Sky Ride questions

With nothing better to do, I watched the sky ride on the web cam tonight. The last people in que were cycled through by 8:05 p.m. The sky ride kept circling for one hour and 15 min. after that. I saw the college boy take one or two buckets off and then put them back on. I watched him open the doors of the buckets as if to let people off, but they were all empty. Finally, at 9:11 p.m., they began removing all the buckets. Were they training or practicing or is this a normal nightly routine?

Depends on if the college boy was delivering pizza to the lonely housewife.

The definitive example of “nothing better to do”.
I think it seems plain that they were conducting training of some sort. You know many ride ops belong to groups, often trios of rides. So it’s likely the college boy worked all day on Tiki Twirl then received his training on Sky Ride afterwards. Now he’s available to rotate around and cover for days off, lunches, whatever.
I can’t imagine that cycling the ride for 1.25 hours would ever be part of a nightly routine.
I also can’t imagine watching the webcam for 1.25 hours either, so what do I know?

Didn’t you start a sky ride question post not long ago? Like a few weeks?

I did post a question on April 15th but it was not the same as yesterday.

Haven't you also stated you will never return to the park again because you are so unhappy with the way it is operated?

Um, yes. That doesn't mean I can't post things, does it? I am interested in things still and I know you all are very interested and well informed. I have been thinking what could make me go back up there again. Maybe when they remove the train, I will have time to come up for one last ride...or when the remove the sky rides!

Let's talk about pancakes.

Do you like pancakes, Jeff? I heard a rumor.

To answer your question about SkyRide is that it was probably training. At the beginning of the season, SkyRide operates with 3 platform positions at each station (catch, load, and trip) and a limited number of cabins (I cannot think of the amount off the top of my head right now). As the season goes on and staff becomes more available, SkyRide is required for 4 platform positions (catch, unload, load, and trip) and more cabins with quicker “trip” times. It is a requirement for SkyRide ride ops be trained after park hours for immediate shut down situations with 4 platform positions. SkyRide can be the most accident causing ride in the park. It is important for that training.

This is how things were a few years ago at least. Not sure if anything has changed.

I have some ideas but could you explain why it's can be the most accident causing ride? And what an immediate shut down situation with 4 positions involves?

DJ, I have an idea about those four positions and their duties as well. "Catch" is when the cable snaps and ride-op is required to catch guests. "Trip" is when the ride-op sneakily sticks their foot out when an unsuspecting guest is exiting the ride. "Unload" describes what ride-op does to guest such as I with a smart comment. "Load" describes my line of explaining these positions.

Just joking, as I would actually like to hear what is involved in the Sky-Ride OPS.

I want to watch when they have to train with the hand crank!

TwistedCircuits said:

I have some ideas but could you explain why it's can be the most accident causing ride? And what an immediate shut down situation with 4 positions involves?

Because everything is done manually. You physically stop the ride when it comes into the station. And if the person working unload doesn’t communicate with you, you could be squished between 2 cabins. Not to mention, the ride does not stop. It continuously moves (unless you hit the E stop button of course).

An immediate shut down requires communication between all platform hosts. As soon as a cabin comes into the station, you must have 1 person at “the claw” (I think that’s the name used for the transfer track. If not, I don’t know where I got that from), you must quickly unload the cabin, bring the cabin past the transfer, yell “down” so the person at transfer puts the claw down, transfer the cabin off, yell “up” to let them know the cabin has cleared the transfer so the next cabin can be brought around to transfer, and move on to the next cabin. It’s pretty neat watching it in motion when things go correctly. It’s a very quick process.

And why have Sky Ride not been working yesterday or today? The Giant Ferris Wheel is so it can't be the wind.

It's the wind.

Mmm having ones pelvis gently crushed between two skyride cars sounds unpleasant. That would be an interesting operation to see in action.

I hope the transfer track is named the claw because that's much better. Question though, isn't There a transfer track on each side of the station?

Yes there is. When one side gets full, you have to run to the other side and fill it up with cabins.

I brought this up in the other Sky Ride thread a few weeks ago, but as much as I appreciate the vintage nature of the Sky Ride in its current state, I do wonder if the park has ever looked into refurbishing it with modern chairlift equipment. Not like the cabins, but like the motor, bullwheel, and detaching system. With a modern detaching system you'd still probably need a loading attendant to make sure everyone is boarding properly, but you could probably cut out the other two positions. That being said, dunno how many seasons' worth of wages you'd need to break even on the cost of upgrading the ride, particularly when pretty much every other non-Disney park has just closed their chairlifts instead of refurbishing.

I just watched the sky ride "open" today. The college boy is still opening the door for empty cabins, but it is all very interesting to see. I am not sure I could handle that non-stop nature of operating the sky ride. You have got to give them some credit for what they do. I remember riding this ride when I was just tall enough to stand and just see over the railing. It seemed so high in the sky then. I also rode the stagecoach so if anybody has any questions about the park back then, fire away.