Theme Park Marvels - Iron Gwazi - A Remarkable Ride

iron gowasi is likely the most anticipated roller coaster worldwide to make its grand debut in 2022 the ride is a colossal hybrid roller coaster meaning it's constructed of both steel and wood with its massive wooden support structure and ultra smooth purple steel tracks located at busch gardens tampa bay in tampa bay florida iron gawazi is poised to go head-to-head against some of florida's other world-renowned roller coasters and attractions as well as some of the world's most elite coasters but iron gowasi did not always look like this in fact the ride used to look like this and consisted of two dueling wooden roller coasters a company by the name of rocky mountain construction or rmc took the former wooden roller coasters and transformed them into the hybrid mammoth we have today i recently got the chance to ride iron gawazzi and i think it's a masterpiece in this video i'll be talking all about the transformation of iron gowasi the ride experience maybe a little bit about its block zones and why i think this roller coaster is a theme park marble if you guys wouldn't mind please hit the like button as that helps the channel greatly against the youtube algorithm alright let's dig in iron gawazzi was designed by alan schilke who at this point is a legendary roller coaster designer and engineer the attraction was manufactured and constructed by rocky mountain construction or rmc for short who are well known for converting rough and aging wooden roller coasters into steel tracked monstrosities that offer a massively improved rider experience and that is exactly what rmc did to create iron gowasi prior to iron gawazio as well gowasi a dual tracked wooden roller coaster that originally opened in june of 1999 built by great coasters international or gci for short gawazzi was gci's first dual tracked wooden roller coaster and this wasn't a racing roller coaster like gemini at cedar point where both tracks are identical and side by side most of the ride but a true dueling coaster where the opposing ride vehicles would approach each other head on or fly past one another several times during the layout six times to be exact there was the yellow side which was lion and the blue side which was tiger each track stood 105 feet or 32 meters tall featured a 92 foot or 28 meter drop reached speeds of 51 miles per hour or 82 kilometers per hour and had 3 508 feet or 1069 meters of track gowasi was highly popular when it opened and represented a return to the classics while the rest of florida's theme parks looked to implement attractions with breakthrough technology for reference universal's islands of adventure also made its grand debut in 1999 and was filled with technologically advanced rides like the incredible hulk a launching multi-inversion steel roller coaster and the amazing adventures of spider-man a revolutionary dark ride attraction for the time the park also opened with dueling dragons a pair of inverted roller coasters that also duel just like gowasi talk about competition but as popular as gawazzi was its golden years would quickly fade as the ride became incredibly rough and less desirable to guests probably a result of the ride's twisty layout and its trains that aren't the most forgiving to wooden track the hot and muggy florida weather and year-round daily operations i rode gwazi in 2007 when it still ran its original trains built by philadelphia toboggan coasters or ptc and it truly was rough mind you i was 11 years old and i still found it uncomfortable at this point in time the park never attempted to dispatch both trains at the same time so even though i rode the coasters countless times i don't think i ever got a proper duel and mind you the ride had no line even during the height of a busy spring break gawazzi would see up to five minute dispatches with two train operations thanks to the slow loading procedure used by the park now when you have a roller coaster right near the front entrance that has slow operations and there still isn't a line that's when you know things are bad busch gardens tried to save gwasi and took efforts to retract parts of the ride between 2009 and 2010. in 2011 the ride reopened with a brand new set of millennium flyer trains built by the rise manufacturer gci gci's millennium flyers are well known for their more maneuverable single bench design which helped to keep wooden coasters smooth i never got to ride this version of gwazi but apparently even these new trains didn't do the trick i hear the coaster was still rather rough and unpopular it even ran the course slower than it used to it was so bad that at the end of the 2012 season busch gardens closed the tiger side of the coaster and only kept lion operating lion would continue to operate for another few years but ultimately closed for good on february 1st of 2015. ironically gci originally offered to deliver gawazzi in 1999 with millennium flyer trains but at the time the train design was brand new and not yet proven so busch gardens instead chose the tried and true ptc trains that had been around for decades if gwasi had opened with millennium flyers they certainly would have treated the coaster much better than the ptc trains did and gwazi potentially may have never turned into the rough headache it became we may have never even seen the ride converted into iron gowasi but things happen how they happen and after closing gawazzi busch gardens left the coaster standing but not operating or as as coaster nerds like to say espno it loomed over the park's front entrance area quietly greeting guests as they walked into the theme park with the ride sitting dormant and untouched for several years many began to speculate if the ride structure was being saved for an rmc conversion other rumors suggest that the ride would eventually be torn down for a completely different roller coaster or also the addition of an amphitheater on september 12 2018 busch gardens tampa bay announced they would be opening tigris a clone of tempesto found at busch gardens williamsburg an electric eel at sea world san diego but at the same time the park also teach future construction plans involving gowasi for 2020 seaworld entertainment who owns busch gardens tampa bay then filed a trademark for the name iron gowasi that very same day later that year on-site preparations began as work crews began disassembling the wooden track of gowasi as well as parts of the wooden support structure that wouldn't be needed on march 1 2019 busch gardens tampa bay officially confirmed that rmc would be revitalizing gawazzi and bringing the ride back as north america's tallest and the world's steepest and fastest hybrid roller coaster in 2020. the ride's official name had still not been released but rollercoaster fans quickly got excited on august 10th 2019 the conversion of gowasi officially began as the new hybrid roller coaster started going vertical a month later on september 12th the park finally announced the ride would indeed be named iron gawazi it would stand at a height of 206 feet or 63 meters featuring a 91 degree drop and reach speeds of 76 miles per hour or 122 kilometers per hour but the ride's full layout was still unreleased which led to a lot of excitement during the ride's construction as the coaster slowly came together and we learned what elements the ride would contain compared to other conversions done by rmc a lot of gowas's original support structure was removed like almost all of it and most of the elements are built with a brand new wooden structure and assisting steel support columns i'll highlight just how insane iron gowasu's conversion is in just a bit the last piece of iron gowasi's track was placed on march 8th of 2020 and the ride ran its first test run just a day later testing would continue and the ride area looked nearly ready to go but then the pandemic took effect and amusement parks all over the world quickly shut down the opening of iron gowasu was thus pushed back and it became unknown when the ride would make its grand debut even worse it appeared that seaworld parks fell behind on making payments for iron gowasi as well as the newly constructed icebreaker at sea world orlando rmc filed a lien for 3.5 million us dollars out of the 9 million that sea world parks owed them for iron gowasi things weren't looking good and it sounded like sea world was really struggling financially in september of 2020 busch gardens tampa bay updated their website to advertise a new anticipated opening date of spring 2021. the park even released a full pov of the coaster in november of 2020 but the spring of 2021 came and went and iron gawazzi still sat close with no opening date in sight even though busch gardens used iron gawazzi to sell 2021 season passes finally on august 23rd of 2021 the park announced that the new opening day for iron gowasi was expected to take place in march of 2022 more than half a year later in this time the park was thankfully telling the truth because on january 20th 2022 the park announced that iron gawazi would open to the public on march 11th before we dive into the ride experience of iron gowasi i think it's important to highlight just how insane the conversion of gowasi to iron gowasi truly is it's much more unique when compared to other conversions carried out by rmc most converted coasters are similar in heightened speed to the original maybe taller by a couple feet or a few meters the largest height gain we've seen until iron gowasi was 44 feet or 13 meters when mean streak at cedar point was converted into steel vengeance but gawazzi only stood 105 feet or 32 meters tall meaning iron gowasi is nearly double gowasi's original height and unlike the conversion of colossus at six flags magic mountain where the twin tracked roller coaster was converted into essentially two coasters the two tracks of gowasu were combined into one gigantic roller coaster along with the ride doubling in height this caused the layout to change considerably most rmc conversions follow the same path and direction the original coaster traveled steel vengeance at cedar point was a massive conversion but for the most part the coaster follows the exact same path that meanstrick did but obviously with much more refined elements i'd bet that nearly all of the concrete foundations or footers used for steel vengeance are footers originally built for mean streak you can see how the ride uses the old footers here on the ride's ending bunny hills constructing foundations can be one of the most expensive parts of building an attraction or anything really so using as many existing foundations as possible and not creating new ones cuts cost greatly but iron gowasi only uses roughly 75 percent of the concrete foundation's built for gawazzi when compared to other rmc conversions iron gowasi is probably the furthest departure from the original coaster it used to be let me show you just how wild it really is here we have a satellite image of gwasi i'll insert a thick yellow line to show the lion track in a thick blue line to show the tiger track both tracks feature arrows to indicate the direction of travel and then i'll insert this more narrow purple line that represents iron gowasi's track iron gowasi uses the existing tiger side station of gowasi and enters and exits the station in the same direction after leaving the station iron gowasi immediately takes a brand new path as it takes a left turn directly out of the station which leads into a tight drop that neither the tiger nor lion track did the lift hill is also brand new and is a massive steel structure composed of zero wood besides the wooden railing on the right side of the track the new lift till is nearby the location of the original lift hill on tiger but uses no part of tiger's lift structure or foundations the first drop is also a brand new path and rmc dug up a small pit at the bottom of the drop to allow the drop to be as large as possible 206 feet or 63 meters the same height as the lift hill it's not until the second hill the large outward banked airtime hill that iron gawazi finally uses the original foundations and path of gwasi this element is what used to be the third hill of the lion track basically a large clockwise helix with a swooping drop but iron gowasi changes things up and takes the element in the opposite direction counterclockwise and increases the height substantially thus calling for a massive amount of new wooden structure that sits on the existing foundations from gowasi and dozens of steel support columns that rest on newly built foundations the ride heads down the second drop as it continues to follow the path of lion but in the opposite direction the right hand upward turn into the death roll follows the same path as lion's second hill which used to cross underneath tiger's lift toe this sets up the 180 degree upward turn into iron gowasi's death roll or as it's more properly known the 540 degree barrel roll down drop the death roll takes place on what used to be the ascent into lion's second hill and yet again this element is much higher in the air than the original and features an enormous amount of new wooden support structure that sits on top of lion's original foundations the following overbanked turn begins by taking place on what used to be lion's first drop again in the opposite direction the overbend continues through the turn between lion's first drop and lift hill and then things get funky rather than following the same path as lions lift hill iron gowasi cuts to the right as it exits the overbank and crosses onto what used to be an airtime hill for tiger that was directly next to the lift hill and then it continues into a bunny hill for lion that was directly next to tiger's airtime hill the pullout from the overbank then takes place on what used to be a low to the ground curve on lion that entered the bunny hill i just mentioned iron gowasi continues to take advantage of gwasi's two tracks and heads into what used to be a dueling airtime hill directly behind the station where the tiger and lion tracks would race past one another in the opposite direction on iron gowasi the ride traverses a twist and shout which consists of a sharp snap into an outward banked wave turn followed by a snap back into the direction the coaster is actually traveling the first half of the element takes place on lion's side of the track and travels in the opposite direction of lion but the second half of the element transitions over to tiger's track where it now travels in the direction tiger traveled iron gowasu then transitions back into the path of lion again taking things in the reverse direction you can see how the track isn't quite lined up with the direction the supports are traveling as the supports still match the direction that gawazi structure followed while the track takes a more creative approach the next part of iron gowasi takes place on another section of the old lion track which consisted of a low to the ground right hand turn into an airtime hill and then a slight right turn into the airtime flyby hill where the twist and shout is now iron gowasi instead does this through that section of the ride a wave turn and an airtime hill but in the opposite direction like so this section also required a lot of new structure as it's much higher off the ground than the original as well as the addition of steel support tubes for additional bracing following this is a zero-g stall where the track transitions away from lion into tiger's first drop you can tell because the supports of the zero g stall get funky as they take advantage of the foundations from both lion and tiger the zero g stall relies on a lot of new structure as the portion of the lion track that used to be there was at ground level like so at this point the ride is also now traveling in the same direction that tiger traveled the slight right turn out of the zero g stall is the same right turn tiger took at the bottom of its first drop and the following element is what used to be the second hill on tiger and for once this element in iron gawazi is like the originals sort of an airtime pop leading into a right hand upward turnaround into the top of the hill it even uses a lot of the original structure from this section but iron gawazi quickly splits off from this part of tiger and takes a slight left into another portion of the tiger track this used to be a sideways airtime hill following the banked turnarounds where both trains of gowasu would pass one another iron gowasu then follows the original 180 degree turn from the tiger track except in the reverse direction this leads into what used to be that banked turnaround where the tiger track would pass lion but this element is now a straight airtime hill that is one of the best on the ride oh and the ride is also now traveling in the opposite direction that tiger did in this part iron gawazi then splits off from the path taken by either lion or tiger as it paves its own way through a left turn into the final brake run i believe this turn is built on former footers from the tiger track but awkwardly uses the footers that were part of this turn just to show you how weird that is the original turn on tiger went right in this direction while iron gowase's turn travels left while still using the same foundations the ride's final brake run is also in a new location and carves a new path when compared to tiger and lion i believe the brake run also awkwardly uses original footers from both the tiger and lion tracks you can sort of see how strange the supports are in these photos here as the footers are meant to carry the ride in a different direction than iron gawazi is traveling after the first portion of brake run the ride makes a slight left turn into the storage shed where the ride rejoins the path of tiger and travels in the same direction the small right turnout of the storage shed into the station is also the same path so if it isn't obvious yet iron gawazzi differs heavily from gwasi it certainly uses a lot of the concrete foundations from gwasi and most of the elements generally follow a former portion of either the tiger or lion track but man did rmc take a lot of creative liberties here the lift till and first drop are completely brand new the outward banked airtime hills magnitudes taller than the former helix of lion that used to exist here and does so within the same boundaries lion's second hill became this ridiculous upward 180 degree climb into the death roll lion's former first drop in lift hill became a snappy overbanked turn the lion and tiger tracks were then connected to create the twist and shout and also the zero g stall then the ride rejoins the beginning of the tiger track traveling in the same direction that tiger traveled then darts off to another part of tiger and travels in the opposite direction looking back to steel vengeance at cedar point which is an even longer coaster than iron gowasi is at 5 5740 feet or 750 meters compared to iron gawazi's 4075 feet or 1242 meters seal vengeance basically travels the exact path that means street did with almost zero changes besides this part of a lap pass and this part of a lap pass swapping places as much as the ride experience offered by iron gowasi blows my mind the fact that gawazi was turned into this blows my mind even more some of you may not see it the way i do but rmc and busch gardens essentially created this insane layout while still fitting it to the foundations and some of the structure of wazi if iron gowasi were a brand new roller coaster with its own foundation design i would not be this impressed but man this is one insane remodel doubling the ride's height means that in many areas of the ride the train is traveling at much higher speeds than before while still confined to the same dimensions meaning many turns and transitions need to take place within the same amount of space originally meant for a coaster traveling much slower thus the experience is far more forceful in many locations when compared to gowasi and i bet the rmc trains are also much heavier than the original ptc trains or millennium flyer trains because of this iron gowasi features a lot of additional steel support columns that assist the wooden superstructure while the use of steel columns contrasts the wooden structure it's a much cheaper and efficient way to help support the coaster it takes a lot more wooden structure to offer the same level of support that steel does meaning less steel structure is necessary than if it were all wood and fewer concrete foundations are needed to be built which helps save costs greatly many of iron gowasi steel support tubes rest on brand new foundations like those found on the first outward banked airtime hill following the first drop as well as the turn leading into the zero g stall but many of them also use existing footers from other parts of the ride like the steel support tubes on the outside of the turn into the death roll that sit on photos from tiger's lift hill and ending helix as well as the steel support columns on the airtime pop into the wave turn that also sit on footers from tigers ending helix the death roll is even supported by the lift structure with lateral steel support columns the steel lift till definitely helps to cut costs with less connections to the ground this vastly reduces the amount of design work required for each footer as the number of footers required is reduced this also leads to a faster construction and reduces the amount of maintenance required over the ride's lifetime and it also looks super intimidating overall i'd describe it as the most ground-up rmc conversion yet and while the ride did not reuse much of gawazzi's wooden structure the reuse of a lot of the ride's foundations has saved a lot of money overall this is probably how the ride was able to be built for an estimated 9 million us dollars at least according to the lean when seaworld parks weren't paying the bill but the creativity of iron gowasi paid off i personally think the coaster is so good that it was worth the extra two year wait to see it open iron gawazzi brings a breath of fresh air to busch gardens tampa bay the park has many steel roller coasters built by bolliger and mabillard or bnm who are famous for offering intense experiences packed with positive g-forces and while the park offers cheetah hunt and tigress it really needed something that focused more on air time and an out of control experience and that's exactly what iron gowasi does from the moment he plunged down the 91 degree drop iron gowasi is a non-stop powerhouse that offers relentless pacing incredible moments of airtime fantastic moments of positive g-forces head choppers crossovers and an exhilarating layout packed with very creative elements in fact i count a total of 20 crossovers on the entire layout you are constantly zipping under or over different parts of the ride immediately after my first lap i was already questioning of iron gawazzi was my favorite rmc coaster that i've ever ridden and let me tell you rmc makes fantastic roller coasters the train is quickly dispatched from the station and exits through a left turn where it engages another pair of tire drives that slow the train slightly i guess this is for the sharp drop an unbanked left turn that immediately follows that actually delivers some decent forces like you get some air time in the back rows and even some laterals in the turn the train then engages the lift hill where it begins its quick ascent to the top from what i could hear the anti-rollbacks don't chatter as loudly as they do on steel vengeance at cedar point or twisted timbers at king's dominion the lift hill provides a great view of the surrounding area as well as the insane coaster layout coming your way the train reaches the top of the lift hill where it slows to a crawl the tension builds and then finally the train releases from the chain lift as gravity takes over the ride's first drop is breathtaking and i swear that you can feel the extra degree of steepness compared to steel vengeance's similar size 90 degree drop riders in every row receive fantastic air time especially those in the back i love how the drop dives within the structure of the ride as it crosses over and under other elements it really makes the drop feel much longer and exciting but also more confined than steel vengeance's first drop the ride bottoms out into a slight s-bend to the right as the track absolutely hugs the ground you then climb upward to the left through a steep highly banked turn the track on banks at the top and riders are delivered a great moment of sustained powerful air time in every seat this is an outward banked airtime hill and riders on the back rows receive the longest amount of air time as the train heads back down to ground level the track continues twisting to the left as the train dives underneath the structure of the ride there's an awesome head chopper as you cross underneath the track of the first drop you then pass underneath three other sections of the ride as you enter a massive upward climb to the right this isn't a very forceful turn but just wait once you reach the top the track rapidly unbanks and quickly some results into a barrel roll drop leaving you out of your seat the entire time it's completely disorienting but also extremely fluid and smooth it's like placing the first drop of twisted timbers at king's dominion midway through the ride only instead of the turn leading in being banked in the same direction you take a high speed directional change into the barrel roll leading to great air time this element has been nicknamed the death roll and i think it lives up to that expectation on my first ride in the very back row it caught me completely off guard and by this point i had already ridden the coaster several times now this element is most comparable to the mosasaurus roll on velocicoaster and while the death roll is one of the most out of control elements on iron gowasi i would still give the edge to the mosasaurus roll the ride continues into what starts like an overbanked turn as the track weaves through the support structure which makes things feel extra claustrophobic and it greatly increases the sense of speed but at the top the turn kind of hangs for a second and then you are suddenly snapped upward as you begin dropping back to the ground in the process you get a quick pop of powerful air time in whatever seat you're riding but for the best snap definitely sit in the back this element is almost like the first overbanked turn on leviathan at canada's wonderland but it's executed much better the track enters a left-hand turn as it begins to climb back upward but you are suddenly snapped to the right as you are left tipped on your side as you receive powerful air time the track then quickly snaps back to the left i believe this element is called a twist and shout just like the one on lightning rod at dollywood following the wave turn but it feels much more sustained as i believe it is tipped sideways for longer and it's easily one of the best airtime moments on the ride this is another element that is good no matter where you sit on the train and for many it's their favorite element on the entire coaster personally i prefer the death rolls it's a little more unique as a lot of rmc coasters already feature twist and shouts the rod continues its relentless pacing as it rips through a double up that turns to the left the first pop is excellent and delivers the best air time in the front rows next is a wave turn that also delivers excellent air time to all riders on the train these back-to-back airtime moments are taken with amazing pacing which just further emphasizes that iron gawazi doesn't have a dead spot on the entire ride following the wave turn the track continues turning to the left and then snaps into a zero-g stall suspended over the bottom of the first drop now i don't think this is the best zero g stall on an rmc coaster and if anything it might have been too fast if that makes sense on only a couple of my rides did i actually experience hang time and the sensation of floating but it might depend on what side of the train you sit on i'd say my overall favorite rmc zero g stall is the one on goliath at six flags great america and the zero g stall on velossa coaster at islands of adventure is also much better but either way this is still a fantastic element that continues iron gawazi's relentless pacing the ride snaps out of the zero-g stall and heads into another double up this time you turn to the right as pop number one delivers great air time that is best experienced in the front followed by a tight right turn into two small bunny hills placed high in the air now these two hops do more than you'd think and each delivers powerful air time as you travel over the second drop you exit the second bunny hop through another right turn that leads into one of the ride's best airtime hills leaving you pinned to the lap bar as you drop back to ground level i've heard a few compare this element to the rolling thunder hill on el toro at six flags great adventure and while i can see the similarity this hill is amazing but not as crazy as el toro's hill but this hill is definitely best in the back as it drops to ground level the ride then enters a highly banked turn to the left and snaps into the final brake run as the train comes to a smooth and steady stop ending the ride every lap i took on iron gowasi left me stunned while i still don't know how i rank the coaster it's easily one of the best ones i've ever ridden for a fact i know i prefer the ride to most other rmcs like iron rattler at six flags fiesta texas twisted timbers at king's dominion lightning rod at dollywood and possibly even outlaw run at silver dollar city and steel vengeance at cedar point which are my two favorite rmc coasters iron gowasi is seriously that good while i think other coasters may have more outstanding qualities they come with drawbacks i don't find with iron gowasi for example i'd say a ride like el toro at six flags great adventure has much better air time during its moments of sustained powerful air time but not every hill in el toro is a memorable moment whereas iron gawazi doesn't necessarily have a single defining feature that stands out like el toro's sustained ejector airtime but the whole ride is a creative powerhouse and it's not overdone like intimidator 305 at king's dominion a ride that is non-stop and intense the entire way through while iron gawazi is relentless it's like a perfect amount of insanity where coaster enthusiasts will still get their thrill fix and those who are not coaster enthusiasts will still be able to enjoy the ride and won't feel like they've been completely annihilated now i'd say there is only one thing i'd call disappointing about iron gowasi and no it's not the ride's duration which lasts about 45 seconds from when the train drops off the lift to when it hits the final brake run i think its length is nearly perfect actually even if steel vengeance at cedar point is nearly double the length at about 80 seconds for reference iron gowasi is hitting the final break run while steel vengeance is riding over an airtime hill immediately following its mid-course brake run but as an operations nerd what i'm really disappointed with is the low capacity of iron gowasi for the park it's in and i don't really fault rmc for this but bush gardens for not pursuing the possibility of a higher capacity i wouldn't really call this an issue but oversight instead iron gowasi runs two trains that hold 24 riders each these smaller trains help to provide an excellent ride experience in every row and they also don't overburden the ride structure but it does take a hit on capacity as short as the ride is from first drop to final brake run it has a long cycle time which is the amount of time it takes from when a train dispatches to when it returns and stops in the station on iron gowasi it takes about 2 minutes and 45 seconds meanwhile mantu which is also at busch gardens tampa bay takes about 2 minutes and 40 seconds from when it dispatches to when it returns and with this slightly shorter cycle time mantu can actually run three trains on the track and iron gawazzi can only run two and each of mantu's trains hold 32 riders while iron gowasis hold 24. monsoo can theoretically churn through 1710 riders per hour with a dispatch from the station roughly every 67 seconds and about 53 trains dispatch per hour and i'd guess that iron gawazzi can do 840 riders per hour tops with 35 dispatchers per hour let me just emphasize that this is my estimation and not the factual theoretical capacity now that's not a terrible capacity and it's very common with roller coasters built by rmc or even wooden roller coasters that also operate with two 24 passenger trains but busch gardens can get crowded and attracts over 4 million guests a year the lines that iron gawazzi has already been attracting seem pretty wild to me it seems like a major rollercoaster at this park should be able to do 1 000 riders per hour at the minimum and quite easily hence why when busch gardens originally built gowasi in 1999 they bought two tracks which doubled the ride's capacity as i bet each individual track was capable of about the same capacity as iron gowasi now to achieve 35 dispatches the long cycle time causes massive gaps where there is no train in the station at all a train would dispatch from the station as the one on the course is hitting the last airtime hill and the train approaching the station won't park to unload and reload with riders for nearly a whole minute meanwhile the train that was just dispatched will be heading down the first drop as the other train finally parks in the station to stay on pace for 35 dispatches an hour this means the train now loading in the station has roughly 43 seconds to unload then reload with riders and be dispatched and this would repeat every cycle because of the design of the trains the seat belts must be checked first before the lap bars can be closed on riders at least that's how most parks with rmc's operate them and that's what busch gardens does for iron gowasi then due to the powerful air time on the ride the lap bars have a tight minimum position meaning they must close very low on riders bodies ride operators will often need to spend extra time stapling a larger rider in or even removing some riders if they don't fit which adds more time to the loading process so realistically i'd say the ride can unload and reload with new riders in 60 seconds at best with an excellent crew mix that in with two train operations and the rides long cycle time and you get roughly 32 dispatchers an hour which yields 768 riders per hour but even so when running at this output it means that there is over 50 seconds of idle time between when a train dispatches and when the next one parks on the station ready to unload and then load that's a lot of wasted time and it would be great if another train could load during that time period instead in my mind it begs the question if iron gowasi ran three trains instead of two and i would consider this before increasing the number of cars per train as that would change the dynamics of the ride experience and require more structural bracing due to the added weight or before we even dig into that something that could slightly help is that busch gardens would speed the top of the lift till back up from what i hear rmc originally had in mind that the ride would not slow down at the top and run at a continuous speed but busch gardens are the ones that had the lift till slowed at the top the added time of the train cruising over the crest does add considerable amount of time to each cycle but let's explore the possibility of three trains now some of you may be asking iron gawazzi has no mid-course brake run can it only run two trains well it doesn't need a mid course to run three trains just like mystic timbers at king's island wickerman at alton towers or wooden timber coaster at europa park which all run three trains without the use of a midcourse brake run now of course wickerman and woden timber coaster do so much more efficiently because of their lack of seatbelts but let's continue down this route for science now let me explain by showing the block zones of arguazi for those of you who are unfamiliar a block zone is a section of ride that only one train may occupy at the end of a block zone as a method to stop a train in case the block zone ahead is still occupied this is the safety system that prevents roller coaster trains from colliding with one another here we have the block zone diagram of iron gowasi first we have the station block zone next is the lift hill block zone which ends at the crest of the lift followed by what i'll call the service block zone which is the actual ride course ending with the final brake run and then the waiting block zone where the transfer track is so a total of four block zones to run multiple trains on a roller coaster you need at least one extra block zone than the number of trains on the track otherwise you end up in a gridlock where motion is not allowed whatsoever so to operate three trains you need at least four block zones in the case of iron gowasi and three train operations say you have a train on the course and the service block and another train climbing the lift hill as long as the train on the ride course clears the end of the service block zone and enters the waiting block zone before the train climbing the lift hill reaches the crest the train climbing the lift hill will be able to continue up and over into the service block zone to complete the ride so your new theoretical capacity is determined by the amount of time it takes that service block zone to clear but you would start the timer at the crest of the lift till here which is when the train first enters the service block zone with the lift tilt currently slowing down at the top i estimate that it takes about one minute and 20 seconds to do so and i'd recommend that they keep the lift till slowing down at the top if going for three train operations so theoretically you could dispatch a train from the station every 80 seconds this yields 45 dispatches per hour and 1080 riders i see two ways for this to work one where the lift hill continues to run at the same speed it does now and trains can dispatch 80 seconds after the other so a train would dispatch while the train ahead is in the overbanked turn following the death roll and the other option is where the lift hill operates at a variable speed so that if the service block zone isn't clear yet the lift will slow to a jog and the train will creep up the lift hill until the service block clears just like jersey devil coaster at six flags great adventure where trains creep up the lift hill until the mid course block clears and then with this method you could dispatch from the station as soon as the train ahead clears the lift hill and with three train operations you'll basically always have a train stacked in the waiting block meaning every time a train is dispatched another one is right behind it and will enter the station right away to load with new riders so you won't see massive gaps in time without a train in the station now something else that could greatly help to improve iron gowasi's current operations especially in my fantasy of three train operations is improving the ride's programming it takes forever for trains to park in the station when they return that could be sped up greatly and probably save about 10 seconds of waste of time every cycle and i'd say a better rolling block could also be added so that as soon as the train leaving the station is dispatched the train in waiting advances at the exact same time further reducing the amount of idle time between a dispatch when the next train approaches and allowing more time for trains to load in the station that would help tremendously for three trains it would more importantly help for the current two train operations and if the park were also to get rid of the slowdown at the crest of the lift hill that would save so much time the numbers would improve greatly even with just two train operations and i think busch gardens should seriously consider that now going back to my fantasy of 3 train operations 840 compared to 1080 riders per hour may not seem like that big of a deal to you but let me show you say the ride operates for an average of 10 hours a day at the theoretical maximum capacity 2 trains and 840 riders per hour yields 8 400 riders per day and 3 trains and 1080 riders per hour yields 10 800 riders per day so just in a single day 2 400 more people can ride so after 30 days of straight operations two trains yields 250 2 000 riders and three trains yields 324 000 riders then for 365 days of straight 10 hour operation at the maximum theoretical capacity two trains yields three million sixty six thousand riders and three trains yields three million nine hundred forty two thousand riders so over nine hundred thousand more riders and this is all theoretical of course but that is a massive gap now of course for any of this to work busch gardens would actually have to really try to get those trains out of the station in time they currently operate with four attendants on the platform and they probably have to bump up to at least like six operators on the platform instead and i'm not sure if they allow loose articles to be left on the side of the station platform but if they did go with three train operations i think they would have to go velocicoaster style and not allow anything on the side and have all riders place their belongings in a locker beforehand if they could be set up like velocicoasters lockers and even better i'll eventually be making a video in this series on velocicoaster and let me tell you velocicoaster also runs with 24 passenger trains but the numbers it produces are just much better than iron gowasi's i kid you not every year millions of more people will be able to ride velocicoaster compared to iron gowasi because of the difference in capacity but if busch gardens could improve the programming of iron gowasi so that trains park in the station faster and get rid of the slowdown at the top of the lift hill and consistently roll with two trains and not stack i think they could hit about 800 riders an hour consistently and that actually wouldn't be too bad right now i'd guess that they do about 500 riders per hour tops but besides its mediocre capacity i would still call iron gowasi a perfect roller coaster and a theme park marvel busch garden's tampa bay was already a great park and iron gowasi gives the place a breath of fresh air i didn't even realize it was missing iron gawazzi is a must-ride attraction and i highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of a good thrilling roller coaster you will not be disappointed now rmc should probably start doing clearance testing before opening their coasters as a few riders have already managed to smack different support beams with their hands these locations have since been fixed but this could have been avoided with a simple pull through test or checking different locations of the ride with a clearance envelope anyway that will conclude this video i hope you enjoyed it and i hope you learned something new be sure to go check out iron gowasi and if you've already ridden it let me know what you think of the ride in the comments below and be on the lookout for new theme park marvel videos which will eventually include velocicos toward islands of adventure i hope this series is just as enjoyable as the problematic rollercoaster videos which i will still be making by the way alright thank you for watching everyone and be sure to like comment subscribe i'll see you in the next one peace you

Channel: ElToroRyan

Views: 178,924

Keywords: Iron, Gwazi, new, Roller, Coaster, Problematic Roller Coasters, ElToroRyan, Review, POV, In depth, Theme Park Marvels, Theme Park Marvel, Busch, Gardens, Tampa, Bay, Rocky Mountain Construction, RMC, Block, Zones, Block Zone

Id: 8Yvv6WAFlhA

Length: 37min 10sec (2230 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 06 2022