oriolat2
Giga Poster
The topic title is self-explanatory. What are those rides that ran in top condition and have experienced some kind of major modification over time? I am talking about operations, maintenance, etc. Related to this, are there any effects that used to make a certain ride stand out not working anymore? It can range from fog, lighting, effects in queuelines, etc.
I'll start the list myself with rides from PortAventura, since it's my homepark and some of you might not be familiar with its history:
Rides:
- Dragon Khan: now the MCBR grabs a little bit whereas the train used to fly by and take the second half at a very good speed. Don't get me wrong, the ride still delivers, it's just not THAT intense anymore. Plus, PortAventura can't be bothered to run three trains any longer (actually, I haven't seen 3-train op on Khan for years, and even when they did they stacked them more often than not).
- Hurakan Condor: the ride was meant to run in "show mode" at least once every hour. The show mode was only used during the first season and a half at random times, especially when the park was slow, for operational reasons (it took a longer cycle, thus, killing capacity), but it was great to watch. After a small preshow in the tower played by an actor, the lower building would be filled with dense fog and the five gondolas would be taken up simultaneously where they would be synched to drop at the same time when the actor finally gave the 20 victims to the god Hurakan, plummeting them to their "death".
- Diablo: in 2004, and just for one season, the last two cars of each train ran backwards. It made for a very interesting and disorienting ride on the park's "weakest" coaster. However, due to lack of ridership in those rows and operational issues, the cars were reversed again the next season. Such a shame! I loved it! Here you can see some pictures of the coaster in that configuration: http://www.pafans.com/actualidad/2004/e ... rds-90119/
- Furius Baco: the ride has been reported not to be launching at 84 mph for many years. Since the ride can complete its circuit with a 45 mph launch, the ride is believed to be launching at the upper 70 mph nowadays. Still intense and somewhat uncomfortable though! As far as operations go, Baco opened with four trains and was meant to run 3 at a time; and it actually ran 3 at some point during the first season of operation. However, since the ride is so short and the dispatch interval was so tight, PA had a hard time getting people in and out of the trains fast and they needed twice as many attendants, making it a waste of money considering the small margin of throughput they gained.
Effects:
- Dragon Khan: there used to be a great light package on Khan that doesn't work any more. Regarding the track, there used to be some really powerful light beams scattered around the different elements. At night the ride was dimly lit and you could only tell that there was a train going around because you would just be able to hear a full trains of riders screaming, the loud roar of the train and because all of a sudden you would see the giant loop light up as the train was going through it. Then it would go pitch black again and do the same with the dive loop and the zeroG roll. As far as the trains go, there used to be some black bands with LEDs on the sides of each train that went from bright red to green and when it was pitch black, it looked like there was a firebolt going around the track; it looked fantastic and made the ride so much more intimidating.
- Hurakan Condor: related to the "show mode", when that mode was on at night the tower would be lit up in different bright colours, fog would fill the tower, the balcony on one of the sides of the tower had an actor playing the role of a Mexican priest and there would be an "animatronic" (more of a giant head that represented the god Hurakan) and some minor other effects. These have not been used in years, though, which is a shame...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqFCKtZhMzI[/youtube]
- Furius Baco: the preshow doors have been long disabled because they were triggering the sensors of the preshow track causing frequent downtine. When they worked and there was a case in which the train had to be taken back to the station from the preshow track, when disengaging from the catch-car, if the tires were too slippery, the train would roll far too back making it impossible for the giant doors to fully open to let the train roll back into the station again. Go, Intamin! Regarding the queueline, the turnstyle leading to the batching area used to be a giant horizontal wooden mill that would be linked to a series of cogs that would ultimately "turn on" some devices to make wine. Since people would get stuck in the mill (doh), PA just removed it.
So, can we expand that list?
I'll start the list myself with rides from PortAventura, since it's my homepark and some of you might not be familiar with its history:
Rides:
- Dragon Khan: now the MCBR grabs a little bit whereas the train used to fly by and take the second half at a very good speed. Don't get me wrong, the ride still delivers, it's just not THAT intense anymore. Plus, PortAventura can't be bothered to run three trains any longer (actually, I haven't seen 3-train op on Khan for years, and even when they did they stacked them more often than not).
- Hurakan Condor: the ride was meant to run in "show mode" at least once every hour. The show mode was only used during the first season and a half at random times, especially when the park was slow, for operational reasons (it took a longer cycle, thus, killing capacity), but it was great to watch. After a small preshow in the tower played by an actor, the lower building would be filled with dense fog and the five gondolas would be taken up simultaneously where they would be synched to drop at the same time when the actor finally gave the 20 victims to the god Hurakan, plummeting them to their "death".
- Diablo: in 2004, and just for one season, the last two cars of each train ran backwards. It made for a very interesting and disorienting ride on the park's "weakest" coaster. However, due to lack of ridership in those rows and operational issues, the cars were reversed again the next season. Such a shame! I loved it! Here you can see some pictures of the coaster in that configuration: http://www.pafans.com/actualidad/2004/e ... rds-90119/
- Furius Baco: the ride has been reported not to be launching at 84 mph for many years. Since the ride can complete its circuit with a 45 mph launch, the ride is believed to be launching at the upper 70 mph nowadays. Still intense and somewhat uncomfortable though! As far as operations go, Baco opened with four trains and was meant to run 3 at a time; and it actually ran 3 at some point during the first season of operation. However, since the ride is so short and the dispatch interval was so tight, PA had a hard time getting people in and out of the trains fast and they needed twice as many attendants, making it a waste of money considering the small margin of throughput they gained.
Effects:
- Dragon Khan: there used to be a great light package on Khan that doesn't work any more. Regarding the track, there used to be some really powerful light beams scattered around the different elements. At night the ride was dimly lit and you could only tell that there was a train going around because you would just be able to hear a full trains of riders screaming, the loud roar of the train and because all of a sudden you would see the giant loop light up as the train was going through it. Then it would go pitch black again and do the same with the dive loop and the zeroG roll. As far as the trains go, there used to be some black bands with LEDs on the sides of each train that went from bright red to green and when it was pitch black, it looked like there was a firebolt going around the track; it looked fantastic and made the ride so much more intimidating.
- Hurakan Condor: related to the "show mode", when that mode was on at night the tower would be lit up in different bright colours, fog would fill the tower, the balcony on one of the sides of the tower had an actor playing the role of a Mexican priest and there would be an "animatronic" (more of a giant head that represented the god Hurakan) and some minor other effects. These have not been used in years, though, which is a shame...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqFCKtZhMzI[/youtube]
- Furius Baco: the preshow doors have been long disabled because they were triggering the sensors of the preshow track causing frequent downtine. When they worked and there was a case in which the train had to be taken back to the station from the preshow track, when disengaging from the catch-car, if the tires were too slippery, the train would roll far too back making it impossible for the giant doors to fully open to let the train roll back into the station again. Go, Intamin! Regarding the queueline, the turnstyle leading to the batching area used to be a giant horizontal wooden mill that would be linked to a series of cogs that would ultimately "turn on" some devices to make wine. Since people would get stuck in the mill (doh), PA just removed it.
So, can we expand that list?
