Extended Closure

Well, who had May 12th on their Bingo card for the first extended closure of TT2?

Cedar Point just announced an extended closure due to a mechanical modification of the ride’s vehicles.

And so it begins!

Wow, no one saw this coming. Who would have thought that zamperla would have problems like this, good thing cedar point went with them over intamin.

That's a pretty dumb thing to say.

Holy cow.... this surprising.

I shudder as I write this sentence, but I wonder if they are just adding seatbelt modification (you wouldn't think that would require an "extended" closure......)

Or is it something more serious, like some kind of stress crack or problem with the new ride vehicle? (I recall writing many months ago in one of our silly Zamperla vs. Intamin risk debates, that my principle concern was going with brand new, untested in the field trains.... but this isn't an I-told-you-so. I think the ride so far has performed admirably and maybe this is not a very big deal unless the trains need to be shipped somewhere for actual machinework repairs.)

In a reverse of the original coaster, they are going to be adding dragster wheels to the back of the trains instead of taking them away.

What are the current odds for Top Thrill 2 to be open for Coastermania?

20-1?

Well that sucks! New ride kinks I guess.....

Let’s just hope this “modification” isn’t adding seat belts….

Bingo.
Except my date was May 9th the day I stood in the cold drizzle waiting for a ride that never came. I watched misfires with trips up the back spike that were weak resulting in one roll back after another. They gave no rides that day and I believe none the rest of the week.
I guess they finally felt the need to announce.
I’ve spent not a small amount of time assuring friends that this new incarnation will result in better reliability and increased availability. Oh well.

Did Anyone call RMC for TT3?

How could this issue, whatever it is, not have shown up during testing?

I think Cedar Point would have been better off delaying the opening instead of rushing to open it for only 2 weeks, only to close it for a mechanical modification.

It will be interesting to find out what actually happened. The issues with the launches on the 9th were nothing I would not have expected due to the conditions that day. The ride was operating on the 10th but then was closed yesterday so I would assume either something happened Friday or there could have been an ongoing issue that they were aware of but were not able to correct. Either way we’re doing nothing but guessing or second guessing their decisions when we know close to nothing on why those decisions were made.

Worst part is that I was actually planning on riding TT2 each visit this year which would have been less money spent on adult beverages. Oh well… Grand Pavilion Bar here I come!!

Since none of us know what the issue is, I think it's premature to rush to judgment. Sometimes problems can't be anticipated until the rubber actually meets the road. It is, of course, ironic for obvious reasons. Pushing the envelope--as Cedar Point has always done--sometimes comes at a cost. They'll work it out.

Naturally this is a reaction from them reading PointBuzz comments causing them to correct two serious issues; the excessive "shimmy", and the lack of a stopper at the top of the spike to prevent an inadvertent launch off the end.

If I were to take a stab at it. It's possible that shimmy is the problem. There appears to be alignment and clearance issues with the LSM components on the track and the ride vehicles. I noticed quite a few marks and what appears to be painter's tape on the LSM Fins when I was at the preview event.

I noticed the painters tape (with what looked like dates written on them) at the media event as well.

I assume that if the lateral movement was enough to cause alignment issues, the solution is stiffer springs and blocks in the guide wheel assemblies. I imagine that trying to accurately simulate wear on those would be difficult in a range of temperatures and the most minor of variations in track over thousands of feet of track.

Everyone is spelling doom and gloom, but we don't know if this "extended closure" means it will be open by the end of the week.

^if they have to ship the trains out for repair, that’s a minimum of 1-2 days shipping both directions.

Then you have to add in time for design, manufacture, and installation of the fix.

Then you have to add in time for testing once the trains arrive back on site.

The likelihood of the ride being open next week is very slim.