Losing Streak Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 This probably isn't a huge hairy deal, and I'm sure it's happened before, but last night, I just happened to watch Face/Off valley between the second lift hill and the loop. I was standing at one of my carts, and was facing it. It went up the loop, the front got about to the middle point, and then it went back down the way it came. It was kind of funny. It came back one time, went a little up the loop, and then left again. I never saw it again. I assume there are brakes there to catch it if that happens. I've always wanted to see that happen, just once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StXBomber Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 hmmmmm.... I didn't see the actual valley, but I did see them running it with only one person riding. I'm guessing they were testing it out again after it closed down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispy1979 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 (edited) This kinda reminds me of the problems Kentucky Kingdom had with the Vampire. The Vampire was a Vekoma shuttle boomerrang coaster like Face Off. The only difference is that it was just a standard steel coaster, not a suspended coaster. In any case, they had a constant problem with the brakes firing when the coaster came down the second lift hill. This would slow the coaster down and cause it to get stuck in the inverted corkscrew section after the loop. And because this part of the ride is high off the ground, the only way to get the people off the ride was to take them off one by one with a cherry picker. Kentucky Kingdom kept getting the Vekoma people out to the park they would pronounce that they had "fixed" the problem. But then it would jsut me a matter of time before it happened again. Basically it was happening on at least a monthly basis and the park was getting sick of it, so they eventually just removed the ride. It was also a PR nightmare for the park. No one wants to be stuck on a coaster for hours and then have to be taken off in a cherry picker. And having to deal with that on such a regualr basis was not good publicity for the park. It seems that the Vekoma boomerrangs are still suffering from the same problem, but it sounds like in the case of Face Off, the train simply falls back down into the valley before the lift hill, rather than getting stuck in the boomerrang corkscrew part. So at least that doesn't pose a sever problem and is mroe of an inconvenience. Cris Edited January 1, 1970 by Crispy1979 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike77 Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 As I hear all Vekomas are bad with valleying, especially the boomerangs. If Face Off does valley between the loop and second hill couldn't they just bring it back up the hill with the lift and try again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dane Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 That sounds like a sight to see. And Yes Mike77, they can. But it would have to be manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fyrfyter Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 I was at kentucky Kigdom the one day vampire valleyed. What a sight cherry pickers and fire trucks were used to get people down. usually two at a time, so it took a while, to empty the whole train. One would think they would ahve tried something to get it to move from upside down to right side up, before trying to get everyone out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxD3LIRIUMxx Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 I know that this must speak highly of my PKI news knowledge...but is Face/Off closed? That is my absolute favorite ride there...besides The Beast...but it isn't as rough as The Beast. Please tell me that they just closed it for a day... ::Sara:: "Don't ever try to fly unless you leave your body on the other side." -System of a Down, "Know" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Return_of_Yogi Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 Just out of curiosity......is it safe to use terms like valleyed on here for employees??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Losing Streak Posted June 13, 2003 Author Share Posted June 13, 2003 Just out of curiosity......is it safe to use terms like valleyed on here for employees??? I would think so... Seeing as how it's not something I learned at the park, it's something I picked up on the internet. And I work in Food Service, so I'm not told anything about the rides, anything I know, I know because I found it on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S500 Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 If my memory serves me correctly, Face/Off was experiencing minor difficulties the other day but it is normal for Face/Off to "valley" from time to time. Some of us at Face/Off like when it "valleys" because it is a cool thing. I really can't explain to you on here why it does "valley" since I would hate to lose my job but if you want an explaination, I would be more than happy to explain it to you in another setting or you can email me. I apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crispy1979 Posted June 13, 2003 Share Posted June 13, 2003 >>>I was at kentucky Kigdom the one day vampire valleyed.<<< Vampire did this all the time, not just once. It was a fairly regular occurrance. >>>One would think they would have tried something to get it to move from upside down to right side up, before trying to get everyone out.<<< Yeah, the problem with the vampire is that normally if a coaster is not stuck on a brake section, it will will coast via gravity to the next braking section. But because of the location where the train would get stuck, it was not able to coast via gravity back to the station or a blocking point. I would be curious to know how they got the train back to the station after they exacuated everyone from the ride. >>> Just out of curiosity......is it safe to use terms like valleyed on here for employees??? I would think so... Seeing as how it's not something I learned at the park, it's something I picked up on the internet.<<< Plus it's something that anyone could observe by just looking at the ride and not a result of "Insider information" that could only be known to someone working at the park. Kind of like the difference between saying "Today I saw that such and such ride is closed" or "Today I saw that such and such coaster got stuck on the lift hill" as opposed to someone saying "such and such coaster malfunctions all the time because of such and such technical explination of a mechanical problem." To know the later would require insider knowledge. To know the first two examples would just require that you just look at the ride. >>>I really can't explain to you on here why it does "valley" since I would hate to lose my job but if you want an explaination, I would be more than happy to explain it to you in another setting or you can email me. I apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding. <<< Well, I will offer my guess. I know that with the Vampire there was a set of brakes at the bottom of the loop before the second lift hill. The purposed of these brakes was to slow the train down as it was coming out of the look and going into the second lift hill. However, for some reason, the brakes would also fire when the train was coming down the second lift hill before in went into the loop the second time. This would slow the train down too much so that it dod not have enough speed to make it back to the station. Cris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiSK Posted June 14, 2003 Share Posted June 14, 2003 Unfortunelly, in Face/Off's case, i do not believe there is a chain that grabs each car of the train and pulls it back up the hill. Rather, a 'trolley' graps the train in one single point and pulls the train up the hills, as well as back down at the end. I believe these are in fact automatic, meaning uncontrolable to come back down and simply grab the train, and pull it back up the lift hill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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