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Thirteen: General Discussion

Rick said:
Right ... that's the root of my point.

They don't have a culture of part storage, a lot of good reasons for that historically - especially if you could overnight most things, but that's not feasible anymore.

Furthermore, if you shift your criteria from third party to OEM parts only, the lead time will be longer.

And not to labour the point, but if you want to extend your season, you have to adjust the maintenance cycle for it not just have the "but supply chains" excuse.

You're essentially arguing my case :)
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I wasn’t particularly making any point on the rights and wrongs of the situation, just that the cause of the issue was potentially those supply chains. To be fair to Towers they didn’t start to have any major issues until the latter half of 2021. If you are not a company that traditionally had to navigate more complex import rules I can see that things could get out of hand quickly and storage is expensive.

I agree on the maintenance schedules, I suspect Merlin demand something works before they sign off on major budget changes, so the parks likely have to take some of this on risk.

I am far away from being Merlins biggest fan.
 
Why doesn't Thirteen just allow bags to be taken onto the ride? Can't see any reason for the bag hold. Disney operate almost all rides that way, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror etc all don't have any baggage storage you just put it under your feet. As Thirteen is a standard sit-down coaster that doesn't go over any guest areas I can't see why it can't be the same.
 
jon81uk said:
Why doesn't Thirteen just allow bags to be taken onto the ride? Can't see any reason for the bag hold. Disney operate almost all rides that way, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror etc all don't have any baggage storage you just put it under your feet. As Thirteen is a standard sit-down coaster that doesn't go over any guest areas I can't see why it can't be the same.
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Good idea, but are the footwells big enough for the average rucksack though? I'm not convinced.
 
jon81uk said:
Why doesn't Thirteen just allow bags to be taken onto the ride? Can't see any reason for the bag hold. Disney operate almost all rides that way, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror etc all don't have any baggage storage you just put it under your feet. As Thirteen is a standard sit-down coaster that doesn't go over any guest areas I can't see why it can't be the same.
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I'd imagine it's not allowed for evacuation purposes. Imagine being evac'd from the top of the lift hill and you trip over your bag as you climb out of your seat; remember there is a sheer drop on the right of the train on that lift hill! I know you'd be harnessed before you stood up but even so!
 
Steve74 said:
I'd imagine it's not allowed for evacuation purposes. Imagine being evac'd from the top of the lift hill and you trip over your bag as you climb out of your seat; remember there is a sheer drop on the right of the train on that lift hill! I know you'd be harnessed before you stood up but even so!
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That's a really good point actually. Wouldn't surprise me if that is the reason, and it would make sense. 🙂
 
Steve74 said:
I'd imagine it's not allowed for evacuation purposes. Imagine being evac'd from the top of the lift hill and you trip over your bag as you climb out of your seat; remember there is a sheer drop on the right of the train on that lift hill! I know you'd be harnessed before you stood up but even so!
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Yeah I suppose Disney has steps on both sides of the Space Mountain lift hill, but the block brakes are open on one side I think. But I don't think that is going to be the main issue really, the risk of someone attempting to get off and going the wrong way is there no matter what.
Its just always struck me that Disney will not allow belongings to be left on the platform but most Merlin parks are the opposite.
Universal of course won't allow anything on many rides, but that is due to the loose objects falling or being thrown towards guests. Disney rides don't go over guest areas.
 
Merlins bag/loose item policy goes back to Thorpe days and the X incident, since then the rides adopted the no bags incident I believe to prevent a repeat.
 
I imagine if the ride was abroad at other parks they probably would allow bags on it. But merlin/towers would never allow it on a ride like 13. Strangely you are now allowed bags on the dragon at LEGOLAND. So would make sense to allow bags on the likes of RMT/octonauts.
 
Ethan said:
What a stupid rule that is. A terrible design flaw to have. Gives you no advantage it being quiet for Th13teen
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Surely it's much better to wait for a minimum number of riders and have it complete the circuit than send the train with less than that and risk it stalling? ;)
 
Skyscraper said:
Surely it's much better to wait for a minimum number of riders and have it complete the circuit than send the train with less than that and risk it stalling? ;)
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It's better to have a ride that isn't tarred with ever-changing operational envelopes, end of.

Bit of rain? Oh no. Bit of cold? Oh no. It's getting dark? Oh no. Not enough guests to cycle? Oh no. Glasses? Oh no. (Admittedly the latter one was an over-zealous farce by unaware staff members, but it remained an inconvenience for far too long).

Thirteen has become an absolute joke compared to when it first opened, and even then it was still a considerable joke from a marketing perspective.
 
AFAIK, Thirteen has always had the minimum rider restriction. I remember once the station staff had to shuffle people around after boarding as 1 group of 3 from main queue and another from RAP left them with too few passengers when someone got walk of shame'd
 
Danny said:
It's better to have a ride that isn't tarred with ever-changing operational envelopes, end of.

Bit of rain? Oh no. Bit of cold? Oh no. It's getting dark? Oh no. Not enough guests to cycle? Oh no. Glasses? Oh no. (Admittedly the latter one was an over-zealous farce by unaware staff members, but it remained an inconvenience for far too long).

Thirteen has become an absolute joke compared to when it first opened, and even then it was still a considerable joke from a marketing perspective.
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13 is definitely the biggest diva of all the coasters at towers. It goes down all the time! U r lucky if u get a ride at all now days.
 
Tommy85 said:
13 is definitely the biggest diva of all the coasters at towers. It goes down all the time! U r lucky if u get a ride at all now days.
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Tbf it's had a pretty good start to this season.
Edit: Just had a look at uptime over the past week and ironically smiler is one of the highest.
 
John said:
AFAIK, Thirteen has always had the minimum rider restriction. I remember once the station staff had to shuffle people around after boarding as 1 group of 3 from main queue and another from RAP left them with too few passengers when someone got walk of shame'd
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It’s not always had the rule. The trim brake was added later as it was going to fast when it came to the second lift hill. Then it needs minimum amount of weight as otherwise it’s going too slow after the trim brake.
Definitely a poorly designed coaster to need the trim brake at all.
 
The problem is the trims either have to be off (empty train) or on (almost full train), if you had the trims off with people on the train you’ve got the risk they will go to fast and it will estop the ride. Or you have the other way if you had the trims on but the train wasn’t full then there is a possibility it will stall in the woods.

In an ideal world it would have trims like the smiler has, so they can change depending on heavy the train is. That way they can just send it with any number of guests on it.
 
djtruefitt said:
The problem is the trims either have to be off (empty train) or on (almost full train), if you had the trims off with people on the train you’ve got the risk they will go to fast and it will estop the ride. Or you have the other way if you had the trims on but the train wasn’t full then there is a possibility it will stall in the woods.

In an ideal world it would have trims like the smiler has, so they can change depending on heavy the train is. That way they can just send it with any number of guests on it.
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They could have quite easily incorporated a weighing mechanism into the structure of the track in the station, that takes a snapshot of the gross weight of the train before departure. Compare that data against the train's tare weight and a few live variables (such as temperature and wind) to determine how much retard power to put onto the trim. They certainly have the capability, their hydraulic launch coasters have used a similar system since the early 2000's. Used to determine how much force to apply to the launch. So it does suggest these were unforeseen problems that were realised after the ride was finished, when it was too late.

But unlike Intamin's hydraulic models, this system is not a fundamental part that is essential for the operation of the ride. It can be worked around, rather crudely, but the solution does work (sort of).
 
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