American Eagle "STOP AT THE TOP!!"

twixmix0303 · Post by **twixmix0303** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 9:07 am

Right, I think Demondude was referring to the "chugging," where it will (at least feel like it) stop and go for about 10 seconds. If there is more weight in the back of the train, the effects are more noticable.

SFGAmLover · Post by **SFGAmLover** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 3:54 pm

While at SFGAm once, I asked a Viper ride op about the chain slow at the top of Viper. Apparently, it does not always do this. For some reason, I remember the op telling me that it doesn't do the chain slow for the first hour or so of the day. Can anyone elaborate? I've always experienced it do the chain slow... morning and night.

Also, I noticed that when I visited the park during 2004 (and perhaps it occurred in 2003 as well... I can't remember), Demon's lift chain was not as fast as in past visits. I wondered if it had to do with running 2 trains vs. 3 trains (it would make sense that the chain would slow with 3 trains for better spacing)... but it was slow even on the 2-train operation days. Anyone else notice this?

Nystagmus · Post by **Nystagmus** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:36 pm

To explain on the lift chain not slowing in the morning:

When I worked there, I was told by maintainence that this was due to how the computer worked. For so many cycles, the lift would remain on "fast" so that the maint. crews could test it more easily and not have to wait for the ride to go through with a slower lift. So, as a result, the first few trains in the morning would be going over the top of the lift faster than the ones later in the day. Our control panel had a light called "fast lift" that would go on whenever the lift hill was running with a train on it. It usually didn't turn off as the train approached the top of the hill during the morning.

I know that sounds weird but that is what I was told. There was only one time where the lift failed to go back into slow mode and the ride had to be told that no train was on the lift or approaching it. Luckily, this was in the morning before it was open, so they took care of it rather quickly.

Thanks to twix for the new vocab of chugging.

Demondude102110 · Post by **Demondude102110** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 1:02 pm

twixmix0303 wrote:Right, I think Demondude was referring to the "chugging," where it will (at least feel like it) stop and go for about 10 seconds. If there is more weight in the back of the train, the effects are more noticable.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I'm not very knowledgeable about how rollercoasters work

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 8:09 pm

Hey Everybody,

Cool, vintage, Marriott's American Eagle mug / stein on Ebay. Take a look!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7762206967

Papas · Post by **Papas** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:25 pm

SFGAmLover wrote:While at SFGAm once, I asked a Viper ride op about the chain slow at the top of Viper. Apparently, it does not always do this. For some reason, I remember the op telling me that it doesn't do the chain slow for the first hour or so of the day. Can anyone elaborate? I've always experienced it do the chain slow... morning and night.

The lift runs faster from when they start the ride in the morning to 10:30, to get the ride warmed up. Also its a good idea because on cold days they have to get it warmed up and unlike Eagle, it doesnt have anti rollbacks anywhere but the lift, so it prevents the first cycles of the morning from valleying.

JW65 · Post by **JW65** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:21 pm

The Eagle mug is from my own personal collection.

that_guy · Post by **that_guy** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 5:27 pm

JW65 wrote:The Eagle mug is from my own personal collection.

So your selling this mug on ebay?

da1gloc · Post by **da1gloc** » Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:14 pm

Does anybody remember the blue train getting stuck at the top?? When I used to work there, which was from 88 thru 91, I can recall numerous times the fire department had to be called to get people down from the top. Ive personally seen this as I worked in the games gallery for all those years.

lysandbrendansmom · Post by **lysandbrendansmom** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:47 pm

JW65 wrote:I don't remember calling out "stop at the top", but I do remember the coaster pausing at the top of the first drop. It was very exciting....I also remember riding the coaster backward on the track. It was a novelty for a while. I know they did this a lot for the 25th Anniversary in 2001. I also recall "races" between blue and red coasters on the separate tracks. But, that first big drop is amazing!

Jeff

ditto!! This is exactly what i was going to say!

I was always afreaid that it would stop at the top and not get going again.

sixflagsguy5 · Post by **sixflagsguy5** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 2:25 pm

If they had to evacuate the train I don't think that they'd need the fire department. I've seen Dejavu and Kumba evacuated and they did it with the park's managers. The only reason I would think that they might need some extra assistance on American Eagle is because it doesn't have stairs, so it could be difficult for some people to get down. For those of you who haven't ridden American Eagle, it just has little slits of wood that are nailed on the sides of the track to give some grip for the people who have to climb the coaster.

UAORDStew · Post by **UAORDStew** » Thu Apr 19, 2007 9:39 pm

Does anybody remember the blue train getting stuck at the top?? When I used to work there, which was from 88 thru 91, I can recall numerous times the fire department had to be called to get people down from the top. Ive personally seen this as I worked in the games gallery for all those years.

Sorry there da1gloc.....the fire department, as far as I know and as long as I've worked at the park, has never been called to evac. Eagle. All evacs on coasters, other than the strange occurance on the Demon, are all done with mgmt., supervisors and staff. All ride ops are trained and tested on evacuation procedures.

Demonlover13 · Post by **Demonlover13** » Tue Jun 17, 2008 1:43 pm

So they can't slow the lift? I thought there was something on the panel that slowed it. Also, when I talked to the ride op about it, he said it was possible but he'd get in trouble.

TripplePlay93 · Post by **TripplePlay93** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:30 pm

the blue side sort of stops at the top, it just slows to an almost standstill and you can down the track if you are in the front.

Demonlover13 · Post by **Demonlover13** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:44 pm

Blue's chain lift is slower than red's.