A Change for the Worse at VelociCoaster

UPDATE: Operational changes at VelociCoaster implemented by upper management have been relaxed allowing the ride crew to excel once again!
A recent change has been made to the Jurassic World VelociCoaster that in my opinion is a pretty big deal. (A nerdy big deal)
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Closed Captions by Pineapples Foster Media Services allmylinks.com/pineapples-foster
Video Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - Original Operations
03:17 - New Capacity Numbers
05:25 - What Exactly Changed
10:14 - Conclusion
Video Sources:
PositiveG - • [VelociCoaster] Ultra ...
Phantasialand - • TARON Onride - Klughei...
Universal Orlando Resort - • Front Row POV Jurassic...
Themeparkfanatic - • Cheetah Hunt at Busch ...
Fredrik Åman - • Kingda ka roller coaster
Beats Provided By freebeats.io
Produced By White Hot

[@ElToroRyan]

UPDATE: Operational changes at VelociCoaster implemented by upper management have been relaxed allowing the ride crew to excel once again!

[@theshep]

woohoo!

[@MiggerPlease]

Yum yum yum nigga

[@emilyrose31]

Ok I know this isn’t good news to a lot of coaster enthusiasts, but the title scared me so bad. I thought they were changing the ride itself 😭

[@ralelunar]

I was so scared that they were going to mess with the launches or something

[@randomcoffeetable777]

When I first saw this I was thinking they went and stuck trims on the top hat.

[@robertduncan6292]

It's called click bait.

[@meatiethatsme2471]

@@ralelunar me too!

[@memelord9737]

Yeah my first thought was comfort collars for some reason 😅

[@Gtneff]

I was there in October and while Hagrid's was ALWAYS at ALL TIMES over 2 hours, Velocicoaster was nearly always 25 minutes or less. I got to walk on to the ride 4 times in a row. The lines moved so freaking fast.

[@seeyoucu]

Yes. And Hagrid's had more trains running at the same time. Confusing.

[@midnitesnac]

I was there when this coaster just opened and they wouldn’t let anyone on. Also Hagrids was shut down the whole day lol. At least the hulk was operating. Spent a lot of money only to ride a few rides. I won’t be back until they open a new ride. Wasn’t worth spending all that money.

[@elizabethd112]

What day of the week did you go?

[@Gtneff]

@Elizabeth D we were there Sunday through Wednesday. That Monday being halloween day.

[@togwam]

This is why I went on as many single riders line each time it was available

[@Cje_-yj8ov]

As a fellow nerd whose life is affected by this, I couldn’t agree more with you Ryan. I visited IoA xmas of 2021, and even with the line all the way back outside, the capacity was so good I never waited more than 50 minutes for a ride. Probably the most efficient crew I’ve seen on a thrill coaster as elite as this one. Idk why the park decided to take one of their best and most important crews and tie one hand behind their backs. Great video as always!

[@Farquad76.547]

Your life isn’t affected by this bud

[@misterreason486]

^----- Virign

[@Cje_-yj8ov]

@@Farquad76.547 lol ik, I was being tongue in cheek like Ryan was when he brought it up, thought that was obvious

[@rowenaritter5994]

I think it might be insurance related….where if they follow certain operations, they could save some 💵

[@Farquad76.547]

@@misterreason486 married brother 2 years now

[@spentron1]

If they checked twice as fast, but twice, that would be less safe than doing it right the first time.

[@Enthusiastically460]

As a velocicoaster attractions attendant, Hagrid attendant and revenge of the mummy attendant, I can assure you that universal has been made us doing this for a while now, in a sense with velocicoaster there has been a few inspections with rvs 2 and 3 so that's the main reason why for velocicoaster we have to check twice just too ensure that everyone is safe so we can dispatch, also our dispatch interval has to be atleast 32 seconds or the ride could cascade on launch 2 and in the break section on scene 5 and we don't try to have that, yeah it's hard but I love the job. But believe me the place is rigorous to work at and you have to be on your toes but nothing is going to happen to the ride, this attraction will be here for years

[@WCfanboy]

@@Enthusiastically460how would it cascade? The ride has 3 brake blocks which is enough for all 4 trains to stack

[@Enthusiastically460]

@WCfanboy there can be atleast 10 to 12 trains on the track at a time and the fact that sometime going through the ride when dispatching the rv at different interval times. That could have a lot of effects with the rvs coming into unload, causing the ride to stop or cascade a bit and we don't want that, Okay, that is at revenge of the mummy, For velocicoaster it's a bit different the amount of times I started to work there, atleast that's what my trainers taught me

[@piercewhitlock7918]

A possible solution for both safety and efficiency would be to have ride operators check train front to back. The front operator checks seats 1-12 while the back operator checks seats 12-1. This should leave all seats checked twice while still having operators by their control panels with no need to double back. This should in theory lead to more efficient operations while still guaranteeing each seat is checked twice.

[@TheGodOfAllThatWas]

While I think this would be a better way to do the double check, I'm not sure it's faster in any way. It might actually be negligibly slower. The distance traveled by each operator and time spent should be the same as the current slow system, but the double check will be more involved because for the operators it's now actually an first check instead of a double check. Having said that, I'd be more confident the double check meant something if it was done by a second person.

[@zarlus8]

This seems like the obvious solution. If I have to wait for a double check, I'd rather have two first checks, then one first check and one, "yeah I already checked it check."

[@AlexR47x]

Add the ability for the back and front operators to swap positions from front to back after each check, and then we will have a procedure that meets the double checking necessity and will certainly be faster as well.

[@geekmoto1363]

@@TheGodOfAllThatWas i actually agree with this, it would be smarter and overall faster.

[@mike07646]

@@zarlus8 Not trying to discount the professionalism of the operators, but I too would feel that the second check would not be nearly as thorough as the first. They may get complacent over time and think "yeah, I've done this already".

[@dakotahd9323]

Just want to say that I still can’t get used to this coaster. Visited it in its first month and a couple times after and it is just one of best experiences I’ve ever had at a park in the 21st century. It moves like a swan dance. I can’t believe it really exists. A perfect experience from start to finish. So incredibly refreshing

[@Acrobaticfrog]

I was on the VelociCoaster IAAPA Tour on November 14th 2022 and to confirm some of your numbers from what they also told us, their goal is 60 dispatches per hour with their record having been 73 for 1745 people as you said, with other numbers including having done their first million riders by July 17th after it’s opening June 10th, and between opening and our tour they had done over 8 million riders.

[@NickyD]

holy shit thats increaible CP could nevcer

[@seeyoucu]

@@NickyD and will never.

[@Cerxts]

Aye that means I was atleast part of the first 1.5 million riders Edit: Rode it for the first time on July 27, 2021

[@quix9556]

As a ride op myself, I’d be so peeved if I had to start from the front, and especially checking them twice!

[@mcqueendies]

Same here. Checking seats twice would be incredibly frustrating

[@Bothomas-vm5hz]

I was a ride operator on Iron Rattler in Texas 3 years ago. We had to do this with a total of 2 operators The main operator and the back Dispatcher 6 Cars with absolutely no help. And those RMC Restraints will definitely give you a workout on your hands

[@kduff85]

Why did I just watch a ~11 minute video on how a ride train is loaded and a change that made it worse. And why did I enjoy it so much??

[@iun50_n]

Same, not a coaster junkie (but they look neat), was just intrigued by the title and sat through it and now I'm left wondering why they made that change it's so obviously inefficient!

[@DBrant]

This change reminds me a lot about how many parks put seatbelts on their trains, specifically B&M hypers… not nescessary but done for liability. This on the other hand doesn’t seem like it would help; in the unlikely event an operator makes an error, it’s likely they wouldn’t detect it on a second pass more so than something or someone else being the double checking factor. I get that liability issues may exist for Universal but this really does NOT appear to reduce them.

[@Ellie-rx3jt]

Yeah the same person checking twice is incredibly stupid knowing how human brains work. If you think you've already done something correctly 20 seconds ago, your chances of picking up a mistake on second glance are very low. If restraints really need to be checked twice then the rear operator should start at row one, and the front operator at row twelve.

[@JamesonThomas24]

As someone who is unfortunately not affected by this, I would prefer to be affected by this. I’ll take no further questions at this time

[@itsme123669]

No one at all is effected by it, because effect is a noun. Some people are affected by it, however.

[@JamesonThomas24]

@@itsme123669 LOL! My errors have been corrected

[@curlyoleary8680]

I’m a coaster junkie and I just visited Universal last week for the first time in many years, got my first ride on Velocicoaster, Hagrids, and Hippogriff. Velocicoaster blew me away, I was expecting it to be good, but god damn, the experience can’t be explained in words. I found that the crew was super efficient and friendly all 4 times I went on it and the lines weren’t too bad.

[@NicoDelCap]

Can’t wait !!!!

[@WCfanboy]

I’ve heard about how fast the dispatches on VC are and when I went a few weeks ago they were certainly fast, but inconsistent, and they’re seemed to be a lot of waiting, restraints being checked twice, and some very hard stapling. This is before I’ve watched the video, so I’ll see what matches

[@timlemieux6505]

The stapling is definitely different. I went on in July and December of 2021, didn’t feel I got stapled. Wonder if too many people complained about the roll at the end. Both times I went on, I definitely felt like I was gonna fly out. I know I wouldn’t have, but may be a dealbreaker for some people

[@Hieagandaus]

@@timlemieux6505 Definitely have noticed this as well as someone who is fortunate enough to ride it at least every other month. It used to depend on the attendant but around September/October of last year I've gotten stapled each time.

[@ThunderhawkZoe]

checking restraints twice is definitely a new one for me. I’m used to doing a visual double check as i walk back to my safe zone but two physical checks is weird

[@NickyD]

probally because of that kid falling out of the drop tower

[@zechell862]

@@NickyD it’d be weird for uni to only now change the operation

[@sequoiaedwards4782]

@@NickyD That's what I was thinking.I think they are putting laws into place.

[@itsme123669]

@@NickyD not related at all. That ride was illegally modified by the park/operator. If they're doing this on Velocicoaster they'd do it on mostly every other coaster in Florida if it was for legal reasons.

[@Doughboyswag-fx1ui]

@@NickyD could be but if you see the picture before he went up the restraint wasn’t even on him it was sitting on his shoulders

[@falloutfan6649]

You mentioned the positive interaction guests have with the ride’s crew. To say I had a positive experience would be an understatement. These guys were awesome. I’m a bigger guy so I fit but not by much and they did a great job making sure I could ride. Then after I got off they had a single rider and these parks prefer to dispatch full trains. So they let me go again and I sat along side that single rider without having to get back in line. Also this is the best coaster I’ve ever been on. Haven’t been on Steel Vengeance yet but it’s gonna have to be really really great to overtake this as my #1

[@CassieLino]

I'm plus size and the first time I rode i checked myself in the test seat up front. The team member that was out in front of the beginning of the line came up to me and helped give me the pointer of pushing myself as far back by using the bars on the side. He was so incredibly nice about it I was so grateful I thought I wouldn't be able to ride! And every time I go on all the team members are really cool about getting me in but I also feel incredibly safe! Best ride experience ever!

[@Jayrojo115]

I really hope universal management actually sees this video and make changes

[@TonyKimtheamusementparkfan]

Every park chain needs to see Ryan's videos and make changes based on his suggestions~~

[@s4h4]

Money is the real motivator, the numbers will show that less people ride the coaster, less people return due to the long wait, less people visiting the Jurassic area, less money

[@Enthusiastically460]

@@s4h4 well as of right now velocicoaster is now accepting express but that will only be for ruby express holders, but in a months time they should accept all express

[@Th8rgoddess]

Another option could be to have the front and back operators change positions each cycle with one dedicated dispatcher for the train. For example, the front operator would check rows 1-6, waits for the back operator for the hand off, then continues on to check rows 7-12 and wait at the back station for the next train. This way not only are all restraints checked twice, but they're checked by 2 sets of eyes.

[@bushwxcker540]

That’s what I was thinking. There’s so many ways to work around this issue and they decided to choose the shittiest option.

[@bjones4301]

Exactly what I was about to type, lol. Seems like the safer option in my opinion as you have two people checking each restraint.

[@damenstravels9810]

Would never do that - would be too hard to know who was at what position when certain events happen

[@jmcbango]

The beginning of the video scared me, but once i heard "80 second dispatches" i was realized bc thats still more than twice as fast as iron gwazi lol

[@kelleyjarvis4601]

Omg yes. Went to BGT 2 weeks ago and one dispatch for IG was 5 minutes. Unreal.

[@shadowkid017]

Made a trip to Orlando in mid December. Was absolutely blown away by the ops on Velocicoaster. Wait time never got higher than 40 mins the 4 days I was there and apart from one time that my buddy got stapled, the ops were phenomenal. Fast and efficient. I was worried since the last time I tried riding Pantheon they couldn't get my restraint green to ride, but never had a problem on Velocicoaster in the ~12 times I rode it that week.

[@saltysnowflake5832]

Was there at the end of December when you couldn’t even get through certain parts of the park without being shoulder to shoulder, Velocicoaster never went above 90 minutes. This is compared with >3 hours for Hagrid. Impressive.

[@NickyD]

@@saltysnowflake5832 hagrids is like 120 even on slow days

[@francescov.3610]

From the POV of a plus-sized coaster enthusiast, this change is probably because newer Intamin blitz trains have very finnicky restraint sensors as opposed to coasters like Stormrunner or Maverick. As much as I LOVED Pantheon as a coaster, it ended up kinda being a hassle to ride because I ended up having to switch seats a few times with someone else because I couldnt get a green light on one seat, but I could on another. Apparently its a known design flaw in modern Intamin trains and from what I've been told, causes a lot of downtime for Pantheon.

[@B_B_]

i really love hearing from the perspective of anyone who works with the machinery and function of rollercoasters in any capacity tbh! but to be fair, i just love learning about how things work 🙂

[@boringhandle]

I just went to the park today, and from what I could tell, the wait was much longer(The wait said 75, but took about 95; in the past, it is usually around a 60-minute posted wait and took around that same time). The main thing I noticed was that dispatchers(Idk if that's the right name) had to check your restraints twice instead of just once, which definitely adds time to sending the train out.

[@laurenf5135]

I noticed this when I went recently as well. The line barely seemed to move and took much longer than the wait time said. 😞

[@kevinmckinnon8761]

I remember when it posted 25 minutes but you would get on the ride in 15 minutes

[@JayFlowie]

One of the biggest reasons I loved Velocicoaster more than even just the fantastic ride itself was how fast the line moved. It moved way faster than any other ride I went on at Universal.

[@ExSteeb]

Same. I wish they could get Hagrid’s to be as efficient.

[@JayFlowie]

@@ExSteeb agreed. I only rode hagrids once sadly because the line was constantly 3+ hours

[@wickedphant0m]

Totally same.

[@SchnookieC]

We just got back from Universal and we got to do Velocicoaster 5 times!! Including making our last ride of the day the front seats at night. I honestly wish that they never add express to this ride because all it would do is slow down the smooth-as-butter operations for the general public (as seen on literally every Disney ride)

[@JayFlowie]

@@SchnookieC I got to do front at night also, and went on it 5 or 6 times that day. That ride is amazing and needs to stay smooth ops.

[@dot854jc]

I am so glad you cover this type of content. It’s helpful to see what causes performance of rides to change over time.

[@kingbreck4648]

I am at universal right now. I rode Velocicoaster in October 2021 and I noticed the dispatches were as you described, and after riding it again these couple of days, I noticed the new loading procedures and I wanted to see why they were doing this. Thank you for the information, this ride is an amazing addition to the park and the theme park community

[@BL-cc2nw]

As a former RO I can honestly say we changed procedures often. Lawyers, state inspections, manager woes & wildly varying guest types were all reasons for monthly changes like the ones discussed in the video.

[@xtremecoastin]

I too truly enjoyed working as a ride operator and moving up in the operations department. Your passion for throughput and safety definitely hits home with me. Btw..Digging for gold 9:35 😂

[@bongo9384]

Your nerdiness is appreciated. I don't usually express it, but dispatch time means a lot to me. There's something about that golden 58sec dispatch time that makes me extremely happy. My fastest dispatch time on an Orlando Resort ride (Seven Dwarves Mine Train) was an astonishing _38 seconds_. We were FLABBERGASTED until we realized afterwards that there was a shift change happening, and so instead of the standard 4 operators, there were 6. They were able to check the cart in less than 30 seconds and send us on our way.

[@Bfyobrian12]

This is a tough situation, because absolutely no one in leadership wants to make the call to walk back a procedure that can only make things safer. If there was ever an accident, whether or not the double-checking would have helped or not, that person in leadership would take a lot of heat. I hope whoever pitched the idea put a lot of thought into it or had good reasoning, but I doubt it, so now they’re probably stuck doing this for a very long time.

[@sjt5059]

In all honesty it wouldn’t make me feel much safer cause I feel like this would force operators to move much faster, potentially missing something. Plus if another operator checked a seat, they may not feel as inclined to check as thoroughly. If you’re the sole person checking a seat, you’re probably going to be more careful. That being said I’m still trusting of the ride & operators, but yeah the double checking doesn’t make me feel any safer than before.

[@jakeblaylock3490]

I love the nerdy videos! what sets you apart from other coaster youtubers, aside from the sheer quality and consistency of your content, is that you not only are an enthusiast but have hands-on industry experience (and loads of research) that you can clearly communicate to your audience. I've always been a thrill-seeker, and your channel made me a knowledgeable one!

[@guitarplayer]

Sounds like there must have been a incident where the train was sent after an operator missed checking either the third our fourth car. Obviously we all want peak efficiency on these rides, but from a liability standpoint the park absolutely has to minimize the chance of the same mistake happening a second time, especially on a ride where the lap bar fitting properly is literally life or death for the guest. You may think it's enough to say that the staff is properly trained, but people aren't perfect and if something similar happens in the future and someone gets injured, a court would definitely be able to say that the park was negligent if the procedures that led to the first incident were knowingly left in place unchanged.

[@callmemarc]

If they want to double check restraints, why not have the front and back ops cross over each other, each of them checking every row and then the other double checking. Then they can also swap spots on each cycle so they don't have to walk the distance of the train to get back to their spot. So the front op checks the rows from 1 - 12 then becomes the back op and the back op checks rows from 12 - 1 and then becomes the front op. I have never been a ride op so there might be a reason that this wouldn't work.

[@SunnylandProds]

So, this is one of those scenarios where you have to wonder what happened to cause the change.

[@jalenpadilla7744]

Yes I’m curious what happened on velocicoaster… but I’m also curious why universal wouldn’t make changes to every single ride that uses lap bars in all of their parks. The logic is so upside down and backwards

[@SunnylandProds]

@@jalenpadilla7744 I hear a lot of people say that they were freaked out by the open and exposed feeling of the restraints, so I wonder if this was done purely as safety theater.

[@wt7553]

@@SunnylandProds that’s certainly possible. Maybe some big wig freaked out and forced the change.

[@wt7553]

We usually get Express Pass when we visit and I honestly hope this never gets Express Pass. The wait is consistently 45-60 minutes. The ops are fantastic. Just keep doing what they’re doing. I’d hate to see Express Pass repeat riders make lines longer for everyone else and discourage people from riding this amazing coaster.

[@deanpalmer3807]

We rode the first week of January and while we were in line I timed 5 trains and they averaged 75 seconds, so that pretty much lines up with what you said here. We still were able to get on 4 times thanks to early entry though and this is my 2nd favorite ride ever after Millennium Force.

[@kyakinney6655]

And the single rider line for that ride is outrageously long. Certainly don’t help when the time between trains is over a minute

[@boojersey13]

As someone with only an interest and not any job history with theme parks, this is a super fascinating video. Grew up down the street from Sesame Place and had family working at SF Great Adventure, now I live about 20 minutes from the Orlando theme parks so it's always fun hearing about what my friends/family dealt with at their jobs

[@boojersey13]

Haha, just got to the part where you mentioned you worked at SFGA. El Toro was the roller coaster that actually gave me back issues when I was 11 because I lost my grip on the handles you were supposed to hold onto and I went so far backward so fast that my hands hit the lap of the guy behind me and I was practically standing in my seat doing a backbend from the force, could feel my back get messed up lmao

[@ursamajr]

I was almost scalped by this ride when my hair got tangled in the restraint mechanisms during loading. I tried to signal to ride operators but they didn't notice. I spent the entire ride holding my scalp down with one hand while trying to rip my hair free with the other. I couldn't hold on at all and it was one of the most terrifying moments I've ever experienced. I collapsed after exiting, threw up, and my scalp was bruised for over a week. I am a former ride operator myself and contacted the park to let them know my experience and concerns but I guess I'll ever know if they took me seriously. I gave them date, time, which seat I was in and what clothes I was wearing so they could review footage but I ever heard back. On one hand, as a former Ride Op, the longer time is frustrating but as a rider who went through that experience... whatever keeps everyone safe is best. I know I wish they hadn't rushed when I was on it.

[@northbankbren4545]

For such a small time. So be it. Safety always first.

[@micycles1200]

I have to wonder if they had a problem with guests walking into the track area or something like that. When I worked at Magic Mountain, there would be times (few and far between, but still there were times) when we actually had every extra attendant position filled, and one time I suggested starting the seat checking process in the middle of the train. It was explained to me that the reason we couldn't do that is because we needed to be a physical blockade so that guests wouldn't wander into the track area, and by starting from the corners, it gives us a better visual of the station. Also the only reason why I could think they added a spot check to Velocicoaster is the placement of the control booth. When I was working at Revolution, we had a spot check because the person at the panel couldn't confirm that all seatbelts and lapbars were checked properly from their viewpoint, so it was decided that a second check by the attendants was necessary. Same goes for Apocalypse in the same park. However, since Velociaster's restraints come down from above the riders' heads, I can't understand why they would need that extra check. The person at Dispatch should be able to see that all restraints are down. To me it seems like whatever the problem is, the solution is most likely extra surveillance. What they probably need is just an extra person - maybe on the opposite side of the station from Control - to monitor the station ride than changing the whole operation.

[@NickyD]

most lkiey because of the drop tower accident

[@micycles1200]

@@NickyD Hmm... maybe, but I feel that that incident would then effect all rides at Universal, not just Velocicoaster.

[@itsme123669]

@@NickyD probably because a butterfly flapped its wings in Africa.

[@MichaelD-fn5lv]

I manage people (truck drivers mostly) and from my experience you'll have basically two types of employees: good employees that take pride in their work and want to do things correctly (sounds like Ryan is one of the types) and then you have those other employees who ruin everything for everyone else because they don't really care about what their work and just there to do enough to collect a paycheck. The latter folk are why these redundant rules have to be in place. A lot of amusement park ride operators are typically youngsters and/or seasonal workers and may not have the drive of someone else who wants to progress in a career etc.. so I can see both sides to the issue and definitely empathize with Ryan's perspective here. Unfortunately, the decision to error on the side of caution is the obvious choice for leadership in most cases and the people who suffer the most in that case are the good employees.

[@dindog22]

I wonder if there was some incident with a restraint that led to this change

[@FlightDeckRyan]

Since I'm so used to CeFa's guidelines, it looks so weird to check restraints starting from the middle going forward. It makes sense from an operational standpoint but I just can't wrap my head around it.

[@SagaTF2]

There was indeed probably (somehow) an increase in safety violations over a short period of time which led to this. I say somehow as I'd guarantee that this ride is too new to allow trains to leave the station with restraints up in normal operations. My guess is that: - Someone dispatched a train where someone was wearing a cast/prosthetic - Multiple people complained about restraint checks not being thorough - The crew was audited by either in park officials or 3rd party company Or my favorite case: - Park officials are out of touch with what operating a ride is truly like. So many times I saw stupid rules like double back scanning or no fanny packs allowed on rides.

[@djkritical9606]

Another issue with this change. It adds more stress to the rider operators. Both mentally and physically. When you become mentally and physically fatigued you start missing the small and most important things.

[@KyleARandall]

I’m at the parks this week and can confirm that there’s a HUGE difference in how fast the line moves. I came in 2021 and was impressed with how fast it moved. The line would take up the entirety of outside overflow area and never be more than an hour. This week, the end of the line has never reach the uncovered overflow and it’s been longer than any previous visit of mine. It also causes a large bottleneck in the locker room. Hoping Universal reverts back to the original policy, especially before the summer rush.

[@jamescarpenter8577]

As an ex operator at Thorpe Park I can understand "meeting in the middle". Was always done on our coasters to ensure that all restraints were checked. Fully understand that. But double checking is undermining the ride staff.

[@trevorjensen2706]

ElToroRyan, I am not a roller coaster nerd, but I do appreciate this video. I wonder who came up with policy changes to this roller coaster.

[@stevehafke3614]

I always feel that many of theses types of changes are caused by lawyers/insurance.

[@itsme123669]

When policies like this change it's usually because "something" happened. It's likely that an op didn't check someone's restraint (maybe didn't start at the right row in the middle), so now they're changing procedures in order to ensure everyone is absolutely checked. I saw the same thing happen to MF. Back when I was an op on it we checked from the ends and met each other with a little tap or hand slap. Now they stand and wait in the middle of the train until each is done with their specific seats. It's too bad because the old system handled slow/troublesome guests more elegantly.

[@JH-hd3oy]

@@itsme123669 I’m also guessing something happened for this huge of a change. I was involved in a serious safety incident on a ride at this park and ride op procedures were changed. UO actually has quite a few employees whose job is to silently observe all aspects of ride operations. If you see someone dressed in black watching load and unload while standing back, that is them. I’ve found UO to take ride safety very seriously (best of any park I’ve been to) as well as make needed changes quickly and deal with ride ops who break protocol and endanger guests.

[@cwdefouw]

Great Video!! Wow, things have come a long way since I worked on White Water Landing at Cedar Point in 1987. That ride didn't even have restraints, and dispatching of the boats was controlled by the speed of the turntable. I remember when we had the ride running at full capacity, we really had to rush people into the boats, but with no restraints, it was definitely still pretty easy, compared to modern rides.

[@itsme123669]

Most log flumes still don't have restraints to this day.

[@mdomnis]

I love that there's someone else in the world that looks at ride capacity as an important part of the experience and nerds out over operational procedures and constraints. :) Frustrating to see this sort of change on such a great and popular ride. Even more frustrating when they do such things on rides like Magnum and Gemini at Cedar Point that weren't designed to be stacked in the positions they often stack now.

[@gregg5958]

Meanwhile, I have ridden a coaster in Europe where the restraints weren’t checked at all. In fact, they would dispatch with some OTSRs still up! It was up to the rider to pull them down. That was wild seeing that. No way that would fly at a theme park in the USA.

[@jro4513]

Great video. I wish Hagrid’s line moved as fast as this one does. Super intense and a super smooth ride as well. Scariest part is when you are upside down. The lap bar is secure but I swear you feel like you are gonna fall out of the seat.

[@mulinhuan8410]

I’m here at Islands right now! It was definitely slower than before but definitely still super fast. Before it was dispatching every 40 seconds or so and now I counted 50 seconds-ish. I think the crew is getting used to this new loading procedure. The crew will meet in the middle of the train and do a fist bump to confirm and then make their way back to the ends of the train. It was still very impressive and efficient. Hopefully the dispatch time can get to where it was.

[@think2086]

Solution: just add one more ride operator on either side. Have them start from either end. Let's for example, say the right end. Have them walk along from the right end to the left, initially checking restraints. Meanwhile, the right console operators walks from the middle, like in the old system, toward their console, also initially checking restraints. They cross at the 3/4th's point, and switch to double-checking each others' work. The left console operators walk from the middle to the left, back to their left consoles. Meanwhile, the extra new ride operators continue to walk to the left, after crossing the midway point of the station, behind the left console operators, double checking their work as well. key: > = start point | = end point - = initial checking _ = double checking | top left console| | top right console| |____________________________________------------------< new operator |-------------------------------------------------------____________| |--------------------------------------------------------____________| |_____________________________________------------------< new operator | bottom left console| | bottom right console|

[@kristinasteele3310]

Right now the word is that they want to be more safety focused as opposed to capacity focused. Who knows if the changes will last but for now they’re trying it and taking in the data. (I can’t imagine a way they could have 8 people on the platform, that would be a little too much chaos. Also attendants can’t clear a vehicle (or their section of a vehicle) if they weren’t the ones who checked it. Which is why attendants will wait for a new train to be fully parked before taking over the spot of someone else on platform.)

[@jaystarr6571]

4:35 Agreed. There are *always* like 9 million people there every time I go.

[@ericwilson5203]

I hope this becomes your job. I emailed you a while back that we could use cameras and ai to hone in on ride operator optimizations and you’d be your own consulting company. Everyone wins! Your passion for this comes through on your videos, always enjoyable to watch.

[@S4Meow]

Love your attention to detail. I havent been able to ride this yet and cant wait to experience it one day!

[@jmk4360]

Rollercoaster restraints already check themselves, especially with the advanced ones like on velocicoaster. Attendants check if you meet the height requirements, seated properly, extremities, loose articles. The computer already verifies that the restraint is locked and with velocicoasters restraints, verifies that the restraint is close enough to you body. It won’t let a human dispatch a train if the restraints are unlocked or too high. A human basically dose a 2nd check by physically touching the restraint. It’s very pointless to check again.

[@Jimmy-Mc]

Surprised that a ride with a single restraint, electronic verification, and metal detectors needs this. I also hope this isn't permanent.

[@colin2319]

Also a former ride operator, for me it was Superman (SFNE). This change is not required for the ride to operate safely. On Superman, with 4 attendants, cars 1 through 5 are checked by the first two attendants (one load side, one unload side), snd cars five through 9 are checked by the second two attendants (one load side, one unload side. This means car 5 is checked twice, but the other cars are checked only once. Ride attendants do not have to verify with the other attendants that they checked all their rows before going back to their safety circle (where they stand during dispatch and when a train is moving into the station). As you explained, safety is always number one, efficiency number 2, but ride crews should be trained to check a restraint and verify its safe in one go. It’s possible, clearly, as many coasters only have their restraints checked once, and Velocicoaster is a prime example of how it’s safe. If it wasn’t safe, it wouldn’t have operated for two years as such, before this change.

[@tehBrymann]

I'm curious to know if something happened at the ride itself or if this just a reaction to things that have happened on other riders in the Orlando area. I have always felt safe on VelociCoaster and I love how quickly it runs, even without Express passes. Although I often stay on-site and have express because of that, I like that I don't have to rely on that to get through the queue in a reasonable time.

[@pizzapuntthomas]

I would really like to know why the park decided to make this change, and how the pros of this change were stronger than the cons.

[@COASTER_CHASER_1]

I’m wondering if parks are being a little more attentive in Florida after the drop tower incident. And they are just making sure that all the bases are checked.

[@Brandon-qd2lb]

That was awhile ago lol

[@COASTER_CHASER_1]

@@Brandon-qd2lb it hasn’t even been a year yet. I’m sure parks in Florida as well as the people who inspect the rides and taking extra precautions. So parks are going to be making sure they don’t have similar incidents.

[@RobertoMezquiaJr]

When it first launched, I timed it around 45-50 seconds per dispatch. When we went on Xmas, it was noticeably slower to dispatch. Our wait that day was 75mins from start of queue to sitting on the ride.

[@arcadebuilder533]

When you put image on the screen of the lay out I immediately wondered how they prevent human error of proper counting and not mistakenly stopping before or after the 6 and 7 seat. Meeting in the middle solves this and prevents missing but double checking on the way back is a bit redundant...

[@monykalynf3604]

Yeah noticed this past visit. Used to time the dispatches to 60 seconds and noticed over thanksgiving it was quite a bit slower. So the line moved quite a bit slower than usual.

[@Bothomas-vm5hz]

This could be the result of that most recent incident at the icon park drop tower in Orlando. I'm not sure but i think a safety ruling for ride operators at all the local parks in central Florida where revised. I noticed this with slower than normal dispatches at sea world Orlando last week where the ride attendants actually checked the restraints over 3 times before you boarded the coaster and did an average of 75-85 sec dispatches. Maybe Coincidence?

[@Dochart268]

Is it conceivable they slowed it down to have the wheels cool off a bit. I understand in the beginning that we're going through wheels at an alarming rate. I wrote it enough times in the very beginning where they were using a spray system of water to try to cool the wheels down...

[@smalls4119]

Hello from 2024. Just wanted to say the first time I rode Velocicoaster (which was a few days ago), the posted wait time was an hour, but the actual wait was closer to 30 minutes, and this was with the Express Pass line open (I waited in the regular line). I agree with your criticism though, but Safety does and should come first, especially with such a wild coaster as Veloci

[@alexismackenn4449]

I just rode last week and didn’t notice much of a difference. We never waited over 40min that day. But it’s also the off season so I have no idea how it would be with larger, summer-like crowds. I did think it was odd they checked me first in the back row and now I know why 😂

[@mattr6688]

Yep. This is true, I went to Universal in April last year and just got back this week - we stayed Jan 22-26th. The ride attendants did exactly what you described, they came by twice. In April last year they checked from the closest to their station to the middle and were done. I waited no longer than 30mins in April last year but last week it was upto 45 minutes

[@best-sound]

I did ride it in September, November and January. I did not pay attention to the loading procedures. But I Did notice that I had to wait in the first brake section in January. Had never to wait here in the past. It also does not really fit to the audit layover at the end of the ride, which you now hear twice (the reference to River Adventures)

[@leedovale3836]

The wait times for velocicoaster have increased by on average 15-20 minutes while I was there. Usually you never see velocicoaster have a wait time over 60 minutes on busy days, and 35 on slow days. Now it is closer to 120 minutes on busy days and 60 minutes on slow days

[@hmsverdun]

Just because its geeky doesn't mean its not important. Universal has been building a reputation of customer service in Orlando and people are visiting them because of being fed up with the competition. If you have the ride lines increased because of something which is slowing down loading whilst not improving safety then it does have an impact upon guest satisfaction. Particularly as Velocicoaster is one of the main headliners of the park which people are buying tickets to ride. I know that I brought tickets to Universal for a day when I was last in Florida because my friend and I wanted to try Velocicoaster.

[@VWdabug]

0:09 and im one of those millions op people,its my favorite ride ever

[@destrosally]

I got to ride VelociCoaster 11 times yesterday (I was on a one day, solo trip and had the unlimited express pass)! I timed the dispatch intervals at 45-48 seconds my first 4 times through the line! The longest I recorded was about 1 minute 12 seconds, which occurred when they let people in from the exit side and one guest took a long time getting into their seat. I was so impressed by the ride ops!

[@frmacst108]

Okay yeah ur completely right. I was there a week ago and noticed it was really slow getting on and off. At the end, We got stopped on that first brake tunnel behind another train. There wasn’t room behind us so I’m assuming that meant there were 4 trains stopped and none moving at that time. We were also stopped for at least 30 seconds before we started moving. My second ride that day was very similar, but not nearly as slow. I’m confused as to why they made the change. I also noticed they announced and confirmed every dispatch allowed which I don’t recall them doing before

[@teckolocity]

I was just there this weekend and timed it on my watch to see how long the wait would be for the front row. It was consistently over a minute generally two or three seconds ahead.

[@sparkyUK]

Great video 👍 Glad they've gone back on their changes.

[@JPINFV]

...but ICON Park. As someone who is in a never-fail field (critical care medicine) when bad things happen that should have been preventable, the tendency is always to over react. If anything, it seems like a better way to do this from a safety standpoint would be to double check everything with 2 ride ops. Back and front switches every dispatch simply because back does 12-7, and then double checks 6-1 and front does 1-6, then double checks 7-12. Otherwise you have the same person doing both checks. Now whether this will actually prevent another ICON park... I doubt it, but I've never been involved with ride operations.

[@ireeb]

I think another point worth mentioning is that the ride itself is also checking the restraints. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all restraints must be closed beyond a certain point before the system allows the train to dispatch, making sure no restraint is completely unlocked or couldn't be closed properly due to the riders physical characteristics. Of course the manual check is neccessary to ensure the restraint is close enough to the body and just in general to make sure the locking mechanism is engaged. But I really don't see why you would need to check it twice, as it's a simple and obvious check where you can't really oversee anything if you just give every restraint a push and/or pull. I'm pretty sure 99% of coasters out there have either just one or no check at all and it's not that's been an issue so far. One thorough check might even be saver than two quick checks under time pressure, knowing that you'r constantly running behind the intended dispatch time.

[@PurpleStrait]

06:15 not only do they stand there after checking the restraints, there they also push their button to confirm that restraints on that side have been checked - only if these buttons have been pushed on each side, the ride system will let the guy in the control booth let the train dispatch. That is another layer of security. So that procedure as it used to be, makes perfect sense to me.

[@oldtomthestoryteller6517]

In Aerospace we talk about “Verification with Independence.” In our world, if I setup something, a different person needs to verify it. The way to do this is for the OPS to swap ends, each OP rechecking the Other Guy’s restraints. So if I’m at the front, I check six restraints, then re-check Rear’s restraints and vice versa. One trip down the train, but better redundancy than their current system which has no independent verification.

[@Colaholiker]

I totally agree to your assessment of the new procedure and how redundant it is. If it were really necessary to create a beneficial level of redundancy (which it isn't), it would require each seat to be checked by two different people, not twice by the same person. That means, the front and back attendants would have to start at their respective end, working their way to the other end of the train and remain there for the next dispatch. With the next train, they would be doing the same in reverse. I haven't yet had the chance to ride Velocicoaster, so I may be wrong - but I would expect it to have electronic restraint monitoring installed, which already creates another level of making sure the restraints are closed. Not to replace the ride attendants, but just as another safety layer. A properly trained operator should, as you say, address any issues during the first pass. And if one isn't doing their job right or just doesn't care, why should they care when they check the same seats a second time? Years back I used to operate a flat ride at fairs, where the restraints were absolutely crucial to make the ride survivable. We usually had two people load riders in the 16 seats, and each restraint was (in addition to the electronics) double checked - but more in a way that I described. Both loaders checked all restraints once.

[@SimpleHarmonyFan]

Wow this is very interesting taken I was at islands of adventures just yesterday and had to wait nearly 2 hours to ride VelociCoaster with many standstills in the line. Although annoying at the time, it’s great to see the science behind it and know that what I experienced was not peak service.

[@AllanP692]

I just rode Velocicoaster for the the first time this past weekend (January 14-15) and I can confirm they did check my restraint twice which I thought was weird and a waste of time. But holy moly this coaster is perfection and easily my #1 now & I need to get back for more rerides asap!

[@IntaminFanGRLPowerCoasters]

Was it smooth?

[@Cerxts]

@@IntaminFanGRLPowerCoasters Yep when I rode it it was like butterrrr

[@AmusementInsider]

Noticed this recently. Took 40 minutes from the statue inside when it’s usually ~15. Triple stack each time so it was even worse numbers than these. Yes, Shouldn’t be running four trains anymore.

[@joebyvictor2619]

Amazing knowledge as always Ryan! Thanks for putting this together. Hoping to head over to the US later this year, VelociCoaster and Hagrid's and Iron Gwazi are my top bucket list coasters I need to ride!

[@PeterBenedetto]

I noticed this when I rode last time and I believe this process started after what happened at Icon Park.

[@npaul4171]

If Universal feels this is an absolute necessity, which one could argue it is not unless Universal knows something we do not, why would they not increase the number of ride of operators so two different operators could do a pass in tandem? Not wanting to pay the additional operators?

[@kelvincampbell5303]

I used to work at Universal during the summer at Volcano bay. They prioritized safety over anything. When I rode VelociCoaster prior to the new procedures, early August of 2022, the line was moving fast despite the avg wait time is between 45-75 mins on a “normal day” during the season. Recently when I rode VelociCoaster an January 1st, the line was still moving fast when wait time was at 45-55 mins but now watching this video, It made sense. But still, the operation is top notch in which make me like the ride as a whole.

[@rosshoppus333]

So a second check is something I’ve never seen anywhere. I’ve been to Phantasialand twice since November. I’m an American just here temporarily 😅. They have been unloading and loading in the same station while running 3 trains I think. However, my last trip (Jan 18, 2023) I think they were running 2. Just before a park close for the season. Basically I noticed a huge difference from my trip there in November to then. Black Mamba was only running one train. Loved your reaction to Indiana Beach(my home park) and hope you get back to ride their newly acquired looper. Looks like it’s paint job is on point.

[@luckyjoppes]

As a former ride op myself I find this double safety check extremely useless. You are totally right: If a ride op cannot check every restraint within one check, they shouldn´t be ride ops. Maybe this is due to a certain lack of workers on the market (this is the case here in Germany bc of the pandemic).

[@NickyD]

its because of the drop tower accident in orlando more then likey hershey alsorequires ride ops to double check

[@kyleperkins423]

Fantastic commentary! I am an industrial engineer that works near islands. Great info!

[@Spike-sk7ql]

Holy crap you scared the hell out of me! I haven't ridden it yet, and I thought they were changing it!

[@chazgames3690]

Jesus if I saw this video title before my summer holiday over to Orlando I would’ve been stressed 😂 because I anticipated this big time

[@goldencustoms3113]

As someone who's been on this ride to many times to count, I can definitely feel the difference with the loading of the ride. It amazes me how quick they used to move that line with such a popular coaster, but recently it definitely seems like the line moves much slower

[@amusmentinfo9642]

I am leaving this up on my computer for when I come back to work, thank you for the amazing content!