Cheetah Hunt- Intamin for Busch Gardens Tampa

[michaellll]

Dang. Well, if that's the case I really hope they end up lowering the skyride. I feel like it'd take far more effort to adjust the track plans seeing as how the track is so tall in comparison to the skyride already.

All I know is that I'm really expecting some airtime out of that hill one way or another....they better give.

 

[Anonymous]

No wonder that the pieces before and after the hop over the sky ride seemed a bit low in the pictures...

 

[Nemesis Inferno]

Well, if that's the case I really hope they end up lowering the skyride.

It'll take just as much effort/planning to shift the skyride down...


Cue numerous Intamin fail related posts...

 

[ECG]

Just wanted to point out that I mentioned the clearance issues pages ago.

Should have known you would be right & from now on I will believe you instead of what the park, Intamin or anyone else says or does.

Actually I had feared as much, since the track build for that portion had abruptly stopped completely. They were really putting it up rapidly until that point.

 

[michaellll]

Well, if that's the case I really hope they end up lowering the skyride.

It'll take just as much effort/planning to shift the skyride down...


Cue numerous Intamin fail related posts...

Really? They would need to fabricate all new supports/track (plenty of them) and they'd have to replace a few of the pieces already there. This would take a good deal of work and money, so I'd assume if they are about the same amount of work it'd be better to mess with the skyride instead of possibly messing with the flow of the layout.

Since they obviously planned on having a hill that size exist, the elements afterwards were designed to work with it. The element in question would have to change pretty drastically to make it work with the skyline (I'd think like 25 ft lower. idk), so wouldn't that affect pacing some? Or would a solution really be that simple?

I'm just wondering.

 

[tomahawk]

If they were to alter skyride, you have to remember that they would have to get new cables, reset counterweights, all that fun ****. Hopefully this is just a rumor.

 

[ECG]

Hopefully this is just a rumor.

UC said this would be a problem weeks ago, so it's not a rumor. :wink:

I imagine that they are already in the process of getting the track to go back to the original plan of not hopping the sky ride (as was shown in the animated video the park released). I wouldn't be surprised if they start to remove the vertical track at that section soon. This looks like an issue that they have known about for almost (or at least) a month now, so if they were going to lower the sky ride the work on that would already be well underway.
I just wonder how far (or if) this will set the opening back.

 

[jjjjustin]

I just can't stop thinking of RCT! When you run into a clearance issue delete a couple pieces and try a new way. :lol:

To bad its not going to be open when I go down.

And if this is Intamins Fault, my god I305, Maverick, and This!

 

[tomahawk]

I just read a screamscape twit (I hate twitter, but I am enjoying watching the Charlie Sheen escapades unfold there) saying they heard from the park that they will, and have been planning from the start (yeah right) to lower the sky ride. I'm throwing my bull **** flag on this one, if it was planned from the beginning, why didn't they just make the hill 3 feet higher, or whatever the clearance issue is?

 

[CMonster]

Here is the statement from the park below…
“…part of what makes Cheetah Hunt such an amazing addition is its use of an interaction with existing park elements. To make that happen, of course it has been necessary to make major changes to several park landmarks like Rhino Rally, the Clydesdale Hamlet, the Crown Colony and the Monorail Station.
Some of the more subtle changes include raising the floor in the Monorail Station, cutting back the waterfall outcropping in Rhino Rally canyon and moving some of the Serengeti Express’ train tracks. Some of the more major changes – many of which are immediately noticeable to guests in the area – that are taking place include building new guest bridges and pathways between Nairobi and Edge of Africa, building a seating terrace in front of the Crown Colony, replacing the Clydesdale Hamlet’s wooden stalls with secure “bedrooms” for the cheetahs, and, indeed, lowering certain Skyride towers near the area where the track “jumps” the cable.”

So... yeah. You guys think this was planned all along, or not?

 

[herbinator]

Defiantly not, they are just trying to cover their error and look professional.

 

[ECG]

Well at least they're keeping the hop, so I'm glad I was wrong about them going back to the original plans. Let's see if they can keep the scheduled Memorial Day opening.

 

[CMonster]

How much work would it actually take to shorten a couple of towers?

I know you'd have to completely redo the cable and stuff, but what else comes into play here?

 

[Hixee]

^Well you've got to actually shorten the towers themselves. That is an easy enough job if they're built in obvious sections. If not, it's a little trickier as you'll end up removing a chunk of tower and the supports will no longer line up (think about cutting slice out of an ice-cream cone). That's not the end of the world though, and there are easy enough solutions to it.

The there's the fact that the cable is now shorter, so you've got to replace all of that. You've also changed the angles of the inclines, so the forces are likely to be different than what was originally designed. So you have to consider changing the counter-weights and motors that drive and balance the whole system.

It's not something that you'd want to do just 'as a quick fix' and it will require lots of planning and checking before it can just be chopped shorter.

 

[Xpress]

^I think there's a lot more to do with the drive motors than what meets the eye. What goes up, must come back down, and since most skyrides have an uphill section, and a downhill section, wouldn't the cars themselves act as a counterbalance, evening out the workload for the motor?

Also, with less of an incline, it would be easier to move mass up. It's like pushing a cart up a steep hill and a shallow hill- which is easier?

 

[Screaming Coasters]

Defiantly not, they are just trying to cover their error and look professional.

LOL

You seem so sure of yourself there.

 

[Hixee]

^I think there's a lot more to do with the drive motors than what meets the eye. What goes up, must come back down, and since most skyrides have an uphill section, and a downhill section, wouldn't the cars themselves act as a counterbalance, evening out the workload for the motor?

Also, with less of an incline, it would be easier to move mass up. It's like pushing a cart up a steep hill and a shallow hill- which is easier?

I did say that:

The there's the fact that the cable is now shorter, so you've got to replace all of that. You've also changed the angles of the inclines, so the forces are likely to be different than what was originally designed. So you have to consider changing the counter-weights and motors that drive and balance the whole system.

 

[Gazza]

Couldn't another option, alternative to shortening all the towers, be to just erect a new tower underneath the hop with an inverted set of rollers that forces the cable to go lower at that point...Similar in style to the tower in the foreground of this shot:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... pports.jpg

Though the array of wheels would obviously curve down then back up.

 

[Hixee]

^That would probably need some redesigning of the cables too. Forcing the cables down like that would put massive forces on the other towers and the cable.

 

[ECG]

That makes too much sense Gazza.
I'm sure that would cost much more than making adjustments to what they already have though.