I think it was a few individual sections of rail. Not insignificant, but definitely far closer to routine maintenance than a Nessie-style makeover. It’s almost like how pieces of wood are replaced on a wooden coaster every off season or so.
Anaconda
- Thread starter I305Evan
- Start date
The thing is it's still a high degree of effort needed to shape a tube into the exact alignment needed to be coaster rail to replace another, unlike wood which is relatively easier to work with (not saying it's easy, just easier to shape to purpose from raw materials).
Maybe it is more common than is generally known - how often do coaster track/rail/supports generally get replaced in their lifetime without either a full refurb or an emergency situation?
New trains with vest restraints (like on Blue Hawk) would eliminate head-banging for sure. But I don't think it would eliminate the ride's roughness. I thought it was the track that made coasters smooth or rough, not the trains. I myself haven't gotten any headbanging on Anaconda because I'm tall, so my head is above the restraint. But there is discomfort when the restraint clamps and rattles against my shoulders. Besides, if Anaconda were to get those new trains, would it have happened by now?
Part of the roughness also comes from arrows chassis design. With newer coasters, the chassis are very snug against the track, with very little room between the guide, upstop, and road wheels and the track. I think it’s like maybe a centimeter gap at most. The road wheels are also concave to fit the round nature of the track. Arrows on the other hand, allowed for a gap between the guide and upstop wheels and the track. In addition, the road wheels are flat when they’re new. The new wheels on an arrow track run a lot smoother. So theoretically if anaconda were to receive an entirely new set of wheels for each train, it would run smoother, as the gap between the wheels and track would be smaller. The more the trains run, the more of a gap that occurs, which causes a rougher ride. Obviously the ride has crappy transitions, which will be rough, but for other portions, the ride would run pretty damn smooth. Also worth noting that Anaconda does not feature a dedicated maintenance bay like other arrows, it is merely a track off to the side in the elements.
Really overrhated ride. Rode once near the front and another time in the second row from the back and both rides were almost free of headbanging. I get worst headbanging on Alpengeist sometimes. This was my friend's first roller coaster (other than Woodstock) and I was worried Anaconda wouldn't be a good first big coaster for them but they ended up really enjoying it. Our friends in the row in front of us did say they got some headbanging though.
It's an Arrow, so jankiness is in it's DNA - that it's all exposed should make it easier to brace for the awkward transitions as they come.
I don't doubt it. I like the slow corkscrew at the end, but the rest is me trying to brace for impact and failing.
The Dollywood butterfly. Figure-8 is what I thought it was until someone mentioned it was designed this way for Dollywood but then they dropped and KD picked it up... But because it's Arrow and there was a small time window to go from plans to opening the ride, they simply built as planned instead of editing anything in the layout.
I mean sure that section was a bit boring and uncomfortable but it wasn't anything horrible. Nice views over the lake. but hey maybe I'm just being too optimistic
Direct Link to Embedded Media Source
For those who want the link to the post. There is no caption, just the claw/bite mark/tear of the picture. Intriguing to say the least.
Repost from the Wing thread... This is one photo in an Instagram grid mosaic on the official IG account. The claw graphic extends to a pic of the Jungle X map that was posted 2 days ago.
Hopefully the “tear” means they are tearing it down.
I don't want to lose another coaster. She's still got some life in her. It really just needs some new trans/harnesses. Not much can be done about that funky middle portion, but that alone isn't reason enough to remove it.
I'm proud I spent its last day working on the floor. Anaconda was my favorite ride to operate, and I'm sad to see it go so suddenly.
