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mrfantasmic
07-14-2001, 10:10 AM
Space Mountain has had its ups and downs! I just wish the soundtrack still worked!
Use this thread to post comments about Space Mountain.

beanpole
07-14-2001, 10:52 AM
I have a question about SM's ride operations.

Even on busy days (when the standby line is over an hour long), many of the trains are dispatched with a few rows of sets left unoccupied. It seems to be done on purpose, but I'm not sure.

Is this to keep the weight of the trains below the required maximum amount? Are the CMs eyeballing the load of each train and estimating the overall weight? If this is so, is there any way to change the dispatch rate to increase the distance between trains, thus allowing all seats to be occupied - and possibly increasing the ride's hourly capacity?

mrfantasmic
07-14-2001, 11:03 AM
I would assume that the reason for this is because the operators can't find groups small or big enough to fill the remaining rows. Then time runs out and the rocket must be sent out before the computer thinks "Potential Catastrophy" and halts the ride.
You know when all of the sudden an operator will yell, "GROUP OF TWO?!?"? If a group of two cannot be found, they send the rocket off.
Hope that satisfies something.
mrfantasmic.

mrfantasmic
07-14-2001, 12:54 PM
Someone commented on the change of colors on the space mountain roof. Personally, it looks cool colored.

disneyland_master
07-14-2001, 01:03 PM
Disneyland space mountain rockets need a certain amount of weight to clear the track, if they can't get the amount of weight needed they send the rocket off... the rocket is weighed at the second stop before the ride starts and if the weight is to low, the the rocket goes to the left instead of the right. Left to the backstage Area and the Right to the Ride. If you are sent to the left they let you into a rocket that has enough weight to clear the track and you ride the ride. (Thanks to Mouseplanet for the answer to this ?):cool:

I like the new mountains color!

mrfantasmic
07-14-2001, 05:39 PM
Cool! Have you ever gotten to experience this?

Napsto
07-15-2001, 12:35 PM
yea, it happened to me when i was with a BIG Group and they said there were too many "ADULTS" (fat people) onour rocket and then we went to the backstage area and it was like bright and there were lockers intehre, it wasintresting.

beanpole
07-15-2001, 10:32 PM
Thanks for your answers to my questions, everyone.

I gather that empty seats are attributed to two causes:

(1) the CM can't find enough sets of two people to fill all rows within the time limit for loading

(2) if the CM senses that the train might be overweight, he/she keeps some of the seats or rows empty.

I think the new color is okay, but sometimes the greens and rust colors give me the impression that the building is dirty. Also, the colored lights they shine on it at night don't glow as brilliantly as they did against the white color scheme.

Morrigoon
07-16-2001, 12:41 AM
You know that point you go to just after loading, when you're looking at the operator in the booth? They're weighing you. It's not about looking and estimating... they're ACTUALLY weighing you. The time I got sidetracked, I was with a (ahem) large group as well. We were not as fortunate as you, getting further backstage. They moved us just to the curtain and unloaded us right there.

The cool thing is if you can load your rocket just TO the weight point and not over it. You go super fast. I used to think they sped up the rides on grad nites (yes, I managed to wrangle tickets to more than one). The truth is, everything goes faster because everyone on them is of adult weight.

stan4d_steph
07-16-2001, 12:28 PM
I was at DL on Saturday and rode 4 times. 3 of 4 the sound didn't work. Is the little light on the back of the first car the indicator for a working speaker system? I thought I heard this and I noticed about half of the vehicles had lights out, but it seemed like more were out at the beginning of the day. The ride is so much better with the music. I wish they would fix it too.:(

stan4d_steph
07-16-2001, 01:20 PM
I thought of something else this weekend that I didn't include in my other post: for those into protesting, you could hold up a sign at the point where your picture is taken that says "Fix the speakers!" This might spoil the picture for others in the car though, I don't know. Besides, do any of the execs really see these? To be really annoying, I would do it over and over again.

;)

Anyone else have any good ideas?

Napsto
07-16-2001, 01:53 PM
funny

Ralph Wiggum
07-16-2001, 02:14 PM
Okay... I went last night and here's what happened with the sound. THe light was on on the back of the first car. We had a party of six in rows 2,3 and 4. My sister and her friend in row 2 had music for the whole ride, my mom and I in row 3 had it for about half the ride then we hit a bump and it cut out, and my brother and his friend in row 4 had no music at all. I thought that was kind of interesting.

One other thing that disturbed me was the condition of the hallway when you first enter the building. It has trash all on the ground, stuff on the ceiling and worst of all people have pealed the paint off the wall. In one section of dark redish paint i could see a big white section and a pile of red strips on the floor. The nerve of some guests. It just makes you sick.

Fun fact: While in the stand-by line, right before you pass where the fast pass line meets with the pee-on...ahem...stand-by line, take a penny out and place it on the flat part of the wall in between the metallic panels that petrude out. IT STICKS!!!! :eek: WOW!!!....okay...its not that big a deal.. but its a crowd pleaser. :)

P.S. I like the colors on the mountain at Disneyland, though, I like the looks of tomorrowland as a whole at WDW more.

mrfantasmic
07-16-2001, 05:20 PM
I'd say for every time the soundtrack doesn't work, we go to city hall and file a complaint. David Koenig Mentioned doing this in a letter to me and I think it might do something!;)

RedSquirrel
07-17-2001, 04:34 AM
I thought it might be because the queues might go down to quickly, and the cast would be left doing nothing. When I went, there wasnt a huge queue, so they just seemed to be filling half the rocket up..

blusilva
07-17-2001, 12:53 PM
Originally posted by Ralph Wiggum

Fun fact: While in the stand-by line, right before you pass where the fast pass line meets with the pee-on...ahem...stand-by line,

That's exactly the attitude that makes me hate the FastPass system.

The people in the standby line are perhaps holding a FastPass for another attraction and spending their wait time trying to fit another E Ticket ride into the limited time they have in the Park. Or perhaps they are from out of town and don't fully understand the fast pass system. Perhaps they can't read English.

Why on earth would you call them peons?

Ralph Wiggum
07-17-2001, 02:04 PM
blusilva- You misunderstood me....I agree with you. When i used the name Pee-on I was not making fun of people in stand-by, I actually use that name cause thats how i feel when i am in the stand-by line. I dont really like Fastpass...I actually learned the penny trick while waiting in that line.

Read another thread HERE (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1031) that is all about people's(and my) views on fastpass.

Hope I was a little clearer there. Sorry if i offended you!!:) :) :D

Lani
07-17-2001, 03:19 PM
Originally posted by Morrigoon
The time I got sidetracked, I was with a (ahem) large group as well. Woo, talk about a LITERAL 'sidetracking.'

I, too, have been sidetracked. We were in a group of six and all of us um.. shall we say we filled our seats?

On another occasion some years back, I ended up in the middle of the attraction when they had a shut-down. After sitting there for a few minutes in the dark, they turned on the lights. Then after several minutes, some CMs finally came and helped push us manually down the track. We rode with the lights on for the rest of the ride. Kind of interesting.

What was really neat was that it turned out that I was actually sitting in the second unit behind a unit that John Frost from LP was sitting in... the next day, we were both talking about getting stuck in Space Mountain, and as our facts kept jiving we finally figured out we must have been there at the same time. As it turns out, I had taken some shots with my digital camera from my seat, so I turned the little screen on in the back of the camera to see the photos, and sure enough, there was the back of his head in my picture! Talk about coincidences! That was definitely worth a good chuckle.

FantasmicFan82
07-17-2001, 06:52 PM
As for empty seats while busy, i've seen it done. one weekday afternoon this Spring they were not filling up every seat on Space then Big Thunder. While at Big Thunder I asked a CM "Why were there so many empty seats?" Her response was "We're short handed, we need another CM." after the ride i went almost straight to city all (after saying 'Hi' to Rod) and told the CM there what the CM at Thunder told me. Her response was "Well, if they are, they're not supposed to you that" "Oh, OK" "Do you work here?" why she asked me that, i'm not sure, never have too long of a commute from the SFV. Anyways, Chances are they ARE understaffed, and yes that little red light on the back first car on SM does let you know about the sound. :-)

Napsto
07-22-2001, 03:14 AM
the group of Adults that cannot ride together, the room tehy take you to is intresting.