Existing Roller Coaster Apollo's Chariot

[Connor]

I got six rides on Apollo during the Friday night session and it was hauling, despite most trains being sent with over half of the rows empty. The ride is running significantly better than it was during the first night of the event and the programming is slowly learning and improving, as many have stated the first trim barely grabs the train and the second one has been rare to engage from my own experience, as well. There is definitely a slight rattle towards the back of the train on wheel seats when it’s nearly empty, which is normal for B&M coasters. I was on the final ride of the night in the second to last row with only four other people on the train and outside of the turn around, the ride was still running incredibly smooth for its age. Apollo is easily in it’s best shape in years from this new programming and it’s extended period of siting dormant, it will likely only continue to get faster as the event continues into the first week of November.

 

[halfabee]

There is definitely a slight rattle towards the back of the train on wheel seats when it’s nearly empty, which is normal for B&M coasters.

Erm... which rows on an OG B&M hyper aren't wheel seats?

Do you mean the distinction between sitting in an "inboard" seat vs. "outboard" seat in any given row, so you're a couple of lateral feet away from the wheel assembly vs. directly atop it?

Perhaps there is enough damping through those couple of feet of steel vehicle structure to attenuate larger vibrations, since each seat is mounted on its own little vertical post instead of being tied together directly to its neighbor. The wheels' attachment to the train is via a wide bearing, which sits under the inboard seats less than the outboard seats... interesting to know that difference can palpably change the ride experience with respect to wheel vibrations...?

 

[Connor]

Do you mean the distinction between sitting in an "inboard" seat vs. "outboard" seat in any given row, so you're a couple of lateral feet away from the wheel assembly vs. directly atop it?

Yes, it’s less noticeable on hypers, but provides a world of difference on B&M inverts.

I could be wrong, as I’m solely basing this on how the ride feels in the middle two seats compared to the outer seats, and I’m in no way shape or form an engineer or someone who can actually provide evidence to support this claim outside of basing it on the ride experience. It just seems like when you’re more inline with the track on B&M coasters and not directly above or underneath a wheel, the rattle is less apparent.

 

[jlr2001]

I got four rides today 1 front row 1 back row and 2 on the second row and it was awesome!!!! Dare I say it got even better they had the soundtrack on going up the lift hill!!!! It could have been louder but it was still on. It was a fun time.

 

[Pretzel Kaiser]

Fuck COVID. It’s been so long since I’ve ridden Apollo that I can barely remember the cobra roll.

 

[Travis...]

View attachment 21609

Fuck COVID. It’s been so long since I’ve ridden Apollo that I can barely remember the cobra roll.

Ah yes, the good old fashioned Apollo’s Chariot Cobra Roll

 

[Mwe BGW]

Apollo Under construction

 

[CastleOSullivan]

One time I saw those construction photos and that night I had a nightmare where AC (or something very similar) was being demolished. I later realized that it was basically those images in reverse. 😆

 

[Mushroom]

From that picture of the lift hill being built, it's interesting to see how so many trees were preserved around the ride during construction. It's quite the contrast from today, where any tree remotely close to the work site is demolished.

 

[Mwe BGW]

In this video at 0:34 seconds you can hear the extended lift music, when did they stop this?

 

[William545]

Are there new lights on the lift hill? I just drove around the exit ramp and thought I saw lights going up the lift hill.

 

[Jonesta6]

Are there new lights on the lift hill? I just drove around the exit ramp and thought I saw lights going up the lift hill.

I believe there are maintainence lights on the lift, but are you thinking they added lights or changed colors?

 

[Travis...]

Are there new lights on the lift hill? I just drove around the exit ramp and thought I saw lights going up the lift hill.

Today?

 

[William545]

Today?

Yeah at around noon

 

[William545]

I believe there are maintainence lights on the lift, but are you thinking they added lights or changed colors?

Aren't the maintenance lights fixed onto the catwalk rails?

 

[Travis...]

Aren't the maintenance lights fixed onto the catwalk rails?

Yeah they are. I bet it was probably the way the sun was with them.

 

[The Quist]

I just realized 2020 Fabio looks like Colin Quinn... I blame the goose.

 

[Jonesta6]

I somehow get Mel Gibson with longer hair out of that

 

[matthewcsoup]

apollo having some issues already today

 

[Pompeiiboy]

Not surprising