Ride testing?

How detailed is ride testing before opening each day? I know the process for opening a new ride but how many/what types of checks do they do in the morning? And, side question.. When a whole train is running but just a seat or row is marked as not in use, what kind of problem is that? It seems like all the saftey system would be connected so if one was down they all would be.

Well every ride is different in many ways. So daily safety checks are going to be different for every ride. However they are similar in what they're doing

Basically the ride is being put through the paces, making sure it runs normally and everything is ok. Then they check every safety system and every possible ride problem relating to ride safety to make sure the system either doesn't let the train advance, dispatch, ect..For instance on corkscrew we would dispatch an empty train with a downed pedal. The proximity sensor at the end of the station drop off would pick up that there was a downed pedal and stop the train at the bottom 1/3 of the lift to prevent it from running through the course in an unsafe manner.

But to put it short and easy without going through everything in utter detail (I was earlier but browser backed out, thus simple version now haha). You check the rides block system, safety systems, restraint systems, and ride operation. If all checks go ok, the ride can be called up, ready for daily operation, and signed off.

Seats that have been taped off either have been closed due to a guest complaint, safety issue reported, or closed by maintenance. Like on Corkscrew, guests would sometimes say the OTSR came up, ect...Even though highly unlikely, it can happen, and chances are not taken. So we'll tape off that seat and prevent it from being used that day until maintenance either comes out and checks it or comes out that night after ride closes and clears it. It can also be closed by maintance themselves. Maybe an issue was picked up the night before or they were working on it & cannot be used until they clear it. Lastly the ride safety system could have detected a fault or problem or just had a fluke, and we close it down due to that. For example on Power Tower, the ride wasn't detecting the restraint to be down even though we reopened it, closed it all the way and hooked up the seatbelt. It still said open, so we closed it and taped off that seat.

These safety systems are separate, but work together. That's why you'll see two proximity sensors in the same area, or two sets of photo eyes, or two limit switches, ect..They all act independently, but they are basically acting redundant in the overall scheme of things. So lets say the left photo eye is tripped, but the right is open. They're both working and not having discrepancy on their own, but together they aren't reporting the same thing thus the ride throws a fault and safely stops the ride.

Okay.. But when a guest complains their restraint was not working properly and you shut it off, wouldn't it change the operation of the seats around it as well? I ask because in situations where someone sits and has to move to big boy seats on an invert, the whole row of restraints is also opened even though those guests do not have to move rows which makes it appear as if the operation for all the seats in a row are linked. So if a guest said that their restraint within the row was not working, wouldn't that cause alarm that the entire row was not functioning?

It depends on the individual ride and how the restraints work and what works for the ride...for instance if someone on my ride brought this to my attention, you technically only need to tape off that seat...to save from guest frustration, make sure that seat isn't loaded again, etc I would tape off that row, so we lost two seats..the reason they unlock the whole row is because the controls do not allow to unlock individual seats. The restraints are all connected in some fashion, same as the queue gates if you will. When you need to get someone out, you unlock that whole row and get the person out. Afterward the row is relocked and those riders still there have their harnesses rechecked.

As for an alarm for everyone no...each seat is its own system per say...for corkscrew there is one pedal which controls the locking mechanism for the restraint ratchet and hydraulics..when its locked, each individual seats restraint does its own thing...however if one person in the row does complain like I said usually that whole row is taped off as to prevent frustration, confusion, and accidentally loading the bad seat...there were times when guests obviously cannot understand why the queue was chained off for that row and the trains row has orange tape all over it but ah well...

Basically look at it this way...every seat has its own safety system, they are all connected usually by rows or cars together to one locking and unlocking mechanism. The seats act independently in operation. If one fails they don't all fail, because they're not designed that way. However they will all be roped off to keep someone out of that bad seat..

I'll see if I have the ride with the seat back off when the train got the backs re fiberglassed to help you better understand here tomorrow...lol...good questions though, I had to rethink how I opened the ride, brought back fun memories of orange juice, donuts, and startup procedures haha

My friend Thabto, mentioned to me that Rougarou started testing yesterday! Anyone notice on the webcams of other rides testing? The first ride that I saw testing was Valravn. According to Instagram, that was the first one to start testing.

The cabins are being put on Giant Wheel. *This is not a drill*

To answer the OP's question, (from many moons ago). I can attest that Ripcord, now Frontier Fling, was tested on a daily basis prior to park opening. They used us as test dummies. I worked right next door as a ride host for the go-karts.

So that's why it's an upcharge, we have to pay for live test subjects!

Jordan_Vanichek said:

The cabins are being put on Giant Wheel. *This is not a drill*

Yes! This is the best news I've read all day!