What's Up with The Monster?

[johnjniehaus]

The Monster is one of my favorite KI flats and I thought I'd ride it since I was up at the park alone last Sat (rest of my family says Monster is nauseating) and I am curious as to what is going on with it and why...

First, they are loading 3 arms now instead of 4 or 6. I'm assuming that this is due to only having 2 operators (only one of which is on the ground) however, is it actually more efficient to have to reposition the arms 3x instead of just twice (loading 4 arms)? The 3 arm loading system seems very inefficient to me because of the additional reposition and less riders are able to ride during a cycle. 

Second, the ride seemed slow. So the actual spinning was normal but the center rotating piece that lifts and drops the arms seemed very slow. Usually the monster drops quick enough to give a mild stomach drop however last Saturday it seemed to be as mild as when it's in the lock position as it slowly went up and slowly went down at a more gradual pace. 

Third, I thought some of the lights were missing on the arms. (I am not always the most observant individual so this could very well be the way it's always been and I've just now noticed it)

Anyone else experience the Monster recently and can anyone give further info on it? Anyone else experience a "slow" ride on it? Can anyone explain why they think loading 3 arms is better than 4? 

[FoF96"]

Nothing to do with speed.  But it is about balance.  If they were to only load two, it is doable, but the operator would have to move the opposite station which takes time and then go back to their main station, all while loading less seats. They are loading one side of each set in order to allow the operator to walk up and load the same side and quickly get back.  Look at an overhead shot of the ride and you’ll see.  There are 6 total arms.  When it comes down into the loading position, they are going to either be loading all of the right arms or all of the left arms each time.  This could be due to short lines in order to ensure the ride is balanced.  As far as the speed I don’t know.  I haven’t been in a while.

[johnjniehaus]

1 hour ago, FoF96" said:

Look at an overhead shot of the ride and you’ll see.  There are 6 total arms.  When it comes down into the loading position, they are going to either be loading all of the right arms or all of the left arms each time.  This could be due to short lines in order to ensure the ride is balanced

Yeah I can see the balancing thing but my question was is it more efficient to have one ground operator load all the right arms (3 arms total, moving the ride three different times into loading position) or to load 4 arms making the op run to the far side but only have to move the ride into loading position twice. I'm also thinking capacity wise here. Does the extra time it takes to walk across the loading area and check the far arm take longer than cutting capacity by 4 vehicles (one arm) per cycle and having to reposition the ride an additional time? Whenever I rode it I had to wait 3 cycles before I was on so the loading procedure was definitely because of only having one op not because it wasn't busy. 

[SonofBaconator]

Ideally the ride would’ve been initially designed to where all arms could lower at once but they would require a lot of hydrologics which probably weren’t available decades ago- heck current models still resemble the old designs 

[FoF96"]

2 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

Yeah I can see the balancing thing but my question was is it more efficient to have one ground operator load all the right arms (3 arms total, moving the ride three different times into loading position) or to load 4 arms making the op run to the far side but only have to move the ride into loading position twice. I'm also thinking capacity wise here. Does the extra time it takes to walk across the loading area and check the far arm take longer than cutting capacity by 4 vehicles (one arm) per cycle and having to reposition the ride an additional time? Whenever I rode it I had to wait 3 cycles before I was on so the loading procedure was definitely because of only having one op not because it wasn't busy. 

There isn’t a way to load 4 arms with 2 stops and have the load evenly distributed.  It would be lopsided and have the weight uneven.

[johnjniehaus]

22 hours ago, FoF96" said:

There isn’t a way to load 4 arms with 2 stops and have the load evenly distributed.  It would be lopsided and have the weight uneven.

I've ridden the monster for years and I've never seen them load 3 arms until this year. Maybe they have other years/days and I have never been at the park when they do. I do know that typically they have 3 operators (1 in the control booth and 2 on the ground loading the arms). For years and years I've seen them load two then skip one and rotate it and load two more. 4 arms and 2 stops. I'm not sure how "balanced" the ride is but that's how it's been operated for years (at least whenever I've been there and rode it from 2014-2022). Only on a Saturday have I ever seen them load all 6 arms making 3 stops. 

[FoF96"]

10 hours ago, johnjniehaus said:

I've ridden the monster for years and I've never seen them load 3 arms until this year. Maybe they have other years/days and I have never been at the park when they do. I do know that typically they have 3 operators (1 in the control booth and 2 on the ground loading the arms). For years and years I've seen them load two then skip one and rotate it and load two more. 4 arms and 2 stops. I'm not sure how "balanced" the ride is but that's how it's been operated for years (at least whenever I've been there and rode it from 2014-2022). Only on a Saturday have I ever seen them load all 6 arms making 3 stops. 

I haven’t ever operated a monster or spider so don’t know how strict the manufacturer is with balance, but usually for circular rides, it’s pretty important.  Most complex I’ve done is Giant Wheel at KK.  It allows a tolerance of +\- 2 gondolas on each side.  So at any given time other than when stationary for load/unload you must always be within 2 gondolas loaded  on side.  First thing in morning for first riders we were able to load 2 gondolas (12 people max) then move wheel to exact opposite side.  At this point, we could now load 4 gondolas (24 max) for a maximum first ride capability of 36 people (assuming every group had 6 people).  You had to watch the line to make sure you had enough people to replenish whatever you loaded so that it never got out of tolerance or the ride would fault and motors unlock until heaviest weight settles at bottom.  Had to be very careful if loading multiple “sets” (more than 10 gondolas per cycle) as it would be very easy to go out of balance if line didn’t support it.