Reb
TS Member
That which has been is that which will be.
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ℹ️ Heads up...
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Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
I think some simple atmospheric red lighting would be really good at the end of Vampire coming in to the building to make it feel a little less like you are just entering a maintenance area.
Bowser
TS Member
Agree but if they haven’t done it after 30 years might have to wait till the retrack.
The_bup
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Professor Burp’s Bubbleworks
Retrack would be an easy slam dunk. All it would need is it’s chandeliers back, some stuff for the tunnel, second lift hill and final break run. Some minor changes to the station, deck out the exit corridor and add the rafters back to the merge point. Get Vekoma in (whose trains do look awfully fit to swing)
And for goodness sake, get a responsible composer in for the music! (It would be an actual dream if Keygen Church did it, but I suppose it’s a Merlin and his Imascore.. )
if they do retrack it, they could add some theming to the lift hill as well rarther than the cloth/nettingRetrack would be an easy slam dunk. All it would need is it’s chandeliers back, some stuff for the tunnel, second lift hill and final break run. Some minor changes to the station, deck out the exit corridor and add the rafters back to the merge point. Get Vekoma in (whose trains do look awfully fit to swing)
And for goodness sake, get a responsible composer in for the music! (It would be an actual dream if Keygen Church did it, but I suppose it’s a Merlin and his Imascore.. )
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Shaggy_Dog_
TS Member
Vampire doesn’t have anywhere near the same stress in its track that a ride like Nemesis or Incredible Hulk had. And it still seems to be ridding pretty well, so I’m not sure either that there’s any need for a retrack, I think the park has many other things that will need addressing before this one.
Blackhole_Sun
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Black Hole
Plenty of older arrow coasters out there that haven’t been touched. Including the same type of coaster (Ninja at SFMM is two years older than Vampire/Iron dragon even older than that).
Did we not have some sort of information stating the track is OK until the end of this decade at least? I think this type of coaster is actually “over manufactured” the support system is absolutely huge for the stress the ride exerts on it.
Still the most popular ride in the park also.
Did we not have some sort of information stating the track is OK until the end of this decade at least? I think this type of coaster is actually “over manufactured” the support system is absolutely huge for the stress the ride exerts on it.
Still the most popular ride in the park also.
Bowser
TS Member
Yep. I think they need another ride already in place to take up the slack if they're going to go a season without it and that's certainly not Mandrill.
Ian
TS Team
- Favourite Ride
- Dizz, Bobby’s Yarn Land
Generally speaking it comes down to an assessment of how much work is needed and how frequently. There will come a point where a park may decide it’s simply easier to replace track en mass than trying to keep up with odd jobs here and there.
Steel coasters have frequent inspections to check for things like cracks and deterioration in the metal. On many larger rides the track is subjected to pretty extreme forces which over time can lead to deformation and weakening of the rails and/or spine. Nemesis’ helix and vertical loop in particular often needed spot welds and other work to keep it in check. When a piece of metal or a joint starts to weaken it may be more prone to cracking when under pressure.
One thing you can’t see when you look at a piece of track in place with the naked eye is its internal condition. You need to remember that the rails and spines are usually hollow (some may be sand-filled). The segments also are only bolted together rather than sealed up/welded together. This means that over time you can see rusting and deterioration internally, which isn’t as easily addressed as an external problem. At that point you may need to look into replacing that piece of track. A ride may look immaculate from the outside, but you may find it is literally painting over the cracks!
In terms of Vampire, I’m not sure if it does or doesn’t need a full retrack yet. It’s knocking on, sure, but the forces will be less than those seen on something like Nemesis, and as others have said, the supports in particular are very hefty relative to the ride! But as I say, the internal condition may be another story.
Poisson
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- The Giant Squid
What a mess the park was today. Fury claiming to be closed all day...until it wasn't. Vampire on 1 train so it had a queue almost out the building. 3 rides closed at the other side of the park because they can't be bothered with them.
Tomb Blaster is god awful. No idea where the money went as there's plenty of black spaces with the building visible and/or light pouring in. Just put it out of its misery.
Embarrassing. We left after 2 hours and went to Legoland.
Tomb Blaster is god awful. No idea where the money went as there's plenty of black spaces with the building visible and/or light pouring in. Just put it out of its misery.
Embarrassing. We left after 2 hours and went to Legoland.
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John
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
I thought the park wasn't too bad on Sunday - operations wise several queues moved faster than expected (not sure how much that was due to limited FT use as it wasn't busy). Vampire running with just 3 station staff is far from ideal but they were coping fairly well all things considered and trains didn't always stack so they must have been doing something right. Also waited 30min for Tomb from the top of the steps down to the building (running 3 trains), I've waited 70 from there in the past.
Witnessed the new queue split on Tiger Rock and pretty much treated it as free fastrack as we were a 4 and everyone else in the queue was in groups of 2-3, each group was getting their own boat rendering the new system totally pointless.
Got spited by Fury keeling over half an hour before close but I managed to get on the last 3 cycles of the day on Mandrill due to a combination of extremely unlikely circumstances. TBH the ride isn't really good enough to warrant that many goes but when the opportunity arises I'm going to take it.
In terms of upkeep, the park generally looks pretty good nowadays. It's not perfect obviously as there are some run-down areas and some parts that have been refurbished on the cheap but it's far better than it has been in the past.
All in all, a far better experience than I've had there in years. Not perfect by any means (particularly F&B) but at least queues weren't a total misery.
Witnessed the new queue split on Tiger Rock and pretty much treated it as free fastrack as we were a 4 and everyone else in the queue was in groups of 2-3, each group was getting their own boat rendering the new system totally pointless.
Got spited by Fury keeling over half an hour before close but I managed to get on the last 3 cycles of the day on Mandrill due to a combination of extremely unlikely circumstances. TBH the ride isn't really good enough to warrant that many goes but when the opportunity arises I'm going to take it.
In terms of upkeep, the park generally looks pretty good nowadays. It's not perfect obviously as there are some run-down areas and some parts that have been refurbished on the cheap but it's far better than it has been in the past.
All in all, a far better experience than I've had there in years. Not perfect by any means (particularly F&B) but at least queues weren't a total misery.
Enter Valhalla
TS Member
It’s no easy job to take a train off Vampire. It’s nothing like modern coasters where it’s a quick 5-10 min job. Vampire uses an old winch system and I’m told that it takes about 45 mins to add a train or take a train off. This does beg the question of why they are taking a train off on weekdays. Quite an effort when it’s not really needed. When I worked there, Vampire tended to run two trains even on dead days because the hassle of taking a train off just wasn’t worth it, even though this did mean trains stacking at quiet times while they waited for a sufficient number of riders.
Bowser
TS Member
Agree. Also think it's been interesting to see Mandrill queues times are generally on the lower end of the parks major attractions, so either it's got great throughput (which i don't think is the case, despite excellent operations) or it's simply not as popular. Its average queue time has it in level 5th place with River Rafts and whilst not a like for like comparison for the aforementioned reasons i think it does at least give a glimpse into where it ranks in popularity.
I do suspect as a family coaster it might be too intimidating for some compared to Vampire. Inversions and a spike are both psychological hurdles.
I'm not sure what could ever replicate the popularity of Vampire in a park like CWOA, especially if you're limited to the Scorpion Express location and other planning permissions. If we're fantasy building then perhaps knocking out Tomb Blaster and a combined Dark Ride coaster a la The Mummy at Universal. Would fit the existing theming and a nod to both previous attractions: Tomb Blaster Revenge!
My kids won't even entertain Mandrill Mayhem for some reason yet they are both counting down until they are tall enough to go on the Smiler. Something weirdly intimidating about it for them for some reason; I still can't fathom why they thought a shuttle coaster was a good idea though.
From my last visit a few weeks ago it feels like the place is stuck in the doldrums a bit. Scorpion Express and that whole area gathering dust, Tomb Blaster was closed and Rattlesnake about as unreliable as it is possible to be as well as Monkey Swinger in pieces. Plus they are ripping out the parrot enclosures down near the lorikeets and all the rest of the animals in the "zoo" area just looked a bit sad, not to mention the disaster that is the truck ride only running one truck...