Dudley's Ripsaw Falls

[BeachClubVillas]

I read on Screamscape (I know, I know, reliable!) that the Dudley flume ride had been closed down and that they rebuilt the final drop. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, why did they have to rebuild it? What is different about it? Does anyone have any pics? I always thought the drop was great...if anything, I would think they would rehab the inside of the ride because there isn't any scenery and barely any theming!
Thanks!

 

[The_CEO]

It is true, they did replace the track. Here are some pictures I took of the old tracking.

 

[The_CEO]

One more of the old drop.

 

[The_CEO]

Also while we are all on the topic, the logs have been givin dividers.

 

[ogryn]

On IOAcentral, they can't make up their mind if the drop has been changed. So.... has it... is it shallower/steeper?

 

[ThirdEye]

Im gonna miss the old boats, I remember in 7th grade when IOA was brand new I rode that ride with my girlfriend and she was pretty much sitting on my lap cuz there isn't dividers. It made the ride that much more fun because you had 2 people per seat type thing.

 

[surfsupdon]

Why'd they re-do it?

General rehab and maintenance--abnormal amounts of wear and tear?? Or make it shallower/steeper/what??

 

[CTXRover]

This is all rumors, but apparently there once was a slight curve to the actual drop itself which made it feel like the log was lifting out of the track as it went down the drop (this is separate from the "hill" at the bottom of the drop). DD has received complaints for some time now with people getting banged and hurt on it...mild things but still enough complaints to be taken seriously. The track supposedly was replaced to make it "straighter" and more direct to help alleviate the problems. The first solution was the addition of the seat dividers to help hold people in one place, but that wasn't enough. Again, if somebody knows something else, by all means let us know....this is just the story I've heard.

 

[HMGhost13]

though it's been almost 3 years since we did IO, thank god for the dividers.

my dad (over 200 lbs), brother (little udner 100 lbs), siste (close to 200 lbs) and myself (between 100 and 130 lbs at that time) had a hard time getting into one log and ended up being squished together. ride wasn't that much fun and the crew at hand didn't do anything to seperate us (not that we would have minded. would have been a better ride).

 

[johnvree]

This reminds me of my first log flume experience. I think it was at Hersey Park in Pennsylvania. I was on with my Mom and everything was fine until we came to the big drop. When I saw that drop, I crawled down where your feet go (i was only 5). Well I missed the drop but the impact at the bottom drove my head into the inner wall of the log. :hammer: :veryconfu :dazzle:

Don't do that.:lol:

 

[DarkMeasures]

At Six Flags Great America, there are no dividers on the log flumes so everyone just grabs their own log.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Now that is one enjoyable log flume ride :sohappy:

 

[surfsupdon]

Yeah, I remember watching a making of IoA special and they explained that this log flume would be the only that has a drop that is similar to a rollercoaster, meaning that the curve gets steeper the closer to the bottom. This really makes you feel like you are going up and out of your seat.

Regular log flumes gradually drop and then maintain a certain slope. The big selling point of Dudley's was that the drop curved inward. Hmmmm.

 

[DisneyFan 2000]

I doubt they changed the drop. I think it's a little complicated.

 

[JBSLJames]

Originally posted by DarkMeasures
At Six Flags Great America, there are no dividers on the log flumes so everyone just grabs their own log.

Or twig as the case may be :lookaroun

 

[DieHardDisney]

Originally posted by CTXRover
This is all rumors, but apparently there once was a slight curve to the actual drop itself which made it feel like the log was lifting out of the track as it went down the drop

So was the log actually lifting or was it just that - a feeling because that could have been very dangerous!

I'm sure it wasn't as Universal wouldn't have let anything like that happen!

 

[AndyP]

Originally posted by DieHardDisney


So was the log actually lifting or was it just that - a feeling because that could have been very dangerous!

I'm sure it wasn't as Universal wouldn't have let anything like that happen!

Yeah I agree, I'm sure Universal would have closed the ride and changed the tracks much earlier if the logs were actually lifting out of the shoots. However, I do think this ride feels much steeper than some of the other log flumes, great ride though!:sohappy:

 

[AliciaLuvzDizne]

it did feel like the ride was lifting to me...
it was a lot wilder than it looked LOL but i thought it was SUPPOSED to feel like it was lifting...part of the ride (what do they call those? camel humps or something like that?)

 

[celestia]

i tried going on this ride several times about two weeks or so ago, and every time i tried to go the ride got closed due to technical difficulties (this occured about 4 times all day. the last time i was right about to finally get in my log when they closed it! i still havn't been able to experience this ride) anyways.. i was very surprised it had so many problems after just coming out of a rehab. :dazzle:

 

[aimster]

When I was at IoA at the end of February I saw the construction going on at Ripsaw Falls. Was going to ask my friend who was withme (she works at Universal) what was going on, but never got around to it. I've only been to IoA one other time (spring 2002). Was kinda curious about riding Ripsaw Falls but I didn't know how wet you get on it. I'm not a huge water ride fan because of the "wet" factor". Yeah I'm a wuss... LOL! Chalk it up to a bad experience I had at Opryland back in the early 80's. :lol:

So what goes on inside the ride anyway? It is basically a Dudley Do-Right version of Splash Mountain?