Dragster Will Not Be Open Today (Friday, 8th)

I'm at Donut Time right now waiting for the shuttle launch. Dragster is definatly down. They have a crain behind the hydraulic room. They are working on something. Not on the track or structure. I'll post the pics when I get home.

I wonder if it had anything to do with Labor Day. It was around 8:45, after the park had closed, that it was announced that Dragster was going to be closed for the rest of the night due to mechanical reasons. I sure hope it's nothing serious.:(

According to Today in the Park on CP's website:

Top Thrill Dragster will not be open today. (9/9)

We are working diligently to have all rides operating as soon as possible. Please keep in mind however, that all rides are subject to intermittent down time due to weather conditions or maintenance.

Well cranes aren't usually a good sign. Let's just hope it opens up by next weekend. It was running so well all season too...

There was something stated a few weeks ago that TTD will not be operating at ALL during FRIDAY nights. I've searched everywhere for it but I could not find it. But don't expect it to run of Fridays. I would guess this has something to do with the fact that the park is open for 4 hours it is VERY costly to run the ride and the fact that the crew is there until 1am to run out the ride and then clean and then report back at 8am to open up for the public at 10am the next day. It just dosen't seem worth it to me. I just wish they had these thoughts when I worked on the ride back in 2003,2004.....Sleep would've been nice!

Just My 2 Cents...

These pictures were taken on 9-9-06 at 10:40am and 10:43am respectivly.

http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com/Cedar_Point/IMGP1056.JPG

http://www.rollercoasterfreak.com/Cedar_Point/IMGP1062.JPG

I'd say its probably going to be down awhile judging from those pictures.

It's déjà vu all over again...

EDIT: And I don't mean the ride... :)

*** Edited 9/10/2006 1:24:18 AM UTC by DBCP***

They had more parts out today when i went by TTD. Had either a big gear or motor part out on the crane. When i was in guest relations asking about the joe cool discounts a guy was complaning cause TTD was down. The lady said that Cedar Point has 15 other coasters and we are sorry that TTD is down.

That can't be good. :(

Adam, we'll have to cross our fingers on this one. ;)

NOOOOOOO, that's a gear box isnt it??!!! Oh please, oh please not be serious!!:(

I hate to say it but I think Ben is right, this may be a while. Part of me is hoping that this is just a checkup of how the parts are doing (though it's probably just wishful thinking). My reasoning for it is why would they be taking it apart if it hasnt broken down while it was running (add the fact that it didnt run yesturday)? It closed down monday night.....but that was because of the catchcar (at least that's what everyone was saying which I believe). I mean it COULD have had to do with the hydraulics(seeing that the cc was stuck in launch position)....but it's hard to say.

Come on Dragster dont give up now!!!!:(:(

I bet those of you Dragster dislikers are eating this up.....>:-( *** Edited 9/10/2006 2:55:11 AM UTC by TTD 120mph***

It always seems to be broken down on my favorite part of the year, Sundays during Bonus Weekend. Last year is was shut down then also. I was planning a trip for tomorrow but changed it two days ago to next sunday the 17th, so hopefully it will be up by then because those Sunday's are dead!

The crane remained there and they were working on TTD some more after the park closed today, September 9th, 2006.

Yeah, I don't think it's coming back up anytime soon.

I could almost guarantee it's not because they are 'checking on things'.

Last time something happened with the gearbox it took a long time for a new one to arrive, making it where maintenance has nothing to do but wait for a new part. Since they are working on the ride while the park is still open hints that this a long period of downtime might not be the case here. Hopefully they learned to keep those gearboxes in stock (it looks like it'd be rather expensive to have extras though).

TTD just doesn't like running ONLY on weekends apparently.

I'm remaining positive. Memories of late 2005 season were almost gone. *** Edited 9/10/2006 3:05:51 AM UTC by Gomez***

Craig, remember though, that even when they are waiting for a part, they try to do everything that can be done prior to the part's arrival. If removing that piece was part of it, that's likely why it might have been taken out, if you see what I'm saying.

Adam mentioned it going down on Labor Day, personally having seen it down on Sunday, and with it being down today and yesterday, I'm surprised no one (atleast I don't think anyone did) mentioned that this is the very same time it went down last year.

*** Edited 9/10/2006 3:14:57 AM UTC by DBCP***

I'm thinking that these problems are coming from sunday, and not monday. On sunday, supposedly from talking to the ride ops, they semi blew out the hydraulics system which caused around 6 total hours of downtime on that day. Basically, I think that the new ride ops were hitting such a high interval during the morning that the hydraulic launch was being overused and didn't have enough time to re-charge and whatnot. The ride was finally up and running again around 10:10 that night, but only ran for around 50 minutes or so and every launch felt like it would be a rollback, probably due to winds as well, but the launch felt much less powerful than my earlier ride on it. I'm guessing that it isn't going to be anything that bad though considering that the ride DID run on sunday and monday after the issues, but I wouldn't be surprised if Top Thrill Dragster was down for the rest of the season seeing as it just isn't cost effective at this point to run it and also so that they can hopefully let the ride rest and have a season as great as this year's next year.

Blocking issues are easy, catch car issues take a few hours, broken cables are a headache, any thing going wrong in that building at the end of the launch track spells disaster for anyone planning a trip in the coming days. :)

Best quote ever. That deserves to be in the FAQ under "Is the Dragster running?/When will the Dragster be up?"

Sad but true.:) + :(