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Staff training is on going at the moment so an opening this weekend may bein the cards. Interestingly at least a few rafts have been removed and are sitting behind the ride.
 

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Apologies if this was already discussed, but those appear to be nine-seater rafts? Three entrances to the boat, with three rows of three seats each.

That's 3 more riders per raft than before, which is great news for capacity.

Examples here- https://www.intamin.com/product/rapids-ride/
That is what it appears to me as well. From Apollo you can see that some of the rapid bumps have been either replaced or removed I wonder if it's possible that these rafts are heavier and maybe that us where the issue is.
 
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Many of the dummies are still on the ride I would guess it's possible but not likely that the ride would open this weekend.
 

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I asked a supervisor looking employee Saturday and he said it'd be a while still. That's pretty open to interpretation and they may just not be allowed/ feel comfortable saying anything. I was mostly checking if it would be open that day for my son.
 
Sounds like to me the delay for opening RR (which is now approaching two weeks from initial expectations) is likely ride related vs. team member training. Especially, if dummies are still on the rafts. It could also be the new rafts causing the issue.

The ride sat in SBNO status for a very long time (Labor Day 2019- May 2022). Have to imagine they have hit some snags with maintenance and the new rafts.

But this delay is still disappointing given that the park had MORE than enough time to work all this out long before now which is a similar story to another nearby attraction (*cough* Pantheon)

Although unlikely, what I do worry about is if this delay gets further into the summer that the park says it’s not worth it to get it running only until closing again after Labor Day. This attraction is on the higher end of operational costs than others given the amount of headcount it takes to operate and higher energy usage to move an incredible amount of water for many hours of the day. I’d I recall, Rapids has 4 massive pumps under the lift hill but only run 3 at a time. Hopefully it’s not a problem with one of those pump motors.
 
Sounds like to me the delay for opening RR (which is now approaching two weeks from initial expectations) is likely ride related vs. team member training. Especially, if dummies are still on the rafts. It could also be the new rafts causing the issue.

The ride sat in SBNO status for a very long time (Labor Day 2019- May 2022). Have to imagine they have hit some snags with maintenance and the new rafts.

But this delay is still disappointing given that the park had MORE than enough time to work all this out long before now which is a similar story to another nearby attraction (*cough* Pantheon)

Although unlikely, what I do worry about is if this delay gets further into the summer that the park says it’s not worth it to get it running only until closing again after Labor Day. This attraction is on the higher end of operational costs than others given the amount of headcount it takes to operate and higher energy usage to move an incredible amount of water for many hours of the day. I’d I recall, Rapids has 4 massive pumps under the lift hill but only run 3 at a time. Hopefully it’s not a problem with one of those pump motors.
From what I am hearing the ride structure itself is pretty much ready to go but there are complications with the new rafts that were not anticipated #Intamin BGW has already invested in the prep work on the ride and hiring and mostly training a team I find it very unlikely that they won't push ahead with opening it as soon as they feel they can do so.
 
Wouldn't increasing the number of seats from 6 to 9 significantly increase the diameter of the raft, which in turn would limit how much the raft can move around in the river?

Did they have to modify the loading area?

I would expect a significantly different ride experience.
 
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Wouldn't increasing the number of seats from 6 to 9 significantly increase the diameter of the raft, which in turn would limit how much the raft can move around in the river?

Did they have to modify the loading area?

I would expect a significantly different ride experience.
Depends. Maybe they made the entry and exit points smaller or went down to one.
 
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Wouldn't increasing the number of seats from 6 to 9 significantly increase the diameter of the raft, which in turn would limit how much the raft can move around in the river?

Did they have to modify the loading area?

I would expect a significantly different ride experience.
I know they modified the bumps that create the Rapids as that was visible from Apollo.
 
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The biggest difference between the rafts would be weight not size. The old rafts left plant of room to add seats if you have the same size. The original rafts were 3 groups of 2 with an entry/exit point between each group. If you simply make the seat portion a tad wider and took out one or two of those entry/exit points, you will have room for 3 more seats.
 
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There appeared to be dummies on just about ever raft tonight I think opening this weekend is very unlikely.
 
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Still hasn't opened they were testing again today with no staff on the platform so not training. curiously some of the rafts appeared to have dummies loaded I'm different seating arrangements including one with only one side loaded. I have heard of possible concerns about the stability of the new rafts that might support those rumors.
 
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