Seat belts on Diamondback (and Behemoth)

[ECG]

WTF! Kings Island has added seat belts to Diamondback.

B&M hypers really aren't designed with seat belts in mind, but I do remember when they had them on Nitro. They looked different than these ones and were only on the coaster for the first year it opened, if I remember correctly.

 

[CanobieFan]

Re: Seatbelts on Diamondback

When Steel Dragon switched out their Morgan trains for B&M trains, they also came with Seatbelts. ( http://rcdb.com/1173.htm?p=44795 )
I wonder if this is gonna be a trend with the B&M Hypers from now on, have they been added at Carowinds?

 

[Youngster Joey]

Re: Seatbelts on Diamondback

Damn. And I was finally getting to kings island this year D:

 

[Jarrett]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

A few questions about this.
A. How well do they accomodate fat kids like myself? Can anybody who fit in the clamshell originally still fit in the belt?
B. Are they adjusted by an adjuster strap or do they retract?
C. Are you allowed to eat them?

I'm honestly livid about this, and I really feel like Diamondback doesn't even need seatbelts. However, I do somewhat recall reading about something last season where the clamshell got stuck between the teeth on the ratchet and came up during the ride and they made that rule that you need two clicks to ride, so this might be in response to that if what I'm remebering really happened.

Ah, well. It'll still be an awesome ride.

 

[rtotheizzo17]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

3 weeks before I ride

Here is hoping they dont limit any of the lovely floater air I am expecting. This is an "unfortunate" trend I think we will continue to see after NTG accident.

 

[ECG]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

A few questions about this.
A. How well do they accomodate fat kids like myself? Can anybody who fit in the clamshell originally still fit in the belt?
B. Are they adjusted by an adjuster strap or do they retract?
C. Are you allowed to eat them?

Looks like this might answer questions A & B, but you'll probably have to find out about C yourself.

From KIfansite's Facebook page.

 

[therick311]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

Weak sauce, Kings Island. Weak. Sauce.

 

[rollermonkey]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

Don't blame KI. This has Cedar Fair written all over it.

 

[Jarrett]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

^^^Thanks! Glad to see a park install realistic seatbelt a that can easily fit anybody!

So does this mean we can expect similar treatment for Leviathan, Intimidator 232, and Behemoth? :/

 

[lauren]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

Behemoth has them, but Leviathan supposedly does not. It's possible they could still be added in the future though (or hopefully taken out)

 

[oriolat2]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

I really hope this is a CF thing and that this modification does not affect other B&M hypers.

Hopefully they will get rid of them, just like SF did with Nitro.

 

[Hyde]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

The B&M clamshell is one of the greatest seat/restraint designs in the roller coaster industry, as it is a very simple piece of tech that allows for quick loading and a comfortable fit.

While the seat belts muck this up a bit, let us not forget that the competition (i.e. Intamin T-Bars) still use seat belts. And the Intamin restraints are still nowhere near the comfort level of B&M.

I would imagine this is a Cedar Fair move, not Kings Island, especially when one considers the ever present concern for liability of safety. At any rate, I wouldn't get too bent out of shape. Let us not forget it was also a Cedar Fair move to adopt Paramount's side-mounted seat belts, which made accessing restraints a heck of a lot easier than having to dig through the bottom of the seat.

Is this here to stay? Maybe, maybe not. Corkscrew and Iron Dragon at Cedar Point have both had seat belts added and removed.

 

[ECG]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

Complaints are coming in from CW about the longer Behemoth loading times. Guess that's to be expected.

From CWfansite's Facebook page.

Anyone heard anything about Intimidator at Carowinds?

 

[coasterridr]

Personally I think seatbelts are good, yeah it may slow load times but I have never liked the feeling of knowing that if the lap bar did fail that I would be ejected from the ride. While I'm confident that the lap bar won't fail there is the thought of it and it has always taken some of the enjoyment out of the ride for me.

 

[Maverix]

When I was at Carowinds last Sunday Intimidator did not have seat belts. I guess that could've changed in the past week though.

 

[davidm]

Re: Seat belts on Diamondback

Anyone heard anything about Intimidator at Carowinds?

[tweet]https://twitter.com/screamscape/status/460412422122405888[/tweet]

 

[D1993]

Oh man, this really sucks.
While I'm obviously really annoyed about this unnecessary change, I'm gonna try and hold judgement until I actually ride and see how it affects the ride.
I also have a question for anyone who can answer me: When it comes to the ride ops, are they having to physically check the seatbelt by pulling on it, or is it just a visual thing and they only physically check the clamshell?
Because retractable seat belts wouldn't slow down capacity as much as adjustable ones. But still it won't be great.
I don't know how I feel about having to ride a B&M hyper with a seatbelt - it feels so wrong. Those restraints were so glorious the way they were.

 

[Hyde]

^ Standard safety inspection requires physically tugging on the seatbelt. If not the ride operator, the ride operator will ask the rider to pull on the seat belt to show security, such as on the OTSRs on an Arrow corkscrew, where riders are set deep in the chassis and difficult to access for the ride op.

Based on prior knowledge, I'd expect ride ops needing to physically tug the seat belts. Before the seat belts, ride ops physically checked the clamshells.

 

[D1993]

^ I should have clarified, my bad.
I meant to ask if it was necessary for anyone to pull on the seatbelts. I know it's the standard thing, but it's not unheard of when it's just a visual check (I've worked on a ride before where seat belts were just visually checked).
I know it's unlikely, but these policies change so often it's hard to keep up.
In that case, the ability to hit interval will now be far more difficult and I'd expect the lines to move very slow.
While that all sucks of course, the thing I'm most concerned about is how it affects the ride.

 

[coaster addict]

B&M hypers really aren't designed with seat belts in mind, but I do remember when they had them on Nitro. They looked different than these ones and were only on the coaster for the first year it opened, if I remember correctly.

I'm glad that Elaine and I were able to ride Diamondback before the seat belts... of course, it makes us wonder if Six Flags will add them on B&M coasters like Goliath!