Splash Mountain fall refurbishment 2017

[GlacierGlacier]

I’ve heard some try to suggest that, but the reality is Rocket Rods was plagued by so many issues it’s not clear that was ever a major contributing factor. After all you had to walk up a multi-level flight of stairs from underground just to get to the boarding platform-that alone prevented a mobility impaired guest from even boarding, much less needing to be evacuated.

This beginning of this video shows the stairs from the underground passage up to the loading platform. https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL...CoY&params=OAFIAVgP&v=Twakh87amak&mode=NORMAL

This is the first time I've ever seen footage of rocket rods and it's... Odd. It's like Peoplemover, but instead of letting you see all the cool stuff you're going through they just speed right by.

"Hey what's that gold blur?" "Oh wow! We're in a dark tunnel inside of Innoventions!" "Man I love hearing this wonderful whirring noise."

I don't hate it entirely, but man am I glad we have the TTA Peoplemover.

 

[donsullivan]

This is the first time I've ever seen footage of rocket rods and it's... Odd. It's like Peoplemover, but instead of letting you see all the cool stuff you're going through they just speed right by.

"Hey what's that gold blur?" "Oh wow! We're in a dark tunnel inside of Innoventions!" "Man I love hearing this wonderful whirring noise."

I don't hate it entirely, but man am I glad we have the TTA Peoplemover.

It was actually pretty cool, I hade the opportunity to ride it a half dozen time or so in it’s brief life. The quality of that video is pretty bad but yeah, speed was one of the premises behind it. Unfortunately, budget and structural issues from reusing the Peoplemover track prevented them from achieving and sustaining the speeds they originally hoped. The ride capacity was so low the wait times were completely insane. The queue started in the former CircleVision theater (now Buzz Lightyear) and snaked through the building to an underground passage over to the stairs seen in that video.

 

[jaxonp]

It was actually pretty cool, I hade the opportunity to ride it a half dozen time or so in it’s brief life. The quality of that video is pretty bad but yeah, speed was one of the premises behind it. Unfortunately, budget and structural issues from reusing the Peoplemover track prevented them from achieving and sustaining the speeds they originally hoped. The ride capacity was so low the wait times were completely insane. The queue started in the former CircleVision theater (now Buzz Lightyear) and snaked through the building to an underground passage over to the stairs seen in that video.

Shame what happened.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Here's from last night. Also I asked about a new boiler on the Liberty Belle and there will be a refurb Jan - March for a new boiler. Take that lightly because another person thinks it might not happen because TDO.

 

[Mickey shaped world]

I think appearances can be deceiving and we don't actually know another person's situation. Therefore giving people the benefit of the doubt is the preferable default position. Is it really that difficult to be kind?

I think that is the best attitude to have people judge too quickly.
Last trip my family were waiting for a bus from pop century to Mk, there was at least 6 people on scooters waiting as well as the long main line. The couple in front of us were talking really loudly saying things about those in the scooters like 'they are just lazy and they get to skip the line'. Once they started to load the bus, a young man started to get out of his scooter and they started up again, 'there's nothing even wrong with him.' Then he turned around slightly and they could see he was missing his second leg, all I heard from them then was 'oh crap.' And i didn't hear a peep from them after that.

 

[matt9112]

I’ve heard some try to suggest that, but the reality is Rocket Rods was plagued by so many issues it’s not clear that was ever a major contributing factor. After all you had to walk up a multi-level flight of stairs from underground just to get to the boarding platform-that alone prevented a mobility impaired guest from even boarding, much less needing to be evacuated.

This beginning of this video shows the stairs from the underground passage up to the loading platform. https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL...CoY&params=OAFIAVgP&v=Twakh87amak&mode=NORMAL

watching that video makee me thing those speeds and forces with non bank non coaster track must have been putting a ton of stress on the trains and the structure as well as the magnets and such. couldn't have been good.

 

[donsullivan]

watching that video makee me thing those speeds and forces with non bank non coaster track must have been putting a ton of stress on the trains and the structure as well as the magnets and such. couldn't have been good.

Those physical stresses on the old PeopleMove track were one of the many reasons it lived such a short life. That infrastructure was simply not designed or built for those sorts of lateral stresses and apparently began to show structural degradation very shortly after RR opened. In the early design, they wanted to bank the curves so they could sustain speed but that ended up not being an option so you had a lot of accelerate and decelerate cycles as the vehicles moved through the corners on the route. Every time a RR slowed into a corner it put a whole lot of physical stress on the infrastructure that is just could not handle. And then there was the tire fail issues in the early months (they did eventually get that fixed)

 

[Pixieish]

This seems easy, they need to rework it where there is an extension/offs-shoot where they can load people that need it stationary and then that doombuggie can slide in the rotation in gaps left every so often. I don’t feel like this would take a skilled engineer much time or trouble to design.

I was just going to suggest a separate load area that merges with the other cars!

 

[ToTBellHop]

I was just going to suggest a separate load area that merges with the other cars!

Easy enough to build in the first place. Harder to retrofit into a 46-year old structure.

 

[matt9112]

Those physical stresses on the old PeopleMove track were one of the many reasons it lived such a short life. That infrastructure was simply not designed or built for those sorts of lateral stresses and apparently began to show structural degradation very shortly after RR opened. In the early design, they wanted to bank the curves so they could sustain speed but that ended up not being an option so you had a lot of accelerate and decelerate cycles as the vehicles moved through the corners on the route. Every time a RR slowed into a corner it put a whole lot of physical stress on the infrastructure that is just could not handle. And then there was the tire fail issues in the early months (they did eventually get that fixed)

why couldn't they bank the turns?

 

[donsullivan]

Well, there was an elevator on the station platform (They removed the turntable for this). A mobility impaired passenger would just enter from the ground level near Tomorrowland Terrace.
View attachment 237154

Interesting. I was unaware there actually was an elevator.

 

[Horizons '83]

Easy enough to build in the first place. Harder to retrofit into a 46-year old structure.

Odd that an engineer didn't catch the stress the ride and vehicles would caused on the original track, or maybe the possibility just got pushed under the rug?

 

[GlacierGlacier]

Odd that an engineer didn't catch the stress the ride and vehicles would caused on the original track, or maybe the possibility just got pushed under the rug?

Odd that an engineer didn't catch the stress that the ride and vehicles would have on Horizons (Though the sinkhole probably didn't help). Or the stress that the yeti caused on the concrete tower it rests on. Or the timing bug that caused the tower to be planned incorrectly. Or the stress that ruined the tracks for Space Mountain in california. There's a ton of stuff that disney misses, either due to ineptitude or accident. I wouldn't be too up in arms about the ruination of Rocket Rods.

 

[MisterPenguin]

why couldn't they bank the turns?

If they banked the turns and kept up the speed, then the lateral force would have destroyed the pillars holding them up. The pillars were designed to bear downward force, not lateral. Even with slowing the ride down for turns, the increased acceleration/deceleration was starting to overstress the pillars.

 

[peter11435]

Odd that an engineer didn't catch the stress that the ride and vehicles would have on Horizons (Though the sinkhole probably didn't help). Or the stress that the yeti caused on the concrete tower it rests on. Or the timing bug that caused the tower to be planned incorrectly. Or the stress that ruined the tracks for Space Mountain in california. There's a ton of stuff that disney misses, either due to ineptitude or accident. I wouldn't be too up in arms about the ruination of Rocket Rods.

Sinkhole.. lol

 

[Brer Oswald]

Yep, it’s you

Clearly it's JUST him.

 

[Brer Oswald]

I hope they fix the Blue Bird that used to sing and talk near the final encounter with Brer Rabbit.

And the other one that has been permanently looking down for the last year.

 

[Yert3]

Another photo update. The scaffolding is down and the mountain is repainted. It looks really good.

 

[Prince Thomas]

Any chance on this opening earlier than expected? @marni1971

 

[AndyS2992]

Another photo update. The scaffolding is down and the mountain is repainted. It looks really good.View attachment 239654View attachment 239655

The mountain may have been painted but the flume hasn’t, looks filthy..