I heard that Firehawk was going to have something called a dual or double loading station? Whats that all about?

I heard that Firehawk was going to have something called a dual or double loading station? Whats that all about?

The line breaks in to two parts right before it goes up to the station. One train loads on each side. They have a crew on each side, and it is supposed to cut down on stacking. The track in front and behind the station flips over to allow the train in or out of the station. Pretty interesting concept.

I never knew about that the track flippingt over before and after the station, since I've never ridden it before.

Here's a link to a pic of Firehawk in it's previous location.

http://rcdb.com/ig920.htm?picture=9

The pic shows the former dual loading station from afar. One could assume that the new station at KI will be a duplicate, or similar. BTW, it's actually pretty cool to see the track flip.

Here's another link to a pic of what's left of the X-Flight (soon to be Firehawk) dual loading station.

http://www.geaugalaketoday.com/XF_Removal_3-7-07_6.htm

The only dual-station ride I have been on is The MUMMY @ Universal Orlando. It is very efficient, and the way it was set up, they had a fast pass lane combined with the regular line on one of the station sides, which worked out great as well- both lines seemed to move at a pretty constant rate.

I hope KI does a similar thing for Firehawk like they did for IJ:ST on its first year, and have a "speed lane" open every day in the summer to reduce the line.

If Firehawk is like the Mummy, it will also have the option to close half of the station when the ride isn't as busy.

Ok, call me dumb but what exactly is a dual loading station?

Would Dragster at Cedar Point be considered a dual-loading station since it loads two trains at once, or is it in its own category since they leave at the same time?

Look at that upside down and you have Firehawk.

Would Dragster at Cedar Point be considered a dual-loading station since it loads two trains at once, or is it in its own category since they leave at the same time?

I would say that Dragster would be catergorized differently, since both loading areas maintain their course on the same track (if train #1 doesn't dispatch, train #2 doesn't have an alternate route around it...) Of course, the end goal is still the same...to get the trains loaded faster. Dragster ups the ante even more in that regard by having the unloading area away from the loading area.

Another good example of a dual loading station would be "Mr. Freeze" at SFOT. It also has a pretty cool mechanism where track portion the train is sitting on slides from the loading station into place on the main track.

Firehawk's track actually flips 180 degrees whereas that coaster rotates a little bit horizontaly, but its still the same idea.

Big Thunder Mountain, Test Track and Dinosaur all at Disney parks in Orlando have dual loading stations as well. Although Test Track and Dinosaur don't need track switches the cars are actually driving themselves based on signals from the main computer.

Good hopefully if it does have a new dual loading station then it will cut down on wait time and bring the hourly capacity up. But if one side breaks down does that mean that the whole thing is broken down or just that one side?

If you look at some of the construction pics on pki.com you'll see they have started the construction on the dual loading station. To answer the question above, I guess it would all depend on what happend on that side of the station.

Just that one side, unless there is a bigger problem with the ride.

Lets just hope if it does that it is not the side i am on.

Let's hope its not the side any of us are on....or any body else, that would be very uncool!

Let's hope its not the side any of us are on....or any body else, that would be very uncool!

Agreed.So there isnt a difference between the two sides?

No difference, It's just they have 2 load stations instead of one.

No difference, It's just they have 2 load stations instead of one.

Thats sweet. Hopefully the wait won't be as long then.

The past several times I have been to Geauga Lake, the ride kept getting stuck on the lift hill. I do not know whether I was just there on bad days, or if there actually is/was a problem with the ride. From the time maintenance arrived, it would take a good 20 minutes to reopen the coaster.

If Firehawk is like the Mummy, it will also have the option to close half of the station when the ride isn't as busy.

I never actually saw both sides running at the same time... at GL, when I went, there was hardly a line at all...needless to say, they can use one side at a time if they please.

No difference, It's just they have 2 load stations instead of one.

Thats sweet. Hopefully the wait won't be as long then.

At GL x-flight had some long lines with 2 stations running

This isn't Geauga Lake.

No, but it's Cedar Fair! -Hauntguy

This isn't Geauga Lake.

No, but it's Cedar Fair! -Hauntguy

Both of you are exactly right...scary, two posts that are nearly opposites are both right!

Bottom line we arent Geauga Lake, and we all know that in the past KI has been much better off in all areas than Geauga Lake, but as far as being Cedar Fair is concerned CP seems to run alright, but Geagua didnt. The thing we have to remember is KI has a good history to build off of, Geagua Lake did not with SF and all, so they were constantly in a rebuilding term especially now. I hope that under CF's stewardship plus the prosperity that KI has had in the past that Kings Island Comes out better than ever before...and that Firehawk has a short line! haha

In the end, we wont know until she opens!

If the one side of the station breaks down the ride will continue to operate but with only one station.

Well, if Cedar Fair can keep up with putting a lot of rides in each year then you would be better off in not having long lines. Cedar Fair just needs to keep up with the amount of people we have around the area that go, if they can do that then the lines wont be that long

No difference, It's just they have 2 load stations instead of one.

Thats sweet. Hopefully the wait won't be as long then.

At GL x-flight had some long lines with 2 stations running

That dosen't mean a thing. When I rode Batwing, one side had problems so they switched to just one station adding another hour to the wait.

What year was this?

I have my reasons for asking....

2007. What's your reason for asking?

Ha Ha!

I meant what year was it when the Batwing incident that Kennywooddude mentioned happened. I saw no reason to quote that nesting bunch of quotes.

I do hope you will be here all week!