Is it just me or is TOT getting very slow?

[Slick]

Has anyone else noticed that the Tower Of Terror is getting....... slower than expected??? Watching the TOT for quite some time i have possibly come to realise that this might be because: a)liability insurance running high b)power bills c)no-one has complained PS: no one, under any circumstance give me the crap that the ride is getting old because, if you knew your facts, you would know that the magnets used in the TOT and GD last for over 1.2 million years!!!!!

[Flea]

no one, under any circumstance give me the crap that the ride is getting old because, if you knew your facts, you would know that the magnets used in the TOT and GD last for over 1.2 million years!!!!

Not true. ToT and GD do not use the same magnets. In the event of a power failure, GD's magnetic brakes will still work. The electro magnets used on ToT will not work because it requires power.. I really do doubt that they could last for 1.2 million years. Like it's clone 'S:TE' at SFMM, the speed of the ride has been toned down due to power reasons. Although, if you see tests of ToT early in the morning, you will notice that the cars do actually reach quite high. This happens because of the less weight in the car. ~Flea

[Slick]

Its not so much that they use the same magnets, but the fact that the magnets are very closely synchronised so much so as they almost work as a "group".

[Slick]

Also, i stated that the magnets in the TOT AND Giant Drop COULD last for 1.2 million years.

[Richard]

Tower of Terror does have essentially the same magnets in places, as Giant Drop and he acceleration of TOT does indeed use what are essentially electromagnets. I'm not totally sure of the braking of Tower of Terror. Whether or not it uses the same acceleration system for braking or not I'm not sure, but in the station and behind, they've got distinct natural magnets (essentially magnetically charged iron or alloy), which will certainly slow the car in the event of a power failure. Once something has been magnetised, it will essentially remain magnetic unless it is heated or beaten. Though, over time, electrons do "leap" off the north pole of any magnet and not make their way to the south pole of the magnet, and will lead to slow (barely noticeable) reductions in magnetic strength. I'm guessing the 1.2 million year figure that you see everywhere on promotional material for both GD and TOT, is the time that the magnets they're using have before loss of strength is significant. For what it's worth, by using a "keeper" (just a piece of metal) to connect the two poles of the magnet, its life can be significantly increased. Something tells me no one really cares though...

[rappa]

TOT does essentially use the same system for both acel and decel however obviously when slowing the car the process is reversed slightly and the charge is not as great... As Richard said, in the station and the safety track behind (geeze that thing goes a long way) there are fixed magnets in place to stop the car in an emergency such as a power failure or control system failure. Does anyone know of such an occurance happening or even seen it??

[Richard]

I've heard of it happening at SFMM, and it sounds like nothing too special (as you'd expect) - the car hits the gate (though I think SFMM have more of a curtain rather than a gate) behind the station and is slowed pretty quickly. I'm not totally sure of the resetting procedure.

[joz]

Last time I was at Dreamworld, I noticed this during two consecutive launches of Tower: During the launch, the car simply stopped accelerating. It was still moving the same speed, but it was no longer going faster. About a second later, it picked up again for the final push up the tower. To get the same feeling, when you turn onto a highway with a top speed of 110km/h, stop accelerating at 90 for a second, then accelerate again. This replicates the feeling quite nicely. I can't blame Dreamworld for this, the ride requires allot of power/money to operate. Its a shame, but its sadly inevitable. As some may note, I've been a bit critical of the park in the past, but slowing Tower is sadly (for us) common business sense. Lets think about it, no ones complaining, and its saving the park money. Slick's right, its not slowing down because the ride is old, its being slowed because its a good idea for the operator to do so. As for how long the magnets will last... lol, imagine if the ride was still operating in 1.5 (I'm certain that's what it used to say?) million years. I mean most coasters seem to have reached their use by date after 30 or so years . I think sometime in the next million years, Dreamworld will close Tower of Terror and possibly add another side to Giant Drop. I expect this to happen somewhere in the year 294723 I think it comes down to the old cliche, after a nuclear war all that will be left are cockroaches and Cliff Richard. No mention of magnets you'll note.

[Slick]

Okay, since i posted last... here's a couple of things: 1)there have been numerous "accidents" on the TOT but no serious injuries. One such "accident" has occured to my brother's GF (who also manages the building sites of the Matrix Realoaded and the runaway reptar and stuff with all the cranes, but she doesn't really do that much when she's out.... but she gets all the reports of all the construction progress in Brisbane hehe....)ANYWAY one incident happened with her on the TOT..... one day everything was runnign very smoothly than the computers glitched sending her 180 km up the tower hitting the brakes up the top and almost literally sliding back into the station then hitting the brakes very very hard..... she said it was very fast on the way back and then the brakes at the end cause the pod to stop in one big jolt 2)in regards to normally braking, the electro magnets give of an opposite charge, like truning them the other way round except not as powerful. Well there's my 2 cents

[rappa]

I have to say that story about going up and hitting the brakes at 180 sounds like one of those load of crap stories every second punter tries to tell you... Like the time that the girl on demon accidently hit the wrong button and it went too fast and almost came of the tracks! - how many times have we all heard those! Fact is those rides (TOT and STE) were orriginaly marketed/designed around the 180km/hr mark so that sort of speed simply wouldn't have the result you described. Secondly the magnets are not actualy oppositly charged in the braking process, that would speed up the car and send it rocketing back into the station. The charge is the same direction as for accelerating but rather they are fired off in the opposite order. As you said the charge is not quite as strong as for acceleration.

[Slick]

I can guarantee that story is very very true

[Andy_q69]

Other general public quotes: "Did you hear last Saturday how the Demon train came off the track because the magnets let go?!" "Let's go ride the Space Probe roller coaster!" "Why doesn't the Demon have two trains?" "The Demon is scarier coming backwards because you don't know where you're going to go!" and the most common one.. "MAKE THE Demon/SP/Tazzy/HMS/Almost any ride GO FASTER!" (They are real! I actually heard them!)

[rappa]

My 2 personal Favs are that "The Bush Beast is so bad its dangerous, like pieces of wood come flying off when you go past!" and how can we forget all the times we've heard how "<insert looping coaster name here> broke down and got stuck upside down in the loop!!" Some people are SUCH a worry!

[DJKostya]

There was actually a coaster at what is now Six Flags Belgium that got stuck on the loop. I remember seeing it on the news. I have the article in my room somewhere I'll see if i can find it. Robb Alvey even has information on it and so do several web pages. Some even have photos. The coaster was called Mavre when it got stuck. It is now enclosed.

[Psycho]

We've all heard the 'urban legends' of the theme park world. Some of them are absolute classics.... The most unexpected incident I've witnessed involving the TOT happened one day during the Christmas holidays a few years back. While waiting in line for the Giant Drop, the TOT launched as normal. As it launched up the side of the tower, everyone noticed some things falling from the sky. As they reached the ground we noticed that they were peacock feathers. Turns out one of Dreamworld's beloved peacocks with very bad timing had stranded onto the TOT track and.....SPLAT. Guests in the Giant Drop gondolas at the time came off the ride holding tail feathers. Quite disgusting really...... :shock:

[Richard]

And as it seems to be going this way, it's worthwhile to mention that just a few days ago, one side of Batman & Robin - the Chiller got stuck upside down for some 20 minutes.

[joz]

Does anyone have anyone know where pics of what happened on Batman & Robin are? I've yet too see if it was upside down or just in the middle of the cobra roll or what.

[Andy_q69]

I remember a ride that was just a loop that went round and round. It was like Ring of Fire. That got stuck one late afternoon in America. I saw that about 5 years ago.

[rappa]

Yep there is the odd circumstance where a train does get stuck upside down, a wheel failing or a derailment could cause this, therefore not all of these stories are fakes. Most of the time though when a mate comes out with something like that it is a load of crap though :-) The ring of fire type ride is a totaly differnt story altogether. It doesn't work like a normal coaster rather the train goes around the entire track of the loop (some of it has cars, the rest is just bogies(sp?) ). If the drive mechanics jam or stall then the ride will stop regardless of position... As for the Batman and Robin incident I'm not sure of the particulars...anyone else care to enlighten us all??

[joz]

I once got stuck upside down on Hangover, when it was at Dreamworld for 'Extended Play'. It wasn't a malfunction, but rather the operator was one of the biggest idiots in the history of everything (Where Seaworld staff have been sent to the traveling carnivals to be shown how not to do the job, Dreamworld hires them). Everytime this particullar bloke operated the ride he kept the cars upside down for about 20 or 30 seconds. Doesn't sound like much I know, but I could barely stand that, I feel sorry for those people years ago who were stuck upside down for 90mins

[Andy_q69]

Wouldn't the blood rushing to their head do something to the people??

[joz]

Well, in 20 or seconds you get sever headaches and nausea creeps in. Don't wanna think about what happens when your upside down for a long time.

[Nightshifter]

well when the TOT first opened it broke the 160 km/hr barrier by comething like 2 km which made the ride the tallest roller coaster in the world becasue superman the escape went the actual 160km/hr the last time i rode the ride it went the usual 156km/hr which would not make a big difference probably1 or 2 metres different, but u could notice it in speed.

[joz]

So explain to me how the ride going 162km/h makes it the tallest (and yes I do realise it was the tallest for a while)?

[Nightshifter]

because for about a couple of times when it first operated the power was fresh and new and it made the ride go an extra 1 or 2 km, and it could make a difference going and extra 2 km could be maybe 1 or 2 metres extra up the tower. which was above the 100 m drop, thats why the australians claimed that the TOT was actually faster and taller than superman.