For Those Going Today for FireHawk

[Dane]

Firehawk is having some random downtime today (as to be expected,) lines are said to be at 5+ hours.

[PKIVortex]

Which is complety understandable 110%.

[Delirium33]

Just out of curiosity, how far back does a 5 hour line extend? (I'm sure it's well past the Zephyr) And how well are they managing the line to prevent cutters? Hopefully pictures of the ride and massive line will come in later on...

[Browntggrr]

Which is complety understandable 110%.

We (loser enthusiasts ) understand it.

But for the once-a-year guest, they are probably a little upset.

Now is the park jam packed? I also wonder what the line is for FoF today as well.

[flightoffear1996]

FoF line was out the line. I just got home from Firehawk riding it. We got there at open and didn't board to a little before 3. Great ride and well worth the wait.

[BoddaH1994]

They are also running only ONE train, FYI.

[corn4ahead]

What happened to the other train running?

[BoddaH1994]

What happened to the other train running?

We're not sure. There has been speculation over the past week or so as to whether or not both trains would run today, which it didn't.

[bozz]

What happened to the other train running?

We're not sure. There has been speculation over the past week or so as to whether or not both trains would run today, which it didn't.

When I rode this ride as X-flight from up north I never saw 2 trains run.........also it was a little painful with the sun in your face laying on your back out of the station........it was suppose to be upright till you climb the left hill.......nerver happen.........its an decent little ride.......but not worth more than a 20 min. wait.....IMHO.......wish they would have dug a pond out with water jets you could fly over now that would have been cool........you spend most of the time staring at the ground in flight position during the ride ........again not a bad ride.......just not nearly as good as KI's other rides there. Hope you all get to ride and enjoy.

[PKIVortex]

Well that sucks about the one train op, I hope they will do what they can to get both trains running asap.

[The Interpreter]

bozz, I've ridden X-Flight many, many times. Probably in excess of 100. And I never saw it run only one train. Not even once.

Now understand I am NOT complaining about today's apparent one train operation. Things happen, especially when a ride is first open to the public.

I also disagree about the ride itself. It's a grand ride, one of my very favorites.

[PKIVortex]

I also rode X-Flight in 2001, and can't wait to ride Firehawk, but only when I feel 110% up to it.

[padfoot714]

I was on the fourth train today and I asked the ride manager why only one train was running. He said that they "are still working on train 2" whatever that means. Also, they were painting the station platform while we were there. There are some red stripes that are missing on both sides.

[Kenban]

What happened to the other train running?

We're not sure. There has been speculation over the past week or so as to whether or not both trains would run today, which it didn't.

When I rode this ride as X-flight from up north I never saw 2 trains run.........also it was a little painful with the sun in your face laying on your back out of the station........it was suppose to be upright till you climb the left hill.......nerver happen.........its an decent little ride.......but not worth more than a 20 min. wait.....IMHO.......wish they would have dug a pond out with water jets you could fly over now that would have been cool........you spend most of the time staring at the ground in flight position during the ride ........again not a bad ride.......just not nearly as good as KI's other rides there. Hope you all get to ride and enjoy.

I am not sure if Firehawk (X-Flight) even has the hardware to tilt the cars back anywhere other then the station. The prototype (now at Carowinds but was built at Great America) did tilt the cars back on the lift hill for the first year. It caused so many problems that it also tilts the cars back before they leave the station.

When Stealth moved there were major electronics upgrades which improved the reliability of the ride and it has been running better then X-Flight did and I am hoping that similar upgrades occurred on Firehawk. The problems might be from the very short move schedule and that there was just not enough time to work out any problems. We should know in the next few weeks how its going to run this summer it might not be off to a good start but there is a lot of time for improvements.

[CoastersNSich]

I just got back from KI - I did NOT ride Firehawk today. I ddn't get to the park until around 1pm, where I headed straight for the water park. I went over to Firehawk around 3, and saw UncleHenry, CoastersRZ, ZosoBeast and Captain Nemo who had just gotten off. They had waited about 5 hours (they got to the ride at 10 am, but the ride didn't start until 1:30 or so. All I can say is that if you've ridden it as X-Flight or have a season pass, wait a day or so...

[kjkjkj]

yeah, me and my brother got to the park at 8:30, waiting in a line of cars to get into the parking lot, when when we finally got in the park we waited untill 10:00 when they dropped the ropes, and made a mad dash all the way to Firehawk, After waiting in line to get into the line for 3 and a half hours lol I finally got on the Fourth train also!

[KI on the mind]

There is a mechanism in the station that raises and lowers the cars. There is NO way that the trains can go up or down, ANYWHERE other than when the trains are parked in the station. I'll bet that makes evacuations a real pain in the butt.

[Hendrick]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Flight#Trivia

The ride was meant to recline on the lift hill, rather than in the station, and return to the upright position prior to re-entering the station. This feature was never used, because it didn't work properly.

[RollerNut]

BORG does not have the ability to rotate on the lift automatically. However, the seats can be rotated mannually on the lift and the brakes. Firehawk has motors on the seats that can be used anywhere on the track whereas BORG has rotaters in the station. The BORG seats have to be mannuelly lifted by hand on the lift or brakes or maintence personnel.

[PKIDelirium]

Firehawk uses the station rotators now, too. I saw them in action today.

[Rustbucket]

For what it is worth, they were PAINTING the second train today. ( I was on the fifth train.)

[padfoot714]

For what it is worth, they were PAINTING the second train today. ( I was on the fifth train.)

Are you sure you saw correctly? The painter I saw was painting the ground around the yellow train's station platform. Also, I saw the yellow train run at least once during testing that day.

[Skywriter]

I waited 4 hours to ride it today. I got there at 9. I was on the first train of the day. I was in car 5.

I rode it again later and I wound up with 2 free tee's and 2 great rides.

[UncleHenry]

Way to post the same thing in 3 different topics.

[bonafidefreak]

I didn't ride it today either..We spent most of the day in Boomerang Bay...and started riding rides around 3. We were told it was a 3 1/2 hour wait for Firehawk...I can wait. Hopefully they will open it half hour early for Gold Pass members in the near future. If not..I'll wait til the tourist season is over.

[BoddaH1994]

When Stealth moved there were major electronics upgrades which improved the reliability of the ride and it has been running better then X-Flight did and I am hoping that similar upgrades occurred on Firehawk. The problems might be from the very short move schedule and that there was just not enough time to work out any problems. We should know in the next few weeks how its going to run this summer it might not be off to a good start but there is a lot of time for improvements.

The system for Firehawk has been rewired per lesson learned from Stealth.

[CoastersRZ]

Well, when I rode Firehawk on Saturday, they had two laptops hooked up to the ride computer, near the control panel, to trouble shoot any issues that would arise.

[Browntggrr]

Only having one train due to break-in period, or for mechanical issues is one thing (understandable); but only one train because the other was being painted is a different story.

Perhaps I am expecting too much, but why didn't KI paint the trains before they were even installed on the track? These trains could have been painted a couple months ago. The park obviously knew about how slow the unload/ load job is, I would have thought that the focus on having 2 trains would have been near the top of the list.

A five hour wait for a ride that is not a brand new ride is a bit much.

I guess I am just wondering what the method to the madness was.

[Mikewhy]

5 hour wait? I would not wait that long for a new state of the art, record breaking coaster, much less one I have already ridden at Geauga Lake after waiting less than 10 minutes! I think I will wait a while until those lines die down and they start using two trains. I do not think there is a ride out there that is worth a 5 hour wait! (I waited an hour for Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and that is about my limit!)

I admire the patience of some people on this board!

[jzarley]

^ yeah Mikewhy, I'm with you on that one. The older I get, the less patience I have for lines (I've gotten spoiled I guess by going to parks at "off" times, and things like Universal Express). My limit is about 90 minutes anymore...and that would be for something unique that I haven't ridden at another park with a different name.