Power Tower Updates

I went to the park with some friends this past weekend, and Power Tower has undergone an overhaul. The restraints are now ratcheting, and there are new control boxes on the ride chassis. And it seemed like they were having some issues getting the restraints to work correctly. It was opening late on both mornings, and it seemed like the load times were significantly longer.

Don't worry, I'm not here to complain about capacity, haha. But as a Power Tower fan, I'm curious as to why they completely updated the restraint mechanism. And hopefully they work out whatever kinks they appear to have.

All that work and they didn't give it a fresh coat of paint?

Hmm . . . I only ride power tower on the "Shot Up" side, and the only thing that was noticeably different yesterday was that once we were initially raised, there was no adjustment period. We didn't drop down a couple of inches every couple of seconds while the ride calculated us. It was raise and shoot. The restraints on our side seemed to be working seamlessly.

Well, I can tell you they've gotten less accommodating for larger guests. I tried to ride opening day on the 'drop down' side and got kicked off. I was two clicks away from making it.

Dvo said:
It was opening late on both mornings, and it seemed like the load times were significantly longer.

Don't worry, I'm not here to complain about capacity, haha. But as a Power Tower fan, I'm curious as to why they completely updated the restraint mechanism. And hopefully they work out whatever kinks they appear to have.

Power Tower is scheduled to open at 11am each day, not with the park. The new restraint system is an S&S thing, and I know of at least two other parks that have received this same modification.

From what I experienced riding Power Tower last year, the former hydraulic restraint system developed an odd (and frankly concerning) tendency to loosen and not lock right at the level the harness was pulled down to, as a hydraulic restraint should. It's kind of hard to explain, but once you pulled down your restraint, the harness was able to be pushed up about an inch or two before it would stop in its locked position. Basically, there was a whole lot of play in the locking positions (far more than one would expect from a hydraulic restraint and even from a ratcheting restraint), and the new ratcheting restraint system is a lot more "accurate" than the hydraulic system was last year.

On a side note, the automated safety spiel has been re-recorded with a new announcer as well. (I still have most of the old one burned into my memory, LOL)

Noticed the new control boxes but thought nothing of it. The cycle we were on took longer to start because the ride host had to switch some passengers between seats to "balance the weight" as they said. So maybe thats part of it.

I went to Cedar Point last month, and I went on Power Tower Space shot side, and I noticed that the controller boxes were on there, as I went on, I pulled the shoulder harness down and click the safety belt, ride operator check the restraints, and came back in to push on mine to get the sensor light turn green with one push said locked. That was strange. Also I am a bigger guy but still fits, well I say the Power Tower is a little far friendly this season.

Valleyfair is getting these overhauls too. Their model has three towers (two shot and one drop.) The carriage is currently gone from the drop tower and the two shot towers are operating as drop towers (no complaints from me!) The speed of ascent for the drop program seems much faster than it was in the past. Also, it looked like two of the towers had received paint jobs on the inner-piping.

Floating an idea: Let's take all the insurance ride liability professionals and tightly staple them into immobilized office chairs with OTS restraints. Every 2 hours, the restraints release for bathroom breaks, lunch, etc, but must be refastened before returning to work. Occasionally they won't release but someone will be by in 20-30 minutes to get them out, one chair at a time. Anyone who can't fit the seat will be re-assigned to cold-calling insurance sales. Also, every few years the restraints will be made tighter.