• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

PortAventura: General Discussion

I know for Shambhala they reckon there’s a risk of valleying with an empty train.

I don’t know what they do at the start of the day.

I did see them cycle an empty train once, when they were putting the 3rd train on. However with that 3rd train, they moved it into the station, did numerous tests of the restraints locking/unlocking but unusually didn’t sent it around empty and just let people (including me) on. Perfectly fine though.

At the very end of the night you also may also be asked to exit from the switch track before the station, again so they don’t have to send the train empty (and you sort of get an evac cred).
 
Can confirm the above, last time I was there we were very surprised to be asked to get out behind the station after riding Shambhala's last train of the night, especially considering there was no catwalk on the right side of the train resulting in a potential fall risk.

Even BPB sometimes send PMBO empty (and unsandbagged) after running all day
 
John said:
Can confirm the above, last time I was there we were very surprised to be asked to get out behind the station after riding Shambhala's last train of the night, especially considering there was no catwalk on the right side of the train resulting in a potential fall risk.

Even BPB sometimes send PMBO empty (and unsandbagged) after running all day
Click to expand...
Does that count as an evac cred?
 
I can confirm that I did eventually see empty test trains for Red Force, as they sent quite a few prior to opening it! I also, rather interestingly, saw them pull the train slowly all the way along the launch track and then slowly pull it back again. I’ve never seen that before:
IMG_1256.jpeg
It eventually started running at 6:30pm, 1.5 hours after park opening. The full trip report will be coming later, but I managed to get one ride on Red Force, and my impression based on that one ride is that it’s an absolutely fantastic coaster, but that I perhaps controversially prefer Stealth.
 
Sorry to double post, but does anyone know why Shambhala and Dragon Khan can seemingly only run in windy weather if they take off a train and run on 1?

It’s a little windy here today, and Shambhala couldn’t open until they took off a train. Dragon Khan also opened late and appears to only be running one train, and both rides are running announcements about “running on reduced capacity due to adverse meteorological conditions”.

Is it something akin to The Big One, where there are fast and slow trains?
 
Surely if that were the reason you could just hold the 2nd train in the station until the 1st reaches the brakes. In my experience of Shambhala ops that would make precisely zero difference to normal throughput
 
John said:
Surely if that were the reason you could just hold the 2nd train in the station until the 1st reaches the brakes. In my experience of Shambhala ops that would make precisely zero difference to normal throughput
Click to expand...

It would make a difference.

They usually stack 2 trains behind the station, not just 1
 
They actually only ran 2 trains in normal conditions when I was there, and there were times where the train was not stacking outside at all (albeit a small degree of waiting outside was probably more common than not).

By my reckoning, it usually tended to do about 800pph on 2 when I was timing. I’m not sure how that compares to normally, but given some of the diatribes I’ve heard about PortAventura over the years, that was not nearly as bad as I was expecting.
 
Just rode Shambhala… New no.1 no doubt about it. I’ve rode many “full package” coasters over the years but nothing has come close to how it made me feel! I came off with literal tears in my eyes as it’s been a bucket list coaster for me for YEARS.

It’s the perfect mixture of masses of floater but also incredibly intensity pulling out of the first drop and the last part of the “ampersand”

As for operations… I’d love to say terrible but 2 train operation and only witnessed 3 occasions of stacking. Train out of the station 95% of the time as the train before approaches the brake run.

Not impeccable but not bad either.

Yet to ride red force as the wait for it is atrocious and the mrs will only go on it if she doesn’t have to think about a 367ft monster for any longer than 20 minutes 🤣
 
RustyRider said:
Yet to ride red force as the wait for it is atrocious and the mrs will only go on it if she doesn’t have to think about a 367ft monster for any longer than 20 minutes 🤣
Click to expand...
If you don't mind not sitting together to could use single rider if the recent work on it has finished?
 
The recent work on the Red Force SRQ also wasn’t yet finished when I was there last week, for what it’s worth.
 
RustyRider said:
Thanks mate, 1 fast track and 1 main queue ride later, both front row, both at night and one of those being in the driving rain. I can safely say, red force? Completed it mate. IMG_3892.jpegIMG_3894.jpeg
Click to expand...
Those pictures seem to be of much better quality than the ORPs at Thorpe and Towers. Is this consistent around PortAventura, or is this increase in image quality due to Red Force only opening in 2017?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top