Iron Dragon 2012

Coasterkyle said:

Aaronosmer said:
Mean streak was 2 trains last year, but this year it is running all 3. Not sure about Corkscrew.

Mean Streak ran 3 trains last season starting Memorial Day weekend. 2010 was when we only ran 2.

I was there on May 19,20 last year and the green train was next to the lift hill in pieces. They got it back together and running within that week? The other trips last year were hectic but when I did get a chance to go on MS, it was down.

Come to think of it I never did ride it after memorial day last year, so that makes since.

I would imagine it would only take a few hours at the most to put a train on the tracks. They just lift the cars on the tracks and attach the couplers. If you notice the storage tracks in the maintenance shed, the cars sit on the upstops. It seems to me that it would be very easy to lower each car unto the maintenance track, they could easily put the train together in the overnight maintenance time slot.

I'm not 100% positive on this, but when I was there Sunday, I believe I saw Corckscrew running both the red and blue trains with the white train sitting on the stransfer track.

Anyone know if Magnum was running 3 trains?

Magnum is always running three trains...except for when it crashes.

I thought it was only running two trains for quite some time last season.

It runs two late in the fall on Sundays because not enough people are in the park then to justify running three, but that's about it.

Perhaps rides run fewer trains earlier in the season until crews get faster and more efficient.

Saturday the Blue Corkscrew train was sitting in the Gemini lot. It was moved by mid-day. I thought I saw it on Sunday in the Mean Streak infield.

The end of last year, one of Magnum's trains was sitting on the transfer track.

They can put trains on pretty quickly. I remember in '89 after the train stalled a couple of times. When it happened the first time, they removed train and left it off. So there were only the 2 trains on when it happened again 2 days later. The next morning as I walked to work, they were putting back on and had all 3 running that day.

Jason - Are you sure it wasn't the yellow cars from Geauga Lake you saw in MS infield? I didn't see Corkscrew's in there. But could be wrong. I was looking pretty good since someone told me about GL's sitting in there.

uterin79 said:

RideMan said:
They were running eight sweeps on Monster?

That's a pretty cool trick, considering that the ride only has six! :)

You're right, but you know what I meant. They were loading/ unloading the Monster like they do when it's 100% full, not 20%.

Of course I know what you meant. But you tossed me a nice softball, I had to swing at it. 8-)

Otherwise in this conversation...

What we have to be concerned with mostly is how many trains are *available*...that is, how many have been loaded onto the ride...and on Sunday that was three each on Iron Dragon, Magnum and Mean Streak. By the end of the night, Magnum was only running two, but all three were operational, and most of the day all three were operating.

Also, elsewhere I saw comments on how nicely painted the Gemini trains were :), but nobody mentioned that the stripes were missing :(.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I hope the stripes come back, they really dress up the trains.

Agreed on the stripes. The new paint looks really nice but it is boring. It needs the stripes to break things up.

Anyone else disappointed that the "CP" on the Giant Wheel hub is gone?

Agree, need the stripes

When I hit the park yesterday, Mean Streak was running three trains, with a frequently virtually empty station. And may I add, it gave me the smoothest and most enjoyable ride I've had on it in at least 15 years.

Shades said:
Anyone else disappointed that the "CP" on the Giant Wheel hub is gone?

(user raises hand)

I am. But then I haven't seen the Wheel lit up yet (damn 8pm closings!) so I am holding out for the possibility that it occasionally shows up in the new hub lighting.

I'm also a little disappointed that the flower pattern is gone. I haven't seen the new lighting yet, but as nearly as I can tell, Giant Wheel's light scheme is similar to the schemes used on lots of big Wheels these days.

Doesn't mean I won't like the new pattern; just noting what isn't there anymore.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.