IOA | Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure | Intamin LSM Launch (Dragon Challenge replacement)

[ATTACKHAMMER]

I rode this today and was very impressed! I went in with low expectations to be honest. It was like a baby Taron, the launches were quite good and it felt like some good speed was picked up at times. I was very surprised that there was a

Spoiler

backwards section and vertical track drop

!

Overall a very good addition to the park.

 

[Matthew Fair]

Starting to look healthier

 

[CrashCoaster]

Starting to look healthierView attachment 5840

Still far from good though. Ideally it shouldn't be more than 10% downtime, for a new Intamin ride.

 

[Hixee]

Still far from good though. Ideally it shouldn't be more than 10% downtime, for a new Intamin ride.

Yeah, don't confuse this with an S&S!

 

[CrashCoaster]

Yeah, don't confuse this with an S&S!

Ah yes, in this case anything less than 90% downtime is decent.

 

[Lofty]

Sorry, but why should it be less than 10%? Arguably, newer rides have higher levels of downtime than older rides due to the lack of bedding in and the lower knowledge (learning) of the ride faults. That literally makes no sense.

 

[snes2]

Still far from good though. Ideally it shouldn't be more than 10% downtime, for a new Intamin ride.

Eh Orlando weather is probably a big factor in the downtime

 

[Matthew Fair]

Eh Orlando weather is probably a big factor in the downtime

Hulk for comparison

 

[Jared]

That’s a rather pointless comparison don’t you think?

 

[Matt N]

Might be worth noting; this isn't just any new ride; this is one with quite a bit of new technology, so surely some downtime is expected while they iron out the kinks.

 

[Matthew Fair]

That’s a rather pointless comparison don’t you think?

The point was to show the impact Florida weather has on a coasters operations

 

[Matthew Fair]

6 months later and whist things are still not great at least they are improving. I still don't understand how a coaster can be this unreliable... Does anyone know the cause of all the issues?

 

[Hixee]

And don't forget it still shuts at 3pm every day...

 

[Antinos]

I can rattle off numerous major attractions that had significant downtime in their initial year of operation, but those rides didn't have six launches, a reverse section, a drop track, tons of dynamic theming that requires train position input, and operated a dozen trains simultaneously. Hagrid's is an incredibly complex machine, so the downtime really shouldn't be surprising.

 

[gabe]

View attachment 7396
View attachment 7397
6 months later and whist things are still not great at least they are improving. I still don't understand how a coaster can be this unreliable... Does anyone know the cause of all the issues?

It’s running 10 trains now, around double the capacity on opening day. Problems are (mostly) coming from the computer trying to handle all trains.

And don't forget it still shuts at 3pm every day...

Not anymore.

 

[peep]

Don't forget the bees! Bees decided that one of the launch tracks was to be their home and for weeks they had to keep closing it for days to safely remove them from the area. That was a fun drama to watch for a while.


Also this...

It’s running 10 trains now, around double the capacity on opening day. Problems are (mostly) coming from the computer trying to handle all trains.

That is an insane amount of trains going round at the same time with some pretty complex systems throughout. I'm sure it'll continue to have technical issues for ages.

 

[Hixee]

Not anymore.

Ah great. Must have changed in the last few weeks, then. It shut at 3pm when we were there two weeks ago today - daily policy (they told us).

 

[Matt N]

Ah great. Must have changed in the last few weeks, then. It shut at 3pm when we were there two weeks ago today - daily policy (they told us).

Out of interest, did you get to ride it? If you did, what did you think?

 

[Hixee]

Out of interest, did you get to ride it? If you did, what did you think?

Thankfully yes - was first order of business for us (and we'd been tipped off by someone that they still shut it early). Queued about 45mins and didn't see any unplanned downtime.

As a coaster on it's own, it's a bit pants. It's smooth, there are some good [mild] forces (for a ride like this), the high-speed track switch is magical (and slight joy watching the two people in front of us freak out), but it just doesn't flow. It stops and starts a bit too much for my liking.

Theming/story/on-board audio/etc, however, are second to none. Everything from the queue line details to the fluffy animatronic (best of the ones on this ride, in my opinion) is really quite incredible.

As a piece of hardware, it's spectacular. Disregarding the reliability issues (or rather, intense maintenance requirements), the fact it runs that many trains with all of those elements is just crazy.

Overall, very very good. I don't think it's in my Top 20, and TRON is, so that's something. I think TRON just flows better, but in practice I think they could equally battle for that spot at the upper end of my Top 20. They're up there as a whole package though, not just the 'coaster' bit.

 

[Lofty]

It CAN operate up to 12 trains, and they have the 12 (although one is out of action all the time).