Dean Barnett

At least you’re sitting down!

The point isn’t that airport security and theme park operations are identical—it’s that they both involve moving large volumes of people safely through bottlenecks, and some do it far more efficiently than others without compromising safety. Everyone still goes through metal detectors, bags are still X-rayed, and staff still intervene if something flags. The key is smart systems and layouts that maximise throughput while maintaining safeguards. Now compare that to VRP where processes feel designed for friction. One clear inefficiency? Not allowing re-rides on dead days. If there's no line, no operational constraint, and guests are willing to go again, it’s absurdly inefficient to offload and reload the same train unnecessarily. That doesn’t improve safety—it just wastes time. Same goes for loading flow. Why wait until the unload platform is totally clear before even starting boarding? In many cases, that’s not a safety issue, it’s a procedural flaw. I fully agree with you if it’s implemented smartly. For a ride like Superman, universal-style metal detectors after the main queue with free double-sided lockers would be a game-changer. Keeps pockets empty, avoids last-minute dispatch delays, and doesn't punish guests with extra fees just to follow the rules. That’s the kind of ops thinking that actually improves both safety and efficiency.

Projectors have been known to be notoriously expensive to run (I really hope they got laser ones)

You can’t begin to compare the TSA (government agency) with what we roll here with (private contractors)

Yeah you actually don’t need another block - you could probably convert the transfer from the last brake to a block if you really want another block I guess?

Lets say it’s just under $2m per train (when they purchased the coaster) - that’s just under 7% extra for happy punters and 33% more backwards seats. Seems like a win to me. $20 a backwards seat on 3 minute cycles - they’d pay the extra train off in a year. (Assuming they filled every seat) 2 minute cycles with 50% of the backwards seats been filled would pay it off in 20 weeks! Calculating on $20 because $30 is too expensive.

I’m never letting anyone tell me that tracking / gaming efficiency jeopardises safety again.

Yes I’m aware @New display name, but they should have 3 trains if they were serious about throughput for their best ride in the park - they can just park it in the station overnight.

Good parks have a spare train - so in rivals case - 3 trains.

Pretty knarly stuff from 30 mins onwards 👀

Literally anything. Even the Riddler Revolution / Zamp Disco

I've said this - and been shot down for this before - but there must be 20 parks around the world that are open every year that keep their coasters open for years at a time.. with no downtime.

If we’re going by Gronalund they could fit a B&M invert on that bad boy

Disney have the same - they quiet happily dispatch rides with people on the exit platform. Universal do the same - no seatbelt and a pull up on the harness - if you can feel resistance its locked. Same with Sea World/Busch parks in USA. Disney do a visual inspection for several smaller rollercoasters. The number one thing that slows down the operations at Village Roadshow parks is the requirement for crew members to put on seatbelts - i've never seen this anywhere else - even RMC's where the seatbelt is quiet important they let you do it and visually see its done up before the shin/lap bars come down. Also the policy that requires the crew members to walk down the train together with each other.. makes no sense. I'm not expecting 30 second dispatches from VRP's parks ever - but there has to be a happy medium between safety and abhorrent dispatch times.

No worse feeling than getting to the end of a really long slow line and having an operator shouting across an empty train instructions that are pretty much common sense. Mean while They can run Silver Star 100 people per hour above B&M’s rated max capacity.

Let’s hope VRTP are watching …

Could just start the launch earlier too

I've got an idea that could fix this.

heard of roadworks?

Why can’t they just paint it after hours?

It was to the post above it - how rivals opened early. The script could have been “we’re looking at opening rivals as soon as possible” - not “we’re going to announce when we think it will open”. They never the reopening - it just opened. Still surprised with the sudden closure of scooby - when their maintenance closures are so frequent.

To me - this evidence strongly suggests that the bogies are causing the problem, leading to the train shaking and exceeding the LSM clearance tolerances. They tested this by taping some LSMs to check for contact with the train, which indeed occurred. This is why they were running the train without passengers a few days ago.

Finally some sense!

Happy to be corrected - I haven't been there in ages - but only ever seen 2 trains in the first year (with one sitting on the holding brake for a few mins).. anyway Fabrication can happen with the ride still open