Cedar Point's 2011 ride will target thrill seekers

B&M seems like the only company to make reliable coasters today. The only B&M roller coaster I can think of with downtime would be Griffon at Busch Gardens. Even that has been getting better after time has past. Arrow Development also had very good reliability on most of their rides.

I just wanted to comment on something. I forget who said it, but I know he mentioned that all the Intamin rides that Cedar Point has, had a lot of downtime. I have to disagree with with you on one ride. Millennium Force in all my visits so far this season has been running reliably. Now yes you are right about Dragster. I love that ride, but you almost have to guess just by looking at the wait times to make your decision of if you want to take the gamble of waiting that long. Other than that, to me Intamin is reliable.

The only Intamin that seems shaky to me this year has been Maverick. I haven't seen Dragster down during any of my visits. (Other than opening day, where everything seemed to go down) I'll chalk that up to extreme luck because I know better than to call Dragster reliable, but I still have a very positive outlook on the Intamin coasters at the Point.

Last year when i went MF was down for most of the day. Thats the only Intamin coaster that has been down since ive went in all the years. But Millennuim was only down once.

The reason it seems like Intamin has so many coasters with downtime at Cedar Point is because there are so many Intamin coasters.

If this was 1990, and the internet existed, you'd all be whining about how unreliable Arrow is.

B & M builds reliable coasters...there is no doubt about that, and I am not arguing that either. That said, B & M takes no risks. That's not necessarily a bad thing either...I'm not placing a value judgment on that...it's just a fact. Zero risk comes with little in the way of potential unforseen problems. Intamin pushes the envelope and develops new technologies as they go...so that inherently comes with its flaws.

I would say, even in the case of TTD, which is one of the most thrilling experiences one can have on a man-made machine IMO (aside from something like flying an F-16 of course), it has been well worth the risk.

I just have one question about that. Why does Maverick have excessive downtime? The technology has been done on many Intamin rides before and they seem to have a hit or miss with downtime.

From what I understand, part of it has to do with the LIM system, which apparently is extremely sensitive to moisture. Any precipitation shuts it down. Sensors seem to go out a lot, and last weekend we actually saw an air bag failure in the braking system right before you make the last turn to unload. Watched the mechanics replace it, when they pulled the blown one out, it was full of water. Looked to me like they need to pay a bit more attention to draining the water out of their compressed air system more often. They no more than got done replacing the air bag, and the rain started. Go figure.

Every time I have been there this year, they have been having problems on that brake run. Sorry, but could you explain the air bag device? You probably know more about that ride than I do.

Happy August fellas! Hopefully this announcement will come sooner than we think. :)

Speaking of which, someone mentioned snoopys "giant" birthday present that was posted on CP's press release. The photo's of the box on other Cedar Fair parks brings back memories of last year. Didn't another park somewhere (I honestly don't remember where) have a crate on a midway that wouldn't be opened till a certain day? I'd just like to know what the surprise was in that crate and if it could be related to the august announcement.

^I think Diamondback did something like that.

Speaking of the present, does anyone know if there is a big box present at Cedar Point yet?

coolkid2345 said:
Sorry, but could you explain the air bag device? You probably know more about that ride than I do.

Right before the final turn into the platform, and immediately after the LIM brakes is what I assume is a secondary braking system. It uses tires along the centerline of the train, and the air bags raise and lower the tires. When that air bag blew, it sounded like a gunshot.

RideMan or Walt could probably explain the whole thing a lot better than I can, they seem to be the resident experts on the operation of the rides. I'm going off what I've picked up from watching the rides and reading stuff from around here.

^This probably happened memorial day weekend also because i remember hearing a gun shot like sound in Frontier Town. Thank you for explaining it to me.

Both of the Intimidators had giant shipping containers with the anouncement inside. Diamondback had a box on KI's website, but I don't think there was a box in the park.

^ That sounds right. I am probably getting mixed up with Diamondback's teasers with Son of Beasts.

Ok. And do you think Cedar Point will ever get a Floorless dive coaster. But i think they need to get a custom dive coaster. Not like Griffion or SheKria.

If they were to get a Dive Machine I would think it would be after Mean Streak is taken out. To me, that area just screams Dive Machine. IDK why it does I just think it would be a cool place for one. I know they aren't that exciting to us, but to the GP they love them.

So you're saying I can't be a poster on PointBuzz and a member of the GP? ;)

Right.

Resistance was futile--you have been assimilated! :)

Posts like this make me miss Mr. Scott. I always enjoyed being co-Trekkies (at least in terms of screen names, anyway) with him.