Is it just me or is TOT getting very slow?

[joz]

Interesting idea, but sadly Intamin have confirmed the both S:TE and TOT have the same drop height. Tower of Terror was called faster then Superman because it was. It was tested (and operated apparently with people) at speeds faster then S:TE claimed to be. Dreamworld stopped arguing the height a while after S:TE, instead confirming that both rides drop the same amount, and focused its argument on stating that the actual ride height was more or less irrelevant.

[Andy_q69]

Tower of Terror was called faster then Tower of Terror because it was.

? lol Yes, ToT was faster than S:TE but them two (three) are going the same speed as we speak I think. The drop on them is the same, but the height of the tower isn't. The ToT is 377 feet, 4 inches while S:TE is 415 feet high. The highest is S:TE in track length-wise, but in drop height and speed, they are both equal.

[joz]

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: and here I am telling everyone else to spell right... I'm more tired then I thought....

[Slick]

just on an extra note: just got back from sydney and remembered a bit of news i obtained a while back from DreamWorld: While both rides (due to liability insurance from the start) were only aimed at 160.9km/ph the TOT (to showcase Dreamworld overseas) advertised that using a police module speed camera the actual speed recorded was 162k/ph. And my story still lays with my bro's GF as their were para-medics runing on-site as it happened... so there!!! IT'S TRUE I TELL 'YA!

[willsy]

the tower of terror is capeable of doing 190km/h, the same freefall ride over seas down 180km/h for the world record but was not accepted because to safest working speed is 160km/h as stated by the manufacture.

[Richard]

Welcome along willsy! While I don't doubt that the system is capable of doing 190km/hr as is, you'd also be talking 6G's (to be precise, 6.2G's by my calculations), which won't do many of the components much good (it wouldn't do any damage, of course), and you're going to be getting enough heat out of those LSMs to cook more than a few eggs (they currently need at least a minute between cycles for adequate cooling to prevent overheating). The ride you're referring to is Six Flags Magic Mountain's Superman: The Escape, which I'm next to certain hasn't gone anywhere near 180km/hr (right now it's hovering around a nice and easy 0km/hr until they can be bothered to reopen it). Our Tower of Terror is said to have gone 170km/hr during testing, with riders, but that is as fast as I believe either have ever been. Please try to put some effort to grammar and punctuation of your posts, so others can read them with minimal strain. Capital letters where appropriate and some attempt to spell properly would be greatly appreciated!

[willsy]

well i'm sorry if i cant write and spell to peoples standards, maybe i didnt have very good schooling. or i have a disablity?? which i do by the way.

[Ian]

at the end of the day I couldnt care which is faster. I got bored of TOT / STE in 1998 after 3 rides on STE at SFMM I felt Ridlers Revenge (B&M) blew the pants off STE that day. As for lauch coasters that I have rode, Xcellerator which kills TOT and for that matter I have had more fun on monte (knotts) and speed in las vegas as well. remember its not just about the take off, IMO the layout and setting has alot to do with a coaster

[willsy]

I never get bored on the TOT, i go on it like 10times every time i'm at Dreamworld, Where lucky we have the TOT out here. Thank you Dreamworld

[rewindniwer]

We went on to Dreamworld in christmas 2002, and a couple of things happen with TOT. First of all it broke down for about 1 hour and operators refuse to tell us what happened. It was hell being stuck in those halls without any sunlight or air. After getting on it all went fine until half way through the day where the ride sped up until reaching about 1/2 of the horizontal track and just slowed right down and never made it up the vertical.That happened a couple of times that day. I was told by others that it had nothing to do with interference by the GD. Then the GD had malfunctions and it just dropped at about 2 km per hour which took like 5 mins to reach the bottom again. I have no idea if this had anything to do with Dreamworld as i thought it would have a different power source but Movieworld had to close Wild West Falls that day leaving the riders to walk out the structure. ?????

[Richard]

Almost no park anywhere will tell you what's wrong with a ride when it breaks down. You're very lucky if you get a "computer error" or "power blackout" response from an operator. Tower of Terror's queue is air conditioned, and very nicely might I add. If you choose to stick around (they'll almost always announce that the ride is experiencing difficulties and you can try again later), then you shouldn't really complain about the conditions you're in, because it's entirely your choice. I'll always stick around if a ride breaks down though - I've almost never got anything better to do at a park, and there are always interesting perks. At SFMM Scream! broke down, so we decided to go up to the station and see what was happening. Apparently we were inconvenienced because we popped in to see what's up, and we got exit passes, which was pretty neat.

[willsy]

I was at dreamworld not so long ago, and there were problems with the TOT, and we got told what was happing after a little bit of asking, they had to rest the computer program beacuase of a power surge or something like that, So you do get told sometime but its not likely you will, If you knew a rides brakes had problems would you go on the ride after?

[Gazza]

If you knew a rides brakes had problems would you go on the ride after?

Only after a few sucsessful runs, but they would shut the ride down anyway as its a serious problem, unless it was to do with getting the brakes open

[Slick]

What i found funny is that Superman the escape reaches the exact same speed but is taller in the air????????? Now, if they are exactly the same design in terms of system and type, how is it that one can be taller than the other? adding a bit more track on doesn't make a difference if you don't go over it

[Flea]

I believe the ride is built on a mountain (Samurai Summit), which gives the tower it's extra height above sea level. Correct me if I'm wrong!

[Richard]

What Flea said is exactly right. It's not in terms of sea level though (Superman would surely win, with Magic Mountain being way up in the hills). It's just the distance from the highest point of the car to the ground directly below. Because it launches off the top of a hill, and peaks off the hill, riders are effectively higher off the ground. The ride systems are identical, the ride performance should be identical (with neither park running them at full speed, who knows these days).

[screammachine]

I was at Dreamworld about 2 years ago in the Summer Holidays. We got there when the park opened and for about a hour they had this Double Ride thing goin. We went on Wipeout and headed for TOT. We got our first ride. We had to wait a few mins before they could launch it again. And when they did. The car only made it halfway across the track. And Stopped. The car then went into reverse and took us back into the station. It frose a few times on the way back. There were all these people looking at us from the walkway. It was like being on display. So embarrasing. But when we got back to the station they let us all get off, and closed the ride. Does anyone know why it happend

[Richard]

This is a fairly frequent breakdown (as far as breakdowns go) on TOT. You couldn't say what causes it each time, but for some reason it must shut down the LSMs. It could be a speed misread, overheating, system crash, power back-out or any number of things. Normally what they do (as they did in your case) is set the LSMs to reset, and they will slowly tow the car back into the station. If for some reason they can't do this (computer errors etc.), they tow it back manually using a winch that's built into the design for this very reason.

[screammachine]

Thats really crazy! :eek: The people who design these rides have to be a rocket scientist in their spare time . They have a backup plan for everything in the case something would go wrong. Screammachine

[Richard]

Well, Ron Toomer, who was with Arrow from 1965 through to the early 90's and the designer of most of their coasters during this period was with NASA before going to Arrow. So you're not too far off with the rocket scientists comment. When there's so much that can go wrong and high speeds, high forces and moving parts involved, you've got to have contingency plans for everything. In the words Lt. Proctor of Police Academy Stunt Show fame, "If it can go wrong, it will...", and rides are always engineered for everything. It's better to have too much than not enough, right?

[Slick]

certainly right there richo and one more thing: If you've ever noticed before (either by checking out the massive console or you happened to be the lucky people who have been stuck on it before) they are manually able to determine how fast etc. it goes basically for situations where it doens't come into the station properly or either the LSMs shut down.

[scott]

i think you might be right there cos on the dreamworld site they reckon it could get up to 161 km, but when i rid it said the shuttle had gone 157 km

[scott]

i think tot is actually getting slower cos when im on the dreamworld site they reckon that it goes 161 but when i first rid it (sh i think tot is getting slower actually because on the dreamworld site they reckon it can get up to 161 km but when i first rid it (sh*t that was a bit of a shock)that little screen with the shuttles speed on it said that it had gone 157 km

[rappa]

Well I think I better get on the phone to Intamin to express my unhappiness with the lack of performance of their ride. I mean 4km/h in 7 years...thats just disgusting :-p

[Richard]

Wicked Twister at Cedar Point was slowed down and given a new ride program. The reasons given by Monty Jasper (Cedar Point's VP of maintenance and construction) was along the lines of to prolong the life of the ride's electric and electronic components. I see it to be perfectly reasonable that Dreamworld may have knocked a few km/hr off TOT's launch speed in the name of reasonable and economic maintenance.