Flight of Fear

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In my view any indoor ride needs to have a virtual queue in place before considering re-opening. 30-60 mins is the exposure time that I've read can cause infection just breathing in virus particles, so any indoor ride that can generate a line has to be moved outside.
 
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I believe it's due to Cedar Fair's indoor rides policy. Since the majority of FoF's queue is indoors along with other access pathways they probably feel it is safer to just keep the ride closed.

Staffing probably isn't going to be helping things, but relocating the 7 staff minimum needed to run the ride is easier than trying to open the ride.
 
The problem with Flight of Fear even if they have a virtual queue is that the operators are not there virtually. They are indoors in an enclosed space, with iffy ventilation for an extended period of time, with a stream of guest flowing through the entire time. I don't think it's safe for them. If I worked there I'd sure be wary of being on it.
 
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Crunchewy said:
The problem with Flight of Fear even if they have a virtual queue is that the operators are not there virtually. They are indoors in an enclosed space, with iffy ventilation for an extended period of time, with a stream of guest flowing through the entire time. I don't think it's safe for them. If I worked there I'd sure be wary of being on it.
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I've always wondered why FoF does not run the fans inside the hanger queue. Do they not work? For as long as I have known, they have been off. The outdoor queue fans run. But the indoor queue fans don't.

As for the queue; I have an idea. What if they do it in reverse. Put a temporary queue outside and have it all lead to the exit. That way, the majority of people aren't inside. The line would stop; right before you get to the old photo booth counter. Once everyone inside the station finishes up; they allow more people in.
 
As pure speculation with zero insight into how the decision to close Flight of Fear for the season was made, my guess would be that it’s a combination of staffing and the ride being indoors. Yes, they could modify the queue, the boarding process, and building to make it safer during the crisis. But with staffing already presumably being an issue, it’s probably not worth the effort and headache to make all those changes. If they’re going to have close rides anyway, the indoor ride that would require a bunch of changes sounds like an easy place to start.
 
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Staffing issues? Have most of the employees on record found other jobs? If so; the park is in big trouble. If the park does manage to open in August, I can't imagine that most of the rides will be open; if they are having staffing issues.
 
MikeLovesKD said:
Staffing issues? Have most of the employees on record found other jobs? If so; the park is in big trouble. If the park does manage to open in August, I can't imagine that most of the rides will be open; if they are having staffing issues.
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From what’s been reported, there are no international employees at any of the Cedar Fair parks that have opened so far. Based on this, it would be surprising to see things be any different at KD. I would guess that the lack of the international employees is a major reason for staffing issues, although that’s just my guess.
 
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MikeLovesKD said:
I know Cedar Fair generally doesn't invest in indoor coasters; but has anyone ever thought that KD's Flight of Fear could be converted into a much scarier indoor experience? Now that Volcano is gone, there is a lot of space for an expansion. It would cost some money, but they could expand the building into Volcano's space. So what does that do for the existing FoF building that has already been there? There are a number of options to consider when designing a ride on this level. Consider the fact that Volcano's old station spot, could in fact become the loading area to a new ride. Similar to Volcano, our ride leaves the station, turns the corner and is launched down a dark oblivion. All the space behind Volcano would be apart of this crazy indoor course. FoF's existing spaghetti bowl could possibly become the ending section of this ride. As usual it would be taken down to make space for new ride elements. FoF's current station

Though this would be coo; I doubt Cedar Fair would embrace this challenge. It does cost a lot of money and would require a lot of engineering. Cedar Fair will probably just stick to what they do best and that's creating fun outdoor rides.
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I like the idea but the chances of that happening are less than the chances of Kanye West being our next president
 
Has anyone received any new news on Flight of Fear's track work? Has the park been working on it during the current pandemic or have they halted maintenance? Just trying to get a good outlook on it operating for 2021?
 
The ride is in the dark? Just rub some salt in that wound. And great news! The wonderful world of launched spikes is coming your way soon! Thank goodness they got rid of those OTSRs, at least.
 
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Right. I mean, what's the point of putting in a building at all? Maybe to hide the poor shape it's in? Oh wait, they turned on the lights. So you can see that, too.
I give up. ?
 
BGW Family said:
Right. I mean, what's the point of putting in a building at all? Maybe to hide the poor shape it's in? Oh wait, they turned on the lights. So you can see that, too.
I give up. ?
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To be fair, this was Premiere Rides second rollercoaster and first LIM powered one, as far as I know; and it is still operational 24 years later. I am glad that we got this instead of their next LIM attempt; Batman & Robin: The Chiller; while extremely cool looking; The Chiller was an absolute nightmare of engineering failure and inadequate power system.

Having said all of that, I do agree that they are doing a disservice by not darkening the building for this ride, seems like it would not be too difficult to pull that off; is there a technical reason for not blacking out the atmosphere for the ride? Also, does the sister clone at Kings Island suffer the same problems or has Cedar Fair invested more/less into that version of the ride?
 
BGW Family said:
Right. I mean, what's the point of putting in a building at all? Maybe to hide the poor shape it's in? Oh wait, they turned on the lights. So you can see that, too.
I give up. ?
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I can see just well enough -- sometimes -- in there to barely tell it's in a lot better shape than JJinx. Although I am appreciating JJ's new paint, still prefer the FoF experience.
 
futureshock said:
To be fair, this was Premiere Rides second rollercoaster and first LIM powered one, as far as I know; and it is still operational 24 years later. I am glad that we got this instead of their next LIM attempt; Batman & Robin: The Chiller; while extremely cool looking; The Chiller was an absolute nightmare of engineering failure and inadequate power system.

Having said all of that, I do agree that they are doing a disservice by not darkening the building for this ride, seems like it would not be too difficult to pull that off; is there a technical reason for not blacking out the atmosphere for the ride? Also, does the sister clone at Kings Island suffer the same problems or has Cedar Fair invested more/less into that version of the ride?
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The reason for the neon floor lights have never been confirmed. Some of us are going on what park sources tell us; but I have always had my own beliefs. The neon floor lights have been there since the old Paramount's days when the ride was first installed. I guess it was put there to give the ride some outer space appeal, so that it didn't seem so bland.

As for the neon floor lights, they are programmed with the operation of the park. I have rode it enough times to know when they turn on and shut off. They generally shut off at about 10:26 or a little after 10:30pm. Sometimes if your lucky, there may still be some people in line after 10:25pm and the lights will shut off. This has also been mentioned before, by myself because I and witnessed this. Back in summer of 2009, Flight of Fear operated in complete darkness due to the park laying down the electrical lines for Intimidator. For some odd reason it had something to do with the electrical line that FoF's neon floor lights are connected to. Many people loved this experience.

The only way I could see us getting pitch black rides is if the park decided to scrap FoF's maze during HAUNT. If they kept the neon floor lights on the same timer that I remember, the lights would shut off at around 10:25pm/10:30pm, and riders would get to ride clean up until midnight.
 
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