I've been stuck on this ride for about 20 mins as a younger person in the hanging position...they gave us free passes to ride anything we wanted immediately. For some reason young & dumb me chose to ride it again. That pretzel loop is kind of addicting.
Fun Fact: When I was 7 SF: Great America was my home park and Whizzer was my absolute favorite ride. When I had heard Whizzer was closing I started crying and my mom called Six Flags to tell them not to remove. Glad I could play a part in keeping the Whizzer safe!
My story is kinda similar to yours. I remember when I cried when Six Flags announced that Great Adventure was removing Great American Scream Machine in 2010. I honestly wish they could’ve kept it for a few more years before replacing it with something better than a relocated Stand Up coaster. I wouldn’t say Green Lantern is bad or anything, but I really think Great Adventure didn’t need a Stand Up coaster, and that a Wing or a Dive would’ve been a better replacement for GASM. Hopefully they relocate Green Lantern to Great America and have it converted into a Floorless, because let’s be honest, a B&M Floorless is pretty much another missing key in SFGAm’s coaster lineup at the moment.
The amount of things the engineers take into account when designing these coasters is impressive (of course not just one person, but the team itself is worth lots of respect). Sure some example to aim for as a student myself.
@@dianauwu1312 I'm now at my last semesters of mechanical engineering, my focus being on general product/machinery project, and I'm currently as a trainee in a company that does just that: a client has an idea, they want it made, we figure out how. It's pretty fun frankly, glad I could find an area that meets my goals!
Fun fact, if you forcefully breath out on the pretzel loop, I've found you're less likely to pass/grey out. It's one of my favorite rides at the park and in general.
I'm a pilot and own a small aerobatic plane in which I often pull +/-6g, controlling your breathing is a good start for fighting g, but if you really want to be able to take lots of g without issues, just do what we do and do the old g strain... Which is basically tense the muscles in your legs and stomach as much as you can. The best way to describe it, if somewhat nasty, is pretend like you're on the toilet and you're straining really hard to squeeze out a poop. Lol. Do that same straining deal as hard as you can without having a blowout and you'll almost never have to worry about g.
Six Flags: “Can we have a rollercoaster that requires some tree felling?” County: “No that’s damaging to the environment” Six Flags: “ Can we have a rollercoaster that is made of hundreds of chopped down trees?” County: “Sounds cool to me”
fyi, it has to do with river bank maintenance, the tree roots keep the banks from eroding. remove too many and you'll be polluting the river with sediment, and have to continually back fill the banks and or dredge to keep the river where it is.
I think the trees used in construction are from managed tree farms that are on a cut and replant cycle. The trees they wanted to cut down for the coaster in the park would damage the natural growth and aesthetic the county (or whatever governing body) wants to keep. Although, you’re right, it does still sound pretty silly.
damn, B&M literally think of everything. Their backup checks have backup checks. It should be impossible for a train to come into the station in the inverted position, but they still check for it. Btw. can you make a video on Hagrids? That seems to be quite a problematic roller coaster. I know you mostly do coasters that you have operated before, but maybe you can get an insiders perspective from an operator there? Cheers
@@onefastslimjim thing is though, who knows maybe some freak chain of events could cause that and as the rider I don’t care how rare it is I’d like to keep my legs lol.
@@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan I just make sure to have my fingers on the space bar and back arrow so I can navigate and pause in order to fully understand what is going on. I definitely want to give kudos to the creator for how well they explain the mechanics, even for lay folks like myself.
When I tell you this was a wealth in good information. I am currently to big to ride this. I’m working on it a goal of mine. I never would have guessed this ride was so complex. I love all of the built in redundancy safety systems. Again great job. My home park is SFoG and my roller coaster buddies can’t remember other that the opening year when both sides have been in operation.
yea!!! Six flags over Georgia is my home park as well:) I also don’t remember a time where they used both loading stations.. I hope you are doing well gerrick and closer to your goal so you can enjoy one of the best coasters in that park! 💕🤍💕
Funny story: one time i rode superman ultimate flight at over Georgia and the ride was having some error so the train in the station could not unlock the restraints, so when our train finished the course i was on the final brake run and on the last row, the last row does not fit over the concrete below so I was hanging over rocks for about 20 minutes until they manually pulled the train into the other side of the station, similar to what you mentioned at 21:25
@@joeskrtit3061 It sucks dude, it is so uncomfortable getting stuck in the prone position. Ideally the brake run and station should be set up where you recline on your back and run inverted outside of those areas. Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides, but they had a better setup by doing the brakes and station segments "on the ground."
@@sharkheadism "Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides" Actually, that's just Nighthawk, and even then it's mainly just the roughness that hurts it. Batwing is generally considered pretty decent (same with Firehawk when it was still in operation).
I like hearing about the leg flaps. I was 13 when I rode Tatsu for the first time and never having ridden a flying coaster before, wasn't aware of the leg flaps so while loading was happening I was just casually swinging my legs as if I were on an inverted coaster. Then I nearly wet my pants when the flaps closed and I realized my right leg wasn't secured. Of course the ride attendant came to fix it but I don't remember it being a big deal and only took a couple seconds to open the flaps and get my foot in place. Maybe it's easier to open when the chassis is down?
Why can’t all rollercoaster systems be as simple as arrow coasters, seriously, arrow corkscrew coasters never ever break down, they last for ever, they can run in the rain, they can run with tons of trains and block breaks and they never have errors. Definitely the most reliable coaster type ever and safest if you ignore roughness.
That pretzel loop is forking intense! And yeah operations on it aren't as fast as a B&M Hyper or Invert; but WAY faster than a Vekoma Flying Dutchman or Standup coaster!
Every ride I ever had on this coaster featured snail-paced lines that aggravated me and I'm glad to gain some appreciation for the really remarkable engineering that went into this ride. I love how in-depth you get when talking about the technical elements of running rides!
As a ride mechanic that maintains one of these B&M Flying Coasters, this video is spot on. I can see that there are definite differences between Superman and the newer ones. However, this is an excellent video that covers a lot of content, and nails a lot of the major points. Great Job @eltororyan
Haha definitely need to Volcano at least! It was always one of my favorite coasters but definitely had more than its share of problems and was basically a prototype one off as I understand.
6:40 Project rejected due to the number of trees that needed to be taken down. Installed a huge wooden coaster instead. Edit: I noticed the comment below now. Cheers!
@@Mrcaffinebean Oof... somebody doesn't understand the difference between 'we want to maintain the aesthetic of the park' and 'we don't want to use wood'.
@@tim3172 I doubt the “aesthetics“ we’re at issue seeing as they were looking to take down trees within their own park. Not sure why the township would have any say over what a private park does on their private land from an aesthetic standpoint. However townships have been known to intervene on environmental grounds. So just guessing but I bet that’s what the issue was.
Man that first inverted loop/pretzel was one of the most fucked up EPIC feelings i have EVER experienced in a roller coaster to this day! Have ridden this Superman at Six Flags Great Adv soooo many times its one of my top 3 probably. Other than the first loop the ride sucks really bad and is over quick, BUT that first inverted loop STILL to this day makes it one of my top ones to ride and have ever ridden. I will NEVER forget first riding this and completely not expecting that feeling of this inverted loop/pretzel. You actually like used to be underground on the bottom of the pretzel/loop while your literally facing the opposite direction while on your back than you were at the top(hard to explain but i know some get it), it was just EPIC. Upon watching some newer pov's videos of this ride i noticed though that they filled in that hole on the bottom? I specifically remember a little fenced in square holed area at the bottom of the first loop. I remember they said it was necessary in order to fit the loop in place bc they "ran out of room", so they needed to dig into the ground a little to fit the bottom section of it. I wonder how they went about making that particular bottom section of track NOT underground anymore? Cause I dont see really any digging that was done, which i would guess is how they would do this (by just excavating/digging out a much broader/wider area so then the track looks Above ground like now). The front and BACK(i prefer) rows both have there reasons for doing but man being dragged through that pretzel in the back for the first time was one of the scariest things i have experienced still to this day. I couldnt breathe(which never happens to me anymore as im mostly used to it all, but this kicked my ass to say the least) and i know some people who have said they blacked out or was very close to it. Front is also just as fun in that it truly gives a much better flying feeling obviously, bc nothing is in front of you(your not looking at the back of peoples feet/sneakers lol). That hill climb(though not very high) in the first row is still something else. You're literally just looking at the ground as you ascend higher and higher with nothing to catch you God forbid, its just you and air straight to the ground, all wide open 😯(check out a pov on it, youllsee). Idk if its just cause my body wasnt expecting it or what, but i thought i was about to die almost my first time riding this(lol exaggerating slightly, but you get it). I think i was front row first time too and the push up from the back cars while coming out of the pretzel is insane too, even that little pull up part right before you dip into that pretzel! If it only had like atleast 3 of these pretzels omg lol. Makes me wanna ride it right now!
“..For any of those who have watched the entire video, congratulations” What kind of monster DOESN’T watch problematic rollercoasters to the very end. Smh
B&M say they're a rollercoaster engineering firm, but this level of DETAIL for ONE TRAIN is damn mindboggling. Bolliger and Mabillard are true damn engineers that ensure their coasters have the LEAST liability issues, and this video proved it. They really went ALL OUT on this model. Triple and sometimes quadruple redundancies? I can't think of any insurance company saying no to that. The price though? Good LORD you could buy an entire Cessna Citation V for that price. Honestly it's still worth it though because of the liability.
I went on the Superman ride many times at Six Flags Jersey and it was Amazing! The rubbery safety vest that goes over you was perfect fitting and like you are flying! The best seats for this ride was way in the front seats really makes you feel like you are flying since there's no seats in front of you And also if you want to have better feeling of drops than sitting all the way in the backseat is the best which fills you with more adrenaline .... Those are the 2 best seats, all the way in front or all the way in back! I went on Superman multiple times. I had a season pass took Six Flags and I was going 4-5 days a week at one point. Great times!
Rode this for the first time at Great America this week. The pretzel loop is easily the most intense inversion I've ever experienced, which is funny because the rest of the ride is very gentle, as if it's apologizing for trying to kill you. Decent ride, but definitely a one and done, especially with one train ops.
As a SFGA Gurnee fan, (since it’s in my area) the Superman Ultimate Flight ride there is honestly one of my favorites. The Whizzer is also a favorite of many of the younger audience at my six flags.
Great video! The Superman at Over Georgia has amazing terrain to go with the ride. Unfortunately, it’s broken almost as much time a day that it is running. I don’t even try to go on it anymore ever since I was stuck hanging out on it for 30 minutes because the other train had an issue and they no longer use the dual station. Also, it’s broken while I’ve been in line at least 5 times over the past 10 years. Fun but holy crap it’s annoying between the breaking issues and the constant hour+ wait for a one trick pony ride.
I’m late to this but I’ve worked in the amusement industry for over 10 years now. I just wanted to say that the portion of the video where you mention the wireless communication to the trains from the operators console, that’s not how that function works. The part you circled on the train is indeed a COM, but a COM is not wireless in the sense that it uses radio frequencies. Those are not antennas on the COM, they are copper coils, or brushes as some would call them. When the train enters the parked position in the station, the coils make contact with a copper plate fixed in the station hardware, allowing for communication. This is why the functions only work when the train is parked. Many rides use this type of communication wiring in many different ways. Just thought I’d fill you in a little!
Brilliant work. My home park is Alton towers and I've always wondered how the restraints work and how the train is put into the flying position on Galactica 😎
Kind of petty put PLC is programmable logic controller, not computer. But as a mechanical engineer I highly respect your work and videography skills. Your research and presentation of concepts on these roller coasters is the best I've seen thus far.
Suggestion for a future episode: Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs (Deja Vu / Aftershock / Goliath) . Sounds like those have had their fair share of problems.
Poor deja vu had a rough rough life. Shockwave did too. I think that’s what was was there before super man , ultimate flight? It’s hard to remember nowadays. I’m old now. Iron wolf as well. But what a blast 🤣
I appreciate that the reason the b&m cars were problematic was that they were so safe they were too complicated. Which is not the common theme of this channel
I LOVED X-Flight in Ohio back in the day! That and the Batman: Knight Flight ride, I lost count of how many times I rode those. It helped that I lived practically down the street from that 6-flags.
I’m glad I work on automated machinery and can understand how the trains work, otherwise my brain would have been melted. It is insane how much redundancy they implement for safety. Though it is smart for them to do. I’ll say this, I would very much dislike working on these attempting to find the issue. Imagine one of those wires being internally broken? Talk about an absolute nightmare to find and replace.
Coming from an electrician at a park, I can tell you it's an absolute nightmare tracing broken wires and shorts. As far as it goes though, B&M have great drawings, which help immensely, as opposed to some other manufacturers whose drawing and schematics are absolute shit lol
I worked at (at the time) Paramount's Great America when Stealth opened. Had the opportunity to work on the ride a few times to which for the most part it ran well. But with constant down times and issues with the mechanism, it's no surprise our bosses labelled it as junk.
Funny I actually rode this coaster a few years back when it was first installed at six flags georgia.. the glitches were crazy with the seats raising and lowering then we were stuck in the block zone for 45 minutes because of the "Ghost train" glitch. Thanks to your insight on how this coaster works and operates now I know wtf was going on with it at that time.
My friend when I was younger almost got me on this ride, someone who has a fear of heights. Luckily it didn't happen, I think I would of died by heartattack.
23:10 Please never ever be impressed by lines of code. In production environments it is almost always a useless metric. In this particular case, 80K lines of code my be a lot or practically nothing simply based on the language used to write that software. I suspect the latter as it almost certainly written in Java, which is known for verbosity and code bloat in even semi-complex systems. A better metric would be amount of data being sent for diagnostic purposes. However, since there's not much to compare to, even that is fairly useless. TL;DR - color me unimpressed regarding the "80K lines of code".
I don't mean for this question to sound rude, but do you really think they would use Java as the language of choice for efficient machinery equipment, let alone a roller coaster responsible for human life? Most rides use programmable logic/automation controllers made by Rockwell, Siemens, etc. The programming language for those systems is usually a graphical logic language like RLL (relay ladder logic) or FBD (function block diagram). Some programming is done in text based languages, but languages of choice would be highly efficient, low level languages like C#, C, or even possibly Assembly (depending on the application). And trust me, coming from someone who has written in low level languages before, 80k lines of that crap with no overhead or dependencies sounds like hell, lol. Source: www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/4vn6bf/every_rollercoaster_has_a_computer_who_makes_and/
@@RehlmProductions You'd be surprised. Java is used in a ton of places you wouldn't expect, even stuff like control systems on military ships. And to be honest if it's not a system that needs sub-millisecond realtime precision or is extremely memory constrained (meaning it can't tolerate a garbage collected language/runtime) I'd rather have something written in a managed language like Java or C# or whatever rather than C or C++ where I'd have to worry about random memory errors (use after free, data races, all that fun stuff) that the programmers missed. C# is really about as efficient and no more "low level" than Java, it's also a language compiled to intermediate code and then JIT'ed with a garbage collected runtime. 80k LOC for this thing means to me it's probably lots of spaghetti accumulated over long development time with changing requirements.
When I first rode Superman, I was caught off guard by the pretzel loop, and smacked my back into the seat back on the way down. It felt like a backflop into a pool.
There are so many different absurdly complex parts to just the mechanism for getting riders into the right position to leave the station that I can't even begin to imagine how they designed these things in the first place.
Amazing video! I have just one more fun fact. As someone who has operated the Superman UF clone at great america, at least for that park, there are two abnormalities. Rows 1 and 7 are for some reason much weaker than the other rows. If there is too much weight on either of those rows, when you go to dispatch, the chasis will swing up, but it won’t be able to fully raise the train, and it will stop. You then have to say hands off, and press the CHASIS DOWN button, and that will put it back into the load/unload position. You either try again, or you can tell pretty easily which row it is. You then have to unlock either rows 1&2 or 7&8 and ask the two groups to switch, or if they don’t want to, you split the group in half. It’s a real pain in the ass and it destroys capacity.
Superman at Great Adventure had a similar issue the season that I operated it! For us it was row 6- but they eventually fixed it after taking the train off for about a week. Worst issue EVER for the guests waiting on the transfer track lmao
Superman at SFOG is such an amazing underrated ride. I wish flying coasters were a little more reliable/cheaper and Cedar Fair would start getting some. Imagine an epic high budget flying coaster at Cedar Point or Kings Island
The worst part of the Vekoma flying dutchmans is when it is a hot day you sit there face up baking in the sun on the lift hill and waiting block before the stations.
When you brought up the TV remote, i was like "but that's infamrated. I don't think that's a good example" Then you brought up the eyes and i was like "OH MY; THAT IS INFRARED"
Speaking of coasters being designed for their terrain, Fiesta Texas’ coasters do this especially well, besides batman (ss freespun coaster) and goliath (a clone of batman the ride from parks like SF:over texas). The Iron rattler, roadrunner express, wonder woman golden lasso, and super krypton coaster use the quarry wall well, with hills passing the wall’s and lift hills giving you a nice view of the park and quarry shopping center on the other side of the wall, The road runner, Superman, and Iron Rattler even have sections of track that are right on the quarry, with helix’s and corkscrews and small hills.
Using radio communication for safety mechanisms is a BIG NO. Super easy to interfere with and a hacker *could* cause damage. Using optical communication, it's far superior and far safer.
I rode the Superman at the Gurney, IL Six Flags the year it opened. It was absolutely amazing--so comfortable, fast, and free-feeling. Completely exceeded my expectations.
9:20 older TV remotes use an infrared LED to send commands to the TV, which meant you needed to point it at the TV to ensure the sensor detected the infrared beam
If Six Flags wanted a Flying Dutchman near its original intended location, they should’ve built it at Kentucky Kingdom as its much closer to Kings Island. Plus more then likely, this would’ve never been demolished after 2018.
Superman is one of those rides that you will try, year after year thinking YOU did something wrong last year that made the ride painful and nauseating.. then you try it again for the 6th time(at least) and remember WHY you said you would never ride Superman again. If you want to look ANYWHERE but straight down you'd better be prepared to see a masseuse, because you have to lift your head ALL THE WAY UP to see forward.
As a former ride operator of Air at Alton Towers for many seasons your video hits all the points. Very good video. I did have videos of both operating Air and working as the Station Op (attendant at the rear of each station who operates the harness latch, lock and unlock buttons). In the videos I explained the ride start sequence but unfortunately I can no longer find these videos, and AT would most likely not be very happy with it being shared. In terms of staffing for two station, three craft operations we would typically run with two ride ops, two station ops and four platform hosts. This makes one op, one station op and two hosts for each station. Then we would need three-four additional staff to provide breaks for the hosts and ops. Plus we would have a minimum of one host in the queue and one at the entrance. As you can see running a B&M flying coaster is pretty costly in terms of labour alone, without even considering the maintenance costs. Oh and yes, the trains (crafts) are very heavy, typically two metric tonnes per car, so 14t for a seven car craft. Believe me, I have actually been involved in pushing a craft along the brakes/waiting areas with the friction brakes blown. These are very complicated rides with plenty of cause for downtime. For us at AT, it was usually moving floor errors or spiders spinning webs over photo eyes at the top of the lift, on the Hersh bar or on the communication links.
I rode Stealth shortly after opening, It was the best ride I have ever been on. It really felt like flying! The restraints were also very comfortable and made you feel very safe.
Been a few years since I've been able to go to a theme park, but we used to have season passes to King's Island... This video was how I learned that Firehawk was removed :')
The Batwing in MD is like this. It opened on my 15th birthday and we went and I got on it twice because we went to it first and just stayed on......loved that ride.....
Paramount Great America was my main park as a kid, had season passes one year. Stealth was such a huge deal when it was coming out. Those Paramount Parks were special, can only imagine how rough they are under Six Flags
i used to run a few coasters at six flags great adventure. this restraint system would give me a headache trying to remember it all. not to mention writing it all during the operators test. good lord
ElToroRyan Explained. PROBLEMATIC COASTER VID: *Meticulously explains in great detail every technical factor of a rides electrical system in an electrical and structural engineering manner* EVERY OTHER ELTORORYAN VID: *Get drunk in the parking lot, pull paint off rides and dry hump coaster supports*
I have visited SFGA a few times throughout my life. A common occurrence is Superman shutting down more frequently than other coasters in the park. Wasn't unheard of to notice the line not moving for extended periods of time or a train not dispatching within a reasonable amount of time as you waited in line. Among my group roaming the park through the day, we often think that Superman is more likely to be unreliable than other rides in the park. After watching this video, I have a better understanding why this might be the case. I do not know why a wireless system was used, but as someone who is also in the IT world, wireless technologies can have more moments of unreliability than other communication methods, and should only be considered if you are in a pinch.
I know a lot of other people already said this, but if you can find enough info, do Lightning Rod! I’ve actually heard that most of lrod’s problems didn’t have anything to do with the launch, but were all trains. In an interview once Pete Owens (Dollywood VP) said that the main problem with lrod was sensors in the lap bar cylinders reading incorrectly. Weight must have had something to do with it to, since we got those new lighter trains in 2018. Anyways, I always love this series! One of my favorite coaster video series!
I've been stuck on this ride for about 20 mins as a younger person in the hanging position...they gave us free passes to ride anything we wanted immediately. For some reason young & dumb me chose to ride it again. That pretzel loop is kind of addicting.
I did the same lmao
I remember riding it on opening day, and hearing a boy round like 10 years old saying "Farewell, Krypton" like Brainiac in Superman TAS.
@Fahrenheit097lol
I've never been on a flying coaster before, but I can FEEL the Pretzel loops when watching POVs
When you see a B&M coaster appear in the Problematic Roller Coaster series
“Wait, that’s illegal”
fr lmao
Us: B&M since when did you make these problematic coasters?
B&M: Yes
Let's go back to problematic intamins? Yeah
@Rocco Cafagna the amount of technology this thing has sounds like something Intamin would do
Us: I know that B&M did not just made problematic coasters
B&M: Yeah we just wanted to be in the problematic series
Fun Fact: When I was 7 SF: Great America was my home park and Whizzer was my absolute favorite ride. When I had heard Whizzer was closing I started crying and my mom called Six Flags to tell them not to remove. Glad I could play a part in keeping the Whizzer safe!
The whizzer is everyone's first coaster, it was always a right of passage.
My story is kinda similar to yours. I remember when I cried when Six Flags announced that Great Adventure was removing Great American Scream Machine in 2010.
I honestly wish they could’ve kept it for a few more years before replacing it with something better than a relocated Stand Up coaster. I wouldn’t say Green Lantern is bad or anything, but I really think Great Adventure didn’t need a Stand Up coaster, and that a Wing or a Dive would’ve been a better replacement for GASM.
Hopefully they relocate Green Lantern to Great America and have it converted into a Floorless, because let’s be honest, a B&M Floorless is pretty much another missing key in SFGAm’s coaster lineup at the moment.
Always start or end my day with the Whizzer. It’s tradition!
@@enencycruz6948 Demon was mine. Still my favorite.
God, I love the whizzer, that park is so fun. I just went on October I
1st for fright fest
The amount of things the engineers take into account when designing these coasters is impressive (of course not just one person, but the team itself is worth lots of respect). Sure some example to aim for as a student myself.
Hey, I don't know if you've graduated yet, but if not, good luck on your studies! If you have, congrats!
@@o5-7firefox Thank you! Not yet, but close to it! The pandemic has been really helpful in being productive in my case.
@@Kalvinjj Well, congrats in advance! :)
That's a good goal to aim for as an engineer. What sort of engineering are you studying?
@@dianauwu1312 I'm now at my last semesters of mechanical engineering, my focus being on general product/machinery project, and I'm currently as a trainee in a company that does just that: a client has an idea, they want it made, we figure out how. It's pretty fun frankly, glad I could find an area that meets my goals!
Fun fact, if you forcefully breath out on the pretzel loop, I've found you're less likely to pass/grey out.
It's one of my favorite rides at the park and in general.
I'm a pilot and own a small aerobatic plane in which I often pull +/-6g, controlling your breathing is a good start for fighting g, but if you really want to be able to take lots of g without issues, just do what we do and do the old g strain... Which is basically tense the muscles in your legs and stomach as much as you can. The best way to describe it, if somewhat nasty, is pretend like you're on the toilet and you're straining really hard to squeeze out a poop. Lol. Do that same straining deal as hard as you can without having a blowout and you'll almost never have to worry about g.
The pretzel loop is actually very relaxing. I've never greyed out on it.
@@YuukiTakemoto1996 That means you are in the group of humans with high g tolerance, go take advantage of it ;)
@@Hackerhunter15 i think I have that shit too because my friends always complained about that loop but it never bothered me
@@blackhawks81H lol, this is exactly what I do Superman @SFGA.
I literally just finished Grade 11 physics before watching this and it still gave me a headache. good job.
Lessardo same, my teacher took us to BGT and I thought falcons fury system was bad!
@@anthonyc380 ?
In the middle of taking Grade 11 physics and I commend those who understand it.
Just you wait until you get to college level physics
You forgot “video” between “this” and “and”
Six Flags: “Can we have a rollercoaster that requires some tree felling?”
County: “No that’s damaging to the environment”
Six Flags: “ Can we have a rollercoaster that is made of hundreds of chopped down trees?”
County: “Sounds cool to me”
I think the NJ Gov. Was actually stalling till they got El Toro😂
As long as the wood isn't from New Jersey who cares we arnt the problem :p. Probaly the actual quote from the mayor/governor.
Lol not their trees though haha
fyi, it has to do with river bank maintenance, the tree roots keep the banks from eroding. remove too many and you'll be polluting the river with sediment, and have to continually back fill the banks and or dredge to keep the river where it is.
I think the trees used in construction are from managed tree farms that are on a cut and replant cycle. The trees they wanted to cut down for the coaster in the park would damage the natural growth and aesthetic the county (or whatever governing body) wants to keep. Although, you’re right, it does still sound pretty silly.
damn, B&M literally think of everything. Their backup checks have backup checks. It should be impossible for a train to come into the station in the inverted position, but they still check for it. Btw. can you make a video on Hagrids? That seems to be quite a problematic roller coaster. I know you mostly do coasters that you have operated before, but maybe you can get an insiders perspective from an operator there? Cheers
His video on hagrids was cool
See, B&M is the best.
The train shouldn't become sentient and suddenly unlock the restraints midride, but to hell with it might as well check for it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@onefastslimjim thing is though, who knows maybe some freak chain of events could cause that and as the rider I don’t care how rare it is I’d like to keep my legs lol.
@@sethk1429 B&M is smart and obviously only employs engineers with extreme levels of anxiety. Best business decision ever.
To this day I stand by the fact Back row on a Flyer’s pretzel loop is the scariest element in a coaster 😂
Pretzel loops feel like a torture device to me. Incredibly forceful but not super thrilling
lord manshaft Air (now known as Galactica) at Alton Towers doesn’t feature a pretzel loop, but it does feature a unique layout that’s pretty fun 😊
LukeE94 FACTS
I was riding Tatsu in either the back or second to back row and I swear I think one of the people in my row crapped himself in the pretzel knot
LukeE94 my first ride on Tatsu introduced me to this element and when it showed its face and I realized our course.....
I didn’t have the brain capacity for the part where you explained the trains
Also do one on lightning rod
That would be AWESOME
This is a video I need to watch like 10 times to understand xD But it's so cool regardless~ No wonder B&Ms are always safe
@@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan I just make sure to have my fingers on the space bar and back arrow so I can navigate and pause in order to fully understand what is going on. I definitely want to give kudos to the creator for how well they explain the mechanics, even for lay folks like myself.
It went over my head
Chimera you have to do that???
Now I need ah problematic of LROD
When I tell you this was a wealth in good information. I am currently to big to ride this. I’m working on it a goal of mine. I never would have guessed this ride was so complex. I love all of the built in redundancy safety systems. Again great job. My home park is SFoG and my roller coaster buddies can’t remember other that the opening year when both sides have been in operation.
The goal to ride badass rollercoasters has to be one of the best motivators for weight loss I've ever heard. Hope it's going well, cheers!
yea!!! Six flags over Georgia is my home park as well:) I also don’t remember a time where they used both loading stations.. I hope you are doing well gerrick and closer to your goal so you can enjoy one of the best coasters in that park! 💕🤍💕
Funny story: one time i rode superman ultimate flight at over Georgia and the ride was having some error so the train in the station could not unlock the restraints, so when our train finished the course i was on the final brake run and on the last row, the last row does not fit over the concrete below so I was hanging over rocks for about 20 minutes until they manually pulled the train into the other side of the station, similar to what you mentioned at 21:25
That would be kinda fun
@@joeskrtit3061 It sucks dude, it is so uncomfortable getting stuck in the prone position. Ideally the brake run and station should be set up where you recline on your back and run inverted outside of those areas. Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides, but they had a better setup by doing the brakes and station segments "on the ground."
@@sharkheadism
"Vekoma's Flying Dutchmen were not good rides"
Actually, that's just Nighthawk, and even then it's mainly just the roughness that hurts it. Batwing is generally considered pretty decent (same with Firehawk when it was still in operation).
That happened to me the first time I rode Tatsu. We got stuck for like 15 minutes on the break run and then they had to manually open the restraints.
same thing happended to me on superman in NJ a few years ago that wasnt fun facing the ground for 30 mintues
I like hearing about the leg flaps. I was 13 when I rode Tatsu for the first time and never having ridden a flying coaster before, wasn't aware of the leg flaps so while loading was happening I was just casually swinging my legs as if I were on an inverted coaster. Then I nearly wet my pants when the flaps closed and I realized my right leg wasn't secured. Of course the ride attendant came to fix it but I don't remember it being a big deal and only took a couple seconds to open the flaps and get my foot in place. Maybe it's easier to open when the chassis is down?
33 min of my life well spent
Why can’t all rollercoaster systems be as simple as arrow coasters, seriously, arrow corkscrew coasters never ever break down, they last for ever, they can run in the rain, they can run with tons of trains and block breaks and they never have errors. Definitely the most reliable coaster type ever and safest if you ignore roughness.
Air/Galatica at Alton Towers - when I worked there, we didn't have to kick the leg flaps unless we knew a train had issues with the sensors.
That pretzel loop is forking intense!
And yeah operations on it aren't as fast as a B&M Hyper or Invert; but WAY faster than a Vekoma Flying Dutchman or Standup coaster!
Every ride I ever had on this coaster featured snail-paced lines that aggravated me and I'm glad to gain some appreciation for the really remarkable engineering that went into this ride. I love how in-depth you get when talking about the technical elements of running rides!
As a ride mechanic that maintains one of these B&M Flying Coasters, this video is spot on. I can see that there are definite differences between Superman and the newer ones. However, this is an excellent video that covers a lot of content, and nails a lot of the major points. Great Job @eltororyan
Hersch the hersch on that hersch that’s a very rare hersch hersch wheel
If you got the joke you are giving him $$$.
Love your vids. Also, are you going to make a problematic coaster video on every single coaster made by intamin?
Hahaha probably
I can't wait for the one about Wilderness Run
Haha definitely need to Volcano at least! It was always one of my favorite coasters but definitely had more than its share of problems and was basically a prototype one off as I understand.
@@ElToroRyan Can we get a Problematic Video for a UK Roller Coaster?
6:40 Project rejected due to the number of trees that needed to be taken down.
Installed a huge wooden coaster instead.
Edit: I noticed the comment below now. Cheers!
It’s the ultimate way to scare the tree huggers who didn’t like the first project. Genius!
@@Mrcaffinebean Oof... somebody doesn't understand the difference between 'we want to maintain the aesthetic of the park' and 'we don't want to use wood'.
@@tim3172 I doubt the “aesthetics“ we’re at issue seeing as they were looking to take down trees within their own park. Not sure why the township would have any say over what a private park does on their private land from an aesthetic standpoint.
However townships have been known to intervene on environmental grounds. So just guessing but I bet that’s what the issue was.
@@Mrcaffinebean at least we ended up with something better!
@@mykadia what does that have to do with this coaster?
Man that first inverted loop/pretzel was one of the most fucked up EPIC feelings i have EVER experienced in a roller coaster to this day! Have ridden this Superman at Six Flags Great Adv soooo many times its one of my top 3 probably. Other than the first loop the ride sucks really bad and is over quick, BUT that first inverted loop STILL to this day makes it one of my top ones to ride and have ever ridden. I will NEVER forget first riding this and completely not expecting that feeling of this inverted loop/pretzel. You actually like used to be underground on the bottom of the pretzel/loop while your literally facing the opposite direction while on your back than you were at the top(hard to explain but i know some get it), it was just EPIC. Upon watching some newer pov's videos of this ride i noticed though that they filled in that hole on the bottom? I specifically remember a little fenced in square holed area at the bottom of the first loop. I remember they said it was necessary in order to fit the loop in place bc they "ran out of room", so they needed to dig into the ground a little to fit the bottom section of it. I wonder how they went about making that particular bottom section of track NOT underground anymore? Cause I dont see really any digging that was done, which i would guess is how they would do this (by just excavating/digging out a much broader/wider area so then the track looks Above ground like now). The front and BACK(i prefer) rows both have there reasons for doing but man being dragged through that pretzel in the back for the first time was one of the scariest things i have experienced still to this day. I couldnt breathe(which never happens to me anymore as im mostly used to it all, but this kicked my ass to say the least) and i know some people who have said they blacked out or was very close to it. Front is also just as fun in that it truly gives a much better flying feeling obviously, bc nothing is in front of you(your not looking at the back of peoples feet/sneakers lol). That hill climb(though not very high) in the first row is still something else. You're literally just looking at the ground as you ascend higher and higher with nothing to catch you God forbid, its just you and air straight to the ground, all wide open 😯(check out a pov on it, youllsee). Idk if its just cause my body wasnt expecting it or what, but i thought i was about to die almost my first time riding this(lol exaggerating slightly, but you get it). I think i was front row first time too and the push up from the back cars while coming out of the pretzel is insane too, even that little pull up part right before you dip into that pretzel! If it only had like atleast 3 of these pretzels omg lol. Makes me wanna ride it right now!
The superman over georgia is a really fun ride. The pretzel roll is really fun to ride over.
It’s here!
Watched all ads so you can get your coin.
He needs that child support so bad ~
Click the ads, click all the ads
All these failed coasters and Batman managed to stay open to this day, built 30 years ago. And it still maintains it’s awesomeness
I never wanna hear the word Hirsch again lol
“..For any of those who have watched the entire video, congratulations”
What kind of monster DOESN’T watch problematic rollercoasters to the very end. Smh
It's pretty shocking how technical this ride is and I'm impressed with how technical this video got
Ah, my childhood coaster.
BTW, I have NEVER seen both loading stations operating on this ride. The far station is always closed.
Same.
21:17
Now I can't tell very easily but based on the amount of rubber ducks I'm guessing that the parachute is a skydiving duck
B&M say they're a rollercoaster engineering firm, but this level of DETAIL for ONE TRAIN is damn mindboggling. Bolliger and Mabillard are true damn engineers that ensure their coasters have the LEAST liability issues, and this video proved it. They really went ALL OUT on this model. Triple and sometimes quadruple redundancies? I can't think of any insurance company saying no to that.
The price though? Good LORD you could buy an entire Cessna Citation V for that price. Honestly it's still worth it though because of the liability.
I went on the Superman ride many times at Six Flags Jersey and it was Amazing!
The rubbery safety vest that goes over you was perfect fitting and like you are flying!
The best seats for this ride was way in the front seats really makes you feel like you are flying since there's no seats in front of you
And also if you want to have better feeling of drops than sitting all the way in the backseat is the best which fills you with more adrenaline ....
Those are the 2 best seats, all the way in front or all the way in back! I went on Superman multiple times.
I had a season pass took Six Flags and I was going 4-5 days a week at one point. Great times!
That pretzel loop is legit intense
Rode this for the first time at Great America this week. The pretzel loop is easily the most intense inversion I've ever experienced, which is funny because the rest of the ride is very gentle, as if it's apologizing for trying to kill you. Decent ride, but definitely a one and done, especially with one train ops.
I looked away for two seconds and now I need to rewatch the video
As a SFGA Gurnee fan, (since it’s in my area) the Superman Ultimate Flight ride there is honestly one of my favorites. The Whizzer is also a favorite of many of the younger audience at my six flags.
Totally off-topic; shockwave was a gorgeous arrow looper and those retro videos of the trains taking those turns and being barely trimmed are 🔥
Great video! The Superman at Over Georgia has amazing terrain to go with the ride. Unfortunately, it’s broken almost as much time a day that it is running. I don’t even try to go on it anymore ever since I was stuck hanging out on it for 30 minutes because the other train had an issue and they no longer use the dual station. Also, it’s broken while I’ve been in line at least 5 times over the past 10 years. Fun but holy crap it’s annoying between the breaking issues and the constant hour+ wait for a one trick pony ride.
I’m late to this but I’ve worked in the amusement industry for over 10 years now. I just wanted to say that the portion of the video where you mention the wireless communication to the trains from the operators console, that’s not how that function works. The part you circled on the train is indeed a COM, but a COM is not wireless in the sense that it uses radio frequencies. Those are not antennas on the COM, they are copper coils, or brushes as some would call them. When the train enters the parked position in the station, the coils make contact with a copper plate fixed in the station hardware, allowing for communication. This is why the functions only work when the train is parked. Many rides use this type of communication wiring in many different ways. Just thought I’d fill you in a little!
I'm curious, what do you do in the industry?
Brilliant work. My home park is Alton towers and I've always wondered how the restraints work and how the train is put into the flying position on Galactica 😎
I love Superman Ultimate Flight at SFOG. One of my favorites in the park.
I think the way that FLY at phantasialand will speed up dispatches alot
Kind of petty put PLC is programmable logic controller, not computer. But as a mechanical engineer I highly respect your work and videography skills. Your research and presentation of concepts on these roller coasters is the best I've seen thus far.
You would think there would be a Hersh bar at the start of the ride.
Each time he says “block zone”, take a drink.
Suggestion for a future episode: Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerangs (Deja Vu / Aftershock / Goliath) . Sounds like those have had their fair share of problems.
Poor deja vu had a rough rough life. Shockwave did too. I think that’s what was was there before super man , ultimate flight? It’s hard to remember nowadays. I’m old now. Iron wolf as well. But what a blast 🤣
Man, if that first Superman would’ve gone to SFGA, maybe we’d all be watching SupermanUltimateFlightRyan’s channel now.
You should do a video about the coasters at Lagoon Amusement Park. I’d love to see something about Cannibal
I appreciate that the reason the b&m cars were problematic was that they were so safe they were too complicated. Which is not the common theme of this channel
I will ride Superman as many times as I can every time I go to Six Flags Over Georgia, it’s so much fun
I LOVED X-Flight in Ohio back in the day! That and the Batman: Knight Flight ride, I lost count of how many times I rode those. It helped that I lived practically down the street from that 6-flags.
I’m glad I work on automated machinery and can understand how the trains work, otherwise my brain would have been melted. It is insane how much redundancy they implement for safety. Though it is smart for them to do. I’ll say this, I would very much dislike working on these attempting to find the issue. Imagine one of those wires being internally broken? Talk about an absolute nightmare to find and replace.
Coming from an electrician at a park, I can tell you it's an absolute nightmare tracing broken wires and shorts.
As far as it goes though, B&M have great drawings, which help immensely, as opposed to some other manufacturers whose drawing and schematics are absolute shit lol
I love B&M Flyers and have no shame admitting it. Just love that soaring feeling you get from them even if they're not the most "thrilling" rides
Let's goo! Where are you traveling first, once parks open?
maintaining these beasts is a rough job... we are still rebuilding our third train
Im in the same boat. They can be a real pain in the ass 😂
I worked at (at the time) Paramount's Great America when Stealth opened. Had the opportunity to work on the ride a few times to which for the most part it ran well. But with constant down times and issues with the mechanism, it's no surprise our bosses labelled it as junk.
If i only I got a dollar every time you said “hersch” 😂
Funny I actually rode this coaster a few years back when it was first installed at six flags georgia.. the glitches were crazy with the seats raising and lowering then we were stuck in the block zone for 45 minutes because of the "Ghost train" glitch. Thanks to your insight on how this coaster works and operates now I know wtf was going on with it at that time.
I swear that pretzel loop is the worst feeling shit ever 😭. Felt like my stomach was gonna explode
Just wanted to say thank you for the amount of work you put into these videos. It's clear you spent an absurd amount of time doing research!
Everytime I hear the word problematic I think of my last romantic relationship
My friend when I was younger almost got me on this ride, someone who has a fear of heights. Luckily it didn't happen, I think I would of died by heartattack.
I saw my life flash before my eyes 🥺🥺.. when i went on this i passed out ..
23:10
Please never ever be impressed by lines of code. In production environments it is almost always a useless metric.
In this particular case, 80K lines of code my be a lot or practically nothing simply based on the language used to write that software. I suspect the latter as it almost certainly written in Java, which is known for verbosity and code bloat in even semi-complex systems.
A better metric would be amount of data being sent for diagnostic purposes. However, since there's not much to compare to, even that is fairly useless.
TL;DR - color me unimpressed regarding the "80K lines of code".
I don't mean for this question to sound rude, but do you really think they would use Java as the language of choice for efficient machinery equipment, let alone a roller coaster responsible for human life? Most rides use programmable logic/automation controllers made by Rockwell, Siemens, etc.
The programming language for those systems is usually a graphical logic language like RLL (relay ladder logic) or FBD (function block diagram). Some programming is done in text based languages, but languages of choice would be highly efficient, low level languages like C#, C, or even possibly Assembly (depending on the application).
And trust me, coming from someone who has written in low level languages before, 80k lines of that crap with no overhead or dependencies sounds like hell, lol.
Source: www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasters/comments/4vn6bf/every_rollercoaster_has_a_computer_who_makes_and/
@@RehlmProductions You'd be surprised. Java is used in a ton of places you wouldn't expect, even stuff like control systems on military ships. And to be honest if it's not a system that needs sub-millisecond realtime precision or is extremely memory constrained (meaning it can't tolerate a garbage collected language/runtime) I'd rather have something written in a managed language like Java or C# or whatever rather than C or C++ where I'd have to worry about random memory errors (use after free, data races, all that fun stuff) that the programmers missed.
C# is really about as efficient and no more "low level" than Java, it's also a language compiled to intermediate code and then JIT'ed with a garbage collected runtime.
80k LOC for this thing means to me it's probably lots of spaghetti accumulated over long development time with changing requirements.
When I first rode Superman, I was caught off guard by the pretzel loop, and smacked my back into the seat back on the way down.
It felt like a backflop into a pool.
There are so many different absurdly complex parts to just the mechanism for getting riders into the right position to leave the station that I can't even begin to imagine how they designed these things in the first place.
I never knew how roller coasters kept from colliding with each other before I started to see these videos.
“fun” drinking game: take a shot every time ryan says “pin,” “chasis,” or “prox”
Amazing video! I have just one more fun fact. As someone who has operated the Superman UF clone at great america, at least for that park, there are two abnormalities. Rows 1 and 7 are for some reason much weaker than the other rows. If there is too much weight on either of those rows, when you go to dispatch, the chasis will swing up, but it won’t be able to fully raise the train, and it will stop. You then have to say hands off, and press the CHASIS DOWN button, and that will put it back into the load/unload position. You either try again, or you can tell pretty easily which row it is. You then have to unlock either rows 1&2 or 7&8 and ask the two groups to switch, or if they don’t want to, you split the group in half. It’s a real pain in the ass and it destroys capacity.
Superman at Great Adventure had a similar issue the season that I operated it! For us it was row 6- but they eventually fixed it after taking the train off for about a week. Worst issue EVER for the guests waiting on the transfer track lmao
Holy shit! That sounds miserable
Cuvii hopefully maintenance fixed it for this year lol
ElToroRyan it was 💀
@@alexl8552 it was back in 2014 so I would hope so LOL
Superman at SFOG is such an amazing underrated ride. I wish flying coasters were a little more reliable/cheaper and Cedar Fair would start getting some. Imagine an epic high budget flying coaster at Cedar Point or Kings Island
The worst part of the Vekoma flying dutchmans is when it is a hot day you sit there face up baking in the sun on the lift hill and waiting block before the stations.
I hear that Incredicoaster (California Screamin') has A LOT of problems. That could be a good episode of Problematic Roller Coasters.
I’d watch a Problematic Rollercoasters video on Vekoma Flying Dutchmans (Batwing at Six Flags America)
When you brought up the TV remote, i was like "but that's infamrated. I don't think that's a good example"
Then you brought up the eyes and i was like "OH MY; THAT IS INFRARED"
To get the absolute best thrill on this ride, get on the last row. That pretzel loop is ridiculous on that last row
Fantastic video, really enjoyed this. Makes me appreciate why we had so many problems waiting for it on opening day at Alton Towers 2002
Speaking of coasters being designed for their terrain, Fiesta Texas’ coasters do this especially well, besides batman (ss freespun coaster) and goliath (a clone of batman the ride from parks like SF:over texas). The Iron rattler, roadrunner express, wonder woman golden lasso, and super krypton coaster use the quarry wall well, with hills passing the wall’s and lift hills giving you a nice view of the park and quarry shopping center on the other side of the wall, The road runner, Superman, and Iron Rattler even have sections of track that are right on the quarry, with helix’s and corkscrews and small hills.
riding this in the dark for the very first time i rode this was INCREDIBLE.
Using radio communication for safety mechanisms is a BIG NO. Super easy to interfere with and a hacker *could* cause damage. Using optical communication, it's far superior and far safer.
The amount of effort you put into these videos is insane. Please keep them coming
I rode the Superman at the Gurney, IL Six Flags the year it opened. It was absolutely amazing--so comfortable, fast, and free-feeling. Completely exceeded my expectations.
9:20 older TV remotes use an infrared LED to send commands to the TV, which meant you needed to point it at the TV to ensure the sensor detected the infrared beam
If Six Flags wanted a Flying Dutchman near its original intended location, they should’ve built it at Kentucky Kingdom as its much closer to Kings Island. Plus more then likely, this would’ve never been demolished after 2018.
Superman is one of those rides that you will try, year after year thinking YOU did something wrong last year that made the ride painful and nauseating.. then you try it again for the 6th time(at least) and remember WHY you said you would never ride Superman again. If you want to look ANYWHERE but straight down you'd better be prepared to see a masseuse, because you have to lift your head ALL THE WAY UP to see forward.
As a former ride operator of Air at Alton Towers for many seasons your video hits all the points. Very good video. I did have videos of both operating Air and working as the Station Op (attendant at the rear of each station who operates the harness latch, lock and unlock buttons). In the videos I explained the ride start sequence but unfortunately I can no longer find these videos, and AT would most likely not be very happy with it being shared.
In terms of staffing for two station, three craft operations we would typically run with two ride ops, two station ops and four platform hosts. This makes one op, one station op and two hosts for each station. Then we would need three-four additional staff to provide breaks for the hosts and ops. Plus we would have a minimum of one host in the queue and one at the entrance. As you can see running a B&M flying coaster is pretty costly in terms of labour alone, without even considering the maintenance costs.
Oh and yes, the trains (crafts) are very heavy, typically two metric tonnes per car, so 14t for a seven car craft. Believe me, I have actually been involved in pushing a craft along the brakes/waiting areas with the friction brakes blown.
These are very complicated rides with plenty of cause for downtime. For us at AT, it was usually moving floor errors or spiders spinning webs over photo eyes at the top of the lift, on the Hersh bar or on the communication links.
So glad Gurnee kept Whizzer and also put Superman in. Love them both!
Your talking about block zones gives me literally chills
I rode Stealth shortly after opening, It was the best ride I have ever been on. It really felt like flying! The restraints were also very comfortable and made you feel very safe.
Been a few years since I've been able to go to a theme park, but we used to have season passes to King's Island... This video was how I learned that Firehawk was removed :')
The Batwing in MD is like this. It opened on my 15th birthday and we went and I got on it twice because we went to it first and just stayed on......loved that ride.....
Paramount Great America was my main park as a kid, had season passes one year. Stealth was such a huge deal when it was coming out. Those Paramount Parks were special, can only imagine how rough they are under Six Flags
You should do shockwave that used to be at six great America
Thank Six Flags for not getting rid of Whizzer
i used to run a few coasters at six flags great adventure. this restraint system would give me a headache trying to remember it all. not to mention writing it all during the operators test. good lord
I always like pointing out the spots worn through the paint of the metal floor under the safety brake area where people have puked.
ElToroRyan Explained.
PROBLEMATIC COASTER VID: *Meticulously explains in great detail every technical factor of a rides electrical system in an electrical and structural engineering manner*
EVERY OTHER ELTORORYAN VID: *Get drunk in the parking lot, pull paint off rides and dry hump coaster supports*
I have visited SFGA a few times throughout my life. A common occurrence is Superman shutting down more frequently than other coasters in the park. Wasn't unheard of to notice the line not moving for extended periods of time or a train not dispatching within a reasonable amount of time as you waited in line. Among my group roaming the park through the day, we often think that Superman is more likely to be unreliable than other rides in the park. After watching this video, I have a better understanding why this might be the case. I do not know why a wireless system was used, but as someone who is also in the IT world, wireless technologies can have more moments of unreliability than other communication methods, and should only be considered if you are in a pinch.
I know a lot of other people already said this, but if you can find enough info, do Lightning Rod! I’ve actually heard that most of lrod’s problems didn’t have anything to do with the launch, but were all trains. In an interview once Pete Owens (Dollywood VP) said that the main problem with lrod was sensors in the lap bar cylinders reading incorrectly. Weight must have had something to do with it to, since we got those new lighter trains in 2018. Anyways, I always love this series! One of my favorite coaster video series!
Great Adventure also considered a 4D coaster (X-clone) for the 2003 season, but the idea was canceled due to the problems at Magic Mountain.