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kenban
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kenban last won the day on November 22 2020
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Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
kenban replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
There are two big LSM providers in the industry. Indrivetec who is used by Intamin, and Intrasys who is used by the majority of the rest of the industry. Indrivetec did Red Force. Intrasys typically uses parallel rows of stators, for instance Thunderbird at Holiday World uses two rows of stators and that is a very heavy train. My understanding is that you can just keep adding rows of stators as long as you have the proper spacing between them and room under the train for the permanent magnets. I would bet Intrasys could build a launch with 3 rows of stators that could easily power even a 20 person train to 120 MPH, it might not be as short as the current TTD launch, but it does not need to be because there is a lot of space available. Intamin very recently removed Dragster from their website. I suspect whatever is being done, Cedar Fair hired someone else to do the work. I cannot help but wonder if they talked B&M into designing custom trains, maybe something like the trains on Steel Dragon 2000, just 5 cars long. -
Intamin drop towers did not originally have belts on them. They were added after an incident similar to this occurred at what is now California’s Great America but was at the time still owned by Paramount in I believe the late 90s. Just putting the blame on the tilt is a mistake, although I believe tilt definitely made it more likely to occur. I hate seeing accidents repeat. I would not be surprised to see the tilt removed, but I also expect Funtime to come to the same conclusion Intamin did, a seat belt between the riders legs connecting the OSTR to the seat is necessary. My understanding is this park is owned by a subsidiary of the manufacturer. Roughly a year since they had a cable break on the slingshot over at Old Town. Also a few years ago they had an employee death during maintenance on the sky flyer.
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Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
kenban replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
This makes zero difference, the park does not have insurance. The big chains in the country just pay for everything directly themselves. In this case all injuries, lawsuits, or settlements would be paid directly by Cedar Fair. Disney, Universal, and Six Flags all do this, it helps keep things out of the news. Injury and death lawsuits are extremely uncommon in the amusement park industry because of this, the companies tend to favor settlements and try to make a deal before anything makes it to court. -
Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread
kenban replied to Homer's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
4 Six Flags parks including St Louis have removed Holiday in the park as a perk on the season pass sales webpage. Six Flags Great America, America, and New England also appear to be losing the event. The other parks with the event this year still list it as a perk. -
Tobu Zoo - Regina being redone for 2023
kenban replied to SharkTums's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The art makes it look like it’s going to GCI trains. Since they are going for a steam punk theme I wonder if it will be retracked using Titan Track? -
Six Flags St. Louis (SFStL) Discussion Thread
kenban replied to Homer's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Neither, the last major investment was in 2015. The Justice League dark ride. You might not consider it major but they were extremely expensive rides to build. Easily several million dollars. Enough to have built a decent affordable coaster. -
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/09/24/glenwood-caverns-death-child-ride-operator-error/ Well investigators know exactly what happened and how it happened. The ride worked as designed and it was not an issue with the design. Reading this felt like reading the report after the accident on Smiler. The operators failed to unbuckle seatbelts from seats which were not occupied during the previous ride cycle. The girl sat on the belts and when the operators checked the belts they did not notice she was sitting on it. Then the ride generated an error and would not start the cycle. A second operator arrived and unlocked the belts, removed and reinserted the locking rods, without fixing the fact that one of the guests was sitting on the belts. Then they reset the rides system to reset the alarm and dispatched the ride.
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I have not made it to Glenwood Caverns so I am unsure on the exact operation or design of the ride. But I am reminded of Soarin at Disney since it also only has a seat belt. What they do for smaller individuals is have a strap between the legs which you put the seatbelt through. Adults just ignore the strap since it is not needed. That would likely prevent a smaller individual from sliding downward or squirming out. Having said that no one should ever be forced onto a ride. I have no idea what the circumstances behind what happened are. But if the rider did not want to be there they should not be on the ride. Restraints are not there to protect you from yourself, they are there to keep you safe from the normal operation of the ride. There are a lot of rides, mostly older but they were designed with the idea of personal responsibility in mind. PTC Buzz Bars for instance.
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From what I have read a county has to meet the requirements for a tier for 3 weeks before it qualifies which would actually allow a park to open. Right now only CGA would be allowed to open, no other park is located in a county in the correct tier. This whole reopening system still seems like garbage that’s not really based on what it should be. The rules as written allow CGA to open but require SFDK to stay closed which is just crazy. But then frankly shopping at a grocery store is likely more dangerous then visiting an outdoor amusement park.
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Legoland Florida Discussion Thread
kenban replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
The layout came out in December it will be located on a corner of the parking lot near the main parks entrance, and is based on similar lands that have already been built. -
Kentucky Kingdom (SFKK, KK) Discussion Thread
kenban replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I have been hearing rumors for weeks that Herschend was in talks to acquire the park and had heard executives had been spotted touring the park recently. That map is pretty much a map of Herschend properties. Except I can cannot account for an extra circle to the west. -
Dollywood Discussion Thread
kenban replied to crispy's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
It is actually 2,160 feet of track that are being replaced, it was announced by the park at an event where they also discussed what sections were being replaced. It works out that only 2 or 3 elements will continue being topper track and the station. Although you are correct I would think they can get this done in time for the 2021 season. -
Dollywood Discussion Thread
kenban replied to crispy's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Dollywood had a Q&A earlier today. Coaster Crew was there and posted on Twitter the magic number 2,160 feet of Lightning Rod is being replaced by I-Box, the ride is 3,800 feet long. So 57% of the track. Based on what I have heard it’s the launch through the first drop all going I-Box then a significant section of topper track. Just before the 45 degree banked hill it will become I-Box and stay that way through the brake run. So two sections of I-Box, and two of topper track, but the one will be very small just basically the station. So everything except the station visible from the park will be I-Box. This includes every area of the coaster I have every heard having problems, so I would assume it will be more reliable. It’s about what I had guessed when I heard about the work but the percentage of the ride and the number of feet of track being replaced still surprised me. -
Dollywood Discussion Thread
kenban replied to crispy's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
My speculation has been the launch, and high stress areas are going to be replaced with I-Box. As far as I know the dimensions of the track are the same. So it’s really just down to how they are connected together and frankly that does not seem that difficult. GCI just did something similar to White Lightning. Retracting the entire coaster seems unnecessary, but I have no idea how often maintenance is having to work on the track and structure. It also depends on how much of the track needs upgraded. The lightning strikes twice makes me suspicious of just how much work is planned, it gives me this feeling it’s going to be a lot more then I originally thought, or I am trying to read too much into a simple sign. I believe we will see the original front to the train return as well, I would think the removal will no longer be needed once it has been fixed.