The King of Prussia Showdown of November 2021
- The Rising Salamander Academy
- Nov 23, 2021
- 15 min read
Date of showdown: November 23
Time of showdown: 9:30 PM
Date of publication: November 23
Time of publication: 8:30 PM
Written on behalf of The Rising Salamander Showdown Series, The Rising Salamander Academy & The Rising Salamander Express. Duplication of this Readcast is strictly prohibited at all costs except with the written permission of Northern & Western New Jersey Lifts via email to nwnjlifts@outlook.com. Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.
Disclaimers
Clip Quality Assurance Disclaimer
I took a huge risk making the choice to film lifts in a Simon shopping center. I assumed the risk of being in trouble, getting caught, getting detained, or getting kicked out & banned from the shopping center. I acted per those risks & only filmed each lift for one round trip at most. By doing this, I greatly mitigated the risk of getting kicked out, busted, or detained. Given what happened to lift filmers before in Simon shopping centers, I catastrophized all the risks & made logical choices when filming each lift which would sever the chances of a negative result happening. Due to this, the clips will be choppy, but choppy is better than nothing. You will have to deal with it.
Omission Disclaimer
Lifts which did not have functional alarm bells in working condition were skipped entirely throughout the trip. Lifts which were out of order were skipped entirely. Service lifts were omitted from the lift galore as were freight lifts & other special-permission-based lifts to mitigate the risk of a negative encounter with Simon security, as outlined above in “Clip Quality Assurance Disclaimer”.
Introduction
King of Prussia is one of the 3 largest shopping centers throughout the country. It opened in 1963 as two separate shopping centers, but throughout the years was expanded several times, with its most recent expansion in 2016. Simon bought this shopping center in 2011, then invested millions upon millions of dollars into upgrades & expansions for this shopping center. Some parts have remained original, while others have been renovated. Each of the lifts I was able to film remain completely original. No lift I filmed has been modernized, though one has been restored.
Showdown Breakdown
For this showdown, we have broken it into 3 distinct parts:
1. The carparks, which has two sets of basic standard Schindler 5500 lifts
2. The main lifts, which are a Westinghouse RT, a generic Schindler & a set of Schindler 330A’s
3. The department shops, which include Forever 21, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, GAP & Bob & Mitchell’s
Part 1: The Carpark
This is a four-level carpark constructed in 2016 during the expansion of KOP shopping center. It has two sets of basic standard Schindler 5500 MRL lifts. The carpark has over 1,000 units of parking spaces with Simon valet parking on the ground level. The ground floor is the exit, the second floor is the main entrance into the shopping center & the top floor is reserved for employee & security vehicles only. There are ramps on the outside of the carpark to transmute between levels. This is the newest of the three carparks & also the tallest.
In terms of lifts, they are Schindler 5500 MRL, albeit basic standard. These level instantly when the lift reaches leveling speed & the doors open at once upon the lift stopping its clean deceleration phase, meaning they have fully intelligent leveling. They have medium-fast acceleration, but the deceleration is equally forceful & adds a bit of thrill to the lift. The lift starts up smoothly, not roughly, subtracting from its character. The lift runs smoothly overall, which doesn’t make it the most interesting lift here. With Simon’s typical maintenance protocols & with time, as components wear out, this lift will run more roughly & hence will have more character to it, unless it gets modernized or replaced. The main lifts have glass back cars, while the auxiliary lift is fully enclosed. Both have center-opening doors & generic cab interiors. These are the second fastest lifts throughout the shopping center, with a speed of 1 meter per second.
These lifts score 2.9 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “C” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report.
Part 2: The Main Lifts
For this part of the showdown, we have broken it into five parts:
1. Schindler 300A
2. Main 330 A's
3. Newer Food Court 330A
4. Schindler MCE
5. 80’s RT
Schindler 300A
The main part of the shopping center is exceptionally large. The corridor from end-to-end is more than 700 meters long, making this the largest shopping center I have been to. In fact, only two shopping centers here in America are larger. At the eastern end of the corridor, aka the Pavilion, there exists a Schindler MT 300A hydraulic lift, which was installed during the 1990’s expansion of the shopping center. That lift however, did not have a functional alarm bell, so I did not film or ride that lift. Currently, no lift character score is available for this lift. Photos have not been included.
Main 330 A's
Going westbound out of the pavilion, across from Bloomingdale’s & Bob & Mitchell’s furniture exists a pair of twin modern Schindler 330A lifts which were installed in 2016 during the connection of the pavilion to the west side of the shopping center.
These lifts have very jolty startups, very jolty stops & forceful leveling towards each of the landings, especially going down. One runs smoothly, while the other is a bit rougher, especially going down. Both lifts sport Schindler’s HT VR fixture line, which is basic standard at best. The cab interiors are nothing special, but the tile floors are a nice touch to otherwise plain-looking shopping center lifts. These lifts, aside from their bland appearance, have a basic standard run character. These lifts score 2.6 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “C” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report.
Newer Food Court 330A
Going even further westbound, about halfway between the pavilion & the older section of the shopping center, lies a food court, with a Bonchon in it. Unlike the other 330 A's however, this lift does not actually serve another floor directly inside the shopping center, but rather, it acts like an entryway into the shopping center from the outside for the physically impaired. This is a shuttle lift between the exit & the food court level, which is on level 3 of the shopping center. Run-wise, it is a great lift as it creaks going both up & down. Going down, the lift bangs in place before sinking down the shaft. Going up, the lift is quite fast & feels nice & forceful. The motor isn’t the most epic, but it is plenty for this lift. It is also the only lift throughout the entire shopping center to have a rear door, making it even more interesting to film. One of the indicators is also burnt out. This lift scores 3.7 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “B” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report.
Schindler MCE
Going even further westbound at the two-level junction between the pavilion & the food court exists a fully glass, modern-day Schindler hydraulic lift, installed by a third-party local subsidiary in Philadelphia. This lift is confirmed by multiple lift filmers to be a Schindler, despite being of the generic sort. This lift boasts an all-glass interior & exterior, making filming extremely risky, it being a Simon shopping center as well. Despite all the uncertainty, I was able to film one clean round trip. Surprisingly, despite this lift being super busy, nobody was using it during the filming process. I did not film the lift more than once. This lift sports a brass panel with brass door frames, brass Innovation Bruiser fixtures & a weird indicator.
The controller is MCE & the motor sounds off-pitch. Either way, this great lift scores 3.4 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “B” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report.
80’s RT
The last of the 5 main sets of lifts, located inside the 80s section of the shopping center, all the way on the west side, is a fully original Westinghouse RT hydraulic lift from the early 80’s. Unlike the other glass lift further eastbound, this lift does not have glass doors & the panel is found at the front of the lift on the left door panel, not on the side to the right. The internal & external buttons are all original RT products from when the lift was installed 40 years ago. The fixtures seem to be holding up well for a shopping center of this size with as many occupants as it has. It has the typical B-flat submersible hydraulic motor, which has presumably been replaced at one point in time. The buttons illuminate red (both internal & external) & the lift does not have directional lanterns. An analog floor indicator is built into the door frame above the doors situated to the center, offset from the center of the panel downwards. The shaft itself is beautiful & reminds me of other 80’s shopping center lifts.
It takes off smoothly, stops smoothly, levels smoothly & does everything smoothly but with a plot twist. This great lift scores 3.7 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “B” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. FYI, I nearly got in trouble riding this lift, but I escaped at the last possible moment, leaving security on a completely different floor, unable to find me, so I was able to calmly walk back to my Honda CRV & leave the premises before any confrontation could start.
There are no pictures, for obvious reasons.
Part 3: The Department Shops
There are several department shops throughout this shopping center, most namely, Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Mitchell & Bob’s Furniture, Gap, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus & Forever 21, 7 of which had lifts filmed. Urban Outfitters was the exception, as that lift failed the vital test[1].
For this part of the showdown, we have broken it into several parts as follows:
1. Gap
2. Macy’s
3. Bloomingdale’s
4. Mitchell’s & Bob’s Furniture
5. Neiman Marcus
6. Forever 21
Gap
Gap is a small two-level shop found right across from the main set of shopping center lifts. It occupies the upper two levels of the shopping center & contains a ThyssenKrupp MRL hydraulic lift with MAD BS convex buttons & circle braille’s. The alarm sounds like that of the Edwards Genesis horn but isn’t very loud. The fixtures light up in blue when pressed, apart from the alarm bell, which lights up in red. The lift has stainless steel doors on both levels including the inner doors, along with stainless steel panels. It does not have a digital floor indicator, adding class to the lift. The walls are white gloss, although the gloss is shattered near the floor due to people kicking the gloss over time. The handrails are stainless steel.
In terms of how the lift runs, it is a great lift as the motor is found directly under the car inside the shaft. The lift is very bouncy going up while it runs interestingly going down. It travels at a reduced speed, only 75' per minute, making this the slowest lift throughout the shopping center. For only a distance of two landings, this is by no means slow. According to the General Chicago Lift Character Report, this great lift scores 3.6 stars, translating to a grade of “B” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. I nearly got in trouble riding this lift, but I escaped at the last possible moment.
Macy’s
Macy’s is found towards the middle of the shopping center corridor, exactly halfway between the northern & southern terminus. This shop was not originally a Macy’s, but it turned into a Macy’s later. I’ve certainly been to larger Macy’s shops compared to this one, but this Macy’s shop had the best lift I’ve ever been on inside of a Macy’s shop. Not even the Macy’s on Staten Island had a lift as epic & awesome as this one. This was the best lift I rode since Kean University. It is a Westinghouse hydraulic lift from the 1980’s.
In terms of how the lift looks, it appears a couple of the call stations at the landings have been replaced over time. The bottom terminal call station was replaced from a former Westinghouse AE call button to an unknown EPCO call station. The door panels remain original on all 3 landings. Inside the lift, the lighting is of fluorescent form & it is off-white. The walls are very plain & so the panels. An analog floor indicator sits above the doors to the center. There are two button panels, each with custom white LED illuminating EPCO CircleLine buttons. The indicator is the original Westinghouse AE indicator, but none of the fixtures on the indicator were working.
In terms of how it runs, it uses a microprocessor controller, but it behaves like a relay controller. The motor is submersible hydraulic & it has a rough start going up. The start happens immediately after the door closes. A loud beeping sound can be heard from the panel when it takes off from the bottom terminal landing. On the way up, there exists no shortage of shaking & consistent vibrations from the motor along with friction from the hydraulic cylinder scratching against the cylinder bore at the bottom of the shaft. It is also low on oil. On the way down, there is no cease of creaking noises & vibrations throughout the lift. The motor sounds like a suction drain. On the way up, upon hitting leveling speed, there is no beep chime, but on the way down once it hits leveling speed, the chime is present & is continuous for the entire leveling period & turns off once the door opens.
This is the best lift throughout the shopping center & is epic & awesome. It scores 4.2 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “A” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. I had the most fun with this lift & it is a shame I could not take more rides on it.
Bloomingdale’s
Bloomingdale’s is the original department shop to when the shopping center opened in 1963, though the lift was replaced circa 1970’s. This lift is found towards the northern terminus of the shopping center. It was not originally a Bloomingdale’s, but it was converted into a Bloomingdale’s later. This is the largest Bloomingdale’s shop I’ve been to. Even the Bloomingdale’s in Short Hills was slightly smaller, but it had 4 levels instead of 3. This shop had the second best lift I rode at the shopping center. It is a Westinghouse hydraulic lift from the 70’s.
Unlike the lift at Macy’s, this lift was completely unmodernized. It appears as if all the call stations at the landings have been completely untouched. The entire lift was untouched & everything is still completely original. The door panels at the upper terminal landing are still fully original, as is the door frame. The call button is still an original Westinghouse AE call button mounted onto a metal call station frame. The directional lantern is entirely red & circular, mounted high above the door frame to the center at the upper terminal landing.
Inside the lift, you’re greeted with a simple wooden car interior with a carpet floor. Most of the lights are burnt out with an old-fashioned drop ceiling, which houses the fluorescent off-white ceiling lights. The doors are metal & so the entire front. The indicator, like Macy’s, is completely burnt out & analog, but unlike Macy’s, the indicator is a part of the button panel, which still houses the original Westinghouse AE fixtures arranged in a weird position for the pushbuttons. There is no door close button, as the relay controller was programmed in a way where the doors close automatically when you press the button.
In terms of how it runs, it uses a relay controller, unlike Macy’s. It does not use a floor passing chime at all & the motor is dry powered, not submersible. It is considerably louder going up & down. The doors open immediately once the lift hits the landing & leveling is quick. It runs rough, adding character to the lift. The sounds were the main attraction. Hence, it’s the second-best lift throughout the shopping center, scoring 4.1 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “A” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. Only Macy’s is more epic.
Mitchell’s & Bob’s Furniture
Mitchell’s & Bob’s Furniture is a modern high-quality furniture shop taking up a portion of the upper two levels of the shopping center across from both Bloomingdale’s & the main lifts. Inside the shop is a grand staircase, though no atrium, with the most boring lift of my lift filming career thus far. Was it a ThyssenKrupp Synergy? No. Was it one of the worse Kone’s I’ve ridden? No. I’ll let you take a guess what kind of lift it was… (I’ll wait.)
It was a Schindler 3300. While not surprising given the 299/300 chance that you’ll find a boring Schindler 3300, I’m not sure there are too many Schindler 3300’s that exist which are more boring than the one this shop has. This lift runs so smoothly that you can’t even tell that the lift is moving most of the time unless you are g-force sensitive (I happened to be sensitive to G-forces, making me able to feel the lift move, though this did not help much). I got extremely bored riding this lift within the first trip that I got off the lift after the first trip & took the 330A’s back to the top level of the shopping center.
Personally, I enjoyed this lift not only the least amount during this trip, but I enjoyed this lift the least out of any lift I’ve filmed so far. This includes even the other 3300’s I’ve filmed including the ones at Kean University & at Willowbrook in Wayne, NJ.
Appearance wise, it doesn’t appear to be a boring lift at all. It appears to be a great lift due to the European design. Everything from the call station to the design of the doors to the entire car design gives off European vibes. To top it off, it’s MRL, adding to the charm. You wouldn’t expect such a beautiful lift to be the most boring lift you ever stepped foot in, would you?
Wrong.
Dead wrong.
The horror story begins after the door finishes closing. The lift starts slowly accelerating to ½ meter per second, which is barely noticeable even to the g-force sensitive tribe. There is no vibration at all & the lift is smooth as silk, adding to the boredom. The motor is barely audible & the same can be said for the brakes.
But wait, there’s even more.
Upon stopping deceleration at the upper landing, the lift sits there for a whopping eleven seconds (You heard me, eleven), not even leveling, before the door finally opens.
If you ask me, that’s pathetic.
There are not many 3300’s which are as bad as this one. If you choose to film lifts at this shopping center, unless you want to be bored, I highly suggest you avoid this lift at all costs. The worst 330A here isn’t as boring as this lift.
This pathetic excuse of a lift scores 1.6 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “F” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. I have not yet been on a lift which scored worse than this & I hopefully never, ever, will.
Neiman Marcus
This shop was added onto the shopping center circa 1990’s. As such, you can expect that they will have installed Montgomery products for their vertical conveyances. If you had this thought, you are correct. This shop does not have Montgomery Kone products like other Neiman Marcus shops I’ve been to. All the escalators & the lift are just Montgomery, before the merge with Kone.
The shop itself is nothing special, but the real treat here is the lift.
After filming the most boring lift of my lift filming career, seeing a fully original Montgomery lift with all original elements removed the defeat from my system, put a smile on my face & reversed the negative, sour mood I was left in from before. I do not encounter Montgomery lifts often during my lift filming events, but when I do, it’s always extremely refreshing.
This lift appears just like the other two Neiman Marcus lifts I’ve been on. The only difference is this one is completely original while the other two have been given the same slap-on mod package (by EXCEL Elevator Corp) with Innovation Prestige lighting up in blue with the same color of ACME indicator & directional lanterns on the door jamb. Instead, this lift still retains the original Innovation Universal buttons used by Montgomery, with the original dot-matrix Montgomery indicator (with arrow) used on the KSS220 lineup. The call stations are all entirely original & so are the door panels on all 3 landings.
Run-wise, it’s a great lift as it starts & stops hard going both up & down. The motor is decently loud & sounds crisp going up with its incessant vibrational noise throughout the car. The illuminated buttons’ fluorescent illuminating bulbs flicker during movement & leveling is a tad quick. The lift stops violently at the top floor landing, but the door opens immediately. This lift has its personality.
This sigh of relief scored 3.3 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “B” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. I plan to ride more Montgomery lifts before they get their original equipment replaced during their inevitable future mods. This surely was a blessing, especially after almost being defeated by a boring lift.
Forever 21
This shop is located towards the southern terminus of the shopping center, across from the 80’s annex. This shop is pretty mundane & is structured like every other Forever 21 I’ve been to. The lift here isn’t anything special either. It’s just a basic standard Schindler VR 330A, just like almost all the other 330A’s throughout the shopping center.
In terms of the lift, it’s a simple two-stop Schindler 330A HT VR. The only difference between this one & the other 330A’s (& all the other lifts as well) throughout the shopping center (except for Urban Outfitters) is the fact that it is a side-opening single-slide door instead of a center-opening single-speed set of door panels.
Appearance-wise, this lift is nothing more than a stainless-steel tin-can with metallic VR HT fixtures. The ceiling is a stainless-steel tile ceiling, as are the door frame panels & the door panel itself. Even the directional lantern on the door jamb is mounted on a brushed steel mounting plate. All but one of the light fixtures was burnt out, making the lift dim.
Run-wise, this was the least interesting of all the other lifts, though a vast improvement over the 3300 which was filmed three lifts ago. It starts up smoothly, but the motor is decent (though basic standard). The lift does not vibrate much & it levels smoothly.
This basic standard lift scores 2.1 stars on the General Chicago Lift Character Report with a grade of “C” on the Rising Salamander Lift Character Report. This isn’t the worst 330A I’ve been on, but it isn’t the best either.
Verdict
The following lifts have been placed in descending order of their scores on the General Chicago Lift Character Report.
Top 3 best lifts
1. Macy’s (4.2 stars)
2. Bloomingdale’s (4.1 stars)
3. 80’s RT & Newer Food Court 330A (Tie at 3.7 stars)
Top 3 worst lifts
1. Mitchell’s & Bob’s Furniture (1.6 stars)
2. Forever 21 (2.1 stars)
3. Main Lifts (2.6 stars)
Event Info
If you would like to tune in for the best lifts of the month, you can join us in an hour at 9:30 PM by RSVP’ing for the showdown below. By clicking the button, you will be taken directly to the showdown. I hope you enjoy the showdown as much as I enjoyed gathering the footage & producing this showdown. This was quite the adventure for me & I’m sure watching it will be quite the adventure for you.
Happy Thanksgiving.
[1] A vital test is a test performed on a lift before riding the lift in which the alarm is sounded for a quick alarm test while the door is still open to determine whether to ride the lift on the condition of the alarm working or not. If the alarm is working, I check for either an ADA-compliant emergency telephone or a telephone which looks up to date enough to be trusted.
Comments