Wicked Twister offline indefinetely?

With a class full of Intamins, a C is really an A. :)

I get the poking fun, and understand the legitimate complaints about downtime and all... but it still just can't change the fact that every time I ride Millenium, Maverick, and Top Thrill I still say wow - that company built some great coasters.

And they still do, just not here.

The new Intamin ride at Phantasialand looks like it has the potential to be awesome. I'd blame at least half of that on the park's creative department, but the ride itself looks promising too.

I agree with JUnderhill, even with all the Intamin bashing that goes on every time I get off MF, TTD, Maverick and Wicked Twister I have a grin from ear to ear. Even driving over the causeway those rides have a awesome visual effect!

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. It seems like the longest lines in the park are:

- Dragster

- Millenium Force

- Maverick

All three are Intamin. So the question is this... Are they more popular? Or are the B&M's legitimately just better at eating people in the real world? (Let's not argue theoretical capacity).

I don't know. An agrument could be made both ways.

B&M's are higher capacity. They seat 4 across, where Intamin's are only 2 across. Maverick's capacity and interval are horrible. Pretty much the same with TTD. And MF is just a popular ride.

I'd have to agree that TTD and Maverick have terrible capacity's. Millennium's is great when they have have all 3 train's running. It also appears that the yellow train has made an appearance on the back storage track. B&M are just more reliable

A lot of it is operational Maverick is supposed to dispatch on a 45 second interval. So that one should be (3600/45)*12=960 PPH. But it takes about 30 seconds to move two trains out and move two more trains in. That leaves about 15 seconds before the second train launches and less than a minute to unload and reload the trains in the stations. That doesn't happen so on a good day we're seeing closer to a 60 second average interval (45-90-45) which is only 720 PPH.

Meanwhile, Gatekeeper is running a 32-passenger train at a consistent 75-second interval. That's (3600/75)*32 = 1,536 PPH.

Millennium Force has some similar problems. Preparing the train takes way too long for the ride to ever run at anything even close to a reasonable interval. I have seen it approach 1,000 PPH but that is rare.

So why can't the Intamin rides keep up? At least part of it is headway, the time it takes after one train leaves before the next is ready to load. But mostly it's because the loading process for those rides is just way too complicated to get it done on time. Seat belts are too short or too awkward to fasten, mechanical systems need too much time to reset, whatever...the rides simply are not built to move bodies.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Thabto said:

B&M's are higher capacity. They seat 4 across, where Intamin's are only 2 across. Maverick's capacity and interval are horrible. Pretty much the same with TTD. And MF is just a popular ride.

Stating "capacity" based on using seating numbers is flawed.

Gatekeeper has 4 people per row, times 8 rows. 32 people.

MF has 2 people per row, 2 rows per car, 9 cars per train. 36 people.

RideMan said:

But mostly it's because the loading process for those rides is just way too complicated to get it done on time. Seat belts are too short or too awkward to fasten, mechanical systems need too much time to reset, whatever...the rides simply are not built to move bodies.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

That absolutely makes sense. I have seen many folks who I felt were "reasonably proportioned" have to take the walk of shame. Every time the ride ops have to help someone with a seat belt (or let people fumble with it themselves) it eats time.

Here's a thought I had... I know it will never happen and a lot of folks would hate it, but...

I like Maverick's new restraints. They're comfortable and the vests are non-intrusive. I was in the park today and it seemed like maitenance finally got them all working.

Since Kingda Ka has restraints similar to what Maverick formerly had, it seems reasonable that Dragster (and possibly Millenium) could be retrofitted.

Doing this would allow guests of more diverse sizes to ride. It would also speed up loading / unloading since they're much more straightforward and there's less fumbling. I feel like a lot of what slows down Maverick is the bins...

Either that... Or... I dunno... Just lengthen the **** seat belts...

The bins certainly don't help matters. I'd be all for bin-removal if it speeds things up. Still not quite sure why they still allow them on some coasters, but not others.

I think removing the bins on Maverick would do little if any good. Most of the time I noticed everyone is buckled in and ready to go when they are ready to dispatch the trains. Maverick's interval is so long that there is plenty of time to go the bins.

I agree with the "WOW" factor on Intamin coasters. It is unprecedented.

I was admiring the launch mechanism of TTD last week. The fact that Intamin pioneered such a powerful system is beyond me. As for the downtime, I think it's just the nature of the beast. I would rather have downtime then accidents.

But with Intamin, you can have both!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Wicked Twister was testing today.

magdrag95 said:

I would rather have downtime then accidents.

I would rather have downtime than accidents, but that could just be me. Accidents after downtime should not happen; isn't that why there is downtime, to prevent accidents?

I always wondered since those catapults are based of the catapults on Aircraft carriers if the catapults on the carrier has as much downtime or whats the difference. Do they not break down as much because the plane is also accelerating with the launch

Those don't launch a train every minute for 12-13 hours every day (in theory) for 5-6 months. So they don't have nearly as much stress.

No they just can launch a jet off of them every 20 seconds for years on end 24/7 365.

Aircraft carriers mostly use steam these days, not hydraulic catapults. They would like to get to a place where LIM's are used instead. So with that line of thinking, hydraulic launches are vintage WWII devices.