A walk to the top of GateKeeper

[KIfan73]

http://www.sanduskyregister.com/gallery/3418596

[violakat03]

I notice they are not wearing harnesses. Interesting.

[Creed Bratton]

I noticed that as well! I know any time that I had to walk Diamondback's lift, whether during park hours or out of them, I had to wear a harness and be attached to a guide wire on the staircase handrails. I'm sure you have to do similar things at Wild Eagle.

[violakat03]

Not only do we have to wear harnesses and be attached to a cable for fall protection, so do the guests if we were to evacuate from the lift. We wear full body harnesses (as seen in my avatar - which was taken at the top of Eagle's lift) but the guests would wear simple belt-style harnesses that just go around their waist.

[shark6495]

heck in one photo the man is standing in the middle of the stair case.

[Creed Bratton]

Not only do we have to wear harnesses and be attached to a cable for fall protection, so do the guests if we were to evacuate from the lift. We wear full body harnesses (as seen in my avatar - which was taken at the top of Eagle's lift) but the guests would wear simple belt-style harnesses that just go around their waist.

Same with Diamondback. So odd that they didn't use them.

[The Interpreter]

It's also true of Kingda Ka.

Terp, adding relevant information.

[PhantomTheater]

I like the scenic asphalt, even after the grass is grown in, it will still be surrounded by old parking lot.

[flightoffear1996]

In picture 5 what is the black thing around her waist?

[kblanken]

Looking at pic 46: riding on the left side means one of the first things you do after getting to the top of the hill is kick Kinzel's house?

[violakat03]

In picture 5 what is the black thing around her waist?

Her camera bag. You can see it more clearly in picture #28.

[MDMC01]

These pictures look really cool I especially like #41 and the pictures that show the rest of the park from the lift (like #9 and #34)

[pyrocoasterkid]

I notice they are not wearing harnesses. Interesting.

I know nothing about protocol, but every situation mentioned here is for EMPLOYEES climbing the ride. When it comes to evac'ing a train on the lift, they never wear harnesses, do they? I've personally never seen it, as the stair cases are built to be safe without them (or at least so it seems, again I'm no expert on all the code). I can't imagine if Gatekeeper breaks down on the lift, they would harness every person taken off the ride and walked down the ride.

That said, I guess these people would qualify more under the "Employee" side of things... so who knows.

[TheCrypt]

Not only do we have to wear harnesses and be attached to a cable for fall protection, so do the guests if we were to evacuate from the lift. We wear full body harnesses (as seen in my avatar - which was taken at the top of Eagle's lift) but the guests would wear simple belt-style harnesses that just go around their waist.

Same with Diamondback. So odd that they didn't use them.

[74Gibson]

I like the scenic asphalt, even after the grass is grown in, it will still be surrounded by old parking lot.

I didn't notice. Must have been distracted by the gorgeous B&M

[Jasper]

I cannot wait to walk down the midway and hear the combined B&M Roar of Raptor and Gatekeeper, not to mention the long echo of Mantis in the background, coaster looks nice.

[violakat03]

I notice they are not wearing harnesses. Interesting.

I know nothing about protocol, but every situation mentioned here is for EMPLOYEES climbing the ride. When it comes to evac'ing a train on the lift, they never wear harnesses, do they? I've personally never seen it, as the stair cases are built to be safe without them (or at least so it seems, again I'm no expert on all the code). I can't imagine if Gatekeeper breaks down on the lift, they would harness every person taken off the ride and walked down the ride.

That said, I guess these people would qualify more under the "Employee" side of things... so who knows.

If we were to evac from Eagle's lift, yes, we would put guests in harnesses and have them attached to the fall protection cable. Yes, it's a huge pain but it's for everyone's safety and based on the state's recommendations. Based on previous evacuation practice drills, we're estimating it would take somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours to evacuate a full train because you can only take 4 guests down at a time.

On all other rides at Dollywood, the employees are harnessed on the lift and are able to place themselves in between the guests and any potential fall point, so guests do not need to be harnessed. However, in the GK pics, no one was harnessed, neither employees nor the photographers. Whether this is because of state policy, park policy, or what exactly, I can only guess.

[Creed Bratton]

I cannot wait to walk down the midway and hear the combined B&M Roar of Raptor and Gatekeeper, not to mention the long echo of Mantis in the background, coaster looks nice.

I'm wondering about the Roar.....the park had mentioned a few times that the the rails were to be filled with sand, dampening the roar...but how damp will they be? Either way, I'm looking forward to hearing it run!