Cyclone's Trains

[alex_1]

Bit of a weird question, but does anyone know what manufacturer made the Cyclone's trains? They certainly don't look like Arrow Dynamics trains, unless they were a once off?

[Richard]

Arrow redesigned their trains in the early 90s and they appeared on a handful of rides including Big Dipper. Check out Canyon Blaster at Adventuredome and Drachen Fire at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. For whatever reason they went back to the original train design immediately after Big Dipper. See Tennessee Tornado at Dollywood.

[alex_1]

Cool, thanks for the info. Very strange.

[Jobe]

I actually find the Cyclone's/Big Dipper trains fairly comfortable. This uniqueness would make it extremely difficult for Dreamworld to attain a much needed second train for the ride, IF that were to occur. They would probably purchase 2 entirely new trains if this was the desire. Would a new set of trains improve Cyclone by any great degree?? Opinions??

[Reanimated35]

I quite like the cyclone trains and hope they don't change them

[Original]

Well am I imagining things, or was there talk of a second train when the ride opened, however this never eventuated??

[joz]

There was a small amount of talk and the ride is designed with that possibility in mind. I suspect they'd have to go with Vekoma or Kumbak since I haven't heard anything about S&S making arrow trains for many moons now. Spare parts yes but new trains I'm not so sure. I don't know how new trains would go on Cyclone improvement wise but the new Vekoma trains get pretty good reviews, so maybe it could help improve the ride. Personally though I don't find Cyclone too bad, if I were DW I wouldn't be looking at a new set of rolling stock to improve the comfort of the ride. Capacity maybe but the ride itself isn't that bad.

[Reanimated35]

I don't think capacity is the issue. It's more of how slow the station parking is and how poorly the load/unload is handled. Every time I've been there it's taken about 3-5 mins from when the nose of the car first enters the station, to when the train reaches the chain. If they were to add a 2nd train, they would have to install the block brakes on that brake run section, but to do that they would also need to install a catwalk and stairs. Possible yes, but I can't see them focussing on a ride that old TBH

[saberon]

My feeling is that I agree with reanimated35. The load unload time is quite slow, part of the reason is that the train is propelled by gravity through the station and it continually brakes to keep the trains speed slow. This process takes around 1-2 minutes from the final block brake to the station. If they added electric kicker wheels to the station section they could better control the train's speed through the station section and be able to return the train to the station much faster.

[Jobe]

Agreed that the load/unload time is almost interminable at Dreamworld. If they speeded up the process then this would go quite a long way to negate the need for a 2nd train. Operations at Luna Park Sydney when Cyclone was Big Dipper were MUCH more efficient. As you can appreciate, Big Dipper was the drawcard at the time and drew huge lines. However, the crew used to pump through the crowds and the line seemed to constantly move. Wait times were not too bad. The same could not be said about operations at Dreamworld. I also agree with Joz. The ride itself is not that bad- I feel that it is actually better than a lot of people give it credit for. In its early days at Dreamworld its postioning seemed odd yet now with Whitewater World surrounding it and the helix diving through and around several slides and a tower it feels a much more "complete" ride. I still reckon it rode better at LPS the way it hugged the cliff and emerged to the helix from around Coney Island- it was a great ride then!! Of course it WAS designed to fit into LPS's footprint.........

[alex_1]

I agree operations and capacity are pretty crap on Cyclone, but I've noticed that it's not exactly the most popular ride. Even on busy days it seems to have a very short, or even nonexistent, line. I also agree with the people who say the ride itself isnt too bad, compared to other Arrow loopers I'd say it's quite smooth. I just hate the bulky OTSR's that prevent you from even putting your arms in the air. I think it'd be a good idea for DW to get the new Vekoma trains for the Cyclone, they seem to have great restraints that would eliminate any headbanging that the Cyclone has.

[westical]

Even on busy days it seems to have a very short, or even nonexistent, line.

Not my experience.

[casey96]

I don't know if anyone's seen this but it's a video of the cyclone when it was at luna park. It has red trains back then which has become quite obvious on cyclones trains. Now that the paints started to scratch off you can see the original red carriages.

[Slick]

^ Awesome video. Did anyone else notice that there were brakes on the straight before the u-turn into the station? And the Cyclone trains have become a little sad looking in recent times. In fact the whole ride has become really average in terms of its presence to guests. From those gungey-looking seatbelts to the red peeling through the black and then the whole entrance/exit system, which has become way more confusing to guests thanks to Q4U. On the flipside though, i've always thought they were one of the nicer looking trains out there. What's more likely though, for Dreamworld to wait until it rots and then kill it ala Thunderbolt, or do we think we'll see some Dreamworld genius and get some new rolling-stock/facelift or a whole new train/retheme?

[themeparkgc]

I think it could be possible that Dreamworld would look into the redevelopment of the ride. According to the Parkz database, Dreamworld did look into the redevelopment of the Thunderbolt before it was scrapped:

In 2002 Dreamworld undertook an opportunity to redevelop this ride, which was a rusty, rough attraction with poor throughput. Three roller coaster firms were approached regarding the project - Arrow Dynamics, Vekoma (partner company of original builder Meisho) and KumbacK Coasters (a spin-off company of Vekoma after its 2001 bankrupcy and associated restructuring). It was determined that it was not feasible to work on the coaster.

http://www.parkz.com...hunderbolt.html

[Original]

Cool video, however, my experience on Cyclone was never a short line, even when the park is dead, due to awful operations, a short line has equated to a massive wait time. A better loading/unloading procedure and second train for peak times wouldn't go astray and may even attract more people to the ride for the fact they can a re-ride quicker!

[alex_1]

^ Awesome video. Did anyone else notice that there were brakes on the straight before the u-turn into the station?

It still does, doesn't it? And that's odd to hear other people's experiences with wait times. I've personally never had to wait over 5 minutes for a ride, even on weekends and holidays.

[Reanimated35]

Cyclone only has the 1 brake run into the station. That's why it's sometimes a bit rough coming around that last turn. I'm fairly certain I've been on it when they were using manual station brakes as it made it about half way into the station before the brakes engaged then it was a nice quick entry. 99% of the time though it goes in car by car. Maybe it's just because I haven't been there in ages but I swear those trains in that video look different around the head area. I don't remember those side panels. I'm really hoping DW are saving some cash for something decent soon, they're getting completely blown away by WVTP at the moment and for the foreseeable future.

[Chris]

New trains sound good, the current ones are terrible for tall people. They say the max height to ride is 2m, i'm 193cm, my legs barely fit in the car, the otsr's sat about 100mm off my lap and the only thing holding me in the the restraints clamped onto by shoulders. Every other ride i fit on with SE and SV being the next culprits for short rider design. New trains please.

[Jobe]

I don't know if anyone's seen this but it's a video of the cyclone when it was at luna park. It has red trains back then which has become quite obvious on cyclones trains. Now that the paints started to scratch off you can see the original red carriages. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK1GbLLsB3w&list=FLCOTsGEysJYb5dmh2sSxlHw&index=1&feature=plpp_video

Great find!! I didnt know this existed!! Its rare to see a video of the park from the '95 incarnation!! Brilliant!! Its a shame that it was not left to develop because of the complaints from the residents- this would NOT happen now as the laws for this type of complaint have been changed under State law- in essence LPS COULD have another coaster in the park and it would be their perfect legal right to do so!! Unfortunately, the park shut again after all the bad publicity from the residents after only one short year!! Given LPS popularity now, this incarnation of the park would have been well recieved and well patroned- they had plans to build a River Caves ride under the Big Dipper slab itself.....*sigh* now that would have been a welcome return!!! Oh what could have been....

[xRazzBerryx]

I thought the track on cyclone went around the loop not through it? Correct me if im wrong

[Slick]

I thought the track on cyclone went around the loop not through it? Correct me if im wrong

Swing and a miss. Cyclone's track does indeed go around the loop and crosses over the bottom segment between the Sidewinder and the loop.

[MaxxTheMonster]

I thought the track on cyclone went around the loop not through it? Correct me if im wrong

Swing and a miss. Cyclone's track does indeed go around the loop and crosses over the bottom segment between the Sidewinder and the loop.

Swing and miss? He was right... Although he didn't realise it.

[xRazzBerryx]

Hahaha all I focus on at that part of the ride is the railing that feels like your heads going to get smashed off when your sitting on the left side. Scares the hell outa me!