, and the restraints were released, and I was excused from the ride. The Ride Ops didn't embarass me; they were apologetic and professional. I exited the ride, re-entered the ride through the queue, buckled my belt, the Op locked down my collar, and I rode the drop side with no problem.

Hey, Big Guy from Tiffin, and anybody else who has trouble getting shoulder bars to come down just a little bit tighter, here's a trick you can try, something I learned on Wicked Twister...

I'm guessing that when you try to pull the bar tighter, you're grabbing the front of the bar and trying to pull it back. The trouble with that is that you may just be pulling yourself out of the seat against the bar. Try this instead: Reach straight up and grab the upper segment of the bar, where it passes over your shoulders. Pull down from there. It may pull you upward out of the seat, but then gravity will help pull the bar down. You can also try sliding forward in the seat a little bit, that is, not sitting flat against the seat back. I often find that what is causing me problems isn't the bar hitting my gut, but the bar hitting my shoulders.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Sorry for changing the subject, But has anyone been on the down side of PT and have it fall right after you get to the top. It was weird. After we got to the bottom the ops let us go again. Just a thought?
Mikey

I watched that happen twice in a row last season. We were next in line and after the 1st time they sent them back up and it happened again. After the 2nd time they moved the riders to the other tower and gave them another ride. So we ended up having to wait for that then the people inline for the other tower, then we got moved to the other tower cause they closed the first one down. I wish I would have been on when it did that, I think it would have been awesome.

Since we're talking about the PT drop side, has anyone noticed how you slow down as you reach the top this year? You don't get the big jolt when you lock in at the top like you used to. I know that this and several other small changes on PT are due to some changes in the contol system over the winter. Personally, I always liked that big bump when you reached the top.

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

RideMan: Thanks for the Shoulder Restraint tip. You're right, I did try pulling the front of the restraint, which didn't work.

Ralph, I also did like being locked in at the top of the tower. It gave it a better feeling of sitting there for that extra few moments. I guess i'll have to check it out for myself when i go.

Smoking Marijuana isn't a bad thing or even a good one, like everything else, its what you make of it.

Ralph, I also did like being locked in at the top of the tower. It gave it a better feeling of sitting there for that extra few moments. I guess i'll have to check it out for myself when i go.

-Eagle-

Smoking Marijuana isn't a bad thing or even a good one, like everything else, its what you make of it.

Just to throw in some more random PT discussion, what's up with the seemingly random placement of new style restraints on just some of the seats? I'm not sure if this is the case on the turbo drops, but the space shots have two different style restraints...maybe I'm just extremely unobservant but I don't think they were like that last year.