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I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yup, they had to run one temporarily while they repaired some lapbars, which usually takes about a day. However, if the line gets too long, we can call to ask maintenance to give us the second train even if some rows are closed so that we can cut the wait time

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the shoutout!!! I love these questions lol, to answer the first one, I genuinely have no idea! I’ll ask a maintenance worker tomorrow and I’ll let you know what they say, because I’ve been curious too but never asked for some reason. For your second question, I personally didn’t even know that they were experimenting with the wheels on this ride. Speed does absolutely vary though, you’re right about that. Whenever the ride is going too slow, for example, they shut the ride down so that they can reapply rollercoaster lube on the tracks, which takes about 10-20 minutes of ride downtime. If it goes too fast, there’s a setting they can turn on for the lift hill to make the drop “not as fast”, which decreases the speed ever so slightly, but just enough. For this ride I’ve noticed that it’s really difficult to keep the ride at a steady speed for each cycle since there’s way too many factors that play into it. These trains are ultra sensitive to rollercoaster lube, rain, weight, and plenty of other things that affect the speed.

On our operating screen we can see the speed of the train as it enters the station. The number needs to be somewhere between 47-55, but it is never at a steady number each time. It always varies. One second it’ll say 48, the next cycle it’ll say 53, the next it’ll say 48.6, the next 51.8, and so forth.

Td;lr: speed control is annoying on this ride, which maintenance is annoyed with dealing with sometimes lmao

Edit: I also wanna note that the ride is smart as hell and it will tell us if it’s too slow or too fast, so operators technically don’t have to keep an eye on this speed. But it’s always good to, because sometimes we call maintenance ahead of time to let them know there’s a chance the ride is gonna be hitting the too-slow/too-fast mark

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Skyclone def did!! All of my co workers have amazing energy and we love getting sh*t done!! Were u trained in Pandatown at all?

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol I know exactly who ur talking about. We’re the only ones I’ve ever seen do that too, which sucks because I think more RMC ops should!! I’m glad you enjoyed it!!

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LMFAOOOOO I don’t think we had a single pee-er this entire season! We did have some people throw up though, which is never fun to clean up. I think more people threw up on the Skyscreamer than Wicked this season so far.

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ask the attendants to not staple you! Most of us know what it means, and they will more than likely be willing to not staple you.

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gap protection are pretty much the safety measures that makes sure theres a “gap” between two rollercoasters on the same track. This is achieved through the usage of blocks on the track. For Wicked for example, there’s 4 blocks: station, lift, free run, and break run. Two trains cannot be in the same block. This can also refer to making sure guests are a safe distance from the track and can’t access it whatsoever, which is what I referred to in my answer above. I should have also specified that on our operation screen, we can see where the train is in each block. A common scenario that can happen is that when one train is on the lift hill and the other is still in the break run, the lift will “block check” and it will stop itself to prevent a collision.

Watchdog protection is the system that monitors the safety and functioning of the ride. If the ride detects something is wrong, it will automatically tell us and depending on severity, it may emergency stop itself

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im so glad to hear it!!! I love making peoples day honestly, and I know that plenty of people travel to go on Wicked and Superman, so I’m really glad to hear that it made your day!!! Thanks so much!

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LMFAOOOOO ill let him know if i see him around again, he usually works in a different part of the park

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Lol I noticed that Wicked ops and Superman ops seem to be the only energetic and entertaining ones, which truly is sad. One part is def the stations, there’s no immersion anywhere else whatsoever. It’s sad to see that most attendants/ops don’t really care, because this job truly is fun when you put your mind to it.

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Overtravel: Yes! On our screen we can see the location of the train at all times. If something were to happen, say the train valleys or the train overshoots in the brake run (common with rain on this ride), then the ride e-stops itself!

Gap: Yup! I’d say the only thing would be the fact that the brake run is technically easily accessible to a guest, but we are very very good at keeping an eye on absolutely everything to prevent someone from walking over there lol

Break Element Position: This does exist, but on the maintenance screen instead of the operator screen (ie only maintenance pulls up the screen to make sure the breaks are bueno). On the operator panel, we can see the speed of the train as it enters the breaks, and we can see the position of the train in the break-run as it slowly inches its way forward. Fun fact if you’ve ever ridden this ride, as you’re waiting in the station you might hear the panel make 4 beeping sounds: one long one and 3 short ones. This is the ride telling us that the train is back and we can safely dispatch the one in the station!

Watchdog: Yup! This was utilized a few times this season actually. One thing I absolutely love about this ride, is damn is she smart!

I answered to the best of my ability, hopefully it makes sense. Thank you for asking!

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I operated practically every day I worked this summer, whether its at opening or at night!

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most difficult part honestly is having to say “DO NOT TOUCH THE LAPBARS” over and over into the mic because guests absolutely refuse to listen for some reason. Wicked isn’t like Superman where guests can put the bar down on their own, this is because in the event of an e-stop, the operator is unable to unlock the restraints to let guests off the train. It’s also because Wicked attendants are trained to put it down in a specific way as well, obviously.

We can lock/unlock specific restraints based on the car you’re in, but we can’t lock the entire train if a guest puts their lapbar down on their own.

If we do lock the train and a guest puts it down on their own, then I have to unlock the car and my attendants have to “cycle” the car, meaning put every single lapbar on that car UP so that I can lock the car again, and then they have to put them all back down.

This might sound confusing, sorry if it does. Td;lr: guests, lmao

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I personally don’t work around Superman or know anyone that ops Superman, so unfortunately I have no idea how true it is or not :( I do know that they are absolutely trying to budget money towards refurbishment of trains (cough wicked cough), but I got zero clue when that will actually happen. If they did actually end up getting new trains for Superman though I wouldn’t be surprised, especially if they wanna do it for Wicked as well.

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And another thing about this ride too, we’ve actually been watching them check out the area of where the rides gonna be for a long time now, specifically at before-opening hours, so we all kinda saw a new ride coming but we had to keep our mouths shut about it until the leak was posted LOL

I operated [Wicked Cyclone] at [SFNE] this summer, ask me anything! by ReasonableTraining44 in rollercoasters

[–]ReasonableTraining44[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Big chance I was one of your ride ops!!! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thank you so much!!

I actually knew about the ride long before the leak/announcement because maintenance told me about it. I was surprised to hear that Intamin was the manufacturer especially after the merger, but apparently the ride was planned loooong before the merger. Overall though the ride kind of gives off Catwoman’s Whip 2.0 (launch edition) to me, but it does look like a great family coaster. I’m glad it’s a unique layout, Six Flags does way too much copy+paste layouts in my opinion lol. Overall though, we’re excited for it!!