Ice Breaker (SWO)

[Freak]

So, a quick rundown of what's going on with Ice Breaker!

- As mentioned before, the original idea was for IB to have a 48" height requirement (This is what SW wanted), and Premier modified the trains/shin guards to secure smaller riders.

- Passholder previews arrive, and those modifications weren't enough because kids got tossed around more than expected and got smacked by those ever-pointless comfort collars, resulting in minor injuries and the height requirement getting raised to 54".

- Since then, Premier has been working with SW for a solution. What's been settled on is a seat belt along with the regular lap bar, and removing the comfort collars to avoid any more smacking around by them.

- With the solution in place, the height requirement is now permanently 48".

Finally, this has a rippling effect. Comfort Collars are now no longer mandatory on Premier Trains as the secondary restraint. Parks are now able to opt for a seatbelt instead, and because of that, SFMM is now getting a third train for Full Throttle since they didn't want to when Premier was having CC's mandatory for any new train.

So the main takeaway of all this, Comfort Collars sucked. Always have, always will. Now parks have the option of getting rid of them completely, so good riddance.

Good. GOOD.

Font want to turn this into a SFMM thread, but unfortunately Cal OSHA won’t allow the comfort collars to be removed from WCR. It’s technically considered a “safety feature” which cannot be removed for any reason. They would have to make new trains for WCR to get around it like they did with Revolution to get rid of the OTSRs on that ride, but that would make WCR even better.

 

[MakoMania]

Good. GOOD.

Font want to turn this into a SFMM thread, but unfortunately Cal OSHA won’t allow the comfort collars to be removed from WCR. It’s technically considered a “safety feature” which cannot be removed for any reason. They would have to make new trains for WCR to get around it like they did with Revolution to get rid of the OTSRs on that ride, but that would make WCR even better.

Full Throttle operates in the same park with the same train design without comfort collars.

 

[Tobias]

Full Throttle operates in the same park with the same train design without comfort collars.

That's because Full Throttle opened a couple years before Comfort Collars existed, WCR opened when CC's were mandatory secondary restraints. As @Freak mentioned, that's considered a safety feature and they can't just remove the collars and call it a day. They'll need to get new trains with the seatbelt implemented as the new secondary restraint.

 

[MakoMania]

That's because Full Throttle opened a couple years before Comfort Collars existed, WCR opened when CC's were mandatory secondary restraints. As @Freak mentioned, that's considered a safety feature and they can't just remove the collars and call it a day. They'll need to get new trains with the seatbelt implemented as the new secondary restraint.

Could they not just retrofit regular seatbelts onto the existing trains like Ice Breaker has done? New trains would seem like an over complicated solution.

 

[Jake S]

with the note that I could be missing something, here is what I believe to be the relevant portion of the DIR (which operates under CAL/OSHA) regulations.

Division Inspection of Major Modifications. After any major modification has been made to a permanent amusement ride, a Division QSI shall conduct an operational inspection of the ride before the ride is reopened to the public.

(1) The owner or operator of the ride shall provide the Division with at least 30 days advance written notice of the anticipated date of reopening the ride to the public following the major modification.

(2) The advance written notice shall state the date the owner or operator intends to resume public operation, and the earliest date the ride will be ready for Division inspection.

(3) If the Division receives notification in compliance with section 344.8(b)(1), the Division shall initiate the inspection before the date indicated by the operator for reopening of the ride to the public, and shall make a reasonable effort to complete the inspection prior to that date. If the Division is unable to complete the inspection within 30 days of receiving notification by the owner or operator, and the lack of completion of the inspection is not attributable to the action or inaction of the owner or operator, the ride may by opened to the public until the inspection is completed, unless there is a substantial reason to question the safety of the ride.

(4) In conjunction with the Division's major modification inspection, the owner or operator of a permanent amusement ride shall make available to the Division each of the following:

(A) A written certification from a licensed engineer that the ride as modified meets all applicable design requirements set forth in Subchapter 6.2 of Chapter 4 of Division 1 (starting at section 3195.1) of this Title.

which seems to indicate to me that if premier signs off on this sort of "major modification," they should be good to go.

 

[shiekra38]

Comfort Collars are gone, we won

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Finally rode it without comfort collars... such a vastly better experience.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Finally rode it yesterday, better than I expected! Feels like a small size RMC (or at least what I'm guessing one would feel like) at times. Definitely beats out Kraken and maybe Pipeline?

 

[GA-MBIT]

Does anyone know how the screaming and hollering and rollercoastering from this ride might effect the Orca's across the guest pathway? This always seemed like a bad place to build a thrill coaster track.

 

[IzzyB]

Does anyone know how the screaming and hollering and rollercoastering from this ride might effect the Orca's across the guest pathway? This always seemed like a bad place to build a thrill coaster track.

The waterfront stadium seems closer than the Orca stadium and I was sitting a section closest to it over this past weekend and couldn't hear anyone screaming from the waterfront stadium. I also have never heard it in the Orca stadium or waiting for line for the Orca show. So I think it is a non-issue. We were watching it a lot as we were trying to show my son it really isn't any faster or higher than coasters he has been on trying to convince him to go next time we visit. So if there was screaming I absolutely would have noticed as we were watching the coaster and that would have freaked him out more.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Just got on this for the first time a few days ago…wayyyyy too few people are talking about how much @$$ this ride kicks. I put it second behind Mako, but it’s close. If the restraints didn’t make the airtime so painful I’d be on this thing all day.