blackcauldron85 wrote:
I rode the refurbished Space Mountain a few times yesterday...other people in my party thought that it may have been faster than before (but they also thought that ride 1 was the fastest); on our queue area walk to the ships the first time, a couple were talking
and they were saying that one line leads to a faster ride, and one line leads to a ride with more drops...can anyone confirm or deny? I didn't necessarily notice any difference, but I usually don't.
Oh, and the soundtrack was nice...it didn't detract at all.
That's really nice of you to post all those links!
As for your question I highlighted, I can deny.
Both tracks are near-identical mirror-images of the other, with the exact same number of turns, drops, etc. Every left hand turn on Omega Track (the queue to your RIGHT as you enter the load area) is a right-hand turn on Alpha Track, and vice versa!
Both tracks basically occupy one half of the building. However, there is a moment very early in the ride where they enter the other track's half of the building. And this is the reason I say they are "near-identical" mirror-images of the other. Since both sides start from the same height and mirror each other, the entrance by both into the other's territory would cause the tracks to collide if there were not a slight modification made!
And that modification is that one side is ten feet of track longer than the other to accomodate passing the other track without hitting it, as the tracks both enter and leave the other's territory. When re-entering their own territory for the final time, one track (Alpha) is actually directly below the other. This difference in height causes the pop of frontseat airtime at the top of the subsequent uphill to be significantly stronger on Omega Track than Alpha track, especially when it's warmed up for the day and running well! I think this is because the rocket does not have to climb as high to reach the peak of this uphill, and reaches it with probably a little more speed.
For this reason, I prefer Omega Track. However, the superb backseat ejector airtime found on all four straight drops that come in rapid-fire succession in the middle of the ride is just as strong on both tracks!
Well, that's probably more information than you were looking for, but I am a HARDCORE coaster buff (in a totally unrelated hobby to being a passionate fan of Disney animation, Disney live-action, Disney music, Disney theme parks, and Disney dark rides and other attractions), so I enjoy discussing these things. I can't wait to ride it again later this month!
For those who want even more info, here is a "play by play" ride-through of Omega Track. Substitute the word left for right, and vice-versa, and you get Alpha Track:
Load area
Left hand turn, straight track
Short drop down and to the right
Long, straight tunnel
Right hand u-turn (now spot with onride photo)
Lift hill
"Teaser dip"
Right hand U-turn
Straightaway
Descending left hand spiral
Straightaway
Uphill
Descending right hand spiral
Straightaway
Lefthand turn, straightaway
Uphill (with frontseat airtime! - stronger on Omega Track!)
Lefthand turn
Straight drop #1 (with backseat airtime!)
Straightaway
Lefthand turn, short straightaway
Lefthand turn, short straightaway
Straight Drop #2 (next to lifthill, with backseat airtime!)
Short straightaway
Lefthand turn, short straightaway
Lefthand turn
Straight drop #3 (with backseat airtime!)
Straightaway, left hand circular ascending turn
Straight drop #4 (the biggest, with backseat airtime!)
Straightaway, right hand circular ascending turn
Straightaway
Right hand long descending spiral, straightaway
Right hand turn, straightaway
Left hand turn, straightaway (re-entry tunnel)
Left hand turn, straightaway (brakes)
Right hand u-turn, straightaway
Left hand u-turn, straightaway
Unload
Here is a you tube frontseat POV of Omega Track. The camera is not mounted so it can get shaky at times, but it gives a good idea of the layout. Hold up a mirror to the screen, and you essentially get Alpha Track (aside from those subtle modifications I mentioned above):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoEd8rGhKEM
Lastly, here is a homemade overhead track plan, courtesy of Martin Smith's gallery on wdwmagic.com He emphasizes Omega, but if you look closely you can see how Alpha mirrors it:
http://photoalbums.wdwmagic.com/showpho ... puser=6710
I've said many times before that the Fantasyland tents at WDW look pretty tacky, and especially don't work all that well with stuff like Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh, which have next to nothing to do with fairs, medievalism or circuses (IASW with its world fair theme and Snow White's Scary Adventures with its medieval theme aren't so bad, I'll admit). In my opinion, a priority with this revamp should have been to redo the existing façades of the dark rides.