Raptor is LOUD this year!

As of yesterday, Maintainence has started replacing all the road wheels to the white nylon ribbed wheels. They finished one train for today, and it ran much less loud. The other two are still being re-wheeled.

I like the sound that it has now, makes it sound mean. correct me if i am wrong but wasnt raptor the ride you heard from parking lot while walking into park back when it first arrived at the point? The sound makes it seem more intimidating

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Hooper said: If there going to replace all the wheels stop being cheap and replace those anti-rollbacks...click click clack all the way up the lift hill.

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I like the click click sound on the lift-hill. Helps build up suspense(sp?). Especially on Maggie. :)

Sounds like the first Batman: The Ride when it opened at my home park Six Flags Great America in '92.

When it first opened, it sounded really loud, much like Raptor is appearently sounding this year. I remember that a couple of months in, they muffeled the sound at least somewhat.

Not only did Raptor sound louder this weekend but it looked alot faster...

Ok maybe its just me.. I was there the first 4 days of opening week. I didnt notice the Millennium Force running any slower. I did notice the raptor was little louder than normal but i think its great. The Ride is just the same and now it even has more guts too it. It increases the intensity and i hope it stays the way it is.

Jes, that's great news!

I'm surprised Raptor Queen Jo hasn't commented on how loud her bird is...eh Jo?

I suppose it's a good thing... I personally liked the roar created with the poly wheels, but, hey whatever. I used to be able to tell where a train was based on the roar, but with the new wheels, I'll have to find another way, as it's no where near as obvious.

I'm not crazy about the roar, its way too loud.

I was at the park yesterday (Wednesday 19th), and Raptor is now back to her normal volume. She didn't seem to be running any slower, either!

They were only running two trains, though, and the lack of wheel covers on part of the 3rd train seems to indicate that they will have the 3rd train back to the old wheels soon.

As mentioned earlier, they did this with MF a few years ago. Odds are the solid wheels are winter wheels which run faster when cooler out. Now that we're getting near June, the temps are warmer and they can switch back to the normal wheels. (I know, I know - it's Ohio. Just wait five minutes and it'll be freezing outside again)

Personally, the sound didn't bother me. The wicked vibration in the back did.

Raptor didn't seem bad during the day on the 5/17-18, but at night she was howling. It was almost a haunting sound. I liked it :-D

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Jeffrey Spartan said:
I'm surprised Raptor Queen Jo hasn't commented on how loud her bird is...eh Jo?

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I have to agree with Jeff, Raptor really does seem to sound a tad like Batman the Ride @ SFGrtAdv which is not a good thing. Vibrations are obvious, and we won't even talk about the other added "noises" on the 1st hill and the cobra roll ;)

I get rather distressed year after year on the condition of this ride :( Once you ride other B&M inverts you really start to worry about Raptor.

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2002 Raptor Crew
2003 Raptor Crew
Lifetime Raptor flights: 853 :)

I think the ride is a lot faster this year. The barrel rolls throw you to the side of your seat a lot harder.

The ride seemed fine on 5/19. Seemed make the same amount of noise it always does.

I was at CP May 16, 17, and 18th. She was deafening while walking along the midway- we then also noticed that on the 18th, she seemed much quieter and they did seem to be working on the trains. We could hear raptor running while 1) standing beside the mantis while she was running, and 2) even along the boardwalk near TGI Fridays. Those are good distances away to be hearing raptor. Also like Jeff said, sand treatments are expensive...somewhat more luxurious than anything. Hersheypark used sand in their new storm runner to help keep the animals in the shows calm, apparently its not entirely working.

As for the idea of cutting a hole to fill the supports? I would highly doubt they would even consider this because it completely changes the structural integrity of the steel columns to begin with. It completely sacrifices the strength of the column when you put a small defect in it, even hairline fractures are dangerous...remember Vertigo? After that fell, they used ultrasound to test for any more invisible fractures- the same holds true for cutting holes into support columns to decrease the sound.

I was there today (which was a blast!). The wind was pretty strong, and Raptor was down most of the day. On the way out, it was my last coaster to ride and it sounded normal as usual.