Fire In the Hole Question

[Firstvisit1967]

I have never been in the park when a big storm hit I'll bet it get ugly in a hurry.  I would not want to be at the top of the hill when lighting was striking.

[dorsal]

I may have read this somewhere, but I've forgotten:  Why was the sudden turn (making you think you were about to drop over the edge of a chasm) taken out - safety?  That was a favorite feature.  At that point you were at a higher level looking down on one of the scenes, too, so the ride must have had to take you down to finish - meaning the ride was longer.  True or no?

[pintrader]

Yes, the ride was longer! And if I understand correctly the main reason they shortened the ride was to allow for a larger ride capacity.

[mhguy77]

I do think that the loss of that feature took away more than a scene.
The perception was that we were going down a much larger hill because we had just been presented with a view over a " cliff".  This instinctively made you think you were high up and were really going to drop far this time.
Excitement from teh middle drop was lost.
Removing that was a huge mistake, I wonder how the capacity of the ride did increase by removing that section of track. 10 people per hour?

[biscuitcreek]

Anyone know why FITH has been closed so much lately?  It was down when we were there in late July and I've read on other boards about it being down on other days recently.

[KBCraig]

I do think that the loss of that feature took away more than a scene.
The perception was that we were going down a much larger hill because we had just been presented with a view over a " cliff".  This instinctively made you think you were high up and were really going to drop far this time.
Excitement from teh middle drop was lost.
Removing that was a huge mistake, I wonder how the capacity of the ride did increase by removing that section of track. 10 people per hour?

Yes, that was a terrible loss to the ride. I don't know if it really increased throughput or not. If there was anywhere else to be shortened, they should have chosen one of the static scenes if possible.

[Copper]

I would have loved to have seen the missing areas in their former glory, the cliff sounds fun.  You have to understand that when they took those areas out there was no Thunderation, Wildfire and Powderkeg.  In fact FITH was the only “thrill” ride the park had at the time.  I guess they felt they had to do something about the extremely long wait times.  I really don’t ever see them spending the money to recreate those scenes, so we will only be able to reminisce.  

I have scene the original blueprints and after the bridge collapse hill you turned right into the Baldknobber Cave.  There were several Baldknobbers barricaded behind crates and wagons and they would shoot at you as you moved past them.  Then you went through a dark tunnel with a Baldknobber dumping a barrel on you, sound familiar?  Then you traveled to the cliff scene where you could look down upon the burning cabin that you passed earlier.  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53826242@N00/3280246521/

This is the scene that made it appear you were going to fall off the cliff,

http://www.facebook.com/Silverdollarcity?v=photos#!/photo.php?pid=5127419&id=7656242602&ref=fbx_album

but a quick right turn saved you, but then you were approaching the train collision.  

FITH hasn’t been down much this season, less than last season.  We have been down more due to guest backing the ride up, in fact more than I ever experienced.  

[History Buff]

What is the Bald Knobber dumping on me anyway?  I've forgotten what he says as we roll under him too.

[pintrader]

Not sure what he is dumping (presume its not water since their burning the town down).  What he says is " here's a barrel of laughs".

[Ozark Outlaw]

He's dumping a barrel of laughs! 

[pintrader]

We have been down more due to guest backing the ride up, in fact more than I ever experienced. 

Hey Copper!  When you say backing the ride up, does this mean the lines are so long for the ride they have to shut down?  If so, I never knew they did this.

[Copper]

No, if you have more than three trains on at one time you have a limited amount of time to load and dispatch the trains.  When you are not able to send the train on time all the brakes in the ride raise to keep trains from colliding.  This ends up shutting the system down, the ride closes and people are evacuated out of the ride.  This happened the other day when a girl took forever putting her loose articles in the storage boxes.  This doesn’t happen often, but sometimes you can’t help it, especially when disabled people load the ride.  You just do your best to get people on and move the train.  This is why you might see FITH, Lost River and Powder Keg send empty trains and boats.  It’s to keep the ride system from shutting down.

[pintrader]

Thanks for the clarification Copper.  I was riding back in the 1970's when I was a teenager and this happened.  The ride just stopped and the in house lights came on.  Then a man came out of nowhere, raised the bar on our car and we followed him to the nearest exit.  It was kind of a neat experience considering it had never happened before.   At the time we were scared we were going to be hit with another car coming up from behind us.  We had no idea the whole ride was shut down.

[mhguy77]

This happened the other day when a girl took forever putting her loose articles in the storage boxes.

I hope she felt like a real dumb A##, cause people like that are.  I would have loved to be there when she realized that her messing around had screwwed up the entire operation.  That stuff really aggravates me. I detest dealing with selfish people that cant get it together.........

Large signs all over the tram area PLEASE CLOSE STROLLERS BEFORE BOARDING THE TRAM.

Get it together people..................

[marolinesdad]

I am sensing that some of you all need to be a little more tolerant.  It takes every kind of person to make the would go round.