Breakers Edge : New 2018 coaster for Hersheypark
- Thread starter davidm
- Start date
ASteelersMidget
Roller Poster
Other than the park advertising Breakers Edge and the 14th coaster at the Park, These slides both seem like solid additions to the Waterpark at Hershey. Not for me personally but a smart addition by the park.
Rollercoaster David
Mega Poster
I don't really get the point of the flying saucer turns, but looks fun. Wildebeest is awesome, so hope this is as good.
Swoosh
Mega Poster
It maintains the G-forces going around the curve and provides a neat visual while riding
Ethan
Strata Poster
I get the visual, but how does a dish plonked on a corner change G-force? I honestly just think the saucers are they to look pretty and to enhance the feeling of going up the side of the tube, nothing more.
Bingo.
Apparently, they also drain away excess water from the jets that push the boats upward and into the bowls. It's a really inefficient way to do so, but I guess it is a side effect with some usefulness.
Since boats/riders would be really visible when they pass through the bowls, maybe they also serve some function for "block sensors"/CCTV that check whether riders fall off or go missing between bowls, without sticking the sensor/CCTV camera too close to the corrosive environment of the slide tray itself, but I suspect there would be more efficient ways to fulfill that purpose too. At most, it's a side effect they can take advantage of, rather than an engineering necessity.
Swoosh
Mega Poster
OR it's like I said above. Amazing even the manufacturer agrees with me - but what would they know, they just engineered the damn thing.
This is the spec sheet from ProSlide
https://ss-usa.s3.amazonaws.com/c/307228675/media/5931b4782b66f/FlyingSAUCER-30-2017.pdf
This is the spec sheet from ProSlide
https://ss-usa.s3.amazonaws.com/c/307228675/media/5931b4782b66f/FlyingSAUCER-30-2017.pdf
Ethan
Strata Poster
Yeah, they're saying it takes advantage of centrifugal force. But you're experiencing centrifugal force on every slide when you go up the side of the tube? They're also saying they're taking advantage of different radiuses to variate forces, but again, you can do that without plonking a dish on the side. It's physically impossible for a piece of fibreglass that the ride vehicle doesn't even touch/slide over to effect g-force... Surely.
I'm sticking with my original post. It looks pretty, and probably increases the sensation of speed as you exit/re-enter the tubes, however I am positive it doesn't change forces in the slightest, and the words that the manufacturer have used are just there to help sell it and make the saucers sound more innovative than they really are.
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Swoosh
Mega Poster
Correct - it MAINTAINS it. Big difference and exactly what they said on the specs sheet.
Most slides will slow down in a curve - this design maintains the speed and also allows for a faster tighter radius which produces higher G-forces.
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I don't understand what you're not getting about our point?
I know what they're marketing material says, but there's nothing extra offered by that saucer shaped piece that couldn't be achieved with a standard tube. Other than the different aesthetic.
Swoosh
Mega Poster
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this topic.
Swoosh
Mega Poster
All I'm saying is that if they can accomplish the same thing with a tube - why haven't they?
They've done it for marketing and aesthetics.
All the forces stuff is bollocks.
That's exactly what we're saying.
Swoosh
Mega Poster
No what I am saying is that you keep claiming that the same effect could have been accomplished with a tube. I am stating that if it WAS possible then someone would have done that with a tube by now. They have not. All watercoasters that use tube corners slow down excessively. This maintains the speed.
Of course the same effect (in terms of speed and forces) could have been produced by a tube.
It's likely no one has done it before because no one else cares. Or it's just a new revolution, in the same way upstop wheels, OTSRs and magnetic brakes were once new (although they do actually offer something different, which this slide element doesn't).
To be clear, the point we're all making is that there is NOTHING about this slide element that couldn't be achieved by a normal tube. We're not arguing the reasoning why they're doing this, just stating that fact. Unless you can categorically prove what the dish adds, I'm standing by that.