Lap Bars On Full Throttle

[CoburnJason54]

When I rode full throttle for the first time the other day the employees would get mad at you every time you lowered the lap bar before they lowered it for you. Is there a reason for this? I thought it might be to speed up loading but they don't do it on any other rides. Is it something in the restraint system? Something silly that didn't make sense to me.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

Interesting, I saw the same thing on Silver Comet at Martin's Fantasy Island, a CCI woody. Didn't think to ask as I assumed it was some random park policy.

 

[Hixee]

Only thought I have - does it have seatbelts too?

I remember they didn't want you to pull down your lap bars on Boardwalk Bullet as they wanted to check the seatbelts first.

 

[bmac]

They did the same thing with Roar at Six Flags America. I have no clue why parks want to check the seatbelts like that when they are visible and able to be checked properly with a quick hand. Then and again I'm used to checking El Toro which doesn't require this crazy policy even though it seems 3 people a train forget to put their seatbelts on before pulling the lapbar down. Hell even if we can't grab the pull strap a hard tug tells us if you buckled properly or not.

 

[Jarrett]

Didn't they add the seatbelts after the NTG incident? If so, I can't help but think that the belts don't have a sensor to tell them that they're engaged on the control panel like the restraint. Maybe they HAVE to make sure it's buckled because it's not hooked up to the computer? Only reason I could think of, I know Six Flags is somewhat militant about their lap bar-only rides with negative Gs. Dies this policy exist on NTG or IR?

That being said, I'll be sure to let them check the belt before pulling down the bar next week.

 

[Hyde]

It all honestly boils down to weird technicalities in loading procedure that the ride operations department wrestles and toils through considering during the off-season that boils down to random changes and quirks each season.

Skyhawk at Cedar Point is a fun example of this. Initially, the restraints consisted of a lap bar and carabiner combo, where guests could push down the lap bar and lock the carabiner. Then the rules were changed to let the guests put down the lap bar but not the carabiner. Then the restraints were changed to have a seat belt buckle instead of a carabiner, and guests were allowed to push down both the lapbar and seat belt. Then guests were not allowed. And then they were. And then they weren't.

The ride has seen 6 loading procedure changes in its 8 years of existence. It is a lot of trial and error with loading procedure, and honestly a lot of it does not drastically change loading speed or rider safety.

 

[CoburnJason54]

So when I went back again for another day there they started doing this on Goliath. I saw someone pull the lap bar down before the seatbelt and the worker just put the seatbelt under the restraint without a problem. Telling everyone to delay lowering the bar makes the ride capacity much slower. I'm just assuming all six flags parks are being more careful after the NTG, and that this is a new ride. They should understand that some guests aren't really listening to the ride operator and don't understand everything they are being told. Hopefully they change this system because it does not work. It just still confuses me because I have never seen it before.