Current state of the Mantis

I was very disappointed in Mantis when I went to the park in July it was an hour wait but the line looked like it should have been only twenty minutes. The wait was as long as Millennium Force which I just had rode. The train took about 5-7 minutes to load then the ride itself was rough. The brake on the drop ruined the pace of the ride for than it ever has{in my Opinion} andthe ride was rough as well. No wonder there havn't been any new stand ups in America in quite a while. Maybe it just was a bad day.

It was probably a bad day. Mantis is a really fun and great ride. Yeah, it bumps your head a lot, but I still love it.

Unfortunately, I have found Mantis very rough on all of my last rides, this year being the worst. There really aren't many solutions for the ride, and since it is relatively new, I wouldn't expect it is going to be removed anytime soon.

And I am actually glad for the hard braking, otherwise, the head banging would be worse.

I also had some bumps while riding it.I love the ride but is it just me or is it already getting bad for how new it is?

Hmm, but I'll still ride it cause hey, besides the bumps it is a crazy (in the good way) ride.

*** Edited 8/17/2007 2:14:07 AM UTC by motion515253***

I wish that Cedar Point would just consider putting regular B&M trains on it. Insted of the painful stand up trains.

Putting floorless trains (the ones I am assuming you mean are normal) on Mantis would be costly, and it's never been done before (at least to my knowledge). It would make the ride much better in my opinion, but I don't think it will ever happen.

i rode it yesterday and didn't find it too terribly painful.....although it was a bit uncomfortable.....of course, this was my first ride....

Top Thrill 182:
Sheikra was converted from "regular" dive trains to floorless dive trains. Althought not a stand up coaster, a B&M has been converted to floorless.

As far as the brake on the drop, I don't really mind it too much on Mantis, as it allows some airtime, although it may be minimal, during the first two inversions. I don't really know what changed, but Mantis used to be one of my favorite rides. Now, I can't stand to ride it.

One note about Mantis' wait...if you hit it at open (10:00 am) it's a virtual walk-on, and sometimes at close too...

Btw, as I tell everyone, ride Mantis in the front with your legs bended back behind you and perched on that little ridge under the restraint....it turns into a virtual floorless and a pretty good ride...and I actually tend to agree on having the brake with the first drop, however, the drop is so puny anway that it doesn't even matter from the point of trying to intensify the drop....

Move it to Michigan's Adventure and move Dominator to Cedar Point. Ta-dah! Ha, I wish.
*** Edited 8/17/2007 4:17:45 AM UTC by airee85***

I hate Mantis, personally. I think I subconsciously like torture, because every time we go to CP, we somehow convince ourselves to try it again, and maybe it will be better. But it never is.

They ought to put Kumba-type trains on it. Not floorless, but not stand-up. I would think there would be less station alterations required to accommodate those.

Picture: http://rcdb.com/ig94.htm?picture=9

Mantis still has long lines during the day, so don't expect CP to change it much at this point. I don't like it very much becuase of its roughness. However, I felt the same way about Chang as SFKK until I rode it in the front row with the OTSR touching my shoulders (to minimize headbanging). Chang is really a great ride if you can avoid the headbanging! I bet that Mantis is the same way at least to some extent, but I haven't been able to try that in the front row on Mantis yet.

I love Mantis. Though the line really does get horribly long due to the train stacking. It takes forever to dispatch every train. I think on my next trip I'm gonna hit that first thing so I can walk on it, and then go to MF in the morning.

I think the Mantis is fun. They just need to give it sit down trains to make it more enjoyable and less jerky.

Dvo said:
I love Mantis. Though the line really does get horribly long due to the train stacking. It takes forever to dispatch every train. I think on my next trip I'm gonna hit that first thing so I can walk on it, and then go to MF in the morning.

I should apologize....it takes a while for me to get my baggy cargo shorts into position...often the ride ops will be standing there waiting for me since NONE of the restraints can be locked until I'm done...

*** Edited 8/17/2007 3:02:44 PM UTC by tigellinus***

I've rode the Mantis 3 times this because it is a little rough like what people are saying. The best parts of the ride are the 1st Drop and the Loop, the next upside down part, and the Small Loop. Every other part gets me bumped around. It was my 5th best. Now it is my 8th best. I would like that to be changed to a Floorless Coaster.

1st MF 2nd TTD 3rd Raptor 4th MAV 5th WT 6th MAGNUM 7th Iron Dragon.

^that list is hilarious

and yes, tigellinus, train stacking on Mantis is always your fault, even when you're not at the park. Apology accepted.

Top Thrill 182 said:
Putting floorless trains (the ones I am assuming you mean are normal) on Mantis would be costly, and it's never been done before (at least to my knowledge). It would make the ride much better in my opinion, but I don't think it will ever happen.

No, I mean like the seated trains like the ones found on Kumba at Busch Gardens Africa. Then no floorless equipment would need to be installed. Just new, more comfortable trains.

I think the reason why mantis takes forever to load is because when people get into the train, they don't listen to the rules, even when ride hosts tell them to their faces how to properly strap in or stand up the right way. My friend used to work mantis and people would be so stupid sometimes. She even had this ditzy teenage girl ask her "if this coaster goes upsidedown"!!! duuuuuuuuuuuhhh!

She said when she just told people to stand up right, then walk away, the rider would just squat back down in the seat again.

Converting the ride to a floorless ride has been discussed to death on these boards. I'm sure its possible to do, but the real question is would it be comfortable?

The ride was designed to be used with stand-up trains. Therefore, it has been heart lined accordingly. The thing is, on floorless trains, you do sit kinda high up, and the trains are raised slightly higher than a normal B&M sitdown. When you think about it, the heart line should be relatively close to where it would be if you were standing up.

It would be a neat idea, but not very plausible. The station would have to be reconfigured with drop floors, and who knows how that would work out.

If they did though, I bet they'd be able to do 3 train op on it! :)