Cedar Point Announces New Water Ride for 2010 Season

Coasterkyle said:
Or laugh that there are teenagers and young adults that have never touch a engineering book in there life, telling them all these so called simple mistakes that every engineer should know/ prevent.

No matter how many times a ride has been copied or used the same type of technology as previous rides each ride is unique and will come with problems. hell they still cant stop boomerangs and inverted boomerangs from vallying all the time

Even B&M's have there problems for example isn't Mantis suppose to run 3 trains, or why does B&M trim everything. According to some of you (this is based off of what you have said about Intamins rides) they should have designed the ride where they wouldn't have to add these types of things if they designed it right.

1. Maybe they should hire some of those kids. They may do a better job.

2. All coasters can vally. Mean streak has done it, millennium has done it, gemini does it, so the "vallying" argument is weak.

3. Mantis only runs 2 trains, because they were getting the same number of riders running 2 rather than 3. The 3rd train would just stack because of the nature of the loading process for that type of ride. And lots of non B&M coasters have had trims put on them. Mean streak, the beast, intimidator 305, magnum, and many more. So again, that's a weak argument.

4. Again(I am getting sick or saying this), problems are very common with intamin, no matter how simple of a ride it is. A lot more so than B&M or GCI or Arrow or....well, you get the point.

1. I don't think I can agree with that because in reality, there would be no variety in the coaster community if kids were allowed to design coasters. They'd always want "bigger, faster, taller, longer, more inversions, etc" which gets old if it'd repetitive.

2. No actually not "all" coasters. I've yet to know of a Dragster or Wicked Twister valley. ;)

3.Most of which are necessary to help cushion the cost of maintenance. IMO, there's a lot of B&M's with trims that seem sooo unnecessary considering how they designed the layout.

4. For the record, I think I speak for most here when I say we DO get your point. It seems that you don't want to accept the fact that while we know what your getting across, we are merely trying to prove to you why Intamin is known for what they do and the results we sometimes see. They will always be like this and it's pointless to try and lecture that they are the lesser manufacturer just because they're subject to the laws of engineering and how YOU think they should go about engineering things. They make these rides for us to enjoy, not to enjoy and then back stab them with a few instances where they show signs of being human.

So is there further need for this senseless bickering to continue? It's clear that points have been made and to further this would be nothing short of immature. Please get over this (the lot of ya) and get back to talking about Shoot the Rapids.

Here, I'll even start. ::clears throat:: I for one cant wait to see the area up close. Looks immaculate.:)

I believe Dragster's version of a valley is balancing on top of the hill. :)

Joel_D said:
...Cedar Point has had the boats since at least December 7 (according to a PointCast). It seems like someone should have noticed the discrepancy before now.

Do you think they measure every component to the ride as it's delivered? That would take an awfully long time, I'd guess. They probably "measure" them by seeing if they fit together and behave as designed (AKA "testing"). Hence, while "measuring" the boat-lift track interference, they discovered the manufacturing/design error.

I wonder if the bats were actually made to proper specifications, and in reality the radius of curvature at the top of one of the lifts is a bit too tight. That might be an easier mistake for the manufacturer to make, and would have the same effect. Changing the boats slightly would be cheaper than replacing the crest of the lift hill. Regardless, in a place like the crest of a lift, it is definitely a game of inches, if not centimeters (as the case most likely is).

I'm guessing the boat lenght prob has more to do with proper engagement and disengagement of the chain mechanism at the upper and lower transition as apposed to the boat rubbing at the crest or trough of the hills...

...and yes, I do have an engineering degree, although I dont play one in real life.

Here's the quote from the Register article:

"Basically, we had trouble with the boats," Kinzel said Monday. "It's more of an engineering problem than a safety problem."

"The manufacturer made the flume, and he contracted out the boats," Kinzel said. "When the boats came together, the boats didn't fit the flumes."

Kinzel said workers have been busy all week trying to modify the boats, which were too long and didn't go over the top of the hill properly. That can destroy the flume, he said.

If we're to assume this is accurate, the damage occurs at the top of the lift track. To me, this indicates that the issue lies with the breakover characteristics of the boat chassis (breakover defines the maximum size of an object a vehicle can navigate over without making contact with the vehicle; see also approach and departure angles).

If you look at an image of the lifts, you'll see that there's a relatively small radius between the ascension part of the lift to the slightly downhill, yet mostly flat section of track - presumably, this is where the boat disengages from the chain. As the boat traverses from the uphill section to the downhill section, it appears to be experiencing interference with the track. This meshes with the fact that while there were suits testing the boat on the second lift, they were spending most of their time focused on that exact location.

Given that the radius, while relatively small, isn't really all that small (as compared to those we navigate in automobiles), we can assume that the boat travels quite closely to the track. And that leads to the assumption that the error, while a "show-stopper", wasn't very large, quantitatively speaking. Of course, the ride is designed with tight tolerances, so even a boo-boo of a half-centimeter would be missing the mark by a huge margin.

On top of all that, Kinzel seemed to indicate that the boats are actually able to traverse the lifts, just not without causing damage. This leads me to believe that it may not be the boat chassis (composed of high-strength steel) that's making contact, but perhaps a softer component... perhaps the fiberglass shell?

It sure would be interesting to be part of the troubleshooting meetings. :)

25 cent water cannons!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/2010/5/13/We%27re_Waiting_For_You....cfm

Well, I guess I'll have to go up to the bank before I hit up CP in June to get a roll of quarters. Awesome!

Finally, something at CP thats not overpriced! :)

It looks like there is some kind of geyser/water spout spraying off in the distance at shoot the rapids in its picture in the update. Anyone else see that?

^Whatever it is, it looks like its on the island. I can't wait to find out. I'm sure there will be plenty more surprises. I can't wait to find out what is in that tunnel either.

RideWarrior18 said:Finally, something at CP thats not overpriced! :)

Give it time. Remember the cotton candy?

In that one pic was that a boat that just went down the hill? I wonder if the new boats are already in...

I think they were testing the water going over the top of the hill.

The geyser can clearly be seen in action in the time lapse from 4/29 that was posted on you tube. 4 seconds into the time lapse a fountain shoots from the concrete pad between the rocks....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4pGPp0BPDA

coasterfanatic2012 said:
25 cent water cannons!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/2010/5/13/We%27re_Waiting_For_You....cfm

Well, that's officially it. It looks like I won't be riding StR very often at all -- and probably only when the temp is in the mid-eighties. It doesn't matter what kind of "controls" the park uses to regulate how wet you get from waterfalls and geysers. If everybody and their brother can dowse you for a quarter, you're virtually assured of getting soaked every time, whether it's 90 or 45 degrees.

I am a big anti-fan of these things. I hated when GL installed them on Pepsi Plunge, and in fact I all but abandoned the ride after that.

My interest in this ride just dropped about 75% -- which stinks, since all the construction pics had been getting me jazzed up recently. (And not that I have any illusions about how important my one little, enthusiast opinion is.)

^^^ What he said.

I coulden't agree more.

There's a simple solution here mike. Hire some goons to stand in front of the canon stations and keep the gp away while you ride. SIMPLE!!! :)

^ unless the goons double cross you and shoot you with the water cannons

I agree with Ensign Smith and Crazy Horse. I was very excited until the announcement of pay per squirt water cannons. They completely destroy the experience with a vindictive blast of cold water in your face or plopped directly on your head -- no fun at all for the defenseless rider. I had hoped because of rides location cannons wouldn't be a possibility -- now I hope the train makes a pass right as my oversized boat shoots threw the rapids.