Steel Vengeance

I stood in that line for about an hour and 45 minutes before it finally opened. I normally wouldn't do that, but I was with someone who hadn't ridden it yet. As long as they were running the trains I wasn't going to leave the line. When they opened....they were only running 2 trains.

According to Reddit, Twisted Timbers is now allowing phones in the queue. Looks like they added pouches on that ride. Maybe next season, we'll see the same on SV.

https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/9q9jcx/twisted_tim...queue_now/

They weren't enforcing it yesterday outside of telling people "no cell phones." People had them out in line here and there. Phones were definitely on the trains yesterday afternoon.

At this point in the season, everyone's got the we'll be unemployed after next weekend attitude so they probably just don't care enough to enforce it.

I was there yesterday and I saw at least 2 groups get kicked out of the line for using their phones.

A lot of the employees this past weekend were ride prides, who work to raise money for their organization, like a fraternity. During Haunt, they work most, if not all, of the crowd positions (they aren't trained for platform or controls stuff) and it seemed to me that many of them did not fully know that SV has its strict policy. I heard some platform employees discussing the fact that a lot of people were getting through with phones, and trying to do what they reasonably could (looking out for the outline in pockets, etc.) to enforce the policy.

While on the platform at one point, I had a brief discussion with a security guard that came onto the platform (presumably because of the confused phone situation) and he confirmed with me that the policy was still in place.

This led to a lot of people waiting in line for 2 hours or so, with no indication that no phones are allowed in the queue besides safety signs that probably either went unseen or were assumed to be unenforced, only to get to platform and get sent to the lockers (IDK if they were sent to the end or not.)

So no, the policy is not lapsing at SV. But I do hope that SV gets the new, more convenient policy from Twisted Timbers, which apparently now not only has pouches but, according to a Reddit post, also allows riders to use their zippered pockets (as announced over their intercom.)

Yesterday, We saw 7 people get kicked out of FL on SV for phones. They waited for them to get to the platform and turned them away.

It makes it harder to enforce when people have winter coats on with zippered pockets. I kept my phone in the inside breast pocket of my coat. Of course I'm not taking my phone out in line or on the ride.

I was going to comment yeah these last 2 weeks I have seen more phones than ever and I believe it to be because of the coat wearing. It is certainly way harder to notice a phone bulge, I would near impossible with some of the coats people were wearing.

I do really hope SV does end what looks like TT is doing next season.

Question to anybody who's worked a large ride in past years - does the onset of cold weather actually cause less phones to become lost because people zip them up? Just curious.

That could Likely be offset by the higher volume of guests

As a final note of discussion I thought about yesterday regarding SV on its opening year, I noticed that last night, the mid-course did not turn on at all for the entire night after it re-opened from the downpour and I'm wondering if that was due to the rain, cold, or just the crew's gift for final rides of the season (which I got on the last train). It makes me wonder how and if the block brake will function properly in 2019. Can the block brake not be turned on the rain, is it not standard procedure to turn it on if it's too cold or wet regardless of how fast the ride actually runs (for reference, this was easily the fastest it ran all year in the second half, even more than Passholder Preview and Opening Day), or is there some other reason? I'm pretty confident that there will be heavy work on MF this off-season, but I'm wondering if Cedar Fair will call RMC to patch up the block brake.

The trains were probably not running fast enough for the trim brake to engage because of the cold. My guess is that the trimming function is automatic, based on a speed measurement and not something the ride operators can mess with.

The trims turn on/off to get the trains to hit a specific speed when it comes into the brake run at the end so cold=no trims. Also if you are the first train of the day or the first train after cycling empty a bunch after down time you will also get no trims even if it's hot

Basically how much you get trimmed is dependent on how fast the train before you went

I have mostly experienced trimless rides I colder weather and also in the nighttime compared to the heat of the day.

Well throughout my 88 SV rides this season, there has been one consistency. SV being an absolute special experience to ride each time. I knew after my first time riding it was in my top 2 at CP. Within my first 20 rides I decided that MF was my favorite. But then I started to wonder more and more what is really my favorite. After about 60 rides did it take me to realize that SV is my favorite coaster. And I very glad to have gotten must of my SV rides (about a quarter) in the back row though any row is amazing but I like the back the best.

Reguarding the trims on Sunday. They did not run at all during the rain from what I saw. The ride was absolutely hauling and it made me wonder if they ran it like that because it was the last day. I noticed the employees were even commenting to eachother about how ridiculously fast the train was going. It was certainly an experience I’ll never forget.

I can echo that the block brake was not catching at all on Sunday. However I am curious what the awful grinding noise was on the final brake run. It sounded like the drive tires were having a hard time catching onto the train and that’s why they went down for rain originally.

That sound was definitely the wet tires struggling to move the train forward.

Take it for what it is worth, but I heard a rumor of SV’s MCBR receiving some rehab this offseason, resulting in raising the height. Reason? When initial testing was going on prior to the season, they of course tested the MCBR to stop the train on that block. Once the brakes released, the trains tried finishing the course but valleyed more than once. Perhaps raising the height will help the trains gain more momentum to finish the course in the event the train needs to stop on the MCBR? This isn’t insider news, just a rumor I’ve heard. Any ideas, thoughts, doubts?