Evening 5-29-03, Dragster open

Decided to go to the point Thursday night, not intending to ride dragster (but I did). I got there and met Dave on Raptor. We rode raptor a few times 5 minute wait (it went down for about 10 or so minutes) then decided to see what's up with Dragster as trains were now running. Raptor was running great, the midcourse trims are still off and it really kicks in the second half. (or perhaps I should say second hill that's so cool ;))

So we see what's up with dragster. I'll state a few things I noticed. We got in line at 6:45 and rode at about 9:20. The delay was NOT due to breakdowns but due to about a 45 minute rain delay. Operation was pretty good actually, trains were launching pretty quickly (a few times there was a few minute delay in trains launching but nothing as bad as I have seen in the past). The line moved pretty darn fast when trains were launching quickly. The line is not all that bad in the ride is operating with no breakdowns. I really think the lines are too small, and I can see them backed into the midway come July, August.

We rode in the far back to see what it was like. Hearing that the back was intense, after our ride we both beg to differ. It didn't seem as pronounced airtime as car 2 which I rode in every time on media day. However, I think it's hard to tell seeing as I have one ride in the back and 5 in car 2. Still a great ride.

All in all I think they are getting the kinks worked out slowly, and when this ride is at full strength later this year, you will all be very pleased.

Now that the coffee is kicking in it's time to answer some questions I can see being asked....

1) The engines and slick tires are off all the trains including the gold train which was on the transfer

2) The lights on the tower are still not working.

And Boy I can't believe I forgot to mention the rollback we saw in line. The red train was sent empty and made it to just about the top and rolled back, it was launched again in about 5 minutes after it safely and smoothly returned to the launch position. Also after the rain delay I was expecting to see more rollbacks as those first empty test trains could not have crested that tophat at more then 2-5MPH. The whole line, which at that time was tiny was chanting GO GO GO, then there was the "Start it up" chant during the downpour. That was funny.

Edited for the rest of the story, and crappy grammar.

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
"And that's the way the cookie crumbles"
*** This post was edited by Hooper 5/30/2003 10:16:12 AM ***
*** This post was edited by Hooper 5/30/2003 10:17:44 AM ***