Disaster Transport... Lights On?

I hope Frank is still around there somewhere. It's nice to see Dave resurface after his time off-stage at Planning and Design.

Dave was in the Control Room, the second queue room after the passenger terminal (the first room). He would interact with "incoming calls" from pilots out in space and occasionally his overbearing boss. And of course there were the commercials for products like RBB brand rocket fuel (Dave would tell us afterward that RBB stood for "Really Big Bang!").

PREMiER, I can't remember whether that was supposed to be some kind of small robot or a light fixture. I know someone (was it you?) mentioning a scanning laser effect, and I want to say that might have been what it was, but it has been far too long since the ride had its effects in operation. I believe the Overheating sign is still there, but I haven't seen it on in a while.

Now that I mention a robot at the top of the lift, that may be what that odd-looking thing to the right at the crest of the lift was. Its definitely not anything related to the ride systems, but doesn't look like any light fixture I've ever seen.

The laser scan is at the base of the lift, directly above the track. The "thing" at the top of the lift I thought was some kind of tunnel prjector. I remember (and this may be totally my then-young mind) the lift room being fogged/hazed, and a light tunnel coming down from the top of the lift. It kind of helped hide the face that you're on a lift getting dumped into a black hole.

Come to think of it though, maybe it was some sort or character. Wasn't there a line of dialouge up there?

And Tim, that's exactly how I remembered Dave. Sorry, I didn't count the ticketing area as a "big" room. Does anyone remember what was on the TV screens behind the ticketing counter? Did there used to be a real person stationed there? I know I've seen one behind the counter a time or two.

I seem to remember that when Disaster Transport first opened they tried to load each room as a group, apparently in an effort to have each "show" play out in full. Each room had a routine of similar length with Dave's room being the most elaborate. In the first room the most I ever remember happening was a live Dispatch Master Transport employee (dressed in the long-lost neon orange jumpsuit) would spiel to the group about their upcoming flight. The idea was that we had to be rerouted through the control room and repair bay for our flight because the normal loading doors (fake door cutouts on the far wall) were out-of-order.

I remember the screens behind the podium/desk but I can only recall them showing the Dispatch Master Transport logo.

Yep, you're right. I was thinking of the Star Tours boarding video.

As for Frank, in the 5th picture on this OnPoint entry, you'll see the box I'm talking about. There are also some cool lights-on pics of the ride.

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/fun/blog/index.cfm?entry=b1d01a39-0c16-4d3a-b6a4-4eaee12f04e9

I am still searching for pictures of the old queue. I would love to see all the old themeing again.

I hope Frank is still in there. He wasn't the most elaborate robot around, mostly just a flashing light and two cylinders, but at least he had personality.

The Star Tours influences were apparent in Disaster Transport, particularly things like the baskets of parts moving overhead. The videos that played on the monitors above the final staircase had a similar vibe to the videos that play before you enter your vehicle on Star Tours (almost down to the '80s hairstyles). ITEC Productions of Orlando, Florida is credited with the ride's special effects, so perhaps it wasn't too much of a coincidence.

I can't say with certainty if Frank is still in there, as I've been in that room, but of course the box wasn't open. However in the Repair Bay as you're standing at the back of the room (where the conveyors go in and out) beside the middle divider if you look in what I've always assumed to be part of a projector (hey, I was a little kid the last time I was in it with everything working, cut me some slack), you can just barely make out something. It has always looked to me to be part of a projector, but from the way Tim just described Frank, it could be at least a part of Frank. Was there ever a projector or light that came out of that wall in addition to Frank?

I had forgotten about the staircase TVs - those were there much, much longer than the video was used, right? I remember them there in the last 10 years or so?

I am trying so hard to remember what the Control Room looked like, but I really can't come up with it. Did the 2nd floor balcony only cover one wall? For whatever reason I can't remember what it looked like before those awful steel walls moved in.

The balcony/catwalk went about halfway around the Control Room with Dave roughly in the middle at his console. The video screen was to the left of him from our perspective. There were two glowing columns on either side of the screen. The other walls were generally plain. Not too long after the ride opened they added a bunch of sound-deadening material hanging from the ceiling to help reduce the echo in the space. It could be difficult to hear Dave over the rumble of the ride.

With the group queuing we would enter the Control Room with Dave working at his console in the darkness of his corner. After a brief spiel from a live ride host the lights would come up on him and he would begin his show sequence.

I seem to remember an effort to make the queue "part of the experience" and not just a way to kill time before the ride. Unfortunately attempting to do that with a tame pre-existing ride the year after you build something like the Magnum XL-200 probably didn't meet the audience's new expectations for what Cedar Point can deliver.

BlueStreak64 said:
Was there ever a projector or light that came out of that wall in addition to Frank?

The only other thing I remember near Frank was a big round piece of glass beneath the wall opening, almost looking like a camera or projector lens. For a little while there was a plasma lamp/globe inside the lens too.

The plasma globe is back in there - noticed it yesterday.

Maybe it's a more recent addition than I remembered. Either way it's nice to have something there.

Now if only we could get the music that played in the first room and station back somehow (complete with the Star Tours-esque announcements and pages)...

I think that the plasma globe was first added in 98 or 99 , when the queue first went Dayglo, then went dark a few years ago, and now it's back.

I'm not going to post a link here due to TOS, but on youtube there's a lights-on on ride video that shows all the themeing, and it says it was posted in 2006.

One interesting point from the video is that you clearly see the projection screen is a square screen, but the border is painted black to create the roundish shape of an asteroid. I also hadn't noticed the "debris" on the right side of the track JUST off brake 1. I thought all the wreckage was after the screen.

I agree that the only big hole now is the sound effects and music. Let's see if anything new materializes over this offseason.

I still like Disaster Transport, but I would love it to be outside again! I miss that! Plus I have seen that many families want to go on it and many of the kids are afraid of the dark, so if they want to make more "family friendly" rides, I would say take off the building for starters....Just a thought!

There was dialogue at the top of the lift. I remember it being somewhat inaudible due to the loudness of the lift, but I remember that it ended with a guy saying, "uh oh, space pirates." I think it was the same voice as the one that says, "I'm losing control!"

I thought Frank used to glow when he spoke. He didn't really have a face, so by glowing you could tell that he was indeed the machine that was speaking. Maybe that's what you were talking about with the plasma lamp? I didn't follow that.

I agree that more sound effects would be a plus, but in the meantime I would really like the "electricity" sound in the repair bay to be shut off permanently.

The thing is, Disaster Transport is not beyond repair. Truly, some new lights, some eerie generic space music, and some new star projections would do a world of good for the ride, and make it a truly unique experience at Cedar Point.

I hope that management gets wind of how pleased people are with the returned lighting and how optimistic we are for the ride's future. A few cheap and simply adjustments would seriously revitalize what's often considered the "lamest" of the park's coasters. Heck, bring me in in the offseason and I'll do whatever they need me to free of charge!

Now that you mention the plasma globe, I do remember that being there. That's what drives me nuts, I know that I remember a lot of what was there, I just can't think of what exactly it was until my memory gets jogged. I also remember that space pirates dialogue now that someone has mentioned it. I believe that sound went missing before the "I'm losing control" did, and of course the disappearance of that was followed by the "Overheating" sign being turned off/burnt out (I think that was still on as of a few years ago, or maybe it was back around 2002 that it was still on, either way I remember seeing it lit sometime this decade ;) )

You know, there's one part of the line that managed to remain until this year that I actually miss, the short hall where you had the shipping/receiving storage area in that wonderful dayglow 3D to your right behind huge windows. I don't know what it was about it, but I thought it was a cool little part of the line, and something I actually miss from the up until now current line.

I think the ride could be greatly improved just with new projections on the walls. The theming, even if it were functioning, is pretty outdated. The line is, at most times, too short to offer any sort of cogent storyline to the guests. I realize there is a great bit of nostalgia for the old story and theming, but I think that ship has sailed.

What the ride is ripe for, in my opinion, is a more abstract experience. I doubt it would be that much of a cost to simply project moving stars and what have you on the walls and ceilings of the rooms (obviously much would need to be repainted to give a blank finish to these surfaces). If done right, the experience of moving from one of the enclosed tunnels to a room could be dramatic. The track layout is simple and pretty tame, but given the right combination of rotating starscapes, you could have a pretty disorienting experience. The lack of sound effects in the ride would make it more eerie, I think.

Definitely something could be done that would not terrify kids, but would be interesting and unique enough to put it more on the radar of adults. As it stands now, DT is just something I forget is there most of the time.

Chuck Wagon said:
There was dialogue at the top of the lift. I remember it being somewhat inaudible due to the loudness of the lift, but I remember that it ended with a guy saying, "uh oh, space pirates." I think it was the same voice as the one that says, "I'm losing control!"

I think he would say something like "Uh oh, space pirates...switching to (or taking) evasive maneuvers" as the vehicle comes off the lift.

The voice was our in-flight computer. At the bottom of the lift, where there was also a fixture that I assume was supposed to be the in-flight computer, he would say, "Welcome aboard! I'm your in-flight computer. Stand clear of the cargo loading bay...(sound effect)...cargo loaded. Switching to automatic launch sequence." Then your vehicle would begin climbing the lift.

I rode yesterday, and the line was dark. Not any of the theme lights were working. Just as we were turning the corner into the hall before the stairs, the repair bar black lights kicked on.

The ride had a few things lit up like the satilite, and the last turn into the brakes. The first block also had some lights.

The strobe light on the first drop is missing.