Someone please enlighten me.
So, I have come to realize that Deja Vu was removed due to mechanical issues with the catch car, and other things, and was removed due to costing too much money to maintain.
I see it has been working perfectly at Silverwood. Is there any reason why they got it to work, but we didn't? I would imagine that we could have spent the money on something if it would get it to work for longer periods of time. Get what i'm saying?
So yeah, inform me please.
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Couldn't Fix Deja Vu?
66 posts
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Hmm hehehe... I have worked on DejaVu 2 years, I'm not a mechanic, so I have no idea how they could improve it mechanicly, BUT There was a lot that could be improved. Capacity on DejaVu could have hit a lot, and I'm not saying by moving faster and faster, but to improve the operations on it.
Like basic downtown: Trouble lights, re traction or mis catch. I think they should have Ride Ops over 18+ trained how to clear\fix these downtimes, so that could save 10 minutes for maintenance to come to the ride, and work on it. Ride ops would just write down what the problem was in their DOR- Daily Operation Report, and just let the supervisor know about the issue. I'm not saying maintenance personal is bad, NO Ther are extremly good in what they are doing, but it takes some time for them to come to a ride, if they are already working on some other. Enforce grouping\ "Clear The Guests"- They should have 2 groupers in grouper position. ONE groups people two in a row, and only have incomming rides on the platform only!(unless it's front row), he would also do height checks. SECOND ONE would check for gum, and would have 2 bins wth him- so while u r entering the station (which we washed before LOL) u leave ALL your loose artickles, such as flip flops, glasses etc, and then just collect them back after the ride on the exit side. After done grouping and collectiong- They would do a pre spiels, they would make sure they have everyone attention, and let everybody know what to leave in the air etc (this have been done already, and when there is a grouper that cared about his job, he would do outstanding job and ACTUALLY ALL PEOPLE followed the directions, ALL- amazing lol). SO-> when gates open, guests walk in and buckle their orange seat belts, and leave the harness in air- they were informed what to do before enetring.... (they don't go to bins- cause no reason, they stuff has been already collected- "Clear The Guests"). Then ride ops would have 20 seconds to check all orange seat belts physicaly- POSSIBLE (YES), then 20 seconds to check green harness- POSSIBLE (YES), then 8 seconds to get to their safe positions and start the ride. REMEMBER-> hehe just because a ride op is moving extremly fast, it doesn't mean he is not SAFE. At Six Flags SAFETY is always first, it goes before everything, seriously. Employees really do their SAFE part very well. POSSIBLE-> If that was to really happen, and there wouldn't be any downtime, that ride ops would not have to wait. DejaVu capcaity could be up to 960. Six Flags Ameirca as the number 1 park at SFI.... this is JOKE!
Trouble light like speed discrepency yes, miscatch would be a hell no  . SFMM can just "ok" trouble lights on DejaVu if the train parks correctly etc without the ride being in maintenence mode, and if its re-occuring calls maintenence to look at it. Having a ride crew trying to attatch the winch to the front of the train and/or run it in maintenence mode would probably result in death in a most hilarious way.While the grouper doing the spiels helped capacity a lot, theres no way it could ever get 900pph. With a freakin amazing crew an average hour would be like 500 (that was with like 1:30-1:45 load times). In order to get more than that you just cant load anyone in a wheelchair for an hour  . With a great crew though the line moves pretty well, almost like a normal ride. One night during FF we did a time wait study with full queues and it was about an hour.As for what Silverwood did to get it to operate better IDK, it ran really well at SFGAm in 2007 so it doesnt surprise me its running fine there.
I think it would be quite easy to get a higher capacity. It's all in the checking of the harnesses, and seatbelts. Don't do them both at the same time. When the park did them during the same time as they always have, signs on the gates should have said put on seatbelt first, and than put harness down instead of the guy or girl that no one really cares about what they are saying because they are excited.
I think retractable seatbelts would have done wonders for empty seats. It takes time to put down the harnesses, and buckle those seatbelts. For rides like Viper and American Eagle, they both have lapbars, and seatbelts that are checked at the SAME time. People just need to realize there are seatbelts. You blatantly tell them through signs that are big. I think it could have easily been done to get a higher capacity. Another problem with capacity is that you had to wait for the guy or girl to say that thing about buckle the seatbelt first, and so on, and they were wasting time for the people to get on the ride. It is easy to rack up time on that ride. How is Silverwood doing it better? I don't know. I wish I knew, but Silverwood isn't close bye so I could find it. Maybe it was a sensor problem with our ride, and Silverwood is putting more money into that ride by determining which sensors are the problems, and replacing them. Maybe, they replaced all of them. It always bothered me how the catchcar could catch the train, and it misparks. How does that happen? Does the computer have a glitch, or was it just one bad sensor thinking it was parked in the place it was supposed to be. I could imagine the power that ride needs just to carry the people up those towers like that. Maybe, Silverwood gives the ride more power than SFGAm did. Maybe Vekoma thought they could use the same power that they use on the regular boomerangs, and they were dead wrong on that. How is the Invertigo working, but yet Deja Vu doesn't? It doesn't use cables, but it uses a heavy chain that has a catchcar on it. That thing was flawless. I couldn't believe it. It's different than the regular boomerang that it just didn't click onto the lift chain. It's actually a catchcar. However, for the Invertigo there is one difference, and it's like these things on the side of the towers. They like push against the train when it goes up. Sometimes, I think it's brakes (not a lot though), and than maybe it's just the mechanism of the lift hill. I don't know. I really wish someone could go to Silverwood (Someone that really likes Deja Vu.), and tell us what they experience in breakdowns, and just figuring what they are doing different than what SFGAm did. If a person goes to that park, and only goes on it 3 times a day, that's not going to help us figure out what they really did. They really have to ride it for us to understand what's so different, and if they really fixed it. "I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
DejaVu's seatbelts had to be checked physically though, unlike other rides with lapbars where the ride ops just looks at them to ensure theyre buckled. You cant just pull on the strap for larger riders because there wasnt much slack, you'd have to go digging in their crotch which probably isnt a great idea. Ive only seen one video of Aftershock loading, its the same way it loaded at SFGAm. It looks like it was from when the ride first opened (and looks like not normal ride ops) running the ride, so I would assume it loads a bit faster than this now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iiQlxes3Yg&feature=related
It looked as if they were experiencing an "issue" with the harnesses not locking in that video, which doesn't really surprise me.
As for not being able to "fix" the ride, I think the park had the ride running the best it ever did in 2007. It was corporate who looked at the "books" and said that they were putting too much money into it so it had to go. If it was up to the park, it probably would still be standing.
Luckily, at Aftershock, we had a maintenance shed with maintenance personal on hand all day. Also, everyone who was trained on the main console was trained how to clear errors, which, after most of the things were fixed with the ride, we didnt get many errors anymore. We also wrote on our ride logs an account of each error and problem with the ride, including the cycle number it occoured on.
We only had bins on the unload side of the station. As far as I know, we did think of bins on the load side, however, that idea didnt come to fruitition. Pre-spiels were done as the train went up tower 1 on the return trip, as the gates entered, as the gates closed, and as the floor retracted. Actually, I can walk you thru the spiels if you wish. Train returns and catches on Tower 1: Welcome to Aftershock. Please leave all items including hats, glasses, and loose fitting shoes/loose fitting footwear in the blue cubbies located on the unload side of the station. Train parks in station: Welcome back riders, HOW WAS THAT RIDE! Restraints unlock: To open your restraints, please pull down and push up. Thank you for riding and have a great day! Gates open: Please watch your head as you pass thru the station. Once seated, please secure the orange seat belt, and leave the green shoulder harness up until instructed to lower it. Gates close: Once again, please secure your orange seatbelt, leaving the green shoulder harness up until instructed to close it. Floor retracts, dispatch: Please keep your head against the headrest and you hands and arms inside the train at all times. AFTERSHOCK: ROLLOUT!
As far as I know the record at Silverwood is 3:31: gates opening to dispatch, however, I believe that we have done faster, maybe around 2:30, or something like that. Once we started going that fast, our manager informed us that we needed to go slower, just to be safer. As said above, once we check a seatbelt, we inform that rider to lower his or her harness. I do it a bit differently, telling both riders on my side's car to lower their harness. The thing that really slows us down is the orange seatbelts. Not a lot of people will buckle them up. They just lower the harness and buckle the crotch strap. Why? No one listens to the spiels. Most of the time the thing that slows us down is the fact that people will do as listed before, they will not see it, they have problems buckling a simple seatbelt, or they will switch belt straps with the rider next to them. There are a plethora of other reasons I have seen this season, and they amaze me. If people actually listened to all of us, we probably would have even faster dispatch times.
During the first maybe 2 or 3 weeks, Aftershock still had various Six Flags gremblins in the system (such as Six Flags-made programs in the computers that were not Vekoma authorized), however they were fixed and Aftershock had minimal downtime for the rest of the season. Vekoma helping getting this ride running like a champ helped tremendously too.
This rph for GIB's actually bug me, a lot. There is no way to get Vekoma's rph of 870. Dispatch times would have to be half of what you said (1:30-1:45), which, btw, I cant believe that you guys can get dispatch times of 1:30 on a GIB. Then again, you had 7 years, we had only 3 months. However, we did get the dispatch times down to somewhere like 2:30, so maybe 1:45 is possible, but I'm still skeptical.
If only Silverwood had huge signs about the seatbelts and harnesses. It would do wonders. And speaking of wonders, retractable seatbelts? You sir have a great idea on your hands. However, it may be bad for the people whop already dont notice that there are seatbelts on the ride. 
This is the thing I hate about Shock riders: They waste time getting on.
Form what I understand, during the off-season all of the sensors will be replaced with newer, more efficient sensors. Other things will also be installed during the off-season in order to better increase ride reliability.
It had Six Flags-made programs that were not made by Vekoma. A lot of these programs contributed to the ride's infamous history/ In reality, Six Flags caused most of the problems with the GIB's, not Vekoma.
Well, here you have him: A Silverwood operator who was on Aftershock's crew. When the ride was down, we would just call the maintenance shed, and a maintenance worker would come up and see the problem. Usually it was just minor stuff that we couldnt fix ourselves, because we didnt have the permission to do so. Also, about the breakdowns, I rode it 22 times in a row on a off day, and I heard of and saw no problems. Does that count for anything?
And at Silverwood, we still physically check those belts on Aftershock. "unlike other rides with lapbars where the ride ops just looks at them to ensure theyre buckled." Is that how SFGAm op's check restraints? Not physically checking seatbelts? Thats real safe.[/sarcasm]
That would be my video. And actually, that was a month after the opening. The reason for slow loading/dispatch times in that video was because break sets were going around, and op's were coming and going, filling out break logs, signing in and out on the daily ride log, ect. Also, a newer op was up there that day, so he was still getting used to it. That dispatch time was actually abnormal, and should have been faster. Also on a note about the thread title, I think that if Silverwood was capable of fixing Aftershock of it's infamous problems, then I most certainly think Six Flags should of been able to fix Deja Vu when it was there. Silverwood Theme Park Ride Operator
Upgraded computers and PLCs, or at least an expansion to enable more corrections...Maybe even a better GUI? http://themeparkcritic.com/scripts/profile/ViewProfile.asp?ViewID=2909
A furious storm once roared `cross the sea, catching ships in its path, helpless to flee. Instead of a certain and watery doom, the winds swept them here to Typhoon Lagoon! *****Are you ready to Rockit?!*****
To Aftershocker:
As for loading time 1:30- 1:45 it's possible, and have been done at Six Flags many times, I was there when we were getting these numbers. HUGE signs don't help at anything if you want to speed up the capacity at GIB, it's all about DIRECT contact with guests... SF tried with huge signs- don't help... Pre spieling while ride is in motion doesn't help the ride is too loud... if u pre spiel when the ride parks, and ready to load- 1. People don't listen to you then, b\c they are excited to get on ride, and don't think about anything but checking on their friend and etc. 2. Pre spieling then takes a lot of seconds, which u guys need. You guys remind me of SF being in early years with DejaVu, you trying things we already done, and you should already know that how SF ran. If you want high capacity, u need to group people so all rows are filled, and that grouper needs to DIRECTLY tell guys what to do when they get on the ride, thinking about SIlverwood budget that's all u can do, unless u have some money, you can invest in better things... Six Flags Ameirca as the number 1 park at SFI.... this is JOKE!
On rides like American Eagle, Viper, Whizzer etc which all operated safely for years without seatbelts the ride ops doesnt have to physically check them. They look at them to make sure their buckled while checking the lapbar (except for Whizzer where they just look at the belts and dont physically check anything). I ran Viper the year after the seatbelts were added, total pain in the a** because most people didnt know they were there and would just pull down their lapbar without realizing the seatbelts were there (disregarding the "please fasten the seatbelt before pulling the bar down" spiel of course) and unlike DejaVu those bars lock right away.
How many people does SW normally have operating the ride? With 4 on the platform + a grouper the highest DejaVu ever got here was 610 but I dont think we loaded any wheelchairs that hour (which really slow things down). In 05 if the ride worked for a full hour we would average like 450-500/hr but that was just cause we had like a bunch of enthusiasts on the crew, with average ride ops it would be significantly less. To speed up the load times have the grouper spiel to the guests, and check seatbelts with both hands. Once you get the footwork down, you can check seatbelts using both hands extremely quick (as long as your moving at a fast pace of course ). Say "bam bam bam bam" quickley and that should be the pace your checking at.The person checking the back half of the train unload side had to walk back up to the exit gate where his safe zone was, and the person checking the front half of the train unload side controlled the exit gate (it was an airgate). There was a height stick like halfway between the back of the train and the gate. In 05 to make things faster when the exit person walked past the height stick the front unload person would close the exit gate and the exit person had to make it there before it closed. One of my most vivid memories was when I closed the gate and my co-worker wasnt quite fast enough and it closed on him, he squirmed out, then tried to jump over it and his foot got caught in it and on his face and everyone on the train laughed their a** off . Another hilarious thing is if the storage bins are wooden, leave the lids up during the cycle.
SF re-did the entire reprogramming of DejaVu because when Vekoma was running it 2001 they couldnt get it to operate correctly so SF kicked them off the project. In 2007 after SFGAm & Vekoma did a lot of work on it in the spring it ran extremely well the rest of the season. Knowing all the modifications SFGAm's ride control had to make to Ragin' Cajun to make SF's lawyers happy (they totally ****** that ride up) nothing surprises me. In 05/06 a lot of times a maintenence guy just sat at the bottom of the stairs behind the station all day clearning errors/fixing misparks, in 07 there wasnt a need for it. SF doesnt staff a lot of maintenence people anymore though and they have other crap to do so they werent always there. As far as the rest of your post Silverwood is just smarter than Six Flags...not much else to say there
Ilovthevu.
If you think that Invertigo's run flawlessly your seriously misinformed. Cant we just bury Deja Vu? Seriously, its gone we had our fun on it, but now its in Idaho 1,000s of miles from GA. Sorry folks, its over. 
Yeah, did we really need to start ANOTHER Deja Vu thread for this? The one below is more than enough for a ride that has not operated at our park for over a year. Stop thinking about the past. Think about what the future might hold for Great America.
13 Years with SFGAm World!
^Hey, i'm not the loser mourning over a defunct roller coaster. I was just simply wondering why they couldn't fix the ride. It's a whole different topic. And this is a FORUM, where people start topics of their choice, and have discussions with people.
And stop treating Six Flags Great America like it's your child. It's a corporate run THEME PARK. You will never have any say it what goes into it.
So much for this being a good topic, I guess..
http://themeparkcritic.com/scripts/profile/ViewProfile.asp?ViewID=2909
A furious storm once roared `cross the sea, catching ships in its path, helpless to flee. Instead of a certain and watery doom, the winds swept them here to Typhoon Lagoon! *****Are you ready to Rockit?!*****
Geez, people on here think Six Flags is their responsibility. It's so messed up.
I got my answer.
Oh my, maybe we should all quit while we're ahead. I know I don't "own" Six Flags. I know I don't have a say as to what gets up in/taken out. Did I ever say I did? Think before you type...
13 Years with SFGAm World!
Back on topic...let's establish why I hate Six Flags, and what we've learned from this topic:
1) Six Flags struggled to operate the ride consistently from 2001-2006 2) In 2007, Six Flags, with the help of Vekoma, got the ride running almost flawlessly -- they finally "figured it out" 3) Not caring about point #2, or being too lazy to recognize the events referred to in point #2, they needlessly removed the park's most thrilling ride.
/\ Shapiro was really pissed off that it was not open at the start of the 07 season and the im pretty sure that was the "last strike."
The descision to take it out makes sense, I dont think anyone would argue with that. Not removing the frames for the signage or queue lines for an entire season was definitley ghetto, I dont think anyone would argue with that .
How does it make sense in light of the fact that the ride was running beautifully, basically just as well as their other coasters, in 2007-- and could be expected to probably operate similarly in the future since the kinks had been worked out?
Let's face it, Six Flags is the Hobo of the Theme Park Industry. Why did Six Flags turn out the way it did? Why didn't it end up like Busch (not Inbev!), or any other theme park chain? Disney has world class theme parks because they have money, movies, and children, but why was Six Flags created in the first place? To entertain people? Weren't plenty of companies before them already doing that?
poor wolfie rip
( hopewe get a neww bm wingrider for next year!11!
Six Flags is terrible in terms of making sure their parks don't look "ghetto". The Splash Water Falls area will most likely sit there with queue lines still standing for 2 seasons. That space is an even bigger eyesore than the Deja Vu area since it sticks out more and is basically right in the middle of County Fair. When I was on Dare Devil Dive Sunday I got a nice view of what was once a perfectly fine water ride that should not have been taken down (SBNO?) until something was actually planned to replace it.
13 Years with SFGAm World!
I think they can do whatever. Its their park. Deja Vu on my opinion or what I heard was too costlyto repair and had a low capacity.
As for Splash Water Falls....they should open both lanes of the cars. Why did they even take it out? I can see another kids coaster coming in that area. 
I think that Disney isn't better than Six Flags. To me, they don't have the thrilling rides to be that great. The thing with Disney is that they turn the characters you seen in the movies, and actually have them around the park whereas as Six Flags is hardly using any movie characters. Six Flags is using the Justice League, and the Looney Tunes, and that's about it. Disney has a lot of movie rides while Six Flags just has a lot of generic themes. However, I absolutely would love to ride V2 over Rock N Roller coaster anyday. Expedition Everest might cost $100 million, but I rather have Mr. Freeze, V2, Batman the Ride, Superman Ultimate Flight, Deja Vu, Mind Bender, Demon, Scream!, and the Georgia Cyclone over that ride. I don't even think that Expedition Everest ride is that thrilling. It's an okay ride, but it doesn't go that fast compared to SF roller coasters. For Busch Gardens I was hoping it would have been better than it was. It's not like the rides are themed at this park (Just the names), but rather the whole park is themed to something. I don't really care about the whole park being themed. I thought Sheikra would be better than it was. They hardly had any flats compared even to Magic Mountain. The Egypt part of the park is probably the only part of the park I could tell you what area it actually is. "I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
/\ I agree BGA is overrated. Busch in Virgina though is absolutely stunning, amazing landscaping and theming. Continent wise, Europe is a lot more interesting than Africa though so BGE being better doesnt surprise me
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Disney parks are made for families with little kids, and to be extensively themed. While they do have a few straight up thrill rides (Rockin Rollercoaster, Mission Space) so they dont fall behind other parks in the area, no family is going to fly across the country to ride V2 and SUF. When theyre spending the big bucks they want extensively themed hotels and attractions that make you feel like your actually in the place its themed after.
66 posts
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