My son's a huge Ferrari fan and I've been following open-wheel racing since I can remember. (My uncle once crewed for Mario Andretti, and my father used to work in timing and scoring at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.) So you'd expect me to get excited about the marriage of racing and theme parks.
Abu Dhabi's not exactly in my neighborhood, so I don't know that I'll ever visit, but I am beginning to follow the park's development. One item which caught my interest was the recent announcement that riders on the park's signature Formula Rossa roller coaster will be required to wear goggles.
Formula Rossa will be an Intamin launch coaster with a top speed over 140 miles per hour. While most of Ferrari World is located indoors, the park's roller coasters will travel outside the enclosure, into the sandy Arabian Peninsula desert. High speeds + blowing sand = need for goggles.
I haven't been to the Middle East, but I have been on more than a couple roller coasters where goggles might have made the ride less painful on my eyes. Which gets me thinking: Should other theme parks require goggles on their outdoor roller coasters? And if so, how fast does a coaster have to go before goggles should be provided?
Let's assume for the sake of this argument that the park can keep the goggles clean and clear. And that there'd be no additional charge for them. Vote below for the top speed over which you'd prefer to have goggles, or, if you don't think coasters should require goggles, select that option.
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading Theme Park Insider!
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This made me think of the front seat on my fave roller coaster, Maverick at Cedar Point. You know what you get if you open your mouth to scream?
Dead bugs on your teeth. EWW!
I don't think it's the speed (70 mph), Millennium and TTD are way faster, so I can only think it's the zigzag motion and crazy turns that catches the bugs off-guard?
Anyway, there are a couple other factors for your goggles poll (motion type, font seat or not).
I don't wait in line for the front seat on Maverick, anymore, btw. :) Maybe I will for photo ops this summer but, uh, I'll keep my mouth shut.
I really want to visit that park. I don't know anything about nice cars generally... but I KNOW Ferraris are sexy and expensive (I only know because my old Barbie dolls drove a Ferrari).
I'm imagining myself on that insanely fast coaster, sporting some nice "shades" (Goggles) and flashing a smile for the photo at the end.
Cleaning costs would provide the biggest reason why parks wouldn't do this. But when you're a Ferrari-branded theme park (especially in a location such as Abu Dhabi), you can't afford *not* to cover every detail.
So how much damage would you get from being hit by a brick at 20 mph and getting hit by that same brick at 140 mph? Robert, your good with numbers. I say, let the rider beware, no goggles.
Once while riding my motorcycle, I passed a flat bed semi-truck. A wheel threw up a rock and hit my full face shield and split it right in half. It was at about 55 mph and I hate to think of what would have happened to my face had I not had the shield on. I was lucky, I didn't even crash from the sudden impact itself.
This is probably the "OCD" in me, but I shudder to think that I'd be required to wear goggles that have been worn countless times before. I know... I know... They are thoroughly cleansed and sterilized, but there's just something about it that grosses me out if I think about it too carefully. I wear the darn 3-D glasses, but I don't like it...
That's a good point. I've been asked to remove my glasses (strapped on) a handful of times over the last several years. Once on FireHawk, once on Kingda Ka, and the others escape me right now. I refused to remove them, and the ops didn't push the issue. I work in a performing arts center. One of my managers is intimately familiar with the intricacies and enforcement of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA.)
I wonder..and I'm speculating here, playing devil's advocate..if forcing a guest to remove his/her spectacles would be a violation of that act.
As far as the question goes, I'm in the camp that says goggles should not be REQUIRED on any coaster, but because Ferrari is in the desert, the sand is a hazard. That may be a case where the goggles could be offered as an option.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juFZh92MUOY
I'm not too sure how much of a problem it's going to be over in Abu Dhabi. I've visited the site of the new park and it's on a man made Island just off the coast which will most likely be covered in grass or something along those lines, reducing the impact of the sand when on the outdoor segment of the coaster.
Personally, I always have a pair of sunglasses on when I ride to keep the wind out of my eyes. I've gotten some bug guts on them before while riding, but only in rare occasions.
Granted when you are Rockin the Roller Coaster with AeroSmith, or being banged around in the darkness of Space Mountain, you are indoors, but who is to say that some object may not come off the little girls head in front of you? Hair pins and other "ornaments" can easily become projectiles and at even 60 mph they can do severe damage to an unprotected eye.
When riding a motorcycle here in Florida, you don't have to wear a helmet, and of course their is no seat belt law that speaks to bikers, however it is MANDATORY that you wear eye protection. So one day I experimented and staying on the back roads in my neighborhood I wanted to see what speed I would reach before I felt I was endangering my vision. That speed was 45 mph when a small bug caught me. Mind you at that speed I was already having to squint just because of the wind, but it seems an easy, cheap, measure of protection for theme parks to provide eye protection for their riders.
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I almost got hit in the face with someone's camera once and the guy next to me on Sheikra caught a pigeon halfway through the ride, so I figured a little eye protection isn't a bad thing.