Disaster Transport...ch ch ch changes

The only money I'd say to put toward it is to turn it back to Avalanche Run.
Problem 1: Ugly ass building blocking the Lake - solved
Problem 2: People still enjoy the ride don't want it removed - solved
Problem 3: CP doesn't want to invest in it - unsolved
2/3 ain't bad...

I agree they should change it back to Avalanche Run.. why did they put it in a building and rename it to begin with?

^Because it never ran well as Avalanche Run, sand would collect in the track and really make a mess of things.

It may stay and it may go but it will never be turned back into Avalanche Run, at least at that location.

If you hear Dick Kinzel tell it, it's because the ride was a dud and they wanted to salvage what they could from it.

FAIL

^^ Ah ok, I guess that would make sense then, but they could have changed the track I guess. Maybe it was just cheaper to put a building around it and enclose it.

I have also heard that Judy Kinzel thought it was too loud since it isn't that far from their house... so that, along with the fact that they wanted to "revitalize" it led to putting it in the big box.

Mrs. K. has nothing to do with Disaster Transport. The explanation that has been given to me by more than one reputable person is that Cedar Point bears some of the blame. Of all the Bobs coasters out there, Cedar Point's has/had the longest "trains" of any of them. The explanation to me is that Cedar Point was eager to provide more occupancy to increase riders per hour.

As such, the train's length impedes it from movement in the trough that you would find on other Bob's coasters. I never really believed that story until I had the chance to ride the Bob coaster at Opryland. That thing gave a heck of a ride...and it had shorter trains.

Actually, Wahoo, they aren't just longer...they're wider. A quick check of rcdb shows that the Opryland ride could carry just four riders per car. Several can handle 6 or 8, but only Cedar Point could carry 10.

Avalanche Run was built back when Cedar Point actually cared about moving lots of people through their new rides...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

RideMan said:
Actually, Wahoo, they aren't just longer...they're wider. A quick check of rcdb shows that the Opryland ride could carry just four riders per car. Several can handle 6 or 8, but only Cedar Point could carry 10.

Avalanche Run was built back when Cedar Point actually cared about moving lots of people through their new rides...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Cedar point has the best capacity in the world. Hello were have you been.
Here is a list of recent coasters since Iron Draggon.

Iron Draggon-Approximately 2,000 riders per hour
Magnum XL-200- Approximately 2,000 riders per hour
Mean Streak- Approximately 1,600 riders per hour
Raptor- Approximately 1,800 riders per hour
Mantis-Approximately 1,800 riders per hour(only runs with too trains due too high dispatch times, due to the type of coaster. Probably gets about 1300-1400)
Millenium Force- 1,600 per hour (approximately)(Could be about 2200 but there is no mid-course Trim/block brakes, thank god)
Wicked Twister- 1,210 PPH
Top Thrill Dragster- Approximately 1,500 riders per hour
Maverick- Approximately 1,200 riders per hour

Sure looks like they don't care!!

Look at that list again. You've just supported Dave's argument. Check out the general trend in capacity since 1990 and tell me it's not declining.

The general trend has gone down somewhat. But for argument sake take about 10,000 people on a Mid-summer day through only 11(1 kiddy) coasters, with magnum still the biggest hit, it had to accommodate at least 2,000. Now with 17(2 Kiddy) coasters you have the lines more spread out, with the biggest hits now being combined with Maverick, TTD, and MF.(Raptor if you want to count that to, but usually its biggest lines are only in the morning because nobody wants to wait 11/2-3 hours for a B&M)

My point is that of course they care, but they can work on innovative, record breaking rides, and can afford to loose 200-500 people per hour because there really isn't any roller coaster that is Cedar Point's most popular. The daily attendance is spread out amounst 3 main roller coasters, as mentioned above.

What is the storyline to this ride? I had no clue when I was riding it. There is an earthquake or something and you hop in a bobsled to escape it? Anyway, it's the worst ride I went on at Cedar Point. .They could do wonders to it by making the building pitch-black and adding trippy lights because right now I don't get it and don't like it.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe at one point it was supposed to be a space ship. And I think that it is supposed to now be maybe a space ship still, or an air plane (dispatch transport)...that delivers things. But something horribly goes wrong.

I never saw it it in all it's animated glory.

Now I say this third hand from memory but I ain't no dummy, so take the info as you will and so some searching the info is out there. But someone posted on (can I say it) TPOL last year or a couple years ago a very good description of what the "theme-ing" (which has not been maintained) was when it first opened. You can do a search but from what I recall they said it had a robot that talked and a bigger line queue that told the story and essentially was part of the ride if you look at it that way.

It sounds like it's a former shell of itself and the original intention. Literally. There's people who say it was actually well done back then. But that still leaves the eyesore that houses it.

The true ridership test would be if they turned off the A/C. Then see how many people ride it.

I do ride it occasionally and enjoy the ride for what it is. And the bobsled track has a different sound and feel. But I like it much better when it's completely dark. It makes the short ride seem a little longer even if you know where you're going.

The whole Avalanche Run bobsled background was also discussed that the manufacturer wanted the bobsleds to be single file seats one behind another, well like a bobsled, but CP didn't approve it because of the capacity issue that was mentioned earlier. So even then it wasn't the ride it could have been.

^It did have a longer queue, because originally Pharaoh's Secret was not there, that was another room full of queues.

TopThrillChris said:
Cedar point has the best capacity in the world. Hello were have you been.

Assuming the role of irrational fanboy in every thread...

Yesterday, I did notice new music in the queues. It's a spacy, ethereal, slightly spooky theme that is mostly audible in the first room (the poster room). In one hallway I thought I heard it faintly, then again in the main room -- although it was hard to hear it over the Reeeeuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeee noise of the illuminated cylinder.

Wonder if it was lifted from one of the haunted houses?

Dave, you have better lingo than I do but I'll try to explain what I thought of the Opryland ride in simple terms. If I recall, the actual (train) was pretty long but, as you say, there were 4 riders per "car" of the train and the connections from one "car" to the other were not rigid...so as to allow some flexibility.

It was my opinion that this allowed the entire train to maneuver through the "trough" with more flexibilty...causing it to ride up higher on the banks and sort of serpentine through the course. It was pretty exhilirating.

Compare that to DT whereby you have a wideand long train. The width of the train, in my opinion, causes it to lose momentum as it is negotiating each curve/turn. It goes through the course in a rigid manner and doesn't ride up high in the trough.

Well, I'm not sure I did that explanation justice but I think you can get at what I'm saying.

Jeff said:
Honestly, I don't care if they put a kiddie coaster or the world's tallest, fastest cheese-on-a-stick stand there...

I would kill for fast service at ANY stand in the park...

I heard DT is haunted by a ghost.....:)