News Tomorrowland love

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Original Poster
Wow, you were in DL and didn’t come to the final ROE at Epcot?
Yep. Plans made long ago.
I was actually driving to Huntington Beach at 9pm Epcot time on the 30th after visiting Knott's Berry Farm. One of my passengers kept showing me a live stream at stop lights. We had the audio on full.

And now I’m typing this at 3am. Jet lag sucks.
 
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marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Original Poster
I would love to see a modernized lift hill. It bugs me that you’re on a chain lift hill when you’re in a rocket... doesn’t have to been “launched” just. Tire system or silent chain (yes it’s possible), so you don’t hear the anti-rollbacks climbing the hill
That was the plan until it was axed. Same lifts as Everest.
 

The Pho

Well-Known Member
Could replace track keep the layout the same (maybe modify unload and load for capacity possibly) and add two seats per row cars. Im imagining the mountain has enough room to accommodate a slightly wider track if need be to handle the extra mass etc. Also would require minor modifications to make it work with the extra mass but i assume this could all be done by a good firm to retain same layout in laymans terms but likely some different angles and such. Again this only makes sense if full replacement has to occur you could increase capacity alot if you went this route.

Many coasters have changed their seating layout over the years. It’s always a drastic change to the dynamics of the ride. The seating layout is just as important as the track layout.
 

Movielover

Well-Known Member
Can they also put silent lift hills on Big Thunder. I have to plug my ears they're so loud.

It's actually not the chain lifts themselves that are so loud but the anti-rollback devices on them that keep the cars from rolling back.

416914


This is a great picture. The moving lift chain is on the right. The ratchet rail does not move. The "clanking" that you hear on a lift is the safety dog moving over each individual ratchet on the rail.

Usually older coasters have much larger ratchets and safety dogs.

416915


On Expedition Everest the ratchets are much smaller thus creating less noise (You can barely make them out but they are on the right).

IMO The louder older design works for Big Thunder because of it's theme.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Isn't Big Thunder supposed to be a haunted train? Ghosts wouldn't need a clankety clank (technical industry term) to get you up a mountain.
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
Usually older coasters have much larger ratchets and safety dogs.

View attachment 416915

On Expedition Everest the ratchets are much smaller thus creating less noise (You can barely make them out but they are on the right).

Actually, Everest's lift hills use Intamin's quiet lifthill system which isn't quiet simply because the anti-rollback dogs are smaller. Instead, it uses a device that keeps the dogs retracted up under the train so that they don't make contact with the rollback teeth at all, as long as the train is moving forward at a specified constant speed. That's why you hear the dogs clanking at the bottom and top of the lifthills, the train isn't moving at a constant speed. But once it settles into the lifthill speed, it's silent.
Were the lift to stop, the rollback dogs would no longer be held up, they'd drop and engage the teeth in the track.

Superman here at Six Flags New England is an Intamin that uses the same system. One season there was something wrong with the lift motor for a couple months, causing the lift to run slower than it was supposed to. The dog retractors weren't spinning fast enough to keep them up out of the way and the train clanked its way up the lift EXTREMELY loudly...

Edit to add: Realized that one additional thing that makes noise at the bottom and top of the Everest lifts are the chain dogs clanking along the chain.

-Rob
 
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marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Original Poster
It's actually not the chain lifts themselves that are so loud but the anti-rollback devices on them that keep the cars from rolling back.

View attachment 416914

This is a great picture. The moving lift chain is on the right. The ratchet rail does not move. The "clanking" that you hear on a lift is the safety dog moving over each individual ratchet on the rail.

Usually older coasters have much larger ratchets and safety dogs.

View attachment 416915

On Expedition Everest the ratchets are much smaller thus creating less noise (You can barely make them out but they are on the right).

IMO The louder older design works for Big Thunder because of it's theme.

I was about to say:

Actually, Everest's lift hills use Intamin's quiet lifthill system which isn't quiet simply because the anti-rollback dogs are smaller. Instead, it uses a magnetic device that keeps the dogs retracted up under the train so that they don't make contact with the rollback teeth at all, as long as the train is moving forward at a specified constant speed. That's why you hear the dogs clanking at the bottom and top of the lifthills, the train isn't moving at a constant speed. But once it settles into the lifthill speed, it's silent.
Were the lift to stop, the rollback dogs would no longer be held up, they'd drop and engage the teeth in the track.
 

Movielover

Well-Known Member
Actually, Everest's lift hills use Intamin's quiet lifthill system which isn't quiet simply because the anti-rollback dogs are smaller. Instead, it uses a device that keeps the dogs retracted up under the train so that they don't make contact with the rollback teeth at all, as long as the train is moving forward at a specified constant speed. That's why you hear the dogs clanking at the bottom and top of the lifthills, the train isn't moving at a constant speed. But once it settles into the lifthill speed, it's silent.
Were the lift to stop, the rollback dogs would no longer be held up, they'd drop and engage the teeth in the track.

Superman here at Six Flags New England is an Intamin that uses the same system. One season there was something wrong with the lift motor for a couple months, causing the lift to run slower than it was supposed to. The dog retractors weren't spinning fast enough to keep them up out of the way and the train clanked its way up the lift EXTREMELY loudly...

Edit to add: Realized that one additional thing that makes noise at the bottom and top of the Everest lifts are the chain dogs clanking along the chain.

-Rob
I was about to say:

Thanks, wasn't 100% sure how that new system worked. Cheers!
 

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