Why not another Magnum block?

Millennium Force has an interval from the time they send a train, till the time they can send the next train of about 90 seconds. The time from when the gates open till the time the train can be sent is about 80 seconds. With 4 ride hosts checking 36 lapbars, it normally doesn’t take that long.

I’m not too sure about magnums timing, but they have a reasonable amount of time to check all the restraints.

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House of Tomorrow: Only technology makes live worth living

SteelMonsters, I am simply saying that theoretically the MF crew can wait as long as they want to send the train and not have to worry about a setup, quite the contrary on Gemini.

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Brent Haley
Gemini Crew '02

i have been stuck on the safety block before. They did send someone out to talk to you because someone threw up in the station and the train. But that employee didn't have to reset anything I saw.

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needless quotation removed -J

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Someone help me i'm in denial about Project 2003.
*** This post was edited by Jeff 12/6/2002 9:48:07 AM ***

Coaster Runner - you were set up because the puke was probably nasty enough that they weren't able to dispatch the train in the station before they cleaned it. Usually an employee is only sent out there if the delay is going to be more than a minute or two. Also, the "resetting" that you speak of was most certainly done as it is the only way to start the lift or release the safeties, but it is done from almost directly under the train sitting on the safeties, so it would have been difficult to see from your position. So either the employee that was talking to you out there, just went down the set of stairs and turned the key, or they already had another person down there to do it.

Magnum's dispatch interval is around 1:15 and the dispatch point is when the previous train crests the second hill. If the train in the station is not dispatched by the time the previous one goes past the soak city curve (on the return run when the train turns back for the straightaway of bunny hops), there will almost always be a set up (although if the ride is running a bit slow, sometimes they are avoided). MF's dispatch interval was timed by me at around 1:37 in 2001 and I can assure you that the 2001 crew probably hit that a heck of a lot more often than the 2002 crew from my observations. I agree with Brent that practically anything seems laid back compared to Gemini. The MF crew CAN wait as long as they want to send a train, but just because they can does not mean they should! :) The longer your interval is, the more you should hit it is the way I look at it! I'd say we hit interval probably 90-95% of the time in 2001.

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew
*** This post was edited by MDOmnis 12/6/2002 11:52:26 AM ***

Almost anything seems laid back compared with Gemini because Gemini is a really busy place with a really tight interval and lots to do in the station, a lot of people to move, and potentially nasty consequences (bloody noses and chipped teeth) when interval is missed.

The funny thing is that one platform that always feels kind of laid back is Iron Dragon. But if you whip out your stopwatch and time those crews, they are moving trains so quickly that they usually beat their interval. I think interval on that one is supposed to be about 75 seconds, but the loading process is so simple that they can beat that almost every time. I think I timed the Iron Dragon dwell time (from bars open to dispatch) at something like 35 seconds once...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

You gotta watch that ID crew though, on closing day they smacked the restraint into my head while I was sitting down.

I think Gemini IS a saftey issue of interval over safety. If you miss interval you get a nasty nasty stop. Not good at all. but theer is really no way to solve that on Gemini without running fewer trains.

Perhaps that has a lot to do with why Gemini's trains were designed so that you only have to check one side to check both.

On another note I have always wondered why Maggie didn't get trains liek those on Adventure Express at PKI. The restarint and seats seam to be so much better. Did that much change in two years time?

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Thats right Virginia, I am Santa Claus.

Actually, the Adventure Express trains are pretty much identical to the Magnum trains, with a notable difference or two...most obviously, Kings Island has welded checker-handles onto the lap bars, and second, the padding is much better on Magnum. Specifically, the side cushions are thicker on Magnum, and the mold of the seat back is not quite so deep as on Adventure Express. The net result is that I find I am a lot more comfortable on Magnum than I am on Adventure Express.

The lap bars are the same on both rides, but I think Kings Island has the axles just a little tighter so that the bars don't move as easily. Doesn't ultimately make them any less likely to fall down, though!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I don't know Dave. I find the AE trains infinitely better then Maggies. Just seem so much more comfortable to me. I had a mini marthon (5 rides in a row not getting off) on AE closing night and really noticed the differnce from my Maggie marathon the previous week. I think that was about 20 rides. The AE trains just seem so much more substantial to me. At least they feel liek it although I am sure they are exactly the same size.

I do like the way the seats are bucketed and the stiffness of the lapbar a lot moe on AE but that is just a preference. I enjoy my couch more then my layzboy and my father prefers my lazyboy more then my couch when he comes over. ;)

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Thats right Virginia, I am Santa Claus.

*** This post was edited by Magnum Force 12/7/2002 3:11:28 AM ***