Gemini Makeover

This year they did a nice, no spectacular job with the Gemini midway revamp. However they forgot one major ride in my opinion, Gemini!!

So how can Gemini get a “makeover” you ask. Well, here are my suggestions. Gemini is still my favorite ride in the park, it has some sentimental history with me I guess and I love to race and slap hands.

1. Let’s add a finish line to this ride, one with a photo eye on it and a sign that lights up “Winner” when the first train crosses the line. Seriously, what IS the official finish line of this racing coaster? Does anyone know? Is it the trim brakes (ewww! Those evils words trim brakes! :)right outside the station or is it the first train into the station? Hmmmm…adding an official finish line would certainly put an end to this debate!

2. Train the crew to start the red and blue trains so that you always have a good race. How many times have you ridden it that you are so far apart that you can’t slap hands or mimic rowing the boat and just flat out have a good old fashioned race to the finish!

3. Add some timing signs along the way to show you how far ahead or behind you are from the opposite train…similar to NASCAR, how far behind the leader you are or how far ahead as the leader you are.

4. Get the crew into it more, they have been recently I've noticed. Get the crowd into Blue vs Red….as we all know Blue Train always wins!! :)

These are just my thoughts. I will still love Gemini regardless, but thought it would be a cool way to spruce up and older ride to go along with the recent midway upgrades.

Thoughts?

When I saw, "Gemini Makeover" the first thought that popped into my head was, "Gemini station makeover." Let's be honest, it needs it badly. Now, I'm not talking about how you enter the ride or anything like that. I'm talking about aesthetics. The ride was built in the 70s and the building looks like it was built in the 70s. And if you know anything about architecture from that time period, you know it wasn't great, that's for sure.

If we're going to have a constellation-named ride, let's let it be constellation themed. Re-do the station to have a modern look (not necessarily space-aged like Millennium, but something along those lines). From the outside, the rainbow colors along the front date the ride considerably.

And maybe they could even modernize the logo a bit. Not too much, but enough that it's inviting. Monster got a redesigned logo sign like this, as did Pipe Scream and Lake Erie Eagles. That would be a nice addition to the infield between the entrance and exit pathways.

Just my $.02.

I couldn't disagree more.

One of the things about the new midway that stood out to me was the retro 70's font used on Monster, Pipe Scream and LEE. They tie into Gemini's look quite well, and give the midway its own identity in a way.

Staaber said:

2. Train the crew to start the red and blue trains so that you always have a good race.

Thoughts?

I suspect there are too many random factors (weight of riders in each train, track conditions, weather conditions, wind direction, etc) involved to make having a "good race" be solved by how the crew starts the trains.

Ironically, the multi-color paint used on the Gemini station was done in 2001. Before that, I believe it was all a drab-colored tan/brown. (I did some searching, but found no old photos. Walt, you have any somewhere?)

I have a picture of the station from 1981 and it was tan/brown as you mention. How can I post this pic??

Found one on negative-g.com

http://www.negative-g.com/cedar-point/1999/CP-Coastermania99-Gemini.jpg

~Rob

Gemini station was brown with yellow lettering....

From my un-educated knowledge of Gemini's controls:

I believe each side is essentially its own independent ride, with completely separate control systems. That way if one side goes down the other can keep operating without issue.

What I would love to see is a way to link the dispatch on each side so the ride computer can handle dispatching the trains. It's been almost two years since I've ridden so I may have my colors backwards, but I believe red needs dispatched a couple 2-3 seconds earlier to compensate for blue having 2 inside turns to the lift. If you dispatch them at the same time, blue will hit the lift half a train before red hits the lift, and will be long gone by the time red reaches the top.

I've never seen Gemini's control panel, but I would think you could add a separate button for a linked dispatch and when that button is hit on each side the computer takes over and dispatches the train.

Of course, Gemini is an old ride and as of a couple years ago was still operated manually in any ways, so something seemingly simple like this may actually be a massive undertaking requiring a completely new control system.

They need to get rid of the lavender paint. The red, yellow, orange, looks fine to me.

Agree with the retro 70's theme. I noticed that on Monster, too, and was pleased with the cohesiveness and thought they put into the entire Gemini midway.

I thought red train always wins??? I know blue goes down the big hill quicker than red.

It doesn't seem to matter which train goes up the lift hill first. My kids have insisted several times that they would win because they were up the hill first and it didn't happen.

A station makeover would be awesome!
I think Gemini could use some new lights along the track.

When I rode last week, there were a couple of parts of the track that seemed like they were repaired. (This was on the red train.) The track was orange-ish in color and going over them was rather rough. Anyone else notice this?

For those keeping score, Gemini ceased 6 train operations in 2004 (10 years already!). 2004 was the year that air gates were installed onto the station platform. I have no idea if other changes were made to the control systems at that time, but maybe someone else can share some details on that.

I don't ride Gemini as much as I did 10-15 years ago, but back then it was almost always racing fairly close together. I always loved the rides when the ride ops got the dispatches so close together that the trains went done the first hill at exactly the same time.

Which pretty much guarantees that Red will win as it has two inside track turns to one for Blue. I know it looks nice from the midway but it means the race is rigged:)

I would be happy if they aimed a power washer at the ceiling of the station. Tons of cobwebs and dust make it look unkept and dirty. How hard is it to aim a hose once month to clean those gross rafters?

Maniaman said:
What I would love to see is a way to link the dispatch on each side so the ride computer can handle dispatching the trains.

I hope this doesn't happen. Cedar Point has a way of screwing up a dispatch anytime they install or retrofit a new braking/computer system. Look at Magnum, Blue Streak, and Cedar Creek Mine Ride as examples. Gemini has a backup computer system, but relies on the operators to dispatch, stop, and park the train. This allows for a fast dispatch time on the ride.

I thought about that after I posted it. The ops can park a train in one shot, the coasters with computerized parking need about 5 tries to do it.

Intamins, for all their faults, don't need multiple attempts to park. They just slow down on the approach. :)

Yeah, but Intamin uses kicker wheels to control the train, much easier to automatically park compared to automatically parking with brakes.