[bgwfreak]

One thing I wanna know from someone who rode with the belts this week...Are they made of a more elastic like material like the ones on Rip Roarin Rapids, or a generic belt?

They are retractable seat belts like most of the other coasters have.

I personally didn't get stapled, but I'm bigger too and they really have no reason to as I have no wiggle room.

The belts didn't bother me at all as far as my rides.

[dabrian]

Watched 7 consecutive trains stack today which I thought wouldn't be happening by now but I guess I was wrong. Hopefully before next season the storage bins are removed ala millennium and TTD.

[Jay]

It could be worse. As seen on Screamscape...

I’ve received word of a disturbing new procedure currently taking place at Six Flags over Texas for everyone who wants to ride the Texas Giant. The park has set up an interesting additional queue outside of the ride’s main entrance forcing all guests to wait in this new line first. When you get to the front, they are pulling guests, 12 to 15 at a time, into a group where an employee verbally goes over “the rules” of riding the Texas Giant and answers questions. Once this phase is done, the group is taken to the “test seat” and each and every single person is placed in the test seat to see if they fit. In the buzzer goes off, the lap-bar went down far enough and you are allowed to proceed into the main ride queue. Once the group has been tested, they go back and gather the next group to start the cycle over again.

I’m told the problem here is that the procedure is simply too slow, especially because there is only one test seat. As such, I’m hearing that the coaster has been frequently seen sending out trains only half-full at times, because they can’t get people through the line fast enough. The other flaws to the system is that anyone who has been granted handicapped access to the ride platform, along with anyone with a Flash Pass, are not put through the same procedure, and are backdoored right to the station.

According to what people are being told by park employees, apparently just “a test” of a new possible system, because someone in management really likes the idea, but it clearly sounds like it is in need or work. There is no telling just how long this test will last however.

[Hiveminded]

It could be worse. As seen on Screamscape...

I’ve received word of a disturbing new procedure currently taking place at Six Flags over Texas for everyone who wants to ride the Texas Giant. The park has set up an interesting additional queue outside of the ride’s main entrance forcing all guests to wait in this new line first. When you get to the front, they are pulling guests, 12 to 15 at a time, into a group where an employee verbally goes over “the rules” of riding the Texas Giant and answers questions. Once this phase is done, the group is taken to the “test seat” and each and every single person is placed in the test seat to see if they fit. In the buzzer goes off, the lap-bar went down far enough and you are allowed to proceed into the main ride queue. Once the group has been tested, they go back and gather the next group to start the cycle over again.

I’m told the problem here is that the procedure is simply too slow, especially because there is only one test seat. As such, I’m hearing that the coaster has been frequently seen sending out trains only half-full at times, because they can’t get people through the line fast enough. The other flaws to the system is that anyone who has been granted handicapped access to the ride platform, along with anyone with a Flash Pass, are not put through the same procedure, and are backdoored right to the station.

According to what people are being told by park employees, apparently just “a test” of a new possible system, because someone in management really likes the idea, but it clearly sounds like it is in need or work. There is no telling just how long this test will last however.

whot

Theres no way this can be legit...

[RollerBee]

It is Six Flags, why couldn't it be? Just another knee-jerk reaction to the accident.

[goldsteh]

I have a question. Why does Intimidator use the air brakes throughout the ride. They never used to. The bunny hop hills were put in for airtime and the breaks eliminate all of the air. I'm curious to hear an experts opinion.

[Jarsh]

I'm no expert, but speed control is the main reason. They don't want the train to travel over a certain speed at that location. Usually they won't catch in the mornings when the train is moving slower, but as it speeds up throughout the day they will start to catch.

[Jonathan]

And because they hate fun.

By the way the trims have been operational since the day the ride opened in 2010.

[coasterfreak]

Yeah the trims are no worse now than they were on opening day. Oh but the glorious night that was Coasterstock 2010...

[Tosu97]

As the season has gone on I have decided the belts don't really do anything to the ride or wait times. Just an extra thing to put on and off.

[Mountain3307]

Yeah the trims are no worse now than they were on opening day. Oh but the glorious night that was Coasterstock 2010...

That was indeed a good night.. Occasionally, you can still get a trim-less ride from the 'ole girl.

[Tosu97]

Many claim Intimidator to be one of the milder B&M Hypers out there. With full trims I could see that, however if you're lucky enough to get a rare trim-free ride than Intimidator is amazing. I've been on Goliath, Apollo's Chariot, and Diamondback. With trims off, Intimidator tops all of them easy I think.

[JosieQ]

I am alarmed by you people complaining about the seat belts. I mean, like... heavily alarmed. Something becomes more safe and you're upset because you have to wait longer booooo? Furthermore, your "logic" is baffling and scary. Because the company that makes the ride has never made a ride that ever failed, it never will?

Let's move on and talk about me!

I rode the Intimidator the year it came out. I had a season pass, got on it expecting it to be like all the others and was shocked when a tiny little lap bar came down over me and that's it. I spent the entire ride gripping the handles, certain I was going to slide out and fall to my death, and it was not fun, and I hated it and vowed never to go again. Though I'll admit I'm always afraid of mechanical failure and falling to my death, or the failure of the idiots running the ride to properly secure me (because gods help us, they are terrible idiots and falling to my death, this was the first time in my life I was outright too scared to ride a roller-coaster a second time. I got home and looked online and saw the other Intimidator had a giant shoulder-harness and was angry that mine didn't have that. I wondered why not and have wondered that for years until this very day, when I see on this board that apparently everyone wants to be strapped in as little as possible, daring death to take them! You creepy creeps!!

So now I've got a season pass again finally, and because I didn't want to be afraid of a roller-coaster, I decided to ride the Intimidator again today, and beat it. I got line 13, and it's a good thing I'm not superstitious or I'd have run! (Okay I am superstitious, but I can't let it rule me or I'd never leave the house.) The car pulled up and there they were: seatbelts! I was soooo happy. Seatbelts seatbelts, so happy!!

It doesn't matter if the lap bar is completely safe. It doesn't matter how much I'm TOLD it's safe. It doesn't matter if I watch the ride go around 100 times, with thousands of people fatter, skinnier, taller and shorter than me all NOT falling to their deaths. It doesn't matter if I live another 100 years and the ride goes all that time without ever flinging anyone to their death. It doesn't matter that a computerized artificial intelligence bent on destroying humanity who patches in wirelessly to the Intimidator seat-bars and releases all the belts at the highest drop, sending everyone flying to their deaths, doesn't currently exist. What matters is that I didn't feel safe. And now, with a merry seatbelt redundancy THAT DOES NOT IN ANY WAY AFFECT THE FEEL OF THE RIDE, a seatbelt that will hold me in place even as a robot releases my lap bar to attempt and fail to kill me (IN YOUR FACE, ROBOT), now with a seatbelt I do feel safe!

Er... I feel safer, anyway. I still don't feel entirely like I'm not about to die. But that could be just me, all the time, every day. (In my defense I do have a terrible disease that will probably kill me within a decade. Two if I'm lucky. But it's not contagious so don't worry, I'm not leaving it on the ride seats.)

With the Fury taking the heat off the other rides, the Intimidator lines aren't so bad anymore anyway, so here's hoping your complaints that you have to wait slightly longer in order to be even more sure to not die goes out the window.

By the way, I haven't ridden the Fury yet, does it have seatbelts? ^-^

[RollerBee]

Yes Fury has seatbelts. They get in the way on both rides, i don't trust the seatbelts to save my life. The seatbelts on the wooden coasters don't retract when I ride them. As a matter of fact, due to the shape of my body the seatbelts don't retract at any point during Thunder Road despite the fact that I still get penlty of airtime coming off the turnaround. Thunder Road was running great over the weekend.

I have never seen or heard over a lapbar failing, I have heard of seatbelts failing.

[cwgator]

Well...it's not like the seat belt issue was still going on in this thread since the last post was in July of last year. I think we've all come to terms with it by now....even though their hyper/gigas don't need them.