Space Mountain-Right or Left?

[StevenT]

Originally posted by raven
It isn't possible to make the coaster go faster, it's ran by gravity. The only reason coasters go faster is because the oil in the wheels have heated up durring the day. But that would only make a fraction difference. And usually this is the case for coasters that are outdoors.

Unless Newton has discovered a new law of gravity, don't believe everything you hear. :animwink:

How fast an item moves downward by gravity is not affected by weight, so the weight of the people in the car wouldn't affect it. The only way to make something fall faster or slower is increasing the surface area, providing more wind resistance. Don't beleive weight doesn't affect the fall rate? Pick up two things sitting next to you, of obviously different weights. Right here I have a toothpick and a paperweight. If I release them at the same time they will hit the ground at the same time. Simple as that.

You may perceive the car going faster than another time due to where you are sitting in the car. It's all mind tricks though.

P.S. Just as a little addition. If there are any Buckethead fans out there, try listening to "Jump Man" while on Space Mountain.

 

[TimeTrip]

Originally posted by raven
It isn't possible to make the coaster go faster, it's ran by gravity. The only reason coasters go faster is because the oil in the wheels have heated up durring the day. But that would only make a fraction difference. And usually this is the case for coasters that are outdoors.

Unless Newton has discovered a new law of gravity, don't believe everything you hear. :animwink:

I think kramjam is onto something. Look at the "little kids are gone" statement. So.. assuming that more adults go on at night, the average weight of a loaded train is higher than during the day. This increases the potential energy of the car at the top of the lift, and helps decrease the effect rolling friction and wind resistance. This could also cause the car to run faster at night... assuming you wind up with heavier passengers at night, on average.

 

[spacemtnfanatic]

Actually from what i've heard, SM does "speed up" throughout the day. I have heard from CM's it is something to do with the wheel lubrication heating up and getting thinner throughout the day. Not a huge difference, but ride at 9AM and ride again at 4PM, you will notice a difference (unless of course the ride has gone through downtime at all throughout the day)

 

[Lee]

Fact: Heavier cars go faster than slow ones.

Fact: By night the grease on the track has gotten thin, making the rockets speed up.

Fact: Despite the first two, the breaking system on the ride will have an even greater effect on the ride. You can only go so fast within each block section.

 

[se8472]

Its sort of funny being a SM CM and reading all this stuff. Never really think people really care how fast the thing runs. But for the most part you all are right about everything. At least hte people who knows there stuff. The little thing on grativy would work if space was a free falling ride :lol: but since its a forward moving coaster then yes it goes go faster as the day wears on but its not like its going to be going superfaster then it was at the start of the day. There is maybe a 20 second time diffrence between what are fast cars and really what are slow ones.

In terms of what the best side is the ride. The left side is not used when there aren't a lot of people in the parks, so that means everything is used less and thus things stay looking new!

Why do we only run the right side when low attenace you might ask? Because that is the side with a elevater in the unlickly event we have to get say a wheelchair guest off we can do that. And I have seen it done before on the few times we have had to evac the ride.

So there, If you have any other questions about SM just PM or ask. I know almost everything down to how much each rocket cost ( and that took a long time to find out too)

 

[WDWhumanmap]

Originally posted by The_CEO
The tracks are identical reflections.

noting as the human map i know these things also i have ridden through sm when the lights were on a number of times and they are identical to the same i don't know about the speeds but the tracks are the same. not like some other roller coasters of wdw i might point out like btm there are 2 tracks they start out on 2 and stay on 2 they only cross over at the end. rnrc there is one track but 5 different cars set at 5 different setings including one that doesn't count off and just goes.

 

[thighcrushx3]

From what I have noticed the right side (omega side) is a lot rougher than the left side (alpha side). I do prefer the omega side because the roughness adds to the ride experience and makes the ride feel a lot more intense. Also, on the omega side you can hear the off board music a lot better, but there are no sound effects on the omega. On the left (alpha) side on the other hand, you can barely hear the music but there are sound effects. I would call the alpha side a much tamer and less chaotic experience. It just gives off that much tamer vibe because you do not hear loud music passing through your ears and it is also a much smoother ride experience. I do prefer the right (omega) side because I prefer the more chaotic version. Also, I am going to ride space mountain soon and doing both sides and does anyone know which side has more airtime so I know which side to sit in the back?

 

[CoreNovawarAMM]

Since SM is my favorite ride in MK, I’d say I like both sides. Although I like Alpha (left side) a bit better overall. I’ve noticed that the Omega (right side) is a bit brighter-lit than Alpha.
Another interesting thing is that (at least for me, anyway) once I’ve ridden one side several times consecutively, when I ride on the other side, that side feels faster and more intense. I can say of a surety that I have ridden Omega more than Alpha, so Alpha always seems more intense when the CMs send me to that side.

 

[marni1971]

Also, I am going to ride space mountain soon and doing both sides and does anyone know which side has more airtime so I know which side to sit in the back?

They’re both the same. Currently the back seat is more back breaking as opposed to more air time, although SM wasn’t designed for airtime seating as such anyway.

Not now, not in 1975 and not in 2004

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Either is fine and as equally as rough...

 

[DisAl]

My favorite side on SM is OUTSIDE. Coasters and I don't get along well.....

 

[Networth]

Wow what was I doing in 2004...

 

[SourcererMark79]

And by the way my favorite side on SM is the right side. I know the tracks are the same, but the right side seems smoother.

Agreed!

 

[LUVofDIS]

All the times I have ridden Space I have never given thought to which side I enjoyed more. We always worry about which side the camera is on so that we can pose, yes we are posers, wait that doesn't sound right, oh well. We even go out of our way to ride each side in succession. We both commented on the ride feeling smoother during our trip in September. We will be back in a few days to see if we still feel that way, we could have been all whacked out on frozen cokes at the time. Of course we may get all whacked out on frozen cokes and yule logs this time.

 

[surfsupdon]

I prefer the right side.

I hate waiting behind that wall on the left. I feel it’s bad show. And it’s stinky.

I feel the right side breaks don’t slow you down as much, especially before that little final drop. More reckless feeling.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I don't have a preference. I only care about having fun on Space Mountain.

 

[thighcrushx3]

They’re both the same. Currently the back seat is more back breaking as opposed to more air time, although SM wasn’t designed for airtime seating as such anyway.

Not now, not in 1975 and not in 2004

If there is no airtime than why does everyone on the ride scream when they go past the bunny hill near the lift hill? Just curious why do so many people scream on that hill?