Space Mountain Opening Date

kgmadorin · Post by **kgmadorin** » May Fri 13, 2005 8:22 am

Great info, Club33hopeful! Thanks for posting!

FootballGuy101 · Post by **FootballGuy101** » May Fri 13, 2005 11:01 am

Definetely, thanks for the info.

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » May Fri 13, 2005 11:51 am

Just a quick sidebar that I found interesting, and hence why I mentioned the track tubes are hollow. I am a geek so this impressed me. Engineers walk the entire length of the track every day and visually inspect for cracks in the track. This is common and almost all parks. However, some engineer got to thinking and came up with a brilliant detection system for cracks. (They still do walk the tracks every day as well). They have this entire track setup with hollow tubes. They simply pressurize those tubes with nitrogen and look for a drop in pressure. As long as they stay pressurized, no cracks. If a crack develops, the nitrogen will escape, and the drop in pressure will trigger a ride shut down. I thought that was cool.

kgmadorin · Post by **kgmadorin** » May Fri 13, 2005 11:58 am

Club33Hopeful wrote:Just a quick sidebar that I found interesting, and hence why I mentioned the track tubes are hollow. I am a geek so this impressed me. Engineers walk the entire length of the track every day and visually inspect for cracks in the track. This is common and almost all parks. However, some engineer got to thinking and came up with a brilliant detection system for cracks. (They still do walk the tracks every day as well). They have this entire track setup with hollow tubes. They simply pressurize those tubes with nitrogen and look for a drop in pressure. As long as they stay pressurized, no cracks. If a crack develops, the nitrogen will escape, and the drop in pressure will trigger a ride shut down. I thought that was cool.

That is a great system. I know that Space Mountain at Walt Disney World uses the same method, but I do not know when it began or which park was the first to implement the pressurized track.

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » May Fri 13, 2005 12:04 pm

Don't quote me on this, but I believe it was WDW. Now it is an industry standard...

Post by **subsonic** » May Fri 13, 2005 12:58 pm

I used to work on Space Mountain.
Everything club33Hopeful said it correct.
I've been there when there's a crack in the track. In the tower there's a screen that shows rocket weight and ride info. It also talked

Anyways, during the crack the computer notified us that we had an hour until automatic shut down. We continued to run the attraction for another 30 muinutes and walked the line in. Basically emptying out the moutain. At that point, we shut down and Maintainance came in in welded the track. The track is pressurized in sections so they know which section the leak is in. Good times. I'll miss that ride.

It's great they can pull off a rocket to get special assistance in. We've ride cascaded sooo many times due to slow guests. It was fun cascading. Cast Members would have to go into the mountain to push the rockets out.

FootballGuy101 · Post by **FootballGuy101** » May Sat 14, 2005 8:51 pm

I've been in a rocket when the lights come on and stuff. It's fun to see what it really looks like.

Lion Sleeps Tonight · Post by **Lion Sleeps Tonight** » May Sun 15, 2005 2:40 am

Huh, that's a pretty ingenious way to detect cracks. I'm impressed.

FootballGuy101 · Post by **FootballGuy101** » May Sun 15, 2005 1:08 pm

Well, it is Disney, the same people who brought you bottles of coke for 2.50. They'll never cease to ammaze us.

Halvogirl · Post by **Halvogirl** » May Fri 20, 2005 4:42 pm

I'm just glad i get to ride it! My friends and i are going july 26-30!

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » May Fri 20, 2005 5:08 pm

subsonic wrote:It's great they can pull off a rocket to get special assistance in. We've ride cascaded sooo many times due to slow guests. It was fun cascading. Cast Members would have to go into the mountain to push the rockets out.

Also of note, the new system can handle heavier loads. In the past, right as you are leaving the station, you would stop and the system would weigh the car. If the car was too heavy, it would kick you out to the left, and you would have to get out and split up into two cars.

The heaviest people that can still fit into the cars should not be more than the new system can handle. I hear they will still weigh the cars to determine the minimum spacing necessary, but the weight limit has been increased by more than 1000 pounds.

supersonics1984 · Post by **supersonics1984** » May Tue 24, 2005 6:24 pm

Sep 6th I'm gonna ride that bad boy like my momma taught me!

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » May Tue 24, 2005 7:14 pm

supersonics1984 wrote:Sep 6th I'm gonna ride that bad boy like my momma taught me!

With your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times?

borjoyzee · Post by **borjoyzee** » May Sun 29, 2005 12:41 am

no up hehe,

I say it is ok to do that, They wouldn't make a ride where you can't put your hands up. It would be very unsafe because alot of people like to put their hands up during the ride.

Now I say your hands on the side, maybe you would get hit by something.

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » May Tue 31, 2005 1:45 am

Looks like they are on track to start soft openings around the July 4th weekend, possibly with a full day of operation that weekend. They will still have there opening celebration on the 15th though.

Subsonic Radio

Space Mountain Opening Date

Can't Wait

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