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View Full Version : Big Thunder Mountain RR Ride Control system has a new problem



Darkbeer
09-02-2004, 08:26 PM
First off, this "problem" is an enhanced safety feature, making the ride safe.

But the problem created is a capacity issue...

What is happening is when the ride is running only one side (slow days), trains are being sent to the unused side, causing a CM to have to move to the other side, unload the train, then go thru and place the lap bars down on each set of seats (all 18 of them), then the train is sent empty for a complete circuit.

What is causing this is a slow unload/load of the previous train, when the train gets to a certain point of the final length of track, and the previous train is still in the station, instead of stopping the train and having it wait for the previous train to be dispatched, and then enter the station, it gets sent to the normally unused side.

Once again, the problem this creates is the fact that trains are being sent out empty, since they are only loading on one side, creating a longer wait in line.

I saw this happen multiple times in about 1/2 hour on Wednesday.

Disney Vault
09-03-2004, 02:00 PM
Well it is a safety issue and i see nothing wrong with this. I would rather wait in line a little longer than have to trains run into eachother again.

HorizonsA
09-03-2004, 04:01 PM
Well it is a safety issue and i see nothing wrong with this. I would rather wait in line a little longer than have to trains run into eachother again.

Exactly. I'm glad Disney has enhanced the ride control system. No more accidents, no more long shut downs. I'm going to get to ride Thunder for the first time in a LONG time on Wednesday, so I don't care how long I have to wait.

Wendi
09-03-2004, 04:39 PM
They should just go ahead and run both sides then... even if it's not busy, at least they wouldn't be running empty trains.

David R
09-03-2004, 06:02 PM
Then they would once again encounter the "train coming into station while the station is busy" status which is what they are trying to avoid right now.

OCCOBRA
09-03-2004, 06:41 PM
Disneyland was dead yesterday. The wait was only 5 minutes for Thunder mountain, for that matter almost all the rides except for Splash and Indy.

RagtimePrince
09-03-2004, 07:36 PM
Better to send an empty train than have a brake cascade, although it sounds like just plain extra redundancy. The coaster I work on stops the train waiting to enter the station a long, long ways before where it could safely stop, and cuts down capacity a little, so I know the frustration, but it would be far more disastrous to have a train collision on my ride so I'm fine with it.

Are you sure this is really a new thing?

Laffite
09-03-2004, 07:52 PM
shouldn't have bought a microsoft software?

sdfilmcritic
09-03-2004, 11:07 PM
shouldn't have bought a microsoft software?
:D :p :crying: (I laughed until I cried.) In case no one saw my sadistic post in one of the other BTMRR threads I had made a reply to someone who was adamant that the accident in July had no connection to computer glitches I mentioned "Computers don't crash. Trains do." I own a PC and it's giving me hell right now. Go figure.

MrsG
09-04-2004, 08:09 AM
I own a PC and it's giving me hell right now. Go figure.

You need a Mac. PC hubbie is always borrowing mine.

sdfilmcritic
09-04-2004, 03:48 PM
I been checking the Macs out a lot lately. Since it's the only platform right now that supports Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro I've been wanting to switch badly. But, money is an issue at this time and I can't even afford a cheap little stripped bare PC for a couple of hundred dollars.

RagtimePrince
09-04-2004, 03:59 PM
There actually are ride control systems that run on Microsoft Windows of all things. The PLC computer keeps the ride safe and working, but the middleman between the operator and PLC, and the diagnostic system is often just a simple PC.

sdfilmcritic
09-04-2004, 04:01 PM
Fear for your life. Fear Bill Gates. lol.

Bruce Bergman
09-04-2004, 09:39 PM
You need to keep the PLC in there doing the life-safety critical work, the operating systems are designed to be highly crash and lockup resistant. No Graphical User Interfaces or other gee-gaws, just monitor sensors and operating buttons, and issue commands to relays and controls - I would be VERY leery of getting on a ride where the safety systems were directly dependent on any flavor of Windows... :eek:

As to the current timing problem - why can't they just keep doing it the way they ran the ride for many years, and hold the incoming train at Brake Zone 4 (the Mining Town) until the station is clear?

I can see if they have a third train running they would have to clear BZ4 and move that train to the unused side of the station before the ride cascades, but that should only happen if they have a r e a l s l o w loading problem.

:fez: --<< Bruce >>--