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Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update p2

Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

I guess mondial are probably best known for making top scans. Do you really have any of those in the states?

I don't really understand what makes people criticize this design more than say star flyers? I know there's been a number of issues with these which calls their reliability into question, but on paper, what makes these so "retarded"?
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

^On paper, nothing. But they're breaking down all over the place and getting them down takes for ever.

I can't think of a single Star Flyer that's anywhere near the same issues.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

^ I dont know if thats sarcasm or not, but I've experienced quite a bit of down time with Star Flyers. I've heard that the mechanism to raise/lower and rotate the gondola is bit unreliable - and thats apparently why Zamperla made there's with a rotating tower, so all the gondola does is go up/down.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

I wouldnt be surprised if the rest are on down time. Has anyone seen the chain running up and down the rides. Their MASSIVE! They look like my bike chain on mega steroids. Thats why they take so long to lower manually, one false move and that chain coulld plummet with the gondola, even though theres probably a catch. Literally, during my summer trip to the point the ride got stuck right after our ride. While it was stuck we got a ride on nearly everything around it and a ride on Maverick.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

^You're actually thinking of the bendy strip which just bundles all the electrical and data wires together. The ride is raised and lowered via steel cable and some sort of winch mechanism.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

Antinos said:
^You're actually thinking of the bendy strip which just bundles all the electrical and data wires together. The ride is raised and lowered via steel cable and some sort of winch mechanism.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a very similar mechanism to what the Intamin Drop Towers use? Sans the drop mechanism of course.

And yes the giant bike chain is actually the system that holds all the electrical wiring that goes between the tower and the gondola. They're also used on the transfer tracks on roller coasters (most notably B&M from my experience).
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

^Thanks for the info, I hadnt really paid much attention to what the bike chains held, i just belived they were load bearing
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

Yeah, bendy strips are used often with elevator systems, including transfer tracks (basically a sideways elevator). BMac, the concept is basically the same. There's some motor under the ride or nearby somewhere winding a winch, pulling steel cables through a pulley system and up the tower. That's just the simple description of the concept - of the I'm sure there are certain techniques or aspects of each design that make them unique to each company.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

On Zamperla's Vertical Swing rides, the tower & seats rotates on a turntable. But Mondial's Windseekers don't have a rotating tower.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

Nic said:
I guess mondial are probably best known for making top scans. Do you really have any of those in the states?
Click to expand...
The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Samurai at Lagoon near Salt Lake City, Utah. Although not the States, there's also Shockwave at Canada's Wonderland. So yeah, Top Scans & Mondial are not very well known over here.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

In the haze known as my childhood memories, I honestly believe Kennywood had something from Mondial. Outside of a picture that I took WAY back in 8th grade (while on it) of my friend in the gondola ahead of me, I really couldnt even be certain that it was there!
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

ECG said:
Nic said:
I guess mondial are probably best known for making top scans. Do you really have any of those in the states?
Click to expand...
The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Samurai at Lagoon near Salt Lake City, Utah. Although not the States, there's also Shockwave at Canada's Wonderland. So yeah, Top Scans & Mondial are not very well known over here.
Click to expand...

CW has a bunch of Mondial rides. They have the top spin "Ripetide", spinning disc "Pscylone", and as you said the top spin "Shockwave". Winderseeker is the only one that has had major maintenance problems. It was Cedar Fairs brilliant idea to put a Winderseeker in every park without waiting to see how it turned out in one first. All of them have had similar problems.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

There are rumours doing the rounds suggesting that this Windseeker will not reopen and is due to be dismantled pretty soon.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

I wouldn't be surprised totally, but that would be an educated decision with that park, something they absolutely never do. Repainting Boomerang but not the coaster 100 feet away that has needed it for 7 years, refusing to do serious work on GhostRider, adding more kiddie/family creds than any family/kid park should ever have. Yeah, that place is a joke.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

If this is true, and the Windseekers get ripped down, there will surely be hefty legal action to follow. I don't know what state their finances are in at present, but could this even spell the end for Mondial?
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

This will be the 2nd time this park could bankrupt a company.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

Free space for a giant frisbee at Kings Dominion, me thinks. I really hope Cedar Fair does sue for at least the cost of construction and maintenance of these WindSeekers (constructive guess at least $60 million). I guess we could call this situation similar to Dollywood vs. Huss except on a larger scale.
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

Screamscape said:
Park News - (3/8/13) Knott’s has reopened the Boomerang which looks awesome with the fresh new paint job. Check out a nice collection of pictures sent in by a reader showing off the Boomer as well as an odd new contraptuion Knott’s is testing out that rolls out and installs to the bottom of the Windseeker. With arms on each side that go out to small platforms, it appears this is an evacuation platform. If this works out at Knott’s, I’ve got a hunch we will see these rolled out to the other Windseekers in the chain later this year.
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hzki6dw.png


And the magnificent new paint job:

487192_10151244898525876_2053878209_n.jpg


p1030866.jpg
 
Re: Windseekers closed after riders stuck for hours - update

You could coat that Boomerang in gold leaf and it would still be **** terrible.

Interesting to see their work-around for the Windseeker actually. I wonder how much they've done software wise to try and stop it locking up in the first place.
 
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