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A Knightmare for Camelot

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Anonymous

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I'm at camelot today which opened on saturday. It is my local park and I've never been on knightmare. So today we have come and i'm sat in the jousting arena, because there is something very wrong with knightmare.
The train is currently sitting in the dip after the first drop and turn. It appears that this morning it tried to make it up um the first set of brakes before the next drop, failed, and has rolled back and forth until it stopped to rest in the dip. There is no evacuation point, no stairs, and a good 20ft drop to the ground. There are maintenance workers stood at the entrance, puzzling over how to get the train off.
Just thought i'd put it on the forums to discuss how this happened, I'll post some pics later and an update if they make any progress.
Not a good start for Camelot!

[img=http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1311/26052009068.th.jpg]
 
It appears that this morning it tried to make it up um the first set of brakes before the next drop, failed, and has rolled back and forth until it stopped to rest in the dip
Click to expand...
That's called valleying. I can't remember how they sort it out as I've not seen it happen apart from in pictures.
But I remember when Fahrenheit valleyed on the Cobra Roll they just attached a pulley to it and pulled it around the inversion where it made it's way back under it's own momentum.
 
If its near a set of blocks or a lift, they sometimes pull it back up to those points, if not they take apart the train from the track and re-attatch it back to a safer height,
 
There's a video of it valleying on youtube, if I remember, it was something to do with the staff not doing something with the wheels before dispatching it. :?
 
Apologies for the hurried topic- but I wanted to get it onto CF while we were there!
We left Camelot at 2:00pm as the Rack and Knightmare were down and there are only so many times you can ride Whirlwind and Excalibur 2. I filled out a complaint form at reception on our way out, stating that £40 was extortionate for two attractions.

So - whilst waiting for Excalibur 2 - I asked the ride host wether Knightmare valleyed alot. Every single other staff member at Camelot seemed oblivous, and when i asked the hosts guarding Knightmare what was happening, all they could do was point (in unison) to the stuck train. Great.
Anyway - Sarah on Excalibur told us that this has happend quite a few times, which I was surprised at. She said that this morning the ride was tested, didn't make it up to the second part of the ride, and just went back and forth until it ended up in the dip. I asked what the plan was, and she told me that after park closing at 5 - a crane would be brought in and the train removed from the dip. We asked what the situation would be if the ride had valleyed with guests on, and she replied that it would be an emergency situation, the "land of the brave" area (if that's what it's still called!) would be evacuated, the crane brought in and the guests removed.

So - did BMRX do this alot when it was in Japan, or is this just poor maintenance on the part of Camelot staff? I was gutted as Camelot was just as dire as it always has been, but I wanted to ride Knightmare if Camelot is to go after this season. (Susan told us Camelot would be closing in September to prepare for next season, so they are optimistic...) But we made the most of the day, and hopefully the park managment will refund our tickets or give us passes to return on another date.

I cannot believe this is a frequent thing, we asked a lady in one of the shops if she knew anything about Knightmare, and her response was "i dunno, is it broken again? it always does that..." - what an absolute faff to have to wait until park closing and get a crane in - what are they doing wrong!?

Will get some more pics up in a sec for your delight.
 
2e5p5d4.jpg

The Knightmare layout with the train slightly hidden behind the trees.

2m301f4.jpg

The train stuck in the dip.
 
Wow.

At Kobe Portopialand, the train used to FLY through that course.

I'd say that either something's not quite right after the move, or Camelot's maintenance is using the wrong sort of grease for the climate up there.
 
It has been prety windy around the chorley area so that could have made it slow but it could just be a freek event were it vally's.
 
It wasn't drastically windy today - and anyway, shouldn't there be precautions in place for a windy day, its a large structure for crying out loud, it shouldn't sit there and have knightmares when it starts getting a bit windy! I can fully appreciate the wind excuse for the PMBO at Blackpool, but not for Knightmare, I mean, come on!
 
I think you should post something on topic instead of being a twat all the time Dave.


Anyway, I thought Camelot was dead and gone for? Who saved that pile of crap.. Oh well, I can go and get the credit now! Yay. If it doesn't valley.. Oh and it's been bloody windy in Manchester today so i'm guessing it was bad in Chorley too.
 
tks said:
I think you should post something on topic instead of being a twat all the time Dave.


Anyway, I thought Camelot was dead and gone for? Who saved that pile of crap.. Oh well, I can go and get the credit now! Yay. If it doesn't valley.. Oh and it's been bloody windy in Manchester today so i'm guessing it was bad in Chorley too.
Click to expand...

It has been pretty windy around town and Camelot is farther out and in the valley so my guess is yes it was a bit worse round the park than in town.
And Camelot was saved by a company in Cumbria I think.
 
What a pity it didn't valley in August '08 when my family and friends and I were there. It would've scared my nephew. :lol:
 
Dave said:
Wow, I think you should be more concerned over how big your signature is.
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks for that creative input Dave, i've removed my signature now so that you can post something relevant. I'm posting coaster news on a coaster forum. Hope thats ok.

Camelot are now investigating the situation with Knightmare following an email I sent to them, they are extremely concerned at the fact that the ride may be doing this because of negligence from their staff.
 
Being your local Camelot know-it-all, heres the rope;

Knightmare has been running poorly this week since the start of the season, it did infact valley on Saturday morning, really early on and was salvaged before Noon, it was in the same place too, iirc.

It also did it a couple of times at the very start of last season, it must be due to the lack of running it's had over the past 6 months.

It's odd as that's normally one of the quickest parts, it absolutely flies through that 'sticking out' section.

I don't believe the staff need to do anything to the brakes/wheels before dispatching the train, no. Aslong as the wheels are lubricated enough, then it should be fine.

In terms of camelot 'being as crap as ever', then I agree it's not really improved, but it's still a good family day out, and it's not like they were going to make massive improvements, what with the Story group planning to negotiate with the council to turn it into mixed-residential areas next year.

Oh, and staff are very poor this year, or atleast they were on saturday. Granted it was their first day, but they seem to get more retarded as the eyars go by, so i wouldn't put negligence of rides past them.
 
Thanks for that Luke, so what do you think it is that is causing the trains to do this then, if it was never a problem in Japan as BMRX? We still had a relatively good day out at Camelot but with the Rack being down as well (until next season so we heard...) we just couldn't justify paying that much to go on the Whirlwind and Excalibur 2. The park was ridiculously quiet, there were no queues for anything, and so we could've done Knightmare many times, i'm really hoping that the Camelot management give us some reimbersment for the day.

So you don't think its anything to do with the "friction brakes" - which is what i've heard somewhere else?
 
You will probably find in the Terms and Conditions that ride availablilty is subject to change. Ride break downs can not be helped unless its Thorpe :wink:
 
That's what we thought, until I read online that the Knightmare problems WERE caused by operator negligence, in which case Camelot are at fault. If (as luke8 says) this has nothing to do with it, I don't know what will happen.
 
I doubt it's anything to do with 'friction breaks' no. Coasters do this quite often, Fahrenheit famously did it on it's opening day last season. It's usually due to their being a malfunction on the train or the wheels not being oiled enough - so they'll slow down and not slide along the track as easily. Other than that, temperature and wind can have an affect on it, how cold was it when you visited? I know on Saturday morning when it did it, it was bloody freezing!

As for the rack being closed, thank yourself lucky. Perhaps the worst ride in the UK, so unforceful these days it's untrue. used to be a classic, though.

I don't think you'll get anything from Camelot. Parks see that more than 1 ride makes a theme park, and there was plenty of other things for you to do for a couple of hours. e.g Whore whirldwind, excalibur, jousting, embarrass yourself and look like a twat on childrens rides. :p

They've no real reason to 'reimberse' you unfortunately, as I'm sure there T's&C's say ride listings and availability are subject to change. Knightmare is often down - they couldn't afford to refund everyone's tickets!
 
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