Cedar Point announces TT2 will be operational!

As someone coming in July for the first time at breakers, that’s awesome news

Top Thrill didn't open yesterday. They ran empty trains for 45-60 minutes mid-day at pretty regular intervals. Had all 3 running during that time and then down to 2 at other times. My son and I hung around Magnum and Power Tower hoping it would open (there was a sizeable line both regular and Fast Lane at that point even though they were not letting anyone inside the actual line). But it never did. We walked past several times on our way to different parts of the park to see if there were any updates. Sign remained "Delayed for Maintenance" for most of the day. We could see ride crews standing in the station walking past Iron Dragon. So at that point, they were still hoping to open it yesterday. But at some point late afternoon, the "This Ride Will Not Open Today" sign was up and no ride crew could be seen.

Presumably they were seeing something that they didn't like while the ride was cycling with empty trains. Appeared from a distance to be running fine. No rollbacks (on the final pass). Dispatch times were within norms of what I had seen earlier in the season. Appeared to be clearing the top hat at slightly slower speeds than I have seen but nothing scientific there. There were solid winds pretty much all day (made for a great day at the park in terms of sun and cooling breezes). Some of the clear wind struggled rides (Sky Ride and Windseeker, for example, were either down most of the day or never opened at all, respectively).

Millennium Force missed its early entry window (no idea if that has been common this season). Ran sporadically all day. They would run an empty train and then not another one for several minutes. But they did open the ride. Only to close it shortly there after. We were in line twice and bagged when it closed. Did eventually make it on the ride and the later part of the day, it appeared to be running fine. Raptor was down mid afternoon with a train that appeared to be between the station and the lift hill and another part of the brake run/in the station. Mechanics were on the scene. All observations from riding Blue Streak so all based on quick observations. Raptor didn't open again.

Siren's Curse was cycling empty trains most of the day. And somewhat ironically, it outpaced Top Thrill in terms of riders on the day. One of the trains had 3 people in the first two rows for one cycle. Ride looks fun. Waiting to ride it on Thursday night.

Overall was a fun day at the park. Bummed we didn't get to ride Top Thrill but hopefully we will on our next trip. Hopefully it will do well as an early entry ride. Though being closed the entire day 2 days before early entry for it is scheduled to start isn't a good sign. Will be interesting to see if Top Thrill opens today. Heard from a friend it was open Friday but was down much of the day as well.

GoBucks89 said:

"But at some point late afternoon, the "This Ride Will Not Open Today" sign was up (on Top Thrill 2) and no ride crew could be seen. Presumably they were seeing something that they didn't like while the ride was cycling with empty trains....."

It was called 94 degree weather. Probably ain't goin to run the next few days either.

But that was yesterday, not today. And now you're suggesting we have a coaster that can't run when it's "too hot"? Good luck, Falcon's Flight.

I was going to suggest the wind (perhaps the lighter trains are more sensitive than TTD), but you mentioned it was making it over the top-hat on a regular basis, so...

When it comes to TT2 and its issues the only thing I can come up with is

Where is the CP mechanic on Reddit when we need her/him?

Busy gathering their credentials.

No wonder they are planning to open it for early entry. The early morning is one of the two hours of summer days during which the ride can functionally operate, from the sound of it.

If it truly is an issue with overheating (And that would seem to be the only thing that makes sense at this point) I wonder if some sort of shade structure over the launch could help alleviate the issue? At some point its a matter of how much more are we willing to spend I guess but might be a solution?

I would think they'll put more effort into cooling the LSMs directly. Perhaps the aircooling system isn't working or can't sufficiently cool them down.

I just wonder how doable that is short of changing out the stators completely?

I think I remember cooling fans on the launch area of Wicked Twister. Am I thinking correctly?

BleauxJays:

I wonder if some sort of shade structure over the launch could help alleviate the issue?

Coming in 2026, Disaster Top Transport Thrill 2

Was at the park today and the ride did not start testing until about 5pm, just cycling the silver and blue trains over and over. However, there was a launch where the blue train made a alot of noise, both going up and coming down the top hat. That was the last launch for blue as they moved it off the track and continued cycling silver.

Not sure what happened, but that noise was definitely out of the ordinary and people around noticed.

While Top Thrill certainly could have been closed due to the heat, to me, that just doesn't seem to be to be the most likely cause. If it was a heat related issue, I would have expected the park to put a "band-aid" fix in place of just telling the crew to wait an extra 60 seconds between launches or something to give it time to cool. Yes this would significantly impact the daily ridership, but to me, it would look much better for the park to have their newest ride open with a long wait as opposed to not opening at all. That would give the park time to put a better fix in place for the cooling as time permits. (Bit by bit overnight, or the next off-season, or whenever.)

Shades - yes Wicked Twister had some pretty big blower fans to cool the ride. I don't know if the fans were targeted more at the stators, rotors, or both. I can say, that when sitting in the back car waiting to launch, I could see lots of "heat ripples." Those components must have run really hot.

Yeah, heat could be mitigated with a longer duty cycle, I would think. No idea what they're rated for, but I can't imagine they're pushed to a design limit.

I'm sure it will get sorted out eventually, but I feel bad for the folks at the park that have to deal with the hate mail.

I can think of a scenario where a longer duty cycle might not mitigate a heat issue.

Perhaps the problem isn't the time between ride cycles, but rather the time between the first, second, and third launches of one ride cycle?

On another note, to expand upon Charles Barkley's famous quote from the New York Post in October 2000...

"You know [the world's] gone to hell when the best rapper out there is a white guy (Eminem) and the best golfer is a black guy (Tiger Woods)" ...and the world's tallest operating rollercoaster is a Zamperla.

Just convert it to an airconditioned dark ride.
That would solve the overheating issue and it could even run when its raining.

Time for some RMC topper track to smooth this piece out. Or just IBox it with IRON, super strong material to make a coaster out of. Iron Dragon has lasted darn near 40 years and it sits over top of the same lagoon. Experiencing The same mists and condensation. It has stood the test of time and still gives a good ride to this day.

I don't think it is an issue with overheating. The design engineers would have had access to plenty of environmental data to know what the ride would encounter during a summer in Sandusky. If they didn't take this into account when designing the ride, then shame on them. This ride was redesigned and re-built, so they couldn't claim an inherited design flaw from Intamin. The operating characteristics of LIMs are well documented by now as well.

The black train is down for the count apparently. I rode it before it was taken out of service...back seat. Very bumpy. No surprise they took it out. Obviously, not a quick fix. I wonder if it is more likely a train issue and they are babying it to keep it in operation before the fix for the trains is ready.