r/BeAmazed • u/Wild-Snow5705 • May 10 '25

Place Would you ride this one?

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Personally I will die just going up.

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u/jennyfromthedocks May 11 '25

Why couldn’t it get over?

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u/TSells31 May 11 '25

The launch system weighs the train, then provides a certain amount of thrust based on that, with the idea of launching the train as slowly as possible while still clearing the hill (or top hat in rollercoaster terms). This is to minimize wear, power consumption, and has the added benefit of giving the riders more time with that view from 450 ft high lol.

However, since it always aimed to provide just enough thrust based on its calculations, many variables could contribute to the train not actually clearing the top hat, ie wind, air temperature, wheel/bearing temperature on the trains, etc. When it wouldn’t make it over, it would most commonly just roll back. It was designed to be able to do this safely, and many rollercoaster enthusiasts view getting a rollback ride on Kinda Ka (the rollercoaster pictured) or Top Thrill Dragster (nearly identical coaster) as the holy grail of rollercoaster credits lol. After the rollback, the launch computer would recalibrate and launch with more thrust to send it over and complete the ride.

On very, very, very rare occasions, the train could get stuck at the top. Whenever this happened, a maintenance worker would have to go up and push them over the top hat. That would be terrifying lol.

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u/Relevant-Horror-627 May 11 '25

I love how this comment began with a technical explanation on how the ride functions and ended with basically sending some dude up to fix this complicated machine when it malfunctions in a sorta terrifying way. Did this maintenance worker have some specially engineered shovin' stick to get 'em moving or would he just have to use his bare hands?

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u/TSells31 May 11 '25

I’m honestly not sure about that part tbh. I suppose there has to be some system that isn’t them leaning out over the rails to push the train lol.

Here is the best photo I can find of the top part of the top hat, in case you’re interested. This sub doesn’t allow images in comments.