Anyone know what made windseeker break today?

OK it sucks that they were stuck for 2 hours on the ride. I have been fortunate never to have been in a situation like that. I have always wondered if CP would give those guests return tickets especially if they were there for a once a year trip only to have hours eaten out their day stuck on a ride. Does anyone know if CP compensates people like that?

The gondola has 12 cables. 4 will support the load.

Pete said:
The gondola has overspeed brakes on it just like an elevator.

I don't know why I didn't mention this because I definitely knew about it. I guess all I was thinking about was Power Tower.

I believe it has traditional anti-rollbacks as well. About every 5 feet while ascending or descending there is a significant click even while not spinning. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If that story from the guest is true that pieces of the ride were falling off, that had to be horrifying.

When the 4 Windseekers were originally announced, I stated how silly it was to buy 4 prototype rides at once, especially in regards to the past prototype ride issues. I was mostly attacked for saying this -- that it was a simple spinning ride.

A year later...these rides have been plagued with problems and downtime. I don't personally understand why Cedar Fair is continuing to add them to parks, unless it was already agreed under contract.

It's an attractive ride with a totally awesome lighting package and great view, but beyond that, the ride experience is dull. I've yet to see more than a cycle wait at CP, CW, and KI all my visits. I've yet to hear anyone get off that ride, exclaim how awesome it was, and run back in line for a re-ride. More commonly, I find a sign that "Windseeker is closed."

These rides really seem like more trouble than they're worth. By the time all the issues are worked out and the initial excitement has worn off, I hate to see the ridership numbers in 5 years.

Is it up and running today?(Monday)

Ffej said:
I've yet to see more than a cycle wait at CP, CW, and KI all my visits..

Well remember it's 64 people per cycle. I don't think you'll see any ride with that capacity per cycle in any Cedar Fair park.

Train? ;)

Travis Lea said:I believe it has traditional anti-rollbacks as well. About every 5 feet while ascending or descending there is a significant click even while not spinning. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I know what sound you are referring to and you can see what makes the noise. It's on the side that faces the beach. The device that is making the sound is some kind of plunger (similar to a pinball machine). I highly doubt it'd be anti roll backs but what purpose it actually serves is beyond me. All I can guess is that it has something to do with the gondola and whatever this man has his hands on.

So, with this major breakdown are the other existing units still operating at the other parks? The witness account and photos look and sound like a major issue. Is this only an issue on the shores of lake Erie?

High winds are solely to blame but I don't think the other parks suffer from the kind of wind problems Cedar Point does.....being surrounded by large bodies of water. I was there saturday and it was VERY gusty. And at 300ft, it's a bit worse than on the ground. And to knock the electrical track out of the guide, I'm guessing it would have had to be a decently strong gust.

Ffej said:
A year later...these rides have been plagued with problems and downtime.

Your assessment is hyperbole and not accurate.

@Adam,

No doubt, I have ridden that thing on a calm day and when the gondola nears the top the wind is significant. That would have been quite the experience on Saturday. I am very interested to see how long the repair takes to complete.

Chris49 said:
Is it up and running today?(Monday)

No it was still down today.

^^^ How do you figure?

Let's take Kings Island as an example, which does not suffer from these Lake Erie winds that people are blaming.

Windseeker opened about 2 months late in 2011. After that, it was frequently down for wind. Then, it was down extensively for modifications. In 2012, it opened a month late while undergoing more modifications. There are many reports of the ride frustratingly being down visit after visit on KI Central forums.

I have personally witnessed the Windseekers down many trips. It was down most of my visits to KI last year and both of my trips there this year. It was down about half my trips to Cedar Point last year. It was down my 1 trip to Canada's Wonderland this year.

I know that my experiences are not freak coincidences, as I'm seeing complaints about Windseeker being down frequently for wind and modifications at KI, CW, KBF, and CP.

Now, it's down at CP for this disturbing issue. I'll be surprised if they don't soon halt operation of Windseekers at the other parks to further modify the ride to prevent this issue.

My thinking was that they would take the others down as well. It has to be cheaper to repair the problem prior to the machine being damaged. Not to mention the public backlash that could be presented if another unit at another park does the same thing. Now that the problem is known it becomes the parks problem to prevent it from happening again without incident.

Perhaps they are still not sure on the exact cause of the malfunction and are waiting to make a final determination?

Does anyone know if this ride will need to be re-inspected by the state after repairs are completed?

The rides are prototype/first production models, and I would imagine that Mondial is footing the bill as far as modifications. Unless there is something that is found to be drastically unsound I don't see them coming down anytime soon. Cedar Fair got a deal on the package and were well aware that a certain amount of tweaking would be needed.

^^ I think it's pretty evident what the malfunction is walleyewhacker. The wind kicked up and knocked the drag chain for the electrical wiring out of the aluminum channel that is suppose to prevent it from being carried around by the wind. And when the ride carriage started to descend, the chain got caught up in the carriage and stated to be pulled apart. They obviously have to make sure the wind doesn't do what it did again and it seems that what's in place isn't enough. So then the answer could be to beef up the protection for the drag chain. One fix I could imagine is making the channel deeper or adding another side to it since the channel is only one sided after the halfway point up the tower. Of course I'm no engineer..........just my 2 cents. I imagine Mondial is already cooking something up as we speak.

I'm just surprised that they haven't already frozen operation of the other Windseekers to be safe. That had to be extremely unsettling. I've had no fear induced by Windseeker, but when a giant chain falls off and gets tangled, ripping parts of the ride off, I can only imagine the panic I'd feel.

Well technically speaking, nothing "fell off". The chain came out of its guide and since it's plastic, once it got tangled, the plastic stated breaking apart from the gondola pulling it. Though that could also do some decent damage to the moving parts on the gondola itself. So there's no real way to know the extent of the damage without hearing directly from CP......which we wont.