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Skyride General Discussion

With heatwaves becoming more common, it would be nice for them to fit aircon to the gondolas. I seem to remember @Islander talking about ultra capacitors a few years ago, which work in London on their cable cars.

Although, I wonder how the Emirates cable car deals with issues, even with the aircon. Because those capacitors have a finite power, once it goes, the aircon stops until a recharge. So if the system did have a major fault or lockup where it could not be restarted for a long time, you would have people stuck high above the Thames in scorching heat on hot days. I wonder what their backup plan is to deal with such a situation, as the height difficulties are similar to Alton Towers. They must have a backup plan incase the cable stops and cannot be restarted, it would also be a ticking time bomb on a hot day and just as difficult to evacuate due to the height.
 
DistortAMG said:
With heatwaves becoming more common, it would be nice for them to fit aircon to the gondolas. I seem to remember @Islander talking about ultra capacitors a few years ago, which work in London on their cable cars.

Although, I wonder how the Emirates cable car deals with issues, even with the aircon. Because those capacitors have a finite power, once it goes, the aircon stops until a recharge. So if the system did have a major fault or lockup where it could not be restarted for a long time, you would have people stuck high above the Thames in scorching heat on hot days. I wonder what their backup plan is to deal with such a situation, as the height difficulties are similar to Alton Towers. They must have a backup plan incase the cable stops and cannot be restarted, it would also be a ticking time bomb on a hot day and just as difficult to evacuate due to the height.
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I don't think there is much chance, as there would be a lot of modification required to the cars or new cars (Emirates uses a different car design) it would also require extensive modifications to the station and connections of the cars to add the electrical connection.

even if added it wouldn't do much, as the capacitors / batteries would probably die within like 10/20 mins, not enough if you were stuck over the valley for a rescue

after looking at the Emirates cable car, it appears as though they have stickers over some of the window, and in some images it kind of looks like they have that heat reflecting tint applied to the other windows, I would think this could be the best solution, by limiting the amount of heat entering the cabin.
 
flyingguitar said:
I don't think there is much chance, as there would be a lot of modification required to the cars or new cars (Emirates uses a different car design) it would also require extensive modifications to the station and connections of the cars to add the electrical connection.

even if added it wouldn't do much, as the capacitors / batteries would probably die within like 10/20 mins, not enough if you were stuck over the valley for a rescue

after looking at the Emirates cable car, it appears as though they have stickers over some of the window, and in some images it kind of looks like they have that heat reflecting tint applied to the other windows, I would think this could be the best solution, by limiting the amount of heat entering the cabin.
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Oh yeah there is absolutely no chance of it happening. It would however be nice.

They should apply some heat reflecting tint though, relatively cheap, but also makes the gondolas more bearable on days when it is operating near the limit.
 
flyingguitar said:
after looking at the Emirates cable car, it appears as though they have stickers over some of the window, and in some images it kind of looks like they have that heat reflecting tint applied to the other windows, I would think this could be the best solution, by limiting the amount of heat entering the cabin.
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I think we all know the logical solution...

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When visiting the other week (23rd I believe) the Skyride kept stopping and starting almost constantly. Now I know the ride usually stops and starts to let disabled guests on and off, but this was stopping again and again. A single gondola was not making it through the central station without at least 2 stops. The attraction seemed to be operating like this all day. You could guarantee any go on the Skyride would result in multiple stops. You would get one or two stop if you was very lucky on a single journey on the attraction.

Surely there cannot be that many people using the attraction that cannot get on and off when it is moving slowly through a station? Surely? This was excessive to the point even station staff were commenting they have not seen it this bad before. I thought it was possibly RAP users, but surely we have not got to the point where literally every other gondola requires the whole systems to stop, constantly and all day. Genetics have not changed all that much in the last few decades and they never used to stop the ride like this, people managed fine and it was just as busy then, so surely that cannot be the reason? I am not nocking anything if it is, I am just genuinely curious.

It clearly was not a technical issue either as the attraction remained open as usual.

On a technical level, those constant starts and stops will put extra strain on the mechanicals of the whole system in the form of fatigue, which over time, would require extra maintenance and work to keep it tip top. Starting and stopping so many hundreds of tonnes of cable, fly and bull wheels constantly, puts strain on the whole system, it is natural physics, you can't escape that fact. Doing it hundreds of times a day, will no doubt mean the fatigue and strain will manifest much quicker.
 
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I was there on 23rd and noticed how Skyride seemed to constantly be stopping throughout the day. We did ride it later in the day, and it happened a few times while we were queuing. When we got near the front we could see why, and the host explained it to us as well... people were breaking into the emergency boxes under the seats. The staff then had to replenish the missing supplies (bottles of water) and reseal the box, which required stopping the ride. We saw this happen about four times while we were within the Towers Street indoor queue.

I find it hard to believe so many people were breaking into them, but that's what was happening. Perhaps they need something with more of a deterrent (break glass style) rather than just a plastic tag.
 
Alsty said:
I was there on 23rd and noticed how Skyride seemed to constantly be stopping throughout the day. We did ride it later in the day, and it happened a few times while we were queuing. When we got near the front we could see why, and the host explained it to us as well... people were breaking into the emergency boxes under the seats. The staff then had to replenish the missing supplies (bottles of water) and reseal the box, which required stopping the ride. We saw this happen about four times while we were within the Towers Street indoor queue.

I find it hard to believe so many people were breaking into them, but that's what was happening. Perhaps they need something with more of a deterrent (break glass style) rather than just a plastic tag.
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And this ladies and gentleman is why RAP doesn't work and we can't have nice things.
 
Bowser said:
A lot of the public are awful and will take advantage of anything they can.
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The oversubscription of the RAP system at Merlin parks is a totally separate issue. The number of people actually abusing the system (i.e. using it without a qualifying disability) is very low. The issue is that the scheme has been developed in such a way that far more people are eligible than there is capacity for. People generally being [censored] on the Skyride has nothing to do with it at all.
 
NuttySquirrel said:
The oversubscription of the RAP system at Merlin parks is a totally separate issue. The number of people actually abusing the system (i.e. using it without a qualifying disability) is very low. The issue is that the scheme has been developed in such a way that far more people are eligible than there is capacity for. People generally being [censored] on the Skyride has nothing to do with it at all.
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I would argue it is similar though, with RAP it is hard to determine between someone with x thing that is capable of queueing in the 60 + min queues and those who can't so people take advantage, a system not meant for them bit they will use it for a "free fastpass".

Stopping so often dose sound obsurd however if they are only topping them up at Towers stret it us having to go through up to 4 sets of guests, I would assume tic tok trends has pushed this dose seem stupid when there are multiple bottle stations arround the park
 
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