Walibi woes continue

Yesterday I noticed that most rides were under-capacity, including the park favourite «Loup-garou» (“werewolf”) which was only running one train with ⅔ occupancy. Since this means long queues, entertainment has been provided by way of a magician, pictured here fumbling during a card trick (unless that was part of his misdirection).

The long standing Turbine is still so-far SBNO, and the new Vertigo (“Closest thing to fly” [sīc]) is also still not operational.

I thought I might do a little investigation and find out what's actually going on with these rides. What I found was quite interesting, although I will point out that I have no official answer from Walibi's management.

With regards to the Turbine, it could just be a simple case of the coaster being too old. The original 2^nd-generation Shuttle Loop design was patented in 1978 by the legendary Anton Schwarzkopf (the man behind rides everyone knows such as the Enterprise and the Monster). Walibi's was opened in 1982, although legend tells us the ride was originally built in 1981 for export to Japan.

The Turbine has a fair bit of history, originally opening with the name “Sirocco” and later being enclosed in 1999 and renamed due to the noise of the launch system. It's even (famously) performed a rare physical feat of stalling mid-loop, leaving riders stranded upside-down for several hours.

Schwarzkopf rides don't really exist these days. Anton Schwarzkopf's son, Wieland Schwarzkopf, still works quietly in the industry supposedly as a distributor and a provider of spare parts to his father's rides; however Wieland Schwarzkopf GmbH has apparently dropped off the map.

The story with the Turbine is one that has been growing for many years now: The flywheel launch system is now old and difficult to maintain. Obtaining parts for the system is problematic, and while the ride itself is still of good structural integrity, it's nothing if the trains don't move! Last year's season was fraught with problems requiring constant restarts of the control systems for the Turbine, which really isn't a good sign.

Conversely, the Vertigo appears to have the opposite problem: It's too new! The ride is essentially a prototype of a Mountain Glider design from parent company Doppelmayr and realised by Input — a first of its kind — and was intended to open in 2006.

As discussed in the Euro Amusement Professional trade magazine (EAP), the Vertigo has some sophisticated design features, including a clever vertical lift system, and autonomous wireless coordination between gondolas (apparently Wi-Fi based) to determine blocking by sharing telemetry — something which is normally coordinated centrally.

Problems marred its 2006 season debut initially with manufacturing delays for sections of the track and small parts for the vertical lift mechanism. Problems with communications and subsequently the breaks on the individual gondolas caused additional delays until the 2007 season. This has supposedly sparked minor safety inquiries from the government, but more problems have also arrived as it appears Input are unable to deliver on their original capacity calculations (800 riders per hour), only being able to provide 50% of their original estimate.

It's not Walibi's fault, but it'd be a shame if they removed the Sky Diver attraction for something that never works properly.