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Dumb park restrictions

Hyde

Matt SR
Staff member
Moderator
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The rain rule is actually pretty smart. Why would you run a train on slippery track?
They concern is actually for rider comfort - getting smacked in the face by rain going 70+ MPH is not pleasant. There is no official regulation or guidance on wet/dry roller coaster operation. Really, as far as I'm aware, is a temperature warning on not operating below freezing due to proper lubrication in the wheel bearings, etc.

I have only ever heard of one documented case of a ride accident due to rain - Maverick's opening day at Cedar Point was an absolute down pour, and a rare moment when Cedar Point ran a number of roller coasters throughout the rain due to high volume attendance. Magnum slid through the first set of final brake run, bumping into the next train that was staged in the second set of brakes. Noone was injured gratefully, and the incident was moreso cited to an improper ride inspection by ride staff/mechanics than the rain.

Inverse to this however, I have been to Cedar Point a few times over the years during their Halloweekends event - the busiest time of the year for the park - when 100% rain was predicted throughout the evening. Rather than shut all the rides down, Cedar Point has, in these rare moments, opted to run the rides through the rain. And so, to my first point, I can confirm: Millennium Force is a bitch in the rain. Cedar Fair does remain pretty zealous with their rain rule however IMO, and can shut down operation far too quickly.

As Hixee pointed out, the biggest concern for adverse weather is lightning.

@Hyde will be able to confirm this for me, but Cedar Fair's policy takes this to the extreme. They will shut all rides if there's a storm detected within some distance of the park. Which makes sense really, as lightning can strike a few miles from the 'centre' of the storm, however Cedar Fair have set the distance at something quite huge like 20 miles? I think this is what Hyde is referring to.

A few years ago at Kings Island (2010 CF Live) I recall the rides getting shut down due to a looming storm. The storm was reasonably close, and sure enough there was a lightning strike on Diamondback during their test runs. Trains all then stuck on the lift hills and on the brake runs while they reset the whole thing. It was lucky there weren't any riders on board.
That is pretty correct - each park determines their own safe distance. For Cedar Point, it was roughly 20 miles, which was as far due west as Oak Harbor, Ohio - a fair guide for weather to expect. Since Cedar Point sits on a buffer between the Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie, weather patterns can be weird at times; rain storms sweeping along the coast, or storms staying in land.

The more important rule, in order to avoid lightning strike hazard, is to stop all ride operations at the first sight of lightning, and not resume until 30 minutes had past. If a new strike of lightning occurs, the 30 minute wait restarts.

A random side note that I found to be true at Cedar Point when returning to operation from a storm: when Power Tower begins testing, every other ride in the park will begin testing within the hour/good chance of everything going fully operational.
 

TommyAlex

Mega Poster
The rain rule is actually pretty smart. Why would you run a train on slippery track?

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Well, it's not going to fly off the tracks, is it? I presume the rain rule only applies when it actually is raining. I mean, the track is still going to be slippery after it rains, isn't it? If all roller coasters were shut down because the tracks a bit slippery, I can only presume British Rail networks must be operating them.
 

Ben

CF Legend
Cedar Point's weather policy is the ****ing worst.

It's gently spitting, shut it down! There's a gentle breeze, shut it down! When we went Gatekeeper, Raptor and Dragster were closed all day because of gusts about 20mph. Dragster I can sort of get but the B&Ms! No excuse! Maybe it's coming from the UK where we run everything in anything and nothing ever happens but Jesus, man up.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
The inconsistency throughout the Six Flags chain parks with enforcing rules.
SFNE was the worst at dealing with seating. You cannot have your two flagship rides with assigned seating and having ops bark at guests for trying to be reasonable about it.
 

Sythe

Mega Poster
Cedar Point's weather policy is the :emoji_zipper_mouth:ing worst.

It's gently spitting, shut it down! There's a gentle breeze, shut it down! When we went Gatekeeper, Raptor and Dragster were closed all day because of gusts about 20mph. Dragster I can sort of get but the B&Ms! No excuse! Maybe it's coming from the UK where we run everything in anything and nothing ever happens but Jesus, man up.
You should see Kings Dominion's policies. They've shut flight of fear down because of rain. Like what the heck?? WHY???

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Hixee

Flojector
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Administrator
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You should see Kings Dominion's policies. They've shut flight of fear down because of rain. Like what the heck?? WHY???
They certainly weren't like that during my visit last summer! There had been a big storm in the area overnight (there were trees down and the power was out along many of the roads as I was driving up from Richmond), but it seemed to have missed the park for the most part. It was very overcast and raining early on in the day and they were still running most of the coasters. I definitely rode Dominator, I305, Volcano, Anaconda and Italian Job in the rain. I don't recall doing Flight of Fear until later in the day, but I certainly don't remember anything being closed.

Thankfully, by lunchtime it had almost completely cleared, giving way to some gorgeous blue skies. It was at that point that I decided to do another few laps of the park with the camera. ;)
 

Sythe

Mega Poster
They certainly weren't like that during my visit last summer! There had been a big storm in the area overnight (there were trees down and the power was out along many of the roads as I was driving up from Richmond), but it seemed to have missed the park for the most part. It was very overcast and raining early on in the day and they were still running most of the coasters. I definitely rode Dominator, I305, Volcano, Anaconda and Italian Job in the rain. I don't recall doing Flight of Fear until later in the day, but I certainly don't remember anything being closed.

Thankfully, by lunchtime it had almost completely cleared, giving way to some gorgeous blue skies. It was at that point that I decided to do another few laps of the park with the camera. ;)
Well yeah. Sometimes they close everything and sometimes they don't. It's confusing lol

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Gangster4Life

Mega Poster
Pleasure Wood Hills runs Wipeout every seven minutes cos of some noise restriction placed on the park. o_O

Why does the UK have such crap rules?:mad:
 

TLARides

Hyper Poster
Pleasure Wood Hills runs Wipeout every seven minutes cos of some noise restriction placed on the park. o_O

Why does the UK have such crap rules?:mad:
It's not the entirety of the UK. The area the park is in places the rules on the park. You don't see the US Government placing a height restriction on every Six Flags park, right?
 

TilenB

Strata Poster
Six Flags over Texas won’t allow single riders in the back row of any coaster.

Any other parks do this?
I believe Lagoon does something similar. No single riders in the back/front of the train, since they might hurt themselves or something. :p
 

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Legoland Windsor doesn't allow single riders on any water ride, never really understood why apart from some loose description about insurance.
 

CanobieFan

Strata Poster
Legoland Malaysia also didn't allow single riders on the log flume... but as I walked up another single rider was being turned away so they placed us in an empty boat next to each other... and made us sit in the third row, leaving the first two empty. Uhhh
 

Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
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EVERYTHING about Dinoconda's loading and unloading sequence.
 

Matt N

CF Legend
Well... Alton Towers opened as a theme park in 1980. It is entirely possible, not to say overwhelmingly likely, that the Ropers estate has been around since way before then, same goes for the people who currently live there. They didn't move next to a theme park, the theme park opened next to their house.
First off, why the :emoji_zipper_mouth: would you buy a house, 100 yards away from the most popular theme park in England? Why would you even consider building one there?
@Pokemaniac and @TLARides; according to Tales from the Towers, the Ropers purchased their estate in 1968, 12 years before Alton Towers became a theme park.
 

rob666

Hyper Poster
My grandma went to the Towers in the thirties in a charabanc with the church ladies, full day out, flower show, fun fair and dancing. Five am to midnight, five hours each way from the north west back then.
My mum went on the Daily Mirror days out in the fifties and sixties, car show on the lawns, brass bands and fireworks. Queued half an hour to get in.
I took her back for the opening of the Corkscrew.
The 1870's guide ran to sixteen pages.
1980 my bottom.

Edit...
Sorry, back on topic, stupid park restrictions.
Why do I have to have a brat dangling from my wrist if I want to ride the Antelope?
 

davidm

Strata Poster
^ you don't.
You might well need a brat to get entrance to the park... or you ask the park very nicely and they let you in anyway.
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
rye playland has bizarre loading policies on their dark rides - only using the front row if there are 3 or 4 riders..., but no singles rules really pi$$ me off!
 

Peet

Giga Poster
Why do I have to have a brat dangling from my wrist if I want to ride the Antelope?

Yeah that was a good one, my friend and I managed to argue our way in eventually but it was pretty embarassing, I won't be bothering with Gulliver's Valley.

On planning restrictions, Fantasy Island wanted to build a 250 foot plus coaster when they build Jubilee Oddyssey but the locals objected. If you have ever been to Ingoldmells you'll know it is not exactly an area of natural beauty - all you can see from the top of the rides is static caravans as far as the eye can see. Completely ridiculous that they weren't given planning permission and it makes me think we'll never get a coaster that size in the UK.
 
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