Restraint Checks

[JD_bunnies_supporter]

I have just recently returned from a great trip to Orlando, and going to both Disney and Universal Parks. But one thing that bothered me was on all the rides with lap bar or overhead restraints, the staff do not physically check them to see if they are locked. They will walk by and say "push up on your lap bar" for example. I even saw a Splash Mountain log launched before a person had even pulled down on the lap bar, and the staff member had to tell her as the log was released. I had never seen this style of checking until now. Has anyone else noticed this style or the reason for it?

[CruiseSF]

Yea its quite common I have noticed. The reason for this would be to increase the rides hourly capacity (to keep lines down) due to the large number of guest the US parks get.

[rappa]

Yep you will notice the large parks like Disney and Universal use this process, disney are even much quicker, and rely on the in built safety systems that tell whether they seat is locked or not. Getting you to push on it is really just for your piece of mind. Rediculously enough just down the road (for example Knotts or SFMM) will have both attendants walk down the train, row by row, together verbally saying "check" as they pull on everyone restraint, just taking forever. Simply disney spends extra money on the restraint systems in order to speed up its loading process.

[westical]

I'm not sure how effective the flimsy seat belts at Knotts would be either.

[www worker]

I'm not sure how effective the flimsy seat belts at Knotts would be either.

Must be good no one has flung out of one of there coasters yet

[CruiseSF]

I'm not sure how effective the flimsy seat belts at Knotts would be either.

Well they have the normal harness with them as well. Plus they only have been added because years ago, a rather larger american women when on Perilous Plunge and because of her size the restraints were not properly locked in, so she ended up falling out and was killed. Ever since this happened they have added these seat belts to add a bit more restraint to take pressure of the normal restraints, so even if they dont fully lock in they wont come loose.

[westical]

Must be good no one has flung out of one of there coasters yet

As Cruiseshipfan mentioned, the seat belts aren't by themselves. Funny moment on Boomerang (IIRC) when the ride attendant asked the guys in the front row just as we were about to launch if they had done their seat belts up. Shat themselves until they realised it had none.

[Adam]

I wouldn't be too concerned about this. Many rides have built-in mechanisms to detect whether lapbars and harnesses have been secured. You'll notice on Scooby-Doo that ride operators push down the lapbars on empty seats. The operator console won't allow a vehicle to be dispatched until all lapbars have been lowered a certain level. I once saw a bulky person having to exit the ride because his lapbar wouldn't come down enough.

[Gazza]

Quite often too, ride vehicles will have lights on them that indicate that harnesses are lowered enough for each seat or that belts are done up.

[westical]

Who needs a lap bar on Splash Mountain anyway, not DL!

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

on a slightly unrelated note - the seatbelt systems on rides like Superman and Batwing have a small yellow line sewn into it. If that line doesn't clear the tensioner, you're too big to ride.

[erikals]

Quite often too, ride vehicles will have lights on them that indicate that harnesses are lowered enough for each seat or that belts are done up.

I went to SW some months ago and the Sea Viper has those - when the green light is lit up on the back of the car, the restraint has been lowered. Otherwise there is a red light. The old Corkscrew trains had a completely manual system. (anyone remember the small pedals on the right side of the cars - but I can't remember for the life of me whether when they were pushed down the restraints were locked or when they were up the restraints were locked). No lights there.

[S.W24]

All more modern day ride vehicles will have a recognition system. In most cases called a Min harness accept. All harnesses or restraints must close into that min harness accept position in order to allow the PLC to recognise that the attraction is safe for dispatch. In saying that though an attraction like lethal weapon in its current state the train can be sent with every harness up because there is no recognition system in place. To conquer that Loaders will do a visual check down the train on both sides prior to giving "Load all Clear". The attractions supervisor will then also conduct a final check as the train descends onto the elevator. This method is also conducted at other attractions like Cyclone, Cork back in the day and many others. But what you will find is that many of our parks are simply adding this kind of technology to there existing trains and or attractions without having to go the whole hog and purchasing a replacement vehicle with the systems when its not needed.

[westical]

There was about six staff working on Lethal Weapon a few weeks ago, either MW were being really conscious about safety or they were training.

[Reanimated35]

I went to SW some months ago and the Sea Viper has those - when the green light is lit up on the back of the car, the restraint has been lowered. Otherwise there is a red light. The old Corkscrew trains had a completely manual system. (anyone remember the small pedals on the right side of the cars - but I can't remember for the life of me whether when they were pushed down the restraints were locked or when they were up the restraints were locked). No lights there.

UP = Locked that way they can be stepped on to release Actually I do vaguely remember them walking past with a hook but I thought that was to release them

[rappa]

Up to lock on Cork! There was also a whip on the end of the pedal that would stop the ride if a pedal was left down, ie a harness unlocked. Most arrow/vekoma trains used this same pedal system.

[erikals]

Up to lock on Cork! There was also a whip on the end of the pedal that would stop the ride if a pedal was left down, ie a harness unlocked. Most arrow/vekoma trains used this same pedal system.

Thanks for the info - brings back memories of riding the Cork.

[Original]

But isn't LW replacing their trains, but I have a feeling its probably not just technology but also guest comfort My one and only gripe about LW has always been its loading (that goes for cyclone too) with only one train I've always felt like they just take forever to unload it, load it, check then send it off! Some of the videos I've seen of the American parks they seem to do it so quickly, even loading it as people are getting off, making for one continuos flow. I suppose when you've got so many trains running you can't hold things up before they start to bank up, kind of like Scooby. Wipeout uses that system though where the harnesses come down automatically and they don't get checked they obviously just rely on the computers to tell them everything is locked!

[Spotty]

Well... could you imagine the operators on the Wipeout trying to walk down past every seat to make sure they are locked in... would be a bit awkward to say the least

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

Demon at wonderland was the same as the old Corkscrew locking system also - i know that Demon's footpedals had a small reflector on them, and as it was pulled up the lift hill the reflectors would pass a beam at the rear of the station. If the beam didn't count the right number of reflectors, it would E-stop automatically.

[erikals]

Demon at wonderland was the same as the old Corkscrew locking system also - i know that Demon's footpedals had a small reflector on them, and as it was pulled up the lift hill the reflectors would pass a beam at the rear of the station. If the beam didn't count the right number of reflectors, it would E-stop automatically.

Clever. On Cork at SW the operators would check whether every pedal was up on each car and then the car was cleared to run. They had no reflector system at all. Now with the Sea Viper the number of restraints lowered is counted and for every one locked a green light will shine on the back of the car. It also has automatic release on the restraints - which increases the throughput cause you don't have the delay associated with a ride op walking through and using his foot to push down on the pedal at the side of the car so it would unlock.

[rappa]

True to a degree but my experience has been that the new train has brought slower dispatches than the old one. Same with parking. More reliable, yes, faster, no.