Mt. Olympus: General Discussion

[Sam]

Wow! Gravity Group are going to back their coaster at Mt. Olympus in 2013 to add an inversion!

 

[AstroDan]

Is there actually any point to this?

Perhaps it's more the case that GG approcahed Mt. Olympus to ask if they could do this, just to show off what they are able to do?

:-\

 

[Dar]

Why?

I can understand building a new coaster with an inversion, but why randomly plonk one in the middle of one of your old rides?

 

[Sam]

We've gotten to the point in the industry where rollercoaster technology has caught up enough that it can actually make park manager's drunken late-night ideas a reality.

 

[Ian]

Why?! Surely a 90 degree banked turn is enough!

While I respect that companies are continuing to try and push boundaries further and further is it just me lately who has been getting the impressions parks and companies are thinking that by cramming in an inversion or two here and there it guarentees a better ride? Inversions are not all that is needed to make a good ride. Some of the highest ranked coasters in the world don't have any!

I've got no objections to parks building new rides with inversions. But I don't think that just shoving one into an old ride is guarenteed to make it good. If anything, I'd have been inclined to see how the new builds like at Silver Dollar City turn out, before altering an existing ride. Otherwise it could end up another embarasing SoB situation, where the park has to backtrack and remove said element.

 

[CGM]

I've got no objections to parks building new rides with inversions. But I don't think that just shoving one into an old ride is guarenteed to make it good. If anything, I'd have been inclined to see how the new builds like at Silver Dollar City turn out, before altering an existing ride. Otherwise it could end up another embarasing SoB situation, where the park has to backtrack and remove said element.

I'm not sure that this will dramatically improve the ride but I don't see what waiting to see how the Outlaw Run fares will achieve as the two coasters use completely different trains and building techniques for their track.

Everyone seems to have so little faith in these coaster manufacturers to make these inversions work when in reality, there's no reason why they shouldn't. RMC and GG are both manufacturers who have made very good coasters and they clearly know what they're doing. GG in particular have always said that they'd make a coaster with an inversion if a park ever asked for it and it seems now Mount Olympus have.

In the case of SoB, it wasn't actually the loop that was the problem, it was the rest of it. The track and structure couldn't stand up to the stresses that the train was putting on it even when they switched to a normal, lighter train and sacrificed the loop. Basically, it was just RCCA's incompetence and use of cheap materials that let to SoB's demise, it had very little to do with the inversion.

The inversion doesn't look too extreme relative to the ones on Outlaw run, it looks a lot more slow and gradual, more like an evolution of a 90 degree banked turn:

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/964_10151282708078566_1579206807_n.jpg

The good thing about this will be that it will mean a retrack and new Timberliners to replace the PTCs as it sounds like the coaster has gotten very rough.

 

[BigAl]

Screamscape posted about it in today's update and included a couple of videos about it:

2013 - Hades 360 - (11/14/12) Mt. Olympus made a big announcement at IAAPA on Tuesday, as there will be some very exciting new changes on the way to Hades for the 2013 season. Our friends at The Coaster Crew were on the scene to chat with park President, Nick Laskaris to get the word right from the horse’s mouth.
In short, Hades will be renamed as Hades 360, because Gravity Group is going to add in a new Barrel Roll inversion to the ride, right where it comes out of the tunnel out by the road. In fact that whole turn-around section of track there will be taken down and rebuilt completely. If that wasn’t enough, it will enter a 110º overbanked turn as it re-enters the tunnel on the return trip to the station. To accomplish this, Hades 360 will also use brand new themed Timberliner trains that look fantastic.
Unlike the two other “wooden” coasters to perform barrel rolls opening in 2013, Hades 360 will be the only one to do it using a completely normal wooden coaster track experience, so no steel topper track here.

Mt Olympus Announces New Barrel Roll for Hades

Hades 360˚ - Mount Olympus Water & Theme Park - New for 2013!


I wouldn't say no.

 

[Tim]

Also it's worth noting that the part of the track in question has caused them trouble for years. They had to install an anti-roll-back system as the trains kept stalling.

Section of the ride being altered.

I also hope they edit the end of the ride as apparently it's got a really odd design that prevents them from running multiple trains.

 

[Sammy]

I also hope they edit the end of the ride as apparently it's got a really odd design that prevents them from running multiple trains.

Too right it's got an odd design, just watch this POV and prepare to have a right old giggle when it hits the breaks!

Hades Wooden Roller Coaster Front Seat POV Mt. Olympus Theme Park Wisconsin Dells

I mean really... Just why?!!

 

[Danny]

I wonder if Mt Olympus's fanbase have the same discussion about Hades' tunnel that we have about Air's.

 

[Ian]

It looks as if when they were designing it there was a fold in the paper the designer didn't spot. When he drew it the brakes ran straight into the station. Then he picked the plans up to show someone, and they unfolded, revealing a 5 metre height difference between the two. So he grabbed a pencil and drew a steep drop into the station

 

[Sam]

Re: Re: Hades at Mt. Olympus: Gravity Group add inversion!

I wonder if Mt Olympus's fanbase have the same discussion about Hades' tunnel that we have about Air's.

Given that you travel through it at about ten times the speed, I'd say probably not.

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2

 

[Nick]

It looks as if when they were designing it there was a fold in the paper the designer didn't spot. When he drew it the brakes ran straight into the station. Then he picked the plans up to show someone, and they unfolded, revealing a 5 metre height difference between the two. So he grabbed a pencil and drew a steep drop into the station

Given that Zeus and Cyclops also have a drop into the station, it may be deliberate.

 

[Ian]

By Zeus I assume you mean TdZ? If so, the drop on that is nothing compared to this. That just uses a bit of a slope, and has a long breakrun prior to it. This just seems poorly designed. Especially if it means they can't use multiple trains!

 

[Nick]

No, the Zeus at Mt. Olympus. It looks even larger than the one on Hades. Cyclops as well has quite a significant curved drop into the station.

 

[Mattmash]

I wonder if Mt Olympus's fanbase have the same discussion about Hades' tunnel that we have about Air's.

Haha! Although it is usually pitch black in the tunnels, they just turned on the lights for TPR's ERT I believe.

Not quite sure what to make of all this, Hades has been one of my most wanted woodies for a while and looked pretty great as it is. Saying that, I've heard widespread reports of how rough it has gotten in the last couple of years, so hopefully some retracking and the addition of Timberliners will sort all of that out. Will hold judgement on the inversion for now I think!

 

[BigAl]

By Zeus I assume you mean TdZ? If so, the drop on that is nothing compared to this. That just uses a bit of a slope, and has a long breakrun prior to it. This just seems poorly designed. Especially if it means they can't use multiple trains!

No, the Zeus at Mt. Olympus. It looks even larger than the one on Hades. Cyclops as well has quite a significant curved drop into the station.

This is the one that Nick is on about:

Zeus Wooden Roller Coaster Front Seat POV Mt. Olympus Theme Park Wisconsin Dells

Honestly, that drop into the station is nothing to worry about. What concerns me more is how rough the thing looks!


Cyclops has a curving drop into the station which gives the ride quite a lot of speed too:

Cyclops Wooden Roller Coaster Front Seat POV Mt. Olympus Theme Park Wisconsin Dells


Pegasus, the smallest woodie, is the only one of the four woodies there with a normal brake run, but they don't really slow the train enough and the station brakes have to do some of the work too:

Pegasus Wooden Roller Coaster Front Seat POV Mt. Olympus Wisconsin Dells



If Gravity Group have offered to do this alteration on Hades for free, I can't say that if I was in charge that I'd turn it down. Especially if it 1) improves that section so that it's smoother, 2) means that the anti-rollback mechanism can be removed and 3) they can market the ride as new (similar to what Chessie did with Vampire?) with a world first feature. After all, it's going to be the only true wooden coaster to invert riders on the planet. The new trains should really improve the whole ride too.

I wonder if this will catch on and other parks will order wooden coasters with inversions in the next few years? I would like to think so, but then again, a lot of people complain about wooden coasters, so maybe most parks will be too afraid to go for them?

 

[Sam]

Construction photos from Mt. Olympus Facebook!

Starting with the oldest first...

Such a weird park...

 

[BigAl]

Screamscape have new photos of the modifications being done to Hades:

2013 - Hades 360 - (3/27/13) A reader was kind enough to send in some new construction pictures of Hades 360º shot just the other day.
Be sure to check out that first picture of the big promotional banner. Someone want to tell Mt. Olympus that they need to take that banner down now?
Hades 360º is NOT the world’s first upside-down wooden coaster. In modern history that credit would go to Son of Beast, but as for currently operating coasters… Outlaw Run is already open. Anyway… they also reported that Pegasus is getting a little re-tracking done as well.

 

[BigAl]

TPR have some new photos of the modifications taking place on Hades here.