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Rides on manual or different settings

SilverArrow

SilverArrow

Certified Ride Geek
So quite a few flat rides (as far as I am aware) can be manually controlled or at least have different settings that they can be put on.

For example, this does not show your average top spin ride:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNYyTRRzmxA[/youtube]

The setting a ride is on can make a big difference to the ride experience!

So, do you have any favourite settings or types of cycles that you like or dislike for particular rides?

Do you have any unusual ride setting stories (particularly if any ride OPs are on here, do you know any cool facts)?

I'd also personally be interested in hearing what rules or regulations park have about which cycles and settings are used (and which rides have what untapped potential etc).


I'll start off with saying that I was really surprised at the speed of the paratrooper at Fun Spot America.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Zq1JDUFqY[/youtube]

and also that this Mondial Supernova video shows just how intense they can be! Do any parks run theirs like this?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLdI149tiik[/youtube]
 
^ To properly embed Youtube videos, you need to remove the "s" from the "http" - Youtube defaults to the secure protocol. :)

To the best of my knowledge, I have never ridden a manual/custom ride cycle flat. There are many favorites, but all within their designed ride cycles.
 
I know Ramesis has a few settings, depends how they are feeling that day. The Thorpe Park flats all have a control but they are only used by a coach when the ride has broken down.
 
Hyde said:
^ To properly embed Youtube videos, you need to remove the "s" from the "http" - Youtube defaults to the secure protocol. :)

To the best of my knowledge, I have never ridden a manual/custom ride cycle flat. There are many favorites, but all within their designed ride cycles.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought it might have been something to do with the https!

jj23w said:
I know Ramesis has a few settings, depends how they are feeling that day. The Thorpe Park flats all have a control but they are only used by a coach when the ride has broken down.
Click to expand...

That makes sense with Thorpe, I'm don't think there's much you could vary with Zodiac or Vortex for example, only ride duration.
 
Vortex and Sodiac have one but they are hardly used. Slammer and maybe Rush don't have one.
 
The Paratrooper at Fun Spot is my favorite, even if the load times are ridiculous. I've also never ridden one that goes forward and backwards during the same ride cycle (yes, that's Aidan and my dad in the video):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWTP3sXAW6E[/youtube]

All German fair rides are operator controlled and ride cycles vary depending on the time of day, popularity of the ride or reaction of riders. Here are a couple of examples I filmed where the ride cycle was extended due to rider reaction:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhDIBh7T1aY[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZHdGxyhCh0[/youtube]

There are also various automatic cycles that can be selected for many ride types. Most usually have a regular cycle and a more intense cycle. A perfect example of this is the Zamperla Air Race. Most parks run them of the shorter-less intense cycle, but I asked the Fantasilandia park manager to run it on the long-more intense cycle for the videos I filmed.
I haven't uploaded the video of the regular ride cycle yet, but here are the videos of the extended one:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9rv0skycfo[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx1Afm8pXVU[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6CpzJ0Fvb8[/youtube]

A ride that used to be rider controlled is Vertigo at Tivoli Gardens. I don't have a video of a rider controlling it, but the park also had two different automatic ride cycles, again one more and one less intense. Here is the video I filmed of the more intense cycle:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-BSsrJwmnQ[/youtube]

The park only offers a forward and a backwards cycle now, but I managed to talk the operator into running both back-to-back when I was there last summer:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKc-wLVnDo[/youtube]

I can literately post a hundred videos I filmed of extended ride cycles I gotten while filming, but here is a recent example of the Crazy Dance I filmed. The operator extended the ride cycle in the on-ride video until he felt the riders were starting to get nauseous. The off-ride is the normal ride cycle.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3YiwrcMQOw[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SsX7GwOjbQ[/youtube]

I'll finish this post with one that never seemed to end. Most of us have ridden many of these, but I've never had a ride cycle like this on one at a park in the USA:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58IsY9pCsQs[/youtube]
 
Thanks for the info ECG that air race cycle looks a lot more intense than the usual setting.

Imagine if coasters had different speeds or settings - that would complicate cred counts!
 
Huss and Schwarzkopf flats on German carnivals run longer and more intense than in most parks.

For example the TopScan at Thorpe and the TakeOff at Sarkeniemmi do not run at the top speed. On German carnivals they spin faster providing higher Gs. Also the Schwarzkopf Monster at Heide-Park and Gröna-Lund run far slower than the Octopussy on German carnivals - the spinning on the later is totally insane.

Some German carnival BreakDancer still have an operator and a DJ were the operator syncs the program to the music which can be totally amazing.

And of course visiting a carnival after dark: Most flats offer complex LED, lightbulb, neon light packages complemented by strobe-lights, sky-beams and fog machines. Add a music club class sound system and the experience is nothing like at themeparks were I find flats quite dull in comparison.
 
Whirlwind at Lightwater was run manually. I got the best, most intense ride I've ever had when I was the only rider and captain John went crazy!
 
The Top Spin that used to be at Funtown Pier had about 30 different ride settings on it available to use. Most were for ride cycle testing, I think only like 5 were recommended by HUSS to be used regularly but my German isn't that good (it's also been over 2 years since I read that damn ride manual). One of the settings was the endless flips that were linked in the OP.

Huss Condors also have two settings that I know of, one that is used in the American parks who still have them and the other a much more intense rotation with a longer ride cycle.

Also those Larson Fireballs that aren't quite coasters have manual input from the ride operator, which makes for each and every cycle being different from the last (provided the operator isn't lazy).
 
^if you are with a group and ask nicely they will do the all-flips program at German funfairs :--D
 
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