El Toro Now Closed for At Least a Week!!!

I was at SFGA yesterday, Monday the 26th, and it was raining. They decided to run El Toro even though it was raining. The ride was amazing, but it closed a couple hours later. I talked to the security guard and he told me that it was not supposed to be open in the rain. He said that the train got stuck at the top of the lift, and the passengers were evacuated. Apparently a piece broke on the cable lift and it will take at least a week to get the piece shipped from switzerland where Intamin is located. Once they install the piece, the coaster will hopefully be open in a week.

Just thought I would let you guys know to not go to SFGA until El Toro is open if you plan on riding it.

Good old Intamin cable lifts, they seem to be breaking on everybody these days.

dont you love teething problems, somthing was bound to go wrong as does it with every new roller coaster, i bet its part of the rachet mecanism or part of the pickup trolly

I was at Great adventure that saturday. It was drizzleing in the morning and the lines were not long. I went to go ride toro and the gaurd said that is is closed and will open at 11:30 if the rain stopps. I went and rode all the water ride first row nirto and GASM. By the time we were done we headed over to grab a flash pass and then we rode toro 3 times. Back on topic. The gaurd said toro would open if the rain stpped but it kept raining on and off all day but they still ran toro (but then the skys opened up it started pouring didn't stop and they closed the park and it has been raining since). I am glad they opened it but they need to be more careful about operating coasters.

exactly, they do need to be more careful

Seems more like Six Flags fault...always trying to push things to the limit.

^^^ Your reply makes sense in a slight way in conjunction with Kingda Ka and all.
But if no-one else pushes limits, who else will. Kindka Ka is obviously extremly intense, yeah it may be rough, but it gets your adrenaline pumping like a junkie halluicinating.
And ElToro is supposed to be amazing, absolutely superb, so can we complain? Not really.
The ride is extremly new, what can you expect, what happend to Kingda Ka in the first month of opening, a cable snapped, so imo it was expected[lol].

haha...didnt take very long.

Expect more cable lift issues in the months to come fanboys!

[Brtnboarder495]

Good old Intamin cable lifts, they seem to be breaking on everybody these days.

Hey, it's happened twice. And Intamin's Millenium Force was technically a prototype, and the lift was a cable style, this is a chain style. Lastly, I've heard that this was infact Six Flag's fault for incorrectly operating it.

^^^ Your reply makes sense in a slight way in conjunction with Kingda Ka and all.
But if no-one else pushes limits, who else will. Kindka Ka is obviously extremly intense, yeah it may be rough, but it gets your adrenaline pumping like a junkie halluicinating.
And ElToro is supposed to be amazing, absolutely superb, so can we complain? Not really.
The ride is extremly new, what can you expect, what happend to Kingda Ka in the first month of opening, a cable snapped, so imo it was expected.

He has 86 posts, enough said.

I swear you're the most biased person ever Real.

Nice job Six Flags! Run the ride when you're not supposed to!

I was under the impression that all new Intamins with a lift hill are using Cable lift systems. And the problems this year with the Big MF are more due to the new lift motor which was a few extra HP than it should be and the programming of the ride freaking out about how fast its going up the lift hill.

But anyone know the real reasons for why it shouldn't be operated in the rain?

[jayman]

[quote]Originally posted by dcs221

I swear you're the most biased person ever Real.
[/quote....
no .. i doubt it.. besides .. the words "cable lift" and "wooden coaster" used together to describe the same thing tell he and i everything we need to know about this ride..not to say we woul;dn't think it was fun just to say, DUH.. it's not REALLLLY a wooden rollercoaster. hopefuly it turns out to be a nightmare and other parks won't choos it as an option over a REAL wooden coaster.

Originally posted by Coaster individual

Good old Intamin cable lifts, they seem to be breaking on everybody these days.

eh, i know...millennium force was closed all 3 days i was there because the cable was broken

First of all jayman, your grammar makes it very difficult to read that paragraph.

Secondly, I won't even get into that ludicrous argument debating whether El Toro is a real wooden coaster or not. Face it, it has 99% wooden supports, wooden track, and steel running rails, just like pretty much every other wooden coaster in existance. Yes, the wheels are different. Yes, the track is made differently. No, none of that makes the ride a "fake" wooden coaster. If you mean something else by saying that, please be careful in your diction, because El Toro is definately a wooden coaster, just done with new technology that helps make the ride smoother and arguably more enjoyable.

From what I've heard from several people, El Toro is back open.

What makes the cable lift on the woodie work significantly differently than those implemented on steel rides like Millennium Force, Thunder Dolphin, Goliath, and Expedition GeForce? I'm sure the system is very close to being exactly the same, with modifications to make it fit into the wooden structure and things like that. I don't understand the argument that using a cable lift on a wooden coaster instantly makes the ride much less reliable.

Usually I would just joke with Real about statements like that, but considering he has continually said almost exclusively negative comments about the ride and it's style (without having ridden it), I meant what I said this time, though I used exaggeration for effect. Real's posts have made him look like the fanboy of Voyage. I know personally I'm VERY highly impressed with both rides, but yet I feel like he's grouping myself and those like me in with "fanboys" which is not true.

I can think of at least one difference... Isn't el Toro already moving as it connects with the catch car? All the other rides with cable lifts are at a standstill in the station and the catch car just grabs it, whereas here it is moving somewhat.

Wow, my worst nightmare would be traveling up MF's lift and have the cable snap and roll back down. The g's entering the station would snap your neck!

[jayman]

some one pull me over and issue me a t.u.i. it DOES sound like a fun ride, but it just seems like some sort of sell out idea.. the reason i've always liked wooden coasters is because , for the most part they are built peice by peice where they stand.the reason i like steel rollercoasters is because they are more flexible, and do things wooden coasters cannot.. but there's something about el toro being "both" that bugs me. voyage just seems like a big peice of art, and el toro seems like a big peice of equipment that's trying to compete.. you're right though, i am being biased, maybe even elitist, i haven't ridden either and voyage has already won my vote..for me el toro looks like a great ride, and if were at magic mountain instead of tatsu you betcha i'd be there opening day, but as far as traveling across the country for either i'd go out of my way for voyage, but not el toro.
my love for riding rollercoasters does include steel rollercoasters, BUT my complete obsession is based on the classic wooden design.. and yeah, voyage has elaborated on it, but the concept is still intact. the people who built el toro couldve built a neato multi inversion 90 mile an hour steel coaster for less. that's what they do, and they do it well. i'm sure they did this well too, but they shopuld stick to their own genre.

Originally posted by Bowserjoe

Wow, my worst nightmare would be traveling up MF's lift and have the cable snap and roll back down. The g's entering the station would snap your neck!

Anti-Rollback Device
Safety feature which prevents the train sliding backwards down the lift hill or hills on the circuit. A metal wedge on the base of the car would grip onto grooved metal rails in the centre of the track should the train come to a stop on the hill. When the ride is operating normally, these wedges are what makes the clack-clack sound as the train ascends hills.

DUH!

Originally posted by dcs221


From what I've heard from several people, El Toro is back open.

yes Toro is open again.

Dude jayman, you hit that one on the head.

I also like what you added about their steel rides...they ARE cheaper than these prefab woodies. These things are INSANELY expensive. I think Voyage is 2x the ride (in ride time, elements, etc) and cost HALF as much. It only cost like 6mil and I think Toro is over 12. Thats RIDICULOUS.

Raptor wasnt even 12 mil.

Well if Kingda Ka is worth $25, then ET is definitely $12!

[jayman]

o.k. check it out.. with the money they spent making a steel coaster into wood,they coulda built THE ULTIMATE steel coaster they could've broken inversion records, speed records, innovated new elements instead of trying to find a way to make the tubular steel concept work on wood, and then .. WOW.. as far as i can see there aren't any rollercoasters that go 80 miles anhour AND upside down.. not any more. .. THAT would be a coaster to check out... a STEEL rollercoaster company responding to voyage with a STEEL rollercoaster, that did what they're known for.. speed , inversions, and new tecnology.
and still i'd probabaly check out voyage instead... but that's not my point.

Or, they could get what has been continually called one of the most amazing roller coasters (of any kind) ever in the woodie El Toro.

To many people, inverting isn't really anything special anyways. Hence why EGF is rated much much higher than Colossus or random B&M floorlesses.

I'm sure El Toro did not cost that much more than a steel coaster of similar magnitude, if more at all... for the most part, you could say the same thing about any expensive steel ride; Millennium Force, SROS SFNE, TTD, etc.

It's once again difficult to follow your thoughts jayman, just to let you know.

Real, Raptor was 12 million a long time ago. I'm sure newer, similarly sized B&M inverts now cost more than that. El Toro's track length is just as long anyways, plus it's much more massive (and thrilling) than Raptor. I loved Raptor (it's my favorite invert) but El Toro is just so much more exciting, and nomatter what the building material, if prices were the same, I'd (and many many other people) would easily choose El Toro, without much consideration.

Technically the anti roll backs on MF don't operate off of grease. As the wheels turn they generate a small magnetic force that is just enough to keep the anti-roll backs locked upward, as the train slows down for an lift stop or block stop the catch car actually slows down and stops and the train keeps rolling upward until the anti-roll backs finaly are released from the field and fall into the anti-roll back holes. The train actually moves backward about a foot once the train stops, plus it is EXTREMEly loud.

On topic: Honestly not everybody feels like they should get the crap kicked out of em on a coaster. Intamin did what they do best and thats come up with something new and original to make the bigger wooden coasters smooth. Now I highly doubt their new design will replace wooden coasters all together, as stated earlier price is a big factor. Its just a new way to build a wooden coaster. As long as the ride is fun, its worth it.