Lightning Rod Status

[JJLehto]

Someone needs to buy Hyde a beverage for going so Coaster Need on us.

The coaster nerding is precisely WHY I am here! That said, if I ever see Hyde at a park drink deff on me lol A+ effort

The question is. How will we classify Lightning Rod now? Wood or hybrid? Or hybrid hybrid? Hmmm

lol the debate that will rage forever.
OK so maybe I'm wrong but I always had the impression that track is what mattered. Like Geimini is wood supports, steel track = steel. Steel supports wood track= wood.
RMC does kinda blur the lines I suppose but it seemed clear to me? Outlaw Run, Goliath, Wildfire...wood. NTG, WC....anything I Box = steel

LRod now has I Box. So...its steel in my book. Even if its not all I box its mostly, right? So steel. And it shall stay that way bc I truly dont care for the debate over it XD
Otherwise yeah when you debate "hybrid" too much literally every wooden coaster could be thought of as one. So that's all I got. Im a nerd but it ends at the what is a hybrid debate? Im sticking with the (I thought) accepted I box = steel. EZ

 

[CrashCoaster]

LRod did a boo boo

Never actually seen it roll back half way through a launch before.

 

[Matt N]

I guess it’s no different to something like the Intamin hydraulic launches, although it does seem slightly odd for it to roll back in the middle of the launch... is that the point where the launch motors stop or something, as don’t the launch motors stop after a certain distance up the lift hill as opposed to covering the whole thing?

 

[i305_zack]

LRod did a boo boo

Never actually seen it roll back half way through a launch before.

I think this was the same rollback that Sarah took video of

 

[VonRolland]

LRod did a boo boo

Never actually seen it roll back half way through a launch before.

Oopsie's... Taylor acting like the ride was about to explode or something
Will we be seeing an LSM upgrade if it continues to be such a nightmare, of course its early day's but that new track is worthless if it wont crest the lift at all. I wonder how much Velocity Magnetics regret getting involved with this project now...

 

[jay37415]

Will we be seeing an LSM upgrade if it continues to be such a nightmare, of course its early day's but that new track is worthless if it wont crest the lift at all. I wonder how much Velocity Magnetics regret getting involved with this project now...

For the millionth time.... it is not the launch system! Pete Owen’s himself said that!!! Like I said in an earlier post, there are a lot of things that could have faulted to cause an E-Stop condition in the program. it’s been running flawlessly today.

To answer the wood/ hybrid question— the ride op announcement was “The fastest HYBRID coaster in the world!!” If Dollywood is calling it a HYBRID, then it is a HYBRID!!!

 

[Hyde]

I guess it’s no different to something like the Intamin hydraulic launches, although it does seem slightly odd for it to roll back in the middle of the launch... is that the point where the launch motors stop or something, as don’t the launch motors stop after a certain distance up the lift hill as opposed to covering the whole thing?

Like @jay37415 said, it can be a number of things that trigger the e-stop anywhere along the launch. Sensor readout, power spike, etc. As I alluded to last page, I've had the chance to get a bad launch on Maverick - quite uneventful really, and just moves the train back to start position for a second launch.

Oopsie's... Taylor acting like the ride was about to explode or something
Will we be seeing an LSM upgrade if it continues to be such a nightmare, of course its early day's but that new track is worthless if it wont crest the lift at all. I wonder how much Velocity Magnetics regret getting involved with this project now...

"Nightmare" feels a bit over the top... especially for a roller coaster that just underwent a massive retrack for chronic reliability issues.

To answer the wood/ hybrid question— the ride op announcement was “The fastest HYBRID coaster in the world!!” If Dollywood is calling it a HYBRID, then it is a HYBRID!!!

By that metric, Cedar Point's Pipe Scream is a roller coaster and Mind Bender has 3 inversions. Everyone agrees the coaster is a "hybrid", the moreso question is how do you fit a dual-track-material coaster into a binary option of wood/steel.

This is a highly anticipated re-opening, so any notion of reliability will be under a microscope this season. Bear that in mind before you write-off the entire coaster a "failure". I mean, compared to Kingda Ka and TTD's first few years of operation? This is a dream, especially as riders haven't been sprayed with hydraulic fluid and launch cable fragments yet.

 

[VonRolland]

Like @jay37415 said, it can be a number of things that trigger the e-stop anywhere along the launch. Sensor readout, power spike, etc. As I alluded to last page, I've had the chance to get a bad launch on Maverick - quite uneventful really, and just moves the train back to start position for a second launch.


"Nightmare" feels a bit over the top... especially for a roller coaster that just underwent a massive retrack for chronic reliability issues.


By that metric, Cedar Point's Pipe Scream is a roller coaster and Mind Bender has 3 inversions. Everyone agrees the coaster is a "hybrid", the moreso question is how do you fit a dual-track-material coaster into a binary option of wood/steel.

This is a highly anticipated re-opening, so any notion of reliability will be under a microscope this season. Bear that in mind before you write-off the entire coaster a "failure". I mean, compared to Kingda Ka and TTD's first few years of operation? This is a dream, especially as riders haven't been sprayed with hydraulic fluid and launch cable fragments yet.

My Nightmare comment is the entire duration of the ride's life which if we're being honest it has been so unreliable, hopefully the track improvement's will decrease downtime but alas we shall see

 

[Christian]

The launch failure is nothing dangerous at all. I had one on Turbo Track and nothing happened. The train rolled back to the station and the ride ops launched it again. Worked great the second time.

 

[JJLehto]

I know it was not a launch fail (and it was kinda silly to call this a roll back....that implies a launch that doesnt quite make it....this started than just came to a halt, like something triggered a stop) and its like day 2, kinks always have to be ironed out. I got no concern over any of this (heh remember SV opening day and its collision incident?) But gotta admit....this ride is not helping its meme status. "retracked! Here is the new reliable LRod!" 2 days, down twice lol

That said, using that handy little LRod tracker, looks like it operated all day today

 

[Christian]

I know it was not a launch fail

It was launch failure as the ride failed to launch

 

[CrashCoaster]

I don't think the day to day reliability of the ride will have changed, but what should have changed is the long-term reliability, that the ride shouldn't be closed for days, weeks or even months on end like it has, caused by the track issues. I still fully expect it to have normal break downs a few times a week at least. Nice to know it had no issues yesterday though.

^^Also of course that was a launch fail, how was it not? As far as I'm concerned, the launch can still activate but I would define a launch as a fail if the train doesn't crest the following hill. That includes when a ride doesn't detect a problem or there is nothing wrong with the launch, such as when an increase in wind speed that causes TTD to rollback (a lot). I'd still class that as a fail.

 

[Hixee]

I don't think the day to day reliability of the ride will have changed, but what should have changed is the long-term reliability, that the ride shouldn't be closed for days, weeks or even months on end like it has, caused by the track issues. I still fully expect it to have normal break downs a few times a week at least. Nice to know it had no issues yesterday though.

I agree. I think people will conveniently overlook how much down-time VelociCoaster will have (which will likely just be a 'normal' amount) because the Lightning Rod reliability is such a meme at this point. From the looks of the operating history over the last few days, it looks like it's running just about as well as any another massive launch coaster. Let's just hope that this sees off those weeks of downtime that had become the norm for the coaster.

Also of course that was a launch fail, how was it not? As far as I'm concerned, the launch can still activate but I would define a launch as a fail if the train doesn't crest the following hill. That includes when a ride doesn't detect a problem or there is nothing wrong with the launch, such as when an increase in wind speed that causes TTD to rollback (a lot). I'd still class that as a fail.

I was almost not going to bite, but I'm already replying to you once so why not?

Did the launch successfully get the train over the first hill? No? Okay, the launch failed then. People always talk about launches failing, we're not constantly saying the ride hardware is broken beyond repair. It's semantics, but isn't that the point of the forums.

 

[jay37415]

Was able to chat with a ride op for a little yesterday. She was the one behind that control panel when it faulted Saturday. She said the ride had just opened that day, they had two successful ride cycles with full trains, then the third one faulted. Then the coaster did what it was designed to do. Slowly roll back to the bottom of the launch to make the evacuation process easier. The ride is still in a "Dial-In" stage right now. On Saturday, maintenance crews were on the platform monitoring operations and were able to "see what it did." Since they are still on a dial-in stage, they are only running one train snd have not done testing with two trains.

Concerning the launch going back to 2016 speeds, she didn't know but hoped so. Said they did a two-week trial last year with the old speeds and it was life-changing.

Asked about the trees and she basically said what everyone else has, they were removed to get better access for the modifications. But what was not mentioned here on the boards is how all the other trees were removed from Wild Eagle and Tennessee Tornado. She said that in the fall there were two bad storms that knocked over trees dangerously close to a few coasters (not sure but one might have hit a track). So they did that for safety.

Did manage to get two rides on it yesterday and the speed seemed the same over the launch as it did last year. The biggest difference in speed is it feels slightly faster on the bottom half of the quad down. YES @Snoo I said that right! It now goes faster down the quad down. You can not feel where it transitions from steel to wood except that the wood sections feel slightly rougher which is expected from wood.

 

[JJLehto]

Yessssssss all my excitement is back! If they were up the launch speed back to 2016...that's just a golden dipped cherry on top of the sundae. But it's clear LRod is unchanged from last year, possibly slightly faster over the end!, so that's all I need

The 1 train ops may explain the wait times. I was checking the tracker and was a little surprised to see 90 to 100 min waits on a March weekday. I assume they will open to 2 as the season progresses?

 

[CoasterMOG]

Saturday, I was one of the first guests get into the park. I quickly made my way to Lrod's queue entrance to be front of the line for when the ride opened up in about an hour. Stood there and watched flawless morning test cycles. Recognized a few other fellow enthusiasts who had joined the growing queue line. When Lrod opened up, the ride op manager had me follow him to the lower level of the station where they then assign rows to riders who then go up the stairs to the loading station. Even though I was first in line, they let the first train fill with guests who had timesaver passes. Ironically, I had a timesaver pass, but I followed the lead up the normal line as the timesaver lane was still roped off and I figured I was just following his instruction. Anyways I'm giving my enthusiast buddies crap and they're laughing back at me cause they're getting first train without having to do early entry work I did only to not actually get on the first train. Well that train runs through and I was glad to see some enthusiasts finally get their first ride on Lrod. My turn comes to board the second train of the day, and I get my row twelve right side seat. Train is dispatched and I get the rollback credit...at least the time waiting to get evac'd allowed me time to get some unique pictures from my POV. That one cycle with riders would be the only one on Saturday. I plan to hopefully get on Sunday.

Sunday rolls around and I go through the same plan as yesterday, but this time I've got my single use timesaver card I received after being evac'd the day before. I and again the same enthusiast buddies get into the timesaver line, cause that's who boards the first train like what was done the day before. Nope, ride op starts assigning rows for the first train to riders who are in the regular queue. I and the fellow enthusiasts just start laughing at this point, cause frankly it was pretty hilarious with the planning/energy I went through to get be that first person to board the train.

Well, the first train goes through without issue. I get my back row right side seat, and we rocket up the lift hill and through the course without a hitch. Wow, it basically feels just like the old Lrod with the quad down feeling a bit smoother than I remembered it. I quickly reenter the line and get in two more rides with both of them being front row right, and that's arguably the place to be as the sideways ejector through the wave turn and twist and shout plus just the front row view over the shortened zero car is just plain epic. Very little, if anything has changed with the ride experience. Lrod continues to rip through a course with a "vengeance" like few other rides on the planet. Couldn't be happier with the efforts made by Dollywood/RMC to keep what is a legendary ride for hopefully decades to come.

 

[JJLehto]

God sounds like such an experience. So stoked.

 

[CrashCoaster]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but back in 2016 when the launch was faster, didn't the coaster go faster than the initially planned 73mph?

I'm just thinking that in the circumstances the launch does get sped up again, could they try to beat Iron Gwazi's record of the fastest hybrid coaster? IG goes 76mph, so it would only have to go 3mph faster to capture the record.

 

[Hutch]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but back in 2016 when the launch was faster, didn't the coaster go faster than the initially planned 73mph?

I've heard this as well. I take it with a grain of salt but I could see that being that case back in 2016.

 

[i305_zack]

Guys I keep checking the dollywood wait times website and like 90% of the time I check it, Lightning rod is down, has anyone been to the park and can you tell us whats going on?