I was told Verbolten had ice on the tracks they were trying to clear off. I would not recommend the event if your primary reason is thrills. But that said, this is a fantastic event for families that are bored with less options in the winter, especially if you're still worried about indoor places. And as I've said before, after the crowds and chaos of Christmastown this season it's a breath of fresh air. So much more enjoyable even with less to do. If they can add more and catch some breaks with weather it really becomes a local family highlight.
Winter Weekends 2022
- Thread starter Zachary
- Start date
Park was empty today. There wasn't much to do but honestly just seeing it in the snow was worth it.
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Definitely more people walking around than I expected to see today, but still not crowded by any stretch of the imagination. The skyride was a constant walk-on at all 3 stations which is pretty rare so I tried to take advantage of that. Weather was super comfortable despite it being in the high 30s - the sunshine and no wind were definitely appreciated. Quite a bit of snow left on the ground in some spots, but looked like a lot of it had melted away already.
Thermometer on your phone could be telling you the temp from miles away, because it all depends on where the closest weather station is that the app is looking at. Meanwhile the Thermometer the park is using is actually on the ride. When it comes to safety, I would much prefer the actual temperature where I am than what it is at the closest weather station.
It was always my favorite thing when guests would pull out their phone and try to convince me to open. We have weather stations at the highest point of each coaster. Park Ops has their own radar feed they use to monitor storms and call the rides to notify them of closures. But sure, since your phone says we should be open, we'll just defy our supervisors instructions, ignore all weather station alarms, and open anyways.
Same thing at golf courses. “Oh my weather app says _____”. Oh yea let’s trust your free app that’s using weather station that’s 10+ miles apart over our $100,000+ weather system that focuses on our 5 mile radius.
I'd like some way of knowing if it is a good time to visit and they don't give me much to go on, so weather forecasts and experience are about it, maybe an occasional report here. If ice was a likely issue, certainly they know more about it than I do -- although this last Sunday, if the temps had come through, that might have taken care of it. I opened my phone about 2:15 and the previous 40 updated to 39 and the predictions dropped, oh well. I'm not even that sure how much issue source correlation is, the forecasts were wrong enough.
As to safety though, didn't they recently up the limit on Verbolten to reduce maintenance? It's not a rigid limit. Apollo was running great in the low 40s on my previous visit also, like airtime I never noticed before. Tweaked?
Well it seems to run trimless on colder days so that definitely helps. I’ve been at toll plaza when it’s quiet and you can hear with the trims engage and I didn’t hear any of them engage.
They upped the limit but everything I have heard was that it was to bringing it up to the same limits as the B&Ms and have one cut off point for all coasters. I have never heard anything about it be maintenance related and can't see how it would make any significant difference.
Most modernly programmed rides have variable trims. Meaning the trim brakes will automatically engage/ disengage depending on how fast the train is going.
In general trains tend to go slower in cooler weather, so trims are not as necessary - I'd suspect the computer is attempting to prevent valleying by leaving them off for those cycles?
It will measure the speed before, during, and after the trims in order to gauge how much braking is needed
^^-- is the turnaround along the Rhine after trims?
The park is somewhat meager for thrills in the winter, including CT, but it's still satisfying enough, along with some other activity. They'd really have to step it up for me to be at all enthusiastic about the park without coasters (e.g. HoS), traveling from north of KD.
I don't know how much, but I can see some extra wear from it being too cold, but also heat could be bad. But if the limits result in running it less, then definitely it reduces wear! Of course less people will ride, but they already have many rides closed. I seem to remember a decent WW weekend by this time last year, but don't think coasters have run much this one. I submit that they have moved in the wrong direction.
The park is somewhat meager for thrills in the winter, including CT, but it's still satisfying enough, along with some other activity. They'd really have to step it up for me to be at all enthusiastic about the park without coasters (e.g. HoS), traveling from north of KD.
Anything the park does to support winter ops should be done with one target audience first and foremost: families. That's the majority of what I saw there. And hear it towards them for spending. Have special family meal options for this event. Bring up animal merchandise from the Florida parks to tie into the animal side of things. I still see tons of potential, especially with a few changes.