Extended Closure

That part of the track has always had the largest amount of lateral sway, even with the OG dragster. The lateral sway may be causing lateral forces to the train as its swinging back and that momentum the train is carrying through the straight track, well the train still wants to go laterally. Maybe they have sensors up there.

If it matters, they are back again looking at the exact same spot this evening.

Interesting, Zamperla is here working on Silver train at 10PM. Can’t tell for sure but the wheel assemblies look different, maybe that’s just the drinks altering my vision though.

i can’t figure out how to add another picture but they are also working on the return track from the top hat. They appear to be installing something on the track, only thought is that it’s some sort of instrumentation.

After waiting so long to ride this new rendition of the original Top Thrill Dragster, I still hold out hope that we will all get the chance to experience it at least once before this season comes to a close.

I just wanna ride...

99er:

That I think goes to the fact that they decided to modify a ride that almost killed someone instead of just removing it.

Well, the piece that flew off wasn’t exactly due to some crazy engineering fault, and it had been operating for almost two decades without that happening in the past.

I don’t know that there was really much risk in redeveloping the ride as far as safety goes. The hairiest part of an accelerator coaster is that mass amount of pent up energy that basically turns a fat steel cable into a rubber band.

The wheel assemblies appear to be the same modified version that was noticed previously as far as I can see in that photo.

The thing that stood out to me is the different harness "arm" that connects to the top of the headrest on the second to last row in that photo (straight bar with bumper vs. J bar).

It could be that it is specifically installed for use with some sort of testing device, but it's strange to me that if that is the case that they went through the trouble of painting / powder coating it red to match the existing harness bars.

Those restraints have been like that from day 1. I believe they're meant to be some kind of ADA access.

As for the ride. Lot's of activity going on tonight! A wheel bogie on silver has a bunch of stress gauges on it and they've been doing NDT testing on the trains and the track. Hopefully some positive results come from all this.

GibsonSoft:

Well, the piece that flew off wasn’t exactly due to some crazy engineering fault, and it had been operating for almost two decades without that happening in the past.

I don’t know that there was really much risk in redeveloping the ride as far as safety goes.

Couldn't agree more but as far as public perception goes with a ride that almost killed someone, and now this..that is the risk. For those in this thread that keep coming back to how this is bad for Zamperla, I would disagree. It is bad for Cedar Point from my original point that they decided to modify a ride that already had a black eye.

DA20Pilot:

Ok, what are you thinking this might indicate?

No idea whatsoever, and I think it's futile to speculate specifically what they're doing. My point was only that their being in a data collection phase doesn't bode well for the ride's reopening happening anytime soon. Especially so if they're performing NDT on track that only endured a relatively tiny number of cycles.

As always, I hope I'm wrong, but nothing about the current activity looks like they're anywhere close to reopening.

It was dark but it did not appear that they left anything on the track such as some sort of instrumentation as I had originally speculated. After watching them for a bit it seems like a routine track inspection as they were moving along the track at a steady pace. I do not know what the routine track inspection schedule looks like for this ride but since it has been sitting idle for some time it would make sense to inspect the ride prior to resuming test runs.

I do agree that this activity does not mean a re-opening is imminent, or even likely in the near future. However, I will take any activity as it is better than the nothing of the past 6 weeks or so.

I think some of the track inspection last night could be part of the overall scope of what they wanted to check on. Perhaps to see how those sections have handled the limited amount of active runs it had and what their current conditions are. Perhaps just something the park and the 3rd party inspector wanted to see. This would include the sensors they had on the wheel bogie.

They did run it late last night and all the sensors have been removed, so it looks like they got the data they needed. Hope the results were positive.......although only time will tell.

^ They did run it, as in they were launching trains?

Hoping for the best

Here is video of it testing that was posted on Reddit...

I know none of us know the real answer, but what are your estimates for how much testing will be done once they are convinced they have the final solution? Days? Weeks?

Even the proven rides that have been here decades go through relentless testing prior to the season, so I imagine this will require much more extensive testing.

And the question within that question is; once a solution is found, does the modified ride count as a new untested attraction that has to start from square one with regards to # of cycles, etc., or does a previously approved ride that gets modified have to meet some reduced number?

And I pose that question having absolutely no idea (of course) what the testing benchmarks are for any type of ride.

Sorry if this is a dumb question. But if it doesn’t open this year will they be able to spend the rest of the offseason working on it and testing it? Someone told something about the rides not testing in Winter because of cold weather.

I have no idea if that’s true

If the closure goes into the off season it'd be no different than any new ride they have built before in terms of testing. There's plenty of time to work on and test a ride to have it ready by opening day of the next season.

In various social platforms I’ve seen a lot of folks thinking that TT2 is re-opening soon based off of the recent pictures and videos and I’m not thinking this is at all accurate. It would appear they are still in the testing of a solution phase and not testing to re-open it phase, which would likely take additional time anyways. I could see September, maybe late August but there’s a possibility on the table that they may call it a wash and decide to use this season to work out as many issues as they can before re-opening it. That scenario seems unlikely but I don’t think it’s entirely off the table either.

2020TpForSale:

how much testing will be done once they are convinced they have the final solution?

I don’t know the answer, but, uh… maybe “permanent fix” is a better way to phrase that